Video

[gfish]

I wish I had time to do more video projects. It certainly isn't going to happen in the next few months, if all goes well. All I've been doing is recording the occasional event as a favor to people, which is pretty blah. Both tedious (can't do much but stand there minding the camera) and nerve-wracking (you only get one take!).

Part of my problem is that I'm kind of tired of doing short films. I still have a lot to learn, but they just aren't that rewarding anymore for the effort. I know I can do them, and do them pretty well. Hell, what I consider our best work was done in just 48 hours. All the project ideas that interest me now are big.

So instead I'll just feel guilty about not using the moderately nice equipment I've collected, I guess. The dilettante's curse. At least it's really nice to have on hand when my services are drafted.

Comments

[beaq.livejournal.com]

You could lease or lend it to me in the next few months, if it's moderately useful for stopmotion. :-)

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

Gah, what are you going to do? Have you even TALKED to Vixy and Fishy about stop-motion?

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Uh. I've discussed it with them a little bit? I want to try out some equipment and learn a bit more about the craft, and then make some short pieces. Why?

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

I just get the impression that their one foray into that area, while very cool, was difficult and tedious. I figured they'd probably try to talk you out of it.

I agree that the craft is utterly fascinating, though. If you really do it, I want to come see you working on it some time.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

It's a crazy amount of work, and I generally found the process rather unrewarding. But obviously some people really get into it, so could be a random temperment thing.

A camera like mine would be pretty overkill for stop-motion. I have no idea of your experience, so I hope this doesn't come across as condescending: I'd start with a good webcam, and find some decent software in whatever price range and/or legality you're comfortable with. (There are a lot of neat little tricks that make capturing on a computer much more pleasant, like ghosting the previous frame over the live display so you can see how much you've moved something, and voice actived capture so you don't have to keep moving back and forth.) The biggest quality issue you're going to have is not the camera, but the lighting, which is a crazy skill all to itself. You should be able to make do with some small work lamps, but I'd recommend getting a basic book on video lighting. Also, make sure that the lights are mounted solidly -- nothing worse than spending hours on a sequence only to jostle the lights halfway through.

[beaq.livejournal.com]

I'd probably find the process rewarding ONCE, and then move on to something else expensive. It's probably too much to hope that I'll actually

Book on video lighting sounds good. I know only a very, very little about still photo light setups. As for cameras, I'm actually planning to use a reasonably-good-if-not-amazing digital still camera at some point, but would like to experiment with various equipment over time. I sure miss Super 8's.

I've been looking into software that allows onionskinning. I hadn't thought about voice activation. What did you use?

[beaq.livejournal.com]

actually pursue it beyond basic incompetence.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

I used this crappy little app whose name I forget. These days I'd probably use Premiere's builtin support, since I already own a copy, assuming I didn't find a good freeware package. For triggering I ended up taking the ball out of a mouse, carefully positioning the cursor over the 'take next frame' button, and using it as a foot pedal. It mostly worked okay, but I wouldn't exactly brag about the experience.

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

Part of the issue is also having a decent work space for it. Preferably a separate one. We didn't, and so my living room was taken over for two months or so by foam core sets and cameras and lighting and a hell of a lot of clay. Bits of clay everywhere. Hardly a space to sit down without moving or possibly destroying something. If you've got a basement or a spare room or something, use that. Be prepared for the project to take a long time and not to be very stash-away-able, so wherever it lives it's likely going to live there the whole time. That was the major pain on my end.

Another part of the issue was simply that due to lack of space, the computer was on a very low table, so Fishy ended up with wicked backaches from bending down to hit the spacebar to capture each frame. Either a remote control or an easy-access location for your computer are advised.

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Hm. Based on this I foresee moving the whole computer setup. There's probably a space I can commandeer in the basement, though.