A small step for mankind...

Just bought myself a Vimeo+ account and is in the process of uploading my first video. Even though the video is no masterpiece it's my first try at making a proper movie; Script and all. I love writing dialogues and here I rewrote one of them to a proper script and got two friends to try and act it out.

And even if it's cool watching what you have written get acted out on screen the part of the movie Im the most proud is the camera and editing. As I said it's no mastepiece, far from it, but it's all mine.



For now it's in swedish only but if anyone knows a good way to add subtitles to it please let me know. Would love to share it with the non swedish crowd.

Time lapse for teh win

Ok, so like everyone else I have been bitten by the Time lapse bug. But as many before me I have stumbled on the technical aspect where you need a lot of expensive equipment to make masterpieces like the one below.



I have experimented with it for a couple of days and by using my computer as a remote I can make my own time lapses with the "only" hassle of having to bring my laptop with me everywhere. So dont be surprised if my only humble dabbles in the Time lapse trade ends up here before the summer is over.

Baby steps

I took my camera out for test drive earlier this morning. Since I have been doing night photography for years I felt confident that my video fotage would look as good as the photos I produce... Boy was I wrong :-)

This is a still taken by me...

I realized that it wasn't as easy to shoot video as I thought. Even getting my camera to do manual exposure and aperture was a hard nut to crack. So I did some filming and then went home to dig up my manual.

...And this is the proof that taking stills and shooting video is two different things all together.

Now I'm all manual (after I read the manual :-) so I will head out this weekend to try and get some film without the noise that I got doing it on automatic.

Finaly a project

As a member of Vimeo I regulary browse their page for new and inspiring shorts. There are many I can tell you but sometimes one pops out. Not because it is better than the rest but because it inspire me.

To inspire me a short need to fill certain criterias.It has to be good but not too good. I need to feel that it would be in my reach if I just worked harder (I have a great imagination). And it has to be the kind of flick that falls within a category that I realisticaly can make.

This clip that I stumbled upon a few days back fit the bill:

Opsin from Ivan Villafuerte on Vimeo.

It is well made with a great look and atmosphere. Julst love the smooth black and white. It Immediately felt like 'this was something I could do' so I wrote down my ideas and has now set my goal; to make my own presentation of my hometown Karlstad. A good start to get to know my new camera and to do some editing without involving anyone else but me.

So how do I make my own?
Based on the above clip all you need it this (sound soo easy)
- Static camera
- A good song that creates the right atmosphere
- A city
- No 'proper' sound so I can be alone doing it
- No actors

Why haven't I done this before then I hear you ask in a somewhat mocking tone... Well to tell you the truth friend, I'm lazy.

My new set up and a cruel discovery

So I finaly got my new lens and Im very happy with it. Only just used it for photography yet but I have a good feeling about it. Since my old Iphone isn't very fit for taking photographs I had to borrow another image of my new lens.

It's a bit heavy but has a robust feel. More of that in later posts. Being as excited as a kid on christmas I did some research on what I would use the camera for. A Vimeo account later I found Final cut pro's Optical flow; A kind of super slow motion. I even dreamed up a short using it but then reality hit me square in the face. 

While my old Mac book pro is strong enough to edit movies it isn't even close to being able to handle any extra straineous editing at all; Like processing Optical flow. That mean I have to go on a hunt for a facility that has that capacity and until then I have to stick to old "boring" storytelling with people talking and stuff.

That's all for now and I'l be in touch.

Welcome to the new me version 550D

So, DSLR you say. Yes, that's what I'm saying, or rather writing. Been a dreamer all my life and this christmas I bought myself a Canon 550D with the intention of trying to make movies. Since I'm new to this HDSLR thing I decided to create a blog and document my struggle from zero to hero. Did I mention I was a dreamer?

Some quick questions:
Why english and not Swedish? 
Well, the internet is a big place as you might have noticed and since the obstacles I will run into are universal for anyone picking up a DSLR for the first time I thought I would share them with the world instead of just tiny Sweden. Remember this when you pick apart my grammars and choice of words please.

What will you write about?
My goal is to make a short movie to enter into the annual local short film festival (Filmörnen) so with 6 months to go I will try to document the steps I take mainly from a technical view. I might throw in some script thoughts as well if anyone shows in interest but mainly I will focus on me getting to know the camera and filming. There, I just formulated my short term goal from this blog. Impressive!

What have you done before buying the 550D?
Moviewise I have made some pretty amateur stuff with my old video camera and I even managed to enter a short film to the festival last year. Past very unnoticed I can say. I have been interested in still photography for a few years now so I can manage in that department pretty well but moving pictures are new to me and the results I see when I google DSLR video had me convinced that I would be making epics in no time.

Time to order a new lens so I will be back when all my money has been spent. Comments are most welcome. What would you like me to write about?