We’ve been developing plugins for After Effects and Final Cut Pro for a long time and we’ve never received the response to a plugin that we have with Beauty Box Video. The Videomaker award goes next to our award from TV Technology magazine for one of the top 10 products at NAB 2010.

It’s really nice to get some recognition for putting out good After Effects and FCP plugins that really solve problems that people are having. It was definitely an early Anarchismas present! ;-) We’ve got some big plans for Beauty Box in 2011, so there’ll be no resting on our laurels. Expect to see some really cool stuff in the first quarter of next year.

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An interesting aspect to Beauty Box Video is that it’s difficult to get people to admit they are using it. A LOT of production companies have bought and loved the software but they’re a little shy about singing its praises publicly. Their actor and actress clients aren’t too keen about wanting fans to know they used software to make them (more) beautiful.

This wasn’t a problem for the subjects of Aaron’s production for the Kings. It’s a behind the scenes video of the photo shoot of the LA King’s Ice Girls calendar! Some very beautiful girls who you wouldn’t think would need much retouching.

(Click on the image above to be taken to the King’s site and see the video.)

However, no situation is perfect.

Aaron and crew were shooting a photo shoot, which was set up to be ideal for photos, not necessarily for video. Most of the footage was shot with a Canon XL H1S, but a Canon DSLR was used for interviews, and a GoPro HD camera was used for underwater shots. All these cameras produce great footage, but it’s all HD. If makeup and lighting aren’t set up for video, HD is not always kind to the talent’s skin texture. This is why Beauty Box has been so popular and why Aaron really needed it on this shoot. He was nice enough to answer a few questions about the production:

AnarchyJim: Beautiful models, professional photo shoot, makeup… you wouldn’t expect a lot of  retouching would be necessary. How did Beauty Box help you out?

Aaron Brenner: The girls looked beautiful, but the lighting conditions and overall shoot were geared toward the still photographs for the calendar. Beauty Box helped us clean up some of the shadows and skin tones as well as minor blemishes here and there. In the past, we had taken our footage, separated the highlights from the rest of the image and applied a diffusion filter to affect just the skin tones. Beauty Box cut our post-production time in half.

AnarchyJim: What were some of the challenges you ran into shooting it?

AB: Overall, we shot 8 hours worth of footage, using 3 different cameras and resolutions. The second you’re working with multiple cameras, formats and resolutions, you’re going to face challenges. Mixing 720 60p footage with 1080 60i and HDV is a huge challenge. We worked in Apple’s ProRes codec and Beauty Box didn’t slow down for any shot.

AnarchyJim: How hard was it to get good results from Beauty Box?

AB: Click. Click. Boom. Manually set the skin tone to match, or auto analyze the frame, then let her render. It’s pretty impressive. We also ran almost every shot through the 3-way color corrector built into FCP. So Beauty Box fit into our workflow nicely.

AnarchyJim: Where is the video being shown?

AB: Our finished product is shown on our telecast, on our website at lakings.com/calendar and in our arena on our brand new HD scoreboard. Overall, we are producing 15 3-minute videos. The first video is the behind-the-scenes feature you saw. The next 14 videos are profiles on each girl. Those are all currently being edited.

AnarchyJim: What other kind of work are you doing for the Kings?

AB: For the Kings, we handle everything from post-game interviews, behind the scenes features and bikini calendar photo shoots. We work around the clock to deliver up-to-the-minute Kings video to our fans on our telecast, in arena and online.

AnarchyJim: So far the Kings are doing pretty well. Any plans to ‘beautify’ the hockey players if they make it to the Stanley Cup?

AB: We don’t have any plans… yet.

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While a shaky camera can be used, on rare occasion, to good effect… it’s usually something to be avoided. More often than not, it just means your watching a B horror flick and the owner of said shaky camera is about to be bitten in half. Hopefully we can get you shooting stable video so as to insure you are not similarly attacked by creatures that are aggravated by shaky video.

So… how do you avoid such a fate?

How you solve the problem of the shakes is, in part, determined by how much money you want to throw at the problem. I highly recommend you check out The DV Rebel’s Guide by Stu Maschwitz. Stu is a veteran visual effects supervisor who’s worked on Star Wars, Sin City, and many others. The DV Rebel’s Guide is a great resource for shooting professional looking video on the cheap. For example, using a skateboard and sandbags as a dolly. Brilliant! Lots of great info, cool tips, and if you’re just experimenting and playing around the book is very handy.

If you’re considering shooting professionally however, you probably owe it to yourself to get some real equipment. For example, the Steadicam Merlin (pictured above) is a great way to keep a DSLR stablized. It takes awhile to master it, but once you do you can get some beautifully stable shots. Do a search on YouTube for ‘steadicam merlin’ and check out some of the videos. It uses weights to counter balance the camera and keep everything steady. At $799, it’s a little pricey though.

Now, you can create something similar to the merlin with a pipe and weights and it’ll cost you $14. The problem with this (and with the Merlin itself) is that between the weights and the camera, it’s freakin’ heavy! You can only use the thing for 10-15 minutes or so at a go because your arm just gets worn out. One advantage the Merlin has is that you can buy a vest for it (also pictured above), which distributes the weight more evenly over your body and you can work much longer. It’s a great system, but it’ll set you back a cool $2400. But if you’re shooting professionally, it’ll be worth it. It should be pointed out that there are other professional tools, like the Glidecam, that compete with the Merlin. But I’ve used the Merlin, it works, so I can speak from experience with it… but there are plenty of folks that love the Glidecam. There’s also other inexpensive things like the Fig Rig, which allows you to move the camera around more fluidly, but is less helpful for dealing with bumps when walking.

Let’s talk about a few other things…

The tripod head you use for still images won’t cut it for video. You want to be able to smoothly pan the camera from left to right and most photo tripod heads aren’t set up for that. So you need a fluid based video tripod head, such as the one pictured in the top image. These also have a handle that makes smooth panning easier. You’re current tripod will probably work, so you don’t need to replace that, but the tripod head needs to be for video. The prices range anywhere from about $150 – $600. If it’s more than $600 you’re probably buying a head meant for a large film/video camera and it’s probably unnecessary for a 5-10 lb DSLR. Of course, if you’re mounting a 15lb, $7000 400mm prime on the camera, then maybe you should spend the extra $200 and get a tripod head that won’t collapse under the weight. I’m just sayin’…

That covers the basics for stabalizing the thing. From $14 stick and a dumbell and a skateboard with sandbags to a $2400 steadicam rig. Again, the DV Rebel’s Guide has a much more complete discussion of all the options, including stuff I’m not getting into here. This is just a blog and I ain’t spending the next 3 months writing a book.

What if it’s already shaky?

Well, first off, I would look out the window for zombies. They’re usually around when the video gets shaky.

If not, then bolt the door, get the shotgun ready, and we’ll try and stabalize the footage.

This is where things get dicey. If you thought Post Production for photos was bad (for example, if Photoshop makes you sweat worse than a bunch of zombies), you’ll LOVE Post Production for video! Actually, no you probably won’t love it…

So yes, post production. There are many options for video… from iMovie on the low end, to Adobe After Effects and Apple’s Final Cut Pro on the high end. iMovie has stabilization built in. It works ‘ok’. It’s not really a professional tool and it shows. But if you’re just experimenting it’s definitely adequate. Adobe’s After Effects has excellent stabilization, but it takes awhile to learn it. It’s sort of like Photoshop for video, so it’s a very deep program. There’s also a program called Mocha from Imagineer Systems that works as a plugin for After Effects and Final Cut Pro and provides excellent stabilization for both programs.

Professional video stabilization is somewhat difficult. Once you understand how it works, it’s not too tough, but getting there can be a long process for someone without a video background. However, if you’re serious about video, then learning After Effects,  Adobe’s Premiere Pro or Apple’s Final Cut Pro is probably essential. You’ll need at least one of them.

Of course, you can always hire someone to stabilize the footage for you. Assuming the footage isn’t _too_ shaky, it shouldn’t cost too much. If you don’t expect to have lots and lots of shaky video, then hiring someone to deal with the occasional shot is probably the way to go. However, if you choose to do it yourself, there are many training videos out there that deal with stabilization and can help you get up to speed.

I hope this has provided some useful info to all you crazy folks doing crazy things with DSLRs.

Oh and btw… CHECK THIS OUT: The DSLR shootout, where the folks at Zacuto do a spectacular job comparing a number of DSLRs with a $100K Feature Film camera. The results are pretty amazing!

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Michael Maller emailed us regarding his recent purchase of Beauty Box. This is our new skin retouching software for video footage in After Effects and Final Cut Pro. Michael had some great things to say about the subtle effect that Beauty Box provides when smoothing away wrinkles, blemishes and other skin issues.

Michael didn’t realize he’d become an ‘anarchist in training’, replete with an official t-shirt, from giving the compliment. We really appreciate hearing from him (and you) because comments, questions and even complaints are what improve our products.

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Before the models arrived, Digital Anarchy spent the morning preparing the shoot area. We decided to convert the living room of our Chief Executive Anarchist, Jim Tierney, rather than renting a space. His purple velvet couch made a terrific rich backdrop and we hung black striped curtains to frame the shots. Some of the footage was shot outside; luckily the weather held. San Francisco in December can be very cold or very warm, often within the same three hour period.

Sitting in for the models before they arrive:

We shot both video footage and still photographs for the Beauty Box examples. Because of the video, we needed continuous lights. We used two 750W Lowel Totas for main and fill lights, a Lowel Pro for the hair light, and a 32″ reflector. For the photos, we added a Canon 580EX flash and used a Canon 5D. We used the Canon 5D Mark II to shoot the HD video and a Panasonic DVX100 for the SD footage.

Outside with our model, just before the SF weather turned from 70 to 60 degrees.

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