How did they make this vid?

[NewFilmmaker]

A couple of friends and me want to do a video like the "DollarShaveClub" vid.

But how did they do it? A steady-cam and focus puller? A Dolly? What about the light and sound? What lens?

I shoot with a 5D mark III and 50mm.

Thanks

DollarShaveClub.com - Our Blades Are F***ing Great

 

[Denisas Pupka]

First shot probably was made with slider, the rest with flycam. Not sure about lenses, but for this kind of shooting I would probably choose ~35mm, or maybe even wider, and aperture not opened too much, because will be difficult to catch focus at all the time moving subject.

 

[Videoshooter]

Looks like it's possibly a dolly - It doesn't have that floating feel that steadycam gives, though it could just be an incredibly talented operator. No focus puller required because (a) they have shot with a fairly deep DOF and (b) the camera stays roughly the same distance from the actor in all the steadycam/dolly shots.

 

[paul13walnut5]

Either steadicam or jib on track and dolly. Probably latter.

Focus puller on opening shot, probably dedicated crew member, would take a couple of runs at it and use lens markings, or markings on an off camera follow focus.

Mic'd overhead out of frame on boom, possibly some foley work (record actor immediately before take, synch it in over live action shot)

Softbox close to camera, possibly mounted on jib platform for consistent perspective.

Deceptively expensive shoot, very nicely done. As usual, the more natural it looks, the more expensive and tricky it probably was to do.

 

[Sith Zombie]

My vote is for dolly, like others have said, It doesn't have that 'floaty' steaicam feel but I guess you could use one of those if your on a budget? To me it looks like they used the same lens all through the shoot, or possibly 2 within in the range of 24mm-35mm. Nice vid tho, hope yours comes out good too

 

[Ryan708]

I love how they made this clip go badly on purpose and natural looking as paul said

 

[Nick Gombinsky]

First one could be a dolly or even a steady cam. All the rest it was a steadycam.

Why it didn't float? Floating is a side-effect of cheap steadycams. It shouldn't float. And it doesn't on this video. But, on some shots, another side effect of steadycams was visible, the horizon twitched a bit sometimes. Balancing a steadycam rig is not easy, but I could see that it was a good steadycam op.
All of them had a focus puller, but the first shot wasn't really good on that area, that's why we all noticed and thought it only had one on that shot. But if you set your eyes on the background and foreground on each shot, you'll see that the out-of-focus changes a lot and not just because the camera is moving away from them. The guy walking also doesn't walk at a constant speed, hence the need for a focus puller. Probably with a whip.

The internet nowadays is full of filmmakers that learn on their own, or want to be the next big thing without actually working their way up, or maybe they just take it as a hobby. As a result, there are a lot of videos and products for filmmaking that aren't good. There are shitloads of cheap "steadycams" that give you that "floating" effect, and a lot of people reviewing them saying they are awesome, and a lot of other people that "learn" from them. I've seen a lot of these videos and none tell you that steadycam ops not only have good gear, there is a technique involved, how you walk, how you handle yourself, has a lot of impact on how much the footage will be stabilized.

On the camera side, I'd say it was with a 7D and a 24mm for most of it, judging from depth of fields and background blurs.

Hope it helps. I do this for a living (DP for small/medium things and focus puller for medium/big), so any question I'll try to answer it.

 

[Axilrod]

A couple of friends and me want to do a video like the "DollarShaveClub" vid.

But how did they do it? A steady-cam and focus puller? A Dolly? What about the light and sound? What lens?

I shoot with a 5D mark III and 50mm.

Thanks

DollarShaveClub.com - Our Blades Are F***ing Great

It looks like they probably used a 7D, which (because of the smaller sensor size) has less shallow depth of field and is therefore easier to pull focus with. It's properly lit so they probably stopped down a bit so pulling focus was cake. Pretty sure the first shot is a glidecam and the forklift shot looks like a slider or dolly. This video isn't that complicated at all technically, it was just pre-planned very well. Planning stuff out can make all the difference in the world, and you can never plan too much with video, the more the better.

 

[bluegreenturtle]

Why would you think this was shot with a DSLR at all, much less a 7D?

Anyway, as said before, first shot is probably a dolly and the rest is 100% steadicam. (I'm a steadicam operator). It wasn't an incredibly talented one - it was a competent one - all the horizon floating, changing headroom, bad framing "floaty" look that you see in 90% of web videos that are out there are a good way to not work very much ever again if anybody sees it. There's a certain proficiency you have to achieve to be an operator, and not just an owner, and this is a good example of that.

 

[Axilrod]

Why would you think this was shot with a DSLR at all, much less a 7D?

Anyway, as said before, first shot is probably a dolly and the rest is 100% steadicam. (I'm a steadicam operator). It wasn't an incredibly talented one - it was a competent one - all the horizon floating, changing headroom, bad framing "floaty" look that you see in 90% of web videos that are out there are a good way to not work very much ever again if anybody sees it. There's a certain proficiency you have to achieve to be an operator, and not just an owner, and this is a good example of that.

Why do I think it was shot with a DSLR? Because it doesn't look good enough to be shot on RED or anything better and although it's a good video it was pretty low-budget. And it indeed was shot with a DSLR, although it was a 5D and not a 7D. You were right about the steadicam being used for most of this though. I'm so used to shooting with minimal lighting that I forget how much you can stop down when something is well-lit.

"Resources. No real bells and whistles here. (Apart from the ‘toot toot’ on the ‘this train makes hay section ). Simple props such as tissue paper, machete, man in teddy bear suit, leaf blower – nothing high cost here. The venue was clearly their warehouse – where you also get a behind the scenes look at the operations. The actors are real people. A college friend of Michael’s shot the video – no complicated high end film resources either. It was shot on a Canon 5D with steadicam."

 

[Nick Gombinsky]

Why would you think this was shot with a DSLR at all, much less a 7D?

Anyway, as said before, first shot is probably a dolly and the rest is 100% steadicam. (I'm a steadicam operator). It wasn't an incredibly talented one - it was a competent one - all the horizon floating, changing headroom, bad framing "floaty" look that you see in 90% of web videos that are out there are a good way to not work very much ever again if anybody sees it. There's a certain proficiency you have to achieve to be an operator, and not just an owner, and this is a good example of that.

7D because of depth of field, although after I posted I realized there are lots of compressed video cameras with large sensor, so FS100/700 came to mind. But it has the "Canon DSLR look" or whatever it is, I just could feel it was a Canon. I've been using them for far too long. Seems the joke is on me, since it was shot with the 5D after all.

And I agree with you on all of the latter.

 

[pdirestajr]

Haha that commercial is awesome.

 

[NewFilmmaker]

Thanks guys,

I guess this would be the right way to do it:

Camera 5D mark III
Lens 35mm
Steadycam + operator
Mic + boom

But what about aperture and light (a softbox will do)? Do we really need a focus puller?

 

[Axilrod]

Thanks guys,

I guess this would be the right way to do it:

Camera 5D mark III
Lens 35mm
Steadycam + operator
Mic + boom

But what about aperture and light (a softbox will do)? Do we really need a focus puller?

Yes, you can do it without a focus puller. You just have to stop down to like f/8 or f/11, then light it well, and make sure the operator maintains the proper distance from the subject.

 

[TexPhoto]

When I read thier slogan "Shave Time Shave Money", I read it as: Shave that Monkey

 

[Axilrod]

Why would you think this was shot with a DSLR at all, much less a 7D?

You're awful quiet all of a sudden....

 

[bluegreenturtle]

Why would you think this was shot with a DSLR at all, much less a 7D?

You're awful quiet all of a sudden....

I barely read this forum much. Why would I post a follow up?