martial arts documentary i shot and edited

[bluemotion]

my first documentary style video shot on a canon XH A1 camcorder. edited with final cut 6. just finished yesterday. http://vimeo.com/3181036

[blue9]

A good documentary indeed.
However when you are filming the stage show, the autofocus is working all the time and in periods it's totally out of focus. If your camera can lock the focus i would recommend you to do this as often as possible the same with exposure. I would also try to use a tripod as often as possible to.

[osv]

audio is half the presentation, and i like the sound track.

watch out for the horizon lines.

[Zepher]

I like the content of the program, very interesting.
But there are elements that distract the viewer from enjoying the program.
1. Don't use auto focus.
2. If you have to zoom in, make sure you are very steady or use a tripod.
3. If you want to use the moving camera effect, use it while you are shooting wide and close, this way you can keep the camera easily locked onto the subject while still moving the camera for that "you are there" effect. It also makes the moves less jerky.
4. Tighten up your edits.

[bluemotion]

yea.. i didn't have a tripod and that was what happened there with the shakiness when zoomed in alot.. =p but just got a nice manfrotto tripod and should be good next go around... =) as far as the focus.. i actually set it to manual.. and just focused out and in for effect, i saw it on this one documentary and thought it looked cool, but in the end i think it was a blunder... next time i'll do the focusing from out to in, but on the slow mo shots like the beginning of the video and a couple other parts, but i definitelly agree it was overdone at certain parts and i have alot of friends who critiqued me about that.. i made another draft of the documentary today and i cut alot of that out, so i think the new version looks cleaner... but thanks for the critiquing.. it'll definitely help on my next video.. =)

[salexande867]

The video has a lot of potential, but the focus issues were very distracting.