GoPro Video - Brands Hatch Trackday

Hedgehogfromhell

Hedgehogfromhell

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Simon
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Well, first off, apologies if this is the wrong section for videos, but i really couldnt find the section for actual videos to be uploaded to instead of just talking about them! :LOL:

I actually recorded several more videos, but for some strange reason my gopro only saved (or more than likely) overwrote the majority.. Leaving me with about 2-4 useful videos. Has anyone else suffered from this?

Unfortunately, my exhaust, whilst passing drive by comfortably, utterly battered the noise sensors when it came to any gear changes, lifting off etc - by letting loose an assortment of supernova-like (complete with 4ft flame) shotgun cracks. I was warned once and took that and the fact i'd powered through 58 laps (70miles) and emptied my tank as a sign to call it quits - thus i didn't manage to get any external shots :(

In fact, whilst writing this up i've decided to drop in the first video i did over a year back now.. I learnt pretty quickly that the microphone was guff in the GoPro and currently run an external Olympus mic.

First Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEPipmz00To

Trackday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xmoq4oNYBc

Comments etc welcome, i am a proper rookie when it comes to video.
 
From a safety point of view, excessive speed on a single track road could prove fatal if some poor unsuspecting soul came the other way, I assume it wasn't a closed road!

The first video is good perhaps the early sequence is a little overlong for such a samey shot, overall good though. In the second interior shots were overexposed, detracting from it, in view of the fact that you didn't show the full lap you may as well have made more cuts from exterior to interior to impart some pace, but overall quite good.

You should have put this in the video section. :D
 
artyman said:
From a safety point of view, excessive speed on a single track road could prove fatal if some poor unsuspecting soul came the other way, I assume it wasn't a closed road!
Click to expand...

Not an officially closed road no, however, in this case, 4 friends with a set of high power radios at the 4 junctions along the route and a receiver in the car do the trick. In order to increase safety a recce is performed on a set of locations, where traffic frequency is monitored and OS mapping confirmed to be true. A brief bit of planning, normally selecting the least used route, and plotting a small security box where we can have 'control' (via radio traffic to the video car) over traffic that exists within that route then out and get the footage (normally complete within 15 minutes).
Quite frankly the speeds were definitely not as excessive as you probably think - at the NSL (give or take 5mph over at the max) - which the road is rated for, but the fact the road is sided by high bush lines 'closes in' the perspective and makes it 'feel' faster, combined with the excessively noisy engine and exhaust systems. Also, that road isn't an often used road since the newer, faster roads were built, less than one car an hour.

For those wondering, i just felt the need to explain that there is a lot of safety built in behind the scenes - to set viewers minds at ease - where one person thinks it, so does another after all and i'm more than happy to confirm that it's not the irresponsible drive it initially looks - never been known to do things by halves or recklessly.

With reference to the full lap, there is one in there, where the timecode starts and finishes! The GoPro is a bloody nightmare, it keeps overwriting the videos that i record so the reality is i did in fact lose alot of my footage. Secondly, i had an issue with noise - drive by and static were totally fine, although the backfires could rival a supernova. Once i got a warning that the backfires were popping the noise machine i had to pretty much call it the end of the day - 58 laps totalling 70 miles @ 6mpg - at the cost of not getting my external shots from the 3 mounting positions. In the end i had to make do with what i had left.
The exposure is a nightmare on the go pro, initially it was underexposed, then overexposed - i found it very hard to get the exposure correct on a constantly changing weather front... As well as keep the car on the track!
 
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Regarding Vid 1 - don't forget that you need to tell a story, which should consist of a beginning, a middle and an end - i found it somewhat distracting to be presented with a static shot of a car with not real reason throughout the video, the prolonged footage of country lanes was also somewhat tedious, keep it short and sweet.

moving forwards, I would suggest you consider what you are trying to convey, was it the journey to brands hatch? - if so, opening door, getting in car, quick snappy clips of driving there, don't over do the clips we live in a society where people have short attention spans after all :) - show some signs for brands hatch, arriving there, parking up - then some under bonnet, brakes, engine shots and finally out on track.

it's all in the story telling, keep up the good work!(y)
 
nice vid if it was me i would blank the reg plate if the cops get hold of that vid your bums in hot water
 
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