how to make a good film out of your trips

[backofbeyond]

Originally Posted by JMo (& piglet)

fwiw. the main take-away from any of Austin's presentations (other than his random preoccupation with the naked male form) is that if you want to make a film, then that has to be the priority - ie. you have to be a film maker who is using a motorcycle as part of the story, not a motorcyclist who fancies making a film.


Jx

Oh he must have been a laugh a minute to go round the world with. Actually he is a laugh a minute if you sit through his talks or prop up a bar with him, but get up the next day and do it all over again ...

Thing is, I agree with him. You can't steer with one hand and film with the other, not if you want anything watchable anyway, and there is a huge gulf between the stuff that gets (got?) into his film festival and 10secs from your phone on WhatsApp. Most of us would hope to fall somewhere in between - a little bit of effort in order to produce something a little bit better, but when the result turns out to be not what you'd hoped, well, the try harder with better equipment next time bandwagon starts to roll.

I don't actually think that bike journeys are a particularly good subject for video (or stills, come to that). Mostly it's just rolling along though scenery - which is fine for 10-20 secs of screen time and then becomes increasingly boring. You have to tell a story, and that involves people mostly. If your travelling companions are reluctant to appear on screen and you lack the confidence to talk to strangers or the connections to get you into places you're not left with much. It doesn't matter how fancy your equipment is, if you're restricted to clips of mountains or beaches or sunsets it's never going to be more than an aide memoire.

Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie

It's like riding a classic bike though. You think about each action and people are often interested. Not that many though to be honest. I enjoy using it/ fighting it.

I've been trying to take better pictures for 40 years. I don't think you can teach it. You can show people how to use their equipment (and modern phones work) and get them started with the rule of thirds, depth of field, shutter speed choice etc. You can introduce image manipulation afterwards. You can't make them lucky to be there when a particular image exists and you can't tell them which style they'll like and others might appreciate. If you want to be bored find images ten camera club judges agree are good.


Andy

I think people half expect 'handwavium' results, and the closer they are to the clueless end of the spectrum the more it becomes press the button and pray. I spent 30yrs working as a pro snapper so I have a pretty good idea how much time, effort, commitment and 'vision' goes into constructing images - for that's what it is, you're making an image, not taking it. The equipment is almost irrelevant. Trying to tell a story over a series of still images is very much like video production except the sound man gets a day off.

The difference between doing it professionally and recording your bike trip is that the pro assignment has a client breathing down your neck and you have a responsibility to him / her to do whatever is needed to come up with the goods. If that requires getting people to act out of their comfort zones (etc) then that's what you're being paid to do. Unless you're obsessive it's not quite the same on your own time. If you want to spend an hour setting up a shot or sit around waiting for that perfect evening light without being paid then I'll see you when we get back. I think most people have that 'time's winged patience limit hurrying near' feeling in the background when trying to do more than point and shoot, and mostly it shows.