Sunny South wales

An afternoon stroll

Rachel’s Birthday celebrations did not end at Cotswold Farm Park. To extend our celebrations we waited for the weekend and headed back to Wales to stay with my parents. An ideal excuse to practice more photography and videography.

On the Saturday afternoon shortly after we arrived, we took a leisurely amble to the seafront for a cheeky drink in the sun. Stopping at our favourite local haunt, the Hi-Tide Inn, we enjoyed a sit down and a couple of drinks, with the backdrop of the sea and the ambience of their outdoor entertainment. A singer who actually did very good impersonations of a few crooning legends.

I do try to have my camera with me at all times. Although it is there so I can capture at a moment’s notice, the difficulty I find is that often I’ll find myself in the moment of what I am experiencing. To take a step back out of that, hide behind the lens as it were and find a meaning way to represent the same experience is a skill I am also needing to develop.

We had been promised exceptional weather for the Sunday, we agreed to venture to Margam Park for an explore and a picnic.

Sunday Sun

The sun was out in full force in the morning, which led to some lovely scenes. When we arrived at Margam Park, I’d quickly spotted some great opportunities for some shots as we made our way to the entrance. As we explored the grounds, I saw some great ruins and some great backdrops for some family photos. It was my turn to push the pram, but I figured we would come back that way which would allow me to get some more of the surroundings and castle ruins. I was planning to use these for establishing shots and b-roll.

Regretfully, as lunchtime arrived, we headed back to collect our picnic and the clouds rolled in. The breeze picked up and we ended up rather a lot coooler than anticipated. Undeterred, we had our lunch together, pressed on and took a look inside the castle.

Wanting to replicate some videography techniques demonstrated in the Shadows and Light course (see post here) I spent some time trying out subtle camera movements in some of the interior shots. While inside I tried focusing on the roof of the castle, spinning the camera slowly around to add some visual appeal to an establishing shot. Regretfully, this didn’t come out too well in the end.

I have managed to create a video based on the usable footage recorded on the day.

I wanted to introduce some more structure to this piece. Principally, I was keen to incorporate a clear narrative. Remembering some storytelling techniques (again from Shadows and Light). I wanted to introduce the notion of where we were and what the purpose of this film was.

The video begins with various establishing shots depicting the key features I spotted during the day, then introduces some of the characters in the scenes (the family). The story throughout the video follows the family as they walk around the grounds, ending with a final shot of little Casper sleeping in his pushchair after a hard day’s exploring.

This time, I have ended up with more natural looking colour reproduction. Although I am happy with the output in terms of consistency and skin tones, I still need to spend some time to explore methods of colour grading. I am investigating tools which I can use which can help improve my technique here.

The Good

Narrative/story

Tight, wide and scenic shots featured.

Establishing shots showing castle and some scenes from the grounds

Scene of train arriving then shot of characters on the train (context)

The Bad

Colour doesn’t have that “film look”

Could introduce more transitions/effects to add variety between scenes

Some of the establishing shots could have been framed better. I could consider applying some other techniques and more variety of  angles for more interesting viewing.

Although I used a few tools to help with Image stabilisation, It’s clear I’m crying out for a specific image stabilisation tool. Tripod/monopod/glidecam etc. (post on my kit wish list to follow)

The primary lesson I’ve learned from this one

If you see it, shoot it – don’t rely on coming back to it later, you don’t know what might happen.