Monday, September 7, 2015

The Steady-Cam Rig

 I tried again today to figure out why the render I did of Lou's video yesterday had all kinds of weird flashing and skipping frames in it. I thought I had it figured out but I guess not. I started to cut the video together again today but Adobe Premiere kept freaking out and shutting down so I finally gave up and started inking the next page of the OilCan Drive story. This video has almost driven me nuts but I am not giving up yet.

And, at least the comic book page is coming along nicely so it's good to know I can still do that without the brush and ink bottle crashing on me.

Here are a few photos of the cheap steady-cam rig I built last week and that I used to film Lou singing his song. It really worked out well and allowed me not only to move the camera around him as he sang a few takes but I also followed him over the shoulder as he walked into my building downstairs, took the elevator up, and walked down the hall to my condo. It really worked well. The only time it really didn't work was when I hit the counter weight on the bottom of the rig with my leg as I was walking.

But, other than that it was easy to use and the raw footage I got with it looked pretty decent.

I finished off the night by going on a bike ride around Boulder. Lately I've been going on these big 14 mile bike rides at night to clear my head a bit and listen to a podcast or two. I end my ride with a long stretch along 4th street, a path that takes me right next to the base of the mountains. And on my ride back down the hill tonight I looked to my right and saw what I think was a little bear running right alongside me. I think it was a cub since it didn't look too big. All I saw was a black shape that was too big to be a racoon hauling ass down the road. I kept peddling since, if it was a cub, I didn't want to be around when the mama bear came running out to see who was chasing her kid. Yikes!

But, I got away safe and sound and am now back home. Time for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a little TV to finish out the night!

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