Post by Douglas Mallette on Jun 11, 2009 13:00:43 GMT -5
With fan films it's either feast or famine with cameras, or so I've noticed. You either find enough people to have a few options, or you just use the old VHS POS from the bottom of the closet and hope it works.
We had 2 cameras on this film. A Sony PD-150 and a Canon XL-2. Without a doubt, the Canon was better and this makes things complicated. The footage difference between the two cameras is painfully obvious as we lumber through Post Production. The Sony was too bright, even though while filming we did all we could to make sure they looked the same. Additional note: Try to bring a monitor for each camera and plug them it to make sure they look the same. Hopefully your monitors are similar models so those aren't too different. In hindsight, the little displays on the cameras themselves stink for comparative analysis.
But here's the worst part: The Sony only had one speed, 24 fps, which we didn't notice until over halfway done with filming. Up to that point we thought the default WAS 30 fps. The Canon was at 30 fps because we set it there. Beauty of the Canon, you can see what your settings are AND adjust them if needed.
This constitutes an array of issues related to footage quality and frame rate adjustments that were made by Premiere Pro, which was the software used to edit the film. The export was at 30 fps, so the Sony was adjusted to match, which also seemed to affect its visual quality. This makes keying the Canon footage MUCH easier than keying the Sony footage. It's a pain. Live and learn...and pass on the message.
So, if at all possible, use similar cameras! As a fan filmer, you don't exactly have a lot of choice and you try to get what you can, so if your have little options, at least make sure the frames rates of the cameras are the same. This was a huge stupid error on our part, making this Post Production trip very difficult.
We had 2 cameras on this film. A Sony PD-150 and a Canon XL-2. Without a doubt, the Canon was better and this makes things complicated. The footage difference between the two cameras is painfully obvious as we lumber through Post Production. The Sony was too bright, even though while filming we did all we could to make sure they looked the same. Additional note: Try to bring a monitor for each camera and plug them it to make sure they look the same. Hopefully your monitors are similar models so those aren't too different. In hindsight, the little displays on the cameras themselves stink for comparative analysis.
But here's the worst part: The Sony only had one speed, 24 fps, which we didn't notice until over halfway done with filming. Up to that point we thought the default WAS 30 fps. The Canon was at 30 fps because we set it there. Beauty of the Canon, you can see what your settings are AND adjust them if needed.
This constitutes an array of issues related to footage quality and frame rate adjustments that were made by Premiere Pro, which was the software used to edit the film. The export was at 30 fps, so the Sony was adjusted to match, which also seemed to affect its visual quality. This makes keying the Canon footage MUCH easier than keying the Sony footage. It's a pain. Live and learn...and pass on the message.
So, if at all possible, use similar cameras! As a fan filmer, you don't exactly have a lot of choice and you try to get what you can, so if your have little options, at least make sure the frames rates of the cameras are the same. This was a huge stupid error on our part, making this Post Production trip very difficult.