Browsing Category Asian Arts Initiative

Films and test from the Asian Arts Initiative community. Asian Arts Initiative is grounded in the belief that the arts can provide an important political and cultural voice for the Asian American community in Philadelphia.

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

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

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

Filming Environmental Art

Going Green

New Environmental Art from Taiwan

Makoto Hirano – Elemental Dance Take 1 & 2

I’ve been very fortunate to know Makoto Hirano over the years and to see his work grow. When I approached him about doing some tests with the GH1 and the Pegasus II I thought it would be a wonderful way to collaborate and to help him document and explore his newest solo creation “Boom Bap Tourism” which he recently performed at the Asian Arts Initiative. Actually for many years, I’ve seen Makoto perform with his own company of dancers, OMNiBUS, as well as with Bill Irwin, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Nichole Canuso Dance Company, Kate Watson-Wallace, and others. This was the first time in a long while that I saw Makoto perform solo and it is truly an amazing treat to see live and in person and I wanted to investigate and see whether we could capture some of the essence of his live work within a film context.

Years ago, I used to do a lot of physical theater and abstract movement when my body was agile and I was physically fit so it was nice to bring some of those sensibilities with me in this shoot. Joseph Santarromana, a well known California based installation and video artist, once told me that he would tell his students when filming dance to move with the camera and to have that camera be an extension of your body. When filming Makoto, I found myself taking Joe’s advice and really dancing with Makoto and feeling out his emotional journey in each piece. Each time Makoto performed it was different and unique. We never scripted or talked about the shots we just sort of rode the moment. Each take is sort of a living memory of that experience and it will never be performed in that way again and I think that is why I wanted to post the process to show not only the technical use of the Pegasus II and GH1 but also how we as filmmakers must throw out the technical aspects and limitations and just allow for that organic process of collaboration between subject and viewer to naturally unfold. Obviously in doing these types of shoots, you got to practice and learn the plusses and minuses of your gear so that when it comes to that real take it’s already in your body and not your head.

In the documentation of dance, usually, dancers and choreographers want to see the whole movement and space and prefer a much wider shot. I find that most filmmakers, including myself, like that tighter look to see the emotion and facial expression as well as to capture strong intimate movement. So in many respects, the clips in this test capture more of a tighter feel and what I was also feeling in the moment as the viewer of the piece. If I were recording the work for Makoto to view and study, I would definitely have gone for wider shots. But since we also had the Pegasus II to test out it was my goal to see how we can use it well and push it to see what it could do.

Clearly Makoto’s influences as a B-Boy, break dancer are present especially in “Elemental Dance” where he merges B-Boy elements with everyday pedestrian-like body movements as well as organic abstraction.

Here is a version that mixes segments from Take 1 and Take 2.

One of the challenges of course was that each take was a little different and “Elemental Dance” had very specific movements that were coordinated with the beat of the sound track so it was tricky to keep the continuity. Overall, it’s interesting how each take and even this mix takes the piece to a different place. In looking at the footage, you’ll notice that it does sway and bounce a little definitely much less than when I first started shooting. The nice thing is when you have someone like Makoto who really pulls you in, the slight sways and bounces are not going to be noticeable to the everyday viewer. To us DPs and gear heads that’s the first thing our eye goes to. Everyone else was pretty drawn into watching Makoto’s intensity and movement. Overall, it’s really nice to see how the Pegasus II can be used for many types of shooting situations and it is definitely a go to piece of gear not just for the “steadicam” look but also for just everyday stabilization with the GH1.

If and when Wondlan creates a Pegasus III geared for the DSLR market here are a few things that I hope they could integrate for the future.

Wondlan Pegasus III Wish List:

I definitely would want to be able to turn the handle from a vertical position to a completely horizontal position. Currently, you can only turn the gimbal handle half way between a vertical and horizontal position. In order to get lower body movement or a subject that is low to the ground you need to physically bend down pretty low to the ground which is really difficult to do. Also, when you place the handle in that slightly horizonal position the handle completely rests on the gimbal system frame and not the spring and you lose it’s steadicam abilities.

I wish there was a way to adjust the tension of the gimbal in terms of it’s side to side and up and down movement. If there was some king of tension screw that you could tighten or loosen it would help with the use of the Pegasus II in different shooting scenarios. If you need to move a round a bit, a feature like this would help keep the camera head from drifting to the right or the left all the time.

As I said in an earlier review, I think the unit needs to be slightly modified to work with DSLRs, possibly having a longer plate to set the balance as well as a little bit of a space cushion between the plate and the camera. Currently, the stock lens sits pretty darn close to the plate. One user on DVXuser forum used metal washers from Home Depot to give a little cushion between the camera and the plate.

I’ve used a little chopstick to wedge between the plate if I need to move the camera or if I need to just stabilize the shot better. It would be nice to have a very tiny grip handle that we could connect to the back of the plate in case you need that extra bit of guidance. I find that touching the camera creates a little more camera shake.

The front to back locking knob sits right above the left-right fine adjusting knob and one of these knobs needs to move to a different spot. Currently, I have to move the left-right adjusting knob all the way to the left before I can loosen the front to back locking knob before mounting the unit and it’s a little bit of a pain.

Makoto Hirano – Elemental Dance Take 2

I think I personally was stronger as a camera operator on Take 2. I definitely got a better handle on how to really work the Pegasus II on that take. As I said many, many times before it takes a lot of practice to know how to balance the camera so that you can move and get the camera to go in the direction that you want with as little bounce as possible. Especially when filming dance with a Pegasus II unit you need to be moving all the time. Over all, on both takes I tried as little as possible to guide my camera with my free hand and to just balance and move the camera with my hand holding the gimbal.

Here is Take 2 of Makoto Hirano’s “Elemental Dance”

Makoto Hirano – Elemental Dance Take 1

Here is Take 1 of Makoto Hirano’s “Elemental Dance”

Makoto Hirano – Life Dance Take 1 & 2

This is an edited version of “Life Dance” by dancer / choreographer Makoto Hirano shot with the Pansasonic GH1 and the Pegasus II DV stabilizer using the stock 14-140 lens in (iA) mode.

This version of “Life Dance” combines both takes that we did at the Asian Arts Initiative theater. The 2nd Take was better as a whole and I kept it in it’s entirety. The 1st take I was a little tentative at first and also accidentally brushed up against Makoto so the camera spun but as the piece went a long I got my momentum and still captured some interesting and powerful moments of this very simple and amazing piece. I shot with the Variable ND filter and so I set the filter so that the image is a tad darker on the 1st take than on the 2nd Take. That’s how you’ll know which take it was. In retrospect, I should not have adjusted the Variable ND filter so that both takes would match up. Also, you’ll notice that at 14mm my lens hood starts to show on the edge of the frame. Just something to be aware about. It seems that at 17mm the lens hood doesn’t show but I felt I needed the shorter focal length to capture as much full body movement as possible. It would be really nice to have that 7-14mm Panasonic m4/3 lens it would really help to capture the full body movement but I don’t know it’s abilities to have full functionality with all the auto features in the GH1. I think that will definitely be my next lens to try out. Especially, when moving using the Pegasus II you need that extra bit of coverage and it helps to mask that slight bit of camera sway that is still inevitable using any camera stabilizer.

Overall, I combined the best moments from each take and in some small way we get a sense of Makoto’s struggle a bit more especially when he starts to fall to the ground during the later half of the piece. Many of those shots are from the 1st take and it’s nice to get that perspective and to give it an almost two camera shoot feel.

This version of “Life Dance” was from the “Boom Bap Tourism” performed at the Asian Arts Initiative on August 7, 2009.

Creator/Performer: Makoto Hirano

Project Mentor: Hellmut Gottschild

Dramaturg: Andrew Simonet

Sound Designer: Mikaal Sulaiman with additional engineering and composition by Dan Giraldo

Videographer: Gary San Angel

BBT is made possible through an Independence Foundation Fellowship

Co-production support from the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater,

Yoga Sutra Philadelphia, and Asian Arts Initiative.

Makoto Hirano – Life Dance Take 2

I am very grateful to dancer/choreographer Makoto Hirano for being open to filming an excerpt of his new solo work, “Boom Bap Tourism” which he performed a workshop presentation recently at the Asian Arts Initiative and is one of the best solo performance pieces I have seen in years. It’s a personal autobiographical journey through dance, performance, spoken word, and a few elements of spontaneous neofuturist unpredictability.

“Life Dance” is an excerpt of that work and this is the second take that we did using the Pegasus II and the GH1. This test was to see how well the Pegasus II and the GH1 would be in the documentation of dance, performance, and theater events. Obviously in this particular case, we were documenting the piece intimately not as live theater but as dance performance for film. So my goal as DP/Camera operator was to really dance with Makoto and ride the journey that he was on. We didn’t script where he was going to stand but since this was our second take I had a better sense of anticipating his movement. It was still rather organic and it was really nice to be able to have the Pegasus II and the GH1 work in concert together.

There were a few bounces, slight sways, and a few auto focus tracking issues but the stability of the Pegasus II is much better now that it is weighted properly. I’m just really happy with the results despite the few flaws. So it’s exciting results and I think many people will be able to use this little mini Pegasus II steadicam device for so many kinds of shoots. I hope this is just an example of one of the many possibilities.

By the way, the sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman is so integral to this piece and is just amazing.

This version of “Life Dance” was from the “Boom Bap Tourism” performed at the Asian Arts Initiative on August 7, 2009.

Creator/Performer: Makoto Hirano

Project Mentor: Hellmut Gottschild

Dramaturg: Andrew Simonet

Sound Designer: Mikaal Sulaiman with additional engineering and composition by Dan Giraldo

Videographer: Gary San Angel

BBT is made possible through an Independence Foundation Fellowship

Co-production support from the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater,

Yoga Sutra Philadelphia, and Asian Arts Initiative.

Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) premieres at PAAFF Philadelphia

Chinatown Mural “Colors of Light” by Josh Sarantitis 12th and Vine Street

About a year ago this time I had finished shooting a community arts film project working with the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia using New York based artist Taiyo Na‘s heartfelt song “Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)” which honors immigrant mothers and all our moms. The music video continues to impact and touch people from all over the globe on youtube and has been an official selection at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, DisOrient Asian American Film Festival, and San Diego Asian Film Foundation.

Based on the recent success of the music video, I created a documentary version which would fuse both music video and documentary elements into one form as I had originally intended in the initial stages of the creation of this project. I am very proud and honored to have completed the documentary version of “Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)” and to have its premiere as an official selection of the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival and presented at the Asian Arts Initiative where the project first began. To celebrate all the moms who were a very special part of this film as well as the neighboring Philadelphia Chinatown Community and to premiere the work at the Initiative for PAAFF was always a dream of mine.

It has been a wonderful journey sharing this beautiful piece at various film festivals across the country and I am so proud to bring it home to Philly.

I know that both Taiyo and I hope that you can continue to share both the music video and documentary to all your family and loved ones.

Please celebrate the upcoming holidays with all those that you love and pass this warm message along.

Warm Wishes,

Gary San Angel

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