Best Settings for a Ballet shoot
by Brock Fisher
on
Jul 1, 2008 at 11:17:09 pm
I rent 3 DVXs to video ballet performances. In the past I have had difficulty with two problems:
1) Color consistancy. I white balance all three cameras to a white sheet on stage prior to the performances. When I produce a multiclip in FCP the colors are different between the spot, side and wide angle cameras and must be adjusted in FCP.
2) Overexposure--under the stage lights white tutus and costumes are overexposed. I have been using the scene file setting that uses 30p. I don't know how to keep the bright white costumes from overexposure.
Re: Best Settings for a Ballet shoot by Noah Kadner on Jul 3, 2008 at 6:58:04 pm
[Brock Fisher]"I rent 3 DVXs to video ballet performances. In the past I have had difficulty with two problems:
1) Color consistancy. I white balance all three cameras to a white sheet on stage prior to the performances. When I produce a multiclip in FCP the colors are different between the spot, side and wide angle cameras and must be adjusted in FCP.
2) Overexposure--under the stage lights white tutus and costumes are overexposed. I have been using the scene file setting that uses 30p. I don't know how to keep the bright white costumes from overexposure.
The final output is for SD DVDs."
For number one- get a proper white balancing card and have all cameras shoot it in the same lighting conditions, ideally before being placed into their positions. Save this as your A Preset.
For number two- use your on camera zebras and ride your exposure if necessary. Do not leave it in auto iris.
Re: Best Settings for a Ballet shoot by Steve Wargo on Jul 7, 2008 at 3:55:21 am
Do your white balance with a huge white card or foamcore, on the stage, under the performance lights. A goor friend of mine does these on a regular basis and he uses the 3200 preset. He has a 100b and he rents our 100 and 100a. He is a veteren shooter and says he's never had a problem.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It's a dry heat!
Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .
Re: Best Settings for a Ballet shoot by Justin Parker on Jul 23, 2008 at 9:40:43 pm
I agree with using the 3200k preset for multiple cameras. This is a situation where it is more imporant for the cameras to be set the same, than to be color balanced perfect.
Even if the color is slightly off, the cameras will all be the same and you can just color correct them with the same settings later.
And as mentioned in a previous post, manual iris and trust the zebra bars. You will probably have to make adjustments from scene to scene. The theater lighting people are not very kind to us video shooters.
