I thought it is about time to do a little post since I've recently finished work on the Hard Rock Hell 5 promo video. The theme for this years festival is going to be the Village of The Damned. This includes zombies, angels, demons and other assorted spooky shit. The video is viewable on the Hard Rock Hell website www.hardrockhell.com and through my youtube channel. I'll also embed it here at the end of this entry.
I'd liek to talk about the edit for a bit as it was quite challenging. It required a range of editing skills including animation, using filters and replacing sound in the footage I ripped right out of George A. Romero's Night of The Living Dead (1968). Speaking of which the reason I was able to get away with doing this was because the film is in the public domain. For those who don't know the whole reason behind this is because of an oversight when the distributor changed the name from its original title Night of The Flesh Eaters. The original title had the copyright notice underneath which was not replaced when they renamed it. US law required a proper notice of copyright for a copyright to exist. So if you've bought this movie on DVD you've been had. You could have downloaded it and it wouldn't have cost you a penny.
Back on track now. Visually speaking it is one of the more effects heavy things I've edited. I had to create fog and rain particle effects and also animate an explosion for the end. I also chucked a bad video filter over everything to try and mess everything up a bit and make the most of the inconsistent footage quality. One thing I've learned through experience is that if you have a bit of crap quality footage footage try and make it look like you want it to look like crap.
The sound was a simple case of running around with my Zoom audio recorder and making a random assortment of noises. The most embarassing highlight had to have been making zombie groaning noises and growls. Just as well no one was around to see or hear me do it. I also had help in the auditory department. Gemma Parr was kind enough to record some screams and zombie moans of her own. Thank god she did because I didn't fancy screaming like a woman. The music was provided by Attica Rage (surprise, surprise) and thanks goes out to Attica's Jonny Parr for helping with the interviews way back at Hard Rock Hell 4.
Speaking of Attica Rage, I'm hoping to have a teaser trailer ready shortly for the film (hopefully by the end of February). I'm hoping to have the film complete by May but I'm not setting that in stone since something always comes up to get in the way. So I think that's it for now. Until next time, later.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Friday, 14 January 2011
New Corporate Video & DSLR's
A bit of a late New Years update here. My latest video is now on line, A corporate how to video for Ian Kenny Framing Ltd. It is by no means the most exciting video ever made but it served as a good opportunity to work using a DSLR and assess its strengths and weaknesses. So here's my take.
First of all the pros. It is small and light and because it is a stills camera it doesn't freak people as much as a prosumer cam corder. You have the ability to change lenses which is huge if you are a no budget filmmaker. You have full 1080p at 25fps and 720p at 50fps. You also have a small file size due to it using the H.264 compression standard, so you roughly get 47mins on a 16GB HCSD card or compact flash.
Now the Cons. Useability is the main problem. Your hand has to be really steady when attempting handheld. I tend to strap a monopod to it for a bit of a counter weight. Most serious DSLR users buy a rig to combat this issue but this eliminates the compactness of the camera. Also the controls are hard to work with at times. Since you are working with white balance presets it is common to not have your balance correct. This happened a couple of times in this video and it is easily rectified in editing so its no biggy as long as the balance isn't way off. The biggest and most limiting con for me is you can't control the sound levels. So if you want seriously good sound you need to invest in a digital recorder like the Zoom H4n or if you are loaded a 4-channel Marantz. This again is a problem because you'll have to make sure to mark your shots every time (which you should do anyway) and realistically you'll need a second member of crew to act as a sound operator. It could be possible to do all of this yourself but it would slow you down and I guarantee that you'll fuck something up at least once. The final issue is that you are limited to a 12 minute clip length. This is only an issue in some instances when working on a documentary but when filming live it can cause a lot of fucking about trying to get the synch correct in editing.For a live performance I would not even thing about using a bunch of DSLR's to film the entire thing.
My overall impression is that DSLR's are another piece of the puzzle for a professional looking video/short/documentary. They are not the answer and anyone who says otherwise is just a fanboy of the tech. If you view yourself as a professional you have to look at equipment with an objective eye. I think the closest we have to the total solution is Panasonics new prosumer model but at £4,000 is it really that much better than a £700 to £1,300 DSLR I am unsure. Rant over now back to the video.
As you can see the video quality is immense. What you see is more or less unaltered from what was actually shot. As for the actual content of the video it does the job. It shows what it needs to and fits the brief. I think I actually liked the making of it more than the end result. It was pretty laid back and meeting the guys Andrew and Craig was fun. The only other thing I'd like to add is that you can tell by the Rangers shirts being mounted that it was filmed in Larkhall. I was tempted to colour replace the shirts with green in editing. I'm sure that would have went down well with the locals. Till next time, cheers.
First of all the pros. It is small and light and because it is a stills camera it doesn't freak people as much as a prosumer cam corder. You have the ability to change lenses which is huge if you are a no budget filmmaker. You have full 1080p at 25fps and 720p at 50fps. You also have a small file size due to it using the H.264 compression standard, so you roughly get 47mins on a 16GB HCSD card or compact flash.
Now the Cons. Useability is the main problem. Your hand has to be really steady when attempting handheld. I tend to strap a monopod to it for a bit of a counter weight. Most serious DSLR users buy a rig to combat this issue but this eliminates the compactness of the camera. Also the controls are hard to work with at times. Since you are working with white balance presets it is common to not have your balance correct. This happened a couple of times in this video and it is easily rectified in editing so its no biggy as long as the balance isn't way off. The biggest and most limiting con for me is you can't control the sound levels. So if you want seriously good sound you need to invest in a digital recorder like the Zoom H4n or if you are loaded a 4-channel Marantz. This again is a problem because you'll have to make sure to mark your shots every time (which you should do anyway) and realistically you'll need a second member of crew to act as a sound operator. It could be possible to do all of this yourself but it would slow you down and I guarantee that you'll fuck something up at least once. The final issue is that you are limited to a 12 minute clip length. This is only an issue in some instances when working on a documentary but when filming live it can cause a lot of fucking about trying to get the synch correct in editing.For a live performance I would not even thing about using a bunch of DSLR's to film the entire thing.
My overall impression is that DSLR's are another piece of the puzzle for a professional looking video/short/documentary. They are not the answer and anyone who says otherwise is just a fanboy of the tech. If you view yourself as a professional you have to look at equipment with an objective eye. I think the closest we have to the total solution is Panasonics new prosumer model but at £4,000 is it really that much better than a £700 to £1,300 DSLR I am unsure. Rant over now back to the video.
As you can see the video quality is immense. What you see is more or less unaltered from what was actually shot. As for the actual content of the video it does the job. It shows what it needs to and fits the brief. I think I actually liked the making of it more than the end result. It was pretty laid back and meeting the guys Andrew and Craig was fun. The only other thing I'd like to add is that you can tell by the Rangers shirts being mounted that it was filmed in Larkhall. I was tempted to colour replace the shirts with green in editing. I'm sure that would have went down well with the locals. Till next time, cheers.
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Hard Rock Hell IV + HRH V promo, Attica Rage videos
I am roughly two weeks removed from returning back from Hard Rock Hell IV on what is most likely my final festival/road trip with Attica Rage. It has been a fun ride but everything has to come to an end and it certainly finished in style. By style I'm meaning a 3 camera shoot of Attica's main stage opening set which will hopefully be additional content with the rockumentary film, due hopefully some point around the summer. In the mean time here are a couple of tracks. Thanks goes out to Roddy MacAudio for making the videos sound pretty damn good with his technical wizardry.
As well as filming Attica at the festival I was given the job of preparing the trailer for next years festival. So I managed to film bits of Airbourne (who were awsome by the way), UFO, MSG, and Skidrow. I also got to film Saxon, helping out a crew filming a documentary for UKTV/channel 4 which I believe was a complete waste of my time since they haven't contacted me about the footage. Overall I wasn't impressed with their conduct especially when the dude running things pulled me out of the pit while I was filming, completely uncaring of the fact that I am also shooting the HRH promo video. Overall it hasn't helped improve my opinion of industry people any. Typically the technical crew are sound, directors and producers are difficult (for the most part at least). It leaves me thinking that maybe being independant is a better fit for me than working for institutions like the BBC/ITV (not that they're knocking on my door anyway).
It's unfortunate I didn't get to see more stuff and chill out at the festival but at the end of the day if any of this stuff opens a door or a window it is worth the stress.
So since returning I've been snowed in, editing stuff. I've got my second corporate video near completion for Ian Kenny Framing Ltd. (guess what they do!) a local owned company operating between Larkhall and Hamilton. The video has allowed me to experiment with the Canon 550D and the results have been quite good so far. It is by no means the greatest corporate video ever made but it does he job.
So that is more or less me. I'll just leave this post by saying Merry (and hopefully sober) Christmas and I'll hopefully update this thing in the New Year. Cheers.
As well as filming Attica at the festival I was given the job of preparing the trailer for next years festival. So I managed to film bits of Airbourne (who were awsome by the way), UFO, MSG, and Skidrow. I also got to film Saxon, helping out a crew filming a documentary for UKTV/channel 4 which I believe was a complete waste of my time since they haven't contacted me about the footage. Overall I wasn't impressed with their conduct especially when the dude running things pulled me out of the pit while I was filming, completely uncaring of the fact that I am also shooting the HRH promo video. Overall it hasn't helped improve my opinion of industry people any. Typically the technical crew are sound, directors and producers are difficult (for the most part at least). It leaves me thinking that maybe being independant is a better fit for me than working for institutions like the BBC/ITV (not that they're knocking on my door anyway).
It's unfortunate I didn't get to see more stuff and chill out at the festival but at the end of the day if any of this stuff opens a door or a window it is worth the stress.
So since returning I've been snowed in, editing stuff. I've got my second corporate video near completion for Ian Kenny Framing Ltd. (guess what they do!) a local owned company operating between Larkhall and Hamilton. The video has allowed me to experiment with the Canon 550D and the results have been quite good so far. It is by no means the greatest corporate video ever made but it does he job.
So that is more or less me. I'll just leave this post by saying Merry (and hopefully sober) Christmas and I'll hopefully update this thing in the New Year. Cheers.
Monday, 15 November 2010
Marseille playlist, website & MMA documentary
Been a while since my last update. I have been busy juggling university rubbish, getting a website going, filming, and weight training for my latest project. I have therefore not had much time to piss away on writing this blog.
University has been getting me bogged down along with other things, only 6 months of it to go though. Then it is back in to the minimum wage working world again while I try and get my career happening. Yay, so I've got that to look forward too.
I've been working with the peeps at www.pokeintheeye.co.uk for the past few weeks, putting together a website for my services. The site is still being worked on, but it does the job at the moment. The address is www.colinwoodmedia.com if you want to take a look. Thanks to Neil Henderson for the cool photo of me which I borrowed without asking. Sorry.
In the filming department I've been working on a documentary to fulfill my university requirements this year on cagefighting/MMA. This is basically the first time I've been been in front of the camera in years and yes there is a reason for that. I fucking hate being filmed. So basically I am interviewer boy on this one. This is way out of my comfort zone. I hate not being able to see what the camera is shooting and I find that distracting me from my role of Louis Theroux type. So far it has been quite tough. I've had one great interview so far with Guy Ramsay (former Muay Thai fighter/gym co-owner). The man knows his stuff. I was filming an event in Lanark too which is actually the first cage fighting event I've been to. A cool experience but again I didn't feel that I was at my best. I can't help being a self critical bastard. A good thing to come out of this project is that I am re-commited to working out again. I plan on doing a bit of training for the film. Hopefully it will be entertaining to watch me move around with zero technique and at the same time I'll hopefully get some first hand perspective on the level of fitness required. That's the idea anyway.
I haven't posted anything in a little while so I'll fiish off by posting the Marseille gig I filmed at the beginning of October. Here it is in a nice wee playlist. Cheers again to the band and the crew who worked on this gig.
University has been getting me bogged down along with other things, only 6 months of it to go though. Then it is back in to the minimum wage working world again while I try and get my career happening. Yay, so I've got that to look forward too.
I've been working with the peeps at www.pokeintheeye.co.uk for the past few weeks, putting together a website for my services. The site is still being worked on, but it does the job at the moment. The address is www.colinwoodmedia.com if you want to take a look. Thanks to Neil Henderson for the cool photo of me which I borrowed without asking. Sorry.
In the filming department I've been working on a documentary to fulfill my university requirements this year on cagefighting/MMA. This is basically the first time I've been been in front of the camera in years and yes there is a reason for that. I fucking hate being filmed. So basically I am interviewer boy on this one. This is way out of my comfort zone. I hate not being able to see what the camera is shooting and I find that distracting me from my role of Louis Theroux type. So far it has been quite tough. I've had one great interview so far with Guy Ramsay (former Muay Thai fighter/gym co-owner). The man knows his stuff. I was filming an event in Lanark too which is actually the first cage fighting event I've been to. A cool experience but again I didn't feel that I was at my best. I can't help being a self critical bastard. A good thing to come out of this project is that I am re-commited to working out again. I plan on doing a bit of training for the film. Hopefully it will be entertaining to watch me move around with zero technique and at the same time I'll hopefully get some first hand perspective on the level of fitness required. That's the idea anyway.
I haven't posted anything in a little while so I'll fiish off by posting the Marseille gig I filmed at the beginning of October. Here it is in a nice wee playlist. Cheers again to the band and the crew who worked on this gig.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Neil Buchanan's Marseille & Stuff
Its been a busy few weeks and I've missed out on a tonne of sleep. The 1st of October saw me Calum MacPhail and my bro Keith film a band I've been wanting to film since I saw them play at Hard Rock Hell 3. Marseille featuring 'Art Attacks' Neil Buchanan have been touring the UK performing their new album 'Unfinished Business' since late September. So well in advance I somehow managed to convince the band to let me film them to bolster the old CV. Guess what? They agreed and me and my crew filmed them. The gig was good despite the turnout not being so great due to a last minute venue change. Thanks Rockers. The Marseille boys were cool as and put on a great show. I have already completed a rough edit which looked pretty good. Sound still needs a bit of work though. I've already let one or two special individuals have a gander and they dig it. As of now I don't know whats happening with it. This is still to be discussed with the band. Hopefully it will be a bit more than a youtube job. I'd just like to finish this part of my blog by saying it was an awesome sight filming an icon from my childhood proper rock out on stage. Awesome!
The following night I was part of a crew filming at the ABC. Yet another first for me. I don't want to say too much about the project because it's not my baby. It's pretty cool to say that I've filmed there though.
The Tuesday after that I was filming Attica Rage for the zillionth time as they supported Jorn. What a voice this guy has. He is probably the closest I'll ever get to hearing Ronnie James Dio sing in person *sob*. Another cool night. It was worth turning up just to annoy Big C with the camera one more time. Ha Ha! I have one other commitment with them at the end of the month.
I have also begun a documentary on MMA & Martial Arts in conjunction with the Griphouse Gym in Glasgow. This one is part of my university requirements so it means I am almost guaranteed to clash with whoever I get assigned as my project supervisor. As of yet I'm the only one who hasn't had one assignes. Maybe they are trying to tell me something???? Either that or it is another infamous UWS oversight. Thanks goes out to Guy Ramsay for giving me more or less unrestricted access to the Griphouse and events.
September and October have been fairly busy months. Can't complain about that. I hope it continues. More work please????
The following night I was part of a crew filming at the ABC. Yet another first for me. I don't want to say too much about the project because it's not my baby. It's pretty cool to say that I've filmed there though.
The Tuesday after that I was filming Attica Rage for the zillionth time as they supported Jorn. What a voice this guy has. He is probably the closest I'll ever get to hearing Ronnie James Dio sing in person *sob*. Another cool night. It was worth turning up just to annoy Big C with the camera one more time. Ha Ha! I have one other commitment with them at the end of the month.
I have also begun a documentary on MMA & Martial Arts in conjunction with the Griphouse Gym in Glasgow. This one is part of my university requirements so it means I am almost guaranteed to clash with whoever I get assigned as my project supervisor. As of yet I'm the only one who hasn't had one assignes. Maybe they are trying to tell me something???? Either that or it is another infamous UWS oversight. Thanks goes out to Guy Ramsay for giving me more or less unrestricted access to the Griphouse and events.
September and October have been fairly busy months. Can't complain about that. I hope it continues. More work please????
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Muay Thai at Oran Mor
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.
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.
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
