Vancouver's 6 Acre Living Roof - Growing Cities Series on Vimeo

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1. Vancouver's 6 Acre Living Roof - Growing Cities Series

by Dave Budge

2 years ago

The roof of the Vancouver BC Convention Centre is covered with over 2.5 hectares (6 acres) of native grassland. Usually closed to the public, we were able to get a tour and interview with the landscape architect of the project, Bruce Hemstock.

This is part 1 of the "Growing Cities" documentary series shot while traveling in the USA and Canada - June 2009. 2 person crew. Canon 5DmkII and Zoom H4n. Music is "Andvari" by Sigur Rós

Download the full 22 minute interview as an mp3 at children-of-dome.com/growing_cities/bruce_hemstock_interview.mp3

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I Am Eleven 2 years ago

This is freakin awesome, the subject and the production. Looks gorgeous, really well shot, and edited. I love it. Can't wait to see the next installments. Spread this baby like hotcakes. I wish there was a living roof on this commission flat I am in London right now, it would be gorgeous.
lalan7 2 years ago

I hope Montréal will have that king of roof projet, Very nice film. Excellent
Blake Whitman 2 years ago

wow, it looks and feels like you're in a park. this is incredible.
BrianSpoon 2 years ago

I like sigur rós, and the video is great too. I like this kind of architecture
Nathan Pierce 2 years ago

Makes a lot of sense.
Charlie Dog 2 years ago

The first green roof I experienced was in Coombes, B.C. over a General Store 30 years ago! The roof was sod and grass and acted as the home for 2 goats who happily munched away.
Doug Anderson 2 years ago

Simply beautiful. Does anyone know how the roof is constructed underneath the growth medium?
Michael 2 years ago

This is amazing. I am on the verge of buying something like the Panasonic AG-HMC40. I wonder if the Canon 5D could do equal??? would love to see the full HD output (pre-compression)
Dave Budge 2 years ago

Thanks Michael. Re cameras: There are probably better options than the AG-HMC40 if you're trying to get great HD output. Having used many different cameras over the years, what makes the most difference is the chip (sensor) and the lens.

That panasonic does look pretty cool, and the specs sound great for the price and size of the camera. But even though it'll technically record 1080p it wont necessarily have that HD (or even film) look with only a 1/4" chip. It'll just be a really big video.

Take a look at the Sony PMW-EX1 (theres a few channels here on vimeo too), which is the other camera i have. Fantastic pictures, and definately my choice for running around shooting action when the ergonomics and video limitations of the 5Dmk2 are just too much to deal with. Also the data rate of the recorded video is important. Higher data rate = less compression = theoretically better quality pictures. The max data rates of each are; Panasonic 24mbps, Sony 35mbps and Canon 39mbps.

I find myself using the 5D more and more. The huge sensor + all the lens options make it so fun. But keep in mind that it really sux at the same time. Separate audio recorders. Converting from H.264 before editing. But i still love it. If you want to see some raw footage from the camera let me know.
mike mckelvey 2 years ago

or a panasonic hpx170 which is kind of like the ex1 but maintains the CCD sensors rather than CMOS
Pavel Zaitsev 2 years ago

Mamazing Vancouver, how can one not miss it.
King Learie 2 years ago

6 acres! Amazing and shows just what can be done with determination and clear vision. Honey bees too!
Cover human concieved architecture with nature!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Christopher San Agustin 2 years ago

very interesting and well shot. The voice overs are a bit off, I am sure it's hard to sync those up
Dave Budge 2 years ago

Yeah they are. Its weird, they are synced in final cut. synced on the master render. then slightly off once on vimeo. grrr. I guess they were probably a frame or two out back in final cut and vimeo just emphasized it.
kaye 2 years ago

This makes me prouder of my city :)
Brendan Hibbert 2 years ago

Great work Dave. We love and miss you back here in Australia. HERB!
Dave Budge 2 years ago

Hey Herb. Oh i'm back in chilly melbourne sitting in front of a computer like always. but i have a better view and get to do fun things like this now. where are you? WA still. i should come over and we could make a film.
Rob Potvin 2 years ago

I miss home now!! Why did I leave??
Jaymer Delapena 2 years ago

Awesome work.
Vancouver Convention Centre 2 years ago

Great footage. We have a bunch more videos on our channel. Enjoy!
Joshua B. Pribanic 2 years ago

Great work. Nice to see one of these finished with such success.

I'll be sure to reference this tomorrow in a speech about implementing sustainable design.

What did you use for the audio?
Dave Budge 2 years ago

Hey thanks. I used a zoom h4n zoom.co.jp/english/products/h4n/ with a rode shotgun mic plugged in.

Then synced it to the footage in Final Cut with the Pluraleyes plugin
William Doyle 2 years ago

Very nicely done.
nakliyat 2 years ago

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Phoric 2 years ago

Cool, I walk by this building all the time, never realized there was a whole landscape up there.
Sam Figueroa 2 years ago

This should be done in all cities around the world.
swingtime 2 years ago

We're planning on shooting a little short film with the Nikkon equiv of the 5D in the next few weeks down here in Sydney. We'd be interested in hearing more about the pitfalls of shooting with this camera, although I think the images out weight the cons.

This audio synch for this felt like it was maybe a frame or half a frame out??

I have had the pleasure of visiting Vancouver and loved the city, I wish more buildings (and cities would take the initiative to do this). Actually there was a great article in Nat Geo a few months back about this building & others.

good luck
Dave Budge 2 years ago

Hey. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. I'm based in Melbourne, was just over in north america on another shoot. You'll be using the D90 yeah? A friend has one and says the rolling shutter can be noticeable in even slow-ish pans. Locked off it looks great though.

The audio sync is me just not paying attention when editing late at night. With the pluraleyes plugin for final cut, syncing shouldn't be an issue anymore.

Haha, that Nat Geo article was what got me excited about filming these rooftop things. Tried to get onto the Chicago City Hall, but media access to that is a mess and didnt have enough time. Did get to some other great projects though. stay tuned

dave
Jon Meyer 2 years ago

yeah More bees in the city.
Colm Dooley 2 years ago

great work, more please
eish fs 2 years ago

Amazing video. Wonderful for the enviornment and the people
rob from rbaproperty.com.au/blog
Stephen Thomason 2 years ago

I've got a small meadow growing in the backyard with raised garden beds all around it . Everything makes sense now & I'm so connected to nature , ladybugs+dragonflies+hummingbirds+every pollinator indignous to the area all happened when the meadow grew. Great video! Thanx for the inspirato!!
ronald eliassen hole 2 years ago

Now we´re talking. Way to go!
Sally Guyer 2 years ago

This is brilliant. It should be done everywhere. Beautiful film.
Kerstin Schützler 2 years ago

Wow, this is information you don't get every day. Really great, now I want to know more about this :-)
Billy Johnson 2 years ago

Sometimes you hear a story, watch a video or read a book and it just makes sense. This is one of those times.
Duncan Rawlinson 2 years ago

nice piece!
Tackham Ra 2 years ago

Good Message! :)
Emma Condon Tennant Mcgregor 2 years ago

Wish they would put some goats up there
jeff johns 2 years ago

That's so cool, I was in Vancouver last February and I saw that building being built and I just figured it was for the Olympics.
jacontre 2 years ago

Great video! Music choice is crap, though. Too freaking sappy and ridiculously sentimental.
Dave Budge 2 years ago

haha. yeah maybe it is a little. but it was really calm and quiet up there, and i'd been listening to sigur ros the day before
jacontre 2 years ago

ha, thanks for your reply, Dave! I've looked at it again and I'm learning to live with the music :)
Ryan 2 years ago

Gorgeous documentary. The scenes you chose are beautiful. The sound is great. I got a Zoom H2 coming next week, can't wait to use it. The only thing I see is a slight mismatch in the audio and mouths. I know that there are some syncing issues with the zoom h4 and audio programs. It seems to have a longer sync delay towards the end. There's a fix at cinema5d.com
Dave Budge 2 years ago

Thanks. I've realised what the problem was from editing a few other 5D shot videos. I'd synced the audio during the edit (including the 99.9% speed change) but then i bounced it out to logic to do a final mix, and when i brought it back into final cut, i needed to set it to 99.9% again... but didnt. Hence the the more out-of-syncness at the end.

You'll love the zoom btw, I've taken to recording on mine even when using a proper video cam with xlr inputs. Double system sound is freedom. I just wish mine didnt occasionally take ages to turn on.
R.E.P.L.I.C.A 2 years ago

we need alot more roofs like this :)
Hella Delicious 2 years ago

So beautiful to see the grass gently swaying in the wind with the huge modern buildings behind it and then realizing there is a huge modern building under it all. Thanks so much for this lovely video and the informative interview.
mike rubbo 2 years ago

Hi Dave, I'm a doc maker friend of Gens. She steered me to the lovely roof film which now just passed on the film to Michael Mobbs who you may have of heard of.

He has a sustainable house in Sydney which he uses to show people how to live sustainably. I plan to upload a film about his house soon.

My main interest is bikes, using them for transport to replace cars, and have started a new bike blog, called, And So To Bike. datillo.wordpress.com/

Gen Bailey thought you might be able advise as to how to get more visits. She spoke of you linking up with envt. blogs which helped a lot.

You'll see my films are very much about what bikes can do for us environmentally, esp. the one I made for Avaaz's wake up day.

The key thought in that piece is that a country which does not use bikes for short trips, and a Govt who does not make it safe to do so, is not serious about climate change

Have a look and see if you can pass on some advice about getting that reach. Cheers, Mike rubbo
Pixel Flix 2 years ago

Really well done, some really nicely composed shots, excellent visual story telling Sir! Great to see the 5D being used in a doco setting. Have you tried outputting any of your 5D material to DVD yet? Just interested how well this works in PAL land?!
Dave Budge 2 years ago

Hey thanks. Most of the stuff i do (both personal and paid) is for the web. So i havnt done anything that required 25p conversion. I've output 2 mins of footage as a quick screener to DVD, but just let it run at 30p as almost all DVD players will handle that.

I'm editing a project at the moment however where I've shot with 2 cameras, an EX1 and the 5D. Shot the EX1 at 25p, the 5D at 30p. I then converted all the 5D stuff to 25 and it really holds up well, just interviews so no fast action, but looks great. For whatever reason, turning the "frame controls" in apple compressor to "none" rather that "good" or "best" actually gave a better picture. No ghosting.

Think i'm going to just get a 7D though. Its all too much thinking about the tech and process and not enough about the story
Dave Budge 2 years ago

An update on the DVD conversion Pixel Flix... I did a transcode of this video to 25fps PAL for a DVD yesterday and it came out great. No motion compensation again worked out the best, but most shots a pretty static. If i was shooting fast moving stuff i'd experiment with the frame controls more. Or even the twixtor plugin
Pixel Flix 2 years ago

Thanks Dave that's very encouraging news, maybe I won't have to wait until the 25p firmware update is released :) Can I bug you some more at some point re yr workflow with this? I have lots of boring questions about it if you have the time at some stage.
Harald Scherz 2 years ago

Wonderful! spread the seeds!!!
cristina vicmudo sumaway 1 year ago

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GOD BLESS US ALL..!
Alvin Nyemah 1 year ago

what were your settings on the zoom? and the model of your shotgun mic.
Dave Budge 1 year ago

Hey Alvin. From memory i was recording at 44.1khz (to match the audio from the 5Dmk2) 16bit. Would have been running 48v phantom power from the zoom too. Into a Rode NTG2 shotgun. If i was to do it again, i'd get a shotgun mic with its own phantom power supply
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KIA DriveChange 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing this. Very cool to see. The California Academy of Sciences has a Living Roof too.

Anyhow, I thought you might appreciate this cool time lapse video shot in an urban community in Toronto.

youtube.com/kiacanada#p/a/u/0/13x4lySlXW4

Take a look at how Kia is driving change.

Enjoy!
Gigi
@kiadrivechange
facebook.com/kiacanada
youtube.com/kiacanad
onercengiz 1 year ago

really interesting video
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TJ Jeffrey 5 months ago

Wow, never noticed it up there the dozen of so times I've visited Vancouver. Great video!