London and time on Vimeo

Alex Gollner's videos (29)

Newer

Older

23 - 24 of 29 videos

Channels / Albums (3)

Went out on Friday in London to get to know my new HV20 a little better. More timelapses and a little slow motion.

Most of the shots were stabilised using Final Cut Pro's SmoothCam filter.

The trick with night shots with many street lights is to underexpose - that makes for less grain and a more accurate representation of what people see when it gets dark. Pity I forgot to set the manual focus!

Credits

Sponsored by:

Jason H. 2 months ago

Oh no they are driving on the left side of the street!

Seriously, very good job. I loved the video start to finished. I looooove seing other parts of the world.

Do folks give you a hard time for randomly filming something in a public area? Folks get soooo skiddish around cameras for some reason.

How long did this take to edit?

Finally, an observation. The Smooth Cam things seems to stretch and contort the picture. You used it on the bus too? I imagine many of those scenes would not have worked without it though, and been way too wobbly.

Thanks again for posting, a great job!
Alex Gollner 2 months ago

One of the good things about using a little camcorder like the HV20 is that people think nothing of it.

I shot it on Friday. It took my old dual G5 fifteen hours to analyse the footage to smooth it, It took an hour to edit.

SmoothCam only moves, rotates and scales the footage. If the camera is moved enough during a frame, the blur looks like the SmoothCam filter distorted the frame.

Thanks for the comments!
matthew carrozo 2 months ago

that double decker shot that takes us through to the end is The Bomb.

they're gonna have to rename the SmoothCam filter after us when we're done!
James Chegwyn 1 month ago

Sorry I don't get it, Why rely on post production?

All you need is a tripod or steadycam.
The 'smooth cam' filter bends the image and makes it look 2d, In my eyes it ruins some good footage youve got there.

But thats my opinion. & choice for working with the HV20. Such a good camera. :]

Nice work though
Alex Gollner 1 month ago

SmoothCam has those problems, but it is a lot easier getting footage in public if people don't take you seriously. They think "he can't be shooting like that, he's just been sitting there for ten minutes."

Also, in London you get instant hassle if you are seen with a tripod, let alone putting a camera on one. As regards a Steadicam, I don't have the talent to use one yet, especially on a bus full of people late at night for 20 minutes!
James Chegwyn 1 month ago

Ahh i see, its a bit different down here. In cornwall you can just walk into fields and towns and take all your rigs around. But yeah i suppose thats a good enough reason.

You should consider a steadycam though, I found some blueprints on how to make a cheap steadycam, Doesnt really work aswell as the merlin. But it helps me out when shooting drama pieces.

:]
Rusty Rogers 5 days ago

Really cool! Kinda scary for those of not used to riding at that height AND on the other side of the road!