Questions on follow cam framing / post reframing

[Hoodliving]

Hey yall this is directed towards the senior ns filmers such as evan and Gavin, I notice on the jump lines and alot of rail shots of yours as well as ryans from simple that you guys have almost perfect framing without chopping the feet or head unless it appears intentional. My question is are you still using a wide angle or a prime/ zoom lens what focal lengths do you prefer? I have a 10-18mm and a 24mm prime. My prime is hard to keep steady even on the rails. On to my second question, are you shooting in 4k for example and putting the footage into a smaller 1080 sequence to back scale the footage so you have in essence a 50% re frame in without image quality loss? If that is the process would it work the same for a 1080 down to 720 sequence or would that compress too much since 720 gets blown to 1080 on screens. Please let me know! Or any tips to help my framing be smooth. What's your preferred drop times?

 

[eheath]

Practice. Practice. Practice. You'll learn your field of view for your glidecam, I got to a point where I could point my glidecam at a skier and I knew what the framing was, it just takes time.

I used to shoot primarily with my tokina 11-16 on my fs100 (1.5x crop) and I'd shoot 11mm on rails, 16mm on jumps. These days ive been shooting with an 8mm on my gh3 (2x crop).

As for the 4k thing, I shoot 1080, gavin shoots 1080 as does ryan. I know jacob (coterie) shot his mount hood edit in 4k and did some fucking awesome cut in zooms with it, it worked pretty well. This is definitely a cool thing, but will be useless when 4k is normal, know what I'm saying?

The key to glidecaming while skiing is to not worry about it as much as you'd think, i grip with my glide hand much more aggressively than I would walking/running with it. Skiing is naturally smooth so being perfect with your glidecam isn't necessarily, allowing for more margin of error.

 

[Hoodliving]

Practice. Practice. Practice. You'll learn your field of view for your glidecam, I got to a point where I could point my glidecam at a skier and I knew what the framing was, it just takes time.

I used to shoot primarily with my tokina 11-16 on my fs100 (1.5x crop) and I'd shoot 11mm on rails, 16mm on jumps. These days ive been shooting with an 8mm on my gh3 (2x crop).

As for the 4k thing, I shoot 1080, gavin shoots 1080 as does ryan. I know jacob (coterie) shot his mount hood edit in 4k and did some fucking awesome cut in zooms with it, it worked pretty well. This is definitely a cool thing, but will be useless when 4k is normal, know what I'm saying?

The key to glidecaming while skiing is to not worry about it as much as you'd think, i grip with my glide hand much more aggressively than I would walking/running with it. Skiing is naturally smooth so being perfect with your glidecam isn't necessarily, allowing for more margin of error.

I feel that I'm able to do that for the most parts on the rail lines, but need mad work on my jump follows, that would make sense I usually shoot 12 rails 14 jumps should try 16 out. That makes total sense about the 4k being useless once its the norm, I had actually talked to Jacob during the summer about how he was staying smooth with just his handle grip on the red. Reminding myself of that was what sparked the re framing question.

As to the firmer grip, I definitely notice I need to be firmer with the post but still feel like I'm a bit too light with it. One last question for higher speeds obviously a 2.7-3.5 drop time is not gonna work at all due to wind, so I've dropped to about a 2 second drop and its starting to introduce alot of pendulum fore and aft I know more bottom heavy will be easier to track and less susceptible to wind but is it going to boil down to predicting my movements and practice to keep that slight boat on the water motion? Also with a firmer grip I notice more micro vibrations, what's your preferred guide hand grip. I will hold the post with index middle thumb just under the gimbal, the other is my thumb on the bolt securing the handles arm to the bearing yoke, index finger above the gimbal yet below the cheese plate middle finger below the gimbal. For walking pans tans and tracking It works great haven't tried it on hill though. Have you tried out a fast drop like say a 1 or 1.5 second? Thanks again for your input

Side note: Image sharpness, in camera or post which do you prefer? I'm split between unsharp masking and just bumping it down slightly on the camera and leaving as is.

 

[eheath]

I feel that I'm able to do that for the most parts on the rail lines, but need mad work on my jump follows, that would make sense I usually shoot 12 rails 14 jumps should try 16 out. That makes total sense about the 4k being useless once its the norm, I had actually talked to Jacob during the summer about how he was staying smooth with just his handle grip on the red. Reminding myself of that was what sparked the re framing question.

As to the firmer grip, I definitely notice I need to be firmer with the post but still feel like I'm a bit too light with it. One last question for higher speeds obviously a 2.7-3.5 drop time is not gonna work at all due to wind, so I've dropped to about a 2 second drop and its starting to introduce alot of pendulum fore and aft I know more bottom heavy will be easier to track and less susceptible to wind but is it going to boil down to predicting my movements and practice to keep that slight boat on the water motion? Also with a firmer grip I notice more micro vibrations, what's your preferred guide hand grip. I will hold the post with index middle thumb just under the gimbal, the other is my thumb on the bolt securing the handles arm to the bearing yoke, index finger above the gimbal yet below the cheese plate middle finger below the gimbal. For walking pans tans and tracking It works great haven't tried it on hill though. Have you tried out a fast drop like say a 1 or 1.5 second? Thanks again for your input

Side note: Image sharpness, in camera or post which do you prefer? I'm split between unsharp masking and just bumping it down slightly on the camera and leaving as is.

To me the key is to grip more with your glide hand, like I said before skiing is so smooth already that you dont need the full effect of the glidecam. My drop time is definitely 1-2 seconds usually.

As for sharpness, depends on the camera really, but most will put their sharpening down mega in their camera and it usually looks great just like that, no need for post work.

 

[KellyK]

I feel that I'm able to do that for the most parts on the rail lines, but need mad work on my jump follows, that would make sense I usually shoot 12 rails 14 jumps should try 16 out. That makes total sense about the 4k being useless once its the norm, I had actually talked to Jacob during the summer about how he was staying smooth with just his handle grip on the red. Reminding myself of that was what sparked the re framing question.

As to the firmer grip, I definitely notice I need to be firmer with the post but still feel like I'm a bit too light with it. One last question for higher speeds obviously a 2.7-3.5 drop time is not gonna work at all due to wind, so I've dropped to about a 2 second drop and its starting to introduce alot of pendulum fore and aft I know more bottom heavy will be easier to track and less susceptible to wind but is it going to boil down to predicting my movements and practice to keep that slight boat on the water motion? Also with a firmer grip I notice more micro vibrations, what's your preferred guide hand grip. I will hold the post with index middle thumb just under the gimbal, the other is my thumb on the bolt securing the handles arm to the bearing yoke, index finger above the gimbal yet below the cheese plate middle finger below the gimbal. For walking pans tans and tracking It works great haven't tried it on hill though. Have you tried out a fast drop like say a 1 or 1.5 second? Thanks again for your input

Side note: Image sharpness, in camera or post which do you prefer? I'm split between unsharp masking and just bumping it down slightly on the camera and leaving as is.

None of this is a science. Just shoot. Shoot a lot. Keep trying different things out and figure out what you like and what works for you and your style.

I put down the glidecam this season. I made my camera as heavy as I could and I strong arm that thing. The first day was decent. Day 5 was way better. Look for your mistakes after each day of shooting and consciously work to better your technique. It all comes with time and practice.

 

[Hoodliving]

To me the key is to grip more with your glide hand, like I said before skiing is so smooth already that you dont need the full effect of the glidecam. My drop time is definitely 1-2 seconds usually.

As for sharpness, depends on the camera really, but most will put their sharpening down mega in their camera and it usually looks great just like that, no need for post work.

None of this is a science. Just shoot. Shoot a lot. Keep trying different things out and figure out what you like and what works for you and your style.

I put down the glidecam this season. I made my camera as heavy as I could and I strong arm that thing. The first day was decent. Day 5 was way better. Look for your mistakes after each day of shooting and consciously work to better your technique. It all comes with time and practice.

Thanks yall! Appreciate the help happy shredding.

 

[JAlps]

None of this is a science. Just shoot. Shoot a lot. Keep trying different things out and figure out what you like and what works for you and your style.

I put down the glidecam this season. I made my camera as heavy as I could and I strong arm that thing. The first day was decent. Day 5 was way better. Look for your mistakes after each day of shooting and consciously work to better your technique. It all comes with time and practice.

Wow you just inspired me to stop being a bitch and film without a Glidecam haha. Lets see how it goes!

 

[Hoodliving]

Wow you just inspired me to stop being a bitch and film without a Glidecam haha. Lets see how it goes!

Micro jitters and excessive use of warp stabilizer unless you have the worlds steadiest hand, and at that point go be a sniper lol

 

[KellyK]

Micro jitters and excessive use of warp stabilizer unless you have the worlds steadiest hand, and at that point go be a sniper lol

It's possible to get excellent footage while shooting handheld. Check out anything shot by the Berrics filmer, Chase Gabor. It'll never be perfect, but I'm kinda into those imperfections.

 

[JAlps]

Micro jitters and excessive use of warp stabilizer unless you have the worlds steadiest hand, and at that point go be a sniper lol

Does 6 years of competition archey count? lol.

 

[Hoodliving]

It's possible to get excellent footage while shooting handheld. Check out anything shot by the Berrics filmer, Chase Gabor. It'll never be perfect, but I'm kinda into those imperfections.

I was waiting for that to come up actually, most of the time they're stationary doing the standard rotate the fisheye shots, but the follow cams always can be smoother with a heavy handle and a good arm since skating is a smooth motion not many bumps. I agree though if you can control the jitters enough it can look well done!

Does 6 years of competition archey count? lol.

If you know how to control your breath to steady your hands then id say you should pick it up quick! When shooting handheld pictures with slower shutter speeds I shoot the same way id shoot a gun, aim relax exhale and squeeze the trigger/shutter

 

[StokeFactor]

It's possible to get excellent footage while shooting handheld. Check out anything shot by the Berrics filmer, Chase Gabor. It'll never be perfect, but I'm kinda into those imperfections.

This. I like those little imperfections, when they're not too intense they just give a raw feel to the edits without making it less watchable.

Still even if I'm not planning on getting any of those devices, I was amazed by the gimball skills in this edit, this is some very wow follow cam:

[video]https://vimeo.com/151792722[/video]

 

[Hoodliving]

This. I like those little imperfections, when they're not too intense they just give a raw feel to the edits without making it less watchable.

Still even if I'm not planning on getting any of those devices, I was amazed by the gimball skills in this edit, this is some very wow follow cam:

[video]https://vimeo.com/151792722[/video]

To me it was boring and skill less. You can tell what I mean by lack of pans tilts tans as soon as they get off the lift, a glidecam you would rotate the cam with your turn, those powered gimbals limit you to 3 shots, follow, forward follow, side tracking. To me it looks like you're watching edits from the google traffic cams. Too robotic. Like you said about the micro jitters a glidecam still gives you little waves etc.

 

[StokeFactor]

To me it was boring and skill less. You can tell what I mean by lack of pans tilts tans as soon as they get off the lift, a glidecam you would rotate the cam with your turn, those powered gimbals limit you to 3 shots, follow, forward follow, side tracking. To me it looks like you're watching edits from the google traffic cams. Too robotic. Like you said about the micro jitters a glidecam still gives you little waves etc.

Like I said I prefer imperfections too but dunno why this vid flows well for me. You have the right to find it boring, but I wouldn't say skill less.

 

[Hoodliving]

Like I said I prefer imperfections too but dunno why this vid flows well for me. You have the right to find it boring, but I wouldn't say skill less.

If you've ever used one of the motored gimbals you'd know what I mean, its gaper proof gopro filming haha.