[Craig Alan]

I think this raises what should be a broader discussion. If you look at the history of filmmaking, the creative process starts on the page, is interpreted by the director and creative team, and assembled and enhanced in post. All three stages could in different hands be art, and/or craft, and/or neither.

It is my belief that the long standing disrespect for the writing stage is responsible for the large percentage of films that are neither artistic nor well crafted, even when technically state of the art.

As editing has taken on god like abilities, this process has become even more imbalanced and corrupted.

Obviously if an editor does not have to cut around poorly executed shots, it makes life easier. But literally writing the story in post from a collection of even very beautiful shots is a very different art than the one that starts on the page.

I actually like this new way of working in certain types of documentary or documentary style filmmaking. I see this as picking a subject, using a video camera like the traditional film camera, and letting the subject tell the story – like finding the sculpture in the rock you are carving.

But for narratives, I think creating scripts that are both artistic and well crafted and using them as blueprints is the far better way to produce a film. Making it up as you go along often looks the part.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Well the Flanders I mentioned earlier is a great monitor that you can use in the field and in post. It can be set up on its own stand and gives your a large monitor that can be seen at a distance so it doesn’t get in your way though you do need to be connected to it. SDI cable is the best for this though I don’t know if your cam has SDI out.

The panasonic plasma is a professional monitor but not considered a broadcast monitor. It is used by many companies to show their clients. Either one will let you learn what your cam is doing. I suppose there are cheaper monitors but many consumer sets are not calibrated correctly and do not always have the controls to do so. You do not want a monitor that makes the image look brighter than it is or boosts the sharpness etc. If you are happy with the image you are getting with your cam and the focus assist features allow you to get a sharp focus then hold off until you can afford a decent monitor. But in my experience having that monitor near your cam in the studio is a great learning tool and improves your lighting and overall production. You are seeing what you are getting and allows you to use all the features like focus assist. With out the extra monitor then the LCD screen can get crowded with all the overlays. When you are setting up lights you can turn the external monitor toward the person arranging the lights so they see what effect they are having.

I have not seen a cheaper one that was worth much but there is a lot of new gear coming out all the time.

The advantage of a broadcast monitor is you can also use it to color correct and adjust exposure in post.

If you are near a professional video store you might bring in your cam and ask to try out some monitors. Connect your cam and see if your LCD screen is giving you an accurate exposure level and focus. Many consumer level LCD screens are made too bright to allow for easier framing and to be seen more easily in daylight. Try to match its image with a true monitor. It most likely has a brightness control.

I would certainly buy good lights and mikes before a monitor but I really think it would up your game. Wish I knew of one in the $300 range but I haven’t seen one. The marshall stuff is good for video mixers where the TD needs to see what is on each of the four cams. Even there our mixer puts them all on one monitor and we use a panasonic.

If you can’t afford it now just experiment with the variables that Todd suggested and it will improve your image. One thing that will help him or anyone here help you is post a screen grab of your lighted interview or even a short clip of it. You’ll get good advice how to light it better.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

[Todd Terry] “If you do auto exposure, you’ll want to do this with auto iris ONLY. See page 57 on how to set this.

“

It depends on the shot. The wider the shot the more auto iris might be a problem. If the back ground is bright then your faces will be under exposed. Maybe if you are using the black b.g. and your subject is moving and you widen to a mid shot it would work well.

[Todd Terry] “Your flip out finder might be good enough after all. I didn’t realize this camera has “peaking” and “magnification” focus assist tools (pages 48 and 49). I have both of these on my C300PL and they actually do work VERY well, especially the peaking feature.”

I have used these features on cams closer to the price point of the XF100 and both are helpful though the better the lens, the better the monitor, the better the scene is lit, the better all that works. I also think that with a better lens you have more play in terms of bringing up levels in post. With smaller cams I think you need to be as concerned with under exposure as over exposure.

If you are using an external monitor than having these features turned on is great because they will only appear on the LCD of the cam and you still have the external monitor to judge your composition. Same with zebra stripes.

Also if you are going to use an auto focus feature, learn how that feature works on your cam. It is often set in the cross hairs in the middle of your lens. This is not where you want to place your subject’s eyes. Though on a moving wide shot it can be very helpful.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Read your manual for how to set two different type/settings for zebra patterns. Zebra’s are nothing more or less than a built in light meter, which show you where in the image that range of light is present. 100 IRE shows in areas that are 100 IRE or higher and is considered blown out or overexposed. You try to limit this as much as possible. They’ll be no visual detail left in these spots and you can’t recover the details in post. So 100 IRE would be your zebra 2 setting. I would check that once after setting up your interview, make any corrections and then turn that kind of zebra off. That is assuming a non-moving shot.

The most important thing for an interview is the human face. On Caucasian skin you want about 70-80 IRE. So set your camera’s #1 Zebra at 70-80 and it will show you the range around that setting. It’s a ballpark. Once you become experienced with the camera and if you are using a proper monitor what you see is what you get. But it does help you set your basic settings that effect exposure including F-stop, gain, filters etc. But you want some modeling of the face – that is light and dark areas which gives the face some dimension, some character, some 3D qualities. So you want the brightest part of the face to fall say between 75-85 IRE and other parts to have some shadowing. Use the zebra setting 70-75 as a guide-you want to see just a little stripes on the face but not more. Then use your eyes and with time – experience.

Remember these are ballparks and there are many variables including how the image chip of the cam deals with those light levels. Like I said above, set your zebra at say 75 and then play with your exposure control – have the zebras appear and vanish on your subject’s face to get the feel for the range and image you want. You certainly want nothing appearing overexposed.

When I use a consumer level cam that has a zebra preset at 80 IRE – I make the zebra stripes just start to appear on a human face and then back off one exposure notch and leave just a hint of stripes on the highlights. With better cams and a monitor I play with several settings to get the best image.

Let’s say you are outdoors and in order to not overexpose the face you need to stop down to a higher F-stop. Well this closes down your aperture and increases your depth of field. Depending on the lens and camera you most likely want your lens at the lowest or second lowest F-stop so the lens is wide open and focuses sharply on your subject’s face. You might want to use a built in filter (ND Filter), then open up your aperture.

You can’t beat a good monitor attached to your camera to learn what these controls and your lighting set-up does to your image. Yeah there is vocabulary and reading your cam’s manual and reading about common practices – but every situation is different and in the end you are capturing an image on a TV screen. If you think it looks good and you have good taste then use those settings. There is no one right way or perfect setting.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Try not to settle. Not being able to swap out ram will come back to bite you. The specs are just better on the larger screen and a NLE interface can get crowded.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

A few thoughts.

Use as little gain as you can.

If you can afford a couple of kino diva lite kits go for it.

Get them with both studio temp and daylight temp bulbs.

Make sure your zebra stripes are set to 70-80 ire not 100.

Then you want to see a few zebras appearing on your subject’s face-the highlights such as cheek bones and tip of nose. Play with the exposure control-have the zebras fill the image (over exposed) and then none (under exposed). You’ll get the point of these built in light meters. 100 IRE is overexposed. You can use this setting to look for hot spots in your image.

When you say head light I assume you mean back light?

If you are shooting outdoors find a well shaded area or wait for the beginning of sunset.

Or set up a tented area or use a large butterfly.

If you are using a black (or any color) background – move your subject as far from your background as
possible. Move you camera as far from your subject as possible. Zoom all the way into your subject’s eyes and focus manually. White balance manually on a white card where your subject’s eyes will be. Zoom out to your framed shot. Then, adjust the exposure manually.

Look for the catch in your subject’s eyes from your key light. One white dot per eye.

Move your fill light so you don’t add snake eyes (two dots in your subject’s eyes).

Make sure your backlight is creating a nice glow to your subject’s hair. This will help separate your subject from your back ground.

Get some b roll footage such as close ups on things your subject talks about. You can not only tell a better story this way but also edit out shots when your subject moves out of focus or out of frame.

Ideally in a studio you’d have a broadcast monitor. If this is too expensive then a panasonic plasma can be a decent substitute.

https://www.shopfsi.com/

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/780138-REG/Panasonic_TH_42PH30U_TH_42PH30U_42_Class_HD.html

I have not seen a good monitor for $200-$300 but maybe some are better than the built in LCD.

With an external monitor you can turn it toward the person adjusting the lights so they can see what the image looks like.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Each scene or each camera?

Are you using auto white balance? If so switch to manual.

If they choose to light each scene with a certain color why not reflect that in the video? Otherwise you’d need to manually white balance each cam for each change of light.

If you just want each cam to match each other then light the stage with the stage lights without filters (no house lights) and manually white balance each cam.

Have someone hold the white balance card toward each cam and zoom in to fill the screen.

Because the cams are at different angles you will get different levels of lights but that can be more or less balanced in post.

You should find camera operators for the different cams so you can get close ups and wide shots as needed and adjust the exposure manually.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Depends. Have had good/bad experiences with each – live and recorded. Variables: acoustics, scope, company, atmosphere, talent, and type of compositions. Live performance and recordings are not the same. There have been great records and great performances. Recorded live is not the same as a live performance.

I agree that being at Yankee Stadium is an over-priced trip worth taking. I love sitting mid-way up behind the catcher. You don’t miss a thing except an accurate view of a pitch being high or low. Baseball is often beatifically telecast however. You often don’t miss a thing from several angles. Not so with hockey or figure skating where the speed and dimensions of the ice are not well translated to the screen.

There are performers that are just better live – they project both near and far into the hall. James Earl Jones, Maggie Smith, Nicol Williamson, are all great on screen but once in a life time live; Al Pacino and many other movie stars play better on screen, less is more. A lot of live concerts do not sound as good as a good recording played through quality speakers. Sure you can’t beat the sound of an acoustic guitar played in a living room with no need for mikes or speakers. If I had to choose between my favorite recordings and some mediocre cover band at the local tavern (not that we need to choose) but if I had to … I’m going with the originals.

Live shows are becoming multi media. Hard to tell what’s real and what’s recorded. Michael Jackson was considered one of the greatest live performers of his era. But I’ve talked to people who worked with him and they say there was no way he could sing and dance through many of the numbers. Now he did record the songs, but it was not all live.

As an old teacher of mine once said over and over till I got it: it’s not a matter of either/or; it’s both/and. Of course this is self contradictory because there are times you have to make a decision. Whose side ya gonna be on?

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

LEDs look like the future but is still in the early stages of development. They have been discussed below. Check out what people are using now and the price points. This Lowel kit retails for about the same price as a Diva Lite kit. I’d go for the Diva. The Lowel is more a photographer’s kit. Diva is a video industry standard that works great for photography as well. Lowel kits work fine but seem very tinkertoyish to me. The Diva is a completely thought out and a great run and gun. If you are in a studio get a baby jr and set up is a breeze.

Since the Lowel retailed new for $2500 I’d offer them $600. Lots of lights sold on ebay.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

What is a recommended ballpark maximum size for an event?

About the latency created by large autosaves/loads: does X really re-save everything or just the last things changed since the last save?

And/or what is a recommended organization habit?

I keep my projects on my media drive>project sparse images>folders and load them as needed, but I tend to import new files into the same event if it is for the same project.

However I recently began using a different event for the same project if I’m importing different types of media or shot from a different source or date or whatever. This helps because i do not have a dedicated browser monitor and the event folders were getting too cluttered. However X does give you the ability to filter any given list of files which is sort of an alternative way to organize over creating different events.

In a narrative, for example, would it be a good idea to have each scene (same time and location) be a different event or just a different key word?

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.