dunno where else to put this post, as there's no "btr theatre" forum, and no "btr doco" sub-forum in the "btr video" section.
since i edited and produced the doco, i won't make any critical comments, obviously, so i'll limit myself to commenting on the real encoding.
unfortunately, some of the darkness of the images does come from the source material: there was a lot of unexpected sunlight wafting in through the big open windows, and neither camera operator accounted for this by adjusting camera settings, unfortunately. i've tried to tweak this where possible, but unfortunately the real encoding betrays the problem to a fierce degree. (the b&w, incidentally, is because there were some colour problems as well, including very obvious chroma noise when the brightness was cranked up on some shots.)
however, the audio comes out clear as a bell -- surprising, given that only 80kbps are devoted to audio and video together. the vision is a different matter, but i found that you can definitely make out enough detail for it to support the audio quite adequately. (i guess it's like watching a dodgy dub of a dw story in the days before cable, for anyone who can remember that.)
overall, an acceptable encoding job given the desire for a small file size. and fair enough, too: although i like to rate our docos as important in their own right (the filmmakers do a good job artistically, i feel), it's clear that this is supporting material for a larger production, and so people aren't going to want to download a 20mb file to help them decide if they want to go see something else entirely.
oh, and for the record, the reason the title is wrong on the doco is because i stuffed up, plain and simple. got it mixed up with the title of a future nat x audio play. still, i plan to fix that up at some later stage, since i wouldn't mind compiling all the docos into one great long one at some point -- maybe to feature as supplementary material on a possible dvd of the play's filming. if we even get that far.
since i edited and produced the doco, i won't make any critical comments, obviously, so i'll limit myself to commenting on the real encoding.
unfortunately, some of the darkness of the images does come from the source material: there was a lot of unexpected sunlight wafting in through the big open windows, and neither camera operator accounted for this by adjusting camera settings, unfortunately. i've tried to tweak this where possible, but unfortunately the real encoding betrays the problem to a fierce degree. (the b&w, incidentally, is because there were some colour problems as well, including very obvious chroma noise when the brightness was cranked up on some shots.)
however, the audio comes out clear as a bell -- surprising, given that only 80kbps are devoted to audio and video together. the vision is a different matter, but i found that you can definitely make out enough detail for it to support the audio quite adequately. (i guess it's like watching a dodgy dub of a dw story in the days before cable, for anyone who can remember that.)
overall, an acceptable encoding job given the desire for a small file size. and fair enough, too: although i like to rate our docos as important in their own right (the filmmakers do a good job artistically, i feel), it's clear that this is supporting material for a larger production, and so people aren't going to want to download a 20mb file to help them decide if they want to go see something else entirely.
oh, and for the record, the reason the title is wrong on the doco is because i stuffed up, plain and simple. got it mixed up with the title of a future nat x audio play. still, i plan to fix that up at some later stage, since i wouldn't mind compiling all the docos into one great long one at some point -- maybe to feature as supplementary material on a possible dvd of the play's filming. if we even get that far.
nothing is certain. maybe.
