[Mark Suszko]

It could be that the producers believe this kind of cutting is what a “millennial” audience likes and is attracted to, whether it makes story-telling sense or not, or is true or not. That’s my thesis in my post in the Cinematography thread called: You’re doing it wrong”, referring to mis-use of a side- angle when the speaker is addressing to/thru the lens.

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/54/865447

[Mark Suszko]

You combine a speed change with some distortions and a rolling bar effect.

In FCPX, I would combine a speed ramp with the “bad TV” effect, using keyframes to ramp up the amounts of distortion and rolling synch bars as the speed goes up, and the reverse as the speed goes down.

In Premiere, try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zByO2TmM1WU

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[Mark Suszko]

A freelancer HAS to charge “more”; they need to also cover all the things a salaried person’s company covers for them: the health care, insurance, taxes, etc. so a freelancer’s bill is going to look “padded” if they are doing things right, but otherwise they may be working for about the same amount as the staffer, once you take out all those extras.

If you freelance and don’t include that overhead in your bills, you’re actually working for less than the full-time staffer.

[Mark Suszko]

Keying, both green/blue chromakey and luma keying. This would be partly a how-to light-and-shoot course, partly screenwork, because lighting for a good key, and shooting usable “plates” is 90 percent of the job. You need to give them some fundamentals so they don’t have to re-invent what already works. Also, how to work with or fix bad footage. Probably the most fun of the segments.

Rotoscoping, and masking and track mattes. Wire/rig removal, image repair.

Color grading and modifying footagee to achieve a specific look. Day-for-night effects. Underwater effects. Dream states. Precipitation FX like snow, rain, sandstorm, fire/smoke. Speed effects, slow-mo, time lapse.

Animating type. Kinetic typography. Advanced graphic design concepts for titling. Animting a virtual camera.

Digital set extensions, digital matte paintings, Integrating CGI with live action plates. Mocap, 3-d tracking and replacing live elements with digital ones. Making 3-d models for pre-visualization, storyboards, animatics.

A person knowledgeable and accomplished at all of these would be a formidable addition to any staff.

I didn’t list VR and stereoscopic, because that should be a separate, high-level course.

[Mark Suszko]

I was thinking more along the lines of something more permanent, but, thanks for answering. Hypothetically, of course, if you hired a family member-by-marriage to grip, and they tried to insert themselves into business decision discussions, where to invest the family’s business profits, what kind of jobs ot take on, that kind of thing, what kind of responses and emotions would you (hypothetically) feel?

[Mark Suszko]

I expect nothing but a progress report on this one and the next one:-)

[Mark Suszko]

If you’re making DVD’s or a file for broadcast, you have to honor the 100 IRE limit. If it’s for YouTube only, maybe you can get away with going higher, but I’d still advise against it. Blowing out the whites kills detail and ruins the contrast.

Do you understand how to use the waveform monitor or a histogram display in FCPX? Blacks (unless you are in Japan, where black level is zero), are to be at 7.3 IRE units. Brightest white is no more than 100. Everything else rests somewhere in the middle. If you raise the blacks or mids, it bring the whites up too, so you’ll have to bring them down again after the mids and blacks have been set.

As to audio levels, on my system I make everything peak at minus 12 DB. Other people do it differently.

[Mark Suszko]

To fix the exposure, highlight the entire video track, then select the color correction tab. Pick the version of the tab that handles “exposure”, and move the middle and left slider-puck thingies while watching the results and watching the waveform monitor scope, so your levels stay under 100 IRE units.

Well, too-low audio is better than clipped, over-loud audio. Final Cut has some good plug-ins like “normalize”, and “loudness” which will bring it up, but may also introduce some hiss and noise, and reduce some of the “dynamics”. Then you may have to add some equalization.

One technique people sometimes do with too-low audio is to layer multiple identical tracks of the low audio, like three or more.

You can also bring the low audio track into Logic, or, a free audio editing tool called “audacity”, and play with enhancing it there. Then re-import it into the timeline and synch it back up.

You can mix in the shotgun, I suppose, but there will be a little bit of phasing or echo happening if the distance between the two mics was great. It may require bumping one of the audio sources a frame or so to synch them up.

Auto iris is not your friend on this kind of gig: you need to ride it manually.

The audio recorder has an automatic gain control, I suggest you enable that on the next try. You’re getting better with each effort – keep it up!

[Mark Suszko]

Just to add an alternative view, I recently got a new kit for my own simple home studio needs. I went to Amazon and got a 3-light softlight kit with a boom arm and stands from LightDow, I’m using it with “corncob” style Bonlux LED bulbs, and this kit emulates my favorite Lowell Rifalights, without the heat, for a ridiculously low price. Under 90 bucks, bulbs included.

What I got:
Lightdow Overhead Softbox Continuous Light Photo Studio Youtube Vlog 600W Soft Box Lighting Kit (Model Number: LD-TZ002)

Build quality not as rugged as a RifaLight, but serviceable. For small vlogging projects at a desk or table, might be all you need.

[Mark Suszko]

That is a horrible scenario; no shooter would do it that way by choice. Even your still photo tells the story; the back-lighting from the windows is so strong, the still camera’s iris had to clamp down, making the rest of the room look dark. This is also horrible for human eyes, if they have to squint against the back-lighting to see the speaker. One should just never allow this kind of situation. The lectern/podium should be on the opposite wall from those windows, or at the very least, a side wall. Then your only issue would be adding fill light on the under-exposed side.

A heavy back-lit window or similar situation like this would require using a powerful HMI daylight-balanced light to overcome. And that would be too big and hot to hang from a scissor-clip on the drop-ceiling, it would have to be stand-mounted across the room.

If they can’t budge on the lectern location, you will need to get some pipe-and-drape, and make a temporary dark background that extends for about five or more feet to either side of the speaker. Then keep all your shots framed tight enough to not see the windows. Blue or black or gray curtains. This is the most typical thing done, and a hotel or resort will often have these on hand or have access to rentals of them on short notice.

Or, alternately, if you don’t want to do pipe and drape, buy three 8×4 foot pieces of cheap wall paneling, and stiffen them with lumber glued across their backs, stand them up in a triptych with some overlap. Paint them with flat or eggshell-texture latex paint. Maybe make them more attractive by stenciling the event logo on them in a contrasting paint, or the same paint, but either darkened or lightened a little bit, by adding some black or white to it.

More work and expense and heavier than the pipe-and-drape, more suited to a semi-permanent situation.