The American Way - an introduction

[Torrey Meeks]

Hi, totally new here and just wanted to introduce myself by way of a big first project I completed a few days ago.

It's a short 3-minute film shot on a Canon Rebel T2i with a 50mm f/1.8 lens attached for 98% of the shoot. Not still photography, but I applied a lot of the still photo techniques I'd picked up over the years to filming this:

The American Way

 

[AverageJoe]

Very cool video. If you aren't already a fan of, you should check out This American Life. I feel like you connected with some of the elements of that show (in a small way) in your video. Also, nice job of interviewing people, that's a tough skill. I like your line "you bought it because it wasn't greasy?", very tactical.

The video production itself is good, one thing that struggled a little bit was your focus, which is to expected. I have a Canon body with video and also find it hard to maintain focus, what F stop did you lock in at? Maybe bump it down one or two stops?

I'd hope you have plans to create another video.

Thanks for sharing and welcome to the forum.

 

[Torrey Meeks]

Very cool video. If you aren't already a fan of, you should check out This American Life. I feel like you connected with some of the elements of that show (in a small way) in your video. Also, nice job of interviewing people, that's a tough skill. I like your line "you bought it because it wasn't greasy?", very tactical.

The video production itself is good, one thing that struggled a little bit was your focus, which is to expected. I have a Canon body with video and also find it hard to maintain focus, what F stop did you lock in at? Maybe bump it down one or two stops?

I'd hope you have plans to create another video.

Thanks for sharing and welcome to the forum.

Hi Joe, thanks for that input! I'm looking to improve constantly and getting some solid critiques is invaluable.

For all of the indoor shoots during the day I locked at f/1.8 and dropped the ISO and upped the shutter speed a bit. Outdoor during the day I think I was up at F/9 or 10 and ISO 200 or so, then outdoor in the evening a little lower and up around 400 - 800.

That 50mm has a paperthin DoF, which I really like, but it is difficult to maintain perfect focus. For a doc-style shoot like this (in 24-hours) I was running and gunning for the most part. It's all handheld, so I was holding the camera body in both palms with my middle fingers stretched to the focusing ring on both sides, that way I could quickly adjust focus.

This American Life is a great show! I'd love to work for them - ah dreams. Flattered to be compared to it at all.

I'll definitely post more of my work here : )