musicvideos in DV?

[thomase]

I know some of you are also shooting musicvideos... I might get the chance to shoot something for a band, but so far I've only worked with DV. Is this format usable for musicvideos? I am NOT talking about BIG names here, so it will prolly be a small budget. I know some people who could help me out with betacam, but I work in FCE, which would mean I'd have to uprgrade. Besides, the videos I've seen which were shot in betacam mostly looked rather crappy...

[karl]

The DV format should be good enough, it's the quality and the price of the camera that will matter most i think...

[thomase]

then that should be alright, I have the choice of at least two 3ccd cams...
anything else to watch out for?

[karl]

yeah lighting, lighting, lighting! lighting makes all the difference between homemade pr0n and proffesional... eh.. pr0n... (not that i know anything about that)

[thomase]

yeah, I thought so. lighting is prolly gonna be a little problem since I don't know much about it... are there any "rules" one can go by?

[karl]

sadly i dont know anything else than to put a lot of light into the faces if they're ugly. everybody looks somewhat good when they got 30000 lumens in their face...

[seex]

"rules"

There are a lot of rules, i sugest you take a DIY photo of video book with instructons and illustrations in the library. See what you like and decide what you dont want to do, that shuld leave you with only a few ideas or possibly if you are good enough with only one. Continuity is the issue here, try to have a similar light in all the scenes you shoot.

And this rule is my favorite: In nature we only have one source of light (the sun), follow this logic when you light the sceen, have ONE light that is the main and strongest, all the rest suld only fill in, never have two identical light sources placed opposite each other (like in the cheap spanish soap operas), you can get two shadows from only one nose...

[vjrei]

Originally posted by karl
yeah lighting, lighting, lighting! lighting makes all the difference between homemade pr0n and proffesional... eh.. pr0n... (not that i know anything about that)

I second that big time.

Thomase, to give you an example...

I have this very small 2 mega pixel camera and with good light conditions the pictures are perfect.

Now,one big difference basically between pro and amateur cameras is lighting. Cheap cameras start to look grainy under low lights conditions, they have just one chip to process all the colors.

The 3CCD cameras can handle better more shades of grays and can absorb more from each color (red, green and blue) because they have one chip for each color and that give you a better color depth.

On the other hand each camera has its own texture and DV cameras are good as well for that. Try the Panasonic 24F.

Now, you can manipulate the texture in the editing with Final Cut Pro or After Effects but you need the footage to be really good and that mean, good lighting and specially WHITE BALANCE.

[thomase]

I have a pretty old panasonic DV-cam and could borrow a Sony as well. They're both 3ccd, so the camera seems to be settled. The panasonic is good with very little light. When I asked about rules I was mainly thinking of positioning and things...

[seex]

dont worry about the camera to much, you can trust Sony or Panasonic as to what they put together. You shuld prepaire yourself in terms of what and how, make a script, draw ilustrations for the stroy board (like a comic book). The light shuld enhance the story, is it scarry or the opposite, think of abstracts that can explain wht you want to express.

You didnt mention a few factors that also detrmine the qality of the image, styling (what will they wear) makeup and hair also play an important part in determing the right image. what about your location, does it offer enough intersting angels to shoot the whole spot or will you shoot on many different locations, if so what is the story here...

Eqipement is important, but today most of the things you need are close at hand, so thats not No1 problem.

[visualove]

All the suggestions so far are good 3-chip, do a white balance etc. We have a lot of great knowledge on VJF!

Some other things to consider..

Film lighting generally has a key light - the main one at 15-45 degree angle from the camera, fill light at 90 degrees from the key and dimmer, and a back light.

The key defines the facial features, the fill reduces the shadows for the side of the face away from the key and the backlight defines the hair by lighting it from behind. Sometimes an eye light is added for a glint in the pupil and to reduce shadows in the eye sockets.

There are all kinds of lighting diffusers in use now - there is a difference between the hard, specular light of the bulb and lens and passing it through a silk or flag. Research using a "softbox" on your key and fill or the flourescent bulb based lights like Kinoflo.

Use all daylight or all tungsten balanced sources - all the same color temperature.

Think carefully about the gamma curve settings on your camera if they are adjustable. Many videos and TV are still shot on film and the gamma curve of film and the default gamma curve settings in video cameras are different. That's why some video looks harsh or cold. Hey if you are looking for that look, then ignore this.

Have available a CRT field monitor on set to check your setup and review your footage. It is important to calibrate the monitor - so use something like the Sony 8045 with SMPTE color bars and do the setup process. (There may be an EBU equivalent, you can follow that too) An LCD monitor or the viewfinder is not accurate and will mess you up. On the monitor be sure you have the details in the dark areas you want and that the bright areas also have detail. If you don't do all these things you will spend hours to correct them later if they can be corrected at all!

Take a look at the camera moves in videos you like. If the shot is fixed, use a tripod, if you have camera moves, practice doing them smoothly, maybe use a Steadycam type system or a track. NO shakycam!

Have fun!

[thomase]

wow! thanx for all the tips and tricks! I realise how little I know. I haven|t thought about setting and script so far, I just don|t want to look like a total amateur when it comes to shooting. Usually I come up with some good ideas when I need to, so I don't worry about the creative part too much yet...