MCN 2010 - Video Production Workshop

Video Production Workshop
Museum Computer Network
October 27, 2010


Ted Forbes, Dallas Museum of Art (Instructor)

Also a very knowledgeable student from McNay Art Museum in San Antonio - Gary Wise
Reference to Mark Beth Webster at Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco -- a lot of experience with vlogging.


Audio production is one of the most important aspects of video production
Most video cameras have poor microphones
-Condensor microphones
--less expensive, most must be plugged into a mixer
--USB microphone: Blue Yeti (can be plugged directly into computer)
--USB mics have latency problems; slight delay in voice
--Firewire hookups have fewer latency problems for monitoring
--Audio interface device: MoTU
-Portable recorder -- record audio separately
-44.1 audio sample rate (standard)
-leave "headroom" in audio levels to prevent maxing out (5db gain used here)
-Don't use wireless microphones due to drop out
Shure 57 microphone -- small pickup pattern = very little background noise
Shotgun microphone, fits on camera -- narrow pickup pattern, less background noise
For processing, you can do compression or limiters to level out the audio levels

Cameras
-Canon 5D for HD video
--H264 codec
--low light okay, but issues with depth of field and focus
--interchangeable lenses
--12 minute video recording limit
--no stabilization
--HDMI out is compressed, which can be a problem
--original firmware was set at 30 fps; update allowed 24 fps and 60 fps
--ISO options: handles up to ISO 1600 equivalent okay; 100 has less noise
-CanonHB30
--Digital tape (DV)
--HDMI out signal is uncompressed
--decent motion stabilization for handheld
(BlackMagic Intensity express card has HDMI-in; also AJA Video Systems)


Stabilization
--get a good tripod
--Steadicam Merlin and other systems
--Zacuto, RedRocks, others have options as well


Lights
-SLR can use natural/low light
-Need continuous lighting
--Mixing different types/temperatures of lights can cause a worst-case scenario, very difficult to white balance
-3-point lighting system used for best results
-Florescents have a flicker that can be noticeable depending on the frame rate
-KinoFlo - florescent lighting that is useable, not terribly hot
-Lowel - video lights
-Lights still need to be diffused


Greenscreen
-Use greenscreen technology to minimize background noise
-For greenscreen, use a high data rate and high color bitrate to get enough detail to separate detail from background (as close to an uncompressed signal as possible)
-Lighting greenscreen can help (Lowel has a light for greenscreens)
-External light meter is a good idea

Copyright

Ask for DMA's model release form as a sample
Center for Social Media Statement of Best Practices for Fair Use


Software:
-FinalCut (Mac)
--MagicBullet Looks plugin ($$$) allows user to quickly create templates for various adjustments
--Compressor used to encode final output
--Motion: easy-to-use equivalent to AfterEffects
-Adobe Premier
-Avid Pinnacle -- more pro, broadcast/production quality
Free:
-Audacity for audio
-iMovie for Apple
-Windows MovieMaker
-MPEG StreamClip -- transcodes footage from H.264 to ProRes 422 format (for FinalCut) because H.264 is not an editing codec