BluKoo
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Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
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This was taken from the thread on detailingworld. It's going to be constantly updated with new pics and text as they go along and i'll do my best to keep this thread updated too...
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Time for something completely different! We have an Enzo in for the next two weeks for a Ne Plus Ultra Detail, and while Clark will be doing an epic write up for the studio section, I thought I'd share some behind the scenes stuff from a different perspective, i.e. amateur cameraman! Those of you who follow us on twitter will know that I already do this kind of thing quite a lot, and given that it gets a good response, I thought I'd try to do something a bit more in depth for DW. So, for the next two weeks, I'll keep this thread updated with iPhone images and snippets of info all about the making of our latest feature video - Polished Bliss: Ferrari Enzo Ne Plus Ultra. Without further ado, here's the view from my desk right now...
"Oh why couldn't we have had sun?". Those are the words Clark muttered a moment ago, in response to the fact that, after nearly two weeks of sun, it's now cold and raining hard. This is going to be a problem today, as expensive camera gear doesn't like getting drowned, and day one is obviously all about the wash process. Hopefully it will clear up soon. In the meantime, our vinyl guy has just been in and covered up the front plate on the car, as the owner doesn't want his registration number to be shown...
Clark is currently taking a set of before pictures to serve as a digital record of the condition of the car before any work starts, so while he does this I'll show you some of the gear we are using, starting with the camera itself. This is our Canon 60D DSLR, fitted with a Canon EF-S 17-55 mm lens, which is a perfect zoom range for automotive photography and video...
Why use a DSLR instead of a camcorder? For one simple reason; DSLRs allow you to shoot with a very shallow depth of field, meaning it's easier to blur out background distractions and ensure the viewers focus is where you want it to be. If you've watched any of our recent product demo videos you will have seen this in action, particularly with the opening and closing shots showing products stood on our studio floor. However, using a DSLR camera for video has some limitations, and I'll tell you more later. Compared to the vast majority of DSLRs, the 60D is far easier to use, simply because it has a fully articulated LCD screen. When you see some of the angles we will shoot from you'll see why this is such a bonus...
In terms of accessories for the camera, you can see above that our 60D has been fitted with a battery grip, which takes two standard sized batteries and doubles the time that the camera will run for before needing to be charged. This is essential if you plan to be shooting for long periods, and also makes the camera much heavier, which is useful for extra stability when shooting both handheld and from tripods or motion control rigs.
The two other crucial on-camera accessories we will be using are a white balance filter and a variable neutral density filter. The white balance filter is shown on the end of the lens here...
This is used to set a custom white balance on the camera whenever the lighting conditions change (i.e. weather changes from sunny to cloudy, car is moved from outside to inside, etc). Why do we need to do this? Well, in a nutshell our brain is amazing enough to be able to see and interpret white as pure white in all lighting conditions, but camera sensors are different - they see white in various different colour temperatures, ranging from warm to cool. As a result, if we don't measure this and set the correct value in the camera for each scene, our finished video will show strong variations in colour tone, which makes for horrible viewing. You can correct such problems by employing colour correction techniques as you edit the video, but as with most things, it's best to get it right at the time of shooting.
The other crucial on-camera accessory we use when filming is a variable neutral density filter, shown here...
Think of this as a variable strength pair of sunglasses for the lens; you can use it to block out unwanted light to ensure the correct exposure of your scene. This is critical if you are shooting outside with a shallow depth of field, because you lose the option of increasing the shutter speed when shooting video with a DSLR (the golden rule for shutter speed is that it should be as close to twice the frame rate of the finished video as possible, for example 1/50 sec if the playback frame rate is 24 frames per second). Combining this shutter speed with a wide aperture for blurry looking backgrounds on a bright day floods the camera sensor with light, meaning you have to block some of it out if you want to expose properly. Hence why a variable neutral density filter is essential!
Blimey, that was a struggle - fortunately the car was very clean to start with, so the entire wash process, including spot claying, only took a couple of hours to complete. It's now inside and about to be dried with the Metro Vac Air Force Blaster.
As a result of the weather being so poor, I shot a sequence of before clips inside, using our Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly. This awesome bit of kit is a motorised slider system, that enables you to shot super smooth tracking shots with no camera wobble. It's made up of a six foot long rail onto which a belt driven dolly plate is mounted. On top of the plate goes the motor, a lithium-ion battery pack and a ball head mount for the camera...
The rail itself is easy to mount on standard tripods at all sorts of angles, meaning you can be very creative with the camera moves. Here's a few shots showing the various ways the system can be used...
As we got started outside I was able to capture a few nice moves as Clark tackled the wheels, but then the rain got worse and I decided to stop, for fear of ruining the electronics...
Unfortunately, the rest of the wash stage then had to be shot using a single tripod and an umbrella, so I'll have to be creative with the editing to make it look a little more energetic and exciting. That's my last update for today, as we still have a bit more filming to do plus some site updates to get done. I'll pick up tomorrow morning with editing basics and music choice.
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Matty SRi
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Registered: 3rd Dec 08
Location: Stockton-on-Tees Drives: Mk3 Golf GTi
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Love reading stuff like this. Look forward to the updates.
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Pucci1
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Registered: 19th Oct 07
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looking good guys 
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Pete_vxl
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Registered: 24th Nov 06
Location: Lochgelly, Fife
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Does the owner of this have an f40 and mp12-c??
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Jonny.K
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Registered: 26th May 11
Location: Aberdeen City
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love havin a little scope in there my mate buys products etc from them
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BluKoo
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Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
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quote:
Originally posted by Pete_vxl
Does the owner of this have an f40 and mp12-c??
He does yeah. And a Gallardo and possibly a 599 as far as i'm aware.
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BluKoo
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Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
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First job of the day for Clark is to take hundreds of paint readings with our ultrasonic composites paint depth gauge, in order to make sure he knows exactly how much paint he has to work with...
Here's a reading that seems typical for the car; as you can see, there isn't a huge amount of paint on it (average 25-30 microns of clearcoat)...
This may prove to be an issue given how bad the defects are. However, I'm jumping ahead a bit - defect shots will come later. Suffice to say care will be needed, as you can actually see the texture of the carbon fibre weave through the paint when you look carefully at the finish!
The plan for the rest of today is for Clark to get started with the machine polishing. We know from past experience that it's not worth trying to film this, as he'll spend quite a bit of time trying out various different pad and polish combinations until he settles on his preferred method for the whole car (well, for the original paint anyway; any previously resprayed areas will need a further round of experimentation). In addition, I have to cover the office this afternoon; no rest for the wicked since John left!
Anyway, what I can show you and tell you about right now is the initial stages of the editing process. Canon DSLRs record video in a highly compressed format so as to save space on your memory card (for anyone interested, it's a H2.64 codec in a Quicktime .MOV container). Transferring this onto your Mac or PC is easy, but editing it isn't, as your editing software will have to decompress each clip as you try to play it back and edit it, which often creates bad stutter. Even super fancy high spec machines can suffer with this issue.
The solution is to convert your video clips into a decompressed format before editing them; I use a very nifty piece of software called MPEG Streamclip to do this. As a Mac user, I convert all of my clips into ProRes 422 Quicktime format, which is very high quality lossless codec perfectly suited to high end editing and archiving of HD video. This takes a while to do for each batch of clips; my iMac is currently churning through yesterday's footage as I write this...
It will probably take another half an hour or so for the first batch conversion to be completed, so while I wait I'll briefly say something about sound recording. In simple terms, DSLRs can't record decent sound for toffee - it's seriously rubbish in almost all cases, due to underpowered amps, a rubbish mono microphone and a complete lack of ability to listen to what the camera is recording. In order to get around this issue, we use an external Rode video microphone, which can be conveniently mounted on top of the camera...
However, because the camera itself is still recording the sound the microphone captures, we still struggle with sound quality issues. By trial and error I've worked out how to get reasonable results (which really boils down to setting the noise recording sensitivity very carefully in manual mode), but a big priority for us in the future is to buy a high quality external sound recorder. The other thing that is essential to own and use when editing is a really good set of headphones; this will reveal sound issues you would otherwise miss if you edited by listening through the speakers on your Mac or PC...
Earlier today, I checked out the sound recording we made of the Enzo being fired up in the studio yesterday morning. Even though I set the noise recording sensitivity of the 60D to its minimal level, the Enzo still strained the ability of all of the kit; it's a true animal of a car, and the engine sounds incredible. The master recording is pretty decent, and has only been clipped a little bit by the massive volume. However, it's a huge file, and I had to compress it substantially into an .mp2 format in order to be able to upload it. Consequently, what you can hear on this link is not quite as good, but if you wear good headphones or turn your sub up it's not bad!
Polished Bliss Sound Clip - Ferrari Enzo Starting Up
Right, that's probably going to be it for updates today, but I'll be back tomorrow with progress on the initial stages of editing (and in particular music choice and how to edit to music), plus more images of Clark's progress and further filming.
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3CorsaMeal
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Registered: 11th Apr 02
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never liked the panel gaps on the enzo, they seem massive compared to say an aston martin
[Edited on 03-04-2012 by 3CorsaMeal]
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stuartmitchell
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Registered: 24th Apr 04
Location: Kirkliston, Edinburgh
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Is this the lad that owns Apache Oil? Cant remember his name but recall he's a car nut if not mistaken?
Cracking pics and lovely motor 
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3CorsaMeal
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Registered: 11th Apr 02
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quote:
Originally posted by stuartmitchell
he's a car nut if not mistaken?
I'd like to meet someone with an enzo who isn't into cars 
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Vinyl guy in to put a sticker over the front plate 
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stuartmitchell
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Registered: 24th Apr 04
Location: Kirkliston, Edinburgh
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Good point
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BluKoo
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Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
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quote:
Originally posted by John
Vinyl guy in to put a sticker over the front plate
There's a vinyl guy right across the road I think 
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3CorsaMeal
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Registered: 11th Apr 02
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i bet he's a bit groovy!
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BluKoo
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Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
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quote:
Originally posted by 3CorsaMeal
i bet he's a bit groovy!
I see what you did there
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Graeme
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Registered: 26th Jul 04
Location: Northampton
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So the owner doesn't want his number plate on show but he is ok with you advertising his car that is worth a good few couple hundred Łk that his car will be in your workshop for the next few weeks?
Clever one that! 
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BluKoo
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Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
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Ever seen this website? http://www.joemacari.com/All-Cars-for-Sale/
Or this one? http://www.dkeng.co.uk/ferrari-sales/1/Prestige_Cars.html
Millions of pounds worth of cars there, and the keys will probably all be kept on site there.
Security at PB is very tight, so hopefully nothing to worry about.
[Edited on 03-04-2012 by BluKoo]
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Graeme
Premium Member
Registered: 26th Jul 04
Location: Northampton
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I would say the security is alot better at places like that though.
And for insurance purposes I would say the keys would be kept on the premises.
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Tomnova16
Premium Member
Registered: 21st Jan 06
Location: Gerrards Cross Drives: Porsche 911
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Dk engineering is just your standard locks and cameras
http://www.lemass.co.uk/ for all your automotive/bodyshop needs
Located in Chalfont st Peter
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BluKoo
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Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
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This morning Clark is continuing with the polishing process, and we will start filming this today. He's now settled on a pad and polish combination that gives full correction (i.e. 99%) with as little clearcoat removal as possible. I'll let him reveal this to you when he posts his write up, but suffice to say it's a three step process involving wool. Here he is, doing what he does best...
If you are wondering why he has halogen lamps set up (unusual in our studio due to the daylight balanced lighting we use) it's because solid red is a difficult colour to fully correct, and he finds that having different colour temperature light sources useful for picking out and eliminating different types of defect. However, for the filming, we'll probably leave the halogens switched off, otherwise we'll struggle to set the correct white balance (see earlier post for explanation of white balance and why you need to manually set it).
So, what have I been up to since yesterday? Well, because the weather was so bad on day one when we filmed the wash process, I've been editing the footage we shot just to make sure we didn't miss anything critical. Normally I wouldn't worry about this, but I was stressed top the hilt with the rain and mistakes are easy to make! The good news is that it all came out okay... not brilliant, but okay. I had wanted to shoot a lot more with the dolly, to add some movement into the clips, but this wasn't possible due to the risk of getting the electronics wet. Here is what the first stage of the edit looks like on my screen...
Looks a bit complicated eh?! In truth, it is, and it took me a while to teach myself how to use the software properly (and I'm still a novice, relatively speaking). I'm using Adobe Premiere Pro, which is more powerful than more user-friendly programs like iMovie. Why do this? Simply because you can do a lot more with the footage in Premiere Pro, in terms of correcting mistakes in colour, framing, etc. For example, the opening scene in the film is a lovely pull move from underneath the Enzo's nose, but when I filmed it I had the camera slightly off level (literally by just 0.5 degrees). It's hard to see this on the LCD screen, but it's really noticeable on screen. Premiere Pro lets me upscale the footage slightly and then rotate it in 0.1 degree increments until it's just right - might seem fussy, but it's things like this that make the difference in my opinion!
Right, it's time to get filming again - I'll try to get back on later today with more information about music choice and how to edit to music; you can kind of see this in the screen shot of Premiere Pro shown above, but I'll explain in detail later on.
Just nailed a totally sick shot! Here I am setting it up; diagonal slide from inside the car, out the door and looking down the quarter panel... just as Clark was machining the fuel cap!
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Joe
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Registered: 20th Jun 04
Location: Hesketh Bank, Lancashire
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Whilst I appreciate the work and your bro is obviously very good at what he does. All this video, camera, music bullshit is taking it too far.
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Ian
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Registered: 28th Aug 99
Location: Liverpool
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Battery grip indoors 
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Steve
Premium Member
Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Worcestershire Drives: Defender
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fucking ridiculous
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Matt L
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Registered: 17th Apr 06
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im going to agree with steve here.
why vinyl over your number plate? one thing that always got me when i did car shoots, the amount of people that want their number plate hidden, must sh*t himself when hes driving it about all those people seeing it.
videos/music etc... seriously why? who thought i know people will want to watch a video of me cleaning a car.
dont get me wrong, your bro's work is good but the whole detailing world is just getting way too anal now.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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It's the write ups that get me.
It's almost always people trying to compensate for leaving school at 12.
They are always verbose and written in a way that you can tell isn't natural.
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