Quicktime Pro might be the best $30 any filmmaker could ever spend. Once you discover and learn some of the little tools it has to offer, you will end up saving hours, if not days of work in the long run.

One cool feature is the ability to make timelapses quickly and very easily. You can use any still photographer’s camera that has a built-in intervolometer or you can (like me) buy a cheap remote intervolometer from China that will hook up to your still camera and allow you to set interval times for each shutter release.

For this timelapse of the moon setting, I set up my Canon 7D at a 20 second shutter, every 21 seconds. Used a Sigma 18-50mm f 2.8 lens (wide open), set focus to infinity, ISO to 500, started my intervolometer and sat back and had a few beers with my brother at my parents cottage on the North Shore of Prince Edward Island, and let the camera do the work.

I ended up with a couple hundred, 18 megapixel jpegs.

You then go into Quicktime pro, go “file”, “open image sequence” and select your first jpeg from your timelapse. Then it will ask you for your frame rate ( in my case 23.78 fps), and voila, your still images play back as one frame each in a 23.98fps video (note: most computers cannot handle playing back 18mp image sequences smoothly, so don’t worry). Just export your sequence as a quicktime movie, with the codec, resolution and bit rate of your choice and you will have your finished timelapse!

We have definitely entered a new era of portable, world class film making capabilities. I recently bought a Canon 7D DSLR camera and did my first official shoot with it this past Friday. It was a pick up interview for our TV series Cubicle to the Cage.

I take my bicycle to work everyday, but that is usually to an editing suite. This was the first time in my life where I was in a position to take my bicycle to a shoot, carrying all my necessary equipment to pull off a professional interview, on my back. Below is the kit that used.
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I brought with me a manfrotto tripod, a pelican case with headphones, a set if wireless Sennheiser lav mics, the Zoom H4n audio recorder and my 7d with a 50mm f1.8 lens. Because the lens is so fast and the style of the interview had to match those from previous shoots, I was able to only use available light and still achieved a fantastic looking image.

In contrast, a couple of weeks ago we were shooting commercials for the Halifax Cycling Coalition using the Red One camera.

We had a tonne of gear, lights, lenses, dolly and track all stuffed into a huge rental van that we drove around the city. Still, this is not even close to as much gear is used on most high end commercial shoots. We have now though. entered an age where it is possible to create world class images with a very small equipment kit. There are pros and cons to it for sure, and using a small kit certainly isn’t adequate for all types of shooting, but the ability to pack a kit on your back and have all you need to convey you message beautifully, is a very exciting reality. I for one, am really looking forward to taking my bicycle to another shoot very soon!

Hemmings House just completed three commercials for the Halifax Cycling Coalition. We shot the commercials with a small crew, using the Red One camera. We had our friend Marcel Gallant come down from The Postman in Moncton, NB to shoot them with Greg, myself and our stills photographer Patrick Rossiter.

The spots we are great success and a lot of fun to shoot. The post process with the RAW Red files was a treat. I cut the 3 commercials, quickly and smoothly in Avid at DNxHD 36 and then the the files we’re instantly re-linked to the Raw 4k and 2k Red files using the Avid DS for the colour correction. It was a seamless workflow which produced a world class image!

Here is one of the spots:

The other two can be viewed HERE

This is a “new” old post from my other blog that I wanted to share again about the post production process

One of the great things about working with Hemmings House is collaborating with our friends. Im currently in the midst of editing a feature documentary on the legendary Ron Hynes, entitled “Ron Hynes – The Man of a Thousand Songs”. Ron is best known for writing the international hit, “Sonny’s Dream” which has been recorded by a countless number of artists worldwide, including Emmylou Harris.

Its being produced by our friends at Picture Plant out of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Directed by Bill MacGillivray and produced Terry Greenlaw. They are both a real treat to work with and they have given me a lot of room and space to work on the film on my own, which is fantastic. I truly feel documentaries are made in the editing suite, so having a lot of my own time to work through this very intimate material is crucial. This film in particular though, is one that I am honored to be a part of. Ron Hynes is a living legend and the responsibility of telling the story of an icon’s life, is not one I take lightly.

The film won’t be your typical “life and times” style story. It dives deep into Ron’s self-proclaimed multiple personalities that have led him to within inches of worldwide stardom, all the way to death’s door. It is set to be released in the fall of 2010.

You can check out the trailer here:

We recently just finished our latest television documentary, entitled Winter Wave Riders. It was a documentary that explores the fascinating world of winter surfing in Nova Scotia. It was a blast to shoot and edit. We have never really done any kind of surf film before, but we knew we had to have some kind of underwater shots to attempt to put the viewer as close to the action as possible and help them feel how cold it actually was out there.

We didn’t have the budget to afford a full underwater unit, but could afford to rent the VEX1 from EWA Marine..

I was a bit skeptical of putting our Sony EX1 camera in the bag and sending it out into the freezing Atlantic ocean, but the bag performed very well! I was scared the waves would damage the camera as the VEX1 is a soft case, but it came back without a scratch. I sent the camera out with professional surf photographer Scotty Sherin. He was out for almost and hour and got some great footage.

The only reason he came back into the shore was due to the fact he could no longer feel his hands or feet! But the results we got were very impressive. Many shots made it into the show and really gave the documentary a great perspective of what its like to surf in the middle of a Canadian winter.

Check out the trailer below to see how we used these underwater shots!

You can watch the full episode HERE