my collection of videos so far...

Atomik777 · #1 (**permalink**) 04-08-2006, 11:17 PM

my collection of videos so far...

my vids

Can't wait till i get my helmet cam!

Avier · #2 (**permalink**) 04-08-2006, 11:28 PM

I didn't watch all of them but of the ones I saw...

First off, I'm no BMXer, so half of that stuff didn't really intrest me. The top video had bad music though, or maybe its just not my taste, it just didn't seem to fit the video.

The camera angels needed work but I am not sure how much you could do with a BMX bike and angels without either lots of cameras or lots of BMXing of the same thing.

So as a whole nothing that was bad, nothing that was good, but I'm no pro and I am no BMXer.

Taxman · #3 (**permalink**) 04-09-2006, 05:22 PM

Looks like you have some decent trails out there, what's the riding scene like? As for the video, I like all the angles you shoot from, but I think there needs to be added angles, ones really close to the jump/drop, maybe underneath if it's made out of wood. Second I think some of the cuts need to be shorter, like in the Urban fun video, when they're all hitting that side drop from the ledges on the left side of the screen, it shows the complete run in and run out a few times in a row. Showing some of the run in and run out on the first time might be good to establish the line, after that it would hold the viewers interest to show just before leaving the lip and just after landing. For the most part shorter clips are better, as the hold the viewer’s interest longer. Third, is colour. At this time of year, trails are very brown and unpleasant to look at. The light offered by overcast sky doesn’t add highlights or depth to your trails. It’s not always a good idea, but I'd recommend maybe making your videos black and white in the instances where everything on the screen is brown, because I think greyscale would be allot easier to look at the brown tones. Finally, I saw the Pinkbike link on your page so I'm assuming you've seen DropIn. At the beginning of each place/day they ride, they usually have a shot which establishes the place in which they are riding, not necessarily the city or town, but whether it's in a forest, or at some dirt jumps. This shot could be some trees blowing in the wind, some guy fixing his bike, or a bunch of riders just hanging out at the top of the line. This shot gives your viewer an idea of what's going on, preparing them for the biking footage to come. And if you haven't already seen it I'd recommend the Collective, and take a look at the camera angles, and the speed of cuts and such. I felt I picked up some techniques just by watching it. Anyway, hope this helps, and keep on riding.

Peace

Atomik777 · #4 (**permalink**) 04-09-2006, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by Taxman

Looks like you have some decent trails out there, what's the riding scene like? As for the video, I like all the angles you shoot from, but I think there needs to be added angles, ones really close to the jump/drop, maybe underneath if it's made out of wood. Second I think some of the cuts need to be shorter, like in the Urban fun video, when they're all hitting that side drop from the ledges on the left side of the screen, it shows the complete run in and run out a few times in a row. Showing some of the run in and run out on the first time might be good to establish the line, after that it would hold the viewers interest to show just before leaving the lip and just after landing. For the most part shorter clips are better, as the hold the viewer’s interest longer. Third, is colour. At this time of year, trails are very brown and unpleasant to look at. The light offered by overcast sky doesn’t add highlights or depth to your trails. It’s not always a good idea, but I'd recommend maybe making your videos black and white in the instances where everything on the screen is brown, because I think greyscale would be allot easier to look at the brown tones. Finally, I saw the Pinkbike link on your page so I'm assuming you've seen DropIn. At the beginning of each place/day they ride, they usually have a shot which establishes the place in which they are riding, not necessarily the city or town, but whether it's in a forest, or at some dirt jumps. This shot could be some trees blowing in the wind, some guy fixing his bike, or a bunch of riders just hanging out at the top of the line. This shot gives your viewer an idea of what's going on, preparing them for the biking footage to come. And if you haven't already seen it I'd recommend the Collective, and take a look at the camera angles, and the speed of cuts and such. I felt I picked up some techniques just by watching it. Anyway, hope this helps, and keep on riding.

Peace

wow...

Thanks man, awesome tips... that was exactly the type of feed back i was looking for.

Taxman · #5 (**permalink**) 04-09-2006, 07:31 PM

No problem, always glad to help a fellow mountain biker/video editor.

irishmark · #6 (**permalink**) 04-12-2006, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by Avier

First off, I'm no BMXer,

The camera angels needed work but I am not sure how much you could do with a BMX bike and angels without either lots of cameras or lots of BMXing of the same thing.

So as a whole nothing that was bad, nothing that was good, but I'm no pro and I am no BMXer.

Ok so I only watched 3 of em cause the connection was poor but I couldn't see any BMX bikes anywhere!!!

Should we form our own wee club? Mountainbikingeditorsforums.com???
This makes me wanna go ride!

makotosun · #7 (**permalink**) 04-13-2006, 03:48 AM

You definitely need a helmet cam. Alternatively, you might be able to rig a mount for a small palm cam on your frame for some trail shots.

Try some unique angles like a shot from low on the frame through the front tire, under the seat at the fellow behind you, etc. Mountain bikes lend themselves really well to unique shots and anges.

The ones I watched seemed like some good ideas but I like the comment above about an opening shot to establish the scene a bit.

I want to try some mountain bike vids with my helmet cam and intend to try out my own advice. Make sure also when you get a helmet cam to go for the highest resolution available. Many of them are cheap security cams. Sony EXview are probably the best currently available.

I went with a Viosport (www.viosport.com) as it seems to have the highest resolution I have seen. The quality of the kit is really, really nice, though it is probably the most expensive around at the moment. Make sure you get one of the lanc remotes, even if you get a different brand, as it allows you to start and stop the action without touching the camcorder.

Good luck and keep at it!

Atomik777 · #8 (**permalink**) 04-13-2006, 06:48 PM

Actually i just got the camera i'm gearing up as a helmet cam 3 days ago and thanks. i reall y wanna shoot some opening shot and general discriptive shots. all the videos i've shot and posted so far are just footage i'm gonna use in my end of year video for me and my friends.

i'm mounting a mini dv to my helmet on a fully adjustable mount of my own personal team of engineers designed

(no its not made of duct tape).

also i'm gonna mount a laser pointer to the camera to help as a sight.

the camera is only 4 oz, 640x280 @30fps. the down side .asf file... i'm having trouble finding a file converter. but that is the last hurdle till is set.

I tried to do a follow behind shot of my friend riding in front of me, but the angles on the helmet cam were off. its gonna take some fiddleing with to get honed in. and my new harness is gonna work sweet...in theorey

Atomik777 · #9 (**permalink**) 04-15-2006, 08:12 PM

well i set up the helmet cam, and tested it around the house... i think its all aimed and ready to go. i also found a good free (legally) encoder to convert the asf files to any other file. so now i just have to wait till the rain stops

Marc Peters · #10 (**permalink**) 04-15-2006, 08:32 PM

Tell me about that bloody rain! Got myself a bullet cam too a few days ago and it's rained ever since...