Steal These Videos: Distractions
- April 2nd, 2010
Working with digital SLR cameras for video is a constant balancing act, a trade-off between the control and depth of field you get from the Canons and the Nikons of the world versus the fact that this is not, in fact, a video camera.
The best (maybe only) manual can be found on Vimeo, where people are posting breathtaking short documentaries, montages and generally beautiful work. The name of the game is to watch what they do and to copy them relentlessly.
I’m offering up my favorites in three blog posts sorted by genre.
The genre here is just… fun. Music videos, skate videos and just pretty things recorded for posterity. I like to sometimes just record the world as it passes me by. And these videos provide a lot of inspiration for that lomo-style videography.
Gnarly Bay Productions – Winter
Every video from Gnarly Bay makes you want to drop whatever mundane task you’re occupied with at the moment and go out and get out of the house. They are whimsy, transcoded and uploaded. This is my favorite, an awesome music-matching edit with awesomer graphics and beautiful shots. Also check out the crazy beautiful time lapse shots on maybesomesunwilldomegood and the cute kids of el Hueco.
Chase Heavener – FEEL IT ALL AROUND
It turns out that if you put a Canon 5d Mark II in a plastic box, the result is water-tight awesome. I want this vacation. Also, Chase’s video of the Kluge press was the inspiration for one of my videos.
La Blogotheque – Lizstomania
I really have no idea if this was shot on a dSLR. But if they offered awards for online videos, this one would win best sound direction hands down. It’s moving bus, seriously. Also, the color correction is wicked. The 1901 video is cool, too.
Vinny Minton – Pre BitterCold
Two words: Glidecam Pro. Wow.
