[Mark Suszko]

Of course you bill it.

I would also make sure the raw footage had time code and/or a logo “bug” superimposed on it, to prevent them just stealing it. I go with time code, because you can legitimately say you’re making it easier for them to give you exact notes on what they want and don’t want. It just happens to also spoil the video for pirates, by coincidence.

[Mark Suszko]

The champion software for this at the time was Ultimatte Advant-Edge. Comes with a USB dongle key. Maybe you can find a used copy.

But seriously, in all the years I did green screening in FCP 6 and 7, (and I still do) the built-in chromakeyer did just fine, PROVIDING the footage was well-shot and providing that before you try the key, you first adjust all the levels in the raw footage. I never shoot greenscreen without also shooting a chip chart thru the lens on that set in the same lighting conditions. Then in post, first I color correct to those bars or Macbeth chips, and BAM; the chromakey is 98 to 100 percent perfect right from the start. And don’t forget, you can invoke multiple instance of the keyer. Adding the other enhancement tools like spill killer adds the finishing touches. I like to sometimes generate a drop shadow and color it the same color as the talent or same color as the CK background. It can sometimes help with edge problems.

An old trick I used was to replace as much of a bad green screen as possible with a fresh, NLE-generated green, using crop tools and masking. Even turned some green screen to blue screen, before trying to make the key happen. You can use the 3 way color corrector to tweak unnatural colors just to make a clean matte. Then export the matte, re-import it in a “sandwich” between the re-corrected original and the final composite, and you’re good to go.

[Mark Suszko]

If they will be talking next to a projection of powerpoint slides, you’ll want to add a dedicated soft spot light to the speaking area which comes on when the projector does. Automated or civilian-operated cameras running auto-iris will make a hash of the relative brightness levels between the podium and the bright screen otherwise. A smart bet would be two cameras: one focused on the speaker alone, and one on the screen… or, you can add a recorder to the output of the projector to screen-capture clear screen graphics, then edit that together with the stand-up presenter. or, just edit in the slides from powerpoint later. But if the presenter does anything live with the screen, like navigate an app or work with spreadsheets – then there will be no static slides of that to count on in the edit, so that requires either screen capture or a camera trained on the screen with proper exposure set for the screen content.

[Mark Suszko]

I wonder about putting a LeapMotion sensor in front of an iMac to add some gestural control in the edit for things like volume and effects sliders.

[Mark Suszko]

For something that needs to be dirt-simple, I like the Cannon Vixia line of digital camcorders. You can get them with extended batteries and large-capacity memory cards and cover a 2-hour meeting without a break. They have a lot of automation in them which makes it harder to goof up. You’ll want to make sure you get one with an audio input jack, so the wireless lav can get in.

With wireless lavs, you kinda get what you pay for. Better performance (noise rejection, clarity of signal) and longer duration without stopping to change batteries in mid-speech costs more. Most wireless I’ve dealt with peters out of power at about an hour. I would not be surprised if the lav mic system costs more than the camera. Brands to look at include ElectroVoice, Sony, Samson. There’s good catalogs at B&H photo-video as well as Sweetwater sound, Markertek, and Fullcompass,

Think hard about the need for the mic to be wireless at all. If a lecturer is working from a lectern with notes, you may as well use an omni-directional stick mic mounted there, and reduce complexity and expense while increasing reliability. I never run wireless unless hardwire is for some reason impractical.

[Mark Suszko]

I’m almost as excited about lowly Apple Compressor getting some new DVD authoring functionality with menus, as I am for the FCPX refresh. I am a little ticked off Apple still hasn’t done anything more to integrate broadcast quality closed captioning into FCPX. Depending on how much captioning firepower you need, the costs for adding that from a third party provider are in the thousands.

[Mark Suszko]

Might wanna see if the brand new version of Compressor can help you out at all…

[Mark Suszko]

Yeah, I just noticed that too… the menuing and looping etc will be welcome since most users lost DVDSP when they upgraded to FCPX. Seems like Apple is structuring Compressor as a front end for uploading to the itunes store when your content is done.

[Mark Suszko]

Anybody else notice what they added to Compressor? ?

Might help solve some DVD authoring problems.

[Mark Suszko]

Hey, while nobody was looking, they added a bunch of new DVD creation ability into Motion, has MENUS and LOOPS!
Also seems like they’ve re-positioned Compressor to be the front end if you’re really serious about moving product thru the itunes store.