Mr. T and HVX

[Verko]

This is a very long and rambling post, but I thought this might be of some interest for HVX folks:

I just completed three videos starring Mr. T for Hitachi Data Systems, a high-end computer storage company. I shot them on the HVX on a three day shoot, and posted them on FCP, AE, Ultimatte, etc.

The first one is on YouTube and Yahoo Video, with Google to follow. I don't know yet when they want me to release the other two though they are completed; for now just the one. They are about the arcane subject of network storage controllers or something like that, but they are quirky, campy, silly, and intentionally cheesy (especially the props). They're going for something viral I think, in addition to their other intended usage. A little bizarre, but it was fun to do.

Three days was real ambitious for the shoot, as there were tempermental props and makeup, numerous setups, lots of green screen, including shooting a PT Cruiser convertible and a semi on green screen (vehicles are very reflective!), and setup time stressed the schedule. We were lucky to get basically everything in the can and wrap on time; budget was stressed by having a fairly expensive star, so below-the-line overtime was absolutely not an option. The HVX and the P2 workflow worked perfectly; of course I've had the camera since last March and have shot and tested in most every situation except actual combat, so there was no surprise there. I wouldn't want to use any camera in a tight situation without knowing it intimately, which is why I am buying a Red instead of planning on renting. Shameless evangelical plug: even with Red, my HVX will get a ton of use - I love my lil' baby!

I have to say, Mr. T was the nicest guy - easy to work with and willing to do all the crazy stuff that was in the script. A true professional in every sense of the word and no ego whatsover. And he loves and honors his momma!

Here are links to the first video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW1S2tsxVHg

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vi...71ec81.1717728

It was shot 1080/24PA and posted in 1080. The deliverable was contracted as SD as well as YouTube/Yahoo Video/Google Video release, so we made the shoot more efficient by planning on doing reframing, "focal length changes" and motion zooms in post. I can see Red really having an impact in this way. We would not have had complete shows in this case without this ability.

A lot of the shots in this first video are green screen, mostly just to maximize efficiency with set changes and actor makeup scheduling. The client was making changes on set, so we had to be like a steamroller but flexible. Shot to P2 cards and dumped off to P2 store. I have 2 8gig and 2 4gig cards and never had a problem being ready to shoot, even though our time between shots and setups was minimal. I filled up the P2 store midway through each day and had to dump off to laptop, using P2Genie going to two hard drives simultaneously. I like to dump off to the P2 Store first as it verifies, and I have found it to be absolutely rock solid, even while dumping on the move. I recommend running the P2 Store on battery even while in the studio, so someone can't interrupt power. For the laptop and drives, I always use a UPS so if power gets cut somehow, I'm good for at least 15-20 minutes. One vulnerability: I'm running power strips from the UPS to cover the setup; sometimes on set a client or one of their minions will try to plug in their laptop to my power, and it's possible for them to turn off the power strip when they do. Big problem when dumping the P2 Store to the drives, especially if it's not caught. Must protect the changing tent, er, I mean the dump station!

*!*!*And before I wipe the P2 Store, I check to make sure every clip on the drives plays video and audio, because if the transfer is interrupted after the icons and/or audio is completed, but before video is completed, then it may appear to be a good transfer but you won't have video. Happened once. The other way to check is to look at each folder (Video, Audio, Icon, etc.) to make sure they each have the right number of files. I just leave FCP booted up and check in the P2 input viewer, and it gives me peace of mind.

As for settings, I use Cine-D (for the smooth skin tones and lack of banding in gradients I see in all the other gammas), Norm color matrix, +7 detail coring. I have been setting detail to +2 for Detail and Vertical Detail, but for the next green screen shoot I will put it to 0, especially if there are wide shots with hard props (like reflective cars!) because +2 was putting too much of a white line around everything and it meant harder edges on the keys. It's fine for talking heads, but a problem for wide shots as the size of the outline becomes relatively larger compared to the subject as the subject becomes smaller in the frame.

I add detail in post, both at the HD and the SD stages. So if I post and release in HD, I apply "sharpening" on the HD image. But when downconverting to SD, more sharpening at the SD frame size is necessary, just like when dealing with film. My approach may seem unconventional, but it keeps things plenty sharp and really tones down the "low light" HVX noise. The sharper contrast gamma curves just bury the noise by essentially removing detail in the bottom of the image. I like to start with less contrast and more detail in the lows.

I'll post a link to the other shows when my client okays release. There's some funny stuff, and one of the shows has Mr. T in a semi chasing two corporate dudes in the convertible, at night. The motion plates were shot with the HVX at night, as well as the live shots of the cars with stand-ins. The shots with actors were in the studio for the convertible, and in the parking lot of the studio (with green screen) with the semi and Mr. T at night; key with Ultimatte over night motion plates. For shots with both vehicles at the same time, Ultimatte in AE, and the night motion plates behind everything.

Getting YouTube and Yahoo Video to look and sound decent was a chore; this was my first time. The mix has a lot of subtle effects and ambient sounds - their compression is optimized for voice and getting it to sound clean for the "soundtrack" parts required testing a lot of settings in creating the file that I upload to YouTube/Yahoo Video. But I think it turned out pretty good. The DVD looks really great on a good plasma going through HDMI or component.

Last thing: two of the shows have Mr. T breaking through a wall. We were set up to have two wall plugs for each show, which would mean Mr. T breaking through four times for the shoot, two for each show. We precut the sheetrock to help breakthrough; the first take, he broke through so easily, that we did less precutting for the next take. It looked great, but Mr. T hurt his arms somewhat and they got cut up a bit too. He was really cool about it, but we only got one shot at the breakthrough for the other show. I had rented another HVX for these shots, and brought my DVX and my JVC GY300 and an older Sony DV 3-chip, so we were covering with 5 cameras. Yes, the DVX and JVC and Sony were standard def, but for quick shots, no problem. The DVX blows up really nice actually. The "monkey-cam" Letterman-style angle was the DVX. Did I say these shows were silly? I guess one point is, keeping the older cameras can really come in handy for covering destructive action sequences.

If you've read this far, you deserve a medal. I hope there was something helpful in here somewhere!

Verko

P.S. The VO at the beginning and end of the show was a last minute addition; no time to schedule and record a voice talent - I miked myself up in the edit suite and let 'er rip. This was not a union shoot!

[Niels Neeskens]

Well done Verko, I enjoyed your storie and the movie. Thank you for sharing. Mr. T rocks!