Frank Nolan
Forum Replies Created
-
Yeah unfortunately you are kind of screwed on this one. I would definitely call the guys and explain the situation to them and let them know you’re not very happy with their work. If need be, send them a tape of some of the footage so they can see what they did or in this case, didn’t do. You may also want to let them know it’s probably not a good idea to put you down as a reference on their resume.
-
To answer your thread title. No! Unless you had something in writing prior to hiring.
Your second sentence had an indication of what was to come with the words “low budget”.
That usually means you dont have the money to hire professionals. So you take your chances with someone that has bought a camera so is therefore a “cameraman”. On the other hand there are people that have talent and will work for a lesser rate, so it is up to you as the producer/director to find those people. So did you check out anybody’s work prior to hiring them? -
After reading the specs on the D888, I could not find anywhere a mention of it having any timecode capabilities. So if your goal is to be able to re-sync via timecode in post production you are looking at the wrong device. If you want to just record the audio seperately and sync via a clapper board, later then it would work. The record speed is not an issue as there is no pulldown involved when shooting video. However a couple of things to note if you are going to use this device, It only records at a sample rate of 44.1khz. Most NLE’s use a sample rate of 48khz so you would need to do a sample rate conversion on the files.
Also be aware that when shooting to multitrack, each channel will not be totally isolated from the others. For instance if you have 3 actors in a scene all on wireless lavs plus a boom going to 4 discreet channels, the only advantage to having the lavs split is if you were to get an RF hit on one mic the other channels should be clean. As far as the actual dialog, you will still get bleed into each mic from the different actors, so if they talk over the top of each other you are better off using the boom channel. Depending on proximity to each other this bleed can someimes be right “on mic” if two people are facing each other, to very “off mic” and hollow sounding if across the room from each other.
The HVX records audio at 48khz so if you are shooting a feature, unless there is a very compeeling reason not to, your best bet would be to have a good sound mixer on set, pan the boom left and send it to channel one by itself and then mix all the lavs right and send them to channel 2. That way if there is an RF hit, you will always have a clean boom track to go to. You could also go to a multitrack for back up as well, if needed. -
[adventusfilms] ” Is there a good rule of thumb to the levels each element should be around when mixing dialogue and music?”
A good rule of thumb is to always get a delivery spec sheet from the distributor, network, or from who ever your film will be sold to, or hope to be sold to. They will have a list of requirements for your sound levels. Peaks, averages, not to exceed, etc.
-
How full is your system drive?
-
[David Woodward] “What I want to know is how to preview footage in its .mxf format so that I can rename it with more meaningful names–somethat that is more descriptive of the shot. Is there software that will let me do that.”
For the Mac right now there is software from https://imagineproducts.com/
BUt I think the next version of FCP is going to be able to do some of this. -
1) Make sure the camera is set to 1394 device. (menu #9/pc mode)
2) Make sure G5 is on and FW cable plugged in.
3) Make sure media switch on camera is set to P2
4) Hit button to put camera in MCR/VCR mode
5) Press and hold button again for a couple of seconds until camera switches to PC/DUB mode.
6) Now and only NOW! connect the small end of the FW cable to the camera and wait for the two P2 cards to moount on your desktop.If you dont follow this order it may not mount, although I just had it mount with the cable connected and then power the camera on and go to PC/DUB mode. Though I did already have step one completed.
-
[FischTale] “Now…does anyone else find this conversation ironic?
We are just starting to get great productivity from this P2 card technology and it’s arguably much more efficient than tape, but yet, some people are already complaining about offloading cards, etc. and trying to find an even faster work flow.”Agreed and I think one of the bigest problems it has created is insecurity. Not so much in the workflow but in the directors/producers themselves. Did I get the shot? Was that performance good? Let me rewind and have a look! People that have been working with film for years have never had the luxury of hitting rewind or in this case, play on a computer to see if they “have it”.
It is something a good director would know when he saw it happening, check with camera and sound to see if they got it, then move on. I find it amusing how on such a tight budget and schedule that one cant find time to offload P2 cards, (which can be done while the camera is still recording to a 2nd or 3rd card) but have time to sit around on set, editing and watching a performance. -
Hmmm, did someone get out of bed on the wrong side this morning?
Going back to your original post and reading all the responses I think both your questions were answered. Yes you can capture now and the length of firewire cable that could be used was about 12 ft. So I dont see the need for you to get snippy with people that are trying to offer different solutions.
If you need a longer run of cable, another solution would be to run a cable from the HD component out of the camera to a kona or decklink card in a G5 and then you can capture now at whatever codec you choose. The only thing there is you would have to feed audio directly out of the mixer to the card as well. Just be sure to set the component out to the same resolution you are capturing in 720p or 1080i. -
[Seansds3d] “I know that the varicam emulates 60fps but what is the actual frame rate it is shooting at?”
It has many frame rates it can shoot at so before you go any further you need to find that out from the production. You also need to find out your delivery specs so you can make an informed decision as to your workflow. It’s not really any use asking can this be done or that be done, ’cause there are many ways you can do something. The first question you have to ask is what do you want as the end result, then you work back from there to achieve the best workflow for your situation.