Comments on: The KNOW Tour by StillMotion http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/09/the-know-tour-by-stillmotion/ Create | Innovate | Educate Thu, 16 May 2013 15:00:12 +0200 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Shane http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/09/the-know-tour-by-stillmotion/comment-page-1/#comment-16373 Shane Fri, 28 Sep 2012 02:31:38 +0000 http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/?p=7190#comment-16373 Paper_bag, thank you so much for sharing. Paper_bag, thank you so much for sharing.

]]> By: Paper_bag http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/09/the-know-tour-by-stillmotion/comment-page-1/#comment-16351 Paper_bag Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:22:18 +0000 http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/?p=7190#comment-16351 One more for-the-little-that-it's-worth thought: another quality that I think makes a difference to Still Motion's wedding videos (apart from sheer creativity!) is using prime lenses as much as possible, particularly for ceremonies. I think what this might in turn require is: -- (a) a lot of planning (though this might seem obvious), so that you don't arrive at the ceremony location in a sweaty panic and have to work out on the spot where to position cameras, what lenses to use, how to cover each part of the ceremony. DSLR shooting isn't like the old days where you have an Ex3 on a single tripod, arrive 10 minutes before the couple with a lapel microphone ready and just wing it. -- (b) and/or the dexterity (and the proximity of gear) to be able to switch out lenses mid-ceremony, which is something I personally have always been scared of, but which Still Motion do do! For instance, switching out to a longer focal length for the more intimate parts of the ceremony. (Another advantage of the 135mm over the 70-200 is that normally you'd want to mount the tripod plate to the lens itself in the case of the 70-200, and this can mean all sorts of fiddling around if you're game enough to try to switch lenses during the ceremony.) One more for-the-little-that-it’s-worth thought: another quality that I think makes a difference to Still Motion’s wedding videos (apart from sheer creativity!) is using prime lenses as much as possible, particularly for ceremonies.

I think what this might in turn require is:

– (a) a lot of planning (though this might seem obvious), so that you don’t arrive at the ceremony location in a sweaty panic and have to work out on the spot where to position cameras, what lenses to use, how to cover each part of the ceremony. DSLR shooting isn’t like the old days where you have an Ex3 on a single tripod, arrive 10 minutes before the couple with a lapel microphone ready and just wing it.
– (b) and/or the dexterity (and the proximity of gear) to be able to switch out lenses mid-ceremony, which is something I personally have always been scared of, but which Still Motion do do! For instance, switching out to a longer focal length for the more intimate parts of the ceremony. (Another advantage of the 135mm over the 70-200 is that normally you’d want to mount the tripod plate to the lens itself in the case of the 70-200, and this can mean all sorts of fiddling around if you’re game enough to try to switch lenses during the ceremony.)

]]> By: Paper_bag http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/09/the-know-tour-by-stillmotion/comment-page-1/#comment-16317 Paper_bag Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:29:57 +0000 http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/?p=7190#comment-16317 Still Motion's stuff is always inspirational! Three quick thoughts: -- I think time invested in shooting makes a lot of difference to wedding films and helps to differentiate a couple's video from every other wedding highlights film out there. For instance, in the video above, presumably the hiking footage was shot before or after the wedding day itself. -- I think manpower makes a difference. Having multiple manned cameras so that you don't miss all the little moments -- people laughing, kissing, etc. The above looks to me like probably a three videographer shoot for at least part of the day, so that there's someone able to cover the setting up of the ceremony location while the other camera operators are covering bride and groom prep. -- I don't think it's practical for DSLR shooters to switch out ND filters in a fast-paced wedding environment to get shallow depth of field. The alternatives might be: high shutter speed, and therefore changing the look (the Still Motion solution); or variable NDs, and therefore, as Shane sometimes points out, making skin look matte. I suppose this is a limitation of DSLRs that doesn't often get mentioned... though perhaps it's a consideration that's more important for weddings than other sorts of shoots... Still Motion’s stuff is always inspirational!

Three quick thoughts:

– I think time invested in shooting makes a lot of difference to wedding films and helps to differentiate a couple’s video from every other wedding highlights film out there. For instance, in the video above, presumably the hiking footage was shot before or after the wedding day itself.

– I think manpower makes a difference. Having multiple manned cameras so that you don’t miss all the little moments — people laughing, kissing, etc. The above looks to me like probably a three videographer shoot for at least part of the day, so that there’s someone able to cover the setting up of the ceremony location while the other camera operators are covering bride and groom prep.

– I don’t think it’s practical for DSLR shooters to switch out ND filters in a fast-paced wedding environment to get shallow depth of field. The alternatives might be: high shutter speed, and therefore changing the look (the Still Motion solution); or variable NDs, and therefore, as Shane sometimes points out, making skin look matte. I suppose this is a limitation of DSLRs that doesn’t often get mentioned… though perhaps it’s a consideration that’s more important for weddings than other sorts of shoots…

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