New guy, couple questions

S

stevemar

Member
Hello everyone, this is my first post, love this site! A quick bio: I am a graphic artist, (I do Environmental Graphis for my job), but I do projects at home also. I have done about 7 different films, revolving around surfing and music, and misc. other stuff. I just did the new Album cover for the band Pennywise (called The Fuse, on Epitaph Records, out in August). I learned all I know about Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro from the Apple Forums and Ken Stone's site. I just purchased a DVX 100A, (from a Canon ZR20) and now a whole new world is open to me and thanks to the help of this site I'm sure I can get the help I need! I consider myself solid in graphic applications but a novice in real camera techniques. I can't wait to shoot in 24p, and have done some tests and put them in FCP, no problems. I do read everything I can thoroughly, but I have a couple questions to start:

1. A friend of mine told me today that I should do my stuff (surf stuff) in 16:9 because that's what everyone is doing. Should I shoot in 16:9 and edit in 16:9 or should I shoot 4:3 then edit in 16:9?

2. (Night time shooting). I followed MrBreaker's sticky to help me get the right image. Do I do the exact same at night? Even set the white balance the same way?

Thanks, Steve
 
stevemar said:
1. A friend of mine told me today that I should do my stuff (surf stuff) in 16:9 because that's what everyone is doing. Should I shoot in 16:9 and edit in 16:9 or should I shoot 4:3 then edit in 16:9?
Click to expand...

"So if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you too?"

LOL j/k. I don't really know anything about surf stuff, but you can always shoot 4:3 and put a mask on in post. Then of course you could shoot 16:9 if it helps you keep stuff in frame.
 
I thought I would get that kind of reply. Maybe I should have said that she thought it would be cool if I shot a film in 16:9. I wanted to know if I get a better picture shooting it in 16:9, or wait and frame it in FCP. Is there a difference?

How's that?
 
nope,quality would be the same. Personally i like to crop in post, gives you another layer of control over composition.

just make sure you have a printed out letterbox mask over ur lcd so u have some idea of where the top and bottom are :)
 
I think 16.9 vs 4.3 is a choice best left to your taste and the subject matter. For the things I shoot (interior documentary type stuff mostly), I find 16.9 unsuitable. I hate the cut-off head look, and don't know what to do with the extra width if I back up enough to get the whole head. Also, I think I lose intimacy when I back off. But for surfing, you have a relatively wide/flat area of interest (sky and ocean are incidental to the wave area), so it might be perfect. Shoot a bit both ways and then decide.
 
Ski, that ia the great sticky, and Galt, I have done some more reading on it and you are right. I'll have to try it. It seems like it is better to do it in post though.
 
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