XL-2 on a Jimmy Jib
 

Here's a little clip from a work in progress... We used two cameras, one on a jib and the other on a tripod/dolly

Shot in PAL and at 25p on an XL-2, unfortunately the 'You-Tube' upload doesn't show it in correct 16:9 format, but you'll get the idea. Anyone suggest a better place to showcase clips online, even if it isn't free ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq57dS3-HvM

Like the clip very much Allen, that's not Posh in there is it? Scotland's a bit too cold for her, me thinks!

Cheers, Mike

Lol Mike, that's not Posh, that's the lovely Julie...

Lovely!! right you are...

Nice work, I've always liked Jib work... how high is the one you're using?

Allen, some of the outdoor video looks really overexposed. Was this on purpose or we're you just trying to compensate because the people were in the shadows? Something you may want to watch out for in the future. Overall though I liked to camera on the jib, and the stuff in the house.

All very deliberate, let me assure you Mark. The stuff in the house (main room) is over exposed as well to give a surreal look. The 'soft 1' behind the lens filters help to emphasise that look too. It looks worse than it really is on that cheap You-Tube upload.

The singer in the band wanted a look that reflected the lyric, which has a kind of ying-yang, night and day theme running throughout. So we decided to take the exposure up a bit for the band sequences and brought it down a bit for the sequences with the girl, who plays a kind of lonely spirit roaming round a strange house.

Playing the two themes together seems to work, oh and the over exposed stuff helps to bleach out a lot of crap in the background we didn't want to see and didn't have time to fix. (lol)

25 feet outdoors and 15 feet indoors.

that's really cool..

too bad those jibs are so expensive.

Allen, very nice work! Hmmm, this give me an idea of using something like this in the bird sanctuary I use for shooting birdfootage. It could be some nice effects and angles.

Yeah, even if you don't physically move it in shot, it can be very useful for getting static shots in hard to reach places.

Finished that video, if anyone fancies a look... ?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...60045734292498

This is great stuff. Some really nice camera work and a good theme throughout the video. How many involved in the videos production and what were the time scales involved? From a critique point of view I think some of the colour grading could have been better on some shots and the fading ghostly girl was used to much especially in one piece, or maybe needed a little variety to the effect.

Great stuff though and enjoyable to watch:)

Wow Allan, I liked that. Did you use any mulitcam setup during the recording? Your editing was also very impressive.
Even though I doing most wildelife stuff, I got some inquirers of making other kind of stuff like music videoes. Your video inspired me to give this a try!

Thanks Per and Mat,

Here are some notes concerning the video production, it was all done in a day and was a little too rushed but that's what happens when you try and do something for free on borrowed time, and equipment... (lol)

The video was shot using two Canon XL-2 camcorders, using the standard 20:1 zoom lens and a 3:1 wide angle lens. The cameras were set to 16:9 and 25p progressive frame rate to give a 'cine like' feel to the pictures.

I put a couple of Lee Soft 1 filters behind the lens to give that slightly 'dream like' quality as well. We utilised the services of a 'Jimmy Jib' camera crane for some of the shots, mainly exteriors with the car and motorbike, but also in the grand room which everyone thought looked great. We also had a set of four Arri 650 lamps at our disposal and a variety of gels and filters. As you can see we shot lots of 'lock off' sequences in order to get the effect where the girl disappears into thin air like a ghost. Further f/x were provided by a big wind machine which was borrowed from BBC Scotland's scene dock.

We had hoped to have a make up and wardrobe lady helping us out, but she couldn't make it so we had to improvise, I think our leading lady looks pretty good considering she wore her own clothes and did her own makeup but we had hoped for a more gothic 'deceased' look. The basic premise is that the band turn up at this old mansion to record their next record, awakening a spirit from the past who trys to interact with this 'cool looking rock band'. She doesn't know she's dead so can't understand why her attempts to communicate with the guys aren't working. In true 'poltergeist' spirit she starts to get frustrated by this, which is what the 'doll dropping' scene is about, Gradually she works up into a frenzy before realising some sort of inner peace, which is represented by the frenzied music, the flash of white and the nice jib move up her in the corner of the room. We based the script on old fashioned ghost stories, and movies 'The Others' and 'Poltergeist'.

Post production was all done on the Casablanca-Prestige, (Smart Edit 4) set up in 'progressive' 16:9 mode. I mainly used straight cuts and colour fades but heavy use of the colour and image processing features to get crushed blacks, grainy images, film effects and desaturated colours. I can go into the exact settings upon request. The little shot of the broken doll landing on the floor features the Cassie's digital zoom filter. Basically it would have been impossible to acheive a live zoom on shot, hoping the doll would land in the correct spot, getting the timing of the zoom right etc. We only had two dolls to play with so we shot it as a fairly wide shot and hoped the 'doll wrangler' had a good aim. Fortunately he did !!

Because of some technical problems on the day, shooting was delayed by a couple of hours so we didn't have as much time with the Jimmy Jib as hoped, to get round the lack of shots that were needed I reversed one or two of the crane moves and also made them appear as a mirror image of the original. This is most apparent in the pull out from the house to car near the end. The clue is the fact the entrance sign at the door has switched sides (lol) The original shot was a crane up from car to window from the left side of the portico.

The location was 'Overtoun House' in the Campsie Hills near Dumbarton, Scotland. It's a little run down and is currently being restored as a retreat by an American Christian Missionary group who very kindly let us take it over for a day. The house is genuinely very creepy and featured in a recent Channel 5 broadcast which investigated a strange phenomena whereby a number of dogs have jumped to their deaths from the bridge that features in one of our opening shots, the one with the motorbike riding through. Our own 'ghost' story related to the shoot includes the aforementioned technical delay when an entire van load of borrowed lighting, props and grip equipment vanished from the BBC Scotland carpark on the morning of the shoot and then the complete crash of my Prestige operating system just as I'd finsihed the final edit. Bah !!!

CREDITS: Technical
Camera/Lighting : Cindy Ramsay
Jimmy Jib/Camera/Lighting : Kieran Farrar
Director/Editor : Allen McLaughlin

CREDITS: Cast
Logan : Kenny Collins, Mick Coll, Al Reilly, Iain Stratton and 'Spidge'
The Ghost: Julie Tsang

That's great video Allen, I love it. In particular the jib/crane shots. They just add that special something. I once used a broken tripod withone leg missing, attached a camera, jammed the remaining legs under my armpits and used it as a jib arm. Failed completely. Plus I got an oxygen debt in my arms which caused me to nearly drop my (then) XM2. What a twat.

Also worthy of comment and praise are the shots with the earth (sand) trickling through the fingers and the first shots of the ghost on the stairway. Really nice and atmospheric. Oh yeah, loved the shadowy shots at the very end as well.

Cheers.

Ian . . .