4K Video Getting Closer
Over the past few years or so the idea of 4K video has been floating around and of course at a pro level is now a reality and quite common.
I have mentioned it a few times in a couple of posts not because I thought it was particularly relevant to the home user but because it would inevitably make it’s way down to us lesser beings!
I didn’t want to look like I didn’t see it coming!
Anyway, the key point in my mind that delineates as to whether a particular technology is going to crack through to the consumer market is my “$1000 price point” theory.
I figure the big players are getting serious about something when they load it on to a product that sells for less than $1000.
That usually signals the entry of it and following that, the rest of the market suddenly plays catch up and before you know it, it is a standard feature.
Interestingly this week Samsung released a new Pocket 4k cinema camera on to the market at under $1000 and in my opinion this is the thin end of the wedge.
Black Magic introduced a 4K cam a while back now and that one was right on the $1000 mark so I guess we are on the way.
By the end of the year I’m sure everyone will have released something like it.
Samsung NX500 – A Pocket 4K Cinema Camera
The End of YouTube Annotations
The link below is the original YouTube announcement regarding Cards.
Cards are a new feature on YouTube that will probably over time replace Annotations.
Personally I think this is a pretty smart move by YouTube for a few reasons.
First of all most annotations look poorly executed and tend to cheapen the appearance of the videos they overlay.
I also believe that the vast majority of people abuse annotations and make the entire viewing experience completely uncomfortable.
Instead of a tastefully placed annotation calling for an action or explaining something in the video (an enhancement) they end up following the “more is more” philosophy and plaster the things all over the place (a distraction).
Cards seem to be YouTube’s attempt to get this under control with the added benefit that Cards will display correctly on mobile devices.
Following on from the announcement regarding YouTube annotations here is a run through on how to set up the new Cards for your YouTube videos.
The Right Angle
Simply put, when we are referring to camera angle we are describing a relationship between the position of the camera and the subject or the overall scene.
There are a few commonly used camera angles in making videos and each one of them, depending on context, tends to evoke a reliable reaction on the part of the audience.
The first one is called Eye-Level and would most likely be the most common one used.
At eye level there is no real “angle” to speak of and as such tends to give a neutral aspect to the shot as the audience is seeing things the way they would normally do so.
The High Angle shot places the camera higher than the subject so the camera is angled down.
This tends to make the subject seems smaller, or less significant, overwhelmed or even submissive.
Opposite to that we have the Low Angle shot showing the subject from slightly below which tends to make the subject look larger, stronger, more powerful or even dominant.
The Bird’s Eye is a shot taken directly from above and because it is so unnatural can be very powerful.
It is often used to show the subject in relation to the surrounding space.
Finally there is the Slanted shot where the camera is intentionally tilted a little to one side.
This has a dramatic effect in that it is slightly disorienting to the audience.
- Cinematography: High & Low Angles
Candle Light Effect
If you are wanting to take your video projects to the next level and begin to create “set” scenes and even shoot according to a script then one of the first things you will need to do is get control.
What do I mean by that?
Well I mean that most of us are probably just shooting events in our lives as they unfold.
The idea being that we just shoot as much as we can hopefully with an end product in mind and then in editing, try to tie it all together.
The only way you can then move yourself up the editing food chain is to begin to work from a script or at least a shot plan and begin to set things in place and formally shoot.
One of the biggest barriers to this is controlling the environment so that you can get your shots the way you want them and when you want them.
Of course the big studios are actually called “studios” because that what they predominantly are… studios!
Most of us are not going to have a studio and all the millions of dollars worth of equipment inside them at out disposal so the trick is to get smart and think outside the box.
Check out this tutorial below for a great example of thinking your way through a problem to a successful outcome.
Action Cam Tips
This is a quick little article for those of you with action cams offering some solid tips on how to make sure the footage you get is the best you can get and can be edited successfully.
One of the most important points is the reference to the “fish eye” effect you are going to get from most action cams and how to deal with it.
Nearly all of the action cams on the market come fitted with a standard lens that is intentionally slightly biased more towards being a wide angle lens.
This is because of the intended use of action cams and it being more desirable in general to capture a wider field of view.
This makes the cam more forgiving of sloppy shooting which often arises not because the operator is doing anything badly, but because by their nature, actions cams are operated in action!
The downside of these wider angled lenses is that they tend to throw an image that has a slight “fish eye” look to it.
The good news is that most video editing software will have some kind of correction module or filter to adjust the image back to normal.
- Four Musts to Attain Perfect Action-Cam Shots
Who Are Those People?
Have you ever watched the final credits of a movie and wondered to yourself, “Who the hell are all these people and what do they do?”
Well at least I know I have and of all the credits I see the ones that intrigue me are the Producers.
There are Producers, Line Producers, Executive Producers, Co-Producers and on and on.
Take a look below to get a very quick rundown on who they are and what they are doing.
Getting Organized
One of the first frustrations that hits the average newbie to the world of video editing is the mind numbingly slow pace at which everything seems to occur!
I can remember the first time I sat down and decided to edit together a project to send to my parents.
It felt like I was trapped in front of the computer for days with very little seemingly happening.
Of course over time familiarity with both the process itself and my editing software at the time helped me speed up a lot but even then it still seemed to be so slow.
One day a friend of mine who is a pro editor, popped by while I was working on something and started looking over my shoulder.
He immediately identified the exact point on which I was failing and since then I have been fine.
That point was organization.
His advice was very simple.
Before you begin even thinking about editing get everything you will be using imported into your library and renamed in a meaningful manner so that when you need something it will be logically where it should be and will LOOK like what it is.
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