GoPro HERO3 Launch Video
Contribution:
Directing
This video was obviously made from a culmination of great talents and productions. I was personally responsible for leading the snow shoot in New Zealand as well as the mountain bike portion that took place in NZ. The rest of the productions were done by the rest of the GoPro media team. When it came time to edit the piece, Jordan Miller and I took the lead.
Filming
This project was a blast to film – it felt like the first time we really focused on high production value now that we had cameras that had high resolutions capable of utilizing these new film tools. We didn’t have RC quad copters yet but we utilized ziplines, cranes, etc. I was always super excited to come back and check the footage because it was so much higher quality than we were used to with the HERO2.
Editing
Jordan Miller and I took the lead on editing this piece. It was a little daunting going into the edit room because we didn’t have a music track we liked yet. We had someone working on a custom track for us but it just wasn’t fitting the bill. We edited on that other song for over 2 weeks while still on a mass music search simply to make progress. One night Jordan and I were on a frantic music search and out of the blue I got a Facebook message from Edmond Huszar (OVERWERK). It was around 1am and the message basically said – “Yo Abe, I’ve been working on some exciting new music I think you’ll dig for some of your ski edits when I finish in the fall.” I immediately replied and said “Edmond, I’ve got a pretty big project I’m working on right now and desperately need music, would you mind sending over what you have?” He agreed, and 10 minutes later Jordan and I were listening to the beginnings of what would become the official music of the HERO3 reel! As the song started out in the strings and instrumentals, Jordan and I both looked at each other and said “if this song has a drop to a big sound, we’ve found our song.” Sure enough, a minute in the song built and dropped and impressed us all the way through. By the end we were jumping up and down and high fiving. It was a spectacular moment. We worked with OVERWERK over the next few weeks and shaped the song how we needed. In the end the song came together with such a good sound and flow, I’m still stoked everytime I watch it back.
VFX
VFX in this video are pretty subtle. We were using really early versions of the HERO3 so some of the color profiles weren’t perfect. I did some correcting where some shots were blown out and color was misrepresented.
Color Grading
When I started this project I knew I wanted to get really good color and have a very cinematic look. I had heard of Davinci Resolve but never used it. I left myself a full week to learn the program and color. I sat down and watched tutorials for a day straight, then went right to work. I went through the whole video probably 2-3 times over before I was happy all the way through. I would export the video, watch it on a big screen and take notes where anything felt off. In the end I was really pleased with the results. When we debuted the final video during our press launch party I had a few Hollywood hotshots come up and ask which post-house did our color grading in LA. I happily told him that it was just me.
