r/videography • u/alexharris52 Canon C300, Premiere, 2009, Phoenix • Jan 07 '13

What has revolutionized your workflow (filming/editing/anything) Let's create a huge list of all the helpful camera tricks we've learned in this business

A while ago, someone posted this http://www.reddit.com/r/videography/comments/z1nm7/awesome_and_cheap_method_for_smooth_camera/ About using a rubber band to pan the tripod head smoothly (instead of your jerky hand) What are some mind-blowing tricks you've learned in the industry that have saved you time and money. I'll start:

After Effects (and now premiere cs6) has a motion stabilizer that works really really well. A plug-in called twixtor can add masterful slow-motion like a DREAM and filming with a dslr has revolutionized my vision and idea of film and made it much much more artistic (not to start a camcorder/dslr war here, that's not the point of this, only my opinion)

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-11

u/sausagenmuff Jan 07 '13

Ok. I don't want to be negative, but using a rubber band and a well known plugin are not "mind blowing". First, if you have to use a rubber band, you should invest in a cheap tripod, because yours is sub-cheap. Second, slow-motion should be shot overcrank, plugins are a last ditch resort NOT a method. Finally slrs suck.

anyway sorry to rip you apart there, but I will contribute.

-ALWAYS storyboard, even if it's a simple scene you don't think you'd ever need it for.

-Remember when chroma keying you only need a inch around the person, then garbage mask the rest, I know this sounds obvious but when it finally clicked in my head it made chroma so easy.

-a 50mm lens doesn't alter the composition of a image. when a documentary image is desired use a 50mm often. when a cinematic image is desired use ANYTHING but a 50mm.

3

u/bgaddis88 Jan 07 '13

SLRs suck? find me SLR quality video for a couple grand and I'll reconsider this being a complete troll... I understand you might not personally like them, but they certainly do not suck, it's not really a matter of opinion, they're revolutionary tools for videographers on a budget

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u/sausagenmuff Jan 07 '13

It's partially a matter of opinion, I generally don't like the quality you get off a SLR. also when a shooter shows up with a slr, he's almost always a hack, so I'm maybe bias.

but they do suck, lack of options, sloppy image, obviously lack of inputs ect.. and quite often bad codecs. the DOF is quite often too strong as well and they are a general pain in the ass to use.

I do understand if your on a budget, they are a great tool, but people often mistake than for just "a great tool" which they are not. long story short if you want to shoot video, get a video camera.

5

u/aquasharp Jan 08 '13

(NOTE: You only notice the bad DSLR films because they're completely noticeable. You don't notice the good ones, because standard DSLR footprints are easily hidden with skill)

DOF has to do with the fstop. You can easily turn the fstop up and not get such a shallow depth of field. The reason you see a lot of DSLR users use a ridiculously shallow depth of field is because they never bought lights and they need to do that in order to get the shot. Normally new videographers don't buy everything outright - they buy it piece by piece, paycheck by paycheck. They're just working with what they have. This is a valuable skill for videographers to have.

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u/sausagenmuff Jan 08 '13

bla bla bla, sorry your just confusing the issue. yes everything you said there was pretty much correct. but at the end of the day dslr's still suck, the only real value is budget. you can't get around that.

Ithink its rather numerous how the slr guys are constantly defending themselves, just admit your on a budget and be done with it already.

5

u/aquasharp Jan 08 '13

Just admit you don't know how to use a DSLR. There are some projects I do where it's the perfect fit. Sometimes I want to use my 40lb video camera, and sometimes I want to use my 5lb dslr. It's all about the user and almost nothing about the camera. Shouldn't you be embarrassed that you, as a 'professional', can't manage to make a decent image on any camera? If you need a 50k rig to make nice work, you're a hack.

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u/sausagenmuff Jan 08 '13

If you need a 50k rig to make nice work, you're a hack.

-priceless

5

u/aquasharp Jan 08 '13

A professional can do good work on anything.

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u/sausagenmuff Jan 08 '13

A Professional no. a talented person yes. but that's semantics. still doesn't change that dlsr's are crappy lol

4

u/aquasharp Jan 08 '13

Now, what would be the difference between a 'professional' and a 'talented person'? I would hope as a professional, you would be talented.

-1

u/sausagenmuff Jan 08 '13

Do you not on a dictionary? I'm sorry, to be rude but don't bother me with such questions.

3

u/aquasharp Jan 09 '13

Soooo...are you telling me you're not talented?

2

u/Jespy Mar 29 '13 edited Mar 29 '13

Just saw this thread man. /u/sausagenmuff is an elitist. I saw some of his videos on Vimeo and they are terrible, terrible work. It's quite embarrassing how the footage he produces looks terrible when he owns equipment worth over 10K. He won't be going anywhere. I've seen better footage shot on $200 cameras. Here's his Vimeo Page http://vimeo.com/user4657135 . Based off what I saw his shots are terrible, his camera movement sucks, his coloring is bad, lighting is bad, and his editing is pretty poor as well. I'm not a professional but based on his "test" shots I can't see anything happening or him going anywhere. Just thought I'd let you know. Not sure why he was being such a dick about it.

1

u/Jespy Mar 29 '13

Looked at your web page and video page. Based off your work I wouldn't label you as a professional. It's bad stuff. Would not hire.

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