Sunday the 19th of September was another first for me when I produced my first sporting event shoot. The event was a Muay Thai kickboxing event organisesd by Glasgow's Griphouse Gym. It was held at the stunning Oran Mor and was jumping. It was a hot and sweaty affair from beginning to end. Some of the fighters got very sweaty too (sorry bad joke).
Having spent the majority of the last 3 years shooting shooting and editing events videos I've become pretty competent at the whole thing. The principal is more or less the same no matter what the event is. It doesn't matter if it is a 3 minute Secret Wars video or a 5 hour Muay Thai event. The bottom line is that you have to show what is going on. Unlike a Secret Wars video, though, editing something like this is not really about being "stylish" or fancy or creative. Its a simple case of what I like to call mechanical editing. Basically you start by synching up the 3 cameras in your timeline then you start the process of cutting the "crap" footage camera by camera. With three cameras on this (one hard, two ringside) it was just a case of removing the crap from the two ringside cameras with the hard camera being the last resort camera. Then it is just a case of tidying up and picking the best shots when you have the choice. To quote that annoying meerkat, "simples".
The shoot was a test of stamina. Like I mentioned before the venue was hot and we were filming for 5 hours, more or less continuously. My brother Keith (ringside cam) and myself were knackered by intermission. The hard camera operator Alastair Adamson had the opposite problem. His body was ceased up by the end. If I ever film anything this long again I'll take a fourth operator so we can get rest periods.
Overall it was quite a challenging shoot and it wasn't without its mistakes. None of which were too serious and with multiple cameras they are easily covered. Here is a playlist with some sample fights of the night. I was only going to stick up a couple but they are proving to be mega popular so I may just stick them all up in the future. Till next time, Later.
Thanks goes out to Keith Wood and Alastair Adamson. Without their suffering this wouldn't have happened.
Wednesday 29 September 2010
Sunday 12 September 2010
Corporate video and Secret Wars quarter final
It has been a slow couple of months for me in the filming department but I'm looking forward to the next couple of months being extremely busy. I do have a couple of things to talk about so here it goes.
The first thing is than I have successfully completed my first corporate video. It was for GE (General Electric) Caledonian, based in Prestwick. Over the past few months I have been popping down on odd days and filming the engineers at work on the various parts that make up a jet engine. Its quite amazing seeing the process. Its also a bit scarey to think that if the smallest thing is overlooked it might bring down a plane. Just as well I'm not afraid of flying.
So on to the video. It is basically a typical corporate video. Some nice shots here and there but nothing really stands out about it as being exceptional. It was not the easiest shoot. This was mainly due to the fact that sometimes when there wasn't much going on. Very frustrating having to head all of the way in to Prestwick to shoot about 30 minutes of footage. The edit was also time consuming. I really struggled to get my hands on decent music which was the main delay. Luckily Big C of Attica Rage (with a little help from Xian) came through a wee tune that fit nicely. After that problem was sorted I was cooking with gas. Six or seven cuts later and this is what we ended up with.
Other than getting this corporate video out of the way I have only done one other shoot. This was The Secret Wars quarter final between Glasgow and Birmingham. It was a nightmare shoot. We were outside, the lighting consisted of two cheapo works lights and the place was packed out (good for the organizers but not for me). And then there was the combined smell of paint fumes and weed to contend with. I don't think I've ever felt so close to 'high' in my life. Thanks goes out to Calum MacPhail for suffering with me (although he did blag a few beers out of it) and giving me a bed (actually a two seater couch) to spend the night. The edit turned out much better than expected. Definately the must fun Secret Wars edit I've had since the first one. I had the first cut done in about a day with the final one done within the week (a personal record, I think). Here is the link to the video and the Bristol battle which I had forgotten to post a couple of months ago. Later folks
The first thing is than I have successfully completed my first corporate video. It was for GE (General Electric) Caledonian, based in Prestwick. Over the past few months I have been popping down on odd days and filming the engineers at work on the various parts that make up a jet engine. Its quite amazing seeing the process. Its also a bit scarey to think that if the smallest thing is overlooked it might bring down a plane. Just as well I'm not afraid of flying.
So on to the video. It is basically a typical corporate video. Some nice shots here and there but nothing really stands out about it as being exceptional. It was not the easiest shoot. This was mainly due to the fact that sometimes when there wasn't much going on. Very frustrating having to head all of the way in to Prestwick to shoot about 30 minutes of footage. The edit was also time consuming. I really struggled to get my hands on decent music which was the main delay. Luckily Big C of Attica Rage (with a little help from Xian) came through a wee tune that fit nicely. After that problem was sorted I was cooking with gas. Six or seven cuts later and this is what we ended up with.
GE Caledonian corporate video from Colin Wood on Vimeo.
Other than getting this corporate video out of the way I have only done one other shoot. This was The Secret Wars quarter final between Glasgow and Birmingham. It was a nightmare shoot. We were outside, the lighting consisted of two cheapo works lights and the place was packed out (good for the organizers but not for me). And then there was the combined smell of paint fumes and weed to contend with. I don't think I've ever felt so close to 'high' in my life. Thanks goes out to Calum MacPhail for suffering with me (although he did blag a few beers out of it) and giving me a bed (actually a two seater couch) to spend the night. The edit turned out much better than expected. Definately the must fun Secret Wars edit I've had since the first one. I had the first cut done in about a day with the final one done within the week (a personal record, I think). Here is the link to the video and the Bristol battle which I had forgotten to post a couple of months ago. Later folks
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