OT - Canon5d, Cineform and Vegas - perfect

vicmilt wrote on 2/3/2010, 1:08 PM

Check out this commercial for the upcoming Delray Beach Film Festival.
My son Adam was the cameraman, and I directed a crew of two - plus about 40 people in talent.
I lit the exteriors with a China ball, hand held, hanging from a long fishpole and a single Lowell 250 spotlight as backlight.
No stands - no fussing - "move the light here - hold it - Action - Cut - ok let's move to this location"

We shot two locations for two hours each - total four hours.

All Canon mov's were encoded using Cineform NeoScene - w/o any anguish.
The spot was entirely edited in Vegas Pro 9c. We rendered to a new track -HDV AVI. We then had to "mute" all the underlaying video tracks to Render As MPEG2 1920x1080i. Without the "muting" we got the dreaded low memory issues.

Otherwise all went super smooth.

Look at this footage - it's unlike anything I've ever seen (since I left 35mm behind) - It's a new age upon us.

Delray Beach Film Festival 2010
YouTube:

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/9160203

Comments

CClub wrote on 2/3/2010, 3:49 PM

Phenomenal... especially the lighting, but we'd expect nothing less from you.

You talk about "no fussing," but all I've heard about working with the 5D is the difficulties in working with the inherent limitations of a camera vs a videocamera (specifically the zoom and focus issues). Without making you respond with your whole workflow, is there a resource already online that summarizes how to address these issues. I'd love to come away with the footage you produced; I'm just fearful of leaving my comfort zone with my V1U.

Edit: also, what settings did you use in rendering to the NeoScene intermediate?

vicmilt wrote on 2/3/2010, 4:12 PM

Here's the thing...
I was RAISED on 35mm film.
First as a still photog - then as a cinematographer.
Years and years of shooting, thousands of feet of film.

So for me, the 5D is a return to a comforable (although admittedly much more difficult) medium.
There is NO comparison between the focus depth of field of the 5D and ANY video camera. And that's part of what makes the pictures so beautiful - that extreme sharpness coupled with that shallow depth of field. If you've got it right, it's gorgeous. If you miss even by a few millimeters, it's useless.

The route to success is lots of practice and meticulous care in shooting. This is NOT the camera for run and gun, unless you're willing to keep a wide angle lens in place. In 35mm, we have an assistant with a TAPE MEASURE checking the focus (True!).

As far as zoom goes - we simply are not zooming at this point - period. You might be able to rig up a MicroForce zoom motor to the still lenses, but I haven't tried as yet. In truth, few movie cinematographers use zoom lenses as "zooms". We tend to use them as "variable fixed lenses" - that is, zoom to fill the frame, but not during the shot itself.

We fixed up the camera with a Zacuda magnifier on the "live screen". At least you've got a shot at getting things sharp. Today I received an HDMI cable for the camera. Later this week we'll see how shooting with a 22" monitor works.

RE: NeoScene - it really could not be any easier. Try the free download and see for yourself. Basically we load all the 5D mov footage onto a HD. Then select the folder with the footage and click "Start". That's it.

farss wrote on 2/3/2010, 4:56 PM

There's a quite interesting article from Chris Hurd at DVInfo regarding the new Canon video camera here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/features/canon-reveals-their-next-pro-video-cam.html

Towards the end of it the discussion drifts into the issue of why Canon do not have an ALPS sized sensor video camera at the moment and likely will not for several years.

One thing not covered there but worthy of mention is that as sensor size goes up zoom ratios go down. This not an issue for shooting set pieces but is huge issue for most of us here. My EX1 has a quite limited zoom ratio that I find a pain in the butt at times. By comparison the 1/3" Z5 comes with an excellent 20:1 zoom. Our 2/3" PMW 350 should be with us soon and I think the first thing we'll be looking for better glass for it but the cost of a HD zoom with a doubler is pretty staggering.

Should I mention that the highest grossing movie of all time was shot with cameras that have only 2/3" sensors?

Bob.

vicmilt wrote on 2/3/2010, 5:25 PM

2/3" ?
Pah!
That was then... this is NOW.

The best silent movie in the world was killed by the Jazz Singer.
BetaSP was destroyed by Digital video..

Full sized sensors - nothing else will do.

v

fldave wrote on 2/3/2010, 8:01 PM

Beautiful, Vic.

One question, you said:

"We rendered to a new track -HDV AVI"

I'm still on Vegas 8, is there an HDV 1920 in V9, or did you go to 1440, or did you mean HD 1920?

Very nice!

apit34356 wrote on 2/3/2010, 8:13 PM

"2/3" ?
Pah!
That was then... this is NOW." Its great to see the Cannon 5D got ya "excited"!

And your 5D commercial, makes me want to fly down to the event!

vicmilt wrote on 2/3/2010, 8:34 PM

Anyone that shows up in Delray?? Beers are on me!

Last year my feature, "Cracker" won the best Florida film at the Delray - actually that's how I got the commercial. After we won, the director of the event asked me to help. Sure! Why not?

It's a fabulous festival.
The whole town is behind it and Delray is one of Florida's prettiest cities. Small, warm and friendly. Ten years ago, it was sort of like a sad old age home.

No more. Today at least twenty or more great restaurants and bars line the main street. In between are wonderful art galleries and clothing shops. The beach is about a mile away. Everything in town is fresh and new. And the food is great.

It's like a gigantic movie set. A classic American beach town.
(Now I'm thinking I should go out and shoot another spot - heh heh.)

C'mon down y'all...
v

CClub wrote on 2/4/2010, 4:06 AM

Vic,
I'm interested in your comments above regarding zoom and focus. I followed the link above, and then watched your "Explosion" video on Vimeo. There is a scene from 34-41 seconds where the camera pans across the room and then zooms in. I'd be fascinated to hear how you did that with the 5d given the limitations you mentioned.

vicmilt wrote on 2/4/2010, 7:55 AM

CClub -

GREAT QUESTION -

All my zooms in HiDef are done digitally in post (in Vegas).

Why? Because when you are acquiring video at 1920x1080 and delivering at 720x640, you've got a heck of a lot of resolution to utilize.

Now I've been doing small zooms and repositions off of my Sony Z1 for years.
the problem soon revealed itself in doing too much of that, though. And that problem was not one of resolution, but one of Glass.

What do I mean? Easy. If you're shooting with a $5000 video camera, the lens, good as it may be cannot compete with a dedicated still lens that costs $2,000 or more all by itself.

So those zooms are all accomplished in post, and as long as I'm delivering standard def or even hi-def for TV (vs. feature projection) - I'm ok.

v