RTV 322 Camera use: Shooting to Edit

1. RTV 322 Camera use: Shooting to Edit First work was training What are you now good at? What practice and training do you still need?

2. Project Two Start Training and certification Must learn correct use I cannot resolve your failure to follow directions or read provided instructions Always available to help in advance

3. Project Work You must watch and learn from the camera tutorials available on the course outline. Pass XA 20, now do JVC 150 Be prepared to apply that understanding.

4. Our cameras • JVC HM 150 (SDXC card) • Class 6 or above • Brand matters • Georgia tutorial • Our settings: • SD(DV), QuickTime, 16:9 • Canon XA 20 / 30: • Class 10, SDHC / SDXC • MP4, 24 Mbps, 16:9

5. Either camera • Know the menu • Manual audio • +48v, mic, line • White balance • Manual focus • Shutter speed • Correct lighting

6. The gear • Camera • Camera mounted light • Mic and cable • Mic clip • Tripod • ‘shoe’ / plate & balance indicator • Batteries • Dolly

7. Know how to use • Loading SD card • Adjusting the tripod • Don’t carry the camera loose on the tripod • No hot or cold cars • Not left out in view • Not left unattended

8. Reminder • Your own 16GB or higher SDHC or SDXC memory card, Class 10 • Ability to shoot on either • Format / initialize • Ability to edit on FCP X • Note: You must have shot on SD card to edit on FCP X or Adobe Premiere • We do have good miniDV tape and cameras

9. Reminder • Canon camera replacement cost, $2300 • JVC camera replacement cost, $2300 • Camera battery or light replacement cost, $125 each • Sony mic replacement cost, $200 • Mic clip replacement, $25

10. Other reminders • ‘PA’ room / check out room • Reserve gear before needed for checkout – allow time for check-out and check-in • ONLY an on-duty PA • Reserve your edit station before every needed use • Only your assigned station • NO FOOD OR DRINK

11. Folder structure • Fall 2016 • RTV 322 • YourNamefolder • You create a Project folders as per directions, per project • Never save to the desktop • Settings on FCP BEFORE starting Library, Event, Project location

12. More Camera control • Loading SD card (camera off) • Mounting battery • Plug in and check mics • Power, stand-by, lock settings • AGC, Gain adjustments • ND filter • MF / AF • ‘shutter speed’

13. Lenses • Camera body vs. lens • Zoom or fixed (prime) -- critical focus • LENS CAP! • Optical vs. Digital zoom • Diaphragm / aperture -- f-stops / t-stops / number means what? • Manual vs. autofocus • Sharp focus, Selective focus, follow focus, rack focus, soft focus, swimming focus • Depth of field is affected by focal length, aperture, and the distance of objects from the camera.

14. Aperture • Lens opening – how much light passes through • We define lens speed as the maximum amount of light that can pass through the lens to end up on the target. • ‘the most light’ is not always good

15. F-stops • The specific numerical points throughout the closed to open range: f-stops. • Term often replaced by T-stops for transmission stops, especially in professional circles.

16. F-stops • The smaller the f-stop number the more light the lens transmits. • Common f-stops: 1.4,  2.0,  2.8,  4.0,  5.6,  8,  11,  16,  22this image in the reading...

17. F-stops • Once you understand this f-stop range, you'll know which way to adjust a lens iris to compensate for a picture that is either too light or too dark -- a major issue in video quality. • But don’t use to compensate for bad lighting – match lighting to f-stop (light meter)

18. Depth of Field • Shallow or long • Which do you want? • ‘The distance in a shot in which objects in the foreground and those in the background stay in focus.’

19. Lenses • focal length: the distance from the optical center of the lens to the focal plane (target or "chip") of the video camera when the lens is focused at infinity.

20. ‘Normal’ lens • Still photographers consider a 50mm lens normal with a 35mm still camera, because this is the approximate diagonal distance from one corner of the film to the other. • Otherwise, ‘normal’ recreation of reality within the image • Vs. fish-eye, etc.

21. Zoom Lens • Common, and necessary for video shooting • Not common for film style and film camera shooting • Critical focus a zoom lens • Never use autofocus while shooting, but…

22. Prime Lens • Fixed focal length, not variable • Change out lens for different shots • Prime lenses also come in more specialized forms: • super wide angle • super telephoto • super fast (transmit more light).

23. Camera mounts • Tripod and pedestal • Friction head / Fluid Head • Crane vs. jib • Dolly / track • SteadiCam vs. Handheld • Image stabilization • Robotics, follow me, Segue, ‘copter, cable mount, etc. • Bean bag, other options

24. Video Shooting Tips • http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/shooting_tips/

25. Planning Your Shoot • Team: Think over / make shot list, discuss with crew and make sure you're clear on what shots you need to tell the story. (not us) • If you're on your own, write up a list of shots you need. Write the story beforehand in your head, and list the elements you want to get video of to do that story.

26. Planning Your Shoot • Think about what's going to look good visually, and how your shots are going to come together sequentially. • Try viewing your piece as a skeleton, and you're shooting the flesh for all those bones. • No Rambo shooting

27. Roll Blank Tape Before You Shoot • Before you start shooting, roll your tape for 30 seconds at the beginning of your tape with the lens cap on (or with color bars - see your camera manual for setting your camera to display color bars). • SD card is a different issue – pre-roll and post-roll time of each clip

28. Check Your Audio • Be sure to plug a set of headphones into the camera and check your audio to make sure you're getting an audio feed. • It's easy to forget to plug an audio cord into the camera or to properly set the audio level - and wind up with great video but no audio to accompany it. • Being plugged in doesn’t mean it will record audio

29. Shoot Selectively • Think before you shoot. Be aware of what you're shooting and when recoring is rolling. Don't record unless you're taking a shot. • Don't record when you're changing from one shot to another or focusing. Wait until you have the shot you want before rolling record. • 4-to1-shooting ratio.

30. Shut Up When You Shoot • When you press the record button, shut up already! • When the camera is rolling it picks up all the ambient sound. • Don't talk while the camera is rolling, either to yourself or with other members of your team, and no humming or other noise. • ‘Good nat sound’

31. Hold Your Shots • Hold your shots for at least 15 seconds, before you pan, zoom or go onto another shot. • You can always take a 15-second clip and make it a 2-second clip during editing, but you can't take a 2-second clip and make it into a 15-second clip.

32. Excessive Panning and Zooming • Don't constantly pan from side to side or zoom in and out with the camera - hold your shots and look for the one moment that's really captivating. • Instead start with a static shot, and hold it for 15 seconds. • ‘Let the action move in front of the camera’

33. Shoot in Sequences • To capture a person arriving at work in the morning on her bicycle -- that's one sequence. • It could be made up of the following shots: the person pulling up to the building, getting off the bicycle, chaining the bicycle to the bicycle stand, taking off gloves, taking off her helmet … (cont.)

34. Shoot in Sequences • …tucking gloves into the helmet, and walking into the building. Every little detail is important. You can't shoot enough details. • A good ratio to shoot for (literally) is 50 percent close-ups and extreme close-ups, 25 percent medium shots, and 25 percent or less wide shots.

35. Repeat that • 50 percent close-ups and extreme close-ups, 25 percent medium shots, and 25 percent or less wide shots. • NEVER put two wide shots together back to back when editing • Cut from ‘master shot’ to cut-in (insert) shot – ‘coverage’

36. Framing and Composing Your Shots

37. Headroom and Noseroom • One approach is the rule of thirds: • one third of the frame should be above the person's eyes • one third of the frame should be the person's face and shoulder area • one third of the frame should be the person's lower torso.

38. Depth of Field

39. Change Angles and Perspectives • Don't shoot everything from eye level - it's boring.

40. Get People in Your Scenes • ‘Don’t just shoot the water at Niagara Falls’

41. Tripods for Steady Shots

42. Anticipate Action

43. Interviews • Have the person you're interviewing to look at you, not at the camera. (objective POV) • Avoid a straight-on shot - shoot the person from a slight angle to the left or right.

44. Microphones • Use hand-held (stick ) mic only when in a live interview situation (so, never for what we do) • With a lav mic, you'll need to "dress the mic" - properly attach it to the person you're interviewing • Ask the person to run the cord to the lav mic up the inside of their shirt (so the wire won't show in your video).

45. Avoid High Contrast in Lighting Situations • For example, don't place an interview subject against a bright window or white wall or with sunlight behind the person. • It's usually best to shoot with the sun to your back, into subject’s face. • Also – dark skin, white shirt / contrast ratio

46. Photography • …is what we are doing. • …is the art of capturing and controlling light.

47. Check White Balance • Has to do with differences in color caused by the relative level of reds and blues in light and how a video  camera compensates for these differences in color. • MUST white balance every time lighting conditions change. • Must set for dominant light source.

48. Manual Exposure • The auto exposure on digital video cameras is generally very good at setting the correct lighting. • Professionals always set the correct light and manually set the camera for that light. • Best practice: professionals use a light meter

49. Get All the Shots You Need • Visual storytelling • ‘See it, say it’ / ‘shoot to the pictures’ • ‘Pictures’ as jargon means video • Interviews / people on camera / main subject of shot (A-roll) • Footage that supports main content (b-roll)

50. Bottom Line • Effort to understand, make notes about, research further – do whatg it takes to do what instructions tell you to do • Less work to do it right than to deal with mistakes from lack of effort • See Engrade comments later today or tomorrow