'Dou Jiang You Tiao' Music Video
http://www.timshim.com/downloads/DouJiangYouTiao_Web.mov (Filesize: 44MB)
Recently, a longtime friend asked me if I could help him make a short video clip of him spewing elegant prose for a girl he likes very much. Well, one thing led to another and we decided a music video clip with her favorite song would probably work better - and would definitely be a whole lot easier on the ears. ;)
Planned in less than 2 hours at 3am in the morning, then shot and completed in 3 days, this clip is essentially a slapstick parody on their past memories and events. Technical details after the jump.
Shot using my Panasonic DVX-100ae. Other gear used were the usual suspects: Manfrotto Tripod, Lowel lights for the exterior shots. Everything else was shot with natural or fluorescent lights. I manually adjusted settings starting from the camera's default CineLike setting using my home TV set as a monitoring device.
Additionally, I experimented a bit by using my Pana Anamorphic Adaptor and turned on Squeeze mode at the same time. Don't take this as hard fact but my reasoning was that a 'dual-squeeze' would occur to achieve more horizontal resolution. I could then unsqueeze it in AE to achieve a 'wider' widescreen look - an aspect ratio somewhere in between 1.85 and 2.35, perhaps? Not an exact science but it worked just as well.
CCd the edited footage using AE and Magic Bullet's Look Suite. Also, using AE7, there's a new feature that allows film-like color proofing but isn't burned into the footage itself (Kodak 2383 Theater). It looked really great when turned on but isn't applied when rendering out. The workaround to this (I learned this from Stu Maschwitz's blog) is to apply the 'Utility > Color Profile Converter' TWICE in succession:
1st CPC Settings: Output Profile: Adobe RGB. Intent: Absolute Colorimetric.
2nd CPC Settings: Input Profile: DPX Theater Preview - Standard Print Film. Output Profile: PAL (or NTSC or whatever fits your needs).
Now the Kodak 2383 Theater color proof will be baked into your footage when rendered. Thanks to Stu for this great tip.
Hope you enjoy the video clip and this mini commentary. Stay tuned for more. Any questions? Please don't hesitate to email me.