Friday 16 August 2013

Fuji's X100s - 'The Digital Siren'



After much thinking and researching online I finally put my money down on a new camera.  £1000 is a sizable sum and I hesitated for awhile before taking the plunge.  I have had the camera now for several weeks and as I work my way around the camera and use it in different situations I wanted to collect my thoughts into one place.  There are numerous positive video reviews of this camera online with experienced Photographer's describing it as the 'best digital camera' available, 'the new Leica' or announcing that 'the DSLR is dead'.  Make your own mind up, but here is my take on the camera from the point of view of a reluctant digital camera user.

What do I want or look for in a camera?

I have a collection of old film cameras and there are aspects from all of them that I like:

Olympus Trip. 

For sheer fun and "get-out-of-the-way-and-let-me-take-pictures" I love this camera.

Zone focusing, great fast fixed 35 mm lens, no batteries.  The viewfinder is bright.  OK it's not great for moving subjects, but you can work with that.  The shutter is either 1/40th or 1/200.  Cheap at around £25 for a good example.









The Canonet QL17 MIII

"The Poor Man's Leica."

Now quite sort after and with good reason the Canonet Quick Load 17 represented the culmination of the design of a range of Canon's.  It's a lovely camera.  Small, easy to use, aperture priority with manual override (but with no metering).  Great fast lens f1.7.  Very quiet, nicely discreet.  Bright viewfinder.  I paid about £100 for mine.  Here's a photo that puts it alongside the X100s - and I thought it was just me that spotted the similarity.  It comes from a review of the X100s and includes other side-by-side comparisons. http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2011/07/fuji-finepix-x100-review.html

Some of those aspects are important to me - Discrete, silent, bright viewfinder a la rangefinder, fast lens, auto/manual and easy to use.

The Nikon F-301 (aka N2000)

What?!

I bought this camera as a spare body since I had several Nikon lens and I thought it might be useful if I wanted to shoot colour as well as black and white at the same time.  It's heavier than my FM2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_FM2)
but the added built-in winder is useful, also adding a valuable right hand grip.  It has Programme, Aperture and Shutter modes plus manual.  Easy ASA adjustment.  Good metering.  Here's the killer - it's relatively cheap.  I paid £10 for mine.  I use it mainly in combination with an off-camera flash synced via a lead since winding on one-handed is a chore and I want to keep my eye to the viewfinder.

 Digital

Shoot more, especially in low light, colour or black and white - choose later, adjust and re-shoot immediately, edit in camera, edit on computer and use share straightaway.

OK, I get those advantages after working in film.  But one of the things I have struggled with using digital cameras is that I want to set either the shutter speed, aperture quickly without having to dig through menus.  I also want to be able to easily open up or stop down a few stops, quickly.  The X100s 'retro' design means that I can work like I used to.  Switching either the shutter speed or aperture away from 'A' means that it enters Aperture or Shutter speed priority.  Switching both means it's in Manual.  Great.  Right under the thumb is the dial to open up or stop down.  Terrific.  I have the best of all worlds, something the X100s seems to repeatedly achieve.

Settings.  There are still menus - 'Quick' or otherwise.  I can shoot discretely and quickly under very low light levels.  I like the film simulation settings and these can be combined with the film bracketing feature so I can shoot colour and have the camera process black and white versions with a yellow and green filter immediately.  ISO settings of 6400 still look great.

DSCF0996

Jpegs.  By adjusting the DR Range it's possible to adjust the way the camera processes the Jpgs.  So I mostly shoot jpgs and avoid editing them in post.  That's a massive time saver. 

Flash.  The onboard flash is great.  Since the camera has a leaf shutter I can sync the flash speed to any shutter speed (except very high shutter speeds and low apertures).  That gives me great freedom to use flash to fill in and balance the ambient light.

Viewfinders.  It has two viewfinders - in effect.  The Electronic and the Optical.  I was puzzled by this at first.  Why wouldn't I want to use the electronic ones all the time?  There is no parallax and I can see what the photo will look like.  Perfect?  Well actually I use both.  The Optical viewfinder is more immediate - I still see the photo briefly in the finder after I've taken it.  It takes me right back to the Olympus Trip.  I like it.  Mostly I don't worry about parallax.  I shoot slightly looser so I can crop later.

Focus.  There are 3 focus modes - automatic, continuous automatic and manual.  I  really like the manual mode.  In manual mode I can push the AFL button to autofocus if I need.  There is 'MF assist' which zooms the centre of the viewfinder when the lens is manually focused.  It's quick and easy to use.  Again everything you need is under your fingers.  Good design.

Lens.  OK a single focal length - the equivalent of a 35mm, like the Trip and the QL17.  It's a good all rounder.  I prefer a 24mm on a 35mm camera but that wouldn't be so broadly practical, especially when you photograph people.  I actually like that I can't change lens or zoom.  Less choice is quicker!  The lens itself is small, light and fast too at f2.

White Balance.  There are presets and of course auto.  You can also adjust the colour balance  quite easily.  Auto seems to work well under most conditions.

Images.  Oh yes I forgot to say the images look really nice!

Time Graham 3

Issues.  Are there issues? Sure, there are a few none that are serious photographically for me.  I would say that the firmware could do with a polish to resolve most - the histogram in the Optical Viewfinder which would be really useful - but doesn't work.  (Update 27th August, and thanks to Dean Johnston - no relation!,  Point 2 solved the problem for me.)

Video.  You wouldn't buy this camera to shoot video, which is just as well.  You can't manually adjust the aperture, only the focus while recording.  That's a real shame.  I have read that the video shows a lot of moire.  I haven't noticed that. You can't plug in a mic so that leaves 'dual system' as the only way to work.  Setting the internal mic levels is buried deep in the menus.  I'd love to see this improved with a firmware update.  Maybe that's possible, if not, I'm not bothered.  For a camera that offers so much in a small handy package, I reckon that's enough for me.

I found this video by David Hobby particularly useful.


Thursday 1 August 2013

Montage editing

A different way of thinking about editing.


When you used the '5 shot method' the idea was to cover an action from multiple poitns of view in such a way that you could then edit them in a way that seemed continuous'.  This is know as continity editing.  Important things are the same so the cuts are 'hidden' or the viewer is unaware of them.  Things like:
  • screen direction
  • action (starts in one shot continues in next)
  • lighting
  • costume
  • actors
  • sound (digetic)
There is a style of editing that breaks this convention for effect.  It makes a feature of the edit - by that I mean the transition from one shot to another.  Placing one shot in front or behind another creates a juxtaposition.  From this we construct a meaning. We have learnt to do this.  It’s the association of the 2 images that creates meaning for the Viewer.   To edit we need to understand these ideas since they are the basis of assembling visual stories. If we see the shot of a building followed by a woman at a desk we assume that she’s working in the building. This is a learned response developed over time.

A little history.

The technique of juxtaposing images has come to be known as ‘montage’, named by Eisenstein from the French meaning ‘assembly’. Montage is used to refer to the associative or intellectual juxtaposition of images. In his quest to deconstruct film-art, theorist Lev Kuleshov’s experiments explored the associative powers of juxtaposition and stressed the role of the editing in their combination.

Lev Kuleshov (http://www.thefullwiki.org/Lev_Kuleshov)













The birth of the REACTION SHOT!

In one experiment Kuleshov used what is now know as the ‘three shot sequence’. He took a piece of film of the actor Muzhukhin with a deadpan expression. He then cut in 3 successive ‘insert’ images; a bowl of soup, a small child and an old woman in a coffin. Then it cut back to Muzhukhin for a ‘reaction’ shot. When viewers saw the cut from Muzhukhin to the insert shot it to be what he was seeing, his POV. The viewers failed to notice that the footage of Muzhukin before and after the insert shot was identical. Instead they were struck by his "subtle but convincing portrayal" of 3 emotions - hunger for the soup, joy at the child and remorse for the old woman, in the reaction shots. Since there was no acting in the sequences Kuleshov argued that the meaning must have been created in the Viewers’ minds purely by the juxtaposition of uninflected images. By changing the experiment to include different reaction shots he found that the meaning of the sequence could be altered by the shot order. (Smiling - gun - frowning = fear, frowning - gun - smiling = bravery).

Vsevolod Pudovkin (http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/34522)





Within Soviet Montage there were a number of schools of thought. These were characterised by two ex students of Kuleshov’s; Pudovkin and Eisenstein. Podovkin went on to develop his own ‘5 editing principles’ based on montage theory and juxtaposition:
  • 1. Contrast
  • 2. Parallelism  (2 separate actions that are intercut)
  • 3. Symbolism. Cutting from one shot to a completely different shot that in some way symbolises the action/character in the first
  • 4. Simultaneity. This creates tension in the viewer since 2 actions on screen at the same time lead to an outcome that will connect both on screen
  • 5. ‘Leit - motif’ - a reinteration of theme. The repetition of shots or a sequence to reinforce the theme

In 1925 both were charged with making a film about the Revolution. Pudovkin’s family based ‘Mother’ favoured the smooth montage and 'relational editing' of shots that maintained some continuity in time and space, following the route of American Director DW. Griffith.

Mother 1926




While Eisenstein’s grand symphony ‘Potemkin’ favoured more ‘dialectical’ editing, extending the juxtaposition further and abandoning any semblance continuity instead providing a shock or jolt. The dialectic is argued using contrast and irony. His ‘collision’ of images used conflictional content, still/dynamic, screen direction, large/small, dark/light, real time/perceived time. He was particularly keen to exploit editing’s ability to create it’s own sense of time, or ‘film time’, drawing out and dramatising particular moments. He also popularised the use of very short shots.

Potemkin 1926



Here's Hitchcock talking about his use of montage in Psycho (he finishes off with Kuleshov's famous experiment re framed with him!)




‘Temporal ellipsis’ is an editing device that might be confused with montage. In Hollywood and in scriptwriting formatting, this technique is often referred to as a ‘montage’. It is used to compress time, and is visibly seen to do so. It lies in the area between montage and continuity cutting. Filmic time is shortened or speeded up primarily to move the story forward, so unimportant items are omitted - ellipsis.

Back to today.


We see montage so much these days that we take it don't notice it.  But montage isn't random.  Editors still have to use some elements of continuity in order to create meaning without confusion.  Two great areas to look at for use of montage are adverts and music videos.  We'll look at music videos.  Here's a great example of a Music Montage using clips from recent box office films.


(This video is an attempt to use available footage from films released theatrically during 2011 to weave a cinematic narrative of its own.)

Enjoy the edit but watch it a second time noticing how the clips have been combined.  How has the editor made the cutting coherent and smooth.  It lacks real continuity but the Editor has still found a way of creating continuity.  What devices has he used?  Make a note and then compare to Pudovkin's 5 principles.

There is still an overall structure too - the edit has a beginning, it develops and concludes effectively.

Here is another great example that uses the same premise.



A little more history

If you are interested in understanding more about the development of editing and parallel editing I have written a longer blog post about all of this here.

For the next task:

*Choose a piece of music and using the selection of short film clips (The Prelinger Archive's "Panarama Ephemera") provided in the Gatehouse create a 60 - 90 second montage.  When you have finished this you need to compress the file and upload it to YouTube, embed in a blog and then REFLECT on the process.  I have provided a lot of research that you could use!

* Choose the music carefully.  You must be able to prove to me that you have clearance to use it.  It needs to present you with a opportunities to edit.  Not just 'on' the beat but with the rhythm, instrumentation, tone and mood.  Avoid tunes with lyrics - they often work against the images or else really limit your flexibility in the edit.

Here is Leila's recent screencast about trimming in Premiere Pro.







Moving the camera - 'The Extended Take'.

Over the last few weeks we have been concentrating on editing in terms of continuity, montage, and conventions. This week we want to shift emphasis to the camera and the frame - where we started at the beginning of the term.

There are times when, for artistic reasons, a Director will avoid using the cut.  Hitchcock shot 'Rope' in 4 unbroken takes (Each a reel of film).  The actors and the camera were choreographed to achieve the desired variations in shots and framing.  Since the film is based on a play the result is very theatrical in effect.  Other Directors have used the technique as a way of making a statement about their skills.  A famous example is from the opening sequence of "Touch of Evil'.  Orson Welles wanted to impress prejudiced Hollywood Producers in an attempt to re ignite his Hollywood career.  Below is the 4th and final take of the day.  Many of the extras had gone home but it's the one that made the edit.  It has a beginning, a development and conclusion.  It also serves to introduce the theme, main characters and context of the film.




That opening scene is SO famous that here it is referenced in Robert Altman's 'The Player'.  (This movie is stuffed full of insider references.  But the 'hommage' to Touch... is obvious and flagged up in the dialogue!)



One shot movies take the idea of 'extended takes' to it's extreme.  'Russian Ark's a whole actual film that was shot in a single take.  It was a huge undertaking.  It was shot on a video camera but the batteries meant that there was only enough battery power for a limited number of takes on the day.  Permission to use the Hermitage Museum meant that there was only ONE day to shoot.  Oddly it's the 4th and final take that was completed (it was the ONLY complete take).



Which brings us to Timecode.  Here we have 4 cameras all shooting simultaneously and then shown simultaneously as a split screen movie.  This movie was shot on new for the time Sony video cameras.  It was shot 14 times - they started shooting once a day.  Then the cast would watch it, agree changes with Mike Figgis the Director, then repeat the next day.  Sony pulled the plug so they went to 2 takes a day - making the full use of daylight hours.  The finished film is also the final take.  Take 14.



Can you actually tell a whole 'story' in a short single shot film?  Yes...



These films were made by Artists for the Arts Council a few years ago.  Their strengths are a simple idea, carefully staged and filmed.



We will do this as a team activity on Wednesday 12th December.  Meet at 2pm in GH201.  So prepare your teams and ideas ahead of the session.  You might want to get some props etc.  One member of the team will need a digital stills camera.

Final Task of the year! Plan and shoot single shot movie.  Slate your takes. Upload/embed reflect and review on the blog using behind-the-scenes photos. (So each team needs a photographer too.)

Remember to 'block' the movement through.  Plan the movement of the camera.  Hitchcock's advice is valuable here

“Make the most important thing the largest thing in the frame.”

Careful handling the camera.  Minimise rotation on the axis.  Be careful of risks of tripping and dropping the camera.  Focal length is important.  Use WIDE.  Why?

Rich Wood has prepared a screencast on 'grips' to help you.



Remember the action/narrative is a single ‘action’.  It needs a beginning – Inciting incident – development – resolution.  Beginning/middle/end.

Finally here are a selection of films related to expended takes in a single YouTube playlist.

'EXTENDED TAKES'


 

The cost of free music! (Permission Vs time)

What is 'free' music?

http://londontheinsideswag.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/free-burritos.html
When someone makes or creates something the ownership of that item belongs to them (unless they do it as part of their paid employment).  The copyright is the Creator's.  If someone uses the item subsequently then they should do so with the Creator's permission.  That might also include payment.  The internet makes it possible to distribute material separated from it's original context and Creator.  The ownership and property rights of online material is a very complex issue.  Check out the film below.

Rip: A remix manifesto





Just because you can find music on the Internet doesn't make it 'free'.  It just means that it's available to you.  In the work that I do with students I always insist that the music you use is copyright cleared.  That is to say that you can demonstrate that you have permission from the copyright holder (who may not necessarily be the Creator) to use that music for your specific project/film.

It is quite easy to find 'copyright free' music.  It's sometimes referred to as 'copyleft' music. It's still not actually really free - some rights are reserved.  Most commonly it is licensed under a 'Creative Commons' license.  These are designed specifically for the Internet Age - since previous copyright structures have proved difficult to employ a global web context.  Student work is 'non-commercial' so the most basic CC license allows Students to use the material as originally created with just a credit.  This is an easy request/requirement to meet.



What is 'Royalty free' music?  


This is music that doesn't require a User to buy it but often still requires  licensing payments depending on context of use and repeats etc.  It's not 'free' as in 'nothing to pay'.

What is the downside of using copyright free music?



There is so much out there that is unsuitable for your project or plain terrible.  So it takes time to find what you need.  But if you have a good idea of what you want , then it's just a matter of time.  So start looking AS SOON AS YOU CAN.  If you are in a group then nominate a 'music researcher'.  Get them to find a selection to play to the team.  Remember to collect the details of the musicians, lable, webiste etc.  You will need these in you documentation.

Isn't this all rather uncessary.  No one else bothers with it!

Put yourself in the position of the musician, artist, writer, Poet, scultper, designer, Record label etc.  It's their work so they should make the decision.  You will own the copyright for your project.  If you want to enter your film into a festival they will need to know, from you, that you have the rights.  All the rights which includes any material created and used in that film.  If you don't then they can't show it.

Where do you look for CC music?

Creative Commons

Vimeo Music Store

Internet Archive

Freesound.org

Opsound.org

Philharmonia Orchestra (samples)

Jamendo

As a big fan of Soundcloud I would also suggest that you could source some really great music here too.  It's not CC'd but it's quite easy to contact the musicians via SoundCloud to ask permission to use it for a project.  Here's a 'User' called 'Music for non profit films'



You can also contact 'Record' labels directly too, if they have a track or artist you like.  They will often grant you permission in an email.  That email is enough prove for me!  The smaller the label the more student- friendly they seem to be.  But you need to allow time for them to grant you permission.

Workflows – or the dull art of planning ahead.


Now you have worked on your personal projects it might be a good time to reflect on your media production working practice.  We could refer to this as ‘The workflow’ of a project, primarily in post production.  Why now and not before you went into production?  Well it’s hard to understand why you need to think about this until you discover its importance.

At first glance it seems over-complicated and time consuming.  You can make it as complicated as you like – that’s your choice.  If you get stuck during post production, you might decide that a little planning might actually save A LOT of time!  (To say nothing of the stress and frustration.)




What format are you shooting in?  What camera will you be using?  What arrangements for sound will you make?  What control will you want to exercise over the material?  There are consequences for all these decisions.  Just deciding to shoot on the ‘best’, most expensive, highest quality camera is not necessarily the obvious choice.  You need to work it back from the ‘deliverable’.  What does the client want?  What have you been asked to provide.  This will suggest the minimum for the project.  If you think there is an advantage in ‘future- proofing’ your work then you might want to increase the technical spec of the project.  Mixing formats, codecs and frame rates is possible on one Premiere timeline but it’s worth trying to avoid this if you can.  At least minimise it.


When you create your Premiere project make sure that your Timeline uses the settings that match your shooting format.  (Tip:  The first time you drag a clip into the Timeline if the settings of the clip don’t match the sequence settings Premiere will ask you if you want to change the sequence settings.  Yes, you so do!  GOTCHA! If you use a keyboard short cut to place the clip it doesn’t offer you this option.)



Once you have decided on the camera, frame rate/size and codec it’s worth thinking about the organisation of your project.

This seems rather dull in comparison to being on location or editing.  But it can have a huge effect on the ease with which you complete post production.  How complicated can it be to find something on a computer?  Answer – very!

Macro level – file structure


When I work on a project I use a pre-created folder structure and I then stick to it religiously.  Because everything has a place – the same place for each project – I can always find things.

Here is my Folder Template


Here is a link to the folder.  Download a copy if you want.

I don’t use every folder in every project but it covers most of the situations I meet.  If it didn’t I’d adapt the template.

There are moments when this approach really shines; when you move or copy the project.  You get ALL the files.  Also when you are sharing post production.  Your colleague can follow the pattern and everyone can save and file things logically.

Notes and paperwork and should be stored too with the project.  CS6 offers a wide range of applications that you might use on your project.  All these different application files need to be stored together.  These programmes generate supplementary files.  Make sure these too are stored in the place you want them.

Micro level – naming conventions


Is that all it takes?  If you just did that, you would find things much easier.  But you can take it further.  When you look for a file on a computer you start by looking where you might have put it.  If it isn’t there you do a search based on titles or words.  Deciding on a ‘naming convention is a small housekeeping step that can have a large effect.

I name my project folders using the US date format plus a logical title.



See how the use of the date has automatically organised my projects in date order.  You need to use the MM-DD-YY date format.

When you are shooting a narrative based film deciding on your naming convention and using it on location will mean that you can find the material based on useful criteria. For logistical reasons most films are not shot in story order.  Therefore slating a take using

Scene:Shot:Take (00:00:00)


means that when the shots are logged or subclipped, the result will be that all the takes automatically end up in script order (and take order).

If you are using ‘dual system audio’ using the same convention with the addition of an A (00:00:00A) for audio will result in the video and the audio of the same take being listed with the video first and the correct audio immediately below.

You can customise your naming convention to include information that will help you later, and that’s the key.  You need to PLAN AHEAD.  You might want to add a camera operators initial, a camera number (for multi-cam), or location tag or similar.  You are effectively adding your own ‘metadata’ in the file name.

Organisation = time, on even a small job this might make the difference between breaking even or making a profit.  The bottom line is that organising IS editing!  The ‘Pareto Principle’ can be applied to editing – 80% of your editing time will be taken up with the last 20% of the edit.  So once the rough edit is complete you will probably need 4 times that time to complete the edit!

Exporting


The care and attention you have spent on your production workflow and edit can all be undone by sloppy exporting of your project.  When this happens it’s possibly a result of rushing, and therefore bad planning, or a lack of understanding of the source and output settings in Media Encoder.  Play spot the difference – then figure out if the differences are what you want!


If you export using the sequence settings you will get a rendered output file that is identical to the sequence.  However it’s more likely you have a particular use or format in mind such as YouTube, Vimeo, disc, USB etc.  Whatever settings or pre set you use (and the Media Encoder’s are good) the rendering and compressing can take quite a while.  See the example above the frame rate is identical but the frame size is reduced and compressed using the H264 codec.

It’s worth selecting a short section that best represents the encoding challenge* and just exporting that.  Then check the playback and framing, before exporting the whole sequence.  You might also want to experiment with a variety of settings.  Label these carefully and store with your project.  You may want to refer back to them again.

* What would be an ‘encoding challenge’?  Think about the process of compression and the answer is quite logical.  Any changes in frame size, codec and frame rate (particularly an increase) will require the computer to perform calculations.  The compression algorhythm has to interpolate and generate frames so the amount of compression can hugely affect export times.  Pick a section that includes rapid change from one frame to the next.  If movement is predictable it requires less compression than movement or change that is really random.  Think water or smoke verses movement from left to right.  Rapid lighting changes or any section that involves graduated change.  Artifacts are often very visible at these moments.  If the effect is bad you may have to adjust the output settings.






Monday 29 July 2013

Filming with the Canon 600D


The Canon 600D is an amazing camera for shooting video at an almost unthinkable price.  It was originally designed for taking stills, which explains some of it's design oddities when it comes to video.  It's works quite differently from a video camera like a Sony Z1 etc.  The camera shoots in FULL HIGH DEFINITION with a wider 'latitude'( ability to handle a wide contrast range from light to dark).

Here are ten points that highlight some of the issues I have found when filming with the camera.


1.  Movie mode.  When in movie mode the camera will automatically focus.  However to have better control you will want to shoot in MANUAL mode for both exposure and focus.  If you have to change either during recording you need to be careful.  Exposure increases in steps and changes are visible.  If you 'lose' focus it can also be very visible. You see both these mistakes a lot.  Built in focussing aids don't work while recording.

2. Depth of Field.  Because of the design of these cameras you can get a 'cinematic' DOF look.  One part of the scene is sharp and the foreground/background are thrown out of focus.  The wider the aperture used, the shallower the DOF.  You will need a 'fast lens'.  One has a low 'f stop' such as f2.8 or below.  Focus becomes really critical.  We see this effect overused now and many more focus issues too.  Similarly as you 'stop down' you get a wider range of things that will be sharp.

3. Focal length.  The lower the focal length the wider (the field of view of) the lens.  The wider the lens, the deeper the DOF and the easier it is to focus.  More objects are sharp in front and behind the point of focus.  There are 3 lens for these cameras (at BSU).  35mm, 50mm and the standard 18mm - 135 mm Zoom lens.  The 35 and 50 are 'fast lens' with f1.8 as their widest aperture.  They are letting a lot of light pass through to the chip.  So a wide angle lens stopped down to f11 or more will have a huge range of objects in focus.  But it will require much more light for a given exposure.

The zoom is much slower.  Zooms are popular since they seem to offer a wide range of focal lengths in one easy to use package.  Downside is they are 'slow', the maximum aperture is f5 making it hard to get shallow DOF if you want it.  Often used to avoid moving the camera.  Lens/focal length use is one of your key cinematic storytelling tools.  Use your feet to move closer not the zoom.

4. Shutter Speed.  The shutter speed you chose will affect the way motion is recorded by the camera. 1/50 of a second is a good all round choice.  Lower will add distinct blur to moving objects.  Film has blur because of it's frame rate of 24 frames a sec.  High shutter speeds make fast motion look jerky.  Think 'Saving Private Ryan'.  At some frame rates shooting under LED lights you will get a flicker.  To get rid of this you will need to increase the shutter speed.  It can be hard to spot on location - unless you really look for it.  You can't fix it in 'post'.  On the camera, shutter speed is the rate at which you expose light to the chip, the frame rate is the rate you record as a movie file.  This is selected in the set menus.  25 frames a second is a good all rounder.  Higher means larger files and a higher data rate.  Higher frame rates gives slo-mo with less blur ie 60 fps or more.

5. ISO.  This is not something you have to deal with on a DV camera.  The lower the setting the more light needed for the images.  In lowlight shooting the camera can often record but will need a high ISO (1600 and over).  Downside is that the images are often grainy and lack deep colour.  The lower the ISO the higher the definition and the richer the colours.

6. White Balance.  Light has a colour temperature and therefore 'cast' which our brains make adjustment for.  The camera sees the lighting sources colour cast and tries to guess the correct adjustment when in 'auto' mode.  You can sort some WB errors in Post.  Getting it right or close to when you shoot will give you less to do in Post and more flexibility when you colour correct/grade.  Use the presets if you are in a hurry they provide a good starting point.  Manual WB is not neat on the 600D but is possible.  Use the same preset if you are using two cameras to shoot a scene. That way the WB will match in Post.

7. Audio.  There is a built in mic and it does actually work quite quite well under some limited conditions.  However it's best not to rely on it for anything other than audio to sync separately recorded audio.  Leave in auto.  For drama, use a slate and clapperboard to mark and Post sync your shots.

8. Post.  The 'workflow' when working with DSLRs is substantially different from Film and DV cameras.  The aim with those cameras was to create the 'look' in the camera.  With DSLRs the 'look' is created in Post after editing.  The Look starts with the camera settings.  If you want the most flexibility in Post then you try to get as much information - digital detail - in the shadows and highlights as you can.  Avoid any in-camera processing of the video.  No sharpening, no contrast, no colour enhancement.  All of these things are best done in Post.  But they will take time and judgement.  Create your own 'User Preset' in the camera.  Dial Contrast down to zero, Sharpness down to zero, and Colour to -2.  Your images on the LCD will look less punchy but you will record much more detail in your footage.  Slight under exposure is better than over exposure.  You can't put detail back if it wasn't recorded.  If you are used to Colour correcting DV footage you will be shocked at the range of CC you will have without creating too much grain.

9. Handling the footage.  You will generate a larger amount of digital material than you expect.  So you need to be ready and organised for this.  Have enough SD cards and a workflow for labeling and 'ingesting' them.  I use 'Bridge' in CS6.  There is 'Prelude' too.  Make sure you have enough batteries for the camera.

10.  Additional items.  You will need to support the camera properly.  You can't use the viewfinder in Movie Mode.  That's fine in dark situations.  But when shooting in daylight or situations with high levels of ambient light, it's very hard to see the shot, framing and focus.  So 'lupes' or similar are very handy.  Magic Lantern is an open sourced firmware update that goes some way to improving the features and functions of the camera for video recording.  Installing it does invalidate the products warranty and comes with no guarantees of it's own.






Tuesday 29 January 2013

Preparing to edit in CS6

The workflow with DSLR footage and Premiere Pro is different from what I am used to doing with tape based media in FCP 6 and 7.  So I've worked my way through the approach I intend to use in light of these changes.

Old skool

Media Managing.


There are people employed in Newsrooms , edit suites and on location who's sole responsibility is managing the torrent of digital media generated.  However you have to do this for yourself.  Before you start your project it makes good sense and good practice to think ahead to later in the project where all the files have proliferated and you start to lose track of what things are, where they came from and where you saved them.  Add the further complications of working with other team members who may have added material in the meanwhile, breaks in the ingest/capture/editing and then (most problematic of all) the need to move the project to another place or machine, and you have a near certainty of problems.  These will inevitably impact on your time/deadline.  So start ORGANISED and stick to your system/protocols.  What follows is mine current workflow.  (I expect to refine it as I work on various projects and get used to Premiere.  In some ways it's more complicated than FCP because of the 'round-tripping' between so many applications.)

A folder/file structure outside of the NLE.


Start by creating your file hierarchy.  I have created a template so that I can refine it when I find that there is an omission to the folders and files.  It saves time just to copy it and then rename the main folder.  I then use the file structure whenever I have to save material related to that project.  It's a 'project based setup' as opposed to a 'system-based set up'.  I want to make these decisions on a project by project basis.  I want to be able to move the main folder in the knowledge that all the files and media for the project will be moved too.




File structure of template Project folder and sub folders


I have followed the suggestion from 'An Editor's Guide to Adobe Premier Pro'.  It includes folders and sub folders that might be required for a CS6 project.  I've learnt through bitter experience that I need to save and work efficiently and be able to back up and archive correctly.  The workflow is different for me since it's not tape based and I am now using Premiere rather than FCP. 

DSLR Workflow.


Bringing in the Media to the Computer. 


Use BRIDGE.  Yes, Bridge - it's not just for Photos.

Using Bridge is useful since it's comes with CS6, is fairly intuitive and allows you to batch rename the files and add to the 'metadata'.  I created a Preset that followed a protocol that I hope will make things easier later when I start to manage the projects media.  The file names are changed from 'MVI_0272' which means very little to me to 'MMDDYY600D_MolesCafe_MVI_0272'.  This gives me easy access to the date the media was shot, the camera used and the location and the original file name.  Putting the date first means that the computer will automatically organise the media in the order it was shot.  Fine for drama or music videos.  For a drama I might start with the scene number/shot/take/camera/date so that they automatically organise into scenes later in Premiere.  Afterall the scenes and shots are unlikely to have been shot in script or continuity order.






Confusingly you can use Adobe Prelude to 'ingest' - adding media to the Computer.  It also allows you to transcode it from one format/codec to another while moving it off the SD card/P2 card to wherever you want.  You can simultaneously create several copies in different locations.  It will also 'verify' the copy.  This makes sure that it's an exact bit for bit copy or 'clone' of the file.  You can also log the clips and create a rough cut in Prelude.  It will also send all of this directly to Premiere.  Oddly you can't batch rename in Prelude.  In Bridge you can't verify, which is odd too.

Creating a disk Image. 




Richard Harrington suggests that you alway create a disc image of your tapeless media as an exact archive on a different drive.  You do this using OSx's 'Disk Utility'.  This is a verified copy of the original card.  Double clicking it will open it like a folder from where you can re-name, ingest or import into your Project Folder.  So adding another stage to the process, and you haven't even started to edit yet!  Which to use?  You choose.

Setting up Premiere.


Under Preferences>Media make sure 'save Media cache files next to originals when possible' is checked.  These are rendered files that will speed up playback when you are editing.  They are not large but its a good idea to keep them with the Project files.  If you were to move the project they would need rendering again.

When you set up a New Project make sure Project>Project Settings>Scratch Disks make sure that Captured Video, Captured Audio, Video Previews and Audio Previews are all set to 'Same as Project'.

Some important terminology.


In terms of Premier Pro 'capture' means recording media into a project as in playing off tape and capturing into a project.  That captured video will be created and stored in the project folders you have defined.  Media that is 'imported' into a project is in fact LINKED to the project but importantly it stays where it was linked or referenced from.  Thats why you need to move it to your project folder outside of the editing software.  (The same with FCP).

Handling Dual System audio.


Where you have recorded high quality audio in addition to the DSLR's built-in mic ('dual system') you can re-sync the audio, in the Project Panel, to the video in Premiere Pro using the 'Merge Clips' option under the Clip menu and markers you have created at the sync points.  Remember thats not a 'new' clip but a reference file created in Premiere that links one video file with one audio file.  The 'real' files remain where they were originally stored as individual files.  They are linked and named '-linked' only in the Premiere project they relate to.

Saving time on common projects.


Just as I used a Common Media Folder template outside the NLE, you can create your own Project settings preset and template Project and save that as a project.  This will have your preferred settings and Bins and Sequences etc.  You just rename when you create another project.

Final Thought.


If this all seems like a lot of fuss, I know you want to edit not be a librarian.  At some point you will get your project in a tangle and you will learn the same way we all have.  There is a short cut  and it's actually outlined above!  If you mess up I wont say I told you so.  It's pointless and unhelpful.  Next time you'll know to take control.  It's just a shame that you have to learn the hard way!

Monday 21 January 2013

Experiments in DSLR filming.

I decided that over Christmas I would get some experience of shooting video on a DSLR as opposed to using a DV camera shooting to tape, or my iPhone 4s' shooting highly compressed H264.  The University has just bought a number of Canon 600D's a remarkable camera at an extraordinary price-break  at £450  (with kit zoom lens 18 - 55mm) it shoots in Full HD (1080p) with an ISO range of 100 - 6400.  It has a swing out articulated screen, is light and easily portable.

The standard lens is rather slow (f3.5 to f5.6) so I also borrowed a 35mm f1.8 lens and a 50mm f1.8 lens.  I thought that these would work better under the low light stage conditions I was likely to encounter.


13th Dec 2012. The Louisiana, Bristol.



Setting up the camera in advance I was faced with using the automated video settings or using my own.  I shot the first gig using the auto settings for the sharpness, contrast and colour.  Since I expected the auto audio settings to be bad under gig conditions - the levels would tend to 'pump' as the gain is increased and decreased with variation of ambient levels.  So I switched the audio settings into manual and made a guess at a level - reducing the record level to about 25% of it's range.  I figured this would be sufficient.  I didn't realise that I wouldn't be able to monitor the audio levels while the view finder was 'live'.

There first thing I noticed was that exposure is set up quite differently.  I could select the video settings for frame rate and frame size.  Exposure was then balanced by manually setting the aperture (f number) and varying the ISO.  There were intervals of 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400.  That's a doubling of light or 1m stop =/-.  There was a fair bit of light so the ISO was set at 200 to ensure great quality.  But it meant that I was shooting 'wide open' at f1.8.  So the DOF was very shallow and the focus critical.  The camera allows the use of the digital zoom as a form of 'expanded focus' which was useful to check the focus point,  but it wont operate while recording.  (Unlike the Z1 for example).




I only had the 50mm for this gig - and I wished I had a wider lens.  It was difficult covering the 3 piece band.


(direct from camera, auto settings and incorrectly manually set audio.  Compressed by Media Encoder using HD YouTube setting)

I know from the exposure level that I wouldn't have got much video with the iPhone but I thought the Canon 600D images were really excellent.  However the colours were rather over the top and the focus seemed 'soft'.  So I tweaked the User Preset to increase the sharpness and decrease the colour saturation.  I'd shoot again.  Sadly the audio was 'over recorded' in the loader sections of the songs so that particular recording was ruined.  Although the quality and frame size meant that stills grabbed from the timeline were very useable.

Sample frame grabs from first Louis footage (1080p).  These are unprocessed grabs.  Normally I would Photoshop them to set levels etc.







30th Dec 2012. Moles Cafe, Bath.


The next gig was in Bath at Moles cafe.  There was one central light that slowly changed colour.  The light levels varied by about a stop or so.  I shot Big Green Uncle at 200 ISO and Alfred at 400 ISO.  This time I had the 35mm lens, which I knew from taking stills at the venue previously, would be well suited to cover the bands.  I had also read up more on camera settings and I had learnt that the contrast setting needs to be set at zero - to avoid the highlights burning out.  The colour level needs to be reduced by about 30% and the sharpness should be left at zero.  Sharpness and colour should be added in post.  It's much more flexible and will avoid 'moire' which is a common DSLR artifact.  Rather than recording a 'perfect' video the idea is to record a 'flat' video image that then offers a recording of the greatest range possible.  The look or grade is then added in Post.  I found this very useful video on YouTube.  It covers these points well.


(DSLR tutorial)



Big Green Uncle.  As mentioned above, they were quite well lit - except from the colour changes.  I struggled with the focus on this.  I was wide open at f1.8 at 200 ISO.  I would have been better dropping to 400 ISO and stopping down abit.

Next up was Alfred.  The split lead singers were a problem since they were both 'out of the light'.  Only George the drummer was in the light.  So I had to set the exposure on the singers - and Joe camera right - was almost a stop darker than Frank.  Plus the light kept rotating and changing too.  I set the ISO at 400 to give me more exposure and stopped down slightly.  The aperture can be set in fractions of a stop, unlike the ISO which is always whole steps.



In order to edit and do the post on the DSLR footage I experimented with Premier Pro.  I had a copy of The Editor's guide to Adobe Premiere Pro and I worked through the book with the provided video and my test recordings.  It was great to bring the material directly from the SD card into the Mac.  The book recommends making a disk image of the card as a master copy.  The files are then opened from the disk image and copied into the working Project folder.  So the material ends up being in 2 places.  A master copy and a working copy.  It's still a quicker workflow than FCP's requirement to convert to ProRes which triples the sizes of the rushes.  That makes 4 times the storage issues!

9th Dec 2013.  By way of comparison here is some video footage shot previously at Moles on an iPhone 4s - using the FilmicPro iApp.  This has been the 'standard' way I have filmed Stevie Jo's gigs.  Quick, easy and very portable.  Generally fine for YouTube upload.



High Def playback on my old Mac Pro was stuttery.  The machine struggles to playback 1080p - it also lacks loads of headroom on it's hard drive, which doesn't help.  But it was workable, just.  Exporting the colour corrected footage took ages since it also compressed it down fro YouTube upload.

I wasn't happy with my CC work.  There is a setting in Premiere that smooths the effect over a range of frames which I had needed to select.  So as a result there is an undesirable  flickering effect.  I didn't do much in the way of CC. There was a large range in adjustment that could be made.  The Shadow/Highlight filter in particular was stunning.  It allowed me to boost the mid range and balance the exposure slightly.  The scopes worked well and I was attentive to the luma values - raising the values around the 60% value without removing the lighting effect visible at the time.

Original uncorrected footage.
With Shadow/Highlight filter applied. (Too much)










With Shadow/ Highlight filter reduced slightly to deepen the shadows but preserving highlight detail.








A second attempt to colour correct the Alfred Footage.  Having learnt my lesson, the colour correction on this export works better with no flicker effect.



4th Jan 2013. The Louisiana, Bristol (again).


Having practiced at Moles I then got another chance to shoot at the Louis again.  This time I had the 35mm lens and was using my newly understood User Preset.  I would set the audio much more carefully this time.

Sadly Stevie was suffering with a very sore throat so musically the gig wasn't as good as the first.  But from a camera point of view the recording was technically better.  The audio levels were fine - albeit low quality from the small/cheap on board mic.  The lens was ideal.  I noticed that there was half as much light as previously, so instead of shooting at 200 ISO I shot at 400 ISO.  I also decided to underexpose slightly so see how that affected the grade in Post.  If also offered me slightly deeper DOF so the focus wasn't so critical.



So on balance:

  • the settings on the camera need to be configured to produce the widest range of expsure and colour values
  • the onboard audio is not as good as the video quality
  • with one camera the ideal lens is probably a 35mm or equivalent.  Which 2 cameras, the second camera should probably have a 50 or 80mm or equivalent
  • the workflow with Premier Pro and for DSLR is quite different to FCP 6 and 7 and DV cameras such as the Sony Z1 and PD 170
  • a simple way to cover a gig like this would be with 2 cameras.  A wide (35mm) and a clorser camera (50mm) with a quality sound feed from the mixer.  This would be post synced later on Ingest

I need to learn more about colour correction in CS6.  There are 3 ways of doing this, in Premiere, After Effects and Speedgrade.  Too many choices!  The control of workflow and media management is even more critical using this type of format and recoding equipment.  The 600D represents extraordinary value for money against a camcorder.  But it needs a range of ND filters, a handful of SD fast large cards, fast lens and some form of stabilisation.  I used a monopod - a device that I have loved for a long time!  The great news is - it works brilliantly with a DSLR.