The GAF Video and Filmmaking Thread

brerwolfe said:
After years of talking about wanting to build a quadcopter I've decided I'm just gonna buy one. The DJI Phantom is too popular a brand to ignore for a first-time flyer, gotta have one.

The idea of building a custom quadcopter was appealing but I never had the money. Now that I have the money I don't have the time. The Phantom will be a good learning experience and help me decide if I wanna build a custom quad in the future, one sturdy enough to support carrying a DSLR.

I'm excited about this. Been reading and watching user videos for the last several weeks. I'm about to go on the road for PGA Tour for the next 7 weeks, so I plan to order the week before I come home.

Anyone here have experience using them in your productions? Any positive/negative feedback?
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Are you gonna get a Vision or strap a GoPro to it?
 
BUNTING1243 said:
Are you gonna get a Vision or strap a GoPro to it?
Click to expand...
I'm gonna get the Phantom 2 with the zenmuse h3-3d gimbal (for a GoPro).

I wasn't sure how the gimbal was gonna work, it was difficult finding anything with people talking about it. I used to be a camera operator on the blimp, so I obviously had a pilot maneuvering the blimp while I manned the camera. We worked as a team to compose a great shot or get in position for different things. So I was curious to see how it would work if I'm the pilot AND camera operator on a quadcopter.

Turns out the gimbal only faces forward. There's a lever on the back of the remote that allows you to adjust tilt, but the only pan control is by physically pivoting the quadcopter. It'll take some getting used to, but I'm REALLY looking forward to it.
 
Sec0nd said:
Same... Or a GH4. Or in a perfect world both. Both really seem to have strengths and weaknesses and seem to compliment each other both. Meh... :(
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I have a GH4 and I'm loving it, but I would also love having the lowlight perf of the A7s. We need both cameras combined into one super camera! An A7s with internal 4K and better rolling shutter (or a global shutter! It's gotta happen at some point!)! A GH4 with a full frame sensor and epic lowlight perf!

As it is, it seems if you want the smaller form factor of a DSLR or mirrorless cam, there's always gonna be some tradeoffs.
 
-griffy- said:
I have a GH4 and I'm loving it, but I would also love having the lowlight perf of the A7s. We need both cameras combined into one super camera! An A7s with internal 4K and better rolling shutter (or a global shutter! It's gotta happen at some point!)! A GH4 with a full frame sensor and epic lowlight perf!

As it is, it seems if you want the smaller form factor of a DSLR or mirrorless cam, there's always gonna be some tradeoffs.
Click to expand...

Honestly the only thing about the a7s that turns me off is the 4k.

But then again I don't really care about 4k, it's nice that I can add on later.

But full frame and insane low light? Count me in

(I just need the money first)
 
killertofu said:
Honestly the only thing about the a7s that turns me off is the 4k.

But then again I don't really care about 4k, it's nice that I can add on later.

But full frame and insane low light? Count me in

(I just need the money first)
Click to expand...

-griffy- said:
I have a GH4 and I'm loving it, but I would also love having the lowlight perf of the A7s. We need both cameras combined into one super camera! An A7s with internal 4K and better rolling shutter (or a global shutter! It's gotta happen at some point!)! A GH4 with a full frame sensor and epic lowlight perf!

As it is, it seems if you want the smaller form factor of a DSLR or mirrorless cam, there's always gonna be some tradeoffs.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The only thing that turns me off from the GH4 is the M43 sensor and the only thing turning me off from the A7s is the external only 4k. Not that 4k is super important but the GH4 4k is so incredible that anything 1080p seems poopy in comparison.
 
brerwolfe said:
After years of talking about wanting to build a quadcopter I've decided I'm just gonna buy one. The DJI Phantom is too popular a brand to ignore for a first-time flyer, gotta have one.

The idea of building a custom quadcopter was appealing but I never had the money. Now that I have the money I don't have the time. The Phantom will be a good learning experience and help me decide if I wanna build a custom quad in the future, one sturdy enough to support carrying a DSLR.

I'm excited about this. Been reading and watching user videos for the last several weeks. I'm about to go on the road for PGA Tour for the next 7 weeks, so I plan to order the week before I come home.

Anyone here have experience using them in your productions? Any positive/negative feedback?
Click to expand...

I have a Go Pro for my bike. For fun, about an hour ago, I bought the Phantom 1.1.1.
I am no a film maker at all, I bought it because I wanted a new toy to play with.
I see that you are getting the Phantom 2. At B&H they really wanted to sell me the 2..and I really wanted the 2..I cant justify that price for my use.
Especially the price for an extra battery.
Have fun with it..I'm on my way to the mountains to test this thing out. My house is in the no fly zone.
 
Fuck it, I couldn't wait.

2014-010.png


It'll be here Friday, I fly home on Saturday. I'll have a day and a half to get a couple flights in before I take off for another 6 weeks.
 
Anyone experienced with the FS700? As far as we know we are shooting on 640 ISO but we are getting maaaaaaaasive amounts of noise. Comparable with 20,000+ ISO (with S-Log2) if I look at online ISO tests. Anyone know what's up?
 
guldakot said:
How hard is it too fly? That looked pretty damned smooth for a first flight!
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It's surprisingly simple. The controls take a little getting used to but it's nice to know that if you're nervous about an obstacle you can either let go of the control (the quadcopter will stop its momentum and Hoover in place), or you can elevate super quick and likely dodge whatever is in the path.

You can hear the wind when the quadcopter is facing specific directions, it was pretty windy out there, but the gimbal's stabilization worked like a champ.

Would be nice if I could map the controls to a PlayStation controller, make it control more like a racing game or first-person shooter or something. As it is, the right thumbstick is forward, back and strafe, left thumbstick is elevation and turning/pivoting.

Regardless, really fun to fly and experiment with. Also really fun to see the footage afterward. Made myself nervous watching it back and then remembered "oh yeah, nothing bad happened" and stopped stressing.
 
Someone mentioned A7s so i dont feel crazy now.

Thinking about selling my MkII lenses, 7D and EOS M to get two nex (replace the 7D/EOS M) and the A7s.

Crazy? I want to stay in one lens ecosystem, as well as not worry about different codecs/sensor systems and software. Would this be crazy? I dont need a big bulky Mk II and the A7s looks great and the price is totally fair.

The NEx Line has equally good video capabilities to the 7D/Eos M so those being my 2nd and third cameras would be easy.

I currently make web content with my gear. Ive done some TV stuff, but primarily my own productions, short films and I shoot a few shows for HGTV web.
 
HenryGale said:
Someone mentioned A7s so i dont feel crazy now.

Thinking about selling my MkII lenses, 7D and EOS M to get two nex (replace the 7D/EOS M) and the A7s.

Crazy? I want to stay in one lens ecosystem, as well as not worry about different codecs/sensor systems and software. Would this be crazy? I dont need a big bulky Mk II and the A7s looks great and the price is totally fair.

The NEx Line has equally good video capabilities to the 7D/Eos M so those being my 2nd and third cameras would be easy.

I currently make web content with my gear. Ive done some TV stuff, but primarily my own productions, short films and I shoot a few shows for HGTV web.
Click to expand...

Go for it and let me know how it goes :)
 
Just read an email from a client saying that their old ad agency wanted to charge them $18,000 to update 3 simple motion graphics commercials to HD.

I'm fucking getting paid pennies on the dollar.
 
HenryGale said:
Someone mentioned A7s so i dont feel crazy now.

Thinking about selling my MkII lenses, 7D and EOS M to get two nex (replace the 7D/EOS M) and the A7s.

Crazy? I want to stay in one lens ecosystem, as well as not worry about different codecs/sensor systems and software. Would this be crazy? I dont need a big bulky Mk II and the A7s looks great and the price is totally fair.

The NEx Line has equally good video capabilities to the 7D/Eos M so those being my 2nd and third cameras would be easy.

I currently make web content with my gear. Ive done some TV stuff, but primarily my own productions, short films and I shoot a few shows for HGTV web.
Click to expand...



a7s has pretty horrible rolling shutter issues, but then again so does your Mark II so perhaps you're used to it.
 
So, i posted something similar in the photography thread but maybe i have more luck here. I'm from Mexico, but i'd like to spend some time working in the US, maybe a month or more. If any of you is looking for a partner or needs a hand i'd love to do this. I have my own equipment i'd be bringing, a Canon 60D, 2 Canon 5D MkIII, one Black Magic Cinema Camera, a DJI Phantom and lenses, i'll probably get a DJI Ronin before the end of the year too.

I'd like to partner with someone who shoots weddings. You can check some of my work here https://vimeo.com/motusmx

I'm also a photographer so i can alternate between both.

So, PM me if you're interested.

Why am i doing this? Well, i love doing weddings but the market is kinda shitty for that in my home town, i'm trying to get a better portfolio by shooting in more exotic places or internationally.

Cheers.
 
Hey, FilmGAF, I was wondering if you guys would help me on a computer question for heavy video editing.

I will soon be in the market to buy a new computer for video editing. And I have been debating whether or not I should get a Mac or a PC. The video editing software I will be using (for the most part) will be Premiere Pro and After Effects.

Any help on which I should get? If Mac is the preferred option, is MacBook Pro something to consider? This probably isn't the place to ask, but I wanted to know what other video editors thought.
 
Nickerbocker98 said:
Hey, FilmGAF, I was wondering if you guys would help me on a computer question for heavy video editing.

I will soon be in the market to buy a new computer for video editing. And I have been debating whether or not I should get a Mac or a PC. The video editing software I will be using (for the most part) will be Premiere Pro and After Effects.

Any help on which I should get? If Mac is the preferred option, is MacBook Pro something to consider? This probably isn't the place to ask, but I wanted to know what other video editors thought.
Click to expand...

Whatever setup that you can afford with the most ram and fastest processor tbh.

Im running a 2700k setup with 32 gb of ram (windows 7) and I chew through hundreds of layers in AE @1080p. 2.5 raw from a bmcc however, thats another story.

While Adobe is adding more support for Opencl, in general your going to want a cuda/Nvidia graphics card in your system (Mercury playback in premiere, and raytracing engine in AE). If you can find one, the 580 GTX classified from evga 3gb model is a monster card.

I would recommend pc for Adobe products personally, lots more bang for your buck, plus the option of customizing your gpu.
 
Does anyone here have experience renting out their own equipment? I've gotten two inquiries just this past week (well, a friend told me he would have rented via me if he knew I had my cam, and another person wanted to "borrow" it for a day).

When I had my T2i/T3i, I would just let friends borrow it. Now, though, my Blackmagic rig/setup probably cost me about $6000 to put together, if not more, so I am hesitant to let anyone borrow it, especially since it's my only cam.

Any place to start for learning about renting?
 
If you're concerned you can make up a simple contract saying the renting party would be responsible for damages. As far as rates, look on different websites to decide on an average.

I've never rented gear aside from my lights. I'm too nervous to let anyone use my camera/lenses, but I have two 500 led panels that I rent out to friends/colleagues for $75 each time.
 
So we won the crowd choice for our group in the 48 Detroit, just got done doing the New Amsterdam invitational 48. 2 48 hour film festivals in 2 weeks, damn im beat.
 
Production wrapped on my first full-crew short a few weeks ago! I'm really pleased with how the set ran.

We shot on the Canon C100, with an Atomos Ninja Blade that converted the footage to ProRes on the fly. I'm no cinematographer, but I was really impressed by the look of the footage. The Atomos Ninja Blade was a treat to work with. Besides acting as a recorder/ProRes converter, it's also a really nice 5" monitor that you can walk around with. I was able to involve all of the crew, by bringing it around to them to show footage between setups. I loved it, and will definitely rent one again for future projects.

We also used the Steadicam Merlin 2, which was also a treat. Balancing it did take some time, but once we found a balance we liked, we were able to replicate it based on measurements taken. We replaced the bottom weight with the Ninja Blade, which kept things from getting too top heavy, and actually balanced a lot easier. I really dig the smoothness we were able to achieve with it.

Our location scouting all panned out really nicely too, with places that were all very accomodating, and let us make any changes we needed to. We somehow found a motel location (that I was stressing about on the previous page) that gave us access to two rooms, and their office, for five days, without even charging us, which is pretty insane.

The whole thing just went really well, and I'm stoked, because it's a project I've been developing for the past two years. I'm syncing footage now, and am excited to start editing. The post-production will take quite a while, but I'm looking forward to sharing more stuff in the thread as it comes together!

Hooray filmmaking!
 
Has anyone here used a Wirecam and if so what kinda of project was it. I'm looking into it for a music video so if anyone wants to share some tips that would be fantastic.
 
Used a Nikon D800E to make a short film for my mom. Really surprised by the quality of this camera. Probably the nicest DSLR I've used. It has some funky color compression at times (or I really did stretch the image with my super hasty color correction). Not sure if the HDMI out has 10bit but what an insane little camera it could be. The D810 even has flat picture profile and 60fps.

Nikon was never really known for its film functions but I feel they are catching up quick, as are pretty much all other manufacturers. Canon is really losing ground. I don't think I'll be picking up a Canon camera unless they bring something spectacular out for a reasonable price.
 
Hey film gaf, big changes have been happening in my life and I finally have the time and opportunity to do something I would like to do. I was in film school about 10 years ago and loved it but had to pause my dream in pursuing a career in film for a steady reliable income. So went another route and had a pretty great job until recently. Now I want to get back to editing again. But its been so long, I think the last software I used was premiere pro 1.5 or something. So gaf, I'm setting the bar pretty high for myself, I want to learn the ins and outs of Premiere and After effects before the end of the year. And would also like to get to know Avid.

Can anyone recommend some great informative online courses?
Are the courses on the Adobe site the way to go for premiere?

Any help would be great. There are so many courses now that I want to put my money into the best option.
 
If you want to learn After Effects, than there's really no better place to start than Videocopilot.net, and the best part is the tutorials are absolutely free.

Start with the Basic Training, than work your way through the other tutorials, and make sure to actually follow along in the program while watching the video if you want to retain stuff.

And yeah, as far as Premiere you can start with the Adobe stuff. This series might be a good place to start, seems fairly simple but should get you back up to speed. In all honesty, the main workflow of the program probably isn't all that different from when you used it last.

Other resources for tutorials are CreativeCow.net and the blog section of PremiumBeat.com.
 
This is great griffy, thanks. Already started cracking on the adobe basics brushing up on what I forgot. I'll continue with Creative cow and video copilot when I'm done.
I also check and saw there is an adobe test centre in my town, so will apply for an Adobe certificate for Premier and After effects when I'm finish with the courses. Will be good to have on my CV.

Thanks again
 
I'm in a situation that I'm trying to see if anyone has been in...

I got picked up as a part time editor/PA for a production company for the rest of the month. 3 days a week.

The guy asked my fee but I'm not sure if I should be charging an hourly fee or a day rate. And if so, how much? It seems iffy to me at least if I'm charging a lot for this extended period of time
 
Take your day rate and divide it by 10 hours (a standard production day). Maybe take off a couple dollars if you feel it warrants it, like if you're not traveling or the work isn't as stressful as a normal day.

BTW, I finally returned to Orlando yesterday after being gone for 41 out of 47 days. How long are you in town for? Do you have transportation? Maybe we can meet up some time next week.
 
Hello videoGAF!

I need to come up with a super simple hardware/software package (camera, mic, tripod, and software) to send to professors so that they can shoot their own lectures and easily save and upload them to an online site (youtube, college's online classroom, or whatever). I'm looking for something that balances simplicity with quality, leaning towards simplicity. Something that any non-technical professor would be able to use. Assume they have their own computer (Mac or PC). Thoughts?
 
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