DVD Review: Sound for Film and Television by Barry Green et al.

I recently had the opportunity to view the instructional DVD Sound for Film and Television by Barry Green, Art Jimmerson and Matt Gettemeier. The DVD came with good reviews from colleagues and rave reviews on some forums, and particularly at DVXuser, where the makers of the DVD are frequent posters and/or moderators.

This could be interpreted as a negative in the sense that there may be a bias at that particular forum. However, I will state that having anyone with notable expertise posting on community forums with any regularity is an overwhelming positive for the filmmaking community and especially for those trying to learn their craft. On many occasions, I have come across helpful Q&A sessions in the forums with the answers provided by Barry Green or his colleagues.

That said, when looking at the utility of this DVD, I would have to look at the characteristics of the viewer, their needs, and their level of expertise with respect to sound design and boom technique, etc.

First off, this DVD is very well put-together. Barry Green and company do an excellent job of keeping things moving along and making the subject matter interesting with colorful and creative examples. Not too often will an educational DVD put this kind of thought toward keeping you entertained, and it works well for subject matter that would be considered dry by many. The producers go above and beyond by writing and filming scenes that illustrate their principles in quirky and humorous ways, and it is a credit to their effort that viewers will not have a difficult time getting through this DVD.



While I found the DVD extremely entertaining for its genre, I believe that it is ideally suited for the following user: An aspiring filmmaker or film school graduate who has had little experience or training in proper sound design and recording.

This does not mean that other users won't benefit from the DVD. Even a seasoned professional will probably find it to be a relatively enjoyable couple of hours that reinforces some of their basic and intermediate knowledge. But who really needs this DVD is the director or producer who considers sound to be an annoying hurdle and necessary evil. The director who would prefer to ignore sound altogether if he or she could. The director who still records scenes using the camera's on-board microphone or who doesn't care if his boom operator has the boom mic pointed horizontally from a distance at the talent.

Green, Jimmerson and Gettemeier do a good job of driving home the basics and how to avoid beginner pitfalls that leave many first and second films irredeemable due to fatally flawed audio. They provide some basic rules to follow and while they may seem really basic, many people aren't following them (and many of these people should know better).

I see it regularly when I work, especially when I am around indie productions. Barry Green and company do an excellent job of really hammering in the principles of "Sound 101" and if you aren't already sure whether you know and follow these basic principles in your filmmaking, then you are likely to benefit from their tutelage.

As a minor note, a few of their references to microphone brands may be slightly dated, as models and relative prices change. The Oktava MK012, for example, has gone up significantly in relative price to the other models as North American currencies have slumped in comparison to those enjoyed by the Russian manufacturer. But such details will not detract from the universality of the principles in the DVD.

For your convenience, here are the IMDB profiles / resumes of BARRY GREEN and MATT GETTEMEIER.

If you want to learn more about the DVD, you can also take a look at its profile on Amazon.

HVX: Overcrank and Undercrank

Here, I am gathering up some footage of overcrank and undercrank from the Panasonic HVX as a counterpart to the collection of EX1 clips.


Alex Overcrank from keyboardsurgery on Vimeo.

In the above clip, we see the HVX at work. One thing that caught my eye in this clip is the level of frame rate flicker seemed pretty consistent with the EX1 in terms of quick-moving objects.

And now a 24p slow-motion beer pour...


Sam Adams hvx200 Overcrank Slow Motion Raw Footage from Geoff Albach on Vimeo.

And of course, more skateboarding...


HVX testing slow motion from kylegherman on Vimeo.

And ANOTHER HVX OVERCRANK CLIP.

SUGGESTED READINGS

Here is a good ARTICLE BY BARRY GREEN, the HVX guru. Not only does he discuss variable frame rates as they apply to the HVX, but also the general use and effect of different frame rates in the context of narrative storytelling for all videographers.

HVX: Best of the Best - Footage

Well, this camera has been around for a while and has been the choice of many independent filmmakers. As such, there is a greater body of narrative work out there that has been done with this camera. Those who use it, love it. They swear by its "film-like" colors and cadence. Sometimes it seems like they sleep with it and would die for its honor.



But here are some clips of the fine things that have been achieved with this piece of equipment (and accessories).

In some cases the clips also benefit from some very nice compositing in post-production.


WWII- Special Effects Semester Project from Chris Newman on Vimeo.

And HERE is A Little Mouth to Feed, directed by Jack Daniel Stanley and produced by Art Jimmerson and Barry Green, the consensus HVX guru.


Human Movement from Jordan Clarke on Vimeo.


Jason Mraz :: I'm Yours from LEVEL4 on Vimeo.

And some other stuff that is pretty decent...


RED NAILS from danilo Parra on Vimeo.

SONY EX1: CMOS and the Rolling Shutter

You know what, I was going to save this for later in the discussion but let's just get this one out of the way.

As people delve deeper and deeper into these cameras, this one issue has become the keystone consideration and possible deal-breaker in their decision-making. So let's address it now. It's just one of the many things that will come into play decision-wise. But it's a biggy.

The EX-1, unlike its competitors here, utilizes a CMOS chip to capture its images. Now this is both good and bad.

The fact that the CMOS chip is more heat and energy efficient, allows it to be larger - 1/2 inch instead of 1/3. This means great resolution and low-light sensitivity, and the potential for a shallower depth of field. Not 35mm film depth of field, but something a little nicer than 1/3 allows.

Also, the CMOS chip avoids vertical banding when we hit bright light. If you have a camera with a CCD chip, point it at a bright light at night and you'll get vertical bright line from the top of the screen to the bottom. Banding. Gone with CMOS.



But...

All is not perfect in CMOS-land.

The way CMOS chips are designed, they use a rolling shutter, and this can lead to several problems when filming, especially when motion is involved.

While global shutters used with CCD chips take a single snapshot of what is in front of them with each frame - everything all at once - rolling shutters sequentially record the image in rows from top to bottom, one after the other, so that not all parts of the image are recorded at exactly the same time. Therefore, the subject being recorded may actually have moved a bit from when part of one frame is recorded to when another part of the same frame is recorded. This can distort the image.

When the EX1 came out, it was quickly hailed as the "HVX killer." That may or may not be, but many people's issues with the rolling shutter and the artifacts it creates are, at a minimum, keeping the HVX on some pretty strong life support.

Among the problems rolling shutter can create are:

Skew: The image bends diagonally in one direction or another as the camera or subject moves from one side to another, exposing different parts of the image at different times.

Jello-vision: This is most common in handheld shots. The rolling shutter causes the image to wobble unnnaturally and bizarrely. This typically only shows up in somewhat extreme circumstances, but we'll get into that later...

Partial Exposure: This one also sucks. If a camera flash goes off, it may only be present for some of the rows of pixels in a given frame. The top 1/3 of the picture may be brightly lit by a flash, while the bottom 2/3 of the picture is dark and unlit. The difference between the two parts of the frame can be very dramatic and even for a frame, is visible and jarring to the human eye. Similar problems can arise with police sirens, some flourescent lighting, and so on. That makes rolling shutters an issue for things like weddings, red carpet and event filming, and narrative filming situations that involve these issues.

Anyway, take a breather.

We'll get into some real-life examples and clips of the above phenomena in the next posts.

And don't go and eliminate the EX1 from consideration just because I opened with this issue. We're gonna cut rolling shutters apart a little bit, but we'll give this camera a chance to redeem itself.

Additional Links and Readings:

You can also find a good ARTICLE on the subject by Barry Green, an expert in digital video and also a strong proponent of the Panasonic HVX.

Here also is a POST by another video pro on blogspot that goes over CCD vs. CMOS. Tell him JC sent ya.

And ANOTHER...

An ARTICLE on CCD vs. CMOS, and ANOTHER ONE...

And finally, an ARTICLE by Kyle Doris.