September 28, 2015

ACM event at eBay


It all went smoothly.  I used G3 lav for speaker audio and Sony PCM-M10 to record ambient sound and questions.  HF G20 used to shoot slides, G7 with 12-35 f2.8 lens to film audience, GH4 with 35-100 f2.8 lens to film the speaker.
Here is my post workflow:
  • Copy all the footage into editing workstation.
  • Import the footage into Sony Vegas Pro.  Work around Sony bug of importing Panasonic footage.
  • Sync all the tracks.  I do it by waveform.  HF G20 requires adding extra frame of silence between MTS files.  Sony PCM M10 is typically skewed tward faster clock so requries added silence (fraction of a sec) as well.
  • Do multi-track editing.
  • For all video tracks: add these filters: white balance, brightness and contrast, levels.  Set those using reference card footage I captured during production and color correction GUI.  Sometimes this does not work - e.g. G20 footage can look so different I use color match filter instead for just G20 track.
  • For all audio tracks: add compression.
  • Add credits, lower thirds, etc
  • Render for YouTube
Now the footage is ready to be passed to customer!

September 21, 2015

Theater Production of Чиполлино

This was my first time work with this theater studio.  And the first time at this venue - Mountain View Center for The Performing Arts.  Both are fantastic!  Loved, loved, loved stage in the middle and the way lights are set up - no problems with shadows under the eyes.
I was shooting with 4 cameras.  I was positioned in the middle of the top row with G7 shooting wide (12-35 f2.8 lens used at f4.5, iso400) and GH4 shooting tele (35-100 f2.8 lens used at f2.8, iso400).  On the left I had G20 for a wide side view.  For the first time I use GoPro Hero trained at the band - piano payer to be exact.  Audio was recorded on a Sony PCM-M10 recorder suspended about 10ft above the stage.

September 16, 2015

ACM SFBAY Event at HP

I still can't avoid surprises! This time it was audio.  I use the same brand/model as the venue's PA system, so I did not need to provide my lav.  My receiver was "automagically" getting the signal.  Only in post I realized the quality was sub-par.  See, the venue provided two hand-helds and two lavs and all of them were on.  The good thing is you can easily hear the audience.  The bad thing is - you can easily hear the audience.  

September 12, 2015

Theater You Production of Две Дамочки

I am pleased to have an opportunity to work on another production of this theater.  Taking notes during the previous shoots paid off - I was totally ready and as a result color matching between GH4 and G7 is satisfactory.  Canon G20 camcorder looked way too different for its footage to be incorporated though.
This time the least polished is audio - unfortunately I am not in control of AC which is noticeable during the entire performance.  I should dig deeper to find a way to diminish the impact in post.  Simple high pass filter does not help - that I did try.