Walk MS – MS Does Not Have Me

While participating in the MS Walk in Pasadena, CA on April 18th, I brought along my new Canon 7D and shot some stills, video, and interviews. While there I was struck by the button on this man’s hat and filmed him. After reviewing the footage I came up with this idea for the PSA and cut it together.

This was shot completely hand held with a bare 7D. My Z-Finder Jr. had not yet arrived, and I had no external stabilization system or shoulder rig. This made holding focus on a moving object while walking myself pretty tough, and it was my first time shooting with the 7D outdoors in a non-controlled environment. Some of the shots I got that day were great others unusable, while I tried to maintain focus in bright sunlight on the LCD. My savior was the Canon 17-55mm F2.8 lens with Image Stabilization. This made hand-held footage that could have been a disaster into something usable.

The footage for the PSA was all shot 720/60p and converted to Cineform AVI files for editing. Each was interpreted as 24P for slow motion and edited in Premiere CS4. I onlined in After Effects with additional post stabilization using Magic Bullet Steady and color correction with Magic Bullet Looks.

This project is not officially created for Walk MS or the National MS Society, and was created as more of a camera test for me and my workflow. For more information on Walk MS and Multiple Sclerosis please visit: walkmssocal.org