Personal View site logo
Short documentary for ARTE and ZDF shoot on GH2
  • hi friends, It's with great pleasure that I share with you these images, shot entirely with my GH2.

    This is a teaser of a film for a period of twenty minutes I wrote, shot and edited for the French channel ARTE in coproduction with ZDF channel. This is a making of a documentary project shot in 3D, which sets out to discover the secrets of the Cathedral of Strasbourg (Alsace). Atypical and innovative project, then.

    For now it's only the teaser but I'll post here in the next film completely.

  • 32 Replies sorted by
  • Very happy to hear that! looks awesome! :)

  • Looks great, bravo! Is it done with Panny 14-140?

  • Hi that is great, Bravo! Do you mean the 20mn short has been shot with the gh2 ?? Or only some footage for the teaser?

  • @tetakpatak lenses used : 14-140mm Pana, Voigtlanger 25mm, SRL magic 12mm (without it in Cathedral I was dead), and old Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm 1.4 ...

    @magnifico The 20 minutes (coming soon) has been shot entirely with GH2. And this a part of his footage you see now.

  • @gabilourson so so, big question now...did you use some hacked gh2?

  • Please tell us when it's getting aired!

  • hum ... I do not have time right now to explain why, but no, I have not used the hack of the GH2 ... I want to do about it all over my apologies to you guys. I read this blog almost daily, I made a donation, BUT I have not hacked my GH2 ... I find this exciting technological adventure and I love discovering new aspects every day. However me my hearts is to make films and shoot ! Capabilities of the GH2 enough for me... And please continue to discuss with me !

  • Thats some amazing docu. And very nice made making of. Congrats! I did recognize Gierich.de.. are you located around Stuttgart? Or was it just the case that they had be heaviest crane to carry the beast?

    PS: You should indeed hack your cam. Its painless and you will be really amazed what it spits out once you did. Suddenly you can apply heavy grades and lift shadows in a way that would result in a blocky mess without it.

  • Thanks ! This is french / german production that's why crane is from germany. I am located from Strasbourg, france.

  • RED ALERT --- RED ALERT --- RED ALERT --- RED ALERT ---

    So gabilourson, you wrote, shot and edited a short for ARTE with gh2...Hmm.

    I am not a pro and they are a lot of amateurs here in this forum. And a lot of people here don't know nothing about ARTE...Hey guys listen to me : ARTE is a huge, main, cultural, french/german TV channel in Europe !!

    I found your trailer amazing. I visited already your blog... I think a lot of person here will be curious about your skills, your workflow, etc. :-)

  • @magnifico My website gabigoubet.posterous.com and my blog http://www.scoop.it/t/gabriel-goubet are very confidential... So thanks for time I spend on it !

  • très belles vidéos mais je n'aime pas trop cette chaîne :s par contre je zapperai bien dessus le jour où ce sera diffusé ;)

  • hi guys and girls, For those of you who live in France and Germany, I am very pleased to announce the release of a project that took me a lot of energy and investment.

    This is a mini-documentary of a period of twenty minutes spent in a film unique and innovative : "The Challenge for builders" ("Le défi des bâtisseurs" in french) Unique because it was shot in 3D, with the same technology as the film James Cameron's Avatar, innovative, because it is a docu-drama that will make you discover the secrets of the construction of the Cathedral of Strasbourg (splendor of medieval architecture).

    My making of was shot entirely in GH2 and it will broadcast on the Franco-German channel Arte on Sunday at 2:20 p.m.

    And as life is made, "The Challenge for builders" will be released on the same day Arte following my "making of".

    In short, this Sunday Arte, from 2:20 p.m., an entire afternoon of entertainment that await you!

    You're in luck!

    The trailer :

  • Thanks for the info. And as a German who speaks some French too and as a TV viewer I can only say: ARTE is my only reason to keep a TV. The rest here in Germany sucks most of the time, even the public channels we pay taxes for are more and more adapting to the commercial ones. Long live ARTE!

  • up, d day on arte

  • Arte is a magnificient channel. Also 3sat is not too bad. I used to work for both. Unfortunately they are struggling a bit, because they are partly belonging to bigger tv stations who are in real financial trouble, so they are cutting the budgets everywhere, and first in the area of culture and arts.

    Your footage looks excellent. I really agree: its about making movies, not hacking cameras. If you do fine without a hack, why hack at all. Although i recommend trying to see if it improves your work, but i dont think its mandatory...

  • I have just seen your "making of"! amazing short !!

  • gabilourson, thanks for this, and well done! However, I implore you (and anyone else fortunate enough to get their work broadcast) to collect all the vital shooting info -- lenses and equipment used, settings, comments etc. -- together in one neat posting box rather than have it spread out all over the place. This is obviously a high-worth project (ARTE holy fraking shit!) and could be a very valuable resource for those attempting to use the GH2 (and other quality DSLRs) for serious work.

  • @gabilourson, just breath and relax...and yes then please tell us about your workflow, etc.

    ps: i saw your short on tv (50 inches) and the image had a lot of details. Colors a little bit unsatured. Skin tone very natural. Very good rhythm and a lot of creativity :-)

  • You did a great job... Great Job.

  • Thank you very much for your feedback ...

    I tell you, and I hope you will not be disappointed, because I used nothing incredible ... what matters to me is not so much the hardware than how to use it. So I'm not going to list only one, I will also tell you how I use it.

    First, I had to write the project to assure the channel on the exact content of the program. If I was chosen as a director to carry out this making of, it is because I have recently completed a documentary, "Those behinds caméra", ("Ceux du cinéma" en français), 52 minutes, in which I attended for three years of film technicians to discover the public behind the scenes of the lives of those who make movies. Trailer (online soon in full on the internet when the producer give me permission): http://www.seppia.eu/fr/ceux-du-cinema/

    Anyway, I made the film with my personal equipment and you can not know how I'm glad I made TV broadcast with my GH2!

    Lenses:

    • 14-140 mm panasonic when I'm outside, or there is enough light. I use it especially when I know I'm going to shoot several people, and to isolate them in tight values. It is very convenient to capture the atmosphere. I try sometimes zooms with and according to the assembly I guards or not. I used it on interviews on tripod to get "large and clean" TV broadcast style.

    • Voigtlander 25mm 0.95. I use it when I have enough material in terms of atmosphere, then I shoot close values, and I point to the hand without follow focus. I also use it sometimes for interview.

    • Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm 1.4 (contax-yashica mount), amazing goal I had for years in my mess, I use it in interviews, on tripod, alternating with 14-140mm (I ask to my character the same question by changing lens every time). Or plans for very graphic where I need to change the point.

    • 12mm SLR magic, this one without him, I was dead in the cathedral, I have been forced to put a lamp on the GH2 and I did not want it. This objective is to capture the incredible ways clear of situations, while the shoulder ... For shooting shoulder is my favorite.

    Sometimes I stare at the 14-140mm or voigtlander an ND filter, but still for specific shoots on tripod.

    Sound: I put on GH2 hyper cardioid or cardioid K6P of Seinheiser and a wireless microphone system when I follow a character or in an interview. I plug mics on a Zoom H4N, which I connect with a cable to GH2 Sescom. The big trick is to adjust the input volume H4N relatively high and adjust the headphone below. For interviews, I save the H4N sound, because when mixing compressed sound GH2 does not give enough flexibility to properly equalize the voices. The advantage of the H4N is its lightness and robustness. The disadvantage is that when you shoot all day, you gotta put new batteries every two hours (XLR phantom is really hungry...). I saw that there were solutions for external batteries, but it adds weight, or I want to stay light to capture a maximum of things and be highly mobile in the space around my characters.

    Shoulder system: I must say here, I used a lot of system shooting shoulder some of the biggest brands and I must say that for me, the best system for film and very light film without spending too much money is the spiderbrace. Yes I know, it is plastic, yes I know there is no adjustment possible, but believe me this is the ultimate in lightness and quality of movement. I love to shoot in the shoulder and it is important for me to be able to follow one of my characters when passing a door, descends stairs or riding a bus. I want to be the best film possible in all possible conditions. The big trick is to add weight to the rear so that the spiderbrace is balanced on my shoulder. For this, I attached to the back of spiderbrace weight athletes sit around the calves. It's DIY with the gaffer tape, but it's just what you need! Another secret: spiderbrace has three branches in the camera unlike a lot of other models that have only two. The advantage with a little practice you get to change focus, on shoulder, without follow focus...

    Editing: I first gave much time to organize my rushes! Then I had a week of editing with an editor on FCP 7. Then I returned to my home installation, care history a series of details, rythm, more fews details, again and again. Then there was a day on Pro sound mixing tools, a day of Color Calibration (calibrator guy was fooled by the pictures!)

    Another great trick for me is to use a lowepro bag (that can go towards you at a glance) to be able to change lenses in seconds.

    if you have any questions, do not hesitate ... I post here making of on Vimeo in couple of hours...

  • Making of "Le défi des bâtisseurs"

  • thanks for sharing information. It is very fair indeed :-) It is a proof that with little hardware and of course with science and experimented good hands you can make some very good stuff !! Hope all the success for you.

    The interview or "regisseur" gives an outstanding image imo.

    I will have some questions :-)

    I noticed in your short that you did some focus from point A to point B. How can you manage it without follow focus at all?

    How about Arte to accept your footage? We know that there is a lot of tests (sound + image) for footage to be calibrated for TV... What did you give exactly to Arte? some 1080i anamorphosed video ready to broadcast? How did you cope with 25p?

    a++

  • "I noticed in your short that you did some focus from point A to point B. How can you manage it without follow focus at all?"

    With my hand... And spiderbrace has three branches, so with anticipate tests and practising it's possible.

    "How about Arte to accept your footage?"

    Hum, i didn't managed this aspect, it was done by people on production company, but I think they gave to Arte HDCAM tape with footage 1080P. And you know, with this question of calibration... Sincerly I don't know exactly, but we know now that image provided by GH2 is ok !