Glidetrack Shooter HD: First Impressions

Yesterday, I received my Glidetrack Shooter HD. The Glidetrack is a simple, portable dolly that you use for camera movements when shooting video. There are quite a few options out there for these slide-type dollies, but I choose Glidetrack because of it’s price point, it’s size (perfect for DSLRs), and from what I had read, their customer service.

First: I ordered this on a Tuesday at 4:00 PM (PST) and the package arrived less than 48 hours later. From the UK. That’s stinking awesome!

Second: I now understand why a lot of people online were saying that you only really need about two feet of length. I ordered the 0.5 meter version and it’s more than long enough for nice, slow moves. Also, if you mount your Glidetrack to a tripod, the shorter version maintains it’s stability better as you go end to end.

Third: It’s going to take a bit of practice to learn how to best use this tool. Below is some test footage I shot last night with my Canon T2i/550D. You’ll have to forgive me for shooting at a higher ISO, but my house just isn’t lit well.

UPDATE: After using the Glidetrack for a bit, I’d recommend getting the plain Glidetrack HD instead of the shooter. I’ve never actually used it in the shooter configuration.

FilmFellas: Wisdom from the Pros

Part of my philosophy of learning is to seek out those who have lots of experience and wisdom on a topic and learn all you can from them. Study their work and listen to their every word.

This week, I’ve been doing just that. Zacuto—a filmmaking accessories company—produces a web series called FilmFellas. The series concept is a dinner table conversation with professionals in the filmmaking industry. The conversations range from business to passions to education. Each episode is somewhere around 10-15 minutes long.

I watched all of cast 4 & 5 this week and started cast 6. And the first episode of cast 6 (episode 25) is a must see. I was inspired by the candid advice about what is important from seasoned professionals. If you have 11 minutes, you gotta stop and watch it.

iTunes Link: FilmFellas Episode 25: Living Your Passions

Working With Green Screen – Part 3

So, I never intended to write a third part on the lessons I learned working with green screen. But last week I was tasked with shooting some interviews and trying to create a couple products to be used on Sunday.

I had 5 days to pull it all together, which included one whole day of planning, writing, and setting up for the interviews. That left me 4 days to shoot and produce something that would look good (and hopefully have meaningful content). Since I had a couple week window the last time (a.k.a. my first time) working with green screen, I had to crank this out quick.

A quick diagram of my setup I worked with.

I shot this with my Canon T2i/550D using the Magic Lantern firmware hack. Magic Lantern is awesome. You’ve got to check it out if you’ve got a Canon DSLR (except the 7D). Since I lit both the screen and the subject better this time, I was able having a way easier time getting a decent key. This made it possible to key the project in Final Cut Pro—largely because I didn’t have as many lighting/shooting mistakes to fix—allowing me to save a ton of time. And since I learned last time that the order of my filters/effects make a difference, I used that to my advantage.

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Things I Learned: Green Screen – Part 2

This is Part 2 of Things I Learned: Green Screen. These are things I learned from my first time working with green screen. If you missed it, check out Part 1 which covered the setup and the shoot.

Post Production

Before I started to talking about the post production stuff, it might be nice to show you the final product from my first green screen shoot. So here you go.

My post workflow for this project was definitely unique. Introducing the keying element complicated things a little more than normal. For most projects, I do 95% in Final Cut Pro: importing footage, cutting, audio, and basic grading. If it is needed, I’ll occasionally cleanup or adjust audio with Soundtrack Pro and add titles with After Effects.

At first, I tried to do my keying in FCP. I used the plugin Primatte RT. It did a decent job, but lacked controls for fine tweaking. If quick is what you need, then this might be a good path for you. I ended up waiting to key the footage until I sent my edit to After Effects because I had no Idea how to export a sequnce from FCP with an alpha channel.

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Things I Learned: Green Screen – Part 1

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to shoot with a green screen. It was a first for me. Since sharing things that I learn is part of this blog, I thought it would be nice to share a few things I learned. I’ll be splitting up my thoughts into two parts: The Shoot & Post.

The Shoot

At work, I found an small conference room and started taping up the green screen with gaffers tape. I know it’s not the best way of doing things, but I had to get the job done.

LESSON #1: One thing that is important to shooting green screen is to make sure that the green screen is evenly lit. If it’s not evenly lit, you’re going to have a hard time pulling the key in post. I know. The first test shoot I didn’t have it lit well. It didn’t help that I was using a small light kit that didn’t have two good floods to evenly fill the green screen.

Here are two videos that give some tips on lighting the screen (neither of the videos are that good, but the tips might be helpful).

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Link Roundup: Which Lenses to Buy?

I love gear. And I admit I have a problem: I spend way too much time coveting the latest and greatest instead of shooting photos or filming. One of the things I love to do is find people’s recommended gear list, especially for lenses. So to save you the trouble of hunting down other people’s lists, I’ll post a few of the lists that I think are pretty good.

• Which… lenses to buy? | Philip Bloom
  Philip Bloom is one of the big voices out there for using DSLRs for video (when appropriate). His stuff is super informative and he’s a fun one to follow on twitter.
• Pimp Your Canon T2i/550D: Basic Lenses | Nino Leitner
  I found Nino’s blog when he shot a short film with the new-at-the-time Rebel T2i/550D. This was right when I was considering getting one.
• My Gear: Lenses | Vincent Laforet
  Vincent Laforet is director and an award-winning photographer. I really enjoy his blog.
• The Best Budget Lenses | The Photobloger
  I came across this list sometime ago, but it was recently posted on Gizmodo.com. I think it’s great list for those of us on a budget.

Real Snow vs Fake Snow

I totally misjudged snow in a commercial. For this holiday season Famous Footwear has a new commercial spot. I saw it once and thought that the snow falling was an After Effects created effect. That’s what inspired my tutorial on creating snow in After Effects. Here’s the commercial.

I was wrong.

Come to find out the commercial’s DP was Vincent Laforet. On his blog, he talks about the whole project. It was shot at 600 fps with 225,000 Watts of light! And real snow. You need to check out his blog and read about this commercial.

P.S. If you didn’t know, Vincent Laforet has been one of the biggest proponents of DSLRs for video. He’s a great resources if you are a DSLR video shooter.