Action Reel

[swanny338]

Action Sports Reel on Vimeo

Action Sports Reel on Vimeo

Let me know what ya think.

[Daniel Bates]

I'm going to make up for all the crits on the last video...

I love the POVs you got on the bike (bars, forks, etc). The time-remapped S-curves, particularly 1:33, were very, very, very good. Your transition at 2:26 was outstanding.

1:08 deserves its own video and thread. 'Breathtaking' sells it short.

Okay, one critique: you really need some better music for this. The soundtrack makes me want to chill out in Big Bend watching the stars come up. This video calls for something a bit more energetic - or at least full-bore nat sound for the bikes and cars.

[auddii]

Awesome video, although I don't know much about video to critique. I love the choppy transitions at the beginning and the compilation of all the different sports.

Personally, I like the juxtaposition of the fairly serene music with the video. Almost makes it feel surreal.

[Stargazer77517]

I have to agree with the music comment. Really dosent fit.
Just a few nits
1. 48 sec, what is that? I personally would take that out.
2. 1.29, seems the focus shifted to the baracade and back, didnt stay with the rider.

Again, great work.
Really liked the star scene, bike fork perspective, and the dune biggy stuff. Also the focus fade from the center lane makers to the passing auto was outstanding I feel.

Really look forward to seeing more.

[iCe]

Add me to the list of people that doesn't think the music fits the action. Can you you give us your thoughts (if you picked it)?

Are you the cameraman or the editor or both?

All in all I think that you did a great job on this. I was interesting enough to watch it to the end. In the UTube / Vimeo world that says a lot

[swanny338]

Hey,
Thanks for your thoughts. As far as the music, I went through a lot trying to find the right one and for whatever reason, this one felt right to me. I can't really say why but thats what I got haha.

I did all the cinematography, editing and sound design on the reel itself. I have yet to do a run through on the color. I am still tweaking clips and stuff.

Thanks,
Bryant

[crbeveri]

I thought it was awesome man. I am really wanting to get into video and seeing what you guys are producing is helping me a lot so I greatly appreciate everyone that shares their work.

Music: I thought it worked. I can see where the other feel that at times it would be awesome to have some upbeat music and gets some heart pumping. However, I feel the music you chose also fits it in that it give kind of a relaxing feel to the action and shows the beauty and variety of sports in that area. Just me but in my current atmosphere and mind set I liked the music.

I agree with Daniel about the 1:08 being it's own video. It seems like you could do an entire 4-5min video on that.

Look forward to more of your work and inspiration it gives me to go out and get more into video.

question: you shot this all on the 5D2? If so what were your settings for fps, shutter speed, thanks :)

(small comment to your motorcycle rider haha: he/she looks a little crossed up on the turns with his head around the track.)

Cheers.

[iCe]

Well done! Until I started delving into video I had no idea how involved the entire process is. Each component is as important as the other and each has it's own difficulties and rewards.

I'm curious about some things...

(1) why the cutaways (no transition?)? I realize that in some cases a sharp transition is desired but in the video's that I've been paying attention to the editor usually used a cross dissolve some of the time. <edit> I'm going to leave this comment but I think that it's for the other video not this one but I'll leave it as a general question about when to and when not to use transitions

(2) What did you shoot it with? Camera and platform? The POV shots from the bike are easy enough to figure out. I am speculating that some shots were from an auto of some kind. The helicopter stuff is easy to find. Any handheld? Dolly? The stuff on the basketball court is awesome. It would be cool if you had a video of you creating the video

[swanny338]

I would say this was shot 70% 5D/7D with the other 30% being shot with RED One MX.

As far as support. Lets take the Mountain bike sequence. All of the static tripod like shots were shot with a manfrotto bhdv561 monopod. The dolly shots I used a cinevate slider and the tracking shots like where he hits the jump are me running next to him with a steadicam flyer le. The shots with the camera attached are just GoPros.

The helicopter stuff is shot handheld with a kenyon gyro on a panasonic hvx.


The basketball long lens stuff is shot with a 12' dolly on track and the wideangle stuff was shot on a Glidecam HD-2000(before I got my steadicam)


The boxer was shot in 15 minutes for another video with a tripod and a 180 Macro L. Oh and we had a flash setup to fire every now and then for that effect where it pauses for a second. I think it was a 580exii on minimum power.

The opening running shot is a 70-200 on a cinevate slider with the rest of the stuff being 7D 14mm on a steadicam flyer.


The motorcycle at the track was all shot on the red one with a variety of lenses(mostly the 70-200) sitting in the back of a pickup truck with a tripod. The shot walking up to the bike is the red with a 14mm on the steadicam flyer.


The shot of the bike riding up a curvy road at sunset is me harnessed in to the back of a truck very securely with the steadicam flyer. We probably went a max of 40 mph.



Most of the time in film/tv straight up cuts are used. Fading to black is a good way to move on to the next scene if you have no obvious transition shot.

Oh and Chris, the motorcycle rider is the guy who beat the world record for pikes peak by 15 seconds this year.


I don't really have a whole lot of BTS stuff but here are some shots I just got from the latest music video I worked on.

[swanny338]

Also found this

password: asd

This is a password protected video on Vimeo

This is a password protected video on Vimeo

[iCe]

Awesome... thanks Bryant. It's nice to see the gear in action. What editing software do you use?

I'm glad that you mentioned the rider. I haven't ridden in a while but I learned early on to look where you want to go or you will go where you are looking. The faster you go, the further down the track you look. He looked like he understands MotoGP pretty well Was that Chip Yates (broke the electric bike record) or Carlin Dunne on the Ducati Multistrada 1200? I'm betting Carlin Dunne since he owns the Ducati dealership in Santa Barbara. I like the company that you hang with

[crbeveri]

Very cool Bryant. Haha I wasn't trying to talk crap about the rider haha... I am in no way a pro just mad an observation lol but if y'all were not at race speeds then I can understand his body position. That's awesome that you got to shoot him ride though. I miss racing and wish I could afford a new race bike again.

Thanks for the notes on what you used for the different shots. From the pics looks like you get to play with some great toys for your job. That's awesome man.

@Michael, when you are riding you always wanna look forward where you wanna be not where you are going. However, when you are racing yes you wanna look further down the track but in a lean you want your head in line with your body and not "crossing over" back to your higher shoulder. Watch a MotoGP race and you will see a lot of riders crossed up it's a very hard thing to not do but in the "perfect" riding position your head and body are inline.

[Kirk]

Late to the game, but I also think the music is holding back the energy of the reel. The people in the footage seem to be pretty dedicated to their sports, but the music makes the whole piece seem like a touristy, weekend warrior advertisement for athletic shoes or a sports drink.

It needs some industrial techno or some crunchy metal riffs, something aggressive and action oriented.

On that same note, with the mellow music, the cuts didn't hit as hard as they could have, because there wasn't really a prominent pulse to the music. It made a lot of the scenes - even fast ones like the motorcycle stuff - seem very slow and plodding to me.

The camera work is really great though, congrats.

[tukaniray]

Very nice. I am also late to jump in.

The music, it does give a feel to the video of a more laid back sense, but I kinda like it. More of a cinematic feel as oppose to a crazed ESPN XGames feel, that most of the footage could have fulfilled.

Your shooting is great. I do video, but not in that sense ... I really would love to jump into that kind of camera operating.

The editing is nice, I really like the edit with the rock climber, except for one spot where you seem to have slowed down the footage, looked like a glitch. The basketball guys, well, I didn't feel like they fully fit with this, but very nice shot.

Thanks for sharing.

-Ray-