Collaborative #2: UWOL Around the World

[Catherine Russell]

Hi Trond and Mike:

What about using Vimeo for this? Perhaps you could have a UATW channel similar to how you are using Vimeo now to upload the UWOL challenge films. People could upload their clips as private and also enable the setting to allow you both to download the videos from the Vimeo site onto your own computer.

Just a thought.

Also, will their need to be a standard formatting for these clips? Like the requirements being NTSC, 960 x 540, Mp4... whatever, so you are dealing with similar clips?

Just thinking out loud, you guys know what you are doing for sure!

Cat

P.S. Trond, that was a nice offer to Gordon on the Tales thread :)

[Trond Saetre]

Good questions.
I think we should aim for the best possible image quality, which means HD. If anyone still shoots SD, I'm sure we will find a way to incorporate this into a HD film.

Regarding PAL/NTSC:
One will have to be converted into the other. Luckily with HD, that only means change the speed a little bit. Shouldn't be any trouble. (Or am I overlooking something?)

I'll discuss this with the CC, and get back to you soon.


Submitting via Vimeo:
That is something we definitely should check out.

[Steve Siegel]

Another question. Has anyone considered whether the format is going to be 1st person, where each participant talks about him/herself on screen, or will it be 3rd person where the narrator talks about them, or a combination? It will make a difference in how each of us put our segments together.

[Trond Saetre]

Steve, let me get back to you on this one. I'll discuss it real quick in CC.
Initially the thought was to have the contributors talk about themselves and the process about making their uwol26 entry.

[Trond Saetre]

Heads up, guys and gals:

Due to the very few submitted entries to the uwol 26, CC has desided to make some changes for the UWOL Around the world (ATW):

1.
Deadline for submitting to uwol around the world: Extended to August 31.

2.
Everyone who SIGNED UP FOR uwol 26 may submit.

3.
Those who did not submit for uwol 26, will be permitted to submit for the ATW, with the same theme IMPACT as a basis... and also based on already published requirements for the ATW. (the interview, b-rolls... and so on)


Hopefully these changes will make it possible for more uwolers to participate!

-----------
The extended deadline will also buy us some time to work out the best way to deliver your contributions to the editors.
We will provide detailed info as soon as we can.

Information about preferred file types will also be provided soon.
(An "editing friendly filetype" is required.)
-----------

[Trond Saetre]

Update:
The editors have now done some testing, and desided that preferred file format for submitting your contributions, will be Avid's DNxHD.

This is a codec that works well both on windows and mac.
(Requires quicktime installed on your computer)

Codec can be downloaded for free here:
Avid Codecs 2.3.7 Download

If someone for any reason is unable to convert to DNxHD, editors might be able to help.

[Steve Siegel]

Interesting choice of codecs. I have no idea how to convert to an Avid codec. I use a program called "Wondershare" which will allow me to convert among a dozen different codecs, but Avid isn't one of them. The export function on my Adobe Premiere 5.0 doesn't list Avid as a choice, even with Quicktime.
I read the information on the Avid codec download page. It implied that any other codec converted to Avid would be at 720 x 480, which sounds a lot like standard definition. Does downloading the codec install a conversion function?

If this can be done, some exact instructions should be provided.

[Steve Siegel]

Reread the Avid download page. I was mistaken about the SD. Sorry. Still need instructions.

[Trond Saetre]

I'm pretty new to that codec myself, so maybe Mike Sims could chime in with his expertise.

But here is how I chose the DNxHD codec when exporting from Premiere CS6:

1. Select format = Quicktime
2. Under video settings, select codec Avid DNxHD
3. Select "Codec settings", and choose the settings (resolution, frame rate and bitrate that matches your video)
4. Export

[Mike Sims]

DNxHD won’t show up in the list in Premier until after you install the codec. I export out of PP5 with no problem. Most editing programs can export it just fine once installed. Avid used to let you download and install just DNxHD. Now you download an installer for all their codecs and choose which to install.

Dad is coming home today and I still have a few ducks to line up in a row. Tomorrow I will try to put together a guide to installing and using DNx. If it turns out to be a problem for anyone, we will work with you. You can also always uninstall DNxHD later if you don’t want it on your machine.

As for the 1st or 3rd person question, the interview questions will be 1st person. Everything else it doesn’t matter because we can overdub in 3rd person by narrator if needed (unless you are looking right into the lens!).

[Mike Sims]

I’m working on a guide and some tips for the DNxHD codec but the going is slow (probably because I can only work for five minutes at a time before being called away!). I am making progress. If anyone gets going with it in the meantime and has any specific questions, be sure to e-mail me. Thanks.

[Trond Saetre]

That is good, Mike.
I'm pretty much offline the next few days due to family visiting.
After that I will try to check out our alternatives for the ftp file submittings.

Stay tuned. I'll keep you updated.

[Trond Saetre]

Update:
Mike Sims and I have now started testing the UWOL Vimeo page, to see if we can use that one to submit the contributions. (Thank you Lorinda and Chris for approving this!)

So far, with mixed results. Full scale (my uwol 26 entry encoded with DNxHD) failed, a short video successful.
Testing continues the next couple days.

[Trond Saetre]

Update:

Mike Sims and I (in cooperation with CC) have been testing the UWOL Vimeo account this week, and still haven't made the final conclusion if we can use it or not for submitting the videos to editors.

Problem:
Uploading of large video files encoded with DNxHD, fails. From my testing, anything above around 45sec -1min, gave me upload issues. Short files with the same encoding are uploaded successfully.

I have also tried the Cineform codec. Which Vimeo does not accept at all. (Upload goes well, but as soon as upload completes, I got an "unknown codec" message.

Then we began testing with different raw videos from various video cameras. Here we have had more success. My uwol 26 entry (Raw video encoded with Canon MXF as it was straight from the camera), was successfully uploaded, and I could then download the source file from Vimeo a few days ago.
(Upload took a good 5 hours on a 10mbps network)

Discussion now is if the best might be to have everyone submit their contributions in whatever raw video format their camera record. And then editors (Mike and I) do the conversion to DNxHD prior to the edit process.

Another option we are thinking about, is if it will be less trouble to have everyone submit their videos on a DVD-R via the good old postal service.

...............
CC has still not heard from Chris Hurd about possible access to the UWOL Vault and all the old entries.
Working on it, and I am trying to contact Jeff Kramer. (Thank you Meryem for the heads up about him)

[Mike Sims]

I haven’t had a lot of extra time this week (fighting a Closteridium infection in my Dad) but I just wanted to clarify a couple of things from Trond’s post. When he says “raw” he means the native format that your camera records in, not the raw sensor data (I think most everyone got that but some might get confused). Also we are talking about a DVD-R data disc not a DVD video disc encoded to MPEG2. If your camera records MPEG2 you would still make a data disc. Ask if you are unsure how to proceed.

If we agree to go with delivery by disc and mail there will be some expense (postage). Depending upon where you live it will likely be much cheaper to send it either to myself or Trond. Send to whichever is best for you and let us sort out the rest of the logistics. From some parts of the world either might be a significant cost. If you find it prohibitive, please let us know. We may be able to find some subsidy or an alternative way to deliver for you. We don’t want the cost to prevent anyone from participating.