Dean Sensui
Forum Replies Created
-
Hopefully the client has Final Cut pro. And if he does, then here’s an option:
Make a complete copy of all the media being used. Make sure that you have exact duplicates, then ship a copy of the media to the client via Fed Ex or other carrier.
When you get the rough cut done, just email a copy of the project. It’ll connect to the client’s copy of the media and he can watch it in full res.
The same can be done whenever a change is made or even when the project is color corrected and graded. Just a few megs of project data needs to be transmitted.
Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com
-
Not sure what NLE you’re using.
But if you’re using Final Cut, then black is at zero IRE. This is very important because everything else that will work in conjunction with FCP (DVD Studio Pro, etc.) will depend on having black set at zero IRE.
For example, when making a DVD, DVDSP will set the encoding black level to zero. The DVD then goes into the DVD player, and that device will then output with black level at 7.5 IRE for American television sets. If that DVD gets sent to Japan, then the Japanese DVD player will output at zero IRE for their television sets.
For analog output, select 7.5 IRE as the “setup” via the Decklink control panel to get the proper setup of 7.5 IRE for analog mastering to Betacam decks, etc.
The broadcaster should be expecting a setup of 7.5 IRE on analog tapes. The color bars written on the tape leader will confirm this, assuming that someone in playback is paying attention.
Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com
-
I’m in the process of finishing up a 15-second commercial spot that was entirely shot with green screen. Some of the shots involved flying hair and it keyed very nicely.
Details:
Used green screen fabric from eefx.com. Nice stuff. Almost no wrinkles despite being shipped folded up in a box. Allows for very flat and even lighting. Only had to use two tota lights to cover a 10-foot-wide section.
To ensure even lighting, I just used the zebras in the camera. Programmed one of them to 60 IRE and dialed the iris until zebras were just barely showing up. This has two advantages: one is it will give you instant feedback regarding green screen exposure. The other is that it will tell you exactly where you’re too dark or too light at a glance. A waveform monitor won’t tell you where it’s off — it could be at the top, bottom or middle of that side of the screen. And a spot meter is too tedious.
Once the green screen was set, the talent is lighted separately and the lights on the talent are adjusted for proper exposure. The camera’s exposure settings are based on the green screen.
The result (1080p30) was shots that keyed remarkably easily. Just one click in keylight and it was 95% there. A little adjustment in screen softening and shrinking and the final key was about as good as I’d ever gotten it.
Here’s a sample frame from the production: https://imaginationhawaii.com/keying.html
Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com
-
If the audio track has already been mixed down and the host’s audio is intermingled with the guests, then there’s little you can do at this point.
However, if the audio still exists on discrete tracks then you can try to use an EQ filter to improve the tonal quality. If it still sounds tinnier than the others, then you can also use an EQ filter to slightly degrade the other tracks to provide a better match.
A horrible option, but better than having one audio track sound worse than the rest.
Whoever did the audio for the shows needs to be replaced. Making a mistake for five minutes is understandable. Continuing the mistake for 15 30-minute shows is unforgivable.
Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com
-
I recently shot a single-camera interview with a former Hawaii governor using three 8-gig P2 cards and a Firestore. It went smoothly and without a hitch.
Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com
-
Wayne…
It’ll do 1080i and 1080p30 as well as 720p60 and 720p30. Those are the ones I’ve recorded so far. I haven’t tried any other format such 24p.
Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com
-
Here’s my multiclip editing note that I keep on file for reference:
— Select clips for each camera angle.
— Find “slate” points and cut the clips there.
— Move clips to a bin.
— Highlight clips.
— Go to Modify dropdown menu and select Make Multiclip
— Select “Sync using in points”.
— Check “on” all clips.Your multiclip will then be created and can be found in the bin.
Drag this multiclip into a sequence.
— In Viewer: Show Multiclip Overlays; Show Source Angle Effects should both be “on.”
— Go to View dropdown menu — Playhead sync — Open
— Go to View dropdown menu — Multiclip Active Tracks — Video + Audio
— Go to View dropdown menu — External Video — All frames (not sure if this is essential)When you click on your sequence and hit the space bar, you should see all camera angles in the viewer playing simultaneously and the “program” or selected camera angle should be playing in the canvas as well.
To select a camera, just click on the angle in the viewer.
At the end your multiclip will be cut into their respective camera angles. You can go back and fine tune the cuts, too.
Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com
-
FCP’s “Title safe” is well within the “action safe” area so if your titles were on the verge of going off-screen (if that’s what you meant) then the system you were watching it on must have a lot of underscan.
Or else perhaps the system that was displaying the program has much stricter standards for what they feel is “title safe”.
In the limited amount of widescreen things I’ve done so far, I hadn’t run into a problem where titles have threatened to go out of bounds.
Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com
-
By the way, the Firmtek system uses removable drives (about $90 for 250 GB Hitachi SATA drives) mounted on sleds (about $20). Along with the hot-swappable host adapter and external housings it lets hard drives or RAIDs to be changed out in about 30 seconds.
This means the system has a capacity limited only by the available budget. I put individual projects on their own RAID pairs and use CD Finder to create a quick rough reference of where things can be found.
Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com
-
Here’s what I’m doing here:
Store the original MXF files on a mirrored RAID (level 1). A mirrored RAID provides an instant backup of itself on twin hard drives.
Import from the MXF files into FCP onto a striped RAID (level 0).
Back up all FCP projects onto a second hard drive. Just the projects, not the media. If the striped RAID should crash and wipe out the imported media, then it’s just a matter of re-importing the media from the mirrored RAID. If one of the drives in the mirrored RAID should crash, it’s a simple matter of plugging in a replacement drive and having the system restore itself.
The whole system is based on a hot-swappable SATA drive system from Firmtek. It’s probably the most cost-effective setup available, and so far very reliable. And it’s using Hitachi SATA drives, as well as a few Seagate Barracuda SATA drives.
Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com