Ahoj! This is Zdenka. It's snowing and Sun is peeking out.
Beautiful day.
I was here a few days ago and I simply had to come back.
There are these beautiful ice sculptures created by this winter here
in Ontario, Canada.
So the task will be today to film a cinematic B-roll.
Behind the scenes, it's gonna be a tutorial as well.
I actually brought a few different tools with me.
I'm going to be filming with iPhone 13 Pro in Filmic Pro manual
mode with the help of Variable ND filter and help of this gimbal.
By the way, this is Zhiyun Crane
M3.
Everything I'm going to be using will be listed
below the video and video description.
I am going to be also using my drone.
DJI Mini 2. I'm going to give you tips on that as well.
And lastly, I brought with me 360 camera, Insta360
One X2 because as you can hear, there are some waves.
The water is pretty high.
I will have a hard time get down there right
underneath the ice today, so I'm going to be using invisible selfie stick
and the 360 camera, hoping that I can capture that view as well.
Nothing will be left and forgotten.
I want to capture everything from the air, from the ground, from below.
This video is sponsored by Epidemic Sound.
And if you are, you here, welcome. My name is Zdenka Darula.
This channel is all about photography and video.
Tech reviews, hidden giveaways and creative camera challenges.
So if that's something you are interested in, consider subscribing.
The first show will be just the overall shot of the location.
Tip number one.
When you are filming snow, it's going to tend to be very overexposed.
So with the variable ND filter, I really bring it down
to make sure that nothing on the ground is overexposed.
Nothing in the sky is bleached.
I rather bring the brightness a little bit up in a post
rather than have overexposed little areas.
I'm filming in 60 frames per second.
Some of the footage I'm going to leave in the real speed.
Some of it will be slow down.
The shutter speed for this one is 1/120th
of a second and my white balance is locked.
This location is a part of the regular city.
Many people come here to look at the lake.
They pull out their smartphones to take a shot of the lake.
This type of a shot.
Nothing special.
What will make the shots
here, are details, details and details, as many details as possible.
If you are just standing and just doing regular shot like that,
you're going to see a regular landscape with ice and snow.
But in photos, you're not going to really bring the audience
in to the scene because in the photos, it's not going to look so close .
If you are standing here, you see the location
is just how beautiful it is, but in the photos for some reason
it looks far, it just, it doesn't bring you in.
So that's why
I was filming as many details as possible, as many details as possible.
Let's make a regular shot
more interesting by taking advantage of foreground and very low angles.
Gimbal is in lock mode. Frame the view you would like to see
and just move very low and high again.
The gimbal will maintain the same frame and you will get a more interesting
shot.
Let's film this shot again,
however this time with a telephoto lens.
You will get a completely different view
without moving our feet.
Today is really
mild day. You can tell I don't even have gloves.
I'm really loving this view.
So what I'm going to do, I'm going to get as close to the ground
as possible against the sun hidden behind the clouds.
It's kind of peeking through.
And those are the ice.....ice....
I don't know little tiny pieces of ice.
They look kind of like a
like a jewellery to me.
So I'm going to try to go as close as I can,
and I'm just going to pan.
For close up shots like these, whenever you are moving to the side
or to the front or back, it is the best to use pan follow mode.
The tilt motors will be locked.
This will allow the frame to always stay the same.
It won't go up or down.
The most unique and beautiful shots
at those who people normally don't see every day.
People will not climb over the ice to get to see what nature has created.
They also don't pay attention to the sounds they can hear
even in a regular city.
The nature sounds.
I'm quite
sure you paid attention to the music and the sounds I specifically chose
from Epidemic Sound Service, which I use for a number of years.
Nature sounds, birds, ice cracking, water dripping, cinematic music.
They have a massive library which gets new fresh music all the time.
They own 100% of the music, so you don't have to worry
that you've received a copyright strike or take down.
You can use it on social media such as Facebook, Instagram and others,
and also on monetized YouTube channels.
What makes this service unique is the fact that you can download
full songs and also separate stems.
Just a beats, just a melody, just the vocals.
The options for creativity are endless.
You can choose between personal and commercial plans.
If you sign up to Epidemic Sound by using my link below the video
and a video description, you will receive a free one month trial.
Any music you will use during the trial will remain safe and protected,
even if you cancel your subscription after your trial month is over.
Thank you very much Epidemic Sound for making this video possible.
Let's continue with three more creative shots with a smartphone
before filming with a 360 camera. Gimbal is set to Pan Follow mode,
taking advantage of foreground filming as close to the ground
as possible will show off the curves even more.
FPV mode can
help you to create really interesting and dynamic shots.
Follow leading lines, follow interesting shapes and finish it off
by revealing a location view, as the final touch can be surprising
to the eye, as the viewer would never expect to see such an ending.
I think it's time to pull out the
360 camera
and the invisible extra long stick and try to get
some more shots of the ice from the water perspective.
All right.
We'll see how this goes. I'm actually filming,
I'm going to be filming in 30 frames per second on this one
because
I want to slow it down in a post, but a very little of it.
Start recording.
Let's pause for a second and explain why I was using this tool
and how I got the final shots and what the challenges I had.
Whenever you're filming in a location like this, when you physically cannot
get down there to get the shot unless you get yourself
in a freezing water and you film from the water,
this tool comes in very handy. It records 360 degrees,
it records everything.
The stick I was using is an invisible selfie stick.
You're not going to see it in the shot.
You're going to look like you are fishing.
In the past,
I had some people come to me and asked me if I actually caught something.
Yeah, I catch shots.
All you need to do is move the camera quite slowly around,
take it to the tightest spots possibly, because those will
look interesting as we cannot get there ourselves.
I tried to get as many shots as possible I didn't have access to
with my smartphone.
These cameras are amazing not only for action shots,
but for creative shots, which are hard to reach.
I honestly didn't even know a few times what was below me.
I couldn't even see it.
So my approach was to film anything and everything.
As I mentioned, I was filming in 30 frames per second, so when I placed
the final clips on a 24 frames per second timeline,
I slowed it down 80%.
How did I end up with these clips
when it the records 360 degrees?
Once you upload all the files to your computer, you open up
Insta360 studio.
Once you import the video, it will look like this.
Once you drag it to a timeline, you will see this fish
eye kind of wide angle view.
You can drag the picture around to see the view you like the most.
Once you find the view, you hit the key frame,
and under the key frame, you select the natural view,
which will get rid of this wide angle look.
Then I just play the video, select another view and so on.
Once I'm ready, I just export the clip.
Now the clips are ready to work with in the editing program.
I personally use Premiere Pro for video editing.
I also exported whole bunch of frames as photos
because the views I ended up with were just beautiful.
Something you don't see every day.
None of these type of shoots goes absolutely smooth and perfect.
Unfortunately, when I got home and I uploaded the footage
on a computer, I found out that these are two lenses.
One of those lenses was exposing a bit more than the other.
So I ended up with half of the clips a little bit darker.
So I had to be very careful in the post and make sure
I selected frames, which didn't show this problem.
I haven't used this camera for a few months, and truthfully,
I don't remember that it was doing this before,
so I need to investigate a little bit further.
Also, when I was filming very, very close to the water,
I got few water drops on the lens and unfortunately,
the water drops destroyed some of the most beautiful views
I had, some of the most beautiful clips.
So keep in mind to wipe it away throughout the shoot
between the shots, so there is no water on it,
the lenses are clear. To finish off the day and the entire shoot,
to get the complete view from the ground, beneath and above,
I used a DJI Mini 2 drone for those. I filmed in 60 frames
per second in manual mode with variable ND filter.
I did a few shots showing off the entire beach.
However, what I was after were close up shots of the ice on the beach.
For those who are wondering about filming in cold weather with a drone,
I keep all the batteries inside of my jacket to keep them warm.
I could use hand warmers, but I prefer not to
because it's just wasting money and you are creating more garbage.
So I prefer to keep them in a jacket to keep them warm.
I do short flights five to eight minutes long.
When the drone got back to me and I check the battery, it was still very warm
so there's no issue with that.
On the snow, you have to be always very cautious.
I was filming one of my previous videos and I had the drone quite high
in the air, imagine the top of the tree, tall tree
and because it was just
a white snow on the ground, flat ground
and the sun was kind of, you know, reflecting of the snow,
the drone thought
that it was supposed to land, so I got a few times prompt on my screen
permission for landing.
Obviously, you can cancel it on the screen.
So what I did instead,
I was just pressing the joystick very shortly to go down gradually.
That's how I got it down.
So just be cautious a little bit when they are filming on a snow.
When you fly low like this above the water, the same thing.
Be ready to act fast.
Always keep an eye on the drone. If you say that it's going a little bit
down like it was going down on me, just bring it up a bit.
That day I had no issues.
I was taking my time and really frame the shot before I started moving around.
For those who know me,
know that I'm not a fan of a digital zoom because it degrades to quality.
I just never suggest it, I always say, go physically closer,
you will get much better quality. During this shoot
some of the clips I zoomed in 2x as I really wanted up-close shots.
I actually didn't mind this zoom.
It is still quite decent.
It looks quite nice.
You just have to make sure you move very slowly.
No quick moves. Coming in, backing up, going sideways, filming right
above the ice looking down, going up and back at the same time, or vice versa.
Just really explore the place.
It's not all about getting the drone high in the air to see only high views.
I really enjoyed those shots low from the water.
The tools are here for us to use them and combine them together
to create something memorable.
I kept the video editing very simple, having the most interesting shots
stand out on its own and the music. I picked about six different songs.
Some of them were quite strong, strong melodies.
Some of them are a little bit easier.
Some of them are faster, some of them were slower.
What made my final decision was the sound of the waves.
Once I imported the clips with the sound recorded sound and I played the music
on top of it, it went really nicely with the rhythm of the melody.
Let's take a look at the final cinematic B-roll, ice capades.
Give it the thumbs up and subscribe for more.
And if you have any questions, comments, simply want to say hi
as I read it all and I respond to everyone, leave it below.
You know what to do and I'll see you, my friends, and the next video
Cau.... Ahoj...
Well, lunchtime.
What's on the menu? Sandwich,
chicken spread.
It's not very healthy. There is mayo...
salt, pepper, paprika and onion.
Coffee break right on the lake
can't be any wrong.
OK, saving it for later.