Cork, South Africa
 

I recently purchased my XH-A1 for a mission trip to South Africa. I've posted the whole 22 minute video on Vimeo (although it's not working right now), feel free to shuttle through it to get a feel for what it was like. You can catch it on my website in the meantime.
http://podraza.org/corkvideo/Cork%20Final%20-%20HDV.mov

I did not shoot near enough video for what I needed, so I used stills for a large portion of the video.

All of the interviews were shot in front of a green screen that was not well lit. I used the chroma key filter in final cut and it turned out fine for me. There are a few interviews that you can a little green. For the backgrounds, I filmed about two minutes of scenery in some different locations specifically for the interviews.

I used the Panalook2 preset for the whole trip, and only color corrected the interviews.

I struggled with focus using the small viewfinder, and some of my footage turned out darker than I thought it would have. I will set the zebras at 100% next time, and work from there. It was also difficult to keep the camera steady while shooting handheld. I used the tripod as a monopod near the end of the trip, and that helped.

Video is set to 'private'.

thanks, should be public now!

"SORRY
This video no longer exists"

2135 GMT

Man, this thing is more trouble than I thought it would be. You can see it for now on my website, thanks for hanging with me on this.

http://podraza.org/corkvideo/Cork%20Final%20-%20HDV.mov

Now I'm getting the Quicktime logo with the question mark :-)

Vimeo link should now work...
 

http://www.vimeo.com/1502885

Apparently they were a few people with this problem...sorry for the trouble!

Hey, I finally got the video to work... Nice to see another Birmingham brother on the site... As far as the project goes I thought it was great...

Some minor critiques or tips would be...

Do an audio pass as well as a color correction pass... Even the photos... You could adjust the contrast (curves adj) on the pictures and it would help them really pop out... You had several really great shots in there... Some of the shots seemed to have been shot on Auto... That mode will bump up your shutter speed at times to adjust for lighting conditions... I typically always shoot manual but to bridge that gap until you get use to it, you may try shooting in shutter priority mode... This will help you keep your shutter speed and adjust your iris and ND filters... I think because of the high shutter speed it over exaggerated the shakiness of the shots.. Might also make sure that the optical image stabilization is on...

I thought the key you got from the green screen was pretty good... You may try to constrain the matte just a little to compensate for the green area around the subject... It is a little tough with the HDV 4:2:0 but it is totally doable...

I'm curious how long you guys were there and how many hours of footage you came away with...?

I thought the use of the pictures was great and you did a great job animating the pictures in and out...

I would also suggest adding a credit sequence at the end as well as information on how to donate funds to the people of Cork...

These are just my two cents worth... Take them for what they are worth... : )

Well done, very moving film. I became very involved and almost forgot to notice technical details, so I'm disqualifying myself from commenting on the length and pace etc.

I would second Doug's comments about the audio. During Autumn's interview after about 15 or 20 seconds she drops her voice and I had to adjust the playback volume a couple of times. On the stills, I have noticed before from other missions to similar places that the photos are often a little flat and benefit from a wee bit tweaking on the colour.

Credits would be good with info as Doug suggested.

Thanks for the helpful critiques and tips, I was a little under the gun to finish it, so overall color correction and audio tweaks got pushed to the side. I guess videos are never really done, you just run out of time!

I did struggle with what setting to shoot on. I think I shot on Tv or Av and tried to adjust on the fly. I just wasn't completely comfortable with the camera in getting the shots i needed on Manual. This is camera is a bit more finicky than the DVX100B, for me I think it was easier to just shoot and it turned out well. I need to practice more with the XHA1.

Thanks for watching the video, it's a great place, and I hope to go back there next summer.