Bec Lavelle Music Video Shoot

Over the past few months I have seen the popularity of shooting DSLR video rise at an exponential rate. These cameras are becoming increasingly popular to use for music videos and clients are requesting more and more to use them specifically instead of HD camcorders. I think they are so great for music video work. There's usually a lot to get through and a minimal crew so the small size and ease of set ups makes the shoot day quite productive. Robb Cox and myself have been collaborating under Rusty Gate Films to produce music videos and we recently shot a clip for country music artist Bec Lavelle. We used a combination of DSLR and Sony EX-3/NanoFlash with Letus adapter for the clip. The sensitivity of the DSLR was great for small lighting setups and the size and weight of the DSLR meant we could use it on the Kessler Pocket Dolly quite easily for dolly shots out in a field with high grass. We used the EX-3 on the jib arm for the main performance coverage. Robb had some Canon glass with manual controls on the front of the Letus. I also used the Zacuto shoulder mount rig for some hand held shots. The clip is currently being edited and we will post the final result over at rustygatefilms.com

When it comes to workflow we run it fairly tight so we ensure the data integrity. We have always put an emphasis on the importance of data wrangling & workflow from shooting lots of P2 footage over the years. We cycle the cards off the DSLR's and Nano Flash regularly and transcode it into final cut pro using the Pro Res codec. From there we replicate the Final Cut Capture scratch on another drive so we have two copies of it straightaway on separate drives so we can safely re-format the CF card. Here is a behind the scenes clip of the production.

TDC Day 3

The third day of the Tour de Cure saw us traveling from the Hunter Valley all the way to the country music capital, Tamworth! It was a 4.30am start and the longest ride of the entire tour. Some spectacular shots were there to be had as the sun rose and the fog cleared. It is by far the most challenging day of the ride at 284kms. The group left before dawn and arrived into town at sunset with many of the riders pushing through the pain barrier to achieve a personal best in terms of an endurance ride. With the motivation of raising over $1.35 Million for cancer research it was a proud day for all involved.

Tour de Cure begins

The journey begins on the Tour de Cure, a 10 Day charity cycling event raising money for Cancer research.

We have 4 crew who are hitting the road in order to cover the event for a 1 hour documentary. Adam Dodd, Mick Jones, Linda Ung and James McCloy piled into the Britz camper and set off on the 1400km journey up the New England Highway towards Mooloolaba. We are shooting the entire production with DSLR cameras that shoot HD Video. We are taking two 7D's and two 5DMkII's along with an arsenal of Zacuto DSLR rigs, Canon and Zeiss lenses, Glidecam 4000 and the trusty Kessler Pocket Dolly. It will be a technical and creative challenge and we are looking forward to sharing the stories and the amazing generosity and determination of the riders on the Tour de Cure.