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Saturday, October 29, 2011

Quick Links

Addressing the Rumors | Kimberly Snyder | Kodak
Kim Snyder, President of Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Division, tries to address the ongoing concerns about film, it's future, Kodak's support of film, and Kodak's future:
We are leveraging Kodak technology and intellectual property to bring an innovative digital asset management solution to market. It’s designed for content owners with assets of all formats created over the years.

And we will soon be introducing a new film! A new member of the VISION3 family of color negative films will be added to your film choices. With the latest film technology in the can, you can keep rolling in the most challenging production situations – on set or on location – and maintain a high resolution image through post and distribution.

Furthermore, with film still maintaining its archival leadership role in preserving the memorable images of the past centuries, we continue R&D towards expanding our archival film products to create a platform of choices for a variety of needs.


Walter Murch at the Boston SuperMeer | Chris Portal | Blog
Did you miss Walter Murch at the Boston SuperMeet? Chris did a great job of writing up what he talked about (also I've posted a video of Walter speaking about Final Cut Pro X.):
He went on to discuss the preciousness of film, contrasting Apocalypse Now to his most recent film, Hemingway & Gellhorn, which he is wrapping up for HBO. Apocalypse Now involved 14,160 mins of footage, equating to 7 tons of workprint (1000 ft of picture and sound = 11 mins = 11 pounds), whereas Hemingway & Gellhorn involved about 10,000 mins of footage, consisting of a small drive of 0’s and 1’s.


Exporting to Video From Photoshop Extended | Scott Bourne | 3 Exposure
Short tip on how to export to video:
Whether you’re making slide shows with your HDR or panoramic images or doing time lapse, you may need (or even create) video. One of Photoshop Extended’s greatest abilities is to work with video files. While you can open a video file in the same way that you would any photograph, you need to save the files in a special way.


CMG Hidden Gems – Chapter 10 – All About Masking | Chris and Trish Meyer
| MasteringFilm
Reproduction of a chapter of the book Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects: Essential and Advanced Techniques, 5th Edition explains how to mask in After Effects.
While you can draw masks directly in the Comp panel, you can’t see the area of the image that you’ve masked out. But you can in the Layer panel – if you set up the Layer panel options correctly.

In the figure above, note the View menu and the Render checkbox in the Layer panel (left viewer). These decide what part of the rendering chain is displayed. When the Render switch is off, you can see the entire Source in the Layer panel and the results of your masking in the Comp panel (right viewer).


New Sony 18-252 mm Zoom | Jon Fauer | Film & Digital Times
Jon is impressed after playing with this lens, saying it could make the PMW-F3 the first 35mm motion picture point and shoot:
Sony’s new 18-252 mm zoom lens has been previously previewed as a prototype under glass, but this was the first time we could grab it and go. Which I did, with the F3 on its Chrosziel rig and SR-R1 Recorder nicely balanced aft. Skeptical at first, I was amazed how the image stabilization was able to smooth out my deliberate jumps for joy shooting handheld all the way out at 252 mm. Even the auto focus glided smoothly from one point to another.


Ultra High Definition Television Development Continues | Carolyn Giardina
| The Hollywood Reporter
Never mind 4K, here comes 8K. When will the madness end? Seriously? If you're projecting on a movie screen, maybe you need 8K, but do you really need 8K TV in the home?
A technical specification for Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV) — a digital video format proposed by Japan’s NHK that supports up to 8K resolution — could be in place as early as next April, according to Wood, who chairs the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Working Party, which leading this effort. A technical recommendation is an important step on the roap to implementation of new technology.


Apple's Processor Options for Early 2012 Mac Pro Begin to Firm Up | MacRumors
Wild speculation about the arrival of the next(?) Mac Pros, based on the expected delivery of Intel's Sandy Bridge E processors.


Walter Murch talks about Final Cut Pro X

There's been some discussion about what Walter Murch said about Final Cut Pro X at the Boston SuperMeet this week, so I've posted this segment which is the part where he talks about his reaction to Final Cut Pro X, what it lacked, why he thinks they did this, and what he hopes for in the future:

I'm cautiously optimistic, but still a little traumatized by what happened over the summer. Because it makes you...you start to wonder, well...do they love us? - No. They like us. They say they love us.

Later, he was specifically asked what he thought he'd cut his next movie on, and he said he didn't know.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Automatic Duck plug-ins are now free!

Back in September, Wes Plate of Automatic Duck announced he was moving to Adobe. Automatic Duck's plug-in are one way to export from and to Final Cut Pro X and were highlighted by Apple when X was released. At the time, Wes said that Automatic Duck would continue. They have now sent out the following announcement about the Automatic Duck product line:

Automatic Duck news
October 28, 2011

If you missed our mail last month you should check it out as it got a lot of people talking. Today we have a follow-up. Our web site has relaunched* and while the overall look of the site is similar there is a dramatic difference in how we are distributing our plug-ins.

Starting today Pro Import AE, Pro Import FCP and Pro Export FCP (both versions, for FCP7 and FCPX) are available at no charge. You read this right. Free.

We are unable to provide support at the same level as we have over the years, but we didn't want these plug-ins to go away while they remain useful. So if you can make use of these plug-ins in your projects, enjoy!

Thank you to all of our users, working with you for the last 10 1/2 years was a truly wonderful experience.
- Wes and Harry

See also: Automatic Duck| Thank you
A short Q and A with Automatic Duck about their Adobe move | The Editblog

Boston SuperMeet Report IV

There were about two dozen exhibitors at this years Boston SuperMeet, ranging from AJA and Blackmagic, through to Promise and JVC. There was a tricked out Sony NEX-FS100 at the Talamas Broadcast table, and Canon had a bunch of cameras; but no EOS-1D  X (I gather the twenty prototypes are in New York.)

EditShare was there with their servers and Lightwave editing application. They weren't talking about the shipping date for the Mac version, but it's supposed to be next month. EditShare was doing an event in New York the same night and I asked the guys at the booth if they drew the short straw - they laughed...sort of.


There was quite a bit to see, but here are the things that caught my eye:

DataVideo TP-200 iPad Teleprompter
I've been thinking seriously about buying one of these prompters, so it was cool to actually see the Datavideo TP-200 [$575] in person. I have seen another iPad based prompter in use, but this one is a little cheaper and I wanted to see how it compared.

It seems fairly basic, but not cheap and flimsy. Don't forget that if you are so inclined, you could build your own; just buy a piece of 60/40 glass and use a cardboard box! The TP-200 is certainly a step above; the metal base for mounting the camera and prompter on a tripod makes for much simpler and reliable set-up! Best of all, I could read the text quite comfortably from ten or more feet away, so the iPad is a viable choice. I think the iPad will work nicely as a prompter.

They were running the dv Prompter software. As a nice bonus, the prompter comes with a wired remote that works with that application.


Fast Forward Video SideKick
As intrigued by solid state recorders as I am, I can't say that seeing the SideKick [$1,999] in person made me want to get one. At almost $2,000 it's twice the price of the Ninja [$995], and the same price as the AJA KeyPro Mini [$1,995]. Compared to the KeyPro Mini, it does have a screen for preview/playback, but it's low resolution. It also uses SSD, while the KeyPro Mini uses CompactFlash cards, but I can see pros and cons to both methods of storage.

Personally, if I could afford that kind of money I'd get the KeyPro Mini (since it does ProRes) but in reality I'd get the Ninja because it's more affordable. Or the Blackmagic HyperDeck Shuttle [$327.75] Maybe I'm missing some other advantage that the SideKick has over the competition.


Apogee Mic
Apogee audio was showing their audio gear, including the One [$249], a pocket-sized USB microphone and audio interface input (samples up to 48kHz), and the Duet 2 [$595], which is a two input, four output audio interface which samples up to 24-bit/192kHz. While the One was being pitched as something that could be used for field recording (with your Mac!) I really liked the look of the Duet 2. It's just a nicely designed thing with brushed metal sides and simple, stylish graphics; and it only has one knob! I'm sure it sounds good too...but it's not for field recording.

The guy was a little shy about the device that I thought was the coolest little thing at the show; the Mic. This is a small USB mic that works with the iPad. He demoed it working with GarageBand. It has a level control built in to it, and will also work with other computers. It should be available by the end of the year.

The price is probably going to be about $250, so too expensive for me to splash out and get, but this could be useful for those doing lots of sound who want a portable mic solution. It is limited to 44.1kHz.
Apogee Electronics: Mic
One
Duet 2




Contour ShuttlePRO
This was the first time I'd actually got to play with the ShuttlePRO [$79]. This is one of those things you see and think you don't need, and then you spend a couple of minutes with it and you want it desperately!

I have a keyboard with a built-in jog wheel, but that's attached to my old Mac Pro, and I do most of my editing these days on the MacBook Pro. The ShuttlePRO seems like the perfect thing to drag around with your MacBook. You can set up the buttons based on the application(s) you're working with, and while it might not replace more sophisticated external boxes and dedicated keyboards, it's got enough extra buttons that it can really speed things up.

They have a smaller version, the ShuttleXpress, but it doesn't have nearly as many extra buttons as the larger PRO. I think you want to have the larger version unless space is really at a premium.

Contour Design: Contour ShuttlePRO





Boston SuperMeet III - Walter Murch

I'm still recovering from last night, and am going to post a bit more detailed report later this afternoon. But to wrap-up the reports from yesterday:

Walter Murch was just awesome. Well worth the price of admission. He had lots to say about all kinds of things, from Final Cut Pro X and XML (he loves the latter, not sure at all about the former) to 3D (doesn't like it) and the audio in Apocalypse Now (did you know it switches between mono, stereo and 5.1 in different places for effect?)

He showed the timeline of his latest movie (edited in Final Cut Pro 7) with 55 audio channels! The channels are grouped based on their purpose. He did say that he could probably squeeze that down to about 20, but since Final Cut Pro 7 allows you to have up to 99 channels, he likes to keep everything separated so he can easily find things.

I'm just scratching the surface here.


It was a great night, even if I didn't win anything in the raffle.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

SuerMeet part II

Jem ends with "on November 3rd the story changes.."
Dan gets up and says we are going to see some amazing things from Canon then.

Marc-Andre Ferguson talking about Smoke on the road...
You can edit with Smoke on a MacBook; as long as you have Thunderbolt and an external disk array.
Smoke 2012 supports anything from RED Epic.you can use Final Cut Pro hot keys.
You can get a 30 day free trial.
If you are a student with an .edu address you can get a free 36-month trial!

8:08 Megan from Avid introduces Corey Tedrow to talk about fiture features and Andrew Weisblum on editing Black Swan.
Avid has been on an openness kick for a few years now...
They are adding support for AVCH and Epic files. Adding AJA and Matrox support. AJA has added DNXHD support to KeyPro.
They are adding ProRes export support.

Andy talks about building up the dance bar scene and working with the sound designer. He was also on set for some of it editing.


Walter Murch is about to speak..and I'm running out of battery!!

Sort o Live Bloggong the Boston SuperMeet

I had been going to Twitter this, but that's not working..

6:30 Dan Bérubé came on the screen in the vendor room to tell us the doors were opening!
6:40 Room is half full already.

Oh, Dan thinks I'm Irish. That explains a lot...

6:45 I'm so technically challenged, any pictures will come later...much, much later!

6:50 the just opened with the Apple "Here's To The Crazy Ones" narrated by Steve Jobs.

6:57 everyone shake the hand of the person next to you...no hugging!

6:58 How many people use Resolve? Two people?! How many use Color? About a quarter of the room put up their hands; "Well forget it"

Alexis talks Interoperability in Resolve 8.1

"Resolve is like Switzerland"
Full round trip Finsl Cut Pro 7 to Premiere Pro CS 5.5.1
Resolve 8.1 introduces round trip to FCPX
Can import FCP7 to FCPX with Resolve Lite. Only does video, not audio.

Just demoed Trisha Myers (sp?) "instant Sex" look; a blur with contrast.

7:16 Michael Horton says Dan Bérubé is going to do standup!

Jem Schofield now talking Canon EOS filmmaking.
"How many people here went to film school?" not a whole lot; that's pretty typical.
At the C47 he's been doing daily video podcasts for the last two years. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

On the Canon EOS-1D X: "this may or may not be the camera for you." he's selling the fact that it's their flagship stills camera, and the first of a new generation....

News From Here & There

Canon EOS-1D X First Look Video | Dan Chung | DSLRNewsShooter
At London's Canon Pro Solutions show Dan spoke to Canon's Mike Burnhill about the EOS-1D X. He's posted a 14 minute video of the demo/interview which is well worth watching.
They discuss pretty much all the - hopefully - promising improvements in this new camera:
  • There's some discussion of the new compression option (ALL-I and IPB) All-I makes every frame a key frame (to display the frame, software won't need to render the other frames.) This improves editing performance, but the file size is about three times the size of IPB. IPB is an updated version of the compression used in the previous cameras.
  • Rolling Shutter should be reduced because they're doing a faster read-out from the chip (which was added to improve the frames-per-second still image capture.)
  • Aliasing and moiré reduced because it's not line skipping.
  • HDMI output isn't clean, but it doesn't drop-out when you go to record. Dan asks a rather sticky question about why that is, and the guy sort of suggests that it would compete with the video division!
  • There's a dedicated button for zoom magnification.
  • They try it with a Zacuto EVF and a Cinematics USB follow-focus (both work fine).
  • Official footage probably won't be out until next month or later.
There's also an interesting discussion about why they pre-announced the camera so early:
"The whole reason we've announced the camera so early is people complain we don't give a roadmap, that we just bring out cameras straight away....so this is the first time we're kind of announcing a camera as a roadmap, and we're allowing people a first hands on. So the product's still being worked on, some of the features will change perhaps."
Business 101: Pre-announcing products usually kills sales of existing products. You only pre-announce if 1) you don't already make something that competes with what you're announcing, or 2) you're concerned about existing customers jumping to another vendors products. I wonder whether they really want to provide a roadmap, or delays in production forced them to show their hand before they could ship the camera.



Think You Don’t Need to Focus? Think Again | Chase Jarvis | Blog
A cheeky little post about the Lytro camera which allows focusing after-the-fact, noting that just because the camera no longer requires you to focus, doesn't mean that you don't have to focus on other things...like content.



Lighting Tip | David Kruta| Twitter
David posted an interesting tip on Twitter for creating a "no light" effect:
Lighting for that "no light" look using what I call HannaLights. Xmas lights taped to bounce board  pic.twitter.com/ltpIQYVb


Quick Links


Boston SuperMeet
Today is Boston's Second Annual SuperMeet, and I'm off to the event in a bit. Last year I had planned to post some live reports from the event, but it turned out to be too difficult, so I'll probably just write something up tomorrow.
Have a great day everyone!






Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Quick Links

How-To Download Technicolor CineStyle | Technicolor | YouTube
A short video that explains how to download and install Technicolor CineStyle on Canon DSLRs, the settings to use, and how to apply the LUT for CineStyle in your editor. These are the camera settings they recommend:
Sharpness 0
Contrast -4
Saturation -2
Color Tone: 0
ISO (multiple of 160)


Review - SONY FS100E Camcorder | Adam Garstone | HD Magazine
A mostly positive review of the Sony NEX-FS100, which interestingly seems to favor this camera over it's sibling, the PMW-F3:
The FS100 is obviously intended for film-makers – one big giveaway is the stud mounted at the focal plane so you can hang a tape measure on it for focus measurements. If you’ll excuse the pun, that makes it a more focussed product than the F3, which just seems confused as to its identity. The problem with this focus on film-makers is the recoding format – AVCHD just isn’t good enough to be shown on a screen 20’ high. Interestingly, the sensor in the FS100 is rated at ISO 400, though in the F3 the same chip is rated at ISO 800 – I’m guessing that the downrating is to reduce the noise and hence improve the apparent performance of the CODEC.


How does the iPhone 4S camera stack-up against other cameras? | Lisa Bettany
| Campl.us
Comparison stills taken with all generations of the iPhone camera. There's some notable improvements in the iPhone since the original iPhone.



4K EDIT in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 | Tom Lowe | Vimeo
Tom demonstrates editing 4K footage with Premiere Pro CS5.5 using footage taken with the RED Epic on what he describes as a "gaming PC"; admittedly one that cost $3,500!



Supervising Sound Editor Lon Bender on DRIVE | CSSStudios | YouTube
Lon Bender of Soundelux discusses creating sound for the movie Drive in this short piece:
"[the director] wanted the cars to represent what was happening at any given moment from a story perspective. At the beginning of the movie where Driver is taking these two thugs from their exit from the robbery. So instead of speeding away, he quietly pulls out, and in fact we don't play any car engine at all there. He alludes the police from a sonic perspective; they can't hear him, the can't see him, they can't find him, but he can look out at them. And then later in that same sequence he gets spotted on a bridge from a helicopter, he floors it and takes off, and all of a sudden the sound comes to life."


Dual-channel Mono Audio in FCP X | Larry Jordan | Blog
Larry explains how to treat a stereo channel as two mono channels. In addition to this tip, check the comments where Larry responds to someone complaining about the limitations of Final Cut Pro X:
I appreciate your frustration. SOME things in FCP X are much easier, others are not. Audio is a mixed bag – the filters are to die for, the editing is essentially equal, audio transitions a little worse – but MUCH more flexible, and audio mixing still needs work.
Trimming is better, editing is equally fast, color correction is much better (compared to FCP 7)….
The list goes on – in both directions.


The Limits of Variation | Roger Cicala | LensRentals
Roger has been posting some interesting articles on the blog at LensRentals. The latest is an interesting - if somewhat frustrating - article about the variations in performance between lenses of the same make and model. It starts with some disclaimers:
before I go further, please raise your right hand and repeat after me: “I do solemnly swear not to be an obnoxious fanboy and quote this article out of context for Canon-bashing purposes.”
Then goes on to note that one particular lens they carry - the Canon  EF 24-70mm f/2.8L - is subject to larger variations due to wear and tear:
All of our lenses rent with the same frequency. All of them get the same care. So what was different about 24-70s that made them have problems with aging when the other lenses didn’t? There is one thing that is somewhat different about 24-70 f2.8 zooms: they are both barrel extending (rather than internal) zooms and are rather heavy. Most barrel extending zooms are lighter. Maybe thousands of zoom twists was wearing something out.
But what do you do with this information? I'm not really sure, though if you have a copy of that lens, follow his advice - don't panic - and if you've been using it heavily and noticed it seems a little soft at 70mm, you might want to have Canon take a look at it.

And if you're interested in the details of lens design, check out two other articles:

LENS GENEALOGY PART 1 - In which I begin to answer the question “Why Do You Put the Lens Diagrams on Your Website?”
LENS GENEALOGY – PART 2



Amazon's Kindle Fire Will Become To The Video Industry What The iPod Was To The Music Industry | Dan Rayburn | StreamingMediaBlog
Dan thinks that the Amazon Fire will be for streaming video what the iPod was for music:
Thanks to Amazon's AWS services and CloudFront they have made distributing video easy and affordable with their self-service model not to mention, provided a cloud based platform for a lot of other vendors in the industry. Add in the fact that Amazon now offers more than 12,000 movies and TV shows for free with Amazon Prime and Amazon's got the content offering growing quite nicely and will drive more consumer video consumption with some of the same scale Netflix did.


Wi-Fi BacPac™ + Wi-Fi Remote | GoPro
In addition to the GoPro HERO2, GoPro also announced the Wi-Fi BacPac and Wi-Fi Remote which will be available sometime this winter and will work with both the original HERO and the HERO2:
The Wi-Fi BacPac attaches to your HD HERO2 camera to enable long range video remote control via the Wi-Fi Remote or a smartphone / tablet / computer running a free GoPro App. Waterproof and durable, the Wi-Fi Remote enables complete control of up to 50 HD HERO2 cameras at a time.
It will also enable streaming with the HERO2, but not the HERO.



I Want To Make A Horror Movie | Gregory Feremach | Website
It's that time of the year; the perfect time to make your horror movie! This chart shows you how!




KataData | Katabatic Digital | iTunes
Need to calculate how much storage space you need? KataData is a runtime calculator for iPhone. Enter the amount of footage you have and KataData will calculate the runtime or storage. Choose camera, external recording device, or codec.
Cameras supported include: Arri Alexa, Phantom Flex, RED One & EPIC, Sony NEX-FS100 & PMW-F3, Canon DSLRs and Panasonic AG-AF100.



Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Canon Rebates

Canon is offering some rebates on Speedlites and lenses, including $70 off the EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS lens and $10 off the EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens. There's not a whole lot I'd personally want, but if I had the money, I'd buy the Wide Tilt/Shift TS-E 17mm f/4L Manual Focus Lens for EOS!! Rebates expire November 23rd.

Final Cut Pro X News

FCPX OMF Workaround | Jef Gibbons | Vimeo
Jef demonstrates using the utility FOOLCUT_AE [$89] to get an OMF export from Final Cut Pro X to an audio application. You'll also need Premiere Pro and After Effects to complete the process.
FOOLCUT_AE transfers a FCPX sequence to After Effects, then you can export that to Premiere Pro, and then use Premiere Pro to export to OMF!!
He notes:
The hack does work, but as you see some clips are out of sync. It's just the audio that's slightly out on a couple of the clips. Most of the clips lined up perfectly, so you have to use the actual audio from the FCPX render to line up any clips that are slightly out.

I should mention that the sync issues don't happen at all when going from FCPX to AfterEffects via foolcut, the software works perfectly for that. The move from AE to PP is where the sync gets muddled a bit.


Boinx FxTiles | FxFactory | YouTube
A tutorial for Boinx FxTiles, a set of effects and transitions that feature 3D shattering and tiling. The effect works in Final Cut Pro, Motion and After Effects.
Boinx FxTiles [Product Page] runs within Noise Industries FxFactory, and costs $99.



Roundtrip from FCPX to Resolve to FCPX and transfer projects into Final Cut Pro 7 too! | FCP.co
Mathieu Marano demonstrates using DaVinci Resolve Lite with Final Cut Pro X, and that you can use it as an intermediary between FCPX and Final Cut Pro 7:
There are some caveats though. It looks like audio is not supported and something funky is going on with the substitution of effects, but hey, FCPX isn't even four months old yet!


FCPX to DaVinci Resolve Lite | Ben Sengsouvanh | Blog
Ben is also excited about DaVinci Resolve Lite, except that he's found his three year old MacBook isn't really up to the task:
Even though I haven’t really had a chance to play around with the round tripping so far, I have come across some interesting things. I’d like to call them bugs, but it just might be my computer.
  • Crashes on import with certain titles (in this case Widescreen Matte by Alex4D)
  • Compound clips aren’t supported in Resolve yet.


Color Grading and Denoising with FCPX and Avidemux | Jonathan Musset
| Jonathan Cinema Blog
Jonathan explains his color grading workflow, providing some tips for those starting out, and using DSLRs. He also adds a little tip about a tool I haven't heard of before:
I have always an Avidemux step in my workflow. Avidemux is an open source project with many cool editing features. For instance, I like to apply my last gama correction in Avidemux with a filter called "Mplayer eq2" and my favorite companion is a filter called "Mplayer Hqdn3d" to remove the noise at the end of the process (very useful with the CineStyle).


Final Cut Pro X - Keywords | Steve Douglas and Ken Stone
| Ken Stone's Final Cut Pro Web Site
If you're just starting out in Final Cut Pro X you'll want to learn about applying keywords to clips. This article is a good start:
Renamed, the clip will stay linked to its original clip name and return to the browser in alphabetical order. A renamed clip, brought into the timeline will retain the name you gave it. However, should you bring the clip to the timeline before it was named, and then rename it in the Clip browser, the timeline clip will retain its original name. Therefore, it would be prudent to make sure all clips have been named and organized before building the timeline.


Troubleshooting Final Cut Pro X | Richard Taylor | LAFCPUG
An indispensable collection of tips for fixing problems in Final Cut Pro X:
7) A corrupt Project or Event Render file could be a problem.
Delete Event Render files by selecting the Event and then going to the File menu and choosing
File > Delete Event Render Files. Choose All Render Files if you suspect an Event render file is causing your problem. Of course you will have to re-render everything if you choose this option.


Apple Final Cut Pro X - 3rd Party Plug-ins Updates | Michele Yamazaki | ToolFarm
A list of third-party plug-in vendors that have added support - or announced support - for Final Cut Pro X.



Free FCPX BBC Specification title and action safe area effect | Simon Ubsdell
| FCP.co
A titles-safe effect for FCPX that matches the BBC specification has been posted in the FCP.co forum:
Note that there are a variety of Safe Action/Title effects out there of varying degrees of accuracy. I thought it best to adhere strictly to the BBC standard for this effect (Safe Action = 80% active width, 93% active height; Safe Title = 65% active width, 90% active height), but the specifics may vary in your territory.


FCPX INs and OUTs - Replace Edit | Andy Neil | Creative COW
A video tutorial that explains FCPX's Replace Edit feature: one that's quite a bit different from previous versions explained in an earlier tutorial.



Controlling Final Cut X with an iPad | Sam McGuire | Creative COW
Using an iPad, Skype, SoundFlower, LogMeIn.com, and your primary Final Cut station you can edit from anywhere you have network connection. This video tutorial describes the setup and basic functionality of the involved tools.


Quick Links

Three Ways Camera Assistants Have to Adapt to Digital Cinema in Order to Survive | Evan Luzi | the Black and Blue
Some more useful advice for filmmakers and camera assistants:
2. You Should Invest in Digital Specific Gear
The number one question I get asked by readers is what they should have in their toolkit. My answer is always dependent on what kind of cameras they shoot on.
The tools you use for a film camera are different than the ones you use for a digital camera. There is overlap, of course, but there is also gear that is specifically useful for one format and not for the other.


Netflix lost 800,000 U.S. subscribers in third quarter | Ryan Lawler | Gigaom
According to management, the “primary issue is many of our long-term members felt shocked by the pricing changes, and more of them expressed that by canceling than we expected.” It's trading at 188 today, down from a high of 300 a share in July.
Netflix ended the quarter with 21.45 million streaming customers, compared to the 21.8 million it expected. It also had 13.93 million DVD subscribers, compared to the 14.2 million forecast.


Magic Bullet Mojo - Sale | Red Giant
Red Giant is offering a limited half-off sale on Mojo, it's easy-to-use colorizing tool for Final Cut, Motion, Premiere Pro and After Effects. The price is $49 (down from $99.) No word on when the sale ends.



Getting Started with DaVinci Resolve Lite - Free | Class On Demand
If you're interested in Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve Lite (the free version of Resolve) you can get free access to Class on Demand’s "Getting Started with DaVinci Resolve Lite" training.
Learn how to get the best out of your free Resolve software with world-class training for the product absolutely free. Leveraging Class on Demand’s training expertise, Bob Sliga’s brilliance as a color-grader and our state-of-the-art on demand training platform, select the chapter you need and watch your free training instantly.


'Avengers' Was Not Shot With An iPhone | Josh Wigler | Splash Page
Director of photography on The Avengers, Seamus McGarvey has corrected an earlier erroneous report that certain portions of The Avengers was shot on the iPhone. He had, in fact, talked about the iPhone and Canon 5D II, but then said that scenes were shot with the 5D. This somehow got quoted incorrectly.
Of course, now that the iPhone 4S supports 1080P, someone probably will soon use it to shoot scenes for a movie.



Robot vision – iPhone 4S video vs iPhone 4 | Andrew Reid | EOSHD
Andrew reviews the iPhone 4S camera, comparing it to the iPhone 4, as well as to other cameras. He includes a video and still images:
Now the 4 and 4S are VERY different in terms of feel. The original 4 has a very punchy contrast and saturation. The 4S is warmer looking with better dynamic range and more natural colour but is far less contrasty and it has a less eccentric ‘LOMO / HOLGA’ style lens than the 4. This new 5 element lens is a bit more ‘proper’ – i.e. clinical. The funky rose petal lens flare is gone, which is a shame in my opinion.


The HD HERO2: 2x as Powerful in Every Way | YouTube
A promotional video for the new camera Hero2 camera from GoPro announced yesterday:




Recording of live presentation for MacVideo.TV “The right camera for the right job…” | Philip Bloom | Blog
Last week Philip gave a presentation at the Royal Society of Medicine for MacVideo.TV entitled “The right camera for the right job…” where he covers a variety of cameras, from the PMW-F3, & Panasonic AF100, to Canons, RED Epic and the Sony NEX-5. It's been posted in two parts; the first is 22 minutes long. The second part will be posted shortly.



The birth of the iPod | Benj Edwards | Macworld
A fascinating account of the birth of the iPod; I didn't realize how much of a shoe-string production it was and how dependent upon outside companies and experts they were to produce it in a very quick time.

But what intrigued me the most was this little tidbit:
Apple approached creative app giant Adobe to author a simple, consumer-friendly movie editing application, but Adobe declined. That’s when Apple decided to create iMovie and feature the Mac as the center of a “digital hub” strategy, where the Mac served as the nucleus of an ever-expanding digital media universe.



Adobe's 50% off Adobe Creative Suite CS5.5 Production Premium [$849.50 instead of $1,699] or Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 [$399.50 instead of $799] for Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer Users ends October 31st.

Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium - License [Add the Full version to the cart, then in the cart, click on the "Click here to enter a promo code." text just below the details and enter "SWITCH" and the discount is applied]

Monday, October 24, 2011

The Art & Science of Shooting Timelapse @ Rule Boston Camera, October 26th

Rule Boston Camera's LearningLab series continues this Wednesday with Steve Eliopoulos, Director/DP at Gravity Boston discussing his past two decades of shooting timelapse on film, and, currently, on today's DSLR systems including architectural timelapse where 16mm Bolex systems are left in place shooting for up to three years at a time.

There'll be some technical discussion, some footage review and some hands-on.

Time: 10am to 12noon with Breakfast
RSVP: events@rule.com

Showroom Demo at 12n with Haley Parizo:
Sony NX70U Rain & Dust Proof Camcorder

Quick Links

Mini Review of the RODE Lapel Microphone (Well Recomended) | Philip Johnston
| HD Warrior
Philip really likes these RODE lapel mics [$249]:
The microphone is an omni-directional polar pattern 60Hz to 18KHz and a sound pressure level of 94dB. I can hold my hand up and tell you that I am delighted with my two microphones, they come in an anti-trauma waterproof case and as you can see wind puffs are also part of the kit.
For £150 per microphone kit the RODE system is the best on the sub-miniature marketplace and you will be hard pressed to find a more versatile microphone system on the marketplace.


iPhone 4S Movie: The hand pressed Cappuccino | F9photo | Vimeo
So not only was this shot on an iPhone 4S, but they used a Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly, (which you can see in this picture [ProPic]). I wonder what a client would think if you showed up to shoot a project on your iPhone?



The 5 Smartest Financing Tips From the Film Independent Forum | Kim Adelman
| IndieWire
Some tips from the Film Independent Forum recently held at the Directors Guild Theater in Hollywood:
Your genre matters. Craig wanted to make a comedy that mocks horror films. He met with production companies that said they’d love to finance it – but as a straight horror film. Later, when the completed film played Sundance and won an audience award at SXSW, distributors shied away because they didn’t know how to get a handle on the mixed genre. Other panelists warned that comedies and American sports films were nearly impossible to get foreign pre-sales.


Piper Jaffray: Apple is already building prototype TV sets | Philip Elmer-DeWitt
| CNN Money
Did Steve Jobs have a new vision for the television set? That's the latest idea mentioned by Jobs biographer, who says Jobs had been working on some sort of TV related product.
I don't think it's a surprise that Apple has been working on TV for some time - they of course already have the Apple TV - but I'm not sure there's anything you can do to reinvent TV; that's what the internet already did.



The Sony NEX-7 Digital Camera Review | Steve Huff | Blog
Steve Huff has had the NEX-7 to play with for a couple of weeks, and he's now posted his full review. He really likes the camera, especially the OLED viewfinder, though he notes the camera isn't quite as clean at high ISO's as the NEX-5N (the NEX-7 has a higher resolution sensor which probably accounts for this):
The high ISO may be a little better on the 5n but that is about it. The built in EVF of the 7 makes all the difference in the world as does the Tri-Navi controls. if you already have a 5n and EVF, you are really only missing the controls and larger body style. In that case, buy yourself the Zeiss 24 and call it a day.


The Sad Truth about Vendor-Client Relationships | Dan Bailey
| The Photoletariate
A great way to start Monday, Dan highlights an amusing video about vendor-client relationships.
It’s also a bit cathartic to watch because it reminds us that we’re not alone. We hear this stuff from our clients and customers all the time. Unfortunately, there’s an element of artistic and creative work that will always be treated this way by some people in the business world.


Apple quietly updates MacBook Pro lineup with faster CPUs, graphics
| AppleInsider
Apples does a "quiet" update - no official announcement so far - of most of their MacBook Pro line, goosing processor speeds, graphics and some hard drive configurations. Prices have remained the same.
This update reminds us that there's still no word on a MacPro update. Perhaps Apple is leaving that market as well...



GoPro Launches HD HERO2 Camera With Wi-Fi Remote Control and Video Streaming

GoPro announced the GoPro 2, a new iteration of their wearable action camera. The new model features a higher-resolution sensor, new lens, faster image processor and WiFi capabilities, and is available in three configurations (as was the original). It will sell for the same price that the current model had been listing for. The original GoPro remains on sale, but the list price has dropped by $60:

see: GoPro: HD Hero2

Philip Bloom has posted a quick video and some thoughts: GoPro release the improved in many ways “Hero 2″

The press release from GoPro appears below.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Steve Jobs: Biography already available on iBookstore




Or you can get it an: Amazon [$17.88] of on Kindle for $16.99

Boston SuperMeet This Thursday, Oct 27

The agenda for the Boston SuperMeet has been set, and includes:
In Conversation with WALTER MURCH
This will be the FIRST public appearance by Oscar and BAFTA Award-winning editor Walter Murch since the launch of Final Cut Pro X.

Editing BLACK SWAN and Avid Special Announcement - Andrew Weisblum, A.C.E. and Bob Russo, Avid
AVID will feature ANDREW WEISBLUM, A.C.E., who will discuss his editorial workflow on BLACK SWAN.

Canon EOS 1DX and the Present and Future State of DSLR Filmmaking: - Jem Schofield, TheC47.com
CANON will join us again on stage by inviting filmmaker JEM SCHOFIELD of theC47.com, who will share with us his DSLR workflow and talk about the present and future state of Canon filmmaking.

Blackmagic Design Davinci Resolve 8.1 - Alexis Van Hurkman
Alexis Van Hurkman will discuss how, in the last nine months, DaVinci Resolve from Blackmagic Design has changed his color correction practice.

On the Road with SMOKE on Mac and ThunderBolt - Marc-André Ferguson, Autodesk
Marc-André Ferguson, the Smoke Industry Manager at Autodesk, will be onstage demonstrating the groundbreaking new workflow for SMOKE on Mac OSX using a laptop.
STUART STREET PLAYHOUSE
Radisson Hotel Boston
200 Stuart Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116

Thursday, October 27, 2011 - 7PM- 11PM for actual SuperMeet with Walter Murch (Doors open at 3:30pm for Vendor Showcase)