Cinematography thread: No film vs. video talk, dammit

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Cinematography thread: No film vs. video talk, dammit

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BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Woop our Ursa Mini Pro finally loving shipped. Just in time!

# ¿ Mar 28, 2017 21:04

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 07:11

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Ours should be in tomorrow, toot toot!

Luckily we're still fully kitted out from the Mini we bought two weeks prior.

We did some tests with our Epic Dragon and surprisingly the footage was able to cut in pretty well (with the Mini so I assume the same with the Mini Pro).

# ¿ Mar 30, 2017 21:47

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

VoodooXT posted:

Hey powder and keyframe, any further words about the Ursa Mini Pro since you guys have had it for like 2 months now?

We love ours. That is all! Seriously it's pretty. We have some ongoing projects we've shot with it that are pretty sweet. I'll post them once complete (they're kinda boring University stuff but they show it off pretty well).

Seriously great investment.

# ¿ May 23, 2017 02:03

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

CaptainViolence posted:

I've only used the a7s2 a couple times, but from what I understand, the key to s-log is overexposing by a couple stops so your shadows get brought down later, which takes care of the noise. If your shooters haven't been doing that, then that might help, especially since the a7s2 has so much more usable iso than something like the fs5.

If they've already been doing that, then I will probably do a lot more investigation before I hand someone s-log footage again!

Or just get a camera that lets you get good footage by exposing properly

# ¿ Jul 20, 2017 15:59

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Shaocaholica posted:

Now sure what I should be using to do this but I have CC Premiere and AFX readily available.

I have a long play video. Think 90min feature as one long video file.

I also have an EDL for the same feature with all the cut points and metadata for the feature. Important part is that this EDL includes the shot naming as used in production. Now I want to burn this metadata onto the picture from the long play video file. Possible?

I know Premiere has an effect you can put on a blank layer that adds the clip name (which we do for long stringouts). But it relies on the actual media on layers... maybe there's a way to get it to interpret the EDL to derive clip names ... but I can't find it in my quick search.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2017 21:31

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Oh hey just an FYI that B&H has the Teradek Bolt 1000 wireless video set for $3,990 today. That's about $1500-2000 off the actual price.

If you do a lot of shoots where you have client monitors or video village setups, Teradeks will change your life.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1273187-REG/teradek_10_0965_bolt_pro_1000_3g_sdi_hdmi.html

# ¿ Mar 12, 2018 17:31

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Disgruntled Bovine posted:

So I have a problem I'm hoping you folks can offer some advise on.

I'm a railfan (yes, that is a problem, but not the one I'm trying to solve) and I like to take videos of trains. I am also a sperg, so I want those videos to be the best they can possibly be. The problem that I am running into is ground vibration. Trains are heavy, and when they pass they shake the ground. I shoot from a tripod because I want a very stable shot, and I want to be able to do smooth steady pans and high zoom approach shots, often in windy conditions. I recently upgraded from an aluminum Manfrotto tripod that I've had for about 7 years to a Sachtler head and Miller Solo carbon fiber legs due to frustration with the amount of vibration issues I was having.

This upgrade was based on a fair amount of online research which indicated that carbon fiber should better at absorbing vibrations than aluminum. It has almost completely eliminated the wind vibrations, however it has had the opposite effect on the ground vibrations, which have gotten quite a bit worse. I suppose this make sense, as a more solid rigid tripod would naturally transmit vibrations to the camera better. So now I'm unsure if I want to keep the carbon fiber legs.

I considered wood, as I've heard that's the best material for absorbing vibrations, however a wooden tripod would be about 3x the weight, about 30% longer when folded, and take longer to set up due to the multiple thumb screws and need for a spreader. Speed and collapsed length are more of a concern for me than weight, though it is a factor as well. I am often setting up in a hurry and a slow tripod can mean missing a shot. Additionally, I mount my camera to my tripod then put it across the back-seat footwell of my car when chasing a train to the next shot location, so an excessively long tripod would mean the camera is bumping up against the opposite side of the back seat.

Are there any options for reducing camera vibrations which can be put into a tripod assembly, between the head and the legs, or the head and the camera? I've seen rubber disks that can be placed under the feet to absorb vibrations, but that just adds more setup time and I'm often shooting on uneven surfaces in the snow, dirt, and weeds, where I have to stab my tripod legs down through obstructions, so placing disks on the ground would not be feasible. The vibrations in this case are primarily sharp vertical shocks, and as such I don't think a gimbal head would help. My camera's image stabilization also doesn't do much to help, as it doesn't seem to be able to respond quickly enough to dampen the shocks.

This may be too unique of a problem for a good solution to exist, and the obvious answer is "shoot further from the tracks" but that's often not possible.

What camera are you using? It might be best to find way to get an actual stabilizer in use.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2018 14:44

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Disgruntled Bovine posted:

I'm using a GH5. When you say an actual stabilizer what do you mean?

Something like this gimbal (this is just a first googled one... no idea about this brand): https://www.evogimbals.com/products...AiABEgKgVvD_BwE

In that configuration you'd probably still get vertical vibrations, but if you mount it horizontally, then you could potentially offset the vertical shocks/vibrations.

Anything else should be able to be minimized with a warp stabilizer, etc.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2018 18:14

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Disgruntled Bovine posted:

I don't think a gimbal would work for me. I tend to shoot the train approaching, then quickly pan around and shoot it receding. A Gimbal would still be catching up after the pan and I'd have to cut more of the video out as a result. I'm leaning towards the wire rope isolators, but I'm concerned that they will be too prone to tilting. Really what I need is damping of major excursions in the Z axis, with only very minor damping in X and Y. Most of the ground shaking is Z axis. Ultimately if I could put a wire rope isolator on each foot of the tripod, with a rod through their center holes to prevent much movement in the X and Y axes that would probably be ideal. I haven't figure out how to make that work yet though. I think if I mount the isolator between the head and the tripod, or the head and the camera, I'm going to have issues with rotation about the Z axis on fast pans.

I'm not sure a gimbal is going to be that slow catching up. At the very least you could just rent one and try it.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2018 01:59

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Disgruntled Bovine posted:

So I'm still exploring the idea of using wire rope stabilizers on the tripod feet. Haven't pulled the trigger on them yet as I haven't found a good source that sells the individual units for a reasonable price directly to consumers.

Here's an example of the type of shocks/vibration I'm trying to eliminate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhaYuA4eI9w&t=438s

I have experimented with using warp stabilizer (not on this clip) and it does help. I think part of the problem was also the frozen ground, as with things warming up this week the vibrations aren't as bad. These Miller carbon legs are definitely worse than my smaller aluminum Manfrotto when it comes to transmitting these shocks to the camera, but it would be hard to give up the superior performance against wind-induced vibrations.

Looks like rolling shutter isn't helping on that either. My vote is still for a handheld gyro gimbal unless it just absolutely has to be on a tripod.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2018 18:17

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

VoodooXT posted:

Probably doesn�t matter to most of you but the 6.0 firmware for the Ursa Mini Pro came out today and it is glorious.

Noice. Our Ursa Mini Pro almost instantly became our defacto camera. Our hero camera is a RED Epic Dragon and while, yes, when you put them side by side the RED has that little something extra the Ursa doesn't. But it's close. And we've been able to cut between them (although that works best on more generic testimonial type stuff).

Such an awesome and easy to use little workhorse.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2018 14:29

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Kenshin posted:

4K60 at that. If I was doing more video work and vlogging at the moment I'd probably pick it up, it does look pretty spiffy.

Yeah for that it's perfect. I mean I doubt anyone is going to be shooting any movie stuff with it other than something proof of concept or very niche.

But for the casual recording crew it's pretty awesome.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2018 23:19

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

GlassEye-Boy posted:

would it be good enough to create nice travel videos? I've been thinking about expanding to recording video while on trips so that would be the main reason for me to buy this.

I guess it depends on what you mean by nice? You're probably not going to get any great cinematic footage (unless you get lucky with some golden hour stuff) but if it's just sort of docu-style coverage I think it would be a nice addition to your arsenal.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2018 00:18

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

CryingCypress71 posted:

Hey all! New to the group.
You may be able to help me out, I am looking for a rental house in Toronto. We don�t need to rent anything crazy, Cannon C series (100/300) a Sony A7S, a few lenses for each, some lighting equipment (small package) and some audio equipment (lav kit and an on camera mic)
Any suggestions where to start?
William F White was suggested, but we are not doing serious filming.

I don't have any experience with Toronto, but for that kinda smaller package look for production houses (that might not be advertised as anything to do with rentals) and see if they rent their gear.

We're not a rental house, just a full service ad agency/production house that owns all of our own gear, and we rent our stuff all the time. You need to have your own insurance though.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2019 17:42

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Honestly if you're just looking for social supporting content, it might be more price efficient (and just overall ease-of-pipeline) to just go with an Osmo or Osmo+ from DJI.

Will have a much easier grab and go without all of the calibration.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2019 15:19

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

VoodooXT posted:

Welp, Blackmagic just announced the Pocket 6K. Sorry to all the folks still waiting for their Pocket 4K orders to come through.

hahah and it's immediately available

# ¿ Aug 8, 2019 21:39

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Oh man our Pocket Cam 6K and Ronin S came in yesterday and everyone is losing their minds. They immediately went out and used it as B-Cam to our Ursa Mini Pro on some interviews and it's freakin' stellar. These guys are juiced as hell. They all came back saying the RED is dead. (our RED... not RED in general obvi). Which of course the RED has it's place but drat it's nice to not have to lug it out when we need a b cam.

Then we hooked up the Xbox controller to the Ronin S and everyone lost their mind again. I love Blackmagic (and DJI)

# ¿ Feb 7, 2020 23:43

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Blackmagic just announced the Ursa Mini Pro 12K. Lawd. I mean no need for us to have it at the moment, but the current Ursa Mini Pro is a loving fantastic camera so it's just exciting to see. And it's only $10k.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2020 02:27

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Mister Speaker posted:

I haven't tried colour grading yet, no. A friend also suggested that it may also be the white balance settings changed, but I haven't altered anything except switching to and from 4K/1080p recording for some rides.

The room wasn't dim, that's with my Hue bulbs on maximum (though they are behind me) and the Rotolight you can see in frame lighting the gear. Compare to an earlier mix and there's definitely something different going on. I will try those suggestions though, thanks!

Is there a RAW or LOG mode that might be changing the look of the footage? Those modes typically change the color to a more washed out (aka "neutral") balance to enable better color grading.

edit: Looks like there's a "Natural" and "Vivid" color mode which may have accidentally gotten change (old vid was Vivid and new one was Natural).

https://helpguide.sony.net/cam/1640/v1/en/contents/TP0000912374.html

# ¿ Oct 29, 2020 16:58

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

powderific posted:

Also, I just had to rent a Pocket 6k on a shoot and it barely fit into my Movi Pro with the Tilta cage. That thing is wide.

It is but godddamnnnn it's great. Our Pocket 6K (often on Ronin gimbal) with the Ursa Mini Pro are just a killer duo.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2020 00:15

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

I use AE and Premiere every single day and I can't ever use the dynamic link. It always breaks. Always.

Also while this is easy to do manually (personally I'd use Mocha AEs tracker... It comes with it free and is fantastic), there is a plugin to do it faster if you will be doing this alot and have some cash.

https://aescripts.com/blace/

# ¿ Apr 5, 2021 23:02

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

I don't know why my google-fu is not working here, but I'm looking for examples of a specific shot.

Basically... creative uses of the circle track dolly shot. I know I've seen commercials, etc that revolve around the usage of circle track, but Google is just turning up nothing but useless tutorials filmschool101 style links.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2021 15:42

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 07:11

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

powderific posted:

Really liked this series of match cut kinda circle dolly circle crane shots from Euphoria E4: https://youtu.be/3vCHqucEZcA?t=55

This isn't narrative, but �lafur Arnalds has a couple sessions that use the circle track in a way I like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEj7xYyj9n4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCFO1Cp766I

The Euphoria shot is great, but can't use it in a client presentation. I know there's freakin' commercials out there that use the same technique why can't I find them ARGHHHHHHHHH

# ¿ Aug 10, 2021 21:29

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Cinematography thread: No film vs. video talk, dammit

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