Video Production Q&A

[Michael Cameneti]

What are your file export settings? (how are you encoding them)?

Scott, what I've found works best for YouTube is encoding an h.264, 1920 x 1080 (depending on your source footage), 23.976 frame rate, square pixel aspect ratio. You can limit your data rate to minimize the size of your file.

Hope this helps!

 

[bmsweb]

What a fantastic thread! Be sure I'll have a million and one questions for you once I get my 60D. Will look at the shoulder rig next

 

[Michael Cameneti]

Micheal, Chad,

Thank you for being so open about your production equipment software..

Personally I've been looking to improve the "production value" of my FPV videos. There's really been an explosion of FPV / RC videos lately, and myself included, lack any sort of production.. (i.e. footage straight from the FOB or GoPro uploaded to YouTube - maybe a title slide and if you're lucky replacing the audio with a music track) No doubt I'm guilty of this..

With all that said - I'm looking for ways to learn some of the basics of video production. Not to produce the next Flite Test, but to elevate my work going into next year. To date the best I've come up with is spending some time on Vimeo (as opposed to YouTube) and going through their lessons. But am starting to realize how little I know about this stuff..

Any suggestions for myself (and probably a lot of other fliers) in video production 101?

-Steve

Steve, Shane Hurlbut has an educational series that I found to be helpful http://www.video.bhphotovideo.com/i..._chl=21a75f44fa098827d21f1a1521be845b28981b01.

Also, I spend quite a bit of time on Vimeo as well. There are plenty of classes and inspirational pieces throughout the site.

 

[Jeffrey Saelee]

Michael, you seem to be having a hard time keeping up with all the questions!

 

[colorex]

I am normally going still picture with a cheap Kodak compact camera as it will only take minutes to get some daily pictures in the log. Sometimes i movie is more interesting and i am using the camera in video mode. I also have other cameras and video-cameras.

At first i used the Windows Movie maker in XP - not god....
When i got .mov videos i had to upgrade to Vista and Movie Maker Live - better but not god.

Today i have a camera making films in HD - my PC and software can not handle this at all.

What PC hardware is required? Core 5 or core 7? Ram? graphics board?
What software will handle "all formats2 mov avi mpg and others?
I dont need any fancy - just to cut, merge and add text and music.
I am looking for a screen where i can watch HD and have menues - i assume 2400+1400 pixels?

Please help me with suggestions.

HD 720p is 1280x720 Usually 19" 3:4 monitors
HD 1080 is 1920x1080 Usually 21"+ 3:4 monitors

And to edit HD, you need a LOT of juice...

 

[Jeffrey Saelee]

And to edit HD, you need a LOT of juice...

Ain't that the truth! It's even slow to edit 720p videos on my dad's 17inch Macbook Pro, core 2 duo, 2gb ram, RadeonX1600(Don't know why I put all that info in there)

 

[Shadow74]

Shotgun Camera

Hey

I cannot recall the exact episode but in one of them I saw one of the camera guys with a rifle stock looking mount that I assume would be for fast action and sweeping shots of the RC models as they pass. Is the mount homemade or purchased?

The idea makes sense to track a fast moving object by 'aiming' down a sight so I may build one (for my 60D)

(only problem is that I live in Australia and legislation regarding guns and 'items that look like guns' are pretty full on)

Thanks

- Michael

Hey Michael,


This is Eric, (the other camera guy for Flitetest/Angry Swordsman) I saw your post about the shotgun rig, so I figured I would answer this one.

I own a production company of my own outside of working with Flitetest, and throughout my years of filming I have had a fascination with developing camera stabilization rigs to make my job easier. When we first started filming Flitetest, I quickly discovered the need for a rig that would allow me to follow fast moving objects. Trying to do that through a viewscreen proved to be a challenge due to the fact that if the aircraft made an abrupt turn, i had to look away from the screen, find the plane in the air again and try to get lined back up on it. I decided that since skeet shooters follow a tiny little clay pigeon goin 70+ mph by looking down a gun barrel I could do the same with following a plane. So I got an old crossbow stock that my uncle made in highschool, made an aluminum mount for the camera, set it in a rifle rack to site it in at 100 yards and whallah, a rig that allowed me to "keep my eye on the ball" I went to Jim Bixler's house (Josh's older brother/my best friend) and had him and their dad Bruce fly some planes for me so I could give it a try. It worked really well so I brought it to the Flitetest shoot that weekend, and starting using it.

I did however move away from using the shotgun rig a while back, because of the need to film the airplanes with the 60D so that the footage more closely matched the 5D that Michael shoots with. So I have a DSLR shoudler rig that I developed as well and that is what I am using to film the aircraft follow footage as of now. I have plans drawn up for a shotgun rig to mount the 60D onto. The trouble with that, is the 60D weighs alot more than the HD camera that I had on the rig you saw in the episode. So some counterbalancing is nesc. Soon as I get it finished I will post it.


Cheers!

Eric

 

[Shadow74]

I am normally going still picture with a cheap Kodak compact camera as it will only take minutes to get some daily pictures in the log. Sometimes i movie is more interesting and i am using the camera in video mode. I also have other cameras and video-cameras.

At first i used the Windows Movie maker in XP - not god....
When i got .mov videos i had to upgrade to Vista and Movie Maker Live - better but not god.

Today i have a camera making films in HD - my PC and software can not handle this at all.

What PC hardware is required? Core 5 or core 7? Ram? graphics board?
What software will handle "all formats2 mov avi mpg and others?
I dont need any fancy - just to cut, merge and add text and music.
I am looking for a screen where i can watch HD and have menues - i assume 2400+1400 pixels?

Please help me with suggestions.

Hey pgerts,


I would say that to do what you are wanting to do, the Adobe Elements suite would be great. It is like $149 and you get premiere and photoshop elements. Everything you would need to do cut vids, transition, add text/music etc.

As far as PC specs go, Michael does the editing for Flitetest on a core i5 imac. The main bulk of Flitetest's raw footage is Canon DSLR with the exception of the gopro/drift cameras. Something to keep in mind, most consumer point and shoots/camcorders shoot in AVCHD which is highly compressed, which means that it is very labor-intensive on the computer's processor. Quad core machines, at least in my experiences, cannot handle editing that format without stuttering or coming to a complete halt. For my own production company, I built 3.3ghz AMD 6-core workstations, with USB-3/Sata-6 ASUS Crosshair Formula 4 mobos, 16gigs of 1333 ram, 10k RPM WD Velociraptor system drives, NVidia GTX470 graph cards (approved for Adobe Mercury Playback), Corsair 850 watt power supply and Lite-on blu-ray burners. Put all that into Aluminum Lian Li full-tower cases with dust filters and four cooling fans (which are whisper quiet) to keep things cool and clean inside. I built each of these machines for not too much more than the cost of a 13" macbook pro. (approx $1400-$1500) A 13" macbook pro will not edit this footage, mine came to a halt within seconds. :\

I edit long-form multi-camera production work as a major part of my workflow, filming 1-2 hour long productions from 3 AVCHD cameras and then adding canon DSLR footage as the 4th camera......and all on the same timeline. these machines fly through this footage, even in the multi-camera monitor where it has to stream all of the cameras simultaneously. So I know that a machine like this would most def do what you want it to do. (makes an awesome gaming rig for COD Modern Warfare 3 as well)

I had a Quad-core intel machine that would not even play 30 seconds of AVCHD footage, hence the need to go to the 6-core

I hope that helps ya, if ya have any other questions, i will try to help any way that I can.


Cheers!


Eric

 

[billm]

I'm going to probably pickup a 60D to play with the Video mode. I realize I will prob. need a two system setup and I am looking at the Zoom H4n or one of the Tascam's. Several of the forums are beating up on the Zoom stating that the mic level is really low and not very good for interview type scenarios. I know you guys use the Zoom, can you provide some input on this?

Thanks
Bill

 

[Shadow74]

I'm going to probably pickup a 60D to play with the Video mode. I realize I will prob. need a two system setup and I am looking at the Zoom H4n or one of the Tascam's. Several of the forums are beating up on the Zoom stating that the mic level is really low and not very good for interview type scenarios. I know you guys use the Zoom, can you provide some input on this?

Thanks
Bill

Hey Bill,

I have not used a tascam, but we have used the zoom for FT since the beginning, and I personally own a zoom for my own video business. I have had great luck with mine, and really have no need to even look at anything else.....it actually does more than I will ever need it to do.

I also own a 60D and for the money it is a GREAT camera. Very good "bang for your buck".


Let us know what ya end up with......

Cheers!

Eric

 

[jack123]

This is really great. Now i am also in video production Miami.

 

[Johan]

Hi. I'm Michael (DP, Editor, Composer for Flite Test). Feel free to ask questions about what gear we use, what we edit on and how we produce the show here! I'll be glad to answer questions.

Hi Michael,

I found this thread a bit late, but wanted to express I really love what you've done with the flitetest soundtrack(s).

quoting David: It's AWESOME!

Thanks!
Kind regards Johan

 

[porsche911]

Are there any dimensions on Chad's custom PVC camera rig?
Thanks