DV in "true" scope + Magic Bullet
 

OK. So I shot this music video using the Sony PD150 with an Optex 16x9 converter. I used the iternal 16x9 switched on. This produces an 2.35:1 anamorphic image. In PAL you can blow this up to 720p HD by simply scaling it sideways only.

I found this method to be very neat. There is no cropping lines of resolution whatsoever. This is also the first project I used Magic Bullet on. 3min 35sec video took almost 30hours to render on a dual 450 G4. The deintelacing works like a dream. In the last image you can clearly see the vignetting of the Optex. The lens is at it's widest but it's outside of the TV safe area.

http://www.operafilm.com/dvscope.html

In September I'm shooting a feature film this way for later blow out to film. This scope method limits your optics somewhat but in return I'll get every working pixel up there on the screen.

Uh huh huh huh...
Huh huh huh...
She's nekkid....

<g> j/k

Seriously though, those stills look GREAT!

Behave Dylan! She's not nekkid ;)

Martin, these stills do look great and their quality gives a high degree of validity to your process of "double 16x9" (I don't know what else to call it).

What would you think about posting copies of these still onsthe VX2000/PD150 Companion website, along with a link back to you and a plug about what you're doing?

those screenshots look really good. Any chance to see the actual video?

Chris,

that sounds like a good idea. I can also provide you with further images (of a very different type) in a few days. Go ahead and post them on the VX2K/PD150 companion.

atomicworkshop,

I'm currently short on web space but will have som clips up later. You can watch it very low res (RealPlayer) at http://www.lionheart-int.com/ann/AWsmall.rm

Hey, that was great! As I keep telling people, in the proper hands, Digital Video is the future. I was really impressed with the videography. Any chance you could post or write up a detailed account of how you did the video (equipment, software, etc.) Also, I am interested as to how you did the "crush out to white" transitions, some setting using magic bullet?

Best of luck on your feature, and I hope that video gets you some more work.

Dean

Awesome work man!
 

If you could please let us know how you put this together including your post work. Best i've seen in a while..
Here some tests I ran a while back regarding 16x9 internal, anamorphic and both (2.35)

http://members.cox.net/vx2000/

Thanks, Steve

Hi Martin,

Would you mind clarifying a few things you mentioned?

"In PAL you can blow this up to 720p HD by simply scaling it sideways only."

What do you mean? - Especially by "sideways only" - wouldn't that further increase the aspect ratio (and distort the image)? What is the rez of 720p that you are blowing up to? Are you blowing up in AE?

"There is no cropping lines of resolution whatsoever."

Not sure what you're referring to by "cropping lines"...Are you referring to the sharpness of the Bullet process, the anamorphic process, or the blowing up?

I'm glad to hear that the Magic Bullet is working well for you. I spent a good chunk of time playing around with the demo on a three minute trailer (also took *forever* to render). I really liked the "Looks Suite" controls for tweaking the image but didn't get very good results in the deinterlacing process when going from NTSC interlaced to 24 progressive. (I'm assuming you use a PAL PD-150?)

Thanks for showing your wares,
Clayton

vx2000bb,

glad you liked it. I saw your post in the 2-pop forum and commented on the Mpeg-2 format as not very suitable for webpublishing. Hope you put up at least an Mpeg-1 version.

Clayton,

PAL is 720x576. 720p is 1280x720. If we blow up the anamorphic PAL frame to the 720p frame we only have to stretch it sideways to get the correct size and aspect ratio. If you do this in NTSC you also have to stretch it verticaly since NTSC is only 720x480.

The anamorphic attachment and internal 16x9 switched on compressses all 2.35:1 information on the 4x3 DV format. This has to be streched out verticaly to HD or squeezed horizontally for correct viewing in SD.

Normaly you have to crop lines by adding black bars to get the 2.35:1 format on SD. With the double 16x9 method you use every pixel and every line you ever shot. The more image resolution we gain in SD the better.

The Orphanage (makers of Magic Bullet) does not recommend shooting in NTSC. Deinterlacing 60i to 24p is almost impossible to do. I deinterlace from 25i PAL to 25p. It's very close to perfect.

Update!
 

I've updated the page with a little more content on the "double 16x9" project.

http://www.operafilm.com/dvscope.html

Thanks for sharing Marting. If you are using electronic 16:9
(from the camera) you are loosing quality at least. Your resolution
stays the same, but you are loosing quality since the anamorphic
signal is created electronically and is not derived from a lens or
16:9 CCD chips.

Footage looks great though! What lighting setups did you use?
Any more information you can give?

Thanks.

Rob,

Yes, shooting 16x9 electronic looses original camera quality. I don't use as much of the CCD as you do in 4x3. It's like moving down a bit in CCD size. Equivalent to the PD100 but with the features of the PD150 (like better lens, less noise, audio features and so on). I turn down sharpness a lot since the faux 16x9 mode has a lot of edge enhancement.

My lighting kit (on this project) consisted of a Cine Magic Tubelight System (4 bank) and two red heads. I protect from flares with a Chroziel DV mattebox (4x4). I also used a specially made light rig I picked up from reading books on 40's cinematography in Hollywood. I have four very small bulbs placed as eyelights on the camera that I can move on tiny arms. I don't use a dolly but an E-Track system.

To me the 2.35:1 format is the ultimate for compostion. That's why I'm doing it this way. It could not be done with an ENG style camera since there are no anamorphic adaptors for regular ENG lenses. Looking forward to previewing a 35mm anamorphic print.

Magic Bullet?
 

I'm not familiar with Magic Bullet but I've seen it refereced several times on this board. What does it do?

thanks,

It turns interlaced video into progressive by merging the fields using a fuzzy logic algoritm. You can also make your footage behave more like film with one of the plugins and it has a very good letterboxer and broadcast safe plug.

Hi
I maybe e missed something but I do not understand you right:

<...PAL is 720x576. 720p is 1280x720. If we blow up the anamorphic PAL frame to the 720p frame we only have to stretch it sideways to get the correct size and aspect ratio. If you do this in NTSC you also have to stretch it verticaly since NTSC is only 720x480. ...>

To me in your exsample you have to blow 720 to 1280 and 576 to 720, you have to strech always in both directions. The diference is that in PALyou have 576 to 720 and in NTSC 480 to 720, you never get the 720 lines for free.

Or am I wrong??

Anyway, congarulations for the images, they are very nice

Istvan

Actually yes, you are wrong =)

Remember, that the 1280x720 is the entire image INCLUDING the black letterbox bars to make it 2.35:1

So if we remove a 4.th of 720 (720/4 = 180) for the letterbox bars, we get 540 (720 - 180 = 540) lines worth of visible image area. Since PAL is 576 high we actually have 26 lines to spare, but NTSC being 480 would mean that we are 60 lines short.

I need an anamorphic lens :) ,
Henrik

Thanks for helping, I do understand the propotion issue and I see why PAL is more of help.
Where I still have problems is with the question: are we in this case in 720p? I have problems with the progressiv definitions all over, not only here.
Istvan

I'm in the midst of shooting a feature film using the double 16x9 method so I might not be able to reply for a while. Henrik, you are right (hello neighbour). The method is impossible in NTSC because of the lack of vertical lines. The "gap" betweeen 720 and 576 is the 2.35:1 letterbox.

It's VERY hard to shoot this way. You absolutely have to have a dual monitor setup. One displaying the image straight and one in 2.35:1 image format for checking compositions. I'll post images of my own setup using a PowerBook as a "hub" soon. I use a great app called BTV Pro for displaying the DV stream (via FireWire) in the correct aspect ratio on the fly. I'm also using the PowerBook for vectorscope checks.

We have been shooting for two days (three weeks to go) and have got some absolutely smashing images. I'll post them later too...

Hi Martin =)

Please post your setup and images. Judging by the images from the music video, it should be worth every bit downloaded :)

I'm also very interested in your setup and how you use this method. It's nice to see that im not the only one using vectorscopes and waveform monitors. (Though for the record, i've noted a lot of the posters here use it aswell =)

I'm shooting a very low budget music video this sunday (on my 30th b-day actually :) but will shoot it in normal 4:3 and crop it to 16x9 manually since i do not have any anamorphic lens yet. (If i had a budget, i would have bought one, but i did get a glidecam :)

Regards,
Henrik

Could these effects be duplicated on a XL1 or XL1s?


Ohh i am about to shoot a small starwars movie (i am gonna get sued *grins*) and we really want that huge feel...

Is there anywhere i can get info on how to set up these lighting rigs to get that real dark atmospheric look...

I am really fresh with all this so i need the ultimate kiddy gloves replies.

kermie

I dont see why not, the XL1s has incamera 16:9 has it not? But remember that you wont get any resolution gain unless you edit & output your final to 720p (is that the correct name?) which is 1280x720 in image size. If you are outputting back to DV then you will still be using 720x576 (assuming we're talking PAL). So if you want the 2.35:1 ratio you will crop a large portion of that.

So for the easy answer, if you plan to output the finished result only to video then dont bother. If you have any plans to output to HD or even blowup to film, then this will give you the best result without going to a true HD camera.

/Henrik

Here are some more updates on the project I'm working on. The images are dumps we made from the "god" setup using a PowerBook G4 connected to the PD150 and BTVPro (excellent app!). The images are very low res. These images have not passed through any type of CC or filmlooking yet.

http://www.operafilm.com/campslaughter.html

I'll post more later when I have more time. I'll post images of the camera setup on site.