Dance video with D7100

devnulll

Senior Member
Well since I always loved the movie business and lately I've been fortunate enough be on a lot of movie sets and been able to talk to everybody and learn a hole lot of stuff and also at university the two of my favorite classes were photography and videography but I just didn't have the gear to try it out and get good at it I decided to do a fun summer project a dance video. Because I used to be a professional dancer and these days still teach salsa, bachata and lately kizomba dancing I decided it would be cool make a video and a choreography with my significant other who loved this song one time.

So here it is. With all the stuff I've learned made to look in a movie style and everything filmed with my D7100 and edited by me. :)
My only comment on my D7100 was that I keep comparing the footage to what I usually see on shoots with the Arri Alexa and I keep seeing the color compression and the resolution is a bit to low. I'd love to have more than just HD to make the editing a little easier (easier to film something and crop it a little than have to worry about very precise blocking). Of course manual focusing witch is always done but since I was filming everything solo I needed someone in one scene to do the follow focus witch was problematic. Other than that... it was fun and can't wait to do the next fun project. :)

It's called "Last Dance" (of the evening because it literally was the last dance when we got the idea for it). Hope you enjoy it. :)

https://vimeo.com/184526830
 

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Interesting what I was able to see. My slow ISP did not let me see much of it, however. Too much buffering. Not your fault, it is on my end with ISP of Smoke Signals by Wigwam.
 

rocketman122

Senior Member
first time you say? very nice. you looking for feedback of "nice or not" or constructive criticism? if I say one major issue, its stability hand holding. very shaky. editing is fine. filler parts in the beginning are not here nor there. not stable ,too short, composition shows little. the left pan of the distant building adds little. it cvould be much better. try shooting some frame in frame footage. the shots are all clean and "proper" but needs some creative angles. hard to see more since its a small window. any link to a full screen? what lenses were used? consider using some led lighting for the nigh shots. backlit perhaps. has a lot of potential but needs some work to get the pro polished look. but thats just time.

get a stabilizer like the monocam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il_AIOYTNro
or even a gimbal like the beholder
 
Even the hand holding did not bother me. It is a style you see on network TV shows now.

I really enjoyed it. Very creative and artistic. I edited TV shows for many years and still do a little editing now and it is not as easy as people think.

Great job
 

devnulll

Senior Member
first time you say? very nice. you looking for feedback of "nice or not" or constructive criticism? if I say one major issue, its stability hand holding. very shaky. editing is fine. filler parts in the beginning are not here nor there. not stable ,too short, composition shows little. the left pan of the distant building adds little. it cvould be much better. try shooting some frame in frame footage. the shots are all clean and "proper" but needs some creative angles. hard to see more since its a small window. any link to a full screen? what lenses were used? consider using some led lighting for the nigh shots. backlit perhaps. has a lot of potential but needs some work to get the pro polished look. but thats just time.

get a stabilizer like the monocam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il_AIOYTNro
or even a gimbal like the beholder

Well we did a couple of test shots first nothing really organized just playing around to get to know the camera and the settings and how to shoot.
Granted some of the shots could be better but I could see my learning curve grow during the shooting since the scenes shot first and the scenes shot last were different and better to a greater degree.
I used three lenses the 1st was my prime Nikon 1.8 50mm for the closeups, 2nd was an old 35mm lens for the wider shot, 3rd was a crappy 16mm that really made some crappy footage that I only used in one place because I didn't have any other.
The full screen is available on the link "vimeo" on the video.

As for the gimble it's planed but can't afford it right now. :)

Even the hand holding did not bother me. It is a style you see on network TV shows now.

I really enjoyed it. Very creative and artistic. I edited TV shows for many years and still do a little editing now and it is not as easy as people think.

Great job

Thanks. Yeah I can see that editing is not as easy. I was able to get into an editing room and lurk around the TV studio near me just so the I got to know a little and yeah it's tough. :)
 
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devnulll

Senior Member
Well I made a couple of more videos with my Nikon. :)

This one was made actually with 3 Nikon cameras.
My D7100 as my main camera, a D7000 as the B camera and a D3300 as the C cam for close up shots and slow-motion stuff.
 

devnulll

Senior Member
During the holidays two dancers contacted us to make a bollywood video for dance competition.
We used my D7100 as the main camera and a D3300 for some slow-motion shots in shots.

I must say that I'm quite impressed with the performance of these Nikons for video. :cool:
 
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