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Camera Movement in Live Video Production

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On today’s Tech, No Babel: Camera Movement in Live Video Production

Most people get this wrong, but you don’t have to. Today, let’s talk about camera movement in live video production.

When someone says to pan a camera, do you know how to move it? Click here to learn about camera movement in live video production to find out:Click To Tweet

With a camera on a tripod, you can really only do three movements. You can pan, tilt, or zoom.

Pan means turning the tripod head left to right or vice versa. Everyone gets this one wrong. It’s not possible to pan up or pan closer.

To go up and down (kind of like nodding your head), you need to tilt.

Finally, zooming changes the apparent distance between the subject and the camera, but when you look at it, it also changes the relationship between the subject and the background, so a digital zoom will always produce a different effect than an optical zoom.

Now, place the tripod on wheels and you have two new ways you can move.

Dolly means to move the camera (tripod and all, not just lens) forward and backwards.

Truck means to move the camera (tripod and all) left and right.

Finally, if you raise the whole camera up (not merely tilting), but actually change the elevation of the camera, it’s called a ped up (if you’re moving a pedestal up) or jib/crane down (if you’re using a jib or crane). These each create slightly different effects since the relative position forwards and back will change in reference to the subject with a jib and won’t with a pedestal.

Watch the video for more on these movements.

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About this show:

If you do video or graphic design to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.

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Using a live video production camera

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On today’s Tech, No Babel: Using a live video production camera (note: This show is best consumed in video format)

Do you understand live production cameras?

Do you understand how to use a live video production camera? Click here to learn more about them:Click To Tweet

There’s a lot that’s different about live production cameras from DSLRs or even consumer camcorders.

Let’s start with the lens. A production lens has the ability to use a servo-controlled zoom as well as a mechanical focus. While the aperture is normally controlled with a CCU, it’s also possible to control that with a ring on the lens.

Production camera usually have a large view finder, but may also have an eye piece and even a flip-out viewfinder.

Normally, you’ll mount the camera on a tripod with both pan and tilt locks. The tilt lock should always be engaged when the camera isn’t being controlled by an operator.

Some cameras can be used as camcorders as well and may have configurations which allow studio control that can be removed for field use. These cameras may also be used handheld and their controls make that easy.

For more on how to use a production video camera, watch the video above.

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About this show:

If you do video or graphic design to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.

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Using communications systems (coms) in live video production

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On today’s Tech, No Babel: Using communications systems (coms) in live video production

I’ve tried all sorts of ways to communicate with a live video production team. I tried hand signals, text messages, two-way radios, a circuit I built based on cordless telephones, and other ideas. Sometimes, the professional way to do something is so superior that the other ways just pale in comparison.

Without this piece of equipment, live video production is much harder. Click here to see what it is:Click To Tweet

If you’re not using a professional communications system (aka coms) from companies like Telex or Clear-Com (which is what I show you), you’re missing out. Unlike many of the systems churches try and get away with, they provide clear full-duplex communication.

In today’s show, I give you a tour of my church’s communication system and tell you about a lot of the features. Like a lot of the past few shows, this one is pretty heavy on the visuals, so you’ll probably want to watch the video.

BTW, most people imagine headsets as being big things, but that doesn’t have to be the case. I show you two styles in this video, but for a review of the one I use when I’m on cam (or running the computer), click here: Review of the Point source Audio Lightweight Headset

Watch the video above for more about coms and how to use them.

If you’d like to chip in a few bucks, anything you do is appreciated. Just click this link to donate: http://patreon.com/paulalanclif

If you’d like to chip in a few bucks, anything you do is appreciated. Just click this link to donate.

About this show:

If you do video or graphic design to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.

How to Subscribe to the show (for free):

Subscribe on YouTube

For more questions, comments, or snide remarks, comment below or contact me at:

Facebook or Twitter

More video can be found on YouTube.com

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Answers to church tech questions on a second display, the triplehead2go, and Jans vista…again

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On today’s ChurchTechCast.com Q & A, Answers to church tech questions on a second display, the triplehead2go, and Jans vista…again

Here are the latest questions:

Hi Paul, I saw one of your your tutorials on ProPresenter 6. Thank you for putting that up.

 I successfully plugged in a 2nd monitor (7″ display monitor) to my macbook pro while testing my newly purchased ProPresenter 6. But rather than seeing the ‘Output’ feed on the connected monitor all i see is the desktop wallpaper! Instead, I see another window pops up on the Macbook pro whenever i activate the ‘display’ button from ProPresenter showing the output- while the 7″ monitors keeps the wallpaper image. What am i doing wrong Please?

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Gbenga Akintokun

—

Click here for answers to church tech questions on a second display, the triplehead2go, and Jans vista:Click To Tweet

Hello Paul!

I have a quick question for you. I’m using ProPresenter 5 with 1 60in Flat screen connected with a mini-display port to hdmi cord. I would like to add another 60in flat screen and a small 32 in stage display using the Matrox Triple HeadToGo T2g-D3D-IF. So far i’ve been using a 2012 macbook pro maxed out with a TB SSD and 16GB of ram with splendid results. I just want to make sure Ill be able to support two more screens with the Matrox Triple Head2Go. Any suggestions are welcome. 

Asa Gandy

—

Paul,

[H]ow [do I] control a Jans/Vista lighting console from a ProPresenter 6 presentation.

I did exchange some emails with the ProPresenter head guy and he has made it clear that the communications module will only ever be available on Mac.  We are a Windows shop so I’m not really very happy with this position. 

So, what alternatives might there be to make this happen?

JH

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About this show:

This show is meant to help church techies the world over get their questions answered. Paul Alan Clifford specializes in video, graphic design, social media, new media, and the web. If there is something you want to know that’s outside these areas of expertise, given some time, he’ll do his best to find the answer from other experts he knows.

If you do tech at your church or you use computers to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.

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Using camera control units for live video production

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On today’s Tech, No Babel: Using camera control units for live video production

One of the differences between consumer video cameras and professional ones is that in a studio configuration, the shader can use CCUs (camera control units) to adjust aperture, gain, and shutter speed, as well as painting the cameras as necessary.

What are camera control units and how do you use them? Click here to find out:Click To Tweet

Unlike the human eye, cameras don’t see light as white, but as various shades. Professional cameras don’t adjust their aperture automatically. In consumer cameras, this is handled automatically, with various degrees of success. Professionals don’t trust automatic systems. That’s where camera control units come in.

A ccu (camera control unit) can adjust the camera remotely so the camera op just has to focus on shot composition, zoom, and focus.

In a professional system, CCUs handle white balance and color correction (painting) too. This means that changes in the light that the camera captures are adjusted for by the shader. Whether that means, re white balancing or tweaking the colors (in a process called painting), the CCUs do the job.

Usually, all the CCUs for the system are located together and a single person is responsible for these controls.

To learn more about CCUs, watch the video above.

If you’d like to chip in a few bucks, anything you do is appreciated. Just click this link to donate.

About this show:

If you do video or graphic design to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.

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Video transition meanings in a live video production

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On today’s Tech, No Babel: Video transition meanings in a live video production

One of the easiest ways to tell if someone is new to video is their choice of transition. Video newbies think that the art of creating a video is in choosing “cool transitions,” but that’s usually not the case.

What transitions should you use for live production? Probably not the ones you think. Click here for more:Click To Tweet

Transitions mean things in video and “cool transitions” usually mean “I’m not all that good at the other aspects of video, so I’m going to choose something to snazz up the video otherwise.”

So, what should you use? I suggest that the better choice is to use mostly cuts. Why? A cut takes so little time and correlates to so few things in our possible experience that our brains don’t notice well-executed ones. How do you make a well-executed cut? Switch between two shots that are at least 30% or 30 degrees different. By doing so, the viewer won’t notice.

The next most common transition should be the cross-dissolve. Some people refer to these as fades, but a fade is a similar transition that moves to and from black (as in the image fades away).

Cross-dissolves show change in time or location. They can also add beauty to a shot, especially when transitioning from something concrete (like a singer or speaker) to something abstract, like bokeh. Use these sparingly, even during music.

The third most common transition is the fade to black (or fade up from black). These transitions are similar to a sunrise or sunset and indicate a change in content or the beginning or end of something.

What remains is everything else. Use these transitions sparingly (in contrast to a video newbie) and only with very good reasons (“it looks cool” isn’t a very good reason).

For more on the language of transitions, watch the video above.

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About this show:

If you do video or graphic design to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.

How to Subscribe to the show (for free):

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Using a live video production switcher

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On today’s Tech, No Babel: Using a live video production switcher

If you don’t know what they all do, looking at a live video switcher can boverwhelming. Let’s face it, it looks like if you hit the wrong button, the Death Star will blow up Alderann. (There’s a reason for that. The controls of the Death Star in Star Wars were just a repurposed video switcher.)

With all its buttons, a live video production switcher can seem overwhelming, here’s how to use it:Click To Tweet

At its most basic, a switcher switches between video sources. So, you’d expect a button for each video source. Those buttons are grouped into buses.

The first is the preview bus. Hit a button there and you’re telling the switcher which video source you’re planning on transitioning to.

The second bus is the program bus. This shows what’s currently being sent to the output. If you need to, you can tap any button on the program bus and instantly switch to the that source.

Finally, we have the ME (or mix/effect) bus. This set of buttons tells the switcher what source should be used for keys (and other effects) placed on top of (or downstream) of the program bus.

To transition between the preview and program bus, you have three options. You can use the cut or auto-trans buttons or the t-bar. Typically, you’ll use the cut button, since the cut is the most common transition.

The auto-trans button and the t-bar do all other transitions. The auto-trans button does the transition at a predetermined rate, in the case of our switcher at my church, that’s 20 frames. The t-bar can be faster or slower, depending on the rate at which it’s moved.

While not done a lot anymore, you can stop the transition in the middle by pausing with the t-bar.

Finally, we have the keyers. There are three common types of keys. Chromakey is the kind that meteorologists use when they stand in front of a green wall and the switcher removes the green and replaces it with a weather map.

A luma key removes either black or white, but depending on your switcher, fine shades of each may or may not be affected.

Finally, there’s an alpha channel. An alpha channel is another set of information that tells the switcher exactly what should be removed and in what amounts, so you can have both transparency and translucency.

Like the transition section, the keyers can cut or auto-trans in and out.

For more on how to use a switcher, watch the video above.

If you’d like to chip in a few bucks, anything you do is appreciated. Just click this link to donate: http://patreon.com/paulalanclif

If you’d like to chip in a few bucks, anything you do is appreciated. Just click this link to donate.

About this show:

If you do video or graphic design to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.

How to Subscribe to the show (for free):

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For more questions, comments, or snide remarks, comment below or contact me at:

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More video can be found on

Directing a live video production

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On today’s Tech, No Babel: Directing a live video production

When you’re directing a live video production there’s a lot to think about…and even more to say. So, how do you get good at it? I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

Live production cameras

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On today’s Tech, No Babel: Live production cameras

Because of a lack of funds, most churches don’t ask, “What do we need?” but “What’s the least we can get away with?” This sometimes yields some interesting results, but the truth is when you start by asking what the least is, you’re actually asking the wrong question. You need to be able to do the job, not save money by buying equipment that won’t do it.

What kind of camera should your church get for live video production and what kind should you avoid? Watch this to find out:Click To Tweet

Ideally, you’d use a bona fide production camera. This type of camera can be modified to operate in a studio configuration. What this means is that all color and exposure settings can be run from a remote device, called a CCU (camera control unit), it has pan-bar mounted zoom and focus controls, a viewfinder, and a motorized zoom lens.

Unfortunately, these cameras are pricey. So, what’s a church to do? Here are a few things you shouldn’t do.

Don’t settle for a webcam. With webcams coming in 1080p, you might be tempted to go this route. Don’t. These cams are designed for running up close. That means they have wide lenses, so unless you get close to the pastor, he/she will be very small in the final image.

Don’t settle for a DSLR. DSLRs take beautiful video (you’re looking at one as you watch the video above), but they’re not designed for live. They don’t all output a clean signal (without the overlays that show what the camera is doing) or even a standard one. Additionally, they don’t have video lenses. So, while the image is awesome when still, trying to zoom live produces unpredictable results.

Don’t settle of a security camera. These cameras aren’t designed for videography, but to catch people doing bad things. Additionally, they don’t often have motorized zoom lenses.

Look instead for a prosumer camcorder that can take a zoom control. They’re out there and you’ll get better results with them than with any other set up, but they’ll save you thousands of dollars over a production camera. This savings does come at a cost, but for most churches, that cost is a level of flexibility and control that you can get by without.

For more on live production cameras, watch the video above.

If you’d like to chip in a few bucks, anything you do is appreciated. Just click this link to donate.

About this show:

If you do video or graphic design to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.

How to Subscribe to the show (for free):

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For more questions, comments, or snide remarks, comment below or contact me at:

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More video can be found on YouTube.com

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Live Video Production Equipment

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Live Video Production Equipment

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On today’s Tech, No Babel: Live Video Production Equipment

Live production takes more equipment, and generally speaking, more expensive equipment than recording several cameras and editing the footage together later. The advantage is time.

So what do you need to do live production?

If your church wants to do live video, what do you need? It depends. Click here to learn more:Click To Tweet

Cameras — Studio cameras which output live video and have production features are a must.

Tripods — Your cameras will need support to keep shots steady.

CCUs — For production cameras, outboard controls called Camera Control Units enable you to open the iris, tweak the gain, and even change colors (or paint) the cameras.

Zoom controls — Controls that allow smooth and even zoom of the lens, enable more dynamic shots.

Focus controls — On production cameras, you don’t trust autofocus. Instead, you zoom in all the way, focus and zoom out.

Lighting — The human eye sees more contrast in the world than cameras do, so we use light to fix that problem.

Sound — Sound really matters to video, so make sure that’s as good at the final destination as in person.

Switcher — When you have multiple video sources, you need to switch between them. That’s why we use a switcher (not a mixer; mixers mix sound, but switchers switch video).

Comms — Don’t try and get by with hand signals and two-way radios. Get something duplex (so you can interrupt a talkative person) and with better quality. ClearComm and Telex are two brands.

Computer/CG — To put text, graphics, and preproduced video into your system, use worship software or a dedicated computer system that interfaces with your switcher.

Before you decide which of the following you need to use, you need to decide if you’re doing live video to record, to display (like IMAG), or for a remote audience.

Displays — Display the video on site. Examples are televisions and projectors.

Encoder, Internet, live streaming host — If you’re live-streaming, you’ll need all three of these to get the video to a place where it can be viewed online.

Recorder — If you’re saving the video for later, you’ll need a tape-based or Hard Drive based recording system.

For more information, watch the video above.

If you’d like to chip in a few bucks, anything you do is appreciated. Just click this link to donate.

About this show:

If you do video or graphic design to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.

How to Subscribe to the show (for free):

Subscribe on YouTube

For more questions, comments, or snide remarks, comment below or contact me at:

Facebook or Twitter

More video can be found on YouTube.com

Also check out my Google+ page