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Shooting China's 60th anniversary parade with the 7D, 5DmkII and Nikon D700

Journalism Canon 7D Canon 5D Mark II
Image ofDanChung

China’s 60th Anniversary national day – timelapse and slow motion – 7D and 5DmkII from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

This is my short film from China’s huge national day parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the people’s republic.

The challenge was to come up with something different with so many different Chinese and international media covering the event from every angle. After waiting half the previous night for a pass and then catching only 3 hours sleep in the press centre lobby, I got put on a stand with a hundred odd of my media collegues including the likes of the BBC, Reuters, AP and AFP so there was no point doing the same as they were.

Messing around waiting for the parade to start with my Rolleiflex next to the BBC's Quentin Sommerville
Messing around waiting for the parade to start with my Rolleiflex next to the BBC's Quentin Sommerville

Chinese media with long lenses at the ready to shoot their leaders
Chinese media with long lenses at the ready to shoot their leaders

I decided to shoot the whole video on D-SLRs using a combination of time lapse and slow motion. The 7D was equipped with an adapted Nikon 300mm f2.8 lens and a 1.4x convertor set at 720p/60 and then slowed down to 25fps in Final Cut Pro. The 5DmkII and Nikon D700 were both mounted remotely high up in the air, one atop a big studio light stand, the other in a Manfrotto super arm clamped to a lampost, both also had tilt and shift lenses fitted.

Shooting with my 7D, Zacuto Z-finder, Nikon 300mm f2.8 and 1.4x convertor and Sennheiser MKE400 mike.
Shooting with my 7D, Zacuto Z-finder, Nikon 300mm f2.8 and 1.4x convertor and Sennheiser MKE400 mike.

It was a quite hot for an October day in Beijing and I think this coupled with my heavy use of the 720p movie mode caused my 7D to overheat a lot. The camera would flash a red warning on the LCD and three times the camera overheated so much that it decided to stop me filming. This is documented in the user manual which also states that overheating can also cause the image quality to degrade. In future I’m going to being more with me to protect the camera from the heat.

This said the footage I did get was amazing and is only lightly adjusted for colour and contrast, otherwise its pretty much how it came out the camera.

You can see video as it originally on the Guardian here
There is an great tutorial on timelapse processing from Eos-network here
To see some astounding Timelapse work check out the work of Tom at Timescapes[caption

Image ofDanChung

Co-founder of Newsshooter, Dan Chung has over 20 years of experience working behind a camera. His career started in photography but evolved into documentary, multimedia and broadcast TV. He shot the first news video on a DSLR and has been on staff at Reuters, The Guardian and CNBC. Dan heads up the editorial team at www.photogearnews.com.

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395 responses to “Shooting China's 60th anniversary parade with the 7D, 5DmkII and Nikon D700”

  1. Dan,

    I love the intercutting of fast motion with the slow motion. The slomo of the marching was very impressive.

    I am a bit concerned about the overheating on the 7D with the high temp and humidity we have in HK.

    Congrats on coming up with a video that looks totally different to what I have seen on all the TV station – great planning.

    Bob

  2. I see these “National Pride” days from many countries, makes me wonder if maybe the US shouldn’t have such a day, and celebrate it in a similar manner. I’m tired of seeing every ethnic group celebrating individually, let’s bring it all together, what a sight it would be! I know we have the 4th of July, but while regional fireworks and backyard bbq’s are fine, it’s no match for such pageantry. It’s a dream I have.

  3. @Eric Emerick #1, please immediately stop your wild fantasies, dear friend.

    The United States of America you are likely speaking of is so wretchedly poor these days, this year tons of cities stopped their July 4 parades and firework displays altogether. In the East Coast USA city I happen to live in, we had squat, nada, nothing.

    Your trying to pretend and hope against hope that the USA can be just as celebratory and overall happy and optimistic as the PRC is today is an effort in vain. The USA had its heyday, that’s true. Now it’s others’ turn to have their decades and centuries basking in the Sun.

    But hey, it was really good while it lasted. Thank you, Uncle Sam. It has been… real.

  4. Very nicely done… the Chinese do these type of celebrations so very well… The US could never get that many people coordinated!
    Loved the back and forth of the time lapse and slow motion also…

  5. Someone thinks this story is fantastic…

    This story was submitted to Hao Hao Report – a collection of China’s best stories and blog posts. If you like this story, be sure to go vote for it….

  6. Oh, Bela. You really should stop watching MSNBC. I fear their hatred for America has rubbed off on you. How ironic is it that this ‘happy and optimistic PRC’ is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the birth of their liberty-loathing, communistic government in the same location that hundreds of their brothers and fathers were murdered by that same ‘happy and optimistic’ government just 20 years ago?

    Eric, stay proud and united.

  10. Dan, MSNBC had also picked up your clip, along with the traditional “normal speed” version of the parade. Great job! Congratulations!

    @Lisa #4, I disagree. The US is indeed “coordinating” tens if not hundreds of thousands of people. In Iraq and Afghanistan, for instance. They just can’t get the job done, that’s all.

    @Traior Dave #5, wow! NBC is a “Commie network,” huh, Citizen Kohn? BTW, I don’t think even Eric would be “proud” of such a dumbass who cannot see that his beloved country is finally kaput.

  11. Patriot Dave,

    “stay proud and united”? So we can pay back the debt we owe those communist socialist Chinese? Do you realize we are broke, less than penny-less with deficit and debt up our yinyang? The only way we can get out this is make the $USD worthless so we can pay back the Chinese with our toilet paper currency. Get ready for that, my friend. Cus’ this is the only way we can get out of this.

  12. I’m pretty sure leaders from that era are either dead or gone (jailed). Though I believe Li Peng is the last one alive, but he was a no-show at the parade which means he’s probably close to death from his illness.

  14. Dan, this is what MSNBC has for the parade time-lapse, I am not sure if you had shot it, though?

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33130136#33120964

    @Conservative #7, that is correct, Kind Sire. You borrow money from the Devil, you’ve gotta pay back to the Devil his dues. With interest. And penalties. Oh, yeah. 🙂

    Hey, no worries, though: Patriot Davie Crocket and at least three our four other “patrios” like him will vote for the Republicans in the next election. Then America will once again be “the Envy of the World” and/or the “Best Country in the World” amd/or “the Leader of the Free World” os some such nonsensical crap.

  19. Dan,

    Great short clip.the shift lenses are pretty impressive.

    Im trying to contact you thru email, but it just seems not working.

    Best wishes to your wedding.

    Gavin

  25. Not sure myself – As a news story it’s not saying very much! As a journalist aren’t you supposed to be telling a story? I think it’s great we all see the benefit of using a dslr and the amazing image quality is produces with HD. Getting creative with interesting tilt-shift lens time-lapses, but why..?

    It’s just eye candy! a simple b-roll showreel edit!? I don’t think the younger generation really have an idea why they celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the people’s republic. Do they understand what the significance of it all is! Why is it important to know about it!? Wouldn’t that be a more worth while angle to ‘inform’ us with?

    I just feel journalism is heading in many different ways – this is the route of image quality and ‘cliche’ tilt-shift animations over communication and information.

    You see this sort of stuff in most live TV events – F1 – Olympics – They’ll produce a nice compilation of best shots of the day and put it in a package like this, it’s been done for years! I don’t understand what the hoopla is about!? Nice imagery but that’s all it is really.

  26. It looks like a very powerful, expensive, and well turned out military power they have there! What are they planning on doing with it exactly?

    I guess it’s just for show!

  29. Great write-up about how you set up and what you saw, and your final product is outstanding! I think the cameras like the Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon 7D (in particular) have really changed the photographic landscape.

  36. 拍得实在是漂亮，我实在挑不出这位记者同志有丑化阅兵游行活动的一丁点痕迹。
    感谢外国友人对宣传咱们祖国所作出的努力，那位yasa和什么英雄如果不欢迎你，至少我传阅的几十位朋友都会欢迎你的，爱好和平、崇尚友谊的中国人会欢迎你。
    再次感谢……

  38. Great job! You got the essence of this celebration.
    Even I am a China people, and there a lot video in each CCTV channel . I did not see such perfect movie like this. It really shame some people who work for this event.

  39. 这个快进处理的，O(∩_∩)O哈哈~背景音乐有点意思，钢琴部分有点the mass的意思…奋进吧

  42. 作为一个炎黄子孙，我为整个民族的繁荣昌盛感到自豪！
    不论这些照片来自PRC还是ROC。

  43. Nothing I can say.You can not put this kind of things in china,and is sorry to say it here

  45. i like your short film’s background music,you can tell me music name?your film is very good!

  46. @Gary Taylor #20 & #21, oh go and suck on a sour candy, you sourpuss.

    Also, you are asking what the Chinese are expecting to do with their considerable military might? Well, maybe DEFEND themselves against foreign aggressors? God knows, they had plenty of them over the centuries.

    Also, they may not wish to end up in the sorry state like their biggest debtor, the United States is these days. Being beaten the military crap out of them in both Iraq and Afghanistan, I mean.

    @w #35, whatever you tried to tell us, friend, was not said in English. Good jab at the language, though.

  50. I really want to fxxk China Central Television,which gave such a BAD parade to the whole world!

  51. I love China. The ceremony is great and so is the parade. Long live the People’s Republic of China.

  54. (1)他们用的胶片和器材相当的高档，所以色彩饱和，纯正。。。
    (2）剪辑得相当好，慢镜头加快镜头，比呆板的央视好多了，张艺谋可以拍得出来。。。
    （3）音乐很恰如其分。。

  55. I wonder if this will include a retrospective on the great leap famine, the destruction of the cultural revolution, the invasion and occupation of Tibet, the murder of pro-democracy protesters, or any of the other crimes against humanity carried out in the name of Maoist-Lenninism.

  56. I have to say i’m with Gary on this one. As nice as some of the footage is its still b-roll. Where exactly is the journalism these days? The news industry is based around nothing but attending media managed press events or so it seems.

    Where’s the coverage of the masses who couldn’t attend the anniversary of the peoples revolution because they weren’t allowed? Surely thats at least part of the story? There could have been a nice short film…but it feels like an opportunity missed.

  58. 真不错 莆田那位懂个P 这视频一定会火 作者是着意宣传祖国 顶你了 goodguy Dan Chung

  59. @Nobody Yankee Dude #44, with the Yanks getting their asses whipped all over the map these days, and getting no respect no more from nobody, I would not be spending too much of my time reminiscing about China’s modern-era history, you rather blindsided person.

    @Mark #45, I guess you should have read Dan’s text first before sounding off uninformed. THIS WAS A ONE-BAND SHOW BY HIM. Usually, one cameraperson can only be at one place at one time. Here, he was running not one, not two, but three cameras. Yeah, he was not running 22 cameras simultaneously all over Northern China. So what?

    You know what a PARADE is, friend? A bunch of people moving down a straight line. You sit and watch it from a stationary position. Or else you participate in it by marching with the crowd. Either way, it has got nothing to do with journalism, investigative or otherwise.

  62. Bela…ever thought of filming before and after an event? Its not a new concept.

    ‘You sit and watch it from a stationary position. Or else you participate in it by marching with the crowd’

    And that was the point…the ‘people’ who’s parade it was supposed to be couldn’t watch from a stationary position or march with the crowd because authorities wouldn’t let them. You’d think a journalist would be interested in that. I’m guessing you’re not one.

    PS – don’t confuse ‘sounding off uninformed’ with being critical and having an opinion that is very much informed.

  64. I’ll have a sour haribo if you’re handing them out Bela – At least some constructive criticism would help! You seem to have an issue with everyone in here – Can’t really tell if it’s ignorance or banter though! But the fact you gave me some feedback to what questions I thought should of been raised in the video, was indeed the ‘point’.

    Just because it’s a different angle to the “rest of the hundred odd of media” doesn’t instantly make it a hit, even with all it’s gimmicks. The reason I even commented was because I actually care about journalism and how stories are told. Caring about that is more important today than it’s ever been!

    I’m not going to be blinded like a child; by rolling on the floor in giggles at all the fancy colours and shapes on screen!

  65. @Mark page 2, #1: No, I never would have thought about that, actually..

    Especially since Dan had stated in his write-up that he had to wait half the night before the event to get his press pass. Listen, YOU did not like the Chienese parade coverage, but the rest of us certainly did. ‘Nuff said.

    No, I am not a journalist, correct. Why, should everyone visiting and enjoying these pages should be a “journalist,” you think? And like I was saying, you either marched in the parade. Or else you watched it. And that’s about that. If you marched in it, obviously you could not, at the same time, watch it. Hello, is anybody home!? Mark, I guess YOU even have a particular brand of problem with that, hmmm?

    @Gary, page 2, #2: I read your “comment.” You said nothing useful about anything even remotely involving Dans’s phenomenal coverage of the Chinese 60th anniversary parade. But I guess just like Mark, you also like to hear yourself speak and sound like an all-around wise owl, hmmm?

    You are a real sour-puss, Amigo. Dan’s footage was picked up all over the world — I even caught it on a Venezuelan web site. And just what had YOU done lately that we should have seen and enjoyed journalistically, my most talented brother?

  79. i really enjoyed the video. i think, contrary to criticisms about it not being quality journalism, it actually captures the surrealism of a parade of nuclear weapons, machine-gun toting women in miniskirts, dancing ethnic minorities, fake butterflies, and kids on their parents’ shoulders in a way print media could not.

    thanks for a really interesting few minutes. i got here from shanghaiist.com.

  81. 我刚刚一直觉得背景音乐有点耳熟，怪怪的。后来突然想起来，这音乐跟电影希特勒阅兵时的音乐基本一样，采用的镜头（快进）那种感觉也是跟电影里的纳粹德国是一样的。

    靠，把中国比纳粹，这样的记者真该杀！！！！！！！！！！！！！！

  84. Hi Dan,

    I really like the work you have done. The China clip is impressive!
    Could you please give me the name of te music that has been used in the clip?

    Thank you and keep up the good work,

    John

  86. well you’ve won the argument then Bela = phenomenal coverage. You’re officiously in the right and I love hearing myself speak! Unlike you of cause – consider yourself an owl!

    Truly is phenomenal coverage – Plus I completely agree with china expat – If that’s all Dan was there to get then job well done.

    I’m off to look at all the phenomenal coverage of the war in Afghanistan now…I read another soldier from the RAF Regiment was killed. Can’t wait to see the images collated to represent such a terrible event. Maybe another dramatic helicopter taking off from Camp Bastion, and hopefully I’ll find an amazing sunset silhouette of a soldier on stag duty or something!

  87. oh brilliant -http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/02/british-serviceman-killed-afghanistan

    At least with have great photographers and videographers out getting some phenomenal coverage of the really important storties aye Bela!

  91. Hey There, Gary #19-20 on page 2.

    Gary, you seem to be arguing with everyone else then, because out of 70 or so “YES” votes, only you and one other person had cast a “NAY” vote for Dan. R U Repugnutic, by happenchance? 😉

    As a non-journalist viewer, I liked the Chinese parade and its coverage. The Americans and Europeans could never execute something this perfect, I feel. It puts the old Russkie parades through Red Square to shame.

    I also loved how the Chinese premiere can ride with a fully exposed upper torso in his nation’s capital. Whereby whenever the US president goes anywhere in the American capital, hundreds of security guards protect him, and he is forced to be encapsuled in a steel coffin on wheels weighting many tons.

    It just doesn’t look like you are into photojournalism at all, and what if can deliver, Gary. Maybe pornographic clips would be more to your liking?

  93. I think you’ll find my “vote” was “I’m not so sure” rather than “NAY” –

    And with that incoherent, libelous comment, which you’ve just responded with, I’ll end it there.

  94. @Gary Taylor #25, Sir: I think you should look up in the dictionary what the term “libel” and the term “lieblous comment” real mean. Maybe you have been a Hollywood insider too long, or having LA-gitis, I dunno.

  96. Wow, I never thought your video is so HD and clear than the one I saw on my LCD tv. Great work!! Love IT!!

  97. Bela…seriously nothing you say seems to make any sense. Its good people have different views and are happy to discuss them. But at the very least they have to be remotely coherent and actually meaningful to the discussion. You seem to have a deliberate knack for taking things either out of context or completely misunderstanding them.

    Gary clearly critiqued the video on a journalistic level and wanted something more than technical gimmicks (slow mo, tilt shift etc) now matter how pretty they are. But you now seem to be defending it on how good the parade was…which really has little to do with the actual production and journalistic value of the film.

    Both the video and the parade are a triumph of style over substance. Which pretty much sums up the state of photojournalism/press photography at the moment.

    Anyway as i see it there really isn’t much point in engaging with you beyond this point. So enjoy yourself now won’t you.

  98. PS – here’s an interesting fact, Dan, Gary and myself were all taught photojournalism by the same person. Weird huh.

  99. Just passing by from friend’s recommendation…

    I’m Chinese, thanks for the photos. I watched the parade on Chinese TV, and that version was CRAP.

    About the comments, the bad ones (those pointing fingers at PRC) are just so predictable, and the ones that saying how good China is now, well, I have to say that I am very surprised, really, our country ain’t that good, yet… At least in 50 years, we won’t be able to catch up with your US.

    To criticizing guys like Gary: We have to move on with life, right? Anger won’t bring us food, we need to grow as a whole.
    So there were horrible, horrible things along in the history of the new China, so we should live in anger forever until we push our 4000-year-old nation back into war again? We’ve sufferred too much…
    There are things we don’t speak of, but it doesn’t mean that we forget, it takes time, and before that we need money to be able to feed and protect our nation. History is important, but where and what we are heading is vital, I think.

    PS: 我也是莆田的，这短片很好，前面那给恶评的太丢我们脸了。。。（其实你是到国际上来黑我们家乡的吧？）

  100. @Mark #29, you are complaing about “technical gimmicks.” Kindly note that the entire film and video acquisition and playback technology is based on trickery. Nothing is real. Everything is make-believe.

    If you want reality and no gimmickry, just walk about indoors or outdoors WITHOUT a camera running. Because once you push the START button on a camera, any camera, the “gimmicky” magic starts. Thanks God for that, too.

    BTW, I never considered Dan’s parade footage “pretty.” The parade was good, and so was its television coverage. Now, everybody happy?

    I also do not agree with the statement that the Chinese military parade and show of force was more “sytlistic” than substantive. If this is indeed so, then how come the Pentagon top brass is most likely crapping in their pants just by watching it like you and I just did, hmm?

  101. Bela :
    @Gary Taylor #25, Sir: I think you should look up in the dictionary what the term “libel” and the term “lieblous comment” real mean. Maybe you have been a Hollywood insider too long, or having LA-gitis, I dunno.

    See this is the problem you guys like you — Self appointed admins who clearly need to take their own advice!

    I’ll look up the word libel for you. I’ll even copy and paste it for “YOU” to understand.

    correction:
    (I didn’t type the term “lieblous comment” real mean)

    LIBEL (noun/verb) – LIBELOUS (adjective)

    noun:
    she sued two newspapers for libel defamation, defamation of character, character assassination, calumny, misrepresentation, scandalmongering; aspersions, denigration, vilification, disparagement, derogation, insult, slander, malicious gossip; lie, slur, smear, untruth, false report; informal mudslinging, bad-mouthing.

    verb:
    she alleged the magazine had libeled her defame, malign, slander, blacken someone’s name, sully someone’s reputation, speak ill/evil of, traduce, smear, cast aspersions on, drag someone’s name through the mud, besmirch, tarnish, taint, tell lies about, stain, impugn someone’s character/integrity, vilify, denigrate, disparage, run down, stigmatize, discredit, slur; informal dis, bad-mouth; formal derogate, calumniate.

    Once again you open that big know it all trap of yours, blurting out accusations that aren’t true. Plus I’m not from the United States – but in that head of yours, you clearly think you’re right all the time!

    Yang:

    You’ve clearly been reading in to a one sided debate. Anger is none existent in any of my comments, only to someone who’s bullied every single comment anyone has to disagree with Bela about – From equipment he’s never used, subject matter he barely knows anything about, and comments that are only targeted on a personal level!

    (mine were NOT EVEN HURTFUL_ We do this job because we care about it so much and websites like this are there to ask each other, ARE WE DOING OUR JOBS TO THE BEST OF OUR ABILITIES?, IS IT INFORMATIVE?, IS IT IMPORTANT?, DOES IT GET THE RIGHT INFORMATION ACROSS, IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY?, IS IT INTERESTING?, IS IT CREATIVE?, ETC ETC ETC

    BELA isn’t a professional if he can’t understand someone given a mild concern that it doesn’t get the best message across (TO THE VIEWER)..He can’t conduct himself professional to “Discuss and Debate about a video he didn’t even make. To throw remarks about “Hollywood insider too long and LA gitis” – and “R U Repugnutic, by happenchance?” Clearly a dick, to be honest.

    Yang:
    I completely agree with you on your comment: Which I did mention on my first comment..about that point of view is completely missing, particularly when it’s made for a UK publication. My concern was that, that not many people from the UK would know about the history from 60 years ago in China and so on…so why not give a little more depth to the video – instead of a nice gimmick –

    “So there were horrible, horrible things along in the history of the new China, so we should live in anger forever until we push our 4000-year-old nation back into war again? We’ve sufferred too much…

    There are things we don’t speak of, but it doesn’t mean that we forget, it takes time, and before that we need money to be able to feed and protect our nation. History is important, but where and what we are heading is vital, I think.”

    The video doesn’t show that!! That was my point! Reason why i didn’t agree with everyone else who just praised it!

    Think about what their praising as well – mostly ‘thank you’, because it’s their country and the rest are about the image quality!

    Just think about that for one second…especially when you just commented about the history..all the YES votes were for what? Most of the votes that liked it, commented on the video because of the great camera work!

    Not wow thank you this was so informative, those people should be proud or what ever…We’re not taught about it in school – we barely know anything past the Second World War because that’s all they teach us! I just believe in cases like this, we should be given a little bit more in to it than a simple creative music video!

    Bela – “Pentagon top brass is most likely crapping in their pants just by watching it like you and I just did, hmm?”

    People don’t know why morons like that come out with these comments – And is that the comments Dan and anyone else involved set out to get by making this video?

    Everyone has their own opinion, I’m happy they do…But don’t expect me to back down to a bully who just wants to make rash judgements and contradictory remarks at people who do want to see the best out of British and Foreign Journalism.

  102. @Gary #33, you raised many valid points, and I thank you for taking the time out to voice them, Dear Sire. But here are some INSTANT CORRECTIONS you might wish to note down:

    1. “She sued two newspapers for libel defamation…” Well, I think “she” was a “he,” and he had only sued one newspaper, not two. Right?

    2. “She alleged the magazine had libeled her defame…” Oh, s/he did? Did s/he win at the end at least, I wonder?

    In talking to Yang, you the proceed to react to his valid comments by saying that “the video doesn’t show that!!” True, but then again, Yang is not Dan, although the two names might sound alike to our ears… Let us please not blame people for the video clip we are all commenting about here who actually had nothing to do with the making and editing of it, hmmm?

    “We barely know anything past the Second World War because that’s all they teach us!”

    MY RELATED QUESTION: Gary, where did you say you were from, and where did you say you went to school, friend?

    You continue to sound rather ridiculous, Gary, when you first claim that “I’m not from the United States,” and then later allude to the fact that perhaps you know better than Bela whether the Pentagon top brass craps or does not crap in their pants in awe and fear of the Chinese. How would YOU know that, my dear not-even-American friend, unless there is another “Pentagon” in the country where you are from? I had always thought there was only one, actually, and that it was situated in Arlington, State of Virginia, United States of America.

    As a learned journalist of some repute, what do you say, man?

  103. 14楼的 能说下是哪部希特勒的片子 我去看看 如果是这样的 一定把这这俩原作者废了

  104. “ridiculous” – agreed

    1. dictionary example (so instant correct as you will)
    2. dictionary example (so instant correct as you will)

    I stated they would be, they were simply copied and pasted from the dictionary for you to understand. Even that wasn’t clear enough to you it seems. Shame on the Oxford dictionary!

    “Pentagon top brass is most likely crapping in their pants just by watching it like you and I just did, hmm?”

    ^^^^^^^^^That was a direct quote from you^^^^^^^^^^^

    I don’t see nationality as a point of discussion with you to be honest. You seem to have a slight issue or are indeed being xenophobic. I certainly don’t want to get into such idiotic discussions either.

    I know Yang isn’t Dan, I wasn’t even typing to him like he was.

  105. 共产党阅兵和纳粹真是异曲同工，性质一样，都是党卫军大阅兵，世界小心了，战略核武器对着！！！

  107. Okay, Gary of the Oxford Dictionary, #FOREVER Edition: you are always right. Now, with that settled, let us move on to the technical arena, namely:

    CMOS SENSOR OVERHEATING!!!

    According to Dan, the Canon EOS 7D user manual states that overheating can also cause the image quality to degrade. Wow!!! How interesting….

    Let’s go back a step. CMOS SENSOR WERE NEVER INVENTED FOR VIDEO USE. Instead, they were designed for for digital still photography use. In fact, a camera with a CMOS sensor and an electronic rolling shutter is probably the worse technology you can have in digital image acquisition.

    For any serious type of shooting, and not necessarily when you are running at 720/60p or 720/50p, you will have to have a second “B” camera around, because the fist one will overheat inside of 20-25 minutes. And if you are shooting video in the Kalahari Desert or in the Mojave Desert, probably inside of 10 minutes. And in fact you may have to have three cameras handy, not just two.

    Now, for still pix, CMOS is swell. Just not for video. For video, CMOS is simply no good.

    SONY knew all this, or should have known this, when they unleashed on an unuspecting CCD world their first CMOS sensor video camcorder. Why? In a word: MONEY!!! Making CMOS sensors is much cheaper than doing the old and proven 3CCD route with the global shutter. And you only need ONE SENSOR with CMOS (usually), not three as with CCD. So, the money savings are huge.

    This is the only reason we are seeing CMOS sensor video cameras and video-capable DSLRs. Their sensor are cheaper to make. Of course, a manufacturer cannot openly admit that, it would be bad for business. So, they come up with the typical song and dance as to how CMOS uses less energy, is more sensitive to light, is less affected by gamma rays, etc. True, but still, CMOS + rolling shutter is bad for video shoots.

    BTW, the sensor overheating and drastic drop in data capture rates will be evident even if you do not have the typical rolling shutter artifacts related to motion to overcome. Just by capturing up to 60 high-def images every single second, these CMOS sensors in the DSLRs quickly overheat,. They were never designed and made to be used as full-time video camcorders, you see…

  109. FRANk :我刚刚一直觉得背景音乐有点耳熟，怪怪的。后来突然想起来，这音乐跟电影希特勒阅兵时的音乐基本一样，采用的镜头（快进）那种感觉也是跟电影里的纳粹德国是一样的。
    靠，把中国比纳粹，这样的记者真该杀！！！！！！！！！！！！！！

    我刚才特地把希特勒阅兵的视频找出来看了一下，没有听到相同或者相似的音乐，不知道您能不能赐教，告诉我是哪一首乐曲或者您在哪里听到的。
    当然，我也知道说这种话的人一般不会回来看的，说了就说了，从来不知道为自己说的话负责任。

  110. […] 如果你错过了昨天的live的盛大场面，这个来自英国卫报摄影记者Dan Chung的3.5分钟小片将绝对震撼你的视觉。有一些人说“这是国庆游行目前为止最好的浓缩版本”，技术层面上，这种叫timelapes的东西很简单。经济萧条的背景下，最简单的技术达到最完美的效果，这才是王道。 […]

  111. @tongxin620 #40: as much as I tried, I really could not see any similarity for example with the Leni Riefenstahl movie “Triumph of the Will” praising the Nazis and this well organized, welle excuted, but ultimately innocent military parade in Beijing. You say the music was similar, well maybe, but then again, there is only so much military type of parade music you can get here from a music library, right?

    Anyhow, I filmed on 16mm color stock May Day and Liberation Day parades in Budapest, Warsaw, Bucharest, and one in Moscow. This was in the early 1970s. They really are all the same, if you think of it. Personally, I like them.

  112. To Bela:
    My apologies, I’m no expert in photography or journalism, yet I’m making loads of comments here…

    To Gary:
    The photographer was just doing his job, taking pictures about the parade. Those ‘deep’ things were not showing in the photos because, guess-what, it’s not in the parade… So I naturally felt that you were criticizing about the parade itself for not showing the full story.

  118. 丹中，你好，很高兴访问您的网站。感谢你的画面，但配乐不好。

  120. shubbby :啥鸡巴垃圾音乐，垃圾视频！拍的人和制作者全家死光光！

    请对作者保持应有的尊重，以及身为一个中国人请拿出你应有的素质，谢谢。

  122. 曼生 :

    shubbby :啥鸡巴垃圾音乐，垃圾视频！拍的人和制作者全家死光光！

    请对作者保持应有的尊重，以及身为一个中国人请拿出你应有的素质，谢谢。

    这种人还要尊重？他就是吃屎长大的。希特勒的背景，鲜花堆着主席像。悲伤的音乐。

  123. thanks for your video!i like photograph very much.this is myfirst time to see this kind of video,amazing!
    hope you enjoy your time in china,take more photo about china and chinese.
    那些不分青红皂白，上来就一通乱骂的人，你不配说中文

  124. 不好意思，我没听出背景音乐中有一丝悲伤成分，只是稍显庄重罢了。上边所谓希特勒阅兵的音乐，希特勒背景？我想请问你，你看过这段视频吗？哪里有希特勒背景？

  125. 上面那骂人的实在是太丢脸了，一点素质都没有，连最基本的互相尊重都没学会！拜托你们回家里好好呆着好不，别出来丢人啦！我简直怀疑你们是FL功派来黑国人素质的！
    我觉得这个视频拍得不错，比CCTV的黑乎乎的好多了，音乐是稍嫌庄重些，但还是不错的。

  127. 是有点死气沉沉的感觉，慢镜头人人面无表情，然后快镜头的方队，有点被国家机器湮没的意思，没有思想，只有木偶般的行动，这位外国记者似乎就想表达这个…

  128. shubbby :

    曼生 :

    shubbby :啥鸡巴垃圾音乐，垃圾视频！拍的人和制作者全家死光光！

    请对作者保持应有的尊重，以及身为一个中国人请拿出你应有的素质，谢谢。

    这种人还要尊重？他就是吃屎长大的。希特勒的背景，鲜花堆着主席像。悲伤的音乐。

    这音乐哪里悲伤了？您懂欣赏么？

  129. 中华英雄 :
    我是中国莆田的，看了你们的记者的作品很生气，下次不欢迎你来我们国家了。

    请问气从何来？人拍得多好，不管从技术还是手法上，这个短片都比朝廷台播的垃圾强得多了。

  130. hey,you may think china is a totalitarian country, so you make your video this way.
    it’s okay,what i want to tell you is that china is not perfect now,there are many things unfair and we have many complain about china,but we love china , we hate the government and the party.i just want to tell you how chinese think

  131. eh..i think there are few misunderstand..
    take it easy hellkitty…和谐和谐~~
    maybe the photographer didn’t make this video on purpose.yeah,i agreed with you,and your opinion on second paragraph.我们不爱党，但我们爱国！(sorry,my english is not so good)

  134. Good job! 音乐很庄重，挺适合的，不知道希特勒用没用过管谁的球事。没脑子愤青的语调怎么跟大-纪元一样，真是稀烂的一大把。

  137. 拍的可比天朝的台强太多了，不明白五毛党咋回事，白的可以说成黑的。

  143. Hey , I love the video . You did a beautiful work . Gratz … But tell me please , what is the name of the song!?

  144. 中华英雄 :
    我是中国莆田的，看了你们的记者的作品很生气，下次不欢迎你来我们国家了。

    自尊心越强的人内心越自卑

  146. Great video!Much better than CCTV’s Live!
    BTW, I think some Chinese here don’t know how to appreciate music & video and can’t select their words in a correct way……..Just ignore them.

  148. This is an perfect summary of the retro propaganda, I enjoyed the method and the skill involved in making the clip, and no regret for missing the official live broadcast. Thank you.

  149. i am amazing! great editing, great music which really shocked my heart! thank you to shoot my motherland looks so good! 很多中国人认为外国人对中国有偏见，其实是这些人自己心里自卑，才会曲解了明明不隐含任何政治偏见的好短片！希望我们的同胞拿出自己的素质，从纯欣赏的角度观看这部影片。你会发现我们的祖国是那么美好！

  151. hi Dan, this is Yu. i keep on reading your website for a while and prefer your shooting style and the topic you choose. i have an inclination to shoot a movie ( well i am kind of TV program editor) , would you interest? more details could be reached at : [email protected] or mobile No:13391911105

  153. is it made originally from great amount of pictures?
    i shared this clip with my friend, it’s very nice and good job for you!

  154. I’ve to say some guys here are really really creepy. The author have done a greet job, and obviously, it is an amazing parade. That’s a good sign! For those junky guys with dirty words, plz, go somewhere that even god can’t find you, ‘cauze you’re really nasty. for those who are anouncing themselves as patriates but not a party member, I understand u, but don’t be afraid of those slaugons from Fa Lun Da fa. It is just that the communists found the new China, and gain the respect from all over the world, not the member of Fa Lun dafa, and they are just tools for anti-China, if you were really living in countries outside of China. I hate those guys, always do something unreal but none of them is good for China and Chinese.

  156. Great Job! Bravo! Keep the good work! It has the potential of becoming a masterpiece.

  159. 清晰度还可以..
    俺的要求很低
    看清脸就行…
    俺农村来的 …别叨咕俺…0.0

  160. […] • Fik du ikke set paraden? Og gider du ikke lige bruge 66 minutter af dit liv på en kinesisk civil- og militærparade? Fotografen Dan Chung, der arbejder for den britiske avis Guardian, har lavet en film på 3,42 minutter med slow-motion og time-laps. Mere behøver du ikke se, så klik over på Guardian eller på videoen her ovenoer. Opgaven kunne have været drønende kedelig – at stå på et podie sammen med andre fotografer og journalister og knipse paraden, der ruller forbi. Derfor har jeg stor respekt for en fotograf som Dan Chung, der kan lave noget originalt. Og skulle du nu synes, at det er helt enormt spændende, at han brugt 7D, 5DmkII og Nikon D700 til at lave kortfilmen, så skriver han om de tekniske detaljer her. […]

  172. […] First, the parade in Tiananmen Square to mark the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China – as seen in timelapse and slow-motion. Created by Dan Chung: […]

  176. … [Trackback]…

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