Parc Entertainment - A Video Production Company - Birmingham, AL

Some people working within Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 have experienced two specific problems while trying to preview their edits on an external monitor:

1. They are unable to send a signal out to their external monitors.
2. They are unable to preview clips from an HD project in full HD resolution on their external monitors.

In this brief tutorial, we show how to properly set up Premiere Pro CSC4 to ensure that you are able to preview your edits on an external monitor and in HD (when working with an HD project).

*Note - You might want to watch the tutorial in full screen mode.

This question came to me recently…

We have a cannon XHA1 and are having issues shooting dark objects inside. The pixels within the dark areas become noisy or fuzzy. It seems like lower shutter speeds help this issue but don’t resolve it all together.

If you are shooting video in low light and your camera is set to auto iris, the camera will maximize all available light to boost the exposure. This results in grainy, or noisy video. You can also introduce grain onto your video if you increase the camera’s gain to compensate for low light. Many video cameras with manual controls allow you to control the amount of gain, usually in increments ranging from 0db to 18db.

To ensure that your image is clear, sharp and clean, you need to ensure that there is enough light on set for a proper exposure. If your script requires that you shoot nighttime scenes, or scenes in dark interiors, remember that the illusion of darkness is created NOT by taking away the amount of light on set, but by increasing the amount of contrast. You can shoot nighttime scenes without grain by knowing how to properly light the set.

This question came to me recently:

My videos have been oddly yellowish. I read somewhere about ‘white balancing.’ I have a Sony Cybershot. Do I white balance on the camera during filming, do I do it during editing, if so where? Thank You so much for your help!

Although our eyes can’t perceive it, certain light sources give off a particular color temperature. These varying degrees of color are represented on the Kelvin scale. Tungsten bulbs burn at about 3200 degrees Kelvin, while sunlight burns at about 5600 degrees Kelvin. However, the color temperature of the sun doesn’t stay constant. It’s constantly changing as morning turns to afternoon and as afternoon turns to dusk. Our eyes can automatically compensate for this change in color temperature, but video cameras cannot. So, they need to be calibrated every time the light source changes. Otherwise, the footage can come out with an orange tint, blue tint, or even a green tint.

Calibrating a video camera to ensure correct color representation is called white balancing. Many cameras come with preset white balance settings for different shooting situations - indoor, daylight, cloudy, etc. However, conducting a manual white balance on your camera is the best way to ensure that all colors within your scene are represented correctly. There’s a great tutorial on color temperature and white balancing here. You can also read my production tip for shooting under fluorescent lights, which pose a different set of challenges.

To white balance, turn your camera’s white balance setting to manual. Then, hold a plain, white sheet of paper in front of the camera and zoom in until the paper fills the screen (make sure you hold the paper under the light source under which you will be filming). Then (this is true of most cameras with manual white balance), press and hold your white balance button until your camera confirms that a proper white balance has been set. Then, you’re ready to shoot. Just remember to re-white balance every time you change locations and lighting setups. Read this post for tips on how to adjust your white balance to a warmer or cooler tone.

For video production, it’s always helpful to have a collection of sound effects at your disposal, but sometimes you need to create something from scratch. Perhaps you can’t find the right sound effect in your library, or the effect itself sounds too electronic or campy. There are a number of resources across the web that can provide you with great DIY tutorials on creating authentic sound effects. Years ago, I came across a tip on how to create an authentic punching sound effect for fight scenes. All you need is a stalk of celery, a pillow, and a stick or baseball bat. Place the celery on the pillow and then hit the celery with the stick. The pillow provides you with a nice, muffled “thud,” mimicking the sound of a fist making contact with someone’s stomach. And the celery provides a nice bone-crunching sound effect. There are some variations to this effect, like using raw meat instead of a pillow, and cabbage instead of celery, but with a few household items and some experimentation you can create some nice authentic sounds.

There’s a fine balance that has to be made between delivering a high-end product and maintaining a budget that your client finds reasonable.

Let’s say you’re getting started in your video production business and you need to keep your production costs low to attract new clients. However, you also want to create content with high production values to give the appearance that your client spent more than they actually did. You always want to go for the “wow” factor. So, how can you create videos with great production value while working with a modest budget?

1. Learn everything you can about proper cinematography techniques. One of the easiest ways to make more aesthetically-pleasing videos is to know the basic concepts of cinematography. Video production is a craft. Don’t think that you can pick up a camera and then point and shoot. You have to learn about composition, framing, camera movements, lighting. You have to learn all you can about the camera itself and its functions. Don’t take this first lesson for granted. This is a necessary pre-production task that won’t cost you anything but time, but it’s the foundation for better looking productions.
2. Capture good audio. Nothing spoils a video faster than bad audio. Make careful considerations regarding your locations. Scout them first. Listen for anything in the vicinity that could cause a problem for your audio track. If you can, hire an experienced audio mixer/boom man for your shoot. Even if the crew consists of just you and the sound guy. Trust me, it will be worth it.
3. Keep the crew to a minimum. Your production budget can really spin out of control once you start adding on grips, audio technicians, editors, etc. When you’re starting out, you will need to function as producer/writer/director/DP/editor in order to keep your costs down. However, you have to concede the fact that while you’re on location you won’t be able to do everything yourself. Start off by hiring one assistant to help you with gear. A fair rate for this individual is anywhere from $200-$350 per day, depending on his/her experience.* (a day rate is based on a 10-hour day. You can pay your assistant a half-day rate if you are on location no more than 5 hours.)
4. Develop a shot list. This is a no-cost pre-production task that will save you time while on location. Each shoot needs to run as efficiently as possible. Time is money. So, always write out a shot list before arriving on location.
5. Rehearse before shooting. The less tape you use, the less money you spend. The less footage you put on your P2 card (or other solid-state media), the less space you take up on your hard drive, meaning less money. So, always rehearse with your talent before shooting. Go over the action and the camera moves. Make sure everyone is clear on what’s to happen when the camera rolls.
6. Take advantage of DIY techniques. High-end productions utilize dollies and cranes to create smooth camera movements. Those movements look very professional on screen and ramp up the production value of any video. But that equipment costs money - a lot of money. But have no fear. There are a number of wonderful do-it-yourself resources on the web for creating the same professional look at minimal cost. Just look at our previous post about creating a dolly move without the use of a dolly. Also look at tutorials from sources like Triune Films and read DIY stuff from FilmmakerIQ. Here’s a quick tutorial on creating your own camera car mount.
7. Invest in stock footage. This will be a rather pricy upfront cost, but the resource will quickly pay for itself. Let’s face it - Shooting at the beaches of Mexico would be too expensive. Grabbing that aerial shot over the Colorado Rockies is probably out of reach. But, if you had a library of stock footage, you could quickly plug in that aerial shot when the subject matter calls for it and by doing so you can instantly increase the production value of your video. A good resource for stock footage is over at Digital Juice.

There are a number of ways to keep your costs down while giving your client a video that “wow’s” them. All it takes is a little imagination and resourcefulness. And as your business gains momentum, you can start investing in bigger crews, better cameras, and additional gear.

The term “virus” or “viral” has such negative connotations, and usually, for the sake of your health, you want to stay away from any kind of virus. But in the world of online marketing, you want your brand and your campaign to be viral. You want people linking to your content, retweeting your thoughts, embedding your videos. Viral marketing is all about spreading your identity across the web, increasing your exposure to the world.

The premise sounds simple enough: create compelling content that people will be inclined to pass along to others. But devising that content in a blogosphere numbering in the millions is far more tricky. On his blog, Thomas Baekdal shares his “7 Tricks to Viral Web Marketing” and posts several examples of successful campaigns, including a short online film series from BMW, called “The Hire.”

Now, I realize that not all of you have the money to invest in a campaign of this magnitude. Most likely you will need to create a concept that can be repeated quickly with minimal cost. In a post on this blog a few years ago, we discussed the success of the “Will It Blend?” campaign, whose concept could be produced over and over again, with minimal cost.

Take a look at the videos on Baekdal’s site. Maybe that will jump start your creativity as you think of ways to best market your company and services. Feel free to look through our archives for other interesting articles on utilizing video to propel your marketing campaign. And be sure to comment on your favorite viral videos and why you think they’re successful.

Shooting under flourescent lights while on location can be a nightmare. First, the light emitted by the bulbs creates a very flat, even, and uninteresting scene. Second, each flourescent bulb gives off light at a different frequency, which can play nasty tricks on your camera’s CCD. For those of you who have been forced to shoot under flourescents, you may have noticed that the color of your footage will gradually shift from a cooler tone to a warmer tone, then back again. Ideally, it would be best to turn off all flourescents while on location and set up your own lights to ensure maximum control over the lighting situation. However, this isn’t always an option - especially if your shoot is more run-and-gun. So, how can you best control the lighting when using your own light kit isn’t always an option?

1. The very first thing you want to do is set a MANUAL white balance. Don’t leave control of the color in the hands of the camera’s auto white balance function. This could make things worse and the color shift could become even more noticeable.
2. Try using a minus green card for your white balance. Flourescent lights will add a green tint to your scene. White balancing off of a minus green card will negate that tint and give your scene a more natural look. However, I’ve noticed that some green cards when used with certain cameras will make the scene look a little too rosy. you may have to experiment here.
3. Adjust the camera’s shutter speed to 1/120. Usually, this will sync up the camera’s shutter with the rate at which the flourescent bulbs give off light, preventing the scene from color shifting. In my experiences, this has worked well with the Canon XL-1s, Canon XL2, Panasonic DVX-100, and Panasonic HVX-200.

Those are a few tips for correcting in-camera. If you ARE able to use your own lights, here are a coupe of additional suggestions:

1. If you are able to use your own lights, but are unable to turn off the overhead flourescents, be sure to add green gel to your lights to compensate for the green tint emitted by the flourescent bulbs. Then, after adding the gel, get a manual white balance.
2. Invest in a Kino-Flo light bank. the flourescent bulbs in a Kino kit emit light at a constant color temperature, so you don’t have to worry about fluctuations in the color of your scene.

Following these suggestions will certainly help compensate for an unpleasant lighting situation. I would also suggest that you visit the forums at Cinematography.com for tons of useful information on camera techniques.