Weird Japan Video

It's not that I think Japan has a weird culture - if you look close enough at most cultures you'll find things that appear odd, bizarre or just plain wacky. Japan however, appears to have more than its fair share of oddities. At least to my eyes. Be they advertising materials, signs, bizarre types of food (i.e. 'fugu') or just a different 'presentation' of things I consider 'normal', there's lots of visual interest in 'modern Japan' to keep any photography busy for years.
I have never been a big fan of digital camera movie modes because, till HD, the resolution supplied was generally rubbish, plus you had to deal with the resulting video files which seemed like a mammoth task that probably was not worth the effort. In many ways I still need to be convinced, but these movie clips, all 45 of them, were automatically analysed, assembled and edited using Premiere Element's instantmovie function - you have no say about the clip order (unless it's set by date or previously-made Tags), or the sound track or the type of editing, but the results are great fun and I think, very effective. Here I used the cartoon format. 
All clips were shot with a Canon EOS 5D MkII and a Canon Powershot SX30IS and edited using Adobe Premiere Elements...

This is a collection of clips shot on our CCE photo trip to Japan, 2010. Cameras used: Canon EOS 5D MkII and Powershot SX30IS

TIPS for shooting movies with a DSLR:

1. Avoid moving the camera while shooting
2. Always use the best quality HD setting (resolution)
3. Use a tripod whenever you can
4. Play with different focus settings
5. Experiment with different apertures and ISO settings to get a variety of different visual effects for each subject
6. If a tripod is no good, use a monopod to add stability to the shooting process. 
7. Use a bunch of shorter clips rather than one long clip...