I've seen works in the "Grabs" forum and my video,filmed doesn't look like their's. 've tried factory settings, settings that people filmed with that looked good and it looks crappy. I even lite a scene with 500 watts and it didn't look good. I've talked to people that run-n-gun, with whatever lighting is available(not their own lighting) and it crushes mine. Could there be something wrong with my camera or can I get some tips on setting and lighting for indoor and night shots?
Crappy look.
- Thread starter jigmic
- Start date
Jim Brennan
VHS Member Old Skool
Re: Crappy look.
It's hard to say. Do you notice a difference when you change settings? It's always possible that there's something wrong with the camera, but I would say it's more likely the way you are shooting. Just using one 500w light isn't necessarily "lighting". In fact, just shining a flood on something can make it look crappy.
I would set up your camera in a room and experiment a bit. When I got my camera, I set up my kids 4 foot tall spiderman in a chair. I set up my tripod and shot from the same spot with different settings. Then I changed the lighting and did it again, and again. The whole time I talked to myself about what I was doing with the iris, the scene file, the focus and zoom and the lights. So when I watched the tape I could see what settings and lighting set-ups were getting results I liked. I've done the same thing outdoors to experiment with the ND filter as well as a polarizer through a car window. Of course that time I forgot to reset my audio settings. The night before I had been checking sound with my shotgun mic, and forgotten to turn the camera mic back on, so I had to guess at what I had done.
Anyway, that's what I would do. Try lots of different things, but keep one thing, like the location of the camera, constant. It may give you a baseline to see what's working and what isn't.
Of course if it is the camera, that's a different story, but this exercise should help determine if it's your technique or not.
I would also recommend you browse through a lot of these posts. I've learned a lot of tips and trick that I was able to try out right away.
Good Luck
It's hard to say. Do you notice a difference when you change settings? It's always possible that there's something wrong with the camera, but I would say it's more likely the way you are shooting. Just using one 500w light isn't necessarily "lighting". In fact, just shining a flood on something can make it look crappy.
I would set up your camera in a room and experiment a bit. When I got my camera, I set up my kids 4 foot tall spiderman in a chair. I set up my tripod and shot from the same spot with different settings. Then I changed the lighting and did it again, and again. The whole time I talked to myself about what I was doing with the iris, the scene file, the focus and zoom and the lights. So when I watched the tape I could see what settings and lighting set-ups were getting results I liked. I've done the same thing outdoors to experiment with the ND filter as well as a polarizer through a car window. Of course that time I forgot to reset my audio settings. The night before I had been checking sound with my shotgun mic, and forgotten to turn the camera mic back on, so I had to guess at what I had done.
Anyway, that's what I would do. Try lots of different things, but keep one thing, like the location of the camera, constant. It may give you a baseline to see what's working and what isn't.
Of course if it is the camera, that's a different story, but this exercise should help determine if it's your technique or not.
I would also recommend you browse through a lot of these posts. I've learned a lot of tips and trick that I was able to try out right away.
Good Luck
Mike_Donis
Veteran
Re: Crappy look.
Honestly yeah, it depends on *how* you're lighting the scene, having it be bright doesnt mean it'll look good :-/
I highly doubt that it's a settings issue, or the camera itself, because no offense, but you're saying that "you lit it with 500 watts." That doesn't say anything except that you had a bright set.
Can you post some frame grabs of your clips so that we can see for ourselves - maybe you're also just overly critical of yourself!
If you search the forums there have been several books on cinematography that have been recommend - learning from the greats (something like Storaro's "writing with light") can only help!
Honestly yeah, it depends on *how* you're lighting the scene, having it be bright doesnt mean it'll look good :-/
I highly doubt that it's a settings issue, or the camera itself, because no offense, but you're saying that "you lit it with 500 watts." That doesn't say anything except that you had a bright set.
Can you post some frame grabs of your clips so that we can see for ourselves - maybe you're also just overly critical of yourself!
If you search the forums there have been several books on cinematography that have been recommend - learning from the greats (something like Storaro's "writing with light") can only help!
Re: Crappy look.
Thanks Jim for taking the time to write about my problem. I will try what you say and let you know. Also, you said that you had to reset your camera mic before shooting. My sound is terrible. I have trouble picking up sound. It sounds like an old VHS camera, low with echos. I filmed the same scene, with the distance the same but, different angles with a GL2. The sound on the GL2 was far superior. Can you help with this problem?
Thanks, Mike!!!!
I will post the best shot I have and you can look at it. Let me know what I'm doing wrong. Also, is there a crash cousre on how to upload my gram on this forum? I am new to all this.
This site is sooooo awesome!!!! I love how people help each other for the common cause. Good movie making.
Thanks Jim for taking the time to write about my problem. I will try what you say and let you know. Also, you said that you had to reset your camera mic before shooting. My sound is terrible. I have trouble picking up sound. It sounds like an old VHS camera, low with echos. I filmed the same scene, with the distance the same but, different angles with a GL2. The sound on the GL2 was far superior. Can you help with this problem?
Thanks, Mike!!!!
I will post the best shot I have and you can look at it. Let me know what I'm doing wrong. Also, is there a crash cousre on how to upload my gram on this forum? I am new to all this.
This site is sooooo awesome!!!! I love how people help each other for the common cause. Good movie making.
Jim Brennan
VHS Member Old Skool
Re: Crappy look.
Don't know about your mic. I don't do anything to mine, except have it set to ...line? sorry I don't have it in front of me. But if you are getting sound without hooking up a mic, you're getting it from the camera mic.
If you go to the screen grabs section, there's a tutorial about uploading. Keep us posted
Don't know about your mic. I don't do anything to mine, except have it set to ...line? sorry I don't have it in front of me. But if you are getting sound without hooking up a mic, you're getting it from the camera mic.
If you go to the screen grabs section, there's a tutorial about uploading. Keep us posted
Mike_Donis
Veteran
Re: Crappy look.
Jarred has set up a server that we can use to upload frame grabs that we've shot - and it's out of the goodness of his heart, free!
All the info is here:
http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX2/YaBB.pl?board=Clips;action=display;num=1085960689;start=0#0
Jarred has set up a server that we can use to upload frame grabs that we've shot - and it's out of the goodness of his heart, free!
All the info is here:
http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX2/YaBB.pl?board=Clips;action=display;num=1085960689;start=0#0