Three - A short film to test the Canon 550D/T2i

[derkoi]

Rather than do the usual tests involving shallow depth of field and flowers, we decided to test my new camera by making a short film.

Written & shot in one day using the Canon 550D with kit 18-55mm lens.

So what did we learn?

The camera is excellent and there is no reason to doubt it's capabilities, even with the rather slow kit lens, we were able to get some nice shots with only natural lighting.
Rolling shutter is rather harsh, so that limits what can be done.
Sound needs syncing slightly with the video when using an external mic.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: No YouTube files are hosted on our forum. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website. We can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. If the video does not play, wait a minute or try again later.

Click here to view this YOUTUBE movie!

[Daniel Rutter]

What the hell is going wrong with Youtube embedding lately?

[derkoi]

What the hell is going wrong with Youtube embedding lately?

Dunno, it works fine here. What's it doing?

[Daniel Rutter]

Youtube usually embeds the whole video right here in the forum post. That was you don't have to navigate your way to Youtube itself.

It hasn't worked for me in a while... I emailed Mal about it, but it seems he's either missed it, or ignoring it.

[derkoi]

Anyone watched this?

I watched it on my 50" 1080P TV last night and the grading looks crap. Need to calibrate my new monitor.

Any feedback on what it looks like at your end?

[Steve_Karl]

Plenty of anxt !
I love the old bicycle horn ring tone.
Nice slow mo on the car guy.
Lots of high contract but it works for me.
Pretty funny also. 3 ? LOL
Nice job for a test.

What it looks like here:
Plenty of burnt out whites very ... but I thought you were going for that.

[derkoi]

Plenty of anxt !
I love the old bicycle horn ring tone.
Nice slow mo on the car guy.
Lots of high contract but it works for me.
Pretty funny also. 3 ? LOL
Nice job for a test.

What it looks like here:
Plenty of burnt out whites very ... but I thought you were going for that.

Thanks Steve!

The slow mo was done using the 550D's 720 50fps mode and slowed to 50% in Vegas and upscaled to 1080

You are right on the look, i was going for high contrast and blown out features, but i overdid it i think. Maybe i need to calibrate my TV and monitor. lol

Thanks for the Feedback!

[jordanService]

I liked it, I thought it was well edited and acted.


I loved the art direction too, every thing seemed to fit in that world.

I also really liked the shot where the camera man did a full 360 of the room. I am going to steal that.

[derkoi]

I liked it, I thought it was well edited and acted.


I loved the art direction too, every thing seemed to fit in that world.

I also really liked the shot where the camera man did a full 360 of the room. I am going to steal that.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[DigitalVideo]

Anyone watched this?

I watched it on my 50" 1080P TV last night and the grading looks crap. Need to calibrate my new monitor.

Any feedback on what it looks like at your end?

Looks just a tad over exposed and soft to me. But it's not bad for sure!

[HueyNRolf]

I think you did overdo the look, but so what. There was so much to like about this short. The opening scene has a great hook and the pacing kept me watching.
Well done, D.

[derkoi]

Looks just a tad over exposed and soft to me. But it's not bad for sure!

Cool. Thanks

I think you did overdo the look, but so what. There was so much to like about this short. The opening scene has a great hook and the pacing kept me watching.
Well done, D.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Jergling]

I'd like to know what problems you had with the rolling shutter. The whole thing looked amazing regardless of the technical limitations you mentioned. The video had a consistent style, but the blown-out whites were a little over-the-top at points. In a "test" video, I'd rather see more raw detail than color correction, but this seems like less of test video and more of a demo. Great job, anyway. You should try the 50mm 1.8 or 1.4 lens for even shallower DOF.

[derkoi]

I'd like to know what problems you had with the rolling shutter. The whole thing looked amazing regardless of the technical limitations you mentioned. The video had a consistent style, but the blown-out whites were a little over-the-top at points. In a "test" video, I'd rather see more raw detail than color correction, but this seems like less of test video and more of a demo. Great job, anyway. You should try the 50mm 1.8 or 1.4 lens for even shallower DOF.

Thanks, the "test" part was really for us to test the camera in a real world scenario and see how we get on with it in terms of complete end to end work flow, but on something unimportant.

The rolling shutter wasn't really an issue apart from a few shots. If you look closely at the kitchen cupboard door when the guy gets the teabags out, the door bends from the rolling shutter. Also we shot out the car window of the street passing by but that was rolling shutter hell. lol

I plan on buying a 50mm 1.8 in the near future, so when i get that i'll be covered for even more low light shooting.

[cornreaper]

Wow, amazing! Loved the composition, editing and acting. When you nail those, things like harsh grading go virtually unnoticed. The only technical shortcoming I saw was soft focus in spots, but I didn't care! What did you do for sound?

[derkoi]

Wow, amazing! Loved the composition, editing and acting. When you nail those, things like harsh grading go virtually unnoticed. The only technical shortcoming I saw was soft focus in spots, but I didn't care! What did you do for sound?

Thanks!

Yeah we did fluff some focusing, it's pretty hard to focus when you're in the shots too, but we did fluff a couple of shots were we both wasn't in them. lol

For sound we used the Rode videomic on the hot-shoe straight into the camera.

[HueyNRolf]

For sound we used the Rode videomic on the hot-shoe straight into the camera.

WOW!
Considering that's a big no no, I didn't notice any serious sound issues. After a second look, I could hear the AGC sucking in noise when 'Frank' enters the room and I can hear (what sounds like) the fridge running in the kitchen scene. I suspect the score is masking out the noise at the beginning.

Anyway, it worked out fine this time. For future projects you might want to consider a sound recorder for more control. The Zoom H1 is a low cost solution.

[Steve_Karl]

Thanks!

For sound we used the Rode videomic on the hot-shoe straight into the camera.

Stereo or mono version?


The dialogue sound is ... un noticable ...that is to say ... I accept it with out even questioning it, as I watch. That's great.


I'm on my third time through this one ... love the transition from the garage to the room with blue walls, and quite a few other things. The run past the garage door and the credit on the correct door .... the pace is really really good in everything ... and the credit on the living room wall, very cool.

Acting was superb. Both are better than many I've seen on TV, but of course the camera man was really giving you both the best treatment possible.

My only complaint is that it's too short!

[K1N3T1C5]

Wow, loved the editing for the video. The cuts kept the pace and had me watching. Your cinematography was pretty good too. I liked what I saw and didnt have me bending my neck tryign to figure out whats in the shot. Brilliant!

The only issue I had was towards the end, it got kinda dry and slow from such a quick opening. And the color grading kinda killed the suspense of the video. If you have a raw render, I would love to color it, or if you post some stills I could show you what I think would be more fitting.

I just bought a T2i, so I will be experiencing your issues soon enough! Hahaha.

A shoulder rig should take care A LOT of your rolling shutter issues.

AGAIN, your editing is very well done. I didn't see any initial start ups or dead ends (Points where you can see the actor standing still and then moving to do an action like opening the door. Or where an actor finishes a task, and kinda waits there for hte next shot.) Your transition from Storage to the actor's room was REALLY REALLY smooth. I loved it!

[Gillvane]

Ok, looks great and that was hilarious.

[derkoi]

WOW!
Considering that's a big no no, I didn't notice any serious sound issues. After a second look, I could hear the AGC sucking in noise when 'Frank' enters the room and I can hear (what sounds like) the fridge running in the kitchen scene. I suspect the score is masking out the noise at the beginning.

Anyway, it worked out fine this time. For future projects you might want to consider a sound recorder for more control. The Zoom H1 is a low cost solution.

Yeah we've considered recording separate, but we'll see, the noise wasn't such a problem on this shoot, hence why you didn't notice any issues at first, but we'll see how it goes.

Stereo or mono version?


The dialogue sound is ... un noticable ...that is to say ... I accept it with out even questioning it, as I watch. That's great.


I'm on my third time through this one ... love the transition from the garage to the room with blue walls, and quite a few other things. The run past the garage door and the credit on the correct door .... the pace is really really good in everything ... and the credit on the living room wall, very cool.

Acting was superb. Both are better than many I've seen on TV, but of course the camera man was really giving you both the best treatment possible.

My only complaint is that it's too short!

Thanks for the feedback!

It was a mono mic i believe however it was in both channels.

We were the camera men, it was me & my friend acting in the film & we also shot it & everything.

Wow, loved the editing for the video. The cuts kept the pace and had me watching. Your cinematography was pretty good too. I liked what I saw and didnt have me bending my neck tryign to figure out whats in the shot. Brilliant!

The only issue I had was towards the end, it got kinda dry and slow from such a quick opening. And the color grading kinda killed the suspense of the video. If you have a raw render, I would love to color it, or if you post some stills I could show you what I think would be more fitting.

I just bought a T2i, so I will be experiencing your issues soon enough! Hahaha.

A shoulder rig should take care A LOT of your rolling shutter issues.

AGAIN, your editing is very well done. I didn't see any initial start ups or dead ends (Points where you can see the actor standing still and then moving to do an action like opening the door. Or where an actor finishes a task, and kinda waits there for hte next shot.) Your transition from Storage to the actor's room was REALLY REALLY smooth. I loved it!

Thanks, i could post some raw stills if you want?

Ok, looks great and that was hilarious.

Cheers!

Just wanna say thanks for everyone's positive feedback, we really appreciate it, we are in the process of planning another short and a possible feature using the 550D, so it's pretty exciting right now for us.

[FCRabbath]

good job man!

[derkoi]

good job man!

Thanks