My first video :-)

[PetrolTed]

Racing Green T350T (2MB, RM format)

[Bodo]

It works!

[luca brazzi]

Well done Ted.....good first effort!
LB

[HarryW]

Nice car, commetns good and bad, personally can't stand realplayer myself, I'll say it, prefer wmw .
Good to see the tail waggle on the last roundabout shot . Who's music was the backing track , couldn't hear the car myself .
Oh yeah too short a clip as well

Harry

[pwig]

lol and 2 megs for 30's of poor quality is a bit poo too

[Graham]

what the hells rm format ?

[luca brazzi]

RM is ~Real Media, played with RealPlayer.

Its worth noting that making videos is a very tricky, time consuming job. Once a video has been edited (including the soundtrack which are a nightmare all of their own), choosing the right video size, audio quality, and file format all take a lot of trial and error attempts to find the best trade off in terms of decent quality while attempting to keep filesizes to an acceptable size so as not to deter dialup users.

Its a very complex process, which improves over time, as you figure out what are the best tools for the job, and where corners can be cut to get it done more quickly. As an example, look at the quality of my first Surrey Run effort, and compare that to the latest DVD....worlds apart.

Just my opinion.....
LB

[PetrolTed]

There's a WMV format available at

www.pistonheadstv.com/videos/t350t.wmv

Quality is shit because I recorded over the original footage by mistake and only had 'preview' quality left

Living and learning...

[meeja]

Good stuff!

Do try and use a tripod for as many locked off and simple pan/tilt/zoom shots as you can though..... there is nothing worse than camera shake, and no matter how steady you think you can hold a camera.... you can't!

If you must do hand-held shots, there are a couple of things that may help....

1. Always film on minimum zoom (ie move closer to the object rather than zoom in) as zoom just exaggerates any camera movement.

2. Try fitting a cheap light-medium weight tripod (I'm assuming you are using a small DV camera) and use it like a "steadicam" You will find that the added weight will allow you to make much smoother camera movements, with less shake.

[PetrolTed]

Thanks. Useful tips. A (tri)pod of some sort is defintely on the cards as that film is definitely a bit too Blair Witch Project. Good point regarding the stabilisation gained by just having it on the pod even if holding it. I'd not thought of that.

[meeja]

PetrolTed said:

Thanks. Useful tips. A (tri)pod of some sort is defintely on the cards as that film is definitely a bit too Blair Witch Project. Good point regarding the stabilisation gained by just having it on the pod even if holding it. I'd not thought of that.

I'm full of useful tips like that! That's what happens when you are required to make expensive looking TV on a very tight budget!

Another good one, is to do "low down angular stuff" rather than use a tripod (which sometimes won't go low enough!) use a bean bag!

Sit the camera on the beanbag, making sure that none of the bean bag is in the foregroung of the shot, and you can manipulate the beans to allow the camera to sit solidly at just about any angle you want.

Tracking shots..... Film crew either use a steadicam, or build a track, and use a tripod and dolly.

Stupid as it sounds, try a skateboard, wheelbarrow, or anything else with decent wheels... I have the frame from an old pram with pneumatic tyres that I have used for these kind of shots, and it works a treat!

I'll stop there I think.....

But if you want any more Ted, just drop me a mail.