Sneak Peeks and Insights from the Falcons Resident Designer & Developer

Matt was just on the phone trying to explain the fundamentals of P2/AVCHD video to somebody. I’m still astonished that so many “pros” are clueless about solid state media some 4 years into the revolution.

This reminded me of many PMs I’ve gotten from fans asking for video tips. In the spirit of NAB being next week in Vegas (sadly, we’re not going), I wanted to share some basic tips for you folks.

First, I should note, these are my own recommendations based on what I’ve found works best over the years. Not all pros follow my advice, and video debates are like Macs and PCs… there is no end to it.

1. Never record or capture in an interlaced format (i.e.,30i). Computer displays and all modern plasma / LCD televisions are progressive displays. Playing back interlaced footage on a progressive display just looks like crap. Always record in a progressive format (i.e.,30p), edit on a progressive time line, and encode to a progressive output.
2. Avoid the color red as much as possible. If you have to shoot red (like we often do at the Falcons), use as much polarizing as you can get away with, and expect some extra time in post to keep the reds from going flat. The red color channel suffers the most in compression, so your reds tend to lean orange or pink and go flat or muddy.
3. Don’t use a wide angle lens for a close up. The distortion makes everyone look like a smurf.
4. Use your zebra patterns… if you don’t know what that means, look it up.
5. If you’re shooting fast action shots, like sports, go with the highest frame rate you have – like 60p. This ensures you get data fast enough to avoid motion blur. I like having the option to remap the time too, gradually slowing down a shot for a moment of slo-mo for a big hit. You burn more data at 60p, but it’s a must when shooting fast action. Make sure you also turn off frame blending in your NLE, otherwise, you’ll get ugly blurring anyway – defeating the purpose of the faster rate.
6. If you can, keep your iris (or aperature if shooting DSLR) all the way open, and use glass filters to stop down the light. This allows maximum detail and depth to enter the camera. If your image is flat with dull colors, it’s probably because you use the camera’s built-in (faux) light control too much.
7. Autofocus sucks… unless you’re shooting news, maybe. Sure, the image might go blurry every now and then if you’re trying manual focus – but it’s so much more interesting! Not to mention, autofocus is always pulsing, so the footage wears down your eyes if you stare at it very long.
8. Use the color tools in your NLE or compositing software – specifically chromatic aberration, shoulder, and channel saturation. You can make a crap shot look awesome with mastery of those.
9. Practice the concepts of depth of field, triangular or 9-square composition and LIGHTING. If you don’t know what that is, look them up…
10. Know the basics of codecs, containers, and compression. For example, h.264 is a codec… Quicktime MOV is a container… 1.5Mbps VBR @ 24p is a compression. All together, you have a movie file.

That last tip is one of my biggest pet peeves. I’m often asked to convert a P2 to Quicktime. That’s like asking me to convert a cardboard box to a plastic bag, while your intent is for me to provide the ideal container to hold a particular product.  If I don’t know what the product is, the container selection is null.

Another pet peeve of mine that will make you sound silly is asking for an uncompressed MOV. Unless you shoot raw video, and I doubt you do, the footage is compressed. When you uncompress it, you do not gain quality – you merely bloat the file by filling it with every possible instruction it may encounter so that almost any video player can read it. That’s like dumping every topping available on a pizza because you think it’s going to make everyone happy, when actually all you get is an expensive, heavy pizza that tastes like crap and gives everyone diareaha.

Instead of asking for an uncompressed video, request an intermediate codec with lossless quality (no loss of quality). You’ll sound more intelligent and save yourself from additional agony of an enormous file.

Next time… photography… maybe.

Cheers.