PRACTICAL DV FILMMAKING

Practical DV FilmMaking

• Overview
• Inside video
• Films and how they work
• Pre-production
• Production tools
• Production aesthetics
• Post-production tools
• Post-production aesthetics
• Careers and distribution
• Mapping the industry
• Glossary of film and video terms

Zoom

Another function of the lens is zoom. Digital camcorders zoom in one of two ways: optical or digital zoom. Optical zoom is by far the better option, as it magnifies the image using two glass lenses and reads it more accurately. Digital zoom, however, is almost without merit, as it simply enlarges the image it saw, drastically reducing resolution.

How the camera deals with the image

When the image makes it through the lens it gets recorded in various ways by a small chip located near the lens, called the charge-coupled device (CCD). There are two sorts, determined by which kind of camera you have:

• Single-chip. These dominate the lower, domestic end of the market. It collects over 300000 pixel bits of information, which sounds a lot but is considerably less than the three-chip.

• Three-chip. This one is found in any of the better camcorders in the mid and upper ranges. The big difference here is that there are three chips, each gathering 300 000 bits of information, but this time each chip gathers just one colour each: red, green or blue. The single-chip gathers all colours together and so has to squeeze all three groups of information into one chip. The additional quality of the three-chip is worth about an extra 20 per cent in terms of picture and colour resolution.

If you want to make programmes for broadcast then you need to get a three-chip. Most people will not notice the difference between single-chip and three-chip, but broadcasters will notice and do not accept certain quality of pictures. But if you intend to show only on the web, this difference is going to be reduced later, so it may not be useful.

Tip The term 'broadcast quality' has changed considerably since DV became a con­sumer item; in terms of the consumer it has become a loose term and often simply refers to a quality far above that offered by analog, but not necessarily meeting broadcast technical quality guidelines. Whatever the publicity blurb says, check with an independent advisor first before committing yourself to an expensive cam­era that claims to be broadcast standard but stops your programmes being accepted by television companies.

At this stage the camera sorts out how much information can be stored and how much has to be left behind. Mini-DV tapes do not have the capacity to store all the information that a camera could record but are significantly better than VHS