Video Shooter, Second Edition: Storytelling with HD Cameras

Half Title Page......Page 2
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Dedication Page......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 14
ONLINE RESOURCES FOR VIDEO SHOOTER......Page 15
CHAPTER 1. The Shooter's Point of View
......Page 16
The Right Tool for the Job......Page 19
No More Chasing Rainbows......Page 21
Wearing Many Hats Now......Page 22
Learning the Discipline......Page 25
Everybody is a Shooter Now......Page 27
Still a Penalty for Being a Rotten Shooter......Page 28
You Have the Power......Page 29
Changing Times and Budgets......Page 30
Telling a Good Story......Page 32
Go Ahead! You Can Exceed 108%......Page 33
Put a Frame Around the World......Page 34
Exclude, Exclude, Exclude......Page 35
Backgrounds Tell the Real Story......Page 36
Box-Girder Bridges Anyone?......Page 37
The Law of Thirds......Page 38
Evoking Pain......Page 40
Embrace the Theory......Page 42
Overshooting as an Occupational Hazard......Page 43
Close-Ups Tell the Story!......Page 45
Attack Close-Ups Obliquely......Page 46
A Matter of Perspective......Page 47
We Are All Liars and Cheats......Page 49
Make 'Em Suffer
......Page 50
Obscure, Hide, Conceal......Page 52
Just Not Too Much......Page 53
Know Your Genre and Make Sure Your Audience Knows!......Page 54
Know Your Log Line......Page 55
Embracing Your Limitations......Page 56
Your Comparative Advantage......Page 57
Respect Your Camera's Dynamic Range
......Page 58
Shoot the Magic Hour......Page 59
Watch the Frame Size......Page 60
You Shoot, Therefore You Are......Page 61
Working with the Ego-Crazed and Other Difficult People......Page 62
CHAPTER 3. The Storyteller's Box
......Page 64
The Technical Nature of the World......Page 65
Let's Have an Analog Experience
......Page 66
Improving our Digital Recordings......Page 67
A Bit of Knowledge......Page 68
Oversampling: What's the Point?
......Page 70
Hue Shifts in Shadows......Page 71
Compression: Why Is It Necessary?......Page 72
For Practical Reasons......Page 73
Redundancy, Redundancy......Page 74
It’s Irrelevant?......Page 75
Interframe Versus Intraframe Compression......Page 76
The Imager and You......Page 78
Pixels in a Grid......Page 79
The Spatial Offset Ruse......Page 80
CCD Versus CMOS/Analog Versus Digital......Page 82
Size Matters – Sort of......Page 84
The Resolution Ruse......Page 85
Too Many Choices?......Page 88
The Helical Scan on the Wall......Page 90
Framing the Argument......Page 91
Selecting a Frame Rate......Page 95
Why the Goofy Frame Rates, or Why 24p Isn't 24p
......Page 96
The Many Flavors of 24p......Page 98
So You're Shooting 24p?
......Page 99
If SD Still Lives within You......Page 102
Attention Laggards!......Page 103
The HD to SD Storyteller......Page 104
CHAPTER 5.
Command and Control......Page 106
Autoeverything: Who Needs it?......Page 107
Down with Autoexposure......Page 108
The China Girl......Page 111
Riding the Waveform......Page 112
The Synchronized Shutter......Page 113
Frame Rates and Your Story......Page 114
These Guys Are Not Artists......Page 116
HD Focus Can Be Tough!......Page 117
Stand Up for Your Whites......Page 119
To Preset or Not Preset......Page 120
Black Balance......Page 121
Autowhite Anyone?......Page 122
About the White-Balance Presets......Page 123
So What Is White?......Page 125
Color Correction......Page 126
Managing Viewfinder Clutter......Page 127
The Timecode Dilemma......Page 128
Special Shooting Situations......Page 132
Monitoring Your Work......Page 134
Frequenting the Bars......Page 136
Limited Gamut......Page 137
CHAPTER 6. Tweaking Your Story's Image
......Page 140
Getting Started on Your Look......Page 141
Going Going Gamma......Page 144
Got Dense Shadows?......Page 146
Autoknee......Page 147
Matrix......Page 149
Controlling Chroma......Page 150
Your Story, Your Master Pedestal......Page 151
No Gain, No Pain......Page 152
Keep the Noise Down, Will Ya?......Page 153
Getting Physical......Page 155
Consider Filter Last......Page 156
Know the Look You Want......Page 159
Avoid Small F-Stops......Page 160
A Polarized View......Page 161
Sky Control......Page 163
How They Stack Up......Page 165
The Low-Contrast Dilemma......Page 166
The Diffused Look......Page 167
Designing the Ideal Filter......Page 168
Out of the Fog......Page 170
The Postcamera Finish......Page 172
Roll Your Own......Page 174
Shooters, Take Charge!......Page 177
Once Upon a Time......Page 178
A Less-Specialized World......Page 180
Cameras Reflect Change......Page 181
File-Based Recording......Page 183
Recording to Optical Disc......Page 185
Recording to Hard Drive......Page 186
We Should Be Less Fearful Now......Page 188
The Advent of SSD......Page 189
Interface, Not in Your Face......Page 190
Host or Device......Page 191
The Promise of MXF......Page 192
The Beauty of Metadata......Page 194
Proxy Video and the iPhone......Page 195
The Archiving Challenge......Page 197
CHAPTER 8.
Your Window on the World......Page 200
Control of Cinematic Space......Page 201
Handle Talent with Care......Page 202
Use Your Full Bow......Page 204
Beware of Dubious Claims......Page 205
Optical Versus Digital Zoom......Page 206
Going Wider and Longer......Page 207
The Optical Peril......Page 209
Why Lenses Look Cheap......Page 210
Chromatic Aberration Compensation......Page 212
Making Peace with Your Not-So-Hot Lens......Page 213
How Sweet It Is......Page 214
Focusing on What's Important
......Page 217
Following Focus......Page 218
The Matte Box......Page 220
Hang Out the Tricolor......Page 221
Use of Cine Lenses......Page 222
Excessive Depth of Field......Page 223
Taming the Depth-of-Field Beast......Page 224
CHAPTER 9.
Making Light of Your Story......Page 228
Think Small......Page 229
Shooters Who Light, Edit, Produce, and Wash Windows......Page 230
HMI Lighting: Expensive but worth it......Page 232
Fluorescents and the Green Plague......Page 234
Soft is Key......Page 236
Choosing a Soft Light......Page 237
Spilling the Beans......Page 238
Types of Diffusion Gel......Page 239
The Jelly Roll......Page 241
The Standard Setup......Page 242
Lighting Front and Center......Page 243
On-Camera Options......Page 244
Lighting in Planes......Page 245
Lighting for Green Screen......Page 246
Why Green?......Page 248
Get a Grip......Page 249
Kooks, Cookies, and Cukes......Page 250
Being Snooty......Page 252
Clamping Down......Page 253
Tape Lives!......Page 254
The Ditty Bag......Page 255
Getting Your Fill......Page 256
The Craft of Ingenuity......Page 257
Sound Advice for the Video Shooter......Page 260
Bad Connections = Bad Sound 
......Page 261
Mixing It Up......Page 263
Shooting Double System: Is It Still Necessary?......Page 265
Automatic Level Control......Page 266
For the Love of Mic......Page 267
Choose Your Weapon......Page 268
Going Wireless......Page 269
You Are Surrounded!......Page 270
CHAPTER 11.
Supporting Your Story......Page 272
Getting a Head in Support......Page 274
What Pretty Legs You Have......Page 277
Seeking Other Means of Support......Page 279
Handholding Your Camera......Page 281
More Power to You......Page 283
Shooting in Extreme Weather......Page 285
Use Proper Language......Page 289
AFTERWORD......Page 292
INDEX......Page 298
BONUS CHAPTER. Shooting for DVD, Blu-ray, and Web......Page 302