Starting up with a dSLR and Sony Vegas

What a huge success these Canon dSRLs are these days! Everyone with a little interest in filmmaking now hurries to acquire one of these cams too. The problem is that the h.264 format these dSLRs (and other HD digicams) are recording is not exactly "friendly" on the PC side. Here's a guide on how to use that h.264 dSLR/digicam format properly with a PC editor.

1. Install the software

I will be using Sony Vegas Platinum in this article, because it's the only consumer video editor that supports 24p editing — a key feature that these dSLRs have is 24p recording. Platinum is in my opinion the most powerful consumer video editor, and costs ~$75. Yes, I could suggest a professional editor here, but honestly, Platinum does most of what you'll ever need to do, for a fraction of the price.

2. Shoot the footage

There are three things you should setup in your camera: frame rate, exposure, picture style. If you're shooting a music video or film go for 24p/25p, if you're shooting sports go for 50/60p, and if you're shooting daily random stuff go for 25p/30p. Either use manual exposure to setup your shots, but if you're not very accustomed on how to do that, just use automatic exposure, but make sure you actually "lock it" (so the brightness doesn't jump in the footage every time your scene changes). Finally, go for a flatter picture style, or if you prefer more punch, use the built-in "Neutral" style. Definitely don't go for the over-the-top "Standard" default style though, it's color-ungradeable. Looks too video-y.

If you're using a plain HD digicam from Canon, also ease-up the colors, and always lock exposure (read the manual on how to do that).

When done shooting, create a folder on your computer that will host all the project files. Copy the MOV files in there from your flash card.

3. Transcode your footage

PC editors just don't deal fast-enough with the Canon MOV format. Some editors do better than others, but if you want 24p, you'll have to stick with Vegas Platinum — and in that case you'll have to transcode to an easier-to-decode "intermediate" format. I would suggest Cineform NeoSCENE ($100), but if money is an issue, you can go with the freeware AVID DNxHD. Here is a comparison between the two:
– Cineform is much faster to encode during transcoding,
– Cineform is much faster to decode/playback,
– AVID DNxHD has slightly better quality (not noticeable usually),
– AVID DNxHD is free.

You might also hear others suggesting the Huffyuv or Lagarith intermediate formats. I'd suggest against them, since they're slow as molasses, even on the fastest PCs. Others, might suggest you go with the Proxy method, but again I'd suggest against it, because when you do the final switch to the original MOV files, you will get more frequent crashes than usual during exporting (especially on more complex projects). So, once you've made your decision between the two intermediate formats, here's how to use each:

  3a. Cineform NeoSCENE
Download and install NeoSCENE (use the trial version first, to make sure it works on your system, and if it does, uninstall properly before installing the purchased version). Load the utility, load its preferences, and make sure you're using the AVI format, the path to the folder you created on step #2, "High" quality, and the "maintain source format" option. Then, load the MOV files to the utility, and start the conversion. This will create AVIs on the same folder, typically at double the filesize (it's normal for intermediate formats to create large filesizes). Conversion will be rather fast.

  3b. AVID DNxHD
Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to install the codec (need to be done only once), then batch-convert dSLR footage into AVID DNxHD. Just make sure you select the right frame rates/resolutions in the dialogs, depending on how you actually shot. Also, create these DNxHD MOV files into a sub-folder in the main project folder, because otherwise you wouldn't know which MOV files are what format.

4. Load footage into Vegas

Load Vegas. After the initial screens go away, load the Cineform AVIs or the DNxHD MOVs into Vegas' "project media" tab (you can drag-n-drop them). IF you are using Cineform, you must do a one-time check. You must check if Vegas recognizes these AVIs as progressive or as interlaced. Because the AVI format does not have a field for field order, it's up to you to instruct Vegas what kind of files these are. So, follow this tip on how to do that. When you do that, come back to read the rest here.

5. Setup Project Properties

In Vegas, it’s very important to have the right project settings before you start editing. From the main menu select “Project Properties”, and a new dialog will pop up. In there, click the right outmost icon called “Match Media”, the one that looks like a yellow folder. From there, select one of the files you will be editing with (Cineform AVI or DNxHD MOV), and click “open”. Vegas will now automatically fill up most of the project settings for you, after analyzing the video file you picked. After it does that, you need to do a few changes manually to that dialog: For the de-interlacing option select “none”, and for the Quality option select “Best”. You can save a new template with these settings, so each time you start a new project with the same kind of resolution/frame-rate, you can just pick it from the list! So, after your project settings are set, click “Ok”, and edit as you would normally do. Save often. Here is my Vegas getting-started guide.

6. Ensure visual quality

After you have edited, select ALL clips in the timeline (e.g. by using the SHIFT key), right click, select "Switches", "Disable Resample". By disabling resample we ensure no ghosted final image (especially if you used slow-motion). I have more such cool tips here, that you should read.

7. Export

Export your final for YouTube/Vimeo/PS3/AppleTV/XBOX360 from this tutorial, by just using its step 3 (or step 4 if you have access to the SONY AVC encoder via Platinum version 9+).

If you're after DVDs, then use the right MPEG2 widescreen template on the "RENDER AS" dialog. This will export video only. For audio, use the AC3 template. Then, bring both files into DVD Architect (companion application to Vegas Platinum), and DVDA will put the two back together.

If you're after Blu-Ray or "AVCHD disks", just use the option from the main menu. If you get crashes with the Sony AVC encoder when burning HD, change the burning encoder setting to "Main Concept".

The best MP3s in SxSW's gift

The popular SxSW festival is about to start, and the organization has already put out over 1000 legally-free mp3s for everyone to download. The Torrent weighs about 5.4 GBs, and it can be daunting to find out what's good in there.

But I got your back. I spent most of the day yesterday going through these MP3s, and while I might have missed some good tracks, here are my top-50 tracks in the collection (right click to 'save as').

1. Living Things – Oxygen
2. Scanners – Salvation
3. Glint – Freak
4. We Are Wolves – Blue
5. Hey Champ – Cold Dust Girl
6. Wiretree – Back in Town
7. Keepaway – Yellow Wings
8. Jenny Owen Youngs – Led to the Sea
9. Surfer Blood – Swim
10. Rubik – Wasteland
11. Anya Marina – All The Same To Me
12. We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices
13. Twin Tigers – Automatic
14. I am Empire – You're a Fake
15. Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer
16. Hollerado – Fake Drugs
17. The Walkmen – In the New Year
18. The Moondoggies – Changing
19. The Low Anthem – Charlie Darwin
20. The Melismatics – Digging Deep
21. The 88 – Love Is The Thing
22. Pictureplane – Goth Star
23. Land of Talk – Some Are Lakes
24. Choir of Young Believers – Action Reaction
25. Crystal Antlers – Swollen Sky
26. Barcelona – The Takers
27. Darker My Love – Blue Day
28. Imaad Wasif – Fangs
29. Freelance Whales – Generator 2nd Floor
30. The Depreciation Guild – Dream About Me
31. Pantha du Prince – The Splendour
32. Solid Gold – Synchronize
33. Memory Tapes – Memory Tapes
34. The Mynabirds – Numbers Don't Lie
35. The Golden Filter – Hide Me
36. Minipop – Precious
37. Superdrag – keep it close to me
38. UUVVWWZ – Berry Can
39. Ume – The Conductor
40. The Ruby Suns – Cinco
41. Vandaveer – Divide and Conquer
42. Yes Giantess – Tuff'n'Stuff
43. CFCF – Big Love
44. The Pack A.D. – Crazy
45. Dappled Cities – The Price
46. Balmorhea – Bowsprit
47. Ruby Isle – So Damn High (Will Eastman Club Edit)
48. Body Language – New Day
49. Awesome Color – Transparent
50. Woodhands – Pockets

"Future of Humanity" by Midnight Strangers

A short film disguised as the official music video for Midnight Strangers‘ "Future of Humanity" single. This is my 5th music video, and my first foray into narrative story-telling (even if within the form of a music video). Free HD download here.

This was the longest project I've been involved into so far, with 7 hours of shooting in the first batch, and another 4 hours for the re-shoots. We actually re-shot half of the video again, with a different location & female lead. If I had my way, I'd use different locations for the scenes shown from 1′:12″ to 1′:25″.

Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II at 30 fps, and then it was slowed-down to 24p. Majority of footage was shot with the Canon f1.4 50mm lens. My own "ExtraFlat" Picture Style was used (minimum color grading was done in post, it just came out exactly as I wanted it to).

Band of the Week: Sin Fang Bous

Iceland's Sin Fang Bous (also known for his Seabear band), is marrying folk with '60s rhythms, and a good dose of experimental sounds in his solo album. Download "Catch the Light" for free.

Interview with Veil Veil Vanish

I shot for TheOWLMag (by using my Canon 5D Mark II with a 50mm f1.4 lens) the following interview with this fresh Bay Area band, Veil Veil Vanish, about their new album. The band, which is compared to The Cure by the media, played their CD release party in San Francisco last night — I interviewed this amazing band just before that performance. Unfortunately we could not stay for the show though. IMAGE REMOVED

You can freely download the two tracks heard on the video at the LA Weekly article here.