I had the opportunity to join my friend Caleb Wojcik on his podcast and talk about the making of my film UNTETHERED.
Here are some links we talked about.
You can also check the behind the scenes of my end of the podcast.
Adventure Filmmaking from Levi Allen
I had the opportunity to join my friend Caleb Wojcik on his podcast and talk about the making of my film UNTETHERED.
Here are some links we talked about.
You can also check the behind the scenes of my end of the podcast.
This film is an epic ride from beginning to the end. Offering an inspiring look into a group that pursues the unthinkable.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON VIMEO.COM
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I am producing a series of tutorials videos based around this film that I will be giving away for free over the next coming months. If you have any questions you would love answered please sign up bellow and email me your questions directly. Here are some of the tutorials I am working on.
This is my debut film that I made with zero funding while living out of a sprinter van. It would mean the world to me if you could take a moment to share it with your friends! Here's an example:
"Just finished watching Untethered, you definitely need to check it out http://UntetheredFilm.ca"
There has never been a better time to start making videos. We live in a time where there is an overwhelming availability of capable video making tools. Cameras and computers that people decades ago only dreamed of. As a young filmmaker I myself am a product of other people being open and sharing their process and their experience. I want to give back to you by doing the same myself. This notion of trade secrets doesn't exist in my world. The best way to keep up with the content I am making around the film is through instagram, you can follow my weekly vlog or you can join my email list bellow. Let me know what you thought of the film! It would be so rad to hear from you.
One of my favourite parts of movies is getting to watch the behind the scenes bonus features. I a captivated by all that happens in the background to bring these massive films to life. Now that Untethered is released, things are really just getting started! Every Thursday I send out a newsletter packed with value. I am currently working on an entire series of tutorials and behind the scenes videos just for you! Now is the best time to join and I will give you a free software tools guide as a gift. What are you waiting for? Join and send me an email, I would love to hear from you.
In the past months I have worked harder than ever before while investing thousands of my own money into a passion project. I had decided that I was not going to wait for permission to make the types of films I wanted to, I was just going to go for it.
I vlog twice a week and would love to have you along for the journey, you can subscribe here.
I am currently brainstorming some additional things I could put together for people to purchase if they want to, but I haven't reached any conclusions yet. I'll let you know what I come up with.
Written by: Levi Allen VanderKwaak
"I had lots of people going out of their way to tell me how beautiful it was, let alone how well it encapsulated the whole record.” - Teen Daze
In this article I am going to share the details behind a project I worked on recently with Jamison from Teen Daze. I am going to open up the details of our creative process, how we pulled off a beautiful video on a small budget, and more importantly how it's not the specific tools you use, it's how you use them.
A Still from the video. Shot on my iPhone
Jamison was in the process of releasing his latest album Morning World when he contacted me about what it would take to make an album trailer. We had talked previously about collaborating on something, and it felt great to find something that we might be able to pull off.
We opened up the discussion initially talking about the goals and the feel of what he was hoping the album trailer could encompass. In this scenario Jamison had a fixed budget to work with from the label and that was what we had to work with. It wasn't a big enough project to go out and shoot a tone of new content for, so I started to think creatively of how I could use some material I had already been shooting.
For the entire month before Jamison reached out, I had been shooting a timelapse everyday with my iPhone. As I went through life I would just set it up and capture these quick and beautiful shots. When we were brainstorming a concept for the piece it dawned on me that I could utilize all of the timelapses I had already been working hard to shoot.
Shooting it on an iPhone wasn't supposed to be a gimmick
We genuinely believe in this case that the footage I had shot with my phone was the best to use with the constraints we were working with.
In my initial brainstorming with Jamison we uncovered that he wanted the piece to have an element of landscape transformations. This made timelapse a fantastic medium to use in order to reach these goals. Commissioning the shooting of an entire timelapse piece requires a significant investment due to the amount of time involved with such a piece. In this situation I considered all the shooting time that went into the timelapses as pro-bono, and the budget of the project was used to cover post production.
My goal was to have this piece feel like a natural journey. An experience that the viewer can go on paired with the beautiful music. This natural flow doesn't happen on accident. In this instance the ordering and timing of everything actually went through many revisions until it flowed just right.
I refined the piece over 16 different iterations until it was perfect
The key to getting the best out of the iPhones camera is actually to avoid the native time-lapse function altogether. It is crucial to use an app that takes a sequence of pictures at the highest quality the camera is capable. The app I used was called Lapse-It Pro. I would shoot sequences of about 300 images in the app and then transfer them over to my computer to be processed. It is important for whatever app you use, to make sure that for each sequence you lock the exposure for that shot. This way you don't get any flickering changes in the shot throughout.
Once the folders of images were on my computer, I would import them into premiere selected as an image sequence. I edited this piece for 1080p output so a lot of the shots were able to be downscaled allowing for small pans and zooms in post.
At the end of the day, non of this technical stuff maters if we did not reach the original goals of the project. I waited several months after the release of this video before writing this article. I wanted to have real world results and touch back with Jamison after the release to see if the video was a success. Here are some of the questions that I asked him.
"Definitely. I had lots of people going out of their way to tell me how beautiful it was, let alone how well it encapsulated the whole record/project."
"Levi has been a friend of mine for a long time, and though that can sometimes get in the way of a good working relationship, this project ran incredibly smoothly. In only a few short conversations, we were able to get on the same page about exactly what we both wanted the trailer to look like."
"I'm definitely aware of my limitations when it comes to visual arts, and so I'm quick to hand the control over to a more experienced professional. I try to make sure I can vocalize exactly what it is I'm looking for, while still understanding that the collaborator have their own vision as well. Striking a balance between those two is pretty important."
It is vital to the health and quality of the final video for there to be a creative process that is outlined from the start. There are lots of different steps and stages along the way, it's important to keep the project moving along and the working relationship healthy, especially between friends. As the professional the final results are my responsibility. This doesn't mean that I just do my own thing and be stubborn, it means that I create a space of listening to the clients goals in the beginning. Once I have listened thoroughly and have gained an understanding, that's when a plan of attack is implemented.
At the end of the day I am not paid based off the tools I use. I am paid because I am able to professionally execute on a creative process.
There are people out there who believe that videos should be cheap and easy because the tools are so accessible.
Yes, I am so passionate that the tools are available more than ever before. But an accessible tool does not make up for a poor creative process. One thing I am really passionate about as a creative professional is having a proven process to creating story telling content of the highest possible impact. I don't settle for lower quality, I don't settle for mediocre, I only take on projects that I know have the potential to be my next best work.
If you are just starting out, be encouraged. You most likely have a tool in your pocket that you can make something beautiful out of. The main way to get better and create more professional work, is to do just that, create. Create create create. Practice. Trial and error. These are the most essential steps, not which camera you have in you back pack.
I wrote another article here on my timelapse film Beautiful British Columbia. I shot this film using only a 500$ dslr. I strongly suggest checking out out that post as well.
Written by: Levi Allen VanderKwaak
Spencer Seabrooke is a master of the arial balancing art form known as Highlining. He is one of the few highliners in the world that is truly pushing the sports boundaries into uncrossed territory.
Untethered follows Seabrooke as he passionatly grows a community of Highliners in British Columbia. The film offers a rare glimpse into the lives of people who do what most couldnt even imagine.
Every weekend people from all walks of life head together into the mountains, with one unifying goal. They come together to test both their mental and physical limits by walking slacklines stretched between massive gullies.
This progressive documentary gives a rare glimpse into the mind and life of someone practicing a craft with the highest stakes imaginable.
“They are tethered in right?”
That’s the common question Highliners receive from bystanders who happen upon their mountain top playgrounds. The answer is Yes… Most of the time.
There is one highliner in particular who has a knack for walking these slacklines without a tether. His back up being his arms and legs. That man is Spencer. He has progressed his abilities to a level few can even begin to wrap their minds around. Spencer has pushed himself to have complete mind and body control in order to conquer the discipline of free-solo highlinging.
This film follows Spencer and his closest friends on the journey of a life time. This summer Spencer became the first man in almost four years to extend the length of the World Record Free-Solo highline walk.
Yet It’s about so much more than breaking a record. It’s about pushing the boundaries of human experience. It’s about testing the limits your limits. It’s about forming a community centred around a passion for exploration. Untethered Gives You a Ride of a LifetimeThis film is an unparalleled journey into the world of highlining. A story that will leave you captivated till the very end and have you still hungry for more. Untethered is sure to inspire the progression of personal limits and motivating viewers to reach higher for what life has to offer.
This film will be launched in December on Vimeo entirely for free. I have toiled over the crafting of this project and I cannot wait to share the experience with you. You can join the Leftcoast Collective to receive weekly behind the scenes value on the creation of this project. I send out an email every Thursday to those in the collective. What are you waiting for?
We had set off sailing up the beautiful Knight Inlet on the northern end of our trip. We were making our way up the inner coast of Vancouver Island and had already seen some amazing sites. However I got really excited when I heard we might make our way up to this beautiful place. To me Knight Inlet has remained a place of magical memories. A place that seems straight out of an adventure book.
It was in this exact spot two years ago that I had seen my first and only Grizzly bear. That memory has stood above most as something I won't be forgetting anytime soon. Being in the presence of a powerful creature in it's natural place of life, is a crazy experience.
On this trip however our first scouting mission was completely silent. Nothing. We heard word that ten sub adult grizzly bears had been seen that day alone, and yet in our two hours of paddling around we saw nothing.
I was overjoyed with excitement. After a night of songs on the boat we settled in for the night. The next morning there was a buzz aboard the ship as we got news there was a mom and her cub near by
We silently moved the zodiac in as gently as we could. Everyone was almost holding there breath as we made it towards the shore. Our view was obstructed from these large posts in the water by the shore. These pillars that used to hold up a dock of some sort. Someone said they saw something move and we all strained our sleepy eyes a little more. Sure enough as we got in just a little closer there in plain site was a mother and her cub prowling the shore line. I thought to myself, this is why I love sailing, this is why I love adventure, it's all about moments like this.
What excuses do you make when you put of creating projects you are passionate about? I know that I have tended to make a lot of excuses over the years. I don't have enough time, I don't have a nice enough camera, or maybe the content wont be good enough. Avoiding making things your passionate about seems all too convenient these days. It seems that a lot of people in the video industry have become so accustomed to saying,
"I can't afford to work on videos I want to. You know, gotta make money from those corporate clients, it's boring but it pays the bills."
I don't think you can afford to not focus on your passions. I have caught myself thinking in a similar fashion and I am convinced it doesn't have to be this way. We can still be making films about the things that we love, even if we claim to not have time to.
If you are not making time for projects your are passionate about now, I don't think you will ever make time them. It all starts with today.
On this trip it wasn't even my responsibility to make a video. I was volunteering as a Watch Leader and helping run the sail training program aboard the vessel. Video was definitely a back seat priority. Yet even though it was back seat to my actual responsibilities I still took it seriously enough to make something I am proud of from the trip.
This was all made possible from being okay with less than perfect. Is this the quality of videos I want to be making? Not necessarily, for me I know I am capable of creating films of a much higher caliber, but I don't think that means I should pass up on the opportunity to make something when the story is there. Not everything can be a 100% film. One thing I am noticing is that people pay attention to consistency far more than they pay attention to announcements.
I don;t want to be the go to adventure film guy because I want to be better than others. I definitely don't want to in order to win some type of social media race of stats and numbers. This is my goal because I want to be making films like this all the time. It's that simple.
I come alive when I make films about adventure.
I want to say no to making anything less than what I am passionate about. It is so hard to do this, but it means when I am selective in picking my projects, it creates the potential for each project to be the best thing I have created. That is the type of work I want to be making. Capturing and sharing stories that make me come alive.
Currently I am doing a lot of freelance editing. I am doing this so I can pay my bills and not be forced to take on clients or projects that are not a good fit for my company. I am growing Leftcoast Media House to be a specialized production house that tells adventure stories with excellence in the Vancouver and greater British Columbia area. I believe that you can make the tough choices to enable yourself in doing this as well. You can be making what you love if you are willing to sacrifice and fight for it.
Written by: Levi Allen VanderKwaak
I am super excited to share with you that the Leftcoast Life Vlog has started and is definitely sticking around. My original vlogging ideas started for me back in highschool, but I never had the courage to commit with doing it regularly. I have finally decided that waiting isn't going to help, and so this summer I mustered some courage and decided I was just going to go for it. Initially in my head I thought, yeah, I'll do it for just the summer and see how it goes. I have since decided that I love it, and it's not going anywhere any time soon.
Leftcoast Life is here, and it's here to stay.
For me it had the most to do with wanting to grow my muscle of commitment. Earlier this year I started blogging and writing a newsletter every week, and I knew I was capable of creating more things on a regular basis. I read once in a book that people who are creative when they feel creative just do art for a hobby, those who create even when they don't feel like it are the professionals.
This resonated with me. I especially felt like someone who mostly created when I felt inspired or that it was convenient. I knew I could create more, but without the commitment, it simply just didnt happen.
For me the idea of vlogging, and even creating videos in general, has never been about the quantity of views. I have always felt that the views only matter when they are connected with people that actually care. To be honest I have found it challenging to build an audience of people who want to see my most meaningful work. It has always been my fear that one day when I make something I am really proud of I will have no one to share it with. Yes I can share it with the internet, but I want to be able to share it with those who care about the process that went into it and are genuinely excited to see the final results.
Vlogging has been an amazing way to authenticaly connect personaly with those that might care about my work. The effects have been almost immediate. Sure someone can feel inspired when they see a beautiful video, but it is way easier to inspire people when you are building a relationship with them. For me, vlogging has become in even these short months, a genuine way to build a relationships with people. It gives me an opportunity to provide them with more value and inspire them to do more themselves.
Vlogging is now my primary way to authenticaly connect with people online, in vulnerable and honest way.
This is all just the beginning, but I am super excited for the response I have received from people so far. I really do enjoy creating them, and I love the challenge of making them regularly. Don't tell anyone, but I am thinking of making them twice a week soon. I hope you have enjoyed the Vlogs as well. Bellow you can find three more of my favourite vlogs so far, which ones are your favourite?
Let me know what you think of the vlogging on Twitter or Facebook.
Creating videos that have impact, growing your audience, and making work you are proud of is a challenging endeavor. Starting can be a challenge and following through can be even harder. It's easy to feel that you are the last to the game, that everyone else is too far ahead. You may be thinking that if only you had the chance to get an earlier start then you would be able to make your projects happen and get your work out there.
I want to challenge you that this is not the case. I heard a saying once that resonated with me: The best time to plant a tree was 25 years ago, the next best time is today. I want to challenge you that the best time to start creating your next project, the best time to start putting yourself out there, is now.
Every single person who creates started somewhere. They most likely started at zero. They started at square one. If that's where you feel you are, don't let it discourage you from starting, let it be motivation that you are in the best position to start.
Who's work do you admire and wish one day you could be creating and having the impact that they are having. It can be so challenging to see which step to take next in order to get to where they are. That's because there is no single step one can take to get to where they are. They didn't take a single step, and neither will you.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of steps between beginning and becoming an established expert.
This is actually really good news. This means that we can make mistakes as we go and course correct along the way. We don't have to take one strategic massive step; the formula for progress is to take daily consistent steps, even when it is hard. My goal is to help ordinary people in their pursuit of extraordinary results. I love helping others grow and succeed. That is why today is such a big day for me.
It's a big one for me. I have been working on building my email list since March earlier this year, and today I am stoked to share that the Leftcoast Collective has grown to 100 members.
"But Levi, my grandma has more instagram followers than that."
This is a huge deal because those that are apart of the Collective are real life people. They feel more like individual people than any other social network statistic. I don't care so much about numbers, I care about connecting with real people. You are a real person reading this, and 100 people like you have chosen to let me in their inbox. I do not take that lightly.
I will never have 100 members on the collective ever again. Even later today this number will push over 100 and I will have 101. In a way I feel like a parent who is mourning the inevitable reality that their child will one day grow older. I want to cherish the opportunity I have right now to help those who are already aware of my work. The goal for me is not bigger numbers, it is greater value given to more people.
It was January this year when I was sitting at my desk trying to figure out what I could possibly start writing about. The idea of building a website was a mountain before me that seemed unsurmountable and I couldn't think of where to even begin. You want to know how I started? I just took the first step. One step. For me that was registering a domain. Yet I couldn't stop there. There have been many steps in between then and now, yet I still feel as though I am just getting started. I want to take a moment and share some of my goals for how I want Leftcoast to continue to grow.
Where are Things Going?
The short story, create a lot more stuff.
1) Show Up More Often - This is the biggest one. Consistency is challenging and I want to make it a higher priority to be creating useful and helpful material every single week.
2) Create More Specific Tutorials - This is something that I feel I can be doing to create videos and posts that are far more helpful. Creating content that specifically teaches a certain skill.
3) Help those Who Want to Learn, and Share With Those Who Just Want to Follow the Story - This is something I have been wrestling with how to go about. There are some of you that are aspiring video creators that want to learn skills on how to create better videos. There are others that just want to follow the progress of some of my films, receive the Vlogs and hear behind the scenes stories of what I have been creating. I want to find a way to deliver the best I can to these two groups of people.
I am really excited for the next leg of this journey. I am seriously so grateful. This journey for me has been challenging, it's hard to create regularly. I want to encourage you in the pursuit of what you love. What is preventing you from starting? What next step do you need to take that you are over thinking? I believe in you, you can do this.
Written by: Levi Allen VanderKwaak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0DCBebgdUc
Stock UTV Rzrs bought off the lot are definitely not equipped for this level of performance.
Al’s workmanship creates beautiful pieces of art, the chassis he builds for these machines are incredible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_ab5NZDbKg I am so excited that I get to share with you some projects that have been in the works across the past two months.
What do you get when you combine a helicopter mounted with GoPros, an awesome pilot, hard to access alpine mountains, impeccable black ice, and two professional skaters? Actually though, what do you get? I am asking because I seriously can't figure out how to describe this video.
I finally can share about a project that I have been so excited to talk about with you guys. For the past couple months I have been working with an amazing helicopter pilot and all around a genuine Canadian to the core, Brad Friesen. I've come on as the lead editor and one of the cinematographers for his new YouTube channel that just officially launched.
We have some amazing episodes in the works that I am really stoked for. I want to write articles that answer your specific questions. What do you want to know about making a video like this. So seriously, what do you want to know? If you are part of the Leftcoast Collective, send me an email directly! You could also head over to my post about it on facebook and ask your questions there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5_q50c9k7k
Tips and tricks that will make a massive difference in how you edit your projects are worth the time to learn as soon as possible. For me when I learned this trick I am going to share with you, I was literally laughing at how much faster it allowed me to edit. Something so simple and yet so effective.
The trick I am teaching you comes in handy during the stage of your project when you are cutting your selects from your footage. You are trying to find the best moments from what you shot and start to build a video.
You need to edit fast, ignore getting specific and lay out a rough cut as fast as possible. Don't waste your time getting picky with the length of your shots.
When you have your sequence created, use the short cuts 'I' and 'O' in order to set your in and out points efficiently. These are the points that premeire uses to drop that section of the clip into your sequence.
Once you have selected your in and out points use the comma key ',' to drop it down into your sequence at your play head.
Now that you have your rough cut laid out you can begin to cut more finely the clips you want to use in your edit. A huge way to speed this up is use the keyboard shortcuts of 'Q' and 'W'. When you press Q it will 'ripple delete' the clip beginning to your playhead. When you press W it will 'ripple delete' the end of the clip to your play head. Go on, give it a try.
Some things to note: Ripple cutting will chop every layer in the sequence that is not locked. This is important to note if you have a music tracks that you do not want to end up all chopped up. You can work around this by simply locking the track.Refining your edit with ripple cuts is an extremely efficient way to edit to the beat of the music. Play in your timeline and pause exactly at the beat you want to cut to, then use a ripple cut to make it happen.
I love this tip. I hope it has helped you. If you have any questions connect with me on Facebook or join the Leftcoast Collective to contact me directly!
I have made this guide available to all current and future subscribers of the Leftcoast Collective. If you would like to receive a copy of it directly join the Leftcoast Collective bellow. I will continue to send free great content every Thursday and you can unsubscribe at any time. [yks-mailchimp-list id="e34efe9754" submit_text="SEND ME THE FREE EBOOK!"]
Written by: Levi Allen VanderKwaak
You can view more of my films on Vimeo
Film grain is a fantastic way to help add an organic look to your digitally shot footage. I use it often, almost every project I work on actually. It's especially helpful when you are using denoising plugins and the absence of grain becomes a little unnatural. I am going to show you how you can add film grain in Premiere Pro CC, but the same principles apply to all editing programs.
Here is where you can get a free film grain pack: Gorilla Grain. The sign up form to receive the download is on the right hand side.
Add your film grain after you have completed your edit and color correction. Adding it to your Timeline can slow down playback so I prefer to add it last. One thing to note is when you are color correcting you can be a little on the dark side because *when you add the grain it brings up the brightness of your shots. *
After importing your grain pack of choice you have a few options to pick from. Most packs will come with a Fine, Medium, and Course grain. They also come in varieties of how much dirt or grit the have in them. My favorite is Medium Clean, once you have selected your add it to your sequence in the layer above your footage.
Go to the effects controls panel and drop down the opacity settings. Then change the blend mode to overlay. Windows>Effects Controls>Opacity>Blendmode>Overlay You can fine tune how much grain you want by using the percentage. I tend to use somewhere between 60-85% most of the time, but it is really your call.
When your grain is fine tuned, you can copy and paste it across the rest of your sequence. If you make any changes to your settings you can select opacity from the effects controls window, copy it, and then paste it to all of your clips to change them as well.
You will notice now that if you try add a dissolve or fade to black on one of your clips it does really work. One way to fix this is by adding a black color matte underneath your shot that has the fade to black. You can make a color matte by going to File>New>ColorMatte
Well there you have it, a really straight forward process. I encourage you to give it a shot and see how you like the results. I love the way it looks on my adventure films and other pieces that I want organic texture in. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. I love that you stopped by to watch this tutorial. It would be great to see your results, connect with me on twitter or Facebook and show me what you've made.
Until next time, Remember life’s better when you make stuff
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Okay, so you feel pretty comfortable with your camera. You know how to work it and you think you could tackle documenting your travels or shooting that next event video you've been hired to make. But you might be asking, as I have been asking, "how do you take your video from being just a simple montage to an intriguing story."I encountered more answers to this question on a recent shoot I got to help with. The event video is in a category of its own (as far as event videos go). Yes, really expensive gear was used on the shoot, but there was more happening than just gear. Today I am going to share with you a few of the simple steps i've been learning about developing your story and improving your videos dramatically.
I am going to use this event video as an example of how you can incorporate story elements into your videos. First I want to give you a little bit of context to this project. As I wrote about earlier, I truly do feel that one of the best things you can do when exploring using your passion to make a living, is getting to do the actual work hands on. The actual work itself; the daily grind. Not just the dream you have in your head of what it could be. The fastest way I can find to do that is working temporarily for another company. Taking this step is totally okay on the journey to growing your own company. You will learn more faster and get to see the inside workings of a company first hand.
This stage of working for others is what I currently am at. I sought out working with a fantastic production company here in Vancouver City, Transposition Films. It's a small operation that consistently pumps out stunning content of top quality. I really respect the two partners that own and run the company; Ryan and Josh. Working with Transposition so far has been a blast.
This video was produced by Transposition Films. The role I played was helping the DP Josh Knepper operate the A Cam. I only played a small part of the production, but I will speak of the project from a holistic perspective. The credit goes to the all the others that worked hard to make this a reality.
I mean as far as event videos with extremely tight turn arounds go, this one turned out fantastic. I have to say my favorite part and what I believe really brought it to the next level, is the way the team was able to develop a story around this production.
SO MANY TRIP OR EVENT VIDEOS END UP BEING 5 MINUTE MONTAGES OF RANDOMLY STITCHED TOGETHER SHOTS. QUITE BORING ACTUALLY.
So often when setting out to make a video you can feel desperate that you need to get enough coverage of absolutely everything. Then when you go into the edit you feel as though you need to include all the components of what you shot. This is the first misnomer I am going to debunk.
Less is more. Focusing in on a visual motif, a story line, something that can carry the piece along. These are all critical steps to kicking things up a notch. This is one of the most important things I have to say. So hear me now, focus in on a single element of what's happening in your video. Is it an event with people at it? Focus in on one person to try tie the whole thing together and show their experience. Making a travel video? Try share why you are visiting certain locations and why the viewer should care about the landscapes you are showing them. Share in the video how they moved you. With the Run For Water video there was so many things we could have included. Literally thousands of options. Instead of trying to include it all we focused in on one component or storyline. The piece is infinitely better for this reason. There are many storyline options you can chose from.
I just saw a travel video made by Jeff Sheldon. I really like this video because Jeff implemented good visual storytelling without having crazy expensive equipment. He implemented a strategy to give the beginning of his video more focus. His filming wasn't incredibly complex or with expensive gear, but he used the tools he had and focused in on a component of the story. You can find the video here https://vimeo.com/110170664.
Jeff starts off this video with the shots of feet walking on all sorts of different ground. It really helps establish the feel of a travel video and that there were a lot of places visited. It focuses the viewer in to this idea that they are experiencing a trip from the perspective of Jeff, the owner of those two feet. It is something so simple but starts off the video so well.
Putting in effort on the front end to develop or think about your potential story, helps give you focus when it comes to the day of shooting. Doing this before hand means you're not trying to piece together a thread afterwards from the footage that you already shot. The concept for the Run for Water film was simple, a mirrored day in the life of a girl doing the run to raise money, and a girl that will benefit from the donated money. Since we developed this story thread ahead of time we were able to get strategic shots of our talent on the day of that helped to tie the whole piece together.
Having great tools is fantastic, but they certainly aren't going to make the story for you. I am fully confident we could have shot this event with our iPhones and still told an intriguing story. Sometimes you can get so caught up in trying to use fancy gear on the day of that you actual miss a lot of the important details. On the flip side, far to often I hear people say that they can't create good videos until they have *insert dream piece of gear* to shoot with. This is simply not true.
LIMITATIONS CREATE EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITIES
When you have limitations it actually forces you to focus instead of paralyzing you with options.
Seriously, just run with it. Document things as they happen and try not to stress to much. You will make mistakes. You will miss some fantastic moments. But if you work hard you will also capture some of those beautiful moments that no one could have planned for. Sometimes when you are shooting it can feel like every single person in your vicinity is looking at you. When I first started shooting events I found this oddly uncomfortable. For some people it can be even worse and they will feel like they should shoot at all. Here is the truth. People are not thinking about you or judging you as much as you feel.
That is the reality and you have to keep telling yourself that. Yes there is the occasional jerk, but most people won't give a passing thought to you and your filming. Of anything they will just find it interesting and then move on with their day. Don't let what you feel others could be thinking prevent you from shooting boldly. Who cares if it looks like your too 'into it.' Get the shots you need and try your best not to worry about other people. This is were there is a big benefit to shooting with a simple camera system. The more gear you add and the more fancy you look the more attention it will draw. You can use a really small get and get fantastic results without drawing much attention.
I truly do hope this gives you some ideas for your next event shoot. Remember, try your best to focus in on a story element that can help pull the whole thing together. I would love to see the results of your efforts. Tweet at me @theLeviAllen and I would love to see what you are making.
Remember,
Life's better when you make stuff.
I have made this guide available to all current and future subscribers of the Leftcoast Collective. If you would like to receive a copy of it directly join the Leftcoast Collective bellow. I will continue to send free great content every Thursday and you can unsubscribe at any time. [yks-mailchimp-list id="e34efe9754" submit_text="SEND ME THE FREE EBOOK!"]
Written by: Levi Allen VanderKwaak
I first learned this out of necessity when I had my first wedding to shoot, but now I use it all the time for all sorts of applications. The trick is fairly straightforward and not terribly innovative, but the results are fantastic.
That's the magical combination right there. The best audio you are going to get of someone talking is through a shotgun microphone, but the second best option is a LAV mic directly mounted to the subject. Adding this to your production arsenal brings up the quality immensely. If you are going to have any video with talking in it you need to get that audio as best as you can. Eliminate the need for a wireless setup and simultaneously cut down your audio equipment costs exponentially. The principle of using a wired lav with an audio recorder can be applied to many different makes of equipment (rode even makes a mic that plugs into your phone), but I am going to recommend the setup I use. I am going to recommend it because I trust it and I know that it works.
2) GIANT SQUID AUDIO OMNIDIRECTIONAL LAV MIC (You can also buy directly from his site. If you buy from his site you can get a better quality right angle connector which is what I opted for. )
This film is an example of using this mic setup in a real life situation.
Here are some tips that will help your first LAV experiences go a lot smoother.
DOUBLE CHECK THAT IT IS RECORDING!!!
It only takes forgetting once to realize how important this is. Even when you are certain you have hit record, double check. So much better to be safe than sorry.
By using this method you will inevitably end up with a separate audio file and separate video file. Make sure you get your cameras mic loud enough even though you won't use it, because you need this audio to sync the video and audio together. If you had the subject clap, just line up the clap and you are good to go. If not you might need to begin the tedious process of manually lining it up. Investing in Plural Eyes is a great option because it does a great job os syncing your audio for you.
I hope this setup helps you. I love it and continually use it to this day. It is so handy to be able to put a mic on a subject and have it rolling all day. If you have any questions or if things were unclear, join the Leftcoast Collective for free in order to email me directly, or reach out to me on twitter.
Remember, life's better when you make stuff.
Written by: Levi Allen VanderKwaak
I felt as though I was watching a master painter work on his next canvas before me. This nagging feeling came that I shouldn't be here, it told me I was intruding on his beautiful work and he wouldn't want me to watch and enjoy. Yet a stronger and;gentler voice broke through and knowingly beckoned me to experience the present. He seemed to be saying, look here, enjoy what I making.
I like to call these experiences forever memories. Those precious moments of our human experience that you know won't ever be forgotten. Moments in time where every sensor in your body is taking in everything it can. In times like this it truly does feel like you are writing a good story with your life. You can feel so insignificant in a vast expanse and yet still feel a unique and overwhelming sense of value. It is as if something, someone, is calling you to take part in something bigger than yourself. It's this deep-rooted feeling you have a part to play.
This is why I love timelapsing. It has brought me to places and given me experiences that I hope to never forget. Once you get the timelapsing bug it begins to change the way you see and experience everyday life. You start looking for patterns and motion in the landscapes around you. It gives you an entirely new perspective to the moving world.
https://instagram.com/p/PAzCTOSLT-/
FILMMAKING HAS DRAWN ME TO SEE THE WORLD FOR ALL IT HAS TO OFFER, IT HAS PUSHED ME TO PURSUE EXPERIENCES I WOULDN'T HAVE NORMALLY PURSUED.
If that's sitting on a mountain through the night watching the stars move by, or chasing the last fading rays of a beautiful sunset. Timelapsing has added a dimension to my life of such rich depth and beauty. The moment I was describing previously was an iconic moment for me and my journey as an aspiring filmmaker. It is one of the few moments in my life where I have felt spoken to so deeply.
https://instagram.com/p/Or7qx3SLVs/
This project came about through an opportunity I had to travel to Jamaica with some friends. I had just graduated from High School and I was really keen to make some projects with opportunities to practice and grow. I had previously shot my Beautiful British Columbia Film and I wanted to implement some of the things I had learned from this project. At this point I had gotten the timelapsing bug and literally timelapsed almost anything that would move.
I shot almost every sequence in this film in RAW stills so I could push the settings in post and do exposure ramping. I shot a lot of the sunset and sunrise timelapses using the Holy Grail method. Having these sequences in .CR2 was certainly very helpful. I also shot a ton of glidcam footage on this trip. There are a lot of shots that made it into the film, but literally about 10 times that amount that ended up getting cut.
HOW DID YOU GET SO GOOD AT GLIDECAM?
When people ask me how I got so good at operating a glidcam, I always point back to this trip. It was literally two straight weeks of constant glidcam shooting all day every single day. I would set up a timelapse and then use another canon T2i to shoot moving shots. I put in a lot of hours which helped slowly take my skills to the next level.
The gear I used to shoot this piece is actually really simple
• Modified Flycam Nano ( I extended the middle column so it could hold more weight • Canon t2i (still an excellent very useable camera) • Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC (awesome run and gun lens) (one of my favourite lenses) • Rokinon 35mm f1.4 lens (one of my favourite lenses) • Borrowed sigma 10–20mm (I wouldn't recommend purchasing this) • Manfrotto Monopod (MVM500A) (absolute favourite tool for run and gun shooting)
For my intervalometer I used Magic Lantern.
I edited this film on my mid 2012 Mac Book Pro, it only has 8gb of memory, but the i7 intel chip handles things fairly well and is still my main editing machine.
https://instagram.com/p/O7kkX5yLQU/
I learned a lot on this project as you would expect when you spend so much time shooting and editing. I now know that when I create pieces like this I really need to be fighting to find a story that helps tie the whole piece together. This film for me was an amazing accomplishment of a visual display, yet there wasn't a driving story. There isn't a component that grabs someones attention and drives them to watch the entire thing. The only reason the average viewer would watch it all the way through, is if I managed to enthrall and entice them with the visuals. You need more of a grab than just something pretty. With this in mind I would have tried to capture the culture and the people. I would have tried to integrate a human element that viewers could relate to.
Another thing I learned on this project is that next time I am not going to shoot near as many GoPro timelapses. I have hundreds of gigs of .jpg timelapses all GoPro shot. None of them made the cut into the film.
Thanks so much for reading about one of my films. It is my goal to create more in-depth posts on my future projects, both in storytelling and in the technical production side. You can send me any questions or feedback through email directly by joining the Leftcoast Collective.
I have made this guide available to all current and future subscribers of the Leftcoast Collective. If you would like to receive a copy of it directly join the Leftcoast Collective bellow. I will continue to send free great content every Thursday and you can unsubscribe at any time. [yks-mailchimp-list id="e34efe9754" submit_text="SEND ME THE FREE EBOOK!"]
Written by: Levi Allen VanderKwaak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3jHCcXUfoM
This week is all about editing interviews. This can definitely be one of the more daunting steps in the process of making films. Let's assume at this point you were able to capture an interview with your subject using some of the techniques I talked about last week. Now you are ready to start making your edit.
Often I find this stage challenging. Usually the interview didn't go quite as well as I had hoped it would. Maybe my audio wasn't as good as I wanted, or maybe the subject got off topic a lot. Either way I have found that if I am going to edit an interview, it works the best to do it within days if not hours of shooting it. The longer you put it off, the harder it will be to start.
Editing an interview right after shooting it, is good for a few reasons:
Try your best to enjoy it and not stress to much. Editing interviews can really be enjoyable once you get used to the process and gain speed and efficiency. It is really rewarding to boil down a 30 minute interview to a 2-3 minute well spoken piece.
If you have any questions about any step of this process, or maybe you know a better way to go about it, please get in touch, I honestly would love to hear from you. The best way to reach me is by joining the Leftcoast Collective and responding to me directly by email. You can also always connect with me on Twitter or Facebook.
I have made this guide available to all current and future subscribers of the Leftcoast Collective. If you would like to receive a copy of it directly join the Leftcoast Collective bellow. I will continue to send free great content every Thursday and you can unsubscribe at any time. [yks-mailchimp-list id="e34efe9754" submit_text="SEND ME THE FREE EBOOK!"]
Written by: Levi Allen
https://vimeo.com/127073088 This week I got asked a question from Alyssa, "Levi, I am just starting out with filmmaking and I wanted to learn how to conduct interviews, could you share some of your tips?"
I just created a film that was heavily driven by interviews (as seen above). I thought it would be an excellent opportunity use this piece as a case study of sorts as I talk about my interview process. My goal in this post is to teach you how to go about creating better interviews for your next film! First I will share my approach to interviews, and then share some behind the scenes info on this Kaleo film.
This post is going to help you learn how to capture better real life stories. I am going to push into an important component of how I approach storytelling, getting great interviews with ordinary people.
The filmmaking style I am developing definitely relies heavily on using interviews to convey the story. In most cases I find that I am interviewing people who have sometimes never been on camera before in their entire life. But I have learned a few tricks to make the whole process a lot more natural and comfortable for everyone involved.
Once I have captured the interview I eventually end up cutting out the main best bits of their talking and using this audio drive a visual story. I don't include the audio of my questions being asked, I only use the visual and audio of the subject.
The nature of the interviews I normally conduct, do not allow for a whole lot of pre-production. If you are interviewing a public figure or an artist, you need to do your homework and study up on the subject. Yet most of the time you might be interviewing someone who has nothing about them on the internet. In this case there is not much that you will have prepared going into the interview. What I normally do for every interview anyhow, is sit down on my own before hand with a piece of paper and sketch down some thoughts or ideas I would like to cover. I don't use this as a formula I have to follow, rather just as an idea sheet for those moments in the interview where I feel stuck and don't know where to go. I find this small bit of prep helps a lot and makes me feel a lot less panicked about what I need to cover.
Do you know much about subject you are going to be talking about with the person? If not you should definitely spend some time learning about the subject, are you going to talk about this persons massive Star Wars collection? Well then, you should probably know a thing or two ahead of time about Star Wars.
Your goal as the interviewer is to get your subject into the most comfortable and natural state as possible. You want to get them talking as if they were in a conversation with an age-old friend. This is hard to do in a location with lots of distractions or unwanted interruptions. I ask them to sit on the edge of the chair so they their body position naturally seems more interested in what they are talking about. This way they don't slouch their shoulders and lean back in the chair as well.
This could be an entire post in and of itself, but I will give a few tips that I use. When setting up your angle, try to have the camera at eye level with the subject or a little bit above. My goal with angles and lens choice, is to make it feel as if the viewer is sitting there with the subject. Use good composition and have the subject look slightly to either side of the camera. Having them look to the long side of the frame (as shown bellow) helps create a far more natural feel. You can get stylistic here if you are trying to convey a certain feeling, but this is usually my starting place with single camera interviews.
The biggest part of what will drive this interview is good clear audio. I use a wired lav connected to a Zoom H1 to record my audio. It is strongly recommended to have two sources of audio such as a shotgun mic and Lav, but I currently have not invested in this. When setting audio levels I usually tend to get a conversation going with the subject trying to make them feel comfortable. I don't even let them know I am setting levels, I just try get them to talk about themselves or where they are from. While they are talking try set your levels and leave a little room so if they get excited it won't peak the audio
In order to conduct a great interview, you need to be a well-practiced conversationalist. This is by far the most important part of getting consistent results from a wide variety of people. Your goal is to get them comfortable and forget entirely that they are on camera. Most people are super nervous about the whole process and the quicker you can get them comfortable, the quicker you are going to start getting the audio bits you actually want to use. When first sitting down I tend to explain how the interview process will go, "It's going to be just like a conversation, don't worry about the camera, you can talk directly to me." I sometimes explain as well that I would like to have them include the question in their answer. For example, Q: "How do you like being interviewed?" A: "I really enjoy being interviewed."
Instead of
Q: "How do you like being interviewed?" A: "I really enjoy it."
Once the interview starts and the technical components are rolling, your full-time job is being a fantastic listener. You need to make them feel as though you care immensely about what they are saying. You need to ask great questions that build off what they just said. You should ask questions that make them think, "Man i've never thought about that before."
The moment you look down at your paper for your next question, you have pretty much lost them.
This is so challenging, but you need to keep eye contact with them and avoid being distracted yourself. You can look at your questions from time-to-time, but if the interviewer starts to feel like you are following a script, you will get results as if you were following a script; forced and unnatural.
This step is incredibly important as well. Important enough that I decided to make an entire blog post about it next week. If you are not apart of the Leftcoast Collective already I strongly recommend getting on board so you can find out when my latest posts are released, you also get a free ebook which is pretty cool.
The Purpose of the film: This is a film that I created to document and share the story of an eight month leadership program on Vancouver island. This piece was driven by interviews that I conducted with ordinary people who had never been in front of a camera before. The format is a little long as it was not necessarily made to be viewed online.
The Filming Process: I gathered my footage throughout the year whenever I had the chance. My primary job was as a leader on the trips, so filming definitely was not a priority. For this reason my kit was usually really light. I rocked a top loading Tamrac bag so I could pull out a camera at any time and film. Using the Rode Video Mic Pro for Audio I shot primarily handheld or with my homemade stabilizer using mostly the Tokina 11-16 or my Rokinon 35mm f1.4
The interview shots were all done with my sigma 50mm 1.4
The Editing: I edited this piece in the few days coming up before their graduation. From the start of the editing to the time it was screened, I had just under a total of 36 hours. I cut all the interview selects, and then started to piece together a storyline. Then I went through and cut all my favourite BRoll and started adding that in over top.
The Grading: I only invested about an hour into grading as that was the only time I had. I did a basic color grade through lightroom using VSCO. I am not to happy with a few of the shots, but most of it turned out just fine.
All in all the project was heaps of fun. I always wish I had more time to edit, but It was literally right down to the deadline on this one. I literal just finished encoding the project 5 minutes before the grad ceremony started.
Woah, this ended up being a bit of a wordy post. I hope you got some value from it. As always if you have any questions connect with my on social media, or join the Leftcoast Collective and send me an email directly!
I have made this guide available to all current and future subscribers of the Leftcoast Collective. If you would like to receive a copy of it directly join the Leftcoast Collective bellow. I will continue to send free great content every Thursday and you can unsubscribe at any time. [yks-mailchimp-list id="e34efe9754" submit_text="SEND ME THE FREE EBOOK!"]
Written by: Levi Allen
https://youtu.be/FswOFko8cx4 Three weeks ago I released a biking film that I was super excited about. Turns out, a lot of others ended up being excited about it as well. It's been great to see it gather over 20 thousand views across Vimeo and Pinkbike.com in the past two weeks.
If you have not seen it yet you can view it here: http://Left.ly/freedom
As more and more people watched it, more and more questions poured in about the process of making it. Instead of just replying in the emails, I thought it would be great to create a behind the scenes video that showed some footage of making it, and also answer some questions.
I love getting questions in from you guys about what you want to learn. Seriously anything. Join the Leftcoast Collective and you can send me an email, I will get every single question that I get. If you have time, I would love if you shared this article with a friend, help spread the Leftcoast Love!
I hope you enjoyed this Behind the Scenes Video! I share new content every Thursday.
I have made this guide available to all current and future subscribers of the Leftcoast Collective. If you would like to receive a copy of it directly join the Leftcoast Collective bellow. I will continue to send free great content every Thursday and you can unsubscribe at any time. [yks-mailchimp-list id="e34efe9754" submit_text="SEND ME THE FREE EBOOK!"]
Written by: Levi Allen
I am a huge fan of tools that help me gain a productive edge and work more efficiently at what I love to do. For me I find the right tools can help me spend more time on the right things, and focus more energy on actually creating.
I get asked often which software I use for certain things, and which plugins are my favorite. I love answering this questions, but I don't want that information to be limited to just the email replies I send, so I decided to create and entire guide. This week I am launching for the first time a guide on all the tools I use daily on my computer. These are the tools that I simply cannot do without. I am a Mac user, and so this is primarily a guide for other Mac users as well.
I have made this guide available to all current and future subscribers of the Leftcoast Collective. If you would like to receive a copy of it directly join the Leftcoast Collective bellow. I will continue to send free great content every Thursday and you can unsubscribe at any time.
[yks-mailchimp-list id="e34efe9754" submit_text="SEND ME THE FREE EBOOK!"]
I love meeting other Mac Power Users because they always have some awesome tips that I knew nothing about. What are some of your favorite tools? Connect with me on facebook or twitter, I would love to hear from you!
https://vimeo.com/124455320
I made a behind the scenes video about the making of for this project, you can find it at the bottom of this post.
I have been living in one of the most beautiful places in BC for the past three years. That’s right, i’m claiming it as an absolute gem on Vancouver island. It’s called the Cowichan Valley and it is an amazing place of rolling hills, mountain peaks and ocean views. I've been inspired by the landscape ever since first stepping foot here.
I am moving off the island in just under a month and really wanted to create a short biking film as a tribute of sorts to my home of the past three years. Not knowing many riders in the area I sent out a text or two and eventually got in in touch with two racers in the area, Trevor Thew and Nic Rodgers.
Strong camera direction and excellent framing is something I wanted to be very prevalent in this piece. Focusing on framing some really beautiful shots and having the whole edit move with a cinematic feel. I came into the project hoping to grow in my composition and also sharpen my eye for lens choice.
I wanted to chose every lens and angle for a reason, not just because it was the lens I already had on.
The choice was made to stay away from shooting everything on my homemade steadicam as I usually do in action sports sequences. Instead relying heavily on my Tripod and my Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly. I also avoided slo-mo for the entire piece, I wanted it to feel and look fast.
After some text’s back and forth we decided to try film during two mornings at the end of the week. We wanted great soft light, so we shot as early as we could in the day and ended both days when the light got too blown out.
The riders had a big say in the trails they wanted to shoot on, we tried our best not to re-shoot sections that have been heavily filmed before. When we begun the shooting the first day I definitely had to dig deep for all the hiking. Yeah yeah, embarrassing to say, but I definitely sill had my out of shape winter legs, and each step that first day was hard earned. All in all I was carrying around 50lbs of awkward gear in between shots. I definitely learned that a carbon fibre tripod is something worth investing in soon. I also decided not to cary as much gear in my backpack next time, only the stuff I knew was needed or helpful.
Why did I think I needed my chargers along?
Shooting on the first day went really well, initially being super excited with the results, I knew we would have a decent video on our hands. That’s always a good feeling to have.
Recently I purchased the 3 foot Pocket Dolly from a friend, and it really does not work very well just centre mounted on one tripod. I brought two tripods with me to keep the slider steady.
A great friend of mine Jeremy came along with me the second day helping take pictures, shooting behind the scenes video, and carrying gear where he could. It was a huge help having someone else along to assist with carrying things in between shots and I was really thankful for getting some behind the scenes footage.
Audio often gets neglected when I am in the rush of shooting outdoor pieces. This time I knew for sure that getting some stereo sound of the bikers riding by the camera was a high priority. I wanted to use the audio to help tie the edit together and bring a more immersive feel to the edit.
Using a Zoom h1 and wired directly into the camera, I ran Magic Lantern on my 60d to help monitor and adjust the audio. I used this shock mount I had bought off amazon a few years ago to try minimize the amount of sound that would enter into the mic from camera movement; it worked really really well. In the future I want to spend more time EQ’ing the audio in post, but for this piece I just boosted the gain for most of the shots and then left them as is.
The piece was cut in premiere-pro right after shooting it. It is a joy cutting the material fresh after shooting it, I find it saves a lot of time as I am really familiar with what was shot and can usually remember which takes were good, and which ones are bad. I then sat on it for a day or two.
When I came back I began to cut even more aggressively. I wanted to cut anything that wasn't well shot. Deciding not to include any shot just for coverage sake. In this second pass I got the edit down from 6 minutes to 2:30! I also spent a half hour or so 3d compositing my tree logo into one of my slider shots. I wanted a simple intro with no text. The desire was to communicate my brand, but not in an obtrusive and in your face type of way.
The next couple days when there was time I continued to fine tune the edit and focus in on the details. In this piece I added Warp Stabilizer to about 80% of the shots. Setting it at about 12–22% and let it just do micro adjustments. This really helped make my smooth slider movements even smoother. Lots of my slider shots had focus pulls during the slider moves. This worked well, but I would occasionally wiggle or bump a little, warp stabilizer helped get rid of all of this.
In this video I tried something I had never done before. After the edit was done, I imported all of my footage into Lightroom and applied a preset I had made based on one of the VSCO presets I bought. I love the look of these presets and I wanted to try it out on this piece. I made small white balance and exposure adjustments and then exported all the clips to a new folder. After I exported all the clips I re-linked the media in premiere to this new folder and now all my footage had the grade I had made in Lightroom.
Some of the other finishing touches I added was film grain, and a 1920x808 aspect ratio. I shot the piece framing for cinescope and so I felt that this aspect ratio really helped give the piece a solid feel.
All in all I was pretty stoked with how the piece turned out. It definitely has the best camera movement for any biking piece I have shot. I grew from making this piece and I am really excited for what I am going to make next! If you have any questions feel free to get in touch with me through the contact form and I would love to answer them! Join the Leftcoast Collective and gain exclusive access to all of the content I create.
https://youtu.be/FswOFko8cx4
If you want to follow more BTS content, join the Leftcoast Collective or subscribe on YouTube
You won't want to miss it, it is a packed full guide of my favourite computer tools, apps and plugins. Join the Leftcoast Collective and I will send it straight to you. I will also send free great content directly to you every Thursday, big things are coming that you don't want to miss. [yks-mailchimp-list id="e34efe9754" submit_text="SEND ME THE FREE EBOOK!"]
MENTIONS: Huge shout out and thank you to Jeremy Fehr for taking all the BTS photos. You can find his instagram here.