Sorry, I forgot to take pictures before the shoot, but below are some pictures from the same studio, only from the day we helped on the medical video shoot last Thursday.
I'll post screencaps of the video once it's finished, and then you'll be able to see how the interview was laid out.
We wrapped the interview around 11am, and then we transferred the P2 files to an external hardrive (we copied them to another one today for safety. ALWAYS do this when filming with P2, or any digital format, for that matter). For the rest of the day, we observed the editing of the medical video we helped out with last Thursday. I also dubbed 10 Betacam SP tapes in the deck control room for another NP project. Basically all of the editing stations in the editing rooms are controlled from this room. Here are some pictures of me in that very 'electric' room. Those with sensitive ears know what I mean.
We wrapped the interview around 11am, and then we transferred the P2 files to an external hardrive (we copied them to another one today for safety. ALWAYS do this when filming with P2, or any digital format, for that matter). For the rest of the day, we observed the editing of the medical video we helped out with last Thursday. I also dubbed 10 Betacam SP tapes in the deck control room for another NP project. Basically all of the editing stations in the editing rooms are controlled from this room. Here are some pictures of me in that very 'electric' room. Those with sensitive ears know what I mean.
Wednesday
Today, Sarah, Mike, and I spent most of the day transcribing/logging the interview footage of the founder from yesterday. It took longer than expected because we had some P2 format and computer speed issues. This was mostly due to the fact that all of the interview footage added up to about 65 GB (Gigabytes with a G!). That's HD for you. Also, the only way to view P2 footage (besides through a non-linear editing station) is through a program called P2 Viewer, which our 'intern' computers had, but not nearly the processing speed of an editing station. Therefore, while our sound played back at normal speed (thank goodness), the image played back in a kind of slow-motion. It was difficult to jump to Microsoft Word and P2 Viewer back and forth without some sort of delay.
The three of us also each wanted to be able to transcribe at the same time to save time. First, we had to copy the P2 files to a second hardrive (which needed to be formatted to MS-DOS first [PC basically]). I had formatted a hardrive to Mac before but never PC. It was easier than I thought, and I was able to do it with my laptop. Then, we copied the files over to that drive (which took an hour to do). I gave my fellow intern, Sarah, a crash course in Photoshop while we waited. Then, at last, we could all transcribe at the same time.
We had some playback glitches, and didn't know whether the glitch was in the playback or the P2 file itself. The latter would be very bad. Mike took one of the hardrives to an Avid suite and imported the files there to find out. They played fine, so we breathed easier.
We got most of the transcription finished today, with about 10 minutes of interview footage left. We'll finish that tomorrow. Now, the reason I just gave you a (almost) complete blow-by-blow of what we did today was to give any aspiring filmmaker (especially one planning to focus on the video format) a real-life scenario of exactly what is involved with working with P2, a format that is becoming more widely used. As with any recording format, it has its advantages and disadvantages. P2 is one of the few formats that is completely data. There are no 'movie files' once the data is imported into a computer or hardrive. The data is divided into 6 separate folders, which, when opened, have many many .omf files with alpha-numeric names which don't seem to make any sense until they are opened using P2 Viewer or an editing software program which can decipher the data.
PROS
- No tapes
- No waiting for footage to capture from a deck
- High-Definition footage
- Data footage which can be converted to practically any file format
CONS
- No tapes (I explain this below)
- Glitches can happen, in the camera, or in the cards themselves
- You have to wait for the data to transfer, which depending on how much footage you have, can be very long. Go get a sub and come back later.
- Since there are no tapes involved, and the P2 cards are usually erased soon after shooting is complete, there is nothing 'physical' actually holding your footage (like film) if something goes wrong with a hardrive or your computer crashes. The remedy for this and my personal advice? BACKUP your data in as many places as necessary (I would say 3 is safe). Don't overload your computer, don't drop your hardrives, and NEVER erase those P2 cards until you have the data safe and sound in at least 2 separate locations. I would also advise that after you have a rough cut completed, export that video to a physical tape. Do the same thing after you have a final cut. The extra steps will pay off. It's much better than losing everything, and if you have a production company, or ever work for one, this is essential. Not doing so could cost you your job.
So the moral of this story? With every new format comes new benefits, but also new cautions, rules, and guidelines. As long as you follow them, P2 should be a pretty enjoyable format with minimal headaches. Know your production budget (reliable hardrives run from $200 to about $800 each, 16 GB P2 cards run about $300 - $400 EACH, the camera much more, a P2 card reader, and a fast computer with all the appropriate software goes into the thousands if your college doesn't provide them). Do your research on every aspect of your project, and learn to anticipate the unexpected (especially the potentially unexpected to your wallet). Also, with any format, and in film production in general, it will ALMOST ALWAYS take longer to do something than you think it will! This wisdom is often-repeated, but no less true. Schedule as such!
Thanks for reading this particularly long post! I'll post tomorrow's adventures then! Take care and happy filmmaking!
Success is doing what you love and loving what you do...
Today, Sarah, Mike, and I spent most of the day transcribing/logging the interview footage of the founder from yesterday. It took longer than expected because we had some P2 format and computer speed issues. This was mostly due to the fact that all of the interview footage added up to about 65 GB (Gigabytes with a G!). That's HD for you. Also, the only way to view P2 footage (besides through a non-linear editing station) is through a program called P2 Viewer, which our 'intern' computers had, but not nearly the processing speed of an editing station. Therefore, while our sound played back at normal speed (thank goodness), the image played back in a kind of slow-motion. It was difficult to jump to Microsoft Word and P2 Viewer back and forth without some sort of delay.
The three of us also each wanted to be able to transcribe at the same time to save time. First, we had to copy the P2 files to a second hardrive (which needed to be formatted to MS-DOS first [PC basically]). I had formatted a hardrive to Mac before but never PC. It was easier than I thought, and I was able to do it with my laptop. Then, we copied the files over to that drive (which took an hour to do). I gave my fellow intern, Sarah, a crash course in Photoshop while we waited. Then, at last, we could all transcribe at the same time.
We had some playback glitches, and didn't know whether the glitch was in the playback or the P2 file itself. The latter would be very bad. Mike took one of the hardrives to an Avid suite and imported the files there to find out. They played fine, so we breathed easier.
We got most of the transcription finished today, with about 10 minutes of interview footage left. We'll finish that tomorrow. Now, the reason I just gave you a (almost) complete blow-by-blow of what we did today was to give any aspiring filmmaker (especially one planning to focus on the video format) a real-life scenario of exactly what is involved with working with P2, a format that is becoming more widely used. As with any recording format, it has its advantages and disadvantages. P2 is one of the few formats that is completely data. There are no 'movie files' once the data is imported into a computer or hardrive. The data is divided into 6 separate folders, which, when opened, have many many .omf files with alpha-numeric names which don't seem to make any sense until they are opened using P2 Viewer or an editing software program which can decipher the data.
PROS
- No tapes
- No waiting for footage to capture from a deck
- High-Definition footage
- Data footage which can be converted to practically any file format
CONS
- No tapes (I explain this below)
- Glitches can happen, in the camera, or in the cards themselves
- You have to wait for the data to transfer, which depending on how much footage you have, can be very long. Go get a sub and come back later.
- Since there are no tapes involved, and the P2 cards are usually erased soon after shooting is complete, there is nothing 'physical' actually holding your footage (like film) if something goes wrong with a hardrive or your computer crashes. The remedy for this and my personal advice? BACKUP your data in as many places as necessary (I would say 3 is safe). Don't overload your computer, don't drop your hardrives, and NEVER erase those P2 cards until you have the data safe and sound in at least 2 separate locations. I would also advise that after you have a rough cut completed, export that video to a physical tape. Do the same thing after you have a final cut. The extra steps will pay off. It's much better than losing everything, and if you have a production company, or ever work for one, this is essential. Not doing so could cost you your job.
So the moral of this story? With every new format comes new benefits, but also new cautions, rules, and guidelines. As long as you follow them, P2 should be a pretty enjoyable format with minimal headaches. Know your production budget (reliable hardrives run from $200 to about $800 each, 16 GB P2 cards run about $300 - $400 EACH, the camera much more, a P2 card reader, and a fast computer with all the appropriate software goes into the thousands if your college doesn't provide them). Do your research on every aspect of your project, and learn to anticipate the unexpected (especially the potentially unexpected to your wallet). Also, with any format, and in film production in general, it will ALMOST ALWAYS take longer to do something than you think it will! This wisdom is often-repeated, but no less true. Schedule as such!
Thanks for reading this particularly long post! I'll post tomorrow's adventures then! Take care and happy filmmaking!
Success is doing what you love and loving what you do...
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