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Taiyo Na - Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) - GH1

gmoe

New member
Hi everyone.

Although this is a moving image out of the GH1 and not a still image. I wanted to share this piece here because this forum for better or for worse got me buying lenses up the kazoo for the GH1. Though this piece was shot mainly with the stock lens alot was also shot with Canon FD primes.

I recently completed a documentary style music video for New York based artist Taiyo Na for his song Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother). It's a music video dedicated to not only immigrant mothers but all our moms. It was completed just this past Thanksgiving weekend and done in time to commemorate and give thanks to our moms. And I wanted to share it here.

The process of this film was a community based one so much of the main footage was shot by youth and adults who had very little experience using a camera. So in many respects this piece is a different kind of music video not that aesthetics are thrown out the window but that it is a much more process driven creation. The "mom" footage piece was shot with two GH1s with much of the stock lens footage on auto focus. Although I hate working with autofocus, we just didn't have the time to teach people how to use the camera, the goal was more here's a camera point and shoot with it. So in a way this is an experimental process, so yes from a technical stand point some footage shows some of the GH1's issues and problems.

But I wanted to post this MV to show that sometimes we focus too much on the pixel peeping and the things that suck or are lacking about a camera and not enough time on the content or heart of a piece. Ultimately, we are telling stories be it in pictures or in a moving image. If that story is powerful enough I think then sometimes we can look beyond the negatives and see the real possibility of doing a lot with so little.

And that's sort of what we did with this music video. Looked at using what we got now and to push it as far as we could to tell a compelling story. As many have said many a time in this forum, it's not the camera but what you do with it that counts.

I hope this little piece can inspire others to go out and shoot with the little you have and not get trapped in the trappings of always having to have the best camera, the best rig, etc. etc.

So as this MV is about saying thanks to our moms. I just want to say thank you to the community here at getdpi for your knowledge, expertise, and support.

Much respect,

Gary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAK9XGd-JKI&feature=player_embedded

Panasonic GH1 720 / 24P
14-140mm F4.0-5.8
Canon FD 24mm F2.0
Canon FD 50mm F1.4
Canon FD 85mm F1.8
indiRAILSpro MP
indiSLIDERmini
Wondlan Pegasus II DV Stabilizer
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
That is very inspiring.
That stabilizer seemed to work pretty well, and it seems like it is a whole lot less than a steadycam.
-bob
 

Diane B

New member
Thanks for posting this--wasn't sure what to expect from the subject until I read your explanation.
 

gmoe

New member
Thank you all for taking the time to read and see the work. Hope those of you who are using the GH1 as a "movie camera" as well as a still camera can find this information interesting. And hope over all folks can find the message touching and process in which it was created inspiring in your own work.

That stabilizer seemed to work pretty well, and it seems like it is a whole lot less than a steadycam.
Yes, the Wondlan Pegasus II is a very compact and usable stabilizer. There are a few others like the Hague DV Stabilizer and the Merlin, both which I have not tried. The Merlin is made by steadicam and is the more expensive of the three. For using the GH1 in movie mode any kind of stabilization is important because you get a tremendous amount of camera shake with the small size of the camera.

Thanks everyone!
 
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