The Video Animal’s Cave

Now you have a camcorder and some DVtapes full of excellent video of you running the biggest rapids ever. It’s time to ‘capture’ all that footage and begin editing. For that you are gonna a computer and editing software. This week, let’s look at the computer you need, next week we will get in to editing software.

I will be using the word ‘rendering’ a lot today, and it will come up often when we talk about editing. Rendering is when your computer crunches the numbers. It takes all the footage and transitions you gave it and then makes it in to a movie to show on your screen. In the past we had to do ‘renders’ as a separate operation. The computer took some time… up to half an hour depending on what we asked it to render… then we could look at what we did… then we had to go back and make changes after we saw it.. render it again.. etcetera. Now most rendering happens as you go. We see what the video will look like instantly. We call this ‘real time editing.’ To do real time editing with little or no waiting you need a powerful computer. The less power you have, the more waiting for ‘rendering’ you will have to do.

Is my home computer good enuff to edit my movies?

Chances are that the answer is no. To put it simply.

But, you don’t want to hear that. So let’s do a breakdown.

But my home computer is great! Will it work for now?

As I said when I first started all this, we are focused on HD video… ya, ya, I know.. you want to save a lot of money and buy an old school standard definition camcorder. You are still gonna need a decent computer to edit the film, and a good computer will make your first editing experience more enjoyable. Don’t forget, on top of all of this you will need a DVD burner so you can eventually watch and distribute your masterpiece. (Even better is an HDDVD or Blue-Ray burner so you can watch it in full HD!)

Minimum Requirements

There is a fast and easy way to test if your computer is good enough. Check the minimum specs on the software you want to use. If you fall below any of these, you will need to upgrade. **WARNING** Minimum Requirements are just that.. MINIMUM. Do not expect your computer to run this stuff quickly under these circumstances.

Let’s take a look at Adobe Premier Elements System Requirements. Premier is a decent inexpensive starter program, and will give you what you need to edit together your brother Bob’s birthday DVD.

• Intel® Pentium® (or compatible) 1.3GHz processor with SSE2 support; 3GHz required for HDV
• Microsoft® Windows Vista™ (32-bit only), Windows® XP, or Windows Media Center Edition (XP and MCE require Service Pack 2)
  
• Windows Vista: 1GB of RAM; 2GB required for HDV
  
• Windows XP and MCE: 512MB of RAM; 1GB required for HDV
  
• 4.5GB of available hard-disk space
  
• Color monitor with 16-bit color video card
  
• 1,024×768 monitor resolution
  
• Display and sound drivers compatible with Microsoft DirectX 9 or later
  
• DVD-ROM drive (compatible DVD burner required to burn DVDs)
  
• DV/i.LINK/FireWire/IEEE 1394 interface to connect a Digital 8 or DV camcorder, or a USB2 interface to connect a DV-via-USB-compatible DV camcorder

Most home computers aren’t that good, and chances are that if you are investing the money in HD video editing, you are a bit of a gearhead. So, this will be a great excuse to upgrade or buy a whole new system. The bonus is that the computer will be useful for more than just editing.

Interface

You might have noticed that you need a “DV/i.LINK/FireWire/IEEE 1394 interface” This is really important and is one thing that most of us don’t know about. Commonly called “firewire”. IEEE 1394 is a type of interface, not that much different from a USB port. It is standard in most Macintosh computers, but PCs doen’t usually come with one. (That includes 99% of PC laptops) You can install firewire in any computer with a simple plug and play card . At this time, you can get one for anywhere around 30 bucks. Not a huge investment. Currently, I don’t see any available for PC laptops, but I am sure they are available for around twice the price. I recommend that you get a professional to open up your PC and install it for you, as without experience you can damage or break your PC.

This port will be what you connect your camcorder to, and is essential for digital video. Yes… your camcorder has a USB port… no it won’t let you capture your video. The USB port on camcorders only allows you to get any photos you take with your camcorder, and is a bit of a trick on the part of the manufacturer to get people to buy one — thinking all the while they have all that is necessary to edit their footage.

RAM and Processor

Ok… now down to the brass tacks. Your computer will need lots of RAM and a fast processor. The slower the processor, the longer it will take to do everything… but the secret to fast ‘rendering’ is more RAM. I suggest going with a ‘Dual Core’ processor (or two) with a number like 3.0 beside it. As with all things on your computer, the faster the processor, the faster the program will run.

RAM is the real key to making this whole thing work. I would say that 90% of the complaints I get from new editors about their new system comes down to not having enough RAM. For today’s ediitng software you will need at least 2 gig of RAM. I suggest going with 4. Everything runs pretty smooth with 4 gig of RAM.
RAM stands for ‘Random Access Memory.” Your computer uses this memory to access things it needs over and over again. Think of it like this… your hard drive is like a huge filing cabinet. It takes time to get things when you need it. RAM is like your desk… When you need a file, you go get it from the filing cabinet and put it on your desk so you can go back to it over and over while. The bigger your desk, the bigger the file you can keep on it before you have to go back to the filing cabinet.

Video…frame by frame.. is relatively small. But watching uncompressed video, manipulating it, editing it, playing with three or four pieces of video and music adds up. You would need a really big desk to keep all those file folders on, and, in turn, so does your computer. Add in the fact that HD compression is even bigger than SD, and you need the biggest desk you can get. I am talking one of those giant mahogany lawyer sized desk. Editing software will use all the RAM you give it. The more you have, the faster it will get things done. Current editing specific computers can have 16 gigs of RAM and up! Considering that 5 years ago I thought 1 gig of RAM was HUGE… that really is something. (Not only that, if you tell a tech guy you need 6 gig of ram or more he will laugh at you)

Good news… RAM is actually relatively cheap… Often no more than 100 bucks a gig, give or take. So upgrading is usually cheaper than most people think. Since RAM will make an exponential difference in the time it takes for your footage to render, upgrading RAM has the most return for your dollar.

To Mac or not to Mac

Here’s the lowdown. (this is my opinion and may start arguments) Apple makes the best HD video ready computers out there. I am not an Apple fan boy. I resisted buying a Mac for years. I thought of them a pretentious peices of unupgradable junk with a clunky operating system. That used to be true. Now they make a slick peice of hardware that puts my pc to shame and the operating system is perfect for creative software. Best of all, it comes with editing software for free. On top of that, it comes with a firewire port, so you don’t need to install one. Mac laptops are one of the few laptops out there that can run HD video editing software without major upgrading.The only drawback is price.

Macs are expensive. I accept that. But after doing a cost comparison of the ‘Mac pro’ tower, with software included, compared to a windows PC with comparable rigging and buying editing software, Mac actually came in cheaper. So there… take that nay-sayer. One more note on this… Final Cut is the better professional grade editing software. The competition and a few guys who trained on Adobe software will deny it, but almost everyone else would agree. Unfortunately, it only works on Mac. That is why almost every television station has a Mac set up in the editing suite. Final Cut is great, it is easy to use (comparably) and it works. There is nothing wrong with Premeir, it just doesn’t do things quite as well. **we will get more in to this next week**

If you want to save some cash. Buy your RAM after. Apple charges a lot for their RAM. You can get it cheaper if you shop around after you buy your system.

Laptops

Laptops are enticing. Since we are working outdoors a lot and rarely spend a lot of time at home while we are shooting, laptops seem like a great solution. They really are… but there are a few drawbacks you need to be aware of before you buy one as your primary editing system.

No matter what you do, a laptop will be more expensive. Due to the fact that the components are smaller and more expensive, you will need more money to get something that will run your software. Be prepared to spend almost twice as much.

Laptops are slower. Deal with it. Laptops are made to suck less juice out of the battery, be quiet and super small. To do this they trade for speed. You can get close, but a laptop will always be slower than comparable desktops. Be prepared to be frustrated at how long some things will take. That will be the price you pay for having something you can take on the road.

External Hard Drives

The hard drive in your computer is going to fill up fast if you use it to dump all your video to. Instead, invest in an ‘External Hard Drive’. Western Digital makes one called the ‘iBook’ that is up to 1.5 terrabites . It is affordable and works well, some minor technical issues from time to time, but that is to be expected with any piece of technology. Most professional grade editing software actually works BETTER if it has an external hard drive to use as a ’scratch drive.’ HD video requires a fast bus speed on the external hard drive to keep the information flowing smoothly, so get one that uses Firewire 2.0 if you have a Mac with a 2.0 port, or USB 2.0 for a PC.

When all is said and done, your computer is gonna cost about 1/3 of that budget we outlined two weeks ago. I recommend if you are buying a new system, take a good, long look at a Mac over a PC. It will pay off. Make sure no matter what you do, you have plenty of RAM and a large external hard drive. Next week we are going to look at the last big cost. Editing software. (and if you bought a Mac and don’t need professional grade tools, you just saved yourself about 400 bucks)

Stay Tuned…

The Animal

Original post by videoanimal and software by Elliott Back

This week we are talking about camcorders. Specifically HD camcorders.

Why go HD?

The real question here is… why not. In order to get a quality digital video picture from any camcorder you will need to buy a decent broadcast or prosumer camcorder. That’s gonna cost you at least $3k. You can now get consumer quality HD camcorders… that have a nicer picture quality than the DV ones for under $1500. Almost all computer video editing software is HD compatible, and the increased space the footage takes up on your hard drive is no longer an issue. (hard drives are CHEAP) ‘

Also, in the end it comes down to being upward compatible. HD is the way that television is going. You will someday replace the tv you mom gave you to take to college… when you do.. I bet you buy an high definition television. Watching DV footage on that TV will show just how horrible the image quality is. You will notice right away that your film looks amateurish compared to a deep crystal clear HD image.

This is just an opinion. Feel free to argue.

Ok, fine. HD is the way to go. What do I buy?

We talked last week about your budget. Take the money from the budget you laid out for yourself and plan on spending at least a 1/4 of that cash on your camera. Although camcorders are getting cheap, it is going to be your first line, your ground troops, your artillery… so make sure you don’t cheap out on this part.

Consumer Camcorders

Small hand held camcorders are nice. They come with some simple features and they won’t break the bank. Something to keep in mind is; the smaller the camcorder the shakier the footage. It will be hard to keep something that light and small stable. Image stabilizers are good, but not good enough.

Something most pro’s don’t tell low level consumers. A steady image is the key to looking professional. Big camcorders have an advantage of being easier to keep stable. Shoulder mounts and pure weight help steady the hand. This is one of the key differences between dad’s home movie and a professional wedding video. So if you go with a small camera, buy a decent tripod and USE IT.

The only other thing I can tell you at this stage is test, test, test. There are a lot of consumer HD camcorders out there. Read the reviews, go to your local mom and pop shop and test the bejeezus out of them. Find one with all the options you want, then search for the best price. Don’t jump at the cheapest one… there is a reason it is cheap. Jump at the one that makes you warm and fuzzy inside. For reviews on current camcorders go to Camcorderinfo.com. They are great and very informative.

Prosumer Camcorders

For the prosumer, you should be spending somewhere in the range of $5000-$10000 bucks. I recommend in the lower range. Sony, Panasonic and Canon all have amazing low range prosumer camcorders. I recommend Sony. I have used all three and in the end I keep marching back and buying another Sony camera. Here’s why.

1. Sony generally costs less
2. Most models can record HD video to a DV tape
3. For outdoor video I find the image superior.
4. They worked hard for my business and gave me all the options I wanted. (Sony may be the black sheep of electronics right now, but their pro camcorder division is still top notch)
5. Sony makes inexpensive underwater camcorder rigs specifically for their small camcorders. (more on this in a few weeks)

Cost is a huge factor. In outdoor video, camera’s are going to get wet, dropped, and eventually broken. It needs to be reasonable to replace. You don’t want your life destroyed because your 20 thousand dollar camera fell in the drink and you need 4 contracts to replace it. Options are also very important. It makes sense to be able to do the things you want when you are in the feild — but nothing is as important as DV tape.

I harp on this. People will find me annoying I am sure. But If you take anything from this, remember the Animal’s Law; MiniDV TAPE IS KING.

It is cheap- at 5 bucks a tape. It is re-usable. You can get it at the corner store. It is small and portable. It is tough… you can drop it off a cliff and it usually won’t get destroyed, and best of all you get 60 minutes of quality HD footage per unit.

Last time I used a Canon HD camcorder, it couldn’t record HD to the dv tape. It used a DV tape, but could only record standard DV video to that tape. Panasonic wants you to buy specal ‘P2′ flash drives. They are overpriced and don’t hold a lot of footage (and not super durable like a tape… trust me). So although, I love the features on Panasonics, and I love the look and lenses on a Canon, I have to warn people off buying them. Sony’s only flaw is that you can’t swap out lenses and the image err’s on the blue side, but for filming lakes and water, this is great. These factors may change in the future, and at that time I will sing a different song.

There is one other factor to take in to account when looking at camcorders is sound input. If image stability is the first sign of an crappy film, sound is definitely the second (Some even argue the other way around). Look for a camera with one or 2 “XLR” inputs. We will talk about sound at length in a few weeks, and having XLR direct input will be a HUGE advantage. If you really can’t find one in your price range, just double check and make sure that it has a mic jack. Many consumer camcorders don’t come with one. You will need it. The on board mic won’t be good enough for film making and you will be bummed out if you buy a camera and can’t hook up better sound to it.

These are my opinions and it is important that you form your own. Do the research. Your camcorder is your first line of defense, and if you hate it, you are going to hate your film. Once you buy it, spend time learning the options and how to quickly switch them up.

So.. quick review:

1. Spend at least 1/4 of your budget on your camcorder… don’t cheap out here.
2. Make sure it can record the HD video to miniDV tape
3. Make sure you have some sort of microphone jack. XLR input is preferable, two XLR inputs are great. ( this will generally only be available on the bigger camcorders)
4. Take your time and research the options. If you hate your camcorder, you will hate your film.
5. Small camcorders will be shakier. Buy a tripod and use it.

Now down to brass tacks.

What camcorder do you recommend?

Currently, Heliconia Productions uses a Sony HVR-V1U. I simply love it. It has proven rugged (dropped on day one of shooting… no damage) It was relatively inexpensive at around $5k Canadian at the time. It has two XLR input jacks, films in 24, 30 and 60 frames per second (which is really great) and it even came with a decent shotgun style mic. Last but not least, it records an excellent image to a miniDV tape (bet you knew I was gonna say that).

We also have a small hand-held Sony HCR-HC5 camcorder. Specifically because sony makes a waterproof sport case for it for around $200. This is invaluable. We went with a second sony camcorder to keep image about the same. The quality is lower on the smaller camcorder, but that was to be expected. So far it has served us well, and I was really impressed that the batteries recharge in about 15 minutes.

That’s it for this week. Next week we will be talking computers. Stay tuned

The Animal

By far, the most common question I get asked since I started making films for a living is:

Can you get my old VHS, super 8, 8mm or beta tapes on to my computer or on to a DVD?

Unfortunately the answer is no. I don’t have any of the necessary tech to translate that type of video or film on to a computer. The best I can recommend is that you call a ‘video transfer’ place. Almost every city has one. It is not super expensive and they do a decent job. Once your old video is on a DVD it is pretty easy to ‘rip’ and then you can edit it from your PC.

I will eventually talk about ‘ripping’ and editing DVD footage, but we will save that for another day.

The second question I get asked the most is:

What equipment would you recommend and how much does it cost to get started?

First, I hope they are talking about video… and then I take a deep breath, because this question has a really long answer. For the purpose of this site I will break the answer into three separate posts. Today we are going to deal with budget.

Camcorders and editing systems are cheap… and getting cheaper.

When I first started making movies in high school, the editing suite took up the larger part of a studio and was worth about 20k, all said and done.Today you can get everything you need to shoot, do post-production and output your film for less than that. This is why more people are getting into independent film and more businesses are bringing advertising and production of training videos in house. It makes financial sense to handle video yourself these days.

Like most things in this world, the more money you are willing to spend the better your system will be. So start with a budget. Your budget really is dictated by your needs.

There are three levels of videographer and therefore three levels of budget. Think of the levels as: amateur, prosumer and pro. (this lingo will also help you in the camera shop) Here’s how those levels breakdown according to how much you should spend, and what you require.

Amatuer: (Budget $4000-5000)

First off, don’t be offended. This is not a designation, just a type of equipment. If your needs are simple — family movies, slide shows, capturing grandma’s super 8 films and putting them on a DVD — then this is all you need. In fact anything else is overkill and you are gonna wish you had something easier to use. Amateur equipment is generally lighter, simple to use and, best of all, cheaper. (Sometimes… just cuz you got the money to spend, doesn’t mean you gotta spend it.)

Prosumer: (budget $8000-10,000)

This is industry lingo for the middle guy. People who are making wedding video’s, videophiles, most sport videographers, documentarians and independent film makers fall in to this category. You will need to spend time learning how to use your equipment, because it has a lot of professional features… the kind of stuff people go to three years of film school to learn how to use. So, unless you are able to make movies for a living, or have a lot of time and passion for making films… stick with the amateur stuff.

The cost is coming down for prosumer equipment (that’s the good news) but there is a steep learning curve (that’s the bad news). Luckily there are a lot of resources out there to help you get it all figured out. (check out my links for a few places to start)

Professional: (budget $20k and up)

Funny thing… even though video cameras and editing software/computers are getting cheaper by the minute… this stuff still has the audacity to get more and more expensive each year. The great thing is that it is becoming generally accepted that there is no reason to buy this stuff anymore. Prosumer HD technology is SO good there is no longer a need! Unless you are working for a broadcasting company or making films for a really big production company you should never have to spend this kind of money. If you absolutely need this stuff… then the company should be buying for you (and I have no idea what your needs are. In fact… stop reading this blog right now and please start your own blog so I can learn about it…)

The budgets outlined above might seem a bit high. Keep in mind that this is a ‘from scratch’ budget. I am assuming you are starting with nothing. So this includes a computer, a camera and software. You can get away with spending less. But beware, the less you spend the less you can do. I also want to recommend you go HD right away. Almost all editing software, even the easy to use ones, can handle high definition video… the better your footage, the better the result. Even if you don’t have a high definition TV… this really is the way to go. All our current home technology is heading this direction. Buying a non HD camcorder will save you a few bucks, but I guarantee you that you will wish you had gone HD in the first place within a few months. (or until you work with someone who has HD equipment and you start to drool at the quality)

The only other thing I would look at when you consider cost; the abuse factor. Shooting outdoors is really hard on your equipment. Even if you baby the stuff it is still gonna get hot in the sun, get jostled around in your canoe, and someday you might end up having to shoot while hanging off a cliff.

Lisa Utronki hanging off a cliff for an overhead shot.

So consider, the more you spend, the more you will panic when in the rough situations. To get the good shots you are gonna have to get wet, dirty and dangerous — and your gear is gonna have to go with you. Compare how much you are willing to spend with how much you are willing to lose in an accident.

That’s it for this week. Next week we will spend that money, and take a closer look at the camcorders available. For now, remember this. DV tape is king! It is cheap and easily available, and you won’t run out of space like you will on a hard drive camcorder. If you are shopping around before you read the next article, avoid everything but camcorders that can use DV tape.

The Animal

Special thanks to Amy Luscombe for the use of her photographs

Original post by videoanimal and software by Elliott Back

Original post by videoanimal and software by Elliott Back