Here's another short clip from the upcoming RTB2. This one is from just a few weeks before the Masters Nationals last year. Our cousin Joe Pulcinella Jr was on hand to shoot pictures for an arm training article for Muscle Mag.
The music was written especially for the documentary by Martin Bailey.
http://www.myspace.com/powerescape
Hi Mike - I watched without the music which helps (or not) concentration on the video.
Just my take and others will give theirs I'm sure. The wavy, wobbly, zoomy camera shots didn't endear me to the piece. To echo fergie - get a tripod pleeeeeeeease.
When you do you'll see an immediate improvement in the watchablility of your clips.
My other suggestion would be to try to match the angles of the cam to tie in with the togs shots you're overlaying. The switch to a different profile throws the imagery for me.
Probably loved by all the bodybuilders who watch it, no matter what you did to it though.
Thanks branny. I didn't notice that the angles were changing from the video to the stills. That's a great point and I think I can fix a few by flopping one or the other.
I won't defend the wavy shots, I agree that they are still too wild and not yet professional looking. But I TOTALLY disagree about putting the cam on a tripod! That is not the solution. We are going for high energy. A rock solid cam would suck the life out of the piece, I would think.
You also must realize that these are not set-up shots. This was not a posed workout for my sake. This is documentary and they were ignoring me and going about their business as if I wasn't there. I had to jump out of the way of falling weights a few times! I felt like I was in a war zone!! For me to tell them to wait while I set up a tripod would be counterproductive to the kind of natural piece I am trying to do. Further, by the time I moved a tripod into position I would miss the shot.
Having said that I am going to try a tripod the next time I do a workout shoot just to see if I do get better shots. If that happens I will publicy apologize to all...especially fergie...though it'll be begrudgingly! ;-)
Something I found a bit distracting was the way the ambient sound from the gym wnet silent every time a still was inserted. To me it would have been better to have ambient sound throughout or no ambient sound and just the music.
Just a minor point, though. :)
Hi Mike - I've watched this again and arrived at the same conclusion. IMHO All the shots shown could have been achieved using a tripod and still maintained the 'high energy' shots. The key is in the anticipation.
I too used to think that the only way to the 'arty' shots was hand held, it's not - there is another way and I urge you to experiment.
Loved it Mike.
Thanks all. I am becoming a better shooter/editor thanks to all of your input. I see things in my clips (bad things!) I didn't see before, that's the key to improvement I believe; to educate one's eye.
stuart, I appreciate your input. Having it go silent during the stills was a concious choice. I wanted a sort of "suspended time" feeling. Maybe it's not coming off as well as I had hoped. I will try extending the ambient sound under the stills to see how that strikes me.
Gonna try the tripod next workout I shoot. I paid enough for it, I might as well get some use out of it!!
For near perfect examples of filming fluidity http://www.davidperryfilms.com/media/demo%202007.wmv - I'd kill for some of these locations!
For near perfect examples of filming fluidity http://www.davidperryfilms.com/media/demo%202007.wmv - I'd kill for some of these locations!
Very impressive! Those clips are all great advertisements for the Glidecam system. They are also beautifully edited as well which adds a lot to it.