[Roderick Lavallee]

With PPro 5.5, if you don’t have a dedicate and crazy fast GPU (like an NVIDIA Quadro) then you’re going to need a crazy fast processor, and crazy fast drives, or a lot of patience.

If you’re external options are USB 3.0, go SSD.

Are you editing HD footage this way? And how long are your typical clips / sequences, how many effects / transitions are you layering on, and how many tracks are in your sequences?

Reason I ask: if you’re planning on being heavy on those criteria, then a laptop might not be your best option for your editing.

[Roderick Lavallee]

While waiting I did just that; actually used the Color Key Effect with the Edge Feather set to 10. Still gave her a bit of a hair cut, but I think she might actually like the slimming effect. 🙂

Thanks to everyone.

[Roderick Lavallee]

No kidding. Yes, shows what a noob I am on this front.

[Roderick Lavallee]

Great call on the box. Always have a blade and gaff-tape on hand as it is, and in thinking about it, that is what surprised me about this projector: how much bleed there was from it.

And what was most odd about the effect it created was the rolling RGB bar effect in the entire frame of the shot if I got too close to the screen, even when I closed the iris to compensate (which as you know is problematic for the quality of the rest of the shot).

Oh the headaches you create for yourself when you tell the client you will be as unobtrusive as possible. The threshold of “possible” is about to change. 🙂

[Roderick Lavallee]

Thanks, Jim,

I take care of a LOT in post: particularly with this client. Been exporting PPT files into JPGs forever. I used Premiere Pro CS5, and am able to do what you described without having to use any plug-ins or other tools. (There are lighting effects that I can use within PPro, but as anyone knows the final cut always looks better the less you have to do in post, unless you have a $150k editing deck and tons of CGI skills, and that’s not me.)

Great call on the sample the room noise, however. I’ll use that trick in order to sample the baseline Noise Floor for when I edit the audio in post (I use Adobe Audition CS5.5 for that, which integrates seamlessly with PPro.)

[Roderick Lavallee]

I think for the second recording series I may even bring in some low temp (physical temp, not light temp) LED spots to hit the speakers from the podium (a trick I noticed that CNBC uses on one of their round-table sit-down segments.)

Bottom line: communication with the client is paramount (isn’t it always), and maybe I need to try to be less of a magician with the client and more of an educator. When they know what’s necessary (from a high level at least) I’ll get more access to what I need to make it look and sound the best.

Thanks to everyone on the thread!

[Roderick Lavallee]

Very well said. Conversations have already begun in preparation for the next shoot in March.

Thanks to everyone.

[Roderick Lavallee]

Great suggestions.

The shotguns I had were positioned all around the room, two very close to system speakers.

Great thought about the Parametric EQ. Doing that in post as it is, and will be getting the PowerPoint deck from the client in a few days to also do the layering.

Also had a smaller camcorder from a complimentary angle locked on the screen, which I’m able to use as B-roll, or an alternative angle to break up the monotony of the presentation.

Great minds? Or maybe I was just lucky.

BTW: the client never realized how loud an HVAC system was until I pointed it out to them in the head phones the night before as we were setting up the cameras / taping down the mic cables.

[Roderick Lavallee]

We thought we had access to the closet but the conference the presentations were a part of had it blocked from 7AM until 7PM the day before the shoot (that started at 7:30AM the next day), and of course the tech who had the key could not be available outside of the hours of 8:30 to 5.

Definitely requires more up-front discussion with the client to manage expectations (read: speakers wearing two lavs).

[Roderick Lavallee]

Figured as much.

The wireless lav scenario is what I know is ideal. Getting them to wear two, when I have no access to the output source, is what I was trying to get around. (Side note: if you know anything about it, they use a Polycom system for the A/V in the room, for which I went and purchased a Phoenix-plug to XLR adapter, and then the clients never unlocked the system closet into which I needed to patch: hence the shotgun mic scenario).

Riding the iris as well…and I thought riding the focus along with the zoom was a challenge. I guess that’s why we get paid the big bucks… 🙂

Thanks for the input!