So a bit quiet on the digital front of late, but it’s been a busy summer so there’s plenty I’ll be updating over the next couple of days including Eastleigh Festival, Blissfields, Goodweekend Festival and some video tidbits. Tonight though I’ll talk about how I managed to end up getting my work onto Lithuanian Television.
A few years back up in Liverpool I’d worked with Snorre Bergerud on Rasabasa in the LIPA studios. You may remember snorre from the many phalluses cropping up in Richard O Flynn’s photos (Freud might have something to say about this). As a member of Rasabasa he had footage of a gig they’d played at Tamsta Club.
Obviously there was a problem here with the 10,000 odd miles between us so getting the files over to the uk was the first problem. After some investigation it appeared the best method was skype as you can pick up sharing files where you left off after a days pause. Ge.tt was a good way to get the rushes back over, and I can strongly recommend it as A: there is no sign up process (making it both anonymous and quick), B: The upload limit is 3GB C: The files delete themselves after 30days (making sure you don’t inadvertently leave precious copyrighted materials laying about)
Getting the look right for the project took a little time as it was shot on a few different cameras and delivered in a few different formats. Colour balancing was done in premier using the 3way colour corrector to reign it in a little. After this though upon consultation with Snorre it was looking a little digital so I decided to take magic bullet to it.
This was my first time using it as a finishing tool so we optioned a few different looks which you can check out here:
Magic Bullet Screen Test from Corin Evans-Pritchard on Vimeo.
Picking out a 10 second two shot I set up a couple of different looks for the project that I thought might be appropriate. These ranged from subtle to ridiculous (the last Jean Pierre Jeunet nightmare) so I could gauge where we were headed.
The final decision was to go with the ‘old school’ look where I had roughly approximated the look of 1970s film. The outer most range of blacks and whites are pushed out a litte giving Rasa a slightly angelic glow while moving the overall palette away from greens toward browns. Popping on a slight vigniette and a little grain helped add that older feel. Amazing how just pushing something gently over the edge of visual distortion can make it actually look better.
The cut was then delivered in two formats (youtube ready, and TV ready) You can check out the finished edit here:
Been sat there a while in my absence so it’s well clear of the 10,000 mark.
The TV version was a little stickier. For a start my advice for delivery was, ‘whatever, but preferably an avi’, which leaves a lot of leeway really; fps; interlaced vs progressive; HD vs DV; pixel aspect ratio; leader. I’m pretty sure on UK TV you get a production pack where you have a very clear layout of format, legal broadcast brightness and colour range and a very specific description of the leader to be used.
Magic Bullet Screen Test from Corin Evans-Pritchard on Vimeo.
Picking out a 10 second two shot I set up a couple of different looks for the project that I thought might be appropriate. These ranged from subtle to ridiculous (the last Jean Pierre Jeunet nightmare) so I could gauge where we were headed.
The final decision was to go with the ‘old school’ look where I had roughly approximated the look of 1970s film. The outer most range of blacks and whites are pushed out a litte giving Rasa a slightly angelic glow while moving the overall palette away from greens toward browns. Popping on a slight vigniette and a little grain helped add that older feel. Amazing how just pushing something gently over the edge of visual distortion can make it actually look better.
The cut was then delivered in two formats (youtube ready, and TV ready) You can check out the finished edit here:
Been sat there a while in my absence so it’s well clear of the 10,000 mark.
The TV version was a little stickier. For a start my advice for delivery was, ‘whatever, but preferably an avi’, which leaves a lot of leeway really; fps; interlaced vs progressive; HD vs DV; pixel aspect ratio; leader. I’m pretty sure on UK TV you get a production pack where you have a very clear layout of format, legal broadcast brightness and colour range and a very specific description of the leader to be used.
If you’ve not come across the term ‘leader’ it’s basically what your clip has at the start to identify it to the television company’s studio. Normally it consists of colour bars and tone (so they can check and calibrate image and sound if needs be) and a production slate. This details who made it, the duration, the format and some emergency contact in case of any errors. This also should have a clock counting down so the gallery know when to cue the VT (video tape).
But, as I say, all that was in my production pack was that it should be ‘preferably an avi’. For some reason I’m imagining this TV station to be steam powered and the tape machines triggered manually by pulleys.
I crossed my fingers and hoped that the format was alright for delivery. And then it went out, on ‘Labas Rytas Lietuv’ on the LRT channel to approx 1 million viewers. The name translates as good morning Lithuania so it’s left me with both an image of a manic robin williams and a grumpy unshaven Richard Madeley. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take part it watching due to the time difference and a very limited knowledge of Lithuanian television schedules. I’ve since found out that you can watch streaming live international television here, worth a look if you fancy playing cross continental TV roulette.
Since getting the Ošia video out on TV and up around the web I’ve worked with snorre again to cut together a new live Rasabasa performance. The song is a new one being recorded in Vilnius as I write so you should follow the progress here. But first off, check the new edit, it’s very colourful:
That's all for today :). Back tomorrow with more summer projects I've been busying with.
C
That's all for today :). Back tomorrow with more summer projects I've been busying with.
C
