Music Video shot with mini35
 

Hey guys--Below is a link to a music vid I shot with the mini35 a couple months ago (just got it posted on the next a week ago). I would love to get everyone's feedback. We shot with my DVX100A and a mini35 400 rented from an outfit in Colorado (can't remember the name) as they are apparently no rental houses in LA that carry the mini35 (Charles, is this true? We couldn't find any.) We rented the Zeiss Prime package and a 135mm tele, but I don't think we used the tele. Per Charles recommendations, a professional 1st AC was hired and was definitely critical. he also brought along a friend as a 2nd AC (who thankfully worked for free...our budget was about 7k) and turned out to be a huge help...calibrating the set monitor, getting lenses (which turns out to be quite a task when you are shooting with primes and keep changing your mind on focal length) and other misc. duties. He was pretty busy, w/out changing a single mag! The most expensive part of the budget was the gaffer, key grip, and best boy and their lighting package, but again, definitely worth it (though it was not my dollar, so perhaps I'd feel differently if it was). Anyway, a great experience and a really cool piece of gear. All the settings on the DVX100 were left at stock and a minimal amount of color correct was done on Avid Xpress Pro in post (mostly to build contrast). The version you see on the web is about a 3rd generation, and I've been meaning to ouput a high quality one but one of my drives died and I have to rebuild part of the video. This will account for the milky blacks and other undesirable compression artifacts. lastly, the b&W studio ftg was shot with a stock DVX100. We did find the mini35 to be pretty noisy, after it had warmed up, but of course we were MOS so it didn't matter. But I would think shooting sync sound might be a little harder to conceal the noise. Charles, what has been your experience with this? Any blimping necessary? OK, sorry for the long post.

Peter

The video:

http://www.debraarlyn.com/cd.html

Click on "I Love You' .wmv on the right of the page.

Man that was wicked - great work (good song too)! I really like the coloring, lighting and fluidity of shots - and of course the editing is solid. There is nothing really bad I can say about this gem, but there did appear to be some sync issues with the vocals. Maybe just a web thing?

Audio noise
 

Always use wireless with the mini and have never had any "noise" issues, nice work.


Steve

Peter:

First, I'm honored that you found my advice worthwhile! It's great to get feedback like that.

Very nice, clean, glossy look to the video. It has a consistency and style that works well for the material. It's just amazing that one can achieve this kind of look 1) on video and 2) with a $3500 camera, right? (alright, we all know that the Mini35 and lenses are considerably more expensive, but it's the idea that the engine is so inexpensive that is somewhat mindblowing, if you consider where we were with all this only a few short years ago).

Picking lenses--definitely an acquired skill! I have a little challenge with myself to get it right the first time and I give myself demerits for having to make a second call when it happens. It's only after years of playing the "guess the lens" game as an operator that I'm even at this stage!

As far as the sound issue, I've been lucky with mine (and oh yeah, mine is available to rent to qualified parties in the LA area! Mostly I'm subrenting through rental houses) so it hasn't been a problem in sound scenes, but I keep hearing about this in other units.

Good job Peter!

Don't want to post an ad here, but...
 

I don't want to post an ad here, but... you did ask if there were any rental houses in LA w/ the Mini35. FYI, we're here in Hollywood and we carry Zeiss primes, sound equipment and more. We have the 400 series w/ adapters for the XL1 and DVX, and we've got an XL2 and adapter on order for September.

Great work on the video. Particularly good work on lighting many of the color scenes.

Keep it up!

Thanks for the kind words guys. Regarding the sync issues, that could be partly an internet thing and partly an editor (me) thing. We didn't have an electronic slate so I synced everything by eye, and ear, and after a while I think your brain sort of makes adjustments and doesn't see when a shot is a frame or two out of sync. I think maybe I will go back one of these days and re-sync with a fresh look at the material. Thanks again for all the great feedback!

Peter