[Closed] My latest video attempt - thoughts please

I'm no expert but I thought that was pretty good! Ace soundtrack and some nice riding (rusty or not). Laggan red looks good fun.

I think its a great start. Its a bit long at 8mins and if it was me i would point the camera a little bit higher or mount it lower so to see more of the trail ahead.

Looks like you had a great time, the first thing that comes to mind is the length of the film,I think three to five minutes max,also its a good idea to have some static shots like signs, bikes gear used before you ride/film.

Theres lots of Sweet Singletrack at Laggan but its also technical in places, and that is generally the character of the place, keeping each shot as short as possible while capturing the event is a hard thing to achieve. Once you get an idea of composition, you really need to session each shot until your happy with it.

I find its best and easier to go out and do a film of a ride, rather than try to do a ride and film it, if you see what i mean.

Good effort for a first Movie though.. 🙂

Thanks...yes, helmet 'mount' kept wobbling so I need to firm that up. Plan wasn't to actually film it as in film a ride, just to film whilst we were biking and see what we got.

Thanks for the comments, notes being taken...I think I need to find out how a music license works as I'm sure it would be 'improved' with some music that fitted the footage better...the music works but it doesn't mate with the footage entirely.

Hi Dick,

Some comments, hopefully constructive. This is based on what I find works for me in terms of editing but also in terms of what I want to watch.

Footage is good in terms of the content. A nice looking trail (that I haven't been to and makes me want to ride it), maybe the resolution could be better. Does the camera have HD capability?

I'm not a fan of the camera perched on the top of the helmet position. I feel it leaves the viewer being disconnected from the rider. One of the cameras is facing slightly too far down too so it feels like the viewer is trying to look up at the top of the picture to see more of the rider in front.

Chest mount is better or perhaps side of the helmet. It just brings the viewer closer to the rider and trail.

Nothing wrong with the editing. There's no need for fancy scene changes etc. Keep it simple which is what you have done. MSWMM is perfect for most of the editing you will need to do.

In these days of short attention spans then the length of the video is quite long as evidenced by the fact you need two tunes. It depends what you are trying to do though, make a record of the full descent for your own purposes or make a video that others will want to watch. if it's the latter then consider some ruthless editing. As they say in the movie world the more you cut the better it is.

And finally, I really prefer videos where you can hear the sound of the bike/trail. Not sure if you have muted the sound or it's just drowned by the music but for me, ~I would prefer to hear both the music and the clacking of the bike, splashing of the puddles etc. etc.

As above, hopefully constructive and keep it up. The more videos you edit the more fun it is and the better you become.

Thanks MTB-Idle...

Yes, was going to use sound but being perched so high most of the sound is wind noise or my wife swearing...not much other sound so figured it ws best to chop it all.

The raw output is HD - 1080p and does seem to be very good quality but it makes a massively huge video file and I figure it then takes too long to watch on the Tube of You as it will no doubt buffer...the camera was set at 1080p/30fps but I'm going to drop it down to 720p/60fps to see if that improves the quality.

I have got a Laggan video of me using a chest mount but I found the footage to be very boring - I was riding on my own though so there was nothing to really reference. I need to work out how to rig a decent helmet mount - the Drift comes with helmet mounts but are far better for a full facer as there are more flat surfaces on them, my XC lid has umpteen vents and not enough flat space to stick the mount, so the position wasn't ideal on my helmet.

Wasn't really sure what I was doing with that but I agree, will try to chop it to 1 song length as it will be more entertaining...I'm having a play with some footage I got whilst at Comrie - will be another long video but I'm playing with different film speeds and stuff to get my head round Movie Maker...I won't post that one up for comment though as it's more a learning test for the software editing.

Thanks.

good stuff. I tend to load on vimeo as it loads full HD better but 720 is good enough, no real need to go to 1080i.

I too had the same issue with vented MTB lid, here's where I put my mount (admittedly a different cam) but you get the picture - pun fully intended 😉

[img] [/img]

This is my usual helmet setup -

[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7242/7166652155_16480b347c_n.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7242/7166652155_16480b347c_n.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/dickbarton/7166652155/ ]helmet_mount_side[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/dickbarton/ ]DickBarton[/url], on Flickr

less is more

tell a story

different angles maintain interest

I like those, maybe make a shorter version from the same footage as well.

With regard to the looking up opinion, I find it better to try keeping the bike in shot as having the cam on your helmet can make the footage appear slow without a reference point.