Lee Haley - Bossa Nova

[Rashdan Radha]

Here's a video I shot with the GX80.

Lee Haley - Bossa Nova on Vimeo

The interview was shot with a Pentax Tokina 28mm f2.8.

I was planning on using my old Pentax 28mm, 50mm and 135mm lenses with a newly bought Camdiox/Roxsen focal reducer, but found the middle of the image was cloudy. I ended up using the kit 12-32mm without an ND filter, so have a lot of overexposed footage.

[Noa Put]

Well done, I've been planning to these kind of videos as well but have a difficult time finding the right subjects who don't mind being filmed. How do you approach these people, send them a mail, call them or?

The gx80 is a great stealth camera for this kind of work, no-one in the streets is going to question you because for all they know you are just the next tourist taking some snapshots. But little do they know what these little camera's are capable of these days.

One thing I didn't like so much was the audio quality, was the interview recorded with incamera audio?

Also, when you say you have overexposed footage because you couldn't use a ND filter, why not compensate with a higher shutter? That's your only option in such a case to correct your exposure.

[Rashdan Radha]

I actually met this guy through an ad on gumtree.com (uk version of craiglist). He placed an ad asking if anyone would like to make a video about him. At the time I was thinking about making a short doc. So luck was really how I found him. I met a few other buskers who play in the area, most of them are super friendly. If you approach them after a set and tell them what you want to do, why you want to do it, how the video could benefit them (more exposure, get to share their music and their story with more people, help find an online audience etc.).

I used a lav mic connected to a Zoom H1. Is there anything I can do in post to improve the audio?

You are right, I should have used a higher shutter speed. I have only ever filmed narrative shorts, so it became a habit of filming using 1/50.

This was the first ever short documentary I ever filmed. I made a lot of mistakes, but learnt a lot.

[Noa Put]

If this is your first doc then that's promising for what's to come, personally I would have made it a bit shorter but that's just personal preference. The sound sounded muffled, like missing high tones and clarity, could be because of the type of lav used?
I understand about wanting to use the correct shutterspeed but overexpsoure looks worse to me then a "wrong" shutterspeed, if you would have used a higher shutterspeed you might not even have noticed but overexposure sticks out like a sore thumb.

[Brock Burwell]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Also, when you say you have overexposed footage because you couldn't use a ND filter, why not compensate with a higher shutter? That's your only option in such a case to correct your exposure.

I guess I have never messed around with it as I always keep with the 180 degree rule, but what happens when you change the shutter speed to compensate for over exposed images? Does it affect the look of the video significantly?

[Noa Put]

The question is more that if you only had 2 choices; a overexposed image or a bit less natural motionblur, what would you choose? On subjects that hardly move a higher shutter won't make that much difference but it will for moving subjects but I still would prefer that over a overexposed image.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Brock Burwell

I guess I have never messed around with it as I always keep with the 180 degree rule, but what happens when you change the shutter speed to compensate for over exposed images? Does it affect the look of the video significantly?

I shoot mostly with high shutter speed because I like the look of it. However, I tried that indoors, and that is when you have issues, with flickering and color changes. So I would only do it outside and yes I use the shutter to adjust exposure (again, only exterior shots). Now, some may advise against that, but I think it gives you a more crisp look and much less motion blur.

Just my two cents.