VIP: Slow motion test footage

Here’s a little shot we made of Dave Pereyra (as “Cookson” one of the evil spirits) running through the ice-melt creek at our desert location. His character is running away from his ruthless leader Montague.

This was shot using a tiny hi-def camcorder, the GoPro Hero HD, in an underwater housing. The camera, about the size of a small cell-phone, was placed at water level. The slow-motion effect was applied in post-production. We did a little bit of color grading to make it look like twilight, although we actually took the shot in mid-morning.

Dave was instructed to run across the creek and step close to the camera. He stepped a little too close, though, when he splashed water onto director Peter Bohush and his second camera positioned just behind the GoPro. Some quick clean-up action with Peter’s sweat shirt saved the second camera.

We think this shot looks great, and it may end up in the final print of the movie. We’ve shot some other scenes with the GoPro as well. It’s great for action shots. It’s an easy camera to use because it has virtually no settings, just turn it on and hit “record.” The biggest downside to this tiny camera is that it doesn’t have a viewfinder or monitor, so we never know what it’s actually shooting. We just try to point it in the general direction of the action and hope for the best!