Al Bergstein
Forum Replies Created
-
I don’t understand. Isn’t it the producer’s role to sell the project, find the money people? your sales person is going to be calling into my same accounts yet not promoting me over anyone else? Or have I misunderstood something here. Why aren’t you just selling your producer ability rather than your marketing ability? Sorry if I’m dense on this. I come from a small market.
Al
-
I read this in a positive light. If Vimeo has managed to get to where it is under Barry Diller, Then how much farther could it go with some independence. I think that I have paid to be PRO because I recognize that there is nothing else out there that matches the features I get for Vimeo. For still photogs it’s smugmug, but for those of us who want to produce inexpensive high quality, it’s Vimeo.
Let’s hope this is all for the best.
Al
-
Thanks to all of you. We approached the estate/family, of the main character, and the answer was, uncharacteristically in this case, “we aren’t interested in anything to do with him”. They basically said that they did not want to participate and did not want anything done on him. A rather resounding, “kill this now’ kind of feedback. This is in contrast to previous conversations a year and half back.
So we didn’t even get to the ‘celeb’ that was a secondary character. Oh well. It was an interesting learning experience and I know more about how to approach this kind of project in the future.
At least it didn’t cost me anything to get to this point but time!
Al
-
Joking aside, likely some kind of LED light. Having tried a few, getting an anton bauer battery setup of some kind that also allows you power an lcd light could be the difference between getting a useable shot in news gathering situation or not. Probably a handheld mic with wireless to go along with a small lav and camera mounted receiver.
Making sure that your camera has a reverseable viewfinder is essential, which even some low end consumer models now have, so that you can shoot yourself if needed, which I have done on occasion.
A polarizer filter is key for me, along with a super wide angle lens attachment. I was mentored by a guy who always said, “shoot close, then get closer”. So I learned with the next widest thing to fisheye distortion I could get.
A white card and grey card is essential, and I recently bought the set of ‘warm’ cards for special purposes. Good headphones as well if we want to state the obvious.
I put tall mud boots (short hip waders work too) in my trunk, along with a well stocked tool box of spare parts. I joke about the van, but the fact is you don’t want to be missing something key (like a step ladder) when you need it to make a difference. I also carry a long mounting pole to get my camera airborne for that must have ‘look down’ shot in tight quarters, like on a boat. Even 10 seconds of steady camera from on high can really spruce up your video. Having a couple of light stands and clamps in the van also can come in handy.
Oh, and of course, belt mount a knife that we call a Leatherman to have a toolkit in a pinch. I rarely use it but when you need it, there is no substitute. They come in all sorts of sizes. I carry a large complete one in my toolkit and a smaller one on my belt.
All of this points out that many shots you only get once. It’s far easier to load an entire kit up, and never use it than get somewhere and wish you had something. My wife jokes that I need a slave to help load and unload my van. It’s actually the most grueling part of most of my shoots.
Al
-
I don’t understand. I have been importing AVCHD the last week with no problem on Windows in Pr. Are you sure you haven’t copied the folders wrong? You have to keep it in it’s folder structure. That’s why i hate it, and have been moving to mxf. The formal structure is a pain. Don’t get me wrong, i’ve done nice work with it, but it’s not user friendly.i’m making assumptions you have worked with it before. True?
Also, you might want to fill out your profile, so we can better understand your setup without asking.
Al
-
A large van…(G)
Al
-
Clarify. Is it not reading the cards anymore? Is there something on the cards? Can you read the cards on another computer? Can you plug in a different card reader and read it from that? etc…
Al
-
Thanks for the feedback, but when I add the color corrector via the Video Fx menu, I open the second tab and see the three scopes. I cannot make them bigger, I can only open the tab and expand the “whole tab window”. The scopes remain the same no matter what I do. And oh, by the way, Vegas crashes on me while trying to reopen them a second time… (G)
But good feedback on the noise workflow…thanks
Al
-
You might want to read this very good review by a working pro on the Sony. He was not impressed.
https://www.dvuser.co.uk/content.php?CID=270
I ended up with the Canon XF305, and I back it up with a 7D for getting those DOF shots if needed. If you insist on one camera to do it all, I might look at the AF100. I like Panasonic’s ergonomics, but ultimately the Canon’s dual slot shooting and spectacular 4:2:2 out of the box, (which works great for green screen), was a deciding factor. While I love Panny, I am not a fan of AVCHD, having worked with it for two years. The layout of the files on disk is a nightmare to deal with, compared to MOV and MXF (once you export to MXF in the Canon utility to strip out the file structure). If the Panny 250 would have been out, I might have seriously considered it, but the notion of using P2 cards is not something I was looking forward to.
Al
-
While more pros like John could likely have more to say on this, I’ve been using both Vegas for a couple of years, and Pr for the last month or so and yes, this all sounds totally generic as to the outline. However you might want to invest in some third party add ons in Vegas, like Frederck B’s excellent white balance plug in. Also I find Vegas’ scopes too small. I like using adobe and even FCP scopes as they can fill the screen or close to it. (have I been missing some trick to make the scopes bigger in Vegas all this time?).
I really find his workflow interesting, as denoising is first in his workflow. I guess I have never thought of when I would do that. Just last night I was struggling de-noising some concert footage I had to shoot with a 2x extender on my 7D 250mm lens. A thought… just don’t add extenders! They really caused some noise problems. But I digress.
Also, this is timely because I was just watching a tutorial on Lynda.com by Jeff Sengstack of the color correction workflow. While also specific to Adobe, it’s all very generic. For the sake of others finding this thread, here’s a link to his tutorial (which I think you have to subscribe to get).
Course link: https://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=51609.
Al