[Richard Herd]

And did you see who wrote the article?

[Richard Herd]

It’s Janusz Kaminski who does most of the DP-ing for Spielberg.
All the details are listed in The American Cinematographer Magazine, June 2008 issue. https://www.ascmag.com/magazine_dynamic/June2008/CrystalSkull/page1.php

[Richard Herd]

Cow article request: “White balancing on 18% gray”
Thanks

[Richard Herd]

Dude, there’s no need to apologize because at some point even Guillermo Navarro was new to this. Let me suggest a book: The Barebones Camera Course for Film and Video. https://www.amazon.com/Bare-Bones-Camera-Course-Video/dp/0960371818

I also recommend a light meter: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/435535-REG/Sekonic_401399_L_398A_Studio_Deluxe_III.html

So click on the light meter link, and then click on the enlarge option. You’ll see a series of numbers along the top of the light meter: 0, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1.25K. Those values are a measure of how bright the light is. Those numbers correspond to foot candles. The AG HVX200 records 10 foot candles as being equivalent to black.

Since you’re a beginner, I’ll say this as a rule of thumb (and later you can improve on it): “Your camera needs 10 times more light than your eye.”

[Richard Herd]

It’s always best to experiment.

My experiences show that the HVX200 (like all cameras) doesn’t do well without proper lighting. Black (aka 7.5 IRE) equals ~10 foot candles, which to your eye is pretty bright.

How far from the camera will the subject be?
How many foot candles will reach your subject?

[Richard Herd]

After I read the following Web site https://lurkertech.com/lg/fields/ I decided it was always best to capture 480/60i, when using miniDV. Granted, the Web site is designed as a resource for software engineers making digital video software.

[Richard Herd]

Mic rattle (and the opposite whisper interviewee)

Here’s what I do:
Input mic into Channel 2 and set the switches as follows:
CH2 Select > Input 2
CH1 Select > Input 2

Now, you can use the in-camera dials (on the back) to record the same signal twice. I use Ch 2 as the “main mix” and Ch 1 as the “low mix” or “rattleless mix” depending on the interviewee.

That is, if the voice rattles on the main mix, I’m not too concerned because the “low mix” has it.

Finally: I picture-lock in FCP, then export to STP for a final audio mix. Export stereo pair to aiff, import into FCP for mastering.

[Richard Herd]

Your post has two questions:
1. Shooting
2. Exhibiting.

Shooting — for the best image quality possible you need to do a bit of research and test. For example, what is you camera’s minimum luminosity. Be sure that that value is your black point and the rest of your image conforms along the straight line from that value. In post, you can change the curve of the straight line, but in order to do that, you must have the data (ie if there’s no light, there’s no electrons, and no corresponding YUV/RGB value to manipulate in post). Note that compared to what your eye can see, the black point will be very bright! From that point, you can test with contrast and lighting design.

Exhibiting — standard DVDs are mpeg2 and HD DVD/Blu Ray are HDMPEG2 and there’s a cornucopia of other details. The mpeg is contained in a VIDEO_TS folder. You need software designed for the task of compressing and encoding these. Final Cut Studio 2 has two programs suited for this task: Apple Compressor and DVD Studio. And to burn Blu Ray, you need a special burner.

(In general, test test test before you have disgruntled clients demanding a refund and soiling your reputation.)

[Richard Herd]

You may be interested in this link: https://lurkertech.com/lg/fields/

[Richard Herd]

The next new trend will be use Apple Color.