It is crucial that as directors, we must ensure we know our equipment inside-out to use it to the best of it's potential and achieve the best possible final outcome in our productions.
In this post, I will break down the camera settings used, explain why I am using them, and explain my choice of lenses, and what each lens is suitable for.
To begin with, we have two main cameras we will be using for the production. A Nikon D5100 and a Canon 600D (KISS x5) Both cameras have full 1080p and 720p recording capability at 24 or 30FPS. The 600D is capable of recording at 60FPS in 720p mode, making it ideal for slow motion shots as mentioned in my planning. We are going to use the 60FPS footage in conjunction with After Effects CS6 and Twixtor 5 in order to create extremely smooth extreme slow motion shots when played back at 24FPS (film standard). Our choice of using DSLR's over our college's camcorders allows us great flexibility in filming, as we can use a wide range of telephoto and landscape lenses opposed to the standard 17-55mm camcorder zoom. Both cameras feature flip out screens making them ideal for film work.
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Our video will be shot in NTSC format at 720p, as there is no need to shoot in full 1080p HD and we would loose slow motion capability. 720p files are smaller and render faster, improving our workflow under the tight schedule imposed, as well as saving storage space on our SDHC cards, allowing for longer shoots and extended battery life while recording. The end footage will be exported at 24FPS as that is the film standard.
We will use polarising filters when filming in the day. This is extremely important as it will help maintain a low shutter speed in brightly lit areas. It is important that we keep our camera set to 1/60 shutter speed and a relatively low ISO below ISO 800 in order to maximise our video quality. The shutter speed must be double that of the frame rate in order to maintain smooth frame blending in the video. This is why polarisers are used as they help improve the colour depth and temperature as well as stopping down the exposure.
In this post, I will break down the camera settings used, explain why I am using them, and explain my choice of lenses, and what each lens is suitable for.
To begin with, we have two main cameras we will be using for the production. A Nikon D5100 and a Canon 600D (KISS x5) Both cameras have full 1080p and 720p recording capability at 24 or 30FPS. The 600D is capable of recording at 60FPS in 720p mode, making it ideal for slow motion shots as mentioned in my planning. We are going to use the 60FPS footage in conjunction with After Effects CS6 and Twixtor 5 in order to create extremely smooth extreme slow motion shots when played back at 24FPS (film standard). Our choice of using DSLR's over our college's camcorders allows us great flexibility in filming, as we can use a wide range of telephoto and landscape lenses opposed to the standard 17-55mm camcorder zoom. Both cameras feature flip out screens making them ideal for film work.
.JPG)
Our video will be shot in NTSC format at 720p, as there is no need to shoot in full 1080p HD and we would loose slow motion capability. 720p files are smaller and render faster, improving our workflow under the tight schedule imposed, as well as saving storage space on our SDHC cards, allowing for longer shoots and extended battery life while recording. The end footage will be exported at 24FPS as that is the film standard.
We will use polarising filters when filming in the day. This is extremely important as it will help maintain a low shutter speed in brightly lit areas. It is important that we keep our camera set to 1/60 shutter speed and a relatively low ISO below ISO 800 in order to maximise our video quality. The shutter speed must be double that of the frame rate in order to maintain smooth frame blending in the video. This is why polarisers are used as they help improve the colour depth and temperature as well as stopping down the exposure.
I find that it is necessary to keep the camera in M (manual) mode. This means that the camera will not try to automatically adjust it's settings to correct the exposure. This is especially important for us, as our project involves a lot of low level light work, so things like auto ISO and auto metering MUST be switched off in order for us to obtain good footage. nine times out of ten the camera will completely mess up your end result if it is left in any kind of automatic mode. I even use manual focus during video recording, to ensure the camera's AF motor does not activate mid-shoot and completely ruin the continuity of our film. I also always take out a white sheet of A4 paper and perform a manual white balance before each shot, just to ensure that our colours are correct so we have to spend less time grading in POST.
Lens Breakdown
I have a range of lenses available, all of them are good for different things. The 18-55mm is the only wide angle I have, so that will be used for about 80% of shots as it has good stabilizers and is very compact and light.The is primarily for the photography and will be used for the cover of our poster, images for the digipak and other photographic tasks. The 55-200 will probably not be used. its only benefit is that it is a compact zoom with the same range as the huge Sigma. The sigma is a f/2.8 lens at 200mm so it is extremely well suited to low light situations and would be suitable for very tight video shots such as extreme close ups or segments that needed to be filmed from a distance. See image below for reference.
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