Mack's Blog

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Category: Free Inquiry (page 1 of 1)

November 16, 2019 / 0 Comments

$$$$$$

I was doing some research the other day on different video cameras and equipment just out of curiosity. I was blown away. I knew stuff like this was expensive but I didn’t think it was THAT expensive. Heres an example. I went to Chris Bryan’s professional website. He is one of the lead cinematographers on mostly all of John John Florence’s videos. This is the URL to his website:

http://www.chrisbryanfilms.com/

and here is one of his latest videos:

MOCEAN. A film by Chris Bryan from Chris Bryan on Vimeo.

He has a really cool website, it was very aesthetically pleasing and at the bottom of the home page he can a continuous rotating gallery of the equipment he uses to shoot his videos.

Lets look at the first 6 cameras listed (all retail prices based on google):

  • Phantom Flex 4k
    •  Retail Price: $109,000 – $164,000
  • Red Epic-W 8k
    • Retail Price: $49,500
  • Red Weapon
    • Retail Price: $50,000
  • DJI Ronin 2
    • Retail Price: $10,000
  • ARRI Alexa Mini
    • Retail Price: $36,000
  • Gates Phantom 4k
    • Retail Price: $20,000

So in review, that is only half of his camera collection and that is $274,500. More than a quarter of a million dollars in cameras and that isn’t even including all the different customizations and accessories. I know that Chris Bryant had to start somewhere and that he is a professional now but its just hard to imagine how he got started and what he first used to get started because me trying to improve my cinematography skills looking at how expensive these cameras are is very discouraging. I know I just have to keep doing my thing but its just crazy to think of.

 

October 24, 2019 / 0 Comments

Inspiration

I would like to say that the videos I have made in the past are pretty original to me or so it felt. I had of course seen other examples of videography and cinematography but when I started making my  own videos, everything I put into them and every way I edited them just kind of came to me and I didn’t really feel like i was pulling certain ideas from any specific places. That being said, I do have some people that really inspire me to expand my capabilities and creativity when it comes to video making and thats this

The first person I will talk about is John John Florence.

John John Florence is and American surfer born on the North Shore of Hawaii. When he’s not surfing, or even when he’s surfing, he is an avid video maker and photographer. I knew about him before I came out here to the island but once i got here and immersed myself the the west coast surf culture i started following him more and more. Down below is one of my favorite videos by him and definitely one of my favorite videos of all time:

Space from John John Florence on Vimeo.

In this video, the landscape shots are absolutely stunning but the majority of the video is shot underwater which is equally amazing. I would absolutely love to be able to shoot videos under water but frankly that is just not a reality for me right now in terms of money but I will definitely continue to look at it all day.

Another one of John John’s videos, which is his most recent, features a lot more clips shot on land which i think are really really cool. This video (below) is a video i can totally see myself taking some inspiration from:

I really just like the , for lack of better words, “vibes” that John John’s videos exude. They are full of light hearted fun moments mixed together beautifully with intense surfing clips showcasing one the most raw and gnarly things this planet has to offer. All of his videos are presented so clean and crisp that it makes you want to watch them over and over again just so you can appreciate not only the time it took him to make and produce such a beautiful work of art but also to appreciate the feats he had to carry out within the videos themselves.

October 7, 2019 / 0 Comments

First Test

So I went to Langley over the weekend and I decided that it would be the perfect chance to test out some of the new settings I found. Ive mentioned in my last posts that ive had trouble with overexposure but I have had trouble with underexposure too and I hardly ever try to film things in the dark just because I know it wont even work. Since we took the 7:00am ferry it was still fairly dark on the way over so I used the new settings I found to set the exposure really low and this is what I got. I was pretty impressed honestly. I dont think anything would have been visible if i didnt find this setting change so im pretty happy.

Ferry

 

September 28, 2019 / 0 Comments

My Camera

I own a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera and it is what I have been Using to shoot videos. It works fairly well honestly. The sound I get from it is good, the picture is clean for the most part and its really easy use. A couple downsides I have noticed while using it is that it does not work very well on bright days or with bright things, it just looks washed out and overexposed and it doesnt focus very well sometimes. I have never played around with the settings for the video on the camera and frankly I have never even looked at the manual before this. I don’t have the physical manual but I found one online here: https://cdn-10.nikon-cdn.com/pdf/manuals/kie88335f7869dfuejdl=-cww2/D3100_EN.pdf

This is what i found:

  • The first thing I found is that you can change the focus mode for taking video. I have had it on Single Servo AF which is used for stationary objects and people only which would make sense of that fact that I had been having focussing issues. Theres 3 focus modes available on this model:

Single Servo AF – Auto Focus for stationary objects and people

Full-time Servo AF – Auto focus for moving objects and people

Manual – Manual focus

  • The second thing I found that could help me with my overexposure problem is using the AE-L/AF-L button to lock the exposure to stop it from fluctuating
  • But the third thing I found is the most exciting and honestly it’s kind of embarrassing that I haven’t found this before but there is a way to change the exposure compensation (+-5.0) which completely fixes my overexposure problem

I am very very excited to try out the new features I’ve found and i hope that my findings will clear up all the problems Iv’e had in the past. I am also  currently questioning myself as to why Iv’e never thought to look at the manual before.

 

 

 

September 23, 2019 / 0 Comments

Im trying!

In todays class I had a quick conversation with Val about my free inquiry and I am feeling much better about the whole project. I mentioned my general idea for it and we both started brainstorming more specific directions I could take it. A couple we discussed were based around, cameras used, editing tools, pros/what they use, and maybe even friends that I can talk to about videography as a whole. Anyways, I’m feeling way more confident in how this project is going to go and excited to get started.

September 16, 2019 / 0 Comments

Free Inquiry: Videography

Videography really interests me and so that is why i think i am going to dig deeper into the medium for my free inquiry project. I have a (pretty basic) DSLR camera but it takes  decent video and prior to this class i have made three, one minute videos consisting of a mashup of clips set to music. The videos are from surf trips, camping trips, and just fun times with friends and i honestly find them so much fun and so rewarding to make. Not only does it give me satisfaction to create something that i think is cool, it also makes me so happy to see the reaction of my friends when they see a video featuring themselves. These videos that i have made are fairly easy to shoot and really easy to edit but with this free inquiry project i thought it would be the perfect chance to maybe start doing some tougher things. With the camera i have i am going try to start making some more complex and technically demanding videos. I haven’t really explored my camera too much in terms of its video capabilities so for the first week i think thats a fitting place to start. This week i will explore the user manual of my camera and see what exactly i am working with. Later this week, i will post more information on my camera and its capabilities.

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