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Last Day to Help GH2 User Win Song Contest!
  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    UPDATE: The contest ends on November 8th, so please help by clicking the link, watching the music video and sharing it if you like it!

    http://songwriter.revimage.com/channels/JoannaStClaire

    If the music video wins for Joanna, it means a chance to work with Don Was (one of the most prolific and acclaimed producers out there) and money to help create additional music. She spent years on the album this video comes from and is an incredibly warm and talented person, so your help would be really appreciated by both of us.

    Now here's some more text for everyone else about a project I worked on at various points from 2007 to last week. :)

    Quick intro: I'm Per Lichtman, the guy that found the audio settings values now used in the majority of modern GH2 hacked settings, thanks to @Vitaliy_Kiselev making it possible to test and modify them. I've also participated in a lot settings comparison tests and talked way too much over the years. :)

    Last year I directed a music video for a song I also worked heavily on the music side with. It was called "Listen to the Sound" by Joanna St. Claire and it finally got put up at http://songwriter.revimage.com/channels/JoannaStClaire in conjunction with a contest Joanna St. Claire recently entered. I wanted to help her out in the contest and share some of my experiences with the GH2 community at the same time.

    The video is shot using a mixture of GH2 with the Driftwood Canis Majoris Night settings, as well as a RED Scarlet and Cooke lens courtesy of OnTheMarkMedia.net. There are also one or two shots with a Canon HV30.

    The grading was done by Dimitrios Papagiannis ( @Bueller) in DaVinci Resolve using the Cineform codec as a digital intermediate. Ashley Nunn and Karla Usagi provided additional support carrying things as well as behind the scenes photography for one or two of the days. In other words, shooting often consisted of just me and the artist.

    The shoot was done entirely using natural light, without reflectors or any other aids, on an extremely tight schedule and filmed almost entirely around sunset over the course of multiple days. The shots featuring water were done in a region where there is not normally a body of water: it was there for the first time in about a decade due to unusually high level of precipitation. The lake evaporated in a matter of weeks.

    The lenses used on the GH2 were a Rokkor Minolta-mount 58mm f/1.4 and a Tokina 28mm Minolta-mount f/2.8. Various Tiffen contrast filters were used at certain point on the GH2. To the best of my memory, no filters were used on the Cooke lens for the Scarlet.

    I will be posting more information (such as which shots are which) depending on what the interest level warrants.

    The re-mastered album that the video goes with is "Stream HD Master", which we recently released in full-fidelity 96 KHz at 24-bit depth dynamic range. You can find it at https://joannastclaire.bandcamp.com/

    It's been one of my favorite musical experiences so far. It also one of the ones were I've worn the most hats (recording engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer, creative consultant, album cover photographer, music video director, editor, etc.) that I can think of so far. :)

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  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    Here is a shot list identifying the camera used for each one. It uses the time remaing indicator at http://songwriter.revimage.com/channels/JoannaStClaire. I just compiled it from memory right now so sorry that not all shots have all info. :)

    • All flares are natural. None were added in post.

    • All GH2 shots used Canis Majoris Night in a variety of modes (noted where remembered). All shots were done on a tripod. The lenses were either 28mm Tokina f/2.8 or Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 for Minolta MC/MD mount, used with an inexpensive Fotodiox adapter.

    • RED Scarlet shots used Cooke 20-100 t3.1 at a variety of resolutions and framerates. Drop-frame timebase was used. All shots were done handheld and usually stablized in post.

    • The Canon HV30 used the the WD-H43 wide-angle adapter.

    The SanDisk 95MB/s SDXC 64GB card was not used for the shoot. It was all shot on either Delkin 633x 16GB or Transcend cards.

    5:22-5:17 GH2 1080P using 28mm Tokina

    5:17-5:15 RED Scarlet

    5:15-5:07 RED Scarlet (lowest resolution with high frame rate used for slow-motion)

    5:07-4:59 GH2

    4:59-4:43 GH2 VMM 80%, Tokina 28mm (probably using Tiffen Warm Black Pro-Mist)

    4:43-4:26 GH2 SH Mode at 50 fps - played back at 23.976, 58mm Rokkor

    4:26-4:20 RED Scarlet 29.976 FPS 4K played back at 23.976

    4:20-4:02 GH2 VMM 80%, Tokina 28mm (probably using Tiffen Warm Black Pro-Mist)

    4:02-3:57 RED Scarlet 29.976 FPS 4K

    3:57-3:38 GH2 1080P using 28mm Tokina

    *3:51-3:42 The second dancing layer is GH2 SH Mode at 50 fps - played back at 23.976

    3:38-3:29 GH2 1080P

    3:29-3:24 RED Scarlet 29.976 FPS 4K played back at 23.976

    3:24-3:10 VMM 80%, Tokina 28mm (probably using Tiffen Warm Black Pro-Mist)

    3:10-3:05 GH2 with Rokkor 58mm shot wide open at f/1.4

    3:05-2:50 GH2 with Rokkor 58mm

    2:50-2:45 GH2 1080P

    2:44-2:41 GH2 Rokkor 58mm

    2:41-2:24 RED Scarlet 29.976 FPS 4K played back at 23.976

    2:24-2:12 GH2 VMM 80%, Tokina 28mm (probably using Tiffen Warm Black Pro-Mist)

    2:12-2:05 GH2 SH Mode at 50 fps - played back at 23.976, 58mm Rokkor

    2:05-2:00 GH2 SH Mode at 50 fps - played back at 23.976

    2:00-1:54 GH2 SH Mode at 50 fps - played back at 23.976

    1:54-1:25 HV30 with WD-H43

    1:25-1:18 GH2 SH Mode at 50 fps - played back at 23.976, Rokkor 58mm * Cannot remember what was used for super subtle third layer ending at 1:23.

    1:18-1:07 GH2 SH Mode at 50 fps - played back at 23.976 - HIGH ISO SHOT CLEANED UP IN POST

    1:07-0:21 GH2

    0:21-0:00 GH2

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    Reserved for possible BTS photographs as needed.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    Just added a shot list breakdown of what footage was RED Scarlet, GH2 or HV30.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    Last day to help Joanna win the contest - and in the process support high craftsmanship music and nature focused music video-making.

    Just visit http://songwriter.revimage.com/channels/JoannaStClaire click play to watch it and then share it if you like it. Your help is greatly appreciated, thanks! :)

  • TATZUTATZU

    Sounds Liek You Got Some Pro gear Nice Lenses. I also Do mostly music production and am a gh2 haker muahahahha

  • maxrmaxr

    @thepalalias really nice video and awesome use of lenses' characteristics, big thanks for detailed schematics.
    How did she do, in the contest?

    I wanted to ask you, is the tokina the one with very small throw, 0.3m close focus and 49mm filter thread? How do you like it? It seems to intercut perfectly with the rokkor =)

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    @TATZU Sorry for the late response. Thanks for the comments and "muahahahha". :)

    @maxr Thanks! The video didn't get enough response to make it to the next round, but we were pretty happy with the amount of plays given the late entry into the contest. Too bad there wasn't someone to handle a social media campaign to amplify it. Maybe next time around.

    I'll have to double-check the specs on the Tokina - it might be. As far as the lens (whether it turns out to be that one or not), I honestly liked it much more than I expected to. It's neither super-sharp nor super-soft and like you say it intercuts really well with the Rokkor. :)

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