Here are some frames exported from Adobe premiere (i know the aspect ratio is not correct, its supossed to be 16:9)







Today is the big day, iam going to shoot this with 5 actors on te table (this was just a test) and while i dont have anymore time to test the lighting, iam still VERY VERY VERY curious about your opinions! So i hope to hear some reactions without the next hours

Iam a bit nervous about this, because it looks -on a t.v.- very grainy.

I did NOT use the gain setting, i shot it with 0 db.

I had enough exposure (but even if i did not have enough light: the gain was off, so why should there be any gain? it must just get black!!)

I expososed the scene for the brightest object in the room (the lamp) So i lower the exposure untill there was no overexposure on the table caused by the lamp. Therefore, the rest of the room was getting a lot darker but the bright object appeard fine.
It was the look i wanted.

But playback on a tv its grainy and moving.

It was shot with a DVX100b scene file 6,
no changes made.
(unless for exposure and manual WB)

So, what can i do? because: when you shoot something brighter/overexposed than the rest in the frame and you lower exposure to make it look right, the rest of the frame gets darker.
But is it normal to have grain with it also?
There was enough light, i closed the lens, so why is there gain?

Anyways: even if you dont have a answer, please leave a comment on the lighting.

Looking Great! Just a couple of little things that might help out.

Firstly the areas of shadow on the face looks quite underexposed. Especially in the second still, where there is no direct light at all. I would try to increase the soft light on the face by either punching an extra light into a poly, through a silked frame or a sheet of 250. You are better off getting a slightly flatter image while filming and upping the contrast in post than not having the information on the tape.

Also the face on the second still looks both way underexposed and really flat. You need some kind of highlight in the face and within the frame, a kicker or a backlight dummied from one of the practical lights in the background is an idea.

What f-stop are you shooting at? F5.6 is considered to be the ideal stop to shoot using MiniDV at. anything below f4 starts to get pretty average.

Cheers.
Matt.

Thanks!

3 more hours...

The way i handle the exposure is getting a good exposure from the table, were the main light (lamp) is hanging above. Zo i zoom in on the playboard en keep lowering the exposure until there is no overexposure on the gameboard anymore (zebrastripes 80%) then i zoom out and the whole room is a bit too dark. But that is because i want a good exposed playboard...

If i keep a F5.6 all the time, the playboard will be overexposed...

So what can i do? use a ND filter? (i think the footage will be more grainy because this will reduce light before it hits the lens)

Yeah, some cameras do get very grainy as the light lowers, which is a sad truth of digital video.

It's not unacceptable to overexpose slightly in small areas if the rest of the scene looks better, but I'd say you've got the exposure spot on in those grabs.

You can change the shutter speed to effect exposure, and keep the f stop where you want it.

I've never heard the rule about keeping DV at 5.6... can you elaborate on that, parnell? I prefer to go low and try to get some depth of field.

To clearefy something up: i did NOT use low light.
In fact, i turned the iris closed... NOT open.

and still get grain

I guess that particular camera will see grain in areas of shadow on the sensor even if the light isn't low. It's very mild grain, and it should look okay on the TV.

Just saw this post on dvxuser... well, my suggestion is to shoot with master ped at 0. Gain at 0... try that.

Hello!

The shoot went okey, but not all acting performance are the way i wanted them to be (not real actors) so, that a BIG drawback.

Here is the construction:



Here are a few frames from the video, NOTE: Aspect ratio is wrong. I even loaded into Photoshop and copy/paste it in a 16:9 preset, but after saving, the aspect ratio is not displayed. Iam sorry! It looks a lot different this way...
Hope you can see truw the pixel aspect ratio thing... looks cheesy all those long heads...







(any suggestions how i can make this darker? i must still see the girl, the main subjects, but its a bit to light for my taste, consider the other frames.



Suggestions about making the shots look the same -some are a bit brighter than the other- are welcome. And do you think i must do some kind of Color Corretion to it? iam not so good at that (i just use brightnes and contrast..)
But maybe it will look even better with CC.

And finely, i hope to hear some reactions about this raw images.

Thanks

Jerry

As for the aspect ratio, DV doesn't use square pixels. The standard ratio uses a .9 pixel width, and widescreen uses 1.2. That's why your BMPs come out squished or stretched, depending on your shooting mode. For standard 4:3, compress the 720 horizontal to 648; for widescreen 16:9, stretch 720 to 864.

As for shot consistency, color correction is not difficult. Use the Color Balance (RGB) tool in Image Control, establish the color differences between two frames and add or subtract from whatever channel until they match closely enough. I don't think you'll need to balance much, though; your color is pretty consistent.

Harris, about what software program are you talking? i use premiere for editing and i do have after effects.

Thanks for the explanation about aspect ratios.

By the way: i would love to hear your comments on this raw footage?