Posted by ryanjackson on Feb 28, 2013 in photos, video
What happens when old corn brooms are replaced by newer brushes?
Journal videographer Ryan Jackson created a short film about one such broom for the 2013 Brier.
This whole thing was shot in only four hours! I used my hacked Panasonic GH2 cameras with Canon 24 f1.4L. 50 1.2L, 70-200 2.8L, and Olympus 7-14mm f4 lenses.
What happens when old corn brooms are replaced by newer brushes? Journal videographer Ryan Jackson created a short film about one such broom for the 2013 Brier. To find out the fate of our old curling broom go to http://www.edmontonjournal.com/broom
All the volunteers showed up at 8-a.m. and had no idea what the script or anything was. I played them a rough cut video I made from the storyboard and we started curling!
Here is my original storyboard. I had thought it would be cool to have the rocks talking and picking on the broom but then I decided that talking rocks would be confusing so I just used music. I spent hours writing and re-writing the script to make it as simple and manageable as possible. It’s way easier to fix your script before you shoot than after!
This was the final shot of the day. I used gaffers tape to mask my 7″ monitor to 2.35:1 aspect ratio to help with framing.
Jason Franson was helping me for the shoot and took this photo of me filming Carleigh Johnson with the broom. I was able to pull the scene off with only two 500-LED light panels and one small 160-LED light panel to the right.
Posted by ryanjackson on Feb 27, 2013 in timelapse, video
Transition from an NHL hockey game to a curling match. Journal photographer Ryan Jackson took over 30,000 still images of Rexall Place from the beginning of the Oilers game on Saturday Feb. 23 till Tuesday Feb 26. for the 2013 Brier.
I used a Canon 1D-Mark III with an 8-15mm f4L lens @ 15mm. I filled two 32GB cards with 30,000 pictures taken every 10-seconds over four days.
I got the assignment to film 10 Journal reporters and editors discussing the top 10 news stories of the year in their own words.
I decided to use some of the gear and techniques I’ve been developing to shoot and present the video.
Rather than shooting 10 separate videos and presenting them as 10 separate clips, I put them all together in one YouTube video and used annotation buttons to make the video interactive. You can jump back and forth between clips and choose which stories you are most interested in.
Since the videos are mostly just “a person sitting at a desk talking” I decided to up the production value a but and have the camera constantly moving.
I built a Pan/Tilt/Slide robot for doing timelapse videos in the summer. I used it for the World’s Longest Soccer Game Video but now I would need it for video instead of stills.
I made it programmable so I can tell it to start in position A, then take X number of minutes to move to position B. The device consists of three stepper motors and three Phidget stepper controllers.
Everything is programmed in Python. Those years spent in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science come in handy!
I used my hacked Panasonic GH2 for the video and my Olympus LS10 audio record with a Sennheiser wireless mic for sound.
Here is my Pan/Tilt/Slide robot that I’ve been working on for months. I added 8:1 ratio pulleys to the motors to make the movements smoother and slower. I also surrounded the motors with plastic to dampen the sound. (not shown here). The design is constantly changing which is why I haven’t blogged about it much. Though I guess I should blog about all the changes!
I made a DIY teleprompter using cardboard, tape and my iPad running the Teleprompt+ app. This was my first time recording reporters with a teleprompter and it made my life so much easier! The subject doesn’t have to fumble for words and some say it makes them forget about the camera a bit.
Here is the very rough version 1.0 of my Pan/Tilt/Slide robot controller. I plan to eventually control everything with an iPad app that I’m writing so there’s far less wires!
Frame grab of David Staples from the video. I just used two 500LED lights for him.
Here is my setup for David Staples in City Hall. My assistant and friend Megan Voss is on the right.
Frame grab of Gordon Kent from the video. I just used two 500LED lights really close to him. The sunlight coming through the window was much brighter than the video lights so they had to be placed close.
Gordon Kent in City Hall talking about the hockey arena saga. It was hard to balance him against the bright window with only two 500LED light panels so I underexposed him a bit and then brought up the shadows in post. Photo by Megan Voss.
My setup for Graham Thomson in the Alberta Legislature talking about former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed’s death. I got Graham to stand on a box so that I could frame him with the portrait.
Frame grab of Stephanie Coombs from the video. She has a 1800-watt 48″ Octobox to her left and one 500LED video light to her right.
Stephanie Coombs at her desk to talk about the Hub Mall shooting. You can see I used my Olympus LS10 audio recorder connected to my wireless Lav for sound. It’s always better to record your sound separately and monitor it with headphones. Photo by Megan Voss.
A frame grab of Sandra Sperounes from the video. I just used the light on her desk and a small Light Panel with an orange filter off to the left.
Sandra Sperounes at her desk talking about the Paul McCartney concerts. Photo by Megan Voss.
Marty Klinkenberg at his desk to talk about Highway 63. Photo by Megan Voss
Frame grab of Jim Matheson from the video. I used two 500LED lights and one small Light Panel as a hair light.
Jim Matheson in Rexall Place to talk about the NHL Lockout. I wanted to film him in Rexall place to illustrate the empty stadium seats and lack of hockey.
Using the Pan/Tilt/Slide robot added a ton of work to the setup for each video but it really made the videos more visually dynamic. It also moved the camera much smoother and consistent than if I moved it by hand.
I certainly wouldn’t do this for most news video but a fun feature like this was a perfect opportunity to test out some new tools.
Everyone loves a good story. And everyone loves trains. Combine the two and you get the Battle River Railway story.
Basically CN Rail was planning on shutting down the longest stretch of straight line track in Alberta. This would leave many towns and farmers without a railway which would cost money for the farmers and hurt the small towns along the tracks.
Instead of giving up, a co-operative was formed to purchase the tracks and a train engine and run the railway themselves.
It’s a nice David vs. Goliath kind of story that hits close to home if you grew up in the prairies like me.
I overheard Journal reporter Marty Klinkenberg and an editor talking about this story and jumped on it as I knew it would be a perfect opportunity to use a new storytelling technique I’ve been working on.
Think of it as a truly multimedia slide show incorporating stills, video, audio 360-panoramas and educational interactivity. You can play the interactive tour here. It works great on desktop and iPad but there are still some bugs with iPhone FYI.
Ever wanted to drive a train? Journal photographer Ryan Jackson has created an interactive tour of the Battle River Railway story. Take a seat at the controls of Engine 5353 and learn how to drive a train! The tour works on your desktop or mobile device. Go to http://www.edmontonjournal.com/BRR
Will Munsey, volunteer Engineer for the Battle River Railway, poses for a photo in Forestburg, Alta. on December 1, 2012. The BRR is a community-owned railway line between Camrose and Alliance, Alta. The new generation co-op purchased the 80-km short-line from CN in 2008 after they announced they were going to sell off the rails for scrap. By keeping the line active, local area farmers are able to save money and time transporting their grain. The co-op also turns a profit which it returns to it’s shareholders and plans to offer tourism and oil transport in the future. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
Battle River Railway Engine 5353 transports grain near Galahad, Alta. on December 1, 2012. The BRR is a community-owned railway line between Camrose and Alliance, Alta. The new generation co-op purchased the 80-km short-line from CN in 2008 after they announced they were going to sell off the rails for scrap. By keeping the line active, local area farmers are able to save money and time transporting their grain. The co-op also turns a profit which it returns to it’s shareholders and plans to offer tourism and oil transport in the future. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal
Ken Eshpeter, Chairman and CEO of the Battle River Railway, poses for a photo in Forestburg, Alta. on December 1, 2012. The BRR is a community-owned railway line between Camrose and Alliance, Alta. The new generation co-op purchased the 80-km short-line from CN in 2008 after they announced they were going to sell off the rails for scrap. By keeping the line active, local area farmers are able to save money and time transporting their grain. The co-op also turns a profit which it returns to it’s shareholders and plans to offer tourism and oil transport in the future. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
Peter Wetmore, Forestburg-area farmer and railway conductor for the Battle River Railway, links two grain cars near Galahad, Alta. on December 1, 2012. The BRR is a community-owned railway line between Camrose and Alliance, Alta. The new generation co-op purchased the 80-km short-line from CN in 2008 after they announced they were going to sell off the rails for scrap. By keeping the line active, local area farmers are able to save money and time transporting their grain. The co-op also turns a profit which it returns to it’s shareholders and plans to offer tourism and oil transport in the future. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
Peter Wetmore, Forestburg-area farmer and railway conductor for the Battle River Railway, poses for a photo near Galahad, Alta. on December 1, 2012. The BRR is a community-owned railway line between Camrose and Alliance, Alta. The new generation co-op purchased the 80-km short-line from CN in 2008 after they announced they were going to sell off the rails for scrap. By keeping the line active, local area farmers are able to save money and time transporting their grain. The co-op also turns a profit which it returns to it’s shareholders and plans to offer tourism and oil transport in the future. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
The Journal's Ryan Jackson has created a fun "choose your own adventure" style 360-degree panoramic tour of Capital Ex including 360-degree videos on a roller coaster and several other rides. You can eat corn dogs, play games and watch the fireworks. The game is especially neat on a gyro-enabled iPad2 or iPhone 4. Go to http://www.edmontonjournal.com/capex360 (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
Journal staff videographer Ryan Jackson built a special motion control robot to create moving time lapses of the the 66-hour-long soccer game which raised more than $108,000 for the Alberta Cancer Foundation at Strathcona Athletic Park from June 26 to July 1, 2012. The final score of the record game was 425-335 for the red team. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
A strange new species has been popping up on lawns across Alberta in the last 28 days. Journal videographer Ryan Jackson got to the bottom of the outbreak with this whimsical parody video. Video by Ryan Jackson, edmontonjournal.com
So after doing my last election video I wanted to do something a little different and a little funny for the Edmonton Journal. I came up with the idea to do a funny parody video a while ago but I wasn’t sure if this was the election to use the idea. Luckily my awesome wife pitched the idea too my awesome boss Kerry during Journal bowling night and Kerry liked the idea.
Before I would formally start the project through, I wanted to show that I had a plan. So Journal photography intern and Loyalist College graduate Megan Voss and I created a storyboard for the video.
With any video, the more planning and preparation you do at the beginning the less work you will have to do at the end.
My logic was that on election day there would be a huge audience in “election mode” and hungry for content. Presenting something different, funny and “get out and vote!” ‘ish would be heavily shared. Especially on Facebook where the audience leans towards comedy and activism. I turned out to be right as this was one of the most successful and most watched videos we’ve had in a single day!
I also made the video generic enough that we can use it for future elections and it could also be relevant for any election anywhere really. It also opens the door for future Planet Alberta videos on Alberta animals like the Jacked-Up Pickup Truck.
Here's Megan Voss cutting out my drawings and rough script of the storyboard.
I sketched out all of my shots and pasted them on the wall with a rough script. This was to assure my bosses that I had a plan for what to do and also get get feedback and suggestions for improvement to the script.
In order to get all the signs, Megan and I created a large Google Map with dozens of campaign headquarters for dozens of candidates. Then we just drove all over town for two and a half days to get all the signs. 76 in total! Getting the signs actually took longer than shooting the actual film!
I woke up at 4:30 am one morning and couldn't sleep so I got up and went out to shoot signs. It worked out because the light was perfect for this landscape.
Cutting out the baby signs.
So adorable!
Here's all of the signs we made for the time lapse scenes. I lucked out because this guy has a PDF of his sign on his website.
Here's Megan Voss pouring the dirt for the baby sign to grow out of.
Used three Alienbees Einstein studio strobes to light the baby sign. Why? Because the sun was very inconstant and I needed every frame of the time lapse too look the same. Wanna know the secret to BBC Planet Earth's amazing plant time lapses? They aren't actually shot in nature! They are all done in the studio with strobes and then superimposed into the nature shots after the fact. Tears...
Shot the baby sign being born with a 1D Mark IV and a 100mm Macro.
Used lots of fishing lines to bring the signs to life. "The Family is Complete"
Here's how I shot the opening scene with the globe similar (but not similar at all) to the opening of BBC's Planet Earth. Just a Canon video light with a cinefoil snoot. Panasonic GH2 with a Canon 100mm macro lens.
Here I'm filming my awesome trophy wife Ashe in curlers for the opening shot. I was originally going to find an old lady for this shot and then Ashe volunteered to do the shot which made life much easier.
Here I am photographing all the signs on my neighbours lawn. I didn't want to use my own front lawn for more than one shot.
Here I'm shooting the signs "sprouting" along the sidewalk. I used my 1D Mark-IV with a 300mm and a 2X converter = 780mm lens.
Chris and Nathan hiding behind the fence. I got the idea for this shot one night while trying to fall asleep.
Here's how I shot the weed wacker scene. The tree trunk was in the shadows so I used two reflectors to bounce light into the shade. The camera was down low with a 50mm f1.2 lens which is equivalent to a 100mm on a GH2.
I rarely get photos of myself working. Thanks Megan Voss!
Me sideways.
We simply taped the fishing line to the back of the signs. I was super impressed with how well this worked. I actually bought 6-pound-test line which was much thinner and probably wouldn't have shown up on film but I kinda liked the heavier 20-pount-test line because it was stronger and it looked funny that you could see the line on screen.
Jeff's and Chris and Nathan brining life to the signs with fishing line.
This is the funniest behind the scenes photo. I got a shot of Bowie the Beagle lifting his leg "just to be safe" but the shot never ended up in the final cut because I didn't want to imply that that the dog actually peed on the signs. Only that the dog was a "threat". Pretty awesome that Lucy could lift his leg with fishing line. This dog is going to be a star I tells you. A star!
Filming this video was pretty easy and also pretty hard!
I chose the local coffee shop Cafe Rista, 14213 103 ave. in Edmonton because it was quiet during the day and also the owner Simon was super accommodating.
He even let me put marks on the floor so I could keep the chairs and table in the exact same spot for each interview.
I spent a day in the coffee shop shooting test videos with myself in the chairs. I used this time to build templates for stitching the images and also work on the code for KRpano.
For a camera I just used my Canon 5D Mark-II with the Canon 8-15mm fisheye lens at 8mm. I kept the table and chairs in the same position for every video and the stitched them together after.
I used a little slider thing from an old enlarger to offset my lens a bit so I would find the no-parallax point. This helped make stitching the images together easier.
It was very important that I clamped the camera in the exact same spot for all of the interviews and also that the tables and chairs were in the exact same spot every time.
Here’s me interviewing Premier Alison Redford. The wonderful and talented Journal reporter Trish Audette actually came up with all the smart questions that I asked
For sound I used my Sennheiser wireless lav mic and I had my trusty Olympus recorder as a backup. I used my LitePanels MicroPro as a fill light.
After interviewing each leader separately and in different chairs, I used Final Cut Pro to align all the video clips. I then batch exported all the video clips and used Quicktime Pro to extract the video files into image sequences.
Once all the video was converted into still images I used PTgui to create a template and then batch stitch all of the still images into panoramas.
I them recombined all the panoramas back into video files using Quicktime Pro and synced the audio back.
I explain the process a little better here though my workflow has vastly improved since then. It pretty much changes every time I do a 360-video.
I used the amazing KRpano for displaying the 360-degree video. The HTML and Flash panorama viewer is unbelibeably powerful. Pretty much anything is possible.
In total there was 31 minutes and 50 seconds of video which works out to 45802 panoramas that I had to stitch together.
Needless to say I’ve been sitting in front of my computer way too much lately!
This has certainly been my most complicated video to date but also one of the most fun an innovative to create.
It’s not the holoceck… but we’re getting closer!
And here’s how it ran in the paper. I was sure that the caption explained that this was created from four separate images and it said “Photo Illustration by Ryan Jackson”
“99% Preparation, 1% Pressing a Button” Ryan Jackson, staff photographer with the Edmonton Journal tells the stories behind his photos and gives tips and advice to students. Failure is always an opportunity to overcome obstacles and win. Sometimes people burn down bridges to see if you can swim across. Recorded in Victoria, BC at the Canadian University Press Conference on Jan. 12, 2012.
Ryan Jackson, multimedia photojournalist with the Edmonton Journal speaks on his “I Was There” music video, the need for multimedia journalists, trends in online video, trends in technology, and tips for student journalists to experiment with video at their papers. “Will cats save Journalism?…. I don’t have all the answers.” Recorded in Victoria, BC on Jan, 14, 2012.
You can find the GoogleDoc presentation at docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhf88d7p_549m8mxppf9
and more on my blog at punkoryan.com/training
I had plenty of video portraits and moments for the music video but I really needed some hockey action!
We spent a day on a back yard hockey rink in Fort Saskatchewan and also spent a day renting out an arena to get some more action shots.
All of the characters in the film had to sign a model release so just shooting generic footage of a random hockey game wouldn’t work. I left all of my set-up action shots for the arena shoot.
The last day of shooting was street hockey which really brought everything together.
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The Journal's Ryan Jackson and Amanda Ash film pond hockey at Clayton and Crystal Amos' acreage near Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on December 4, 2011. Brandt's song is the official anthem for the 2012 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship and the video, directed by the Journal's Ryan Jackson, will be played before every game. All the characters in the video are real Albertans who embody the spirit of grassroots hockey.
The Journal
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films pond hockey with the help of young Sawyer Amos at Clayton and Crystal Amos' acreage near Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on December 4, 2011.
Left to right. Christopher, Amanda and Brayden Bellamy pose to be filmed by the Journal's Ryan Jackson the Jubilee Recreation Centre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on November 29, 2011.
Hockey fans Christopher, Amanda and Brayden Bellamy pose for a photo at the Jubilee Recreation Centre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. on November 29, 2011 (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)
Amanda Ash unloads camera gear at the Fort Saskatchewan Hockey Rink.
We made use of the whole rink!
One awesome thing about the Panasonic GH2 was how light it was with a 20mm f1.7 lens.
he Journal's Ryan Jackson sets up an overhead camera for the puck drop scene at the Jubilee Recreation Centre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video for country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" on November 29, 2011.
Overhead shot with the GH2 on a pole.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films a puck drop scene with (left to right) Tyler Mrkonjic, Stephen Petruk and Steven Canduro at the Jubilee Recreation Centre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" on November 29, 2011.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson films Tyler Mrkonjic's parents Frank and Kathy with the City of Fort Saskatchewan town council sitting in as extras in the background at the Jubilee Recreation Centre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" on November 29, 2011.
Filming the brother referees.
Directing the proud father and son.
Directing the main character Tyler Mrkonjic.
My Zacuto loupe was too big and heavy for the GH2's viewfinder so I used a Rotolight 6" Articulated Arm to hold it up. Worked great!
Here was my "data cart" with 27" 1080p monitor and 4TB hard drive.
Gear cart. This thing was a huge timesaver.
Frame grab from my GoPro mounted on a hockey stick for street hockey.
Street Hockey. The narrow street and trees made for a nice clean yet suburban-looking background.
My shot list for street hockey.
he Journal's Ryan Jackson mounted a GoPro video camera on a hockey stick for the street hockey shots for the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on December 10, 2011.
Trying to squeeze in some shots of old timers hockey.
A screen shot of the hundreds of video cuts made in Final Cut Pro of the official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" at Limbo Editing Services in Edmonton on December 11, 2011.
The Journal's Ryan Jackson in the editing suite with Adam Kidd, owner of Limbo Editing Services for official music video of country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on December 11, 2011.
Colourist Joe Owens with Presto!Digital Colourgrade colour balances and grades the final version of the music video for country music star Paul Brandt's song "I Was There" in Edmonton on December 15, 2011. Photo by Adam Kidd.
The first viewing of "I Was There" at the Edmonton Journal newsroom. It was my first time having a real audience.
All the people involved in creating the "I Was There" Music video. Left to right. Top to bottom. Adam Kid, Paul Brandt, Ryan Jackson, Shane, Deanna Smart, Amanda Ash, Sandra Marocco, Barb Wilkinson, Donna Christensen and Taryn Melnyk pose for a photo before Paul Brandt's concert at the Jubilee in Edmonton on December 12, 2011.
In conclusion this project was an amazing, challenging and rewarding experience. I met dozens of inspirational people from around Alberta and also made a new B.F.F. Amanda Ash. The Edmonton Journal and Calgary herald ran photos and Amanda Ash’s stories ran front page.
One of the most rewarding moments though was when they played the video on the big screen in the Saddledome during the bronze medal game and people stood and applauded!
![Will Munsey, volunteer Engineer for the Battle River Railway, poses for a photo in Forestburg, Alta. on December 1, 2012. The BRR is a community-owned railway line between Camrose and Alliance, Alta. The new generation co-op purchased the 80-km short-line from CN in 2008 after they announced they were going to sell off the rails for scrap. By keeping the line active, local area farmers are able to save money and time transporting their grain. The co-op also turns a profit which it returns to it's shareholders and plans to offer tourism and oil transport in the future. [Note: Munsey is also the president of the Alberta Party. That is unrelated to the story] (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal)](http://punkoryan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/rj_Battle_River_Railway_20121201_04-1024x682.jpg)
And here’s how it ran in the paper. I was sure that the caption explained that this was created from four separate images and it said “Photo Illustration by Ryan Jackson”
