When you freeze on a frame of this highly compressed h.264 Codec on the big screen, you can quickly tear the image apart. The compression noise artifacts are huge at any ISO over 320. However, I have embraced this compression as an artist because it softens the inherent sharpness that all the high end HD cameras deliver. Don’t tell me to put a soft ex’s filter on the lens or a black pro mist. This works well in a studio, but wait till you get into the field: your hat will be handed to you fairly quickly with mother nature, and the extremes of sun and shade, flaring, and the wonderful milky quality that is inherent in all of this filtration. I say let the camera and the right lens do it for you.

A very intricate part of the puzzle has come together with this platform. Imagine: a device that can vaporize all compression, noise, and artifacts and then use that same technology to go back and texture your media with film grain exactly how you like it! Come on, this is not possible! Well yes, it is, and it is called Dark Energy. Lance and Ernie are the co-creators of this tower of power at Cinnafilm. They did not start out in the world of HD video – they were military scientists stationed at Los Alamos, a small town in the mountains of New Mexico where the nuclear bomb and some other incredible technology has been developed. Los Alamos has the highest IQ per capita of any other city in the world and this speaks very highly of the designers of this product.

Lance, Ernie, and their team of military scientists have invented an algorithm that finds compression noise and then makes it disappear. We have been working on tests with “The Last 3 Minutes” and I wanted to share them with you. Not only does Cinnafilm scrub the compression noise and artifacts, but they then use that same algorithm to deliver any type and level of grain texture that you would like back to the media.

Click the images below for high-res.

Lance and I sat down together at the HP Dream Color monitor and he asked me what film stock I use to shoot with at night. I said, “I like shooting 5219.” He punched a few buttons and moved his mouse. “How would you expose your night interiors with 5219?” I told him that I normally under-expose my night interiors 1.5 stops to 2 stops depending on the subject matter. He said, “no problem,” and pushed three more buttons. Instantly my 1.5 stops under-exposed grain was up on the screen looking incredible. I was completely and utterly blown away!

At the moment, we are employing this new technology on “Act of Valor” at Bandito Brothers in Culver City. Jacob Rosenberg, head of Bandito Post and his Team are spearheading this technology into our workflow. We are sending the files to Company 3 to ready them for color correction with Stefan Sonnenfeld, who I have to say is likely the top colorist in the world. Stefan is so excited to take this platform and stretch it, mold it and see what this baby can do. He and I sat in the bay the other day and came up with a cocktail that basically goes against everything that was taught to us originally. We are trailblazing here and realize that what works for one HD platform doesn’t necessarily work for another. We were told to de-noise and add grain to the DPX files before going into the color suite. Through all of our tests, we found that doing everything after color correction was the only way.

Stay tuned. Here is Lance’s contact information where you can get more information regarding renting the Dark Energy Tower. Another part of the puzzle is in place, now let’s go out and continue to fuel the revolution.

Contact Lance Maurer
505-242-6626
Email Lance@cinnafilm.com or Ernie@cinnafilm.com to get more detailed information.
http://www.cinnafilm.com/

My last post concentrated on the creative process and editing aesthetics, so, this time around let’s geek out on tech and spec stuff that’s new in CS 5.5.

I like things in lists, so here’s mine for new features that help me work faster and better.

1. Search Keyboard Shortcuts I like to do as much work from the keyboard and short cuts as possible. I hate digging through menus and submenus to do one little thing a keystroke can do. Under the Premiere Pro tab is Keyboard Shortcuts. I mentioned last time it has a FCP 7 and Avid MC 5 template and both are updated with the newest configurations of the host program. The little change that rocks is the SEARCH BAR above the shortcuts. You can now enter the function you’re looking for and as you type…those matching functions and preset shortcuts pop up. In CS 5. you had to hunt for the function (that may be named something different than what you are used to) and this caused a couple of “accidental” catastrophic failures to my mouse as it flew across my edit suite into a wall.

2. Maximize Panels Quickly The accent (`) key that I mentioned last time (I called it tilde last time but I’ve been since informed by a prickly fellow editor that it’s actually the accent (`) key) makes the active frame maximize to full screen. Now you can hit “SHIFT+`“ and it will maximize the panel your cursor is hovering over and you don’t have to select that panel before maximizing. That’s one less keystroke you probably use thousands of times a day. I personally make the MAXIMIZE UNDER CURSOR my (`) shortcut instead of MAXIMIZE FRAME.

Timeline is active and I hover cursor over Program panel and hit (`).

Program Panel is MAXIMIZED and active.

3. Video and Audio Transitions I like to set the Keyboard shortcut “Q” to be my default video transition and “W” to be my default audio transition. They’re bunched together at the top left of the keyboard and I don’t use them for “go to in point” and “go to outpoint” as the default in FCP. CS 5.5 doesn’t have the right-­‐click apply video transition or audio transition option but I prefer using a keyboard shortcut for this anyway. This brings me to a new addition to CS 5.5…the FILM DISSOLVE transition.

4. FILM DISSOLVE vs. CROSS DISSOLVE FILM DISSOLVE is a new transition that I make my default instead of CROSS DISSOLVE. (CMD+Q makes any transition you highlight in your video transition folder the default) The technical explanation of the difference is that FILM DISSOVLE has a linear light response. Someone told me that. Then they said gamma, highlights, 32-­‐bit, curve, log and pixel. Somewhere in there is the answer. All I know is that FILM DISSOLVE gives a more organic transition that deals with the highlights better. Usually in CROSS DISSOLVE the highlights fade away quickly and turn a fake grey muddy color for a second….translation UGLY. Here’s an example… in the first shot, I used CROSS DISSOVLE over the lead actor and an overlay of clouds. In the second shot, I used FILM DISSOLVE and it maintains more of the cloud layer as the whites carry over. It’s easier to see in motion, but I prefer the FILM DISSOLVE look over CROSS DISSOLVE.

CROSS DISSOLVE transition

FILM DISSOLVE transition

5. Zooming Another keyboard shortcut essential for quick navigation is to set “Z” to zoom into timeline and “X” to zoom out of timeline. That way, I can plow deep into the timeline or back off quickly without activating the Zoom tool then deactivating. It falls in line under “Q” and “X” on the keyboard and is easy to find and remember. I don’t know about other editors, but I always end up tapping the “A” key numerous times after making an edit or change to something. Pressing “A” gets me back to the selection tool and out of any other mode I was in. It’s kind of like a nervous tic for me to tap it A LOT so as not to suddenly slip or move a clip one frame and not catch it until I’ve delivered the project.

6. New UNLINK UNLINK is a feature that will be the boon of many editors dealing with DSLR projects. Once you select one or several clips in the timeline…you can right-­‐click and choose UNLINK. This was available in CS 5, but the new little thing that means a lot in CS 5.5 is that the audio clips are unselected as well as unlinked. This means you can move the video clips, which are still selected, out of the way without dragging the audio. Or lasso the audio and hit the delete key without deleting the video. On import and dialog synching, this can take days and days for features or TV shows. A big thank you to the assistant editors out there that this job often falls upon. It is brain-­‐numbing and soul-­‐crushing but essential. What really sucks is that you have to turn off Pandora during this, as you need your ears to be frame accurate. As small as this UNLINK feature may be, it saves much time and many keystrokes. After you unlink…it’s time to drop in the good audio, synch and then use…

Select clips in timeline and right-­‐click to find UNLINK option

7. MERGE CLIPS MERGE CLIPS is another new feature that specifically applies to all dual sound system projects. Every no/low/indie budget seems to be shooting DSLR for the amazing visual impact and small form factor (not just razor-­‐thin DOF please!) and attractive price. Once you synch the new audio (up to 16 tracks) with video, right-­‐click and choose MERGE CLIPS. This creates a new clip in the Project panel that says “-­‐MERGED” at the end of it. You can also drag the clips you want to merge directly into the Project panel, but that is just plain awkward and scary looking when 16 audio tracks float across the screen.

8. Subtract and Divide Blend Modes OMG! Subtract and Divide blend modes added under the OPACITY tab so you can…ummm…hmmm…make your own “2001” eye-­‐blink time travel scene? Hey if you need them, there they are. I’m sure someone will send me a clip with killer usage of them and I will eat crow. But hey, it’s better to have more options than less.

artistic use of the DIVIDE blend mode.

9. The Mercury Playback Engine CUDA (GPU) This now supports many more graphics cards to give better real-­‐time playback of video and effects. Here’s a link: http://www.nvidia.com/object/adobe_PremiereproCS5.html CS 5 could only handle 4G of VRAM while CS 5.5 can handle 4+, so go crazy! Anything that helps me get my day done quicker so I can get out of my cave and frolic in the sunshine is cool by me.

10. AUDITION for MAC Bundled into CS 5.5 is the powerful audio software AUDITION that is finally available to MAC users. Editors are expected to do more and more audio work on the front end so the clients get a better idea of what the final product will sound like. I think it behooves all editors to spend as much time as possible in becoming Audio Gurus to complement their video editing skills. It’s amazing how much smoother your edit looks/plays when audio is addressed as you go. Nothing looks worse than the new BMW M9 uber-­‐turbo 800hp roadster drifting around a corner and there is no audio bed. Export your sequence to Audition by…

Selecting the sequence in your Project panel, right-­‐click and chose EDIT IN AUDITION…

Drop in some screaming engines, squealing tires, whooshes, low- end rumble and Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone (optional). The built-­‐in preset tab has an impressive collection of commonly used FXs that I used to build from scratch. Round-­‐trip back to PP CS 5.5 and your client will thank you because your picture now rocks.

Preset Filters options in Audition

11. Adobe Media Encoder This is updated for CS 5.5 as well. It’s wicked fast, has a cleaner interface than any other encoder. Even a monkey can kick out pristine files. But don’t trust monkeys…just believe me on that one. With all rough cuts, reels, short films, teasers and client review files being posted online or shown on iPads, Media Encoder has added specific new templates to address this. New Vimeo and iPad presets guarantee the best quality versus size for these and most other platforms. Nothing screams amateur more than funky aspect, pillar-­‐boxed, low-­‐rez Youtube videos. Also, I love the After Effects chime signaling the encode is done. It’s the little things, right?…

Media Encoder CS 5.5 export options

If you have read this far, I thank you. It may not be the most exciting information but if my NLE and workflow are optimally set up to my liking, I can slay the material and get it to a good spot much faster. You may not even realize how many little things you do in such repetition that wear you out. Fatigue is a common byproduct of editing…both mental and physical. We’ve all left the edit bay after 12 hours of sitting down all day cutting and your body feels and smells like a bucket of Spam. Dialog and songs wake me at night, days after the spot is done.

Analyze your most common edit techniques and see if there’s a way to do it simpler. Dig into the keyboard shortcut menus and even if you have a set‐up you like, I’m sure you will find a new shortcut to enhance your bag of tricks. If you have any questions or have any projects that need a sneaky Czechoslovakian editor…feel free to contact me. Thanks again to Shane for having me on the Elite Team and I hope everyone gleaned at least a couple of nuggets of goodness from my post.

Ciao for now…

Vashi Nedomansky
vashikoo@yahoo.com

The first time I met Shane was at Bandito Brothers last year, when he and the Director Po Chan asked me to edit “The Last 3 Minutes.” I had worked for the Banditos as a freelance editor for 3 years and had cut dozens of projects there, but never crossed paths with Shane. When I did get a chance to meet him, I realized that this man is a force of nature and has more enthusiasm for filmmaking and sharing his knowledge than anyone I’ve ever met. He asked me to guest blog about editing, so allow me to pull the curtain back on the workflow, mindset and process of Editing Shane…

My Edit Bay

I’m principally a feature film editor but to keep fresh and to hone my craft I take as many commercials, shorts, viral videos, and short form projects as I can handle. Each gig is a new experience and takes a different approach and that’s important to your sanity when you are locked in a edit bay (the cave) for hours at a time. I’ve cut around a dozen projects for Shane and each one has its own special challenge. The one constant on editing Shane is that you will get the most unusual and awesome footage you’ve ever seen. You will also get 10 cameras worth of angles for each shot. You will never have to ask, “Did you guys get a shot of…?” Yup, it’s there and then some. I know that all the stuff I need to do my job will be there in spades.

QUICK TIP #1: Always shoot as much as possible. There is no such thing as overshooting. There’s just the dreaded, “We gotta go back and grab a shot.”

What to edit on? I’ve cut on Avid Media Composer, Apple Final Cut and Adobe Premiere on professional gigs. They are all just tools to help accomplish the job in the most efficient way possible. My advice…learn all 3 if you want to be a working editor. Between keyboard shortcuts, free online tutorials and the trial versions of each NLE, you can bounce back and forth between all of them. At Bandito Brothers and Hurlbut Visuals I’ve cut on all 3 systems depending on what was needed for each project in terms of which format captured, what codec converted to, VFX needs and sometimes which edit bay is available. As of right now my favorite and most used NLE is definitely Adobe Premiere CS5…and if you shoot on DSLRs or deal with h.264 footage, it should be yours too.

The simple fact of cutting without transcoding h.264 footage in Premiere by itself is miraculous. Editing off a USB portable hard drive or even off a CF card minutes after shooting is soooo liberating. With many jobs having smaller budgets, tighter schedules and yet more footage (!), every moment is precious. Any minute I gain so I can familiarize myself with the footage and wrap my brain around a plan of attack makes life easier. When that time is spent transcoding to another format you can’t look at it, your computer is being tied up and huge monster-sized files are steadily filling your hard drives. The freedom to start cutting right away on Premiere is a huge treat. Even on my old Macbook Pro laptop and 2006 Mac Pro towers without the latest video cards, the Mercury Engine plays back smoothly and in real time. I will invest in better video cards at some point but for now, I’m happy and productive with the set up.

QUICK TIP #2: An editor should be as familiar with his footage as humanly possible. Keep looking through it until it is burned into your brain and you are batting away the monkeys attacking you in your dreams. Yah, that’s happened. Good times.

In another interview with Shane and Jacob Rosenberg, I learned that Adobe created Premiere CS5 with DLSRs in mind to keep the purest image, most latitude and highest quality from an 8-bit source. I don’t know what voodoo sorcery it is, but I have seen the results and the eyes don’t lie. It just looks better then transcoded footage. What’s great is that it doesn’t affect my editing at all and I know that when I hand off my cut to the VFX and colorist, they are going to make it shine and pop.

To be fair, I cut on Avid, FCP and Premiere every week and they all rock. What Shane and others are doing with the DSLR revolution, is showing that everyone has the opportunity to create stunning images to tell their stories. Right now, Premiere makes it easiest to handle DSLR footage and create your final product. That could change with the next release of FCP or Avid but until then, I’ll stick with Premiere.

I would like to share some of my editing set-ups that help me work quicker and more efficiently. If possible, try to edit on 2 monitors. They could be 17”, 21” or the enormous 30” bad boys. It really helps to have real estate for you to be creative and effective. I like to have just the source and program views above the timeline on one screen and my bins, effects and audio monitor on a separate screen. In my bins of footage I always use the biggest thumbnails possible and arrange them by shot in rows with the later takes to the right. This way I can find shot 4A/take 3 in a flash and not keep the director waiting while I…”uhmmmm…one sec (click), it should be (click), right here…(click), that’s not it…hold on (click), maybe…”. Yah, that’s happened. Good times. We are visual creatures, make it easy on yourself and use thumbnails instead of MVI_A005689.

I also like to drag the video layer 1 up so it’s taller and you can see the thumbnail on the timeline. Same for audio layer 1. Anything to make your timeline easier on the eyes and faster for your brain to comprehend will save time.

One of the biggest time-savers is to customize your keyboard to whatever you are most familiar with. I like to use the FCP keyboard preset inside Premiere, then make a couple more tweaks so I’m comfortable. I’ve cut on FCP since 2001 so I’m most confident with that layout and think it’s great that Premiere includes it and an Avid layout. NLEs are just tools so make them work for you in the best way possible.

QUICK TIP #3: I use this tip all day long. Inside the keyboard customization option under the EDIT tab at the top of Premiere…I like to assign the “maximize frame” button on the program screen to the “~” key.

Then, if you hover over any screen on the layout it will go FULL SCREEN when you hit the “~” key. Hit it again to return to the normal layout. Quick shout out to editor Chris Fenwick who posted this tip as well…super helpful!

Once all your settings, footage and game-plan are ready…it’s time to edit! Although the technical and aesthetic approach must be learned, there is one thing that is probably more important…Communication with the director/ad agency/creative/producer in charge of the project. It is your job as the editor to serve their vision and give them what they want. You are telling a story and physically creating something but at the end of the day (I promise not to use that term again) you have to deliver what they want. It’s often frustrating when what you think is a great idea or direction is the polar opposite of what they envision. Never take it personally and do everything you can in the first meetings to really get your brain around what they are after. Ask questions, feel the vibe, make suggestions and get to the core of what the project is as soon as possible. That investment up front will save you time and headaches down the road. At the same time, be your creative self. Stretch and reach for the freshest and most concise way to tell the story, be it a 30 second ad or a feature film. Editing is about rhythm and flow and no two projects are the same. Be malleable and adapt to each situation but always stay true to yourself. I cut a national car spot where I did 4 versions for the ad agency before any notes were given. We finished with 33 different cuts and the car company ended up picking one of my first 4 cuts! Go figure.

When Canon and Hurlbut Visuals released “The Last 3 Minutes”, I talked about using a couple “zero cuts” in the film. I received some questions about it and I never got around to explaining properly what that term is. Sorry it took me so long… A Zero Cut is when you take two separate takes of the same scene and cut them together with no dissolve. Hopefully the framing and action in the shots are very similar so it hides the cut (or makes it seamless) and you can then use the best parts of both takes.

The first one is when sultry Eli Jane snakes her way under the sheets. As soon as the sheet covers the frame, I cut to Eli already under the sheets. In the raw footage, the sheet went up and it took 3 or 4 seconds for Eli to get under there and it messed with the flow. So I cut on the sheet wipe and cut into another take of her.

The other zero cut was when the young couple “throw” their child into the air. They were handholding the 5D and tossing it up and catching it. As you can imagine, it took a boatload of takes to get the right framing and reactions. So I took the first part of one take and later part of another take. In the first frame, you see beautiful yet blurry Rachel Kolar’s hand is not visible, then in the next frame, it is on his shoulder. Because the action is moving quickly, I didn’t think anyone would catch it…I hope I was right!

EDITING RULES YOU CAN BREAK AFTER YOU LEARN THEM:

1. When cutting from shot to shot, have at least a 30% change in shot size. Wide to Medium is good. CU to wide works. Medium to another Medium of same angle looks weird.

2. Try to cut on a motion to hide the edit. A raised hand, a head turn, a slammed door.

3. If you think a cut is too long…you’re right. It’s too long.

4. If a scene plays great in one shot…leave it alone. You don’t have to cut to CU, reverse, wide, medium. Let the story tell itself.

5. Overlap any action by 4 or 5 frames. Someone turns their head in a medium shot, on the next shot start the head turn 4 or 5 frames earlier (then the previous shot) and for some ridiculous reason it looks and feels right.

6. Don’t go bonkers over every cut. Often performance trumps continuity. Now if the lead actor’s shirt is a different color in two consecutive shots…you’re on your own!

7. With DSLRs I find you can scale a shot up to 40% and still have adequate sharpness if you need to reframe or make a medium shot a close up. Sneaky but I do it all the time.

8. As much as an editor feels he is saving the film, he’s probably not. There were a couple other people involved before he started editing.

9. Anyone who says “We’ll fix it in post!” needs to be made aware that they need to get it right during shooting.

I’d like to thank Shane and Lydia Hurlbut and everyone at Hurlbut Visuals for letting me ramble about editing and for creating the contagiously exciting environment around us that keeps getting better and better. Let’s keep this pioneering ability moving forward!

Vashi Nedomansky

I can be contacted at:

Vashi Nedomansky
vashi@me.com
vashikoo@yahoo.com

If you’d like to see some of my work please visit:

www.vashiedit.com
www.imdb.com/name/nm0624049/filmoyear

Elite Team members light the diner in Livingston Montana, while I discuss the shot with the agency

At first glance with the Canon 5D you notice one thing, the minute you plug a mini HDMI cable or a 1/8” mini plug into the outputs on the camera, your LCD screen disappears.  It is like a sick magic trick that for some reason, not one person can figure out. Manufacturer’s around the world have jumped on this phenomenon and offer many products to solve the visual issue.  One of the leaders has been Marshall Electronics.  In the necessity to try and keep things small they have upped production on smaller lightweight monitors to try and keep ahead of the curve. Stay tuned because smaller ones are coming soon.  The 6.5” Marshall monitor that I use in the Moviemaker kits has given me my eyes back. There are many ways to give video village a signal and I want to take you through all the ones that have worked for me and then you can make the decision on what makes the most sense for your production requirements. I would love to hear your ideas and what works for you.

1.SDS (Standard Def made simple)

Marshall on-board monitor, you feed that monitor from the AV out of the camera with the 1/8” mini plug to RCA, then RCA to BNC barrel.  You are now GTR (good to roll), you can jump out of the Marshall monitor with a BNC cable to a wireless video transmitter or go wired straight to the video village monitor.  I power my wireless video transmitter as well as my 6.5” Marshall on-board with a Anton Bauer 90 Dionic battery with p-Tap power ports.

My arsenal in Dubai was Stand Def all the way, with Marshall's monitor. I dialed in exposure from the mini HDMI output that lead to my 24" HP Dream Color monitor and then disconnected and plugged in the 1/8" mini and go

SD rig of choice on the Dubai Rani drink commercial

PROS: KISS (keep it simple stupid) not many things can go wrong with this.  It requires minimal extra gear to the camera other than the Marshall monitor and an Anton Bauer power supply.  The more gizmos you put on the camera, the more the equipment tends to fail.  Keep a Z-Finder on your camera so that you can unplug and get color and exposure so it becomes your viewfinder.  This works perfectly for a business as usual Video Village.  The playback person can record, playback, edit, etc.

CONS:Standard Def image, very soft and hard to see focus. You can not judge color, contrast or exposure. You will need to use the mini HDMI port and a lighting monitor to see or a Z-finder and the back LCD screen.

2. HDSDI (High Def made difficult)

Mini HDMI cable out of Canon Camera to BlackMagic HDMI to HDSDI converter.  Out of the BlackMagic BNC cable to the input on an Marshall on-board monitor.  From there you can go to a wireless transmitter or be wired.  Now you can go HD wireless or SD.

PROS:You are able to get a sharper picture to the on-board Marshall monitor and can view full HD when playing back with the camera only. It is a little better on judging exposure, color and contrast if Marshall is calibrated correctly.  Still advise having the Z-Finder on camera so that you can pull out the mini HDMI connector and get exposure dialed in.

CONS:Lots of added gear that has the potential to go down very often.  The BlackMagic box is built to live in a rack with an air-conditioned environment; not dust, heat and slamming it around on a daily basis. The first thing to go is the box. Remember you will never see HD until you playback and if you have a video playback person recording all of this you will never show HD to the client or agency.  The only way you will with this set up is if you assume the job of video playback at the camera itself.  Then putting all this extra stuff is worth it.  More power requirements with the converter box.  Makes camera heavier, larger footprint.

3.HDMI (Good for a Cinematographer, Cable complicated)

I have been trying to perfect this approach for the last 5 months with all the commercials that I have been doing recently.  HP 24” Dream color monitor is mounted to the dolly or near the sticks or at the remote head console.  I needed to be able to adjust exposure when the camera was 50’ in the air.  I could not rely on an SD monitor or light meter because it does not compute.  So, I set out on a mission to solve it. When I started I fell in love with having this beautiful image to look at, manicure, maintain and polish to a perfect exposure.  It also brought about a transformation with the client and agency relationships.  Now this obviously only works if you are not doing hand-held camera, but I will get to how this works brilliantly in a minute.

Wide shot of my Elite Team and I in Washington D.C. subway tunnel system, with on-board HP 24" Dream color in action

Pedro the agency Art Director and I discuss the shot one on one

Dave Kundsen and I line up the next set-up with the 24" HP Dream Color mounted to the PeeWee Dolly

**** DOLLY SET-UP:You come out of the mini HDMI port of the camera to 6’ mini HDMI to Reg. HDMI cable then into a HDMI splitter box that you send one HDMI lead to your on-board 24” Dream color that you mount onto the dolly, then the other HDMI lead that has to be a professional grade HDMI cable to keep the signal strength then this goes to video village where another 24” HP Dream color monitor awaits.  If you want to send that a distance than I would use a 25’ cable to get it down the dolly and then to a HDMI signal repeater that requires AC power; then you can go another 50’ to 100’ with the professional grade HDMI cable.  The video playback person is eliminated.  You are the video playback person.  As a cinematographer you now have to operate off the HP dream color that is mounted to the dolly with a black hood over your head.

****HOT GEARS ON THE DOLLY SET-UP / ON TRIPOD:You come out of the mini HDMI port of the camera to 6’ mini HDMI to Reg. HDMI cable to a HDMI barrel connector.  From there you go 50’ Professional grade HDMI cable.  It needs to be professional grade to carry the signal with out a repeater for that distance.  This then goes to a HDMI signal repeater which require AC power.  Out of the repeater I go 6’ HDMI Cable to a HDMI splitter box which requires AC power, where one lead goes to the HP Dream color lighting monitor that I have positioned at the HOT GEARS wheels console, then the other lead goes to another 24” HP Dream color monitor for the agency and client to view.  You operate off of the Dream color at the HOT GEARS console with a black hood over your head.

****CRANE SET-UP: You come out of the mini HDMI port of the camera to 6’ mini HDMI to Reg. HDMI cable to a HDMI barrel connector.  From there you go 50’ of High end HDMI cable.  It needs to be professional grade to carry the signal with out a repeater.  This goes to a HDMI signal repeater for that distance.  Out of the repeater I go 6’ HDMI Cable to a HDMI splitter box which requires AC power, where one lead goes to the HP Dream color lighting monitor that I have positioned at the remote head wheels console, then the other lead goes to another 24” HP Dream color monitor for the agency and client to view.  You operate off of the Dream color at the remote head console with a black hood over your head.

2- 24" HP Dream Color monitors, HDMI cables with repeaters and splitters at 5600 feet on the Triangle Jib

My poor man's Hoodman for Dream Color monitor at the remote head console

On crane operating with the Dream color and the black hood

**** TRIPOD SET-UP: You come out of the mini HDMI port of the camera to 6’ mini HDMI to Reg. HDMI cable then into a HDMI splitter box which requires AC power that you send one HDMI lead to your on-board 24” Dream color that you mount onto a Jr. Low Combo Stand near your  tripod, then the other HDMI lead goes to video village where another 24” HP Dream color monitor awaits.  If you want to send that a distance than I would use a 25’ cable to get it down the sticks and then to a HDMI signal repeater which requires AC power, then you can go another 50’ to 100’ with a professional grade HDMI cable to the video village.   The video playback person is eliminated.  You are the video playback person.  As a cinematographer you now have to operate the 24” Dream color that is near your tripod with a black hood over your head.

My double Dream Color set-up where the agency can view full HD and I become the DIT and the video playback person

Marc Margulies dials in the A camera shot at the Iwo Jima Memorial

Having the intimacy with the agency and client next to the monitor was paramount on this job

PROS: I either prefer to go (SDS Standard Def SImple) or (HDMI Cable Complicated) as a Director/Cameraman. Now why would I go choose this route when all the others seem so much easier? They are but the weakest point of this camera is the HDMI aspect.  The cables are a nightmare because they break easily and the little hair thin pin connectors get twisted easily. I prefer to go with this system because it increases my speed and what you see is what you get. You can judge all color, contrast and exposure. You do not have to check it with a lighting monitor and then disconnect, then re-connect.  If the sun goes into the clouds it is not a problem to adjust the exposure because the HP monitor becomes your film camera viewfinder.  Everyone sees the best possible image while we are lining it up and rehearsing because you can roll a rehearsal and watch it back in Full HD. No added weight and a smaller camera footprint. You can judge focus off the monitor.

Darin Necessary and I tackle the Royal Marines on-board the "Ocean," with a Z-finder and reviewing with the director after we felt we got the shot

****Going Handheld- not business as usual

When I shoot hand-held, I view it through a Zacuto Z-finder while shooting and do not link myself to anything.  Then after I have done several takes that seem to be amazing, I go back to the agency and client and we plug into their HP Dream color and review. I am there with them, looking at their faces as they view the takes. The feedback is immediate and personal; we talk together and discuss changes as a team.  This is absolutely essential as a Director or Cinematographer.  Now you have a direct connection with the agency and client.

CONS: Nightmare to deal with all the cables running everywhere, broken connections, signal noise. Operating off a large monitor on dolly can restrict your moves, then you have to punt to HOT GEARS if it does. That requires more gear and so much for the smaller footprint.  No wireless option.  Requires AC power for splitters and repeaters.  More connections to go down and power issues.

What are your ways of solving these issues? I would love to hear you comments and ways that you have cracked the video village egg!

The unique skill set that my Elite Team brings is that they all have a film background and are comfortable with certain rituals that accompany being a motion picture film loader and 2nd assistant cameraman.  These include: managing the truck; keeping  track of the gear and specialty pieces of equipment; creating an inventory and log; assessing how many magazines you have to load and color coding it according to the stock; labeling the magazines with the date, job, film stock and amount loaded on the magazine itself; and writing a camera report with the same information.

The system we designed for the untitled Navy Seal Movie is a mixture of the traditional film loader combined with the DIT job in the digital world. On our movie, Mike McCarthy who is a brilliant post production guy at Bandito Brothers with an IQ that I swear is above 180, set up our media manager work-flow system.  The Media Manager station is very simple and compact.  Sticking with the small footprint approach we employ a Mac Book Pro Laptop, a 24” HD Cinema Display monitor, and 4 External 500GB hard drives.

MacBook Pro

We shoot 10 to 15 minutes on a 8GB card.  I like using the 8GB cards the best because the counter on the top of the camera kicks in depending on jpeg settings at approximately 15 minutes of media recorded.  This is a great gauge.  Once the counter starts to come off of 999 we re-load the card.  Just like a 1000 foot magazine on a film camera.

Card Reader with 8GB Card

There are three important reasons to do it this way:

1. We can get that to the media manager and he can check the focus on his big monitor.  We all know how critical the focus is with these cameras.
2. The cards tend to heat up and when that happens the noise factor goes up.  So keeping a fresh card in there is very good way to keep the image as clean as possible.
3. It promotes a steady pace of backing up cards, so if for any reason something happened to the camera or the card you are not losing a whole day worth of footage.

In our work-flow system, the 8GB card from the 5D camera goes to the media manager. He downloads the media into the computer and simultaneously sends it to the 4 external hard drives.  After the download is complete, he checks for focus and exposure and labels each set-up for the assistant editor with as much detail and description as possible. Then, he formats each card before sending it back to the cameras in the field. When the cards go back to the field to be reused, the camera assistant knows to double check that each card is coming back empty.

2 of 4 Hard Drives

Next, one hard drive is shipped to the editor to start logging the footage; one is a back up if the original one gets lost in shipping.  A third  is for the director to view on his laptop. The last one is a “cloned master “of what we sent to the editor, which is held in post.  This system has been successful in delivering the entire equivalent of 1.8 million feet of film safely into the edit room.

How do you manage media?  What successes have you had?  I would love to hear your formula.

Imagine prepping, shot listing and then letting the action play out in real time like a play. We put the cameras in and around the Navy SEALS action to document it without interrupting to get amazing moments of serendipity that would not have happened it they were broken down into individual shots.  We shot in real time.

First, we set up  “cover sets,” a concept coined by director Michael “Mouse “ McCoy.  We then discuss the operation and where to best set up our cameras to cover it.  The Elite Team is put in place and we run the image capture live as it happens.  No stopping the action and breaking it down into pieces; we run the whole thing again until we get all of the necessary coverage.

Here is the breakdown for the Pool Training Sequence for Navy Swimmer.

• 1-camera in deep water housing which captures underwater and split level shots
• 1- camera on a dolly tracking profile with swimmers that moves at water level and then submerges to see them swim underwater
• 1-camera on 300mm Canon lensing medium shots of the recruits as they pop out of the water and sit at the pools edge
• 1-camera on 600mm Canon lensing extreme close-up shots of the recruits as they pop out of the water and sit at the pools edge
• 1-camera on a high overhead shot as the swimmers head at camera to take in the scope.
• 1-camera high speed on a dolly tracking at water level with the swimmers
• 1- camera hand held on 70-200mm Canon Zoom going rogue and capturing little bits

Navy Swimmer 720p & 1080p

The serendipity moments are real; you feel like you are experiencing it as if you are the Navy Swimmer, Diver, or SEAL.  We are able to lens these 3 minute spots for the Navy in 3-4 hours with our small footprint shooting module. Now, there are moments while we are shooting that have Blue on Blue filming, which is a military term that means you are shooting yourself.   For the few seconds where the other cameras are seen, we then go to Brett the magician in the After Effects room at Bandito Brothers to deliver his artistry.  He has painted me out of several shots, the most obvious one was on the swim deck of the yacht on the “Where’s the 5D MIO SEAL operation.”

This is groundbreaking filming which is unique in its style and execution and has only been possible since the invention of the Canon 5D, 7D and 1D cameras.