[Craig Alan]

Go to the lighting forum and do a search for “green screen”. You will find tons of info.

In general, you want to have ample space between the talent and screen and ample space between the talent and cam. Then you want to light the screen evenly and separately from talent. Kino flos work well on screen. There are stands and clips that allow you to stretch out fabric to help with wrinkles. An industrial quality hand steamer helps too. Painting with high quality green screen paint on flat surfaces works too.

You can also do a search on FCP forum for “green screen” or “pulling a key” or “chroma key.” Also try Google. This is a very popular subject. You might want to search for green screen studio design as well.

If you are thinking bigger budget try “green screen cyc” and see what’s out there. If you budget is big enough hire a studio designer.

OSX 10.5.7; MAC Book PRO (EARLY 2008); Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30, Sony vx2000/PD170, Canon xl2; Pana, Sony, and Canon consumer cams; FCP certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_homepage_index.html

scroll down to

Reinstall OS X & Final Cut Studio The Right Way – Part 3 – By David A. Saraceno

Reinstall OS X & Final Cut Studio The Right Way – Part 2 – By David A. Saraceno

Reinstall OS X & Final Cut Studio The Right Way – Part 1 – By David A. Saraceno

It will take you through the best way to set up a trouble free upgraded Mac regardless of whether you are using FCS or not. It uses images extensively but gives you details on the proper steps. Not as easy as dropping one big image onto the new system.

Start by cloning your system drive using the free CCC, https://www.bombich.com/, to an external drive. This will give you a bootable back up/clone which is the best on-going back-up strategy anyway. You can even continue to get work done while you are building you new system. Just boot using the external drive APPLE MENU>SYSTEM PREFERENCES>SYSTEM START UP and choose you external clone.

The tricky part will be things like your email data that is not stored as regular documents in the documents folder. But since you will have a complete clone of your old system, you can do a search on-line for where the missing files/data is stored, app by app, and drag the right file into the right location on the new system.

If you are using apple’s MAIL app, first highlight each of your mailboxes and go to MAILBOX>archive mailbox and save it where you want. That will back up your email files. This is a good practice even if you are cloning regularly since if the mail files get corrupted, all your mail can be lost.

CCC can be incremental so its pretty fast after the first clone. The install method above is also way faster than using install DVDs. Get yourself some external drives. At least one each for: clone(s) of your system drive, reinstalling/updating all apps using disc images, to use as as media drive(s).

OSX 10.5.7; MAC Book PRO (EARLY 2008); Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30, Sony vx2000/PD170, Canon xl2; Pana, Sony, and Canon consumer cams; FCP certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

I think the
ECZ-990 Shotgun Microphone
is a mono mike with a stereo plug attached, sending the mono signal to both channels.
Most manufacturers will say in their specs if a mike is stereo.

I would try Ty’s $2 solution and maybe even give him a chance to recommend a better mike for your needs.

If I’m wrong and that is a stereo mike that you need to mix down to mono, the mixer, without adding noise to the signal, would cost way more than a decent mono mike for a given shoot. Certainly way more than the Azden you have now.

OSX 10.5.7; MAC Book PRO (EARLY 2008); Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30, Sony vx2000/PD170, Canon xl2; Pana, Sony, and Canon consumer cams; FCP certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks All,

Michael, this was what I had gathered from searching for sound absorbing/light blocking material for a studio. But info was hit or miss and I thought the cow folk could help. I had found the Rose Brand site and they seemed to recommend their commando cloth (16 oz). I forwarded the link to the people who will be trying to budget the “studio” make over. The windows are very large and there are quite a few of them so I doubt we can afford anything thicker than the 16 oz. Do you have a link for the fiberglass panels?

Dave/Mark, The Rose Brand site mentions the fire retardant issue and although there is a lot about this old building that is not up to code, for new additions through funding, it must be.

Todd,
I’ll probably try to order a bunch of sound blankets in a regular yearly order and use them where needed to help with the sound. It’s pretty bad though. If we get a drop ceiling put in, it will help. Not sure of funding.

OSX 10.5.7; MAC Book PRO (EARLY 2008); Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30, Sony vx2000/PD170, Canon xl2; Pana, Sony, and Canon consumer cams; FCP certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

You make some good points. Here’s a counter: I used the fp33 a lot for a couple of years. One of the channels went bad. It’s a rugged unit but stuff can go bad. I would not buy used. The 302 retails for the same price and the fp33 came down in price due to the sd302. The 302 has cleaner sound, is smaller, better built, and designed. The fp33 eat batteries at a pretty good clip. The 302 has more control of output limits. It has better meters. I’d rather have cleaner audio than a slightly better picture for most shots. The 302 will keeps it value better.

OSX 10.5.7; MAC Book PRO (EARLY 2008); Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30, Sony vx2000/PD170, Canon xl2; Pana, Sony, and Canon consumer cams; FCP certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

sound devices have better sound and features and the link I gave you was for both a mixer and recorder since double system was mentioned due to poor audio of canon 5d. If you just want mixer(s), I’d go with 2 of the sound devices 302s. Do a search for fp33 vs sd302. You’ll see what I mean.

OSX 10.5.7; MAC Book PRO (EARLY 2008); Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30, Sony vx2000/PD170, Canon xl2; Pana, Sony, and Canon consumer cams; FCP certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks all,

How does Duvetyn 16 oz compare to sound blankets in terms of light and sound control? The windows we are tying to cover are much larger than the blankets and the installation will be semi-permanent. So decent looking would be nice.

OSX 10.5.7; MAC Book PRO (EARLY 2008); Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30, Sony vx2000/PD170, Canon xl2; Pana, Sony, and Canon consumer cams; FCP certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=sound+devices+552&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

OSX 10.5.7; MAC Book PRO (EARLY 2008); Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30, Sony vx2000/PD170, Canon xl2; Pana, Sony, and Canon consumer cams; FCP certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/35/857356#857356

Do a search on the cow and elsewhere for 16:9 pd150. After reading such, I never tried shooting 16×9 with the vx2000, pd170, and pd150. They have 4×3 chips. You want 16×9, time to upgrade to a HD cam, which is designed for that aspect ratio.

That said, there are folks that did what you want and although they lost resolution, the end result did not look horrible. Just not great.

OSX 10.5.7; MAC Book PRO (EARLY 2008); Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30, Sony vx2000/PD170, Canon xl2; Pana, Sony, and Canon consumer cams; FCP certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

You can judge the original footage by hooking the cam up direct to a TV and playing the tape. the pd150s 16:9 is not all that pretty unless you are using a 6×9 Anamorphic Lens. Are you?

OSX 10.5.7; MAC Book PRO (EARLY 2008); Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30, Sony vx2000/PD170, Canon xl2; Pana, Sony, and Canon consumer cams; FCP certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.