video quality

M

michael

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What are some ways you can ehance video quality to make it look more cinematic and like film?
 
1) Buy a camera that shoots at 30p or 24p, or shoot at 60i and deinterlace in post.

2) Navigate through these forums and find many suggestions on this topic. I don't have time to post them right now, but I will try to post some links tomorrow.

Poke
 
The eternal question, how to change video to film. I feel like an alchemist sometimes. I’ve heard of lots of things, but the one trick I love is something we used to at a production company that doesn’t exist any more. We called it “instant sex” because it makes any video look better. Most video to me looks washed out. It probably has to do with the 4:1:1 sampling rate because the color retention of pal and some 4:4:4 HD footage I’ve seen is much better. Instant sex increases color saturation but maintains picture sharpness. Here’s how to do it:
1. After the final edit has been done, output the entire piece into one file.
2. Import the single file back into the editing program.
3. Duplicate the video track and layer it directly above the first. I will refer to the top layer as V2 and the bottom layer as V1. Do not duplicate the audio track.
4. On V2, reduce the opacity to 75% - 80%.
5. On V1, increase the Gamma and Chroma one to three units. It doesn’t take much otherwise the picture can look real purplely and weird. Add a slight Gaussian Blur.
6. Play with it until it looks right, but this really makes the colors pop and really helps bring out flesh tones.
 
film8ker said:
1. After the final edit has been done, output the entire piece into one file.
2. Import the single file back into the editing program.

Are you exporting and importing solely for the fact that the edited piece will be one huge video track? It seems like there should be an easier and quicker way to do that. I know in Film Composer you can collapse(Mix down) video tracks.

film8ker said:
4. On V2, reduce the opacity to 75% - 80%.

Does anyone know how to change the opacity in Avid Film Composer? I tried doing this at work today and I couldn't find any opacity settings. I'm thinking I might need a plug in.
 
CommanderGoat said:
Are you exporting and importing solely for the fact that the edited piece will be one huge video track? It seems like there should be an easier and quicker way to do that. I know in Film Composer you can collapse(Mix down) video tracks.

I always found it was faster to just lay it to tape then recapture it as one clip. There of course would be image dgradation in this method, but it is faster.

CommanderGoat said:
Does anyone know how to change the opacity in Avid Film Composer? I tried doing this at work today and I couldn't find any opacity settings. I'm thinking I might need a plug in.

I doubt you need a plug in for something as simple as opacity settings. Even cheapo nonlinear software systems I've seen have them. You're just not looking hard enough.

Poke
 
I export and re-import so that it is a single video file. Personally, I use Premiere and while settings applied to one clip can be copied and applied to another, that will override any applications of other effects such as color correction and such. So, rather than have to apply the setting to each component clip, I find it easiest to apply it only once to one long clip, and it aids in troubleshooting if there are any unexpected problems. Also since the instant sex needs to be fiddled with every time to get it to look best, it’s easier to fiddle with one clip in stead of several small ones. Finally, I can save the project under 2 files so if I need to make any changes, I can open the file with the final clip assembly and make the changes and then re-export for the instant sex.

Poke – exporting to tape and then re-importing in a DV format will not lead to image degradation unless you drop frames. I prefer exporting to a computer file and then re-importing because the chances of having a computer related glitch is less, and I have plenty of storage space.
 
pokewowplayer1 said:
I always found it was faster to just lay it to tape then recapture it as one clip. There of course would be image dgradation in this method, but it is faster.

It only takes 2 seconds to collapse video tracks on my system, so that's way faster than exporting and importing, or laying to tape and re-digitizing.

pokewowplayer1 said:
You're just not looking hard enough.

Wow, thanks....that doesn't help at all.

I think my alternative to Opacity in Composer is Superimpose. I can superimpose the V2 track and pull it down to 60% or so and do the color correction on V1...but I forgot about the Gaussian Blur. I don't think I have any effects the same as that. I also don't have 3D effects enabled on my system. Wish I did.

Yeah, I can see why you would export in then with Premiere. I was just thinking it would have a feature where you could combine multiple tracks into one without having to wait on the file export and import.
 
Now, now don’t fight boys.

Goat, I’ve never tried collapsing tracks and that may work. I use Premiere, and I may be able to collapse the tracks, which would be easier than exporting and re-importing, but I don’t know how and I won’t be able to get to my manuals for several days. Does anyone know how to do this with Premiere? My only concern is that since you’re working with virtual clips in stead of real ones, it increases the processing load on the CPU and may significantly increase the rendering time. Or, it may not I’ve never tried. Play with it though.

Film Composer doesn’t have a gaussian blur? That’s pretty basic, I would have thought it would have been a standard effect. Anyway, any sort of blur effect that provides an even dispersal will work. You just don’t want to get motion blur or something that only blurs horizontally or vertically. As long as it’s an even circular slight blur it should work.
 
film8ker said:
Film Composer doesn’t have a gaussian blur?

Well, I don't have a gaussian blur on mine, but like I said, I don't have the 3D effects enabled. Basically, every Avid is built the same, but you have to pay more for extra features like the 3D effects. When you pay more, they give you a dongle which unlocks the effects in the software. I'm not sure if a gaussian blur is in the 3D package, but I think it is. My boss has the effects on her system and she can do really cool blur effects on text. It looks really, really nice.

But I also think part of the reason Avid is so stable is because it doesn't have millions of built-in effects. I've rarely had any problems with the program. Most of the problems I've encountered have revolved around 3rd Party plug-ins.
 
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