[Nate Graham]

Wow, that was an awesome post, thanks Todd!

One other question. I’ve noticed that on The Hunt for Red October every time they do a rack focus there’s an odd sort of distortion. Other films don’t seem to have this same effect when doing a rack focus. Do you know why it looks so different on this film?

Thanks again for the info. You should do a COW video on lenses. I’d be interested in learning more.

Nate

[Nate Graham]

I helped a crew shoot a short this summer. They used a redrock converter and I must say that there is something very appealing about narrow DoF. Eventually they took the redrock off because they were having “focus” problems. But I must admit that while having out of focus backgrounds looks very nice, it doesn’t make a video look any more “like film” but it definitely doesn’t look so much like video either. It might taste like chicken but it still just isn’t quite chicken somehow.

Todd,
Your talk about only using quality lenses and converters raises a question (begging your pardon for my lack of knowledge on the subject). What makes a good lens, well, good?

My father is a still photographer and he’s always talking about this lens and that lens. I finally asked him what makes these high quality lenses more desirable than others. He admitted that he didn’t really know. He just goes off of what his piers say is good, but they never really say why, either. I have yet to see someone look at a photograph, film, video, etc. and say “WOW, this must have been shot with (insert lens model here)” I can understand distortion is factor on wide lenses but what other things does one look for in quality lenses?

The best lenses are always primes, too. Why? Is there no such thing as a really good zoom lens?

Thanks to all of you who so patiently share your knowledge with those of us who are not as learned.

Nate

[Nate Graham]

Does anyone know if Final Cut Studio (not FCS 2) works well on leopard?

Nate

[Nate Graham]

[sjohnson]“I’m concerned about all of the hsssssssssssssssssss I’m going to get that might just step on the low-freq sound”

For those rare times when I’ve needed some serious gain, with extremely low noise, I’ve used a Millenia pre amp and been very impressed. That is one pre amp that will not add any other noise to the recording. But as Ty said, you’re going to need a quiet mic, too.

[Nate Graham]

While we’re on the subject of cancellations and contracts . . . I was wondering if all y’all wouldn’t mind listing some of the items that you’ve been sure to include in your contracts (i.e. cancellation fees, etc).

I think that this post is a good example of how there are, sometimes, a few things that seem to get overlooked in our contracts.

Gentlemen, what say ye?

Nate

[Nate Graham]

Awesome! Thanks, I’ll check it out.

Nate

[Nate Graham]

[David Roth Weiss] “So, its a good idea for people all over to get their hands on The Director’s Guild Rate Book, the SAG Rate Book, the Writer’s Guild Rate Book, etc., because the guidelines spelled out in those books represent practices that most union and non-union professionals try to follow as much as and whenever possible.”

So, where might one find said rate books?

Nate

[Nate Graham]

I shot a short film with a news photographer a while back. We had a shot of a character walking along a sidewalk on a busy street lined with businesses. We could see all of the big signs for the stores in the background and were a little worried. The news photographer told us that as long as the camera is on public property anything it can see is okay. Again, this isn’t legal advice but I thought it was interesting seeing as the ENG guys always get businesses in their shots and don’t seem to have a problem. When they’re talking about the murder/robbery at the 711 and show a shot of the place they never seem to get in trouble. It’s usually because the media is shooting from a state owned street and not from private property.

Maybe if you place the laptop outside and shoot from the street, you’d be safe to show it’s logo? That make for an interesting scene . . .

Nate

[Nate Graham]

I forgot to mention that you would have to delete the clips from the timeline before adjusting the timeline settings but starting with a new sequence is just the same.

I’m sorry but I don’t have any knowledge of PN. Quite frankly, I don’t even know what it is.

Nate

PS–sorry for the long reply, I’ve been out of town for a few days.

MacBook Pro 2GHz
Shake
FCS

[Nate Graham]

I shoot weddings and I use Final Cut Studio and I love it. I may be quite biased here but if you can afford it go with the Mac and final cut. I don’t know anyone who has ever had any regrets with it. Macs are solid and Final Cut is quick and effecient. If you need training on the software the Apple Pro Training series books are good; they’ll get you up to speed on the software rather quickly.

Concerning laptops: I only own a Macbook Pro. I wish I had a nice beefy MacPro but for what I’ve been doing I just don’t really need one. Consider what services you would like to offer. If you ever plan on doing a “same day edit” for wedding videos then a laptop is a must! I don’t know how well trying to do a same day edit in final cut on a laptop would work with HDV but that could be another question to ask (I only shoot DV).

I’ve never played with after effects but I find that motion is well suited for everything I do. Special effects aren’t really for weddings if you know what I mean; however, I do find that the creative use of text created in motion can be quite nice for wedding DVDs.

Good Luck in your endeavor!

Nate