Where’s your footage coming from?

[Michael Carter]

I shoot and edit for most of my clients, but lately I’ve been getting footage for one of my big medical-center clients from some company that specializes in social+medical stuff, PR type things for big medical centers, etc.

And it’s almost all crap. “Set the microphone on the table” (while the kids play with coloring books… on the same table. With auto gain on). Shoot everything on Canon DSLRs at 1.8 with AF on. Shoot it all handheld. Wow, nice interview – her eyes are out of focus but I can really read that neck tattoo, nice & sharp. Argh.

Another thing I’m seeing is “drone guys” ending up getting all of a client’s event business. Same thing, and at events, the 1.8 with AF? Just amateur-hour. Everything oversaturated, nothing in focus for long. And… drum roll… they deliver their edits in 60p. Since that’s what the drone shoots. When I have to pull footage for projects where the client wants a really good edit, I’ve got to transcode, re-time, add motion blur, replace skies… freaking mess.

(I actually shoot a lot of projects with an NX1 and Nikkor glass – many of my budgets are small enough to avoid rentals. Shoot that NX properly and it’s damn nice footage. And I’m getting to love it with 1960’s Canon FL lenses, though I’d save that for more beauty or esoteric projects. For dirt-cheap lenses, they’re pretty special with the right subject. Need an 85 next…)

[Todd Terry]

Just a quick addendum to my previous answer to Tim’s question….

We still primarily shoot with the Canon C300 and will continue to do so…. however we’ve just picked up the DJI Osmo stabilizer with the Zenmuse X5 camera (actually we don’t have it in hand yet, it’s due for delivery next Tuesday). We bought it for one special and specific job, but if all goes well I can foresee using it a good bit.

I’ve been practicing and blocking shots with a friend’s Osmo (his has the X3 camera), and it’s pretty phenomenal… so I’m expecting even better things from the X5 and I think it will likely be what we always use for stabilized shots in the future.

Anyone want to buy a full-size Steadicam rig, cheap? 🙂

T2

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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com