Describe your HDV "studio" and equipment!

[Heath McKnight]

I thought this might be a little fun, describing your HDV studio/work space and equipment.

Here's mine:

1. HD10 camera (which, for now, acts as my deck, too, until I make enough money to buy the VH1 HDV deck).

2. Tripod, lights, etc.

3. Cokin P filters: ND .6 and .9 (though it states it's a .8) and diffusion filter.

4. A D-VHS deck (I have the JVC HM-DH30000U).

5. G5 1.6 ghz PowerMac with my HDTV not-so-good 15 inch LCD acting as the monitor. Why "not-so-good?" Well, when I hook it up to the HD10, it's not great. I'd like to get this cool JVC 17 inch HD monitor when I have the cash.

6. I am now testing out Lumiere HD with my Final Cut Pro HD system. Before, I used shareware that was too finicky to really use.

And that's it for now. I hope to buy another $4000 worth of gear, the HD monitor and VH1 deck, when I get enough money.

heath

[Bill Piedra]

Here's Mine:

1. JVC JYHD-10 which is also serving as my deck - also until I can afford to buy the VH1 Deck.

2. Bogen 3046 Tripod w/501 Head and a modified Studio 1 Superjib (I think its too heavy for the 501, so its shorter now)

3. 3- JTL Everlight Softlights, Arri Studio 1000 and 650 Plus.

4. Dell 8300 3ghz & Apple G4 Dual 800, Apple 23" Cinema Display (which works great with the Dell & Radeon 9800 Pro).

5. Sony PVM-1340 Purchased on ebay for $20! Mint condition monitor from a junk seller - also bought a Videotek Waveform Monitor and Vectorscope for another 9.99 and they work!

6, SOFTWARE: Vegas 4+DVD. Considering upgrade to Vegas 5, and Cineform Connect HD. Does anyone have any comments about using the Cineform product with Vegas 5? Adobe After Affects (never used) and lots of other misc software. Also have Premiere 6.5 but don't really use it.

7. A bunch of 52mm filters, ND .3 .6 .9 Circ Polarizer, UV, etc. Have LOTS of 52mm filters from other photo work.

8. Sony ECM 44 B Lav. Shure 'Hammer' 635, going to get an Azden SGM-2X shortly unless I can find a great deal on a Senheiser K6.

I also have a Sony 53" HDTV and an Electrohome ECP 4100 projector, though I haven't used the projector for HD yet.

Looking to buy: a 17" HD Monitor for editing. Azden SGM-2X or Sennheiser K6 Mic & boom pole, JVC VH1 Deck, Cineform Aspect HD, Vegas 5 upgrade, and maybe, someday, a new Dual 2ghz G5.

Any comments on what I can add? What am I doing with all of this stuff (besides spending alot of money and playing around? I'm making my first feature length documentary. All my prior video experience has been making 'industrial' training videos for a single large company.

[Heath McKnight]

Bill ask the experts on our HDV Editing page about the editing questions.

Good luck on the doc, and I'm impressed with your set up!

heath

[Mauricio DelaOrta]

JVC HD1 Camera

JVC sd camera I use as a deck for SD

2 Athlon XP 2.6Ghz 1Gb ram machines for post.

Vegas 4.0, but will soon upgrade to 5.0

Maya 5.0 (for those nice 3D effects)

JTL lights

2.5 m crane

Home made Green Screen that works great with proper fluorescent lighting.

Standard Tripod with standard on-tripod dolly :)

Commodore 1084s RGB/NTSC monitor (legacy from my C= Amiga times)

A warm cup of coffee for those long editing hours :)

[Erik Rangel]

hd10
3Ghz P4 Hypertheading
2GBRam
400 Gb Storage
tripod (don't remember the make)
Crane(homemade, but it goes twenty feet in the air with remote control head)
azden shotgun mike
42" fujitsu SD plasma(HD too much and I'm No-Budget)
Pioneer surround sound

Aspect HD
Premier Pro
Adobe stuff

and a partdidge in a pear tree.

I haven't been here in a while, I'm sorry. Just Premiered my 40 minute short last night.

I love this camera... and I hate it too.
It's all we got so far. We either do it or we don't, right?

[Heath McKnight]

Erik,

cool set up. Was the short on HDV?

heath

[Erik Rangel]

Heath,
Yeah it was the HD10. Although as much as I wanted to show it in HD... we screened it from a dvd player. the projector wasn't HD, but it still looked pretty good. We made a screen that measured 18'x10' and we showed it in a martini bar here in denver. Kinda cool, get everybody liquored up before you show the movie. So they liked it:)

[Heath McKnight]

I should probably ask this in the TOTEM thread, but how is the film scene in Denver? I'm originally from Denver, but have been living in West Palm Beach, Florida for 20 years now (I'm 28).

heath

[Erik Rangel]

28, me too.
and not to be a negative-nancy but the Denver movie scene kinda sucks.
It's great if you're a No-budget and need actors. They are just dying for something to be in. It was my first time working with "actors", they are a silly bunch, but I loved the experience. Is Florida a good place to make movies?
I would really like to stay Denver based, but It's all about the green. Plus my Crew is all family and I don't have to pay them, just the occasional beer and pizza.

[Christopher C. Murphy]

Here's mine:

1. HD10 camera, acts as deck too (i know, bad)

2. Miller DS-5 tripod

3. Homemade light kit includes Home Depot lights, reflectors made from car windshield bouncers, lots of odds and ends. I'd like to buy a kit next.

3. Tiffen ND filters, and a few other filters polarizers etc.

4. Azden SX-2 full shotgun, boom pole

5. G5 dual 2 ghz, 1 gig RAM, 160 gig internal drive, 400 gigs firewire external, 23 inch Cinema (ROCKS!) -- OHH! I also have the Klipsch 5.1 surround system!

6. Final Cut Pro HD (bought it the day it showed up at the local Apple Store last week!)

7. No external monitor yet, but that's going to be one of my questions coming up on this board soon. (can i use my G4 17" laptop as a monitor??)

8. Lumiere HD (buy it!)

9. Mac G4 laptop 1 ghz, 17"

10. HDTV, Sony 46" (damn thing is to big!)

Some said on this thread, "I love this camera and hate it too." I have felt the same way, but with my new computer and LumiereHD...it's more love than hate now.

Murph

[Erik Rangel]

I used to work for a electronics store called soundtrack here and ultimate electronics elsewhere, and Klipsch were the easiest sell, because they have such a crisp sound. I love those speakers.
The winshield thingy...I'm gonna have to start using that.

Gonna shoot an 5 minute short before the month is over... and then we'll see if it leans more towrds the "love" part of the HD10.

[Christopher C. Murphy]

Erik, yeah....windshield reflectors are cheap. They're like 2 bucks at a 5 and Dime store.

Also, I learned some great stuff at a 4 day "Film Lighting" course last year. The one thing that stuck with me most - ANYTHING can be used in lighting. That means, the floor, clothes, walls, mirrors...anything can be used to bounce, project, alter or illuminate. It's amazing really, it opened my eyes because I used to think light came from the source only. But, in actual fact...anything you can see is potential reflector material.

There was this one little tip too...a little detail that blew my mind. Look at photos, film or video that's properly lit. Almost always when a professional was lighting it - you'll see a little dot in a persons eyes. If you only see darkness it wasn't lit well...(unless you are going for the look). In short, look at magazines (doesn't matter that it's a still because lighting for magazines or film/video is mostly similar based on end result) and you will see this dot...sometimes its a diamond shaped dot, other times a circle, square...whatever the lighting person wants. Sometimes a mirror across the room turned until this dot shows up in their eyes at the angle they're looking into the camera (or elsewhere) is all that's needed.

It's truly bizarre because after that I started looking all over the place and seeing the dots in peoples eyes! Without them they look almost dead now....really, start looking! You'll notice that 9 out of 10 have these things in their eyes from proper lighting.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page. I did a search for "Photography Portraits" and this came up....the bottom photo has diamonds! Can you imagine the babies face without them??

http://www.photo.net/portraits/intro

Murph

[Erik Rangel]

Wow, you're right.
I Draw... and every time I draw lets say an eye for example. without even thinking about it, I would always draw that little white dot. I never bothered to ask why I drew it or how it made the eye look more real, but it just always did. Lighting is king.

Thanks Murph

[Christopher C. Murphy]

Erik, my pleasure. I love sharing info.

Hey, Heath am I messing up the HTML code on here? Can you check my link up above please.

Also, I know we went a little off topic via lighting..

To bring it back on track - who here has a "studio"? What type of studio is it? Just a room, a seperate building (like mine, I have a seperate garage detached from the house and it's my studio) or totally seperate location in an official office or studio location?

I've got my "studio" finished off completely - here is the details:

- Digital phone service, High speed internet (3 megs a second since Jan!!), L-shaped desk, printer, microwave, refridgerator, coffee maker......and get this, a stocked bar!!!!!

Just curious to know if people are editing in the bedrooms or full blown "studios". I'll post a video online if someone has space??

Murph

[Erik Rangel]

Nice.
here's me.
Office in My uncles warehouse, track lighting, fridge as well, not fully stocked because I keep emptying it.(drinking it) a couch(casting...not really) huge dry erase board, two computers, the plasma and surround sound, glass and metal desks(a bitch with finger prints) printer and a T1 line for internet. I don't drink coffee.