Test outputs and trial runs

Back at this show, I shot some videos as a test of the camera I'm going to take over, seeing as it has that ability. The results are below, showing both good and bad results.


Forced Asphyxiation - last half of "Blunt Force Trauma"




mediafire: 33.7 MB

This was the general does-this-even-work test. The answer is "kinda". Everything renders in dark blue because there's not enough light, and the sound sucks. This done, it was time for some more sophisticated tests.


Boarcorpse - "Baby Paste"



no mediafire, my quick-and-dirty render is too big.

This was a test for internal purposes to see how much space a video would take. It turns out to be, in raw form, about 60 MB/minute. This also sucks, but is doable; somewhat in response to this, I went out and got a much, much larger SD card for the camera, and an additional memory stick to offload stuff to in the stints of the trip spent in civilized locations.


Boarcorpse - Jimbo's drummer faces



mediafire: 14.5 MB

Jim is well known in the Boston scene for making some of the best faces ever while drumming. This makes this zoom test at least a little more interesting. Ultimately, what this shows is that the zoom isn't very effective for video purposes, and that the light problems there only get worse. While this doesn't have a lot of funny faces in it, it definitely establishes what I'm able and not able to do with this camera.

What this all comes down to is that I can risk camera confiscation to shoot about one song per day before the sun starts going down. Videoing performances is still technically against the rules, but since I don't need to zoom or anything, I should be able to put the camera just on the rail, point it at the stage, thrash out, and turn it off after without being too conspicuous about it. More likely though, is using the limited video availability to do slice-of-life shots from the beergarden or the infield while I'm eating or writing stuff up; the festival DVD is eventually going to be out there, and bootlegged, and chopped up on Youtube, but random walks through the campground aren't.

Speaking of slice-of-life and the raw basics, everyone who read this article some months back, and anyone who didn't but is still inspired by the idea of doing open-air festivals in this country, really owes it to themselves to run this through a translator. Check out that stage -- from such humble beginnings on a flatbed hay-hauler with not even a tarp over it, fifteen years later you can get Morbid Angel and At The Gates headlining.