The Water's Edge

Re: The Water's Edge

More on 16:9...
So how exactly does 16:9 work in your final burned DVD. I assume there is some external file that notifies the DVD player that the content is 16:9? In my case I want to burn my 16:9 DVD in Encore and watch it on my projector. When I export something 4:3 it turns out nicely being projected, so why not export 4:3 with the black bars rather than exporting a set 16:9 DVD. I don't want the player to recognize it and change anything, really. I still want to see the entire image of my movie (I mean on the sides I don't want it zoomed in or anything) and I certainly don't want to watch it all stretched out vertically. So why exactly do I burn a 16:9 DVD? Is this only applicable if I have a widescreen plasma or something which doesn't handle 4:3 DVDs? The whole widescreen thing has always confused me quite honestly and since it's involved in this topic I'm trying to reach enlightenment. This also makes me confused at what an anamorphic lens does. Since the width factor remains the same in 16:9 and 4:3, how can you get a widescreen image without losing resolution? Isn't that the only way to make it look wider, by decreasing the height? You can't make the CCD grow by an ana. lens, so just how does this work. If it stretches the image to optimize your CCD, then don't you lose just as much resolution when it gets squished back to watch?
I apologize for the ignorant questions on a topic not specifically 16:9 oriented, but I must end my bewildered state of confusion.

Thanks!
 
Re: The Water's Edge

Brilliant.....

I watched the Cobra Crane demo too.....it looks like a fun as hell toy!
I don't know what else I can say to add to the comments already except I am looking forward to seeing more things.
 
Re: The Water's Edge

First Comment. I need to get a Crane.
Second... That was the most awesome work I have ever seen, I cannot believe I own that same camera and I go nuts on getting the settings right. That was amazing.
Third...Looking forward to your other projects, keep us posted.
 
Re: The Water's Edge

[quote author=disjecta link=board=Clips;num=1087699633;start=75#83 date=08/10/04 at 22:01:38]Thanks so much for the high compliments. If you are interested, check out what I am working on currently:
http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX2/YaBB.pl?board=Clips;action=display;num=1091652257[/quote]

I have been watching this over and over, it is so awesome.
This is a stupid question. But before every shot. Do you guys go into menu and set up for that shot? or do you save certain settings in different files, like the F1 and F2 etc.
 
Re: The Water's Edge

I'm really not ignoring the questions, I've just been busy...  ;)

Basically, if your final output is on a 4x3 TV, and you want the look of widescreen, you can either shoot with the in-camera letterbox and create a 4x3 project (or a 16:9 project and vertically stretch the footage) or you can shoot in squeeze mode and create a 16:9 project.

When you work in Encore, it it will recognize what the aspect is, based on the parameters of the exported file, and create an aspect-appropriate DVD. You can even mix and match on one DVD....you could have one segment widescreen (will automatically play on a widescreen TV and will letterbox on a regular TV) and the other full screen (where, on a widescreen TV there would be vertical bars on each side and on a regular TV it would be full screen), etc.

If your intentions are to output for widescreen viewing on an actual widescreen TV then going with a letterboxed 4x3 project is certainly not the way to go. The only way of viewing it properly on a widescreen TV is to zoom in to get rid of the letterbox and you are also losing some of the frame on the left and right doing it this way. The resolution is compromised when the TV zooms in also.

The difference between letterbox versus squeeze mode is so negligible that it is not even worth mentioning. You may notice the difference if you have the highest rez plasma or LCD monitor available but, other than that, you will not (and if you do, you might just have too much time on your hands  ;) ).

Obviously using the anamorphic lens is going to yield much better results. It has a sharper look versus the squeeze or letterbox mode which would be much softer if you were to compare the two. Personally, I like the softer look better.

It's called squeeze mode because when you are shooting and looking through the viewfinder, what you are seeing is the image horizontally squeezed. When you import that footage into a 16:9 project in your NLE it then becomes stretched to the proper aspect.

The other technical aspects of your questions have been addressed elsewhere and merit a lengthy response. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to give that right now so I would suggest that you do a search under "anamorphic" on this site and see if you can get your questions answered there.

In fact, Barry Green has just produced an anamorphic guide that answers all of these questions and more. Check out this link: http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX2/YaBB.pl?board=nws;action=display;num=1090282909

Thanks....
 
Re: The Water's Edge

[quote author=cyberagedave link=board=Clips;num=1087699633;start=75#84 date=08/10/04 at 22:07:52]
This is a stupid question. But before every shot. Do you guys go into menu and set up for that shot? or do you save certain settings in different files, like the F1 and F2 etc.
[/quote]

First of all, it's not a stupid question. You can't be expected to know everything about the camera and peoples' shooting habits without a lot of experience.

Generally, when I shoot, there are a number of things that I change while in the field, depending on the conditions. For the most part the black pedestal and white balance are what get changed the most but, other than that, unless you are going to have extreme changes in lighting conditions, the only other things that need adjusting are the exposure and focus controls.

Everyone has their own set of rules regarding how they shoot. My genre is nature, using available light, so it's not practical for me to recalibrate the camera dramatically after every shot. I need to be ready to shoot the unexpected at any time. Anything that's slightly off in color, etc., I just fix in post.

Also, if you make too many changes in between shots, you will have a nightmare on your hands in post production, trying to match all of the shots up. While "fixing it in post" is always available, you need to remember that everytime you add an effect in your NLE, you are compromising the quality of your footage, albeit minutely, the more you have to mess with the footage, the more quality you are compromising.

I hope this answers your question. If not, let me know.

Cheers...
 
Re: The Water's Edge

[quote author=disjecta link=board=Clips;num=1087699633;start=75#87 date=08/11/04 at 10:47:12]

First of all, it's not a stupid question. You can't be expected to know everything about the camera and peoples' shooting habits without a lot of experience.

Generally, when I shoot, there are a number of things that I change while in the field, depending on the conditions. For the most part the black pedestal and white balance are what get changed the most but, other than that, unless you are going to have extreme changes in lighting conditions, the only other things that need adjusting are the exposure and focus controls.

Everyone has their own set of rules regarding how they shoot. My genre is nature, using available light, so it's not practical for me to recalibrate the camera dramatically after every shot. I need to be ready to shoot the unexpected at any time. Anything that's slightly off in color, etc., I just fix in post.

Also, if you make too many changes in between shots, you will have a nightmare on your hands in post production, trying to match all of the shots up. While "fixing it in post" is always available, you need to remember that everytime you add an effect in your NLE, you are compromising the quality of your footage, albeit minutely, the more you have to mess with the footage, the more quality you are compromising.

I hope this answers your question. If not, let me know.

Cheers...
[/quote]

Thank you, very helpful info here. Very much appreciated.
 
Re: The Water's Edge

I hate just posting "Thank you" responses, I feel like I'm just wasting space, but I must say that disjecta has provided a large amount of information, and some truly beautiful footage. A lot of time has been spent on some fairly lengthy responses and on issues not entirely applicable to this topic.
So....Thanks!
 
Re: The Water's Edge

disjecta

Can you tell me how you did the opening in your film... I like it alot what did you use? and can you share the file so we can see how to do it?

rob
 
Re: The Water's Edge

Oh, I see, you are talking about my Marymoor Park post. I can't really share the file because a lot of it relies on the plug in Aurora Water so all of the parameters of that will be missing.

The text itself is created in Photoshop (with a drop shadow to make it stand out more) at a size much greater than the screen so that it won't pixelize at the beginning and then keyframed in After Effects to shrink to the final dimensions you see at the end of the logo. The opacity is also keyframed at the beginning to gradually fade in. I had the text reduce with an "Ease in" parameter so that it gradually slows down as it reaches its final size. It looks much better to do that because it creates more of an epic feel.

Not sure what else I can tell you. Let me know if you have specific questions.
 
Re: The Water's Edge

I am so pleased that your piece is still available, so many get pulled too soon.
As a nature lover I was nearly moved to tears with the beauty of your images combined with that wonderful music track. Excellent craft!
I have never seen a DVX in person, but that should change by next week. I cannot describe how excited I am about that.
Thanks again for maintaining the films availability.
 
Re: The Water's Edge

Hey Disjecta!

Absolutely beautiful images! What did you use for field monitoring? Please tell me you didn't just reference using the LCD on the camera...

Once again, stunning cinematography...and I don't think it could be called anything else.

Thanks,
Steve
 
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