Last April I brought my first camera, that I cultivated the hobby of making video edits. I progressed some, and learned a lot of the technology. In December I believe I broke that camera while filming. I was skating and naturally to brace my fall I extended my hand. Unfortunately I used the hand that held the camera. There is a quote from skaters to fall on the body before camera or some variation of that. Earlier this month I went shopping with my friend Simon Heath who has a television background and has knowledge of filmmaking. After spending awhile in B & H, a huge store, we decided on the Pentex Optio WG-2. We looked at a similar camera by Cannon that was a hundred bucks more. My friend Simon was able to look at the info sheet and saw that it was less resolution and features. After some use I’m glad Simon helped me chose the camera and it’ll work for what I intend to do.
Over the weekend I used the camera for the first time. On Saturday I went to Flushing Meadows. This was the first time using it. My friend JP filmed me some and filmed some of him. For following a rider it takes some getting used to. For filming from a still position it is easy. And we decided the wide lens makes the video look better. On Sunday I went to 2nd nature indoor skate park with two cars filled with our wonderful crew. My friend Eugene filmed me on the street course, and said the camera seemed small to hold while following. That will be a challenge because all skate edits need runs or lines. I’m sure with practice it’ll be fine. In the mini bowl at 2nd Nature we filmed quite a bit. I noticed that for a bowl session it’s better to leave it on and film multiple people. If you constantly turn it off and on again, it takes time. On the bowl session I took a still photo of my friends Simon and Eugene. I think it’s the best photo I’ve ever taken of people. So I think for photography this camera is excellent. Lastly on the filming of that day, back in NYC outside of the Motor City bar, Simon showed me how to film in slow motion and the picture is clear. In the edit from that day the kickflip in slow motion was filmed in slow motion, not edited to slow motion. I think that’s an interesting feature.
Getting home Sunday I was amped about the skate session, and I made an edit. One thing I noticed that the transfer to computer on this camera is easier. When I import into Imovie the number matches the camera. So for falls and trash clips I can tell quickly. That way I only import the ones I want. On Simon’s suggestion I’m going to get an external hard drive and save the clips on that. Now I think I’ll be able to do that. Also since the photos are so good with the camera, I think I’m going to work on the style of placing photos in between the video clips on the edits. For this edit it’s mostly in the indoor bowl, so the photos stand out too much. But I think if there is variety in the video that variety with the photos will enhance how it looks.
Now I’ll get to my goals with this camera, and I thought of this today. I will film regularly and make edits of almost every session or very regularly. So I might do a few edits a week. These might not be the most exciting edits every time, and may not take on the skating world by storm. But they will be good practice. The more time put into filming and editing the better I’ll get. I will do this for about two months and hope I can learn a few things in that time. Then starting in June I’ll keep filming but I won’t post the edits as freely. I’ll stockpile the footage of my crew and I. For the timeframe of June to November I’ll try to film regularly but not put it on youtube. And then by Christmas I’ll make an attempt at a longer edit. It will be the format of a traditional skate video. In addition to myself I’d like my friends Simon Heath, and Sam Parks to have full parts. Anyone from our crew can have a full part. So for the next two months I’m going to put a lot of stuff on youtube of varying quality, in hopes to get ready for a serious effort to make a good full video by Christmas!
Here is the first edit with my new camera!
Here are two edits filmed on my Iphone!
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