Background/Goal:

Hello everyone! I am a 28-year-old production improvement engineering supervisor that is seriously thinking about transitioning to a full-time videographer! I've always had a passion for capturing great moments in life and have been doing so in my spare time, off and on, for roughly a decade now. My first attempt of going from average/decent quality footage/video to professional-grade footage/video is in process now. I plan to have a drastic step change from my last video to the current one I'm working on now. I've been inspired by a few video styles that I'm now attempting to replicate (links below). In order to do so, I've recently picked up a Panasonic G7 to mate with my Crane M gimbal and upgraded from PowerDirector10 to PowerDirector15 with the addition of ColorDirector5. I just got back from my honeymoon in St. Thomas where I captured some great (well, I think it's great) footage to develop our travel video. My primary tools to capture the footage were the Panasonic G7 (4K@24fps, 4K@30fps and 1080p@60fps on the gimbal), Samsung S7 (4K@30fps and 1080p@60fps on the tripod) and the GoPro Hero 3 Plus Black (1080p@60fps underwater). I know I probably should have shot at a more consistent framerate. However, I wanted to get the soothing "film look" at 24fps as well as some smooth slow motion footage with the higher frame rates (30 & 60...120 to come once I gain the funds!). I do not intend to produce my project in 4K at this time, as my end viewing platform will be YouTube, where most of my subscribers don't utilize 4K viewing, and my current system struggles with 4k playback, let alone editing. I'm right on the verge of needing a new system, but I believe I can make this setup work. My graphics card seems to be my bottleneck, and of course, you can't upgrade that in a laptop. The older Sandy Bridge i7 seems to be faring well (averages around 80% utilization when working through the 4K material in PDR15). Heat is what I'm addressing now; just ordered a laptop cooling pad to assist with that. My reason for shooting in 4k is that, to my knowledge, the quality is much better once downscaled to 1080p from 4K rather than just shooting at 1080p.

Travel:
Jay Alvarrez Summer 2016 (Alexis Ren) - YouTube

Vehicle:
Phil's Custom 1970 Pro Touring Mustang - YouTube


Questions:

Being that I don't plan to produce in 4K, what is the best method for downscaling my 4K material to the best 1080p quality footage? I know I can produce the project in 1080p once completed, but that would have me working through the 4K material the whole time while on my limited, outdated computer. If this is the only way, I am fine with that, but if there is another way to do it without losing quality, such as downscaling all unedited files in other program and them importing to my project, what program do you suggest?

When it comes to the multiple frame rates I'm working with, what is the best way to work with them in my project so that I don't get the juddering effects? My current thought is to 1) leave the 24fps footage at normal speed, as I will be producing the whole project in 1080p at 24fps for the cinematic look unless convinced otherwise (I'm still not sure what would be best, but I'm assuming 24fps). 2) Slow most of the 30 & 60fps footage down. However, there is 3) some of the 30 & 60fps footage that I would like to play at normal/actual speed. What is the best method to do so without losing quality? Convert the unedited 30 & 60fps footage that I plan to use at normal speed to 24fps, then import to my project?

Once I'm finished with my project, what should I produce it in to achieve my desired result? MP4/H.264/1080p@24fps/BitrateX?

From there I assume I would then move into CDR5 (color grading) where I am a complete noob, minus my little experience with Snapseed and the few videos I've watched on color grading. I'm sure more questions will come once I get to this at a later time.

I know this is a lot, but I'm very excited about diving back into the editing process and making something great. Your input is greatly appreciated and I’m excited to learn and grown within this upper tier forum!


Thanks,
Garrett

I was just down in Savannah. How do you deal with the heat and humidity?

A broad answer to your questions is don't film in 4k it's not worth the time and effort to edit or down convert on an under powered computer especially a laptop.

There is nothing wrong with experimenting with things such as frame rates and trying to replicate techniques in videos you like just be careful not to focus too much on style.

Well, when you grow up knowing no different, it's not bad. I now only struggle with it when coming back from a trip out West. After about a week, I'm back to not even noticing.

As I'm working through the material, your suggestion sounds very tempting. I just hate to sacrifice any quality, as I am attempting to creating a drastic step change from my previous videos to what I produce from here on out. I probably just need to go ahead and bite the bullet and purchase/build a new rig that can handle what I ask of it.

I guess that's what I'm going to have to end up doing...just experiment/practice in order to figure out what works best. I was just hoping to save some time and find out the best way to do it from the start. Oh well. Looking at the bright side, I should develop a stronger foundation by figuring it out for myself. What do you mean by not focusing too much on style?

Most of video is learned through experience of doing jobs. I don't believe not filming or editing in 4k is holding you back from a career in video.