Art For Art 29 Jan 2011

Last Saturday 29 Jan 2011 was the big Art For Art pilot event where allot of people had worked for to make it happen, too bad the school which would had cooperated with was way too lazy not knowing that real life management is tough and need to work day and night calling people and organizing stuff. Also during this event was a short movie I wrote/filmed/edited for this event. The image above is the major doing the opening speech of the event, too bad the lighting was bit off, the table should had been one meter back cause his face is really oddly lighted with a big shadow in the middle.

The person who have made this all possible was Marlies van Amerongen also is the producer of the short movie, she is in the picture above on the right. The main event of the night was actually the auction which didn't went all that well but at least there were some sells also my artwork was auctioned.

And of course the premier of the short movie Mastermind. It was bit of an oddball production, not everything went that well and smooth but mainly learned on who you can count on and personally myself on the production side of trying to get hands on borrowed equipments and casting in Holland. So watch the whole movie here below, it was filmed just in 2 days and mainly the sound production side used the most time. For the rest did not use any special movie coloring mostly just white balancing out some shots that were shot without having the white balance correct and mainly color filters on the lights for certain color effects.

However I am not quite happy with the full results also kinda mad about myself by not writing in my usual style. But have to say, could use this as a pilot and write a much better script, especially during editing I thought missing allot of scenes that could have been added and try to find someone to finance it to be a better financed short or a feature film.

Blind vertrouwen

This short movie won the best movie prize and I help out doing the DOP filmed with Canon EOS 550D with 16mm f2.8 and 28mm f2 lens and also Kodak Playsport for the POV and home video shots. Watch the Movie below.

'Blind Vertrouwen' from Nuum on Vimeo.

No Name Productions presenteert 'Blind Vertrouwen' met Koen Oude Groote Beverborg (Regie), Jeffrey Siefers (Productieleider), Floor Soeters (Opnameleider), Wemke rundberg (Regie assistent), Bruce van Gelderen (Scenario). Productie en Montage: No Name Productions

DOP: Chung-Dha Lam
Geluid: Kasper Koudenburg

Cast: Jasper van der Heijden, Marvin Bek, Rob Keijsers, Jana Roelandt en Maryam El Amrami

(C) 2011 INHolland University Rotterdam

Blind Vertrouwen gaat over liefde en verraad. Michael (Jasper van der Heijden) wordt niet erkend als de vader van zijn kind, het geeft hem het gevoel dat hij machteloos is en in de steek wordt gelaten. Zijn enige uitweg lijkt om aan alles maar een einde te maken. Jos (Rob Keijsers) en Peter (Marvin Bek) proberen hem op het laatste moment nog over te halen het niet te doen, maar zijn ze op tijd of heeft Michael zijn beslissing al genomen?

My Dearest Mastermind

Saturday this weekend January 29th will be a premier of a short movie I did for the event of Art for Art. Last Sunday around 21.19 we wrapped up the last shot even though last night I had to make a pick up shot for the title ending. Its not the first movie script I wrote but I kinda made the mistake of over wanting to have a good ending instead of my usual script that the protagonist would die or fail in something. Really in the editing found that I should had written it in my usual style.

However the movie is not that bad and it could be a nice pilot to making something much bigger and better out of it. I think I will do a rewrite of the script though cause mainly had so much ideas after doing the editing. Especially was a great experience and learned allot especially production calling allot of people and trying to organize plus trying to get extra equipments.

Have to thank Marlies for setting up the event Art for Art making it possible, also thanks to the Cast and Crew coming to the set on such a short notice.

If you wonder about where or during what event it premiers, its actually an anti human trafficking event where we try to raise money for a good cause against human trafficking. Mainly the short movie is about a certain topic that is not really known which is selling illegal donors which is stolen out of healthy people. Also trying to give people info about such happenings. Also will be auctions of different artworks by artist, celebs and even I will place an art piece for it. For more info visit www.artforart.nl

Lucky Yellow shoes Onitsuka Tiger!

Actually pretty much think yellow shoes for me is my lucky charm cause what you know I wore them tonight for the first time and bam!!! My team of the movie Blind Vertrouwen which in English mean Blind Trust won the best movie award!!!

But have to say I love my Yellow shoes and going to try and stay wearing yellow shoes as much as possible. Also mainly cause they are like Bruce Lee replicas and Yellow shoes suit my style allot!

And below is the winning moment with the whole crew and cast on stage!

LCDVF 3/2 for 550D t2i review

The LCDVF is really something I can not leave at home when I am filming or taking photos during the day, cause mostly during the day it is very hard to see what is on your viewfinder. Also you can add brightness but the problem with that is that the picture of view is lighter making you think what you film or photograph is that bright but when you are at home you would see everything it shot too dark.

I would recommend to buy one its the cheapest of all the brands and it quite a good one. I think the expensive ones are just too expensive en overly expensive cause the materials used are not that much and could be much cheaper. Also you need to buy an eyecup which is a soft cushion which is nicer then the rubber but also make it able to breath so the glass would not fog up. Cause often had to hold it against my head with slight opening so able to let the moister out.

For those in Holland having problems finding one, go to www.cameratools.nl which does have it and for quite a nice price plus allot of other nice camera and video gear.

Vivanco EM35 + Canon 550D magic lantern

Its a cheap mic I bought at MediaMarkt which I thought might be very bad or ok but it came out to be fairly good. And mostly I really rather use this lavalier mic than using the shotgun or the build in mic. Cause the build in one record too much environment sound and shotgun on the camera often stands bit to far and set on directional it gets a slight hiss seem the hiss is caused by the mic itself. The sound is quite good, too bad the sound in the replay on my camera does not really show how good it is and only really can check if after placing it on my computer. I though I might had peaked and had talked too loud cause on the camera could hear some sound that was peaked but on my laptop everything sounds actually quite good and loud enough. I have to say I do recommend if you are going film yourself for a review to use a lavalier cause it give you 2 hands to move with and the sound is just much better.

Cheap Rotolight LED ringlight review

I have bought one of these a long while ago and actually had it dismantles and already sawed so I could place it around one of my lenses. However during the move to the new house lost or not sure where I place some of the parts. However finally found another one on the internet. Seem no stores sells it anymore in Holland which is so weird. However I was almost going to get a Rotolight cause was convinced by vids that it was a good light but actually I did extra research on the LED lights and found out that the Rotolight is actually based on the 48LED camping or tent light which cost less then 10 bucks while the Rotolight cost more than 100 bucks. The design is totally the same just one difference it that Rotolight has filters.

My advice is to get the tent light is basically the same, same design and same amount of LED and same amount of batteries used. So if you want to get something like a Rotolight or LED ring light search online for 48 LED camping or tent light and you will find the cheap version. And it is super bright and a very great small light to carry around. Its a nice light for an interview or just to get a music video look.

For those who are lazy to Google or search Ebay, here below is a link to the Cheap version of the Rotolight on Ebay.
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=ufo+camping+light&_sacat=0&_odkw=ufo+camping+light&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

Gels and filters, how it's made?

Here is an intersting video showing how gels or filters are made especially for movies I find it more setting up lights at night is very important especially setting it for the mood instead of just using the natural lights especially having all the light source to be same is boring. Also you can change the colors of the walls if they are all white to another color. But also interesting have everything colored white the person is not. Check out the video below how it is made.

Also lens filters are handy to lower the lighting without changing the shutter speeds especially if you are hitting around 1/100 you get shocky images, which is an interesting effect for certain shots but not for normal stuff.

Hoek van Holland with Olympus 50mm f1.4

Today went to take day off at Hoek van Holland haven't done this for a while just go outside with a camera and take pictures and hone ones skill of photography and cinematography. Have to say I did brought a monopod with me but that was more to film myself and actually should have brought the manfrotto one. Didn't brought my LCDVF so most picture were pretty much out of focus but still got allot of decent photo's out of it with trying to focus by eye even with the tiny viewfinder of the 550D. Also could had brought a nd filter for getting better exposures of the sky.
Also have to say all the photo's are heavily photoshopped afterwards with curves. Which I find a better tool than Level while most schools teach using levels to do color correction, while with curves you can easier alter the colors in certain ranges which make it possible to retain or gain more details or get more dynamic range back.
The f1.4 is very nice with a thin dof and causes nice bokeh, if you stop down would see and octagon shaped boked. The lens turning from close focus to infinity is very long and need to rotate alot, its very hard to rack focus cause of it. Also wide open it have a kind of softness glow in places with a certain color or over exposure. But the lens is pretty sharp when you get the exposure correct.

Above you will see there is a soft colored glow which is caused by the sun and cause it is setting it is colored. But have to say it gives a nice effect in this picture but there might be moment it could be annoying especially if its a white glow.
Even though the 50mm is equal to a 80mm on the 550D its a great portrait lens is still possible get a nice landscape pictures and especially holding the lens for portrait to get a better feel of depth. There is no distortion so everything look more correct shaped and see good horizontal or vertical lines.

But have to say sometimes its just not wide enough especially using this lens at home the camera have to stand pretty far away. And most if you film inside a house you need to be able to move the furniture to make space for it. And for event photography its not likely you would use this for taking group photos of more than 2 persons. Cause you have to stand like 6 meters away which is not likely that you would get that much space at events. The lens is pretty great at night and can get allot of light on the sensor and able to keep the ISO low. Will make a review vid of this lens very soon and hopefully you like the picture in this post. Mostly what I learned of this is that I need to take more stuff with we like ND filter and lcdvf cause now gotten more pro and need to produce better things. Also learn to respect the curve tool more than before and it does much better job than the level tool.

Avoid 12min limit on Canon 550D t2i

The next big problem with the Canon 550d or the t2i is that next to that it does not have sound control is that the SDHC card have a limit of max 4GB burst, so you can't film anything that is more than 4GB mostly is about 12 minutes burst but sometimes can be more or less depending on the situation and environment.

exFAT SDHC
For those who wonder if an exFAT SDHC have a 4GB limit like at FAT32, I have to say it does have a limit. I just test it out with an Toshiba 16GB Class 4 (SD-K16G read 20MB/s write 10MB/s) I have formatted it on my laptop to exFAT and it stopped at the time of 14.49, with the file size of 3.98GB - 4.182.028kB. It stopped at roughly around the 4GB limit. Making an exFAT of the SDHC does have it purpose it actually makes the card faster. Cause before it would normally already start off the recording saying it is busy and then record, but after changing it into exFAT it did not had that problem. However non SDXC or exFAT compatible cameras or equipment would not be able to use it, cause I tried placing the exFAT in my Kodak Playsport and it would not start up. I had to format the card inside my 550D to get it back to FAT32.

Other solution is SDXC which are also exFAT but build to be an exFAT, however there are not that much sold and the ones that are sold are too expensive for my taste. Also nobody have actually bought one and tested it out yet. Also I the exFAT SDHC I made after formatting it in the Camera it would change the SD card back into FAT32 so I am not sure what would happen if you format an SDXC if it would stay an exFAT or it becomes a FAT32.

Magic Lantern
With Magic Lantern there is an option to record longer but it lowers the quality of your shots by changing the bit rates so you would use less Mb/s. However there is still the time limit of the 29.95 set by Canon inside the camera also it still does get pretty warm to let it film for half an hour.

This test is to show you the differences in the Qscale how long it can film, but also what kind of file sizes, comes out of it.

Q-Scale test results with Canon EOS 550D t2i with Magic Lantern Januari 5 build filming 1920x1080 24P ISO 200 with Toshiba 16GB Class 6 (SD-F16G) read/write 20MB/s:
Q-Scale -1: time 29.59 - 4.30mbits/sec - 933,76MB

Q-Scale -2: time 29.59 - 4.67mbits/sec - 1012,96MB

Q-Scale -8: time 29.59 - 12.38mbits/sec - 2.59GB

Q-Scale -12: time 28.09 - 20.27mbits/sec - 3.98GB

Q-Scale -16: time 8.29 - 48.17mbits/sec - 2.85GB

As you might see there are few QSCALE numbers missing however I was more trying to dial in to the Qscale with the highest quality yet able to film the longest. Also you might see that the Q-Scale -16 is about 48mbits/sec and not like the high 82mbits/sec people claim, however that depends mostly on your ISO setting, which in my case was very low because I was also using a 50mm f1.4. If you use an higher ISO you probably would hit that or bigger number.

However pretty interesting able to shoot such high quality mostly could film scenes using -16 and lid well and use ISO100 or ISO200 and film those scenes with no problem.

Here is with High ISO values:
Q-Scale -1 ISO3200: 18.15mbits/sec
Q-Scale -16 ISO3200: 119.25mbits/sec
Q-Scale -16 ISO1600: 102.72mbits/sec

Those High ISO with -16 could only take an one second shot and are not that useful. I would recommend to get better lenses and light sources I would try never to use anything higher than 800.

Below is a list with ISO and Q-Scale to able to film full half hour footages at bit rate around 18 to 20mbits/sec.

Recommended Q-Scale with ISO to able to film 30min:
ISO 100 Q-Scale -11
ISO 200 Q-Scale -10
ISO 400 Q-Scale -8
ISO 800 Q-Scale -6
ISO 1600 Q-Scale -5
ISO 3200 Q-Scale -4
ISO 6400 Q-Scale -2

Conclusion
You basically can't get pass the 4GB Limit on a SDHC, the only way to film longer is to either get an SDXC or use Magic Lantern and use Q-Scale feature. Or just stop and go at silent or non important moments.

Art For Art Kick off!!

Yesterday went to Art for Art kick off which is and event held to stop human trafficking. I am one of the coaches helping out people to get inspired to start making things to show on 29 January in The Hague. The slogan of this Campaign is also Making injustice Visible. If you want to know more visit www.artforart.nl .

It Was a bit hectic at the start actually from the moment 3 days earlier I joined in already start off making new poster design after also the beamer presentation and also had like major problem around the beamer but eventually was solved. Here below is the poster I made and also I have filmed the event however it take some time for me to do the editing plus rendering it. So that would come later.

Art for Art Poster
At 29 Januari at the Atrium or City Hall of the Hague there will be a big event presenting everybody's work plus also performances of people of the workshop plus also will be allot of invited Dutch Celebrities. But also there will be an auction of the works that are made in the workshop but also works that were donated by Artist and Celebrity Artists. If you want to know more visit www.artforart.nl .

How SD cards are made!!!

Nowadays we might saw camera is most important but another crucial think is the memory card especially made to last out your camera in most of the time you might have change 3 to 4 cameras but still use the same card. Watch the video above and see how such a small card is made to store such a huge amount of data.

Focal length comparison between full and crop frame

5Dmk2/7D lens comparison test from Mike Collins on Vimeo.

Probably allot of beginning cinematographer or photographers never though about it but there is allot of difference having a full frame or a crop frame even more of a difference if you have a micro4/3 sensor. The big thing is that with the same lens not only is there a difference between the cropped framing, but also difference in Depth of field and distance of the camera placement.

Mainly I can put a full frame or a 35mm sensor much closer up to the subject I want to film, there by also able to get a much thinner DOF cause the subject is even closer to the camera. While if I want to film with a cropped frame I have to stand further away for the same shot with the same lens, while making the DOF thicker ( cause as you know the further away the subject the bigger the DOF and furthest point it will be infinity where everything is in focus).

However not only is the DOF much prettier but also you can place the camera much closer to your subject meaning you can film in a much more confined area, like inside a car or an elevator. But also mean you can get nice big wide shots. While a crop frame now sound really bad its, not mostly mean you have to pay for expensive lenses to able to get it as wide as a full frame. But the better thing with a crop is that you can get better tele shots from a far away distance cause you actually am zoomed in much closer. And with a 4/3 even more, but sports this is a wonder full thing but filming inside a house it is very horrible.

F*cking Bokeh!

Yeah found new way to alter the shape of the Bokeh, for the New year fireworks vid I made cut outs now this picture about is actually a filter I made and drew on it with a marker. However I am now trying to find some thin white board markers, so I can do some very artistic bokeh. Also when I have time I will show you have the whole setup looks like and what you should buy to do this.

Bokehiscious New Year!!!

Happy New Year everybody here is a special New Year Movie with special Bokeh Filter in shape of Happy 2011, 2011 and my logo. Will soon release a video how I did it and its very interesting and fun to do, but also need allot of skills in cutting really small to make the filter for these shapes.