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
  

Filming Trenholme Junction

This blog is to explain some of the questions asked about the filming of the layout and takes the subjects raised from the YouTube channel comments.

Observations

Before I go into specific issues, there are a few thing worth noting. 

Have you ever watched a film on YouTube where there is a fantastic looking layout which has obviously had many hours of hard work lavished on it, only to find for the next twenty minutes the same couple of trains appear and disappear every twenty seconds or so? 

The same thing can be said of model railway exhibitions, although to a lesser degree. Exhibition layouts usually have the opposite effect of the appearing/disappearing phenomena with large 'realistic' pauses of non-activity. I attended an exhibition recently in the hope that this situation may have changed in the few years since I last attended one but, alas, it hasn't. 
One layout, superb, was an operational disaster. Within a few minutes of my arrival a train held in a loop set off and ended in the scrap yard, an express pulled into the station loop and then inched forward very slowly until it collided with the next main line train. Amazingly, this was going on while a healthy discussion was going on with the cast of thousands operating the layout. 
A second layout of similar high quality, had timetable working - on a quiet branch!!!!!!

You can argue that the exhibitors are amateur but there are a few things to bear in mind here.

First, I paid good money to see these exhibits and I expect to be entertained and inspired.

Second, These exhibitions are showcases for the clubs and should serve to attract new people to the hobby and to the clubs. 

Third, If somebody like me who has a passion for the hobby is bored, then the future is bleak.    

Filming Factors

In the films I produce on the layout, there are a few self imposed rules I follow:-

There is a story.

No train will appear more than once in each film (except the subject matter)

No gaps in operations of more than 3 seconds.

There are no helicopter shots.  

Where practical, continuity between the films is maintained in each of the series. This means for example, film 2 will follow from film 1, many times the films will follow each other so they can be watched like a soap.

Filming Subjects

If you've read the rest of this blog, you'll know that the layout was built to record railway operation. In order to do that, the railway has to go from place to place, the same purpose as the real thing. 

There are five stations on the layout and passenger trains can pass through all of them in a continuous run. As in real life, most of the passenger stock is in assembled rakes and in my films they quite often take a background role in passing trains.

Many people ask why don't you have lots of expresses all running together?

There is a very good reason why I don't this.   

I refer you to my opening paragraph, although on this layout it takes more than twenty seconds to appear/disappear the effect would be just the same, but with boring long gaps.

When trains are running fast, its difficult for the camera to make a good image and you simply end up with a blurry image where you can't see anything at all. It's an easy experiment to replicate, try it with your phone camera and see the result. You could argue a better camera would do the job, probably, but where would you get one small enough to film in the places I do? 

Another point to consider is this. There are eight continuous ovals on the junction all capable of express operation simultaneously. If you run these in one film with say a ten coach train on each then that's eighty coaches required. You would probably get a one minute blurred film and use up about 70% of the coaching stock in one go. What do you put in the next film?  

The junction has many parcels vans which are spread all over the layout and these are popular in films giving some variety and interest to what are some pretty boring and monotonous passenger stock movements.

Most people from my age group would have been introduced to railways by travelling in DMU's (Diesel Multiple Units) and the best way to see the railway was to be standing up behind the driver. The series depicting this position is very popular and is my favourite of all the films I've made. At the risk of boring a few, I intend to do some more journeys from this position, I'm sure there are some unexplored routes left.

By far and away the greatest amount of handling on the railways at the time portrayed was the goods traffic. When the layout was designed I was careful to make sure there was enough rail served industry in order to have vibrant and busy goods traffic, hence the leaning towards this subject. Most of the industry around where I grew up was rail served, shunting went on day and night. This part of the re-creation of this time was to show the complicated movements required to achieve relatively simple tasks. There are dozens of films in existence of all the crack expresses, but very little in the detail of the goods operations which after all were the reason why the railways existed at all.

Comments

I am never more amused with any of the comments than the pre-occupation there is for questions about filming in the tunnels. It is amazing how many times I'm asked about this subject. 
A tunnel is a black hole, probably the most boring monotonous piece of film you can imagine. 
The tunnels on Trenholme Junction are very long, taking some time to traverse. If you film them, all you can see is the bracing for the layout board above. Nothing makes me switch of a film more quickly than a view of the underside of someone's baseboard and therefore I don't want the same thing on my films. 

Speed is another subject which comes up frequently. Going back to the Exhibition comments earlier in this article, this is another area where the image of a brilliantly visual layout can be destroyed in seconds. There's nothing worse than seeing an 0-4-0 shunter taking off at the speed of a Ferrari and smashing into a line of wagons and then taking again faster than the express next to it. I can't understand why this area is the most neglected of the presentation package. On saying this, I not saying that, I'm not perfect, I have to have a cringe when I see some of my earlier attempts. The point here is this detail is as important as any other part the model. On filming operations, its easy to film it again and edit out any mistakes, but a little practice in this area does make a big difference.

Another area which attracts a lot of questions, is about how the films are made. The aim of this channel is to produce a record of a working railway viewed from the same perspective I viewed it from as a child.
I watched all the Harry Potter films and was very impressed by all the special effects and how well the thing was put together, but then I watched the film of how it was made and although it was fascinating, I'm not sure  knowing what went on in the background enhanced my enjoyment of the films 'seen as is'. After many requests, I have toyed with the idea of produced a film about the making of the films, but I'm torn between destroying the images I set out to achieve.    

Equipment

Since December 2012 :-

Track side shots:- Samsung HMX-M20P 1080p Camcorder

On board shots:- Sony HDR-AS10 1080p Camcorder

Editing Suite:- Sony Movie Studio HD Production Suite

Prior to December 2012

On board shots:- Dogcam 720p camcorder 

For more details of the above - Google them. 

Facts

Generally, it takes around an hour to make each minute of film and the channel gets around 25,000 to 30,000 hits per month. 

One of the things I wanted to do when I set out on this project was to inspire and engage the younger generation in this hobby and when I started out the YouTube channel, almost all the views were from the generation which grew up in the time frame the layout was set (55-65+).
As time has gone on age of the viewers has started to even out, 4.5% in 13 -17 age range, 9.4 % 18-24 age range, 25% 24 -34 age range, 23 % 35-44 age range. 
The 55-65+ now form only 29% of the total views. 
This is a massive shift in a couple of years and hopefully this is indicating younger people are interested and will join the hobby. 
Another fact which fascinates me, is that around 16% of all viewers are females in the 25-44 age range.

Conclusion

I realise that when you put something on public display then you should be prepared for criticism and I'm always receptive to constructive criticism, (there's some been some rude ones as well). In highlighting some of the things here, I'm not been rude to anybody, but I'm making an observation of what I see wrong elsewhere and how I've tried to address these issues in my efforts and highlighting these issues is for the common good.    

The building of the layout and the films I produce are a very personal re-creation of the world I grew up in. I know what the gaps in books/films are, because in searching for the information during the building of the layout, I couldn't find any........ 

To view the channel, click the link below:-

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

Now & Then magazine article.

Now & Then magazine is an independent regional magazine distributed around the Middlesbrough area where the Trenholme Junction layout is based upon.

June's edition of the magazine carries an article about the layout.

To read the article click here pages 12 - 14 

The infinite layout

For those of you who have read the rest of the items in this blog, you will know that I start my thought processes for the design of a layout by examining what I expect from the end product. 

Making a series of decisions which will ultimately result in a creation of enduring interest. Past layouts have failed to come up to the mark because I haven't taken the full thought process to before starting work. Any problems encountering were solved 'on the hoof' with a predictable unpredictable outcome. 

I am now crystallizing my thoughts for the design of my next layout.

I know I keep banging on about the 'entertainment factor' but if you don't get that right, its a waste of time and energy to start the thing in the first place. Its hard to believe that even a layout the size and complexity of Trenholme Junction does have a finite number of different of routes and aspects. Up to date I've made nearly 200 videos on the layout, all have been published on the channel, but most of the routes have now been recorded and something else now is required.

The next layout I build will not have the luxury of the 'train shed' specifically built for the purpose, but will have a (hopefully) reasonable sized room in which to house it. Getting the best out the space available is what a good design is all about. I think having a big central station as the focus is definitely going to feature in the new layout. Another thing I've learnt about when building this layout is the use of tunnels, especially when filming gives some incredible flexibility. Tunnels (when filming) are a new take on what used to be called a 'scenic break'. The scenic break was a way of splitting the layout into several scenes. On a conventional layout the scenes usually can all be seen at once, but, from a camera you can isolate them from each other much more effectively and the use of tunnels, completely. 

The new layout will be all about filming. In order to keep a lifetime of entertainment then the layout must be infinitely expandable so as to emulate the same way exploring the real railway network.

The overview of the new design is not to design the whole layout, but to design a central hub, a complete self contained layout, in this case a large station, surrounded by tracks leading through dead end tunnels. This part of the layout will be housed in the main 'railway room'. 

In an earlier blog I posed the notion of several people contributing to building a 'piece' of a layout and then bringing the pieces together to film them all as one. There was some very minor initial excitement about this idea but not much more than that. I realised, that people probably would probably not be motivated by the idea of their piece being only usable when with all the others and maybe relying on others doesn't appeal either. This idea isn't a lost point though. The idea of another layout with a tunnel would mean that you could film both layouts as one running from one to the other via the tunnels. Continuity would be very easy to achieve especially with the 'cab rides' and 'on board' cameras.

When you think about it, this idea would create the infinite layout. 
In its simplest manifestation, an oval of track with a station. The station has a bay platform with a single line going to a tunnel. This could be a layout on the kitchen table. Out in the garage, a branch line from its tunnel  leading to a terminus. A simple terminus built on a shelf. Maximum use of space and the usual arrangement of fiddle yard is now the inside of the camera. 
To take a simple step further. If the branch line had a junction leading to a tunnel, a coal mine could be built in the shed.......

This idea also would suit those with little space for a layout, who would like to 'keep modelling' whilst waiting for families to grow up, knowing that whatever space is available in the future your current efforts will fit.

This is the idea I am to use for the next layout I build

Taking this idea a step further, there would be no reason why two (or more) people building a layout shouldn't incorporate a tunnel(s) on their layouts. 

Imagine a film, made travelling across several different layouts as one complete journey.

     
   
   














       

      

Trenholme Junction Track Plan

Trenholme Junction layout plan

Notes 

There has many requests, made from the comments on the YouTube channel, for a track plan of Trenholme Junction. In the past I resisted the temptation to produce one. I didn't start off with a track plan when I built the layout. There was a list of features the layout would include and these were on a simple list.

I wanted people to travel the trains and take the journeys, just like I did when I was a child. Each time I was asked, I answered, ride the trains, especially the DMU cab rides and you would discover the routes and places.

Imagine my surprise when somebody wrote to me and said he had done just that AND he'd drawn a track plan based on many hours taking the journeys'. When Dave Bernard sent me the plan I was even more astonished that it was probably about 90% accurate. There has been some adjustments made and the plan is what is available here. Its not dead to scale, but then it doesn't have to be, the components in the right places is more important.

For those of you who have read the rest of this blog, some bits will be repeated, sorry about that.

There are two large ovals, each four roads wide, one on the lower level and one on the upper. The passenger roads are the inner pair on the lower level and the outer pair on the upper. There are five stations, two on the lower and three on the upper. Two tunnels connect the levels together together with a long incline which can be seen in full, over 40 feet long. 
There are Marshalling Yards on each level, the lower can store 400 wagons plus another 100 in the reception dispatch road.  

Stations

None of the stations are named, this is deliberate. I wanted representative types of stations on the layout, not actual replicas of the real thing. Reference to each one by geographical location, 'Main' being the exception.

The Main Station (lower) has five full length platform faces and two bay platforms, one at the north end and one at the south. The full length platforms can accommodate eighteen coach trains. There is a station avoidance road to the west which allows trains to pass through the station through to the branch without passing the platforms.
The carriage sidings are situated to the west and south sides of the station. 

The North Station (upper) is has the most complicated junction and is the branch end. The curved platforms serve the passenger carrying through roads and the straight platform is the termination of the branch. Provision has been made for the branch to continue into the next room where a terminus on the scale of Whitby Town was intended to be built. Single track would continue from the end of this station and a double track from the lower level under the station would join the new terminus. It's unlikely this terminus will be built.

The West Station (upper) has two through roads and a bay platform. The bay platform can be accessed only from the south junction and the train has to reverse direction to continue its journey. The run round loop is also the head shunt for the pit sidings. 

The East Station (upper) is both a through station for the main line and also has one platform face on the branch line. The branch line platform face also serves as the head shunt for the upper marshalling yard.

The South East Station (lower) is very similar to South Bank where I grew up and has two main line platform faces. I added a bay to one end to give more operational possibilities.

Layout Plan 

The plan is free to copy or download and if you wish, you may use any part of it. 
Do please bear in mind to attribute the work of producing the plan to Dave Bernard (who is an English teacher in Bolivia) and add my link (below) to any article you publish using any of the information. 

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

The plan has been produced using Anyrail5 which can be downloaded free of charge and allows you to view it, however, to modify it you will need to purchase a licence.

David has used some components in the track plan for convenience and it should noted that all track on the 'real' layout is Peco Streamline Code 100. The points (switches) are a mixture of both insulfrog and electrofrog. He used a minimum radius of three feet for the curves, this adds a neatness to the drawing, maybe some of the real ones are a little tighter.   

To download the picture - no software to view required click this link:-

https://www.btcloud.bt.com/?shareObject=60fbfca8-8a42-6e95-c136-686ee1acec05

To download the Anyrail5 file click this link:-

https://www.btcloud.bt.com/?shareObject=6f88e3e2-ade4-e831-b873-7308ed405a01


Thank you David for a superb job. Doug

  

A joint effort 

I have this idea. 

Most people are daunted by the size of the task building a full model railway or don't have the space. 

I thought of making up a specification for a say 3 or 4 foot by 18 inches baseboard which could be joined to another of the same specification and ask as many people who would care to build one (or more) sections and join them together and then filming the end result from on board the trains. 

I intend to build my next layout on this basis and am wondering if anybody would be interested in the idea of a multiple person project. 

There would have to be rules, in order to make something coherent, but it would give those who don't have space or time to build a full layout a contribution to what could be something really good.

Each of the sections could be a discrete diorama, say  a wood yard, a station, a marshalling yard or simply a section with a model of your own house. It would have to be wired for DCC (part of the specification). Each section would require a 'scenic break' to allow the passage from each section.

A small size would allow the section to be built on the kitchen table.

Its an idea anyway, just wonder if anybody out there would be interested......  

Christmas 2013

When your families' ask you this year what you would like for Christmas, there is always a temptation ask for another wagon or if they're rich, then a new locomotive maybe a possibility. I thought that maybe you might like to ask for what I was given last year and found to be one of the most useful things I've had for the train shed.

This year saw me join that famous club, I turned 60 and became an 'old git'. Rising costs to heat the train shed meant that some prudence in this area had to be exercised. Nothing can be worse than that feeling of anticipation of an operating session tempered by a cold room when you are in the house with the heating on or the fire blazing up the chimney. 

My wife bought me some thermal underwear, long sleeved vest and leggings. You can get really thin ones these days and the difference is significant, costing around twenty quid they really did make a big difference and I've got them on again. They don't stop the dew drop on the end of your nose if its really cold but the overall comfort is well worth it.

If the grandchildren ask you what you want, then bear in mind you can't have too many track rubbers.

New Year 2014

The New Year will see a bitter sweet time for Trenholme Junction. History tells us that at the time the layout was set, the axe swung after the Beeching report and Trenholme Junction is about to be one of the lines to to closed. The layout is going to be dismantled. 

There has been over 150 videos made on the layout which have all been published on the YouTube channel (link below) so a very comprehensive record of the layout has been made (and you don't need thermal underwear to view them). 

The layout was built to be filmed and to this end has fulfilled its original aim. It was built in the traditional manner ignoring some of the established rules of traditional methods in order to accommodate the filming.

Already the new layout is in the planning. 

The next one won't be a full blown layout in a room but a series of film sets which can be bolted together in different combinations to create an ever changing layout. The 'sets' will built in modules, some small and some large which will in fact be a series of diorama's. 

The current layout was built in the traditional way, viewed from the time honoured angle, but with filming in mind. A hybrid in fact. 

There will be no consideration to the new sets being viewed other than from the inside. The camera eye view. This principle opens new possibilities, for example, on a traditional layout it's not possible to model a cutting and see what's going on other from the helicopter position. To  do this successfully, camera placements will have to built into the scenery in such a way as to be able to capture the track side view and at the same time hidden from view when the filming is taking place on board the moving trains. Some new planning thoughts must be exercised here.

Another thing I'm going to experiment with is to combine model and the real world, using real life backdrops instead of the unrealistic painted back scenes which spoil many a good layout. 
Filming has taught me one thing I never considered, is the amount of detail these fabulous new high definition cameras pick up. The modern locomotives and rolling stock look incredibly good, so you have to match their surroundings will equally good scenery to get the best overall effect. Merging the real world with the model will probably achieve this.

I intend to film the building of the new layout 'sets' and publish the project on the channel.

I made a film on the layout a couple of years ago and tells the story of the job of a Goods Guard in 1962. 'The Man at the Back' (nickname for the guard) is a journey on a Pick up Goods Train, recreating the view few people (except goods guards) would have seen. 
The entire film utilises the camera in the guards van and is narrated by me, as a nine year old, telling of life and times of a boy, fascinated by the place he grew up in. The film is to released at 08:30 on Christmas Day and will be only available to view for one week only. Running time 54 minutes.

I would like to thank all the people who watched the channel and especially those of you who have constantly encouraged and sent me suggestions and for the constructive criticism. 
I have tried to answer every bodies comments and will continue to do so. If there is any particular view or train you would like to see then let me know and I'll try to produce a video. 
For those of you like figures, the channel has had well over a third of a million views, currently nearly thirty thousand views a month and growing month on month.

Finally, may you have a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

To view the channel, follow the link below

www.youtube.com/user/dougattrenholmebar