I need to know...

[Jbadham77]

I'll soon be shooting a movie, and I need to know the best settings to use for great picture, and sound quality.

This independent film will be a hand held widescreen film...
This movie will soon be previewed on the big screen (at a film festival), so I need to know the settings for a big screen format i guess....

Thanks!

Josh

[Jbadham77]

o and another thing to add,
do I have to buy any specail lense to have widescreen on the 100a?

[andy_starbuck]

For widescreen on the 100a you have three options.

#1) Shoot in letterbox mode. This will produce a 4:3 image with black bars top and bottom. Usually for display on a 4:3 TV in letterbox. Benefit of this mode is that what you see is what you get, and because its all done in the camera, there isn't much you have to do (or can do) in post.

#2) Shoot in 4:3 mode and then crop the footage in post to letterbox. That means more work in post. But it gives some flexibility (depending on your editing software) to change the framing in post.

#3) Shoot in squeeze mode. Squeeze mode crops the image in the camera to letter box, and then digitally stretches the 320 vertical pixels up to 480 pixels. When you bring the footage into post it will have non-square pixels. So you need to tell the editor program that the footage is anamorphic. Then it can stretch the image out to fill a widescreen anamorphic project. This is normally used to produce anamorphic widescreen DVDs that can fill a 16:9 TV.

You need to check the format and requirements of the projector for your film festival. A lot of festivals state that they only project video in 4:3 and won't change the projector settings to support 16:9 anamorphic. In that case, if you want widescreen you have to be satisfied with letterbox. If they are willing to switch the projector, you will need to test your footage to make sure you have a workflow that produces something that is playable and that has the correct aspect ratio.

As for audio quality, you want 48k, which is slightly better than CD audio, not 32k. you can find those settings in the manual / menu.

Panasonic makes an anamorphic lens adapter. The lens adapter is not easy to use. You lose some of your zoom range when you use it. And it is complicated to focus. However, what it does is "optically" squeeze the image. It produces a "squeeze" video. But you get a full 480 pixels of "real detail", rather than the 320 pixels stretched up to 480 that the camera alone produces. Pretty much, if you are going to letterbox 4:3, you can't tell the difference in the extra detail. If you are blowing up to a full anamorphic 16:9 then you start to see the detail difference, and if it gets blown up for film or on a large projector, then the detail is evident. The fact is that its pretty expensive and hard to use. The other lenses that are available, the tele converter and the wide angle lenses are useful for extending the zoom range. They just give you more options, really. Personally, for a first movie, I wouldn't bother with the extra lenses and would instead concentrate on learning how to use the camera to its fullest ability before adding other things to it.

For other setting information, you should search the forums. And you might want to buy and read Barry's DVX book.

best of luck!

[Jbadham77]

For widescreen on the 100a you have three options.

#1) Shoot in letterbox mode. This will produce a 4:3 image with black bars top and bottom. Usually for display on a 4:3 TV in letterbox. Benefit of this mode is that what you see is what you get, and because its all done in the camera, there isn't much you have to do (or can do) in post.

#2) Shoot in 4:3 mode and then crop the footage in post to letterbox. That means more work in post. But it gives some flexibility (depending on your editing software) to change the framing in post.

#3) Shoot in squeeze mode. Squeeze mode crops the image in the camera to letter box, and then digitally stretches the 320 vertical pixels up to 480 pixels. When you bring the footage into post it will have non-square pixels. So you need to tell the editor program that the footage is anamorphic. Then it can stretch the image out to fill a widescreen anamorphic project. This is normally used to produce anamorphic widescreen DVDs that can fill a 16:9 TV.

You need to check the format and requirements of the projector for your film festival. A lot of festivals state that they only project video in 4:3 and won't change the projector settings to support 16:9 anamorphic. In that case, if you want widescreen you have to be satisfied with letterbox. If they are willing to switch the projector, you will need to test your footage to make sure you have a workflow that produces something that is playable and that has the correct aspect ratio.

As for audio quality, you want 48k, which is slightly better than CD audio, not 32k. you can find those settings in the manual / menu.

Panasonic makes an anamorphic lens adapter. The lens adapter is not easy to use. You lose some of your zoom range when you use it. And it is complicated to focus. However, what it does is "optically" squeeze the image. It produces a "squeeze" video. But you get a full 480 pixels of "real detail", rather than the 320 pixels stretched up to 480 that the camera alone produces. Pretty much, if you are going to letterbox 4:3, you can't tell the difference in the extra detail. If you are blowing up to a full anamorphic 16:9 then you start to see the detail difference, and if it gets blown up for film or on a large projector, then the detail is evident. The fact is that its pretty expensive and hard to use. The other lenses that are available, the tele converter and the wide angle lenses are useful for extending the zoom range. They just give you more options, really. Personally, for a first movie, I wouldn't bother with the extra lenses and would instead concentrate on learning how to use the camera to its fullest ability before adding other things to it.

For other setting information, you should search the forums. And you might want to buy and read Barry's DVX book.

best of luck!

Thanks for all the info dude!

[Jbadham77]

Also, what is this 24p mode?

[craigbowman]

Also, what is this 24p mode?

24 = film cadence of 24 frames per second
p = progressive scan

Choice of 24pn or 24pa will also depend on editing timeline. ie. For a 23.98 timeline choose 24pa.

[andy_starbuck]

As Craig has said, 24 refers to the number of frames per second. And the 'p' refers to progressive scan. I'll try to provide a summary, and then you should search in the forum for more information. Also, Barry's HVX book does a great job of explaining everything.

Film is exposed at 24 frames per second. This results in a particular kind of motion blur that we associate with movies. Basically, when someone walks briskly down the street swinging their arms, their hands will be blurred at 24 frames per second. If the same scene is recorded at 30 frames per second, their hands will not be blurred as much, if at all. For historical reasons having to do with broadcast television, standard definition TV is recorded at 30 frames per second which gives it a sharper and less blurry look. Actually, instead of recording the entire frame at one time, each line top to bottom, the frames are divided into fields, an upper field composed of all the odd-numbered lines and a lower field composed of all the even-numbered lines. And one field, or half frame, is recorded every 60th of a second. And that method is called interlacing.

The DVX provides 60i (interlaced) video, 30p video, and two kinds of 24p video. 60i is just like TV video. And because of the interlacing, it has the effect of artificially sharpening the image and further reducing motion blur. 30p video is progressive, so it records the whole frame at one time. It gives a slightly softer look, but still doesn't have the characteristic motion blur of film. 24 frame per second recording matches the film look.

The simple story is that all of the mechanisms for transporting video are based on the 60i/30p standard, including firewire and miniDV tape. So to get 24 frame per second video out of the camera or to get it recorded on tape, it must somehow be interpreted into 60i or 30p video. 24P and 24PA are two different approaches to dealing with that limitation. Both 24P "normal" and 24PA "advanced" provide progressive video, so the entire frame is recorded at one time, rather than in fields at different times.

Working with 24P and 24PA requires a lot more understanding of the format than I can go into here. I would recommend searching the forums. There are several good tutorials online that have been provided before. And then I would also recommend getting Barry's DVX book and his HVX book that really explain the technology and how to use the cameras.

Depending on your editing software, working with 24P or 24PA is not as simple as working with 60i video. So before you commit to working in 24 fps for a film look, make sure you know the capabilities of your editing software all the way out to delivery -- DVD or whatever -- and test it to make sure that it works as you expect.

at your service

[Jbadham77]

As Craig has said, 24 refers to the number of frames per second. And the 'p' refers to progressive scan. I'll try to provide a summary, and then you should search in the forum for more information. Also, Barry's HVX book does a great job of explaining everything.

Film is exposed at 24 frames per second. This results in a particular kind of motion blur that we associate with movies. Basically, when someone walks briskly down the street swinging their arms, their hands will be blurred at 24 frames per second. If the same scene is recorded at 30 frames per second, their hands will not be blurred as much, if at all. For historical reasons having to do with broadcast television, standard definition TV is recorded at 30 frames per second which gives it a sharper and less blurry look. Actually, instead of recording the entire frame at one time, each line top to bottom, the frames are divided into fields, an upper field composed of all the odd-numbered lines and a lower field composed of all the even-numbered lines. And one field, or half frame, is recorded every 60th of a second. And that method is called interlacing.

The DVX provides 60i (interlaced) video, 30p video, and two kinds of 24p video. 60i is just like TV video. And because of the interlacing, it has the effect of artificially sharpening the image and further reducing motion blur. 30p video is progressive, so it records the whole frame at one time. It gives a slightly softer look, but still doesn't have the characteristic motion blur of film. 24 frame per second recording matches the film look.

The simple story is that all of the mechanisms for transporting video are based on the 60i/30p standard, including firewire and miniDV tape. So to get 24 frame per second video out of the camera or to get it recorded on tape, it must somehow be interpreted into 60i or 30p video. 24P and 24PA are two different approaches to dealing with that limitation. Both 24P "normal" and 24PA "advanced" provide progressive video, so the entire frame is recorded at one time, rather than in fields at different times.

Working with 24P and 24PA requires a lot more understanding of the format than I can go into here. I would recommend searching the forums. There are several good tutorials online that have been provided before. And then I would also recommend getting Barry's DVX book and his HVX book that really explain the technology and how to use the cameras.

Depending on your editing software, working with 24P or 24PA is not as simple as working with 60i video. So before you commit to working in 24 fps for a film look, make sure you know the capabilities of your editing software all the way out to delivery -- DVD or whatever -- and test it to make sure that it works as you expect.

at your service

I'll be using Sony Vegas, to edit my videos. So for the sharpest un-bluryest mode, I should use 60i

[andy_starbuck]

If that's the look you like, sure. :-)

[David Jimerson]

For a big screen, lower your detail level into the negatives -- edge enhancement will be apparent the larger the picture is. As for the rest of the settings, it's up to your personal taste.

Vegas will be transparent as far as capturing/editing 24p footage. The workflow is the same as with 60i.

You really, really, really need to be familiarizing yourself with the different shooting modes long before you get on set, though.