Magic Bullet/Double 16x9 update...

Gustavo Godinho · May 2nd, 2004, 06:42 PM

I saw Camp Slaughter. The look is incredible. Did you make the color correction or did you use any pre-set magic bullet look?

How did you capture the sound? I didn´t see any shotgun mic or boom.

Martin Munthe · May 3rd, 2004, 02:10 AM

Joel: All the extras have english subtitles. Just dial them up on your remote.

Trevor: You can send the script to martin@NOSPAMoperafilm.com (remove NOSPAM). I'll be gone for a few weeks but I'll try to read it and get back to you when I return.

Gustavo: No presets. It's a combination of Magic Bullet and Digital Film Lab and a few After Effects adjustments. All of the film was post synced. We used none of the actual dialog.

Joel Fish · May 3rd, 2004, 04:04 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Martin Munthe : Joel: All the extras have english subtitles. Just dial them up on your remote.

Oh, great! Not sure how I missed that...

Gerald Lee · May 10th, 2004, 11:45 PM

I was wondering, was it a pain getting around the vignetting from the 16x9 adaptor? Also did you find the zoom with the adaptor sufficient for your needs? I keep hearing about how limited the zoom range is on that adaptor. Anyways, trailer looked real nice!

Doug Turner · May 31st, 2004, 08:21 PM

Hi Martin,

Saw your post, downloaded the trailer, ordered from CustomFlix and within a week I was watching your film in Sydney, Australia. Something that wouldn't have been possible a couple of years ago! You gotta love that!

Loved your film, had a real TCM/Friday 13th feel - exactly what you were going for, and pulled off well (Embrace the cliche! It's what horror fans love, oh, and butt naked teens).

I'm in pre-prod currently on "I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer" - a farcical exploitation slasher (main protagonist is a cricket player... we're talking NICHE here!)... so I'll be coming back to this forum with questions and updates on production in the next few months.

Just a QUESTION for you all out there, just how much better is the image when you use an anamorphic lens rather than just cropping a standard image down to 2.35:1 ?

A Century Precision anamorphic lens for my JVC GY-DV301E (lovely and underrated camera, btw) will set me back $675US, but no-one in Australia has one for sale, so there's no way I can test it.

Another QUESTION... I'm thinking of upconverting the 720x576 image up to HD to perform grading and Magic Bulletting, then converting back down to SD to render out for DVD - does this sound a good workflow to anyone who's got the knowledge?

I bought Camp Slaughter to support the indie film scene... go buy it yourselves too!

Cheers, Doug.

Martin Munthe · June 1st, 2004, 03:35 AM

Gerald: Yes, the vignetting is really annoying. And it limits the zoom. You have to move the camera instead of zooming.

Doug: Glad you liked it. Cricket sound like virgin territory for the horror genre. Go get 'em.

The image isn't better using this type of set up for 2.35:1. Just different. I like anamorphic behavior in the image. Flares become blue streaks across the image and it's a different feel from spherical. But overall the image isn't as sharp since your adding glass in fron of glass. If your going for clean and sharp I'd shoot straight with no adapters.

The image won't get any better from scaling it up to HD and then back again. Scaling is a destructive process to the compression algorithms. Magic Bullet is also a destructive process that "softens" the image a bit. There is really no way to deinterlace an interlaced image without loosing some of the resolution. MB does a good job since it cleans out a lot of artifacting that the deinterlacing process creates (like jaggy edges) but it's not perfect. It should only be used if you can't tell the story without the progressive "film motion" feel and you've only got a camera that shoots interlaced. You save image resolution and vast amounts of rendering time by using a progressive camera. Magic Bullet Look Suite however is an excellent tool for color grading the footage into more film like behavior. The best I've found so far. Some people claims that you can do everything that MB does using AE standard plugins. That's not true. The behavior of the "camera filters" in Look Suite is unique for MB. I've been using AE for nine years and I could never recreate the white promist and black promist settings using only AE. Used the right way they are actually great noise reducers.

May 2nd, 2004, 06:42 PM	#16
Gustavo Godinho Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Belém - Pa - Brazil Posts: 130	I saw Camp Slaughter. The look is incredible. Did you make the color correction or did you use any pre-set magic bullet look? How did you capture the sound? I didn´t see any shotgun mic or boom. __________________ lml

May 3rd, 2004, 02:10 AM	#17
Martin Munthe Major Player Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 331	Joel: All the extras have english subtitles. Just dial them up on your remote. Trevor: You can send the script to martin@NOSPAMoperafilm.com (remove NOSPAM). I'll be gone for a few weeks but I'll try to read it and get back to you when I return. Gustavo: No presets. It's a combination of Magic Bullet and Digital Film Lab and a few After Effects adjustments. All of the film was post synced. We used none of the actual dialog. __________________ Martin Munthe VFX Supervisor/DP/Director

June 1st, 2004, 03:35 AM	#21
Martin Munthe Major Player Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 331	Gerald: Yes, the vignetting is really annoying. And it limits the zoom. You have to move the camera instead of zooming. Doug: Glad you liked it. Cricket sound like virgin territory for the horror genre. Go get 'em. The image isn't better using this type of set up for 2.35:1. Just different. I like anamorphic behavior in the image. Flares become blue streaks across the image and it's a different feel from spherical. But overall the image isn't as sharp since your adding glass in fron of glass. If your going for clean and sharp I'd shoot straight with no adapters. The image won't get any better from scaling it up to HD and then back again. Scaling is a destructive process to the compression algorithms. Magic Bullet is also a destructive process that "softens" the image a bit. There is really no way to deinterlace an interlaced image without loosing some of the resolution. MB does a good job since it cleans out a lot of artifacting that the deinterlacing process creates (like jaggy edges) but it's not perfect. It should only be used if you can't tell the story without the progressive "film motion" feel and you've only got a camera that shoots interlaced. You save image resolution and vast amounts of rendering time by using a progressive camera. Magic Bullet Look Suite however is an excellent tool for color grading the footage into more film like behavior. The best I've found so far. Some people claims that you can do everything that MB does using AE standard plugins. That's not true. The behavior of the "camera filters" in Look Suite is unique for MB. I've been using AE for nine years and I could never recreate the white promist and black promist settings using only AE. Used the right way they are actually great noise reducers. __________________ Martin Munthe VFX Supervisor/DP/Director

May 3rd, 2004, 04:04 AM	#18
Joel Fish New Boot Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: a bc Posts: 13	<<<-- Originally posted by Martin Munthe : Joel: All the extras have english subtitles. Just dial them up on your remote. Oh, great! Not sure how I missed that...

May 10th, 2004, 11:45 PM	#19
Gerald Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 64	I was wondering, was it a pain getting around the vignetting from the 16x9 adaptor? Also did you find the zoom with the adaptor sufficient for your needs? I keep hearing about how limited the zoom range is on that adaptor. Anyways, trailer looked real nice!

May 31st, 2004, 08:21 PM	#20
Doug Turner Regular Crew Join Date: May 2004 Location: Sydney, Australia. Posts: 43	Hi Martin, Saw your post, downloaded the trailer, ordered from CustomFlix and within a week I was watching your film in Sydney, Australia. Something that wouldn't have been possible a couple of years ago! You gotta love that! Loved your film, had a real TCM/Friday 13th feel - exactly what you were going for, and pulled off well (Embrace the cliche! It's what horror fans love, oh, and butt naked teens). I'm in pre-prod currently on "I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer" - a farcical exploitation slasher (main protagonist is a cricket player... we're talking NICHE here!)... so I'll be coming back to this forum with questions and updates on production in the next few months. Just a QUESTION for you all out there, just how much better is the image when you use an anamorphic lens rather than just cropping a standard image down to 2.35:1 ? A Century Precision anamorphic lens for my JVC GY-DV301E (lovely and underrated camera, btw) will set me back $675US, but no-one in Australia has one for sale, so there's no way I can test it. Another QUESTION... I'm thinking of upconverting the 720x576 image up to HD to perform grading and Magic Bulletting, then converting back down to SD to render out for DVD - does this sound a good workflow to anyone who's got the knowledge? I bought Camp Slaughter to support the indie film scene... go buy it yourselves too! Cheers, Doug.