Need Advice on Using Current SD Cam for Contest

Soniclight wrote on 1/31/2008, 11:13 PM

Hello,

I'm going to get some kind of HD cam during this year, but not in the next two weeks which is the deadline for a music video contest I'm entering.

A third of it will be my usual ethereal stuff that some of you are familiar with, the rest will be shot by me solo.

With an older, consumer grade, 1/6th Single CCD, no optical zoom camcorder that would probably be considered a mere toy to most of you.

But it's all I got, gotta make due with it.

I've got so much to learn and principles in shutter speed and so on are getting digested. My cam is a simple tool with few shutter and other options, yet I wish to maximize it's recording quality as much as possible.

At the end here is an image of it (JVC GR-DVL 120) and under it is a link to its owner's manual in .pdf format.

Again, probably rather simple specs and options for most of you to zero in on to get a sense of what this cam can and can't do.

I don't have any decent lighting for the first Act I scenes not shot in the apartment of the story, so will have to make due with natural lighting. Maybe even shoot in black and white in most scenes to reduce artifacts?

If grain is obnoxious, I may get creative and turn the graininess into some "artsy look" (lemons into lemonade approach).

Anyway, here are the...

Basic Scenes/Acts

All night-time except for last scenes due to script and best time for me to shoot.

--- ACT I - Outdoors/Indoors: Motorcyclist turns off motor an lights, gets off bike. Enters building, checks mail, goes upstairs to his apartment door, enters.

--- ACT II - Indoors (Apartment): He's seen thinking about something as he gets ready for sleep, unsettled.

--- ACT III - Indoors (Apartment): Dream sequences and plot climax at end when waking up, sunlit room.

I realize this could take a few minutes for you to look at this owner's manual, but hopefully someone will have an extended coffee break :)
Thanks for your help and advice.

~ Philip

JVC GR-DVL 120 Owner's Manual (1.9 Mb PDF File)

Comments

craftech wrote on 2/1/2008, 5:51 AM

As I see it you have very few options with that camera.

The best optiion would be to set the camera to A and buy some portable work lights. That shouldn't be too difficult to carry around and it seems like you have a place to plug them in.

If that is not possible and you have to use existing light you will have to switch the camera to M for the darkest lit scenes and activate the NIGHT ALIVE mode that reduces the shutter speed. If you use that mode you will have to limit the movement of the actor quite a bit to avoid "strobing".
Of course, what will also happen is that you won't be able to use the autofocus because of the low illumination. Common with 1/6 or 1/5 cameras. Manual focus on that camera is not as difficult to use as some, but in Manual mode you will have to press the Focus button and rotate the Menu/Bright wheel to focus it and press the wheel in to lock it. Lens has to be in maximum telephoto position to do that. In an apartment you will probably want to be in Wide angle position, but you can't use manual focus that way because of the reduced depth of field at the longer focal length when you zoom up.

The problem with your camera in Manual mode is the same as with most relatively recent cameras. The same 4-way pad or wheel in your case does everything when in manual mode and the imagers have been reduced to such a small size that a drop in light throws the manual modes off. They aren't easily reset. Manual exposure (which you should use) is done with the same wheel as the manual focus. So is manual white balance.

Then there is the problem of image stabilization. With most of today's consumer cams and their tiny imagers OIS suddenly drops off with no warning as soon as the lighting dims a bit. So your hand held shots that will require OIS will suddenly drop off and start getting jerky when you walk with the camera to another position in which there is a little less light. That in turn will throw off all your manual settings which will have to be relocated using the menus and the same Menu/Bright wheel that does it all.

If you haven't gotten the drift of all this what I am strongly suggesting is that you get some cheap worklights at a place like Home Depot and carry them around. The few minutes it takes to set them up will take less time than juggling the manual controls and will allow you to shoot in fully automatic mode. If you need to darken the scenes you can do it in post like they do in Hollywood.

John

Soniclight wrote on 2/1/2008, 8:24 AM

John,

Wow... thanks for the detailed, reality-check and thoughtful reply. While it probably won't affect the downsides you mentioned, everything is at least going to be shot with a tripod.

Portable lights... Hmm, I'll have to look into that for some temporary solution.

Any suggestions on type of light one could get at Home Depot?
No big rush, but would welcome i.e. brand or general kind of light and cost.

Some time this year I'll also hopefully be moving to a larger apartment where I will turn one room into a studio. I'll then get a bit more pro with it all, so to speak.

And again, this is for one video project and so I can't break my skinny bank on this.

Thanks.

craftech wrote on 2/1/2008, 9:02 AM

Any suggestions on type of light one could get at Home Depot?
No big rush, but would welcome i.e. brand or general kind of light and cost.
===========
Hi Phillip,

Click on the link to that article in my post. It explains and pictures the Home Depot lights. Shouldn't cost that much and will solve a lot of your problems. Those and the tripod and you should do fine. Set everything on AUTO and shoot.

John

Soniclight wrote on 2/1/2008, 11:18 AM

Oops, sorry about missing the link in your post, I was inhaling the info - lol
Will check it out later. Gotta go do some basic life stuff (groceries, et al :)

JackW wrote on 2/1/2008, 3:12 PM

How about renting a more capable camera over a weekend -- a PD150 or 170 for example? Shouldn't cost much and will provide much better control and (therefore) better video.

Many rental houses have a "weekend package" that allows you to pick up the gear late Friday p.m. and return it Monday a.m. for the price of a single day (Saturday) rental. Worth looking into locally.

Jack

Soniclight wrote on 2/1/2008, 3:32 PM

Forgot about the rental thing...

But I have to still decide how much effort and polish I want to put into this contest. There are no real prizes or money to speak of. Exposure, perhaps.

Have to sit with it a bit more as I plan this out.

craftech wrote on 2/1/2008, 3:38 PM

I don't know if I would add learning a new camera into the mix by this weekend.

John

Soniclight wrote on 2/2/2008, 7:36 PM

"I don't know if I would add learning a new camera into the mix by this weekend."

Yup, that definitely went through my mind too even though I could wait for next weekend. Either way, methinks too much in too little time.

So I'll stick with what I got. Besides, to use an analogy about working within limitations, the Beatles did fine starting only with only 2-track recordings.

I'm sure I can find some creative ways to work around things by using problems as opportunities for colorful tweaking, switching scenes, etc. This is to be an artistic video, so might as well be artistically resourceful.

----------------------------------------

And again, thank you, John, for staying with me on this. Much appreciated.

I looked at your lights page and it was encouraging. That said, I searched Home Depot, found nothing. But I've never found their site (or that of any other chain hardware store) to be useful anyway.

One has to go into the store itself to see what they actually have.

richard-courtney wrote on 2/2/2008, 8:47 PM

I like John's posts but I am afraid of those work lights.

Search for "nanolight" in this forum. They are not hard to assemble
and a pair used for key and fill lights you can't believe how good you can
light. I purchased those compact flourescent bulbs in a four pack at HomeDepot
(or Lowe's) for almost nothing. (Sylavania Soft white color temp around 3000K)
The sockets are around $2 each and can be wired easily.

jazzmaster wrote on 2/2/2008, 10:41 PM

I think one of the best things you can do with Home Depot lights, or even Lowell lights for that matter, is to build a reostat into the cord. Then you can dial your intensity. Even so, I try never to shine a light directly on a subject. Get some 4' x 8' foam core and bounce the light on your subject. Just my two cents.
Burt

MH_Stevens wrote on 2/2/2008, 11:32 PM

crafttech said just what I was going to say. It's all about the light. Go to Home depot / Lowes get some cheap halogen work lights and you will be amazed at just what good lighting does. just don't start a fire - those things get hot!

AND you can return them after the shoot... just like rental really.

craftech wrote on 2/3/2008, 6:56 AM

I think one of the best things you can do with Home Depot lights, or even Lowell lights for that matter, is to build a reostat into the cord. Then you can dial your intensity.
==========
That's a great idea Burt. I never thought of that. Something like this would work very well. I am sure Home Depot has an equivalent in the electrical department.

John

Soniclight wrote on 2/3/2008, 7:48 AM

A-ha, yeah, reostat/dimmer! Forgot about that

I had planned to get one for a custom underlighted platform I will be building. Basically a large coffee table with thick translucent glass on which an object, model or whatever gets lit from below. Mystical look, great for my kind of film style for certain scenes.

What you showed is even better for it's plug and play for whatever light /s I choose to hook up to it. More versatile. I was going to use a 600W wall switch type dimmer and do some DIY wiring for the in-platform.

On lighting purchase:

"AND you can return them after the shoot... just like rental really."

Well, I'm a bit too ethic-compulsive about things like this. I can't go buy something just to "borrow" it for a couple of days.
To each his/her own :)

Jessariah67 wrote on 2/3/2008, 4:41 PM

Music videos are terrific opportunities to play with picture. I just recently did one where half of the b-roll I had was taken off of VHS tapes - so I just junked them up more with the TV filter. If you have VASST's Celluloid or Magic Bullet's MisFrie, you have all kinds of ways to play with picture. If you don't, play with the Sony Film Effects - junk it up, add colorized cuts, etc. Mix in some undersampling, B&W - really play with it.

I did a lot of the above on two videos here ("Kindom of Fools" & "In The Dirt").

HTH

KH

Soniclight wrote on 2/6/2008, 7:13 PM

Crafttech,

Well, I went to Home Depot and got those 500 Watt $20 work lights you have on your page :) Feel like I splurged considering I have quite a few mickey mouse lights (thrift store desk lamps and such), but in the end, I probably will be glad I got them.

So thanks for the tip.

Jessariah,

I saw the vids you suggested and indeed, there are some nice transitions and effects in them sprucing up what could have been just plain old band footage.

Thing is, my stuff is mellower and subtle (more slow Pink Floydian to Vangelis film score type with Particleillusion fx). So I'll have to be careful in how I use my Magic Bullet and so on. Even without 3rd party plugins, Vegas 8 has almost over-choice of stuff to try :)

You can see my so-far one and only finished vid with my own music here.