[Dean Sensui]

I would also recommend using Silhouette. A very good rotoscope tool.

Be aware that it can take a lot of time and effort. But if you work carefully you can get some very good results.

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Dean Sensui]

Just a precautionary note…

I have two HDD’s in my Mac. One is a bootup drive. The other a backup. When I do any kind of upgrade I’ll do it on the backup and run that for a while. If it flakes, I go back to the original boot drive. If things are OK, I’ll keep going until I’m confident the original bootup drive can be upgraded, too.

This way I always have something to fall back to if things don’t work out.

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Dean Sensui]

I only needed a few seconds of this so I did it the hard way in After Effects.

— Changed the frame rate from 30 to 15 frames/second. Silent Super 8 usually ran at 18 fps. 15 fps is close enough.

— Created two somewhat random “jitter” effects which simulated a slightly inconsistent pulldown and some gate weave. This means the image shifted slightly from side-to-side and would vary a little vertically. The vertical shifting tends to be abrupt whereas the gate weave tends to be more like a subtle sway.

— Lifted the black level and shifted it slightly green. Ektachrome tends to go green-blue after a while. This gets varied slightly as the breakdown isn’t consistent throughout film.

— The whites were tinted yellow-brown to simulate the aging of the film base. This was also varied slightly.

— Shifted the overall color balance toward blue-green in the 3/4 tones and a bit more magenta in the 1/4 tones. Reduced color saturation to emulate fading dyes. And, as the black and white levels, these can be varied as well.

— Added some grain and softened the focus slightly. You can vary the focus along the way to emulate film that’s been mildly warped and isn’t perfectly flat as it’s going through the projector’s gate.

— If you can add an occasional scratch or dust that would help sell the idea that it’s old film.

— Added an uneven, fuzzy vignette to simulate seeing the edge of the projector’s film gate.

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Dean Sensui]

[walter biscardi] “I know there’s folks out there that would prefer to see me disappear…”

Not me. When I grow up I wanna be like you. 🙂

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Dean Sensui]

I have to agree with the talent part.

I saw a program recently that was mastered to tape by a certified FCP editor and it looked horrible. I’m not certified (although some say I’m certifiable) and I can do a much better job than that. The guy is a talented editor but he’s not a top-notch engineer.

The certification will confirm that you went through training and that you’ve attained a certain level of competency. But what will get you the job is your ability to put that knowledge into practice. So learn what you need to get the job done. But devote your attention to the art and craft of editing.

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Dean Sensui]

Brandon…

Your tech guy is misinformed. The Intensity Pro does not have HD-SDI, and that can be a very useful port in the HD world, especially if you’re interested in seeing your work on a high-quality HD monitor sometime down the road.

The “component” in/out of the Intensity Pro might not be the component signal used by the UVW-1800.

Also, the Intensity Pro’s audio connectors are not balanced. They’re just two-conductor RCA.

I’d suggest the Blackmagic Decklink Extreme.

https://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/decklinkhdextreme/

Has component in/out for your UVW-1800. Also has HDMI and HD-SDI. When you get an HD monitor in the future (FSI as recommended by Walter Biscardi), you can connect it to the HD-SDI port.

Meanwhile, if you get a consumer monitor it can be connected to the HDMI port.

And the Decklink Extreme has balanced XLR audio connectors.

I’m using a Decklink Extreme (the previous version fo the card) and get excellent results when mastering to Betacam SP.

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Dean Sensui]

Output a file or reference file from your original sequence in the same 720p format it’s currently in. Don’t scale down in FCP — that’s probably the reason it looks lousy.

Drop the file into Compressor and scale it in there. Use the H.264 codec, variable bitrate encoding (VBR) and add about 10 to 20 percent sharpening. The sharpening will increase your encoding time tremendously, but the results are a lot clearer. If it takes too long then you can forget about the sharpening.

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Dean Sensui]

Brandon…

I would recommend getting something like a Blackmagic Decklink Extreme HD card and either buying or renting a Sony UVW-1800 Betacam deck.

Output from FCP directly to Betacam SP. That’s what I did early on and was able to maintain quality throughout the process.

Dubbing from DVCam or MiniDV to Betacam SP is probably the worst thing to do, no matter what facility you go to. Because it’s going to go through either a composite or Y/C connector, and those options aren’t anywhere as good as going through a component connector. And in my experience there are too many technicians who simply won’t care enough to make sure you get the best possible quality with what they have.

If you’re doing this for a nationally distributed product, then the cost of doing the mastering yourself is worth it to protect your reputation.

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Dean Sensui]

I use Apple’s Compressor to encode DVDs. I add a small amount of sharpening which provides a very good-looking picture.

When I go to tape I do it in real time via component to Betacam SP through a Blackmagic Decklink Extreme card.

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing

[Dean Sensui]

I photographed the eclipse in Hawaii from Mauna Kea back in 1991. I used a #14 welding filter to protect my eyes. I was shooting stills so I didn’t have a filter over the lens, except that I kept it covered until I needed to take a shot, then covered the lens again. The combination of stopping down and a high shutter speed protected the relatively slow film (Kodak VPS III).

However, it’s different with video.

You’ll need to protect the imager with a very dense filter which can cut down IR, as well as the other wavelengths, to avoid doing any damage.

Here’s a website with some useful info: https://www.mreclipse.com/Special/filters.html

It mentions the Thousand Oaks site. It also mentions what NOT to use, which is equally important. Especially when it comes to protecting your eyes.

Good luck!

Dean Sensui — Hawaii Goes Fishing