Cinema and Media Studies (CAMS)
- pbernhardt@carleton.edu
I. equipment to buy
CAMS production classes require students buy a 500 GB harddrive with Firewire 800 and USB. CAMS recommends bus-powered, ruggedized hard drives of 1 TB or larger. An hour of footage transcoded as Apple ProRes 422 can take about 65 GB of space on your drive.
CAMS recommends students checking out production gear buy a pair of closed-back, over-the-ear headphones. Sony MDR-V6 and MDR-7506 headphones are widely prized for their audio accuracy as well as durability. Headphones should be worn while recording audio, for reasons analogous to looking through a viewfinder or at an LCD screen while shooting picture: we simply can't hear what the microphone is actually picking up any other way. This is especially important for avoiding aberrations such as mic handling noise, plosives, and wind noise that can't be removed from signal in post-production.
CAMS recommends students own a card reader that accepts SD and CF cards.
Depending on how much footage students plan to shoot at one time, you may wish to buy additional Class 10 SD card(s) of your own in denominations of 16 GB or more from Lexar or Sandisk. To give a sense of scale, one hour of footage shot at maximum quality takes about:
-21 GB of space on SD/SDHC/SDXC card on a Canon 60D or
-11 GB of space on SD/SDHC card on a Sony HXR-NX5U (More about these figures in "tapeless workflow," below.)
Students wishing to buy their own PCM-based audio recorder might wish to consider a model with XLR inputs, such as the Zoom H4n available from the CAMS Production Office. IMPORTANT: devices such as the Edirol R-09 or Tascam DR-05, DR-07 or DR-08 might suffice for homework assignments but not Comps projects. These devices have 1/8" mini phono plug inputs and not XLR inputs. It's possible to purchase XLR-to-1/8" adapters and physically connect a professional mic. However, one test made with such a device and several mics in a suitably quiet environment produced a recording with a level of self-noise accompanying signal that would be unacceptable in a professional production setting. The device fared much better using its built-in mics on stereo mode, with special care to noise generated by handling the device.
II. equipment to check out
A. general
Students currently enrolled in CAMS production classes (including comps) have access to cameras, microphones and accessories to complete class assignments. This equipment is reserved in the CAMS Production Office (phone 5698; pbernhardt@carleton.edu). The CAMS Production Office is open for equipment check-out and check-in these hours per week:
Mon 3:30-6:30 PM
Tues 9:30 AM-noon & 3:30-6:30 PM
Weds 3:30-6:30 PM
Thu 3:30-6:30 PM
Fri 9:30-10:30 AM & 2:00-5:00 PM
Sat closed
Sun 4:30-7:30 PM
B. examples
These are the primary instruments for field production, available from the CAMS Production Office, that students are likely to design a production around:
1. microphones
"Form factor" refers to the shape and size of a mic, which matters because microphone placement is so crucial to getting good sound. A microphone's diaphragm (sometimes called element) is the wafer-thin material that actually picks up sound and converts it to electrical signal, housed inside the protective shell of the microphone.
USB mics convert that analog electrical signal to digital using an analog-to-digital (A-to-D) converter built inside the mic. They're especially useful for recording directly to the timeline in Final Cut Pro. Other professional wired mics use XLR cables to conduct electrical signal on the recording device.
Large-diaphragm mics are specially attuned to subtleties such as the timbre of a human voice in a highly controlled environment. They're particularly fragile and should not be used in the field, and are usually built in a large, unwieldy housing designed for use on a floor stand with a heavy base. The term "shotgun mic" is broadly used to mean a long, skinny, highly directional mic, just as "boom mic" merely means any mic attached to the end of a boom pole. As dSLRs have become popular as cameras capable of gathering motion picture footage, mini shotguns have emerged that connect to the shoe mount originally developed for portable flash attachments. Handheld mics are most often used by reporters and musicians but can be well-suited for field production. Lavaliers are often used in documentary filmmaking as well as electronic news gathering because they are extremely small mics that can be clipped or pinned so unobtrusively to clothing out of the field of vision of the person wearing it.
When designing productions, it's particularly useful to understand what is least self-evident by looking at a mic: its polar pattern. This refers to the direction(s) around the microphone's diaphragm in which it is most sensitive to sound. An omnidirectional mic is equally sound-sensitive in all directions. Its pattern could be envisioned as a ball surrounding the mic. They are prized for being equally sensitive to the wide range of tones all across the frequency range of sound. A cardioid mic is somewhat directional, rejecting some sound from the sides and rear. Hypercardioid and supercardioid mics are more directional than cardioid mics. Line+gradient mics are even more directional than hypercardioid or supercardioid mics, achieved by housing a directional mic element in a long tube whose perforation is engineered to reject as much additional sound as possible from the sides. Figure eight (or "bidirectional") microphones have the unusual property of being equally sound sensitive in back as in front of the mic element. Audio-Technica provides an excellent review of polar patterns here.
Condenser mics require a very small electrical current in order to operate. This can either come from a battery inside the mic housing, or from the recording device in the form of what's called phantom power (usually marked +48V). WARNING: condenser mics can be damaged by being connected or disconnected while phantom power to them is turned on. Depending on model of camera or audio recorder, it can be easier to turn off the entire device supplying phantom power than to search through extensive lists of menu items to turn off only phantom power. Dynamic mics require no electrical current in order to operate, so are useful for all recording devices, whether or not they supply phantom power.
Finally, memory cards should never be taken out or put in without first turning off the camera or audio recorder.
a. USB: Samson C01U (operator's manual)
form factor: large-diaphragm studio mic
polar pattern: cardioid
type: condenser (power supplied via USB)
b. wired
i. Audio-Technica 815a, 815b (specification sheet), 835b (spec sheet):
form factor: shotgun
polar pattern: line+gradient
type: condenser
ii. Audio-Technica 875R (spec sheet), Rode NTG-2:
form factor: short shotgun
polar pattern: line+gradient
type: condenser
iii. Sennheiser MKE 300 (spec sheet):
form factor: mini shotgun
polar pattern: supercardioid
type: condenser
iv. Audio-Technica 804 (spec sheet), Electrovoice 635A (spec sheet):
form factor: handheld
polar pattern: omni
type: dynamic
v. Electrovoice RE50/B (spec sheet):
form factor: handheld, internal shock mount
polar pattern: omni
type: dynamic
vi. Sony ECM-MS957 (operator's manual):
form factor: handheld
polar pattern: stereo
type: condenser
vii. Shure KSM 44 (spec sheet)
form factor: large-diaphragm studio--not for use outside the recording studio
polar pattern: can be switched between omni, cardioid and figure eight pattern
type: condenser
viii. Shure SM7B (spec sheet)
form factor: large-diaphragm studio
polar pattern: cardioid
type: dynamic
ix. Sony ECM-44 (spec sheet), Radio Shack 33-3028 (spec sheet):
form factor: lavalier
polar pattern: omni
type: condenser
2. Zoom H4n audio recorders (operator's manual)
3. cameras
a. camcorders
i. Sony PD-170 (operator's manual)
ii. Sony HXR-NX5U (operator's manual)
b. dSLRs: Canon 60D (operator's manual)
4. camera support
a. Fig Rig: hand-held mount, designed by Mike Figgis, that makes ingenious use of a person's arms as natural shock absorber
b. Spider Brace II: lightweight shoulder mount
c. various tripods and tripod dollies
III. governance
A. rationale
Carleton production equipment and studios are shared resources. As with shared resources elsewhere, there must be governance around them. People who successfully complete the Moodle-based qualification training form a media production community at Carleton. This governance was created to protect our personal health and safety, our ability to meet work deadlines, and the production equipment we use.
It’s vital to the Carleton media production community’s well-being that facilities are safe to use. This safety is not external to our creative activity but arises from the sum of our actions.
Learning to navigate complex deadlines under tight time pressure is part of the creative endeavor. Just as other people’s actions can affect your ability to do your creative work and finish assignments on time, your actions affect others’ ability to do the same. The importance in this context of returning gear on time can’t be overstated. Treating well the gear we use, so that it stays in good working order, turns out to be just as important. Replacing lost or damaged gear not only costs money but causes delay likely to compromise your ability and others’ to finish work on time.
The Cinema and Media Studies (CAMS) Production Office exists as a resource to help you serve your vision. The most obvious form this takes is equipment for checkout and studios for use, but students are encouraged to consult in detail with the Production Office, along with their instructors and advisors, to make realistic plans for how much time you’ll spend in production and, consequently, how long to make reservations.
Use of these resources is a privilege granted under the conditions described above. Use privileges may be suspended if these conditions are consistently unmet.
You are responsible for your own actions. The quality of your production experience depends to a large degree on how we are to one another as colleagues.
B. policy
In exchange for using Carleton College production facilities and equipment, I agree to follow these rules, which are subject to ongoing review and amendment by CAMS faculty and staff:
1. I will not use gear or facilities without becoming qualified to do so, as outlined at http://moodle.carleton.edu/go/prodcert
2. I will follow safety procedures outlined in the qualification training (linked above) or seek further clarification from either the CAMS Technical Director or the Carleton Manager of Environmental Health and Safety Compliance.
3. I will use gear and studios only by making a reservation for it in the CAMS Production Office. In general, reservations must be made at least two business hours in advance of pickup time, to allow Production Office staff to prepare the equipment package. Reservations may be made on the spot for items such as a mic for use in studio. Production Office staff will only check out gear to the reservation holder. Weitz Center and PEPS/Idea Lab staff will not check out gear to Carleton production community members who have CAMS production equipment overdue.
4. I will bring gear back on time or contact the Production Office before my reservation expires to request the reservation be renewed. If the gear cannot be renewed (because someone else needs it), I will bring the gear back within the grace period.
5. I will leave the studio on time or contact the Production Office before my reservation expires to request the reservation be renewed. If the studio reservation cannot be renewed (because someone else needs it), I will leave the studio when I said I would.
6. I will clean up after myself where I work. This includes mopping up any spill immediately, coiling cables neatly, striking all equipment and returning it to its home location, and sweeping up. This also includes throwing away all props, furniture and other scenic elements that you brought to the set.
7. Repair or replacement cost of items I have reserved, will be charged to my Carleton tuition account.
8. Studios and computer labs are accessed by swiping your Carleton OneCard at the door. I will not loan my OneCard to anyone for this purpose.
9. I will not bring food or drink of any kind into a control room (37, 41, and 46 Weitz) or the main portion of Advanced Edit (134 Weitz).
10. I will not bring food or any beverage other than water into a studio (38, 40 and 45 Weitz as well as inside the Wenger unit in Advanced Edit). If I bring water into a studio, it will be in a container with a lid that closes securely. This mirrors policy in the Libe.
11. I will not bring food or drink of any kind into the Media Lab (136 Weitz) except during receptions such as orange couch sessions.
IV. tapeless workflow
These cameras record video to SD cards. Each camera shoots footage that's compressed differently. The best practice is to keep these camera files safe, both to use now and keep safe for later in case we want to use them in a different way.
Before we walk though workflow for each camera, it's important to understand what a codec is. "Codec" is an abbreviated way of referring to compression and decompression. People who work at places such as the Frauenhofer Institute use color science and the psychology of perception to come up with ways to throw away data in a video signal in a way that only shows up a little bit on close inspection in ways we all hope our audience never sees, then reconstitute the video image into a much larger file when it's time to do something like edit it. QuickTime (.MOV) is not a codec but a container. An .MOV file, sometimes also referred to as a wrapper, may contain video made with one of a large number of codecs, including highly compressed codecs, such as MPEG-4 and its variant H.264, or very mildly compressed codecs such as Apple ProRes.
The Sony NX5U shoots MPEG transport stream (.MTS files), contained in folders with specific names; this takes up to c. 11 GB of space on SD card per hour of footage shot at maximum quality and resolution (actual figures may vary). The Canon 60D shoots H.264 in a QuickTime wrapper; this takes up to c. 21 GB of space on SD card per hour.
V. other useful things
A. Cinema and Media Studies' Gould Guide, by Matt Bailey, Carleton College Media Librarian and Reference & Instruction Librarian for Arts
B. Matthews griptionary.
C. How to make clicking a mailto: link in a Web page launch Zimbra.
D. about WebCheckout