ACM event @ eBay!

Having a blast shooting another ACM event!
Finished clip:

Tip: Panasonic GH4 Video Import into Sony Vegas

In short:

• use Keyboard accelerator Alt+]
• use Sony Vegas ripple and shuffle

TheaterYou production of Pamela

Fantastic performance!  Huge challenge from technical perspective - light color and amount change constantly and unpredictably.  I was lucky enough to work with a director who cares a lot about video production of his play - Val Konovich was directly involved in multi-track edit of the entire recording.  Theater crew was extremely helpful and patient with me, for which I am deeply grateful.  Overall I think this was the best performance I have seen in this theater.

What worked:

• I set in advance white balance and exposure using a calibration target.
• Central camera (GH4) was attached to a column using superclamp and was shooting in 4K which allowed for a clean zoom-in in post.
• I tested new workflow.  Instead of MainConcept MP4 codec I used x264 via DNxHD.  These instructions helped. Almost forgot to correct levels.  x264 seems to be superior for low bitrates (under 10MBps).  I looked into YouTube recommendations and decided on a 2-pass encoding.
• Sony PCM-M10 did the job.  I considered use of Tascam 60DmarkII but found no extra microphones.

What did not work

• GH4 ran out of juice!  This was somewhat unexpected because GH3 runs on a single battery for hours.  I should have turned of LCD, but the camera was positioned so that I could not see the controls.  Note to self: change GH4 battery during the intermission!
• I was shooting GH3 on a tripod set at the top of the bleachers.  Those proved to be noticeably shaky.
• Color matching cameras is still a challenge for me.  Vegas Color Match plugin helps but I am still looking for a better way to accomplish this.  Surely with color-checker and I could expect some magic, the way Davinci does things.  Not Sony Vegas though.
• Canon HF G10 was left unattended.  It was hard for me to guess the direction and as a result majority of the footage was of little use.  Extra operator would help!

Getting Ready for Screen Capture

I plan to record a couple of tutorials.  So here is the setup that I think will work:

• Capture screen and audio using BB FlashBack Express.  The free version can export into flash FLV or AVI file.  The former can not be imported into Sony Vegas.  For the latter to work you need a good codec...
• This is where Huffyuv loss-less codec comes in.  Installation instructions work on Windows 8.
  EDIT: It appears AVI file with this codec can not be imported into Sony Vegas.  No idea why.  Instead I used Blackmagic 8 bit MJPEG codec - worked well. 
• As to audio - I plan to reuse the hardware I already own: Rode NTG-1 (about 1 foot from my mouth pointed at my chest) plugged into Tascam DR-60DmkII (Gain: MID, knob at 2 o'clock). Line out of the latter plugged into line in of the PC.

Today I tested the setup and I think I am ready!  Can't wait to start recording!