Video production good questions newbie

ok i made the switch to mac, and started to play around with imovie, and made my first film from footage in the hamptons this weekend, skydiving. If you could pretty please watch my film, and give me feedback either here, or on youtube and or rate it. I'm very anxious to learn and any visible mistakes i've made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUkVptPeoJo that is the video link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUkVptPeoJo

You're better off doing this by ear and eye. It's pretty stunningly unlikely that the rhythm of your soundtrack can be described in an even number of 1/24th-of-a-second (or whatever your timebase is) frames. And if a particular beat is marked by something like a cymbal crash, it probably spans across several frames of video.
Editing is an art, not a science. Use your senses to put the cuts where they feel right, and lo and behold, they'll feel right to your audience as well.

Similar Messages

I do video productions for a small local TV station. I use Final Cut Express to edit. I need a new video camera but am at a loss as to what to buy. I know I will get a digital camera but do not know the difference between just digital and digital HD.

I do video productions for a small local TV station. I use Final Cut Express to edit. I need a new video camera but am at a loss as to what to buy. I know I will get a digital camera but do not know the difference between just digital and digital HD. Also, I can not afford an expensive camera and need some advice on which of the available cameras would be best and also work well with a Mac. One last issue, I currently use a Panasonic #CCD camera that takes a tape. When I load video to Final Cut the audio and video are out of sinc. Go figure. Can anyone help with these questions. Karen

Hello Karen,
If you are using Final Cut Express, then look for camcorders that are AVCHD camcorders. Look especially for the AVCHD logo and specific mention of AVCHD in the specs. Most of the major manufacturers produce good quality camdcorders - Canon, Sony, etc.
Also, be aware that there are a lot of "not quite AVCHD" camcorders on the market (sometimes they say they record video as MPEG4-H.264/AVC) - buyer beware!
Most everything you are going to find on the market today is HD, which stands for "high-def".
Regarding your question about the Panasonic camcorder, it's best if you post that as a separate question, and please identify the specific model camcorder and the Easy Setup you are using in FCE.

How to improve my video productions

My wife and I do video production for her sister's musical programs at a local private school. I need tips on improving the quality of the productions. Below is a list of equipment that we use and a few questions about filming/editing these musical programs.
Camera: Sony DSR-PDX10
Tripod: Manfrotto MA055XWNB (just purchased)
Head: Manfrotto 701HDV Fluid Head (just purchased)
Tapes: Sony DVC 60 minute
Sound: Directional XLR mic that came with the Sony / XLR line-in from soundboard
on some programs
System: MacBook Pro 15" 2.8GHz 4GB ram (recently purchased)
Software: iMovie/iDVD
- Should I be using Final Cut Express for editing instead of iMovie and is there a big learning curve for it?
- Is there a better DVD software that I should be using to author the discs?
- Would you recommend a DVD burner or use the super drive in the MacBook? I'm concerned about wearing the super drive out, if we burn too many DVD's.
- I'm burning copies of the disc image at 2x speed. Is this low enough to get the best quality. I'd prefer to not have to burn them at 1x.
- The recordings sound good to us when using the directional mic, but it does pick up some of the crowd noise like coughing, etc. Any suggestions on a sound solution is also welcomed.
Our purpose is to provide the parents a copy of the performance if they choose
not to video it themselves. We only charge a nominal fee for the discs (about the price of a store bought movie) which we think is fair considering the enormous amount of time that goes into filming/editing and burning the discs.
Thanks in advance for your time and input.

nice device.. not the latest, but a good 'working horse', esp. the pro-connector XLR for an ext. mic.
iMHD6 =fine, iMovie08/09 = no good..
iM08/09 has an odd behavior handling interlaced input.. to make it short: in usual use, resolution will drop by half on export ..
*FCE learning curve* = steem! but manageable and, with the little help of a book of FC-mastermind Tom Wolfsky (amazon..) you are a pro within weeks..
with some skills and imagination, you can give your projects some 'pro attitude' - but, be warned: FCE is NO 'one click done' solution as iM! no templates, themes, ready-mades ..
*better DVD software?* - DVDSP, part of FCP=$$$$ .. but better for your needs? may I recommend my own site about 'modding' iDVD-menus: http://sites.google.com/site/idvdmodding/
*superdrive wear-out?* yes, yes, YES! these slot-ins are not meant for 'mass production'. get any ext. DVD-burner - done.
we read reports, Verbatim disks work perfectly with 4x (some say 8x) speed ..
*catching noise* - rule#1 in audio-recording: you never can come too close.. consider 'poor man's 2nd unit': get any cheap miniDV-camcorder with a good/excellent ext-mic; put this as 'audio recorder' as close as possible to subjects; use the audio-track only of that device ..
professional solution: mics attached to each performer, mixer.. = $$$$

Server Setup advice for a video production house

Hello Forum,
I recently started working for a small video production company, I need advice on the type of server and other hardware and services that will allow my co-workers to work efficiently. Here are some details:
Currently we are going to buy a new server, I am not sure what we should look at getting,
currently we use a mini mac running OSX server and have 6 iMacs that the editors and other staff use.
We also have a 15 TB Drobo network storage device which is attached to the mini-mac server we are going to replace.
The production team uses Final Cut and Motion to build documentaries.
The other issue is that need a way to connect the office in Baltimore to the office in Washington DC and ideally share files between each location, currently they cannot access the network from Baltimore and have to have a copy of the unedited footage on their own Drobo.
What type of server setup do you recommend? Quad core? speed?
Should we set up a VPN to connect offices or does someone have a better idea, if so what applications do we need?
I know windows networking pretty well, but Mac is totally new to me.Currently editing files from the server is really slow and files are usually pulled to the iMacs to do editing, burning DVDs from files on the server hardly ever works- they pull them local then burn the DVD and it works.
I would love to hear suggestions to help us get up and running.
Anyone know of a good website for server setup- Since there is no Domains in OSX that i know of, how can we secure the network? Links would be great.
Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions.

Well if your looking for performance. You could get a Promise VTrak E-Class RAID with 32TB of storage, later on you can add more chassis to the raid for more storage space. The raid can be expanded up to 160TB. (80 drive bays, each drive 2 TB)
Using fiber you could attach the raid to an xServer or Mac Pro (running mac os x server). You'll probable want at least 8 or 16 GB of ram on the server.
The server can run a copy of final cut server. Witch makes it easer to work as a group. Mac OS X server, when properly configured, can also be used to create a VPN between both locations.
Final Cut Server will let editors check in/out specific parts of the documentaries. So the project lives on the server; instead of scattered over every ones computers. Part of this is you can pull down thumb nails versions of the video to work off of. Only when you do the final render do you download the HD version of the video.
If you want even better performance on the editing stations. you could also upgrade to Mac Pros. Mac Pros have upgrade slots witch you can use to add fiber networking. You could also use the upgrade slots to add a black magic real time HD capture card.
Or if you want to keep the imacs. you might want to hook the server to a switch by fiber, and have the imacs connected to the same switch by 1000-T
If you call apple i'm sure they'd be happy to help you figure this all out.
for info on Promise: http://www.promise.com/apple/
for mor info on final cut server: http://www.apple.com/finalcutserver/

Upgrading PowerMac G4 to the MAX for video production?????

I need to know if I can just upgrade my Power Mac G4 (AGP graphics) to the max for video production? I'll be using 4 main programs.
1. Final Cut Studio 2
2. After Affects
3. Protools
4. Photoshop CS 3
Final Cut recommends this for all applications:
* 2GB of RAM when working with compressed HD and uncompressed SD sources
* 4GB of RAM when working with uncompressed HD sources
Here are my computer stats:
Machine Model: PowerMac3,1
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.9)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 450 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 768 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 3.2.2f1
Can anyone please help? This is my first mac.

Hey DJ,
I'm thinking that, for those specific needs, dollars are better thrown at a newer model than upgrades for your existing one. Here's why:
1) You do not have native support for large hard drives, something that's nice for video work. You'd have to spend money on a PCI adaptor card to add that support. Figure US$40-100.
2) Your video card is likely not up to the task unless it's already been upgraded. Another $70-250 depending on how good a scrounger you are.
3) You need a minimum 1.25Ghz G4 processor and, if you get the upgrade, who's to say if the next version of FC will still support a G4? 1.2G processor upgrades start at over $200 and faster ones are up to $700 (OWC pricing for new gear).
4) You can't stick more than 2G RAM in your computer.
And, after all the upgrades, you still have the basic bus speed limitation inherent in all G4s.
Bottom line is that you can quickly invest enough to buy a faster used Mac. Examples of used G5 prices (usually at the top of the price scale) are here. Even an entry level G5 should be much faster than a fully upgraded G4.
Don't get me wrong--I'm an upgrader and love to do it regardless of cost. In this case, I see the potential for ending up with an upgraded computer that struggles at its intended task and could be obsoleted by the next upgrade of the software.

Good question about Exporting to tape

Somebody asked me this and I thought it was a good question. And I dont know the answer!
When a camera is connected to FCE, whatever plays on the timeline plays on the camera viewfinder, right? So instead of using PRINT TO VIDEO why wouldnt we just manually press record on the camera and just tape the movie straight off the timeline?
Is there some kind of quality loss if you do this?
Just seems to be a quicker and easier way to get the movie to tape.

While this works just fine, there are some issues. I.E., it is a lot easier to interrupt your recording when playing straight from the timeline (press the wrong key, have another app switch over, etc).
Print To Video (as far as I know) can only be interrupted with the ESC key.
Also, in Print to Video, FCP makes sure everything is rendered, and you can add color bars, slate, black, etc to the beginning if needed.

Can't get video production software to recognize USB mixer board

I'm using my new iMac 27" with dual quad Intel i5's to run streaming video to Ustream for a video program. I'm using Wirecast production software. Previously I had an Alesis USB audio mixer, which worked fine until the mixer itself developed a problem. I replaced it with a similar Behringer USB mixer.
When I open the Wirecast video production program, it tells me that it does not recognize the USB video codec. I've posted this problem on the Wirecast forum, but all they can advise me is that there may be some other software that is grabbing hold of the USB video codec before I open Wirecast, and only one piece of software can use the USB video codec at a time.
I know that the signal is getting to the computer via the USB input, as I can hear my microphone tests with headphones plugged into the computer via Garage Band. However, the sound is distorted, a little high and tinny and perhaps doubled.
I also have Ableton Light loaded onto the machine, though of course I do not have it active when I'm running Wirecast.
Three questions:
1. How can I make sure that nothing else is trying to use the USB audio codec before I open up Wirecast? Is there anything else that might be causing the problem?
2. Assuming I have all the effects in Garage Band completely turned off during the mic tests, what could be causing the distortion?
3. Are there any websites/books, etc, with beginner's information about using audio equipment with the Mac? I know a bit about audio, I used to use tape-based four-trackers to record speeches and I've done some time in serious studios as a performer-- but digital-based recording is fairly new to me.
Many thanks for all help. J.Beau

Log into another user account on your Mac Pro, connect one of your devices via USB and launch iPhoto. Is the device recognized?
If not try booting into Safe Mode, Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode and run the same test.
OT

What is an ideal Mac video production set-up?

G’day y’all,
I am running the Final Cut Pro Studio version.
I have done some basic Avid editing professionally over the past several years and purchased my PowerBook G4 to produce some family videos.
I have been producing personal videos on my PowerBook for 2 years using Final Cut and are beginning to find some limitations like when I’m trying to have several video clips flying across the screen in Motion.
What is an ideal Mac hardware video production set-up, given that I don’t have a huge budget? And what soft ware should I have in addition to Final Cut Pro Studio and Photoshop?
Cheers and thanx m8s.
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2 GB DDR SDRAM 1 250 GB LaCie, 1 500 GB LaCie

-MacPro...best model you can afford.
-2.5GB RAM
-250GB system drive.
-500GB SATA drives installed internally...as many as you need. 750GB if you need more room. Go internal before you go external.
-Two Apple Cinema Displays or Two Dell 2407 24" monitors. Dells are cheaper, but the Apple one would be good for:
-Matrox MXO. This, in conjunction with an Apple Cinema Display means that you can look at your footage on the ACD at BROADCAST QUALITY. Yes, you can turn your ACD into a broadcast monitor. Huge plus.
-Mackie 1402 Mixer. Just something to monitor the audio from a few sources.
-M-Audio speakers (studio monitors)
Final Cut Studio
Photoshop if you intend on using stills.
After Effects, Shake...if you plan on compositing.
That should cover it.
Shane

Hints for resource to create video production compatible photoshop graphics

Could someone please recommend a good website or information resource for creating graphics in Photoshop that are compatible with video production. 720x540, square vs non-square pixels, alpha channels, etc. I have Googled for an hour and am not finding what I need.
I want to make images, graphics, titles, menus, etc for DV production that will be finished in DVD Studio Pro. I do not wish to use Final Cut or DVD studio apps for any of the graphics, I much prefer to design in Illustrator and Photoshop!
I am concerned about sizes, NTSC colors and pixel shape as I mentioned above. There must be a good site with reference material and basic how to's.
Thanks!

How do people make high quality graphics ready for FCP? Re-sampling to a different size is never a good idea. Thanks for pointing me towards LAFCPUG - there's lots of other great stuff on the site, as always, but the Photoshop tutorial is from 2001. Much too old to be of any current use what so ever. Photoshop CS3/4 now handles all the pixel sizing automatically or so I am told.
I'm not sure why I am having so much trouble finding out about this. Custom graphics are imported into FCP all the time. I just need a basic idea of how to properly create a new file in Photoshop CS3 that will not be re-sized and therefore look like trash! (images are only 72 dpi so resampling is not a good idea!)
At the moment my only option is to do a test, and re-sample the width until it looks about right, then just make everything weird and distorted to start with? Same goes for Illustrator I guess... except I could import to Photoshop and stretch my graphics until they look similarly "weird and distorted"... seems very odd to me that there's no up-to-date solution for this very common situation.
Also RGB monitor colors are no good for TV. I used to use my Hollywood DV and an actual TV to get colors right, but again, I am tired of guessing at all this!
I am hoping someone will know where to direct me.
Thanks

Where else can I go for answers to my CS production Premium questions?

I have not gotten any replies to my questions. Where else can i go to get answers to my Creative Suits Production Premium questions so I can use my program? I keep getting error messages when importing video and cannot even begin.

That's an invalid resolution. Adobe products only support standardized resolutions as they are commonly used in video production, well, at least in Premiere. This has something to do with hardware acceleration features for realtime playback. You should be able to open the file in After Effects, though. If that still doesn't work, you may have to run it through a conversion tool like Handbrake. To avoid such issues in the future, you should set your preferences on teh phone to a standard resolution like 640x480, 360x480 or 720x1280 pixels. It may look squished on the phone, but will be much better for later video processing. Also use plain MP4/ H.264 files, not MOV if possible.
Mylenium

Video review making questions

Just wondering if someone could answer this for me please?
I am wanting to get into video production and editing.
Basically I am wanting to record video reviews of different things.
I am wanting to purchase a USB microphone to use on my iMac.
I will be shortly be replacing my current camera with the Panasonic dmc-fz200 camera which has a video recording capability along with a built in microphone for recording the audio. Although from what I've heard, the audio isn't very good, hence the reason I want to use a USB microphone.
My thinking is this:
I am wanting to record the video review, then get this video off of the camera's SD card and into Final Cut Pro. Once in there I want to delete the audio track that my Panasonic dmc-fz200 has recorded.
I believe that it's possible with Final Cut Pro to record an audio track at the same time as the video would be playing in Final Cut Pro. Now, obviously the audio would need to be (for want of a better word) in sync or keep up with the action that was going on in the video. I was wondering if the audio commentary was either getting a little ahead or behind of what was going on in the video, is it possible to slow the video down or speed it up so that both the audio and the video are keeping up with each other?
Presently I record tech guides on doing various things on the iPhone and iPad with the built in mic on the iMac, along with two other applications I use (Reflector and Screenflow).
Doing this with these applications when I get a USB microphone should be a simpler task than the above has its possible to tell Screenflow which microphone to use (i.e built in microphone or an external microphone) so in this scenario, the audio and video would be both recorded at the same time and I wouldn't have any issues with video and audio not been in sync/getting ahead/behind one and other. So I shouldn't have any of the problems I have mentioned above with using my Panasonic dmc-fz200 camera.

I was going to edit my original post to see if I can make myself more clear, but I cannot edit it. So instead I've added/altered some of what I wrote in my originally:
I am wanting to get into video production and editing. Basically I am wanting to record video reviews of different things that I own.
I am also wanting to purchase a USB microphone to use on my iMac.
I will be shortly be replacing my current camera with the Panasonic dmc-fz200 camera which has a video recording capability along with a built in microphone for recording the audio. Although from what I've heard online, the audio isn't very good, hence the reason I want to use a USB microphone.
My thinking is this:
I am wanting to record the video review, then get the video off of the camera's SD card and into Final Cut Pro. Once in there I want to delete the audio track that my Panasonic dmc-fz200 has recorded.
I believe that it's possible with Final Cut Pro to record an audio track (by going to the Record Audio option in the Window menu) at the same time as the video would be playing in Final Cut Pro.
Now, obviously the audio would need to be (for want of a better word) in sync or keep up with the action that was going on in the video. To try and clarify. If I were pointing at some part or button in the video (of what I was reviewing). I would obviously need to be at that point in my audio commentary that I would be recording.
I was wondering if the audio commentary that I was recording was either getting a little ahead or behind of what was going on in the video, is it possible to slow the video down or speed it up so that both the audio and the video are keeping up with each other?
Presently I record tech guides on my iMac on doing various things on the iPhone and iPad with the built in mic on the iMac, along with two other applications I use (Reflector and Screenflow).
Doing this with these two applications when I get a USB microphone should be a simpler task than doing the video reviews recording with the Panasonic camera, Final Cut Pro, has its possible to tell Screenflow which microphone to use prior to beginning recording (i.e built in microphone or an external microphone) and also Screenflow allows me to edit the video too. So in this scenario, the audio and video would be both recorded at the same time and I wouldn't have any issues with video and audio not been in sync/getting ahead/behind one and other. So I shouldn't have any of the problems I have mentioned above with using my Panasonic dmc-fz200 camera.

What's The Best Sharpening Technique For HD Video Production

I use Photoshop CS5 to produce stills for use in high def video production. After editing 400+ photos often using a modest <1 pixel radius & 100% smart sharpen I found that the results looked terrible. I'm going back and eliminating most sharpening. Is there a decent sharpening approach for this end use? I used to work with the unsharp mask which so far has produced better results.

Even though I've been doing DVD's for personal use for about 10 years it's only in the last 2 years that I've been doing 1080p Blu-rays and while the results can be excellent as you suggest there's less room for error as sharpening artifacts can show up. In the past I used an unsharp mask technique with very small radius (1 pixel or less radius & less than 100%) and the results have been pretty good. In my never ending quest to improve I tried the new smart sharpen which works on the edge boundaries and I also applied a conservatively low size & percent.
But I'm now of the opinion that while this looks great on small (24") HD displays of the tif image, it looked terrible in a test BD. The best way I can describe it is looking like a "cheap printed image" on my large screen plasma. Possible my conservative approach was not conservative enough. This may be fine for a printed image or even an SD video.
I can do some really good night citiscapes using high ISO @ about 2 stops under but they still need sharpening. If I were doing this professionally I'd use a tripod & lock up the mirror. But I'm not so I'm trying to help with the slight lack of sharpness. Same is true but @ lesser extent with daytime photos.
I also agree with you about not using sharpening at all. I found that no sharpening was better for my use than the smart sharpen as I applied it but an unsharp mask might be a little better than the smart sharpen.
Thanks Hunt
Alan

FCP use in Video Production Facilities

Is anyone on this list using FCP in a medium to large video production facility? The kind that makes commercials, corporate videos and such. I have been in the industry for 30 years and I have some questions regarding FCPs use in this specific environment.

Ooop...I answered you at the Cow.
I just got back from a party at Plastercity Post here in LA. They are FCP from the ground up. 8 edit bays...audio mixing, motion graphics, sound stage...and feature film color correction and finishing..a 2K projection theatre...nice. National ads, HBO TV series, feature film..you name it, they do it. And they know their stuff.
There is also the DR Group in Culver City, Digital Film Tree in Hollywood, West Post Digital in Santa Monica, Outpost Digital in Santa Monica...and these are only the full on POST facilities. There are hundreds of production companies in the LA area that are all FCP based. Bunim Murray...that does THE REAL WORLD for MTV and THE SIMPLE LIFE for FOX...not only are they all FCP, but they have over 100 FCP edit stations. Every Mac in the office runs Final Cut Pro...and they do national TV series. And they do the typical offline/online workflow...capturing at offline RT and recapturing at 8-bit uncompressed for final finishing.
Shane

Video looks good, until I export it to vimeo?

how are you guys doing? im new to the cummunity. I have a problem with FCPX/Compressor 4. It seems when my video is in fcpx it looks good, i export via Compressor 4 & it still looks good. Now heres the problem. When you look at my video through a computer on Vimeo it looks ok, but soon as you veiw it via cell phone it looks terrible! (& we all know most people veiw media through cell phone devices) so my question to you guys is... is that just a cell phone thing? or are there settings in which i can change to make the video look good always reguardless if its on a computer or cell phone?
http://vimeo.com/67703617 there is the video, but on a cell phone just doesn't look as right.
it would be greatly appriciated if someone out there can answer my question..thank you!

Terrible? No way.
I have a 4S and I thought it played smoothly and displayed quite well – no artifacts that I noticed and very nice color as well.
Don't know what else to tell you.
Anyhow, the deal with Vimeo, et al is that once you upload it, it is in their hands. So you want to give them a version that isn't excessively compressed (and of course, progressive). And they will encode it for desktop and mobile devices.
Good luck.
Russ

Will iMac be efficient for Video Production Work Flow? PC to MAC switch.

Hi, I'm a long time Windows user editing in Sony Vegas for my video production work. I've been toying with the idea of seriously switching to Mac and Final Cut for about a year now. I may take the plunge this weekend. I don't think I want to go above $2k. I've been looking at the iMac 24inch, 2.8GHz model for a while now in the store, playing with footage. Nevetheless, I'm certainly nervous about making such a switch! I've been working with Sony Vegas for a couple of years now editing movies.
I do independent video production work, pretty seriously, but not for a huge movie house or anything. Will this iMac with Final Cut Studio work for me? Also should the fact that you can't upgrade specs on the iMac worry me? Will this computer be obsolete by next year.
I'm mainly interested in speed, efficient work flow, rendering times, etc. for video editing. Everything else I've seen on the mac I love.
Message was edited by: monaya
Message was edited by: monaya

hey there monaya & welcome to Discussions,
the iMac you're considering will certainly run FCS2. Tara Timpone edited "The TV Set", starring David Duchovny on her iMac @ home, see this: http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/kasdan/
i still do some editing on a 17" imac G4 w/ 512 MB, RAM(top of the line 5 1/2 years ago) & it shows no sign of not doing what need. it won't run FCS 2, but i'm still rolling on the home video to DVD part of my video biz w/ it-so it just got repurposed & has been online wirelessly for most of that time(so i can check e-mail, listen to radio for a break). it will run previous versions of FCE, which is how i got into using a pro-style editing app.
render speed will depend on footage format/codec, FX & transitions, RAM, etc..., but once you get used to the suite, establish a workflow, keyboard & interface layout that works for you, you should be okay.
good luck.

Video production good questions newbie

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