So yes, I know I am just spamming with cinematic videos everytime I come here (well one every Wednesday anyway), but they give me a lot of peace, and I love to share them.
Here’s Conway Castle:
8 Likes
Keep them coming Emma, What happened towards the end ? a blurry moment
1 Like
I like the smoothness and the music, I just feel your framing is off a little. The opening shot would have been so much more impactful if the castle was centred and you were flying towards it. Maybe zooming out a little in a shot or two would help, I really wanted to see the whole castle.
Anyway it’s great your out there flying at such lovely locations, keep them coming
1 Like
Nice video! 
1 Like
Many thanks, I will 
I rewatched it and cannot find a blurry moment? Do you mean the bit at the end where I fade it out?
Thanks very much!
1 Like
Hi, thanks so much for the feedback.
The reason for the framing is that we always have a little easter egg in the videos. Usually my Red Audi is visible in all of them somewhere and indeed was on the docks here. Later I might make a little video showing all the easter eggs, that until now I have not even told anyone were there. There’s often my daughter waving somewhere too.
This time however, the reason we were parked on the docks is because we have a permit, because we also have a boat in the harbour and wanted to include it, and the car. A rare opportunity. The framing for that was actually quite tricky while keeping the castle perfectly in the top right. That being said, the castle is in full view, with the castelated bridge structures, and is visible perfectly just 30 seconds in (and the intro/name thingy takes 12 seconds). If you watch again, the castle is actually fully in frame almost all the way in (keeping the bridges in too of course).
I really love feedback and criticism, it always helps me, so thanks very much. I’m not trying to counter it, just provide reasons really.
I wonder what your take is now you know why I flew it like that?
Either way, thank you for the comment and the take.
Totally understand the easter egg thing and that really cool, hey I am by no means an expert at video but as a graphic designer of 25 years you just see things.
Here it would have been nice to get all 4 turrets in, just needed to fly back a little and square on to it. you do it later in the video and it looks great.
Here the castle is hugging the bottom of the screen, could have been framed more central.
Would have been nice to see the top of the castle, but i love the way its all close and between the bridge so maybe this wasn’t possible.
Look don’t get me wrong I am just saying what I see, this is way better than the video I created recently I am just trying to help and you strike me as someone that would want to hear it. to learn and improve is way more fun, lol
2 Likes
Hi again, yes absolutely, I am defintiely the kind of person who wants to hear things like that (criticism is always good), but I feel there’s a misunderstanding here of what’s happening either with my flying, my final video edit, or what it’s supposed to be.
I too am a web designer, graphic designer and print designer of some 17 years. When I look at it from that angle, yes perhaps. I could almost certainly understand (as I’m a bugger for it), ensuring that things are central, well spaced, organised and clear. That would be my remit when looking at a poster, flyers, or business cards I was designing for a customer.
But this, when done cinematically, is an artistic interpretation of the subject (this being the castle), its surroundings (the harbour), and the music (I’m also a musician of some 31 years). The point of videos like this is not to fly perfect circles around things and to frame them, it’s to take interesting angles of a singular subject, include mixed subject matter, and to fly in such a way that a single subject (like a single castle), can be seen from multiple angles, views, perspectives and shots, while allowing the viewer to imagine and put a lot of it together in their head while listening to the music (although I did actually shoot almost all of it in one frame or another).
Cinematic as in cinematography. So if you were to watch Connor MacLeod training in Highlander, while it’s done with a helicopter, you would find shots off to the side, parts missing from scenery, and way more. This happens in a lot of cinematoraphy for films, because it’s artistic. Films don’t want perfectly centered objects, they want arty shots, and this is what cinematography is about. A lot of channels fly the same way.
Now there’s nothing wrong with doing perfectly framed shots of things (I watched your video and it was good), but there seems to be such a vast difference in the style of shooting going on between our videos that they are almost incomparable. Were I flying to advertise a holiday home, yes for sure, I’d do it well framed, and as perfectly as possible. Like a video flyer/poster.
But this was my interpretation of Conwy Castle, the Conwy Valley, Conway Harbour, Deganwy (over the water), and the boats, cars, trains and people therein.
I understand that you see this differently, but your points seem to refer to style, rather than anything technically wrong with my flying or editing. We clearly have different styles, and I like that, but I fear there’s a misunderstanding here of what my flight series ‘From the air’, is about.
Again thanks loads for engaging with me about it.
For clarity:
“Here it would have been nice to get all 4 turrets in, just needed to fly back a little and square on to it. you do it later in the video and it looks great.”
• I didn’t fly like that this time because as you rightly pointed out, I already had that shot.
“Here the castle is hugging the bottom of the screen, could have been framed more central.”
• Here I was showing the waterways, that flood, which during the reign of Edward Lonshanks would have been perfectly strategic, as it floods almost all the way around.
“Would have been nice to see the top of the castle, but i love the way its all close and between the bridge so maybe this wasn’t possible.”
• Yeah that would have been nice, but I tried to film the town and autumn colours, and unfortunately castles are vast. There was no way with the camera on the Mini SE that I could have got that shot from there while moving forward. Compromise I suppose.
2 Likes
Fair enough, I found this video very useful to explain balance, symmetry, framing etc
2 Likes
I’ve just watched it again and it’s fine ….it wasn’t your fade out it was at 3.30 as you are panning past a turret it froze and then was blurry for about 20 seconds might have been my iPad ….however it was 2am sleepy eyes
1 Like
Phew
1 Like
Castell Conwy Castle
Great footage… I like it…
1 Like
Interesting how different these two videos are and how it make the area look very different.
This one (@Leylo1971) focuses on the whole area, where as @Emmetelle is more about the castle. Interesting for contrast. I have never been here but it looks a wonderful place in both videos.
1 Like
I like that very much.
Different styles and focuses for sure, but I did notice that getting high enough for the town walls to be included would have been excellent (bit too windy for me on the day I flew, and it was about to rain too - torrentially), and I’ve never seen that castle in the snow. Something I will have to try and do.
This one also got our boat in!
Thanks for that.
The vid of Conwy I’ve upped literally is a by product of my Deganwy vid. I flew from Deganwy Beach and wanted a decent view of the river/estuary from down that way…trouble is I got a little carried away down at the castle😂.
I was supposed to go back and take the castle as a stand alone project, but figured I may have enough footage out of what I already had. I was trying to make up from lack of maybe detailed footage, adding B roll, it did work to a degree, but I need a hand held gimble really…or to take a flight inside next time😂.
2 Likes
I’ve got an Osmo Pro set up I’d like to sell if you’re interested?
Thanks for the offer John👍. I’m gonna have a look into them and see what’s what,I haven’t an igloo about them🤔. More than likely it’s going to be in the new year, once the weather picks up. Cheers anyway👍.
Basically it’s the cameras of the Inspire 1 (X3 and X5) with all of the gear to go with them (two handles/gimbals, focussing wheel, interchangeable lenses on the X5 (Micro 4/3rds)).
One You tuber called it the best camera you can’t buy
2 Likes