Wish there came some sort of standard for video

[Fred Vloo]

I know this is impossible.


People pls use a tripod and make shorter shots, cut out the bad parts and don't let me look for 5 or 10 minutes to the same ship. Forget about extreme zooms too, thy're ugly.

Cheers
Fred

[snocky]

Fred i,m not a photographer, but agree with you 100% on this.Your videos are excellent & really make my day. Nothing more boring than to try & watch same ship moving so slowly. Keep up good work. "BOB".

[Fred Vloo]

Hi Snocky,

Thank you for your nice comment, but that's not what I am after. I am happy you and many others like my video's but they are far from excellent. My hope is that people try to improve their own video's. Most video I see here can hold my attention for 60 sec and often less. With some effort every one should be able to make a interesting video for all of us.

My intention is to start discussion about making video and to give each other feedback about our video's.


Cheers Fred

[Krispen Atkinson]

Fred - I think we can all learn from viewing your videos!

Some advice I was once given - never let your clip/view go for any longer than 15 seconds, or else the viewer gets bored - unless it's something really exciting/fascinating!

One thing I can not stick is seeing a video of a ship coming up a river/seaway, and is still coming after 10 mins of viewing....zzzzz! (get to the interesting bit!!!)

Sadly I'm not using a tripod yet (too much for me to carry around, I try and rest on a wall) - I'll post some of mine up soon, but they are nothing on yours Fred!!

Krispen

[Fred Vloo]

Hi Krispen,

Finally we have some discussion here ;-) I am very much aware of the fact that I am in favor because I have access to semi-professional equipment. But with some effort and time every one who is into video can make a good production.
I know we need to drag more equipment but it is worth it. A wall or anything that works keeping a shot steady is okay.
About the length of a shot, next time you watch your favorite tv show, start counting shotlenghts especially when there is some action going on. You'll be surprised how short many shots are. We don't have to go that short.
If you don't have an editingprogramm, you can use the free windows live moviemaker. In average it is good enough to do the task. Download: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker
Thanks again for your input.

Cheers Fred

[Krispen Atkinson]

Hi Fred, glad you've started this thread! It seems to be the new thing to add video functionality to the latest SRL digital cameras being released, I suspect we will be seeing more videos!

I'm now using a MacBook which comes with the standard iMovie software - very simple to use and very similar to Windows Movie Maker (which I got used to on my old laptop). It's excellent for trimming/editing clips and pulling various clips together. I haven't yet mastered putting music on (basically as most of my viewers don't have the same taste in music as me!)

One thing I have noticed I need to do is cut/edit out the start and end of each clip, as this is when the camera gets the most movement (as I reach for the start/stop button!).

Anyway, here's my efforts from Saturday - not quite the variety of ships which you get in Europoort; http://youtu.be/z5JgwJhsYLo

I'm still learning, I've only had the camera for a month (before that was using my iphone, and the results I got rhymed with trap!)

Krispen

[Fred Vloo]

Hi Krispen,

Nice video, very promising first try. If you like continuing making vids, I have to say again do yourself a favor and spent money on a good tripod and accept the extra dragging ;-)
Be cautious with panning. I have a pro tripod from my work in my car most of the time, I hardly ever use it. Even with that one it is hard to make a smooth pan.
I'm not a fan of transitions between shots. I only use a fade-in at the first and a fade-out at the last shot. Music as a background remains a problem, what music do we use and where do you get it for free? If some one has a good suggestion, pls tell us.

Looking forward to your next video.
I will now carry on with my video from last weekend, it's uploading now, fingers crossed, it's over 2 gig ;-)
Cheers Fred