Im NEW :) And you will help me!!!

[Skr4tCH]

Heh... Hey guys, and gals.
I should right away excuse myself for such a thread name, just wanted to grab your attention.

Well I'm new here and new to the whole film-making deal.
I do however want to learn how to film. And would like you to help me achieve proper skills.
Here's the deal: I just got HVX200 and i have NO idea how to use it or how to do what with settings, if you would point me to some manuals that i need to read, i would be thankful.

What i want to create is a movie-like feeling...
I have my birthday in about 10 days and I'm making a quest (treasure hunt) for my guests.
What i want to do first, is film the preparation for the quest (movie like scenes) and then film how the guests will be solving the quest and make a dvd at the end and just give it out to guests..
ect. ect..

Question - What software should i buy for editing?
Question 2 - What settings do i use for the best movie-like feeling?
Question 3 - Are there any specific angles i should use while filming or settings?

[dusterdoo]

What OS are you using ? FIRST, read the entire manual, its pretty good for what it is. SECOND, get Barrys book...

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=62499

THIRD, start playing with your camera now - practice makes perfect....

and ANGLES ? For your purpose, do what you like - no rules for birthday DVD's....

[Skr4tCH]

1. Vista... im not a mac user...
2. Reading it.. but im abit short on time got 10 days to shoot/prepare
3. Well i would like to make it look as movie-like as possible. Thats why im asking about the angles. Maybe on location just preparing from which angels its better to shoot the reaction ect ect.

[Shooter]

Angles are easy!

Shoot from the angle that shows what you want to see. eg if you want to see the face...shoot from the front.

[Skr4tCH]

other thing im really interested in is how to achieve the depth of the background.. as in make the hallway look longer..

[THoff]

If you think you are going to learn how to use the camera and become a film maker / editor in the next ten days, I'm afraid you are going to be in for a rough ride.

[Skr4tCH]

If you think you are going to learn how to use the camera and become a film maker / editor in the next ten days, I'm afraid you are going to be in for a rough ride.

Of course. I know .. kinda... what im getting myself into. Im not planning to become a film maker (although it would be nice) But i DO want to make a "WOW" "movie"

[TimurCivan]

IT takes a lifetime and an incredible amount of work to make a wow movie. in 10 days of "im busy, lemme just get the basics", dont expect Kubrick like quality..

If its for your friends, i would suggest making the video full of inside jokes, and things that only they would get. this way it will be personal and funny, and they will most likely over look the first film mistakes....

[Luis Caffesse]

IT takes a lifetime and an incredible amount of work to make a wow movie. in 10 days of "im busy, lemme just get the basics", dont expect Kubrick like quality..

who's kubrick?
:thumbsup:


if you would point me to some manuals that i need to read, i would be thankful.

I would suggest starting with the HVX200 manual that came with the camera.
Seriously.

[dusterdoo]

ALSO start using your camera now and use the SEARCH feature in this wonderful forum - every question has been asked and answered (usually many times ) in this forum...

[Skr4tCH]

ALSO start using your camera now and use the SEARCH feature in this wonderful forum - every question has been asked and answered (usually many times ) in this forum...


Well.. thanks.
I'll be reading the forum now.. but still accepting any help :love4:

[Ming]

Since you're obviously doing okay financially maybe hire somone who knows the first thing about shooting and editing? Don't shoot the messenger, but the learning curve on the camera alone is a good 5 such projects to become "semi" proficient. And editing to someone who hasn't done it? If you decide to dump the gear in a month please post here. If you decide to go all out with the new hobby, don't let me discourage you I would understand all too well.

[SPZ]

SInce you already bought the camera, you might as well get started. Here are some tips. Good for you to go for your dream!

Quick tips for your first shoot (General):

1- Buy a practical book on filmmaking- One that explains how to do things, Like the Guerrila Filmmakers Guide. Learn about some basic rules of shooting, like crossing the line, basic lighting, etc. This will take you a day.

2- After reading, Immediately start practicing. Try to come up with a quick narrative of 1 minute. Try to put everything together. Don't bother with good quality audio just yet. Use the internal mic.

2- Edit it in a PC or Mac. I would suggest FCP (that's what I use :), but Edius Broadcast is, from what I heard, excelent on the PC front.

Editing is just like connecting a puzzle. After this edit you'll probably know a bit more of what to shoot on your big day.


Things to Buy

On Camera Mic- This is fundamental. Use one input for the mic, and other for the internal one. Use the Internal mic audio only for reference. Good audio is half of a good product. Don't neglect the audio!

Editing Software compatible with P2- Edius, FCP, or Avid. Other softwares need third party components like cineform. I don't know how this works, but since I went for a natively supported software, I would suggest going the same route.

P2- Cards- If you only have 1 8gb, buy 2 more. You'll want to shoot in HD (That's what you bought your HD camera for!) But maybe, just maybe, SD for this first project might be safer for you... I would of course take the risk and go HD...But for someone unexperienced, its certainly a big risk.

PCMIA Capable Laptop for card dumping. You don't want to stop shooting your treasure hunt to dump the files to your PC.

HVX200 Tips

1- Shoot 720 60p. Why? Autofocus. You'll need some time to get used to how the HVX focuses, and you do not have enough to train yourself with the focus assist. HD is very focus sensitive, so go for autofocus in 60p. Its fast and reliable.

1b- Or shoot Mini-dv Ntsc (non Progressive). De-interlace in Post. In SD you'll have a lot less problems (p2 workflow, computer performance, recording times), and it will be a lot easier. Bad point will be... SD, mini-dv resolution. You can, of course, shoot dvcpro 50, but it will bring the P2 workflow barrier back.

2- Use cine V, or D (f5 or F6 on the scene dial). This is the trademark Panasonic Film look that everyone loves (ok, not everyone, but the majority).

3- Always check if the mic (audio) is turned on.

4- If you do decide to shoot progressive, be aware of quick pans and tilts.

5- If you use a tripod, turn OIS (optical image stabilizer) off.

6- Use OIS whenever Handheld.

7- Do not mess much with the scene files at this time. Do it after the birthday.



I guess there's a lot more to be said, but I believe this will get you started.

Also, do buy Barry's book ASAP. It is indeed detailed and practical. Its the HVX bible.

Cheers and good luck!

SPZ

[Skr4tCH]

Thank you very much for the post.
I found it bloody useful!
Just ordered 2 P2 16GB cards.. should be here tomorrow.
I actually already tried couple of things and found the F5 setting very to my liking...
For editing i tried Vegas 7. Dont really understand how it works so i guess im gonna pick up Avid Xpress tomorrow ( this worked out well when i tried editing something from my HXV100)

One thing i still dont understand is how can i make the background appear further away? Like i tried to make a shot similar to this one :
http://www.microfilmmaker.com/pix/Iss19pix/IllHall1.jpg

And couldn't get the right depth of the picture..

Also i really like this shot http://www.microfilmmaker.com/pix/Iss19pix/Ill_CU1.jpg

But i could only get something simular after about 1 hour of trying and another hour of applying effects and filters.. as i understand what you shoot and what comes out after you edit and apply filters ect ect is very friggin different.

The shots taken from microfilmmaker.com/tipstrick/Issue19/m2_art2.html found it pretty useful! Lighting-wise..

[cheezweezl]

Shoot 720 60p.

If you want it to look movie-like, do not shoot 60p.

720pn at 24fps on the p2 cards is true 24 frame progressive. just like film. 60p looks like video. autofocus works pretty well even at 24fps.

whoever said to hire someone was giving you great advice. you will learn so much this way and your first film will be much better than anything you can pull off in your first week at it. having a great camera is only a small part of the equation. it's like thinking that buying an expensive microphone makes you a great singer. i would try to find someone from dvxuser in your area that is willing to help you as they shoot and edit and pay them for their time.

[wsturtevant]

It looks to me that you are trying to break it down into three categories:

Camera and Hardware
Editing
Film Making

My opinions on a crash courses are as follows:

Barry's boot camp DVD's will help you cover the camera quickly. : http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/hvxdvd/
I recently purchased them and don't regret one cent. I learned more in a half hour than I did with six months of trial and error. Could have saved myself some headaches.

I've used Vegas for editing for about four years now. It doesn't take long to understand and is very user friendly. Once I got the hang of it, I could pop out videos rather quickly. I am in the process of switching to Final Cut Pro. What ever you decide to go with in the end, there are many tutorials at www.lynda.com (http://www.lynda.com) to help get you started. I can't say how good they all are, but the ones I've seen so far on FCP were very good.

For film making, others may have other opinions about this, but I found the Robert Rodriguez 10 minute film school to be extremely helpful in simplifying things. It is a DVD extra on the movie El Mariachi. I reccomend this dvd wherever you can find it cheap: http://www.amazon.com/El-Mariachi-Desperado-Antonio-Banderas/dp/0767811054/ref=pd_bbs_sr_7/104-1001361-3239126?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1185279164&sr=8-7

When you have more time, the Hollywood Camera DVD set is outstanding in my opinion: http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.us/mc_sampleclips.html

I am one of those people who struggle with reading. I learn much quicker by demonstration rather than reading.

Finally, keep reading DVX User.

Best of luck!!

[Luis Caffesse]

Barry's boot camp DVD's will help you cover the camera quickly.


ABSOLUTELY!

The HVX Bootcamp DVDs are required viewing for anyone trying to get up and running with the HVX.
Seriously.

It's like hiring Barry to come into your home to give you a one on one HVX lesson.
Get them - watch them - and then.....watch them again.
:thumbsup:

[valladao65]

Not to hijack the thread, but...
you ordered 2 16 gig cards and will get them tomorrow???
where did you find 2 16 gig cards in stock?

[J.R. Hudson]

(In reply to entire thread)

Lol

[Scott F]

Somebody had to say it.

[Jeff Anderson]

wow. took me 10 days to figure out how to turn it on.

[Bob Gruen]

One thing i still dont understand is how can i make the background appear further away? Like i tried to make a shot similar to this one :
http://www.microfilmmaker.com/pix/Iss19pix/IllHall1.jpg

And couldn't get the right depth of the picture..

Also i really like this shot http://www.microfilmmaker.com/pix/Iss19pix/Ill_CU1.jpg

But i could only get something simular after about 1 hour of trying and another hour of applying effects and filters.. as i understand what you shoot and what comes out after you edit and apply filters ect ect is very friggin different.

The shots taken from microfilmmaker.com/tipstrick/Issue19/m2_art2.html found it pretty useful! Lighting-wise..

To make a hallway look long you set the zoom function on the lens to go wide. To get the background blur with the stock lens requires a lot of staging, something you will not be able to do in the shooting situation you described.

Flood every location with light.

Like any camera, the HVX is a tool, but it can only capture the image presented to it. What you are describing and the advise given here will look more like TV than a movie. If you manage to do it really well it will look like decent TV.

I can give a state of the art Canon 1D Mark 3 to a newbie and he may manage a few good pictures. Ansel Adams could have created -Art- from a disposable box camera. It's not so much the tool, its how it is used.

I think the HVX-200 is overkill for what you want. I think you would be better off buying a couple of Canon HV20s to cover what you are trying to cover. I used one briefly and the picture was simply amazing.

Good luck...

[FilmBoy77]

who's kubrick?
:thumbsup:

http://imdb.com/name/nm0000040/

[J.R. Hudson]

Flow ! We have Flow !

Bwhahahahahahahaha !

[THoff]

Just a note about Edius: it does not officially support Vista, which is what the original poster is using.

There are folks using it on Vista, but I'm not sure what they had to do (if anything) to make it work -- maybe check the Compatibility tab in the Properties for Edius and make Vista pretend it's XP, who knows.

As far as Vegas is concerned, it's actually quite a nice package, and in combination with Raylight or Cineform will handle the HVX footage.

[Daniel J]

If I were in your shoes I would forget about the p2 workflow for the moment. I would aim to just get the project done. This means shooting "60i" on some dv tapes. When you are done hook a firewire cable to your HVX and "import" the footage into movie maker with the standard "NTSC" presets (only this one time). It won't be HD, and it wouldn't be all that cinematic, but at least it is the easiest route.

[amber]

don't wait till the day of the party to learn how to upload the p2 cards,
it took me 3 days to figure out how to upload mine!

+
are you filming everything at YOUR
bday?

find a dp is my advice to you.
(think someone else advised this too)



plus the shoot will seem more like a birthday,
rather than you trying to figure out how to shoot your bday.

someone else is shooting, right???

[Skr4tCH]

someone else is shooting, right???

Yea, my dad... He works at panasonic, thats why i got suck a quick access to the cards ect ect..

Thanks for the great advice guys, im gonna go start practicing. And please stick around because i have a feeling i'll have much more questions in the process.

[THoff]

We're not going anywhere! :)

[Luis Caffesse]

i have a feeling i'll have much more questions in the process.

I aboslutely believe it.
:thumbsup:

[Luis Caffesse]

Flow ! We have Flow !

Bwhahahahahahahaha !



http://www.pitchproductions.com/pics/shinyflow.jpg

[wgzn]

if you want film like depth of field, youre going to have to buy a 35mm adapter ($1000ish) and a collection of good lenses - a good comprehensive set of 4 will run you between $100 and $2000 each. then of course you'll have to learn to use that as well...

welcome to a whole new world ; )

[HVXguy]

Yea, my dad... He works at panasonic, thats why i got suck a quick access to the cards ect ect..

Thanks for the great advice guys, im gonna go start practicing. And please stick around because i have a feeling i'll have much more questions in the process.

Ah HA!!! The truth comes out!! Pana insiders are hoarding the cards and
Birthday Boy gets his! I demand to know who your father is,
what department he works for and
tell him it is my birthday and I want 4- 16 gig cards immediately!!!

[Luis Caffesse]

tell him it is my birthday and I want 4- 16 gig cards immediately!!!

Hahaha
:thumbsup:

[nsoltz]

If dad REALLY cared, he would have brought you home a Varicam for your b-day. Stomp your feet, slam the door to your room, pout, stick out your lower lip and scream I want a Varicam.

[THoff]

Let's be reasonable -- I would settle for a 500...

[Skr4tCH]

Heh yea we got a hdc27h in the garage but im kinda afraid of using it. I think i'll stick to HVX200 for now.

If you want i can ask if he can get some 16G cards for you guys... I heard that 32Gigs are gonna be out pretty soon as well.

[HVXguy]

Great!! Yeah forget the 16 gig cards, just send me 4 of the 32 gigers!!

[Skr4tCH]

32GB cards are around $1800-2K

[SPZ]

Thank you very much for the post.
I found it bloody useful!
Just ordered 2 P2 16GB cards.. should be here tomorrow.
I actually already tried couple of things and found the F5 setting very to my liking...
For editing i tried Vegas 7. Dont really understand how it works so i guess im gonna pick up Avid Xpress tomorrow ( this worked out well when i tried editing something from my HXV100)

One thing i still dont understand is how can i make the background appear further away? Like i tried to make a shot similar to this one :
http://www.microfilmmaker.com/pix/Iss19pix/IllHall1.jpg

And couldn't get the right depth of the picture..

Also i really like this shot http://www.microfilmmaker.com/pix/Iss19pix/Ill_CU1.jpg

But i could only get something simular after about 1 hour of trying and another hour of applying effects and filters.. as i understand what you shoot and what comes out after you edit and apply filters ect ect is very friggin different.

The shots taken from microfilmmaker.com/tipstrick/Issue19/m2_art2.html found it pretty useful! Lighting-wise..

FOr the first shot, like Bob Gruen suggested, shoot with a wide lens setting. Notice that Lighting is very important to achieve the look of that shot. Lighting helps to separate background and foreground, or subject/background

If you want shallow Depth of Field, you have to shoot with the camera zoomed in (telephoto), and shoot with the aperture as open as possible ( I believe its 1.8 or 2.0 on the HVX). If you are shooting outdoors, using the in Camera ND Filters might help you, and also increasing the shutter speed, but this brings down picture quality (not much). If you want an optimal look with Depht of Field in an outdoors, bright setting with the stock lens, you need to get some step down filters (attachable) . However, since you are shooting run and gun, or "event coverage", having the lens zoomed in will produce very shaky footage- that's a gamble you have to make.

Don't bother with a 35mm adapter yet. it needs lots of practice and it will not suit your particular shooting event. Buy it, but for future narrative projects.

If you manage to cope well with focus assist after days of practice, in a constantly focus changing situation, than you can shoot 720pn 24. But believe me when I say you'll be 80 percent of the time hunting for focus manualy, and all your framing goes out of the window. Nowadays I can manage, but in order to get to this phase I had to go trough at least a month of struggling...And I make a living with this ! :)

You can achieve a 24p look in post with 60p footage.

Do tell us how everything turned out!

[Skr4tCH]

cool.....
thanks.. now
wide lens setting?
camera zoomed in (telephoto)?
1.8 or 2.0 ? what's that for?

[Luis Caffesse]

http://www.pitchproductions.com/pics/oz.jpg

[Skr4tCH]

Okay was playing around got about 5 hours of footage... Kinda getting the hand of it. Of course my apartment isn't the best place to film.. but its a start. Tomorrow going outside.. Will be filming NYC anyone needs any footage? I dont care what i'll be filming anyways and well if u need something i guess its cheaper to ask me when fly over here =)

[Jeff Anderson]

I'd get a book on basic photography and learn what the iris does, how it works, and focal lengths, and well pretty much learn how cameras record images before you start trying to do anything fantastic with the HVX - its automatic modes leave quite a bit to be desired. If you really want to shoot this in ten days and not read how to do this I'd get an HV20.

[HoGiHung]

Firstly, thanks Skr4tch for your post. I'm new to the forum and to film making as well. Your questions have had some great responses that I plan on benefitting from.

Second, can you put in a good word for me as I have been waiting about 6 weeks now for my HVX200 and 16GB P2 card? Had to put a deposit down as well.

I guess I will order Barry's book ahead of time as I can't fill out the special offer form from Panasonic without a serial number of the camera I still don't have. :happy:

I have a project coming up in October that I need to get ready for so hopefully my camera will come between now and mid August. Will do let's of test runs on my rug rats against my green screen.

Many questions to follow after I dive deep into these threads,

Ho...

[mumin]

It was a waste of money for HVX if you have no idea about the camera or the film making. I'm guessing you will be recording on mini dv in sd mode?

[Skr4tCH]

It was a waste of money for HVX if you have no idea about the camera or the film making. I'm guessing you will be recording on mini dv in sd mode?


You're guessing wrong 720/60p.

And please keep comments about "wasting money" for yourself.
I came here to learn. There are some people who have 27k$ cameras, have been doing filming for 5 or so years and they still suck... I myself am an artist, so i think i have some abilities. And its my money, i earned it and i can do as i please.

And people please have some respect, you weren't born with the ability to make movies you all learned. And im pretty sure that most of you learned stuff from other people and experiments. So "empty" posts aren't really welcome.

Now for the update:

filmed some more and i like the 720 24p the most out of all settings... although it takes alot of room on the p2 cards its good that i have alot of them. As someone suggested to me i will be filming in 720 60p i guess i'll be able to make 24p in the process of editing. Went to the Apple store today played around with Final Cut Studio and decided to go with Avid Xpress HD if its anything similar to liquid i guess i'll feel comfortable with it. Now for the question where is the best place to get some filters for the avid?

[SPZ]

You're guessing wrong 720/60p.

And please keep comments about "wasting money" for yourself.
I came here to learn. There are some people who have 27k$ cameras, have been doing filming for 5 or so years and they still suck... I myself am an artist, so i think i have some abilities. And its my money, i earned it and i can do as i please.

And people please have some respect, you weren't born with the ability to make movies you all learned. And im pretty sure that most of you learned stuff from other people and experiments. So "empty" posts aren't really welcome.

Now for the update:

filmed some more and i like the 720 24p the most out of all settings... although it takes alot of room on the p2 cards its good that i have alot of them. As someone suggested to me i will be filming in 720 60p i guess i'll be able to make 24p in the process of editing. Went to the Apple store today played around with Final Cut Studio and decided to go with Avid Xpress HD if its anything similar to liquid i guess i'll feel comfortable with it. Now for the question where is the best place to get some filters for the avid?

Actually, you can get more recording space at 720p 24, but you have to choose 720p 24pN (native). Recording capacity doubles compared to 720p 60. Its on the manual. But beware about the focus...

As for filters, what are you looking for? Do you have Adobe After Effects? Actually, most PC guys I know (and Mac too) do heavy filtering in After Effects. Magic Bullet, from Red Giant Software, is one of the most popular. Google it.

One more tip: Always have two copies of your footage- EX: you have one card full, and copy it to an External HDD- Immediately make a copy of it. Hard Disks Fail often. It is, however, a lot more difficult (but not impossible!) for two hard disks to fail simultateously... This is P2's main problem, and my biggest concern (I already have more than 4tb of HDD storage...)

--------

Aperture is the Iris. The more open the more light goes into the camera. The more open the iris is, the shallower the Depth of Field (shallow= blurier background), but don't expect 35mm miracles. 2.0 and 1.8 are examples of measures displayed on the camera to say at what opening the iris is. Check the Viewfinder or the LCD.

Shutter Speed is, as the name says, the speed the shutter captures the image. The faster the shutter speed, the more it captures of the picture. Fast shutter speeds are used for capturing fast moving objects- more common on shooting sport events, for example. The subject stays sharp with movement. The faster the shutter speed, the more light the camera needs. If you are shooting 720p60, the minimum shutter speed you can get is 60. If you shoot 720p24, however, you can go to a 24 Shutter. So 720p 24 is better for low light situations.

[carlone]

I don't think Avid is compatible with Vista. Check it out before you buy.

[Pierre Petit]

cool.....
thanks.. now
wide lens setting?
camera zoomed in (telephoto)?
1.8 or 2.0 ? what's that for?

I understand you being new and everything. You need to do your homework. Do some research.

[valladao65]

I keep thinking this posting is a prank of some sort, but then some useful info comes through. I love this forum.
I guess the most valueable info is that I learned I was born into the wrong family.

[Luis Caffesse]

I'm thinking more 'performance art' than prank.
:)

http://katia.cabaretvoltaire.com/blog/imagens/tonyclifton.jpg

[JJK]

ABSOLUTELY!

The HVX Bootcamp DVDs are required viewing for anyone trying to get up and running with the HVX.
Seriously.

It's like hiring Barry to come into your home to give you a one on one HVX lesson.
Get them - watch them - and then.....watch them again.
:thumbsup:

I concur. I recently bought an HVX and bought both of Barry's Boot Camp DVDs. They have helped me immensely.

[valladao65]

Its too bad there isnt some way for Panasonic to advance the DVD's to people (like me) who are waiting for the camera and cards. All this wasted time could be well spent going over the DVDs and getting to know the in's and out's of the camera.
*sigh*
This forum seems to be the next best thing as I've learned so much just reading posts of problems and issues people are having.

[Luis Caffesse]

The "Bootcamp" DVDs we're talking about don't come with the camera - but luckily they are just a click away

Order them here (http://dvxuser.com/articles/hvxdvd/)

[valladao65]

Whoooops!
Thanks Luis, I thought Barry's book and CD that came with the camera was the same as the Bootcamp DVD's. I really should pay better attention.
I'm ordering the DVD's as we type...

[TimurCivan]

Where do you show? i'd love to see some stuff...

but you do realise now, its inevitable once you get good at it, you will stop making art and beomce a Cinematgrapher.....

i bought my DVX under the guise of i'll use it for video installation. 2 years later im shooting left and right and havet picked up a brush or pencil in ages.... sigh.... i miss making work.

[Bob Gruen]

If you are going to use Avid Express Pro (which I do) you will need to decide what time frame you want to be in, 24 full frames per second (24 PN) or 60 fields per second. It mostly depends on what type of final product you are making (I *think* you will want 60i for DVD output, but you could do 24P and do DVD-ROMs which would be a heck of a lot easier than DVDs). As a plus you can over or under-crank the footage for slo-motion or fast-motion, but you loose sound. Might be funny in a 'searching' scene.

The cool thing about Avid is that you directly mount the files the camera makes (there is no import step and thus no timeframe conversion opportunity). There are several posts on this forum on how to create the directory and copy the files. Your best bet would be a laptop with a PCMCIA slot and a big internal hard disk. That would allow you to simply copy the files off the cards as they fill.

Not sure on "Filters" for Avid, but there is an entire color correction and effect pallate functionality to accomplish a whole lot of image manipulation. What are you trying to accomplish?

Bob

[Skr4tCH]

Okay thanks guys.. TimurCivan (http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/member.php?u=2750)- if you really want to see PM me i'll send you some stuff :) I was offered some galleries couple of times but i gave it up to a friend, he was more into arts then i (now he's an architect works in ESB) i was making art for myself and was helping out some friends (used to go to LaGuardia)

Today practice filmed 64Gigs of stuff... the only thing that i liked was in the evening (about an hour ago) and its about 5 seconds :) oh well..

Now let me get this straight.. QUESTION:

DO I HAVE to film in 24P or PN to have my final product in 24 frames ? Or i can go ahead and film in 60p and 24 and then edit it later on?!

And question number two... i got the disk for AJ SPD850.. with utility software as i understand drivers to copy from p2 to computer... is that right? or do i have to download different drivers or get another cd?

[TimurCivan]

I went to LAG too. class of 2001.

[Bob Gruen]

Now let me get this straight.. QUESTION:

DO I HAVE to film in 24P or PN to have my final product in 24 frames ? Or i can go ahead and film in 60p and 24 and then edit it later on?!

And question number two... i got the disk for AJ SPD850.. with utility software as i understand drivers to copy from p2 to computer... is that right? or do i have to download different drivers or get another cd?

If you want the final product in 24 frames per second then without a doubt you should shoot in 24PN. It will use the least amount of card space as you shoot and it will put you in a 24 frame per second timeline in AVID.

There are several ways to get the files off of the cards, which method will you use? There is a firewire dump, USB On The Go dump, or pulling the card and sticking it into a PCMCIA slot (RIOCH chipset works best). The first two take the camera out of commission while the third requires access to a computer. The third also requires that the pcdriver for the P2 card be installed on your computer. An additional piece of software, the P2 viewer, will allow you to view the MXF files both on the card and on the computer's hard disk.

What you do not want to do is to 'capture' it in Avid. You want to copy the MXF files to C:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\# and use the media tool to mount them.

Bob