Watch the new futuristic sci-fi short from HaZ Dulull, that I had the pleasure of working on!
Five things I wish I knew when I started as a videographer....
Five things I wish I knew when I first jumped into the creative videograpy adventure that is my life:
1. It does not matter what camera you use, invest wisely in reliable glass.
Entitled 'F**k with nature and nature f**ks with you', after previewing it appears it loads as a playlist, so please skip down to the bottom! Shot on my first DSLR; Nikon D5000 and 17-50mm F/3.5 -5.6, a uni project.
2. Work for free (yes, it's the only way you'll generate enough video content, but you'll make friends, have a good laugh, experience terrible mistakes and awesome times).
Produced by Adam Plowden Videography, edited by Joe Bannister. Shot on Canon 60D, Tamron 17-50, Canon 50mm F/1.8, Canon 18-135mm
3. Fix it in post doesn't exist, in fact, trying to fix it in post can do more harm than good (at least with low budget DSLR productions like mine still are.. For now..).
I had to return to Sian Williams' house because I had over exposed a shot, and didn't get good enough sound during her interview.. Produced by Adam Plowden Videography, 'Behind The Scenes' uni project and mini web series.
4. Think of the sound and the light, our primary senses for absorbing content.
A quick example video shot for my Manfrotto Takeover seminar showing the use of sound and light in short video drama to add emotion. 5DmkIII, Samyang 35mm, Tamron 24-70
5. Be yourself and create things that inspire you.. IE: Put you in your work. Copying other artists doesn't make you stand out, you can learn from them and implement your flair and style into whatever you do. That way, when you begin to get clients you know they are interested in not just what you make, but the person behind it.
A personal favorite is filming plants and nature, a good excuse to get away from the computer! 'Waterhouse' produced by Adam Plowden Videography.
Bonus tip. It is kind of included as part of No.2: Collaborate and work with others from different mediums; actors, musicians, vfx artists etc. It is how new ideas are generated!
SYNC is HaZ Dulull's new short film, I worked with him as well as DP Adam Batchelor on the production! It is backed by Blackmagic Design, Adobe, HP and more so give some support!!!
I hope these little tips will serve you well, a shout out to Dave Beck at Avenger and John Harris at John Harris Media too I couldn't have done it without you! And Glen and Sam. Much love.
IBC Show 2014 Roundup!
What a week it was! There was no doubts we would be busy filming and editing videos for The IABM to release, but not on the scale we anticipated! Overall, Adam Plowden Videography captured and produced at least 8-10 videos each day, an incredible 6 times more video content delivered in one week than previously in the whole of 2013!
I did include a run-down of my kit choices before I left, but here is a quick summary of my chosen equipment to capture the IBC Show:
Manfrotto 546GB twin leg tripod with a 504HD head (A Cam).
Canon 5D mkIII, Tamron 24-70mm, Sigma 70-200mm, Samyang 14mm, 35mm, 85mm, Canon 100mm L.
Manfrotto 755CX3G tripod with a MVH500AH head (B Cam).
Canon 60D, Tamron 17-50mm, Canon 50mm.
Manfrotto Hydra Arm and super clamp.
Zoom H6, Sennheiser ENG-G3 RxTx kit, Roto-mic.
(This is the kit we took each day to film with!)
I had to have the above tripod gear after testing them out at my Manfrotto Takeover day, I was impressed by the fluidity of the 504 head when using it with telephoto lenses (as you can see above), however for lightweight, portable and quick 'run and gun' filming, the 755CX3G is a cracking go to set of legs. (Pictured above with the ProMediaGear Arc-Slider) and 701HDV head.
My main camera was: Canon 5D mkIII, and I was frequently using the Tamron 24-70 F/2.8 VC and Sigma 70-200 F/2.8 DC OS for 'go to' lenses around the show. They have a stabilizer in the lens, which means that shake and wobble can be eliminated. I also purchased the Canon 100mm F/2.8L macro lens before the trip for detail shots, but I fell in love with it for capturing everything; crisp and beautifully shallow portraits too.
For establishing and wide shots, the Samyang 14mm T/3.1 cine lens came into it's own. On a full frame camera it has a huge wide angle view allowing to capture the biggest of expanses with clarity.
Day 2 - Thursday 11th September - Welcome to IBC
Things are gearing up at the RAI; exhibitors are flooding through the doors, the stands are quickly being finished and the equipment is on display. IBC Show 2014 is getting ready to open its doors to 50,000 broadcasting, media and IT professionals from across the globe. We began filming the exterior the the RAI with visitors entering the venue and registering in the main foyer; the arc slider and 14mm lens create a wonderful moving perspective. After a short explore around hall 10 and 11 we made our way to The IABM Members Lounge to film an exclusive interview with Peter White, CEO of The IABM.
The IABM is a global broadcasting organization, representing nearly 80% of the broadcasting industry. The members have access to an exclusive members lounge, the IABM business conference, design & innovation awards and much more. It was our job to capture the events, conferences and members at IBC to promote and inform others about the successes at the show. For the interview, I used the Canon 5D mkIII, Tamron 24-70mm, the B cam was a Canon 60D with Canon 50mm F/1.8. For a reliable audio source I used the Zoom H6 (multi-channel recorder) with the MS mic attachment, as well as the Sennheiser ENG-G3 wireless mic kit; this was so I could attach a lav mic on the interviewees for clear sound.
Yes, this did mean throughout the week we had different video and audio sources, but Red Giant Pluraleyes aided greatly in syncing up the V&A for editing in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.
Editing the IBC Intro video with Peter White on my laptop, yes, Windows laptop!
After capturing the buzz and excitement of pre-IBC, we headed back to our hotel to edit the intro video for the IABM members to see. The editing was fast, but the uploading was terrible via Wi-Fi, having learned our lesson, we uploaded the rest of the videos in the press room at IBC instead! Unfortunately, the video is only viewable for IABM members, so here is a quick screenshot.
Later on, we ventured out into the city of Amsterdam. It was Glen's first time, so I look him for a tour around the sights.
Day 3 - Friday 12th September - IABM Business Conference 'The Future of Broadcasting' and member interviews.
It was an early start on Friday, we arrived at the RAI for the IABM business conference at 6:45am to set up and capture the members breakfast, the conference and the post networking before the show got underway that day. For added motion, I used the ProMediaGear Arc-slider for some of the opening shots, but the main conference was shot on 3 static cameras.
For a mid shot of the speaker, I shot on the Sigma 70-200mm, and for a wide I used the 60D with the 17-50mm. Glen was filming from the front for a reverse angle on the 60D and Canon 100m L, which captured some stunning reaction shots of the attendees in low light. Unfortunately, this video is only available to watch for IABM members.
As our responsibility was to capture and edit videos for a same day or next day release, our two man filming team split so that Glen could begin ingesting, backing up and editing the conference video while I went out into the show and interviewed a number of IABM members. This turned out to be a godsend tactic to release a stream of high quality videos each day. It was, however, difficult to keep track of all the media from SD and CF cards...
That day, I filmed interviews with Georacing, Harmonic, Nexidia that we edited out for same day release:
I then jetted off to The IABM stand to meet the new winners of the Student award from The IABM (I won last year), to capture some interviews with them about their study and what they are looking forward to at IBC!
Day 4 - Design & Innovation Awards and member interviews
We were already half way through our IBC experience when Saturday struck, after a successful few days of filming and editing we geared ourselves up for a long day ahead. The day begun with a selection of IABM member interviews from around the show, including; Blackmagic Design, Avid, Newtek, Sony and many more. If you have been to IBC or NAB before you'll know how long it takes to get from one place to another, but with video kit it was a challenge to navigate around the thousands of people at the show!
I had a great time at the Sony booth, interviewing Peter Sykes about the new innovations; camera, 4K transmission, projectors, storage devices. They can be seen here:
I was intrigued by the Sony A7s, a full frame SLR with great low light and DR features.. There was lots of hype around the camera, and I had noticed a lot of the News Shooter guys using them with Atomos Ninja/Blade recorders (we were working next to Dan Chung and News Shooter in the press room), they rated it very well in a variety of conditions and shooting styles.
Bad luck struck on Saturday afternoon... My Canon 60D and 14mm cine lens was capturing a timelapse when it was moved/taken/stolen from where I left it.. Knowing that this would impact the video production of the D&I awards I quickly got help from RAI security to try and locate it. No luck, so later on that afternoon I borrowed a camera from an IABM member to capture a static wide shot of the awards ceremony. Luckily, when I arrived home I got a call from the RAI security who informed me they had found my camera!
We then got set up and prepared for The IABM Design and Innovation Awards 2014, celebrating and awarding outstanding technical developments in the broadcasting and media industry. Before IBC I edited and produced the 9 nominee category videos and graphics presented throughout the awards. Using the same setup as the IABM conference (A cam - Tele, B cam - wide, C cam - reactions) we captured the night in full, showing the excitement and buzz around winning the awards. I got to have a quick chat with some of the winner companies too!
I edited together the highlights of the IABM Design and Innovation Awards, which can be viewed here -
The individual winner interviews can be viewed here:
Systems - VidiGo
Testing - Cube-tec
Storage - Ardis
Post Production - Quantel
Playout - Elemental Technologies
Content + Infrastructure - NTT Electronics
Audio - Sennheiser
Acquisition + Production - Trimaran
The realities of working 12-14 hour days were catching up with us when we returned to our hotel to ingest and back up the footage. Finally, but 1:30am on Sunday all of the footage was synced and ready to be edited. At that point, we both thought its time to call it a day.
Day 5 - Delivering D&I Award Videos and member interviews
By Sunday, the main haul of event capture had been completed, with the remaining tasks being mainly interviews with members around the IBC show. As our editing 'system' had worked so well previously, Glen stayed in the press room using both our laptops to edit, export and upload the winner videos from the awards while I conducted interviews with more exhibitors and IBC members.
I had a great time at the Atomos booth interviewing Jeromy the CEO about the new Shogun for 4K recording and the power pack!
Atomos Interview -
Later that day I bumped into Joe, my old uni housemate who was visiting the show for a day. Later, Glen and myself went for Mexican for dinner and met up with our hotel receptionist, Klaudija for a few drinks in Vondelpark!
At this point, I was completely over my missing 60D and the tiredness. Visiting IBC and Amsterdam for work is a very rare opportunity, so we plowed through and continued to produce great day by day coverage of the show for The IABM. Glen, bless him saw less and less daylight each day!
Day 5 - Rising Stars and more member interviews
Arriving at IBC a little later than usual, Glen and myself parked up the the press area and set up the laptops to upload the previous days interviews to vimeo. Before we headed out to Steve Warners talk at Rising Stars I bumped into Nino Leitner who was off to Photokina that afternoon, so I grabbed a quick pic! Nino had been very busy with Cinema 5D coverage of the show producing their 'On The Couch' series with Philip Bloom, HaZ Dullul and more.
At this point, we had captured around 350Gb of video footage and delivered numerous interviews and event videos for The IABM, they were very pleased! We headed over to The Rising Stars lounge; a part of the show dedicated to young professionals in the industry where Steve Warner (training manager of The IABM) was doing a talk on CV's and representing yourself. Even for me, it was quite interesting to hear what recruiters actually look out for and research!
Catch the full video here -
The team then split so I could conduct some interviews with The IABM student award winners, and with a couple more members for The IABM annual conference in December. It was a short and sweet day; shooting multi-cam on talks and conferences made editing fairly straight forward so we were able to deliver the videos pretty much on the same day. Glen did an awesome job and editing videos out quickly. while I was filming more content!
Day 6 - Last interviews
Day 6 was our opportunity to capture the last interview and glimpse of the show until next year. As we were interviewing members and covering events, we didn't get to see that much of the show itself, but made time to visit some cool stands before we left on Tuesday afternoon.
We visited the Ross Video stand, to interview Pete Ross for The IABM annual conference, it was interesting to hear about how the company developed the first vision mixers and lead the way for broadcast production throughout the 20th century, definitely worth recognition.
Well, what an incredible time it has been.. We captured over 400Gb of footage and audio, combined with hours of graphics produced before the show. We delivered (and are continuing to deliver) over 55 videos online for The IABM. What a show, what a success! My huge thanks go to the other half of the team, Glen Symes for his help and dedication to getting the videos out, and dealing with my stresses of production and post throughout! Also thanks to The IABM for giving me the opportunity to cover The IBC Show 2014 for you.
Ooh, I almost forgot I stopped by the Vitec Videocom stand to say hi to the Manfrotto reps and return the tripods and grip we borrowed for filming. While we were there I asked Sofia for a short piece to camera on the new Manfrotto tripods and kit; I was over the moon to hear a new follow focus has been developed to go with the SYMPLA rig!
Check out the video with Manfrotto here -
I've met up with old friends, and made many new ones. My experience has been overwhelming this year, now I cannot wait to do it all again at The IABM Annual Conference and hopefully IBC 2015! If you have any questions about how we produced the videos, or IBC then drop me a tweet @Plowman91 or comment!
I'm still editing and uploading more videos, so keep updated by checking out The IABM website for more videos and content, and I will have an IBC 2014 wrap up video coming soon. UNTIL NEXT YEAR!
Adams video week roundup!
Blimey lots has been going on over the last week, I hope it has been as hectic for you as it has been for me! Monday started with continuing the design of the graphics for a recycling animation, a daunting task which put my drawing skills to the test. Bearing in mind I've spent the majority of the last year behind a camera, I took my time to learn the techniques I would need to use Illustrator properly. I would usually use Photoshop over Illustrator, but until I recently found out PS is not truly vector, and as I would be using a combination of the Pen tool and others to design the images this was very important, as I would need to transform the graphics later in After Effects.
My best mate Glen came down from Wycombe for a surprise week to, so I spent plenty of time catching up with him and chatting about work. He gave me so very important advice; "Everything is too complicated these days, you should keep it simple and your audience won't know the difference, especially if it is moving and animated anyway." True words, and I took Glens advice which not only sped up the process, but made me more confident with the work I was producing.
Here's a screenshot to show all of them! (I think I am working on a 10K canvas).
The graphics design has been on-going, I practiced when I was first commissioned, but it just shows how familiarizing yourself with the tools and applications can ease your work! A very very important part of this process was to intensively storyboard and plan each scene, so I know what graphics can be generated beforehand, so I spent a good couple of days story boarding and sketching the graphics I would need, followed by a long list of assets I would go on to to create.
Pre-vis sketches:
For the rest of the week I started importing the graphics into After Effects, and setting up the 15 scenes. I am finally starting to see progress! I am still working on this section, and it will take another week or so to complete all the animations. Again, I storyboarded this in the planning, so I know exactly what to produce for which scene which saves so much time. Also, the best thing about this planning part is that it does not have to be a work of art to depict your ideas, just a simple sketch to represent what you will need to create.
On Thursday I joined a crew of fashion designers, hair stylists and models to film a magazine photoshoot for Sherman Hawthorne (the hair stylist and creative director of the shoot) at The Lemonade Factory studios on Queenstown road. With eccentric styles and art direction, I set about to capture high contrast, dramatic footage which will compliment the photos. It was an early start, here I am waiting for my train at Clapham Junction;
I was a single shooter, I had the pleasure of transporting the equipment to the shoot which included a steadicam vest that I ended up not using. I've learned my lesson here not to take extra kit!
My kit list was as follows:
Canon 5DmkIII (A camera), Canon 60D (B camera)
Tamron 24-70 F/2.8 VC, Samyang 14mm T/3.1 cine, Samyang 35mm T/1.5 cine, Nikkor 50mm F/1.4 manual, Samyang 85mm T/1.5 cine, Sigma 70-200 F/2.8 OS
Manfrotto 755CX3, Manfrotto MVH700AH, Manfrotto Hydra arm and super clamp,
CamSmart camera rig + Lilliput field monitor, CamSmart Stabilizer vest, Flycam Nano
Zoom H6, Rotolight Roto-mic.
As with all of these shoots, time runs short so I was restricted to short burst of filming time with the models to capture the specific ethereal and industrial motif, but I also shot around the photographer to maximize my usable footage. I made use of the 50fps slow motion for the moving shots, so that the models movements are exaggerated, as well as stabilizing the shot.
As the props included wire fencing and chicken wire, aliasing was a problem when shooting shallow depth of field, or at an angle to the object. To remedy this I used a lower aperture (F/4-5.6) for some shots, but also I can add a Gaussian blur in Premiere Pro when editing to soften the lines, gently smoothing out unwanted aliasing.
A couple of frame grabs from the shoot!
Here I'm using a moving shot to create a distorted perspective from outside of the set.
Here I use a low angle shot, removing the identity of the model to create a 'trapped' and 'mysterious' feel to the model, and why she is in the box.
Weekends are always working weekend for creatives and freelancers. I spent yesterday working on the animation of the recycling project again, continuing to compose the scenes using simple 2D shapes and animation styles that have become very popular recently.
I also came across this post from Chase Jarvis about how to manage your time properly, its a great post with a detailed outline of 90-minute working slots that should improve your productivity, I urge you to read it if you're someone like me who can't stop working, then apply the plan to your working life. I know I will be!
Do Less = Do More by Chase Jarvis
I haven't had many #videoquestions come in recently, so please keep them coming so I can help with tips for the community of videographers and creatives! Send them over to me @Plowman91 on Twitter.
Finally, ending with a must watch video, check out Philip Bloom's video shot with the Blackmagic Production Camera, the 4K one at Miami Beach, what do you think of it? Is it worth investing now the Panasonic GH4 is on pre-order and it looks like Sony will have a 4K DSLR announcement coming at NAB2014 too..!!
Philip Blooms Four Corners Miami Beach (Blackmagic 4K camera)
That's all for now folks! Keep the creative juices flowing!
Adam Plowden @ IBC 2013 - New Tokina Cine Lenses Video
https://vimeo.com/75340958 Here is the video with Chris from Tokina, talking about the new range of T3 cine lenses!
Tokina's NEW Cine Lenses!
At IBC 2013, Tokina announced a new range of cine lenses for Super35 and Full Frame sensors which include a full line up from 11-16mm, 16-26mm and 50-135mm, all at T3, and all manual.
I had a chat with Chris, the General Manager of Tokina about the lenses at their booth. He was just as excited as I was about the release of the new range, the 11-16mm especially. This is due to the small sensor size of the Black Magic Cinema Camera, which has a 2x (+-) magnification factor. This causes a standard 16mm lens to be multiplied to around 40mm, so achieving wide angle shots becomes rather difficult.
However (and I had no idea people had been converting the already famous Tokina 11-16mm ATX for Super35 mounts) Tokina saw the potential and grabbed the chance to deliver a sharp, accurate and very bright lens. The build quality is fantastic, and the resulting image is a wonderful wide angle!
Chris also talked about the range including the 16-28mm and 50-135mm which is to be released in November this year, I cannot wait to get my hands on one! They did not have the 50-135mm on display, but as you can see from the size of the 16-28mm it will probably be a beast of a piece of glass! I am expecting a separate lens barrel stand or some kind of rig-rail to keep it on the camera!
I'm in contact with the guys over at Tokina so I will keep updating on the progress of the lenses and new models!
IBC Blues..
Although IBC 2013 and my time in the wonderful city of Amsterdam is now over, and yes I am feeling the withdrawal symptoms of being a tourist. But, I realized this morning that I shouldn't be sad about leaving behind the great experience of IBC, meeting the other Engineering Student Award winners from the IABM, who traveled from all over the world to come! As I have made so many connections, collaborations and friends that the work is already pouring in, following networking with the manufacturers and visitors! I will hopefully be returning to Amsterdam in November for a big event, where I will be producing digital media content! For now, I must catch up on sleeping, eating and sorting out all the footage I shot, and editing it into some cool videos for you guys to watch, and I hope it will help you! Videos include talks with; Nanguang, Tokina, Ikegami, NHK, F&V and much more, plus many photos of new products as well, so keep updated and please share!
Myself outside the Amsterdam RAI, the conference center where the incredible 14 halls of IBC are held.
The wonderful Hotel Atlanta, on Rembrandplein, surrounded by great bars and the staff were awesome too!
Canon C300 on a Zacuto shoulder mount rig.
Myself and Masato Kobayashi of Ikegami, he developed the system to implement an Arri Alexa sensor into a fully operational studio system camera, for use with fiber connections to CCU's and OCP's. They also developed a tiny 3 chip HD camera, which received a whopping 70 orders from EarthTV over the week. I will be doing an in depth post on Ikegami's work and innovations soon!
This awesome experience was provided by The International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers, thank you so much for this life changing opportunity that has truly kick started my career in the media and broadcast industry! I look forward to next year already, and maybe, I will be exhibiting!