An Epic Upgrade
With the announcement of Red's latest camera we were one of the first to send our camera in for a Dragon upgrade. Looking forward to the NAB announcement and adding a Red Weapon to out arsenal.
Green Screen - Perfect for Corporate Video Production #greenscreen #videoproduction
St Patrick's Day, almost over, but I thought it might be a good time to talk about green screen. The video equivalent of a blank slate oozing with imaginative possibilities. Appropriate? When most people think of green screens, they think of big budget movies where the actors are flying around, destroying things or doing unbelievable super acts in fantasy worlds. They're used for that but they are used far more often in corporate video production and corporate storytelling than most people realize. We do a good amount of corporate video production and there aren't too many weeks that go by where we aren't either shooting with a green screen or sending out an estimate for green screen production.
In Las Vegas, there are so many conventions coming through town and it's a great place for corporations to either show off products, grab customer testimonials or gather together executives to speak on camera. Instead of using a boring convention room with blah coloring and no dimension, a green screen offers so many more options, it's tough to pass up. We key out the green and boom, you're creativity runs wild but mostly simple wild, nothing crazy. We have a few on hand from a simple pop out 6x6 to a paper roll 10 foot wide to a full on 10x20 wraparound fabric. These can all be taken on location and built to whatever specs the client is looking for. It's an effective and creative solution.
Green screen is not out of anyone's budget. That's another misnomer that people tend to have. It's an additional cost for sure but the quality and flexibility of post production because of it is far more valuable than saving a few dollars. If for your next production you haven't thought about it, ask us about green screen and you'll be glad you have fun options to play with down the line. If all else fails, you can always put the CEO talking about EBITDA in the middle of a corn field.
Now, in honor of St. Patrick's Day I leave you with one of my favorite themed commercials, even though it's a couple years old.
Saying Goodbye to the HDX 900 & HVX 200 #panasonic #cameras
We're saying good bye over here to a couple of our old workhorses. Just sold a Panasonic HDX 900 and a Panasonic HVX 200 and we'll be sending them off this week. It's tough to see those two cameras go, we haven't had much call for them recently but they both made some incredible pictures and captured hours of great video.
The HDX 900 is still in use in many television productions as some old companies still prefer tape based archiving. It's much more difficult to erase a tape they say.....I agree if you have no idea how to use a computer. But that's for another conversation. I understand it's a great camera but I think the time to upgrade to some of the more technologically superior formats. We held onto it as long as we were getting calls but that time seems to be over.
The HVX 200 was a game changer when it came out. It held up all these years and is still in use for indie productions all over the world. We haven't had the calls for it due to upgrading our camera gear to the Panasonic HPX 500, Sony PMW 300 and Canon C300. However, it was a valuable piece of equipment and no doubt has been for countless other individuals and companies.
So, thank you to Panasonic for these two great cameras and we're looking forward to more in the future. They are going to good homes too!
PMW-300 Battery Update
It looks like Sony's has limited the use of third party batteries in their new PMW-300 camera. The DC input has been limited to 12v which means if you are trying to power the camera using the switronics series 7 or the ikan'sIBS-U65, you will get a high voltage error in the camera.
Hope fully Sony comes out with a firmware upgrade to address this issue. The camera can handle 11-17vso there is no reason the DC input is limited to 12v.
Our new camera bags - The High Roller
We decided on purchasing the Cinebags High Roller for all of our C300 and PMW-300 Camera Packages. The Lens Smuggler has been a great accessory to transport our lenses and additional gear as a carry on. The quality is what you would expect from a high end manufacturer. The Zippers and stitching are built to withstand heavy use. I personally love that there is a little more depth to the main compartment over the previous version the Camera Daddy. Because of the added space we can now store the C300 camera with the top handle as well as the 24-70 lens on the camera. This allows for quicker setups and I think the less we can take the lens on and off the body the better. Oh almost forgot... These new bags have a telescoping handle and wheels. No more lugging a 30lb. Camera bag on my shoulder running from plane to plane. Also, while we are on the topic of traveling. I have to mention the lens smuggler allows us to bring a variety of lenses and stash them under the seat very comfortably. It is slightly thicker than the laptop case but not one airline worker has given it a second look. A highroller and the lens smuggler are a great combination. One carry on and one personal item. We are very glad to have these new bags and I expect them to be a valuable tool for us for the life of our cameras.
We go with American
American Grip is our grip gear brand of choice. Their products provide a level of durability, versatility, and reputation that other manufacturers can't match. Our American equipment has served us well during recent shoots out on location.
New Equipment
Stands
F11 Rentals recently added some new equipment to their grip and lighting arsenal in order to better serve clients and enhance the already impressive offering from Las Vegas' premiere, full service production company.
New CineSlider Review
We were able to test out the new Kessler CineSlider on our last commercial shoot. We really got some nice table tops and bar shots that just were not possible with our doorway dolly. So far this is exceeding our expectations. The crew loves it.
We shot with the HDX-900 on it as well as the Canon 5D.
Color Correcting Red footage
Over the weekend I had a Davinci Resolve session. The footage brought in was all shot on the Red in 4K. The clips were all green screen that had a lot of spill on the sctor and set. Now the big question. Do you correct pre or post keying? We decided to help the animators out and remove the green spill from the talent and set. With different nodes and tracking we were able to seperate the talent from the background and even had time left over to smooth out the green for the animators. We processed 19 clips in 3 hours. We outputted 4K ProRes 444 files at the animators request.
The Davinci Resolve steps up again, I'll let you know when the spot hits the airwaives in a couple months.
The client told me after the fact, that he had booked a full day session out in LA to do the color corection. He was able to cancel his trip and session and was very grateful to have this capability in Las Vegas.
FloLight LED Panels
We bought a pair of Flolight panel lights about 6 months ago and I thought I'd wait a bit and see how they held up over half a year span. The lights we purchased are daylight balanced with an anton bauer battery adaptor on the back. We've taken these lights all the way from red carpets to the middle of the desert and the ease of use and versatility have made us believers in this type of lighting. For ENG, run and gun type productions, to be able to set up quick, toss on a battery and have 1000w of light without the hassel of cords was a life saver in many situations. Top lights sometimes don't cut it. We do plenty of quick shoots and I find myself packing a flolight more often then not.
There are a few problems I've found that should be shared. First off, all are lights come in balanced between 6000k and 6300k, not 5600k as advertised. The lights aren't built tough, meaning in the 6 month time period we've had them in for flicking, dimmer malfunction and one went toast and stop firing all together. The build quality isn't up to what I would consider production standard. The light can also be a little harsh so a couple pieces of diffusion are necessary if doing any sort of interview which drastically cuts the throw of the light. And, even though we have the gel adaptors, adding gels or diffusion isn't an easy endeavor. However, when we 'separately' purchase the barndoors that problem should be solved.
The most common question I'm asked is how do the Flolights compare to the LitePanels. We rented a couple of LitePanels for a shoot and while we had them we decided to do a few tests for comparison. The Flolights, despite being 6300k, had a more realistic daylight apperance then the LitePanels which didn't even make it to 5600k but closer to 5000k. They were almost twice as bright as the LitePanels and lit our subjects at much further distances. The LitePanels did appear to be studier and have a better build and a few more features like the dual color temps. Oh and the one Flolight costs about 1/3 the price of a LitePanel.
I'm not going to use them for everything but these lights do have a place in my packages and I will continue to use Flolights until I see another panel light that can give me the same value. And though they tend to have a few more malfunctions than I'd like, returning the poor units and customer service has been very good to this point.
The f-stops here.