Scaling 4k to 1080p to create Med and CU shot.

T

taynos

Member
I am shooting a spot with non-actor talent (children) who will be improvising (non-scripted) into camera. The very best lines will be used and then visualized into animated illustrations and then composited / integrated with the talent as though we are inside their imagination.

I want to shoot talent in front of a green screen. The final finish is 1080p.
Because the talent (non-actor children) may never say the same thing twice I want to shoot in 4k pro res (not UHD) and be able create both a medium wide shot and a CU in the same shot.

I plan to shoot talent portrait by rotating the camera 90 degrees to maximize width ratio over height ratio and filling the image as close a possible with the talent. Compositor will then rotate the image back to normal and be able to maximize camera sensor / resolution.

What is the most percentage I can zoom and not lose detail or get into softness or moire? Shooting FS700-7Q 4K pro res slog.

I obviously plan to shoot some tests, thought I would ask the community for any tips or tricks or things to look out for.

Thanks in advance.
 
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it's tricky!
If you get close and the talent fills your frame completely your DOF will get small. This can be already an issue without the crop if your talent is moving and you dont have a focus puller. If you crop the scene it will be even more evident if the focus isn't accurate. I'd consider a second camera either for continuous wide shot or for a second portrait angle. In interviews I have good experience with Blackmagic cams as a B-Cam. Even Blackmagic ProRes is good to match with 7Q sLOG with some tweaking.
 
It's very dependant on what you and your compositor are happy to work with. If you take a 4K and crop the central 1080p out of it then that is softer than the whole 4k downsized but depending on context that might be fine. As Clermond says your biggest enemy might be DOF and you'll want as much DOF as possible, a lot of light rather than ISO because the noise will get larger as you crop in too. Try to avoid excessive noise.

But it's plenty doable, i've shots quite a bit of GS stuff that we add camera moves to and punch in or out, not been a major problem.

cheers
Paul
 
We actually do this on all of the episodes of The Harbor. We shoot a wide shot, the shot you see where the talent is sitting on the crate, and then punch in 30%-60%. DOF isnt a big factor for us as we are shooting infinte black. This sure beats frankenrigging an AA7S to the top of the FS700 as we did for the first 5 episodes. A cam forTTye Harbor is an fs7q and B cam is an A7S. Check it out at http://www.theharbortv.com. Sorry was having trouble posting a vimeo link.
 
roro20 said:
We actually do this on all of the episodes of The Harbor. We shoot a wide shot, the shot you see where the talent is sitting on the crate, and then punch in 30%-60%. DOF isnt a big factor for us as we are shooting infinte black. This sure beats frankenrigging an AA7S to the top of the FS700 as we did for the first 5 episodes. A cam forTTye Harbor is an fs7q and B cam is an A7S. Check it out at http://www.theharbortv.com. Sorry was having trouble posting a vimeo link.
Click to expand...

roro20, just checked out your harbor videos. They're awesome, love the whole production and edit. Great job.
 
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