[Jeff Mueller]

Thanks, great information. I have to make do with the gear I’ve got, but I’m sure the results will be better for having asked the Cow.

Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA

[Jeff Mueller]

Thanks Alex. I agree on the Steadicam and wide lens. I’ll shoot the long lens stuff off of the tripod. the Steadicam idea took root before the client said anything about NFL Films or slow mo but I couldn’t unwed him.

This is going to end up on DVD. Normally I’d shoot it all in 1080i 60, but from what you’re saying it sounds like I’d be better off shooting the rest of the project in 24p (they call it 24F on the Canon because it’s an interlaced chip but I think it ends up the same).

Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA

[Jeff Mueller]

Thanks Todd. I’ll try that and see how slow we need to go. I hope to try some tests but time is running out. I do appreciate the response.

Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA

[Jeff Mueller]

I have a Canon XL-H1 which has got to be similar to your XL1 mic wise. While not the ultimate option, at 5 feet my on camera stereo shotgun mic would do an admirable job. I once tried putting a Sennheiser ME66 into the camera’s shock mount, beware, it bounced in and out of frame at full wide angle. Two boom operators would sound ideal to me. I don’t think going up on the fidelity of the mic is going to make as big a difference as getting the mic on the subjects.

Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA

[Jeff Mueller]

ENG is Electronic News Gathering and is a very old term that dates to the transition from shooting news on 16mm film to using tape (first reel to reel, then U-matic, then Betacam, etc.). Things are changing rapidly but traditionally an ENG package meant a portable camera and recorder that met Broadcast Standards, typically it would have included a heavy tripod, a sun gun light and a couple of lavalier mics on top of the on camera shotgun along with enough batteries to shoot for several hours. An EFP package (Electronic Field Production) by comparison was geared more towards narrative or commercial production and would typically have more lights and audio gear but compromise portability to some degree.

Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA

[Jeff Mueller]

I haven’t actually used one of the DSLRs, but I’ve been studying them and looking for an opportunity to rent one (Canon 5D Mk II or 7D). My impression (which isn’t that different from Mark’s) is that they make a great SECOND camera, for beauty shots and candids and getting in tight spaces quickly. Because of the wide availability of lenses and total manual control they can take some stunning images, but they are at their best in full manual mode, are not really intended for audio recording, are difficult to hand hold without a rig and have extremely limited record times. Plus there are some codec issues and I doubt they record timecode.

That being said, if you haven’t seen the work of the Canadian guys Stillmotion, https://vimeo.com/4538182 for example, you need to. I believe they shoot with Canon 5D Mk IIs on Steadicam Flyers. Stunning visuals, but that’s $20K worth of kit per set-up! I shoot with an XL-H1 which is a great camera (XL-A1 isn’t bad either), but I can’t get this kind of stuff.

Hope this helps. Love to hear from anyone who’s used these for Events.

Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA

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[Jeff Mueller]

PS: I should also point out that it is “Colombia” not “Columbia”, it’s good to spell the name correctly. Although the neighborhoods around Columbia in NYC can be pretty rough too…I know nothing about Columbia in Chicago so can’t help the poster above.

Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA

[Jeff Mueller]

I haven’t shot there but I’ve recently spent time in Medellin. I assume you’re bringing your own gear/crew? I’d recommend hiring a bilingual local driver (I can make a recommendation for MDE) it will dramatically improve your security and cultural sensitivity. I don’t know how good your Spanish is but very few people in Medellin speak English and even fewer in rural areas.

Overall Medellin is basically safe but you need to know where you’re going and not flaunt valuables. There are essentially three types of neighborhoods (but they checkerboard the city): wealthy suburban type communities such as Poblado, these are extremely safe in the daytime, more or less safe at night but you could get mugged if it looks like you have something worth taking. Commercial (but not so high class) areas like Centro. Here the major streets and such are teeming with police and thus safe against anything but pickpockets, but stumble off in the wrong direction at night and you could be in trouble. Finally there are the Barrios, 99% of the people of the Barrios are incredibly friendly and giving, but you absolutely need a local guide if you’re coming in with expensive camera gear. There has recently been a power vacuum at the top of the local drug network and local Barrio gang leaders are bucking for position. You could 1) simply get caught in the cross fire, 2) be deemed a valuable target or 3) be seen as a threat (camera). Although Medellin is not nearly as poverty stricken as some third world cities (think Mumbai) you have to remember that the poverty at the bottom is unimaginable to us, and someone without hope to feed their family may value life very differently than we do. Those people should be viewed as the exception in Medellin, but you need to remember that they are there.

Until a few years ago any travel by a gringo in rural areas was extremely dangerous. That seems to have changed under Urribe. The “major” roads (if it’s got two full lanes and pavements it’s “major”) are teeming with military and police checkpoints and the guerrillas are on the run. The Colombian guerrillas had largely become a rural gang that profited by drug running and kidnappings for ransom. In December I traveled about 100 kms from Medellin and felt quite safe (but the same precautions as in MDE apply in the small cities). Still, there are areas of the country that are under FARC influence, so if you’re going to get off of the major highways you need to know where you’re going.

I haven’t been to Bogota but I’d expect it to be pretty similar to Medellin. The people there come across as softer and gentler than the Paisas, but don’t be fooled, I’m sure that when it gets bad it’s just as bad.

Electricity shouldn’t be a problem unless you need gobs of it. It’s US standard 110 volt. Most outlets don’t accommodate a grounding prong so bring adapters. And I wouldn’t expect most circuits to be more than 10-15 amps, so act accordingly. The power occasionally goes out, but that’s very occasional. I’d bring lots of extensions too (although you can buy that stuff there), because outlets aren’t always located where you’d expect.

I hope this helps. Colombia is a beautiful country full of wonderful people with a rich history. Have fun.

Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA

[Jeff Mueller]

Hi Jim:

I’m a relative newbie, but let me jump in and I know the experts will correct me if I’m wrong.

First, the standard response: buy the fastest processor you can afford, get lots of memory and be aware of expandability. An 8 core Mac Pro is ideal, but that doesn’t mean you have to have it, in fact, I think the rig you’re looking at would be pretty sweet (better than what I am working on).

You absolutely want the 17″ Macbook if you can possibly afford it. Not because of the processor (although that’s nice), but because it is the ONLY current Macbook with the express card slot. You need that because it will allow you to add either an eSata Hard Drive (and use the one and only FW800 port for your DV camera connection) OR alternatively add an external video capture card like KONA and use the FW port for your external hard drive. You must have a fast external hard drive for your video capture if you’re serious about this. You can’t be writing to the same source as your application software (which needs to be read). It will cause problems.

For straight editing of SD material I think the only bottle neck you might experience with this setup would be compressing out to H264 or whatever you’re using for the web. Basic graphics, color correction and effects may need to render but they should be quick. Multi Camera stuff and 3D graphics might be a different story, I have little experience there. Remember that processor speed is key to render times. That’s why the quad core iMac 27s are so sweet, but they do present connect-ability issues. For basic editing you don’t NEED the good graphics card, but it can’t hurt. For work in Color or 3D fx it will be important.

When you say step up to HD, are you talking about Uncompresed HD or some other codec? The codec will matter and affect storage requirements, but again, for basic editing this system can work. (I’m editing compressed HD, color correcting and exporting to H264 and MPEG2 with a 2.16 ghz iMac, 128 mb dedicated ATI vid card, 3 megs of Ram and scratch disks daisychained over FW400, using FCS3 and Snow Leopard. It works. It’s slow for some things, but it works.)

Hope this helps.

Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA

[Jeff Mueller]

It was very late when I wrote the first post, but I had meant to describe what I am doing in case it is relevant to you, but again, I am a technical novice and I certainly haven’t measured actual speeds. Everything I’ve read says that the back end of a daisy chain will be slower. Of course there are Raid arrays like G-Raid and ethernet options like the D-Link box, this is just my no budget approach, but for my purposes it is working.

I have two LaCie external drives, both 7200 rpm and 16 mb cache. One is plugged into the computer via FW 400 and serves as my scratch disk and render storage. The second one back is connected to the front drive (via FW800 but it’s limited to FW400 speeds by the first connection)and serves as my backup disk. I’ve also cloned my OS and programs onto a partition and as an experiment I have booted the computer over the FW400 connection and it works without problem.

I have been editing HDV and working extensively in Color and have had no problems or speed issues as far as the drives are concerned. The only problem I had (and completely understandable) was when I tried to boot off of the same FW drive I was using for Scratch (just a test mind you) I got a message that basically said your drive’s to slow. Now if your editing multi-cam or uncompressed HD that’s a different story, but if your working in a similar manner to me, and have everything strung together as FW800, I can’t imagine you’d have a problem as the penalty for daisychaining is probably not as big as the drop down to FW400.

I do have other problems with my system, but not the drives. Hope this helps.

Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA