OT : What formats should i accept in my contest

goodtimej wrote on 9/13/2007, 9:32 PM
Hey,
I am having a local event, a video scavenger hunt, where people take a list of things to get on video, turn them in, my team edits everyone's individual footage into a movie, then we have a premiere and awards.
The problem is the width of formats that people have access too. If it were just up to me, I would love to say that you can only turn in your submissions in Mini DV. Scene detection would aid my workflow SO much in dissecting over 10 teams worth of entries. Especially when I will be working with 3 different editors. Then we could individually weed out the clips and choose the right ones before the edit.
But at the same time, I don't want to leave out possible participants because of a lack of the "correct" format. I admittedly don't know a ton about other formats out there, but I am quick to learn.
Does anyone have a possible solution to my problem?
Thanks

Comments

busterkeaton wrote on 9/13/2007, 11:44 PM
You are receiving people's tapes?

I would say to make it just miniDV. Mandate beforehand it must be miniDV. Have people tell you the camera model before hand, so you can check it out.

Teams of people should be able to come up with a minDV camera. You only need 10 cameras. HDV folks, can use their camera to capture in DV.
Just ignore all old formats and the wierd new consumer formats like DVD camcorders and AVCHD


To aid your workflow, I would have the folks do something like blow a whistle when they find something or clap three times. This would show up as a distinctive peak in the audio waveform and make it easier to edit. DSE has a tip about using a dog training clicker when syncing multiple cameras. It gives off a distinctive high-frequency click, which is very easy to EQ out of your soundtrack without affecting your other audio.
goodtimej wrote on 9/14/2007, 9:20 AM
Yes, I am receiving peoples tapes. Thanks for the reply.

Right now, I'm guessing that Mini DV is the most widely used consumer media?
TheHappyFriar wrote on 9/14/2007, 9:40 AM
i know more people with DVD/hi-8/VHS-C cameras then mini-DV camera.

I'd say "you can take it to store X & they'll put it on DVD video for ya for $Y".

I'd accept video DVD's to.
Jay Gladwell wrote on 9/14/2007, 10:08 AM

If you're going to be doing any post work, and it sounds like you are, I would second Buster's suggestion. Stick with mini-DV. That will allow you more control and more consistency in the final output.

Best of luck with your project!


TheHappyFriar wrote on 9/14/2007, 11:01 AM
to use an example.. the Sony PSA contest wants ALL entries on DVD. Then if you win they want a better quality one (DV of some type, Beta, etc).