Surfing in Thurso, Scotland - Critique Please
 

This is a video I put together. It was shot on My 7D and a Friend's 5DmkII during the O'neill Coldwater Classic in Thurso Scotland.

The Water shots were taken on the 5DmkII with a 15mm fisheye in a SPL waterhousing.
The shots of the surf competition were taken on the 7D with the 100-400mm lens.
Other lenses used were the 17-40mm and the tokina 11-16mm.
Some of the shots were taken on a glidetrack.

I am very new to video so it would be great if people could give me some constructive comments either positive, or negative. I just want some more insight than "cool video!" etc.

Great video
 

Hi Ben it's a great video. Well filmed, all in focus (which isn't easy). Good action shots, and music. Wll edited and sequenced.

Three points I would make (from someone new to this as well):

- The colour grading on the surfing scenes doesn't match the higher contrast of the cut in scenery - ie: deers,etc. It's a style and taste thing I guess - I over pimp all my footage to get more vibrant colour.
- It might be Vimeo letting you down, however I got pixelisation on a surfing transition about 75% into the video.
- Would love to see more of Scotland (but then I am biased); ie: a wide shot of the bay the surfers are surfing to orient the viewer to the location would be good.
- I loved the hedland shots - but you need an ND Filter like me to pimp that sky a little more. Something I have started to do (until my Fader ND arrives) is to drag a simulated ND Filter into the video (ie: a transparent gradient from the top of the frame faded to nuetral just above the horzon). It pops the sky and clouds a little more and you can use whatever colour fits the footage - warm at sunset - cool blue for middle of the day, etc.

Overall, a great video and to my untrained eyes of TV quality. Well done.

With regards

Jeff

Loved the way you interwove the video sequences. Absolutely hated the soundtrack - but that's a personal taste thing I guess (I turned the sound off in fact)

Thanks
 

Cheers for the feedback chaps.

Sorry It's taken a while to get back to you. To be honest I was on Holiday when I posted on this forum, and forgot about it!

I really appreciate your comments.

Terrence, I've never watched this with the music turned off. I just tried it now, and I think it shows up the faults more. I definitely used the music to tie it all together. Without thr music I would prefer to see more scenery, and have fewer really short cuts. I think that in the future I will watch what i'm prodcing without the music too to see if it is a coherent edit.

Jeff, I agree with the grading. I didn't really know what I was doing in terms of grading. I think that is another thing to take away from this. I'll plan a look and try to stick to it. I am definitely a high saturation and contrast chap too. A Fader ND is on my (ever growing) wish list!
I would also like to have included more of Scotland (I'm half scottish and I absolutely love it up there), but I didn't actually shoot any. Something to think about next time.

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to watch and give feedback on my video.

Ben