"The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica at DVinfo.net

Josh Becker · May 22nd, 2014, 08:48 AM

Shot over the course of 6 days in Dominica with the FS700+Odyssey7Q, GH3, and some GoPro Hero3's.

Let me know what you think!

Jody Arnott · May 22nd, 2014, 04:42 PM

Wow. Some incredible shots there. Great music too. Very well done! I'm inspired.

Edward Calabig · May 22nd, 2014, 07:39 PM

Man this is so awesome! That's awesome you were able to get the opportunity to shoot that kind of footage!

Chuck Spaulding · May 22nd, 2014, 11:42 PM

I agree, that was awesome. Very well done.

Josh Becker · May 23rd, 2014, 08:19 AM

Thanks guys! I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you're interested, I also posted some info/BTS stuff on the FS700 board:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-nxc...-fs700-7q.html

It was quite the trip and I'm really happy with what we created from it. As I'm sure you guys know, us shooters get caught in that catch-22 where someone says "Hey, we need really great travel footage, can you show me what you've done before?" and we have to look down at our feet and say "well... I don't really have any..." So I'm not only lucky to have traveled to this amazing island and create this video, but I feel like I have a project that can open doors for more opportunities like it.

Chuck Spaulding · May 23rd, 2014, 07:23 PM

Yeah, I've seen more of the tops of my shoes than I care to admit...

Was that the F700 with you on the front of that kayak?

Josh Becker · May 24th, 2014, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck Spaulding

Yeah, I've seen more of the tops of my shoes than I care to admit...

Was that the F700 with you on the front of that kayak?

Haha, yes it was. Probably not the wisest decision, but it got us three shots that ended up in the finished piece. So it was worth it in the end!

Noa Put · May 25th, 2014, 03:39 PM

There are some breathtaking shots in there, so vibrant and sharp, but there are also a few that look quite soft and dull in comparison, it's not that they are bad but the difference is quite noticeable at times. It almost looks like a mismatch in camera where the fs700 (shot in 4k and downsized to 1080p?) is outperforming the gh3?

Chuck Spaulding · May 25th, 2014, 11:39 PM

Without knowing exactly the shots your referring to its difficult to say but I'd guess that the softer shots where the GoPro shots. Would be interesting to find out.

Noa Put · May 26th, 2014, 12:48 AM

at 00:06 the guy on the bike and the shots from that guy with his backpack hiking in the forest looked noticeable softer.

Josh Becker · May 26th, 2014, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noa Put

at 00:06 the guy on the bike and the shots from that guy with his backpack hiking in the forest looked noticeable softer.

Hey Noa, yeah, both of those shots toward the beginning (bike and hiking) were on the GH3. Thanks for taking the time to check it out! It was interesting using a bunch of different cameras for the project, it was mostly due to the run-n-gun nature of only being there for a few days and shooting as we went.

From a technical standpoint, there are some other shots that we put in because we felt they worked on an edit/emotional level, even if they weren't the most pristine/perfect shots. The dolphin shooting was crazy on a bumpy boat with an 80-200 and they only popped up for a few minutes of our boat ride. That shot was the best cluster of dolphins but was back-focused a bit. Then the shot of filling the water bottle from the leaf, we were somewhat deep in a forested area, shooting at 240fps, so we lost a ton of light. I was trying to balance boosting the ISO (which I should have done) because we ended up having to lift a severely underexposed shot, introducing a lot of chroma noise (that cleaned up reasonably well in Resolve). Then we used Neat Video a little and H264 compression helped kind of clean up the rest.

Chuck Spaulding · May 26th, 2014, 03:18 PM

The cool thing about this discussion is that I had to go back to see what Noa was talking about and I enjoyed watching it as much as I did the first time.

Nicely done.

Noa Put · May 26th, 2014, 04:04 PM

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching it as well, I just notice these kind of things :) the gh3 shots appeared to be out of focus, especially the first guy on the bike shot and I"m sure the gh3 can do better then that, even the gopro underwater footage looked sharper.

Josh Becker · May 26th, 2014, 07:53 PM

Yeah, the GH3 shots are a little soft, it's normally sharp camera. Don't want to point fingers but it was the director using the GH3 out the car window (bike shot) and on the trail (i was the one hiking), haha. Of course, like I pointed out earlier, I had some of my own soft shots, that's the nature of run-n-gun.

It's interesting to discuss this stuff because in the edit, we had similar discussions where I was usually pushing for the technical things ("we can't use that, it's a little soft!") but the director was willing to overlook slight image imperfections in favor of what else the shot gave us in terms of emotion, context, and story. Because in the end, I think a lot of people who watched it and felt inspired by it wouldn't be able to tell you off hand exactly which shots were technically imperfect.

Noa Put · May 27th, 2014, 01:31 AM

I hope I don't come off as being negative, I just am giving my view on how I experienced the film because you did ask for opinions :)

I shoot in a run and gun environment every week so I know how difficult it can be and in that respect I can understand the softer focus on the dolphins which is a get it now or never shot and even if they where soft, they did match the other fs700 footage, the soft gh3 shots however where not taken under the same time pressure so it looks more like a operator error because the gh3 is capable of much sharper images.

The content and overall feel of the film is most important ofcourse but for me these softer shots, especially in combination with these rich in colour, sharp footage from the fs700 did distract and once that happens my attention shifts to any new footage that has the same issue and then you lost my attention.

And I didn't mention it before and now you probably will start to find me annoying :) is that I didn't like the voice over, don't know if it's the way he said it or just the voice itself.

But again, not saying it's bad, the fs700 nature footage looks just wonderfull, it's just a few things that got me distracted.

May 22nd, 2014, 08:48 AM	#1
Josh Becker New Boot Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 23	"The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica Dominica - The New on Vimeo Shot over the course of 6 days in Dominica with the FS700+Odyssey7Q, GH3, and some GoPro Hero3's. Let me know what you think!

May 22nd, 2014, 04:42 PM	#2
Jody Arnott Major Player Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Hamilton, New Zealand Posts: 747	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica Wow. Some incredible shots there. Great music too. Very well done! I'm inspired.

May 22nd, 2014, 07:39 PM	#3
Edward Calabig Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Seattle, Washington Posts: 173	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica Man this is so awesome! That's awesome you were able to get the opportunity to shoot that kind of footage! __________________ Lead Videographer/Editor at TSP Video www.tspvideo.com

May 22nd, 2014, 11:42 PM	#4
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,099	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica I agree, that was awesome. Very well done.

May 23rd, 2014, 08:19 AM	#5
Josh Becker New Boot Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 23	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica Thanks guys! I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you're interested, I also posted some info/BTS stuff on the FS700 board: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-nxc...-fs700-7q.html It was quite the trip and I'm really happy with what we created from it. As I'm sure you guys know, us shooters get caught in that catch-22 where someone says "Hey, we need really great travel footage, can you show me what you've done before?" and we have to look down at our feet and say "well... I don't really have any..." So I'm not only lucky to have traveled to this amazing island and create this video, but I feel like I have a project that can open doors for more opportunities like it.

May 23rd, 2014, 07:23 PM	#6
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,099	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica Yeah, I've seen more of the tops of my shoes than I care to admit... Was that the F700 with you on the front of that kayak?

May 25th, 2014, 03:39 PM	#8
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,509	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica There are some breathtaking shots in there, so vibrant and sharp, but there are also a few that look quite soft and dull in comparison, it's not that they are bad but the difference is quite noticeable at times. It almost looks like a mismatch in camera where the fs700 (shot in 4k and downsized to 1080p?) is outperforming the gh3?

May 25th, 2014, 11:39 PM	#9
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,099	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica Without knowing exactly the shots your referring to its difficult to say but I'd guess that the softer shots where the GoPro shots. Would be interesting to find out.

May 26th, 2014, 12:48 AM	#10
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,509	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica at 00:06 the guy on the bike and the shots from that guy with his backpack hiking in the forest looked noticeable softer.

May 26th, 2014, 03:18 PM	#12
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,099	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica The cool thing about this discussion is that I had to go back to see what Noa was talking about and I enjoyed watching it as much as I did the first time. Nicely done.

May 26th, 2014, 04:04 PM	#13
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,509	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching it as well, I just notice these kind of things :) the gh3 shots appeared to be out of focus, especially the first guy on the bike shot and I"m sure the gh3 can do better then that, even the gopro underwater footage looked sharper.

May 26th, 2014, 07:53 PM	#14
Josh Becker New Boot Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 23	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica Yeah, the GH3 shots are a little soft, it's normally sharp camera. Don't want to point fingers but it was the director using the GH3 out the car window (bike shot) and on the trail (i was the one hiking), haha. Of course, like I pointed out earlier, I had some of my own soft shots, that's the nature of run-n-gun. It's interesting to discuss this stuff because in the edit, we had similar discussions where I was usually pushing for the technical things ("we can't use that, it's a little soft!") but the director was willing to overlook slight image imperfections in favor of what else the shot gave us in terms of emotion, context, and story. Because in the end, I think a lot of people who watched it and felt inspired by it wouldn't be able to tell you off hand exactly which shots were technically imperfect.

May 27th, 2014, 01:31 AM	#15
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,509	Re: "The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica I hope I don't come off as being negative, I just am giving my view on how I experienced the film because you did ask for opinions :) I shoot in a run and gun environment every week so I know how difficult it can be and in that respect I can understand the softer focus on the dolphins which is a get it now or never shot and even if they where soft, they did match the other fs700 footage, the soft gh3 shots however where not taken under the same time pressure so it looks more like a operator error because the gh3 is capable of much sharper images. The content and overall feel of the film is most important ofcourse but for me these softer shots, especially in combination with these rich in colour, sharp footage from the fs700 did distract and once that happens my attention shifts to any new footage that has the same issue and then you lost my attention. And I didn't mention it before and now you probably will start to find me annoying :) is that I didn't like the voice over, don't know if it's the way he said it or just the voice itself. But again, not saying it's bad, the fs700 nature footage looks just wonderfull, it's just a few things that got me distracted.