[Tom Sefton]

I just pulled one of the DNGs into after effects and using adobe’s raw importer I was able to drop the exposure down and play with highlights and mids to achieve a good result. Only problem I can foresee is that the footage is fast motion – you will have a lot of motion blur around the character which will be v hard to key…

What about adjusting exposure in resolve to get the desired effect and then using the keying tool to output a prores file with a transparent alpha channel?

Do you have the full CS6 or CC suite to be able to have a play?

[Tom Sefton]

Robert, we’ve just pulled it out of the control room. We have the remote control boxes and a bunch of other bits you might like. You can call me on 01759368223 or email me at tom@pollenstudio.co.uk at the studio. The tape deck isn’t going anywhere – if not sold it will be eye candy!

[Tom Sefton]

I will happily go and collect the award. And cake. There is cake right?

[Tom Sefton]

2.5k = roughly 2500 horizontal pixels
1080 = 1920 horizontal pixels

if you need to stabilise your footage due to camera shake, grade your footage in resolve and export a full 2.5k resolution ProRes422HQ file.

Import this to AE or Motion and make a 1080p project. Bring the footage into the smaller project and you will notice the difference in size. Adjusting for camera shake shouldn’t be a problem.

[Tom Sefton]

How do you mean upscale 2.5k to be the equivalent to 1080p?

If you grade your footage at 2.5k in resolve and render a 2.5k ProRes file, you could import the file into a 1080p project….

[Tom Sefton]

Bill hit the nail on the head – you are worth $150 per video to them. If you want a lot more money, you will test your business relationship with them and they are likely to explore other options.

Is there any way you can build up a boilerplate template for 3 or 4 different styles to help you work more quickly?

Or, send them a timesheet for your last job. Ask them if they would be willing to pay an hourly rate. When they see how many hours you are working, and what you are effectively working for, they might be happy to pay a little more. Or not…

[Tom Sefton]

I don’t think you can blame them, it’s just an unfortunate case of something you could have been told about, or maybe should have learnt from the Blackmagic forums.

Dropped frames won’t have been caused by the card reader – they will have been caused by a data rate issue whilst the SSD is in the camera.

[Tom Sefton]

This is definitely a case of dropped frames. Before filming with those cards did you do a proper format in Mac OS? We had dropped frames with our BMCC but formatting the disk on a MacBook Pro before filming has always solved it. Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do now-it’s not a camera fault, it’s an issue with the SSD and something that the firm you hired from should maybe have warned you about.

[Tom Sefton]

Beautiful kitchen. Aga stove door slightly ajar, tracking shot across kitchen floor shows inside. A dog snoozes next to the stove, a cat walks through shot. Kitchen clock ticks lazily as rain patters on outside window. A loaf of bread is being kept warm. Warm colours and hues illuminate the kitchen. A hand reaches inside the oven and tears off a golden piece of bread. The camera follows the hand as it smears some chocolate spread on. Staying behind the person we watch them take a bite before grasping at their throat and choking for air. The camera drops back down to counter top level to show the label on reverse saying “contains hazelnuts”. They comically thrash around the kitchen “nordberg” style, stepping on the dog causing it to bite their leg and follows them around the kitchen barking,, burning hands on the stove, banging head on suspended pots and pans in rhythm to music, cat flees kitchen, crockery and pots are smashed, cereal boxes spill over floor, person does “home alone” jig on the spilt cereal.

Caption says “we look after your allergies. Even if you don’t know you have them”

Person hops backward past camera, burnt hand, dog biting, choking, coughing, crockery flying, cat snarls.

Cut.

[Tom Sefton]

Sadly the studio doesn’t get enough audio work to justify keeping this lovely item. I’d love to see it given another home with someone who would love using it, and use it more often.

If no-one takes it, we will try and keep it in good working order so we can offer analog recordings in the future.

The control desk and patch panel my father built in 1986 is being dismantled and rebuilt into an audio/video desk. Trying to keep some analog heart in a digital studio.