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shooting checklist
Hi Folks
I am currently putting together a 10 point checklist to check everytime you go out shooting and I would love some opinions on
what I have forgot or should leave out. The idea is an attempt to get rid of those mistakes that happen with less experienced
photographers or when the photographer is in a hurry.
The reason for posting it in this forum is because editors is the ones seeing all that raw material, and from my guess has a lot
of frustations for having to correct obvious mistakes that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.I am referring to the Sony PD-150 camcorder here, but I guess it applies to most prosumer camcorders.
The list:
1. Gain level
2. Continous timecode (use striped tapes)
3. Whitebalance
4. Shutterspeed
5. Clean lens
6. Autofocus off
7. AGC – Audio gain control
8. Audio levels
9. DVCAM or miniDV
10.Brightness on LCD/exposureArguments for why it’s on the list:
1. Gain – can quickly jump to +18dB gain if left at auto which ruins a shot
2. Timecode – broken timecode is a huge pain for the editor and ruins the chance of batch capture
3. Whitebalance – correct whitebalance is essential for a good shot [obvious and perhaps offending, but still forgotten now and then]
4. Shutterspeed – high shutterspeeds can give strobing in the picture
5. Clean lens – water drops or dirt is hard to see through the VF or LCD
6. Autofocus off – focus pumping especially in lowlight conditions
7. AGC – Audio gain control (limiter) will almost mute the word coming after a sharp sound
8. Audio levels – digital clipping if left too high
9. DVCAM/miniDV – DVCAM is a proprietary Sony format and not supported by equipment from other brands.
10. Brightness on LCD – can fool the photographer to under-/overexpose the shot if it’s set wrong.I considered putting exposure on the list as well, but that’s just way too obvious and the photographer would have to be extremely inexperienced to forget about that one… but I put in the brightness on the LCD screen on the list as I have seen more than one camera with the brightness set to MAX resulting in a ruined shot. Another thing I had in mind was the ND filters, but are in my opinion connected with exposure and almost the same thing as ND filters just push the dynamic range up or down. (And you usually get a blinking ND OFF/ON on the screen if you are pushing the dynamic range of the camera anyway)
I know some of these can be considered rather offensive for an experienced photographer, but I spend a lot of time trying to
fix footage that could have been saved by this list when I’m editing. And that is a bit annoying when you consider that it
could be done in 10 seconds with a couple of buttons BEFORE the recording starts.What do you think? Are some of them way to obvious or do you have anything to add?
BTW: I should mention that I’m not a professional editor yet, I am a 3rd year filmstudent working with 3rd year photographers so please forgive me if these things are too obvious.
Regards
Tore Gresdal -
22 Replies
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[Tore Gresdal] “2. Continous timecode (use striped tapes) “
The only times I have ever in over 40 years had continuous time code on a shoot was when it was a film to tape transfer. If you attempt to do your shots as edits onto the master footage tape, you might sometimes miss a shot. I have no problem with breaks in timecode as long as the code is in order, and doesn’t skip around. I haven;t worked with the DV Cams of today, but I only prestripe tapes for mastering and archive.Charlie
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Not sure if I follow you here. Do you do analog editing? Sorry if I am rude in any way… I just don’t understand what you are referring to.
A DV camera will reset the timecode and start off at 0 if it hits a blank spot on the tape when inserted into the camera. So if the cinematographer ever ejects the tape or is reviewing some of the previous shot material without positioning the recording head over something with timecode on it, it will reset the timecode to zero. Which is making batch capture more or less impossible.
I have lots of DV tapes with timecode that keeps resetting itself because the cinematographer was sloppy. Are more high-end systems more tolerant? What are you using? (I am using Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro myself)Regards
Tore Gresdal -
OK, that explains it. The higher end cameras, can be set to read the previous time code and use that as a guide to resume recording. There will be a break in the control track and slight break in time code as a result, but the time code will be in sequential order.
I come from live black & white, through razor blade editing on 2″ tape, punch to edit, Ampex Editec, the advent of time code, 3/4″, 1″ Beta, Beta SP, Digibeta, all linear editing to my current setup of Avid, Vegas Video, and Premiere Pro. So I have pretty much seen it all. Opps I forgot to throw in film editing with a cold splicer and hot splicer, optical sound, mag sound, and double system.
Now I guess that pretty much covers it all. Sorry I didn’t mean to be rude either, just feel it is best if we have all the facts, and since I am ignorant of DV Cam, that is a new item for me to learn.
Thank youCharlie
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Hi Charlie
Thanks for clearing it up, I was pretty confused at one point, I have to blame my lack of experience with other systems than DV for this confusion 🙂
That is one long list!!! I see that the computer industry is not the only industry that forces you to learn a system from scratch every 5 years 🙂 (DOS/Win 3.11/W95/Win NT/Win XP/Longhorn etc.) For the record; I was in the computer business before I turned into editing, which is far more open for creativity 🙂
Anyway, back to the subject… a DV camcorder will in fact pickup the timecode and resume it. But that is provided that there is something allready on that tape. A virgin DVtape is *absolutely blank* when opened for the first time and striping it (putting continous timecode onto it) before using it for shooting will prevent any timecode problems at all.
Most of my fellow students are doing the following:
1. set the camera to VCR mode
2. play back what they have just shot
3. When the screen goes blue because they’ve reached the end of the recorded material they press stop
4. Set the camera to CAMERA mode
5. press record for the next sceneWhat I want them to do, is between point 3 and 4; which is to rewind the tape slightly until the hit some prerecorded material on the tape so the camera have some timecode to pick up on.
But as most of them forget about this, or doesn’t rewind it far enough for the camera to pickup the timecode I figured it would be easier to just tell them to allways prestripe the tapes.
Maybe this happens just because we’re students, but I have a feeling this happens now and then in the professional world as well…? Does anyone have any feedback on that?
Regards
Tore Gresdal -
The cameras I referred to, stop on the last time code read. If there is a blank spot it will remain, but the recording will continue from the last time code it had on-tape. You can also preset the time code to start recording at whatever time you prefer, many times that is time of day or some other setting such as hour 1 for reel one hour 2 for reel two etc. There is also setting for record run which will start from last recorded time, and free run which picks up from where it would be if the recorder had been running all the time, (as long as the recorder power is left on.)
Charlie
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From the point of view of an editor, I would add to your list:
Leave “handles” on your shots, you need pre-roll and post-roll of a minimum of six seconds, preferably 15 seconds. Not only does this give the editor room for more creative transitions, it also adds a safety margin around the best part of the take if your shooter is constantly backing up and reviewing the tape. I don’t get why some guys do that to excess, smacks of a lack of confidence, but then again I shoot on hardier formats that may be more reliable.
Shoot a minute of room tone, wherever you are shooting, and mark it as room tone by shooting a scribbled note saying so while doing it.
Shooting some tape of your white card while white balancing may be helpful in post when really precise color correction is needed. It leaves a consistent white source to sample. You could be audio slating the tape while doing this, so if the tapes don’t get labeled right away, they can still be identified immediately on first play. This could be combined with the room tone recording.
The basics require establishing shots and cutaway shots. Be sure to look for reaction shots that can fit anywhere: facial reactions, wringing hands, walking thru a locked-down shot, hands on keyboards, etc, etc. Please change your shots if you have to break during interviews, or while the questions are asked. Jump cuts are for amateurs.
When framing up shots, Please, please please look at a monitor with overscan to check for intrusions and continuity bugs. Also, look at the vertical objects and surfaces in the shot and compare to your framing: if your tripod is truly level, is your shot level, or is the shot a little keystoned? Fixing that at the camera is always preferable to adjusting in NLE.
Tape is the cheapest commodity in the video business. Roll on everything, always, something handy may turn up. I can’t use what you didn’t shoot. You can always reuse the tape later.
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Funny Thread. I could tell right away that Charlie hadn’t experience your problem. But Charlie is still the ‘King’ . Yes blacking/stripping a tape is a must for student enviorments.
Obviously the ulitmate goal is to get everyone trained correctly. But if you’re in an enviroment where new students come every quarter/semester, then that’s not an option. Don’t bang your head on the wall too much, it’s likely to be a process that repeats itself. From my experience, students will continue to make these kind of mistakes, no matter how much you try to warn them. Kind of makes you wonder how they got into college? You can midigate some mistakes, but not eliminate them all together.From your list, the key is to have all the manual settings on, nothing ‘auto’
The couple things that I run into, that was not on your list, is tape speed SP NOT LP and tape stock. Although it hasn’t been a problem lately, we have had tape problems in the pass with certain brands not playing right on our decks. For some reason, TDKs were a problem.
The thing about making a list/guidelines for students is that you have to write it for the least common denominator, so you have to write it for “Zeek, the kid to still puts pencils up his nose.’ 🙂
Don’t get me wrong, I think you need to do a list. As a matter of fact I need to rewrite one for similar situation. Just don’t expect all of your problems to go away.Good Luck
Todd at UCSB
Television Production -
B>[Mark Suszko] “I don’t get why some guys do that to excess, smacks of a lack of confidence”
I have had some of the best takes lost because the shooter started recording over the end of a shot he had just checked to make sure it was there.
[Todd at UCSB] “The thing about making a list/guidelines for students is that you have to write it for the least common denominator,”
I use to do training videos for the Navy, those were done for the student who was a complete imbecile. The trainers stated most were. So I fully understand this part of it.
As an editor, I have preferred the tapes with hours as reel numbers, makes it so much easier to find a take you have logged if you know to go to that reel, when working with 8-10 reels of footage. That was my point in the topic.
Auto settings are the number one cause of a scene not being usable, in my opinion. It was so nice before they invented those.
Charlie
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I’m guessing we are talking about shooting with the editor in mind, as oppossed to shooting it self.
To kind of touch on some things that have been said…editing is mathmatics as well as an art. I can’t stress how important(in documenteries) it is to allow time for an interviewer to finish speaking before a subject speaks. Allow time after a subject speaks before the interviewer ask the next question. Three seconds I say atleast. This allows for cross fades in audio.
Other than that pet peeve.. for me, I’m a big fan of roomtone. Continuity in sound is vital.
The rest can be taken care of in post(by a good editor).
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Wohoohooo!
Man, I can think of a ton of photogs that would take a checklist the wrong way… hehe… kudos, I’d like to see it in action!No advice beats getting your photog and your editor in a room together ahead of time. It beats any checklist by enhancing the art of the edit – shooting and editing both happening with a unified vision… concept!
Just for the DV, DVCam and MiniDV record, all them formats suck timecode wise. A small number of us editors really don’t care about the timecode that was shot in the field, because we demand that it all get upconverted to a more stable format with new timecode anyway. There’s just too many cases of up to 6 frames of slippage upon batch digitizing. Too many edit schedules are destroyed by the “miniDV slip”.
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\`(=)`/…Pixel Monkey
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