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COMPONENTGEEK film projects and other community based films documenting day to day raw process from inception to creation.

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Yellow Rage cameo in new – Magnetic North – Taiyo Na – Jin – Music Video

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When I think of Philadelphia based artists that have endured and have made a difference in people’s lives I think of the Spoken Word duo Yellow Rage. Both Catzie Vilayphonh and Michelle Myers who make up Yellow Rage are phenomenal artists. I have known them for many years and I am fortunate enough to have been there from the very beginning before there was even a Yellow Rage. Both Catzie and Michelle were a part of the Something to Say writing and performing workshop that I led over ten years ago and since then they have been a force to be reckoned with in the Spoken Word scene. Their mix of hard hitting poetry is both personal and socially conscious and they have never been afraid to put themselves out there even if it makes an audience feel uncomfortable. And most of all, they are both some of the most giving community based artists out there who teach, inspire, and give back to the community so it is an honor to work with them on a music video cameo appearance in the new Magnetic North – Taiyo Na – Jin video called “I GOT MY”.

The actual music video only uses just a few seconds of the Yellow Rage segment so I thought I’d highlight some of the footage we got with the new indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB which was a key success in giving us the unique birds eye perspective on all our shots.

I’ve already mentioned it before but the indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB is the ideal compact jib on the go. I think the indiGO-JIB works so well in the music video format because its easy to setup and easy to operate and gives you a lot of creativity not to mention instant gratification. In fact, our youth from our Tech Apprenticeship program at the Asian Arts Initiative are really learning how to use it quite well. All the Yellow Rage footage we shot for the music video was in fact all set up and operated with the help of youth and young adults with little or no experience. Because of the fun we had using the indiGO-JIB we are planning on shooting one of Yellow Rage’s classic poems, “I’M A WOMAN NOT A FLAVA” later this summer.

Here are the three different versions of the Yellow Rage “I GOT MY” segment. Enjoy!

“I Got My”
Magnetic North / Taiyo Na / Jin

Cameo Segment: Yellow Rage, Asian Arts Initiative Community

Filmed by Youth from the Tech Apprenticeship Program at the Asian Arts Initiative

Cameo Segment Directed by Gary San Angel

Camera: Panasonic GH2 in ETC mode
Lens: Navitar 6mm f/1.4 c-mount
Rig: indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB

Yellow Rage Cameo – Magnetic North / Taiyo Na / Jin – Music Video Version 1

Yellow Rage Cameo – Magnetic North / Taiyo Na / Jin – Music Video Version 2

Yellow Rage Cameo – Magnetic North / Taiyo Na / Jin – Music Video Version 1&2

indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB – Steve Calvarese

a gary san angel film test

Why Do We Suffer
Written and Performed by Steve Calvarese

Rig: indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB prototype
Lens: Navitar 6mm f/1.4 c-mount lens
Camera: Panasonic GH2 Extended Tele Conversion (ETC) Mode

This Winter I have been training a group of teens and young adults in both technical theater and filmmaking at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia. What makes the process unique is that I invite local artists in the community to perform in our classes. The tech team designs lights, works the camera and shoots a short live video for each participating artist. At the end of the day, the trainees get a real world tech experience and each artist gets a filmed version of their live performance.

For this session, I was fortunate to have Philly based Spoken Word artist Steve Calvarese perform a new monologue he was working on called “Why Do We Suffer”. In this piece Steve brings home some insight on the plight of the homeless. I wanted the camera to represent the POV of someone who is scared to look in the eye of a homeless person. For this shoot, I wanted to test out the new indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB which is a portable light weight jib arm perfect to use for a small DSLR camera.

I wanted to see if we could use the indiGO-JIB in more of a steadicam fashion which would allow me the ability to have quick lateral camera movement as well as varied low to high fluid camera angles perfect for what we needed to make Steve’s piece work.

I wanted to also pair the indiGO-JIB arm with the Panasonic GH2 and the Navitar 6mm f/1.4 c-mount lens in Extended Tele Conversion (ETC) Mode. The Navitar 6mm c-mount lens in ETC mode fills the frame with no vignetting and is a flat field lens so you have edge to edge sharpness from lanscape to macro. It is one of the smallest lenses I’ve used on the GH2 and one of the widest and sharpest. I’ll be posting a follow up post on both the indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB and Navitar 6mm c-mount lens very soon. In the mean time, you can at least see a little bit of the jib arm and lens in action here.

Artists Notes:

“When writing “Why Do We Suffer”, I wanted to address the sociological phenomenon “invisible minority”. What the mass media projects as “experimental reality” leaves the viewer to question if these people exist. A lot of times, the answer is no. We ignore these people on our daily encounters. They are kept hidden because they are perceived as deviants in society. As a result, we become complacent with this being the new norm. I also wanted to gear away toward minority being strictly a race issue. In doing so, I break the story into three different parts: homelessness, being Muslim, and someone living in jail.

In the video, I embody a homeless person who is telling his/her story of how he/she is perceived as a bum. Because of this label, certain stereotypes are evoked. One of the more common ones is a person having a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia. Since this stigma is implanted into our minds, we keep our distances. I think partly because we are fearful of not knowing what might happen if we approach him/her. We then marginalize these people by blaming it on culture. As an artist and an individual who encounters homeless people almost everyday, I wanted to unmask this preexisting stereotype and others alike by telling a story about a person who is just like us. Regardless if the person is homeless, he/she has a story that needs to be told. I am hoping that our views will shift and that we see homelessness not as a disease, rather a lifestyle resulting from poverty.”– Steve Calvarese

Why Do We Suffer

Written and Performed by Steve Calvarese

Part I

Can someone give me a sign please?
if they could mind read
and if the blind can see
then possibly, they’ll see
my Sharpie
isn’t dark enough to write
the words
What’s the meaning of life, uh?
trying to be heard
but they’re not bold enough to free me, from the hurt
my net worth,
a piece of cardboard
telling my thoughts from the core
of my stomach
I can barely stomach
these infinite minutes
counting like seconds
to breathe
out of poverty
just another target, trying to pass go but this isn’t monopoly
everyday of the week
I suffer from this weak
economy
please, before I finish
I want you to listen
for a small fraction of a second
a victim, from the world promises
falls in fractions, of my image
isn’t what the world sees
my hands, bleed
from praying,
saying the cause is public housing
minimum wage
traps us in chains
displacement, misplaces our names
from our face, facing
race and racist comments
for being homeless
like the cause for property value going down
I just close my eyes lids
I’m invisible, as it is
to begin with, the physical
we are out of it
another swallow of oxytocin, some klonopin
to ease their pain, but we are the ones who are sufferin’
it’s all a hustle isn’t it
musclin’ until life drags us in
under the system, wonderin’
if they’ll ever wake out of it
© 2010

You Said – Wayne Hsu

This MV is the companion piece to Nothing is Right. This song is a nice little ballad and I pretty much kept it a simple two camera shoot capturing Wayne’s great singing and playing with the streets sounds all around.

When I asked Wayne to do an adhoc music video at 1am in the morning in the middle of March I didn’t think he would say yes at first but I’m really glad he did. What we attempted to do was a live street recording with two contrasting pieces. “Nothing is Right” being more upbeat would be the more polished MV. The limited b-roll I had by went to “Nothing is Right”. So “You Said” became really a documentation of a live street performance. For both of these two songs I really wanted to stay away form the polish of the studio recorded version. I just wanted to show some of the rough edges. Some of which was unfortunately a little more rough in the audio. My Sanken COS-11x which I had taped to Wayne’s shirt was not a good idea and we encountered a lot of handling noise. That’s one of the elements that I’ll learn from for the next time around.

I stuck with c-mount lenses on this shoot to experiment and see the kind of character they give to the natural street light. I’d say the Computar 25mm f/1.3 is a lens that really lends itself to the nightlife and low light street scenes. The Kodak Ektar 25mm f/1.4 also has that retro character with nice contrast and sharpness and interesting lens flares which we decided to just keep and use because it was halo-like and had a cool effect. Because most of the shots were static we only used the SNAP! Gear for b-roll and the opening shot. But it’s been really great to be able to pull focus with such small lenses using this gear. The SNAP! Gear and SNAP! Collar help in that regard giving the possibility of pulling focus on c-mount lenses. The combo of c-mount and SNAP! Gear is really so amazingly light weight it’s a blast to shoot with.

Please visit Wayne Hsu’s site. His new album will be coming out very soon:

Director: Gary San Angel

Assistant Director: Serena Perrone

Camera Operator: Rocky Kev

Filming Details:

Panasonic GH1

Computar 25mm f/1.3 lens

indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear

indiRAILSpro MP

Panasonic GH1

Kodak Cine Ektar 25mm f/1.4

Sound Devices 552 Mixer/Recorder

Sanken COS-11x

3 for Pink Martini

A few months ago my sister called me pretty excited and said, “Check out Pink Martini’s website. They are having a music video competition!”
Are you serious?” I said calmly. Though I have to admit inside I was pretty excited.

Pink Martini is a 12-member “little orchestra” based in Portland, Oregon whose work I’ve been following since they first began in the mid 90s. I first listened to their music on KCRW in Santa Monica, CA while I was driving in traffic as is often the case in L.A. and then later saw them live in small venues in New York when I moved to the East Coast. I have seen them a number of times live and each time has always been unique and amazing. Their albums are always on my iTunes playlist for the days when you need that extra pick me up. Over the years I have been so impressed with their ability to deepen their craft and to explore their own special mark that has made them who they are. They are a group that is classical and contemporary, cinematic and very intimate, historical and experimental, and one of the few groups that cross cultures and language in a manner that honors and celebrates the world we live in.

Their music has always been a huge inspiration to me and has been profoundly influential to my own connection to my own family. I can remember when my sister and I would play Pink Martini’s first album Sympathique for our Filipino family celebrations. We would often have impromptu dancing after our huge Filipino meal of pancit noodles and lumpia spring rolls.

My Uncle Buddy and Uncle Chic who were dance instructors in the Philippines would put on their best dressed dance shoes and suits. They looked like they were part of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack. Then they would request for a CD player and put in a really bad 80s Karaoke sounding ballroom dance CD. Both my sister and I hated when they played that CD. They would play it for Thanksgiving and then for X-mas and all our family gatherings. This one time my sister ejected the 80s ballroom dance CD and put in Pink Martini’s Sympathique. She rolled Track 1 Amado Mio. The catchy dreamy Latin beat started to play and China Forbes and her beautiful voice pierced the din of the party conversations and within minutes our whole clan literally jumped out of their seat and started dancing.

“Who is this CD?,” my Uncle Buddy would say in a thick Filipino accent still dancing, “Pink Martini? Who is this Pink Martini? I like this Pink Martini! Play that fast one again. I like that one!” And he would swing my Aunty around and show off his cha cha and tango steps and everyone would hold their plate full of pancit noodles and laugh.

Pink Martini closed the gap connecting our generations and brought our family closer. That is their music to me it is a celebration of life and a reminder that we are all connected in some small way to each other.

3 for Pink Martini are 3 music videos in a short film style format created for the Pink Martini Music Video Contest that honor my personal connection to their music as it relates to family and community and the themes of love and loss.

Animation artist Rocky Kev from the KoAloha Ukulele Story teamed up with me once more to create something that is out of the box and very personal exploring our connections to Où Est Ma Tête?, Ohayoo Ohio (Hello Ohio), and Over the Valley from their new album Splendor in the Grass.

We did something unique with this process since we were able to present more than one music video. We each created a music video in our own disciplines on our own and then collaborated on one final music video together (Over the Valley). I hope the films can explore the multiple layers of Pink Martini in a manner that you have not seen before and hopefully captures the spirit of what Pink Martini’s musical message has always represented to me.

I’ll end with one final personal story related to why these music videos have special meaning to me. After Sympathique, the group did not put out another album for several years and I thought perhaps they disbanded. I was randomly searching for new music to catch at the new World Cafe Live! music venue in Philadelphia. World Cafe Live! was just finding it’s voice as a venue and at the time it was a strange cross between a House of Blues venue and a dinner theater. I saw Pink Martini was listed as performing for one night only. It would be their first and only show in Philadelphia. I went online and immediately purchased tickets thinking the show would be sold out but it surprisingly was not. The front row “dinner theater” style tables were totally open and available so I bought a whole table and called up my Philadelphia music loving friends and I said you have to see this group. Just like my Uncle, they had no idea who they were but went along for the ride just to humor me. At the beginning of the concert, I could hear the clatter of silverware on plates and I could tell looking at the bands reactions it was like, “Are we playing at a wedding?” But over the course of the evening, Pink Martini worked their magic and one by one people began to pop out of their chairs and started dancing. Old people. Young people. I never saw anything like it.

At the end of the show, I remember talking to an older couple who drove to every Pink Martini show on the east coast and they were on their way to catch the next show in D.C the next day. They were like teenagers again. I told my friend who sat next to me, “You know, this is really something. I mean look at all those young people and old people dancing to the same music. I’ve never been to a concert like this before. Somebody should do a film about this group and the people who follow their music.”

So he says, “You should do it! Ask them!” As we waited after the show outside the venue I tried to rehearse what I’d say in my head but after a few minutes I immediately got cold feet and walked away. In a very strange and special way, this music video contest has given me a chance to do something I’ve always wanted to do for a very long time and that is to create a film about a group that continues to inspire and bring people together across generations and across all boundaries.

To Thomas M Lauderdale, China Forbes, and the talented core artists of Pink Martini I raise a martini glass to you and say, “Salud!”

I hope these films are a small personal thank you for the music you’ve given me.
With every good wish,

Gary San Angel
Director

Pink Martini – Ohayoo Ohio (Hello Ohio)

Pink Martini – Où Est Ma Tête? (Featuring Wherever There is Water Parade)

Pink Martini – Over the Valley

Inside Lovely to Me

Taiyo Na in front of “Colors of Light” Chinatown Mural by Josh Sarantitis

To commemorate this Thanksgiving weekend. I thought it would be appropriate to send this beautiful music video out to the world called “Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)” by New York based artist Taiyo Na from his debut album Love is Growth. I completed the final cut of the music video version of the piece on Thanksgiving day and thought it would be nice to share my reflections and process as it relates to working with communities. I’ll also be sharing some of the technical aspects of the process and a few reviews of some Studio 4 Production and Wondlan gear that helped us greatly with the production of the piece. I thought I’d first start off by sharing some of my reflections on how this piece was created.

Loc Nguyen’s Mom and Brother at their home in Northeast Philadelphia

Last April of 2009 for the grand opening of the Asian Arts Initiative we had a number of amazing artists bless the new space with their artistry and community spirit. Taiyo Na was one of those amazing artists. When he got on stage with just his voice and guitar he moved me to tears with his song Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) from his debut album Love is Growth. For weeks after I had an idea of trying to do a community arts project that would combine both documentary and music video elements together with this beautiful song and to set it in Philadelphia’s Chinatown and Love Park.

Mary Seng & Barney Seng holding an old photo of their mom at Love Park

We were fortunate enough to have Taiyo perform again for the Asian Arts Initiative banquet and fundraiser later that month and I mustered up a bit of courage and asked Taiyo if he had anyone put visuals to this song. He tried but it didn’t pan out at the time so I talked to Taiyo about the possibility of creating something special and Philly based for this song and that it would be shot using the Panasonic GH1. I told Taiyo as soon as that little camera comes in we’ll shoot it. A few months passed as I waited ever so patiently for the GH1 to arrive. It wouldn’t come until mid summer so everything was on a holding pattern. As we waited, I was concurrently working on another project with David Lin, an artist and director friend of mine from Los Angeles. We were in the process of collecting stories for a short documentary on Jook Songs , an Asian American writing and performing troupe at Yale University that David began over ten years ago. Because of time and funding issues, I had the idea of passing around the GH1 camera to members of the group around the country and filming a day in their lives. I wanted to test this concept out locally here in Philly and thought it would be great to have community members from the Asian Arts Initiative film their mothers and grandmothers for the Lovely to Me music video. I wanted to just put the camera in the hands of the community, allow each person to film the everyday moments of their moms from washing dishes, to doing laundry, to cooking traditional foods, working a local mom and pop restaurant or shop in Chinatown or just sitting, resting and being.

Lai Har Cheung with camera captures her grandma Lau Fong in Chinatown’s On Lok House

I approached David with the idea of being a producer on Lovely to Me because of the community element that is both shared with the Jook Songs documentary that we were working on and he was all for sharing his resources to create this new piece. With our GH1 and gear in place, I approached Taiyo again at the end of the summer in order to deepen the concept of the piece.

Eric Law captures his mom Wai Man Ip in front of their store, Chinese Culture and Arts Inc. in Philly Chinatown

I wanted to bring that feeling for me growing up looking at old 8mm film footage of my family when they first came to Los Angeles from the Philippines. It was that faded slightly dirty look with those tints of green and deeper saturated blues and red that I remember from those old pictures and film reels that captured a distinct memory of family and our own immigrant stories.

Here are some of the pictures I used for the inspiration for the look and feel of the film:

My Uncle Meng, Auntie Lina, & Auntie Welma (1970s)

Me and My Dad (Isagani) & Mom (Fe) with my Auntie Lina who helped raise me

You know some things are just meant to be.

I wanted to find an old camera to use for the piece so I went on craigslist and found a Cine-Kodak Magazine 16 camera for sale on a listing out in Orange County, CA.

Taiyo Na with Cine-Kodak Magazine 16 prop camera still works!

I called up the owner who said it was his father’s old camera and he had held on to the camera in it’s original box for a few years after his father passed away. His father was a camera collector and loved photography and filmmaking. He sold many of his old lenses and gear but this was one of his fathers last pieces from his camera collection. Though he was hesitant at first to do a cross country sale, he loved the idea of the project and sold me the camera because it would be used in this film and go back to the East Coast where his dad was originally from. The idea of passing the camera from one person to the next, is the idea of passing on our individual histories in order to create a collective story, this is a touch point of the piece and why Taiyo at the end passes the camera to the next generation. This idea for the film was inspired by this cross country craigslist sale.

Manong Al Robles with elder manong from Curtis Choy’s Manilatown Is In the Heart

Another subtle but important aspect of the film is that it honors the people who came before us. I thought it would be an interesting twist to have Taiyo open the sequence of the film as a sort of homage to Al Robles with this old Kodak camera. Al was a gifted Filipino American community poet and community activist based in the Bay area who was instrumental in the political fight against the city of San Francisco to stop the demolition of the I-Hotel.

Manong Al Robles back in the day

He loved to hear stories of the “Old Country” and honored the Filipino elders (manongs) in much of his life and work. Definitely Curtis Choy’s old footage of Al at the I-Hotel from “Manilatown Is In the Heart” is such a huge inspiration for the look of this piece. I thought it would be a nice tribute to pay homage to Al Robles by having Taiyo as a kind of community filmmaker who carries his camera in his guitar case. And begins, the community story telling process with the opening of his guitar and filming through the lens of his camera.

Aleyamma Mathew holds a picture of her father Mathew Varughese & mother Annamma Mathew

In our conversations about how to deepen and push the concept of this piece Taiyo expressed to me that it was important that the piece begin in Chinatown and start from a personal Asian American experience but that by the end of the music video it should be a song for everybody. That upon ending in Love Park that this personal immigrant mother tribute not just be for Asians but for all peoples.

Kaitlin S Dugan with her mom Lynne T. Dugan at Love Park

And this is where the Asian Arts Initiative comes in. A call was made for people to come to Philly’s Love Park, to bring your mother, grandma, or person who raised you. If not in person, you could bring an old photo of your mom or even a picture of your mom in a cherished picture frame.

Asian Arts Initiative community members at Love Park

So many people came out. Just filming each person standing in front of the Love Park sign with their old photo of their mom or with their mom in person was so moving, simple, and real.

Jes Vu holding a picture of her mother Hao Vu Le

Taiyo Na holding a picture of his mom on his birthday

There was one moment at Love Park that I knew was going to be an ending moment for the film. One of the Asian Arts Initiative’s youth, Kaitlin Dugan was holding her mother so lovingly. Unrehearsed and in the moment she closes her eyes and hugs her mom deeply and says, “I love you mom.” In the film we don’t hear her say it. It is just the way they held each other in that moment that said it all to me. It was beautiful.

I think this was not just a music video it was a community coming together to reflect, share, and pay tribute to all our mothers. In a way, Taiyo’s song brought a community of people together to create a living breathing piece of art. It gave us all an excuse to have permission to break away from the everyday routine of our lives and to take a deeper moment to remember where we all came from. Our mothers. To bring different folks together, asian, black, young, old, mixed heritage, buddhist, muslim, and everything in between, to share both our love and our struggle is rare and a powerful act of courage and hope. I hope this film captures a Philadelphia that is here and now, growing, loving and always ever changing.

Asian Arts Initiative community members wrapping up the Love Park shoot with a group pic.

This was a community arts endeavor that I nor Taiyo could not have done with out the support of the Asian Arts Initiative and the Chinatown community. I am so grateful to them and could not have done it with out them. Please take the time after you see the piece to look at the credits below and see that so many people were involved in making this piece possible and then make a contribution to support the Asian Arts Initiative and the local businesses in Philly’s Chinatown.

Loc Nguyen’s Grandma picking tomatoes in her Northeast Philadelphia garden

And lastly, I hope that everyone who sees this piece can appreciate and reflect on our own mothers, grandmothers, aunts, or that special someone who raised you. I hope that you share this with your closest friends and people who you have disconnected with over time. I think it is my hope that this song and this film can touch people’s lives in the same way that this song first touched me.

“Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)”

Artist: Taiyo Na

Album: Love Is Growth

Label: Issilah Productions

Director: Gary San Angel

Additional Credits:

Featuring the Asian Arts Initiative and the larger Philadelphia Community.

Additional Vocals: Vudoo

Violins: Jason Kao Hwang

Electric Bass: Mas Yamagata

Additional Instrumentation: Taiyo Na

Producer: David Lin

Co-Producer: Asian Arts Initiative, Gary San Angel

Chinatown & Love Park, Philadelphia

First Assistant Director: Jeff “Slope” Cylkowski

Second Assistant Director: Eric Law

Camera Operators: Kaitlin S. Dugan, Loc Nguyen

Mom & Grandma Everyday Life Movie Clips

Camera Operator – Mom / Grandma

Victoria Chau – Anna Hang

Lai Har Cheung – Lau Fong

Lo Eric Law – Wai Man Ip

Loc Nguyen – Loc’s Mom – Loc’s Grandma

Linda Saroeun – Linda’s Mom

Love Park Community Participants

Aditi Vilayphonh & Catzie Vilayphonh

Aleyamma Mathew & Annamma Mathew and Mathew Varughese

Asdy Wan & Viola Kung

Andrea Pien

Barney Seng & Mary Seng & Sangvuth Ly

Betty Nguyen & Tina Huong Nguyen

Charles Ramirez & Cornelia K. Ramirez

Cheryl Tse

Chon Phoeuk & La Phoeuk

Eric Law

Gary San Angel & Fe San Angel

Gayle Isa & Hazel Isa

Jes Vu & Hao Vu Le

Jordan Coates & Inja Coates

Kaitlin S Dugan & Lynne T. Dugan

Keiko Kubo

Lai Har Cheung & Yuk Kan Lo

Lauren Harris & Nya Harris & Cathy Harris & Mildred Carter

Linda Saroeun & Linda’s Mom

Loc Nguyen

Michael Lu

Myong Pok McCloud & Vanessa McCloud & Victor McCloud & Michelle Myers & Myong Pok Myers

Husayn al-Jamil & Sham-e-Ali al-Jamil & Juhi Nayeem

Sovansuny Uy

Ratha Chea & Sarin Sek

Taiyo Na & Taiyo’s Mom

Toni Dang & Can La

Chinatown, Philadelphia

Chinese Culture and Arts Inc.

Wai Man Ip

QT Vietnamese Sandwich

Karen Tha & Mai Phan

Annie Tran & Trieu Le

Philly Chinatown Murals

“Furious Style” by Jeff Cylkowski

1219 Vine St. at Asian Arts Initiative

“History of Chinatown” by Arturo Ho, Giz, N. Phung, H. Tran

10th and Winter St.

“Colors of Light” by Josh Sarantitis

12th and Vine Street

Caterer

QT Vietnamese Sandwich

Special Thanks

Tim Ovel, Studio 4 Productions

Frederic Cheung, Wondlan

Steve Serota, Classic Camera Workshop

Asian Arts Initiative

Chinese Culture and Arts Inc.

Eric Law & Wai Man Ip

QT Vietnamese Sandwich

Karen Thai & Annie Tran

www.componentgeek.com

www.asianartsinitiative.org

In Memory of Steve Serota

Steve Serota, owner of Classic Camera Workshop outside of Philadelphia recently passed away.

Steve used to run a camera shop near Chinatown, Philadelphia on between 9th and Arch Street called Camera Care. When cameras starting going digital he had to sell his shop and later retired from the business. But he never left. Instead, Steve ran his camera shop from his home largely focusing on repairs and calling his online shop the Classic Camera Workshop.

I only knew him just this past year but he was one of the few guys around who had the history, know how, and love of old cameras and lenses. He had the gift of restoring and bringing them back to life.

Though I only knew him for a short time from my own need to get some old c-mount lenses repaired, I definitely felt a connection to his love and passion for classic cameras and lenses and learned a lot from him. His knowledge in the field and his persistence to tackle any problem was really amazing and he had a gift for doing what he loved to do.

Steve never charged you hourly for his services. He was one of the few camera repair guys who gave one price and stuck by it. No matter how long it took he’d get it done and repair that lens with all the tools he knew in his trade. He took a hell of a long time with your lenses though because he got them to his strict standards of perfection. Most would wait and give nudging e-mails or phone calls but then months later when you least expect it you’d be rewarded with an amazing lens that was overhauled and restored with care.

He never did get paid for what he truly deserved. He just loved doing it. He had the unique history to know how to work on so many cameras and lenses before digital came into being. Ironically, his knowledge is needed now when most people are investing to have old lenses repaired and restored to be used with DSLR cameras.

I never met him in person. Never even saw a picture of him or any pictures that he took until after he passed away. I only talked to him by phone and through e-mail. Camera lenses is why I came to him but through the process of repair and restoration he shared his life, his love of cars, taking care of his wife and mother-in-law, and his love for his son who recently just got married.

When his wife Barbara called me and told me he had passed and that she had my camera and lenses to return, my heart sank. I wanted to pay my respects in person. I drove out to his beautiful home just outside of Philadelphia and met his wife and she shared a picture of when they first got married and her own stories too, the good memories as well as the times of struggle, his health challenges and how the life of a camera repair guy was always a struggle but it’s what he loved to do.

Before I left their home, she took me down to the basement where he did all his repair work. It was as if he never left. Piles of old cameras on the floor, his beat down chair bent and slightly swiveled waiting for his return and a few tools and hardware strewed on his desk as if Steve was right in the middle of a repair.

It was truly a mess but I could see some semblance of structure. There were scribbled tags in plastic bins identifying someone’s lenses or camera body. Some bins were in the middle of repair and he needed a part or two while others were not touched at all. All were just waiting to be fixed. He was the camera doctor and this was really his labor of love. In all it’s chaos it was his sanctuary. His home.

In all this organized clutter of old cameras and lenses this is what he loved to do. Being able to restore a bad lens and get it back up and running to its full potential was something that he took pride in especially the ones that were impossible to repair. I remember he repaired an old cine Nikkor 10mm c-mount lens that was impossible to repair. I told him if you can’t do it just let it go. He stayed up all night and gives me a proud call on the phone 8:30am the next day explaining how he could not sleep and was able to get the helicoids unfrozen. That was the kind of dedication he had to his craft.

His wife jokingly said to me, “Steve knew how to repair cameras but he could never take a good picture.” And that was not far from the truth.

When I picked up my plastic bin containing my last set of lenses from him, I imagined him telling a long story of why he was delayed with my lenses saying he was at the hospital and had meant to send them to me sooner. He would then say, “I didn’t forget about you. I got your lenses and camera right here.” And there I was holding the last of the lenses repaired by his hands. In the bin was also my GH1 camera which he used to test out all my lenses. When I turned on the camera, I saw his test pictures that he took shooting his shop and backyard using my c-mount lenses. Most pictures were really bad but it was a nice gift. They were little snap shot memories documenting a brief moment of his day to day repairs.

One was the nicest pictures was this test from his backyard using what I think was the Cine Nikkor 10mm c-mount lens.

On my way back home I decided to take a last minute stop where his shop used to be near the Chinatown Arch in Philadelphia, one of the beautiful landmarks of Philly. It was cold that night and no one was around except the few cars that passed by. I looked up and noticed there were new lights on the arch. It looked beautiful. It was a classic camera moment. I took out the plastic bin and I pulled out one of Steve’s lenses and placed it on my camera and looking through the viewfinder said, “Here’s to you Steve.” And I started shooting.

These shots were taken with a Yvar 75mm f/2.8 c-mount lens restored by his gifted hands.

Though he could not take very good pictures, he sure knew how to restore classic cameras and lenses. These pics prove his worth in gold. He was a humble master allowing his art and spirit to live on through the people who he touched and through the lenses that he restored.

Every time I use any of his lenses I’ll always think of Steve Serota.

I will be creating special shorts with each of the lenses that he has restored for me.

For those who have had their lenses repaired by Steve, I invite you to send me your stories, pictures or films. I will add it to this post.

And for those who may still be anxiously waiting for your lenses and camera. His family asks for your patience at this time and are in the process of contacting all his clients.

Please feel free to contact them at Steve’s e-mail at repair@camera-care.com

Angenieux 8-64mm = The little Angenieux c-mount that could

My Story of the Angenieux 8-64mm c-mount lens:

The Angenieux Zoom Type8x8B 8-64mm f/1.9 c-mount lens was the first legacy zoom lens I purchased for the m4/3 system. I was pretty green at the time and when I initially got the lens I popped this lens on my GH1 and I saw the image was a tiny fuzzy circle as big as the size of a quarter. I was pretty disappointed but did not want to give up so I gave the lens to Steve Serota from Classic Camera Workshop to see what he could do with it. He spent close to a year cleaning up the lens. He just loved that little lens and said he was surprised at how sharp it was and how he finally got it working nicely with his 16mm camera. When I got the lens back I thought this would be it. I thought I’d have a nice clear image but when I popped it back on my GH1 camera I still saw the quarter size image only this time it was sharp only on the telephoto end not on the wide end. At 8mm I still saw an image that was out of focus and still could not get the lens to infinity focus. With the results only a shade better then before the lens was repaired the Angenieux 8-64mm was useless to me. I still kept it though because it was the last zoom lens Steve Serota repaired for me before he passed away.

This past summer I was about ready to sell the lens but I heard the GH2 was announced with the extended tele conversion (ETC) feature that allowed the ability for small lenses like this to be used in the full HD resolution of the camera. I wanted to give this lens one more shot. I knew I would need to find someone to get this little lens machined so that it can achieve infinity focus on a standard c-mount to m4/3 adapter. I knew that the best legacy mount m4/3 manufacturers were in China so I sent an e-mail to “R.J.” also known as ebay seller jinfinance to try to see if he would be open to machining my lens to fit his c-mount adapter. R.J. is one of the more well known legacy mount makers in China and is best known for his reliable C-mount to m4/3 adapter and Canon FD to m4/3 adapter.

I sent pictures of the lens to R.J. and he told me that he could not guarantee it would work because there could be a possibility that the lens would fall apart. I decided to just go for it anyway and sent the lens to him in China. I thought if it falls apart then it was meant to fall apart and if it works then it would be pretty unbelievable and make for a good story to tell. After a two month waiting period I got the lens back before X-mas just in time to test with my new GH2.

R.J. had done it. He had machined a significant portion of the rear of the lens. I popped the lens on the RJ c-mount adapter and on to the camera and engaged the ETC of the GH2 and took a deep breathe. I set the lens on 8mm and saw the the quarter size image had almost filled the screen. It was not the sharpness that Steve Serota was excited about but the picture on the wide end was in focus and had that soft Angenieux quality that was very pleasing to me. Then I brought the lens to the telephoto side and that’s where the sharpness of the lens really shined. It was all worth it. It really was a huge journey to get the Angenieux 8-64mm c-mount to work on the micro 4/3 system. There are a number of flaws that I have found out as I’ve played with the lens a bit more but I feel the journey was worthwhile and the lens will serve its purpose. The big pluses for me is that this lens is a very tiny fast zoom so you can carry it around with your small GH2 and images become sharper as you go up the focal range.

Here are two sample stills at 64mm.

One thing to note is because the image circle is very small at 8mm there is vignetting and edge distortion when using the GH2′s ETC mode.

You can definitely work around these problems or make the issues work as a part of the character to your film. The Angenieux 8-64 lens despite all it’s problems represents to me why I do what I do. The idea of collecting legacy lenses is also the idea of keeping the story alive and passing on what was once old and worthless and making it new again. In a small way, this journey is hopefully honoring the previous owners who may have used this lens on their own films and also honoring the guys like Steve Serota who repaired it.

The Angenieux 8-64mm lens was first used in my test film footage for the indiSYSTEM Bulldog and indiSYSTEM BallGrip in a piece called Aloha Winter.

If you’d like to try this with your own Angenieux 8-64mm lens it will take a few hurdles, some patience and a few key pieces of knowledge:

(+)

Send the lens to R.J. (ebay seller: jinfinance) in China. It cost me about $60 to machine the lens.
R.J.’s c-mount adapter works well but the best mount to get you infinity focus with this lens on the wide end is with the “Hawk’s Factory Made in Taiwan” adapter from Hawk Peng or ebay seller hawks_factory. I have only tested the old version which works great. The new version I will be testing shortly.
This is a very small c-mount zoom and works best wide open and sharp near the mid to higher focal ranges (20-50mm).

(-)

GH2 ETC mode in creative movie mode is the best way to get the lens working but this mode cuts off some of the sharpness and on the wide end you will still see vignetting and edge distortion especially when stopped down.
Since this is a legacy lens there is no optical lens stabilization so in the GH2 ETC mode it’s best to lock your camera down on a monopod or tripod any bit of camera shake will be magnified greatly in this mode.
Because of the design of the lens at the farthest focal length (64mm), you will unfortunately see two metal elements from the interior of the lens on the edge of the frame of your shot especially when stopped down. Unfortunatey, I do not think it is possible to remove these metal elements from the interior of the lens.

Special Note:

When using the GH2 ETC mode for still pictures you will have to make sure you set the camera quality to capture only JPEG and not RAW stills and also set the picture quality to 1920×1080 16:9. Creative Movie Mode gives a larger picture than when shooting in any still mode with the ETC engaged.

We Will Be Missing You – Steve Calvarese

Over the course of this year, I will be creating special shorts with some of the lenses that Steve Serota restored for me.

The first is called, “We Will Be Missing You” written and performed by Spoken Word artist Steve Calvarese.

Steve Calvarese is an emerging artist based in Philadelphia who has really been growing and developing his craft. With the help of Michelle Myers, who is one half of the famed Yellow Rage yellowrage.com, Calvarese has been sharing his take on the Spoken Word form integrating personal, community, and social issues.

Calvarese says “We Will be Missing You” tells a story about gun violence in the city of Philadelphia. At the same time, the story is grounded on the belief that understanding is key, thus it opens our minds to multiple perspectives.

This footage was taken using the Panasonic GH1 with a Schneider 1:2/18-90 C-Mount zoom using the indiRAILSpro MP and a new indiSNAP gear.

Sound was captured with a Sound Devices 552 Mixer/Recorder and Sennheiser SK2000 wireless system with a Sanken COS-11D lavalier.

This version of We Will Be Missing You is set at the Christa Lewis Memorial Tot Lot in Russo Park Philadelphia.

This piece is dedicated to Steve Serota who used to run Camera Care in Philadelphia and later his online repair shop Classic Camera Workshop. This Schneider 1:2/18-90 C-Mount Lens was overhauled and repaired by his hands. Whenever I shoot with this lens, Steve Serota will always be remembered. His work was amazing and brought back to life every lens I brought him. He was a storyteller, a perfectionist, a great family guy, and he loved his work and was passionate about classic cameras and lenses. He will be missed.

Here are the words to the Spoken Word piece.

We Will be Missing You

Written and Performed by Steve Calvarese

Dedicated to all of those who died by gun violence

What weighs on his conscience

is greater than the weight

he carries on his waist

but the problems he faced

being raised in a broken home but no one can relate

so he alienates

himself from everyone else

away from the fake

those who create hate

cuz he’s seen as a Monster

which generates

his hate he has for them

no friends, accept for his gloc

forget about crying out for help

he’ll let his gun be louder than his mouth

R.I.P. carved into every bullet

finger itchin’ on the trigger waitin’ to pull it

so he can express his meaning of “Resting in Peace”

his piece

is always kept off safety

before the victim died. Mama was praying for his safety

before you go out make sure you walk the street safely

before he knew it cold metal was against his skin

he wanted to show him how cold the world really is

one shot left his frame frozen in time

where he hangs is in his home, a 8×10, a picture frame

the only memory his mom have left to keep herself alive

is his smile so everyday she don’t think about suicide

and dreams

dreams to remember about her baby boy

the only person she has left in this world is her baby boy

now that he gone away to a better place

she will no longer see the smile on his face

every night when she goes to lay herself to sleep

she prays

so she can listen to her son speak

sayin’ I’m still alive inside

when your heart beats

no more cryin’ out

you’re baby boy is here now

smile down

and watchin’ out

soon we’ll be together but for now

you got to remain strong

no matter how deep you feel pain

I know it’s hard to adjust and make that change

when the only thing you have left in your pockets is hope

hopin’ for better days

hopin’ that kids like me don’t gotta die today

she tires to be the voice about gun violence that needs to be heard

but no one wants to hear her

lying to ourselves when we know it happens too often

how many kids we gotta see dead layin’ in coffins

how many bodies gotta drop

being outlined in white chalk

we just chalk it up and talk

like it’s the new verb

but stuck in the pretense

because we are preoccupied by other things

what we need to do

instead of throwing shoes

we need to throw our guns on the wire

first we must be alive

say like Kanye “Through the Wire”

open our eyes

and not retire

the issue

I know we’re all tired

But I don’t want to tell another friend

“I miss you”

indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear – Cottman Ave.

As those of you know once you get your lenses and your new DSLR you’ll find that manually focusing by hand is fine in the beginning but when you want to push your work to more professional results it’s best to use a follow focus and focus gears on your lenses in order to have the ability for more precise focus, the ability to rack focus, and to lessen camera lens shake on your footage.

Tim Ovel and his team at indiSYSTEM have been hard at work again this time on their new SNAP! gear.

This new design is a very nice upgrade to their previous focus gear rings. What makes indiSYSTEM’s new design quite unique is that their focus gear is split in two halves and connected together with super strong magnets.What this allows is the ability to place the SNAP! gear ring on your lens and then remove it in a snap.

Snap! gears are sold in a set with five different gear sizes to cover most of your lenses:

70mm / 75mm / 80mm / 85mm / 90mm

At only $100 bucks for these set of five gears it’s a pretty sweet deal. And for those who need just one you can purchase the 70mm for $30 each.

Each set of SNAP! gears comes with “squish” as Tim likes to call it, or thin self-adhesive foam.

The squish looks like poly foam weather seal tape that you use for weather stripping your home. It rests between your lenses and the focus gear and does a good job of making up the difference if your lens diameter is a few mm smaller than the focus gear. In my case, I tested the 70mm with my Schneider 1:2/18-90 c-mount and the lens diameter was 65mm so I had to make up the difference by doubling the squish.

In my initial tests the adhesive just wasn’t strong enough so Tim is sending some thicker “squish” and I look forward to using it and seeing if it will show better results. In the mean time, I doubled up on the squish that was already sent to me and secured it using some gorilla glue and and now the SNAP! gear fits nice and snug on my lens with no play between the lens and the SNAP! gear.

Here are just a few initial impressions so far.

(+)

You gotta love the “snap” the magnets make. They are surprisingly super strong. Once you have the proper squish, you literally snap the gear on and your ready to go in seconds.
One SNAP! gear can be used with your full set of lenses if they each share the same outside lens diameter.
With magnets and squish, no need to worry about the stress of tightening up your gears with Allen wrenches and leaving marks on your lenses.
I found the ½ inch wide gear great giving you plenty of grip using the MP’s indiFOCUS20.
$100 for a set of five gears (70mm/75mm/80mm/85mm/90mm) is a great deal and covers most of your lenses.

(-)

Don’t place your hard drive or SD cards near the magnets for obvious reasons.
The current adhesive when placing squish on top of each other is not the strongest so you lose the stickiness on the adhesive and need to use something strong like gorilla glue to keep it together. (Will wait on the new “squish” adhesive hopefully that should solve it.)

(>)

70mm is the smallest size gear so currently you need some hefty squish to make up the difference with smaller lenses. It would be nice to have smaller gear sizes especially for my Canon FDs and c-mount lenses but it sounds like 70m is currently the smallest gear size that indiSYSTEM is offering.

Here are some of my initial tests with the SNAP! gear and indiRAILSpro MP using my GH1 and Schneider 1:2/18-90 c-mount lens.

Here is film test with Steve Calvarese who is an emerging spoken word artist based in Philadelphia. Steve has been sharing his take on the Spoken Word art form integrating personal, community, and social issues in his poetry.

Our first test was on Cottman Ave. an extremely busy street in his neighborhood in the Northeast right off the 95 highway. Steve performed his piece “We Will be Missing You” which tells a story about gun violence in the city of Philadelphia. Steve says that the story is grounded on the belief that understanding is key, thus it opens our minds to multiple perspectives.

During this shoot the SNAP! gear and MP set up really worked nicely with my Schneider zoom lens.

There was very little back lash and I was able to focus and rack focus pretty smoothly. Over all, I’m very happy with the results. The SNAP gear is definitely a winner in my book with a great price and flexibility.

Mero Cocinero

I recently had the chance to work with Chef Mero Cocinero known for his critically acclaimed cooking shows across the country teaching communities healthy eating and bringing new twists to cultural recipes. Mero was in town for a brief visit in Philadelphia and so we decided to head down to the South 9th Street Curb Market. This little film captures Mero’s adventures through this rich and diverse neighborhood.

The film was shot using the GH1 and a Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 1:2/18-90mm c-mount lens with no tripod only the indiSYSTEM indiRAILSpro MP and a SNAP! Gear on the lens. Had some issues with the sharpness of the lens because the lens was not screwed on tight enough which is one of the down sides of using screw mount lenses since there is no locking mechanism to lock the lens down to the mount. I also had to use the GH1′s digital zoom in order to avoid some of the vignetting and smaller image circle so there is issue of image degradation. I can’t wait to test out the Schneider Variogon lens with the new GH2 tele extender feature which is in 1:1 mode so theoretically with this new feature we should yield some very nice results.

Open
Abierto

Featuring: Mero Cocinero Karimi
Directed by Gary San Angel
Producer: David Lin

Filmed with:
Panasonic GH1
Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 1:2/18-90mm lens
indiSYSTEM indiRAILSpro MP
indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear

Sound Devices 552
Sennheiser SK2000
Sanken COS11-X

Pegasus II First Impressions

It was a sweltering hot humid day in Philadelphia, not the kind of day to be shooting outside not unless you want to be dripping wet with sweat. Because of the heat factor, I was forced to do my first tests indoors at a local community arts center called the Asian Arts Initiative. I’m the Technical Director and work part time with adults and youth teaching theater and video programs.

Today, they had a youth lounge where youth have open space to focus on their craft. I was fortunate enough to be able to sit in on the youth B-Boy (Break dancers) crew, The Dreamers as they honed their b-boy skills and I thought this would also be a perfect opportunity to see the Pegasus II in action with the GH1.

For this preliminary test, I wanted to use the lowest common denominator and set the GH1 on its (iA) auto settings using the stock 14-140 lens because I knew the camera and Pegasus II would be in the hands of other youth who have never used a steadicam or a camera like the GH1. In that way, we could test if put in the hands of a complete novice is the Pegasus II and GH1 easy to use and can you still get some decent footage even when using default automatic settings? All the footage was shot at 1080/24P AVCHD with pull down removed via NeoScene.

It was important for me to just keep things raw including the audio in order to see what’s working well and what’s not.

Here are my initial observations of the Pegasus II with the GH1:

(+) Plus Side

Over all I have to say the Pegasus II and the GH1 make a nice pair. To shoot a B-boy crew you have to be able to move the camera at different levels and move out of the way if necessary. And you have to be unobtrusive. If you had a large rig then I think they would feel the pressure of feeling like they had to be “on” and perform well and in most cases what usually happens is that they are not as relaxed and won’t do as good of a job.

For the small size of the Pegasus II and the GH1 there were only a couple times when the guys looked at the camera with the awareness of “oh, I’m being filmed!” but for the most part The Dreamers could be themselves. I think this is a key factor in doing documentary work and the low profile attributes of the GH1 and Pegasus II help in that regard. In fact, since the Pegasus II can easily breakdown and is compact I threw it into my messenger bag rather than using the case provided. It’s always a big plus for me to not have to worry about lugging around another piece of gear that may potentially get lost.

Overall, the nice thing I noticed was that it did not feel heavy and you were able to shoot for longer periods of time with out getting tired. It still takes some getting used to and there’s still weight on it so you will get tired. But I think for the hour and a half that I shot, it was very nice to know that at the end of the day my unfit body didn’t feel strained in any way from the shoot.

The quality of the Pegasus II is very good. When I looked at the gear it reminded me of the kind of quality and machine work that I received with my previous Letus gear. It seems that little by little the Chinese manufactures are getting better at creating quality products. Even the gimbal system was a nice surprise. It was one of the functions of the unit that in pictures gave me a little pause because the design looked like it was made with a threaded bolt going into a metal joint but in use, at least with the GH1, it seemed to work surprisingly well.

(>) Challenges

Using any kind of video stabilizer definitely needs some getting used to and this is no exception.

Partly do to this was Wondlan’s first units to have English instructions, the translations still need to be worked on to so I had to follow the visual cues from the DVD that was provided. It did take me a little longer than I had expected to get started but hopefully I can provide a few tips for those who do pick up the Pegasus II when using the GH1.

I’m still working on optimizing the balance of the GH1 unit and it seems to me that when using the Pegasus II you are constantly adjusting and optimizing the balance of the camera depending on what you are shooting. And in my case, where we were shooting a group of dancers that were dancing low to the ground, I needed to use the front and back adjusting knob many times to move the position of the GH1 to get better ground coverage. But the front-back locking lever which releases the plate is awkwardly placed just below where the GH1 sits and the left-right fine adjusting knobs get in the way of unlocking and locking the plate.

Making right to left adjustments is easy on the fly but getting that front and back adjustment on the fly, you have to stop shooting. I think Wondlan can easily resolve this by changing the position of the right and left adjusting levers and making the front-back adjusting knob and locking knobs bigger and more durable so that you don’t have to stop shooting to make a front to back plate adjustment.

Also, it may be just my unit, but if you don’t loosen the front to back locking wrench all the way then it’s a little tricky to slide the plate into place. I actually don’t mind this too much because it’s a nice safety precaution. There were a few times where I was making a front to back adjustment and released the locking mechanism too far so the plate just tipped far forward and in that moment I thought, “There goes my new GH1 camera!!!” But the locking lever saved me because it has to be released almost completely out before the plate can slide freely.

As you all probably know using a stabilizer, you are reduced to not touching the lens, if you do then you will notice camera shake big time, making your footage a little buoyant looking like you were a ship lost at sea. The Pegasis II gimbal system is rather sensitive probably because the GH1 is a pretty small camera. You have to use your other hand to guide the camera ever so slightly so that your movements don’t send the camera pointing to the wrong direction. Placing a hand on the GH1 fold out viewfinder actually helps in that regard as well as obviously not creating any fast jerky movements.

(?) Keep it or Sell it

From my initial first tests with the GH1 the Pegasus II is definitely a keeper. I’ve used a steadicam and with a steadicam you have much more control and ability to finesse your shot but you literally have to be rigged up which takes time not to mention it can get heavy after a while. Obviously, there’s a huge price difference and if you want true steadicam footage then get a real steadicam or merlin but for roughly about a little over $300 when you add shipping costs from China you have a really great low profile, stick in your small backpack, “mini steadicam”.

As a documentary filmmaker, this is a great tool for stealthy situations and for those narrative movies where you are shooting in public spaces it doesn’t draw too much attention. And for event shooting well it’s one thing you can throw and fit in your tripod bag and may be a nice option if you don’t like the monopod and like to be roaming about.

Again, these are initial tests I’ll be doing a few more tests with the unit but all in all its a pretty impressive piece of gear especially for the price. Thanks for looking and hope this information is giving folks some options and things to consider when shooting with new DSLRs like the GH1.

Notes on 1080/24P AVCHD-

So some of you may have seen the earlier versions of this footage. It looked like crap! Lot’s of macroblocking and compression issues. After hours of testing with the Cineform (422) MOV container I noticed that FCP was seeing the clips as having a framerate of 59.94 as if the pulldown was never removed. So instead, I used the Prores MOV container and FCP sees the clips as 23.98 and the footage is so much cleaner. Seeing the H.264 footage even compressed looks clean. I’m still trying to figure out what the problem is with the Cineform (422) MOV container footage but for those who are using the GH1 and filming dancers with lots of movement I think despite the file size the quality of the Prores MOV container is much better.

Pegasus II Jump Test

One of the members over at DVXUser asked me to do a simple test with the Pegasus II, a jump test as well as a test to show some simple panning left to right with the Pegasus rebalanced with more weights I thought I’d show the results here. I also added a brisk back and forth walk test. This was shot on the upstairs Mezzanine level of the Asian Arts Initiative. The safety railing looks a little off and one might think the camera was not properly balanced but the building is old and the floor is not exactly level. Just thought I’d let you know that in case you were wondering.

I have not found the ideal balance of the weights of the Pegasus II system yet but I am getting close. My feeling over all is that if you are shooting and doing simple to moderate tracking movements you should be able to capture some real nice results using the Pegasus II. As I stated in my previous post, practice and a little anticipation will help capture more intricate movements but overall you will get the bobbing head of the camera effect as it tries to move back into position from a quick move. Unless you are able to use your free hand to guide the camera, running or even fast walking does not seem like a reality with this unit as you can see from the clip. Still though, with the new weights it is much more fluid and has a significant amount of control.

As with any piece of gear, my feeling is that there are some limitations using the Pegasus II. You just have to work within these limitations in order to get consistent results. Also, something that I think all GH1 users have to deal with is using the stock lens and autofocus when using a video stabilizer. As you can see from the clip, the auto focus kicks in and out especially in low light situations or fast movement.

Pegasus II on GH1 More Weight

With the help of a few folks at DVXUser and also from Frederick Cheung distributor for Wondlan products, I was able to balance the Pegasus II unit better by adding some additional weights. I still don’t think I have it right exactly because when doing the push-front pull-back test that Wondlan recommends the camera still dips down and back up. But rather than spend all day figuring out the best setting I readjusted the weight as best as I could and quickly went to shoot the opening reception of “Furious Style!” involving New York based visual artist Jeff Cylkowski.

This first set of clips was part B of the initial test of the Pegasus II DV Stabilizer which includes some tracking shots and skater footage.

You’ll notice in the footage that the The Pegasus II unit was not weighted down enough so it does sway side to side or up and down a bit and unfortunately because of this problem the skater footage was really bad so what I have attached on the tail end of this footage are just the usable shots.

All this footage was shot at the Asian Arts Initiative, a community arts center in Philadelphia and the youth are participating in the Youth Lounge where students can come on a Tuesday or Thursday to hang out and develop their own skills in their own discipline or to learn something new.

The footage was shot at 1080/24P and for days I was having tremendous problems getting NeoScene to transcode the footage on a MAC using the Cineform (422) MOV quicktime container. I’ve figured out some possible workarounds. For now, I’d say when you use the cineform container always set it to best and don’t work from a preset there seems to be a bug where sometimes the clips transcode without changing the framerate to 23.98.

This is test shoot #2 using the Pegasus II with the GH1.

As I said, I had to shoot some B-roll and document “Furious Style!,” a youth-centered exhibition led by NYC based artist Jeff Cylkowski at the Asian Arts Initiative.

Kaitin Dugan, who is one of my students in our Tech Apprenticeship program guides us on a tour of the artwork and theater space in this clip. You’ll see some artwork, very enthusiastic youth who love to be on camera and Jeff the artist and instructor as he talks a little bit about the work.

These clips are all raw. Again, this is just for the purposes of showing the Pegasus II at work in a typical event type shoot. The audio was recorded from the camera. It sucks. Actually, when the subject is close to the camera and there is no competing noise it’s usable but when we went into the gallery space with the crowd and DJ music playing, the voice gets lost.

At least for those who are looking at using the GH1 as a documentary type camera or event camera you can see what is usable camera audio and what is clearly not.

Also, I Ieft the clip long so you can shuttle threw it and see the Pegasus II and it’s use over a period of time. Walking though a crowd, walking up stairs, it did pretty well.

There were a few spots with a fast turn or so that gravity made the camera sway but for the most part the extra weight helped. I still think I can get some better settings and tweak the weights a little more.

For the most part the Pegasus II will sway from right to left or up and down if the movement is sudden or jerky. As long as it’s not that, the Pegasus II was was much better and the camera was able to move to where I needed it to go. The nice thing I noticed this time around is that I could move and track Kaitlin’s movement as she walked though the gallery and the crowd with out having to use my other hand to turn the camera.

There is definitely a way where if you work with the gimbal long enough you can counter balance and move the handle to the right place before the camera head starts to turn or sway. Practice and anticipation is the name of the game here.

I think on the second shoot with the Pegasus II I’m still pretty happy with the results especially with the price point. Sure a steadicam has a lot more control, steadyness, and flexibility. There’s no question. If you really need a steadicam shot that requires you to be doing sudden changes and moves this unit will take time to learn in order to achieve that level of precision. If you need a steadicam type unit that is compact and can give you some great stability with out a lot of fatigue I think this unit delivers that.

Personally, I’m glad to be able to have some test shoots with the unit before doing a real shoot. I think the Pegasus II does need practice so that you can create your own workarounds for shots that may require the operator to move quickly.

Jeff Cylkowski – Skater Shot

So after my first test with the GH1 I realized that there was a lot of sway and I needed to correctly balance the camera with the appropriate amount of weights on the Pegasus II.

Now with the Pegasus II optimized with the appropriate weights and with me practicing with the unit for like an hour a day for a week, I decided to give it another go and see if it would be possible to do use the Pegasus II on the GH1 for skate footage. I had done a previous test with some brisk walking and jumping the night before and there was still some sway to the footage so I adjusted my weights again and this is the new results so far.

Jeff Cylkowski, visual artist in residence at the Asian Arts Initiative, was kind enough to let me film him doing a couple skate board runs this past week one very hot and humid Philly evening as the sun was coming down. The first tracking shot of Jeff heading toward the sun, I was following him with a slight jog. The camera did have a little dip here and there but overall much much better than the first skater footage that I posted earlier. The second tracking shot of Jeff was just an all out let’s just see what happens if I run with the Pegasus II and GH1 on the street along side of him. I honestly was not expecting much but when reviewing the tape I was really shocked at how well the Pegasus II did with the new weight system and me being more comfortable with the unit. Again, I was doing my best to balance the camera and run and keep up with Jeff all at the same time. I think if we had a few more tries we may have been able to get a good solid take but it was so hot out there we had to call it. Only downside was that the AF on the camera could not track Jeff. He was moving pretty fast and so the AF clearly loses focus especially toward the end of the run.

Overall, the Pegasus II really has a lot going for it and even with its limitations is a pretty great tool to have in your arsenal. Already for me its so necessary to shoot with the Pegasus II because any camera shake is just magnified on the GH1 so even a little sway here and there from the Pegasus II is so much better than shooting hand held.

If you look at the second run, you’ll see my shadow and reflection in the store windows. I’m pretty much running! It’s crazy!

Filming Environmental Art

Going Green

New Environmental Art from Taiwan