Friday, January 27, 2012

Nikon D4 vs. Canon 1DX: Video Category



Since last month, two giant camera developers have been battling with their own DSLRs and point-and-shoot cameras, each with unique physical features and image qualities.  Right now, they developed their own flagship, the Nikon D4 and Canon EOS 1DX.  I know that these DSLRs are not built to make videos, but let's see the video comparisons. (courtesy of FenchelJanisch)


This video is shot in full HD by Canon EOS 1DX with Canon 50mm F/1.2 and Canon 85mm F/1.2 at ISO 1600 and shutter speed at 1/50.  As you can see on this video, the Canon EOS 1DX creates an awesome film-look at low light.  Sharpness is okay and the "bokeh" as well.  The focused objects are a little off, but it's good enough.  This must be the cause of its video compression feature - the H.264 video can be switched between all inter frame and IPB with bidirectional prediction to reduce file size.




This video is shot in full HD by Nikon D4 with Nikon 85mm F/1.8G and 14-24mm F/2.8G at ISO 3200.  Same as the video above, it also creates an outstanding film look at low light, but this time the sharpness of the focused objects is better.  Considering the high ISO used, you will notice that the video is not "noisy" or there are no "grains" on the black parts of the video.  This DSLR is simply built for night shots.  Plus, I heard that Nikon D4 has manual sound level controls for video.




Now, for the side-by-side comparison of the videos...




I'm a Canon fan boy myself... I really am.  BUT, in video category, I would say NIKON WINS this time.  If you look closely enough, the images on Nikon are sharper than those of Canon, and the Nikon D4 is has less noise at low light situations than Canon EOS 1DX.

Nikon D4 is planned to be released next month, February 2012 at recommended retail price of $5999.95.  Canon EOS 1DX is expected  to reach dealers in March 2012 with a list price of a slapping $6,800 (body only) and the UK price is expected to be around 5,300.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

My Own Video Shoot Workflow Revealed!


Putting the right scenes and cutting the unnecessary footage are very essential to effective film-making.  The real story of your film is being drawn out when you do your video editing workflow right.  In this post, I'm gonna share you my own workflow to effective film-making.


First, think of a concept for your film!  This is where you crack your brain often.  Brainstorming with yourself is really difficult but it's challenging.  You must think first for a particular genre of your film, whether it be a comedy, drama, action or horror.  If it's a comedy, you have to think of a particular joke, and make it long by adding a story behind it.  The same goes to horror genre.  You can combine these elements into one film, like action-comedy, action-horror, action-drama or whatever you want.  You must have a wide (not wild) imagination so you can think of a good concept and script for your film.
This is a typical "brainstorming" scene between me and my production team on what to shoot.


Second, you might wanna put the correct settings on your camera before you shoot a footage.  You have to do that so you won't have any more difficulties in post-production.  Correct exposure from your camera depends on what time or what place you're shooting at.  If you're shooting in daylight, you have to turn down your shutter speed and your ISO (keep in mind that when you dial down your shutter speed, your camera will create a "jello effect" - the objects from your footage go slanting when you're panning the shot around).  If you're shooting at low light, you have to turn down your aperture to about 2.0 whilst dialing up your shutter speed and ISO (keep in mind that when you turn up your ISO to about 3200 to 6400, your shots will have grainy effect).  Swapping lenses is a good idea too, most of the time I use my Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II lens because it is perfect for film-making and for low light shots.  It also has great shallow depth of field and it's perfect for keeping your subjects in focus.  And yeah, by the way, the standard frame rate for a good film look on your footage is 1920x1080 at 24fps.  If you want to shoot a slow motion footage, you might use 50fps or 60fps depending on the sensor of your camera.  You must be careful at your exposure, so you won't have difficulties in color correction later.  During your color correcting process, you might crush all the "blacks" and light up too much your "whites".  To avoid this, you might wanna turn your brightness and contrast all the way down and turn down your saturation a little bit.  In this way, you can easily do the color correction in post.


Shooting a scene from "Kawalan" Episode 3


As for me, I shoot a particular scene for two to three times with different angles, because I only have one camera in my gear.  I do this to keep the subjects or actors/actresses in focus.  Focusing is very essential in film-making, because it gives the subjects in focus the importance in the scene.  I always give a 5-second extension in each shot I make so I can cut the footage easily in post.




User interface of Sony Vegas Pro 10




Third, the editing time!  Make sure that you made all the shots for your film and make sure you have lots of free disk space on your computer.  Usually, each of my projects eats about 3gb or 4gb of free disk space.  As for me, I use Sony Vegas Pro for cutting the unnecessary footage and arranging the right footage in order.  I use Sony for quite a while, because of its user-friendly interface - you can just drag and drop your footage or audio files onto the timeline.  Cutting footage is just a breeze - pressing the hot key "S" allows you to cut some selected areas of your footage.  In this software, I also add sound effects and background music to the footage as well.  Now, for the background music - you have to be careful in choosing any music for your footage.  You have to use royalty-free music or sound effects unless you might wanna ask permission to Lady Gaga first before you use the song "Bad Romance" as a background music for your dance video.


User interface for Adobe After Effects CS4


Since Sony Vegas doesn't have the full capabilities for adding visual effects, I now use Adobe After Effects. This software is very good in adding realistic VFX and 3D especially the motion tracking stuff.  Adding VFX using AE is quite a pain, because most of the time it eats up your RAM, thus slowing your computer often.




After putting some necessary visual effects, I now enter to the dark realm of color correction.  This is the hardest part of video editing.  You must take a careful look at the skin tone of the talents, because it is very important.  You don't want your talents to look like The Hulk because of their green skin. 


After I finish all the editing, I now render my project into one video, usually in Windows Media Video HD format (1080p at 24fps).  This is the best quality for  web content videos.  If you upload this on YouTube, the system will automatically set your video to 1080p HD.  


Then, that's pretty much it!  So good luck with making videos, and I hope this post helped you a bit in any way.  If you have questions, leave a comment below. =)

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Filesonic.com - Next to Close?


Experiencing like this when you're downloading from FileSonic?

Megaupload is dead.  And now, we see this?


FileSonic is a file-sharing website that operates similarly like Megaupload.  To be able to download at higher speed, one must be registered and must pay for its  Does this mean that all file-sharing websites finally reach their end?


According to Wikipedia, they were not the only one who withdrew the ability to share links to files.  Other file-hosting websites followed suit, including FileServe.com, FileJungle.com, Uploadstation.com, x7.to and 4shared.com. cancelling affiliates programs or allowing users to only download what they themselves uploaded.  So that means you can only store your files as back up, not for sharing.  Sounds pretty bad to me.

Canon Powershot S100 - Perfect for "B" Camera Setup?



In early December, Canon announced this amazing Powershot S series and the successor of the S95, the Canon Powershot S100.  For me, I think this is a good "B" camera setup, because it is a point-and-shoot digital camera that can shoot full HD movies at 24fps with quite good autofocus system.  It has DIGIC-5 processor, actually higher and more updated than my Canon EOS 600D (with only DIGIC-4 processor).  We are having difficulties shooting a scene with multiple angles, and this could be the best alternative for another DSLR.






The S100 is in effect a completely new camera compared to the S95; almost every key feature has been upgraded or updated:



  • 24-120mm (equivalent) lens range, F2.0-5.9, built-in neutral density filter
  • 12.1 MP 1/1.7" Canon CMOS sensor
  • DIGIC 5 image processor
  • ISO 80-6400
  • 2.3 fps continuous shooting (9.6 fps for 8 frames in High-Speed burst mode)
  • Full HD (1080p24) movie recording; H.264 compression, MOV format
  • Optical zoom in movie mode
  • Super slow motion movie recording (640 x 480 @ 120fps, 320 x 240 @ 240 fps)
  • Direct movie record button
  • Built-in GPS unit with image tagging and logger functions

Canon Cameras Philippines announced just recently its basic price, a slapping P28,998.  It is not yet released to other camera shops like Henry's, and if so, it would sell for about P25,000.

From a Musician to a Cinematographer

Some people do change.  I think I'm one of them.


I remember back when I was 12, I learned playing guitar for the first time.  By the time I learned it, I became addicted to it and came to love this hobby.  I went from school battle of the bands to professional bands.


But, sometime in 2006, I stopped playing guitar to the point that I can barely play anything.  That was the time when I became addicted to computers, particularly browsing the internet.  While I was watching some videos on YouTube, I found this:




This video caught my attention.  This has started the firework.  I gotta do something like this!  I said to myself.  So I browsed online for a perfect camera that shoots HD.  And then I watched Jared Abrams's videos about HDSLR's.  I became addicted to his videos about camera preps and stuff, and it came to my mind that I need to buy one of those.  So I bought a Canon EOS 600D, an intermediate-level DSLR capable of shooting HD movies (1080p) at 24 fps.  The price was quite a pain in the ass, but it's worth it.


But way back then before I bought a DSLR, I already shot some action videos with my brother's cellphone, which was a Nokia X3-02 with 5 megapixels.


I wanted to use Final Cut Pro for video editing, but I cannot afford anymore a Mac, so I used Sony Vegas Pro for editing footage and Adobe AE CS4 for visual effects.  I'm going to show you my video editing workflow for the next posts, so stay tuned.


I first shot the video "Expired Unlimited Text" with my DSLR, so it has a little bit good quality.  I wasn't aware of the proper focusing, correct exposures and stuff, but it turned out pretty well.



Tuesday, January 24, 2012

"HINTAY" - How did it come out?

The word "HINTAY" is a Filipino word which means "wait".  This is how the song was made.


When I was like 9 to 12 years old, I had a habit of composing songs, most of them are just about nothing, or just plain nonsense. I just belong to a family of musically-inclined persons, so that might be the reason why I'm like this. Before, I compose songs when I'm just idle, it's like one of my hobbies. Composing songs just kills my time. I've been influenced before by some of the famous artists then, if I remembered it right, I liked (LIKED - PAST TENSE OF LIKE, mind you) Gloria Estefan, MC Hammer, and many famous artists from the 90's era.


I have composed many songs, but not one of them just talked about me. When I reached 18 to 20 years old, the time came that I felt the commitment to love relationships. I soon realized that I become "artistic" when I get emotional or depressed. One time, I was dumped by this girl, and I found the time that I have to compose a song since I was so depressed at that time. So I took the advantage, took a pen, a paper, and a guitar. I quickly came up with the title, "Hintay". "Hintay" means "Wait".


I felt that it really came out well. Because when I sang the whole song for the first time, I cried! =( So, upon discovery, this is the only song out of like 50 songs that I had composed that really hit me. So I'd say that this song is the LEGEND.. hehe.. =) Anyway, the song is simply about waiting for second chances, as the title of the song suggests.


After a few action video shoots, I decided to make a music video.  And I chose this song.  I just directed my talents the way I really felt from the song.  I wasn't aware of the correct settings on my camera then, so forgive my crappy shots, lol.

"KAWALAN" - How it all started!

AT LAST, we made it!  I'm going to tell you all how this started.


About 5 months ago, after our last action video, I finally decided to work on a short film.  Since all of our videos are in action genre, I thought of making a horror film.  So I brainstormed myself with lots of ideas.  I was busy then working as a technical manager in our internet cafe so it was delayed for a several weeks.  Until the moment of truth came.  


One night, I was browsing for some horror stories on the internet, and I crossed a Facebook fan page with lots of horror stories, so I read one.  One story caught my attention, and it was really creepy.  It was about a group of teenagers hanging out on a mountain, and the girl was left in the tent realizing that her friends are already dead.  


I told the story to Ferdie and Kenneth and they were both scared!  So I thought this would be effective.  As soon as their scare was gone, I started saving money for it and looked everywhere for a nice place that would fit for the story. I already have some scenes in mind and imagined what would be the perfect shots for the expected film.  I already asked lots of people I knew, because I was thinking it would be so creepy if a large number of people in the cast would play as ghosts.


Not all of my friends accepted the roles, so all that's left was my production team, so they were put on the set.  From the expected 6 talents, the set consisted of only 3 talents, one lady and two guys.  I didn't have the time and bread to set a perfect location, so we shot the first scene on the same location as from the Dubstep Arnis.  I immediately started writing the script, and realized it was too short for a film.  So I added some love story elements.  We started at about 1 pm, and suddenly the rain poured!  With no luck, the shoot had to put to a stop.  After that, about two weeks had passed without any film shoot, due to one of our talents being busy on her work.


After some several weeks, we decided to shoot the film again on a rented apartment free of charge.  The film shoot was about to finish just inside the apartment for the whole day, but the owner told us not to continue anymore due to some location problems.  So the footage we shot became scrap, but I backed them up anyway for future references.  After that, we decided to put one of our talents to a resignation due to her work, and the production was put again to a stop.


After several weeks, we decided to "really finish this once and for all" and gathered all of our classmates back in college and other people we knew, including some of our regular costumers in our internet cafe.  We asked all of them to accept the cast but only two of them accepted.  As soon as the two came, I immediately asked permission to one of my close friends to use their vacant lot for the shoot (it was actually a banana plantation, not really forest).  So the original cast consisted of three guys and a lady.  Suddenly, two guys never made it, so my girlfriend was forced to be on the set, and voila.. the horror film made it to the production.


Since the two guys never made it to the set, the whole script was revised for a number of times because only three talents were left on the production.  I bought my Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens at the perfect time, so I used and abused it for the shoot.  We shot the film at 1 pm and ended at 6 pm including the dubbing session.  As soon as we uploaded it on YouTube, we received many positive feedbacks, most of them were scared and asked us "Where's part two?" and we felt the need to make another one.  Thus, the short film became one of four episodes of the whole web series.  And, that's pretty much it!





Anyway, here's the finished video of the whole production process.  Hence, making it the first episode of our web series.


Now, for the TITLE... this was the funny part.  The production was a long process, but I wasn't able to come up with a title.  After the editing of the first episode, I searched over the dictionary and the internet for a good English title.  I asked Ferdie: "What's a perfect, one-word, scary, creepy and psychological title for a horror web series?"  He just answered back: "Kawalan." - Filipino word for "gone", "nothingness" or "oblivion".  I asked him why.  He said, "Wala kasi ako maisip eh, kaya Kawalan." (I have nothing else to think, so I said "Kawalan".)


'Nuff said.


Want to see Episode 1 to 3?  Watch it on my YouTube playlist.