Getting dirty :)

Here's our latest youtube video :) We actually filmed it a couple months back, didn't release it right away cause I've been swamped, but here it is finally :)

Kualoa Adventure!

I'll be doing a proper blog post on the making of this video soon, in the meantime, here is my latest youtube video. Pulled an all nighter to make sure it got done ;) I made it on one of my favorite places in the world, Kualoa Oahu.

Homemade FIreworks! SOUND DESGIN!

Here's our latest youtube video :) It's my first time using visual effects in one actually :) Thanks to my friend Aaron Sorensen who was the one who added them/made it happen.



The point of this blog entry is to go over SOUND DESGIN!

Out of all the youtube videos that I have done this far in my "youtube career", this one has been the most intensive when it comes to sound design. I had to recreate every single sound that is heard in the video. There were NO SOUNDS used from in camera. A lot of times in the video I used sounds that you would think normally wouldn't work, such as a horse trotting, etc. Just to give you an idea of how complicated the sound design was on this video, here is a screen grab from my timeline of the firework video, the focus is on the sound effects that were all added.

There was actually 24 layers of sound effects just in one video clip alone. I had to recreate "pops, snaps, and explosions" throughout the video, and then also recreate sound effects of balls being hit from golf balls, soccer balls, and frisbee throws. Some of these sounds I took out of a sound library, and others I had to recreate on my own.

As far as when I do my own sound effects, to record them I use a Zoom H4N sound recorder, and a Sennheiser MKH-416 shot gun mic. Both of which you can find on B@H website. The setup works great, and they actually use the same mic I use on a lot of independent films as well.

It took me a huge amount of time to decide on buying this mic/sound set up, but after a month of research I found it to be the best for the money. So I would highly recommend it :)

While I am doing the sound design on a video like this, I have already emailed it to my friend Stephen Anderson who composes most of my youtube videos. He is at the same time writing the score for it. Usually when I send these videos off, he only has a day to a week to pull off the music, in this videos case, he had only one day, ha, which I'm always amazed at what he pulls off in such a short time.

He then sends me the track, and then I do the final tweaks to the sound effects based on what he gave me, because all the sounds have already been added, it's mostly just a matter of tweaking levels a little bit.

But as far as hours go into the sound design on a video like this... I would say easily 12-15 hours were spent on recreating the sound effects and tweaking them. Which it's always sad to think so much time went into that for the fact that no one ever knows how much time really goes into it... however if the sounds were not there, people would then notice... so it actually is the biggest payoff when people don't notice the sound design, because then that means it blended in just fine to the movie, and added to it, rather then take away :)

So, there you have it, my two cents on sound design, and why it' important to take the time to get it right, or at least try to get it right :)

I also just discovered a really in depth video on sound design that just came out recently, it was all in regards to the film Transformers 3, and there sound design... which if you haven't seen/heard the movie yet, the sound design is amazing, check out the video right below.

Underdog Stories

I LOVE underdog stories!! And I just came across this one!! Totally worth watching all the way through! Makes you love people who pursue there dreams despite all opposition!! Make sure to watch it all the way through, I promise it's worth it!

From Tahiti with Love

As I start writing this blog, I feel completely inadequate to even begin to convey/share what this trip meant to me... With that in mind, here is an attempt at it.

To start off this entry, here is the video I made on the experience, hopefully it will help paint a better picture of the experience, even though I really don't believe it still does the people of Tahiti justice.



In just the two weeks I was in Tahiti, my entire perception of people changed. COMPLETELY! I will always look at those two weeks as a very strong turning point in my life/career when "the bigger picture" came much more into play.

I think generally when people think of Tahiti, or any island for that matter, they assume that it is just a vacation on the beach... HOWEVER, if this is what you go there for, you have completely missed something SO MUCH STRONGER of an experience, and that is the people!

The people of Tahiti, I will forever love. They have left a permanent imprint on my heart, and knowing what I know now about the love they had towards me... my life will never be the same. And of coarse, for the better!

As we were leaving Tahiti, one of the people I was with, Nikki Mozo, we were talking about the whole experience, and she said something to me that I had never had someone put into words. And as simple as it sounds... It is 100 percent TRUE!!!

As we were talking about what made the people of Tahiti different then anyone else we had met, it kept on coming up about how genuine these people were. Nikki shared the idea that the only true way that someone shows love is when they do things out of complete inconvenience, and with no motivation but to help the person in which they drop everything for. It doesn't sound very profound the way I wrote it, but the way Nikki worded it, it was for sure one of the most profound things I've ever heard :)

For me this summed up completely the love I had personally felt by the people in Tahiti.

For example, when we were leaving at the airport, the family we had stayed with the first week, the Tautu family.. they lived on the complete opposite side of the island... And not only did they not have a car, but they didn't have access to borrow a car to wave us goodbye. So what they did was use the little money that they did have, and get a rental car. They did all of this just to wave goodbye to us at the airport, and hug us goodbye.

PLEASE keep in mind that neither of us spoke a common language, we spoke English and they spoke French and Tahitian. So everything we did was based off of body language.

At the end of every day staying with the Tautu family, the father would come sit next to me as I uploaded all my photos/videos to my laptop. He would just sit there with the biggest smile on his face, and observe me. Even though we didn't speak once again a universal language, by his body language alone I could sense something much great. A sincere love, a love that I really have never felt by just meeting someone for a couple days.

I'll never forget the gentle smile of the father, of there family, whenever I saw them.

I think we as humans generally want to be loved, and with the people of Tahiti, that is something I felt by everyone I came in contact with... Out of all the places in the world I have been, I HAVE NEVER FELT/SENSED that sincere love before. Almost to the point that it even brings you to tears.

There is much more I can say about my experience in Tahiti... I could actually go on and on... but for now, I just wanted to do a blog on the people of Tahiti, and the love I felt from them! They will forever be in my heart! And they will always be considered my Utuafare (family).

The Dirty Dash! Muddiest youtube vid yet!

Here's our latest youtube video I shot with my friends last week.



For the filming of this, I actually had 12 other friends/camera people help film with there DSLR/GoPro HD cameras.

We shot this all with Canon DSLR cameras, using Canon 5D Mark II's, Canon 7D's, Canon T2i's, and a couple GoPro HD cameras.

We filmed the video June 4th, and we then released it June 8th. I wanted to release the video ASAP because the race itself was fresh on everyones mind, and by doing that, it makes the video itself get much more exposure. So that was the thought process with the quick turn around. Generally speaking, a video like this takes about a month of editing.

So right after we were done filming, I had my computer process the video footage all day, changing it to a format that we could edit it in, and then we spent the next three days editing non stop.

And when I say "non stop", I mean waking up at 7am every morning, and stopping at 3am, only to do it again the next day. Where I was editing the video as well, made sure there were no distractions, so I could pump through the video edit.

Another one of my friends, Jordan, helped a great deal as well, going through a bunch of the footage, to make sure we could reach our deadline.

With 12 cameras, we had a ton of footage to search through, in very little time.

If you want to find out more info on the race itself that the video features, check the link right below.

http://www.thedirtydash.com/

Exporting out to YouTube!

A common question I get asked in regards to my YouTube videos is this.. "What settings do you use to compress them when you upload them to YouTube?"

So here is my answer :)

First off, I edit on a mac, with Final Cut Pro. When I am done editing my video, I.....

1. Export it out as an MOV. file.
2. Open it with the computer program "compressor".
3. I then use a custom presetting that I made and apply it to the video. I have this setting saved in my compressor custom setting box so I can always grab and drop it onto the video, then export it out. Here are the settings that I use to export out for youtube, at 1080p.

Export Custom Settings:
Audio Encoder
AAC, Stereo (L R), 44.100 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: 1920
Height: 1080
Pixel aspect ratio: Square
Crop: None
Padding: None
Frame rate: (100% of source)
Selected: 23.976
Frame Controls On:
Retiming: (Fast) Nearest Frame
Resize Filter: Linear Filter
Deinterlace Filter: Better (Motion Adaptive)

Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 75
Min. Spatial quality: 25
Key frame interval: 30
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 25
Average data rate: 5.12 (Mbps)

So there you have it! That's how I export out to YouTube. I even use these settings when I shoot a video at 720p, and what it does is it up scales it to 1080p, so it will look better for those who want to view it at 1080p :)

I've done a bunch of testing and research with these settings and this has worked the best for me, if you have any other tips with exporting out videos, of things that have worked for you, feel free to leave them in the comments below :)

The bottom line is the most important thing to do is shoot the video right in the camera, because exporting it out in a high quality wont save it at all. However if you did shoot it right to begin with, it makes it look all that much better :)

My weapons of Choice: Camera lenses

Here's a list of the camera lenses I use and why. Also right below the images of the lens I have in here, I will post a couple still pictures that I took with that lens to give you an idea of what the image looks like.

Also, just a little tip about Canon lenses, if the lenses are white (only telephoto lenses), or if the lens has a red ring near the front of that, that means they are an L series lens. That means they are the best "glass" that Canon makes in that series/line up of lens. So if you are looking to compete with the top dogs, having a L series lens always helps.

However on the opposite side of that, what's most important in getting the best picture/image, it's based not on the lens as much as it is on the person taking the picture, there artistic ability, and how they know how to push that lens to it's maximum potential, just thought I would mention that.

Canon 16-35mm F/2.8 L series Lens

This is by far my favorite lens. I use it 90 percent of the time. A big part of film making/photography for me is about the location you use. So for me, a wide angle lens captures that better then anything else. Any other lens smaller then 16mm distorts the image and makes it become a "Fish Eye" lens. I like things to feel "real", so that's why I generally don't shoot with anything smaller then that.

Also, I am constantly shooting on a glidecam/steadycam, wide angle lenses like this lens are the only really options with a glidecam, otherwise the image will get to shaky.

Another reason is with wide angle lenses, the wider the lens, the more that is in focus. So with a lens like this, it makes it very easy to have everything in focus.

Canon 70-200mm F/2.8 L series Lens

I love this lens for capturing people. You will need a tripod for sure if your shooting video, or it will get way to shaky. Before I shot video with Canon DSLR's I used this lens for every picture I took, in regards to taking pictures of people. I love the shallow depth of field, and it gives it a really "professional" look. Whenever I can use this lens for people, it is always my first choice :)

Canon 2X III Extender

This isn't a lens, all it does is double the lens focal lengths. It only works on my Canon 70-200mm, so when I attach it to that lens, it makes it a 140-400mm lens. So this is perfect for taking pictures of wild life, and surfers from a far distance. Adding an attachment to a lens makes it not as sharp, but with video, from what I have personally noticed I have hardly noticed anything.

Canon 50mm 1.4mm

This lens awesome for low light, and generally now that is only when I pull it out.

The Canon 50mm 1.8mm is the BEST lens out there that ANYONE can buy for the money/payoff. It's awesome for taking pictures and filming people! It was the first lens I ever bought beside the kit lens, when I first got into photography.

Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

A macro lens allows you to get super close shots where you normally wouldn't be able to go with any other lens. In all reality though, I haven't used this lens for any of my youtube videos, and outside of that I've only used it for a couple product shots where I had to take pictures for commercial companies where they wanted super close shots to show details in there product. It's a good option to have for showing super close detail, but generally one I very rarely use.

So that's it! Those are the lenses I use and why :)

On my wish list, I have these on it.
Canon 85mm F/1.2
Canon 15mm F/2.8

The last thing I will cover is filters, since I get asked a lot what I use. I do not use any ND filters at all, I do however use a Circular Polarizer.

This makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE on the outcome of your pictures. It brings out the blues and greens SIGNIFICANTLY! Especially the sky and water! Not all circular polarizers are created equally though... I did a TON of research on my own to find out the best brand, and after my own personal research I found the best brand was B&W, it had the highest quality and brought out the colors the most.. It also happens to be the most expensive though as well, imagine that, haha. But really it is worth it. There is no reason to go cheap on your filters if your gonna be shooting with a nice camera and lenses. Here is a link to the one I own. I own two, one that fits my 70-200 mm lens, and one that fits my 16-35mm lens.

Circular Polarizer

Sorry in advance for any spelling errors that were in this, I'm not a writer in any shape or form :)

Jon Mozo Documentary Movie Title Search

For those who don't know, I have been living on the island of Oahu since October filming a documentary on a professional wave/surf photographer. He was also an amazing surfer in his own right.

The documentary has taken me to Tahiti as well, given me the chance to meet so many wonderful people, professional surfers, and given me an opportunity of a lifetime to be a part of the Polynesian culture, not just experience it from the sidelines.

With all of that we are at a current stumbling block. The movie is greatly underway, and the movie trailer is done... EXECPT for the fact that the movie doesn't have a title yet, haha. So if ANYONE has any title ideas, even if they are lame, they would be greatly appreciated :)

Here's a couple central themes in the movie in case you want to help think of a name for the movie.

The movie is about Jon Mozo, who was one of the first water photographers of Hawaii. His whole life consisted of being on the water, and he was super passionate about not only the water but capturing the shot that no one else could capture. He was a thrill seeker.

For Jon he was willing to risk his life for the shot to give people a much stronger appreciation for the ocean and all that it offers.

At the same time he was greatly loved and respected by all that knew him, or heard word of him. Anyone who I have met who knew Jon has been greatly influenced by him for the better. He was a family man first, but the ocean was definitely his second love.

One of my favorite quotes from Jon is this, "waves to me are what diamonds are to most people of the world. I value and respect the waves I'm given".

Here's a link to more about Jon Mozo, and the photographs he risked his life for.

http://www.jonmozogallery.com/about.html

Please, please, please let me know by a comment, or facebook comment if you have any name or title ideas :)

Here's the basic info of what the movie is about.
1. The risk and rewards associated with surf photography/surfing,thrill seekers, and how we take major risk sometimes to do what we love for a greater reward.
2. About Jon Mozo's life, and how it effected people.
3. About following our own personal dreams, and the legacy we can leave behind.

Of coarse the movie is about a lot of other things, and much more in depth, but that is a simplified version :)

Here's two movie title ideas, but I know we can still come up with something better.
1. Risk and Reward
2. Eye of the hurricane

And if you give us the title that you suggest, I'll give you a dvd for free :) Respect!

Canon DLR's - My 2 Cents :)

This is in response to the most common question I've been getting recently, "I would like to buy a DSLR camera but I don't know which one choose for a medium budget". Here is my opinion on the matter, from a video and photography standpoint :) I have used EVERYONE of these cameras in my youtube videos (except of the Canon T3i/which isn't out yet), so my opinion is based off of using them several times, and in several different arenas.

First off, these are all great cameras, and you can't go wrong with any of them :) I went to film school and was accustomed to using big heavy super expensive cameras. When these cameras were released with prices much lower than the "professional grade" cameras that were available, I was hesitant and avoided them at all cost. But then, when I started getting hired to shoot commercials for television with these DSLRs, I realized that perhaps they were like a transformer, "more then meets the eye." :)

In every sense, they are allowing us independent filmmakers, with little to no budget,have the chance to compete with Hollywood. At the very least, these DSLRS give us the chance to have our voices heard :) So with that in mind, here's my opinion on the leading Canon DSLRs that do video and still photography.

Canon 5D Mark II. Retail = $2600.00 US
This is my weapon of choice NS the only camera I actually own out of all of them.
There are three main reasons for my preference of this camera.

1. THE HOLLYWOOD LOOK/FULL SENSOR: Part of what makes Hollywood films look so great, is the fact that the background is "blurry", and the subject is in "focus". Out of all the Canon cameras, the ones that can achieve this look the best is this camera, because it has a "FULL SENSOR".

What that means is that if you were to take a picture of someone with each Canon camera, with the exact same lens, the Canon 5D Mark II would be the camera that would make the background the most blurry, making it look "more like a Hollywood movie". There's a lot more we can talk about with this, but I want to keep it simple for now, here's a link of an article where someone talks about the full sensor, if you would like to learn more about it.

FULL SENSOR INFO LINK

2. WIDER SHOTS: For much of the photos and videos I take, the location is crucial. In order to capture as much of the scenery as possible, the full sensor is key. Because the 5D is equipped with a full sensor, it is able to capture a much WIDER shot than if you were to use the Canon 7D or Canon T2i. It allows for nearly twice as wide of a shot. For example, if I were to get a Canon 5D and a Canon 7D, set them on the exact same tripod with the EXACT same lens, the Canon 5D would be able to cover almost twice as wide of an area. The actual difference if you want to get technical is .6 :)
3. SKIN TONES and LOWLIGHT: Because of the full sensor, the 5D Mark II is able to capture a fuller spectrum of colors, which produces a more natural look. Another crucial product of the full sensor is the ability to capture quality footage at low light.

Here's a link to a video I shot entirely on the Canon 5D Mark II. If I were to have used any other Canon Camera I'm talking about, we would have only been able to see half of what was actually captured (with the same lens)




Canon 7D. Retail = $1600.00 US
1. SLOWMOTION: My weapon of choice to shoot in slow motion is the 7D. Technically, it can shoot at 60 fps(frames per second) whereas the 5D Mark II shoots at 30 fps.

The image quality is very similar in both the 7D and the 5D Mark II. A person would have a difficult time to compare images side by side and be able to distinguish one from the other. Below is a link for a video I shot with the 5D Mark II and the 7D. The Slow motion sequence was shot with the 7D.




2. 8 PICTURES PER SECOND: From an action photographer's standpoint, this camera is one of the best choices because of how fast it can take still pictures. The 7D can take them almost twice as fast as the Canon 5D. For taking pictures of moving athletes, surfers, snowboarders, or anything that happens fast that needs to be captured, this feature is definitely an advantage.

3. CROPPED SENSOR/CLOSER SHOTS: Because this camera is not a full sensor, the footage you take from it will be a lot closer than if you were taking it from the 5D Mark II (with the same lens). Of course, if you have a 5D Mark II, you can always get close to the subject as well, but it does mean you will need to buy a more telephoto lens.

Here's a music video I was one of the main cinematographers for. It was directed by Julian Acosta, for the band "Passion Pit". It was shot almost entirely with the 7D.




Canon T2i/T3i/Canon 550D. Retail = $900.00 US
(I'm putting all three of these camera's in the same bracket because they are super similar)
1. The biggest selling factor for this camera is it's price. It does almost everything the 7D does with very similar features, but just not "as good".

Here's a video we made that was shot almost entirely with the Canon T2i at 60 fps.



For the main bike jump video, we used a couple Canon 5D Mark II's, and a bunch of Canon T2i's. I feel that it is a testament to the quality of the T2i that a viewer watching the movie would not be distracted by differing image quality. Here's a link to the video. The opening shot was captured with the Canon 5D Mark II.



GOPRO HD CAMERA:
The last camera I'm going to mention is not a DSLR. It is the GoPro HD Cameras and i have utilized these with great success for my videos on my youtube channel.

The reason I use this camera is because it's super small, and it can shoot slowmotion/ 60fps. It allows me to put the camera in places I would never have a chance to put it otherwise.

For example, we used the GoPros for some of the footage in the iSoccer youtube video. For two of the shots, we duck taped the GoPro camera to the soccer ball itself to give the viewer the perspective of the soccer ball. That could have never been achieved through the Canon cameras. Here's the video where we hooked the GoPro to the soccer ball.



So, my closing comments are these...... In the end, all these cameras work great, but depending on what you plan on doing with the camera, certain ones are better for certain things, just like tools in a tool box :) And yes, often time our budgets are a big factor in the decision we make with the camera we get, but we all start somewhere, for me I started with the lowest of DSLR's, back in the day when the Canon Rebel came out, the original one, and i've slowly worked my way up :)