Impromptu Train Documentary

[kevin_standlee]

While Lisa and I were visiting the Western Pacific Railway Museum last month, she shot a bunch of video to get more experience handling the big Panasonic camera. She also fitted me with a microphone so we could get good sound while I talked about trains. Lisa has edited the first set of video she shot during that trip, which was a series I improvised about UP business car 105, which is on display at the museum.

"Union Pacific Business Car 105" (Watch on YouTube)

I was mostly making this up after looking at the placards and using what I know about railroads. I'm sure I could have done better if I'd had an actual script and time to practice. Also, we did need to dodge the relatively few other people who were visiting that day. Because no trains were running and it was late in their season, there weren't many people around, but that's good for what we wanted to do.

Lisa says that she knows her technique isn't the best, but she's eager to learn more and just needs more practice.

We did have to reassure the people at the museum that, despite the professional camera, we were not shooting a "professional" video and only intended to post what we shot on YouTube. I don't even try to monetize my videos, as I see no point to it.

Comments

[solarbird]

Would've been nice to see into one of the staterooms, and more of the lounge - say, a long, slow 360 degree pan while you do a voiceover. (Slower pan than you think, really.)

[kevin_standlee]

Agreed, and that was part of the plan, I think. Unfortunately, the shots of the staterooms and of the lounge (and of the kitchen and dining areas) didn't turn out good enough to use, apparently. That's part of learning how to make the settings work on the camera.

[kevin_standlee]

Follow-up: Lisa advises me that the lens that came with the camera has too long a focal length to do the shots of staterooms due to the cramped nature of a railroad car. We don't have the money to buy a shorter-focus lens.

There was a scene that would have done a better job of describing one of the rooms, but I flubbed it up so badly that it went to the bit bucket.