Von Usedom's Hussars

Just an assembly of some of my 2nd Unit stuff from the other weekend.

Enjoy

A fun look at the level of detail that those reenactors go to perfect their art. Is a lot of their stuff/gear actual WWII German military supply?

Nice work on the video aspect as well John. You covered it very well being the 2nd camera. It's hard doing that because you are trying to get great stuff as well, but also staying out of the way of the 1st unit. Not an easy thing to do unless you are completely separated from the 1st.

What picture profile did you use for this and did you do any CC to the footage afterwards?

I had not really met the group previously and was a bit apprehensive. There is the inevitable conclusion that they will be a bunch of neo **** ubber fascists but nothing could be further from the truth. They are a really nice group of guys with very normal lives and jobs. There are lawyers, a guy who works for Aston Martin, Doctors, professional dealers and assassins (I might have made the last one up.)

Most of them came into living history as collectors and, through collecting/swapping and dealing in millitaria, met others and ended up joining up. A good proportion of the gear is original, particularly the bits spread around the trench, but the uniforms in most cases are reproduction. This is just as well considering the abuse they (obviously) subject them to and noting an original could go for thousands. None the less the top quality reproduction gear they use, which is as close to authentic in every way aside age, is far from cheap.

There is something of a paradox in that the original stuff doesn't always look right as it is 60 years old but they are portraying a time when the item would have been nearly new. This being the case a good reproduction is probably better.

They are certainly dedicated and have appeared in feature films and TV series and acted as technical consultants for books, magazines, TV & Film. A great bunch of guys, great fun to work with, and a great shoot all round.

Onto the technical stuff:-

I used the Philip Bloom recommendation of Canon neutral with saturation knocked back -2.

In Vegas I added a gnats of sharpening and colour to the main time line. Saturation was knocked back further but CC was still really tricky because of the snow. I ended up with highs and lows going to blue/green and a bit of orange in the mid to try to balance out the skin tones. I generally work the highs and lows to compliment each other but that sent the snow pink.