Doug Graham
Forum Replies Created
-
Yeah…the capture utility is still only about 2/3 implemented. There are some features that aren’t available yet.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
Put one clip on track 1. Put the other clip on Track 2.
Use the Pan/Crop tool on the upper clip to “cut off” approximately half the picture, allowing the first image to show through in that area.
I’m assuming that you used a stationary camera, and confined the boy to one half of the image and the girl to the other half…
Regards,
Doug Graham -
I’ve run a coax cable from a camcorder to a monitor over about 150-200 feet with good results, but I’m not sure about extending the cable run to 250 meters. Can you get a reel of coax and try it as an experiment before making a decision?
You’re right about the live switch equipment. The Videonics MX-DV will show up to four images on a single monitor (at reduced frame rate) so you wouldn’t need quite as many physical monitors…although individual monitors is certainly the best way to go. If your master VCR has an “antenna out” jack, you could connect your coax there for the remote feed.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
Check to see if the band’s mixer has a mic level output you can use. If not, you will need audio attenuators, or “pads” between the line level mixer output and your camera’s mic level input. You will probably have to have some adapters, too, to get from the mixer (XLR or 1/4″ jacks, usually) to the camcorder (XLR or stereo minijack).
Good sources of adapters, pads, and cables include Markertek, https://www.markertek.com and Radio Shack.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
If you have After Effects, one of the most popular current effects is to add a pseudo third dimension to a photo. Here’s the general idea:
1. Cut out the person or other foreground object(s) and place in a separate layer.
2. Fill in the background that used to be obscured by the foreground object, using clone and other tools.
3. Apply a 3D effect to the two layers.
4. Move the point of view. Watch the foreground object move in relation to the background (parallax).A detailed tutorial on this effect was published in last month’s EventDV magazine by, if I recall, Jan Ozer.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
Yeah, it’s a long-standing bug.
When this happens, send the original clip to Sound Forge, normalize there, and import the result back to Vegas.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
I’ve just started messing with 5.1, so take my comments with a grain of salt.
Bear in mind that not all your listeners will have 5.1 systems, so you’ll have to mix so that the audio will play well in both stereo and in surround.
I’d put most of the stereo left channel into the 5.1 left front, likewise with the right channel. If you have dialog, filter and/or compress your best dialog track to emphasize it, and place that copy into the center channel, along with a little bit of the left and right.
Use a low pass filter on a mix of the L&R channels for the 5.1 low frequency channel.
Add a tiny bit of reverb to the stereo tracks and send that to the rear channels.
You can do a lot more with a 5.1 mix if you have recorded a number of individual audio sources…for example, if you’ve mic’ed individual instruments in a recording session, or if you’re using one of the newer music programs like StackTraxx that allow you to choose individual instruments.
Room setup is important. You can get an inexpensive sound level meter to calibrate your speakers for your listening position. The room should be as acoustically “dead” as possible. With stereo, you want room reverberation to create the ambience. With 5.1, you are creating the ambience with speakers, and room reverb often acts against you.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
You can indeed fix it, or at least, improve it a lot. If you have to zoom in much to keep from showing the edges of the frame when you correct the unwanted camera moves, you will lose some resolution.
Another possible “fix”…
Cut to an audience reaction shot, or some other piece of B-roll. If the speaker is talking about something you can show a picture of, insert a graphic of whatever he’s talking about (the new company facility, dear departed Uncle George, his new Mercedes, whatever). The “reaction shot” doesn’t have to be one that was taken at the same time as the bad camera move, if it’s just a generic shot of a bunch of listeners, listening.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
No, no…you should have a separate hard drive, apart from your RAID, on which to put Vegas and other software.
The RAID should be used only for A/V data storage. For example, my computer has one hard drive for the operating system and application programs, a second hard drive for non-video data (stock audio clips, graphics, project files, correspondence, etc.), and a RAID 0 array consisting of four 300 GB hard drives.
I use the RAID both to store captured video, and to render edited projects to. There is some debate as to whether it would be faster to actually have TWO RAID arrays, or at least two separate drives…one for captured video, and the second for rendering out to.
Regards,
Doug Graham -
It’s possible, but not easy, to make a living doing nothing but wedding videos. The same could be said for corporate video! Many videographers offer several different services to provide a broader income base…some weddings, some corporate, a little film transfer on the side…
The answers to your questions would fill, not just several threads, but a book. Fortunately, both books and instructional DVDs are available on the topic! I suggest you:
1. Join a professional wedding videographers’ association. There are two to choose from: WEVA and The 4EVER Group. Both have a lot of resources for the newcomer.
2. Join a local videographers’ association. It’s a great resource for networking with your local colleagues and learning from them.
3. Browse the pertinent articles here in the COW Library, especially https://www.fastforwardclub.com/Articles/Business/Fallacy-Market-Pricing.htm and https://www.creativecow.net/articles/graham_doug/wedding_list/index.html. Also check out the articles in the Free Library at https://www.videouniversity.com.
4. I’ve developed a spreadsheet tool to help you decide how to set your prices. You can find it at https://videouniversity.com/weddingpricing.htm
5. Subscribe to EventDV magazine. You can also find articles from back issues at https://www.eventdv.net/Develop a business plan — map out all the aspects of your business, especially how you will handle the critical startup period. Many videographers start out part-time, holding down a steady full time job to help pay the bills while they build their video business.
Good luck!
Regards,
Doug Graham