J SWEETS
I'M CB!
This is going to be the first thing I do to try to liven up this section of the forum.
Yes I stole it from SP, but it's something the scooter world needs for sure.
The Filming Bible
Thy Shalt Praise Thy Lords, O Sesh and O Grandman, The masters of yonder Bible. Render yourself to http://www.seshskate.com and http://www.skateperception.com to vieweth yonder besteth skateboard videographi.
Saint Sesh - Chapter 1
We know fisheye shots are overused so step it up with the long lens shit. I like it because there is so much you can do with a long lens shot that you cant do with a fisheye. Look at your surrounding. Composite your shot. Look at what you have to use.
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Saint Paul - Chapter 2
White Balance : Use certain colors to give the look you want along with the trick. Set your white balance to adjust everything. I personally like a golden tint to my footy, made by white balancing on blue (example jeans, clear sky). Experiment with colors. Also take a white card with you when filming to be able to neutralise your white balance in wierd lighting situations, especially in skateparks that have flourescents lights in them, as this gives you footy an orange look.
----------------------
St Gilbert - Chapter 3
Exposure: Usually filmers are going to run into lots of poorly lit settings. In a lot of cases their is nothing you can do. Its just you standing alone with your exposure controls. In this case pump that sucka up becaue the trick is usually the only thing you should care about here. make sure you can see it well. Use your white balance, ND filters, Exposure, and shutter speed all to your advantage.
----------------------
St Mechordie - Chapter 4
Screw on your fisheye right: on some shots you can see little corners on the bottom and top. This is sometimes because the filmer hasnt read the directions to his fisheye. Screw it on right , but don't force anything. Also remember that some fisheyes always have vignetting (example mark 1 bayonet on vx1000). Another thing is to make sure that the lens guards on your death lens are in the right place, other wise you will see them in ths shot.
----------------------
St Latestrend- Chapter 5
Framing: this is a big one. Use your objects in your surrounding to frame your shot. You can make interesting shapes around the borders or your frame and have your skater do his trick in the middle. Just use the things around you (ex. trees, walls). Or you can be really unique and block out some of your shot and control what the viewer sees be careful though. remember your main obligation is to get the trick on tape successfully.
----------------------
St Foe - Chapter 6
Depth of field: Manual focus is such a useful tool on 3ccd cams. It isn't that great on single ccd cams but on 3ccd-iers you can do some great things. Your can place objects in the foreground and have your skateboarder in the background and rack focus back and forth. Or vice versa. Also remember that a bigger aperture ( such as f1.6 will produce a shorter depth of field then a smaller aperture (such as f11)
----------------------
St Miam - Chapter 7
Moving long lense shots: You have to pull it off right. do moving long lense shots and pass bys from every direction to see what looks the best. Also mix it up with some zooming and manual focusing, they can look amazing
----------------------
St Bibble - Chapter 8
Get a lot of coverage of everything going on. You don't want to miss out on any angles. Search everywhere around the skater and try it from every angle and actually film it. Ask the skater to to more than once the same trick at different angles, but if your going for a real hammer you better find that perfect angle..
----------------------
St PleaseStopPokingMe EyeBum- Chapter 9
Recording : Press the button way early and end way late. You never want to miss out on those rare and special occurances that a lot of people do becaue they are concerned about tape. Do this, and when you stop recording so you can review, you can fastforward to *nearly* the end of your footage and start recording there. Yes, you lose that second or so of previous footage, but your timecode is intact.
----------------------
St Fumble - Chapter 10
Use your viewfinder. It prevents battery comsumption and its easier to set manual settings with it, seeing that with the LCD the lighting around you changes everything you see on the LCD.
----------------------
St Accel - Chapter 11
Always look through something when filming fisheye, be it the LCD or viewfinder. I've always preferred the viewfinder, just don't go blind eye.
----------------------
St Bazil- Chapter 12
Zooming in after a trick : If you really want to do this, which I don't recommend as it is alreday used by lots of filmers. But if you do decide to use this technique, you need to flow it. Don't wait for 10 seconds after the landed trick to point your cam at the ground. Do so rapidly and then zoom in so you have some cool transition to edit too. Make sure the camera moves with the skater and flows nicely and right after the landed trick pound your zoom into the ground just like the skater pounded his landed trick on the ground. You have to flow with the skateboarder too. Again, I recommend against you using this technique.
----------------------
St Friday - Chapter 13
Cutting tricks together. Getting one long lens shot and one fisheye shot is the way one usually does it. But if you want to get tech herei s a secret . Go and learn about screen direction. Look on http://www.google.com for info about it. If you can maintain screen direction while you cut tricks together then you will be a huge step ahead of 97% of the pro filmers.
----------------------
St ChompOnThis - Chapter14
Develop your own filming style, don't rip off someone elses camera tricks. For example the Sorry video's filmer had shots where he twisted the cam around to totally distort the skate obstacle. Im not really stoked on this camera trick and im not sure why a lot of people try to imitate it, but thats lame. Make your own style be original.
----------------------
St Nipples - Chapter 15
Give it a wash : Clean your lens pratically before and after every trick. Half water, half Windex works well, but so does optical paper and other lens cleaning products. Even though you cant see the dust on your lense in the viewfinder it will magically appear on a computer or tv screen TRUST ME those little specks are out to ruin you.
----------------------
St Ladd - Chapter 16
Set exposure while you film lines. Keep your exposure on manual and before filming the line run through it on your board and test the exposure settings for every area you roll through and count how many small clicks back and forth each part is. This is hard and risky but once you master it well then you are damn good.
----------------------
St Evans - Chapter 17
Lighting: Soooo useful. Its your best friend and greatest enemy. Play with the light on your shots. Lens flares can either be cool looking or annoying so watch out. Backlighting is cool. Play with your white balance and you can make all the light golden. Usually afternoons when the sun is getting low are the best times to shoot. Always great lighting then.
----------------------
St OohJustALittleToTheRightOhThatsPerfect - Chapter18
Auto focus at lowly lit conditions : Watch out this can hurt you. Always switch to manual during these times as the focus will go in and out because it doesn't have enough light to focus onto.
----------------------
St Burn - Chapter 19
Kenko lenses: these are ok but whatever you do dont take the macro off and turn it into a super fisheye. That is the most ridiculous thing i have ever seen, don't do it, it's got tons of vignetting.
----------------------
St DontThinkYourGoodUnlessSomeoneSaysYouAre - Chapter 20
Doesnt matter what you film with: It's how you use it. There are so many worthless 3 chip filmers. But remember companies like 411VM only accept 3 chip footage.
----------------------
St Orangina-Chapter 21
Get the craziest angle. If it means climbing a tree or a roof then go for it. You only want the best shot
----------------------
St Belgium - Chapter 22
Your cameras gonna get hit so get insurance.
Yes I stole it from SP, but it's something the scooter world needs for sure.
The Filming Bible
Thy Shalt Praise Thy Lords, O Sesh and O Grandman, The masters of yonder Bible. Render yourself to http://www.seshskate.com and http://www.skateperception.com to vieweth yonder besteth skateboard videographi.
Saint Sesh - Chapter 1
We know fisheye shots are overused so step it up with the long lens shit. I like it because there is so much you can do with a long lens shot that you cant do with a fisheye. Look at your surrounding. Composite your shot. Look at what you have to use.
----------------------
Saint Paul - Chapter 2
White Balance : Use certain colors to give the look you want along with the trick. Set your white balance to adjust everything. I personally like a golden tint to my footy, made by white balancing on blue (example jeans, clear sky). Experiment with colors. Also take a white card with you when filming to be able to neutralise your white balance in wierd lighting situations, especially in skateparks that have flourescents lights in them, as this gives you footy an orange look.
----------------------
St Gilbert - Chapter 3
Exposure: Usually filmers are going to run into lots of poorly lit settings. In a lot of cases their is nothing you can do. Its just you standing alone with your exposure controls. In this case pump that sucka up becaue the trick is usually the only thing you should care about here. make sure you can see it well. Use your white balance, ND filters, Exposure, and shutter speed all to your advantage.
----------------------
St Mechordie - Chapter 4
Screw on your fisheye right: on some shots you can see little corners on the bottom and top. This is sometimes because the filmer hasnt read the directions to his fisheye. Screw it on right , but don't force anything. Also remember that some fisheyes always have vignetting (example mark 1 bayonet on vx1000). Another thing is to make sure that the lens guards on your death lens are in the right place, other wise you will see them in ths shot.
----------------------
St Latestrend- Chapter 5
Framing: this is a big one. Use your objects in your surrounding to frame your shot. You can make interesting shapes around the borders or your frame and have your skater do his trick in the middle. Just use the things around you (ex. trees, walls). Or you can be really unique and block out some of your shot and control what the viewer sees be careful though. remember your main obligation is to get the trick on tape successfully.
----------------------
St Foe - Chapter 6
Depth of field: Manual focus is such a useful tool on 3ccd cams. It isn't that great on single ccd cams but on 3ccd-iers you can do some great things. Your can place objects in the foreground and have your skateboarder in the background and rack focus back and forth. Or vice versa. Also remember that a bigger aperture ( such as f1.6 will produce a shorter depth of field then a smaller aperture (such as f11)
----------------------
St Miam - Chapter 7
Moving long lense shots: You have to pull it off right. do moving long lense shots and pass bys from every direction to see what looks the best. Also mix it up with some zooming and manual focusing, they can look amazing
----------------------
St Bibble - Chapter 8
Get a lot of coverage of everything going on. You don't want to miss out on any angles. Search everywhere around the skater and try it from every angle and actually film it. Ask the skater to to more than once the same trick at different angles, but if your going for a real hammer you better find that perfect angle..
----------------------
St PleaseStopPokingMe EyeBum- Chapter 9
Recording : Press the button way early and end way late. You never want to miss out on those rare and special occurances that a lot of people do becaue they are concerned about tape. Do this, and when you stop recording so you can review, you can fastforward to *nearly* the end of your footage and start recording there. Yes, you lose that second or so of previous footage, but your timecode is intact.
----------------------
St Fumble - Chapter 10
Use your viewfinder. It prevents battery comsumption and its easier to set manual settings with it, seeing that with the LCD the lighting around you changes everything you see on the LCD.
----------------------
St Accel - Chapter 11
Always look through something when filming fisheye, be it the LCD or viewfinder. I've always preferred the viewfinder, just don't go blind eye.
----------------------
St Bazil- Chapter 12
Zooming in after a trick : If you really want to do this, which I don't recommend as it is alreday used by lots of filmers. But if you do decide to use this technique, you need to flow it. Don't wait for 10 seconds after the landed trick to point your cam at the ground. Do so rapidly and then zoom in so you have some cool transition to edit too. Make sure the camera moves with the skater and flows nicely and right after the landed trick pound your zoom into the ground just like the skater pounded his landed trick on the ground. You have to flow with the skateboarder too. Again, I recommend against you using this technique.
----------------------
St Friday - Chapter 13
Cutting tricks together. Getting one long lens shot and one fisheye shot is the way one usually does it. But if you want to get tech herei s a secret . Go and learn about screen direction. Look on http://www.google.com for info about it. If you can maintain screen direction while you cut tricks together then you will be a huge step ahead of 97% of the pro filmers.
----------------------
St ChompOnThis - Chapter14
Develop your own filming style, don't rip off someone elses camera tricks. For example the Sorry video's filmer had shots where he twisted the cam around to totally distort the skate obstacle. Im not really stoked on this camera trick and im not sure why a lot of people try to imitate it, but thats lame. Make your own style be original.
----------------------
St Nipples - Chapter 15
Give it a wash : Clean your lens pratically before and after every trick. Half water, half Windex works well, but so does optical paper and other lens cleaning products. Even though you cant see the dust on your lense in the viewfinder it will magically appear on a computer or tv screen TRUST ME those little specks are out to ruin you.
----------------------
St Ladd - Chapter 16
Set exposure while you film lines. Keep your exposure on manual and before filming the line run through it on your board and test the exposure settings for every area you roll through and count how many small clicks back and forth each part is. This is hard and risky but once you master it well then you are damn good.
----------------------
St Evans - Chapter 17
Lighting: Soooo useful. Its your best friend and greatest enemy. Play with the light on your shots. Lens flares can either be cool looking or annoying so watch out. Backlighting is cool. Play with your white balance and you can make all the light golden. Usually afternoons when the sun is getting low are the best times to shoot. Always great lighting then.
----------------------
St OohJustALittleToTheRightOhThatsPerfect - Chapter18
Auto focus at lowly lit conditions : Watch out this can hurt you. Always switch to manual during these times as the focus will go in and out because it doesn't have enough light to focus onto.
----------------------
St Burn - Chapter 19
Kenko lenses: these are ok but whatever you do dont take the macro off and turn it into a super fisheye. That is the most ridiculous thing i have ever seen, don't do it, it's got tons of vignetting.
----------------------
St DontThinkYourGoodUnlessSomeoneSaysYouAre - Chapter 20
Doesnt matter what you film with: It's how you use it. There are so many worthless 3 chip filmers. But remember companies like 411VM only accept 3 chip footage.
----------------------
St Orangina-Chapter 21
Get the craziest angle. If it means climbing a tree or a roof then go for it. You only want the best shot
----------------------
St Belgium - Chapter 22
Your cameras gonna get hit so get insurance.
