Having trouble with multiple video layers affecting density with Alexa Footage

We switched out show to Alexa this season and now, every time I overlay picture or a graphic or both, the density shifts on the clips that are multi layer. For example, we start out with a character in a graphic frame on the left side (reduced from full frame using the motion tool) and another character pops on also in a graphic frame on the right (partially overlapped and reduced from full frame using the motion tool.) When the second character pops on, there's a bump and everything on screen is now a bit darker. We cut to a close up and there's no issue. It's like with every layer, there's a thin masking going on. The more layers, the darker the bump is and the bump happens whether there are graphics or not, so just having two layers of image causes the problem too.

We have been doing this show for years just capturing good old DVCPRO HD from a Panasonic camera and had absolutely nothing like this ever happen. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Hey Joe

Are the comps rendered? It could be a shift due to realtime playback.

Also in your sequence settings:

? is Video Processing set to "Render 10bit material in high-precision YUV"

? is Motion Filtering Quality set to Best



Another thing are you shooting 422 on the Alexa or is the footage 444RGB? Do your sequence settings match the footage?



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I just tested with some Alexa 444 footage but couldn't replicate the issue so I think my suggestions above won't make much difference (still try them though).

- what sort of graphic frame are you using? Are they PSD layers or TIFF, PNG with transparency or Motion projects?



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Thanks, Ben. I did you first two suggestions and there was no effect as you expected.

We shot Alexa 422 and I use the ProRes 422 (HQ) preset.

Our layering is varied. The problem happens with simple picture overlapping picture with both being Alexa sources. Each subsequent layer make the shift even larger. Those elements can be .tif, .psd, .pict., .tga. It happens with them all. Even when there's just one, it still happens and like I said, every layer creates a bigger bump.