Hey All!
Brand new to the site; and pretty excited to be part of fourm that obviously includes some really talented and sucessfull cinematographers; directors; camerapeople, etc.
I am Directing/DP'ing/Editing/Compositing a low/no budget short on mini-dv (hdv) and I really want to have some steady cam work in the short.
However; I lack the money; and the carprentry skills required to buy/or manufacture a steadycam rig. And anything I could build/buy would probably still have some noticible shake given the movement I am looking for.
So my question is; is it at all possible to stabalize footage (filmed on a moving tripod) in post; to give the illusion of a steadycam. I have seen some tutorials on how to stablize "shaky" static footage; but never moving/dynamic footage.
The shot I am trying to accomplish takes place in a dinner; at the begining of the short I will have the camera start on a pile of menus; the waitress then grabs them (we follow; the menu's at her side) as she walks up to the table were the main actors will be sitting (weaving through tables and chairs; as patrons call for the bill; or a top up of there coffe); allowing us to transition seemlessly into the action/dialog.
Now, I am fairly new to all this, (I am an actor by trade), but as I understand it; to motion track/stabalize you require a point (normally of high contrast) that is visible within the shot at all times. So; the menu; could I track a spot on this? And still get the desired effect; or would the program become confused if this happens. I am going to experiment anyway; but I am just wondering as to your opinions?
NOTE: I am using a canon hv20 (which creates great images for its price); but as you all might know has a rolling shutter...UGGGGHHHH!!!! So I have heavy artifacting when moving sideways; I am assuming that this will cause difficulties for tracking software.
Or is it virtually impossible! (Although I am a firm beliver that nothing is impossible...except maybe the impossibe..lol :lol: ) Hopefully this is the right spot.
Look forward to your responses.
P.S I am new to this forum, and behind the camera work; so please feel free to correct me on my posting techniques, or my misunderstandings; becuase its the only way that i'll learn!
P.P.S Please pardon my awfull speeeeling.... :unsure:
ALSO as an added question (and to make this post even longer) is there a way to color correct .m2t files without degragation; I feel like whenever I edit in vegas I'm getting a final render that looks a bizzilion times worse than the raw .m2t file?
Thanks Again,
Davis Appels
"Jack of All Trades"