4K All The Way

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Hong Kong Time

Hong Kong Time

Orangutania

Orangutania

Small Wonders

Small Wonders

Visions of Africa

Visions of Africa

Bula Bulls

Bula Bulls

Fiji Below

Fiji Below

Rouge on RED

Rouge on RED

Pondoro

Pondoro

Dry Africa

Dry Africa

Zambia

Zambia

Golden Africa

Golden Africa

Green Africa

Green Africa

Raja Ampat Revisited

Raja Ampat Revisited

Hong Kong Time

I just finished a 2 week trip through China visiting Hangzhou, Shenzhen and culminating in Hong Kong. While in Hong Kong, I had really nice blue skies and puffy white clouds, perfect weather for Time Lapse! Since I wanted to field test a new Time Lapse App for iOS that controls RED Digital Cinema cameras, this was a perfect opportunity. All of the scenes in this brief video were shot on my RED and the time lapse was controlled with my RedLapse App on my iPhone.

Incidentally, RedLapse has been approved by Apple and is now available on the iTunes App Store for all of you RED Time Lapse shooters out there:

Orangutania

I just returned from a 5 day shoot in southern Borneo. I visited Tanjung Harapan National Park in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan. I was there primarily to film Orangutans, but also had some nice Proboscis Monkey action as well as beautiful jungle and river scenics. Tanjung Harapan used to be one of the places that displaced Orangutans were re-released into the wild. Its a huge park, 4000 square kilometers (over 1500 square miles), and has a very health population of wild Orangutans so the don't release any more animals here. There is still some interaction with some of the Orangutans at the former "Feeding Station" platforms near each of the three research camps. Once a day the N.P. Rangers put a small quantity of Bananas (or other seasonal fruit) on the platform as a snack for some of the Orangutans in the area. Sometimes they also put out a couple pans of milk for the benefit of mothers with little babies. Its also possible to see the bizarre Proboscis Monkeys along the river edges in the late afternoon.

For those who don't know, Orangutans get their name from two words in the Indonesian (and Malay) language. The first part, Orang, means "Person". The second part, Utan, means "Jungle. So the name means Person of the Jungle. A very fitting name indeed.

I've spent quite a lot of time in other parts of Borneo including 4.5 years in Sabah and 1 year in East Kalimantan, but this was my first time to the southern region and it really blew me away. The jungle and rivers are beautiful, and there were far more Orangutans than I was expecting to see based on my experience in other regions. There were many mothers with babies, and the real treat was seeing several mature males with their distinctive "cheek pads". Please support the good conservation work that is taking place in both Borneo and Sumatra to preserve habitat for these magnificent animals.

Small Wonders

While selecting scenes for some of my agents, I realized that in my last 3 months working in Lembeh Strait, I hadn't actually done anything with all of the 4K RED footage I shot other than my standard logging and organization. With over a thousand unused scenes to work with, I decided to make one last Lembeh film with some of those 4K scenes.

A note on the music used in this film: All pieces are by Kevin MacLeod. When it comes to soundtrack music for UW video, he totally rocks. I'd like to call your attention to the short piece that I used for the Coconut Octopus. It's titled "Umbrella Pants" and that's pretty descriptive of what an Octopus would wear.

Update:
I've just completed a slight re-edit of this film to get the run time under 10 minutes. I'm entering it in a film festival and all entries must be 10 minutes or less. After shortening the soundtrack, I also re-cut some of the sequences to make them a bit tighter. I was actually able to add some coral polyp scenes in one part of the video by shortening up the Ghost Pipefish scenes.

Visions of Africa

Now that I have my new MacPro system running my edit suite, I can catch up on some projects that I’ve been stalling. When editing 4K footage, it’s nice to be able to see it in 4K, so no more excuses now. My first task was to select scenes from my travels of the last few months to send to my agents. As I was trimming scenes for this purpose, I decided that I should make an African Demo Reel out of some of the scenes. Here it is. It represents about 5% of what I shot during 3 months in Africa. It contains footage from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Music is “African Fields” by Bjorn Lynne. The voice over was done by The Voice Realm. Hope you enjoy it, wish you could see it in all it’s 4K glory.

Update:
I've just replaced this video with a minor edit change. I'm entering it in a film festival that requires entries to be 24p and this piece is 30p. I changed a couple scenes that would not look as good at the slower frame rate. Other than that, it's pretty much the same as the original edit, but I thought I'd put the most current version online.

Bula Bulls

Update: This is another remaster of a video shot originally in 4K but down sampled to an HD workflow. I've just reconstructed it in 4K end to end and made this HD version of it from the finished 4K piece. While I was at it, I made a couple of minor changes to the original version. I decided that the first minute of scenes, which were all filmed at about 110 ft. might look nice in B&W. At that depth, everything is monochromatic anyhow, and sharks are a perfect subject for B&W so why not... I like the look of the scenes in B&W, RED footage converts to monochrome very nicely. The remainder of the film matches the original cut.

In October 2013, while on a project in Fiji, I had the pleasure of doing 10 truly amazing shark dives out of Pacific Harbour (you can see my prior blog post on my website, www.FishTalesFilms.com, for more details). I was diving with Beqa Adventure Divers. They bill themselves as a conservation organization that runs a dive operation. I can say that they live up to that credo because they are all about protecting the area's shark population. They were instrumental in setting up the Shark Reef Marine Reserve where the dive takes place and securing full protection from fishing in the area. They set up the reserve in 2004 and have been actively protecting the area since then.

This short film is made with some of the footage from those 10 dives. Shot on RED. Hope you enjoy. I will definitely go back.

This part of the description is an optional bit of shark evangelism which you may also want to read:
I know that some divers object to shark feeding because they think that it's "not natural", but here are a few reasons why it's a good idea when done correctly:
1. It increases awareness. Some people don't know how much they love sharks until they see one up close and personal. Remember, we only protect what we love, and we only love what we understand.
2. It gives the sharks some subtle incentive to remain in a protected region. These sharks are not dependent on the feeding. It's just a tasty little snack to them and they aren't getting it every day. An 8 ft Bull Shark can (and does) go anywhere it wants to. But the feeding is an encouragement to hang around in the general vicinity, which also happens to be the safest place for them.
3. Sharks REALLY need some advocates. The shark fin fleets are pillaging the world's shark populations. It is estimated that they are slaughtering over 100 million sharks a year, just for their fins, just to add some texture to a soup that has become a status symbol in Asia. If this doesn't stop really soon, the populations will crash to the point that they cannot recover. I'd hate to see these magnificent creatures that achieved evolutionary perfection 65 million years ago disappear from the seas in my lifetime.

Kudos to Beqa Adventure Divers for putting a dent in a really big problem. You guys ROCK!

Fiji Below

This is a minor update to the version of the video that I shared a few months ago. At that time, I didn't have my new MacPro, so I couldn't view my work in 4K. Now, I'm going back through some of the films and remastering them with a different workflow. Before the MacPro, I could edit 4k footage, but then I would send it from FCPX to Da Vinci Resolve as HD, color grade it there, then round trip it back to FCPX to finish and export as HD. Unfortunately, that workflow left me without a finished 4K version. Now, I'm doing primary grading in REDCINE-X Pro, editing in FCPX, and if I want to do a bit of secondary grading in Da Vinci Resolve, I send it from FCPX as 4K rather than HD. What I get back in FCPX is 4K ProRes 422 that I use to make a final 4K version, then have FCPX down sample into an HD version for sharing. This new version of Fiji Below is the HD result of that 4K end to end workflow.

In Sept/Oct of 2013, I went on the maiden voyage of the Fiji Siren. This short video is a sampling of scenes from that trip. It includes footage from the Blight Waters, Namena Nature Reserve and Somo Somo Strait. All shot on RED.

Rouge on RED

I've been shooting UW video with the RED in my Amphibico Rouge housing for almost 9 months now. Recently, Amphibico asked for a sample piece to show at this year's DEMA Dive Show in Orlando this coming November. So I put this piece together using RED footage that I shot in the Rouge in Indonesia (Lembeh Strait, Raja Ampat and Triton Bay), in Fiji (aboard Fiji Siren in the North and with Beqa Adventure Divers out of Pacific Harbor) and in Sydney, Australia with Dive Centre Manly. Since DEMA is an industry only show and not open to the general public, I though I should also share it on my Vimeo Channel. Hope you enjoy it.

Pondoro

This video, titled Pondoro, includes some sample footage from Balule Private Nature Reserve in South Africa. Balule Reserve is a large private reserve that borders Kruger National Park. It is unfenced, so that Animals are free to wander back and forth between Balule and Kruger as they wish. Pondoro is the name for Lion in a local dialect, and also the name of the game lodge that I stayed at while I was in this area (a truly fantastic lodge!). One of the nice things about a private reserve is that you aren't restricted to the existing roads. If your guide and tracker spot some interesting activity off in the bush, you can off-road to get a better look. This film was mastered in 4K on RED and has been scaled down to a size that is presentable on the internet. Most of the footage was shot with a Sigma 50-500 lens (Bigma) and a Sigma 17-70 lens. This is a rough cut and will be updated at a later date. Editing 4k in the field on a MacBook Pro can be challenging and time consuming.

Music for this video is African Sky by ilkep

Dry Africa

Dry Africa includes sample footage from Chobe National Park in Botswana and Etosha National Park in Namibia. At this time of year, the desert is taking over and the only available water is along river courses and at waterholes. Some of the waterholes are natural, and some are manmade. The natural waterholes also start to dry up late in the dry season, but some of the manmade waterholes have wells with solar powered pumps to keep them active during the driest months. These waterholes become the focus of all the activity. This film was mastered in 4K on RED and has been scaled down to a size that is presentable on the internet. Most of the footage was shot with a Sigma 50-500 lens (Bigma) and a Sigma 17-70 lens. This is a rough cut and will be updated at a later date. Editing 4k in the field on a MacBook Pro can be challenging and time consuming.

Music for this video is Expeditionary by Kevin MacLeod

Zambia

This video includes sample footage from South Luangwa National Park in Eastern Zambia. I really has a lot of good Elephant behavior in the park and an excellent Leopard encounter. There are Hippos galore in the park and loads of big Crocodiles around the river banks and in small ponds left over from the rainy season. The big highlight for me was a dozen or so large Crocs feasting on a young Hippo. This film was mastered in 4K on RED and has been scaled down to a size that is presentable on the internet. Most of the footage was shot with a Sigma 50-500 lens (Bigma) and a Sigma 17-70 lens. This is a rough cut and will be updated at a later date. Editing 4k in the field on a MacBook Pro can be challenging and time consuming.

Music for this video is Arid Foothills by Kevin MacLeod

Golden Africa

Golden Africa includes sample footage from The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. At this time of year, the Savannas on the floor of the rift valley are a sea of golden grasses except in areas close to water. I was fortunate to get all three species of big cats, Lion, Leopard and Cheetah. The Leopard and Cheetah also had cubs, a big bonus! This film was mastered in 4K on RED and has been scaled down to a size that is presentable on the internet. Most of the footage was shot with a Sigma 50-500 lens (Bigma) and a Sigma 17-70 lens. This is a rough cut and will be updated at a later date. Editing 4k in the field on a MacBook Pro can be challenging and time consuming.

Green Africa

Green Africa includes sample footage from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The National Parks and Forests in this region are generally above the level of the great rift valley and at a high enough altitude (7500 ft or more) that they are cool and green compared to the Savannas on the floor of the rift valley. This film was mastered in 4K on RED and has been scaled down to a size that is presentable on the internet. Most of the footage was shot with a Sigma 50-500 lens (Bigma) and a Sigma 17-70 lens. This is a rough cut and will be updated at a later date. Editing 4k in the field on a MacBook Pro can be challenging and time consuming. Also, I don't have access to some nice footage shot at Nakuru that is on the disks of a failed Drobo Mini, so I won't be able to access that footage until September. At that time, I'll re-edit and upload a cleaner version, but for now, this will have to do.

(Music is Infados by Kevin MacLeod)

Raja Ampat Revisited

I've spent quite a bit of time in Raja Ampat while working on Liveaboards, but this trip was the first with my new RED Scarlet X and Amphibico Rouge housing. So this trip was intended to be a "learning experience" in my transition from HD to 4K. I'm happy to say that the learning curve was not very challenging and I was pretty much up to speed after the first couple days. Both the RED camera and the Rouge housing performed flawlessly during the entire 5 weeks I was shooting. Incidentally, the Rouge is SN001. All footage in this video was shot with a Sigma 10-20mm lens, and always at the 10mm end of the zoom range. Everything is shot with natural light, an orange correction filter and a custom look that I profiled in RED CineX Pro for shallow UW. This piece was edited in FCPX and graded in DaVinci Resolve 9.1 then Round tripped back to FCPX for output at 1920x1080. I've been shooting UW professionally for 20 years and I have to say that the combination of a RED camera in the Amphibico housing is by far the most kick ass rig I've ever used!