Markford Astina

A re-interpretation of the song 'Silent Night' to a universal and spiritual level not bound to one religion or season. A gift. The perfect accompaniment to the party vibe this festive season. Happy holidays.

Hi there! Where do you go (website wise) to find the technical specs of movies or tv shows you find interesting? Tech Specs meaning, camera used, stock used, lenses, number of days shooting, etc..... Have a few TV shows that I want to find the tech specs for. Thanks a lot!

Hi Amber, To capture uncompressed video through SDI you would need either a KONA or BlackMagic capture card. However, having the capture card is not all that you need. You will also need a pretty fast computer, and SCSI / Raid system for storge. This is because the uncompressed video data rate is quite large. Check out these sites for info: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/support/d...l.asp?techID=62 http://www.digistor.com.au/content.php?s=5&p=76 The second link also shows you the different formats (in terms of colors space) that is available for capturing. However, as David says, the camera you use will dictate the quality of your picture. The Canon HDV is still HDV with a color space of 4:2:0 and an Mpeg2 Compression, so even if you were to capture your HDV footage recorded on tape through SDI you would still be originating from a highly compressed 4:2:0 material. You would still be able to transfer this to film though if you wanted and definitely would definitely be broadcast safe. @ David Mullen I've heard of people who use the canon and capture directly to their hard drives on the set through SDI on their uncompressed video cards, bypassing recording to tape in HDV. Hmmmm, does this mean they are able to get a 4:2:2 uncompressed signal from the canon? Sounds interesting. Although your mobility would be hampered - you'd be practically getting an HD camera for a fraction of the cost, if it is capable of getting uncompressed 4:2:2. Anyone tried this yet?

This was a Double post (please erase) Thanks

Michael, firstly I appreciate your reply, particularly the second paragraph. But looking at your first and third paragraph/sentence - I think you have misunderstood my post. It is to my impression that you think I was criticizing film's color space / rendition and how different it is to video and vice versa. This is not the case. I am well aware that they are both different. My problem lies with the inexperience of the post house and the reliability of their advise. As I mentioned DI and or HD to film record is still quite a baby in this country (the Philippines) so there are no such facilities as you have mentioned available here, and even the knowledge of the operators here about the workflow, issues, technicalities, etc. is quite limited. Otherwise I would have loved to have done my trailer for the film in such an environment. Now given this limitation. (NO PROPER DI WORKSTATIONS / FACILITIES) And given just the available equipment (VIDEO BROADCAST FACILITIES) How do I go about grading my HDV feature so as to get as close to what I see on my video monitor on the silver screen? This was the intented questioned of my last post. Is the Local Post House's advise that I shouldn't go to the extremeties of RGB (0,0,0 & 255,255,255) well founded? (They said that if I did RGB 0,0,0 for the blacks, it would be vlelvety and would stand out like a sore thumb as if you had filled it in with a black marker) As I mentioned in my first post, of the reasons why I cannot take their advise at face value is the fact that they messed up the colors of the trailer (the Film Recorder tweaked the already graded colors of the trailer, without asking me first, and it came out as if the people were zombies - magenta skin tones - what in the world was the Film Recorder thinking?) I know that I would probably not be able to get exactly what I see on my video screen - that is a given. But to getting as close as possible to it is the goal I'm trying to achieve. What are the techniques, tips to achieve this? We probably do things differently. I respect that. The way I do things is: Try before you buy, and then if there are questions that arise from your experience -go look for the answer. This is not dissimilar to researching on your own, first searching posts before asking questions. Doing it this way I will know the particular questions I need answers for. The 'try' factor in this particular case was the 'grading of the trailer', So out of that experience - certain issues came up and questions raised. So now I am seeking answers before I do my final grading for the more important 'feature film'. So in response to your last paragraph/sentence - yes I am doing exactly that - asking before I do something (the grading of the more important feature) before I go about doing something about it (but you see I do have had some experience with it - from the doing 'the trailer', and borne of that I know which particular questions ask). And thanks to the availabilty of this site/forum and the people who make up this community, such as yourself, I am able to get credible and reliable answers that can arm me with that extra knowledge to get any of my projects done right. Again, I greatly appreciate your response - although some parts of it were presonal remarks and, frankly, were quite unnecessary.

Hi there, We are about to do final color grading on our HDV feature shot on the Z1. Now, when I created my trailer the Film Recorder person told me that I shouldn't have pure blacks and whites on my color graded film - meaning no RGB 255, 255, 255 or RGB 0, 0, 0 Now I know this holds true for broadcast quality material, since most crt monitors can't handle these extremes - but I would think film is different, right? Film, especially one that is headed for cinema projection would have a larger lattitude and would accept these extremities well. To get a clearer picture as to why I'm hesitant to take their word completely - is because HD/HDV/Video/Digital Intermediate to Film (via film recording) is still quite new to this country. This is only about the 5th transfer that this particular post house would be handling. Anyways, with the trailer's first transfer - the Film Recorder guy messed with my levels - ending up in a pasty and milky picture with pale (light magenta) skin tones! I quickly disapproved their transfer and had them re-transfer the whole trailer. I had to sit down with them as they tweaked the colors/levels around. It kinda sucks that I spend a lot of hours tweaking the picture so that it looks just right only to have to do it all over again (and compromise) just before they record it to film. So anyways back to the main question - can film (unlike video) handle pure blacks and whites? Am going for a high-con look and want to crush the blacks completely and blow out the whites. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Am guessing no one here has been to Hong Kong for equipment shopping. :) Or did I post this in the wrong forum? :huh:

I might be travelling to Hong Kong next month. Was thinking of purchasing the Panasonic HVX there (since it would probably be cheaper). Any recommendations on where to go in Hong Kong to get good provideo equipment? (shops with websites would be great) Any tips for a first time traveller in Hong Kong? Thanks. Oh I might check out their post production facilites there for film recording for a master print, suggestions on this would be great as well. :)

Ok so I'll be answering my own question here. Just saw on IMDB that they use Aari Cameras. So it seems like they didn't use the HVX. But looking at the film (on the DVD version) - it seems like it could've been. :)

Just saw Running Scared with Paul Walker and the guy from Usual Suspects last night. Looks almost like it was shot on the HVX. Anybody have info as to what camera they used? Been looking for websites that have this info but can't find any. And their website sucks. Thanks.

Thinking for the working DOP: In the real world this is what you apply before you accept the project: 'Never work with someone you don't trust. As a DOP you should have full confidence on you director, and he you.' Now sometimes on the job this is what happens (especially if you took the job out of desperation): 'If you can't get out of it, just concentrate on your job as a DOP. At least even if the story is crap - the craft would stand out and be noticed.' And even worse sometimes when someone tries to put their sticky beaks in your job: 'Just Grin and Bear it' DIPLOMACY is a requirement by everybody who works in the film industry. :) But then again there are projects of where the cast and crew move as one towards acheiving a goal - those are the projects you want to be on. Hehehe such an idealist (but then again also quite a realist) :D

Never work with someone you don't trust. The premise of your whole filmmaking experience is wrong already. As a DOP you should have full confidence on you director, and he you. Otherwise just quit. Join another group. If things are like this already and you plan to take the whole thing in you hands - then conflict will arise (sounds like a good story) and the whole thing from pre-production, production and post production will be hell, which will reflect on the final output. If you can't get out of it, I would say concentrate on your job as a DOP. At least even if the story is crap - your craft would stand out and be noticed. Then you can start your own short project as a Writer/Director/DOP. Hope this helps you out.

Just to expand on that: Make sure that your camera is set to the output format you want to capture/edit with - which is of course based on the settings that you shot with. You should find it in the menu of the camera. There should be a light where you connect the Firewire on the cam that tells you the mode it's in. If you're importing DV it should have the light on DV and if it's HDV then the light should be in HDV. If all your settings are correct and still nothing. You should think about cashing in on the warranty. Hope this helps.

Thanks David! This helps a lot! I'm thinking to purchase a presonal cam and at the moment that desicion is tipping towards the HVX. I have one more question though, hope you don't mind..... Just want to clear things up. When I shot the TVCs we shot using the 720/24p (or so I thought) coz when we got to the editing machine the converted Quicktime files (from MXF) had a frame rate of 59.94fps. Did the camera tech mess up? (The cam is quite new here locally) Isn't the converted MXF file supposed to have 23.978 fps? Or does one need to do this in the Final Cut (reverse pulldown through Cinema Tools)? Or does it have anything to do with the 'n' feature (720/24pn). Thanks again. :)

Sorry fo the repeat question, What was meant to be in place of the repeat question was this: I've only ever used the HVX in a TV commercial production environment - so everything was hassle free, since the production house had all the necessary equipment to handle the job. But owning it would be different - since your major concern would be to get the best quality and smoothest workflow for a smaller price (which could mean the bare essentials, which you could upgrade later on). Thanks again.