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powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
I wind up doing a lot of color work even though I very explicitly tell people that it's not what I do and I don't have the right setup. Depending on the project I'll use Resolve or Speedgrade and I calibrate our 5k iMac with an X-Rite i1 Display Pro. It works ok and honestly I'd rather skimp there than on the editor for our work.

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BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli

Armagnac posted:

But the gig economy is great because workers have so much freedom! :suicide:
Trying to explain that someone's 5 minute corporate video will require 3 days with a professional editor is so painful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbd4t-ua-WQ

Or that moment when the edit's done and you get asked to complete the grade because they poorly budgeted thinking that spare $200 left over will somehow cover color work.

The best tool for negotiation for billing creep is to throw a quote and time over the phone, then don't say anything - as in don't attempt to justify why it's that much (they kinda know) - and let them stew it over.
90% of the time they will relent.
10% they will politely say no, go for a cheaper rate (some kid) and then call you back to "fix a few things".

I do state clearly in any opening negotiations and quotes that I'm only doing what is listed - anything extra is an extra cost to be negotiated, not tacked on - it helps to add a line in your quote "additional requests must be fully negotiated".

1st AD
Dec 3, 2004

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: sometimes passing just isn't an option.
I did that once and the guy still insisted that I master a loving DVD for like $300.

The gig economy is horrible if you're not being contracted by actual companies that know what's up. At least in my case I was in a position to just walk away and still get paid, but holy poo poo the guilt trip.

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
This is making me think maybe I should squeeze our contractors more. Please post if you feel you've been exploited in the past and can't seem to get paid what you deserve. I wanna boost our margins. TIA.

Dillbag
Mar 4, 2007

Click here to join Lem Lee in the Hell Of Being Cut To Pieces
Nap Ghost
On that tangent, I've had a number of A-list film editors give me the same advice over the years: always be willing to walk if the client doesn't want to pay your rate. You have to be able to say "Ok, thanks but no thanks" and walk away. And you have to do it. If you're not willing to follow through, then it's a bluff, and bluffs have no power if you're called on them.

Also, this is a good video to watch for any self-employed contractor-type:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkLVRt6c1U

BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli
A nice trick is to calculate how many hours (always add more for tweaks) it will take you, then bill them as a "fixed rate" - that comes off as less scary than a hourly rate.

Saying "no" can be hard when you're starting out and really need new kit - never accept the "exposure or experience" phrase.
A horrid carrot is news companies using this to lure in students with the experience of shooting at a major sports event.
The other trap is the "I'll pay you when we get the funding" - I usually ask them to call me back when they do and that I'll provide a letter of interest if it helps their case for the funding.

As for being exploited?

One of my first gigs was shooting and editing very short video diaries covering daily events for a traveling promotional tour across two states over three weeks.
The fee was something like $400 - flights and accommodation included - which I managed to squeeze $300 extra out of the equipment budget by negotiating over the fact I was providing all of the gear.

The reality : filming all day (9am to 7pm) - then cutting stupid hours into the night to get out by 12pm the next day.
Oh and to boot everyone was understaffed, we had only one chap who was there to setup the gear so myself and the talent tuned into crew members setting up and breaking down the gear at the end of the day.

I did put my foot down at the end of week one explaining how insane the workload was given the situation. Thankfully most of the major heads were on location so they were able to see what was going down.

The compromise was to drop the doco part and release videos that summed up two days instead of one - which I pointed out was kind of needed given the performances were the same across two days, so why the hell shoot the same thing twice.

Armagnac
Jun 24, 2005
Le feu de la vie.

WebDog posted:

A nice trick is to calculate how many hours (always add more for tweaks) it will take you DOUBLE IT, then bill them as a "fixed rate" - that comes off as less scary than a hourly rate.

Fixed that...

Always double any time estimate you give. ALWAYS. When it takes less time you'll look like a rock star.

The problem with this method, however, is that you have clients that don't respect your time. I don't want to make the 9th revision on your web video, because of a flat rate.

Here's the catch, if you really your client & your product (and you're efficient) flat rates are better. However, any situation with a fair amount of unknowns and it's a mess.

melon cat
Jan 21, 2010

Nap Ghost
I'm putting together a new build for my video editing projects, but I'm having some trouble picking out a GPU. I was considering a MSI Geforce Gtx 970, but it does seem kind of pricey. Any better suggestions for a GPU?

Also- what RAID configuration are you guys using for backing up your work/video files?

melon cat fucked around with this message at 07:55 on Jul 18, 2015

BonoMan
Feb 20, 2002

Jade Ear Joe

melon cat posted:

I'm putting together a new build for my video editing projects, but I'm having some trouble picking out a GPU. I was considering a MSI Geforce Gtx 970, but it does seem kind of pricey. Any better suggestions for a GPU?

Also- what RAID configuration are you guys using for backing up your work/video files?

RAID isn't backup. ALWAYS have a duplicate array somewhere. And preferably a third off site solution.

I do a RAID 5 setup on my arrays right now so I can at least swap out in the case of a failed drive. But, again, that's not a backup. We backup to a duplicate RAID 5 array and then run off site backups.

Obviously it's not always in the financial cards to do offsite backup for large amounts of data for freelancers, but ABSOLUTELY 100% do an in house duplicate backup.

And again, just to drive it home, RAID isn't backup. At all.

As for the GPU, if you're wanting a lot of CUDA cores for Premiere usage, the GTX 970 above is probably what I'd recommend. It's pricey, but it's not something you necessarily want to skimp on.

1st AD
Dec 3, 2004

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: sometimes passing just isn't an option.
The Radeon 290x is also good and slightly cheaper, but it demands a lot of power and puts out a lot of heat.

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
We have a raid 5 array of 5 4tb disks direct attached to our edit system for working files, a Synology NAS with a 6x4tb Raid 5 array for local replication, and then an LTO-6 drive for offsite backup and archiving. I dunno how I feel about the LTO-6 drive. On one hand, we could have just bought a whole third array to cart offsite for the same money. On the other hand, once we start running out of storage it'll be easy and cheap to archive files to a couple tape copies and then remove from our main arrays. Probably half of our storage right now could be safely archived to tapes and we'd probably never look at it again. I think long term it'll work out to be for the best, but it's a hell of an investment in the beginning.

Dillbag
Mar 4, 2007

Click here to join Lem Lee in the Hell Of Being Cut To Pieces
Nap Ghost

powderific posted:

We have a raid 5 array of 5 4tb disks direct attached to our edit system for working files, a Synology NAS with a 6x4tb Raid 5 array for local replication, and then an LTO-6 drive for offsite backup and archiving. I dunno how I feel about the LTO-6 drive. On one hand, we could have just bought a whole third array to cart offsite for the same money. On the other hand, once we start running out of storage it'll be easy and cheap to archive files to a couple tape copies and then remove from our main arrays. Probably half of our storage right now could be safely archived to tapes and we'd probably never look at it again. I think long term it'll work out to be for the best, but it's a hell of an investment in the beginning.

The lifespan of your backups is the key thing to think about. A RAID array with platter drives has a much shorter lifespan than an LTO tape sitting on the shelf. Additionally, will you still be able to get those 4TB platter drives 10 years from now if you fire up the array and one of the drives craps out? Will computers still be available with eSATA/USB 3.0/etc ports to connect the array to? Granted, LTO hardware has some of those issues too, but it's designed and planned for long term storage and backwards compatibility so it's more future-proof than drives & arrays for sure.

melon cat
Jan 21, 2010

Nap Ghost

BonoMan posted:

RAID isn't backup. ALWAYS have a duplicate array somewhere. And preferably a third off site solution.

I do a RAID 5 setup on my arrays right now so I can at least swap out in the case of a failed drive. But, again, that's not a backup. We backup to a duplicate RAID 5 array and then run off site backups.

[snip]

I see. I had no idea that RAID isn't a good backup solution. But you mentioned that you've set up a duplicate RAID 5 array- mind if I ask you for more details, on that? And would I be accomplishing the same thing if I set up my new build with the following:
  • 500 GB Solid State Drive for my Windows OS and Adobe software installation, kept separate
  • 2 TB HDD + 2 TD HDD + 2 TD HDD in a RAID 5, for on-site backup
  • Back-up the RAID data off-site (stick with CrashPlan)
I'm just unfamiliar with the whole concept of having a duplicate array. And I'm really distrustful of relying on a single external HDD for on-site backup (which is why I'm looking into a RAID 5 setup), since I've had had WD external hard drives die on me within a 2-3 year span.

As for the GPU- I'll stick with the GTX970, then. I was eyeing the 980, but couldn't justify the expenditure, given that the 970 should do the job just fine.

melon cat fucked around with this message at 01:25 on Jul 20, 2015

1st AD
Dec 3, 2004

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: sometimes passing just isn't an option.
How do you plan to back up 4TB to the cloud without some huge commercial fiber pipe?

BonoMan
Feb 20, 2002

Jade Ear Joe

1st AD posted:

How do you plan to back up 4TB to the cloud without some huge commercial fiber pipe?

It's doable, but over a lot of time. For all of our print/interactive stuff (about 8 TB worth) we use CrashPlan. Took an entire month to get the first seeding done, but once it's done the file types are so small that daily backups are painless.

That wouldn't be the case for video files though. CrashPlan style backups are gonna be slowwwww and you'll probably never get caught up.


melon cat posted:

I see. I had no idea that RAID isn't a good backup solution. But you mentioned that you've set up a duplicate RAID 5 array- mind if I ask you for more details, on that? And would I be accomplishing the same thing if I set up my new build with the following:
  • 500 GB Solid State Drive for my Windows OS and Adobe software installation, kept separate
  • 2 TB HDD + 2 TD HDD + 2 TD HDD in a RAID 5, for on-site backup
  • Back-up the RAID data off-site (stick with CrashPlan)
I'm just unfamiliar with the whole concept of having a duplicate array. And I'm really distrustful of relying on a single external HDD for on-site backup (which is why I'm looking into a RAID 5 setup), since I've had had WD external hard drives die on me within a 2-3 year span.



So, not to be picky about words, but that 4 TB (usable) RAID 5 isn't your on-site backup. That's actually your work drive. Right now you're missing the on-site backup.
You'll install to the SSD, work from your RAID 5 array and then get a DUPLICATE of that entire RAID array and use that as the backup (it can just be an "equal or larger" external array).
For us, we simply use like a 10 line batch command file that is run by Windows Scheduler every night to backup the files. The command, run the first time, copies all the files over. Then every night it simply checks the work array against the backup array and copies over new or different files and ignores "old or duplicate" files.

edit: then we use LTO 6 for cold storage. Speaking of. We have a nice single drive LTO 6 system because we're a small (30 employee) outfit.

We just shot a commercial for a large university and used their Cray supercomputer room as a set... they had a 3000 bay LTO 6 system setup in there. Jesus H Christ. That thing was huge.

BonoMan fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Jul 20, 2015

Lizard Combatant
Sep 29, 2010

I have some notes.
Hi thread, first post in CC and I was hoping to get a little advice from the goon brains trust. If there is a better thread for this or if its something that's answered a million times, I apologise in advance.

I mostly just edit and do camera work, but I've always loved grading and want to be more self sufficient.
Basically I'm a little confused as to how I should be grading for studio swing output (16-235).

My footage is shot with slog2 on Sony's XAVC codec which I am editing natively in Premiere and grading/etc... in After Effects.
Is it as simple as having an adjustment layer on top that raises the output black levels to 16 and lowers the output whites to 235 and grading the clips underneath? Or is that unnecessary because it's already rec709?

This seems like I'm throwing out a lot of information and googling it is giving me very different advice.

BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli
Oh look the village local is here :v:

XAVC Intra or Long-Gop? Knowing what the hell it was shot in is the first step. You might already be in Rec 709.

Premiere is a bit of a funny beast when it comes to colouspace, firstly it shunts down to 8bit sRGB to speed up playback, so make sure that "composite in max bit depth" is turned on in your sequence settings if you're doing full swing or working with 10bit video.
Have no idea? Drop in a fade to black and if it bands to hell, you're in 8-bit.

Most of the other advice from earlier on is applicable in regards to having a basic setup to grade with; a small control panel with wheels and a blackmagic card that's sending off to a calibrated broadcast monitor - but that costs a good $10,000+

Stuff on a regular monitor just isn't going to cut it as you have no idea what is really being seen.
Computer monitors are set at sRGB, even if you do pick the Rec 709 setting in the display preferences. And then you have your monitor's own settings to contend with.
You pay $40,000 for a good monitor for a reason.

Understand that REC 709 is a limited colour space for broadcast, it's not "correcting" or making log "look normal". RAW, or sRGB has a fuller range so they need to get clamped down for broadcast. XYZ space is a completely different story, don't even touch Log to 709 stuff if you're going to grade XYZ or a DCP.

If you shot it in Rec 709 then you don't need to do anything to swing it into a studio space, it's already there.
At best you might grade to balance out the changes between shots and it should remain within the right IRE ranges. Typically most broadcast shows are shot in 709 so that there's a faster turn around.

From the sound of it you're applying the clipped range of 709 over a 709 converted clip, which isn't going to look nice and will crush the crap out of your levels.
At best you might simply need to apply a broadcast colours effect to an adjustment layer, but only if your ranges are reading illegal on the scopes.

This article does a good job at explaining the workflow in Premiere and goes into more detail that what I said above.

Lizard Combatant
Sep 29, 2010

I have some notes.

WebDog posted:

Oh look the village local is here :v:

XAVC Intra or Long-Gop? Knowing what the hell it was shot in is the first step. You might already be in Rec 709.

Premiere is a bit of a funny beast when it comes to colouspace, firstly it shunts down to 8bit sRGB to speed up playback, so make sure that "composite in max bit depth" is turned on in your sequence settings if you're doing full swing or working with 10bit video.
Have no idea? Drop in a fade to black and if it bands to hell, you're in 8-bit.

If you shot it in Rec 709 then you don't need to do anything to swing it into a studio space, it's already there.
At best you might grade to balance out the changes between shots and it should remain within the right IRE ranges. Typically most broadcast shows are shot in 709 so that there's a faster turn around.

From the sound of it you're applying the clipped range of 709 over a 709 converted clip, which isn't going to look nice and will crush the crap out of your levels.
At best you might simply need to apply a broadcast colours effect to an adjustment layer, but only if your ranges are reading illegal on the scopes.

This article does a good job at explaining the workflow in Premiere and goes into more detail that what I said above.

Ok cool, this confirmed a lot of what I suspected. Forgot to mention it's XAVC-S, so 8-bit and yeah, rec709.
The wolfcrow blog has been really useful but I still wasn't exactly sure how premiere works.

Cheers.

e: "village local"?

ee: ohhhhh, hey neighbour

Lizard Combatant fucked around with this message at 15:46 on Jul 20, 2015

Armagnac
Jun 24, 2005
Le feu de la vie.

WebDog posted:

Oh look the village local is here :v:

XAVC Intra or Long-Gop? Knowing what the hell it was shot in is the first step. You might already be in Rec 709.

Premiere is a bit of a funny beast when it comes to colouspace, firstly it shunts down to 8bit sRGB to speed up playback, so make sure that "composite in max bit depth" is turned on in your sequence settings if you're doing full swing or working with 10bit video.
Have no idea? Drop in a fade to black and if it bands to hell, you're in 8-bit.

Most of the other advice from earlier on is applicable in regards to having a basic setup to grade with; a small control panel with wheels and a blackmagic card that's sending off to a calibrated broadcast monitor - but that costs a good $10,000+

Stuff on a regular monitor just isn't going to cut it as you have no idea what is really being seen.
Computer monitors are set at sRGB, even if you do pick the Rec 709 setting in the display preferences. And then you have your monitor's own settings to contend with.
You pay $40,000 for a good monitor for a reason.

We all wish we had a Dolby, but that's not in the cards for most folk. Flanders Scientific monitors pretty much specialize in entry level solutions that start off pretty good, and you can ship them back for calibration. But you can do it slightly on the cheap, but decent rig, panels, and calibrated external monitor are the minimum.

WebDog posted:

Understand that REC 709 is a limited colour space for broadcast, it's not "correcting" or making log "look normal". RAW, or sRGB has a fuller range so they need to get clamped down for broadcast. XYZ space is a completely different story, don't even touch Log to 709 stuff if you're going to grade XYZ or a DCP.

Actually most indies these days Grade in Rec709, and I recommend staying in Rec709 color space for a whole bunch of reasons. Rec709 will translate into DCI/P3 pretty flawlessly, while the other way around will require what's called a 'trim pass' as you bring it back and make sure your colors all fit in Rec709 for your blu-ray/broadcast deliverables. Everything you watch broadcast on TV is Rec709, so yes, it's technically a 'limited' colorspace but unless you're making Pixar films, chances are you're not going ot find it *that* limiting.

Be *very* careful in Premiere and After Effects, for reasons beyond me they default in 8bpc when that will just cause you headaches with banding and other things in post. If you're serious about grading there's no reason you shouldn't be looking at Resolve anyways.

BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli

Armagnac posted:

Actually most indies these days Grade in Rec709, and I recommend staying in Rec709 color space for a whole bunch of reasons.
Absolutely, just knowing where your product is going (90% of the time it's broadcast or web) and setting your workflow to match is the key.
Just many people make shorts and grab looks off some website and end up in all sorts of strife as they have no idea how colourspaces work.

Also a key note: Quicktime players will always set your gamma to an incorrect curve. It's the bane of every post house.
On that note if you are playing back an exported file make sure you don't have anything like Nvidia's video adjustments turned on - such as dynamic contrast adjustment or color enhancement. :suicide:

Another problem with grading in Premiere or After Effects is that most of the dials are a bit wishy washy.
While the Lumetri Color filter has what you need for basic tweaks, it doesn't have any precise vales outside of the tone sliders - by comparison Resolve has R G B values that you can dial in and use as reference as a wheel can be a bit vague to where its being dragged to.

Getting an FSI AM210 monitor will set you back $1,995.00 and a Blackmagic SDI 4K AU$395, you could even drop that down to a basic Mini Monitor card ($199) if you just want 709 display - but that might be cutting a corner too much.

But with that setup you'd have your edit timeline untouched with Premiere being told to send out to the FSI via the BlackMagic where you see your footage in the correct space and not have to worry about messing around with adjustment layers.

Lizard Combatant
Sep 29, 2010

I have some notes.
All good advice, thanks. I had been looking at a Flanders and I've used Resolve plenty on jobs, but it's a little much for home use right now. That's the worst thing about setting up your home studio, do you spend your money on production or post gear. A new lens is winning at the moment...

Doctor w-rw-rw-
Jun 24, 2008
I may be filming some interviews soon for a friend. Japanese-language, subbed/translated for an english-speaking audience.

1) What can I do to prepare?
2) Are there good resources for me to look into or books to read about this?
3) I have an a7S, Shogun, and tripod. What else do I need? I.e. recorder, lavalier microphone(s) – not sure what I can do about renting lighting here in Tokyo.
4) Specific cuts well-suited to interviews (no idea if this is relevant, see #1 and #2)?
5) Ways to make the interviews smooth, i.e. preparing questions ahead of time (not necessarily something I'd expect an answer for though)

BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli
Here are some Cliff notes about general interview tips - assuming this is a locked off camera where the subject is seated.

1) What can I do to prepare?
What's the context of the interview? Is it a promo or a doco?
Do your homework, who is this person, what have they done, why are they doing it, what can you ask to make me interested in hearing about this person?
What's the message your conveying from this interview?

Do you speak Japanese or will you have a translator on set as well? Interviews across language is going to be tricky so perhaps if you have a very good bilingual speaker with you do some tests of your questions so nothing gets lost in translation.
Also be aware of any cultural considerations or behaviors you mightn't be aware off.

Do you have crew?

2) Are there good resources for me to look into or books to read about this?
"Directing the Documentary" by Michael Rabiger is a good one. Or look online for journalistic techniques which could help with interviewing. There should be a YouTube video about how to setup and stage a basic interview.


3) I have an a7S, Shogun, and tripod. What else do I need? I.e. recorder, lavalier microphone(s) not sure what I can do about renting lighting here in Tokyo.
I've yet to use a Sony AS7 so I suspect like most DSLRs it has a 12minute recording window. Keep that in mind and remember to button on and off - don't be afraid to tell the subject this, but don't pressure them vs the camera.

On one-man shoots I've had my Canon 60D linked into my tablet where I use that as a monitor in my lap allowing me to control focus with touching and button on and off without having to always get up. It also means I can use myself as an eyeline.

Vision
The environment tells more about the person than the actual person so what are they sitting in front of or around?
Place your subject so they are on-axis, that is they are looking oh-so slightly off to the side of the camera, but it's not at something way off into the distance.
If you're stuck behind the camera use something like a post-it note or an assistant as an eyeline.
Given this is in Japanese you could have the person who's doing the asking be the main eyeline.

A typical 3 point lighting is fine, however one old trick is to light the subject brighter than the background then have something like a small snooted spot slash across the background to give it some texture

Sound
Depending on what environment you're shooting in you need at least two microphones, one hooked into your camera and another in an external recorder like an H4 which has a shotgun on it. Mount this too a tripod.
The H4 is recording everything, even without the camera rolling you can often capture little moments you could edit in.
Also have some headphones on hand to hear what is being said. Do a clap after you start rolling to use as a sound synch guide.

A lapel mic is handy, but keep in mind they can pickup clothing rustle or in some cases chest hair. You also have mic them properly, does your subject mind wires being threaded down the front of their shirt?


4) Specific cuts well-suited to interviews (no idea if this is relevant, see #1 and #2)?

Again what's your context?
Single camera interviews are invariably locked in, you don't have two choices to cut across and ellipse time.
Interview cutaways are either a B cam to an alternate angle, such as a wider or different angle or hands or B-roll like an image or supporting video.
If you can adjust your zoom and reframe every two or three questions, or if you see a small gap but this requires you to be deft.

5) Ways to make the interviews smooth, i.e. preparing questions ahead of time (not necessarily something I'd expect an answer for though)
Know what you are asking have questions on hand on a clipboard where you can tick things off or add quick notes to return to.

Don't ask closed questions, so for instance don't ask "what is your favorite color?" when "red" will be a blunt answer.
Always have something like "What does the color red make you feel?" things that go for a deeper answer and prompt some exploration.
Who What Where When Why - The 5W's never fail.

Work your way though a can of PR. An experienced and well done media personality will be good at deflecting questions with a well prepared line, get that out of them and then try and get deeper

Never be afraid to ask the same question twice and prompt them to be either more or less descriptive.

Sometimes you get a good answer from not saying anything when the question is done, people usually think up a better one-liner and go for that.

Be aware of not trying to say too many "mhmm, yes or ahas" during the interview, you will more than likely get caught on mic. Nod and smile when you agree or react if it's a concerning story.

Hope this helps a mite.

Armagnac
Jun 24, 2005
Le feu de la vie.

WebDog posted:

Also a key note: Quicktime players will always set your gamma to an incorrect curve. It's the bane of every post house.
On that note if you are playing back an exported file make sure you don't have anything like Nvidia's video adjustments turned on - such as dynamic contrast adjustment or color enhancement. :suicide:

In compressor, there is a little "Color" Tab under Filters in the inspector: There you can set your output colorspace from "Default for Encoder" to HD (709). Gets rid of 95% of quicktime player incorrectly setting gamma problems. You're Welcome. Unfortunately the setting doesn't exist in Adobe Media Encoder, and it's why I still use compressor, despite media encode being faster & GPU enabled.

WebDog posted:

Getting an FSI AM210 monitor will set you back $1,995.00 and a Blackmagic SDI 4K AU$395, you could even drop that down to a basic Mini Monitor card ($199) if you just want 709 display - but that might be cutting a corner too much.

But with that setup you'd have your edit timeline untouched with Premiere being told to send out to the FSI via the BlackMagic where you see your footage in the correct space and not have to worry about messing around with adjustment layers.

The Mini Monitor should be fine, doesn't do 4k but then, Pro 4k panels are too expensive right now. A note about the FSI AM210, it's an 8bit panel, which is fine for web, but just so you know you'll probably want a 10bit panel down the line. But still, at least you'll know what you're looking at.

BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli
The Quicktime gamma shift is an annoying bugbear. There's some explanation on what is going on here but there doesn't seem to be an easy solution that fits every system.
Each codec and compressing program has it's own delightful quirks.

As for FSI wish-lists, a CM171 $2,495.00 looks pretty reasonable for a 10bit monitor that doesn't cost the end of the earth.

Dillbag
Mar 4, 2007

Click here to join Lem Lee in the Hell Of Being Cut To Pieces
Nap Ghost

WebDog posted:

The Quicktime gamma shift is an annoying bugbear. There's some explanation on what is going on here but there doesn't seem to be an easy solution that fits every system.
Each codec and compressing program has it's own delightful quirks.

We used to fix this in Quicktime by installing a pro app like FCP or Compressor, which would magically make an option in Quicktime Player preferences called "Enable Final Cut Studio Compatibility" visible. It forces QT Player to not use colorsync, but instead read source colors with 2.2. gamma and display them in a color space with 1.8 gamma. However, it looks like installing newer versions of FCPX and Compressor (v.4+) don't make this option appear any more.

Doctor w-rw-rw-
Jun 24, 2008

WebDog posted:

good stuff
Thanks! I'll work my way through this stuff. Both me and my friend are half-Japanese, and he's doing the interview so the language barrier shouldn't be too much of a problem. The a7S has a 30-minute limit for internal recording, but with the Shogun, there's no limit.

No crew, probably mostly just sit-downs with people spliced with some clips of game footage. It's about a Japanese game tournament, the environment the interview(s) will be conducted in will be dark and relatively quiet. More promo than documentary, though, I think.

George Sex - REAL
Dec 1, 2005

Bisssssssexual
I've started editing some larger sized video files in Sony Vegas and I notice that if I want to open up my audio in audacity, pulling from multiple clips on a timeline, it will open up only one file at a time. The thing is, I want to normalize audio across all the files I am working with, usually...

The way I've gotten around this is by editing the video to where I'm ready to render, then rendering the audio separately and then replacing my timeline audio with the newly rendered audio so I could then edit it in audacity as one file. I feel like this is a stupid way of doing things and I must be missing an alternative. Can someone point the way?

Stuff4and5
Jul 16, 2015
Kind of a specific question, I was curious about using noise. Like actual noise you know?

My issue is just that I wanted to use noise on a dark scene in a video, but when it goes to youtube its going to artifact hell. Is there a comfy medium between what I want and what youtube will tolerate?

BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli
Just had an interesting discussion with a fellow editor about this tickbox.



If you're looking for sneaky pitfalls in Premiere, this little box is one of them.
What it does is setup a project so that when you drag a clip to the timeline it will automatically scale to the sequence's frame size.
Handy or annoying depending on your situation.

Unticked (default) a 4K clip will sit unscaled in an HD box and you have to manually set the scale to frame.

However in this case we were dropping 4K down to HD and discovered that if you import any footage with this unticked (as it is by default) it silently tags all footage being imported to not scale when dragged in.

Tick it and only freshly imported footage is affected and gets automatically scaled, any previously imported footage isn't affected and will just come onto the timeline at it's native size.

Fun times!

Twain of Pain
Dec 14, 2006
I don't know if anyone's interested, but I've got a Resolve 11 Dongle for sale on SA-Mart if you want to get into the booming stereoscopic 3D market.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3733947

BonoMan
Feb 20, 2002

Jade Ear Joe

Twain of Pain posted:

I don't know if anyone's interested, but I've got a Resolve 11 Dongle for sale on SA-Mart if you want to get into the booming stereoscopic 3D market.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3733947

And you're positive it can transfer easily? I mean, I have no idea...just want to make sure it's as simple as selling it to whomever you want. We currently use Resolve Lite, but just got an Epic Dragon and our colorist might want to upgrade.

Twain of Pain
Dec 14, 2006
I haven't installed it or anything, but from what I understand you only really need the dongle to get access to the paid stuff. That said it hasn't been registered, so if that's somehow exclusive you'd still have access to it.

1st AD
Dec 3, 2004

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: sometimes passing just isn't an option.
Yeah it just looks for the dongle to activate the license and nothing else.

BonoMan
Feb 20, 2002

Jade Ear Joe
Great, that's what I figured but just wanted to be sure. I should know soon.

Armagnac
Jun 24, 2005
Le feu de la vie.
Yup, confirming Dongle doesn't require any registration or internet connection.

It's a simple usb key that just needs to be there to activate the software. And if it gets bricked or burned out you can get it RMA'd from blackmagic.

Soulex
Apr 1, 2009


Cacati in mano e pigliati a schiaffi!

So, I have no idea why it took me 4 years to know this thread existed, but I'm glad I did.

Background: I'm a broadcaster in the military, usually push out 1 product a week or so. I've used Avid and currently use premiere. I'm always trying to practice with editing so that I get better. Things like editing a picture in photoshop and doing the effect where the item I cut out zooms in while the background remains the same. Nothing crazy, but I have the basics down at least.

Couple of questions:

How the gently caress do I get the stability function to make it look like it's not underwater and waving all over the place? I try to do the same thing I did in Avid by putting the box on a higher contrasted area and a lower contrasted area. Instead of doing the normal thing like a crop pan and zoom, it does this weird underwater poo poo.

Is there is something I can do to make the slow mo function not be choppy and stuff? I've tried slowing down 1080 60i, and blasting 720 60p to a 24p sequence and having the clip read as a 24p but it's still slow and choppy. I am unsure if I'm doing something wrong completely, but it's pissing me off.

I REALLY want to learn AE, just basic stuff but it's super intimidating. Any easy projects anyone can recommend to start on?

Armagnac
Jun 24, 2005
Le feu de la vie.

Soulex posted:

Couple of questions:

How the gently caress do I get the stability function to make it look like it's not underwater and waving all over the place? I try to do the same thing I did in Avid by putting the box on a higher contrasted area and a lower contrasted area. Instead of doing the normal thing like a crop pan and zoom, it does this weird underwater poo poo.

Yeah... Avid vfx aren't top notch. Stability functions can be wierd, but the stock effects in avid aren't good, because it's all based on how good the track is. Resolve, After Effects and to a lesser extent Premiere have better trackers that get better results, but a good stabilization is an art. Also, when you get shake you get motion blur, which the pan tilt zoom rotate controls can't remove. So, that blur that would look normal, looks smeary and 'underwater' when all the footage is artificially stabilized.


Soulex posted:

Is there is something I can do to make the slow mo function not be choppy and stuff? I've tried slowing down 1080 60i, and blasting 720 60p to a 24p sequence and having the clip read as a 24p but it's still slow and choppy. I am unsure if I'm doing something wrong completely, but it's pissing me off.

You're asking your software to literally create frames that didn't exist, that's what slow-mo effects in post are. So, you can just double the frames (Nearest Frame) which will be choppy, you can blend the new frames into each other (Frame Blending), which often looks funny. Or... you can use really complicated algorithms that use motion tracking and estimation (literally rocket science) to create the in-between frames. Twixtor is usually the best, but you can sometimes get decent results from other solutions... but it's rare. It usually looks like crap. If you want slow-mo easiest answer is shoot slow-mo.

So my real answer, is... Shoot it properly. You're running into problems people with years of knowledge still run into.

BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli

quote:

How the gently caress do I get the stability function to make it look like it's not underwater and waving all over the place? I try to do the same thing I did in Avid by putting the box on a higher contrasted area and a lower contrasted area. Instead of doing the normal thing like a crop pan and zoom, it does this weird underwater poo poo.
Here's my "secret settings" for Adobe Premiere's Warp Stabliser filter.

With stabilising, the algorithim is looking for constants across the frame to lock onto and provide accurate tracking data. So a shot where your camera is mounted onto the windshield and you can see the car hood is better than one where it's attached to the front grille as the hood provides a constant frame of reference to scale the footage around.

Stablising rolling road shots rarely work as the program tries to latch onto anything, but there's nothing constant road and powerlines as everything is moving. So it'll try something like that cloud and then try to lock everything onto that while the cloud is slowly moving across.
So the result it looks like the world is being sucked into a netherrealm of jelly.

Beyond that you would have to move into advanced tracking programs like Mocha and manually define what points you want to use as anchors to lock down your frame.

Even if you do all of that you still have to account for motion blur which isn't going to get removed and looks like a sudden smear on the frame.

quote:

Is there is something I can do to make the slow mo function not be choppy and stuff? I've tried slowing down 1080 60i, and blasting 720 60p to a 24p sequence and having the clip read as a 24p but it's still slow and choppy. I am unsure if I'm doing something wrong completely, but it's pissing me off.
There's a few general tricks you can use but the bottom line is"garbage in, garbage out" - you just don't have enough frames at your disposal. 120fps is a starting minimum for shooting slow motion stuff.

The next stage is to use plugins like Twixtor, but that costs a bit of cash. Twixtor basically morphs each frame together to emulate high speed shooting but isn't an simple or fast method.
Nothing will magically recreate these frames the camera didn't capture and for fast moving objects the result will be a warping mess so it's not a magic bullet to shooting things correctly.

quote:

I REALLY want to learn AE, just basic stuff but it's super intimidating. Any easy projects anyone can recommend to start on?
Lynda.com is great for their series of program essentials which are boot camp in just getting familiar with the software without getting lost in doing overly elaborate projects like VideoCopilot.

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Soulex
Apr 1, 2009


Cacati in mano e pigliati a schiaffi!

Thanks for the help everyone.

I get completely what you're saying. The garbage in/out thing is true, and most of the time I'm shooting for work so I won't gently caress around too much with the shutter speed or anything like that. The time I did though, the shutter speed was above 120. I tried both 720 60p and 1080 60i and it still came out to the same thing. Even if I did the whole data switching crap. I reckon I could do more with AE which is kind of why I want to learn it. I do have a copy of twixtor that my friend gave me, but I need to upgrade it to be able to have it work with AE 6. It's only good for AE 5.5 and below. He got his own before his work bought him one essentially.

I guess the big issue is that I'm unsure what exactly I need to be shooting in, or maybe my sequence settings with premiere is what is causing the issues. Like I said, work wise it's fine. Trying to go above and beyond with my own stuff is what I'm hitting the wall with.

re stabilizer: I'll try those settings out. Like I said, I liked Avid's way of stabilizing but can't seem to recreate it to save my life. It was extremely simple, and efficient. It drives me crazy when I know I have to go off tripod sometimes and the OIS won't get all the shakiness out of it. But the whole situation you are talking about the world being sucked into the nether is exactly what it is.



Camera settings right now are 720 60p DVCHDPRO or whatever that extension is. Shutter speed pretty much remains constant around 1/100 or so because there isn't much of a reason to change it for what I do and have to shoot. The more fancy a product needs to be (extremely rare), the more I need to play with it.

Thanks again for the help everyone.

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