Re: tired of getting bad footage

What Mike Cohen said..

I have several clients who insist on always shooting their own footage on the new cheaper HDV cameras. They have never considered using anything but the camera mike, never white balance, have horrible "queezecam" zooming, panning and hand-held footage, and have no idea how to properly compose or frame shots. One woman actually shot an entire documentary, continually cutting off the head of everyone she was interviewing, (usually below the eyebrow even in fully wide-angle shots!). She entered her film in several film festivals and has even had the film play in Nashville with Al Gore's film at a "green event" (due to the subject matter no doubt). I spent over a month posting her project, trying to fix the bad audio, color correcting every shot, using the image stabilizer on any shots that weren't too shaky for even that remedy, but unfortunately I didn't have a plug-in or filter for the "chopped forehead" syndrome. I still cringe when I see the film, but she is extremely happy with it and even touts her skills as a "cinematographer." She would be very offended if I told her that her footage wasn't up to professional standards. I can honestly say that 75% of the footage I see in post is not up to the standards I set for myself when I am fortunate to be a DP on the project as well. The bottom line is to make whatever footage you receive look as good as you possibly can.

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