315CR / Lecture 4 How to make no-budget video look like a million dollars Or

1. 315CR / Lecture 4 How to make no-budget video look like a million dollars Or Effective techniques for enhancing the data quality of video stream content in a non-linear editing environment

2. Planning • Start with a good strong idea • Be imaginative in your choice of locations • Pre-visit locations to identify shots, angles and potential problems

3. Topics • Colour correction / de-interlacing video • Video formats (Widescreen, HD, etc) • Codecs and compression • Lighting • Shooting tips • Camera movement / dollys / tracking • Sound • Noise removal • Adding film looks / grain • Titling and typography • Compositing / special effects

4. Shooting Tips • Use good lighting • Take multiple shots • Make a list of all the shots you need to take • Use a good background/location – It helps to tell a story without explanation • Keep unneeded things out of the frame. e.g. You don’t need a lot of people in frame, unless you want them to blend in. • Keep the subject/actor/whoever off centre

5. Shooting Tips 1. Keep Your Camera Ready - you have a better chance of capturing those special moments 2. Hold Your Camera Steady - Pressing the shutter release smoothly and gradually and using a brace as a steady-rest will reduce body movement. 3. Use A Simple Background - A simple background focuses attention on the subject. 4. Place The Subject Off-Center - Usually, make the composition more dynamic and interesting to the eye. 

6. 6.Look For Good Lighting - Good lighting can make the image more interesting. 7. Keep People Busy - To avoid stiff, static poses, prompt your subjects to be active. Their expressions will be more relaxed and natural. 8. Use of lighting - shadows, up-lighting, fog, night-time, the bright-lights of the city…. 5. Include Foreground In Scenics - add a sense of distance, depth, and dimension.

7. LIGHTING Chris Stanton • Three Point Lighting: With a three-point lighting setup, you usually can't go wrong. It is the very basic of lighting setups which will give your images added depth and prevent that all dreaded grain from creeping into your movie. • Key light (main): Acts as main light source, similar to natural light/sun light. • Fill light: makes shadow edges softer, origin near camera, affects the scenes light contast. • Back light: Hard light, used for modelling to make 2d photo look 3D. used for highlights. http://www.stormforcepictures.com/theshoot-basicsoffilmlighting.php

8. BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN FILM AND VIDEO (1/2)a.k.a How to make my cheap DV cam footage look like 35mmKrystl Gill / Andy Abgottspon 1. Use lighting creatively: - can create mood if used effectively - one of the major things cinema-goers subconsciously look at when watching a film - poorly lit projects indicate work by amateurs 2. Use movie-like moves: - do not use the zoom button during a shot - learn how to pan and track shots - little touches make the difference 3. Learn camcorder settings: - exposure, controls the amount of light getting into the camcorder - focus, more important regarding what you focus on - white balance, an image control which helps your camera decide what colour white is

9. BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN FILM AND VIDEO (2/2)a.k.a How to make my cheap DV cam footage look like 35mmKrystl Gill / Andy Abgottspon 4. Don't use the camcorders "digital effects":    - You can't change it later :-(    - The only transitions you'll ever tend to find in most movies is either a fade or a cross-dissolve  5. Shoot using a PAL camcorder:    - People are subconsciously used to 24 FPS which are used in "real" films    - PAL is 25 FPS, so it's the closest you can get (NTSC is 30) 6. Use Film-Look Software like   - Cinelook   - Magic Bullet   - Video grain filter in Sony Vegas

10. Video Codecs Johanna Armani • A video codec is a software that enables video compression and decompression for digital video • Video codecs seek to represent a fundamentally analog data set in a digital way • There are a number of different codecs available, they vary in their compression rates and types as well as the quality of the final output

11. Movie sound tracks have become an integral part of film and television, as the musical aspect of films and television programs have become more and more important. Comparison: "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" is a 2002 fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson based on the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.(start at 8:49) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUs38h_iIsM with: "The Deluge" is the English title of the Polish film Potop, a historical drama directed by Jerzy Hoffman, released in 1974. The film is based on a novel by the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz. It was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1974. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNl0poj5z90

12. There are four commonly used terms to describe sound effect: Spot fx/hard fx Ambience / atmosphere fx Foley fx Sound design examples: http://www.soundboard.com/ http://www.moviesoundscentral.com/ http://www.moviewavs.com/Movies.html trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_O0xYCy1cg&feature=PlayList&p=F494BFD5D8A06060&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=18 Top 20 Movie sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URDtMtOnJQM

13. Reference "Audio Post Production for Television and Film: An Introduction to Technology and Techniques" - Hilary Wyatt & Tim Amyes

14. Computer Animation Using computer graphics to create some or all of a scene Special Makeup Effects changing an actors appearance with special makeup techniques such as Latex Masks Weather Effects recreating weather conditions instead of waiting for the correct real life conditions Examples of Special Effects

15. Compositing The combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images Often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene Live action shooting for compositing most commonly uses the blue screen technique These days, most, though not all compositing is done by digital image manipulation

16. Colour Correction • Basic Concept:Color correction by using colour gels, or filters, is a process used in stage lighting, photography, television, cinematography and other disciplines, the intention of which is to alter the overall color of the light; typically the light color is measured on a scale known as color temperature: As well as along a green–magenta axis orthogonal to the color temperature axis. • The colour the camera “sees” should accurately represent the colour our eyes “see”. This is called Colour Balance and also plays a big part in Colour Correction. http://www.vimeo.com/6618837 Example of a type of colour temperature scale.

17. De-interlacing Video Basic Concept: Interlaced display draws only half of the lines on the screen for each frame, alternately drawing the odd and even lines for each frame. This reduces flicker by taking advantage of the persistence of vision effect, producing a refresh rate of double the frame rate without the overhead of either transmitting each frame twice or holding it in a buffer so it can be redrawn. Deinterlacing methods: There are various methods to deinterlace video, each producing different problems or artifacts of their own. Some methods are much cleaner in artifacts than other methods. Most de-interlacing techniques can be broken up into three different groups all using their own exact techniques. Field Combination Deinterlacing Weaving Blending Selective Blending Inverse Telecine Telecine Field Extension Deinterlacing Half-Sizing Line Doubling

18. SLIDE ONE – THE DOLLY • Camera Dolly • A Camera dolly is a piece of film equipment which is designed to create smooth camera movements. • The Camera itself is mounted onto a platform, known as a dolly, and moved or tracked down a set of railings towards the object being filmed. • Types of Dolly • Tripod Dolly, Studio Dolly, Cameleon Camera dolly • Professional Dolly set ups can be expensive, so low budget film makers use alternatives, such as skateboards and wheelchairs. • For Example, here - someone has built one using wood, skateboard wheels and PVC piping: • http://www.jorenclark.com/whitepapers/dolly.html • There are also numerous Dolly building tutorials on YouTube.

19. SLIDE TWO – TRACKING • The camera is moved down the tracks by grips – these are people who are employed to carefully and steadily push the camera along the tracks to create a smooth tracking shot. • There are different sets of tracks, designed to allow the camera dolly to move forwards and backwards, left to right (and back again) and on a curve. Some camera dollies have a hydraulic arm which allows the camera to lift a few feet in the air quickly and smoothly to create another different kind of tracking shot. • A tracking shot using a dolly can be combined with a zoom shot to make a dolly zoom.