Myphilosophy is to shoot with whatever tool will help tell the story and if that tool is an extreme sports camera that is usually seen flying through the air attached to snowboarders, motocross riders, extreme helo skiers, divers, sky jumpers, etc., then I am in, no matter what the pitfalls. Period!!!
Once we tested the GoPro Hero 3 and figured out what it would do best, which was immerse an audience like never before, we knew that the schedule on NFS was tight. Sixty-seven days and we were the first unit and the second unit on the movie, so coming up with a shooting style that could deliver a ton of coverage to help tell the story in a limited number of days was paramount. This is where the Hero 3 came in. I knew that the movie was going to be a stunt spectacular. Scotty wanted all the stunts to be practical. He did not want any CGI cars or fake green screen stage driving. REAL!!!! So I thought if we are doing all these extreme stunts, practically, why not use an extreme camera?
With our time at a minimum to mount cameras to cars and a small SEAL team six crew size, I knew that we had to KISS (keep it simple stupid.) This will be the crux of the article. Everything that I used as a Hollywood Director of Photography, you can go purchase at Best Buy. No exotic rigs, no secret sauce, straight out of the bubble wrap and plastic packaging.
I also knew that each member of my camera team had to be assigned a camera platform to manage and to be held accountable as well. Derek Edwards is one of my original Elite Team members and was assigned as the GoPro and Helmet Cam AC. That was all he did, all he ate, breathed, and slept. He became so efficient with these small cameras and used his DP skills to compose many shots as well.
When we had an accident to stage, I broke my team off into what each was assigned. One was responsible for all crash cams, one for all high-speed camera car platforms, one for hard rigs and mounts, and Derek for GoPros.
Derek would show up with his GoPro Pelican Case and all of the suction cups and sticky mounts, and we would create our unique camera angle vision. We did not use any expensive grip rigging. All we needed was the GoPro suction cup, some swivel GoPro clamps and we were off and trailblazing. Oh, I forgot two more things. The final touches to your exotic hard mount, never seen before angle on a movie screen were a screwdriver and some Gorilla Tape.
The first week on the movie, we staged the P1 McClaren flip. This was a huge stunt where two stuntmen drove at over 100mph into a 45 degree turn on Highway 1 and the rear car side swipes the back of the McClaren. It rolls over about six times until it slides down the road on its roof with fluids leaking everywhere. We mounted four GoPros to the McClaren so that when it rolled you could get that sensation of spinning in midflight. The camera was suction cupped to the rear, where the trunk would be if it had a trunk looking forward. The McClaren is such a work of art and not only did we feel the angle would be an awesome ride for the audience, it was visually stunning.
Our Key Frame for a huge turning point in Need for Speed was originally a 3/4 wide profile from behind of a car hitting another one at 200mph and the front car drifting sideways and like a piece of paper flying into the air and the rear car driving right under it. OK, that was our Key Frame.
This is a three part series, so stay tuned on how I make small inexpensive DIY modifications to the GoPro accessories to up your cinematic capture. Part three will go into how I treat the GoPro files in post and how they will cut seamlessly into the rest of your film.
RedRob, you are very welcome and thank you for your kind words. Yes stay away from the darker environments. For those I used the Canon EOS M. Worked very well. That was a custom firmware that I had manufactured. Coming soon
Very, very exciting. Im on pre production for a car commercial and just thinking about the gear Im goin to use. Im looking forward for the postpro article and how I can implement the GoPro footage into the other scenes.
PatrickL, here is what I do, I shoot the shit out of it, with all the Russian arm cars, mounts, etc then I go in there and plant about 7 cameras in the places where you can never get a lens and drive like a maniac. The footage will blow your mind.
Nedd Jacobs, these are the comments that continue to inspire me and my team to deliver what no one else does. Inspiring all of you is my job and I take it very seriously. I remember when I embarked on my journey there were a couple mentors that took the time to guide me so we will continue to kick ass and thank you for your wonderful words and support of this blog.
Hey Shane, I love the work you accomplished with the cameras. They are super versatile. I have been shooting some off road footage and a few other things with my go pro. I am shooting a short film on 2 go pros soon and I am trying to go as cinematic as I can. I know I cant pull focus and really blow out the background with these cameras. I was wondering what advice you had considering this type of shoot. I was going to shoot in 1080p at 48 FPS. I thought about 24 FPS but the cameras color seems to loose a bit of saturation. Thoughts??
Thanks Shane for all your knowledge sharing! I noticed that you mentioned you had custom fw with the EOS M , is that the autofocus firmware that was released last year or something newer in the works? (I realize it maybe confidential information, but thought I would ask just in case) ;-)
Shane,
Thank you so much for posting this entry in your blog! I love it! I have a Go Pro Hero 3 and about the only risky thing I have done with it yet is to film a bikini model in a shower! But I want to thank you for showing me what these cameras a capable of in a cinematic situation.
Scott Sylvia, How are you my friend? Thank you so much for those wonderful words and I am glad I could shed some light on these powerful little cameras. I love their functionality and it has taken my creativity even higher with unique angles. I will check it out. Thanks for sharing
Ivan Madeira, unfortunately the GoPro will not do well inside, that camera is very noisy even at 400 ISO. I think in the size range the M is really your only option unless you want to go SI-2k camera, which has been used on a ton of feature films or the new Codex action cam. Hope this helps
Hey Shane, Thanks for the info, your accessibility is impressive as always! How much effort or how difficult was it to match the go pro shots to the main canon footage in terms of color grade and post production?
Recently I thought about to do something like my own first documentary (just something little for youtube), using just the GoPro3+ for all the shots with its various equipment and because its affordable for my more or less little budget ;)
My favorite school in the country right now is the Brooks Institute in Ventura, CA. It has a beautiful mix of theory with the practical. It has 4 large sound stages that rival anything in LA and props, cameras, lighting are all supplied by many hollywood industry sponsors. I think your 17yr. old would love it, and it is inexpensive as well.
I think what impresses me the most is your continued effort towards everyone on here.
You have replied to almost every comment on this article, and that is really something.
Knowing that you take the time to help out your followers, will make watching your cinematographic
marvels all the more fun!
Thanks Marvin. We talk about the C-Mount Mods in our GoPro Post with the Inner Circle signup. I dove into further detail, expanding beyond this post, on how we used the GoPro on Need for Speed. Revolution Cinema Rentals is working on their own C-Mount Modification for GoPros for rentals as well.
Robert,
You most certainly can use this as a teaching tool. I encourage it. I am glad that you are using the Hurlblog as a tool for your close. I go into more detail in the first post of the Inner Circle about how you can dial in the exposure correctly with Neutral Density filters.
I have the same question as Woodrow. Do you think the gopro 4 is good enough quality to film a short film if a tripod is used? Or would i need a gopro c-mount as well? Thanks for your help! This article was awesome. So stoked to use my gopro now!
It could be done. You would have to get the modifying kit to use C mount lenses -
bone.ca/ on it so that you do not have that wide angle all the time, really never. But hell yeah, with this approach it could be sweet.
In the film, Jigsaw / John Kramer, who is known for forcing his victims to participate in deadly games in order to test their will to live, puts a man named Jeff through a series of tests of his ability to forgive, after Jeff's son was killed by a drunk driver. Meanwhile, John's apprentice Amanda has kidnapped a doctor named Lynn and tasked her with keeping John, who is bedridden with terminal cancer, alive long enough for Jeff to complete his game.
Much like its predecessor, the film was immediately green-lit after the successful opening weekend of the prior film. Filming took place in Toronto from May to June 2006. Whannell aimed to make the story more emotional than previous installments, particularly with the Amanda and Jigsaw storyline. The film is dedicated to producer Gregg Hoffman, who died on December 4, 2005.
Saw III was released in the United States on October 27, 2006, by Lionsgate Films. It was a financial success, opening to $33.6 million and grossing $80.2 million in the United States and Canada. It is the highest-grossing film of the series in the international market and the highest-grossing film in the series overall. It received negative reviews from critics. Bell was nominated for "Best Villain" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards and the film received nominations for a Saturn Award as "Best Horror Film". The film was released to DVD and Blu-ray on January 23, 2007 where it topped the charts selling 2.5 million units in its first week. A sequel, titled Saw IV, was released in 2007.
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