Thursday, January 24, 2013

BrewView Episode #1

So I've been talking about learning how to shoot and edit video with my Canon 7D for a long time and today is finally the day it happened. Laura and I filmed ourselves reviewing a craft beer. It turned out OK for not having a clue what I was doing. I set the camera according to what I had read on some tutorial website - basically it was shot in 720 HD at 60 frames a second. The main thing that needs to be improved is the lighting - all my lighting equipment is strobes for photography that don't work for video. We attempted to set up a few lamps to brighten the room but it wasn't nearly enough - I had to shoot at ISO 3200. I then used CyberLinks PowerDirector to edit and render the video. I pretty much had no idea what I was doing and half way through I realized that this was just a trial version of the software(it came free with my new computer) and many of the features were disabled. Anyways - Laura and I had fun making the video - technical quality will come later....
*Update* This is a second version of the video - the first one failed to upload completely.

3 comments:

Kyle said...

I love it. Promise me at some point you will do a serious review like this of Bud Light or something I can buy at a gas station. I want to hear serious connoisseurs critique the everyday beers.

A few suggestions:
1. Put the name of the beer in text on the screen early in the video.
2. Film in a more open space. You had it lit well, but the shadows were intense. Maybe raise the lights up so the shadows cast down behind the table. Also, the audio echoed. My guess is you were in the kitchen. Find a space with some quieter surfaces and speak louder so that mic catches it all.
3. Great first effort. I look forward to more episodes. Maybe a location shoot at Lagerheads this weekend?

Tim Fitzwater said...

All good tips.
We should definitely get out of the corner and hang some of our beer signs behind us.
We shot it in the living room sitting at the Tiki Bar and it is all hard surfaces in there thus the echo...
I currently have a new version of the vid uploading with a close-up of the beer bottle cut in but you're right about the text.
'Live at Lagerheads' is a great idea.

Tim Fitzwater said...

Not sure why my "outro" music isn't playing in this new version...