Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Unless you have really huge budgets for these spots (and since you said they were local-market television commercials, I’m guessing the budgets aren’t gigantic), I wouldn’t think E&O would be needed… or the issue even ever come up.
I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of E&O for a local television spot production… that’s not to say that it doesn’t exist or that there aren’t some people out there that don’t use it, but it would be news to me.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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No, sorry, the XLH1 does not embed audio via its HD-SDI output.
I kinda wish it did sometimes (or at least had the option). Someone here at the COW (it was Tim Kolb, maybe?… not sure) told me their opinion as to why Canon chose not to embed the audio, which made some sense at the time…. but for the life of me, I can’t remember what the reasoning was.
It doesn’t really matter what their reasoning I was, I guess, as the camera won’t do it.
I’m not sure how you are capturing, but if you are capturing via AJA Machina (which you might be since you are using KONA) or PremierePro, in the capture settings there is a drop-down menu that you use to assign the audio-capture path (I imagine FCP has something similar). If you are capturing video via HD-SDI then the audio path is probably defaulting to HD-SDI as well. You will have to manually change that from HD-SDI to whichever other audio recording method you wish to use (analog, or whatever).
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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My suggestions might seem radical (or expensive, depending on the budget of the project), but they would work. Some of these would probably be immediately duscarded due to the specifics/nature of your shoot, but we don’t have any details as to exactly what the shots are, so this is just a guess…
My first suggestion also would be to “fake it,” but if you can’t do motion tracking mattes, fake it practically on location…
You might consider making a little backlit image (kinda like the world’s smallest Duratrans… you could do this with a color printer and overhead transparency film) that represents the phone’s screen. Take apart the phone and gut it, so you just have a shell… put the tiny transparency in where the screen would go, create some kind of small backlight with LEDs or whatever. Disadvantage: a little bit difficult to rig.
OR…
If you need moving video in the screen but you can get away with closeups only, you could build a much-larger-than-life prop phone identical to the small real phone, but using a larger LCD screen that you feed video (and one that you know will shoot correctly). I recently saw an iPhone display in a store that looked like a five-foot-tall iPhone… but it was really just a plasma monitor turned on its side with a big fake iPhone case around it. Disadvantages: stuck with closeups, might be difficult and/or expensive to build depending on your modeling skills and whether or not you have to sub out the model creation…
OR…
Instead of clearscan (which usually is somewhat faster than a “normal” shutter), try using a slower shutter… if 1/48th doesn’t work, try 1/24th, or 1/12. Disadvantage: can’t really use this if an actor is holding the phone and playing with it, or you will choppy/blurry motion.
OR…
Shoot film, not video. If you are usually only a video shooter, beg/borrow/steal/rent a 35mm camera just for the product shot. If you are not comfortable doing that, hire a cinematographer for the shoot, preferably one who owns his own camera/lenses to save costs. Start with a 180degree shutter and shoot a few alternate takes with progressively wider shutters… one of them is likely to be clear. If you are worried about depth of field matching, shoot 16mm instead of 35mm… the DoF will be much closer (deeper) to video. Disadvantage: footage might not match that well (although if you are a really good HD shooter it can), might be more trouble than you want to go to.
Just some ideas… nothing is easy, is it?
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Well, that’s a bit of an apples-and-oranges comparision… those are two very different cameras in design and capabilities…
But here are just a couple of differences off the top of my head….
Most obviously, the HV20 is a high-def camcorder (HDV), the GL2 is standard def.
The GL2 is more of a “prosumer” camcorder, in its style, size, design, and lens. The little HV20 is designed as a pure consumer camera… it’s a very tiny little “palmcorder” type camera, very plasticky, no full manual mode, etc. (although it still can be used to get professional quality images).
The HV20 will record 24f if desired, whereas the GL2 is a 60i-only camera.
The GL2 is about twice the price of the HV20.
Both however, give really great bang for the buck and both produce great images.
It really just depends on what your main usage will be. I would never attempt to use the HV20 as a primary camera on a professional job… it’s just too “automatic” (although there are ways to override that), difficult to focus manually, you have to use an adapter box to use “real” microphones… and frankly, if you care about visually impressing a client (which does have some importance), you are going to look like someone taking home movies. However, for a “B” cam, crash cam, or when HD video is needed in very close quarters where a “real” camera simply wouldn’t fit, the HV20 can’t be beat.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Ummmm… I think Matthews must be confused about what you need (or either I’m the one that’s confused).
Aren’t you just looking for the “T-handle” knob that you see on every C-stand and grip head?
If so, I think that is Matthews part B63201 which they describe as “T Handle, large 5/16-18.”
Unfortunately Matthews doesn’t sell invidual parts online (although you used to be able to get a parts book online…. maybe you still can)… you have to call them directly to buy parts.
Hope that helps,
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Actually….
I applaud Clint’s enthusiasm… I myself never intended to pick on him, and hope I wasn’t perceived as such. I generally try to be very helpful…
In fact, I probably wouldn’t have responded at all, except that the dropped the F-bomb. F as in FEATURE. As in, “I don’t know one end of a lens from another but I’m going to go out and shoot a FEATURE now because I’m in a big hurry and I don’t have time to learn anything about it but it’s alrght because I’m really excited and that makes it ok.”
There is nothing wrong with learning-by-doing… we all do that. But a FEATURE is probably not the best place for it. They are just too hard. There’s too much going on. Too many things to think about. He needs to get his new camera, go out an play with it a while… shoot some neighborhood kids doing a skit. Make a couple of shorts. Goof around and learn it. But don’t try to shoot a feature film 10 minutes after you take the bubble wrap off the first camera you’ve ever shot with. It’s just not a good recipe.
Why am I semi passionate about this? Because I used to be Clint. I was a young, eager, very ethusiastic guy… I thought I knew a lot about film and set out to make a feature. I’d never owned a camera before. People considered me a wunderkind, but actually I didn’t really know the difference in a 28mm and a 100mm either. It got me a lot though… it got me about 10,000 feet of crap negative and a film that was never finished.
Looking back 20 years, I wish I had somebody who knew what they were doing to say “Hey son, slow down just a little… learn at least a little bit first, maybe make a short first thing out of the gate.” I didn’t even have the COW to tell me those things back then. There’s nothing wrong with walking out of the kiddie pool and diving into the deep end I suppose, but in hindsight sometimes you might wish there had been a fatherly lifeguard who at least said “Ummm, hey kid can you swim?”
But again, I applaud Clint’s enthusiasm.
ALSO… Tim made some great points. He posted in the right forums. He was polite. He said THANK YOU. Sadly, that’s getting rare. There are a number of frequent posters on the COW (resisting the urge here to name 3 or 4 names) that I simply no longer answer, even if I have the perfect solution for their problem. Why? Because they never even acknowledge that you took time to try to help them. Five people might write five pages of responses, but you never hear a peep back out of the original poster. I don’t have to be “thanked” to death (or even at all), but even a simple “Hey, I’ll try that…” or a “Good idea, but won’t work in my case because…” is enough to let you know that your efforts to find them a solution was at least read and that you didn’t completely waste your time. Oh well, I’m beginning to sound like a crank here. I wonder if I should grab Wargo and Zelin and we all get matching jackets?
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Yep, that is basically the way an interview situation like that is cut.
I would only say you don’t want it to get too “rhythmic” and predictible, especially if there are realtively short answers and questions. Then the cutting would begin to look a bit “robotic.”
I’d say take just a little time and watch the guys who do it right and play close attention to their shots and cuts. Watch Letterman or Leno interview a guest (you’ll find the switching a lot looser there than what you outlined). Or watch a little bit of any of the Sunday morning news interview shows (“Meet the Press,” etc.).
There are no hard and fast rules for most of this. Do what looks good, feels right, tells the “story” well, and shows both your talent and your guest in the best light. You say “We have not set timing for going from the OTS to the CU and back and forth.” I think this is one of those cases where you can’t “set the timing,” you just have to go with the flow and do what feels right.
A good director can call these shots on the fly and make it feel very fluid and organic. One of the most amazing things I ever saw was the acceptance speech at the 2006 Emmy awards from the guy who won the live directing Emmy for the previous year’s Academy Awards show… I wish I knew his name, but I don’t. The thing is, he was also DIRECTING the Emmy show. He accepted the award from the booth, where he continued calling the show as he gave his speech! It was like, “I want to thank all those Chryron in please who made this possible Chryon out and I especially want to thank take cam three please Gil Cates who produced that show back to cam 14 please and my wife and kids watching at home orchestra get ready to play me off and of course I want to thank members of the academy ok i’m getting long, orchestra play me off …” It was hilarious, and amazing and fluid and dynamic. There are no hard and fast rules.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Sometimes you just have to be the bad guy (not a role that I enjoy)….
No offense at all intended Clint… but you are very definitely diving headfirst into the deep end in one big ill-prepared jump there.
I say that because you first ask a very basic question about lens focal lengths. Not that there is anything wrong with basic questions and learning from the ground up… my sister couldn’t tell you what a 28mm lens is, and there was a time that I couldn’t either. There is nothing wrong with lacking knowledge early in one’s craft, especially when one desires to fill that void.
However…
Your question is a bit like asking “I need to find out what the difference is in a paint brush and a paint roller because I’m planning to copy the Sistine Chapel ceiling.”
I’m not trying to be a smartass or condescending to you, honestly I’m not. But you propose some things which are more than a little bit advanced with apparently not a lot of background experience yet. Planning to shoot a feature film with a DoF converter and getting “stunning results” would be someone unrealistic expectations for someone who is just beginning the craft. Lens converters such as the M2 (or the more advanced ones like the one made by P+S Technik) are not something a novice can slap on the front of a camera and suddenly expect to shoot like Roger Deakins. Cinematography is a real craft, and one that takes years to learn (I won’t say years to perfect, because we are all continuously learning).
I could try to answer your question (a 28mm is a medium wide, a 100mm is a medium telephoto, etc.), but your questions really cover much much more than can be answered in a forum like this.
You need to learn and master not only focal lengths, but f-stops, T-stops, depths of field, and a dozen other things… plus that many things and more about lighting. A good start would be to hit the library or bookstore, and just start reading and reading and reading some more… there are countless books about cinematography (and many more about still photography). I think you will learn a lot.
Then keep on learning. Take a class. Take another one. Pester a cinematographer (someone who shoots film, or at least used to and still knows how) to let you watch him work. Get him coffee. Wash his car. Whatever it takes. I learned more about cinematography on my first day on a real film set than I did in four years of film school, just by watching a real master.
The use of lens converters is a narrower specialty. I’m not aware of any books on the subject, but you might read an article that I wrote in the current issue of Creative COW magazine which will tell you just a little more about them and their use.
I’m not trying to rain on your parade, and I truly hope you learn the craft of cinematography and I see your credit on a big-budget feature someday (with an ASC after your name!). But I think step one is to realize that it is a true craft and an art… and that just learning the difference in a 28mm and a 50mm lens does not nearly equip one with the chops necessary to grab some cine lenses and stick them on your video camera and expect feature-quality results.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Ryan, you can probably “get by” with a regular TV for now, as long as you are not doing any super-critical work (and I’m guessing wedding and small company clients would fall into that category).
Just at least make sure you are using a GOOD one (not an $88 dollar one from a discount store). Look at the inputs, see what kind of signal it can take in. If if can take only an RF signal in (which will be the case with the cheap ones), stay away from it. Ones that can take in a composite video signal will be better…. an S-video signal, even better… and component signal (RGB) even better.
The next time you are in a department store or an electronics store with 40 or 50 TVs all set up playing the same thing, take a look at the pictures. Probably each and every one of them will look different, even identical models of the same set (NTSC does, as they say, really stand for “Never Twice the Same Color”). That’s why your buddy was recommending a calibrated monitor… but it might be a luxury for you at this stage of your business, so do the best you can with what you have.
Follow Bob’s advice and calibrate the regular TV as best you can. I’m remembering though some directions I read once about calibrating monitors… there were quite a number of steps to go through (the ones you might expect) first using color bars… THEN the last step said “Then replace color bars with moving video, and if the picture is unsatisfactory adjust to taste.” It just goes to show that calibration is a pretty subjective thing in the NTSC world.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I’m 99% sure there is a filter or plug-in that will do it… unless I’m hallucinating, I ran across it a while back but can’t seem to find it again. I thought the company that makes Twixtor was the vendor, but can’t seem to find it there.
I personally think it’s just about the creepiest thing ever seen on screen, second only to Bette Davis in “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?”
I’m gonna keep looking…
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com