Nine:Sixteen is a project that explores the use of traditional cinematography being applied to new trends in mobile phone media. The Idea for the project came about one day when I realised that I was too lazy to turn my phone sideways when watching a video online.
Instagram Version: https://www.instagram.com/p/BhpS9BsFiOh/?taken-by=redbeaniepaul
For this project I had the opportunity to experiment with two ideas at the same time. One was to film a video shot sideways for mobile and the other was to shoot a bmx video in a cinematic style. Traditionally they are shot using wide angle lenses and the subject is usually followed from behind constantly. The bmx rider used in the video was a friend, Ben Hayes.
Shooting
The gear used for this project included:
The camera was turned 90-degrees using the right-angle plate and mounted onto the
The camera rig was first assembled by attaching the filter, microphone and lens. It was then attached onto the right-angle plate and mounted to the glide-cam at 90-degrees. Once assemble I then proceeded to balance the filming rig.
The ND filter allowed me to pull the incoming light by enough stops to film at apertures like f1.8 and f2.2 while filming at 24 frames-per-second. And for film the action, I shot the tricks 3 times from a different angle each time so I could cut them rapidly in post.
Editing
Editing the video also presented some challenges. One of the biggest was figuring out a workspace that would allow me to edit the video and view what I was working on effectively. I addressed this by re-aranging the Assembly workspace to give myself both a large sequence and video panel. To make editing more effective I figured out the order of the sequence during the logging process prior to using Premiere Pro.
Audio
Unlike traditional bmx or skateboarding videos I decided to use the sound I captured with the microphones instead. I used multiple layers and channels to allow the sound to mix and overlap. This also helped the cutting of the video to feel smooth while watching, keeping the viewer immersed.
This project was quite an enjoyable one and I would quickly consider producing another one of similar style in the future. With recent trends like 4:3 video being used again on social media and the forever increase in screen sizes on smartphones, It may only be a matter or time before vertical video becomes a standard.
Social media like facebook, instagram and snapchat already support fullscreen video so it is only a matter of time before businesses and companies allocate resources to creating videos of this type of format but with a higher production value. And over time I hope to be one of the people they will call.