My new sound gadgets

Sounds and audios are very important in film making, yet they are always something not taken care by the independence film makers. From the previous videos I had made, I realized that the audio is a big issue with VDSLR camera - it's mono and doesn't allow any setting control for audio/sound, not even a AGC (Automatic gain control) built in it, so even when I plug in a external mic, the audio level can go too high and result a very bad audio.

So here's something I bought in recently, a ROBE Video Mic & a ZOOM H4N handy recorder.

ROBE Video Mic is a condenser microphone which made to mount on the DSLR's hot shoe. This directional condenser microphone focus on the sound coming from infront, and isolate the sound from the background. It is a very good mic for taking on-the-go dialogues, very useful when shooting documentary. The quality is almost as good as pointing a boom mic at the subject.

ZOOM H4N recorder is a combination of a high quality stereo microphone and a sound recorder. It can be taking up to 4 channels of audios, and you can control each sound level. It records in both wav and mp3 format, with the qualities up to 24bit/96kHz. Many more functions and setting you can play around... It works as an independence device, it's very handy and easy bring around, and I love that it supports XLR cable!

Here's a quick test of the stereo mic:

Now with these 2 gadgets, I can have good audios in my video! Yeah! :D

開工大吉！

各位各位，開學的，開工的... ... 大吉大利！！ 開啊～

1st trip of 2010

Back to my favorite Perhentian Island, 18-19th Feb 2010, New Cocohut Chalet.























Hope you enjoy the photos!
For island trip inquiry, please contact me~ :P


.

收工啰！！

Passion Republic annual dinner at Genji Sushi, Hilton Hotel. Oh, there was no lucky draws... :P



Finally, a complete group photo of our team!


After the dinner, we went to the NoBlackTie Jazz bar for some chill time. It was a great night spending with my fellow colleagues, listening to song performance by Isaac Entry. I was really into the songs and love the environment, it was so relaxing and definitely a good place to end the year (yeah we are celebrating the lunar new year tomorrow!).



Since I had my 7D in hand so I did a little filming in the bar. Here's something I put together to share with everyone!

If you like to find out more about the bar and their events: http://www.noblacktie.com.my/
If you like this artist and his song, you may try "Isaac Entry" in facebook!

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! and Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!
Most of all, happy holiday!! :)

THAIPUSAM - the trailer

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community, and also known as the largest gathering of multi-races in Malaysia. It is a day to celebrate the birth of Lord Murugan, as well as the occasion when He was given a spear to defeat the demon.

I've been photographing this special event at Batu Caves temple for the past 2 years, and thanks to Canon 7D, this year I am able to capture the moving pictures!

With the help from my former colleague KahHooi, assistance from Gary and ChinHong, we have shot this mini-documentary about Thaipusam. Special thanks to Kesu and his family and friends for being so kind to us, allowing us to capture the entire procession through them.

It was quite a heavy shoot for me, really tired, because we started shooting a day before like about 5pm, and continuously non-stop shooting until the next day morning 9am. Imagine after many hours of standing and walking and running along with the procession, then about 5am in the morning, we had to climb the 272 steps up to the temple cave, carrying the cameras with steadicam, tripod and bags... and then walk down again! I admit my leg was shaking during the climb, and did feel dizzy sometimes, but I just kept telling myself that I could do this... and I have to do this... We did it, and we were all happy!

Now I have to use my possibly free times to edit this piece, and I hope it will turn out well to share with everybody. :)

I figured we didn't manage to get a group photo, so sorry... Here's the only photo taken from behind the scene, it's me shooting the time lapse at where the procession takes place.

*Photo from ChinHong

Anyway, hope you will like the trailer! :)

DIY slider for tracking shot

Many people were asking about the DIY slider I made for shooting tracking shots like the video above. If you search online, there are companies produce mini dolly/slider for smaller video cameras or video DSLR, for example - GlideTrack, although it is very compact, easy to carry and setup, but the price is very expensive... So I decided to make one my own, before I have the enough saving to buy a proper one.

The idea came across one day when I was hanging towel in my washroom. The concept is simple, it is exactly how a dolly track works, but you just gotta "miniature" it. Stuffs that I used here are like: the towel hanger (got it from Ikea), some cheap skateboard bearings, small pieces of wood, crews and nuts.... etc.

How to do it? I will just let the pictures do the explanations:



You can directly place your camera on top, or together with the video/tripod head, either way will works. There you go, a cheap and simple slider which help bringing your cinematography to another level! :)

To see another video sample from this slider:
http://d1production.blogspot.com/2010/01/7d-documentary-20-years-initiator.html


.