Topic: Artsy film stuff and a bit of after effects!

[Chicky]

Hello sexy!

I have decided to jump on this youtube wagon thing. That means that now i can inflict my films upon you, although i have made many university related short films, they've all been pants.

Anyway, i uploaded a short camera test (in HD) with my new Canon that has some cool music, slow-mo and a nifty production logo at the start. It's the same production alias that i would go by if i ever finished an AGS project.

Camera test:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzM5YXQo3RY

Edit: 4 minute experimental film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OTavf50HaY

Check it out and subscribe, hurrah!  

[Domithan]

Woaaah, incredible quality! Nicely done.

[Dualnames]

Woaaah, incredible quality! Nicely done.

SECONDED. That was utterly unexpected greatness!! If you made a short film, I'd bloody see it. Well done, Mr Chicky!

[Chicky]

Thanks for the lovely comments! Here's a short film, just for you Dual  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OTavf50HaY

Seriously though, these are just me playing about. I'm doing everything myself and getting my girlfriend to act.

 I'm working on a proper production (with real actors!) for my final major project, estimated for release in February 2011. That's the one to look out for  

[Anian]

This is cool. But it seems to me that you kind off pull the center of the shot a bit low. I'm pretty sure you're doing that in After effects, cause you're removing the camera shake, so some cropping occurs, still, you might wanna take that into consideration, that camera has more than enough px to take a wider shot and then zoom, especially if you're postprocessing this much.
In the first one (the test shoot), the shots are kind of too low at one point, but I think that's due to using a tripod and just not seeing that she'll be a bit high in the shot.

In any case, if those are the reasons, then it'll be fixed in your next shoot. All in all they do look cool as is. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OTavf50HaY

Seriously though, these are just me playing about. I'm doing everything myself and getting my girlfriend to act.

Lol, I wanna know how that talk went
- hey, wanna do something fun?
- what do you have in mind?
- well, I'm gonna take this camera, then we're gonna go in the woods and you waer this creppy mask
That's how horror movies start...slashers anyway.  

[Chicky]

This is cool. But it seems to me that you kind off pull the center of the shot a bit low. I'm pretty sure you're doing that in After effects, cause you're removing the camera shake, so some cropping occurs, still, you might wanna take that into consideration, that camera has more than enough px to take a wider shot and then zoom, especially if you're postprocessing this much.
In the first one (the test shoot), the shots are kind of too low at one point, but I think that's due to using a tripod and just not seeing that she'll be a bit high in the shot.

In any case, if those are the reasons, then it'll be fixed in your next shoot. All in all they do look cool as is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OTavf50HaY

Seriously though, these are just me playing about. I'm doing everything myself and getting my girlfriend to act.

Lol, I wanna know how that talk went
- hey, wanna do something fun?
- what do you have in mind?
- well, I'm gonna take this camera, then we're gonna go in the woods and you waer this creppy mask
That's how horror movies start...slashers anyway.  

You're correct with your second comment Anian, that's exactly how the convo went   Just to set you strait on the first point, the reason for the camera dipping is nothing to do with any post-processing stabilisation, i'm no cheater   It's due to a DIY camera stabiliser that is far from perfect, and the weight is a bit off causing the camera to dip. It beats going handheld though! Thanks for the comments!

[Anian]

...it's not cheating, it's postproduction.
DIY stabilizer you say? Hmm, you have a tutorial or something for that (pm if you do), not sure how it work for a photo camera.

[Buckethead]

cool stuff, I have only gotten to making holiday stuff. You obviously have more talent for short film!

[Chicky]

...it's not cheating, it's postproduction.
DIY stabilizer you say? Hmm, you have a tutorial or something for that (pm if you do), not sure how it work for a photo camera.

I was kidding. Anyway there's no excuse for shaky footage, that's why i used a stabiliser. "that camera has more than enough px to take a wider shot and then zoom" - this makes no sense, if i'm filming in HD to be screened in HD then taking a part of that image and zooming it in post (as a postpro stabilisation effect will do) leads to a significant decrease in quality. Hence me considering it cheating.

Sorry to rant!

Here's the link to that steadicam tut:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7JvgD1oO0g

[Anian]

I was kidding. Anyway there's no excuse for shaky footage, that's why i used a stabiliser. "that camera has more than enough px to take a wider shot and then zoom" - this makes no sense, if i'm filming in HD to be screened in HD then taking a part of that image and zooming it in post (as a postpro stabilisation effect will do) leads to a significant decrease in quality. Hence me considering it cheating.

Sorry to rant!

Rant accepted. Yeah, sorry, it's kind of late here (and I'm pretty much overcaffeinated), so for some reason I thought you wrote 720, for some bizzare reason, so I thought you could go higher then cut it off...nevermind.

In any case, I'm very jealous, I bought 400d a while ago and it is a pretty good piece of equipment, but having more megapixels and higher ISO and video options is just a way step forward.

And that diy steadcam setup is genius. There's brilliant stuff on the net these days, I was doing something late on a Sunday that was due on Monday, like a commercial photoshoot of a wristwatch, earings and such, so I found some instructions on how to make an origami ministudio for those sort of stuff, worked out brilliantly.

[Chicky]

I made my own dolly a few days ago from nothing but skateboard wheels, an old metal shelf and some curtain rail!

[evenwolf]

Real good stuff Chicky!   It's highly stylized and develops tone instantly.    If you ever need advice on anything production related these guys can *always* help: 

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/   (they have online film contests too)

[Dualnames]

I'm wondering the whole "old movie effect" was done in after effects or some post-editing program. How is that effect really called?
I didn't want to create another topic so please bare with my newbieness, I just don't know the word for it.

[Chicky]

I did an overlay of stock 8mm film footage and a vignette filter + colour correction, all in Final Cut Pro but could be done just as easily in After Effects.

...and that's a great link Evenwolf, they have some awesome prizes for the competitions!

[Anian]

I'm wondering the whole "old movie effect" was done in after effects or some post-editing program. How is that effect really called?
I didn't want to create another topic so please bare with my newbieness, I just don't know the word for it.

Don't know if it's any good, but should be a good video tut for AE: http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/old_film_look/

[Obi]

I made an artsy film too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZvbXRRoyIk

[Dualnames]

I'm wondering the whole "old movie effect" was done in after effects or some post-editing program. How is that effect really called?
I didn't want to create another topic so please bare with my newbieness, I just don't know the word for it.

Don't know if it's any good, but should be a good video tut for AE: http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/old_film_look/

Thanks a lot anian, that was very helpful, and thanks a lot to Chicky, keep us posted eh!

[ddq]

Unfortunately, I've never understood the difference between "experimental film" and "intentionally bad." Still, nice videos. Very high quality footage on the camera test, really fancy. Really neat music, too.

[Chicky]

You're fairly spot on ddq, experimental film is about breaking the conventions of the filmmaking process. Resulting in a lot of poor composition, bad direction and unusual editing.

Nice stuff Obi, good use of Andy Kramer. Lovely shot when he opens the curtains.

[Obi]

Thanks! He helped me get a 1st.