Wednesday 17 March 2010

Stills in Motion DVD






Last time I disappeared from the 'radar' I made a DVD titled 'Location Lighting' 

So it is time for another....

Followers of this blog will have heard me talk about reinventing oneself on the photographic journey to stay ‘fresh’

The HD DSLR, notably the Canon 5d Mk II, has opened up considerable possibilities and has inspired me like nothing else in a very, very long time. I go 'off on one' about it on Scott Kelby's blog

Its virtues and benefits cannot be over emphasised

It is a bright and shiny new world, so to speak

Anyone who doesn't seize the opportunity is missing a trick

The Suzuki Swift ‘Resplect’ ad and the ‘Cinderella’ were important milestones to me in my latest metamorphosis

In the process of shooting these projects I learned a lot, but I found the knowledge not always so easy to come by, involving trawling the internet for many an hour

The info is out there, but it can be a real slog getting to the bottom of it all

And not so much of the info is from a stills photographers perspective either

I met Dennis Lennie of ‘F-Stop Academy’ fame at ‘Converge One’ in December and we spoke about how many film makers and how few stills photographers were harnessing the Canon 5d MkII’s HD capabilities.

So we put our heads together and thought we would try and redress the balance by putting together a training DVD

So in the depths of the cold and dark of January we shot an instructional DVD with the help of Katherine Holley, Peter Payne with models Jay Jessop and Francois Sechet (a bloody good musician turned photographer, check his site out, cool portraits) who bought not one but two Cello's over on the Eurostar from Paris.....in the snow

Here is the result


A Two DVD set




Disc One Covers the Technical side in ‘Fundamentals’

Disc 1 – FUNDAMENTALS
Chapter 1 – Getting Started
Chapter 2 – Core Differences
Chapter 3 – The Look
Chapter 4 – Light
Chapter 5 – Prime Lenses
Chapter 6 – Moving the Camera
Chapter 7 – Other Considerations
Chapter 8 – Cinderella




Disc Two we start ‘Applying the Theory’  we put what we have demonstrated into action, shooting sequences and being very hands on

Disc 2 – Applying the Theory
Chapter 9 – How to Shoot a sequence
Chapter 10 – Pulling it All Together
Chapter 11 – The Business Model
Bonus Features
– Slow Motion
– Time Lapse
– Using a Clapperboard


It is aimed at people like ‘us’ stills guys who are trying to navigate the rocky road of HD DSLR’s and make some sense of it all, with all of the info and knowledge I have acquired so far, everything in one place

We shot the whole thing on a couple of Canon 5d MkII’s and it shows, it looks lovely in terms of sheer quality

Though it is a departure form my previous DVD ‘location Lighting’ in that it is very instructional and all about the learning I do like to think I have injected a massive part of myself into it and anyone who watches it will be able to achieve what I have

Stills photographers have a massive advantage over the vast majority of videographers, we KNOW photography, apertures and shutter speeds and with a little help and knowledge and encouragement I like to think we can shoot some really great movies for our clients or just for fun

The training is available as a download for $97 and $10 extra gets you the DVD plus postage and handling

14 comments:

François Sechet said...

Can't wait to see the results!

I had a blast shooting this with you, I hope to see you around very soon!

Unknown said...

Hey Francois

We will send you a copy soon

It was a long hard day, but well worth it

Best bit was going down 'The Grapes' with you and Katherine

Thank you very much again

Cheers

Drew

Glyn Dewis said...

Looks sure to be another great DVD release Drew if you're Location Lighting DVD is anything to go by.

Thanks for letting us know it's finally been released,
All the best to you,
Glyn

Unknown said...

Hi Glyn

Thanks a lot for you continued support!

Lots of interesting tales in the pipline from me very soon

Have a great weekend

Drew

Anonymous said...

I can't help wondering where this will end up. The world isn't exactly short of videographers or cameramen. Will they end up shooting stills for Vogue on their REDs? :-)

Unknown said...

Hi Andy

Hope you are well

Sorry I did not bump into you at Focus this year

As for you question HD Images, Where will it all end?

Who knows? But it is a remarkable chance to be part of this massive seismic change and gain whatever knowledge we can

I'm discovering that information I'm gleaning on the moving image front is transferable to my stills photography

I think you have great ideas Andy and some of which could suit moving images

Best Wishes

Drew

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Hey Drew!
It was great to meet you at Focus. Thanks for the Earl Grey tea (yum). I hope your phone is working properly again.

I watched the new DVD while I was in Egypt. It's great! Even my girlfriend ended up watching it (she spends her free time knitting). I really enjoyed the progression of the DVD. It has helped spark some wacky ideas that i'm going to pursue.

P.S. My girlfrind now knows what to get me for my birthday. :-)

Unknown said...

Dear Conrad

Thank you very much for the comment

I'm pleased you liked it

Not sure about your poor girlfriend watching it while you guys were on holiday in Egypt though.

There must have been something better to do like visiting the pyramids or Luxor...

Stay in touch

Chat soon

Cheers

Drew

Unknown said...

Seeing as I didn't have my camera with me in Egypt, I thought it would be fair to take the DVD.

As for the Pyramids and the Sphinx, WOW!!! It was all a bit surreal.

Unknown said...

Hi Drew,

I really enjoyed "Stills in Motion" - thanks for making it.

It was interesting that you were still calling people 'models' when they had really become actors in your video sequences.

Have you tried using real actors rather than getting stills models to cross over? For example in your 'Resplect' ad, were they actors or models? Is it difficult to get stills models to act convincingly?

Thanks,

Ian

Unknown said...

Hi Testzzz

Thank you very much for your comment

You make a very good point, and yes I do incorrectly call the actors 'models'

I think that perhaps says more about my state of transition with shooting moving images than anything premeditated.

For my still shoots I have in the past used a number of models, who have acting experience

For the 'Resplect' project I used models not actors

Getting a good 'performance' out of models IS possible, but it is down to direction and 'people' skills

I would love to work with actors in the future

Cheers

Drew

Anonymous said...

Hi Drew -

I was only at Focus on the Sunday - long story!

Oddly enough, I was wandering past my local Jessops last week and saw they were doing a very good deal on 5D2 bodies. One of them seems to have jumped into my bag(!) but no plans for anything other than stills at the moment. The FireWire connector on my 1Ds2 has broken again and it isn't worth spending the amount it cost me to have it repaired last time. Somehow it seemed to make more sense to buy a 5D2 - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! :-)

Andy

Unknown said...

Hey Andy

You really won't go too far wrong with a 5d mk II

It is simply brilliant no matter what you do with it

The performance/versatility/size/weight combination is unrivaled

I will be interested to see how you get on with it

Very well I suspect!

Cheers

Drew