Why doesn’t my footage look as good as Hollywood?

[Shane Ross]

[Casey Petersen] “and have been shooting 1080 24p and using Philip Bloom’s MPEG Streamclip workflow to convert my footage to XDCam EX.”

Mistake number 1…converting to XDCAM. I admire Philip Bloom, but this advice was wrong wrong WRONG. You convert to ProRes, not XDCAM.

[Casey Petersen] “My footage doesn’t look as good as what I’ve seen others do (like the House finale last season). “

Because it was shot by a professional camera person, lit by a professional crew of lighting people. People with years of experience. And then color corrected by a professional with years of experience.

[Casey Petersen] “I guess my question is, what is the difference between what Hollywood is doing and what I’m doing? “

I believe the transferred the footage to HDCAM SR, rather than doing the XDCAM thing. And then everything listed above. If you were handed an Arri 35mm camera, that they normally use, and shot with it…I doubt it would look as good as their stuff. It isn’t the TOOL that makes things look good, it is the people who use that tool.

[Casey Petersen] “can someone explain how to do this correctly?”

Step 1: Light properly. And expose properly. This takes training.

Step 2: Good location sound.

Step 3: DO NOT CONVERT to a GOP format for one. ProRes is a far better option. I have a tutorial for that here: Tapeless Workflow for FCP 7 Tutorial

Step 4: Professional color correction.

Step 5: Professional audio mix.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Casey Petersen]

Thanks Shane for your insight.

There are still a few questions that linger, though.

I can take my same clips and edit them in ProRes and I still get the strobey look. I have done several experiments with different formats and I am still seeing the same thing…even with hundreds of different clips from different locations and conditions…both good and bad…and nothing looks significantly better (or worse), so I don’t think what I’m seeing is a lighting/exposure/composition/color correction issue.

It’s hard to explain what it is I’m seeing (thanks for bearing with me!).

Even on House, a lot of it was “handheld” and had a lot of elements in motion in addition to the camera, and everything (off my Dish Network 1080i DVR) is smooth, and for me, even things that are barely moving appear jerky. It’s almost like there’s a motion blur or some kind of in-betweening that needs to happen with my stuff to make it look remotely like House (just as an example).

Is there some kind of frame rate conversion step that happens somewhere in this process? I mean, you can’t just take 24p footage and it automatically looks good on a SD tube TV that is 29.97 interlaced, right? Even my Dish receiver is set for 1080i, so there has to be some kind of conversion that makes it look good when interlaced, isn’t there. I think this is getting closer to the heart of what I’m seeing.

Thanks!!
Casey

[Richard Harrington]

Check your shutter speed. Should be 1/50 for 24 p

Richard M. Harrington, PMP

Author: From Still to Motion, Video Made on a Mac, Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques

[Richard Harrington]

May I suggest you work your way through book/DVD from still to motion. You are suffering from not knowing what you don’t know

Richard M. Harrington, PMP

Author: From Still to Motion, Video Made on a Mac, Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques

[Jason Jenkins]

[Casey Petersen] “for me, even things that are barely moving appear jerky.”

I think I know what you are seeing. I get the same thing with my GH2 when there is any amount of camera shake. It’s skew and jello doing its thing. It gives the footage a weird jittery look. If you go through the footage frame by frame, you will probably see how the image expands and contracts (jello) and vertical edges will warp (skew). Going handheld is not one of the strengths of a DSLR. It does help to have a lens with Optical Image Stabilization. When I shoot handheld with my GH2 and manual Nikon lens, I have to be very smooth and steady -otherwise it looks terrible. Maybe ‘House’ is using nice stabilization rigs and then running all their footage through software correction.

Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!

[Frank Giardina]

Hi Shane…

I watched your Tapeless Workflow tutorial, Thanks! It’s great info.

I have a quick question… regarding mixing 1080 MiniDV footage and 7D footage. Would you recommend capturing the MiniDV footage prores422, so as to keep it the same as transcoded 7D footage, then a ProRes Easy setup in FC 7? I’m not situated to shoot everything DSLR yet.

Best Holiday Regards!

Frank

[Casey Petersen]

Thanks Richard…I’ll check that out.

I am shooting 1/50, BTW.

Jason, I don’t think I’m seeing the same thing you are. I see this even with tripod shots and there is subtle movement…like a duck swimming in the water or a birdhouse swaying in a gentle breeze.

Thanks!
Casey

[Shane Ross]

[Frank Giardina] “regarding mixing 1080 MiniDV footage”

Call it HDV…to avoid confusion.

[Frank Giardina] “Would you recommend capturing the MiniDV footage prores422, so as to keep it the same as transcoded 7D footage, then a ProRes Easy setup in FC 7?”

If you have the room, yes. But know that when you capture HDV as ProRes, it is 1440×1080, not full raster 1920×1080…so they won’t match EXACTLY. But you don’t need to. You can capture HDV as HDV, and 7D as ProREs….and just use a ProRes sequence setting. But ProRes is better in the end…easier to work with.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Pete Burger]

I worked on a lot of projects with mixed HDV/VDLSR footage and had no problems with not transcoding the HDV files before editing. Did a couple of tests and working was smoother when having both transcoded into the same format. You’d need a bit more HDD space though.

[Frank Giardina]

Thanks Shane…

HDV… yes, I’ll remember that. What you mentioned is pretty much what I’ve been doing. I just have to render more than I’d like. Space is an issue for me at this time too.

Thanks Again!

Frank