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AE & High Definition
I am shooting my first HDV music video next friday. It’s going to be shot on a Green Screen using the Panasonic VHX200 (p2 cards). The concept will use a lot of motion grapx, and will require a excellent key..
I am editing using the combination of After Effects and FCP. Since this is the first time using the HDV format, I am looking for advice and tips, for those of you familiar with the interaction of AE and the HD material.
thanks a lot. Later when i finish , I’ll post the Music Video, and share the experience.Digital Brain
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5 Replies
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You mean the HVX 200? If so, it’s not HDV, it’s actually HD.
The HVX200 is quite nice. You’ll need to pick a format, whether 720P or 1080i — only you can make that choice.I have one piece of advice: get a greenscreen, light it well, and test, test, test the camera at different gamma settings and format settings.
You should post in the Cinematography COW forum for keying info, and also the Panasonic P2 camera forum for more info.
Anybody else?
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I would also add that you want to make sure your machine is up to running this kind of footage. HD is BIG…so if you haven’t got a decent machine you are going to need to be exceptionally patient. I did some work on a short film that had a resolution of 1920 x 1440, because prints were made. This made for a nightmarish few weeks of post work, as my (at that time) creaky machine was really struggling, and affected creative decisions because there was so little time.
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I would also recommend that you edit your project so that you are happy with it, then export each section out that needs effects work. Keep the sections reasonably small, as it will be easier to work on.
I recently made a music video which had after-effects created sections, and working in this manner made the project a bit easier to manage, and didn’t work the machine as hard! -
High Def will give you a much better key than SD, obviously. But that is only if you are going to be downrezzing to SD. If you plan on Distributing your piece in HD also, then you’ll have to be really careful. As was said, I’d test settings, lighting, and then when you’re actually shooting, I’d get multiple takes with different settings (if you can’t seem to find one that is better than the other, that way you’ll have your bases covered) If you can dump the P2 cards often enough, I’d shoot it in 1080P (which is recorded in 1080i stream, but with CinemaTools or any of the Adobe programs you can remove the pull down (if you are on a PC and using raylight, make sure to shoot 2:3:3:2 so that Raylight can remove the pulldown for you.))
TIPS for green screen (I’m not an expert, but have had some experience.
Put green gels on the lights that you are going to light your green screen with.
Have your actor(s) as far away from the screen as possible (if lit properly, the screen is going to be glowing green and the further away they are, the less spill of green they’ll have on their skin.
Don’t move the camera while shooting, unless you have tracking points and absolutely have to. (especially on your first green screen shoot, getting a good key will be a big enough challenge)
Use the HVX200 (good keys can be done with HDV, but you’ve got the extra advantage of 4:2:2 color vs. HDV’s 4:2:0 color. You should be fine.
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I would also suggest that you buy or rent a real HD monitor – one that supports the full res of the project. Also, know that the HVX200 chip captures 720p natively, and then hardware up-res’s it to 1080 (if that’s your spec). If you must deliver a 1080 master, think about up-res during your final render.
YMMV, good luck!
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