Some miscellaneous FX1 grabs and clips

S

Spiff

Well-known member
It's been a while since I had any real web-hosting, but that's changed now and I'll be able to provide links for various FX1-shot content including pictures and the like. Some of these may be familiar as I've posted before, but the links are different.

Here is an album of a few FX1 frame grabs. Some may have a little bit of colour correction, all were shot 1080i:
http://www.petridish.net/albumview.asp?a=23861
http://www.petridish.net/pics/23855/kitty.jpg

All of the shots in this album were shot CF24:
http://www.petridish.net/albumview.asp?a=23859
In motion:
http://phispace.net/spiffyprod/Eclipse/shot00.mov
http://phispace.net/spiffyprod/Eclipse/shot01.mov
http://phispace.net/spiffyprod/Eclipse/shot02.mov
http://phispace.net/spiffyprod/Eclipse/shot03.mov
http://phispace.net/spiffyprod/Eclipse/shot04.mov
http://phispace.net/spiffyprod/Eclipse/shot05.mov

Two quick (still photo) keying tests:
http://www.petridish.net/pics/23860/theblues.jpg (shot CF24)
http://www.petridish.net/pics/23860/sword.jpg (shot 1080i)

And a visual effects example. Note: here I used the extra real-estate of the frame to crop it down to 720p, allowing me to do a digital zoom near the end of the clip (shot CF30):
http://www.petridish.net/pics/23860/FLT1.jpg
http://www.petridish.net/pics/23860/FLT2.jpg
an uncropped, uncorrected frame:
http://www.petridish.net/pics/23860/FLTNCC.jpg
and the final video:
http://phispace.net/spiffyprod/FLT/FLTHD.wmv (~13 MB)

A few miscellaneous shooting notes:
If you're planning on doing a lot of visual effects, shooting in the CF modes is a great way to cut down on the hassle of interlace and reduce compression artifacts. As more people will realize when they adopt HD - resolution isn't everything. While people are usually informed to "shoot 60i" and "CF modes suck" - by the time you take into account the compression algorithm, you can often end up with better data from a CF30 image than you will from deinterlaced 1080i.

-Spiff
 
Did you use a strobe light during filming, or did you add all the lighting effects in post?
 
I used some cheap strobe lights. You can't fake it, and with careful attention to the shadows you should be able to figure it out where they were.

-Spiff
 
The footage is right there. If you look at the still frame grabs you can see how well it works without WMV compression on top (and minor JPG compression).

That said... strobing is hard on the MPEG-2, particularly if you're shooting interlaced. I've shot in both a wedding and a dark dance club. In both instances flashes tend to result in rather ugly artifacting, because changing the lighting really does change a significant amount of detail in any given frame.

This is one of the instances that CF30 becomes really useful - since there is really only half the luma information to compress (note: in both CF modes and 60i the chroma grid is 720x540, however the effective CF luma grid is 1440x540, while the 60i luma grid is 1440x1080). The lower compression allows for more heavy frame-to-frame changes... it's also better for high-motion keying.

Nonetheless, if a scene calls for strobing you'd better use it. Faking lighting is one of those things you can't do in post.

-Spiff
 
spiff

Thanks for sharing those footages and the capabilities of the fx1.
Just a question, the sword fights sequences, did you do cropping in post?

Thanks

Ted
 
did you do cropping in post?
Click to expand...

Yes. Images were cropped (and panned etc.) from full 1440x1080 (PA 1.33) to 1440x818 (PA 1.33) to give a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Note also that the 2:3 pull-down was removed to produce 24 discrete frames.

The uploaded clips are square-pixel 1440x613.

-Spiff
 
Spiff,

Thank you for your prompt response. Im also impressed by the quality of the stills you posted. I'm aware you are familiar with fx work based on the electric/static composition sample you posted.
I need your help.
We in our studio are currently in the decision stage of purchasing a hi def camera. We do a lot of GREEN SCREEN work. We currently have 3 units of 3 ccd SD cameras, two of these are DVX100A's. We do compositing in after effects.
Do you have a before and after sample of this type of work?Green screen? Preferably of people, using the FX1? I want to believe that this camera, in the hands of people who know how to use this, can deliver.
We are looking at 3 options, the JVC HD100, the new HVX, and this one.
If you have, using the Fx1, what is your opinion, can the fx1 hold up?

Your help is highly appreciated.

Ted

www.ramasolastudio.9k.com
 
Check this out. This shot wasn't even lit properly. I just caught a still of my actor passing in front of green material hung on the wall and keyed off that. Not bad for not really trying.
malikgreen.jpg

malikwasteland.jpg
 
My brief keying tests suggested:

- sharpening to 0
- 0 dB gain
- evenly lit screen
- green screen preferable to blue
- if there's a lot of motion, shoot in a CineFrame mode

That said HDV isn't ever going to be the best solution for keying.

I DO have an idea for a keying intesive project, but I don't know if I'll ever get around to making it. Maybe in the summer - I need daylight to get enough light on my screen and the days are too short right now.

-Spiff
 
Which shot in specific are you interested in?

- I do all my colour correction with the Curves filter in After Effects 6.5 Pro (16-bit colour rendering). On occasion I will use a HSL filter to desaturate the footage.

- I usually shoot with the default gamma curve
- If I'm not planing on doing much colour correction I'll shoot +3 colour.
- Outdoor shots I often use a polarizer, and if it's a humid day I may use the Cinematone Gamma to increase the contrast.

-Spiff
 
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