FROM IDEA TO DVD (and Blu-Ray !)
ELVIC was founded in september 1982. In the passing years obviously a lot changed in the videoworld. Did we used to edit with 3 seperate videomachines, a videomixer, and various effect boxes to create a program, nowadays most of al this settles inside one or more computers.
Also the videquality has increased a lot from 3 saticontubes in a camera connected to portable recorders up to 3-CCD camera’s with build-in digital recorders. But always based on the PAL TV system with its 625 beeldlijnen (720x576 of actual pixels)
XDCAM HD DISC
Meanwhile, the technical evolution has gone even further. This gives us the opportunity to take all videoproductions to the next level: the HDTV system (1920x1080 of actual pixels). The XDCAM HD camera with wich we do this also marks an end to the tape era. All recordings are now made on 23.3 Gigabyte discs. Advantages of working with this disc system are (a.o.):
- faulty takes can be erased immediately and re-shot. This saves time in not having to go through unnecessary shots during editing.
- Files on discs can be copied directly to an editcomputer and this goes faster then the realtime digitizing process of videotapes.
- Editing can start as soon as the first take is in the computer, no need to wait until the complete disc is copied.
WORLDWIDE
The most important fact is of course that all HD images contain 5x more detail compared to the PAL system. Technically HDTV offers quite a lot of different choices: 24P, 25P, 30P, 50i, 60i to just name the current most popular ones. Depending on either “look and feel” of the production and/or it's distribution area, the appropriate standard is chosen for recording and editing. The XDCAM HD camera can be set to various international SD and HD standards.
LENS
The camera may be the heart of the technique, but the quality of the picture to be recorded is greatly influenced by the lens that's put on to the camerabody. To be able to maximise the systems capabilities we have choosen the top-of-the-range Fujinon HD lens: the HS16x4.6 BERM. Insiders now already know and acknowledge it's capabilities, to all others it's important to know that this lens features not only a toplevel imagequality, but also a great wide-angle combined with a 16x zoom (or even 32x with the build-in extender in use).
Through the use of this particular lens it is possible to make the best shots in almost any given situation. Wether it's a very tight office space or a gigantic catwalk, this camera/lens combination is ready for it!
ACCESSOIRES:
Ofcourse we also have all necessary accessoires like batteries, chargers, tripods and the likes. For you as our customer that's the not so very interesting part, but the right choices for this kind of accessoires is nevertheless very important. The recording process must not come to a halt very often by using low capacity batteries, so we use the highest capacity batteries currently available. The following extra's are important to know about. Some come standard with the set, others can be rented seperately, depending on the productions needs.
Audio:
Standard available are various microphones, varying from wireless handheld, wireles revers, boompole directional microphone and the stereo microphone on the camera.
During shows or events we usually run a mono or stereo line signal from the audiomixer. With a total of 4 uncompresseed 16 bits audiochannels on the camera, there are enough possibilities.
GreenScreen:
A green background for which a presentor does his/her announcing. The green backgroudn is replaced in editing by other imagers. This can be video, foto's or graphics. Also various interview situations apply for a greenscreen recording. This can be done either in the studio or on location.
Teleprompter
A device, also known as “Autocue”, thru which the presentor is able to read his/her lines directly from the front of the camera, while watching in the lens. Thereby looking the viewers in their eyes without the need of memorizing long texts.
Daylightlamps:
Standard videolighting is usually artificiallight and can be used perfectly in all situations where there is no daylight coming onto the set. If that does happen you'll notice that the light coming thru windows is far too blue. To prevent this the use of daylightlamps is needed. Their color temperature is balanced to that of outside daylight, so there is no color difference. These lights also come in handy when an outdoor scene, in daylight, needs to be lighted for a bigger production.
Note: the latest LED cameralight which we use on-camera is a daylight balanced one with a collapsible filter to change to indoor colortemperature. For all situations the right colortemperature!
Dolly and track:
Simply said: wheels under a camera tripod. Depending on the surface it may be sufficient to use a wheel only system (smooth studio floor). Otherwise a dollytrack needs to be laid out. This looks somewhat like a railroad upon which the tripod with wheels is placed. By using a track you can get very smooth glide shots, even on the most uneven surfaces. .
Jib/Crane:
A construction by which the camera can be moved up and down from a low angle view to a birds-eye view. This can be combined with a dolly/track if needed. Various types of Jib/Cranes exist. The smaller ones (up to 3-4 meter) are most used to create a more dynamic picture for the viewer. The larger ones are used for shots from extremere heights (up to 20 meter if needed)
HDV camera:
At the chance of making things more confused: we also use a small HDV camera now and then. Yes, we've written about the big top-of-the-bill camera already, with it's great lens, but some shots simply cannot be done with such a camera. Take for instance the famous dashboardshots in any car program. Not really an option to shoot with a big shoulder camera. Or what to think of the unique perspective of a productionproces by installing a small camera inside a machine.
Even this little camera shoots in High Definition, albeit not as good as the big one, but in editing it at least maches up to the HD details. And having a unique perspective counts for something in itself.
EDITING
In editing all takes are sorted out for final use in the production and will be added with titles, graphics and/or effects. Obviously this all happens in full High Definition so we're still on the maximum level of quality. For editing we use a Matrox AXIO SD system with HD editing capacity.
FINAL PRODUCT
Then we come to the final stage of production: what will happen with the film we've just edited? Will it be projected for an audience? In that case we'd advise to stay in High Definition. Or is the film going to be distributed to prospects (on a fair, or thru Direct Mail). If that's the case than making a DVD in standard definition is still the way to go. Since the conversion from HD to SD is only now done in the last stage of production, the final DVD will look it's best!
The High Definition version of the DVD is called Blu-Ray disc and offers a capacity of 25 Gb (compared to 4,7 Gb for DVD). After an initial 2-year system battle between a comparable HD format, called HD-DVD, the battle was won on 19 februari 2008 by the Blu-Ray system. As we had expected, by the way. That cleared the road for the consumer to buy into the next generation DVD market. without the change of betting on the wrong horse. Obviously we can deliver our productions on Blu-Ray disc, playable on all currenct BD-machines, including Sony's PlayStation3
Streaming video:
Next to projection and fysical distribution it is also possible to show the production, or parts thereof, on your website or your narrow casting/digital signage system. In those cases we'll transcode the High Definition master to the streaming format of your choice. This can be WMV, Real, Quicktime, Flash or specific streams for I-Pod or PlayStationPortable. All these streams use different screen sizes, bitrates and codecs. We'll be happy to advise you in using the right one(s) for your purpose.