Parc Entertainment - A Video Production Company - Birmingham, AL

SMPTE color bars

Color bars are a necessary reference tool for anyone in video production. They help technical directors, camera operators, and editors calibrate their equipment to ensure accurate color representation and consistency across cameras and monitors. Knowing how to use them is important. A few years ago, I found a great tutorial at Video University on how to adjust your video monitor using color bars. Be sure to bookmark the article for future reference.

1. Allow the monitor to warm up for a few minutes
2. Dim the room lights and block any reflections on the monitor
3. Feed color bars to the monitor either from a camera or “house bars”from your editing system
4. Set the contrast also called “picture” to its midpoint
5. Turn the chroma also called “color” all the way down until the color bars
   are shades of black and white

Next, you will need to adjust the brightness and the contrast of the image by using the three narrow bars at the bottom right.

Brightness

Notice the three narrow bars labeled 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 on the bottom right. Adjust the brightness control until the middle (7.5 units) pluge bar is not quite visible. The lightest bar on the right (11.5 units) should be barely visible. If it’s not visible, turn the brightness up until it becomes visible.

Since 7.5 units is as dark as video gets, you should not see any difference between the left bar (3.5 units) and the middle bar (7.5 units). There should be no dividing line between these two bars. The only division you should see is between 11.5 and 7.5

Contrast

The next step is to set the contrast control for a proper white level. To do so, turn the contrast all the way up. The white (100 unit) bar will bloom and flare. Now turn the contrast down until this white bar just begins to respond.

Color

Adjust the hue of the monitor until the Yellow bar is a lemon yellow, with no shades of orange or green. Adjust the Magenta bar until you eliminate the red and the purple. If you aren’t confident in your ability to “eye-ball” these shades, consider the following:

Many professional monitors have a blue-only switch. If your monitor has one, switch it on. If your monitor does not have a blue-only switch, you can use a piece of blue lighting gel. Hold it to your eye like a viewing lens. If you see any of the red, green or yellow colors, double the blue gel over to increase the blue effect.

By using the blue-only switch or a piece of blue gel, you have removed the red and green elements of the picture. Only the blue remains. If the tint and color (also called “hue”) are correct, you should see alternating bars of equal intensity.

1. With the blue switch on (or your blue gel in front of your eye) turn the chroma or color until the grey bar at the far left and the blue bar at the far right are of equal brightness. One trick is to match either the gray or blue bar with its sub-bar.
2. Adjust the hue control until the cyan and magenta bars are also of equal brightness.
3. You can also match either of them with their sub-bars. Now the four bars - gray, blue, cyan, and magenta should be of equal intensity. The yellow, green and red (which are black in the diagram) should be completely black.

You should now have a properly adjusted video monitor. However, if flesh tones don’t look right, you may need to make further adjustments to the chroma and hue.

Keith Krininger (left) received an extreme retail makeover

I was browsing through a back-issue of the Birmingham Business Journal and came across the following article by Lauren Cooper about a local business owner who saw his sales improve from a complete store makeover, including logo design, displays, advertising, and marketing. Many people like using the economy as an excuse to slash marketing and advertising budgets, but this particular case study demonstrates the value of good, solid marketing efforts.

Local businessman Keith Krininger said last week was a whirlwind at a few of his local Bedzzz Express stores.

With a film crew documenting every moment, representatives from mattress component manufacturer Leggett & Platt Inc. conducted an “Extreme Retail Makeover” of four of his eight stores – modeled after the television show Extreme Home Makeover.

Krininger was chosen from hundreds of mattress retailers across the country to be the Fortune 500 company’s test case in proving the industry can profit from touting the health benefits of sleep, said Mark Quinn, Leggett & Platt’s executive vice president of bedding sales and marketing .

Four of Krininger’s stores underwent a visual, marketing and process makeover, including logos, displays and advertising, to improve traffic and profitability.

And one week after its implementation, Krininger said he can tell a difference.

“Customers are responding to it,” he said. “Right off the bat, we’re selling the sheets (now offered), which I was skeptical about that.”

Sales of bed frames have noticeably changed as well, he said.

“We used to have just one, but now we have three choices and – amazing enough – if you give (the customer) the choice they’ll say ‘I don’t want the cheaper one, I want the one in the middle or the higher.”

And one of the most important shifts was in his 31 employees and sales associates, he said. The experience was exciting and invigorating for them and has expanded their thinking to new levels, he said.

Leggett & Platt’s Quinn said a lot of the credit goes to Krininger, who agreed to have his business totally up-ended.

“He’s been in business for 15 years and has been successful,” said Quinn. “But it’s a different time. If you are not willing to expand your comfort zone now, then you’re not going to do it.”

The makeover at Bedzzz Express is a great example of bringing new life to an old business plan, said Betsy Holloway, associate professor of marketing at Samford University’s Brock School of Business.

By differentiating himself and educating customers on the benefits of sleep, he’ll have a competitive advantage relative to other bedding retailers, she said.

“Before it was just the product, but now it’s the presentation, product promotion and personnel to articulate the benefit,” said Holloway. “He’s offering more value, which allows him to charge higher prices and create a higher volume. Sounds like a recipe for success.”

Krininger said his next step will be to implement the makeover in his remaining Bedzzz Express stores and to offer it to his nine licensed Bedzzz Express’ outside of Birmingham.

With that done and the national recognition within the industry he’ll get from the makeover, he’ll be able to concentrate on growing his license business beyond the state’s borders, he said.

Leggett & Platt’s Quinn said the video from the Extreme Retail Makeover will be shown at a large industry conference this spring, a Web site will be dedicated to the makeover and certain components will be offered to others in the industry.

I first saw this presentation at Doc Yankee’s Marketing Mojo blog. You can also follow Doc Yankee on Twitter. The slide show presentation is from Jay Conrad Levinson and features 90 things you can do to market yourself and your business in low-cost, but creative ways. Some items on the list won’t be for everyone, but I’m sure you will be able to find a lot of useful information.

One of the things people struggle with in the digital video medium is creating a smooth, rich slow motion effect. In film you can simply overcrank the frame rate and create slow motion, free from duplicate frames. If you own the Panasonic HVX or Varicam you can now do the same thing in the HD video world. But what about those shooting DV? Ordinarily when you shoot DV footage, bring it into your timeline, then slow it down, you can tell that frames are being duplicated. The footage doesn’t look quite as sharp and it has a slight jittery feel. Here’s a little trick I learned from reading The DVX Book by Barry Green. First, shoot your original footage in 60i, using a shutter speed of 1/120. When you load the footage into your timeline, slow it down to 40%. This will give you a nice, rich slow motion look with no duplicate frames.

I recently purchased the new Panasonic HVX-200a, a recent update to the original HVX-200. I was pleased to see that The HVX Book by Barry W. Green was included with my purchase. This is a great sidekick for anyone using the HVX. He also wrote a companion volume for DVX-100 users, aptly named The DVX Book.

Both books provide valuable information on how to achieve the best results from these impressive prosumer cameras. Every feature of the camera is explained in detail, but Green also provides important technical information that you won’t find in the manuals. He also gives helpful hints on how to use the camera to improve your cinematography skills.

What excited me the most about The HVX Book was a companion CD which contains about 24 different scene file presets.* The presets give the user an incredible amount of options for the way the image looks on screen — the “war epic” setting is a desaturated look, similar to Saving Private Ryan. “Desert” has a bit of an orange cast. “Dark Neo” mimics the look of the Matrix movies. This is a great tool for anyone who uses the DVX or HVX.

*Both the DVX and the HVX have six different scene files. Each scene file is customizable so you can adjust picture saturation, hue, tint, noise, frame rates, etc. Each setting you manipulate is stored within the scene file, so you can create multiple looks at the turn of the dial.

Birmingham filmmaker Chance Shirley of Crewless Productions is currently in production on his follow-up feature to Hide and Creep called Interplanetary. He maintains a blog that gives regular updates on the film’s progress, as well as valuable insights into movie making. One of his latest articles I found particularly informative. In it he discusses how he went about developing and writing the screenplay for Hide and Creep. It’s worth a read for all aspiring screenwriters.

A couple of years ago I read Robert Rodriguez’s book Rebel Without a Crew, in which he documents how he made his break-through film El Mariachi. His dedication is very admirable and inspiring. He actually sold his body to science to raise the $7000 budget for his movie. In the following clip, he discusses some of the techniques which allowed him to shoot an action movie on film and keep the costs down. Thanks to Strobist where I first saw the video.

Although I’ve been in this business for several years, I am never naive enough to think I have learned all I need to know about being a director and cinematographer. I am constantly looking for ways to improve myself, whether by reading books, blogs, or watching other demo reels. I think the latter is most beneficial, because you get the chance to see exactly what other people are shooting. The more I surround myself with knowledgeable cinematographers, the more I will continue to grow in my craft. I think that’s a lesson for all of us, whether you work in production or not. Surrounding yourself with people that are better need not be a feeding ground for jealous competition. Mutual learning can take place. Here are a few things I’m reading to keep my chops up:

Placing Shadows: Lighting Techniques for Video Production by Chuck Gloman and Tom Letourneau. The authors give a crash course on the physics of light and the color spectrum before moving into details on all kinds of lighting gear and lighting techniques. Very informative.

Cinematography.com is a great online forum where you can discuss the craft with other directors and cinematographers.

Studio Daily is a catch-all for all things technical about movie making. There are case studies from Hollywood films, reviews, tutorials, blogs, videos, and information on the business side of filmmaking. I just came across this site recently and look forward to reading it.

For those interested in broadcast journalism, let me recommend the book The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism by Lynne Olson and Stanley W. Cloud. In a day when radio news was nothing more than a suit in a studio reciting news as it came off the wire, Edward R. Murrow and a select few of American correspondents revolutionized the way people received the news. Stationed throughout all of Europe and the Soviet Union during World War II, these correspondents gave radio news a new level of respect and developed techniques that would be used by broadcast journalists in generations to come. If you ever saw the film, Good Night and Good Luck, The Murrow Boys will give you maginificent background information on the legendary journalist, Edward R. Murrow.

I don’t know whether it’s the threat of the writer’s strike or what, but Hollywood seems to be in short supply of creative thinkers with good ideas. You’ll just have to read the article. Thanks to Michael for bringing it to my attention.