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music video shoot


David Mullen ASC

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I mainly use zebras as a guide.

 

I've sometimes looked at things on a scope / waveform when prepping but since I don't normally do any extreme manipulations, I usually don't have one even at prep.

 

Truth it, I've mainly used a waveform to demonstrate to students what things like the knee and gamma are doing to the signal.

 

I wouldn't mind using an onboard monitor than can be switched to a waveform display though.

 

If I'm going to start operating less and being stuck at the HD monitor more in the future, I may want a waveform next to me as well since I won't be able to easily look at the zebras. What would be cool would be to get the Leader waveform that lets you grab still frames and save them to a compact flash card.

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Hello,

Thanks for your reply David, I have been wondering what it would be like to shoot anamorphic w/ the pro-35 for a while but haven't known anyone to use it until now. I might be shooting a feature on HD soon (the director liked a short that I shot with the pro-35 and Zeiss super-speeds) and am contemplating using this set-up (pro-35/anamorphics), we would be shooting in low-light situations and would need to use the gain probably up to +6db just to get a decent exposure. So I am concerned about the amount of noise the picture would have when projected with the ground glass of the adaptor and gain up. Do you think that the grain/noise would be less aparant if I used the anamorphic lenses and had it projected in scope.

Thanks a lot.

Tomas.

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Well, remember you'd be cropping the sides from 3.56 to 2.39, so the image is being enlarged horizontally (as opposed to cropping 16x9 to 2.39 and enlarging vertically) so noise might become more apparent.

 

My trick when shooting in low-light on the F900 is to drop the shutter from 1/48 to 1/32 (a half-stop gain in exposure) and then boost the gain by +3 db (another half-stop gain) for a total of one stop more exposure. It's pretty hard to spot the difference as compared to 1/48th at 0 db.

 

Otherwise, if you don't want noise, then I'm afraid you have to work at higher light levels. However, even with the light loss of the Pro-35 adaptor, I found that since I was shooting wide-open on these lenses (generally a T/2.8 on many anamorphics) I had more than enough light.

 

You're just going to have to shoot tests.

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Hello,

Thanks David that's a good point about the 1/32 shutter, I would imagine it's not that noticable a difference from 1/48, I'll give that a try when I do tests (which I am definately going to have to do, I'm going to try and have the tests projected to be sure what the end result will be with various lenses, shutter speeds, gain settings aspect ratios etc..).

As usual you've given me a lot to think about.

 

P.S. I just read back to your first post, and you were saying that focus is harder to judge on the varicam viewfinder, I haven't used the varicam but I assume it has a peaking knob on the viewfinder like the F900, I have found that turning the peaking all the way up can be very helpful when judging focus in the viewfinder on the F900 (you probably already knew that, but it's saved me a couple of times with the pro-35's narrow DOF on rushed shoots)

Thanks a lot.

Tomas.

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Yes, I know all about Peaking. I just found for some reason that I couldn't judge focus well with the Varicam viewfinder, even with Peaking cranked up. Of course, it didn't help that I was using primes and couldn't zoom in and check focus, but there just seemed something blurrier about the Varicam viewfinder. I could be imagining things though; it must be the same size and resolution as the b&w F900 viewfinder...

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Yes, I know all about Peaking.  I just found for some reason that I couldn't judge focus well with the Varicam viewfinder, even with Peaking cranked up.  Of course, it didn't help that I was using primes and couldn't zoom in and check focus, but there just seemed something blurrier about the Varicam viewfinder.  I could be imagining things though; it must be the same size and resolution as the b&w F900 viewfinder...

 

Maybe it was the difference between 720 lines vs 1080?

One way to figure this out is to compare with standard def to see if you have a similar experience.

 

The Sony does do a 1080 scan of the crt I don't know about the Panasonic.

When you connect a YPbPr breakout cable from f900 viewfinder into 24 inch crt it is full res.

 

 

Mike Brennan

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I shot two music video's with the Varicam a couple of years ago. A director I work with was curious about HD, we normally shoot on film. He wanted the ability for slow motion as to why the Varicam was picked and we used a Canon Cinema HD zoom.

 

My prefered way of dealing with things on video is to pretty much flatten the image out and use as little in camera processing as possible. The image was very sharp and clean obviously

 

In music video a lot is done in telecine and inferno. When we got to that tape to tape color correction we hit the ceiling and the floor of image manipulation quickly. The director wasn't too pleased because we are used to having a lot of room to play.

 

That was the last time I've shot a video in HD, but if I ever do it again, I would go with the in camera processing. I'm really no fan at all of the menu system, or having to make permanant image decisions on set, but that seems to be the most effective way of dramatically changing the image.

 

Varicam compresses 6:1 to tape HDCAM 4.3:1

 

Panasonic has published that the Varicam compresses at 6:1.

 

There has been some debate about HDCAM, Sony has never realy confirmed it.

But everyone seems to agree that HDCAM compression is somewhere around 9:1.

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There has been some debate about HDCAM, Sony has never realy confirmed it.

But everyone seems to agree that HDCAM compression is somewhere around 9:1.

 

No, he's right, it's around 4.5 : 1. It's just that some people like to say it is effectively 7:1 because of the way it lops off luminence information (not that the Panasonic doesn't do that as well.)

 

Bottom line is that DVCPROHD and HDCAM are both highly compressed formats.

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Guest Christopher Wedding

Mr. Mullen,

 

You mentioned a 'home made net' earlier in the post. How do you make such a thing, what sort of material do you use? Also, how does it soften an image and are there any rules of thumb or tricks of trade when using stuff over the lens, i.e. better for longer lenses or wider lenses at wide open...etc? I know these questions are broad, but any insight is appreciated.

 

Thanks for your continual help in theses forums.

 

Also, are there any stills of the final product?

 

Best,

 

Chris

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I cut some frames out of heavy chipboard, like on the back of a notepad. I slightly made them oversized, stretched the black pantyhose over the frame and carefully used a stapler to staple it down all around (you have to be careful while stretching because the staple can cause a run.) The staples were along the excess edge that I planned on trimming off. Then on the inner edges, I rubbed white glue over the net where it touched the cardboard. When it dried, I trimmed off the excess edges containing the staples.

 

The chipboard has to be thick or else it curls from the net stretched tight over it. But too thick and it's hard to cut with an x-acto knife.

 

The black pantyhose should be the most Ultra-Sheer you can find.

 

I made two, one with a more uniform cross-cross weave which is a lighter diffusion but a more obvious star filter effect. Then I had one with a heavier and more complex weave pattern resembling more of a honeycomb when stretched out.

 

I just took these photos, first two are of the cardboard filters (4x5.6). The last three are of a candle flame, one with no filter and then the next two with the two different nets.

 

net1.jpg

 

net2.jpg

 

net3.jpg

 

net4.jpg

 

net5.jpg

 

The wider-angle the lens or the more stopped down you are, the more you risk seeing a front-mounted net filter pattern come into focus due to the depth of field, especially with DV.

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There has been some debate about HDCAM, Sony has never realy confirmed it.

But everyone seems to agree that HDCAM compression is somewhere around 9:1.

 

Debate?

Geoff Boyle of CML preferrred to lump sampling and compressional together in the early days which a lot of people still remember.

 

I was specific quoting (what I call) the "back end" compression to tape. This is the only data compression that takes place. Sampling and sub sampling isnt compression.

 

My figures are based on what other experts think, Charles Poynton, Mark Schubin and the BBC.

In reference to Panasonic data the figures come from Panasonic and BBC.

 

 

Mike Brennan

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Hi David and everybody,

 

Do you think the Knee Point setting will affect for film out?

 

Does the Knee Slope still function if Cine Gamma set at FILM REC?

 

Thanks!

 

If the Knee Point doesn't have an effect, why use it?

 

FILM REC is a Varicam feature. It probably does still function though.

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