In class video

Aw yeah...

New Favorite Stop Motion

It's a lovable roll of duct tape!

In class stop motion with audio

This is honestly one of the creepiest things I have ever made. I apologize to the world.

I promise my actual stop motion won't be this disturbing. 

Homework Notes - Monday Jan 27

Final Cut Pro X Essential Training

Taking a tour of the FCP X Interface

• Final Cut Projects and Events folders must be correctly named
• Hovering and dragging shows what the media is in the viewer
• Audio Skimming is an option
• Can change the visual display of clips by length, as well as other properties
• There can be two viewers, one for the event library and one for the project library
• Window - Show Event Viewer
• Can change clip appearance
• Play/pause = space bar
• go to beginning  = function + left arrow
• go to end = function + right arrow
• frame by frame = right and left arrows
• clip by clip = up and down arrows
• select event library = command +1
• select timeline = command +2
• select viewer = command +3

Creating and organizing events from scratch

• Start by creating an event
• File - new event
• Or right click in event library
• Now import media
• File - import - media
• Or click big import media button
• Pop up window:
• Make sure you are importing to correct event and drive
• Organizing:
• New media will be placed in final cuts event folder if checked
• Importing folders will retain organization that existed outside of final cut

Playing and Marking Clips in preparation for editing

• Take notes! It makes your job easier
• j = plays in reverse
• l = plays forward
• k = pause
• i = set in point
• o = out point
• / = play selection
• slow motion = hold down k button and press either j or l
• f =  make selection favorite
• list : favorite

Understanding different types of editing tools

• w = insert edit
• command + '-' = zoom out
• e = append edit
• will always go to end
• d = overwrite edit
• ctrl + d = change duration 
• replace has no short cut, you have to use the mouse

Homework Notes - Monday Jan 20

Video For Photographers: Shooting with a DSLR

Understanding resolution for video:

• Resolution can be changed at will in photography, videos can only be shot in two resolutions
• 1080 HD and 720 HD
• 1080 HD means the video is 1920 pixels by 1080 pixels 
• 720 HD means the video is 1280 by 720 pixels 
• Megapixels have nothing to do with resolution of video
• 1080 is about 2 megapixels
• 720 is about 1 megapixel
• Both 1080 and 720 look good on HD TVs 
• There is no huge advantage to one or the other, though the case can be made that 1080 can be easier to work with

Choosing a video frame rate:

• Video is typically shot at 30 frames per second
• Keeping it simple? - use 30 fps
• Video is just still pictures, 30 frame per second 
• Film is shot at 24 frames a second
• 60 frames per second is often used for sports or smoothing out videos
• Still not sure? Just try 'em out!

Understanding the challenge of shutter speed:

• Shutter speed choice is very different from video to still photography
• Slower shutter speed = blurred action
• Wide aperture and high shutter speed used to stop action
• 1/30th of a second is the slowest possible shutter speed if shooting at 30 frames per second
• the higher the shutter speed during video the more "stuttery" the video will look
• If you were shooting video with the intent of freezing the action for a shot a higher shutter speed would be useful
• Normal video is shot between 1/30th and 1/90th of a second
• Some believe the ideal shutter speed is 2x the frame rate

Getting the right exposure:

• No RAW in video, so exposure is important
• Manual exposure for videos is typically better than auto
• Auto exposure might change the exposure inappropriately, making the video flicker
• It is not a bad idea to take a photo and address the exposure before you even start shooting
• Due to the small range of shutter speed on video you might run into problems
• If you want a limited depth of field in bight lights you are going to have to use a dark gray filter to cut the light
• If light levels are low you have to change the ISO settings (because shutter speed can't go slower than 1/30th of a second)
• Fast lenses can help in low light as well
• Zoom lenses are not fast (they don't have a wide max aperture)
• Prime or single focal length lenses are good for video because they offer a fast max aperture
• This means they let in a lot of light