Music Video - Carla Bozulich - Gonna Stop Killing - 5D III ML

Started by MartijnR, February 21, 2015, 06:40:25 AM

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MartijnR

Hi there,

Please take a look at a music video I created for the musician Carla Bozulich. I used a 5D Mark III with the following lenses: Zeiss 35/1.4, Zeiss 50/2 and Zeiss 100/2.

Enjoy!


DeafEyeJedi

Very nice composures @MartijnR -- did you use 3x crop-mode for the opening shot on the Eye?

Which settings did you use for slo mo's within ML?

Thanks for sharing!
5D3.113 | 5D3.123 | EOSM.203 | 7D.203 | 70D.112 | 100D.101 | EOSM2.* | 50D.109

MartijnR

Thanks a lot, DeafEyeJedi.

I used Kenko Extension tubes on the Zeiss 100mm for the opening shot on the eye. So no cropping. I could have done that but I had slow-motion for that shot in mind (which I didn't use in the end).

As for the slo mo's: I used 60 fps, with a shutter angle of 180 degrees. And several shots with Twixtor.

Cheers!

DeafEyeJedi

Nice! I've rented Zeiss's in the past and gotta love their solid build and especially how the focus rack stops at infinity as well as the other end of focus!

Do you enjoy using Twixtor without getting their weird artifacts depending on how the background blends in with the subject if you know what I mean? [emoji2]

Also which CF card did you use to achieve decent recording lengths in 60fps?
5D3.113 | 5D3.123 | EOSM.203 | 7D.203 | 70D.112 | 100D.101 | EOSM2.* | 50D.109

MartijnR

Yes, I also love the these Zeiss lenses. Next to get will be the 25/2 (I got the 135mm recently).

Twixtor works great, but you need to have the right shots for it. For example the first shot is of water, and also later on in the old building, with the leaves it works great.
However, using it on the shot with the protagonist in the forest for example (vimeo still) would not be ideal. The leaves fall too quickly from the trees, giving a lot of artifacts. So water, slow moving leaves/nature, and shots where there is no big change (such as the forest/building/walking shots from behind) work great. And you might have to select the parts of your footage without artifacts :) I did not change the shutter speed better results, just 180 all the time.

I used a Komputerbay 1066X 64Gb and a 1000X 64GB. Only short shots of about 5 seconds. Next time I will use another aspect ratio to get more recording time, considering I do not need 1080 per se.

Cheers

DeafEyeJedi

Yes, I'm aware of Twixtor's flaws even though it's only minimal which makes perfect sense regarding your scenes.

Who wouldn't obey the 180 shutter rule especially for slo-mo's? [emoji6]

I enjoy using the KB 128GB 1066x since it gives me so much versatility  -- tempting to get the new 256GB 1200x but doubt price will ever drop down Anytime soon (currently $599 on KB.com) arghhhh!!!

lol
5D3.113 | 5D3.123 | EOSM.203 | 7D.203 | 70D.112 | 100D.101 | EOSM2.* | 50D.109

MartijnR

I'll will probably just use many 1066X 64GB cards in the future. Those will do :)

All the best

DeafEyeJedi

Indeed you may be right on that but hopefully they'll release a 1200x for 64GB & 128GB's one of these days...
5D3.113 | 5D3.123 | EOSM.203 | 7D.203 | 70D.112 | 100D.101 | EOSM2.* | 50D.109

SiSS

Very nice!
Lot of great shots, love the subway, the candles, opening shots.

I almost jumped the Zeiss wagon, I was going back and forth for a year. So good I didn't see this month ago, would have spoiled my plans yet again :) Maybe in the future.

Few questions
- What was the aspect ratio here? Straight from camera or did you change it in the post?
- What version of the Twixtor?
- How about the grading? Reminds me of some Vision stuff...
- Which NLE?
- Have you had any problems with those CF cards?


Cheers,
S

P.S. DeafEyeJedi - Not much help from 1200x, hardware limitations. 

kamranjon

This is so awesome, really inspiring. So good. I wanna make stuff this rad some day.

MartijnR

Thanks for the compliments SiSS and kamranjon. Great to hear :)

About your questions:

- The aspect ratio was 2,66:1 but just cropped in post. I shot it all in 1920 to 1080 (after desqueezing). Next time I will shoot less than 1080, to get more recording time, and still some vertical freedom in post.
- Twixtor 5
- For the grading I mixed a lot of things. I wasn't sure if that would be the best solution, or if I would lose dynamic range, but it is a mix of a Osiris LUT (M31) and filmconvert among other elements. I had a lot of layer switching, and curves experiments.
- After Effects. I was thinking about Resolve for colouring, but thought it would be easier all in one package. I actually edited also in After Effects (and not Premiere). Probably need a better working method in the future, but this worked OK for now.
- I had no real problems with the cards. The 1066X could record a bit longer than the 1000X. I think only once I had a group of corrupt files. Luckily I shot a lot that night, with many good shots, so it was not a problem. But if it contained some crucial scenes, it would be a big problem.

Thanks again!

DeafEyeJedi

Quote from: SiSS on February 24, 2015, 09:27:53 AM
P.S. DeafEyeJedi - Not much help from 1200x, hardware limitations.

I guess that makes sense. So I'll just save up to get a few more KB 128GB 1066x's instead then. Thanks for the heads up @SiSS!
5D3.113 | 5D3.123 | EOSM.203 | 7D.203 | 70D.112 | 100D.101 | EOSM2.* | 50D.109

SiSS

Quote from: DeafEyeJedi on February 24, 2015, 08:04:47 PM
I guess that makes sense. So I'll just save up to get a few more KB 128GB 1066x's instead then. Thanks for the heads up @SiSS!
No problem. There's lot of stuff written about that here. In the video RAW business, CF cards and 5D3 hardware have been maxed out. 1066x should be the best option.


SiSS

Quote from: MartijnR on February 24, 2015, 03:30:03 PM
- The aspect ratio was 2,66:1 but just cropped in post. I shot it all in 1920 to 1080 (after desqueezing). Next time I will shoot less than 1080, to get more recording time, and still some vertical freedom in post.
- Twixtor 5
- For the grading I mixed a lot of things. I wasn't sure if that would be the best solution, or if I would lose dynamic range, but it is a mix of a Osiris LUT (M31) and filmconvert among other elements. I had a lot of layer switching, and curves experiments.
- After Effects. I was thinking about Resolve for colouring, but thought it would be easier all in one package. I actually edited also in After Effects (and not Premiere). Probably need a better working method in the future, but this worked OK for now.
- I had no real problems with the cards. The 1066X could record a bit longer than the 1000X. I think only once I had a group of corrupt files. Luckily I shot a lot that night, with many good shots, so it was not a problem. But if it contained some crucial scenes, it would be a big problem.
I noticed that the grading was unique and familiar at the same time.
I've seem people editing with what ever tool they like best, end result only matters. AE seems to work for you, I wouldn't have guessed that.
I have the 1066x KB 64GB since last August and the only time I have gotten corrupted files was when I made silly things while testing. However, losing any little thing when shooting by the plan would be really annoying. 

I like your compositions. Lot of good stuff in details.
What exposure tools did you use? ETTR? Zebras? Histogram? Lightmeter? EV? Eye?

Thanks! This is really helpful and inspiring.



MartijnR

Thanks a lot SiSS,

Next time I will try to combine Premiere and AE, see how that works out for me.

As for the exposure, I was a bit worried before I started shooting because of noise in darker scenes. I started a topic here, which gave me some good tips:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=12176.msg117719#msg117719

I did some testing with ETTR but in the end I just used my eyes, without any additional tools. Just kept the imagery fairly light, but not too much. In the darker scenes such as the candles, I used around F2 and tried not to go above ISO 1600 (some shots maybe 3200). For the metro shots I liked F4 and had ISO at 400 or 800. For the outside shots I was worried that I might required ND filters (which I didn't have), but that turned out quite good. The advantage here, was that I shot almost everything in 60fps, so the shutter speed made everything darker. In the end it was playing around with settings, but keeping some limits in mind.

Cheers,

Martijn

SiSS


ikola1

Wow i like it man ! Love the storytelling. It makes me feel so sad to see the empty cage with the towell on, back in the shadow :(  This is the kind of video where it wouldn't be a problem for me to don't know a thing about the tech stuff, where it's all about the story. Thanks for sharing!

MartijnR

Thanks a lot ikola1!

Actually, the story was intended (a bit) more positive :) The protagonist was watching his caged bird and bag from his bed, thinking over his new life. And the bird was a symbol of freedom. I wanted to show this bird in that shot very much, to make it more clear. But the problem here was that the bird became hysterical during filming as soon as we only moved the cage a little bit. So we chose for his peace of mind above the film. The towel didn't mean something negative, just a storytelling fix. In the end, it doesn't matter too much if the story is interpreted differently, because I kept the story somewhat vague on purpose.

Cheers,

Martijn

ikola1

I have watched it one more time with your reply in mind and yes i can feel the positiveness a little bit more, but more like a tensional, hopeful seek, of hope. Makes me think about the speech Bane gives to Bruce Wayne in the prison scene during the last Nolan's Batman : "I learned here that there can be no true despair without hope." ( /watch?v=hvwTx1UWswQ ). Of course both intentions and interpretations are and will ever be subjective. Oh and the scene were the man looks at the candles and then you move in his eye ball to show the multi reflections of all the little candle point in, is so magical ^^ !

MartijnR

Thanks for the compliment, ikola1! That puts a big smile on my face :)
I am a big fan of Tarkovsky's Stalker, where there is one element of craving for nature (and finding peace), and escaping from the harsh reality. I tried to get that feeling somewhat also in the music video, with the destructive buildings and depressing metro scenes, and with the nature shots. In the end the protagonist almost feels like merging with nature (the bright sunlight). This is in line with your association with Batman. I tried not to fill in if he would actually find his happiness, or that it would only be his unrealistic craving.
Thanks!

ikola1

Oh Stalker yes i know that one. The actor and character of the stalker himself are totally fascinating. I can feel those intentions in your pictures now that i have watched it again ; like the first time i didn't even see his hands praying ; i was so captivated by the soft moody dark shadows lighting, and that nice highlight roll off like on the end where as you said, he merged his mind into the god sun. This is possible thanks to ML raw and a good color correction. You can't do this with h.264 ! Anyway, i was glad to make this : /watch?v=NVRqTmkpzDc with ML raw. "I tried not to fill in if he would actually find his happiness, or that it would only be his unrealistic craving" : story of western civilisation.. ;)

MartijnR

Thanks a lot, ikola1! :) Great you see the intentions!
I like your video, very peaceful :) Regarding h.264, I have little experience using it, almost immediately installing ML and shooting RAW. I accidentally shot a bit of h.264 footage while shooting this music video. Because of the intense RAW workflow I was wondering how big the difference was. I knew of course the advantages in post and the increase of detail, but when checking the h.264 files I was quite shocked how huge the difference was. A big thanks to ML indeed! Cheers!

johnwangphoto

Hi,

I really enjoy watching the film and you did a great job! I also learned a lot from the following posts you did. One thing I would like to know is that what kind of rig did you use with 5D MarkIII when you shot the film, like any stabilizer equipment used, on tripod or handheld, etc.

Thanks,

John

MartijnR

Thanks a lot, johnwangphoto! Great to hear! For most shots, I used a shoulder-rig. With a normal accompanied weight, and without follow focus. Any rig would work, i guess. I bought a EVF Zacutto but lacked a good place at that time to add it to the rig, so I hardly used it (for stabilizing). And I used Warp Stabilizer in After Effects. Very convenient, especially combined with Twixtor, gives good stabilized shots. And I used a tripod (not very expensive but quite sturdy) and for some low shots a Gorillapod Focus. For the shots in the hallway (slowly moving towards the protagonist on his coach), I tried a technique I read at one of the comments of Kendy:

http://vimeo.com/97754240)

(also some inspiration from his video). He suggested to use a tripod on a carpet. After a lot of trial and error, I managed to get quite some good shots. This part was actually shot with 24fps. I had to take good care with the floor (cleaning) and being aware of any irregularities in the floor. I could have bought a slider or another solution, but this worked. Although I think it helped to have sturdy tripod and be aware of not bending anything. Maybe if you have a sturdy carpet you could also push the carpet instead of the tripod :) Great to experiment with.

DeafEyeJedi

For low budget shoots... Me personally and I've seen others use a stick on top of some kind of a rug to use as a 'slider'. If used with proper care/cleaning and sometimes you may get a good shot out of trial & error! ( Exactly what you mentioned!  ;D )

Excellent work @MartijnR!
5D3.113 | 5D3.123 | EOSM.203 | 7D.203 | 70D.112 | 100D.101 | EOSM2.* | 50D.109