New Guy, new project: Interviews

F

Fake Name

Active member
Hello!

First, thanks to all participants here- I've been reading furiously for hours trying to get up to speed on DV shoot and production, and there is a MASSIVE amount of shared information here- a huge help.

Here's my situation: I'm a advertising/commercial photographer, and have been so for 20+ years, the last 5 exclusively digital. I have a studio full of macs and lighting gear, and I'm obviously geek enough to enjoy the technical side of creativity.

I've volunteered to shoot and produce a 4 minute video for a national non-profit fundraiser gala in october. The video will involve shooting several interviews of cancer survivors cut together that relates how this organization has helped their lives.

It's my intention to light very simply, black backgrounds, single softbox/scrim or Kino and small foamcore fill.

I have access to a dvx100.

Here's what I don't know: How will this be shown in it's final form. It will be in a hall of a large NYC hotel, and I suspect I'll have an LCD projector to which I can connect my mac. It's possible they'll have other screens available, but I don't have that info yet.

I'd like to maintain the best quailty possible, within practical limits, but I do not own FCP, so I'd be limited in post production to iMovie unless there is an overwhelming reason to throw down the $ for FCP. I don't anticipate the need for complicated post-production; I want to shoot it right and keep it very, very simple, but high quality. Remember, there is no $ for this, but I do get creative and direction control, which is why I want to do it.

So, here are the questions:

24p or pa? Can I post-produce this without FCP?
Is a PowerbooK an acceptable playback platform, or should I use only a DVD?

These are interview shots, so the use of Squeeze or 16:9 would only be for the percieved value of the format- would I be better off shooting in 4:3 and calling it good?

If you could choose the playback media at the gala, what would it be? Projection? Plasma screen(s)?

Wired lav for audio?

Thanks again!

fn
 
This is a simple job, so no need to get complicated. You can shoot at 24p, or 24pA, or 60i--it's not going to make a huge difference for a seated interview subject without a lot of motion in the frame. I'd probably shoot at 24p. The aspect ratio should suit the subject matter--4:3 sounds like a better match for a typical seated interview subject. A wired lav for sound would be a good choice for an interview. Editing in iMovie is fine, you don't need FCP for some basic cuts and titles. For playback, I'd lean towards burning a DVD, but you could also print to tape and arrange to have a DV deck or the DVX100 at the event. You really want a device with standard NTSC output, so a laptop isn't the best choice. You'll be needing an LCD projector at the event--usually the AV people take care of these details, you just let them know what media you'll be bringing. For events like these I always bring both a DVD (2 copies) and a DV tape and make sure that there are players for both. Just in case the home-burned DVD isn't happy in the player at the event. I also have a nice pre-event discussion with the AV people letting them know the number of people at the event, the setup, special requirements, etc.
 
If all you have is iMovie shoot 24p or 60i, not 24pa since iMovie doesn't support 24 fps. (24p is output at true 60i so can be edited and look correct in iMovie).

Bring the movie on DVD and a copy on your hard drive if you have space.
Make sure to bring all the various cables you might need, especially any computer specific cables. (Those converter cables that you got with the laptop) AV group shoudl have them but they usually don't. You can pipe it out s-vhs and audio on your laptop if you wish (if they already have a DVD player that's usually cleanest, easiest and less likely to cause problems)

I've doen presentation of QT movies and such with Keynote on a laptop to an LCD projector and plasma screens. They may have plasma if it's a relatively small group otherwise it'll be projection.

I wouldn't bother with a tape.

Main thing to do is to get there early and get setup and tested before your presentation. Give yourself enough time to solve any problems.
 
Thanks so much- I hope I can return the favor should any of you need help with still imaging...

I have another question- the gala includes a fund-raising auction, and I'm considering adding a video element to the bidding. The auction follows the 4 minute presentation, and I'm considering shooting each subject "coaxing" the auction along- so, when the bidding slows down, the screen will pop up with one of the subjects encouraging further (and higher) bidding in some humorous way. That means the projected image would need to start as a black screen, fade in, say their thing for 2-3 seconds, then fade back to black. I'd like to have several of these small clips available on my powerbook desktop that I can click to activate at the right moment.

How can I make this happen? Clearly, I can save each clip as a OT file and name it something I'll remember, but making it fade in and out on the projection screen without windows or progress bars stumps me. Keynote perhaps??? I realize I can make one monitor (the show screen) black and have all the file resources available on the laptop screen, but how can I make the file play on the black side?

thanks again, folks, and please let me know when I can return the favor.

fn

(who just CAN'T keep anything simple)
 
If you want to do online transitions and feed, I suggest you look into VJing software. Arkaos is quite famous and will probably serve your needs. Have the movies in QT and stream them to the projector via arkaos, choosing wich clip, and getting a fade transition programed. That will keep them interested for sure...
 
You can do all that in Keynote from Apple. You can also get a bluietooth clicker to control keynote/laptop from a distance.
 
I'm one of those "AV people" that Barry S was referring to. One thing to think about if you plan on burning it to DVD. Make sure you leave about 5 seconds of black from the beginning "chapter point" until the spot starts because most DVD players will flash that little "play arrow" icon on the screen for a couple seconds and if the event is truely being switched it will give them preroll time to let the icon disappear before taking it to the audience screens. Pioneer makes a nice deck that some of the AV companies have, I think it's a model 7400, that you can turn off those on screen icons but most of the time we use consumer players. Even better might be to put a 10 second countdown leader on the spots so they can cue them better.
 
Great suggestions, guys, and thanks again. I'll check out Keynote, I believe I have that already. Good to know about the DVD lead times- I've done that before. Is it just a matter of playing the spot and pausing it before the live material begins?

fn
 
I'm sure you have the best intentions, but this sounds like a tacky idea. I know it would put *me* off if I was at a charity event. If it's an open auction--it's the auctioneer's job to keep things moving and they're good at what they do.

Fake Name said:
I have another question- the gala includes a fund-raising auction, and I'm considering adding a video element to the bidding. The auction follows the 4 minute presentation, and I'm considering shooting each subject "coaxing" the auction along- so, when the bidding slows down, the screen will pop up with one of the subjects encouraging further (and higher) bidding in some humorous way.
Click to expand...
 
Barry_S said:
You really want a device with standard NTSC output, so a laptop isn't the best choice.
Click to expand...
Barry, I'm curious -- why is this important? I'm working on a project that will be shown in a similar manner -- LCD projector -- and was thinking of playing directly from the computer with an .avi or quicktime source...
 
Barry_S said:
I'm sure you have the best intentions, but this sounds like a tacky idea. I know it would put *me* off if I was at a charity event. If it's an open auction--it's the auctioneer's job to keep things moving and they're good at what they do.
Click to expand...

Barry:

No doubt it's a tricky proposition, but I think it can be done with humor and a light touch. I'm not completely sold on the idea either- it is my intention to show the idea to the planners and the auctioneer to see if they think it would support their efforts. It's their show, not mine.

Done poorly, it could be tasteless, done well, it could be quite successful.

Thanks for your observation!

p
 
if it was me, i'd test the disc in a dvd player and bring a player i know worked with the disc. there is a player you can get at radiosuck for $35 made by a company called cyberhome. i don't have mine in front of me but it's small and silver. i've seen them at mall wart too. it plays just about every dubiously burned disc i've ever thrown at it. (including pal.) i've seen people run into all sorts of troubs when using dvd's burned in idvd in various players. it's worth while to know the disc and player will be compatible.

to answer the question about why a device with ntsc output is better than a laptop: the source is ntsc video. 720x480 res, 60 fields/sec. laptops are all higher res than that, and they all feature progressive -not interlaced- displays. square pixels too. "well," you might say, "lcd projectors are also progressive displays with higher than ntsc resolution." and you'd be right. however, virtually all lcd projectors contain circuitry (basically scan conversion and scaling hardware and algorithms,) for converting ntsc analog video into the native resolution and scan rate that is appropriate for the given projector. laptops do this too, but they never do it as well as a decent projector will. anybody who has watched a dvd on a laptop knows it. furthermore, dvd players don't crash.

as for the extra auction bits, it would be a not very difficult job to author a dvd that included a black "menu," on which various buttons, of your choosing, on the dvd remote would trigger the individual clips. the fade-in and out would just have to be added in the editing app (imovie.) i'm not sure how much of a hassle it would be to do this authoring in idvd, but it would be no big deal in dvd studio pro. do you know any fellow geeks who might be willing to trade a set of headshots for a relatively simple dvd authoring job?
 
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