Do you want to know how I filmed this Volkswagen Golf GTi Anniversary MK4? Yes. Same here - Keep reading how I filmed this Volkswagen Golf GTi Anniversary.
Car Videoshoot/Photoshoot
It took me eight days to create the accompanying content, from arranging the shoot, editing the picture/s and publishing the article.
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Before I Filmed This Volkswagen Golf GTi Anniversary Edition
Two Sunday's ago, Jonny asked me, "Please can you ask North Staffs Customs Car Club or any other group/s if any members want a video shoot of their car?" I said, "sure, let's see what happens, "we'll likely get a video shoot from next weekend."
On Sunday evening, Rourke messaged me, "I saw your post on North Staffs Customs page. I'd like to get involved with your rolling car shoot/video shoot." I replied with, "fantastic! Here's my phone number."
I later asked where you were based, and Rourke said, "around Mow Cop." Rourke and I later agreed to meet at Mow Cop Castle on Saturday around 1:30 pm.
While researching Rourkes Volkswagen Golf GTi, I discovered it was a 25th Anniversary Edition. Volkswagen sold 1,800 units of the Anniversary Edition. That's rare!
On the video shoot day, Jonny called me and said, "I'm overstretching with work and the video equipment. Please get your camera equipment and Enzo (Dalmatian) for the video shoot."
Knowing the setback, I messaged Rourke stating, "Please could we delay the shoot by 30 minutes?" Rourke said, "sure." After meeting Rourke at Mow Cop Castle and setting up the video equipment, we set off to the road.
How I Filmed This Volkswagen Golf GTi Anniversary Edition
Though the Sony A9's framing cut off parts of the whole Golf GTi, we still searched while headed to the dual carriageway. Jonny pulled into the layby to level the framing and measure the difference to Rourke's Volkswagen.
Jonny said to Rourke, "please can we film your Golf GTi on the A51? There are some silky smooth roads - perfect for filming your Volkswagen!" Rourke said, "yes, please."
Thankfully, I had greater framing and flexibility to film and photograph the Golf GTi between 50mph and 70mph hour on the dual-carriageway. I practised using the Edelkrone HeadPlus to record the Volkswagen on the corners. Exciting!
On our way to the A51, I experimented with rolling images and film of the Golf GTi Anniversary on the bypass. Though I couldn't experiment with changing the shutter speed on the remote, I had to use the limits to my advantage.
A few minutes later, we headed on the A51. Though the road felt bumpy, we drove to better pastures to get more engaging content of the Volkswagen on the countryside roads.
Eventually, we entered into a layby to add the GoPro Hero10 and flicked the Sony A9 into the slow-motion mode with manual ISO and aperture adjustments.
Then we set entered the route in excitement for the smooth marble roads and hilly landscapes. We eventually drove into the sailing club for the picturesque Gimbal B-Roll of the Volkswagen.
While attempting to film the Golf GTi Anniversary, I had issues with Ronin SC with the device having flat battery issues. We did more slow-motion recording of Rorkes Volkswagen for a cinematic feel, challenging the country roads with finesse.
We turned around at a layby to do some enticing establishing shots of the Volkswagen rejoining the roads with style. Perfect with the Sony and GoPro. Indeed!
We repeated the route to the Sailing Club. We spoke to Rourke about his Golf GTi Anniversary, and he mentioned, "I've gone the OEM+ route for my Golf GTi".
After talking to Rourke about his Volkswagen, we headed back home. Time to get some pictures and videos of Rourke's Golf GTi Anniversary with the Sony A9 and GoPro Hero10.
I swapped the Sony A9 to manual mode to rapidly photograph/film the Volkswagen on the countryside roads. I also needed a draw-dropping thumbnail for my social media and my website.
We needed a dramatic ending to Rourkes Golf GTi Anniversary Edition, and the Stapley to Nantwich junctions provided a strong ending point. The turning signal gave a potent ending to the film.
How I Edited The Videos Of This Volkswagen Golf GTi Anniversary Edition
How would you edit a 38-minute video of the Volkswagen Golf GTi Anniversary Edition from a series of two-hour clips? Here's my video editing thought process:
An engaging 30-60 minute video of the Volkswagen Golf GTi
Multi-Camera set-up to provide extra perspective
I began the workflow by importing my Golf GTi videos onto my external hard drive from my Sony A9 and GoPro Hero10. Then, I renamed the filenames to the folder names to make the videos easier to find in Premiere Pro.
I imported the Volkswagen Golf GTi Anniversary video folder onto Premiere Pro. I etched a skeleton structure on our journey with Rourkes Volkswagen to remember how the shoot went and enhance the film.
I also needed to incorporate the GoPro aerial footage to enhance the video and complement the Sony A9's telephoto bokehlicous perspective of the Volkswagen. Yup!
The film footage of the Golf GTi felt overwhelming. I needed to split the film into a few sections:
Dual Carriageway to A51 Chapter
A51 (layby) to the Sailing Club (PT1)
Sailing Club to layby
Layby to Sailing Club (PT2)
Sailing Club (PT2) to Intersection
The chapters helped me pace myself and spliced the GoPro footage with the Sony A9 film. I cut the unneeded bloat of the video and took it on a metaphorical diet.
Then I placed the clips into a linear narrative of the Golf GTi, and I added some transitions to make the film punch and immersions to the video.
What about colour grading? Fair point; I applied my colour grading preset and adjusted the clips' exposure, hue, and luminosity.
Here's where a bulk of the video went into - Warp stabilisation. When applying warp stabilisation to the Sony A9 clips, it applied the effect to specific clips (I lacked Hard Drive Storage).
Once I sorted out the challenging drive issues, I began to edit to render the Volkswagen Golf GTi Anniversary clips. It took a day to render.
Then, I decided to choose a soundtrack mood for the video. I wanted a contemporary choice of Hip-Hop, Rap, Pop, and electronic to give the Golf GTi video an airy feel.
Volkswagen Golf GTi Anniversary Edition 3 Minute Video
Jonny and I thought we'd got a sizeable short film. It would make sense to create a shorter video for your social media channel/s. I agreed! Though the longer video to eat up watch time on YouTube and be a dazzling screensaver, would it engage a casual car guy? I doubt so.
I had the structure in already from the dual-carriageway, so I started with scenes of the Golf GTi cruising on the carriageway. I thought the bypass clips lacked excitement, so I spliced in scenes of the Volkswagen on picturesque countryside roads.
Then I added a clip of the Volkswagen entering the A51 for storytelling. I had less time to create a punchy video with the Sony A9 (including slow-motion clips) and GoPro. Great things happen in abundance.
After that re-stabilised, the footage and rendered the video. Finally, I used parts of the Golf GTi soundtrack, then added, reverb changed pitch and normalised the audio for social media/TV.
Conclusion
What's the most prominent video that I've created? R8 Adventures British Motor Museum Meet video. Though, I took three days to edit the R8 Adventures British Motor Museum film (three weeks with individual clips). I hadn't edited a behemoth like this.
Going from 90 minutes of multi-camera footage to 38 minutes of video (114,992 frames) was a fun challenge.
Outro
Do you prefer the shorter or longer video of the Volkswagen Golf GTi? Let me know in the comments below, and share my post on your social media channel/s if you'd like more people to know what's involved with a video shoot.