From my research, I have decided that the shooting style I wish to use is handheld, featuring some crash zooms at key moments. This suits the deadpan, macabre tone of the sit com as the zooms will be used to focus on the characters' actions and reactions. Therefore, the camera chosen will need to be light enough to shoot handheld for a considerable length of time and must be suitable for zooming, focusing and framing whilst handheld as well. VET-MAN will be shot in a single camera style but may be achieved using multiple cameras (for coverage and to ensure no action is missed as working with animals can be slightly unpredictable). This means that for consistency's sake, the Panasonic or DSLR may be the better option as there are multiple of these cameras available to use. However, if the JVC can produce similar looking footage to the Panasonic or DSLR then this may also be an option.
Panasonic DVX200
I started out by testing the Panasonic on a human subject - this was so that I could familiarise myself with the settings and which ones would produce the most natural looking result. To define natural - I wanted the footage to appear as similar to the image as seen by the human eye.
Although this camera can shoot in 4K (which is the method I would have liked to use), I was limited to shooting in FHD 1080p as the correct memory card was not in the camera case (and this memory card could not cope with shooting in 4K or UHD). This is something I will ensure won't happen in future by checking that the correct memory card has been put with the camera.
In the first part of the test shoot, I was looking for settings which would allow the sky to remain blue yet have a high enough exposure so that the subject was not dark and dull. This would then allow the best result in colour grading as I would not be using the colour grading to compensate for any lack of colour in the original footage - the grading would merely be used to enhance and define the original piece.
As well as deciding on the settings for the correct exposure, I wanted to ensure these settings were appropriate for the crash zooms I plan to do as well (i.e. the exposure remains correct on long, medium and close up shots). On top of this, I wanted to ensure that the controls on the camera were accessible enough to use to enable me to re-frame and re-focus whilst shooting handheld.
The only setting I was unable to change on the Panasonic camera was the ISO - this setting was not clear on the camera - therefore, I will perform more research into the camera to find out how to change this setting. As I couldn't find it for this test shoot, the ISO setting remained the same at 500.
Initially I tried shooting without an ND filter to see how the camera would cope in natural daylight in an outdoor setting. The ISO was set to 500, the aperture to F5.4 and the shutter speed to 1/50. As the aperture was quite wide and the shutter speed was quite slow, the image became quite washed out. The sky behind the subject appeared white instead of the natural blue as seen by the human eye, and the subject's skin appear washed out and slightly grey/blue in tone rather than the natural peach tone.
Following this, I amended the settings so that the overall image would appear darker and therefore more natural. This involved adding an ND filter of 1/4 and changing the aperture to F7.2 whilst the shutter speed remained at 1/50 and the ISO remained set at 500. This produced an almost ideal result with the sky retaining its natural blue look and the skin having a slight peach tone. However, due to the slightly darker look, the skin tone does look slightly dull - but as the rest of the image is almost ideal, this should be rectifiable in the colour grading process.
Although the ND filter 1/4 produced a good result, I wanted to see how the darker ND filter 1/16 would work. As this decreased the exposure of the image, I widened the aperture to F6.3 whilst the shutter speed remained at 1/50 and the ISO at 500. Whilst this produced a natural looking image, it was slightly too dark and made the subject and environment look darker than it appeared in actuality. This would therefore make it more difficult to colour grade to achieve a natural looking result as I would be compensating for the slight lack of exposure as well as enhancing the colours of the image.
The settings which produced the best result were ISO 500, aperture F7.6, shutter speed 1/50 with an ND filter of 1/4. This allowed for the sky to retain its light blue tone whilst exposing the subject enough so that their skin tone did not appear too dull and grey in tone. The skin is slightly less peach / pink in tone than my desired look but the correct exposure of the overall image allows for this to be adjusted in the colour grading process without affecting the other aspects of the image too much.
To also see what the camera is capable of, I decided the test out the gain settings. Whilst this was not necessary for a well lit outdoors setting, it may prove useful in darker settings with less lighting - I will test this in future test shoots. I kept the settings the same as they were for the ones that produced the best image and then just adjusted the gain. Switching the settings to medium gain washed out the sky so that it appeared white and also washed out the skin of the subject. This would make it difficult to colour grade as I would need to first correct the exposure and then go on to adjust the colour tones.
As medium gain was too brightly exposed for this setting, I knew high gain would produce an even more brightly exposed shot which is not desirable for this environment. This completely over exposed the image so that the only qualities that remained were the shadows i.e. the subject's beard and the darker trees in the background. High gain also increased the level of noise in the image (this is also true of medium gain, however, high gain increased this level further). This proves that to get the best quality image with the lowest level of noise, gain should be avoided (especially in well-lit environments where it is not necessary). I will test gain in darker settings to see whether gain is necessary for a well exposed shot or whether this can be avoided to save the quality of the image.
Overall the best settings for this well-lit outdoor environment were ISO 500, aperture F7.6, shutter speed 1/50 and using ND filter 1/4.
Following on from testing the camera on a human subject, I decided to test it on the animals we may be using as well. On top of this, I also wanted to test focusing, framing and zooming on the animals as their movements can be slightly unpredictable and I will need to get used to using the camera to follow their movements whilst keeping them well framed and in focus.
As I tested the camera settings on the human subject first, I knew the rough settings that would work to give the desired result. However, I did still change the settings slightly to discover the optimum result.
I started off with the settings ISO 500, aperture F7.6, shutter speed 1/50 and no ND filter. This produced a fairly accurate image when compared to how the image appeared to the human eye. The only issue with the look of this footage was the over exposure of the sky in the background which appears bright white through the trees. Whilst this is not terrible, it is not ideal.
To compensate for the bright white appearance of the sky through the trees, I added an ND filter 1/4 to decrease the level of light entering the lens. The other settings remained the same; ISO 500, aperture 7.6, shutter speed 1/50. This produced a slightly better image - the sky still appeared white and slightly overexposed but it was a lot more similar to the colour of the sky in actuality. These settings produced the best quality image with the best exposure which will allow for the best colour grading. The exposure barely needs to be modified, the colour grading will mainly focus on enhancing and defining the colour tones within the image.
To test the settings of the camera further, I decided to change the shutter speed as a faster shutter speed would reduce the motion blur but would also let less light into the sensor (so the aperture needed to be widened to compensate for the decreased exposure). Motion blur allows for the movement to look natural, but I wanted to see if a reduction of this would increase the quality of the footage whilst still retaining the natural look. The settings I used for this footage were ISO 500, aperture F7.4, shutter speed 1/60 and ND filter 1/4. This produced good quality footage and the movement of the owl looked natural, however, there was not a noticeable difference between the shutter speed 1/50 and 1/60 - and as the exposure of the footage taken with a shutter speed of 1/50 was better, I will opt for a shutter speed of 1/50. The exposure of this footage could be easily fixed in colour grading, however, I want to minimise the amount of colour grading I do so that the footage retains its natural look, therefore, shooting with a shutter speed of 1/50 would be preferred.
I then filmed a different owl so that I could get used to the movement of different animals. This owl was slightly easier to film as you could position its head to the desired position without hurting the animal (the same is true of the first owl, however, the second owl stayed in the desired position for longer). The first set of settings I used with this owl were ISO 500, aperture F7.2, shutter speed 1/60 and no ND filter. This produced a good quality image, however, the white areas of the owl's feathers appeared over exposed in some movements - this was due to the lack of ND filter - this could be corrected in the colour grading process as the overall exposure of the rest of the image was almost ideal.
I then changed the settings so that the aperture was wider and an ND filter added - these settings were; ISO 500, aperture F6.3, shutter speed 1/60 and an ND filter of 1/4. This produced a slightly darker image due to the ND filter, however, the wider aperture compensated for this a little. The wider aperture increased the depth of field of the image, the subject is in crisp focus whilst the background is completely blurred - this produced quite a cinematic yet still natural look which my desired look for this project. This image may also appear slightly darker due to being in a slightly more shaded area - I will need to consider changes in environment when deciding the settings as darker environments may call for a wider aperture / slower shutter speed / no ND filter.
As well as owls, there are also meerkats available for us to use in the project. As they are quite unpredictable in their movements, I really wanted to test zooming and framing whilst keeping them in focus. I feel this was quite successful as I had already determined (through the tests on the human subject and the owls) the ideal settings to use. I used an ISO of 500, aperture F7.2, shutter speed 1/60 and ND filter 1/4. The meerkat enclosure was out in the open so there was no shade to compete with - this informed my decision to use an ND filter 1/4 on this footage as the image would have been too exposed without. The slightly higher shutter speed allowed for a little motion blur which made the movement of the meerkats look natural yet sharp in quality. The aperture of this footage is quite wide which allows the meerkats to be in clear focus whilst the environment surrounding them is slightly blurred - giving the footage the desired natural cinematic look. As the exposure of this footage was correct, colour grading will be a lot more effective as I will not need to compensate for incorrect exposure - I will just be adjusting the colour tones to enhance the natural yet cinematic look.
Overall, the best settings to use with the animal subjects appeared to be ISO 500, aperture F7.6, shutter speed 1/50 and ND filter 1/4. This allowed for correct exposure whilst giving the footage the natural cinematic look.
To test how well the footage from the camera would work with the colour grading process, I decided to grade one take from the human subject tests and one take from the animal subject tests.
The original footage was well exposed with all the colours looking natural - however, to give it a slightly more cinematic look I wanted to increase the brightness slightly and bring back some warmth to the subject's skin. As shown below, the skin of the subject was slightly purple in tone, the grass a dull green tone, the sky a pale blue tone, the trees a dirty yellow and the t shirt a faint purple/blue tone. I wanted to make these colours more vivid and correct the skin to be less blue and more orange/peach.
The colour graded result has increased saturation, making the image more vivid and warm in tone. It still looks natural but has added the cinematic element I desired. The exposure has been slightly increased but still allows for the sky to retain its natural blue colour (as opposed to becoming a washed out white colour like the overexposed footage from the test). The skin has been given a peach tone and the trees / grass are less dull.
To achieve this look I used a LUT to give the cinematic element I was after. This LUT was called 'FGCineTealOrange'. The teal / orange colour scheme is similar to that used in Hollywood movies to give an instant cinematic look as the colours are almost opposite each other on the colour wheel - adding a cinematic contrast to the footage. However, as I still wanted the footage to look natural, I decreased the intensity of this LUT to 21%. I also added colour correction of my own - I added orange highlights, blue shadows and faint red mid tones - this combined helped to balance out the blue tone of the original image whilst allowing the footage to retain its natural look.
The original footage of the owl was exposed correctly so all that needed to be done in the colour grading process was adjusting the colour tones. I wanted to retain the natural green of the environment but increase the warmth in the owl's colourings to make it contrast more from the background. As shown below, the colours within the footage are all quite muted and faded, I wanted to slightly increase the saturation and add in warm colour tones to introduce contrast to the footage.
The colour graded result has a slight higher contrast and warmer colour tones - this is exactly the look I wanted to go for. The warm tones of the owl's feathers make it contrast from the muted greens of the background. The depth of field also works to this image's advantage as it makes the contrast between the owl and the background greater.
To achieve this look I used the same Orange/Teal LUT at a low intensity. This enhanced the warmth in the owl's feathers and muted the green of the background. Like with the human subject, I also added my own colour correction by adding light blue highlight, dark purple shadows and orange/red midtones. This footage still looks natural yet a little more cinematic than the original footage.
Below are some clips from the test shoot - displaying the different settings and colour grading in action whilst also showing the experiment with both crash zooming and slow zooming and trying to retain framing and focus when performing these actions on both human and animal subjects.
JVC GY-HM850
The second camera I tested was the JVC GY-HM850. This shot in 1080p so produced the same quality footage as the Panasonic DVX200.
The criteria I was looking for remained the same as with the Panasonic; it must look natural, the sky and subject should not be washed out, the camera must be easy to used when shooting handheld whilst focusing and framing the shot for zooms / crash zooms / following animal subjects.
The first thing I noticed about the JVC GY-HM850 was the weight of the camera - it was considerably heavier than the Panasonic - making it more difficult to handle. This lead to more shaky footage which wasn't as easy to focus and reframe - meaning that the Panasonic produced smoother, better quality footage.
Also, due to the viewfinder / eyepiece of the camera, it was difficult to judge when the image was in focus - this lead to a lot of the footage being in soft focus - this again is where the Panasonic has the edge - the screen of the Panasonic is a lot clearer meaning that the footage is a lot easier and quicker to focus which is necessary for following moving subjects and the zooms I plan to do.
Also, with the JVC, I couldn't find the settings for the ISO or how to turn off the auto-iris so I could only change the aperture and shutter speed. This also caused an issue when testing the ND filters as the auto-iris increased the exposure every time I added an ND filter - making the use of the ND filter pointless.
The first settings I used were aperture F5.6, shutter speed 1/50 and no ND filter - I could not find the ISO and the auto iris interfered a little. This produced a well exposed image - the sky retained its natural blue tone and the skin tone of the subject did not appear too dull (however, it did lack the warm peach tone that could be seen with the human eye). Due to the viewfinder being difficult to use, the image appears soft which affects the overall quality of the footage. This should make a good canvas for colour grading as the exposure is almost correct meaning that little manipulation needs to be done to this in the colour grading process - the main focus can go on adjusting the colour tones within the image.
I then decided to use a slightly wider aperture of F5.4 and a shutter speed of 1/50 but this time with addition of an ND filter 1/4. Despite the auto-iris, the image does appear darker - however, it is not as dark as it would have been without the interference of the auto-iris. Also, because of the auto-iris, there is some additional noise in the image as this has increased the exposure to an unnatural level to compensate for the addition of the ND filter. Overall, the exposure of this image is okay - it has produced a natural look - however, the noise in the image has lowered the quality.
Like the Panasonic, I tested this camera on both human and animal subjects. Testing the settings on the human first allowed me to figure out which would likely work best for the animals (who were more unpredictable with their movements).
The first settings I used were similar to the ones I used on the human subject; aperture F6.3, shutter speed 1/50 and no ND filter. I decided against an ND filter at first due to being in a shaded area with little interference from sunlight. This produced a well exposed image with good depth of field as a result of the wide aperture. This gave the natural cinematic look I was aiming for as the owl stands out well from the natural environment in the background. The footage is a little dull but as the exposure is correct, the colours can be made more vibrant in the colour grading process. Like the footage featuring the human subject, the focus is a little soft due to the viewfinder being difficult to use.
I then changed the settings so that the aperture was wider - with a wider aperture I added an ND filter as more light was being allowed into the lens, increasing the exposure of the footage. The settings I used for this footage was; aperture F5.4, shutter speed 1/50 and ND filter 1/4. The wider aperture used in this footage also gave a greater depth of field - increasing the cinematic nature of the footage as the owl stands out further from the blurred background. I really like the exposure of this footage - none of the lighter parts are blown out and overexposed and it doesn't appear too dull - this will make it perfect for colour grading as the only manipulation required is with the colour tones of the owl and the background.
I then tested using the ND filter with a longer aperture to see how this would affect the overall exposure of the image. The settings I used for this were; aperture F7.2, shutter speed 1/50 and ND filter 1/4. As the aperture was slightly longer for this footage, the depth of field is less and the overall exposure is slightly duller. This makes it slightly less cinematic and a little more difficult to colour grade as the exposure will need to be increased slightly before the colours can be manipulated. This footage also suffers from the same problem as the other footage shot with the JVC; the focus is a little soft.
Finally, I tested using this camera to follow the meerkats. I decided to use aperture F7.2, shutter speed 1/50 and no ND filter. In hindsight I should have used an ND filter of 1/4 as certain areas of the sand appeared overexposed in the footage. However, the rest of image is quite well exposed which means I will only have to adjust the exposure slightly in the grading process which means I can focus on enhancing the colours within the footage.
Overall, the settings which produced the best result with this camera were having an aperture of F5.4, shutter speed 1/50 and ND filter 1/4. The ND filter reduced light interference from the daylight and the wider aperture and shutter speed compensated for the lack of exposure. The wide aperture also allowed for greater depth of field, producing the desired natural cinematic look.
Like with the Panasonic, I decided to colour grade one take from the human test shoot and one take from the animal test shoot.
The original footage was quite well exposed in this footage, however, the colours appeared quite dull which was preventing me from achieving the natural cinematic look I was after. The skin tone appeared a dull purple colour, the trees a dull orange/brown colour, the sky a light turquoise colour, the grass a dull green colour and the t shirt a muted lilac colour.
The colour graded image is a lot more vibrant and saturated with colour. This makes the subject look more defined within the shot. The skin tone has been restored to a pink / peach colour and the trees, sky, t shirt and grass have been enhanced in colour. Although the footage was soft in focus, I decided against sharpening the image as this would make it look unnaturally sharp - which would oppose the natural cinematic look I am aiming for.
To achieve this look I added the Orange/Teal LUT and reduced the intensity to 26%. I then increased the exposure of the midtones and the highlights slightly and added my own colour correction - I added light blue highlights, orange mid tones and blue shadows - this produced a more enhanced version of the footage which is the closest result to the desired look.
The original footage of the owl was well exposed with a good depth of field. This means it needs little manipulation in terms of the exposure of the footage. My aim for the colour grading of this image was to enhance the colours of the owl to further the contrast between it and the background. In the original footage, the colours within the owl's feathers are muted grey and muted brown whilst the background appears dark green in colour.
The graded image is more enhanced than the original, whilst retaining the natural look. The colours in the background remain virtually the same just a little more vivid. The colours of the owl are a lot more defined - there is a lot more contrast between the colours of the feathers (the feathers have a much more vibrant brown/orange tone) - there is also a lot more contrast between the owl and the background. The owl is vibrant in colour whilst the background remains muted in colour.
This was achieved by adding an Orange/Teal LUT at a low intensity and adding colour corrections of my own. I added orange midtones, faint blue shadows and light orange highlights. This combination of colour correction / grading brings out the vibrant browns / oranges in the owl's feathers. This produces the desired natural cinematic look.
Below are some clips from the test shoot - displaying the different settings and colour grading in action whilst also showing the experiment with both crash zooming and slow zooming and trying to retain framing and focus when performing these actions on both human and animal subjects.
Canon 7D
The third camera I used in the test shoot was a DSLR - the Canon 7D. I also booked out a fig-rig to use with the DSLR to make the footage more stable (due to the handheld shooting style). However, this turned out to be difficult to use whilst framing, focusing when doing zooms / crash zooms.
The Canon 7D shoots in 1080p HD which is not as high quality as what the Panasonic is capable of but is the same quality as the settings we used for the test shoot - putting all of the cameras on the same level to be judged.
Like with the Panasonic DVX200 and the JVC GY-HM850 the criteria I was looking for was; a natural look, not too washed out or too dark, stable and easy to use whilst framing / zooming / following subjects shooting handheld and allowed good scope for colour grading without decreasing the quality of the footage.
The first thing I noticed about the DSLR was that it was a lot less stable than the JVC and the Panasonic (the Panasonic being the most stable out of all three) as it is a lot smaller and can not be mounted on the shoulder (without additional equipment) like the Panasonic and JVC. However, it was arguably the best at crash zooming as the zooming and framing ring are very accessible and easy to adjust whilst shooting handheld.
I also noticed that even though I white balanced the camera (like I did with the Panasonic and JVC) the camera produced very warm toned footage - whereas the other cameras produced footage which leant towards the cooler tones. This may have been my fault as DoP rather than a fault with the camera - I may have white balanced the camera incorrectly, however, this mistake has shown me that I can get a better white balance result from the Panasonic or JVC - making these preferable to use.
It should also be noted that the DSLR does not have in-built ND filters like the JVC and Panasonic, making this a lot more time consuming to adjust (as physical ND filters need to be added to the lens). This means that I cannot quickly knock down the exposure of the footage which may be necessary in our project as I will be filming animals as well as people (which means I may need to capture a lot of unpredictable action - reducing the amount of time I have to apply ND filters).
The first settings I used were ISO 400, aperture F6.3 and shutter speed 1/60 - this produced quite a dark image, however, we were contending with the sun going down so this was not helping the test shoot. To increase the exposure I used an ISO of 400, however, I didn't want to set it too high as this would cause noise in the image. The wide aperture allowed for a good depth of field which distinguished the subject from the background - aiding the natural cinematic look. In hindsight I could have used a slighter higher ISO and a slightly slower shutter speed to increase the exposure of the image. The exposure can be increased in the post production process, however, this reduces the quality of the image and decreases the amount of manipulation I can do with the colour grading without decreasing the quality further. As the image is quite dark, the shadows and definition of the subject's beard get lost, an increased exposure would make these details more defined.
I then reduced the ISO to 250, kept the aperture at F6.3 and the shutter speed at 1/60. The aim of this was to see whether a lower ISO would reduce the noise in the image and therefore increase the quality of it - however, as the image was so dark, the footage looked lower in quality as definition in the shadows of the image was lost. The sun had almost set at this point which also explains the darker image so to compensate for this I should have increased the ISO and lengthened the aperture. These settings did depict what was seen by the human eye as the environment was getting darker. I could increase the exposure in post production, although, as with the last image, this would decrease the overall quality of the image as that raw data is not there to perform a lot of manipulation which would reduce the amount I could colour grade the image.
When testing the camera on the animals, the sun was not setting which means that this footage can be compared on an equal level with the Panasonic and JVC. First of all, I used the settings ISO 250, aperture F9.0 and a shutter speed of 1/80. The low ISO means that the overall image is quite dark, however, due to this there is little noise within the image. To compensate for the low ISO, I used a fairly wide aperture of F9.0 which gives a fair depth of field - this works to distinguish the owl from the background. The shutter speed could have been slightly slower to allow a little more light into the lens and increase the exposure slightly as certain dark areas of the owl's feathers appear under exposed. This could be rectified in post production as the image is only slightly underexposed and therefore shouldn't decrease the quality of the image too much - this will then allow for me to define the colours of the owl's feathers with the colour grade.
To increase the exposure of the image, I opted for a slower shutter speed but kept the other settings the same. This gave me the settings; ISO 250, aperture F9.0 and a shutter speed 1/60. This slight difference in shutter speed produced a better exposed image - the owl looks more defined against the background and the darker areas of the feathers do not appear to be under exposed. This should allow me to get a good result in the colour grade as the exposure is correct, I just need to manipulate the colours to make the owl's feathers more vivid.
As an alternative way of increasing the exposure of the image, I decided to widen the aperture and return the shutter speed to the slightly faster setting. This gave me the settings; ISO 250, aperture F6.3 and a shutter speed of 1/80. The exposure of this image is better than the first but not quite as good as the second. The low ISO has allowed for no noise in the image and the wider aperture has compensated for the darkness by allowing more light into the lens. The wider aperture has also increased the depth of field which is apparent when you compare the second test shot and the third test shot. This greater depth of field adds an extra cinematic quality to the image, but I think it is important to find the balance between a cinematic look and a well exposed image - this is where the second take has the upper hand. Despite the slightly darker look than the second take, the exposure of this image is almost correct with no areas being under of over exposed. The colouring of the owl looks natural which was the aim of the test shoot.
As a final way of testing the exposure I increased the ISO 640, left the aperture at F6.3 and opted for a faster shutter speed of 1/250. This faster shutter speed meant that less light would be entering the lens and therefore would produce an image with a lower exposure. Due to this, I chose a higher ISO - however, this added a little noise to the image. Choosing a faster shutter speed would also reduce the motion blur within the image, although, as owls are quite slow moving when resting, this factor isn't the most important to consider. Therefore, it would be better to choose a lower ISO and a slower shutter speed if the animals I film are stationary (but if the animals are flying then the faster shutter speed may be the preferred option as these settings still produced a good quality, well exposed shot with minimal noise).
Overall, the settings ISO 250, aperture F9.0 and shutter speed 1/60 produced the best exposed shot (when filming in a well lit, outdoor environment when the sun is not setting). This produced an image that was well exposed with no noise and a fairly deep depth of field - giving it a natural yet cinematic look.
As with the other cameras, I graded one take from the human subject tests and one take from the animal subject tests.
The exposure of this original footage was quite dark and dull (yet was in line with what was seen through the human eye). The result of this low exposure is a dull skin tone on the human subject, dark shadows in the trees and the beard of the subject which don't allow for the detail in these to be seen, and a mid blue sky tone. The overall image looks quite grey in tone.
The colour graded image looks a lot more defined and vibrant. I increased the exposure, allowing for the details within the shadows of the image to be seen. This increased exposure has affected the quality of the image slightly and therefore a little noise can be seen within the image. The colour of the skin tone has improved and the colour of the sky is a brighter blue colour but has not become washed out. To increased the exposure, I mainly focusing on increasing the midones and shadows of the image to avoid washing out the highlights (the sky and t shirt) of the image.
To achieve this look I used the Orange/Teal LUT at an intensity of 19% to add a slight cinematic look whilst adding a warm tone to the human skin and a blue / green tone to the background. I also performed some specific colour correction by adding orange midtones, light blue highlights and dark blue shadows. This produced a natural, better exposed image.
The original footage of the owl was quite well exposed but all the colours appeared quite muted. The colour of the owl's feathers range from muted grey to muted brown, whilst the background is a dull dark grey and green colour. I will make the colours more vibrant and increase the exposure slightly to make the owl contrast more from the background and make use of the deep depth of field.
The colour graded footage has a much more vibrant feel, drawing the owl out from getting lost in the background. The colours in the owls feathers have a much more warm orange / brown tone - enhancing its natural colours. The background has remained virtually the same which was my intention so that the owl would just stand out more. I increased the exposure as well as this aided my enhancement of the colours.
To achieve this look, like all the other colour graded images I used the Orange/Teal LUT at an intensity of 22% - this gives the image a slight cinematic look whilst remaining natural looking. The whites of the owl's feathers have gone from a dark grey to a light grey colour whilst the orange and brown colours have gone from a dark orange / brown to a light / medium orange / brown colour. I also added my own colour correction by adding dark blue / purple shadows, light blue highlights and orange midtones - this ensured the image remained balanced in colour whilst drawing out the oranges and browns in the owl's feathers.
Below are some clips from the test shoot - displaying the different settings and colour grading in action whilst also showing the experiment with both crash zooming and slow zooming and trying to retain framing and focus when performing these actions on both human and animal subjects.
The Panasonic produced the best quality footage, was easiest to handle whilst shooting handheld and focusing / framing / following subjects, and gave the most scope for colour grading. Even though I did not shoot in 4K due to an issue with memory cards, the FHD 1080p quality was still superior to the quality of the footage from the other cameras. This camera also had the most accurate white balance of all three cameras - when white balanced, the camera reflected the colours that could be seen by the human eye (but with a slightly cooler tone which was easily rectifiable in colour grading). I will therefore be using this camera in future test shoots and for the project - this means I will be conducting further research into the camera so that I know the settings inside out which will enable me to make the best use out of the camera and produce the best quality work.
The JVC produced good quality footage but was heavy to hold which made it difficult to handle. The weight of the camera meant that focusing and framing the scenes was a lot more unstable than desired meaning that the overall quality of the footage was affected negatively. Also, the viewfinder was difficult to use, meaning that a lot of the footage was soft in focus - a problem I did not experience with either the Panasonic or DSLR. Another negative point to using this camera was that the auto-iris setting was not clearly displayed meaning that this interfered with the exposure whilst testing the ND filters (i.e. every time I added an ND filter, the auto-iris would increased the exposure of the shot). Even though this would be an easy solve if I did more research into the camera, the Panasonic produced better quality, more stable footage and had controls which were more accessible.
The most obvious problem with using the DSLR was that it was too shaky and there was not enough scope for colour grading without reducing the quality of the footage. Another issue was that the white balance did not appear to be accurate to what could be seen with the human eye - resulting in warm toned footage being produced. Also, the LCD screen of the DSLR was set to quite a high setting - making the image look brighter on the screen. As a result, the footage I was producing turned out darker than it appeared on the screen. If I were to use this camera in future, I would set the brightness of the camera's LCD screen to match what I could see with my eyes. However, a plus side to this camera was its ease of use - the focus ring and zoom ring were very accessible whilst shooting handheld - if the footage had turned out more stable, then this may have been a good choice of camera - but as the Panasonic produced better quality images, was more stable and also had accessible controls, this was the clear choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment