[Greg Ball]

Thanks Mark and Stephen. Unfortunately both Freelance.com and even the cow services tab results in many people from out of the country contacting us. I rather keep it in the US so we can chat by telephone when necessary and also not have a 1 day delay in responses. I was hoping that maybe someone here knows of a good cartoon illustrator with animation skills.

[Greg Ball]

You can just use XDCAM Transfer to tranfer the footage from your cards or BPAV files to a QuickTime file that FCP will use. Or you can use a log and transfer app from Sony.

Both can be found here:

https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcam/resource.downloads.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcam-downloads-XDCAMSoftwareDownload.shtml

[Greg Ball]

John, I believe his DVD is NTSC to start with, not PAL, so he doesn’t need two stages to start with. 🙂

[Greg Ball]

Hi Ashley,

You can’t edit MP4 files in FCP. You need to convert them to ProRes before you edit. Try using mpeg streamclip to convert the files into an editable file.

Good luck.

[Greg Ball]

Igor,

Most studios do not look beautiful when shooting a video. There are stands on the floor, additional lighting instruments, flags for the lighting, sound blankets, lots of cables, etc.

Usually a client is amazed when they take a look at the monitor to see what you’re creating amid that chaos. I’d be less concerned about the aesthetics and more concerned about the sound quality.

[Greg Ball]

I would think about putting a lav microphone on his lapel. Also consider using some sound absorbing blankets under his feet and perhaps hanging from c-stands.

I agree with Mark on the framing of the shot and subtlety of the background. You need more head room and also your focal lengths should vary more between shots.

You should think about adding in some color graphics or images to the video. Perhaps your logo can be larger.

Also something on the lower third with colors and your contact info may help.

[Greg Ball]

Thanks Tim and Mark,

Unfortunately these type of events would be in my local area and some in other locales. It seems like people do this fairly easily.

I agree Mark with the issues in a hotel conference room. Since I run my own business, I’d just have to fire myself…LOL

[Greg Ball]

I started my video career by planning, designing and selling studios and equipment to corporations and colleges.

What Mark is saying is absolutely true. However I’d change the order slightly:

Sound proofing

Power

HVAC

Lighting

I’d put lighting last on the list, because with proper power, you can always add lighting.

Originally we build a studio for a major fast food company. Within the studio we build wall flats that we could use to create the dining room of a fast food restaurant, including booths, tables, chairs and the nicknacks for the walls and tables. We also built a tile wall for those quick kitchen-looking shots.

Of course we had a 30′ X 40′ studio space to work with.

Then we build a control room/edit suite with a tech/equipment room to house all of the equipment power supplies and fans so the edit suite and studio would be quiet.

We built walls as Mark suggested, and had extra wide HVAC ducts installed to minimize sound. Finally we installed special sound absorbent doors to keep exterior sound from the company’s individual departments to a minimum. Lastly we added in a small portable VO set-up to record clean narration.

Mush depends on your budget, but when we moved to a new building, the construction budget was included in the total construction budget. You should consider hiring a consultant to work with the construction company.

[Greg Ball]

Is your whole sequence comprised of just YouTube videos? Or is there anything else you’re adding in. Is this an HD timeline or SD timeline?

I would find the best looking YouTube video that has the best quality and largest size, and use that for my sequence settings. Then just use the Prores settings that Mpeg Streamclips suggests. You may need to creatively edit these other videos if they are smaller so they look nice on screen. For example use a picture in picture technique, or create a colored background for the videos, etc.

Most importantly do you have permission to use these videos?

[Greg Ball]

It depends on what settings you have in your sequence and what the size of the YouTube video is.