Chapter 2 DIGITAL VIDEO EQUIPMENT

Pn Nor Azura Bt Fandi

Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA Rembau

2.1 DIGITAL VIDEO EQUIPMENTCAMERA If you want to make a movie, you will need

a camera. Movie camera gives you a choice of two media – film or videotape, and within those categories you have a choice of formats.

There are many different DV formats available, from consumer miniDV up to the professional High Definition Video (HDV) that has been used for films such as Star Wars series.

High definition video camera – JVC produced one of the first ‘consumer’ High Definition (HD) cameras, offering broadcast quality at an affordable price.

◦ Adaptable & Versatile – canon’s XL DV camera is popular with the huge range of filmmakers, both in Hollywood (Steven Soderbergh, Danny Boyle) and among independent. Besides cool looks, one of its biggest advantages is interchangeable lenses. The XL2 also has progressive scan and true 16:9 widescreen.

◦ Pro- Level Camera- Sony is always at the forefront of consumer-priced pro level cameras. Its PDX10 offers DVCAM, 3 CCD and XLR inputs at a price lower than similar cameras cost at used prices.

EXTRA GEAR/EQUIPMENT  Once you have chosen your camera format, whether

video or film, you will need some ancillary equipment to support it. A host of devices are available to help you stabilize camera, from tripod to dollies and cranes, to a variety of steadycam-type units. All come with a purpose and price.

 Support: Tripod: legs. – Many professional units are sold in two parts, legs and

head, with the head being more expensive and important. A normal camera tripod is adequate if you are using it just for static (locked down) shots, but when it comes to movement such panning (follow action horizontally) or tilting (vertical movement), it is not smooth enough.

  Jibs and dollies –

   

• Flowpod - to smooth out the jolting of handheld camera work, especially while walking or running, some sort of stabilizer is needed.

 

•Lightweight – adjustable tripod can handle a camcorder up to 20 lbs.  

Fluid Head – essential for smooth movement when filming, which is even more important when using video. Match it with camera, not too heavy, or light. Make sure it is adjustable to variety of heights and can also be adapted for use with dollies and jibs.

Rig worn – other type of support by an operator which allows him to move around and follow the action. The rig is very expensive  

Clapper board ◦ Traditional type : temporary traditional blackboard type or the

contemporary white dry board. ◦ Digital type: mark time code, but they are extremely expensive and are not

necessary. You only need clapperboard if you are recording sound separately from the picture, as the ‘clack’ acts as a visual and auditory marker for synching.

  

Computer – the final piece of equipment you will need is some sort of computer for a range of tasks, from budgeting to script writing to editing. Apple Macintosh range is an excellent choice, as their Final Cut editing software has established itself as the industry leader.

Lights-

Sound recording

Cable - Connectors, Plugs And Jacks – Power And Audio

2.2 VIDEO FORMAT AND PURPOSES

Once video footage has been captured and edited on a computer it can be published for a wider audience. There are different file formats that can be used depending on how you want to publish your video. There are a number of different ways in which digital video can be used and this is reflected in the variety of publishing formats.

◦ DV (Digital Video). This is the format in which most digital video is captured. It can be edited on a computer and saved into other formats for specific purposes. It can also be saved to the tape in the camera in the original DV format.

◦ AVI (Audio Video Interleaved). This is a windows video format that is most commonly used for playback via the Windows Media Player.

◦ QuickTime. This is a video format developed by Apple Computers. It is used most commonly to playback video over the Internet with the QuickTime player. Quicktim is also used for music and video streaming.

◦ MPEG-1 (Motion Picture Experts Group). A popular video format which offers good compression and quality. Version 1 creates reasonably small file and so is most commonly used for creating VCDs and also in some cases for broadcasting video over the Internet.

◦ MPEG-2. This produces a higher quality than MPEG-1, which results in correspondingly larger file sizes. Because of this, MPEG-2 most commonly used for creating DVDs and high-quality satellite broadcasts.

◦ WMV (Windows Media Video). This creates highly compresses video that can be used on the Internet. Using WMV the rate of compression can be in the range of 100:1. This creates satisfying small files but the quality is moderate. WMV files are played back via the Windows Media Player.

◦ Real Video Audio. This is another format that is used on the Internet. It is played back via the RealNetworks RealPlayer and the compression is similar to WMV files.