Some Zoo footage.... at DVinfo.net

Marty Hudzik · November 8th, 2004, 01:09 PM

Here is some stuff I shot when I took my little girl to the zoo 2 weeks ago. It's all handheld and unscripted but it gave me a chance to shoot something more interesting than the trees in my yard or the cars at the park.. I know everyone is looking for "scripted" stuff that is controlled and lit. But I decided to post it anyway just to see what you think. I already linked to it on DVXuser.com so I figure I'd post it here also as this is where I normally frequent.

www.iciclestudios.com/images/xl2/xl2zoo.wmvx (11 MB)

Download and remove the x from the file extension to view it. My webserver doesn't do streaming well and this forces a download to play it.

Thanks! This is mostly to help those that haven't purchased see the potential of the Xl2, not the potential of this videographer!

Nico van Tonder · November 8th, 2004, 01:30 PM

Very nice indeed.

Ralph Roberts · November 8th, 2004, 06:21 PM

yes... nice!

I note you already had the *ahem* seal of approval in it. ;-)

--Ralph

Marty Hudzik · November 8th, 2004, 06:59 PM

Yes Ralph. Nice one. I was going to try and tell everyone it was shot on location on several continents but I couldn't "sea Lion" about that.

Ralph Roberts · November 8th, 2004, 08:49 PM

that last one is sorta hard to bear, Marty ;-)

but, seriously, I was impressed on how the lens gets you up close and personal with the lions, etc.

--Ralph

Pete Bauer · November 8th, 2004, 10:04 PM

Hi Marty,

In Media Player 10, your very nice shots appeared to be 2.5:1 rather than 16:9, yet the images appear perfect -- not at all "stretched." I looked at the properties and they showed an odd aspect ratio of 9:5 (1.80, close enough to widescreen 1.78 to be a rounding error; not at all close to 2.5).

So I imported the file into Premiere Pro 1.5 and it reports a normal widescreen pixel aspect ratio of 1.2 for a 720x480 clip and in the source window it looks like 16:9 footage masked across the top and bottom with black letterbox bars to achieve the Big Wide Cinema look? Or is a custom export setting tricking me? Just curious.

Beautiful shots!

Marty Hudzik · November 8th, 2004, 11:57 PM

You are indeed correct.

Just for the hell of it I cropped the top and bottom to achieve a more "epic" aspect ratio. I prefer that look so I just did it. The file is indeed 16x9 or 720x480 with 1.2 pixel aspect ratio. The black bars are part of the image.

I guess I was trying to convey the film look more. Hoping to get some feedback on that aspect. I frequent the DVXuser boards and the crew over there is still stating that the XL2 looks like video and the DVX give a more filmic look. I agree to an extent that the DVX has a different built in curve that lends to that illusion. But this test was to prove to myself as much as anybody else that footage shot on the XL2 can look just as filmic or even better. It's hard to judge shots of cars or the inside of our houses. But animals, wild animals.....we've seen them on celluloid in movies and on the discovery channel. that we have a pint of reference to.

It's hard to tell in the compressed file but I believe the qualiity of this footage stands up to what I see filmed on the Discovery channel of wild animals. At least Discovery non-HD. The cinematography is weak as I had no tripod and couldn't compose the shots like I'd have liked to.

Rob Lohman · November 9th, 2004, 07:07 AM

Looks nice Marty, thanks for sharing!

Pete Bauer · November 9th, 2004, 10:09 AM

Thanks for the info Marty. Even compressed to a 1MB/sec stream, it looked entirely "filmic" to me. Or maybe "epic" is the better word here! ;-) Nice work for "handheld and unscripted!"

Cheers,

Carlos Porras · November 10th, 2004, 02:31 PM

Marty:

I liked your footage a lot!

Was it shot at 24p? if so what pulldown scheme?

Any particular custom program setting?

what software do you use for editing?

Thanks for sharing!

Dennis Hingsberg · November 10th, 2004, 06:33 PM

WOW - I'm jealous... and I own an XL2 too!

Great footage, love the soundtrack too... the colors are extremely vivid!

Yi Fong Yu · November 10th, 2004, 08:15 PM

XL-nt footage. =).

i think it's pretty clear that XL2 is an awesome cam to have. i'm curious... what lens were you using? 20x?

Tony Cruz · November 10th, 2004, 09:11 PM

Marty,

Great, clear footage. If you don't mind I would like to try a streaming experiment with it on my server. If it works (streams fine) then I can share the URL in this thread. What do you think?

Marty Hudzik · November 10th, 2004, 11:00 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Tony Cruz : Marty,

Great, clear footage. If you don't mind I would like to try a streaming experiment with it on my server. If it works (streams fine) then I can share the URL in this thread. What do you think? -->>>

Go right ahead.

By the way it was the stock 20x lens on this footage. I am not lucky enough to have a 16x or 14x manual lens.

Alain Aguilar · November 10th, 2004, 11:44 PM

The colors are very vivid. It looked like a post coloring effect was added

November 8th, 2004, 01:09 PM	#1
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	Some Zoo footage.... Here is some stuff I shot when I took my little girl to the zoo 2 weeks ago. It's all handheld and unscripted but it gave me a chance to shoot something more interesting than the trees in my yard or the cars at the park.. I know everyone is looking for "scripted" stuff that is controlled and lit. But I decided to post it anyway just to see what you think. I already linked to it on DVXuser.com so I figure I'd post it here also as this is where I normally frequent. www.iciclestudios.com/images/xl2/xl2zoo.wmvx (11 MB) Download and remove the x from the file extension to view it. My webserver doesn't do streaming well and this forces a download to play it. Thanks! This is mostly to help those that haven't purchased see the potential of the Xl2, not the potential of this videographer!

November 8th, 2004, 01:30 PM	#2
Nico van Tonder Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Pretoria, South Africa Posts: 33	Very nice indeed. __________________ Nico

November 8th, 2004, 06:21 PM	#3
Ralph Roberts Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Alexander, NC Posts: 188	yes... nice! I note you already had the ahem seal of approval in it. ;-) --Ralph __________________ --Ralph Roberts, CEO 1VIDeo / aBOOKS / Creativity, Inc.

November 8th, 2004, 08:49 PM	#5
Ralph Roberts Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Alexander, NC Posts: 188	that last one is sorta hard to bear, Marty ;-) but, seriously, I was impressed on how the lens gets you up close and personal with the lions, etc. --Ralph __________________ --Ralph Roberts, CEO 1VIDeo / aBOOKS / Creativity, Inc.

November 8th, 2004, 10:04 PM	#6
Pete Bauer Wrangler Join Date: May 2003 Location: Eagle River, AK Posts: 4,100	Hi Marty, In Media Player 10, your very nice shots appeared to be 2.5:1 rather than 16:9, yet the images appear perfect -- not at all "stretched." I looked at the properties and they showed an odd aspect ratio of 9:5 (1.80, close enough to widescreen 1.78 to be a rounding error; not at all close to 2.5). So I imported the file into Premiere Pro 1.5 and it reports a normal widescreen pixel aspect ratio of 1.2 for a 720x480 clip and in the source window it looks like 16:9 footage masked across the top and bottom with black letterbox bars to achieve the Big Wide Cinema look? Or is a custom export setting tricking me? Just curious. Beautiful shots! __________________ Pete Bauer The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. Albert Einstein Trying to solve a DV mystery? You may find the answer behind the SEARCH function ... or be able to join a discussion already in progress!

November 8th, 2004, 06:59 PM	#4
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	Yes Ralph. Nice one. I was going to try and tell everyone it was shot on location on several continents but I couldn't "sea Lion" about that.

November 8th, 2004, 11:57 PM	#7
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	You are indeed correct. Just for the hell of it I cropped the top and bottom to achieve a more "epic" aspect ratio. I prefer that look so I just did it. The file is indeed 16x9 or 720x480 with 1.2 pixel aspect ratio. The black bars are part of the image. I guess I was trying to convey the film look more. Hoping to get some feedback on that aspect. I frequent the DVXuser boards and the crew over there is still stating that the XL2 looks like video and the DVX give a more filmic look. I agree to an extent that the DVX has a different built in curve that lends to that illusion. But this test was to prove to myself as much as anybody else that footage shot on the XL2 can look just as filmic or even better. It's hard to judge shots of cars or the inside of our houses. But animals, wild animals.....we've seen them on celluloid in movies and on the discovery channel. that we have a pint of reference to. It's hard to tell in the compressed file but I believe the qualiity of this footage stands up to what I see filmed on the Discovery channel of wild animals. At least Discovery non-HD. The cinematography is weak as I had no tripod and couldn't compose the shots like I'd have liked to.

November 9th, 2004, 07:07 AM	#8
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Looks nice Marty, thanks for sharing! __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

November 9th, 2004, 10:09 AM	#9
Pete Bauer Wrangler Join Date: May 2003 Location: Eagle River, AK Posts: 4,100	Thanks for the info Marty. Even compressed to a 1MB/sec stream, it looked entirely "filmic" to me. Or maybe "epic" is the better word here! ;-) Nice work for "handheld and unscripted!" Cheers, __________________ Pete Bauer The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. Albert Einstein Trying to solve a DV mystery? You may find the answer behind the SEARCH function ... or be able to join a discussion already in progress!

November 10th, 2004, 02:31 PM	#10
Carlos Porras New Boot Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Mexico Posts: 13	Marty: I liked your footage a lot! Was it shot at 24p? if so what pulldown scheme? Any particular custom program setting? what software do you use for editing? Thanks for sharing!

November 10th, 2004, 06:33 PM	#11
Dennis Hingsberg Trustee Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 1,055	WOW - I'm jealous... and I own an XL2 too! Great footage, love the soundtrack too... the colors are extremely vivid! __________________ Blog: www.hingsberg.com Ultimate Exposure Guides for FS5/F7S/F5/F55

November 10th, 2004, 08:15 PM	#12
Yi Fong Yu Trustee Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vulcan Posts: 1,564	XL-nt footage. =). i think it's pretty clear that XL2 is an awesome cam to have. i'm curious... what lens were you using? 20x? __________________ bow wow wow

November 10th, 2004, 09:11 PM	#13
Tony Cruz New Boot Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Fremont, CA Posts: 6	Marty, Great, clear footage. If you don't mind I would like to try a streaming experiment with it on my server. If it works (streams fine) then I can share the URL in this thread. What do you think? __________________ Tony tony@tlcmediacom.com

November 10th, 2004, 11:00 PM	#14
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	<<<-- Originally posted by Tony Cruz : Marty, Great, clear footage. If you don't mind I would like to try a streaming experiment with it on my server. If it works (streams fine) then I can share the URL in this thread. What do you think? -->>> Go right ahead. By the way it was the stock 20x lens on this footage. I am not lucky enough to have a 16x or 14x manual lens.

November 10th, 2004, 11:44 PM	#15
Alain Aguilar Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Bergen Posts: 170	The colors are very vivid. It looked like a post coloring effect was added __________________ Alain