38sec anti-war video shot with HD100

[Miltos Pilalitos]

Hi all,

Early August i directed a 38sec anti-war video using the HD-100 and the Firestore DR-HD100 (80GB version). It was a zero budget production (we only spent 150-200 euros for some props) which meant "available light" and a friend's tripod! The crew was just 5 people including my girlfriend and if it wasn't for that day's heat it would be really fun!

The temperature was more than 55c and the light was so intense that we could not even "read" the LCD monitor! The problem was that we were shooting on a roof that had some very reflective tiles on the floor, so light was hitting us from every direction. We tried covering ourselves with a dark textile to "read" the LCD but it was extremely hot and when we were uncovering ourselves the change of light intensity was so strong we had headaches!

We ended up shooting for a few minutes, then leaving the "set" to cool down our bodies in an air-conditioned room and then coming back to shoot some more.

The camera behaved greatly. I only wished it had a stronger ND filter. I guess i have to buy one later on.

I was worrying for the effect of the heat on the HD100 and the Firestore but they survived the test. At one point the Firestore's fan started to be noisy and i thought it would explode but it kept going until we finished!

For 2 shots i also used the WCV-82SC FUJINON WIDE CONVERTER. It's a good cost effective solution but it gave us some strong CA in a shot with high-contrasting edges. Nothing i couldn't fix in post though!

You can download the WMV 720p (44MB) video here:
http://www.box.net/public/static/q3ubp6ostx.wmv

Watch this with sound ON!

I hope you'll like it!

[Jaadgy Akanni]

Hi Miltos. Looks good. Was this 30p in HD? What NLE did you use?

[Miltos Pilalitos]

It was 25fps 720p and was edited in Vegas 6.0d

[Adam Oas]

I'm 'guessing' that you did the blood/horror effects in post. Were they also done in Vegas?

You looked to have a boom as well... or are you just that steady?

I'd try to find something to act as a background plate for your end graphics. Even just a continuance of the slow move that precedes it or back to your clothespins.

Beautiful spot.

[Sergio Barbosa]

Hi, I really liked this piece!

How did you achieve such a soft (film) look, with all that lattitude under such bright sunlight... which settings did you use?

Thanks and congratulations,
Sergio Barbosa

[Miltos Pilalitos]

Originally Posted by Adam Oas

I'm 'guessing' that you did the blood/horror effects in post. Were they also done in Vegas?

You guessed correctly. All the post was done in Eyeon's Fusion 5 by me.

Originally Posted by Adam Oas

You looked to have a boom as well... or are you just that steady?

LOL! Not even God is that steady! The last shot was also done in post! The shot was done with the camera on the floor and then in post i camera-projected the footage on rough geometry (a couple of rectangles). This allowed for the camera to move in "virtual space". It's simpler than it sounds. Also, there were no props in the shot. All the laundry was added in post using photographed elements because we didn't have money to buy all those!

I will post a Before/After image later when i go home...

[Miltos Pilalitos]

Originally Posted by Sergio Barbosa

How did you achieve such a soft (film) look, with all that lattitude under such bright sunlight... which settings did you use?

I am not sure of the exact settings but they were based on Paolo's True colour 3. The Sharpness was MIN.

For the lattitude i guess i have to thank the camera mostly. Also i found lately that unlike other editing software Vegas doesn't clip SuperWhite and SuperBlack information. That's the reason i recenty moved from Adobe Premiere 2 to Vegas 6.

Cineform solves this problem in Premiere but i don't like what it does to footage coming from HDV.

The soft look was also the result of Colour Correction. The footage was much more contrasty before the CC.

[Matt Setnes]

This was really good. I was curious if you used only a tripod, how did you achieve the jib move?

[Thomas Smet]

Very nice job. This was an amazing piece. Great job compositing by the way. I usually use an old version of Shake for the PC. I have been thinking of moving on to Fusion.

[George David]

Miltos, very impressive work (and good subject matter too).

[Miltos Pilalitos]

Originally Posted by Matt Setnes

I was curious if you used only a tripod, how did you achieve the jib move?

Like i said earlier the last shot was done in post. The camera movement was done "virtualy".

Have a look here:

http://www.box.net/public/static/yhurbrl2tt.jpg

Not having a Jib was not the only reason to do this shot in post though. The reason was that there wasn't any money to buy all those clothes :-)

[Miltos Pilalitos]

Originally Posted by Thomas Smet

I usually use an old version of Shake for the PC. I have been thinking of moving on to Fusion.

If you are familiar with Shake the transition to Fusion will be very smooth. Both are very powerfull pieces of software but i think the future belongs to Fusion.

(No, i am not on Eyeon's payroll)

:-)

[Adam Oas]

AH HA!

I get it now! It took a couple minutes of head scratching to figure out how you could've done a move like this in post, but what you didn't mention is that there's a 'cut' in the middle of that move that happens behind the digital clothing.

That's some impressive work right there.

What are the odds you'd render out a version without the clothes obscuring the transfer? I'm interested to see how you lined them up to get the perspective correct.

[Miltos Pilalitos]

Originally Posted by Adam Oas

what you didn't mention is that there's a 'cut' in the middle of that move that happens behind the digital clothing.

Hey Adam,

The digital clothing does help to sell the shot but they don't hide any cut in the mliddle of the move. There is no need for a cut because there is no transition from a real shot to a synthetic one. All the shot is synthetic.

Here is an image of the 3d environment from an angle that will help you to better understand the concept of camera projection:

http://www.box.net/public/static/u61acznonh.jpg

What you see besides the city backdrop is two rectangles that are rougly placed in a way to resemble the roof and it's surrounding wall. Then, from the place where the camera took the real shot you project the footage on those 2 rectangles.

If you do this correctly you can then move your virtual camera and the optical illusion you just created will give the impression you are moving into the shot's space.

I wanted the camera to move slowly to the right while it accents and this is where the digital clothing helped. The ones that are close to the camera hide the fact that there is no textured ground on the sides of the one i project.

i hope this was a little bit more clear...

It is actualy a decades old trick that came into fashion after they used it in the title sequence of Panic room. Remember those super smooth camera movements between the buildings?

Lately they use it all the time. From Star Wars to costume dramas. It's simple to do, you don't need to loose time in complicated 3D models, you don't need to render photorealisticaly because you use the actual environment and it's super fast to do.

[Paolo Ciccone]

Hi Miltos.
Very clever use of post techniques, the short looks terrific, the shake of the clothes + the atached sound makes it really creepy and your example of virtual camera moves is great.