15 replies to this topic

[Sputnik]

For those of you who are interested... maybe you did the run and want to re-live it... or are interested in what the run was like... i've now posted vids of quite a few of the last few SARRC runs plus a few others.

There's the 30km Hills to Henley, Yurrebilla Training run part 2 and 3, the Adelaide Marathon and i'm about to upload last weekend's 32km Sea to Summit Trail run.

For those of you who don't already know me, keep in mind i'm no performance runner... just sharing my experience as i train for the NY Marathon in November...

Hope they're of some interest to you.

http://swashbucklers...;nav_top_id=111

[backpacker]

Thanks Sputnik. I am a huge fan. I love your stuff. Thanks for sharing it. Will we see one of yurrebilla? Can't wait.

[sunny1]

Love them Sput ... keep them coming! Especially looking forward to the New York Marathon!!

[Ploddin]

Just watched the last one.
Really enjoy watching them as it shows the effort required to finish these runs.
How lucky is that girl - being that close to one of those drop bears and surviving.
Keep up the good work.

[Sputnik]

SARRC Sea to Summit run video up now!

http://swashbucklers...c...111&dsb=217

[chilliman]

Sputnik, on Sep 16 2010, 02:23 AM, said:

Hope they're of some interest to you.

Thanks Sputnik.
I'm interested if you use any sort of jitter filtering during/post editing ?

We were experimenting with little head cams for a while on trails, but I had to hand out sea sickness tabs to potential viewers.

[Perseus]

chilliman, on Sep 16 2010, 08:24 PM, said:

I'm interested if you use any sort of jitter filtering during/post editing ?

The audio's pretty impressive. The wind, at the Adelaide Marathon, was so noisy along beach that I was shouting. If anything, the video gives a false impression of the wind.

Ed. btw, I think the video's excellent

Edited by perseus, 16 September 2010 - 10:55 PM.

[Sputnik]

chilliman, on Sep 16 2010, 07:54 PM, said:

Thanks Sputnik.
I'm interested if you use any sort of jitter filtering during/post editing ?

We were experimenting with little head cams for a while on trails, but I had to hand out sea sickness tabs to potential viewers.

It's a good question, and obviously even in mine, the movement is a bit of a problem... but no, no editing tricks, that's just the straight footage... a few basic observations tho:

1. i believe the small camera i use has a very basic image stabilizer in it. not great, but prob better than nothing.
2. a lot of the footage is obviously of myself, so holding the camera pointed at yourself actually avoids some of the problem you have when pointing a moving camera at a fixed object (ie scenery) where that movement can be exaggerated
3. at the risk of stating the obvious, i try and hold the camera really still... which works reasonably well as per above, filming myself... but filming the surrounds is still crapiola.

even mine is very much a work in progress. but at the end of the day for a decent quality product i reckon running + filming = pretty average footage. i'm actually looking forward to maybe having some runs off next year and i'll just come out and shoot some stuff with my proper film gear... will be sweet! AND you won't have to put up with me in it! ;-)

[TerryC]

Love your work Sputnik and was wondering about the stabilising side of things especially when you  are filming yourself. I remember in the City to Surf events years ago when they would cross to a video head cam runner - actually never really worked so well I reckon because it was attached tothe head - good for getting a sense of what the runner did and didn't see but not so great for viewing.

Watching your videos made me wonder if anyone has ever used one of those video harness stabilisers that you see the guys use running up and down on the sidelines of the footy games... You'd think that some light weight harness of similar design for a light weight video cam would be the go... Chilliman - in your spare time could you please invent, patent, market and remember me as you retire on your millions...

Edited by TerryC, 17 September 2010 - 12:24 AM.

[Sputnik]

TerryC, on Sep 16 2010, 10:47 PM, said:

Love your work Sputnik and was wondering about the stabilising side of things especially when you  are filming yourself. I remember in the City to Surf events years ago when they would cross to a video head cam runner - actually never really worked so well I reckon because it was attached tothe head - good for getting a sense of what the runner did and didn't see but not so great for viewing.

Watching your videos made me wonder if anyone has ever used one of those video harness stabilisers that you see the guys use running up and down on the sidelines of the footy games... You'd think that some light weight harness of similar design for a light weight video cam would be the go... Chilliman - in your spare time could you please invent, patent, market and remember me as you retire on your millions...

Ha! great question... actually, this is kind of embarrassing to admit, but i just asked the guy who was steadicam operator on Angeline Jolie's latest film 'Salt' the exact same question... was there a small/lightweight version of the steadicam system he uses. sadly, the answer is no. certainly not anything small/light enough you could run with for any length of time.

i think the bottom line is, you can either do a decent job filming, or a decent job running, but trying to do a bit of both is always going to be a bit of a problem. if i was a better runner i could perhaps stop more and film the locations and other runners etc but as it is, if i stop to film, i may never finish!

thanks for your feedback tho. these things, as average as they are, obviously take a bit of time and effort to shoot and edit so i'm glad someone, somewhere is enjoying them. feel free to contact me on sputnik@ootw.com.au anytime with any suggestions you may have as well. if there's something you'd like to see more or less of, i'd be happy to consider it and see what i can do.

[jenny the orienteer]

Sputnik, on Sep 16 2010, 08:02 PM, said:

SARRC Sea to Summit run video up now!

http://swashbucklers...c...111&dsb=217

Hey, I just watched that, it was cool! Almost made me want to run it again (though I sure wasn't thinking that on Tuesday). I had a good chuckle about the loose toenails. I reckon I lost 3 or 4 after Cradle Mtn - and why am I thinking about entering that again?

Edit: I just watched the one of the final Yurrebilla training run. Nice to have video evidence of how much water was in the creek then. BTW, good luck with the NY marathon (and the full Yurrebilla)!

Edited by jenny the orienteer, 17 September 2010 - 06:57 PM.

[chilliman]

Sputnik, on Sep 16 2010, 10:28 PM, said:

1. i believe the small camera i use has a very basic image stabilizer in it. not great, but prob better than nothing.

Yep, much better than the little cameras we velcro'd to our caps.

I thought at the time I had some great footage too, climbing and descending. But on inspection all I had was 15mins of the runners bum and legs in front, then a jiggling blurry mess flying down the saddle trail of the YouYangs.

Sputnik, on Sep 17 2010, 07:37 AM, said:

i think the bottom line is, you can either do a decent job filming, or a decent job running, but trying to do a bit of both is always going to be a bit of a problem.

Agreed, although I have now have a renewed interest in experimenting since Terry's post.       

I did play with some software a while back that focused on an object within a frame, then moved the next jittered frame out of frame to align the objects. It then trimmed around the overlapping frames to keep the centred more stable image.  Worked ok when you had a central point of focus, but not too good on a twisty windy trail.

Anyway keep the videos coming, I especially love them when i'm stuck here in Vic and away from the great trails and runners of SA.

Ed: either Terry has changed the course a hell of a lot on the S2S, or you've indeed had of a lot of rain. Can't remember any of those creek crossings, even without water.

[Sputnik]

chilliman, on Sep 17 2010, 07:28 PM, said:

Ed: either Terry has changed the course a hell of a lot on the S2S, or you've indeed had of a lot of rain. Can't remember any of those creek crossings, even without water.

Terry would be the best person to comment on that cause i was living and cambodia and wasn't a runner last year so have never done S2S before... but i do believe i heard him say there were some changes to the course this year.

[Sputnik]

CITY TO BAY

OK, i know a lot of SARRCers might not do City to Bay cause there's just so many damn people... and ones who cut in front of you, and block your way, and all kinds of annoying things at that.

but i thought, what the heck, i'll go do a little timed run and see how i'm traveling and as usual took my trusty camera and managed to film a few bits and pieces in between zigging and zagging... and for all the 'traffic' i'll be damned if there isn't something pretty cool about running with 30,000 other people!

http://swashbucklers...;nav_top_id=111

[chilliman]

Sputnik, on Sep 20 2010, 06:28 PM, said:

CITY TO BAY

Thanks Sputnik, as I said in the other thread, it was the first time i'd missed it since my first in 2002, almost like I was there.

Well done on cracking the sub 60.

Sub 50 next year without the chitchat and camera.

[rocker]

chilliman, on Sep 17 2010, 07:58 PM, said:

Ed: either Terry has changed the course a hell of a lot on the S2S, or you've indeed had of a lot of rain. Can't remember any of those creek crossings, even without water.

Course was different to reduce road-running and yes we did have lots of rain a week earlier. We were knee deep in water. Also, each time you have run it was mid-summer.