Like I said last week I got the approval to film in the "glass house" not far from where I live and today was the day :)

I was very lucky as today they are closed for the public and you can only get in if you have an appointment and approval, when I came in I was all alone for the day so I had the whole building all to myself, I was even more lucky when a glass artist came in as well (normally they never make glass on a Monday) and he didn't mind if I would film him, you can't imagine how excited I was :D

I was there between 09:00 and 14:00 and was filming non stop and I"m dead tired right now from running up and down those stairs and that several times but I feel it was worth it.

I used my Canon 10-22mm f3.5/4.5, Samyang 35mm f1.4, Samyang 85mm f1.4, Tamron macro 90mm f2.8 lenses and my homemade slider, was planning to take my steadicam with me as well but decided last minute to leave it at home as I didn't knew what to expect if I would arrive (never thought I would end up alone). The macro was used for those extreme close ups with crazy shallow dof, it was an excellent lens to show all those details in the glass art, the Canon was used at 10mm all the time and it deformed quite a bit on the edges of the image but that was an effect I was after (a bit like those curves in the glass) and I wanted to capture the large hall in one shot.

In this video I tried to use the reflection of the glass as much as possible as dissolves which I think gives a nice effect and tried to keep a natural flow in my movements which wasn't easy with a crappy tripod and slider.

I must say the size of the Sony does take some getting used to, it's quite a beast and sometimes limits certain movements which easily can be done with a small dslr.

So here it is, hope you like it:

Glass House - SONY NEX EA50 on Vimeo

One word.

AMAZING

Just goes to show the capabilities of this camera. You are really putting your purchase to use.

I feel so embarassed. I have yet to do a proper video with mine !!! Forget weddings ... I want to create a mini film like you of just some place nice.

Such a fantastic video. Well done.

Can I ask, what software you used to edit? what work did you have to do in post? any grading, sharpness etc?

I must say the size of the Sony does take some getting used to, it's quite a beast and sometimes limits certain movements which easily can be done with a small dslr.

Glass House - SONY NEX EA50 on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/58924666)

Yes, but don't you find the weight and size almost helps stabilize the image?

For example, on my VG20 when I use my Helios F2.0 Prime lens it is very hard to not get shaky footage. But yet, when I put the lens on my Sony EA50, it is smooooth almost like the lens has built in OSS.

Beautiful! Amazing subject and fantastic shot composition! Hot edit, congratulations.

Nice job Noa!!

Yeah I can imagine that a couple of times up and down those stairs would make your legs feel like jelly.

James? I have the same situation! The weight (I think actually more the balance now) of the EA-50 or just purely the form factor helps stability ..I find it easier to keep really steady than my Panasonic which is over 1kg heavier BUT it higher too ...the very low height of the Sony helps keep the centre of balance low too. With small primes up front however the camera is a little back heavy sometimes.

Chris

Noa, you said "hope you like it"- a bit like saying I hope the sun comes up somewhere tomorrow!

Beautiful work, and I'm sure inspirational to us all. I trust you have done, or will be doing a marketing video for them. You know how to use the paintbrushes! (see my signature).
Cheers!
Rod

Nice job Noa!!

Yeah I can imagine that a couple of times up and down those stairs would make your legs feel like jelly.

James? I have the same situation! The weight (I think actually more the balance now) of the EA-50 or just purely the form factor helps stability ..I find it easier to keep really steady than my Panasonic which is over 1kg heavier BUT it higher too ...the very low height of the Sony helps keep the centre of balance low too. With small primes up front however the camera is a little back heavy sometimes.

Chris

Yes!! that's exactly what I meant. The balance of the Sony EA50 is perfect. Even with a prime, I find it so nice to handle ... The only drawbacks I can see of this camera is trying to use it in tight spaces.

Thx for the nice words :)

Noa, you said "hope you like it"- a bit like saying I hope the sun comes up somewhere tomorrow!

Well, this morning I couldn't see any sun as it has been raining almost constantly again :)

Can I ask, what software you used to edit? what work did you have to do in post? any grading, sharpness etc?
I use Edius 6.5 but my edit is usually very basic with straight cuts and dissolves, nothing fancy. I did apply some sharpening and added some contrast and saturation.

Yes, but don't you find the weight and size almost helps stabilize the image?
I was actually referring to the size in small spaces, on the stairs f.i. I did a few shots but was limited in movement because the length of the camera. But like you said, the camera is much more stable when doing handheld shots, there are 2 close up in the video (at 02:25 where I did 2 "over the shoulder" of the glass artist shots) that where done handheld with a 35 and 85mm prime (not stabilized) which I could not have done with my dslr without applying a stabilizer in post. Now I could just use the footage without any post treatment.

Forget weddings ... I want to create a mini film like you of just some place nice.
What are you waiting for? You know what NIKE's slogan is. :)

I enjoy this time of year the most as I can do what I like, I also like these "shorts" as I always try to shoot and have the edit ready in 1 or max 2 days so I can start thinking about what I do next :) It's this kind of "free" experimenting that helps me develop my shooting style.

Normally I hardly use the macro lens as it is a very specific purpose lens but I like using it a lot as it can produce some dream like imagery with very soft backgrounds and very smooth transitions in color and exposure. So I was thinking of doing a macro (meaning extreme closeup) video only next, I have no idea yet what subject and how but it's just to challenge myself into doing it what can make shooting video exciting even if the end result is not what you expect, it's the learning prosess that counts. Just do it... :)

Great work Noa, a creative place to work in.

Now you can meet with a glass blower and make a doco about how he does it.

Nice HOT closeups, check the cam manual for the upper range :)

Cheers.

Noa,

Thank you. I am inspired again!!!

Steve

Beautiful.

Excellent work Noa!

Hi Noa, here's another glass house video, yours is much better .. and aaargh! the last note is out of tune.

NIKKOR 80th Anniversary Special Movie - YouTube

Send 'em a link to your video, with a Happy 80th Birthday card .. and include your business card mate.

Cheers.

Terrific place for a shoot without question. The camera is a beast. It takes quite a bit of time to get use to it. Primes do lighten the load however. Great video for sure.

Send 'em a link to your video, with a Happy 80th Birthday card .. and include your business card mate.

The city Lommel, where I made the video has already started to share the video through their social network like facebook so it might reach Nikon Japan in that way :D

Even though I made the video just for fun I do know it might open up other opportunities, you never know if the city needs a video done about their other cultural activities and then they might think of me. So it's a good combination of pleasure and business :)

Your suggestion of meeting up with a glass blower to do a docu sounded interesting and after doing some inquiries there is one living just 500 meter from my place! I do live in an area known for it's glass activities (I can see the glass factory AGC from my bedroom window and there's a big site nearby where they get all the sand for producing all the glass, AGC is a big player when it comes to glass production)

Usually I prefer to do "film and edited in a day" kind of stuff when it comes to shooting for fun but maybe it would be good to do a docu or narrative type of film where I have no experience in, would be interesting to see where that leads me.

I"ll try to make some contacts and see if I"m able to get something going.

Primes do lighten the load however.

That's one of the main reason why one should be using this camera. Eventhough the stock lens is great, you can visually get so much more out of prime lenses.
If you are into creative work being able to slap on a macro, or a super wide, a super tele and go crazy with shallow dof should a particular shot benefit from it you are entering a whole new world what can't be achieved with small sensor and fixed lens camera's.

But with talent and a simple camera like a Sony vg10 and the 18-200 stock lens you can do amazing things as well, below a video I found with the best images I have seen so far to come out of that small Sony:
Random collisions on Vimeo

Awesome work! what tripod adapter do you have for those upwards rotating shots of the ceiling?

Really nice :)

See image, it has my xh-a1 attached to it but just to give you an idea, you can be very creative with a slider if you want :)

Very nice - the shot looks like the camera is rotating on it's axis but it is actually offset - works well!

Hi Noa, the one aspect of that Nikkor vid I think worth noting, is the way they've cut to the music. Notice the glockenspiel or bell sound.
Fits as a 'glass' sound.

I remember something similar, I found the perfect music track and after editing the vid, in the studio I tracked various bells at certain edit points,
building up to the product reveal.

eg: to emphasis the heat they work with, cut on the beat to extreme close-ups of the hot molten glass.
Add a cymbal crash to the track right there, the counterpoint could be, slow dissolves to the lovely finished colored glass pieces.

Some people would never notice it, but other discerning people will, and they're always the ones you play to.
A bonus is the satisfaction rating ... 10/10 :)

Philip Bloom also a great sense of rhythm and music and does that very well.

Cheers.

I have made contact with a glassblower and will meet him this monday to see what the possibilities are to do a small docu, I also contacted a user on this forum that has the same camera as I do so we could do a 2 camera shoot, maybe for an interview or so. But I was actually thinking of using only natural sound this time so will be spending a lot of time on recording sound. It's the first time I do something like this so I have no idea how it will turn out, to be continued...:)

Whacko! (as we say in Australia mate) What a way to go! (as they say in Belgium?)

Assuming you're shooting new footage at your Glass House and you know its layout, talk to the blowers first about what they want to see,
then write a basic shooting script. Start with the history of Belgium Glass? Include some museum stills?

Work out how long your show is going to be, absolute max 20 mins. After 20 you'd better be telling the audience they just won Lotto because after that they'll literally fall asleep :)

Follow this by doing a storyboard, doesn't matter if you can't draw, just roughly sketch it. You'd be surprised how this will all start to fall together.

And I'd use music, 100% sound (location sound) won't hold the audience for the show and sound is 50-70% of what you see.
Use the interview, but break it up with him demonstrating blowing the glass, with the dramatic representations of the HEAT involved, see ^

When you're shooting the finished glass pieces, capture what's called the beauty shots. This might seem difficult, but take some lights
and totally separate from the interview, creatively light and shoot the pieces. Practice on glass items around the house first then shoot the he*l out it :)

Use some Danish classical music? as interludes, just for the beauty shots, about 15-30 seconds per segment.

As this is your first show, I'd go solo, shooting cutaways for the interview will cover it. Good luck.

Cheers.

Whacko is a term we also use but it's usually for a person that's not right in the head :D

Actually I was very inspired by below video and was thinking to use the same style, not to rip off, but as an exercise on editing and sound techniques. It's very short so might not apply as a real docu but I"d like to keep it short for starters.

The Sound of Dust on Vimeo

Awesome mini documentary ... love the style.

Amazing work Noa, beautiful piece of art!

Question: What adapter you used forCanon lenses?

You do know only glass house is from me, not sound of dust? That's a level of quality I like to achieve ever :)

About the adapter I use, it's a simple kipon adapter, since most lenses I use are full manual and don't communicate with the body I don't need something like a metabones adapter.

I knew that Noa! :D

OK, next 2 shorts are in the pipeline :) I already met a glassblower to do a short doc and he agreed to make some time available but that probably will be taking a longer time to finish. That's why in the meantime I made contact with the tourism department in the city of Peer where the highest church (build in the 14th century) in that area is located which is 65m high, they call the church "the giant of the Kempen", there's is also a museum, lots of stuff in there dating back to the 16th century, like paintings.
Let's cross fingers I"m allowed to film, I send them my glass house film link which might persuade them a bit :)

Noa, I've produced 35 docos of air museums around the world. Here's my 2 krona :)

With your glassblower doco, try and shoot the beauty shots of his or their finished glass first, before the interview and before you cut the glass shots.

That way the GB could preview your footage and make comment on them, then do the interview. There could be some time between the two.

Sorry but glassblowing is a pretty dry subect, try and include a pretty female, to maybe do the interview hold some of the pieces.
Ask around the local TV/radio outlets. New gals want the experience. In the interview, inject some fun to keep the GB smiling.

See if the Peer crowd and their museum already sell DVDs. They usually keep any competition out, and you might not get in.
Do they have an online shop?

But if they don't, you might be able to do a contra deal, whereby they stock and sell your DVD and you keep commmission.

Be prepared, if they date back to the 16th century, then they've had practice in bargaining and you'll get some Peer-pressure :)
You won't get mega-rich but you'll have a lot of fun and get heaps of experience.

The minimum duration for a saleable DVD like this is about 30 minutes.

Cheers.

Thx for the tips Allan, not planning to sell any dvd's and I"m sure they won't ask either but that's not my intention, just want to go out and have fun as I have enough paid assignments during the rest of the year :)
I got my approval yesterday, took me 3 calls to finally get to the right person. Will be shooting this Tuesday so probably will have something online on Wednesday.

For the glass blower docu I will probably start shooting end next week or one week later, I actually find it a challenge shooting such a "dry subect" so I like to keep it as real as possible, including a model would look a bit like those camera accessory builders that often use beautiful women to hold the camera or accessory but that's too fake for me. We probably will be doing most shooting at his own place, he makes small glass art in a small basement so that will be a challenge as well.

One thing I have learned already was when we first met, I first wanted to know if he was up to it and if he could make time available, before I knew we where talking a lot about his art making and at a certain point I thought "I should have brought my camera!" :D So I politely tried to end the conversation telling him that for the docu's sake that it was better to continue talking about his work when I had a camera set up and running because otherwise he had to repeat himself again as he already was telling a lot of interesting stuff I could use.

I just will go with the flow :) once I finish this project I will know where it went wrong and what I should be doing different next time, it's just a learning process and making mistakes is a part of it. This is usually always the way I learn new things, when I buy something new I hardly read the manual, I just start fiddling with the thing and only if I get stuck I read the manual just to solve that one problem. That's probably the reason I started working at the age of 17, I"m more a "hands-on" kind of guy, learn while I do something. Only if this would have been a paid assignment I would be asking for advice for sure but now I just want to have fun while creating something. :)

Noa,

Be careful, I found the highlight areas on shiny objects are prone to aliasing and moire.

Also, do you have clear or UV filters to protect you lenses?

Steve

Be careful
No worries, I always have my helmet on.

I"ll be using a variable nd filter but I"ll keep my distance from any hot sources for sure.

One thing I have learned already was when we first met, I first wanted to know if he was up to it and if he could make time available, before I knew we where talking a lot about his art making and at a certain point I thought "I should have brought my camera!" :D So I politely tried to end the conversation telling him that for the docu's sake that it was better to continue talking about his work when I had a camera set up and running because otherwise he had to repeat himself again as he already was telling a lot of interesting stuff I could use.

Yep I agree. Trust you've got some lights and importantly good audio coverage, especially if you're asking the questions.

Looking forward to seeing how it all went, and maybe it will develop into a DVD you can sell to help their cause. Best of luck Noa.

Cheers.