Owen Wexler
Forum Replies Created
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I wholeheartedly recommend Magic Bullet DeNoiser… I’m using it on a commercial I’m working on right now (shot on 7D) to clean up not only video noise but also artifacts from pushing darker images. Just make sure you add a small amount of film grain back in your finishing application of choice (I usually do an intensity and grain size of about .08) so that the image does not look artificially smooth. By the way, adding film grain also helps preserve gradients by fooling the compressor into not banding gradiated images to reduce filesize. You end up with a slightly larger file and way longer render/export times, but no banding artifacts.
Also, as an FYI for future shoots, I’ve found that shooting with a flat picture profile, in addition to allowing more latitude for color corrections, also produces less noise when shooting at higher ISOs. Finding out what ISOs are native to your camera is helpful also in determining an ISO that produces the least noise — for example, with the 7D, ISO 160 is actually less noisy than ISO 100 because it is one of the camera’s native ISOs.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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Your footage is probably ok, following the compression guidelines above is a pretty good start.
Although personally, I find shooting 60FPS to be impractical unless you are shooting sports, or you intend to slow your footage down later. If you are shooting a movie, episodic TV, any kind of narrative, most commercials or music videos, etc., then shoot 24FPS, if you are shooting a non-episodic TV show (the news, reality TV, soap operas etc.) shoot 30FPS… those framerates will help give you the “look” that people expect to see for those respective types of video.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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I second Bridge and batch renaming… it’s the best way to keep track of footage in a long-form project with multiple shooters, so you don’t get two different files both called “MVI_0984” or something like that. There’s even an option to include the time created in the filename so you can later assign time-of-day timecode to the clips in your NLE of choice. There is a tutorial on the COW about this subject if I remember correctly.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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Ultra keyer in Premiere Pro and Keylight in After Effects are your best bet for built-in effects. Can’t comment on others but I’ve heard good things about Red Giant’s Primatte.
I used to use Keylight to key a show shot on greenscreen with a DV camera every week… getting decent results was like pulling teeth but I was still able to do it. If Keylight can do OK with DV greenscreen footage, I’d guess it can do well with a DSLR too but you’re in for a bit of a headache trying to pull a good key… I’d advise using at least a 4:2:2 camera if you can.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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Magic Bullet DeNoiser is great also… been using it a lot lately to fix not only noise but also compression artifacts. Works like a charm, usually the default settings are good but it helps to tweak it of course.
Comes with the Magic Bullet Suite which is definitely recommended… DeNoiser and Colorista II alone are worth the price of the suite.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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More RAM may help with the scrubbing issues — get as much as you can afford.
Aside from that, shooting anything multicam with two different cameras having mismatched settings is highly unadvisable… technical problems aside, the two angles will just look too different when cut together (especially with different framerates and PARs) and it will create a jarring effect that is not pleasing to the eye. At the very least, make sure the framerates and PARs match.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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I finally got to test drive FCPX at the WIFV Non-Linear Editing Demo in DC last month.
Surprisingly, it’s not horrible.
I could use it if I really had to.
I mean I’d rather not. I will still not be using it for my work or personal projects, as it is still missing too many features that I need and doesn’t really fit my muscle memory.
But if I somehow get a decently-paying client who wants me to cut on his or her FCPX system (unlikely as that is), I am not going to turn down money for a petty reason like not being 100% into the editing software.
Also, as someone whose skill set includes color grading, I had to give the color board a whirl. Surprisingly it was pretty easy for me to figure out and wrap my head around, but it’s no Color. I still prefer three-ways, curves, and secondaries over the dots, but I could use the dots if I had to.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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Good composition, good lighting, mastery of focus, good camera movement, good editing, good media management, ability to tell a story effectively, etc. – all the skills that make video professionals in demand always, aren’t anywhere in the manual for a DSLR or Final Cut Pro X, and can only be acquired through education and experience.
The cream will still rise to the top.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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Pretty cool, but not replacing a DSLR or video camera anytime soon.
Even if it does, nothing in the iPhone manual tells you about good composition, lighting, framing, focus control, camera moves, etc. That still counts for something in video production right?
Video professionals have nothing to worry about, the sky is not falling.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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learn and be familiar with all of the “big three” apps. can’t hurt.
I learned on FCP, migrated to Premiere Pro about a year ago and it’s now my personal preference for most projects, learned Avid in case I ever found work at an Avid house… which I did… I work at one part-time now.
If you know FCP you’ll pick up Premiere Pro in hours, there’s very little that is different about it. Avid does have a little bit of a higher learning curve… the way it handles imports and manages media is different, the multi-cam functionality is much more complicated (Avid multigrouping is legendary for its difficulty and high learning curve), effects are handled differently and the different modes (trim mode, color correction mode, etc.) take getting used to if you are coming from FCP. Avid is still worth knowing because of how many houses and productions are using it, but I think Premiere Pro definitely represents the future of, at the very least, smaller shops that were cutting on FCP before, since the FCP editor’s skillset is so easily transferrable to Premiere Pro. I don’t see FCPX being widely adopted at this time.
long story short, learn em all.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist