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henrygrins

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Hello all-

I'm new to the DVX and wanted to post this spot for critique. I'm a DP in NYC, and I usually shoot 16 or 35MM (have been making the jump into HD for a lil while -- excited about the HVX!!). Whaddya think? In the edit, I couldn't help but notice some bizarre banding and motion artifacts. I shot 24pA (was this the right move for finishing on Media Composer Adrenaline?) and I think that could be why. Have a look and let me know! Thanks!!

Henry

http://homepage.mac.com/henrygrins/iMovieTheater9.html
 
Wow - I loved it

Great colors, composition, editing, and ofcourse I thought the concept was cute as well.

Did you just bounce light onto his face for close ups or what?
 
ha, nice. I don't see why shooting 24p would have created artifacts on the avid... it should have done the opposite really. what was your production pipeline?
 
Monte: I used a 2' x 3' piece of B-Board along with full grid to bounce my lil 125W Arri HMI pocket par into his face.

mcshyd: Acquired at 24pA using cine_v gamma setting. Detail was set to -2 and (H? V?) detail was also set to -2 (I know next to nothing about setting this camera up -- used to working with the VariCam's sweet paint box.) Captured at 30i via SDI. DSR-1500 deck. 2:1 was the avid resolution that I used to online. Any thoughts? At this point I think it was a setting in camera (maybe lens aberrations?). Maybe I'm just not used to using the camera, but I thought it could have looked better.

Henry
 
nice. liked the concept and the look was fine. your commercial was so funny, the last thing i was paying attention to was the "look" of it. could of been done with a vhs cam and it'd still be funny. good job.
 
so is this the camera they provided for you on the shoot or is it your own? and if it is your own why would you be using it on a shoot when you didn't know how to work it, from what you say..?
 
Thanks everyone!

Justin: I know how to use the camera, just don't know anything about particular camera settings (read: the menu items on this camera look nothing like a varicam). This really wasn't even a piece for my reel (I'm trying to break into editing as well), so we just had fun with it. It was a good first test run.

Henry
 
I see what you mean henry. I didn't misunderstand you. It was more me thinking how you couldn't get around the easy menus. I thought the Varicam would have more difficult menus to work with because there are so many buttons on that camera. The shoot looks fine.
 
Great commercial!
Well done!
I tihnk it could be cut quicker at the beginning, wiht more frustrations (the CU of him hitting the phone was awesome).

After that, though, from the dance on, I wouldn't change a thing. GREAT!
 
Great spec!

As for the artifact problems... Did you notice the artifacts in the raw footage or on output? Also, I'm not familiar with Avid, but does it handle the advanced pulldown correctly? And if so was it setup to do so?

Where did you spot the banding problem? I've had that problem with red colors since it gets compressed so much.

If you plan to shoot more with the camera then I highly recommend Barry Green's book that covers all the details of the camera. It's a must have for DVX owners:

http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/dvxbook/
 
Awesome commercial, it's ones like this that redeem my faith in that good commercials can be made... there is so much poo poo on the TV, it's something that I'd like to experience with a bit... Great work!

Edit: lol the 'S' word gets changed into 'poo poo', never noticed that before :P
 
Thanks again, guys! Quite the endorsement. I will definitely pick that book up (well, probably wait for the HVX version).

I noticed the banding on playback from the deck. I get the feeling that I should have started a 480P project rather that cutting in 29.97. Something tells me that Media Composer Adrenaline HD doesn't handle advanced pulldown terribly well. On the CUs, there was no banding, but on wide shots the resolution was terrible. The director was adamant about using that ridiculous red hat, so I knew that i couldn't use FCP to cut it (the Apple DV codec mangles reds).

Henry
 
On a seperate note, anyone looking to do some spec commercial or music video work in the NYC area, let me know. While I'm getting to know this camera, I will literally work for peanuts (well, maybe walnuts).

Henry
 
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