Sunday, February 22, 2009

Equipment Bag part 2

If you are recording audio for your video shoot by yourself because your video budget can't afford you a professional sound guy, then a really good pair of headphones is essential. I always keep a set in my audio bag. I prefer the type that surrounds your ears completely. This gives me good isolation from the ambient noises. Check out the Sony MDR-7506, also great in the studio.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Capture HDV with Apple's ProRes 422 in FCP

If you're working with HDV footage in Final Cut Pro, you know it can be time consuming to render effects and export final video projects. In the the latest updated version of FCP, you can capture right to Apple's ProRes 422 codec with firewire. This is a much easier codec to work in, with virtually no noticeable quality loss. However, there are a few drawbacks. First on the list is storage. ProRes takes up a lot of room, so you'll want to plan for that. Second, There is no way to set up a batch capture using in and out points. Using this ProRes capture method simply captures everything on the tape, making new clips for each start/stop during the shoot. This is great if you like to work with many individual clips. I prefer scrubbing through fewer long clips to find my shots, but, if you have the time, you can quickly delete clips you know you're not going to use, and consolidate your media. Storage pending, this may be a great for you to work with HDV footage without taxing your NLE.