Tagged with documentary - Personal View Talks

Hack for Feature Lenght Documentary Film for the BIG SCREEN - "Digital Cinema Package"

MisterJ — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 07:41:03 +0000

Hi!

It's been around a Year I signed in here for the very first time. So now, after many test shoots, I'm planning to choose GH2 for the next film project.

Film is about 85 minute long documentary. Films shooting style is mainly situation-based documentary (Cinéma Vérité aka Direct Cinema) with some "cinematic scenes". So some of the scenes are classic documentary and some more stylistic - fiction like - with lightning crew, dolly, directed action etc.

These situation-based events I'm going to shoot with GH2 attached to the Steadicam Pilot. And yes, no interviews. This means I don't have very long takes.

I really like Lee's Flow Motion v2 and Nick's Sedna (AQ1-A) or Cluster v6&7. These I've tested quite a lot. What I'm looking for is best combination in detail and in fluid motion (motion rendering - no strobo effect). And of course hacks reliability is a virtue too! =D

So does anyone has any extra pointers about taking a project to Big Screen? Or if You think there is superior Hack for this kind of project - please don't hesitate to speak out.

Thanx and all the Best, MisterJ

GH2 videos from Beijing and Hong Kong

Passman — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 09:58:36 +0000

I was in Beijing and Hong Kong during 15 days in December and documented each day of my trip. All shot handheld with hacked GH2 (intravenus) and old nikkor lenses except my recently acquired samyang 14mm f2,8. This is the first day.

Light Fantastic, BBC film

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 03:12:42 +0000

Dyrafjordur Trailer, A documentary shot in Iceland

Imagitoriam — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 18:50:55 +0000

A feature length documentary on life in Dyrafjordur, a beautiful and remote region in the West Fjords of Iceland.

Short Doc about Uzbekistan

vaitor — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 00:32:26 +0000

Hey,

this is a short doc I shot last April with the GH2, Voigtländer 25mm 0.95 and Panasonic 14-140. Hope you like it!

or vimeo:

Travelogue - private plane flight and sailing in Catalina Island; Dark Knight soundtrack (why not)

rungunshoot — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 02:05:48 +0000

GH2 (handheld) Vibrant mode 44mbit hack

Panny 20mm f/1.7 Panny 14-140 kit Nikon AI-S 50mm f/1.4

All feedback welcome. Details of the kit on my blog:

http://rungunshoot.com/my-one-bag-gh2-docu-filmmaking-kit-in-explicit-detail/

Project in Vietnam October/November 2012

vetec — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 02:49:09 +0000

Hi!

I am planning my trip to Vietnam end of this year. I want to make little project while there. Drill is to take dslr gear (camera, rig, light, zoom) and shoot some video for small documentary. Is anybody planing projects this time, that country and looking for cameramen/editor? Some of my work:

Contact: vetold@gmail.com

Thanks!

vetec

Cooperative Effort For Shooting a Documentary

GOODEMPIRE — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:34:26 +0000

Hi Guys, I have an idea I'd like to discuss here. I want to start a documentary project that would tell the story of the Greatest Depression (the current one) through the eyes of ordinary people from all over the world. I'm still writing a pitch, but for now I'd like to ask if there might be other folks interested in joining me. There is no story arc so far, but I guess we may find a way to show how the slowing economy is impacting the lives of peasants in Latin America, workers in Asia, teachers in the US, public employees in Europe. No experts, no talking heads, just raw stories from the ground. All countries are welcome: Brazil, Mexico, China, Greece, Portugal, Italy, USA you name it. Any suggestions, ideas, comments are greatly appreciated. At the early stage of the project I'm planning to edit a 2-3 minutes long promo video which I'm going to pitch to my company's leadership. If they approve it the project (I'm calling it Project Babylon) may get funding. What I may need from those interested is 1 minute of the topic related footage (wide shots, closeups, medium closeups, brief SOTs) from your country. Of course it has to be cinematic and properly framed... and shot with the hacked/unhacked GH2 (or any other DSLR). I haven't yet started doing anything but from all angles I find this idea quite exciting. Please join me if you agree.

in case my previous work is of any relevance, here's the link to my recent documentary

(I've already posted it on p-v.com)

PLANET OF BABEL

GOODEMPIRE — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 08:44:49 +0000

Hi guys. I don't know if you remember, but 3 months ago I proposed and idea of shooting a documentary with the help of GH2 enthusiasts from across the globe. About 10 people agreed to contribute their footage for the trailer (preliminary trailer of course. I know it's a little weird) It worked. So I pitched it to my company's leadership (it's a major TV broadcaster in Russia). You can watch the trailer

As it is stated there: "Planet of Babel" is a story of the Greatest Recession told by ordinary people (not talking heads or experts) from various countries. We explore the impact of the global economic collapse on families and individuals who are totally unfamiliar yet very connected to each other. The world of global economy might have been flat as T. Friedman once proclaimed, but now people's lives are flattened by the Recession.

"Planet of Babel" provides a panoramic view of the catastrophe from Greece, Italy, Spain in Europe to Argentina and Mexico in Latin America, Pakistan and China in Asia, Ethiopia in Africa and many more countries all the way to the United States of America as the home-place of the new Tower of Babel."

So after some extensive discussions we are getting closer to the production stage. Me and my assistant (Nikon d800 and hacked gh2) will be traveling around Europe (and hopefully Asia and America too) starting next week. I wonder if broader masses of the personal-view inhabitants might want to take part in the project? It can either be your own story or your footage/ideas/contacts that you contribute to the project (we have a budget to compensate for the good stuff. not enough to make a living, but still). Meanwhile with Vitaly's help I'm trying to start a new discussion board based on the wiki engine so that those who are interested can communicate more easily and productively.

Earthflight

Diffusion33 — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:59:12 +0000

Totally blown away by this new BBC natural history documentary. Ariel shots are unreal.... makes you feel like in a different dimension/world. God knows what they shoot this with... and who cares when you are transported into such beauty that you are just left bewilder with how incredible our world is..... WOW i'm stunned, brilliant not to be missed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018xsc5/Earthflight_North_America/

Clouds

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 03:22:56 +0000

Clouds is a computational documentary featuring hackers and media artists in dialogue about code, culture and the future of visualization.

Documentary shot with GH2 won International Documentary Challenge

GOODEMPIRE — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:43:40 +0000

Great news today and I'm really excited to spread the word. Our team (20 Coop) has just been picked as one of the 12 finalists for this prestigious festival. I don't want to jinx us by sharing it before the final decision is made by the judges, but I really see it as a recognition of the amazing filmmaking capabilities this camera is providing since it was hacked by Mr. VK. Kudos to the team and personal-view.com forum. I learned here a lot.

http://docchallenge.org/News/2012-finalists-announced.html

Great Netflix Streaming Documentaries on Low Budget Filmmaking

CRFilms — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:58:32 +0000

Firstly apologies to those outside the US, these probably won't be available to you, but I'm sure you can find them...somewhere.

Let's start with Popatopolis. A doc about veteran B-Movie maker Jim Wynorski. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0691061/ He's made over 70 films, some with titles like "Bare Wench Project", "The Da Vinci Coed", and the classic "The Return of Swamp Thing". This time he's making a move called, "The Witches of Breastwick" and he's trying to do it in 3 days. We can all take some lessons from him, especially his casting choices. ^_^

Next let's go underage and gory! A 12 year old girl decided to make a zombie movie. Zombie Girl: The Movie This follows the multi-year journey of young Emily Hagins and her desire to make a full length zombie feature. Great flick and you can learn a lot from seeing the problems she encounters along the way.

Her next movie played at SXSW, here's the trailer.

And finally we go overseas to the heart of Africa with Welcome to Nollywood. Did you know that Nigeria has the third largest movie industry, IN THE WORLD?!?! You could almost believe this is a mocumentary, but no way could anybody write fiction like this.

Love the boast about importing Nigerians to put hollywood out of business. Not sure about that, but they'd definitely give Wynorski a run for his money.

Documentary shot on GH2

RBertoni — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:39:41 +0000

I've produced & directed this 38' documentary about dry stone masonry last year. The movie was commissioned by the IPCH of Slovenia for the REVITAS project. It should be broadcasted soon on RTV Slo HD... Apart from some scenes in the introduction filmed on Red, the movie was shot using a hacked GH2 (Driftwood patches, sorry I don't remember the exact versions...mostly gop3). I've disabled the 1080p option to enable HD playback on the iPad. Feel free to download it. ps: Sorry, no subtitles.

Update: had to disable embedding.

hxxps://vimeo.com/41004560

Good lenses for documentary filmmaking and run & gun shooting

sohus — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:33:29 +0000

I am currently looking for a good lens for documentary filmmaking with the GH2. I love my primes but when you are shooting documentary, it is very inflexible. One way of solving this is adding one or two bodies so you can just change them around but a zoom lens is the best option IMO.

Lenses that qualify are:

FourThirds:

OLYMPUS : ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 SWD http://www.four-thirds.org/en/fourthirds/standard.html#i_012-060mm_f028-040_olympus

Panasonic : LEICA D VARIO-ELMARIT 14-50mm F2.8-3.5 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. http://www.four-thirds.org/en/fourthirds/standard.html#i_014-050mm_f028-035_panasonic

OLYMPUS : ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 II http://www.four-thirds.org/en/fourthirds/standard.html#i_014-054mm_f028-035ii_olympus

MicroFourThirds:

OLYMPUS : M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 EZ http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/standard.html#i_012-050mm_f035-063_olympus

Panasonic : LUMIX G VARIO HD 14-140mm F4.0-5.8 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/standard.html#i_014-140mm_f040-058_panasonic

I focused on the Olympus/Panasonic lenses for now. I think that the Panasonic : LEICA D VARIO-ELMARIT 14-50mm F2.8-3.5 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. and OLYMPUS : ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 SWD are good candidates. Especially the Olympus has a very long range (24-120mm in 35mm terms) while still offering a F2.8 wide-angle (and constant F/4.0 over entire range). Documentary shooting is about making trade-off and I will always have my primes for really dark situations (Voigt 50mm/.95, SLRMagic 12mm/1.6 and Olympus 45mm/1.8).

Does anyone here own one of the above lenses? Please share your opinions with me. I probably wait until the Panasonic X 12-35mm and 35-100 are announced as they could be good candidates too, although 12-35mm is a more limiting range.

STABLE HACKS FOR DOCUMENTARY SHOOTER WHO HAS JUST BOUGHT A GH2

coconatty — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 05:25:49 +0000

Hi there everyone, i have been a fan of the GH2 Hacked ever since i have heard about it. I am a doco shooter and would like to try out a hacked GH2 on a couple of long form pieces i have coming up. But, because I dont know much (anything) about which particular patch is the best in terms of rock solid recording and excellent image quality, I am chasing my own tail.

Can anyone out there point to very high quality, very stable hacks/patches (30min record times are minimum) that would function well in a variety of conditions, bright light, ocean, lots of vegetation, etc etc... I am aware that cards make a great difference as well and have purchased a couple of 32gb SanDisk Extreme pro SDHC/SDXC UHS-I Memory Cards so it wont be an issue.

Any help, is much appreciated

BBC: Do you see what I see?

alcomposer — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:57:12 +0000

Just saw the end of one episode,... really fantastic! (this is just a small part...)

Short UFO Documentary shot on GH2

fatpig — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 06:29:54 +0000

Hi Guys, i decided to post my little spontaneous action-UFO-Documentary, which came into existence after I experienced the sighting myself. it covers our journey from seeing the objects to trying to uncover the truth!
Its german- for all of you who don't speak my language, be sure to turn on Subtitles! (CC at the Bottom, click play, then arrow up, then cc.)