Psychological Thriller Short Film Teaser Trailer - DSLR Filmmaking

A few weeks ago I shot some test footage for a psychological thriller film. At the time of shooting the test footage we did not have any idea of a clear narrative, apart from the idea of having a psychologically challenged character walking through the woods. The protagonist in the film is troubled in life, and the idea that in the film we will hear various voice-overs from key moments that have led to his insanity.

I am working on this film with a friend, he is helping come up with the 'psychological' elements to the film, as he is a big Christopher Nolan fan.

''The person the main character kills could actually be a colleague or a friend (as inspired by Christopher Nolan's 'Insomnia'). He might have killed him accidentally whilst he was apprehending the real criminal. And because of it, he kept it a secret - this could be the cause of his coma''




The test footage/ teaser trailer was shot on the Canon 600D / T3i DSLR with the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens on the Manfrotto 700 RC2 fluid head. For the super wide angled fisheye shot I used the GoPro HD Hero camera, to create a sense of distortion to the shots to help represent the protagonists state of mind. 

If you would like to be kept up to date with the production of this short film, please like my facebook page by clicking here.

Attach your GoPro to a tripod: Freeze Pro Shop - GoPro Tripod Mount

I just got a tripod mount for my GoPro HD Hero camera from 'Freeze Pro Shop', I was extremely happy with the fast delivery time and the overall customer service, I highly recommend purchasing GoPro accessories from this company if you live in the United Kingdom. I got two GoPro mounts, the one I am going to share in this post is the GoPro Tripod Mount. The GoPro camera has an odd mounting system, only official products will attach to the camera. Unlike a normal digital camera, the GoPro doesn't have a standard tripod mounting system. The GoPro tripod mount adds this standard tripod mount to the bottom of the camera, allowing you to attach to a tripod, or any accessory with a standard tripod bolt. You may have a suction mount or bike mount which has the standard tripod mount, now you can use these mounts with your GoPro camera. The photograph to the right shows my GoPro camera attached to a mini flexible tripod. With this simple set-up, I can leave the camera filming or taking time lapse photographs in various locations, where the camera without the tripod mount would have just fallen over. 

This is the product that you will receive for £8.99. It includes the standard tripod mounting hole, along with the official GoPro mount to attach your camera to it.

Here is the mount attached to my GoPro HD Hero camera. As you can see it is very simple to attach. All you need is one GoPro bolt which is included with the camera.

To see the full range of GoPro accessories and mounts at the Freeze Pro Shop, click here.
Click here to visit the 'Freeze Pro Shop' to purchase winter sports gear and accessories.

GoPro Mounting Tips & Tricks Videos

Above I have embedded a very useful playlist of videos that I recently came across on YouTube. The playlist is full of videos which contain tips and tricks on different ways to secure the GoPro camera to objects, and how to do it safely so the GoPro is secured. The playlist currently contains multiple activities, such as biking, scootering, skiing, boating and more. The guy who makes these videos also has other playlists with tips on how to use the GoPro menu to get the best results out of the camera.

Click here to view more GoPro posts from this blog.

GoPro HD Hero Golf Buggy POV

Above is my newest GoPro video. I shot this at Alenda Golf Alicante in Spain. I attached the GoPro sport camera to the handle on the roof of the golf buggy, using the official GoPro handlebar and seatpost mount. I shot the video in R2 mode which filmed in 720p 30fps, however it seems to actually be 25fps which I found odd. I wasn't sure which type of metering mode to use, but I picked centre metering which turned out fine, I would assume if I chose spot metering, the buggy interior would have been exposed, with the exterior being over exposed.

More of my GoPro videos can be viewed by clicking here.
Please don't forget to follow me on my photography and filming facebook page by clicking here.

London 2012 Olympics - St. Ives Torch Relay

I put together a very bad video from some footage that I captured of the Olympic torch going through St Ives. It was raining and I had been up since 6am, so I was tired. I didn't want to get my cameras wet, and all of the GoPro footage that I got was really shaky, so I didn't really have much to put together.

Cambridge Guided Busway Cycling Time lapse

A quick cycling time lapse video shot on my GoPro camera cycling down the guided busway in Cambridgeshire. This is from St Ives to Swavesey. I used the P1 photo mode on the gopro, which means a photo which taken every single second.

GoPro HD Hero Cycling Time lapse

The second time lapse video for my YouTube channel which has been shot with the GoPro HD Hero camera. I used the special time lapse mode, with the P2 setting which meant a photo was taken every 2 seconds. I used the GoPro handlebar and seat post mount to attach the camera to my bikes handlebars. Click here for more GoPro videos.

GoPro HD Hero Photo Time Lapse Mode

I had a go at using the built in photo time lapse mode in the GoPro HD Hero camera. I set the camera to mode P5 which meant a picture was taken every 5 seconds. Someone suggested using mode P2 for doing clouds, as it makes them even smoother. I will definitely try a time lapse with P2 mode in the future. I left the camera running for just under one hour, and managed to get around 700 photos. I used Microsoft Picture Manager to crop all of the photos in batch from 4:3 to 16:9, doing this I lost parts of the image, however I don't think it was too much of a problem. Click here for more of my GoPro videos.

GoPro HD Hero Underwater Video Footage

I got my new GoPro HD Hero camera the other day, and I have to say I am really impressed with it. My first test video is an underwater cinematography test of me swimming. I recorded the video in the R3 (Resolution 3) mode which is 720p with 60fps, and I slowed the footage down by 50% to get a slight slow motion feel; I think the slow motion came out looking quite smooth. I wasn't too sure if I was going to keep this video public on my YouTube channel, but out of nowhere the official GoPro YouTube channel 'GoProCamera' commented on the video saying they liked it. This generated a lot of viewers and I gained a new audience for my videos. For the first time out of all of my videos, this got over 1000 views in under two days. I plan to film so much more with this camera, including videos with cycling, motorcycling, sky diving and running videos, click here to view my GoPro video playlist on my YouTube channel.