Sound and shadows d@mnit...

[gorillaonabike]

Boomy sound and annoying shadows.

We reserved the last take of the day for the ending. Unfortunately, as we were all absolutely exhausted, we stuffed it up. We ended up with boomy sound and lit too low, casting large, annoying shadows everywhere.

I thought I'd make a cameo and didn't pay enough attention... I forgot to check the sound and the final shots properly.

So now we're left with boomy sound and shadows. We're using FCP 7 (the absolute last version) and have budget to buy something like After Effects if necessary. So tell me, what would you do to eliminate the shadows and the boomy sound?

 

[dlevanchuk]

for shadows- first thing comes to mind is maybe rotoscrope the shot, and adjust curves on that spot.. but that might work only if the shadow is scrip. if you used diffused light - that might be a bit trickier..

let me know if you ll need a hand. I could play with the footage for couple of hours, see if i could make it work
dl@smokingbarrelfilms.com

as far as booming sound.. im no help there.. maybe cut down low eq?

 

[Alcove Audio]

If by "boomy" sound you mean that there is too much in the way of low frequencies you can use a high pass filter. A high pass filter does what it says it will do - allow high frequencies through. You insert the Hi Pass plug-in on the audio channel(s) and slowly creep up the frequency until the "boominess" is lessened. Also experiment with the "knee" or the slope of the low end roll off. Just beware that too much hi-pass filtering can make the audio very "thin". You can also use a notch filter to select and reduce specific frequencies. This works well on hums (60 cycles and multiples thereof are very common) and the "standing" waves that occur in some rooms. You usually end up using a combination of hi-pass, notch and parametric EQs to ameliorate unwanted frequencies.

 

[escher]

I don't know about the sound, but if you want precision shadow fixing, you'll need to either use a Curves tool (can be tricky to learn, but gives you the most power in correcting targeted brightness levels), or see if After Effects has a "Shadow & Highlights" filter similar to the same tool found in Photoshop. The "shadow" part of this filter is specifically designed to fix your exact problem.

Note that drastically-brightened shadows tend to exhibit a lot of unsightly visual noise/grain and further steps will have to be taken to correct for that.

 

[PaulGriffith]

Rotoscoping and blurring the background more (fake shallow DOF) could help hide the shadows.

A one scene reshoot might be the fastest fix of all if you can pull most of the cast and crew together.

 

[gorillaonabike]

Great solutions and a combo of these sounds as if it will work with the shadows. Alcove - as always, I am in your debt and if ever you come to London, there'll be a crate of Guinness (or insert beer of your choice) waiting for you.

Thinking about it, we were using two cameras - a 7D and a VG10. The VG had a Merlin attachment but the DoF wasn't particularly deep while the 7D had a shoulder mount and follow-focus rig but was also running of a 3.5 or above DoF.

This is all good because just the DoF and FCP 7 shadow removal filters will work. The other suggestions are also fantastically useful and will keep the editor doing his stuff.

All I need to do now is pop down to the DoP to pick up the remaining footage on Sunday, pass it to the editor and hey presto, we will have a movie (well, a short at least). And on Sunday we will also put together the shooting and casting dates / times for the next short.