4. & 5. Multicamera Video Recording

Assignment Requirements

• get permission to record by a director or applied professor in charge first

• work in pairs for assignment 4 & 5

• not required to work with the same partner for assignment 4 & 5

• every student in the class must be completely in charge of setting up the gear (including the settings in menus on the gear) for *either* assignment 4 or 5 (without help) while their partner does nothing but run one of the non-safety cameras

• every student in the class must separately edit footage for both assignment 4 & 5

Assignment 4

• video/audio record one piece of music (may be a single movement) at a recital or concert

• use all 3 video cameras and an external audio recorder with at minimum of ORTF stereo mic setup (you may use up to 8 mics)

• edit the video in Davinci Resolve

• upload to Youtube and embed on your Wordpress site on a page dedicated to MUS1331 assignments

Assignment 5 - no longer required

• video/audio record an entire recital or concert

• use all 3 video cameras and an external audio recorder with at minimum of ORTF stereo mic setup (you may use up to 8 mics)

• edit the video in Davinci Resolve

• upload to Youtube and embed on your Wordpress site on a page dedicated to MUS1331 assignments

How to Record using Multiple Cameras

General tips

• 👏 visually clap (slate) three times to assist in later synching audio and video

• get performers’ permission and you may need a synchronization license

• use tripods (holding the camera with your hand is too shaky)

• use only optical zoom (don’t use digital zoom); buy camera with 20x or more optical zoom

• never stop recording on any of the cameras so aligning camera footage is easy

• ⏱️hold a shot for at least 10 seconds

• don’t shoot like spraying a garden hose = zoom/pan only between shots

• develop understanding of: shutter speed vs. frame rate, ISO (“gain”), and aperture (f-stop)

  • exposuretool.com

Camera settings:

• format the SD card (erases all data) - explained here in the Sony a6400 manual

• 24fps (frames per second) will look more film-like (motion blur)

  • set the Record Setting to 24p 50M - explained here in the Sony a6400 manual

  • set File Format to XAVC S HD (this will record 1080p video rather than 4k for smaller file sizes that will be easier to edit) - explained here in the Sony a6400 manual

• all cameras really need to be set to the same white balance; custom white balance or use a preset (such as “tungsten”) - explained here in the Sony a6000 manual

External Audio Recorder Settings:

• format the SD card (erases all data)

• uncompressed/lossless file type (AIFF, WAV)

• sample rate = 48kHz (to match the camera's sample rate)

• bit depth = 24-bit

• use ORTF stereo microphone setup

• Tips for the Zoom Fn8 (manual)

  • format the SD card (manual page 177)

    • MENU > SD CARD > Format

  • set the SD card to record separate tracks (manual page 25)

    • MENU > REC > Rec to SD1 > Track1-8 (Mono/Stereo WAV)

  • set the track knobs to adjust trim (preamp) rather than fader (mixing a L/R mix) (manual page 73)

    • MENU > SYSTEM > Track Knob Option > Trim

  • setup Trim Link for stereo recording so both mics have the exact same level (manual page 97)

    • MENU > INPUT > Trim Link

  • save battery by disabling outputs (manual page 114)

Typical 3 camera setup:

• Cam1 = “Safety” = fixed, wide angle camera that gets everything (turn off autofocus)

• Cam2 = manned camera hunting for medium & close up shots of performer(s)

• Cam3 = manned camera hunting for medium & close up shots of performer(s) AND b-roll footage = timeless reaction shots (of the audience, for example)

Composition

• use rule of thirds (turn on grid)

  • use lead space = space in front of where subject is facing

• avoid placing your frame edge on one of the body’s joints

• avoid too much headroom (or person looks to be sinking)

• avoid too little headroom (or focus will be on the person’s chin and neck)

• use a variety of Shot types (hold a shot for at least 10 seconds)

  • extreme long shot (XLS) = establishing shot - context for shots to follow

  • long shot (LS) = person from head to feet

  • medium shot (MS) = person from about waist up

  • closeup shot (CU) = person’s neck and head

  • extreme closeup shot (XCU) = one detail of a person

  • cut in = closeup shot of an object (such as the face of a watch or an instrument key)

more shot types = https://www.instagram.com/p/B6DZWA9ChDB/?igshid=pbgpx0ctas8h

Video Editing

Better performance while editing = Playback > Proxy Mode > Half (or Quarter) Resolution

• tutorial = https://youtu.be/S2yxFcm-te8?t=43s

• sync audio = https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=202&v=wUlxpk67Qaw

1. open Resolve.

2. choose the Media tab at bottom, then Import media (drag the audio and video files in)

3. Select all media, right click, select “New Multicam Clip Using Selected Clips…” and choose “Sound” as the Angle Sync

   • NOTE: if syncing with "Sound" does not work for another project of yours (it should work for the example files I gave you): click on each file, view the waveform, and add a "Mark In" by pressing "i" to each clip at the clap board and sync using "Mark In"

4. right click the new multicam clip, select “New Timeline Using Selected Clips…”

5. choose the Edit tab at bottom (and make sure playhead is at the beginning)

6. click on in the top right corner if you don't see two viewers (monitors)
7. change the left viewer (monitor) panel from Source to Multicam
8. choose hold Option (Mac) or Alt (PC) and click the audio “angle” (still has a red box)
9. choose hold Option (Mac) or Alt (PC) and click the first video angle (the video angle will now have a blue box and the audio "angle" will have a green box)
10. to “direct” = press play and choose camera with the mouse or number keys (don't ever choose the audio "angle" ... and note, you will leave on) ... you don't need to use the option key any more!
11. after you have played through the hole thing and changed camera angles (in number 10 above), you may want to adjust when a camera change occurs (you may have been a bit late or early) ... so in Selection Mode hover between two clips until you see the Roll Edit cursor click and drag left or right
12. When you are done: Deliver tab at bottom and choose a preset such as YouTube (or use MPEG-4 as container, H.264 as compression, AAC for audio)

To expand multicam clip to edit cameras/audio individually (to color grade or adjust sync):

• right click on multicam clip in timeline, select “Open in Timeline”

• to exit expanded view: double click timeline name in bottom left (e.g. Timeline < Multicam)

Saving Resolve Projects

When you work with Resolve on your own computer, you can just click "save" and your projects get saved in a database on your own computer.

BUT, if you work on a Resolve project in a university lab or on someone else's computer, you'll want to save it in a way you can open it again on another computer ... and you'll want all the media to stay with the project!

Export Project Archive ...

1. File > Project Manager ...

2. right click on the project you want to export and choose "Export Project Archive ..."

3. choose where you want it saved

4. when asked, make sure you put a checkmark on "Media Files" for options of what you want to include in the archive

5. if you want to then upload the archive to Box, I suggest you right click on the archive folder and compress it to a zip file

6. when you are ready to work on the project again, download the zip file, unzip it, and double click on the project file in the folder (a file with the extension .drp)