Promotional video with XHA1
 

Here I have uploaded a video I directed and photographed with the XHA1 24 fps camera.
I hope the download is not to slow (Quicktime 27 MB)

The link is:

Cadereyta

Any comments would be great, thanks

Manuel
Queretaro, Mexico

Beautiful footage!

I thought the music was very dramatic in the begining...maybe a little too dramatic. Personally, if I'm viewing tourism footage, I would like the music to be more uplifting. It did resolve to a little more uplifting in the end but once you set the mood in a viewer it's hard to change it.

Did you shoot in 60i? Again, I loved the footage!

The footage is beautiful and so is the music i just think the editing transitions could be smoother, some more blends maybe. Also did you use and adaptor, the color in the shots are really vibrant. this is really inspiring since i got Final Cut Pro and i'm jus about 2 make my purchase on a Canon Xh A1..

Keep up the Good Work..

Your footage is absolutely amazing. Its hard to believe you shot that with the A1. Bravo!
What kind of post production work did you do to get such vibrant, smooth footage?
Thanks for sharing.

Why is that hard to believe? There's a wealth of great footage shot with this camera & this one is no exception :) Obviously great care was taken with utilizing light (ex: look at the faces of the closeups, reflectors and/or fill in lights must have been used, etc) Any talented DP would be able to get fantastic stuff from the A1.

Thank you all for your comments they are very inspiring,

I agree, the music can be less agressive at the begining as well as the editing transitions can be smoother.

I'm working in a new version and will consider all your great comments.

Answering to your questions:
-The only adapter I used was the canon wide converter WD-72
-The video was shot with the 24F frame rate option
-The video was recorded on MiniDV and captured in Final Cut Pro via firewire with the ProRes 442 codec
- Titles and graphics were done in After Effects
- Some images were colored in "FCS Color" but we used a lot a plugin from Noise Industries FXFactory called "Color Crush". By the way, Noise Industries has great plugins for Final Cut and After Effects.
- I did use a lot of reflectors and fill in lights for closeup faces. I like to use the photoflex lite 5 in 1 collapsible disc reflector, unicel panels for very soft reflections and Kino Flos diva lights for interiors.

Thanks again,
Manuel

Well you made me want to go there, & i guess that's the whole idea. Really beautiful footage, & colours. Loved it!
Bryce

Manuel,

What preset, if any, do you use on your XHA1? Very vibrant but believable colors. Also, did you do the slow motion in video then speed up, or did you take stills (with XHA1?) at standard intervals?

Hello Roger, I used a very simple custom camera preset:

Gamma Curve: Cine2
Knee: Middle
Black Stretch: Sometimes "middle", sometimes "press"
All the other settings I leave them at the center (middle)

Everything else was done in post.

For the slow motion the only thing I did was to uncheck the "frame blending" option in FCP.
Some time lapses where done with a still Canon Camera Xti with a Pclix controller.
Other time lapses were done recording on tape half an hour of footage and then speeding up in FCP without frame blending.

Manuel

Enorabuena Manuel.

Nice Promotional Video. Thanks for your custom preset. I will use it soon with your permission.

Beautiful end product. I've watched it several times and it really shows what can be done when you nail focus, provide a little movement (not overdoing it), get the colors right, and match good music. In other words, you got all of it right!

Nice work! Great Footage!

Love your work.
Nice.

That was absolutely fantastic, blew me away! Congratulations on an excellent job!

Came across this by accident, fantastic. I enjoyed the sound track.

Regards

Mick

Absolutely stunning! It doesn't just look great. It feels great. You didn't just show me the place. You imparted, to me anyway, a sense of the spirit of the place. No small feat that.

Muy bueno!

I really liked your video. The editing was clean and well paced, and the footage itself looked fantastic. People and places were well lit. Recently I was starting to have some doubts about the A1s image quality, especially dealing with fringing, but your footage showed me what can be done in the right hands. I'm jealous of your skills ;)

Christopher, you're not alone. I've been looking at the EOS5DMkii and for the short term, after watching this video, I'm going to instead invest in a wide angle lense (WD-H72) on the A1. I wish I could buy talent and experience!

Very cool! I really like it.

I have this camera and not one thing I've shot looks as good as yours. Great looking stuff. I'm gonna try your preset.
I'm curious did you shot the clouds in the beginning or are they from videocopilot?
Did you use a crane or dolly some shots are really smooth. If so what did you use?
Sorry for all the questions. I just want my camera work to look as good as yours.

Thank you Ramon, Roger, Jason, Dennis, Edwin, Mick, Tripp, Christopher, Matt and Tom. Your comments are really kind and make me do my job better and better every day.

I would like to ask you permission to quote (mention) some of your comments and use them for some promotional materials I'm trying to publish on a production magazine here in Mexico and in my hopefully new website.


Answering to your question Tom, the time lapse cloud at the beginning I shot it with the still camera Canon Xti with the EF-S 18-55mm lens.
The jib I used is the Kessler Crane 12ft and the dolly spider from portajib.

Thanks again!

Manuel, feel free to quote away on anything I've said. If you could post a copy on Vimeo.com or other HD server and make it downloadable, it would be helpful to analyze it better in a larger format. I believe we could watch it then in 720x24P wmv (or equivalent).

You can quote me as well.

Superb job! Forget about selling the vacations, you can sell a few thousand A1's with that!

Your use of perspective is marvellous as well - it is like watching 3D much of the time. Normally I'm hard to please with filter effects but these are spot on too. The overall effect of all the elements is excellent.

Really great job! Congratulations!
Loved the colors and the movements... And I actually wanted to go there!

Thank you very much Colin and Joachim, you can actually see this video and others I've shot on vimeo

Hey MHS! I talked to you on Vimeo about the canon 7d :)

I loved the video! Great vibe, clips, edit. Awesome :)

GOd bless!

Incredible video.

Recently I've been stunned at the advent of P2 cameras and thought the XHA1 was being left being in the shade. This video has reaffirmed my faith in my XHA1!

Well done.

Thanks so much for sharing...Im a newbie, just got a used XH-A1...your video proves I made a good decision. Thanks for sharing the preset too....gotta try it soon.

Jeff

Wow!!!!! Can you make my camera do that???!!!! : )
Seriously, how did you do the crane shot over the courtyard (00:00:50 to 00:00:54) with only a 12' crane?
It really is top-notch stuff Manuel...great job!
Randy