I love being creative. In fact I am always thinking of new ideas and concepts I want to explore. I am constantly writing down script ideas in my notebook, sketching characters I want to animate, and trying out new programs to see what I can create. I am starting a new blog series called: Side Project Hustle where I talk about some of the cool personal projects I am working on and what they are all about.

Most recently I have been working on two specific things that I am really excited about. Today I am going to talk about one that is really just a learning project where I am experimenting with different cameras. I’ve spent the majority of my career using a Canon C300, but I have also worked with a variety of DSLR, Sony, and RED cameras.

This past week I played with an older Panasonic camcorder and I had a blast. This camcorder is incredible and while it’s time consuming I really enjoyed having to go through the process of capturing the footage in Premiere since the camera records onto Mini DV tapes.

As soon as I held the camera in my hand I felt like I was a part of a news crew. Like I should be in a van waiting to jump out at any sign of action on the streets. That news was happening somewhere and I needed to be the one to capture it. The only thing was I wasn’t in a van I was in my studio apartment, so instead of jumping out of a moving vehicle I just walked outside onto the street. It was less exciting, but also safer.

So what do I do when I am just playing with a camera outside? Lots of things. I shot b-roll of the streets, peoples feet walking by, the train, and I even turned the camera on myself. My arms weren’t really long enough to shoot myself, so I quickly abandoned that strategy. My main goal was to get comfortable with the settings and know what to update on the fly if I needed to make adjustments quickly. If there is one thing that I have learned from working in production is that if you have a camera in your hand, you better be able to use it. AND you better be able to use it quickly.

It couldn’t have been better timing that my friend reached out and wanted to shoot some videos behind the scenes of a project they were working on. So after getting better acquainted with the camera I got to put my skills in action for a BTS shoot at a recording studio.

My friends project isn’t live yet, so when it is I will update this post to reflect the final output.

What you should know is that we captured a ton of good content. A sufficient amount of b-roll, sound bites about the project, and tons of incredibly awesome organic moments behind the scenes.

I loved working with this camera and I plan to use it again in the future. One of my favorite things about this model was the manual zoom. It was incredibly smooth and easy to work with.

My experience using this Panasonic Camcorder was awesome and it provided me with the look and feel I wanted to accomplish for my friends BTS shoot.

Well, that’s it for now. If you read this far, thank you. More to come on my Side Project Hustle soon.

Current song obsession: Self Taught - Brother Ali

Currently reading: Ex Machina, Book 2 and How To Rap

Currently learning: Adobe Character Animator