Picture This! Holy Crap
October 18, 2012
There are some days when I feel like a kid in a candy shop. I get to sit at my desk, looking at my big 27” iMac and watch cool videos. Tough life.
If you are a storyteller like me, you can’t help but think that we are living in a technological Golden Age. Hey, I’ve got the big iMac to watch videos on. When I went to school we used to make Super 8 movies and screen them on a six-inch monitor that you used to wind by hand. Yes – back in the dark ages. Film (let alone the cameras) cost a fortune. Working in 16mm film was something that didn’t happen until second year. It was treated like gold. So you get a little perspective on where I’m coming from.
With the ongoing proliferation of small, inexpensive film cameras with full HD capability – I’m just blown away. I want to be 18 again, strap a camera to my head and go and make ski and surf videos.
An hour ago I got an email from my extreme techno freak colleague, Matthew Bennett. He’s the guy who reads the entire Spec sheet on any new camera that comes out. Well he sent me the link to the new GoPro HERO3 camera that just got announced.
As I played the demo video, everyone in the office gathered round to see what the buzz was about. My reaction was simply, “Holy Crap.” Steve Lang walked up. His reaction, “Holy Crap.” Yes at q media we think and communicate on a deep level.
We love our little GoPro (the original one). Three hundred bucks and it shoots 1080p HD footage. Plus it is has lots of cool after-market mounts, so you can strap it to your head, your bike, your surfboard or your car.
Look at the first minute of this video and figure out which shots were shot by the $300.00 GoPro and the $15,000.00 Canon C300.
A clue – think car mounts. You can strap this thing to a car and get amazing footage. Sure it has limitations – no sound capability and it has wide-angle fixed lenses, but for certain applications it’s amazing, especially if you’re thinking adventure sports. And if you accidentally destroy the thing – hey it only costs a fraction of the cost of a $1,600.00/day pro cameraman.
The GoPro is just pure fun, it helps you to stretch a bit and think of cool possibilities. Tape a camera like this to a hockey stick and you have an instant crane. Tape it to the bottom bumper of a car, 6 inches from the road and you’ll get an incredibly dynamic shot. Tools like this open the door to all kinds of production possibilities, without adding to your budget. Put it in your cameraperson’s bag and they’ll be pumped – another toy to play with. It encourages crews to get creative. And any cameraperson can’t resist that “wow” reaction to great material.
Back to the GoPro HERO 3. Price: $399.00. It has 4K resolution capabilities at 15fps. Hey, you’re not going to mount your 4K Red Epic on the front of your car, but I’m guessing you’ll mount the HERO 3 without a second thought.
Enough teasing – check out this site and the video for your very own “Holy Crap” moment.
As a post-script, can you believe the image quality of this video? Not only are our tools becoming infinitely better but so is compression technology. If you’ve been having any of those delivery questions lately about whether the future of TV lies with Cable providers or with the Web – a video like this makes you think.
Visit Picture This! to read more blogs by Richard.
