Here are some helpful answers to frequently asked questions:
1. Should I have A Playback Tech?
Yes, a playback tech can make the inclusion of computer and video displays an
easy process. They understand color temperature ( see #2 ) and will make the
shot go smoothly.
2. What is this ‘color correction’
Color Correction will make your material look the best in the shot.
Video and computer screens have a native color temperature of about 9000 kelvin.
In film
“daylight” is closer to 5000 kelvin. Computer and video displays will always need to be
corrected some. If your shot is
“tungsten” ( or 3200 kelvin ) then you will need full correction to avoid having the
playback appear blue.
If you don’t know, ask the D.P.
Color Correction allows you to adjust the white point of your material so that
it matches the color temperature of the lighting in your set.
One of the disadvantages is that you loose some brightness and contrast by color
correcting. Even using a filter in the camera or fixing it in post is going to
crush some contrast.
All material should be color corrected some or it will appear blue in the
whites.
3. I want the Highest quality playback what should i make?
Computer displays, TV’s, LCD, Plasma Screens, laptops and projectors are displays that render the
image in little parts called
‘pixels’ they have a finite number of these often expressed as something like 1024x768 -
the DPI ( dots per inch ) is always 72 for these displays ( you could have
higher resolution but it
’s ignored for 1:1 transfer displays. )
You’ll want to find out what the native resolution of the display you are using before making graphics to get the best quality.
If you have an image that is say 3000x3000@300dpi that image will have to be
downsampled if you want to see all of it. The problem is that downsampling the
image will cause small items to become ugly and/or disappear.
There is no way to avoid this except to make all the graphics in the right size.
You can avoid a lot of trouble by NOT scaling graphics.
Same grid scaled, even scalings ( factors of 2 ) are nicer looking, the odd scalings have bad artifacts. if possible use scalings 1/2, 1/4 or don’t scale at all. Text and Grids scale the worst, images of nature and people
scale better.
It is possible to make a graphic that works for most of the resolutions.
Popular Resolutions:
1024x768 4x3
1280x768 widescreen
1280x800 widescreen
1280x1024 4x3
1600x1200 4x3
4. File Formats
We are completey cross platform, so whatever format you have will work for us.
Popular Formats:
.psd , .ai - Best formats for still images
Photoshop and Illustrator documents
.mov , .mp4 -Best format for digital video
We use quicktime for most digital video playback.
jpg , gif - these formats are ok ( they will not look as good as .psd or .ai in
most cases. )
These use “lossy” compression and will look “pixely”
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