Digital Video - October 2007 - (Page 58)

PRODUCTION DIARY BY STEFAN SARGENT NONLINEAR ANALYSIS ON A SUMMER’S DAY B ack in 1958, Bert Stern had a multicam shoot at the Newport Jazz Festival. Jazz on a Summer’s Day took just a few days to shoot, but six months to sync up the image and sound. It was “a very painful and difficult process,” Stern said. He never made another movie. If only he’d had today’s technology. NOB HILL MASONIC CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO, JULY, 2007. Here on another Summer’s Day, I have a multicam shoot. Louis Armstrong couldn’t make it, but no matter. We have Dr. Graham Powell, Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering, UC Berkeley. The lecture is about “nonlinear modeling and analysis for performancebased design.” Huh? Where’s Louis? I set up two Sony V1U cameras, side by side, halfway up the center aisle. On one I’ve switched on the internal X1.5 digital telephoto—that’s my close-up. The other I’ll use for the wide shot and is locked-off until question time. The venue has supplied an IATSE cameraman, Dimitri. He’s good. I put him on the stage with a third V1U. Tricia gaffer tapes his tripod to a spreader with wheels. Dimitri’s on-stage camera has rolled into a position where he can get a good shot of the presenter when he turns away from the audience and looks up to the PowerPoint slide on the screen. My two cameras only see the back of his head, so that third, on-stage camera is essential. Come question time, Dimitri has good shots of the audience. When it’s all over, I whip out my Memory Stick and grab a copy of the PowerPoint file from Dr. Powell’s laptop. No real secret. The trick is: always carry a Memory Stick. Back at base, today’s shoot has produced 22 one-hour DV tapes and one tape copied from the DR60 disc drive. Good labeling is essential. I wouldn’t be without my Brother PT 1830 labeler. Although we shot HDV 1080i, I do this edit in standard def. I use a Sony M25 desk “Some Hysteresis Loop Shapes,” courtesy of Dr. Powell’s player, feeding its HDMI output into a PowerPoint and Camera 2. nanoConnect box from Convergent Design, and the SDI output into my G5 via an internal BlackMagic DeckLink HD card. I I tell Dimitri he’s free to get the best shots— also have an external BlackMagic HDLink, audience shots, close-ups, wide shots, but that’s only for monitoring. reverse angles of the presenter—by reposiNow all I have to do is edit six hours of tioning the camera during the show. We an incomprehensible technical seminar. I switch off his red light so that it doesn’t disdo this in real time using Final Cut Pro’s tract the audience. multicam and a glass of cabernet. With the I’ve reset the timecode on all three multicam edit complete, I switch to merlot cameras to “FREE RUN.” Now, here’s how and cut in over 350 PowerPoint slides. It’s to sync up the cameras in a jiffy: get a Sony tough checking an edit that runs for over RMT-841 remote control. Power up the six hours, so I ask my client to help. Hey, just three cameras, hit “TC RESET,” and one wrong slide and a three-second black bingo—all three timecodes go to hole. Easy to fix. Time to make the DVD 00:00:00:00. The cameras will stay locked menus and burn two dualeven when you change See video of Stefan’s layer DVDs. tapes. Magic. Eat your work for this project. As a thank you for the heart out, Bert. Visit DV online. celebratory champagne, I The sound is coming make a no-charge 60 sec. promo. from the PA mixer. The secret weapon: a Finally, see Jazz on a Summer’s Day. Shure A15AS XLR audio pad. If you’re getSorry, no V1s, DR60, nanoConnect, ting a feed from a PA system, a pad is BlackMagic or FCP. Just Louis, Anita, essential. They may say they are sending Chuck, etc.—and all in 84 minutes! DV you line level, and then blast you clean away. At every hour, Dimitri and I change Stefan Sargent began his career at the tapes. I have a cute Sony DR60 disc unit on dawn of television, working as a cammy close-up camera. I only want to use it eraman, soundman and film editor for when I’m changing tapes, so I run it manthe BBC, feature films and corporate ually before the change and stop recording clients. Reach him at www.stefansar once the new tape is running. gent.com. www.dv.com 58 dv october 2007 http://www.dv.com http://www.stefansargent.com http://www.stefansargent.com http://www.dv.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Digital Video - October 2007

Cover Contents Letters DV Update R&D Fest Circuit Light Brigade Follow Focus Shootout Image Conscious Instant Expert Close-Ups Eastern Europe Exploit Call of the Wild Four Principles of Storage Storage Media Production Diary

Digital Video - October 2007

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