First footage with the VG-20

[Jay Morrissette]

I finally had some time to throw together the footage I sot of the auto-x last weekend.

Most of it was shot at 1080 60p. In vegas I didn't see an option to render in 60p, so it's rendered in 60i. The result is video that looks kind of strobe light looking. The frame rate on the raw footage looks much better,

The camera was pretty much set to auto since I didn't have much time to learn it, and being a consumer device, manual control is way more difficult to access than a pro camera.

Despite all that, the camera is pretty incredible. One I learn what I'm doing I feel confident that the look can be nearly as good as any high dollar pro camera.

In the video there isn't much of a story, it's just cars on the track. What I want to learn and need your help with are these things:
1. Basic story telling - how do you document an Auto-X in a way that is interesting?
2. What camera angles, or shots do I need to make an interesting and exciting video?
3. technically speaking, what is the best way to get from 1080/60p to the web?

SoCal Viper Club at the Palm Springs Auto-X, November 3, 2012 on Vimeo

thanks,
~Jay

[Robert Young]

Originally Posted by Jay Morrissette

In the video there isn't much of a story, it's just cars on the track. What I want to learn and need your help with are these things:
1. Basic story telling - how do you document an Auto-X in a way that is interesting?
2. What camera angles, or shots do I need to make an interesting and exciting video?
3. technically speaking, what is the best way to get from 1080/60p to the web?

1: That's the challenge- to find, or impose a story on an event like this.
Sometimes you can think the story up ahead of time & actually show up at the event with a shot list- it's going to be a story about a particular driver, a particular car, winning, losing, the event itself, etc.
IMO, this is the best approach for a tight, well done project
Otherwise, you need to contrive it as you are shooting- constantly looking for an "angle" that you might make into a story. Once you find it, then shoot all the pieces you'll need to tell the story.
Worst case scenario, you just shoot the heck out of it & try to dream up a story during the edit.
A parallel decision to be made is "who" is going to tell the story. It could be someone on camera at the event talking about your "story" in enough detail to actually use as a narrative- cutting back and forth b/t the talking head and the event.
You could do an actual scripted voice over in post and tell the story yourself.
More of a challenge is to shoot and edit such that the video alone tells the story.

2: Shot selection: The greater variety of shots you have, the more choices you have for edit, and the better chance for a visually interesting result.
Wide, medium, close-up, of people, cars, action.
Low angle, high angle, fake dolly shots where you just slowly move the cam sideways for 2'-3', or back to forward 2', etc.
Very tight close up shots of car detail- wheels, trim, taillights, dashboard, and any thing else interesting- a lot of ordinary things look interesting in a close/macro shot, and these little bits make great cutaway shots that keep the viewer engaged.
Action shots using a tripod- try to smoothly track some close up shots of the cars/ car details as they zoom around the track.
POV shots of the driver and the track from inside the speeding car are priceless.
And on, and on...

3) Either 60p or 60i is great for rendering fast motion.
Web formats are usually 30p, so you can render your original project to 1080 30p or 720 30p (Flash or MP4) for web delivery.

Your questions may sound rather basic, but people spend their entire careers trying to discover the best answers :)
Good luck

[Jay Morrissette]

Thanks Bob, that is really helpful! Your detailed answers will really help me think through all of the "simple" questions I asked.

I'm looking forward to the next event which is this weekend. I won't be driving, so I should have more time to shoot. Your reply will be echoing in my head as I am shooting that day.

thanks,
~Jay

[Dave Blackhurst]

You should be able to modify an existing template in Vegas and render out to 60p. Choose one that's close (probably a BR template), and adjust the settings under the "custom" button. If you render progressive, even 24p, it should improve that odd look.

When in doubt, render a few samples with different settings until you get something that you're happy with.

[Ryan Douthit]

Or just dump it onto a 30p timeline and "save" the other frames for slow-motion effects.