Further notes on filming issues.

Further notes on filming issues.

There are continual questions about the filming of the layout. Any of you who have followed either the YouTube channel or this blog will already have seen some issues addressed in previous Youtube answers or the blogs, and I will try not to go over old ground. For those who have stumbled across this item, it may well be worth reading some of the older blogs shown under 'Archive' on the right hand side of the page.

The aim of the layout was to operate and view it from the inside out. That is to say, rather than look at the layout from the 'helicopter' view position, look at it as it would have been seen from the real life perspective.

There were no books or examples of how to achieve this goal when I started out simply because nobody has ever attempted to do this before, except in the movies where certain model scenes are inserted into a film. 

My project was to apply the principle to the whole thing and many of the things I did were on a trial and error basis. 

My last blog gave information about the cameras and editing software I use, but that is only a fraction of the story. This blog goes into some of the other considerations to be taken into account when filming.

Lighting

When I started out on the project I probably knew about as much about photography as our cat.

My memories of using my Kodak camera to take photos indoors usually resulted in spending an entire weeks paper round money on a set of twenty four photos of which probably two were worth keeping.   

I remembered having my photo taken for an ID badge and noticed the professional taking the photo having several lights. This memory made me think about two things when I was designing the train shed. 

1) Lots of light from large windows for natural daylight.

2) Plenty of lights in order work on the layout during darkness.

The second consideration was also important because as I got older then poorer eyesight would be helped by good lighting.

My background is in the electrical industry and my experiences of lighting large areas effectively was to use fluorescent lights. There are 28 off  6 foot 65 Watt fittings in the filming area. 

At the time of building there was't really any other practical mass lighting devices other than the fluorescent light, but now, there is a myriad of LED lighting systems which I am sure would do an equally good, if not better, job. (I would like to hear from anybody who has experience of LED lighting of their layout)  

Lighting on its own, no matter how good, will not give what is required for good consistent photography. The colour of the background is also a major factor. Reflected light is as important as direct lighting. The ceiling of the train shed is painted brilliant white and the walls are painted light sky blue. (As a side issue, the walls below baseboard level are brilliant white to reflect light to the underside baseboard, handy when you are working underneath).

Its also worth noting that the lights are all place across the baseboard with the starters accessible from steps on the floor area. Nothing worse that having to stand on the layout to service lights.   

If you intend to do as I have done and build you layout for filming, than all the things I have discussed in this section are considerations which must be addressed before commencement of the building of the layout.

One thing I got wrong when I was doing this was the texture of the walls. I wished I'd have had the walls plastered instead of just painting the breeze blocks. I never though the texture would show up on the filming. 
And why wouldn't I have thought about that? 
Simple, HD cameras hadn't been invented then....... 

Filming

One thing that didn't work out as I had planned was the windows and the door. 

Once the track was laid I started to experiment with different cameras and angles, and, as I particularly wanted to film on board the trains I found that there was an unrealistic look every time the train went past the windows. This view destroyed the illusion of riding on a real train.

I also realised that the pools of light created by the windows (especially on sunny days) gave problems adjusting from light to shade for the cameras on the moving trains. This situation was completely unacceptable. I did notice, however, that a film I made late one night (when it was dark) was really good, and, apart from the reflections in the windows' glass, achieved the desired result. 

The solution was simple, blank out all the windows and make a duck under for the door (which also could be seen in most films). Using only the lights in the building predicable results are achieved by controlling the light at a constant level.

Fortunately this solution could be implemented after the layout was built.

Windows are not the only thing which will destroy the illusion, visually speaking. The human eye filters out what it doesn't want to see and when you look at your railway, you see only the part you want to see, the camera sees everything. Any clutter e.g. the step ladder leaning against the wall, pictures, light switches etc., all conspire to destroy the illusion. 

Sound

On my layout, I wanted the natural sound that the rolling stock makes recorded on my filming. It is quite surprising that when a microphone is situated closely to even a OO piece of rolling stock how realistic the sounds they make actually are. 
I went to great lengths in order to achieve what I wanted and the methods for choosing the baseboards and laying the track is explained in an earlier blog, the link which is below.

http://dougattrenholmebar.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/north-east-model-railway-matters.html

My focus at present is to produce the films concentrating on the visual side and I intend to add additional sound effects to all of my films at a later date.

The above notes on sound (and those is the blog referenced above) are ways of achieving intentional sounds. 

The other sounds which can appear on films are the unintentional ones. As with visually unintentional things appearing and spoiling the effect, unintentional sounds can also have the same negative effect. The sound of a soap from the television, phones ringing, the sound of a ringtone on a mobile phone (especially if filming a steam railway) will destroy any of the ambience.   

Editors

Apart from inanimate objects, the human kind also destroys that vital ambience. I was recently watching a film on board a train on a fabulous American model, completely lost in its world of stunning scenery only to pass somebody operating the layout. A little bit of editing would have easily improved the whole experience a great deal. 

There are lots of free editors on the internet, a good easy one is on Youtube, upload any video and you can play about with. Its an easy, free way to see what can be done. If you want to do more sophisticated editing then the sky's the limit as to what's available.  

When I make my films I leave the cameras running, even when I intervene, picking up the cameras, changing views, refocussing and dealing with derailments and crashes. I then edit out all the bits I don't want. 

The details of the editor I use are in the first part of this blog on filming.

I've deliberately left all the earlier films on the channel so you can see what the differences are once the finishing touches to the layout make, bear in mind the cameras weren't as good as today's, so don't be too cruel with comments about the quality.....

There is no right or wrong way about how you go about filming your layout. I decided what I wanted to achieve, what quality I wanted and how I was to present my results. People ask me questions like 'Do you think this is OK?' or 'What do you think of this?' or 'Is the quality of this acceptable?' 
The problem I have, these questions can't be answered. You have ask yourself what YOU want and then look at your own work and then you should be able to answer your own questions.  

To view the channel, click the link below:-

https://www.youtube.com/user/dougattrenholmebar