Shawn Miller
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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That’s great news… I just wish it weren’t necessary. It would be nice if Adobe also added support for 3:1 and 4:1 compressed raw Cinema DNG, while they were at it.
I’m counting down the days until Blackmagic adds DNxHR recording to the Ursa Mini. 🙂
Shawn
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Wow, that’s a bit of a shocker. I wonder if Resolve played any role in Sony’s decision to get out of the NLE business.
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[Michael Gissing] “For years I have been a champion of using really clean microphones and digital recorders and adding color in post so I am thinking along the lines of choice later rather than baking in.”
I can respect that. I’ve always been a fan of recording ‘flat’ and adding dimension in post as well. I hadn’t really considered the filtration plugins before, but it sounds like they’re worth taking a look at.
Shawn
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[Michael Gissing] “The Ursa mini is so sharp (naturally not electronically) that I thought of using a bit of diffusion on the CU and instead tried Boris Beauty Studio which really easily gave a great and flattering result which matched the wide shot.”
I’ve been using Magic Bullet Cosmo for the same reason. Blackmagic Cinema Camera on the wide, and the UM 4.6 on the closeup. I’m thinking about grabbing Blackmagic and Pro Mist filters because the Ursa Mini picks up so much detail.
Shawn
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[Oliver Peters] “Sony was a yawn. Panasonic was a yawn, except for Varicam LT. RED has a good story to tell, but friends of mine who were shopping cameras there were put off by RED’s usual squishy delivery schedules. ARRI still makes the best image (to my eye) even if you want to argue whether or not it’s truly 4K. I don’t care. In the testing I’ve done, even early Alexas HD video (and then upscaled to UHD 4K) still looks better than many actual UHD (4K) cameras on the market today. The exception would maybe be the BMD URSA Mini 4.6 or the AJA CION. But I digress…”
Totally agree here. I think the Ursa Mini 4.6k and the Cion are a COMPLETE STEAL at $5k US (assuming you get a working Ursa Mini). I agonized over choosing one or the other this year, but came away with the Mini4.6 for various reasons. I’ll also add that I’m pulling for the Craft Camera and Kinefinity’s newest 6k offering.
I still find it rather irritating that the mainstream manufactures refuse to deliver 10/12bit, 4:2:2 cameras for less than $15k. I can almost understand making internal raw recording the thing that delineates the product lines… or maybe even dynamic range, but 4:2:2, 10bit?!?! I feel as if that should be the standard rather than the exception for anything considered a professional capture device (in the 21st century). Not that I don’t adore the Canon C100 MKII, or Panasonic’s GH4 and DVX-200 (though, I’m still not exactly sure who this camera is for).
Shawn
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[josef brett] “Hi Shawn. Yeah, I thought lights would would be a big part of it. We don’t have great lights. We have LED light panels (2 of these and 3 spotlight versions – https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1012483-REG/litepanels_903_1063_1_x_1….
We don’t really have anything to diffuse the lights. We have reflectors, but the light then doesn’t go through anything.
What kind of lights and diffusion do you use/recommend please?”
Hey Josef, I think the best and cheapest thing to start with is a bounce and diffusion kit. They’re pretty inexpensive and extremely useful in a wide variety of situations, especially if you’re only using natural light. I’m also a fan of filter and diffusion gel kits.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Collapsible-Reflectors/ci/1327/N/4062040412
I mostly use florescent lights for corporate work. But for everything else, I prefer tungsten fresnels. They provide the punch you need to blast through diffusion, and the power to bounce off of ceilings, walls and reflectors. The downside is that they generate lots of heat, and they can consume lots of power. My advice is to start small and do simple things; go outside and see what bounce and diffusion looks like on your subject, bounce the light from your led panel off of a white wall on to someone’s face… experiment… a lot. 🙂 There a ton of videos on the subject, some of them are actually pretty good.
https://www.thehurlblog.com/film-education-online-how-to-use-indirect-bounce-light/
I prefer lights from Arri and Mole Richardson now, but I started out (15 years ago) with a cheap set of Lowell Pro lights and Omni lights. I still have them, and on occasion, still find them useful. Good lights will outlast almost everything in your kit… except for good lenses
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/285941-REG/Lowel_P2_101_Pro_Light_Focus_Flood_Light.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/260848-REG/Lowel_Omni_light_Pro_light_Rifa_eX.html
Lastly, read Matters of Light and Depth, Painting with Light and The Five C’s of Cinematography… you should also do yourself a huge favor and get a subscription to American Cinematographer. Lot’s of great knowledge to be had for almost nothing. 🙂
https://store.ascmag.com/category-s/290.htm
Shawn
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[josef brett] ” I’m assuming it’s a mixture of camera set-up, lens choice, lighting and post, but I really don’t know.”
You’re right, a big part of that look comes from the lighting. Powerful lights bounced off of bead board (or whatever) into a few levels of diffusion (silk, tough spun, etc) gives you that creamy light quality that makes skin look nice. Same with outdoor shots, strong sunlight bounced off of a reflector into silk can really bring your subject to life. What do you normally use for lighting?
Shawn
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[David Sikes] “Minor correction, Shawn—you can drag and drop a comp from AE to the Premiere project view, just not into the timeline.”
I didn’t know that, thanks for the clarification.
Shawn
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I’ve been following this for a few months. It’s an interesting technology full of possibilities. A lot of the cool things that you can do with depth maps and z space information might be possible with live action video. I personally look forward to the day when we no longer have to rely on colored backdrops to isolate foreground from background elements. Things like re-lighting, object removal and CG integration will probably be a lot easier to do… then of course, producers will expect you to do more with even less time… can’t wait.
Shawn
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[Simon Ubsdell] ”
I think there’s this assumption that “it’s just a talking head” so it doesn’t really matter how you mess around with the framing.The reality is that in almost every case a talking head is being required to convey a message that needs to resonate with the viewer and create engagement. Which means that randomly mucking about with the shooting style is the very last thing you should be doing.”
Totally agree. A former co-worker of mine used to joke that there isn’t an “interview” that can’t be fixed with a cutaway to a time-lapse of a skyline or a call center.
Shawn