If you’ve followed our blogs here at 3rd Planet for any period of time, you know how we feel about video when it comes to your marketing presence online. Video is probably the most powerful form of media in that it is stimulating your mind with visual images, audio, and a message conveyed with language (either spoken or written on screen).
Well, as Production Director, I’m currently tasked with much of the execution of the videos we produce. From lighting and shooting to post production, I’ve been pouring myself into ways to improve our video capabilities and deliver higher quality productions to our clients. Over the last few years, we’ve been upgrading computer systems and have moved up to a larger suite of edit and post-production tools to allow us to do more with what we go out and shoot…which has done a fair bit to improve the quality of our video.
However, with any media production, you’re going to be limited by the quality of the source material you feed into your workflow.
We recently made a big move with regard to our source material with the acquisition of a Canon EOS C100 camera and Atomos Ninja 2 recorder. The C100 provides us with all the optical quality of the Canon EOS 5D DSLR, but with all the features we require in a video camera (proper audio connections, extended battery life, comprehensive controls and metering not available on the 5D, etc.).
Along with the C100, the Ninja recorder allows us to shoot in Apple ProRes HQ 4:2:2. That’s really, really nerdy of me to even bring up, but for us it makes a big difference. It basically captures yet more color depth than the video formats that the C100 does natively, and because of its big solid-state drive, allows us more shooting time than the C100 would natively. Also, it short-circuits a couple of steps in our video intake workflow, and because of the ProRes format, makes color correction work MUCH easier.
Why am I boring you with this technical drivel? Because this stuff, once considered and decided upon by the production team, frees our minds to address the issues that surround quality concepts and execution in our production work…and with the increased quality of the source material and the increased ease of work in post…we’re turning out some really nice looking videos that will not just do their jobs adequately, but EXCEPTIONALLY.
Have a look at the video we’ve shot with it. We’re understandably excited about the new capabilities.
