• Wondering which camera, gear, computer, or software to buy? Ask in our Gear Guide.

Im Back! and need a little help :)

B

brettzdamn

Whats up every one. I havnt posted in a while but im back! =)

Any way i have been working on a music video for my new song and i have been using alot of stationary shots becuase i dont have a dolly/slider, and my tripod is not that good. Any way will the finished edit look to dull from lack of movement?

Also if i add pans and zooms in post will it effect quality?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Zooms and pans usually look pretty crappy because of noticable image distortion..
You could try adding controlled "handheld" effect through after effects.. motion track a dummy footage that was handheld, and apply the shake to the footage.. don't forget to scale the footage, about 102%
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Howdy, Brett
I was wondering what happened to you.
Life happens, eh?


Congrats on the new video.
Rocking cool.

Um, yeah. Zooming in in post to create a pan shot will increase the pixel sizes (thus the equivalent to resolution degradation) just like if you zoom in on a picture in a picture editor.
Your static HD tripod shot all of a sudden becomes a dynamic SD pan shot.
Blect!

HOWEVER, you might be able to "cheat" only a very little bit.
You could "zoom in" only about <2-5% and pan from there.
It won't be much, and maybe for a very brief time it'll be enough to "suggest" movement.
Just take the edge off so much static tripod shots.

Also, it helps if you shot your original in 1080 giving you a lotta more data to lose on closing in on it.
Essentially taking 1080 and pushing it closer to 720 which may very well be acceptable.
Beginning with 720 and pushing it down to 480 starts to get rather... visually unpleasant.

And still yet again, you could crop-cut every shot in the entire video to maintain an sub-maximum resolution consistency.
Since the jumping back and forth between resolutions is what irritates viewers, just make the whole thing 1080>720 or 720>480.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Zooms and pans look pretty bad, when done in post. Even "real" zooms offend me, to be honest.

The only exception, in my opinion, would be the Ken Burns effect, and I've used it a couple times in documentaries.

I do like to move the camera, but content and pacing are much more important, in my opinion. The first few shorts I ever made -- I was banned from doing anything other than static shots, and I actually support that teaching method.

Just focus on the million other things you need to do, and save camera-movement for later. You'll be fine.

PS - welcome back. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
@rayw Thanks man! yeah ive been pretty busy latley with alot of different things. Im be comming back to this site more again, Maby not as much as i usta but ill be around :)

Also Yea im shooting in 1080p , im going to try what you said about droping it to 720 and do slight pans and see how it looks.

If worst comes to worse, would it look really bad if it has alot of static shots?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
@ Cracker Funk

Alright cool! thats good to know. Now i wont sweat it as much that i have alot of static shots! :lol: i guess untill i have money for a steadicam or dolly im stuck to static and slight tripod movements
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I don't want to hijack this thread, by posting a video here, especially since I've posted it a few times on IT already. But I'm gonna PM you my very first "real" short video (made a couple before that, but they were severely restricted in what I was allowed to do). Though I'm doing much better stuff these days, I'm still proud of that first big effort, and it was made-up of 100% static shots. We don't need no stinking pans, tilts, and definitely no zooms! :D

brettzdamn said:
By zoom i really just ment like verry slow in or out. im not really talking about fast ones, you know what i mean?
Click to expand...

You can get away with a really slow zoom in post. But ask yourself the question -- why are you doing it? Is it being used to further the story? Or did you just want movement for the sake of movement? In my opinion, the latter is the only reason to use it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
brettzdamn said:
If worst comes to worse, would it look really bad if it has alot of static shots?
Click to expand...
Not necessarily.
Largely it depends upon what you've already set up and "designed" for the whole thing from the get go.

Watch this with the sound off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAc4zHEDd7o&feature=related
(I don't even care about the music. Big fat whatever).
Pretty much exclusively static tripod shots.
The performers move.
The wipes move.
The camera stays put.

So, can it be done?
Yeah. You just gotta plan ahead.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Talking about zooms, im wondering whether the effect is clear to you, brettz.

When you zoom, it feels like the image is getting closer to you, the audience.

When you dolly, slide, move closer, it feels like you (the audience) is getting closer to the image.

Which effect are/were you going for?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ernest Worthing said:
When you zoom, it feels like the image is getting closer to you, the audience.

When you dolly, slide, move closer, it feels like you (the audience) is getting closer to the image.
Click to expand...

That's a good way to put it. I also like the way my favorite professor once explained it to me --

The human eye can pan/tilt. That happens when you simply move your head to look left/right/up/down.

The human eye can dolly/jib. That happens when you walk/climb/descend.

The human eye can't zoom! Thus, when we watch one, it just feels unnatural, because it is.

That's not to say you should never use it. Zooms have been used millions of times, and I'm sure at least one of them was effective. Just be aware of what you're doing.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Okey doke.
Just spent the last... hour! (Wow! That went by fast!) creating a brief example of how a false pan & zoom are going to decrease your resolution.

It's not really scientific or anything, but I think it demonstrates the principles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiNIYo9rlPw

(Yeah, yeah, yeah. The kids picked off all the candy. Deal.)

Okay, now, notice the drop in resolution on the frosting details every time the screen jumps in for either the pan or the slow zoom.

THAT'S what'll happen if you add zoom or pan to your 1080.
This was shot in 720p. I didn't feel like slowing down the 'puter.
I was just too lazy to switch the camera up to 1080, but again, the principle applies.

Useful?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top