One late December weekend Rebecca (a friend and co-worker) and I set out to do some shooting. She was using her digital SLR, a Canon 40D and I had just received my Letus35 Extreme a day or two earlier and I was very eager to test it out with my Canon XHA1 video camera.

We went out to horse country near here in the late afternoon/evening so we could catch some evening light. Rebecca took out her Canon 50mm f/1.4 prime lens and set off down the road, while I setup the camera, adapter, rails and a Canon 85mm f/1.8 along with my Libec LS 55M tripod. This is a “built” tripod (read that as heavy). So off I went lugging my rig over my shoulders (Not sure how anyone else does this).

During the course of an hour or two we did some casual shooting. The horses…well, they had the weekend off (honest, I didn’t know they got the weekend off). We got a few shots of them, out in the distance though. Oh, and I tried very hard to get Rebecca in the frame but each time she discovered me, she’d walk off in the other direction, knowing full well that I won’t be able to keep pace with her (what, with my rig and all).

I wanted this shoot to be different; I wanted to move to the next level (level 2 I think). I’d regurgitate the words of wisdom in every book I’d read off late (on cinematography/photography), every piece of good advise I was given by people in this field. People I hold in high regard. Pan slowly, tilt slowly. Be thoughtful of your composition, don’t just concentrate on the subject (foreground), watch the background, etc. etc. Oh and for those of you reading this blog who don’t know, the Letus35 Extreme, like all other 35mm adapters in the market today, it's all manual focus. And to make it harder still, I was using an 85mm f/1.8 (read that as shallow depth of field). So while I’m trying to keep all of the above in the foreground of my brain I’m also trying to having to focus using the camera’s view finder (no, are you kidding, I don’t have a field monitor, that’ll be too easy). You remember the feeling you had when you started driving and you had to remember to do all these things simultaneously; the clutch, throttle, break, steering, gears, look in front, behind, on the sides and you were supposed to keep the car on the road at all times *and* not hit anyone? That’s kind of how I was felt. I know one day I’ll be doing all this without thinking.

The shoot’s over, the sun’s set and we’re headed back. “I definitely got a few keepers”, I think to myself. That’s usually what I think anyway. I’ll shoot about an hour of tape and end up with 5-10 minutes of usable footage at most. I’ve only just begun as a videographer, what can I say? The facts are blatantly obvious after transferring the footage onto the editing bay. But I also got to thinking that I’ve seen some truly incredible and inspiring videos shot by very talented people and sure I can produce a video with various (good) takes all edited into a video I can post online and get people’s feedback so I can improve my skills. But what I'd really like to do is tell a story with my Canon XHA1 and Letus35 Extreme. Shucks, I should have had this thought *before* I started shooting, not after (stupid).

After looking at the footage I had and clipping out the good takes, I looked at them and re-looked and them to get some inspiration. Something is happening. It’s all looking pretty good to me. Actually I was very excited with what I was seeing. But what story can I tell?

With video editing software  (Adobe Production Premium) at my disposal I set out to tell my story. I picked a sound track I’d recently work with for a customer and started down the editing route. Folks, editing makes the movies you like and so editing is key. In fact I love the editing part. Editing HDV is a bit slow, even if you have the baddest, meanest hardware available today (which I do). It's when things start falling in place that it gets really exciting and a lot of fun. It's important to  get the music to tell its own story. By that, what I mean is that the music you choose plays a very important role in setting the mood for the viewer. Also keep in mind that your cuts, wipes, fades, dissolves etc. should ideally be in step with the music. So while I’m trying to tell a story I’m also “listening” to the music and making cuts/dissolves etc. in step with the beat or using certain footage in a certain place because the music and footage go well (at least I think so).

Let me know if you enjoyed the visuals, the story and anything else you might want to say.

See the Video here