Bob Woodhead
2
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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Yeah, generally it’s not about “eye candy” like in your example, but a situation where the client really wants to SEE what’s in that screen capture.
I like using Motion, put the screen in 3D perspective, camera very close to the captured image. Dramatic angles, you know. Then pan the camera over the screen cap slowly, while the cap slowly rotates in 3D perspective beneath, and “swish pan” the camera to the next area of the screen that’s important. Have motion blur turned on, and it’ll look very nice as the camera re-po’s for the next VO bit.
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Wanted to clarify I’m not bashing Manfrotto, just putting them in context.
If your interviews are lock-offs, Manfrottos are good value for the money. If you will be shooting in a rush, get a ball leveling rig… Their top heads are ball-type, the lower heads are flat-plate type, but they see a ball-“ish” adapter for those.
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First decision to make is what level of quality you desire in the head. I’d recommend that unless you’re only looking to support a locked-off shot, as Fabrizio mentions above, you spend AS MUCH as you can afford. Like the old saying goes, “buy the best now, and only cry once”. Tripods fall into that much too infrequent category in our business… they’re an investment! What changes happen in the next 20 years won’t change that you need a good platform to support them. (well, unless we all walk around with 8K Google Glass) A great fluid head is a joy to use; smooth as warm butter, friction that can be “just so”, counterbalance that allows the payload to be tilted to any angle while having the same feedback on the pan handle, a positive-action tilt lock so that huge payload I mention below doesn’t crash over when you break for lunch.
So, with that, think about how you’ll be using them. Having a set of wheels as an option can make moving a prompter rig around so much more pleasant. Mid-level spreaders are generally easier to work in varied situations. Some fluid heads have interchangeable counter-balance springs (Vinten) to more precisely handle a wide range of payloads. Speaking of payload range, don’t forget the stuff that’s fun to rig on to a cam; prompter, light, monitors, conversion box, maybe a rail rig w/ follow focus, video xmitter, batteries, batteries, and just in case, another battery. So the camera could be a fraction of the load up there. A lighted balance bubble is very handy.
Suggestions? Sachtler, Vinten, Miller and Cartoni. Only gently placed in that order. I left out O’Conner only because their price, like their build quality, is astronomical. I would not place Manfrotto in the same league as these, however. I own a few Manfrotto, but they perform secondary duty to the Vinten and Miller sticks I own. Sachtler’s plate/balance system is the easiest/faster on/off, really like this.
“Constituo, ergo sum”
Bob Woodhead / Atlanta
CMX-Quantel-Avid-Premiere-FCPX-AFX-Crayola
“What a long strange trip it’s been….” -
Other media from same source drive work OK? Sounds like a bandwidth bottleneck, barring more variable info.
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If you’re cutting from the end of Seg A, you could blade-all. Then select the end of Seg A, delete, and any connected clips on the end of A will go ‘poof’. 3 keystrokes. Shift-Cmd-B, C, Delete.
PS – any connected clips that get bladed this way automatically re-connect to the 1st frame of the newly bladed Primary clip, which is why they go poof when primary is deleted.
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How about, “FCPX, The Debates”
It keeps the X-centric-ness of the forum, yet acknowledges that we’re prone to veer off onto whatever shiny object captures our attention for “debate du jour”.
“Constituo, ergo sum”
Bob Woodhead / Atlanta
CMX-Quantel-Avid-Premiere-FCPX-AFX-Crayola
“What a long strange trip it’s been….” -
Assuming you do have enough media beyond the edit, try changing your default transition length in preferences to something like 0.5
I had 0.1 in there, and found X was complaining. Changed it to .5, all good.
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OK, tested on different clips, including a Prores edit master from a week or so ago out of FCPX. Clip codec doesn’t matter, you should be able to replicate with any clip. (I used a tone generator app to create a mono 0dB wav clip for reference testing.)
Take a mono clip, it can be two channel mono or single channel, same result. Confirm that Pan Mode is set to “None”. Edit into a timeline (stereo, since surround doesn’t exhibit the behavior). Play clip in browser, mark peaks. Play clip in timeline, you’ll see peaks are -6 from browser levels. Select the clip in the browser, then change Pan Mode in Inspector to Stereo Left/Right. Play the clip, it has dropped -6 dB. Look at the timeline edited clip, and pan mode will still be “None”, but it’s -6dB. Matches the adjusted source clip.
Though I’ve noticed this in the past, I never thought much about it, as I almost always adjust audio in the timeline. My current edit has many multi cams, and I wanted to adjust levels and apply initial filters “upstream” in the clip’s own timeline. And that brought the 6dB to the forefront.
I talked to a few audio guys today, and they all agreed that 0 in a clip should be 0 on a timeline, however one mentioned that most stereo panners attenuate 3 or 6dB in the center.
Tested this in PPro, and result was -3dB in timeline.
So, interested in hearing thoughts as to the “why” of it.
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More testing… think I’m on to something. Need to confirm elsewhere. Will post results.
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Meaningless? Ummm, ok. Never mind.