Music Interview and performance

[Nick Haman]

Hey guys,

I'm a 1-man-crew and use the JVC LS300. Here's a sample of my work, I'd love your critique. This is filmed in J-Log1 using the Leeming Lut and some light corrections.

LIZZ WRIGHT LS300 - YouTube

If you can't see the video, please copy this link into your URL bar: https://www.youtube .com/watch?v=9DqTzZIuvkU - But remove the space before '.com' :D

NOTES:
I lit (the interview), filmed, asked the questions, edited and wrote this whole peice, but the voiceover is not me.

The audio of the performance is straight out the desk with a little mixing and levelling. The audio of the interview was using the Rode NTG4 microphone.

The back/fill light is a little hot, which really grates me, but I don't think it's at an unacceptable level.

Interview was filmed with the Sigma 18-35mm at f1.8
Performance was shot with Canon 55-300 at f5.6 and the Sigma 18-35 for the shots on stage.

It's aimed at a younger audience, but is also supposed to be interesting to everyone. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the voiceover, but I think it works if you try to watch it in the mindset of the viewer it's aimed at.

The whole performance was shot with just 1 camera, so as you might imagine, some of the syncing doesn't quite match. For this purpose, when the music is almost a secondary thing, it's... passable. If you disagree, I'd love to know!

Please let me know what you think

[Duncan Craig]

The voiceover is certainly very enthusiastic.
The pictures seem a tiny bit flat, but maybe that suits the laid back genre.

These days I'm keen on using a second camera for interviews, and aiming to do the interview across two locations, though neither are always possible. Are you in a position to master in 1080p and crop in on her shot later in the interview?

[Lee Powell]

Good job, looks polished and professional. The grade is mellow, but I think you have a technical problem with the black level being too high, which makes your backgrounds look dark gray instead of black. The Leeming LUT is designed for studio swing levels, with black at about 10 IRE. If your video editor interprets the graded footage as a full range video, it will render black as dark gray. To fix that you need to lower the master pedestal and boost the master gain to full range levels.

[Nick Haman]

Thanks guys!

I could crop in for a 1080 output, but she's quite expressive with her hands, so wanted to keep that in - I was also pretty happy with the drums in the BG, but maybe a bit of variety could be nice. The interview was only 10 minutes about an hour before the show, so a second setup wasn't really an option here. Will definitely bear it in mind for the future.

I was the editor and did the colouring too. The only bit I didn't do was read the VO haha. On my monitors the blacks look pretty black, but maybe in the future I'll take them down a bit more. - Would you recommend not using the Leeming LUT for this kind of setup again, and just adjusting various levels straight form the raw LOG file?

Thanks again for the comments!

[Jay P. Kaley]

I can't see the video for some reason, the title and the "youtube box" is there but no video in it.

[Nick Haman]

Originally Posted by Jay P. Kaley

I can't see the video for some reason, the title and the "youtube box" is there but no video in it.

Oh that's annoying - try this https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=9DqTzZIuvkU but get rid of the space before .com, I hope that works :)

[Lee Powell]

Originally Posted by Nick Haman

I was the editor and did the colouring too. The only bit I didn't do was read the VO haha. On my monitors the blacks look pretty black, but maybe in the future I'll take them down a bit more. - Would you recommend not using the Leeming LUT for this kind of setup again, and just adjusting various levels straight form the raw LOG file?

I use the Leeming LUT as well, and I think it looks good in this video. There's nothing wrong with the LUT, it's a rendering issue for J-Log1 footage in general. In a studio swing video editor like Premiere Pro, Leeming LUT renders fine without adjustment. But in a full range editor like After Effects, I lower the black level and increase gain to maintain the intended contrast.

[Jay P. Kaley]

Thanks Nick that did it. Nice piece on the whole, seems like an interesting lady. Voiceover sounded almost like a retro 60s newsreel voice.

I'll offer .02 worth, with the qualifier I'm still learning best practices with this camera and log.

-I thought the shots from behind with the crowd blurred background were cool, had that nice 'halo outline', would have like to have seen more of those.

-She could have used a touch of backlight or just a bit more light on some of the CU performance parts shot from the front, to separate her from the background. It was kinda dark, 5.6 feels a little closed for that setting. I know performance halls always are, I'd have been trying to open to f2-4 if possible, if that's what the lens is I get it, I just would have felt like my Canon f4 was too dark there. I miss the old f1.8 ENG 18-115mm in spots like that haha.

-The interview is nice at 1.8, agree with you the backlight is a little harsh, would have liked to seen it over illuminating the drums more maybe, those steel reflections are nice.


Along the lines of what Duncan said, some of it feels a little flat, and I get the same feeling when I shoot J-log with just the Leeming LUT and maybe one of the "quickie' looks applied. It looks okay, but I always wrestle with wanting to increase saturation or add a LUT/look that pops color a bit, sometimes I think it can look real good, but borders on "overdone" and sometimes I end up in a rabbit hole when the light varies.


Thanks for posting Nick, I like to see what people are doing with the camera, not a ton of new video posted with the LS.

[Nick Haman]

Originally Posted by Lee Powell

I use the Leeming LUT as well, and I think it looks good in this video. There's nothing wrong with the LUT, it's a rendering issue for J-Log1 footage in general. In a studio swing video editor like Premiere Pro, Leeming LUT renders fine without adjustment. But in a full range editor like After Effects, I lower the black level and increase gain to maintain the intended contrast.

Oh I thought you were suggesting not to use Leeming. This was all cut in Premiere, colours and all. Maybe I overdid it on the secondary correction here and there. I'll come back to it and see what I could have done differently.

Jay, thanks for your comments. Yeah I was wrestling with the lens on the performance shots. Unfortunately I had to stand up by sound desk for the majority of the performance so had to be on the long end. Since I shot this, I've bought a better lens, so next time should be better haha. I also had no control over the stage lighting since it was a show for the audience rather than for the camera.

I have more footage from behind, but they're its all more or less the same. Since it was a such a different kind of shot, I didn't want to over do it. Let that one glance empower the performance I guess.

As for the interview, I get so hung up on that hotspot. I'm definitely being more cautious in the future. Lighting up the drums would have been nice, at I didn't think the stick a little light in there.

Thanks again everyone.

[Lee Powell]

Originally Posted by Nick Haman

Oh I thought you were suggesting not to use Leeming. This was all cut in Premiere, colours and all. Maybe I overdid it on the secondary correction here and there. I'll come back to it and see what I could have done differently.

I downloaded the 720p version from YouTube and checked it out in After Effects. To improve shadow contrast, I'd suggest the Levels control (in AE or Premiere) with Input Black: 0.05 and Gamma: 1.20.

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Nice work! Crisp interview shot and nice DOF. I'm interested to know how did you get her audio. I did not see a lav did you use a boom and shotgun?

[Nick Haman]

Thanks Aaron.

Yeah, it's a Rode NTG4 on a stand, positioned above her head and about a foot in front of her face if that makes sense. I much prefer audio this way if the space allows for it. Then there's no chance of the talent's necklace or hair hitting the lav or whatever. It's also less messing around then they arrive, they can sit down and we can start.

Lee: Would you trust the levels of YouTube's 720p compression based of a 4K upload that's already been compressed? Out of curiosity, why didn't you rip the 4K file of YouTube? Seems like it'd be a much better representation of the original footage. As it stands I'm dubious about your findings simply because of the file you've used to check it haha.

[Andrew Smith]

I'd make a priority of swapping out the VO for a version that is less dominating. Delivery is too fast/commercial for what is needed, and audio presence of it is far too heavy to the point that it clashes with the rest of the programme.

Amazing how important audio is. Lovely lady, too.

Andrew

[Nick Haman]

I totally agree Andrew! That's why I put that little disclaimed in the OP haha. Unfortunately, commercial appeal is what was required for this piece as it's aimed at 14 year olds haha. I was just looking for feedback about the camera work, editing and interview audio/lighting. Love the input though.

[Paul R Johnson]

Oddly for me - I rather liked it. As a Brit - the voice over sounds like loads of the US slightly OTT ones we hear, so maybe the dislike is a cultural thing? The US listeners perhaps detect subtle things I can't?

The live material is a bit tricky, but hardly uncommon for uncontrolled live lighting. If I had seen that as a play-in item on our news, I'd have not noticed anything, so that's probably a compliment!

Sounds for me was fine - I wouldn't have any issues with it.