Capturing an Event with a Flip MINO HD

We had the perfect event storm here in Phillipsburg, NJ the other day– The final day of a “Thomas the Tank Engine”  full size train ride experience for kids and families up the street from Union Square, where we live, and “Heritage Days” in Easton, which is a stone’s throw across the river from us.

The Free Bridge prior to the Fireworks

Easton, PA, and Phillipsburg, NJ are both joined– and separated by– the 100 plus year old “Free Bridge”. It’s called that because it’s, well, free, as opposed to the toll bridge on Route 22 a minute or two and 75 cents away.

Heritage Day concluded with fireworks on the river, and so all roads leading to both sides of the bridge were closed off, making the Free Bridge the perfect vantage point for the fireworks.

Phillipsburg– especially its historic downtown– has seen some tough times but it’s undergoing something of a renaissance. Money has been put into redoing the streets and sidewalks of the main drag– Main Street– and local merchants have tried to build up traffic by any number of means. The Urban Enterprise Zone has worked hard to bring new businesses into town.

But building traffic is tough. There is of course Easton, across the river, Bethlehem, Allentown, and any number of artistic and quaint and fully developed communities in Eastern Pennsylvania and Western New Jersey. Clinton. New Hope. Flemington. Jim Thorpe.

I’m not crazy about fireworks. Nothing has compared– ever– to my memory of the display on the river in Norwalk, Connecticut when I was five.

But looking out our front window with its perfect view of  the bridge and Union Square, I was struck by the traffic.  No, not the motorcycles and muffler-free trucks we listen to every weekend– but the foot traffic.

So, at the very last minute, we left our fourth floor walk-up and decided to experience the fireworks on the river.

Fireworks as seen from the Free Bridge, Phillipsburg, New Jersey

And I took with me my Flip MinoHD.  I didn’t plan on using it, but once I started I couldn’t stop.

The next day, I put together a quick edit using Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Pro Pack, natural sound, and finally, a voiceover track featuring my off-the cuff comments as the edit played back on my laptop screen.

The Flip is a nifty little device; it has surprising picture quality (especially in 720p HD), and it’s ability to pick up ambient sound is great.

It does not have image stabilization, which means without a tripod chances are very good there will be a little shakycam. You could image stabilize that in post, but then you’d be rendering for a half a day, and I wanted to get this thing done quickly.

What was REALLY surprising was how good the fireworks look.

But maybe you should take a look and let me know what you think. it’s a pretty casual approach for me, but it was fun, and it plays to these little mini-cam’s strengths– the ability to capture reality with a minimum of invasiveness.  People don’t ask “When will this be aired?” and other things like that, and they don’t alter their behavior for the camera.

You can find the video on YouTube here. Remember to click on the HQ for high quality in the lower right of the player. And comments or questions are welcomed.