PAL camera, no 24p setting?

[stupid_me85]

hi

I'm a student using a DVX100B, it's the uni's camera so i don't have access to a manual. I'm making a gangster movie for my final project this year, I know the camera pretty well but i don't really have any experience with the cameras menu settings like gamma settings and chroma phase however i know about white ballencing and other more accessable features.

As this is my final year i want to make this project as good as i possibly can, i wonder if anyone out their can tell me what settings are going to be good for my film. I want to acheave a look more like "film" than regular tv. I've heard that gamma is something that i need to pay attention to. if anyone can help me with gamma settings that would be a great help.

The other thing that i need some help wilth is 24p, i have read on this forum that to acheave a more film like look to my footage i need to shoot in 24p, i under stand that 24p means that the camera shoots 24 frames a second and doesn't interlace them. However i can't find this setting on my camera. I read the post about all the settings and stuff and it said that in scene file 5 i would be able to put the camera on 24p. Is it because this camera is PAL. also i have heard people talking about issues with premier and 25p footage. Am i going to have any major issues with this, i've read that you get problems with things like putting fades into 25p footage. Also will I get different look with 25p or is it essentialy the same thing as 24p but for PAL.

Please help

 

[mikkowilson]

24p is used in the NTSC world.

PAL is nativly 25 frames Per seccond (50 fields), so it makes more sence to jsut use 25p in PAL areas.

Visually they are indestinguisable from each other. 25p looks just like 25p to the viewer.

The other nebefits are that because 25p video is native to pal, you can edit it on ANY PAL editing system. You can edit 25p usign two VHS VCRs if you want and it'll work! So no worries there at all.

Shoot 25p - it'll look like 24p - and then edit and export 25p and it'll work everywhere without trouble.

- Mikko

 

[Baluardo]

As mikko said, go for 25p. it's like 24p really. also less hassle in post production (as the process is identical to working with 50i).
If you're unsure about the setting, the standard 'CINELIKE' mode you get in preset scene F6 will do great.
If you are in very dark situations, though, you may want to adjust the setting for the iris in the scene file, which by default is at -3. I usually keep it at -2, but you can raise it to -1 or zero if you think it will look better in a specific situation.

Just a suggestion: when shooting indoor, try to not soften or diffuse the lights too much otherwise the contrast in the image may look a little flat. also harsher lighting prob fits better a gangster movie anyway..
in case you can't get the contrast to acceptable levels though, you can even decide to use the cinelike_v gamma which will give you more contrast.

Andrea