So many times I speak about the HV20/30’s video abilities, but its still imaging capabilities are possibly even better. The HV series are better digicams than any consumer snapshot digicam. You see, HV’s lens is a ‘faster’ one and of higher grade/sharper than the one used in most digicams, it has a huge aperture compared to most digicams’, plus its 10x zoom is equivalent to 16mm film in terms of background blur. In other words, the HV’s still imaging capabilities are somewhere in between a DSLR and a snapshot camera. The only thing missing is resolution (3.1 MP). The new Canon HF-S10/S100 camcorders ($1100) are over 8 MP, so if you are into a single device that does both photo+video well, these might be the models for you.

Here are some good HV20/30 pics. Click in to go and see their higher resolution version.

Click the link below to view more cool pics!
Read the rest of this entry »

My God! You have to watch the following web series!

This is the first episode of the science fiction “condition:human” series, created with zero budget, using a consumer Canon HV30 camera, and a lot of green screen. This is the most involved and most important piece of work ever created with these HV cameras!

You can also download the MP4 file to watch locally, or on your HDTV via AppleTV/XBoX360/PS3, here.

A few days ago I updated my most ‘liked’ video on Vimeo, “Drifters of the deep”. It has an updated cut and color grading, with better visual quality. HD version and download here.

The following tutorial shows you the best way to get as smooth slow motion video out of your footage. It’s a bit involved, but it’s worth it if the slow motion scenes of your videos are central to what you are trying to show (e.g. skateboarding slow-mo). This method uses the bob+weave de-interlacing algorithm that makes 50i or 60i interlacing streams to become 50p or 60p (progressive), before we slow them down. This way, the slow-motion algorithms have more frames to work with, therefore creating a smoother slow-mo effect similar to what some get from expensive high-frame rate cameras. Here’s how this 60p method looks like, compared to the default slo-mo methods of Sony Vegas:

Sony Vegas can do this too, but it requires a train of thought that most users don’t know about. So, if you want to use the more complicated but video editor-agnostic AviSynth/VirtualDub method, use the one directly below. If you want to use the easier Sony Vegas-only method, go to the bottom of the article.

Preparation (needed for both methods)

1. For footage that you know you want to slow-mo later, record at the highest frame rate that your camera is capable of (e.g. 50i or 60i for most camcorders), and at high shutter speed. Anything between ~1/300th to 1/1000th is good. If your camera does not have shutter speed manual control, then you are using the wrong tool for the job.

Method 1: Software setup (needs to be done only once)

1. Install the stable 2.5.7 version of the AVISynth application. Follow the default options during installation. Once it’s installed, you can safely delete its downloaded installation file.

2. Download the DGIndex application. Unzip that downloaded .zip file, select all files and folders in it, and drag-n-drop them on C:\Tools\DGIndex\ (create the folders if they don’t exist). From within that last folder, copy the file called “DGDecode.dll” and paste it on the C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\ folder (make sure you do a “copy” and not a “move”). You can delete that downloaded .zip file now.

3. Download and unzip the MPASource plugin. Inside that zipped folder, you will find a file called mpasource.dll. Drag-n-drop that .dll file on the C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\ folder. You can safely delete that downloaded .zip file now.

4. Download the Lagarith lossless codec. Unzip that downloaded .zip file, and drag-n-drop on your desktop the two files that their names are starting with the word “lagarith” (these are: lagarith.inf and lagarith.dll). Right-click on the file that’s called either plainly “lagarith” or “lagarith.inf”. From that right-click menu select “Install”. After about 10 seconds, the Lagarith codec will be installed. You can safely delete the two lagarith files from your Desktop, and their downloaded .zip file.

5. Download VirtualDub from here. Unzip that downloaded .zip file, select all files and folders in it, and drag-n-drop them on C:\Tools\VirtualDub\ (create that folder if it doesn’t exist). You can delete that downloaded .zip file now.

6. Download the Smooth Deinterlace plugin for VirtualDub. Unzip that downloaded .zip file, select all files and folders in it, and drag-n-drop them on C:\Tools\VirtualDub\plugins\ folder. You can delete that downloaded .zip file now.

7. In a text editor, type the following (just copy/paste it from below). Then save the above script file on C:\Tools\ with the name “avisynth.avs” (make sure its suffix is .avs and not .txt).
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\DGDecode.dll")
MPEG2Source("F:\Tools\Videos\XXXXX.d2v")
ConvertToRGB(matrix="rec709")
SeparateFields()

Method 1: Procedure

1. Double-click to load the C:\Tools\DGIndex\DGIndex.exe file. Select “File”, “Open”, change the “Files of type” to “All Files”, select the .M2T HDV file you want to open, and press “Open”. Click “Ok”. If a “Warning! Opening GOP is not closed” error message appears, ignore it. Then click “Video”, then “YUV->RGB”, and then “TV Scale”. Then, press “File”, “Save Project”, and save this .d2v file on C:\Tools\Videos\ (create the folder if it doesn’t exist). When the dialog says “FINISH” you can close down DGIndex.

2. Load the C:\Tools\avisynth.avs file with a text editor, and replace the XXXXX word with the file name of the d2v file that DGIndex produced above in the C:\Tools\Videos\ folder. Each time you work on a different video file you need to manually replace the filename inside this avisynth script file. Save the file.

3. Double-click to load the C:\Tools\VirtualDub\VirtualDub.exe file. Then click “File”, “Open video file”, and load the C:\Tools\avisynth.avs file. Click “Video”, then “Frame rate”, and make sure that it reads “59.940 fps” for your NTSC footage (or 50 fps if you are on PAL). Click “Cancel” to discard that dialog. Click “Video” again, and then “Filters”, then “Add…”. From the list, select the “deinterlace – smooth v1.1″ option, and click “Ok”. Click “Ok” in the new dialog to load the plugin, and then “ok” again to discard the Filters dialog. Now, click “Video” again, and then click “Compression”. From the long list, select the “Lagarith lossless codec” and then click “Configure”. Select “Use Multithreading” if you are using a somewhat modern PC, and then select either the “RGB (Default)” mode or the “YUY2″ mode. The RGB one has a tiny bit better quality, but it creates 2-3 times the filesize. We are talking about GBs per minute here, so you need to make sure you have a lot of free hard drive space! Click “Ok”, then “Ok” again.

4. If you want to slow-mo only parts of your .m2t HDV file, then you can set “start” and “end” points on VirtualDub. Move the slider in the VirtualDub timeline on where you want the starting point to be, and then click “Edit” and “Set selection start”. Then move the slider to the finishing point, and then select “Edit” and “Set selection end”. This is now marked with a blue-ish color, and if you attempt to render out, it will only render that part of your video. If you want to render out the whole thing, just go directly to the rendering part: select “File”, “Save as avi”, give it a filename of your choosing, and save on a folder that it’s easy to find back. After a while, you will be having a big .avi file. You can now safely close down VirtualDub.

5. Load Sony Vegas. On Vegas, it’s very important to have the right project settings before you start editing. From the File or Project menu select “Project Properties”, and a new dialog will pop up. In there, click the right outmost icon called “Match Media”, the one that looks like a yellow folder. From there, select the .avi file produced on step 3, and click “open”. Vegas will now automatically fill up most of the project settings for you, after analyzing the video file you picked. You will notice that the frame rate is reading either 59.940 (NTSC) or 50.000 (PAL), and it’s progressive! Finally, do a few changes manually to that dialog: For the de-interlacing option select “interpolate”, and for the Quality option select “Best”. You can save a new template with these settings (e.g. name it “slow-motion”), so each time you start a new project with the same kind of footage, you can just pick it from the list! So, after your project settings are set, click “Ok”.

6. Now bring that huge .avi file on the Vegas timeline. Slow-motion it the way you want to (there are three ways to do slow-mo on Vegas, pick any — and if you don’t know what I am talking about, read its help files). When you have it slow-mo in the timeline, right click on the clip, click “Switches”, and then “Disable resample”. Now it’s ready to render it out. Select “Project” or “File”, and then click on “Render As”. Select the “Video for Windows (avi)” in the “Save as type” option, and then click “Custom”. In the new dialog that poped up, select “Best” for “Video rendering quality”. In the second tab named “Video”, select the following options: 1440×1080 frame size, 29.970 (NTSC) or 25 (PAL) or 23.976 (film) frame rate (export at the same frame rate as your main project this clip will be incorporated into), “None (progressive scan)” field order, 1.3333 aspect ratio, and then select either the Cineform or the Lagarith option from the “video format” menu (any will do, although Cineform is faster and smaller). Then click “ok” to close this dialog window. Finally, give a filename to your “Render As” dialog (e.g. slowmotion.avi), and click “Save” to save it in a folder that you can easily find back. After a while, the video will be ready.

7. Now, bring that slow motion avi file to your main Sony Vegas project! If Vegas doesn’t recognize the file as progressive (some Cineform files are not recognized as such), then right click on the clip in the Media Bin (before is dropped in the timeline), and click “Properties”, and set its progressiveness in that dialog. Just make sure your main project is also correctly setup in the Vegas’ “Project Properties” dialog (your exported avi file above should have been exported at the same frame rate as your main project). Now, edit as you please and enjoy!

Method 1: Important Notes

1. If you are using AVCHD instead of HDV footage, you must buy CoreAVC’s Professional Edition decoder ($15). Install it, register it with the system, and then load its “Preferences” dialog, and disable de-interlacing (select “None”), and also disable “Aggressive de-interlacing” in there. Then, omit the first step about DGIndex in the procedure, and use this avisynth script instead:
DirectShowSource("C:\Tools\Videos\XXXXX.m2ts")
ConvertToRGB(matrix="rec709")
ComplementParity()
SeparateFields()
Replace the XXXXX.m2ts with the .m2ts or .mts filename you want processed. If your footage appears to be jumpy, remove the ComplementParity() line and retry. On step 5, you might want to be careful about the frame size you export (it might be 1440×1080 with aspect ratio 1.3333, or 1920×1080 with aspect ratio 1.000 — use the same size as Vegas auto-configured in the Project Properties dialog earlier). Every other step is the same as in my tutorial. BTW, I do suggest you buy CoreAVC Pro and not use the freeware AVCHD decoders, because they crap out the frame rate decoding, and so it becomes impossible to get good 60p out of them. CoreAVC Pro is cheap, and it’s worth every dime.

2. If you are using plain miniDV (DV AVI) footage, use this avisynth script instead:
AviSource("C:\Tools\Videos\XXXXX.avi")
ComplementParity()
SeparateFields()
Again, replace the XXXXX.avi with the right .avi filename of your video. If your footage appears to be jumpy, remove the ComplementParity() line and retry. Pay attention to the frame rate, resolution and aspect ratio you need to use & export from Vegas, depending if you are using NTSC or PAL, and if it’s widescreen or not. For widescreen miniDV footage you might need to manually set the right aspect ratio in the clip’s properties the first time you import it on Vegas (before you drop it in the timeline).

3. Audio is not included in the procedure described above. Not much of a point most of the times, but if you need it, use the following .avs script instead. You will have two XXXXX filenames to replace in that .avs file each time (one for the .d2v and one for the .mpa). Also, sometimes DGIndex craps out on the m2t files, and it creates shorter waveforms compared to the video, so this introduces an audio/video synch problem.
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\DGDecode.dll")
video=MPEG2Source("F:\Tools\Videos\XXXXX.d2v")
audio=mpasource("F:\Tools\Tools\Videos\XXXXX.mpa")
AudioDub(video,audio)
ConvertToRGB(matrix="rec709")
SeparateFields()

4. Sony Vegas is not required to follow the tutorial. Any video editor that allows you to disable resampling (aka motion estimation/compensation), and let’s you define a progressive 50p or 60p timeline, it’s fair game. Such editors include Premiere, After Effects, FCP etc. iMovie, Ulead and most other basic editors that don’t let you define less popular frame rates won’t do though.

5. If you are using a 64bit variant of Windows, then you need to replace all instances of “C:\Program Files\” in the tutorial to become “C:\Program Files (x86)\”.

Method 2: Sony Vegas-only way

1. Load Sony Vegas. On Vegas, it’s very important to have the right project settings before you start editing. From the File or Project menu select “Project Properties”, and a new dialog will pop up. In there, click the right outmost icon called “Match Media”, the one that looks like a yellow folder. From there, select the video file you want to slow-motion, and click “open”. Vegas will now automatically fill up most of the project settings for you, after analyzing the video file you picked. Now, you need to do a few changes manually to that dialog: For the de-interlacing option select “interpolate”, and for the Quality option select “Best”. For frame rate use 59.940 for NTSC videos, or 50.000 for PAL videos. Then, change the field order to “none (progressive)”. You can save a new template with these settings (e.g. name it “slow-motion”), so each time you start a new project that’s destined to become slow motion, you can just pick it from the list! So, after your project settings are set, click “Ok”.

2. Load your file in the Vegas timeline. Make sure that resampling is set to “smart resampling” (in the clip’s properties dialog). Now it’s ready to render it out. Select “Project” or “File”, and then click on “Render As”. Select the “Video for Windows (avi)” in the “Save as type” option, and then click “Custom”. In the new dialog that poped up, select “Best” for “Video rendering quality”. In the second tab named “Video”, select the following options: 1440×1080 or 1920×1080 frame size (same as what Vegas used in your project properties dialog), 59.940 (NTSC) or 50 (PAL) frame rate, “None (progressive scan)” field order, 1.3333 or 1.000 aspect ratio (same as your project properties), and then select either the Cineform or the Lagarith codec option from the “video format” menu (any will do, although Cineform is faster and smaller — Lagarith’s installation procedure is detailed in method 1 above). Then click “ok” to close this dialog window. Finally, give a filename to your “Render As” dialog (e.g. slowmotion1.avi), and click “Save” to save it in a folder that you can easily find back.

3. Create a new project on Vegas. Use again the “Match Media” function on Vegas’ Project Properties dialog, and select the new slowmotion1.avi file. Make sure field order is still “none (progressive)” and frame rate of NTSC 59.940 fps or PAL 50 fps (or just use the “slowmotion preset that you might have created in step 1). If Vegas doesn’t recognize the file as progressive (some Cineform files are not recognized as such), then right click on the clip in the Media Bin (before is dropped in the timeline), and click “Properties”, and set its progressiveness in that dialog. Then, drop the slowmotion1.avi in the timeline. Slow-motion it the way you want to. Then, right click on the clip, click “Switches”, and then “Disable resample”. Now it’s ready to render it out. Select “Project” or “File”, and then click on “Render As”. Select the “Video for Windows (avi)” in the “Save as type” option, and then click “Custom”. In the new dialog that popped up, select “Best” for “Video rendering quality”. In the second tab named “Video”, select the following options: 1440×1080 or 1920×1080 frame size (same as what Vegas used in your project properties dialog), 29.970 (NTSC) or 25 (PAL) or 23.976 (film) frame rate (export at the same frame rate as your main project this clip will be incorporated into), “None (progressive scan)” field order, 1.3333 or 1.000 aspect ratio (same as your project properties), and then select either the Cineform or the freeware Lagarith option from the “video format” menu (any of the two will do, although Cineform is faster and smaller — Lagarith’s installation procedure is detailed in method 1 above). Then click “ok” to close this dialog window. Finally, give a filename to your “Render As” dialog (e.g. slowmotion2.avi), and click “Save” to save it in a folder that you can easily find back. After a while, the video will be ready.

4. Now, bring that new slowmotion2.avi file to your main Sony Vegas project! If Vegas doesn’t recognize the file as progressive (some Cineform files are not recognized as such), then right click on the clip in the Media Bin (before is dropped in the timeline), and click “Properties”, and set its progressiveness in that dialog. Just make sure your main project is also correctly setup in the Vegas’ “Project Properties” dialog (your exported avi file above should have been exported at the same frame rate as your main project). Also, in the final edit prefer “interpolation” as the de-interlacing algorithm, and don’t forget to disable resampling on all clips in the timeline. Now, edit as you please and enjoy!

Method 2: Important Notes

1. To use the Vegas method with miniDV footage, you need to change all resolutions and aspect ratios mentioned in the tutorial to mirror your camera’s format. E.g. MiniDV NTSC Widescreen would be 720×480 with aspect ratio 1.2121. For the rest of the combinations Vegas has the info you need if you look hard enough.

A video from our yesterday’s visit to Santa Cruz’s Beach Boardwalk. Unfortunately, no tripods were allowed, so all shots are either handheld or with the camera sitting on top of a trash can. HD version and download here.

I completely re-cut and re-graded the music video of “You’ve Gotta Want It” by Dolorata. The original was too dark, boring, and cheesy. For the amount of footage I had (just 40 minutes of tape), I think I did a better job this time, as I used pans & crops to hide the fact that I don’t have nearly enough footage for a proper music video. HD version and download here.

To compare, the original cut is still available on youtube at Dolorata’s channel. It’s amazing that it got over 30,000 views overall though! I wish I had the current cut available from Day 1.

Update: And as I was writing all that, I burned our dinner tonight in the stove.

The trailers of two feature films both shot with the RED One camera: “Che“, and “Knowing“. Che feels more like a documentary, while Knowing feels more like a real Hollywood movie. It’s good to see digital taking over film cameras little by little.

Interestingly, viewing these films, they don’t always have very shallow depth of field — certainly not as much as 35mm adapters attached to cheap-ass consumer camcorders have. They feel much more natural, and yet, they still don’t look like home video. That’s because the composition of the scene, the lighting, dynamic range, and grading, are more important than just a shallow DoF scene. Another thing that bugs me with 35mm adapter footage on places like Vimeo, is the fact that 95% of them are just tests. Test this, test that. No footage of value to speak of. So why buy them then?

Van Blumreich is one of my favorite indie directors. His “Imprint” short story was amazing and could easily expand in a full featured movie. His music videos are an example of inventive camera work and ideas too. This week Van will release another short movie, named “Fury“, so it’s a good timing to grab a Q&A with him.

1. Tell us about Fury. How did the idea came to be? How long is the film?

Fury is a coming-of-age story about morality and adolescence. It focuses on the relationship between two friends, Scott and Danny, who are faced with a difficult decision after hitting a homeless man while driving under the influence. The idea came from a CNN article I read about teen sport killing that really shocked me. I wondered, “What could cause these suburban kids to lash out so violently”? I thought it would be a provocative issue to explore. That article, along with the John Knowles novel “A Separate Peace” were the starting points of inspiration. I really wanted to tell a story that reflected the confused morality that is seemingly rampant among kids today.

The film runs about 25 minutes.

2. Why the RED instead of an EX1 or DVX with an adapter? Did you buy the RED camera or rent it?

Ever since the RED came out, I really wanted to get my hands on it. Just the latitude on the camera is astounding, and the ability to shoot in 4K attracted me in case of a film-out later on. It’s a little out of my price range at the moment, so I rented from Rick Darge, a RED camera operator I met on the DVXUser forums. He liked my previous short film (Imprint) and so I flew him down to work on Fury. We became good friends and worked well together on set.

3. What are your thoughts on the new RED announcements? What cameras do you own/play with?

I’m definitely interested in the new Scarlet camera. I’m curious to see how it performs. I think what the RED guys are doing is very cool, breaking down their cameras and offering components so that you aren’t left with an obsolete camera down the line.

I own a Pansonic HVX200 and a Redrock Micro 35mm Adapter. It’s been a very trustworthy camera. I’d really like to upgrade to the Panasonic HPX170 down the road. It handles noise better and includes a built-in Waveform Monitor and Vectorscope.

4. I am sure you heard about the success of the HV20 and HV30 in the amateur artistic videography scene. What do you think about these sub-$1000 cameras?

I think they are great. They really allow people to create great looking content at an affordable price. I think if the final product is just going to be showcased on the web, these cameras can do amazing things. It’s when you want to blow it up to film or project it on a screen that I think the illusion wears off. But still, I think they are great cameras to learn on but definitely have limitations.

5. You’ve done both, so how different is artistically a music video to a short movie?

They are similar in some regards, but I feel that the processes differ in that music videos are more focused on what’s happening externally and films are focused more on what’s happening internally. With music videos, you convey feelings and emotions more through the images, colors, and music. With film, I think the feelings and emotions are more causal, coming more from the relationships between people. I think it’s important to understand this difference, because a lot of music video directors go on to direct films and end up with movies that are great to look at but missing that internal focus.

6. Did you have to secure locations, get permits for Fury? Or was it easier than that?

We secured almost all locations for Fury. I learned from experience that unsecured locations can be a huge headache, especially when they try to shut you down in the middle of shooting. We had a security guard call the cops on us before and I had to plead with him to let us go. So this time around, I worked with the Houston Film Commission and contacted all the right people concerning permits and such. It is sort of a time-consuming process, but saves you from getting trouble. But I still find the philosophy of “it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission” very true in some cases.

7. What do you think of using Creative Commons Attribution licensed music for your films?

I think it’s a nice affordable option, but I personally like collaborating with someone who can create original music for my work. But if a particular piece was perfect for my film, then I might consider using it.

8. I read that you helped out NBC during the Olympics, in China. What was your experience?

It was an unbelievable experience. I studied abroad in Beijing and was dying to go back for the Olympics. Luckily, the universe conspired in helping me get there. I assisted with the NBC Today Show. It’s kind of hard to describe in words, the whole experience, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. I made some good contacts from it, and plan to go back soon and do some narrative work.

Thanks Van!

Digital Juice has some very good tutorials on its site about how to shoot and edit properly. There are a number of new things I learned by watching their videos, and the most recent one is “record 1 minute of ambient noise before you start shooting in a location”. Their video tutorials are highly recommended, and they offer MP4 downloadable versions too. To save you time, out of about 200 videos, I have put together for you the most practical & important ones — in my opinion.

Lighting Setup

- Lighting tips, also available in text form.
- Lighting Backgrounds
- Shadow lighting

Audio Recording

- Sound Advice
- Getting rid of the 60Hz hum
- Preventing Plosives

Video Shooting

- Creative Camerawork
- DoF & focusing
- Framing
- White Balance
- Shooting interviews
- The warehouse
- Shooting to edit
- Steady shooting
- Green screen shooting

Video Editing

- Continuity cutting
- Color correction
- On transitions
- The Cut
- Deleting scenes
- Time effects
- Compositing intro
- Compositing, Advanced
- Green screen editing

Audio Editing

- How to select music score
- Cleaning up audio
- Fixing bad audio
- Dubbing bad audio
- Audio effects

For those who would like to embark into filmmaking territories, I would suggest you take a look at the “Pi” movie by Darren Aronofsky (trailer). The movie has a film school cutting and camera movement style, it was cheap ass, and yet, it has a very high rating on IMDb, because it has a great story. This movie is the definition of story telling.

Pi was shot in Super16 ten years ago, it has virtually no shallow DOF, it is extremely grainy, it’s black & white, and it generally looks like ass on first look. But the story takes you away and all that weird look add to the weird world the hero lives in.

Update: Aronofsky’s new movie, “The Wrestler” that comes out in a few days (trailer), was also shot in 16mm and has no shallow DOF to speak of either.