GoPro advice for a newbie?

[FlashUNC]

Anyone around these parts a fan of the GoPro and making some sweet videos?

One of the biggest requests I've gotten from buddies back home is videos from some of the rides here in the Bay Area. But I'm hesitant because most videos I see fall into two camps:

1) Filmed through a layer of Vaseline while someone cranks a blow dryer on high at the microphone.

2) Ken Block's production team was involved and someone is way, way into EDM or house music.

Any tips or suggestions on how to put together something that looks competent that I won't spend all day filming like some knob, but isn't so terrible it looks like it was filmed by a former Taliban camera crew?

[MattTuck]

This is more of a general comment, but it may help.

Humans like stories. It is part of our culture and we're neurologically programmed to follow them.

So, if you're going to make a video of the ride, think about the story you're going to tell. You may want to go so far as story-boarding the ride. I'm not sure if you're talking about organized group rides or just rides in nice weather.

The kinds of shots you may want to think about are those that give context. Wide angle shots of the scenery, taking your bike out of the car. Rolling out on the ride. Some highlights from the ride.

People like different perspectives as well. If possible, change the mounts around. Some low angle stuff. If you can, maybe some close-ups of your hands shifting and braking combined with close-ups of your brakes actuating and/or your derailleurs working.

Remember that the story is key, and try to keep all your shots as part of the broader story. If I can remember what the parts of the story are from high school, I think you need setting, plot, characters, conflict and resolution. So, any time you press that button to record, think about how it is going to contribute to the story.

A 3-5 minute video with that kind of structure is going to be infinitely more enjoyable to watch than 30 minutes of front facing ride footage.

[LesMiner]

Some the preceding suggestions are not practical for a newbie. Additional video of the brake actuating, gears shifting, low angle near the road, etc. Would need a lot more than just out for a ride. Video files from GoPro are huge. It typically breaks the video time into 45 minute segments at several giga bytes each. First go out for a ride. Go with a group. Pick a scenic route. Mount the GoPro on your helmet. Record like a travelogue. Pan your head to capture interesting scenes. Editing is the biggest part of it all. You can download Microsoft Movie Maker for free. You can then add titles and keep just the interesting parts. Keep conversations with other riders just to add more interest. If you post on You Tube, music is limited. It will not allow you to put music from just anywhere. The artists have rights to their music and You Tube protects that. They do provide some music you can use without any infringement issues.

[tiretrax]

Years ago, I mounted a gorilla-pod on my handle bars and loaded up a point and shoot Canon. I let it roll on parts of the climb and all of the descents while I was in Colorado. My family still loves to watch it, especially when I'm going 50+ mph over washboard asphalt. No story boarding, just shooting.

I do agree with Matt that some panoramic introductory shots are good to establish the context. I have watched a lot of videos that were edited and have music added to fit the time. If you post it on Youtube, it will require the use of non-copurighted music without permission of the owner.

[Jaq]

If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, then a GoPro vid shot at 30 fps, is 30,000 words every second. That's a Game of Thrones novel about every 10 seconds.

So keep your editing tight and remember: less is more.

[foo_fighter]

It's pretty much all in the editing and pre-planning of what you want show. Here's one of my favorite CX videos....it's oddly compelling, and no EDM:

https://vimeo.com/11695455

It probably took tons of back and forth to retrieve that cam.

[FlashUNC]

It's pretty much all in the editing and pre-planning of what you want show. Here's one of my favorite CX videos....it's oddly compelling, and no EDM:

https://vimeo.com/11695455

It probably took tons of back and forth to retrieve that cam.

I do like the ambient sound there. And you're right. Probably lots of shuffling back and forth over a couple rides to get it all down.

[onekgguy]

I've been taking videos of some of my rides for the last several years. I started by splicing together some random footage I'd take with my first smartphone held out in front of me. (https://vimeo.com/album/1465211/video/16357404) It was okay but it was falling short of what I was aiming for.

Then I got a GoPro.

The GoPro allows me to just let the camera run. I can get about 2.5 hours out of a 32gb card and nearly the same length of time from a battery in warmer weather. Temps in the teens and less considerably reduce the amount of time I get from a battery.

A few hours of video can be a lot to sift through when trying to assemble shots for a video so I'll often make mental notes along the way of scenes that I can maybe use for a final edit. And yes, it's all in the editing; trying to get scenes that fit the music or words and such.

Some of my background music I'll get from FMA (http://freemusicarchive.org/) (free music archive) where artists are happy to have you use their music for free provided you acknowledge them in the information segment of the video.

Here's a video from last summer (https://vimeo.com/album/1465211/video/98233245) that I think turned out well and here's a link to my "ride" videos (https://vimeo.com/album/1465211) on Vimeo.

I've been using iMovie for the past couple of years to process my videos. Prior to that I was using Adobe.

Play around and have fun with it. I'd love to see more videos from others here and what they experience on their rides.

Kevin g

[maxn]

I've tried a bunch of different mounts, and I like the K-edge handlebar mount the most. I usually throw away the audio or at the very least mix it way down. I also favor higher frame rate over high res... the video seems smoother.

[carpediemracing]

Story is key for me. I have a couple DVDs produced at some relatively high expense (for someone else, by someone else) and I never watched either of them all the way through. It's just riders zipping by the camera, the video never engages the viewer. Might as well be sitting at a rest stop watching cars go by on the highway. I suppose for a background such a thing would be okay, like having a non-story clip playing in the background instead of having a fish tank.

I enjoy music so music that I enjoy is nice. Obviously people have different tastes so if it's music I don't like I'm hitting mute and playing my own music. If it's my own clip I've chosen the music and tried to make it appropriate for the situation so I'll stop other noises (mp3 player etc) to experience my own clip's music.

Of course all the above is for entertainment. There are clips made for other reasons, like how to, I don't know, installing a clutch, and those clips have completely different needs. If you're making a documentary or informational clip ("this is the bit where there are rough patches to the right of the road") then a good clip would be something different.

[onekgguy]

I've tried a bunch of different mounts, and I like the K-edge handlebar mount the most. I usually throw away the audio or at the very least mix it way down. I also favor higher frame rate over high res... the video seems smoother.

I agree. I like this mount best and I've tried several.

Kevin g

[weisan]

I prefer rear mounted. Got all the accessories off eBay for cheap. Here I am using the Garmin Virb set on time lapse mode. This is their base model which was discontinued recently and I got it for less than $100. So far, I am quite satisfied with its quality/features, it meets my needs. Editing is done using their free software Virb Edit. I don't aspire to make any award winning videos , just a guy recording stuff here and there and like to tinker and experiment with stuff for fun.
https://vimeo.com/119642784

[NickR]

Anyone around these parts a fan of the GoPro and making some sweet videos?

One of the biggest requests I've gotten from buddies back home is videos from some of the rides here in the Bay Area. But I'm hesitant because most videos I see fall into two camps:

1) Filmed through a layer of Vaseline while someone cranks a blow dryer on high at the microphone.

2) Ken Block's production team was involved and someone is way, way into EDM or house music.

Any tips or suggestions on how to put together something that looks competent that I won't spend all day filming like some knob, but isn't so terrible it looks like it was filmed by a former Taliban camera crew?

It takes practice, my first video recorded to much and didn't know what to do with all the video. Second video recorded to little video and didn't have the "right shots". Eventually you to start to think, about what you want in the video and try to capture it. Here some videos below, in all the videos I've made compromises, either due to audio, music, video quality, upload limits etc...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIL3FzBIlTU

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=827020374003775&set=vb.100000874608339&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=833180023387810&set=vb.100000874608339&type=3&theater