Category Archives: Video

《試後求分》音樂短片

General, Political Economy, Video

著名本土青年經濟學者，香港中文大學經濟系助理教授梁天卓月底將會赴美任新教職。Tommy在中大任教多年，一眾同學及同事當然依依不捨。所以我地就拍咗段音樂短片為佢餞行—型格教授遇上求分學生，擦出《試後求分》！

是次制作零成本進行，靠的是一群多才多藝的學生和舊生。台前有中大本土代表Jerry Yuen Tak Chi及社唱冠軍Li Ching，幕後有學系的教研助理Jason、William、Stanley以及Tommy的碩士學生，即將升讀博士的Jöanne及Döuglas。

【植入廣告】如果有DSE嘅同學想入讀一個俾到學生自由去發展嘅學系， 中大經濟系係個唔錯嘅選擇！CUHK Economics嘅聯招編號係JS4824。係 4-8-2-4，非常易記。【植入廣告完】

一路順風，去片！

不如Kickstart警界線

General, Political Economy, Video

以拍攝警匪片的技巧論，《警界線》雖然比荷理活還有一定差距，但比起無線的確高出幾班。事實上，無線近年所謂「警匪片」的製作班底明顯只懂拍愛情恩仇戲，作為動作片則連亞視舊作「國際刑警1997」、「我和殭屍有個約會」等都及不上。

若要民和港視的員工，繼續拍片會是一個很有效的方法。但光以網絡作廣播，王維基亦解釋是難以收回每集約一百萬的成本。面對這情況，香港電視或可考慮以kickstarter的形式集資—例如每籌得三十萬元就開拍一集。觀乎政總集會的人數，我相信香港是有足夠市民和我一樣願意以每集一百數十元的代價支持香港電視在當下繼續營運。而《警界線》有本錢這樣做，是因為真正警匪片的受眾本來就是現時愛上網的階層而不是師奶。

Video

綠葉王：陳安瑩做足100分

香港的影視界既封閉又被壟斷，以至藝人收入微薄。其實如果有藝人公司有心，業餘短片市是有可為的。現在即使是有一定演技的特約演員，很多時候也只收數百元一天。花數千元就可以有十來個專業演員，比花個大錢買昂貴單反器材實在太花算了。

De-clicking Canon FD lens to get stepless aperture

General, Photos, Tech Zone, Video

Dedicated video lenses usually feature stepless aperture to allow for smooth adjustment of exposure. Most still photography lenses, in contrast, feature stepped aperture adjustment. This guide demonstrates how to “de-click” Canon FD lenses to get stepless aperture.

Before you continue, note that

  1. De-clicking is easy. All you need to do is to unscrew the rear and take out one or two things.
  2. The process will not introduce dust into your lens—the optical assembly is sealed in one piece inside the lens.
  3. There is a “cheat” that gives you continuous aperture adjustment without the hassle of opening up the lens. All you need to do is set your lens to the smallest aperture, then turn the ring on the FD adapter. The downside of this cheat is you do not have any indication of which f-stop you are at.

With that in mind, if you still believe de-clicking is useful—and I personally do find that being the case—here is a quick demonstration on how to do so.

1. Take apart the lens from the rear and remove parts that cause un-smooth movement

taken apart

You need to remove the two parts indicated by the blue arrows if you want the aperture ring to rotate smoothly. If you can stand the un-smoothness, however, you can keep the parts on—with the parts on, step 2 alone is actually sufficient to give you stepless aperture.

2. Remove the piston

piston

On lens such as the the 28mm—in which you lock by rotating the whole lens—the piston underneath the aperture ring provides the click. Remove the piston de-clicks the lens. If you have kept the two parts on in the first step, you can now re-assemble the lens.

If instead your FD lens locks with a rotating metal ring, you will need to remove the two ball bearings inside the aperture ring.

3. Removing the spring holding the aperture selector

remove spring

At this point if you re-assemble the lens without the jiggering parts, you will notice that the aperture bounces back when you try to set a small aperture. This is due to the spring mechanism used in FD lens’ aperture control: the aperture ring is actually only capable of driving the aperture in one direction; reverse movement is driven by the spring holding the aperture selector. Removing the spring solves this issue.

4. Linking the aperture ring to the aperture diaphragm


linking

Because the aperture ring is designed to only drive the aperture in one direction, you need to manually link the aperture ring to the diaphragm. Here I used a short polyester thread, lopping around the coupling pin on the diaphragm and held underneath the link on the aperture ring. Make sure the aperture size match up with the f-stop indicated on the aperture ring.

If your FD lens locks with a rotating metal ring, you will be lopping around the coupling fork instead:


link to driver

5. Re-assemble the lens. It’s done!

鴨寮街瑩記—談錄影器材的普及化

General, Tech Zone, Video

難得今天逛了一轉已經好久沒去過的鴨寮街瑩記。從瑩記賣的器材可以看到普及攝影的發展。相比四年前，錄影的器材明顯多了。以前我要自己改裝燈箱以用上多過一個慳電膽，現在可以買得到（淨箱$600），slider、matte box、follow focus都有（slider：$2800唔連頭，matte box：$4000連french flags，均屬低價，但以價論質個人還是建議用外國貨。Follow focus配套不佳，不建議）。

這也是在預期之內—掌握好攝影之後，錄影是很自然的下一步。新型單反機普遍有錄影功能、電腦運算及儲存能力日益加增等也是原因。

數碼單反機的普及令好些攝影行業式微，相同的命運會否也在等待著錄像製作？我想大概不會。有別於攝影，錄影製作一般講求團隊合作。單人匹馬可以影得到靚相，但要拍一齣好錄像就很難了。長一點的現場錄影，單機拍攝出來會悶得很。拍戲則需要演員、編劇、製片、導演、收音員等等。這不單是找夠人頭的問題，而是團隊是需時磨合，且不是每個人的貢獻都會受到觀眾注意。

錢也是問題。專業的錄影器材比專業的攝影器材還要貴上好多倍，是以電影製作多是租用器材。相比單反機在日常生活中的多用途，又有多少人願意負擔用途甚少的錄影器材？

當然，這是以整體社會而言。我相信錄影器材的普及化能幫助演藝學生這樣的有心人以低成本拍出媲美商業製作的錄像作品。在外國，所謂的indie production—姑且譯之為「業餘製作」，以別於獨立發行之商業製作—水準可以很高，不少名導演就是這樣出身的。在香港，眼見本地電視劇集製作之每況愈下，不由得更祈求indie production早日興起。

Metrics Videos 08

General, Political Economy, Video

This is becoming a tradition. For the third year in a role Berkeley Economics PhD class of 2010 has produced what now known as “Metrics Videos”–videos that mock the life of economic graduate students. This year Metrics Videos are our biggest production ever, featuring real professors, dozens of graduate student extras, HD recording, special effects, etc. Besides that we also set a new record in the time we finish product, as principle photography was done over a week ahead of the skit party. A big thank you has to be given to all the faculties involved, particularly Prof. Powell and Prof. Ruud who actually performed the music in “No Dissertation”.

So without further due, enjoy the show:



No Dissertation from ticoneva on Vimeo.


Stronger from ticoneva on Vimeo.

Note: To view the clips in High Definition click on the link beneath each video instead of watching it here. If you cannot see the videos click here.