The original title of this post was “HDV Sucks.” Now, I’ve changed the title to something a little less harsh, but have no doubt, this is a contrarian post.

Isn’t it amazing that the same little tapes that hold an hour of standard definition DV footage can also hold an hour of HDV footage. It seems like a miracle. It seems too good to be true. We’ll explain how this works.
First, let’s keep the definitions straight. Standard defintion (SD) and high definition (HD) refer to the resolution of the frame, whereas DV and HDV refer to recording formats (or how the video is stored) on tape. There are several flavors of HD and several recording formats for both SD and HD. This article is only concerned with HDV and DV the most popular formats for consumer and prosumer video cameras. Both formats record to miniDv tapes. Though some HDV cameras require special hi-fidelity tapes, they will work either way.

The difference between standard defintion (SD) and high definition (HD) is a matter of pixels. HD video has more of them. We generally use the word “resolution” to describe the number of pixels in an image. For example, the resolution of a frame of SD video is 720×480 and the resolution of a frame of HD video is 1440×1080. You may have seen the term “1080i” thrown around. This refers to the 1080 vertical lines of resolution in the image with interlaced frames.

So, there is a lot more information in a frame of HD than there is in a frame of SD. Yet, somehow they require the same amount of tape. The data rates for both HDv and Dv are around 25 Mbit/sec (or 3.5MB/sec). To put the data rate in context, here are some other data rates worth knowing.

Cables:

• USB 1.0 - 12 Mbit/sec
• Firewire - 400 Mbit/sec
• USB 2.0 - 480 Mbit/sec
• Firewire800 - 800 Mbit/sec

Video Formats:

• DVD video (MPEG-2) - up to 9.8Mbit/sec (average is closer 6.5)
• Dv and DVCPro25 - 25 Mbit/sec
• HDv - 25 Mbit/sec
• DVCPro50 - 50 Mbit/sec
• DVCProHD - 100 Mbit/sec

Compression

The key to getting more pixels into the same amount of space is to use more compression. If you are concerned with image quality, it is important to learn the basics of how compression works in order to understand how it affects the recorded image.  There is a simple way to understand compression.  The encoding of the video is a description of the images that the player needs to put it on the screen.  When the video is compressed, the description is shortened by abbreviating and simplifying repeated sections and small details.  The data rates listed above can be thought of as the length of the description.

As video becomes more and more compressed, you will start to see more and more compression artifacts.  These are the boxy inconsistencies, you see on poorly encoded youtube videos.  Sadly, DVDs that try to pack a lot of extra features onto a single disc, often pay the price by cranking up the compression, sacrificing image quality.  These will often show up most notably in the dark areas of the frame.

MPEG compression, the kind used in DVD and HDV (but not miniDv), compressed the video in three dimensions.  That is, rather than just taking each 2D frame and compressing it by replacing of similar color by a simplified version, MPEG also, compressed in time.  If some area of the frame does not change from one frame to the next, it doesn’t need to described twice in the datastream.  This means, that MPEG compression artifacts can sometimes be more jarring as they jump in time.  A part of the frame may stay unchanged during a slow pan over a detailed area and then jump to catch up.  I have shot a fair amount of HDV and have not found this to be terrible, but it’s not great.

Why capture breaks in HDV

Now that we know something about the compression, we can discuss why there are so many difficulties capturing HDV.  If you have tried to capture HDV to Final Cut Pro, you may have noticed that often, FCP will choke and claim that there is no time code.  Or, the capture will take  a couple tries and produce several extraneous video files.  Recall that HDV is compressed in time as well.  That means, some frames are pieced together from previous frames.  Because of this, it can be hard for the capture to device to be clear about what is in a frame if you start at a random spot.  This is not really an excuse for the software and hardware developers but it at least gives something of a reason.  I have found that with both Sony HDV decks and Sony HDV cameras, the tape will cue up, then drop time code for an instant before sending data over the firewire cable.  This little hiccup immediately causes FCP to throw up a warning and abort.

If anyone know a good workaround for this, leave a comment below.

A few months ago, I edited a few segments for the Smithsonian Institute’s growing collection of online programming. It was a first for me in terms of the technology used to acquire the material, and the workflow there after. By the time it was finished, I was undoubtedly convinced this was the future of filmmaking, and I wanted to be a part of every step. So in addition to editing the pieces, I was given a job on location, that had no official title, as I was sure it was the first time being done.

Let me explain the gig, and how it was being produced. We were taping a full day of events including a live awards show for the Cooper Hewit Museum. We had three cameras scattered around the venue, shooting masters, close ups etc., the entire setup was relatively standard and uninteresting. However, the format we were shooting is what makes this article worth reading. Each camera was shooting on Panasonic’s AG-HVX200 3-CCD P2/DVCPRO HD camcorder.
It’s extremely robust, and gives the user a variety of different shooting options, including recording to the memory sticks known as P2 cards.

You either love em or hate em, as they come with limitations, the most note worthy being price and recording time. (A 16gb card, which was the largest at the time of shooting will get you 1 hour at DVCPro, 30 minutes at DVCPro 50 ((the format we were shooting) and a pretty tame 16 minutes at DVCPro HD), all that for about $1,000 bucks. We were determined to shoot tapeless, however, for a variety of reasons, but mainly for the sheer thrill with imminent disaster larking in every corner. We needed a way to shoot the main 2 hour event without missing a beat. Enter Focus Enhancements FS-100 firestore.

This 100 GB hardrive is known as a “direct-to-edit” digital video recorder, having the ability to record up to 100 minutes of DVCPRO HD footage, and an array of different formats including your standard DVCPRO and DVCPRO 50. And with a slew of additional features and a price tag of only $1,700 bucks (I use the term “only” loosely in comparison to the high cost of P2 cards), this was unquestionably the way to go for our shoot. In addition to the longer record times, the “direct-to-edit” feature of recording in standard MXF files and importing them into my avid without the need to digitize was very appealing. (with our finishing format being the internet, there is no need for an expensive deck, just plug in the firestore via firewire, and start cutting. more on this process later). the FS-100 is rugged and able to withstand the typical wear and tear of field recording. It is however, slightly bulky, at about the size of an old game boy, but does clip in well to a belt, or a variety of accessories that allow the hard drive to sit under the camcorder. (a popular example is the jimmy box) a creation of Jim ODonnell, who was actually one of the camera men shooting the event with us.

Another great feature is the ability for the unit to plug into a device equipped with a firewire port, and playback video like a deck. This feature gave birth to my on location duty of collecting the drives when they were full, plugging them into a DVCPRO deck, making the client a tape backup, then connecting the drive to my laptop, transferring the material onto a 1TB external LaCie drive, and finally deleting the footage allowing the camera to go and shoot additional material.

At the end of the day, the client left with a safe tape submaster. I had a drive all ready to plug in and start editing, and to top it off, some pretty great looking footage coming off an excellent camera. The whole process (with a bit of practice before hand) was safe, reliable and fast. There is no question, in a short period of time, true HD shooting and editing will be readily available to all filmmakers with a price tag way out of proportion to the quality achieved. Much like the ridiculous high quality of 8 mega pixils standard on all consumer still cameras today, tapeless HD will soon do the same.

Several years ago, I made a fun little documentary about college students and procrastination. The story centered on Princeton University, where the university has an official deadline for all written work at the end of each semester. The deadline is known as “Dean’s Date” because only a dean can grant an extension past that date. Many students gather in a courtyard between the dorms and the academic buildings to watch their classmates run to get their papers in on time. Over the years, this informal gathering has turned into a big spectacle. The marching band shows up and parades around the throngs of students enjoying free ice cream and popcorn. The documentary was generally well received and has screened many times…in my living room.

That’s probably as far as it will go. Why? Although I got permission from the students I interviewed, the marching band played a number of Disney classics. Acquiring the rights for music is more trouble than I want to deal with. The makers of hoop dreams got smacked for $15,000 because they filmed a scene at a birthday party and somebody owns the copyright to the song “Happy Birthday.”

This has always seemed a bit ridiculous to me. I recently came across an article about this problem of The Anti-Commons in Filmmaking. The title refers to an idea called the “Anti-Commons” where the difficulties and costs associated with acquiring permissions stifle creativity and innovation. The article gives some other examples and points a dead link at a study by two American University professors who did a thorough study of the problem. I hunted down the actual study. A PDF can be found here:

Untold Stories: Creative Consequences of Rights Clearance Culture for Documentary Filmmakers

All of these copyright issues can seem terribly confusing. I highly recommend the book, The Independent Film Producer’s Survival Guide: A Business and Legal Sourcebook, by Erickson, Tulchin, and Halloran. In addition to covering issues of licensing rights and permissions, this book is a great source for a ton of other legal questions that come up for indie filmmakers. Amazon is selling it for less than 17 bucks, definitely worth it.

Here is a link to my Technorati Profile. By posting this link on the blog, it allows Technorati to verify that I do in fact run this blog.

We just hot-swapped in a new design.  We are still working out some of the quirks.

I’m sure this one is going to get around the blogosphere pretty quickly. Some of the most influential DIY filmmakers on the net have gotten together to make what might be called the film festival 2.0. It’s called From Here to Awesome and features many of the online social networking principles that have been employed to do successful DIY film distribution: youtube, myspace, blogs, and audience control.

The masterminds behind this project are:

• Lance Weiler - Lance is the founder of The Workbook Project, a fantastic resource for filmmakers. He wrote and directed Head Trauma and The Last Broadcast
• Arin Crumley - Arin’s feature film Four-Eyed Monsters was distributed with an extensive no-budget marketing campaign that used just about every online social networking tool out there.
• M dot Strange - (real name: Michael Belmont) M made the internet sensation We Are the Strange, an animated film that premiered last year at Sundance.

Some relevant Videos:

• Lance Weiler talking about “truly independent” production in general and his film Head Trauma in particular:
• Trailer for We Are The Strange:
• Arin Crumley’s preview for Four Eyed Monsters. That’s Arin playing the lead:

The films of David Lynch are not for everybody (Lynch on IMDb). I am often hesitant to share his films with friends unless I know that they appreciate what might be called “the aesthetics of the weird.” That said, I think he’s really brilliant, especially when it comes to creative an immersing experience. Here are a few videos of Lynch giving his opinion of some trends in movie viewing and movie making. Both are really funny.

Also, going along with our previous post on ideas, here is David Lynch’s take on ideas.

Music is a perpetual problem for indie filmmakers.  Over at Rhythm Creation, they’ve got a great list of 10 great sites for getting free music and sound samples.  Most of the sites offer the music royalty free.  Some are only royalty free for non-commercial projects.  I checked out several of the sites and they look pretty good.  I especially recommend Sample Swap.

People always ask Neil Gaiman where he gets his ideas. The popular author of several books and screenwriter of the recent films Stardust and Beowulf has a lot to say about answering this question. His short answer:

‘I make them up,’ I tell them. ‘Out of my head.’

But before, you go and read his essay on the topic which I highly recommend, stick around here for what I think is the most effective tip for coming up with (and keeping) new ideas.

Here’s the short answer: write them down.

Sounds too simple to be the killer solution doesn’t it?

Maybe, but here’s the truth, writing down ideas eliminates a block to having them. If an idea has to hang around in your short term memory for a long time in order for it to get written down, that’s a serious stress on your brain. Your brain is not going to generate ideas if it’s just going to mean more stress, more work, more things to remember. When you write them down, you get them out of your head and then your brain is free to come up with more ideas, new ideas, better ideas.

Get the right tools

Personal productivity mavens will be familiar with the term “ubiquitous capture tool.” That’s a fancy term for a notebook and pen that you always have at hand. Ideas come all the time. Be ready.

I recommend choosing a notebook format that you like and stick with it. You will be surprised how fast you fill them and need to line them up on a bookshelf somewhere. Personally, I am a fan of the Circa notebooks from Levenger because I can rearrange the pages like its a binder but it doesn’t have the clunky metal rings. I know a lot of people swear by the Moleskine, also a good option. For the budget savvy, there is also the Hipster PDA (which I also use when even a notebook is too cumbersome). A Hipster PDA is just a stack of 3×5 index cards held together by a binder clip. You’ll find this has all kinds of other useful side effects. Any way you go, having a system makes a huge difference.

Okay, now go read Neil Gaiman’s essay on getting ideas and after every bit of advice he gives, add the words “and then write that idea down.”

As part of our New Year’s cleaning effort, my wife and I finally got around to organizing our bookshelves.  In the process, I found several great books that I had forgotten about.  Here’s my list of the top five film books that I forgot I owned.

1. Film as Art by Rudolph Arnheim - This book goes way back.  The author goes so far as to argue against new-fangled ideas like sound and color.  Regardless of whether you think all films should be B&W and silent, Arnheim does a stellar job of identifying the way a filmmaker puts his artistic mark on a film.
2. Film Form by Sergei Eisenstein - The classic collection of essays by the Russian montage master.  He really makes you think about what meaning is added to a pair of shots when they are edited together.  I also think his writings on rhythm are essential for any filmmaker.
3. What is Cinema? by André Bazin - These essays by the French film critic, André Bazin, do what only the best criticism can - explain why films are good rather than why they are bad.  Great lessons for filmmakers.
4. In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch - A quick and insightful read on what make a good cut, written by a master editor.
5. Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez - This book chronicles Robert Rodriguez’s rise to fame with his first indy feature, El Mariachi.  This book probably inspires more young filmmakers to go for it than any other out there.

Although most of these are pretty old, they contain a lot of great insights that could be helpful to any filmmaker.