Graeme Nattress
Forum Replies Created
-
Yes, 60i gives much more temporal information to the plugin to create a better looking 24p.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
-
30p looks like 30p. If you want 24p and don’t have a 24p option on the camera, shooting 60i will give much better conversion to 24p than 30p.
So, if you want 30p shoot it, if you want 24p, shoot 60i normal NTSC and convert.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
-
I use incredibly little university level math in programming. However, I guess I have a brain that can do math, and university didn’t knock that out of me. I’ve been programming since I was 10 years old, so I think the programming lead to the math, not the other way around. I went to uni to do what I enjoyed.
I think going to film school would have knocked the stuffing out of me. I did some work in the film department and worked with some of the lecturers there in the uni that I was lecturing in, and it’s not a place where I would go to learn to do. It seems all film schools that I’ve come across talk more about semniotics than actually making movies or shorts. I think that kind of artsy aproach is woefuly impractical, and judging from the end of year tape that I got, the results were laughably bad, and even us making movies in our garage had a better understanding of lighting, plotting, camerawork etc. and we had a fraction of the budget. Our stuff may have been crap, but it was entertaining and we did manage to get quite an international fan following, which is more than can be said for most.
You’ve got to get out and do. If goingg to college helps you do that, then it has succeeded. But you’ve got to get out and do on your own terms – not worry whether you pass or fail by their criteria, but that you your self are learning as a filmmaker. Don’t let the other idiots on the course pull your work down because they’re meant to be editing that piece you directed. Make sure you edit it your self as well as you can’t rely on anyone on the team to put in the hard work and do as good a job as you would do. Do whatever it takes.
I’m so lucky I avoided film school. I’d not be where I am today if had gone. This is all from my experience. Things differ around the world (I’m from the UK, but live in Canada now) and some courses are better than others. Take the spirit of what I say, not think my experiences are facts for your situation.
I think a highly practical college course would be much better than an academic university film school.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
-
Well, I studied mathematics (because I enjoy it), but used my free time to act, write, direct, do camera work, do special effects for and read about video. There is absolutely no replacement for actual practicall knowledge, ability and accomplisment. You don’t learn by attentding courses, you learn by doing. Also, many of those who teach in such establishments, do so because they could not succeed in the real world of work. That is not to dengirate in any way the various readers of this forum who do teach, teach exceptionally well, and make successfully business producing/editing/directing etc/ too, but I think we’ve all come across those in universities who talk utter rubbish and get, especially video technology, totally wrong.
I’ll give you an expample from my time lecturing in graphic design applications at a UK university: I was told a story about the previous head of department of graphic design. This previous head was told, upon asking of a printmaker in the department, that in CMYK, the K stood for khaki.
So, study what you enjoy, what you will succeed in because you enjoy it. Don’t expect your studies to be useful in any way other than to prove you’re capable of studying. Now take your free time and if you wish to succeed in video, succeed by doing. Get a camera, get an NLE, get some friends and start writing, acting, directing. Watch TV and movies, but watch them critically. Try to do everything needed in a video production. Examime sound recording, music, and sound effects. Write scripts. Do everything, read everything, learn everything, but above all, enjoy.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
-
You don’t. Firewire is a direct, unaltered copy of what’s on tape.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
-
Well, in built filters are meant to be compatible with higher bit depths, but there’s no Apple documentation on this. AE filters are, however, limited to 8bit RGB.
The Apple HDV implementation is actually rather good, if it supports your camera and fps. You don’t need an intermediate, which is nice.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
-
No NLE is really any good for high end compositing. FCP claims 32bit also, but I don’t think there’s any way for any plugin to access more than 8bit RGB from the video. Shake is 32bit float, and very good for high end compositing. Motion can also run in 32bit float and plugins can deal with that depth also.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
-
Video works in a Y’CbCr space, not the RGB space of photoshop. In RGB 8bit you have 0-255 on each of R, G & B. In video Y’CbCr, legal values for Y’ are 16 to 235, and Cb and Cbr are also curtailed. Y’CbCr is a much larger space than RGB, and hence there are losses when 8bit Y’CbCr is converted to RGB for processing and back again to Y’CbCr.
What you’re seeing are the problem with 8bit component video, coupled with less than stellar processing. In the end, you’ve got to live with it, as it’s not that anything else out there is affordable and any better.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
-
Probably caveat emptor.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
-
These days, high end capture cards should be able to add pulldown on output. This was not the case when the filter was written.
Since FCP5, these filters all work only on movies, not sequences due to Apple breaking things that used to work, so you’d have to do two stages. The render to add 3:2 is actually pretty quick though.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP