Jim Hyslop

Building sticks for a 30 lb camera from a bunch of wood from home depot and two 4/8 screws for the plate...

Depends on the skill of the carpenter, the size and kind of wood, and a bunch of other things.

What do you mean by "4/8 screws" - I'm not familiar with that term.

--

Jim

I figured using slates to sync sound and video was just a tradition (the real use was to leave a visual tag on the video). Am I placing more importance than I should on TC for single-camera shoots?

I think so. Timecode makes it easier but it's not an absolute necessity. I also subscribe to a production sound list, and many of the professional sound people there recommend the sticks as a backup even when using timecode. It's not unusual to have some kind of glitch in the time code (e.g. forgetting to jam sync, the RED and other cameras losing TC when you change batteries, and so on).

A few months back, I shot a live event (year-end recital for the dance studio my kids go to). I have an EX1, and three mics. The EX1 only has two mic inputs. So I hooked up my shotgun mic to the EX1, used the on-board mic for the second EX1 track, and recorded the two wireless mics to my Macbook Pro via a USB audio interface (M-Audio Fast Track for those familiar with such things). I was using Apple's Sound Track Pro.

Syncing was easy - the music for the first number had a clear audio attack, so it was easy to line up the audio waveforms. The first act was 48 minutes long, and at the end of it the two sound sources (camera and M-Audio box) were only two frames out.

(Unfortunately the wireless tracks were unusable because I wasn't monitoring them, and they were way too hot - pretty much everything was clipping and distorted.)

--

Jim

Jim,

Most students films don't get any kind of distribution in the U.S.

Yeah, I realized which forum this was in after I posted :-)

--

Jim

Hi David

 

That's exactly what I meant, seems bizare that Sony would omit a feature which feels as though it should be there by intuition.

Ah, I see. I take it the SDHC card is in an adapter of some sort then?

It'd be easier just to use a laptop which has a PCI Express port, or rent a PCI Express/USB reader. That's how I do it, anyway.

Sony's approach may have been to assume that copying would happen off-camera, since it's a time-consuming process no matter how you do it, and in many cases you'll want to be ready to shoot within seconds (or even continuously, by swapping cards while recording).

--

Jim

yes absolutely everyone is over 18. we don't have that law actually (the record keeping) in Canada but I suppose I would have to keep the appropriate records if it were to be sent to a US lab for processing?

If you want any kind of distribution in the U.S. then I'd get all the U.S. documentation sorted out now before everyone moves on to other projects.

--

Jim

Does anyone know how to obtain this effect?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdZZLdjBfCI

 

about 39 seconds into the trailer

 

[...]

 

Could be a special iris or maybe just one of those filters with square grids,

If by "square grids" you're referring to filters like this

then no - those are called star filters.

You can create your own custom bokeh effects. Have a look here.

--

Jim

I don't see how it would be any different than copying off to a hard drive as is. Create a folder inside of the SDHC card named "Card A_1" or whatever, can copy the BPAV folder and EVERYTHING INSIDE OF IT AS IT IS into this folder

What Adrian says is VERY IMPORTANT - keep the entire BPAV folder intact. One of the surest ways to get into trouble is to try to copy individual files. Same goes for Panasonic P2 cards.

--

Jim

Movies need capital because they're the only art form where the artist can't afford his own materials.

That reminds me of a quote from Orson Welles: A writer needs a pen. An artist needs a brush. A filmmaker needs an army.

--

Jim

I know every-time you see some headline posted like this a debate is soon to erupt. However I have a new angle to ask a question from. When I was young I remember as I experience today the thrill when a fresh roll of newly shot film comes back from the developer. The experience has been described as "magic" Taking that roll threading it up in a projector and viewing it on a large white beaded screen is just so cool.

 

Here's my question. For those of you who have felt this type of "magic" Do you get the same high when acquiring the same subject matter on a digital format that looks like film when viewed? So if you shoot super 16 and have it digitized and view it is it the same as if you shot it with a high end pro camera like a RED and view the footage?

For me, it's not the same at all.

I grew up using an 8mm Bell & Howell spring-wound camera (and by the way, I really do mean "8mm" not "Super 8"). For me, the magic was in the anticipation - waiting for that roll of film to come back from the Kodak lab, setting up the projector and calling in the family, and finally turning on the projector to see how it turned out.

Shooting on film and having it telecined still has some of the same excitement and anticipation, but it does lose something without it being projected.

For digital, it's cool to see it right away if I want, but it really doesn't feel the same. Maybe that's why I avoid reviewing footage on set as much as I can - part of me still wants that fulfillment of the anticipation by waiting until it's been captured to the NLE, then reviewing the footage.

--

Jim

Here is an example of a Lite Panel. We used it both in the dark of a tunnel (this shot) and in overcast daytime exteriors. Great results. I highly recommend it.

Chris, can you please describe the light setup here? What was the key light, the fill light, how much ambient light is in the shot, etc?

--

Jim

One thing to remember about the EX1/EX3 slow motion is that, unlike a film camera, overcranking does NOT affect shutter speed.

In Slow & Quick Motion recording the sensor operates at 60fps, regardless of the recording frame rate you have selected, or the playback frame rate.

For example, suppose you are shooting at 720/24p without Slow & Quick Motion turned on. That's your playback frame rate. You then turn on S&Q Motion, and set it to 48 fps (the recording frame rate). The camera sensor generates 60 frames, but the camera will drop 12 of those frames, thus recording 48 frames in every second of real time. In playback, it plays 24 frames per second, thus stretching one second of real time into two seconds of playback time - which is exactly what you'd expect.

I hope I have explained that clearly!

--

Jim

Thank you both for your very considerate and detailed posts. Those were exactly the answers to the questions I was thinking.

 

Unfortunately this is spec work and coming out of pocket, so it's a little difficult to get the funds in order and justify a big package. However I'm going to look into the EX1 (never used it) and see what kind of wheeling and dealing I can do with some rental houses.

I don't know how Cleveland's rates compare to Toronto's in general, but here in Toronto you can get a basic EX1 package (with one 8GB card) for $250 for a weekend (for $350 you can get two 16GB cards and some other bells & whistles). I expect you should be able to find something reasonably priced there.

--

Jim

I've found my success rate improves if I compress it into MPEG-2 format first, using Compressor, then import the compressed file into DVD SP.

--

Jim

in terms of geography, i think the window was south facing, but i didn't check, that's an estimate. not sure why you'd need to know that but just in case

That's actually what I was looking for. Just as a note, whenever I refer to direction in this post I will be referring to compass direction.

The quality of sunlight (or if it's not direct sun, reflected sky light) changes significantly depending on which direction you're facing and the time of day. And your latitude and the season, but that's another story. Also, any cloud cover, no matter how thin, will affect the quality of light hitting the window.

Some of the more experienced folk here can correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me if you have any natural light at all, you have to be aware of the effects time of day, direction you're shooting, and cloud cover have on the light quality, even if you're indoors.

--

Jim

I noticed when I watched the rushes that two close-ups done at around 1730 looked markedly better than the other stuff that I had done that day.

Which direction does the window face?

--

Jim

This is great and this looks like your solution Brad. I have a Sony EX-1 and have often wished I could use my Mac Book Pro to monitor it since I have it out there in the field with me anyway to do all the archiving from SxS cards to HD's. Instead I always end up having to rent a 17" monitor. This HD-SDI express card looks like it might be the answer.

Alas, I don't think so. As far as I can tell, it has no Mac OS X support, only Windoze. Pity, really.

I hate to rain on their parade, but you can adjust the knob like so on that expensive little gizmo to tilt up and down, or...

 

YOU COULD SLIGHTLY BEND YOUR WRIST!!!

As my kids say to me - stop making sense!

I do the entire width and height of the frame (1280x720, 1920x1080, etc.) for single credits. When you're doing the roll, keep the width the same but just have it as tall as you need it to be.

 

A good tip I learned from a producer is that when you do the credit roll, each credit should take nine seconds to go from the bottom of the frame to the top. I've started to count the amount of time that it takes for movies that I watch and it seems to be right around 9-10 seconds.

 

Also, for single credits (director, writer, producer, etc.) they should be four seconds unless there are more then one person in which you add one second for each person. Only seen it for two people, so not sure how well it works for more than that.

Unless it's for TV in which case you allow one frame per screenful of credits :-)

Thanks for the tips.

--

Jim

Surely you can copy and paste attributes... I am not a Motion Guru by any means, but it seems Apple is pretty consistant across their platforms.. so surely you can. Ever try Lynda.com ? A 30 day subscription helped me through many FCP/ Motion issues.

I haven't tried copy-and-paste (or maybe I did the first time I went through this, I don't recall). And don't call me Shirley! <rim shot>

Now, I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but I just tried and you can select all the scroll behaviours (you have to command-click on each one, which is a pain) but once you have them all selected, any changes you make to the behaviour applies to all behaviours you have selected.

The scroll speed is, to me, a minor issue compared to getting it laid out. Especially if you have to change anything.

Thanks for the tip on lynda.com - I'll check it out.

Do up your credits in Photoshop or Illustrator and export hi-res TIF's and import them and just keyframe the animations.

That sounds a lot easier. How big a TIF do you create - exactly the width of your image? For example if it's aimed at 1080, do you create a TIF image 1920 pixels wide by however many pixels high you need?

--

Jim

While I'm on the topic of Motion, can anyone explain to me why, when I create a text object that has X,Y and Z coordinates all set to zero, the object's centre is about 15 pixels to the right of centre? I have to enter an X offset in order for it to be centred side-to-side. What's up with that?!?

Hi, all

I'm currently wrestling with Motion, trying to get a nicely-formatted credit roll. Basically, I want something like:

Some kind of heading

maybe a sub-heading

a list

of names

in one

or two

columns

With Motion, you have create a separate text item for each font style, to attach a "credit roll" behaviour to each and every text item, fiddle around with each item to line it up, blah blah blah.

There's GOT to be an easier way! Especially having to attach a roll behaviour to each text item. If I decide it's too slow or too fast, I'd have to manually change 50 or 60 behaviour items! Yuck! Currently I just render it out at a fairly slow speed, then play with time remapping in FCP.

I mean, the $100 cheapo editing package I picked up at Best Buy a few years back had that kind of thing as a preformatted template - all I had to do was type in the text and let it render.

I wonder how the old chalk-boards hold up in the rain, it feels like everyone has one knocking around!

I would guess they hold up better than dry-erase or water-soluble, but would still be susceptible to running. Just a guess, though.

..when it comes to the issue of symmetry... I have always been down the middle...

My thoughts mirror yours.

--

Jim

One of the best creative uses of crossing the line I've seen is in an episode of Battlestar Galactica, "Final Cut" (season 2, episode 8). In this sequence, crossing the line adds to the dramatic tension of the scene by simultaneously giving the viewer what they expect, while subtly violating their expectations.

The camera has followed Col. Tigh into his quarters. He stops, the camera stops, and his wife Ellen runs towards him.

In the reverse shot, we've crossed the line. These days, crossing the line in and of itself is getting more and more common. However, Stephen McNutt didn't just leave it there - he added a couple of more layers to it, to really scramble our brains.

In a "traditional" reverse shot, Ellen would be camera left, Col. Tigh would be camera right. As Ellen runs towards her husband, the camera would likely have remained stationary. The viewer would then see the figure on camera left move, and the figure on camera right remain relatively motionless.

In this shot, however, the camera moves with Ellen:

The visual effect of this is to keep the figure on the right relatively motionless, while the figure on the left moves within the frame - exactly what the viewer expects. However, because the camera crossed the line, the characters have switched places - something that the viewer would not expect. It also sets up a visual conflict - the figure that is running is remaining fairly motionless in the frame, but the figure that is standing still is moving. Talk about your conflicting visual clues!!

And because the whole sequence lasts only a few seconds, the viewer doesn't have time to analyze the shots to figure out what is so jarring about them.

With this much care and attention going into a sequence lasting five seconds, is it any wonder that Stephen McNutt was nominated for an Emmy?

Lots and lots of chewing gum.

What, no baling wire?