First Look: Jamie O’Brien
See it bigger (up to 1080p) on SmugMug!
Here is a first look at the Jamie O’Brien project. This is a reel of some of the best shots from the 3 week project. I would like to point out that this first look does not reflect our ultimate goal of producing a more in depth documentary that includes interviews with Jamie and other influential members of the surfing community. One of the reasons that it’s taken me this long to get this short cut up on the blog is that we’ve been working on the two cuts simultaneously. My goal all along has been to NOT make yet “another surf film” as those have already been made and made very well by some incredibly talented filmmakers – and shot over a much longer period of time where budgets and time allow the filmmakers to wait for the perfect conditions / swell. During the 3 weeks in Hawaii – we probably saw 5 days of sun, and 2-3 days of decent (but relatively small) waves. I was well aware of some of these challenges (weather is always a huge factor when shooting in the winter months in Hawaii) and made a point from the beginning to draw upon my experience as a photojournalist to work towards producing a different type of film. I hope to be able to share that with you at some point in the upcoming months.
For now I hope you’ll enjoy this first look. I look forward to getting back to writing more regularly on this blog now that this cut is done. A huge thanks goes out to all of the crew members, the sponsors who provided financial and gear support (many of them prototypes) and of course to Jamie.
Nice Vincent!
Thanks for sharing.
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Wow, Great work!
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Vincent, I have been waiting for weeks for some word on this project and all I can say is WOW. The footage is wonderful, the color is amazing. The shot of Jamie from low, while I assume he is standing outside his home, the color of his eyes is very powerful. I would have to say that the over all lighting is what I like most. Its consistent throughout the project. I’m also glad to see that you found some way to include some tilt-shift work. Was this on the 5D or the Red? Amazing.
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:40 am
@John Scherer, the Tilt-shift was used on both the RED and 5D MKII – the surfing shots of him in action (aerials) were shot w/ a Tyler mount in a MD-500 w/ the RED
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I love all the different perspectives and especially the transitions from above water to underwater. Can’t wait to see the rest.
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Not to shabby!
I have to say, that my favorite what the panning TS Shot of Jamie surfing! that took mad skills!
Amazing!
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:41 am
@Chris Fowler, Thanks Chris – definitely took a deep breath before trying the T/S on a action sequence when both the chopper and Jamie are moving – the 2X+ mag made it quite difficult to focus to be honest
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amazing vincent….colors are dreamy…
encore bravo
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Beautiful! Looks like the real chopper footage turned out really sweet….Nice Job. Look forward to the other cut as time allows.
T
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Good job !
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J’ADORE !!!!!
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WOW, that was really cool. And now I see that not only the picture is nice, but also you sharing this for free is very nice. Doesn’t happened that often.
I’ve been visiting your blog regularly since reverie came out. That and especially this has made me very enthusiastic about the 5D. I’m gonna use it for the first time this weekend. Looking forward to that!
ooh yes.. props for the edit!
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Amazing !!!! If this is the “first look”, what can we expect from the final film ? Ans as for a real Laforet film: Air footage at its best.
Thanks a lot for sharing this with us …
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And there comes the question:
This is in 24 fps. And it looks like you did a lot of slow-motion. But when it’s not slowmotion, and when it’s filmed with the 5d it looks pretty good.
Did you just edit in 30 fps and then exported to 24?
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:42 am
@Gilles, we just laid the Canon’s 30fps down onto a 24 fps sequence – so you get a slight slow down… given that there was no dialogue – no problem.
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Jonny Reply:
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:38 am
@Vincent Laforet, Awesome work Vincent, I am completely inspired by this, not to mention impressed!
One question though, what did you use to convert 30p to 24p? I’ve found image interpolation to be a little less than stellar due to a bit of ghosting, among other things…. any quick tips? Premiere? AE? Final Cut?
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Looks really good. I’m liking the opening shots of the light through the trees, very nice start. Music fits well too.
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That was lovely. Made me want to drink the water
I love how you worked all of those different types of shots together. And that amazing floater 360. I am not sure how he did that leaning backwards thing after the 360. Sweeet! and thanks to smug mug for sponsoring this. I just got my fix. No withdrawals tonight 
Oh loved the texture of the foamy water.
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Vincent you are a genius buddy. I have to say this mini-clip is amazing and i think the surf industry will be blown away by the creative filming, colours and angles. I can’t wait to see more. Maybe you can head over here to OZ and shoot some more amazing surf action! Great JOB!
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Sweet.. very sweet on a rainy winter day-BL
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greetings from germany,
me and some buddies just sit thunderstruck. great shots, vivid colors and sole really cool transitions. especially the shots wie the rc-heli really came great and some shots i really don´t know how you did it. that is great. worth every minute of the wait…
greetings sven
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Great! Really roks.
Nice job.
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Wow, incredible work. This is so incredibly inspiring…
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WOW!
Loved the helicopter footage above the water! Were you guys also using some sort of wireless AV transmitter to monitor the video and make sure you got a good shot?!
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:43 am
@Tozé, Tabb does have the Wireless AV and it proved essential.
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Thanks again for sharing and thanks to smugmug. We’ve added this to the 5D blog at http://bit.ly/Fh1Bx We’ve got more 5D reviews/still/video samples than anywhere else on the planet.
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HOLY COW!
That was just some fantastic footage. Well edited and interesting. I don’t care at all about surfing and that held my attention.
A lot of talk on the RED ONE forums about how you “sucked at motion” or whatever, but I think this will shut them up. They don’t understand that ‘Reverie’ was rushed, your first time doing video, and done with a beta camera.
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:44 am
@Gary, Oh – it’ll never “shut them up.” Got some nice words from ASC members last week and that’s all I need to hear – was very flattering. Truth be told: the lack of motion is directly related to the lack of access to nice toys… I didn’t have access to Dolly’s/Cranes etc at first – so I didn’t want to push my luck too far…
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Vince McVay Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 2:32 pm
@Vincent Laforet, I have worked in Television for 10.5 years. Sometimes you can have all the gear in the world and it still looks like crap. You have a great eye and your transition to video is refreshing. I went the other way from video to still, because I was tried of the same old stuff. This has once again inspired..keep up the good work, and thanks.
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Simply Beautiful.
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At first I thought “meh, that’s just OK” Then I watched it full screen at 1080p and my jaw dropped! Gorgeous work, Vincent.
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[...] First Look: Jamie O’Brien [...]
AMAZING!!
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Really nice stuff, Vince.
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[...] lien que nous a laissé Sylvain sur le billet le tube du matin. Il s’agit d’un film de Vincent Laforêt (on ne parle plus de vidéo dans ce cas là c’est péjoratif parfois) qui sort de plus en [...]
Hi Vincent, congrats for the great work! Just one question: does this film will be available on Blu ray disc? If yes, for my experience, this type of titles are not very popular here in Italy, so, is possible to make a Area 0 code Bluray? because I’ll buy one in an USA webstore and i’ll import here in Italy! THX!!
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The visuals are very nice, but I’m curious about the music. Even if credited, I wouldn’t think you can just use Beck’s music for any project you do. This seems like it’s not a commercial project in the sense that it’s not directly selling something but it is promoting you as a photographer and producer as well as a marketing opportunity for Smug Mug. With all the concerns about usage of photography this seems like a relevant issue in contrast. Were you given permission? Did you pay a fee? Curious because so often music makes or breaks a video. Try editing together a solid 3 minute jingle on Garage Band that you can edit to and you’ll see what I mean.
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I watched it at full HD, it’s beautiful but unfortunately some of the scenes strobe so badly that it gave me a migraine. This has nothing to do with the equipment, it’s the way you shoot with it. Please consult with a professional cinematographer about how to control strobing, he will teach you the formulas that determine how fast you can pan or dolly over a subject at any particular angle of view without causing unpleasant physiological responses in viewers.
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Andrew Reply:
February 12th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
@Charles, are you serious? You got a migraine? You must be the most sensitive viewer on earth. And since that might be true, helps us all out. TEACH us what this strobing is, how it occurs and how to avoid it. Otherwise I, for one, am going to assume you’re full of it, cause I don’t even see what you’re talking about, let alone have any unpleasant physiological responses to the clip. Quiet the contrary.
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Charles Reply:
February 13th, 2009 at 12:15 am
@Andrew
I admit I was kind of headachy today but the strobing pushed me over the edge. Maybe you didn’t see the strobing, I watched it at max native size on a 30″ Cinema Display.
Strobing is well known to professional cinematographers. A lot of their job is setting up motion shots to avoid strobing. When a camera pans or dollies over a scene fast enough at a narrow enough angle of view, it causes a flickering effect known as strobing, it causes dizziness and discomfort in viewers even if they aren’t susceptible to headaches. This subject (surfing) is the kind of action subject that is difficult to capture without strobing, the entire frame is in rapid motion, if you shoot with a telephoto (as many of these shots were) then you are bound to have strobing. Some of the helicopter shots that dollied rapidly over the ground at low altitudes also exhibited the effect. This effect could be exacerbated by the video encoding but it does not appear to me that this is the source. I suspect the high shutter speeds and extreme resolution of the source video might make strobing more likely, but I’d have to evaluate the source (rather than the online encoded versions) to be sure.
There is a formula used to calculate the maximum apparent motion you can use without strobing, I learned it in a cinematography handbook but somebody swiped my book and I haven’t been able to find a similarly informative explanation. A good cinematographer intuitively knows the limits of his rig and will work around this effect without having to calculate it.
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Andrew Reply:
February 16th, 2009 at 5:58 am
@Charles, after discovering a similar post of yours, at a similar time, on smugmug, I’m thinking that you didn’t really get such a bad headache. You could still trouble yourself to write about the effect twice, in different ways. I’m guessing that you’re more about pointing out what cinamatographer’s might have over a still photog. And I think I can now see what you’re referring to.
So to back up my guess, I’m going to point out two of the foibles in your arguement that the equipment is not to blame, that only the operator is.
1. Some of these shots are from a remote control helicopter, you know that, everyone does. Remote helicopters have a severe technical limitation that’s apparent without having seen one. Smaller, higher frequency vibrations than to be experienced on a full size helicopter and significantly sharper response to control movements. This means that anything shot from a remote chopper that you want to be perceived sharp is going to need a higher than desirable shutter speed… and for sure this is going to create what you might consider “strobing”, even after smoothing out the movements of the chopper in post.
2. It’s very bright when shooting surfing in ideal conditions. As bright as your likely to encounter in the outdoors. In the tropics, north of the equator with the sun near direct overhead, the water acting like a mirror it’s literally about as bright as you’d ever shoot anything naturally outdoors. Even with a big lens closed down this is going to require high shutter speeds. Open that lens up to get some DOF effect as shown here and the shutter speed is going to be even further up there. Yeah, yeah, could have used an ND filter… but what if you don’t have them big enough to cover the front of those enormous lenses?
Besides, for the rest of us, slow motion with each frame sharp is what we’re likely watching this stuff for, to see the RED break the barrier between still and video. TO DO BOTH AT THE SAME TIME!
As to cinematographers… I’d challenge ANY of them to learn to shoot surfing as tight and well framed as Vincent has in the short time he was there. Look at that clip of Jamie in the barrel, he doesn’t miss a thing. That’s the sports photo journalist experience coming to the fore, something I don’t think too many cinematographers have. If that framing comes at the cost of strobing I am happy to pay the price.
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:47 am
@Charles, hmmm.. possible solution: MRI… seriously: you’re criticizing two of the best underwater filmmakers out there… (Prickett/Haynes) so I’m not sure you need to teach them how to follow certain formulas… they tend to know what they’re doing.
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Thomas Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
@Vincent Laforet,
I agree Vincent. I’ve worked with them both and their work is spot on.
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That’s amazing. Nothing more to say. Huh, im stunned.
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Nice work Vincent. I enjoyed every scene, especially the water housing shots.
The negative comments are amusing trolls from the interweb.
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Fantastic!
This makes me want to surf and I can barely swim.
Well worth the wait to see some samples of what you shot. Very inspiring and creative. Great job.
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[...] Click here or on the image below to check out the video on Laforet’s blog, and click here to check out the hi-res video on SmugMug. [...]
Absolutely mind blowing, looks great.
Got a few questions (that I know you may never get to, but if you do, I’d love to hear back):
So, as far as I can tell, you’re putting the mark II to work on the video side more than anyone. Which must mean you’ve got the most knowledge about it and it’s brain.
Questions:
I see you’re using OnLocation in one of the behind the scenes videos, and I was wondering if the 5D was running through it, or if that was the Red. Also, I recognize the image on the Marshall monitor as the 5D’s video recording screen, so you must be getting live video out of it somehow. SO. All I’m wondering is: is there a way to get video (HD) out of the 5D live, and to be able to capture it in OnLocation, rather than solely on the CF? Thanks!
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:49 am
@evan french, Evan – not sure what OnLocation is to be honest… we used HDs for the RED and CF for the 5D MKII. There is NO way to get an HD signal out from the 5D MKII at this time (when it’s recording…) no way to capture to a deck or other device unfortunately… you can capture to an HD w/ the WIFI grip and it’s USB port – but I haven’t tried it.
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evan french Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
@Vincent Laforet, Gotcha… I guess it wasn’t OnLocation then… ha. OL is a CS4 program built for firewire cameras. Basically, you can build shot lists in the program before a shoot, add metadata, organize where the video will be recorded, monitor and record direct to your HD. Its a really cool program, and I got a little excited when I thought I saw it on one of your videos.
I had an idea. I don’t think it exists, but have you ever heard of a CF with a cord attached, say firewire or usb, that you could connect to a computer where it would show up as a drive and record data straight to your HD, rather than on the CF? Kind of like a phantom CF? Maybe thats too weird, but it sounds possible, and would be a way to get live HD video out of the 5D. Hm.
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wow, this is stunning work. definitely more on the dark, moody, and gorgeous side of surfing and film making. congrats! thanks so much for sharing
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I have to say that I was turned onto your film work by a fellow photographer as I was only aware of your journalism work in stills. We have worked some similar stories i.e. Hurricane Katrina from the air, and I have seen your unique ability to see things were others do not. Having said that, your work on this project while being extremely innovative, ground breaking and beutiful in it’s saturation of light was lacking something to me. It seems a bit too slow, and I became a bit board, but maybe not being into surfing has allot to do with that. I just felt after watching some of the pre curser blogs leading up to this short film that I would see more of something I have’nt seen before. I do take into account this is a first edit and look forward to more, but I wanted to share my thoughts. I am just used to seeing your stuff as unlike any other, and I was just in Hawaii at the Pro Bowl and saw stills in a hotel guest book that were similar and stronger to some of the views here. Keep up the ground breaking because I am a believer!
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:50 am
@Marc Serota, Marc – welcome your opinion. This is not the final piece – just a first look.
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Excellent! Can’t wait to see the finished film!
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That’s one of the most inspiring pieces of work I’ve seen lately. Gorgeous job. I
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Amazing job!
I am myself just a hobby photographer, but seeing things like this really inspires me to continue learning ad working with photography.
I really love the TS shots and the overall color and light is just amazing!
Thanks for sharing!
Looking forward to the full movie!
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Congratulation for the prize at the world press foto!!!
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Unbelievable, I loved this video, the waiting has been unbearable but worth every day. Fantastic execution of a very difficult assignment
Congratulations 
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Congratulations Vincent on your World Press Photo Award!
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congrats on the worldpress photo !!!
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Amazing Work again.
Wonderful views, and i love the rc-helicopter-usage, i guess u used one for all the bird-view-shots.
Just perfect.
greetings from germany
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looks fantastic. Can’t wait to see the final product.
Hate to nitpick, but spotted a typo in the credits. It should be Principal Funding (not Principle).
Cheers.
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A lot of hard work paying off.
Vincent, I had a question related to the Marshall Electronic monitor you used with the 5d (referenced on an earlier post). I’m in the market for a monitor, do you know if the prototype you referred to had released yet or do you have a model no? Also when you said “It’s the only monitor I’ve used that allows me to focus the 5D MKII WHILE it’s recording”…are you saying there’s a way to control focus from this monitor, or that even when manually focusing while recording other monitors won’t show the changing image? I’m not sure I quite understood.
Anyway, any additional info much appreciated, good luck in post on your current project.
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:52 am
@Luke, The marshall is definitely the best… going to write about it shortly. What I meant is: the 5D MKII sends out a less than SD quality signal when recording (not HD) – so it’s particularly difficult to focus… having an extremely sharp and contrasty monitor such as the Marhsall makes a world of difference
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Looks great!!! Wish you had better waves to work with, but welcome to surf photography. The waves and weather never cooperate!!!
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i love the T+S surfing shots from the rc heli (i assume), very very impressive!
and huge congrats on the world press photo award! Very well deserved, you worked like a horse at the olympics
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Thanks for sharing, since we’ve discovered your site we can’t stop talking about the gear and your attention to details Really enjoy the glossy piece with the Canon HD still. Just finished shooting a piece with the RED one and have a few friends who own them too. We’re all originally into action sports on 16mm so your material is super relevant to us. Thanks again.
One question, there is a mention of remote control camera helicopter, if that is what you are using can you share some info on this? I’m looking forward to reading and seeing more from you. Thanks again. JR
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:53 am
@Jacques Russo, You should contact Tabb at http://www.aerialpan.com/
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Thanks for sharing your passion with us Vincent. We’ve been shooting action sports for 20 years on 16mm and are now shooting with RED one so your attention to details is quite relevant to us here.
One question there is a mention of remote control heli camera, can you share with us what that set up is?
Thanks again, your site has brought the whole conversation to another level here, also really liked your piece with the Canon on HD, the jaws are dropping. Good on you. Thanks again. JR
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Jacques Russo Reply:
February 13th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Jacques Russo, OOPS! That’s what “sent” meant
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Some of the most beautiful surf footage, really like the play with motion.
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Congrats on your World Press Photo Prize. And of course, to your wife who, as I recall from the Newsweek blog, suggested you to do a series on the pool jumpers’ faces. A great thanks to all our wives for so many times helping us to see beyond what we’re seeing during deadlines! Regards, BP.
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beautiful
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Wow, beautiful video!
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Congratulations, Vincent
http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=view&id=1432&type=byname&Itemid=224&bandwidth=high
regards
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Hello Vincent,
I’m really looking forard to the documentary!
For now I can say I don’t really like the editing.
I wish it would “tell a little story”. I can see an approach, but …
I’m pretty sure you have enough footage besides actual surfing (As you filmed some days waiting for the swell)
As a study of new equipment, all this is very useful and appreciated. But intentionally it should lead to a documentary about the surfer Jamie O’Brien. So I’m still eagerly awaiting a film
No offense!
Best!
Bo
PS: Winning the World Press Photo Award is one of the coolest things I can imagine. But winning by showing guys taking a djump is even more cool
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Vincent,
Thank you for sharing, I’ve been following your blog non stop and I am glad you keep working hard!
By the way… congratulations for the World Press Photo Award
Bravo!
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Great colors, great setting, great to see such amazing pictures full of suspense in motion!
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I follow this project from the begining. Great!!!
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really nice
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Ciao Vincent! I was spasmodically waiting for the publishing of your Hawaiian video. I read on your previous post that it has been long to work on this video post-production… has it anything to do with the workflow that you have to follow to import RED’s HD footage in Final Cut Pro? Furthermore, I’d like to know if you have used any filters or tools from the Grading Sweet 3 (FCP plugin). Thank you and congratulations.
Gianluca
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:56 am
@Gianluca, yes the RED is a bit more complex. But the delay is mostly due to the huge amount of footage we shot. We are using “color” as part of the FCP Suite to grade the footage.
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[...] http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2009/02/12/first-look-jamie-obrien/ Vincent Laforet drehte in den letzten drei Wochen mit viel Aufwand und wahnsinns Equipment an einem Surferportraitfilm. Hier gibt es einen ersten Trailer. Unglaublich! Ganz dringend ansehen! [...]
Wonderful stuff.. This is why I never got involved in video.. How many people have you got working with you on this?
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:57 am
@John Armstrong-Millar, yes – video takes productions to an entirely new level … we had 5 people in hawaii – and 2-3 more in post in NY. And another dozen people who helped along the way – I owe them all a HUGE thanks -
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Pure poetry!
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Way cool work. I’m a still shooter just putting a toe in the water with HD video now. Cool to see the possibilities.
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:59 am
Thanks everyone for the kind words – for both the First Look piece- and the World Press – very sincerely – v
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Vincent
congratulations for the wpp man you always on the top of the top
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cool i like that guy
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Fantastic. Really wonderful.
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Hi vincent, first off, awesome work. anyway I recently purchased the 5d mark 2… was wondering where I could buy the video assist monitor that you attach to the camera? any websites about that?
thank you… hope to hear from you.
email is paulsoriano@gmail.com… thanks!
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I suppose you are tired of hearing the word, “Fantastic” Sorry, “FANTASTIC”, after seeing how you work (since you are a pro), I may stop trying to do films and videos.
Great work
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Hey there, Vincent!
I’d like to say that I’m a surfer from Brazil, and I’ve seen tons of surf videos throughout my life.
Even though, I’ve never seen such good camera POVs (point of view) that capture emotionaly what it feels like to be out there in the water. This is by far one of the greatest surf videos i think I’ll ever see, and i can’t wait to see it all finished. Jamie is a great surfer and that will certainly help aswell. Keep up the good work!
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Such an amazing video. Keep em coming!
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any chance the 5d mark2 will soon be able to shoot more than 30fps, like an upgrade of firmware to shoot at 48fps,60fps. would you know anything about this? thank you sir…
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[...] his blog, http://blog.vincentlaforet.com, he shares highlights and previews from current projects he’s working on as well as stuff that inspires him. He is obviously a lover a gadgets and shares a lot about his [...]
Vincent,
Incredibly done! I was curious about the underwater housings you used in the production. Can you post a link or model name/number? I am also interested in a link to the ND filters used on the 5d MK II.
Thank you for the inspiration.
Best,
Travis
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i never heard about you until 1 month ago. looking for photo gear someone sad your name in a review. What you do is fantastic. You shock me. Go for it!!!
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i’d take this any day:
http://www.soulcam.fr/Accueil_Surf.html
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Looks great so far Vincent. I really like the aerial and underwater camera work.
-Timothy
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[...] Otra noticia interesante es que ha grabado un documental junto a un surfista profesional llamado Jamie O’Brien. Podeis ver algo aqui. [...]
Hello Vincent Laforet,
I’m deeply impressed by your video here.
I watched Reverie as it appeared on the Canon US webpage, and then follow the interviews, the making offs, and finally stumpled over your blog here.
After looking a bit into what you’ve done before, e.g. the Olympia in Beijing, I still have to say, I’m impressed.
I’m no professional, nor do I have a lot of practice in shooting movies or even taking great shots like you do, but I’ll try to bring down what I think is impressive about this video.
)
(Please, forgive all the language mistakes, English’s not my native tongue
When you first look at the Jamie O’Brien videos, you just get that WOW feeling- high resolution, zero noise, good DOF, good soundtracks. After taking a second look, you notice, somethings off. For example, the scene where the cam flies over the truck and then over the grass field, but you think, okay, the crane should reach it’s limit here… okay, no crane, why is the gras not moving if it’s a helicopter? Than you read the blogtext, and discover that you use a RC heli – really, that’s just so cool that I watched the same scene over and over again.
Then the underwater shots- I’m more into bike videos, so it’s something of a first time that I’ve seen something like this, and it just looks cool.
Even without reading your comment about how you make a surfmovie, but pimp it up by adding your still photography views and skills to it, I think you can notice that you created something different.
What can be said at the end?
I’m hungry for more, I’m very curious about how the end product looks like.
So, just let me wish you a very good day, always good light, and many more interessting projects.
Thanks for sharing
Cheers,
Marvin
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Congrats on the write up in Surfer this month!
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I love my 5D MK2 during the day.. but when it comes to shooting at night, the noise/grain is a disaster.
Any suggestions or advices?
Thanks
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sorry if this question was already asked before…
First I really enjoyed your movie, great footage in a difficult location…
my question : Is it easy to mix canon MKII with RED footage? I will shoot a commercial with the RED and I wonder if I can take also a canon MKII to make more side shots…
Can you help me with that?
thx
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Really gorgeous. I’m looking forward to seeing the final edit. Whenever a watch a surfing video with interviews and so on I like to watch the whole video the first time but then just the surfing portions thereafter. Maybe you could do a second version that just has the water shots.
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Chris Reply:
September 10th, 2012 at 7:00 am
Love this! Surfing videos rock my world
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I’ve already said it once on the smugmug page, but this video is incredible. You did such a great job capturing the whole essence of surfing, I’m just speechless. The colors are so great in all the shots, and what a place to shoot in. I’ve seen it in full HD more than 10 times already, and still love it. The music fits it almost perfectly. I can’t wait to see the full thing. This video and your work is an inspiration. I would take a year off of my career just to be your intern! Keep up the great work Vincent, and I hope to see more of your stuff in the near future.
PS. Thanks for all the Behind the Scene stuff, they’re great.
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[...] Yeah, definitely a sweet sequence. If you haven’t already, you might want to check out this: First Look: Jamie O’Brien Vincent Laforet’s Blog __________________ "If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough." [...]
Wow! great job, I’m aldo interested in the final edit. Way to go! Very impressed!
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Vincent, are you still planning on having the summer internship? If so, when can we expect to have details about it? I understand you’re incredibly busy and this probably isn’t your biggest concern at the moment, but I’m a photography student and supposed to have an internship this summer, and I need to get an internship lined up sometime soon. Thanks!
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Vincnent, I am about to shoot a movie and I’m facing a choice; RAID1 or 5Dmk2. now I saw you used both. if you have time, can you tell me why you consisered that choice.
thanks.
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Impressive!!! Thank a lot for gear job!!!
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A new vision on surfing cimetography, this is what we have been waiting for…any idea when the final product will be done?
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You’re amazing, I’m getting great feelings from viewing your films. I don’t even know what too say, you’re the best, simply legendary!
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Hi Vincent,
Very nice work. I was really happy to see the ASC recognize you on the cannon. Especially since it took them over a year to admit that the red even existed. I have some underwater work coming up and I was wondering if you could share what underwater rig you used for the 5D MK II?
thanks
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Great job! Your video work is really amazing.
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Vincent,
Your drive and energy to push beyond the limits of most mortals is both inspiring and instructive. You prove the point M. Gladwell makes often in his new book “Outliers” which is that the core of any success is just plain hard work. That and luck, but I believe we make our own luck with the hard work. I’m grateful for what you do amigo.
Cheers
doug
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Ehm… Vincent… It’s been a month since your last update… Something new for your fans? Thanks, Mattia.
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Vincent, again you inspire us with your photography and vision. Thanks for leading the way!
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[...] the 5D mk ii and the Red (getting confusing as to which shots to be excited about LOL). Also read Vincent’s blog postIn case you’re following along, I’m way behind on getting things moved from the blog to the [...]
What projects are you working on, Vincent? We haven’t seen or heard a blip in awhile … miss that, as an avid follower of your work! Keep up the hi-bred, guerilla mix of stylez of shootin … love it! Having shot doc’s, NBA footage, concert’s (i.e. Stevie Wonder, Wyclef, blah, blah, blah) and directed music video’s … my hat’s off to you for what you are innovating. It is precisely what is needed right now. Drop a line … peace.
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
March 24th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
@J-dog, just put a post up tonight that should explain things…
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DEAR MR. VINCENT LAFORET,
Any blurb or blog on what/when/where … the final product for Jamie O’brien’s release will be?
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
March 24th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
@J-dog, With the move- it’s going to be delayed to be honest. Splicing 24p footage with 30p footage AND mixing it with audio has been a challenge – I’ll write about that soon …
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Looking forward to your blog regarding mixing the different frame rates. Mixing 24p with 30p is absolutely a challenge, especially with audio in the mix. I’m curious as to what you’ll end up doing. WIll you up convert the 24p to 30p or will you down convert the 30p to 24p? Keep up the good work. I’m definitely into it!
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Just learned that Jamie had no, or little, creative control over this project. I could have known that from when I saw the trailer posted originally but wrote it off because you said it was to show the various shots and camera’s capabilities – something I also understand and agree with.
I understand you not wanting the camera to be used without your supervision, but when it comes to editing why not let the surfer have the greater say in the way the movie looks? After all, he grew up in this sport and knows its intricacies and what is or isnt good surfing much better than any outside observer or artist could.
I work with outsiders on surf stuff all the time and their fresh eyes are often an invaluable part of the editing process; they see things that look cool in ordinary footage that as a surf editor you might not think twice about. But when bad surfing gets included in a surf movie thats going to be viewed by core surf audiences, it hurts the surfer a lot more than it benefits the filmmaker.
I dont know jaime personally but Im sure he has made this plea to you as well – I hope that you take head of his and others advice and dont make the same mistake that hollywood filmmakers have been making for years by thinking you know more about what good surfing is than the athletes themselves. I can guarantee you Shaun White’s White Album wasnt made without careful supervision from Shaun as to what tricks were included, and left out of, the final timeline.
Amazing work – been a huge fan of your aerial stuff for quite sometime, can’t wait to see what you come up with next
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[...] image. I was able to work with a prototype of this monitor in January for 3 weeks of the Jamie O’Brien shoot and it was simply fantastic. I should also mention that I am also testing out Ikan’s V5600 [...]
Fantastic looking footage! The color transitions and angles are excellent, I especially liked the music which really complimented the theme. Can’t wait to see the final cut. Bravo.
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super boulot Vincent…
very impressed by your work and thanks for sharing all those info…
honolulu HI
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Vincent could you explain how you got the colors so vibrant and saturation almost like an (HDR) look in the footage with the 5D Mark II, was it all native in camera or was there post processing?
Thanks.
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Great news, thanks Scott!
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Makes surfing boring.
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Hi, Vincent
wonderful footage. If I`m not on my 40`s I would be glad to be your intern for few weeks.
Mahalo
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Vincent, Great work on all your photography and filmmaking! I’m excited to see more…
I was inspired to go out and shoot on the 5D and created this short film – http://www.vimeo.com/4541534
I hope you enjoy it,
Dippen
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Vincent, Great work on all your photography and filmmaking! I’m excited to see more
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Just a few words … How is post-production going ??
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Thank you for useful information. With love …
reklam ajansları
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[...] Uncategorized Just gorgeous. (Since I cannot seem to get vodpod to post this properly) A link to a link of an excerpt of the Vincent Laforet [...]
[...] a good surf movie, I suggest you check out the preview below and more of his amazing work on his blog. I promise you won’t be disappointed. addthis_url = [...]
Vincent,
I first heard about you through the video for the 5D Mark II on the Canon website. I was simply floored!
Just to be able to pull of what you did in the short time you had the camera (and I’m not talking about the quality yet) is a feat in and of itself. Of course I went right off and bought the 5D Mark II. Photography/ videography is a serious hobby of mine. I aspire to make good pictures but don’t quite get there .
Any, this video is awesome as well. All your work is out of this world really. But more importantly your work is very inspiring. So thank you for sharing and hope to see more of your stuff.
Shiv.
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Wow Jamie that looks incredible! Vincent is an amazing artist and it’s cool to see a surf video that will finally capture all of the power and beauty of the sport in full HD. I can’t wait to see the video once it’s released.
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I have seen this clip multiple times and keep finding new and amazing things each time.
I can’t wait for the final cut, but I’d have to agree with the blog by jerryotti above; “when it comes to editing why not let the surfer have the greater say in the way the movie looks?” As a surfer, I would spot the “Hollywood affect” instantly.
The public does not know what steps you are taking to make this amazing film. Jamie could very well be deeply involved in post production.
We can easily assume that the end result will be beautiful. From the first clip, you have opened up a wonderful new look into surfing from an artist perspective.
More please!
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Just stunning! Loved it. Beautiful use of the tilt-shift. Beautiful dusk shots in there. Oh my gosh. Did I mention that this is amazing?
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Thanks for the inspiration. Good luck with the movie. Aloha B
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That was so serene! Whomever have lived or stayed in Hawaii for at least a year will know what I’m talking about. Your right though, the swells captured were not as big as they would normally get in Hawaii, but ultimately it was a BEAUTIFUL piece. It made you want to jump in and feel her (the ocean) beauty. She can be gentle and sweet, but don’t take it for granted! She can get deadly. I appreciated this clip! MAHALO!
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This is freakishly amazing! OMG, I’m not worthy!!
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Vincent,
Great footage! Love your work. If you’re ever in need of low altitude aerial HD B-roll type footage on the east coast I’m your man…I’m based in NYC. You can see some of my stuff at my site. http://www.perspectiveAereials.com
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Anthony Jacobs Reply:
September 8th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
@Anthony Jacobs, Sorry the correct site is: http://www.perspectiveAerials.com
Thanks,
Anthony Jacobs
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[...] his blog today that featured a trailer for the movie which he teased me with a few months back and blew my mind. Do I like surfing? No. Will I see this movie? Abso friggin lutely. Kudos to Vincent and [...]
[...] http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2009/02/12/first-look-jamie-obrien/ [...]
Thanks for this. I’m a surfer and Red One operator. You couldn’t make it better. Almost cried of excitement.
I will always play this video whenever I need to be cheered up. Some day I will do something inspired on this.
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[...] Pour PYL de l’excellent blog Au Large. Retour sur le regard de Vincent Laforêt [...]
Wow – just incredible. Much thanks for this post!
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Hi Vincent! Great job, I’ve been watching those trailers a million times now and still can’t get enough.
I guess I’m not the only one waiting for the hole project to be seen. Can you give an update on the current state? Haven’t seen any news about the hole documentary for a while now. Please give an update!!
Thanks for sharing,
Tom
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[...] work shot in Hawaii with surfer Jamie O’Brien, and footage from Vincents work with Acroback, a [...]
[...] olas y ahora podemos ver gracias a un helicóptero a radio control, las fotos desde las alturas. Vicent Laforet es el fotógrafo que nos muestra esta nueva y complicada forma de capturar en imágenes este [...]
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They are catching some sweet waves!
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Will, Great job on the time lapse. I whaetcd your BTS on the Fstoppers site, and here I am as a result of that.Having never tried time lapse myself, I'm wondering if you would clue me in to any considerations with regards to battery life…how did you keep the camera powered for the full day? Did you find a single charge was sufficient?Additionally, can I correctly assume you used manual focus and/or a focus lock?Thank you in advance.
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Vincent Laforet Reply:
February 1st, 2012 at 2:45 pm
I use the Swixtronix external battery
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