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Friday, May 02, 2014

Upcoming Events and some news


P.A. Workshop | May 10 | Boston | Massachusetts Production Coalition
Learn the skills to work on major productions in Feature Film, Television, and Commercials as a Production Assistant through an intensive daylong training program.
Through interactive sessions led by top industry production professionals, attendees will gain the tools to be a successful P.A. on set and ready to work on a range of productions. With hands-on training and presentations, we will cover essential topics, including:
○ SET ETIQUETTE: The Do's and Don'ts on Set
○ SAFETY TRAINING: Truck and General Set Safety Practices
○ P.A. 101: Resumes, Job Search, Networking and More



Rule Boston Camera is offering several events this month:
Rule Boston Camera offers a number of events, some free, some paid, including the following:
Wed May 7 An Introduction to the ARRI AmiraSat May 10 Vincent Laforet's Directing Motion Tour (paid workshop)



Other News


VIDEO INTERVIEW: VINCENT LAFORET ON HIS UPCOMING DIRECTING MOTION TOUR – WILL IT BE USEFUL FOR FACTUAL SHOOTERS? | News Shooter
To help filmmakers and video shooters learn these creative skills, Laforet is embarking on an educational tour through North America. From May 6 to July 13 he will visit 32 venues across the continent, showing how he works as well as analysing the use of motion by other famous cinematographers and directors.


HOW TO: PUBLICIZE YOUR FILM AT A FESTIVAL | Film Independent
With so many of today’s indie filmmakers going the DIY route, tackling publicity and marketing responsibilities has become an additional part of the indie filmmaker job description.


Thursday, May 01, 2014

Quick Links

BMCC variant Speed Booster works on GH3 and GH4 to give 1.28x crop, near full frame | EOSHD
I had hesitated to try this for so long, but finally today a brave EOSHD reader sent me a tweet saying he had fitted his BMCC Speed Booster (with protruding rear-glass) on his GH4. It just goes straight on. First a BIG disclaimer. Speed Booster adapters have adjustable glass which can sit closer or further away from the sensor to fine tune infinity focus.






IFFBoston: Five Questions for Fight Church Director and Editor Bryan Storkel | Filmmaker Magazine
The documentary Fight Church looks at the intersection of Christianity and mixed martial arts, and how pastors training fighters can reconcile their faith with a violent sport. The film premiered at IFFBoston. Co-director and editor Bryan Storkel previously directed and edited Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians, which examined a devout blackjack team.


NAB 2014 VIDEO: RODE MICROPHONES TALK ABOUT THEIR LATEST PRODUCTS AND THE MY RODE REEL COMPETITION | News Shooter
In our latest NAB video Clinton Harn talks to Scott Emerton of Rode about the their newest microphones. They discuss the recently launched the entry level Videomic Go and also useful accessories such as the Invisilav. He also talks about the My Rode Reel competition which has $70,000 worth of prizes up for grabs.


As Digital Cinema Shooting Reaches 4K, 6K, & Beyond, How Will Post Production Keep Up? | No Film School
It’s almost needless to say, but I’ll say it anyway: that’s a pretty darn impressive setup they got there. Those throughput figures pretty much speak for themselves, and it’s amazing that much horsepower can fit into so compact a space. What’s truly fascinating to me is just how IT-based the future of post — and filmmaking in general — really is.


The Cable Show 2014: Technicolor Demos High Frame Rate 4K STB | Broadcasting & Cable
During The Cable Show in Los Angeles, Technicolor is showing off what the company is billing as the "world's first 'high-frame-rate'" UltraHD settop box.
The demonstration builds on the company's display of the first 4K settop box last year. The UltraHD box will show 4K video at 60 frames per second for both cable and satellite networks during the convention from April 29 to May 1 in Los Angeles.


TV Networks vs. Streaming: Who's Winning the War? | IndieWire
When it comes to adults, TV networks are still ahead, but younger demos favor streaming over television (see infographic below). And per this study, Netflix was the only streaming service to see an increase in consumers, whereas competitors like Hulu, Redbox and Amazon -- which launched its own set top a la Roku and Apple TV earlier this month, stagnated or dropped.


Tribeca: 7 Things You Need to Know About the Growth of Short Content | IndieWire
Think about distribution from the get-go. Spurlock explained that "from the minute we have an idea, we're thinking about 'where could this go?' Because I think especially as a content creator and especially working in today's business world, you have to have an understanding of how the business works, and you can't just come up with an idea and say 'great, we're gonna make it and then take it out.' I feel like that world shifted. 


Variety’s Mentor of the Year: Paul Stekler Champions Cinematic Risk-Taking | Variety
“It’s all about what do you want to do?,” Stekler says. “We set out to have really excellent teachers, expand our offerings in editing and screenwriting, and now animation and f/x and a new videogame program that’s starting up. You hope the students will leave skilled enough to do the work they want to do, as well as they can.”


10 Things We Learned About David Lynch at His BAM Talk | IndieWire
Lynch doesn't see the merit in explaining his work to the masses."It limits it," Lynch said, when asked why he's reluctant to talk about his work in detail. "It stops people from intuiting and thinking on their own. Nothing should be added. Nothing should be subtracted. A film, a book, a painting— it’s done, and this is it.





You can pre-order this 4K recorder now for $1,995.00
Atomos Shogun 7" 4K HDMI and 12G-SDI Monitor & Recorder | B & H Photovideo
The Atomos Shogun 7" 4K HDMI and 12G-SDI Monitor & Recorder combines a color-calibrated 1920 x 1200 resolution display with 4K video recording and edit-ready codecs. The Shogun utilizes 4K HDMI and 12G-SDI inputs to record clean output signals at resolutions up to UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, and 30p, as well as Full HD (1920 x 1080) video up to 120 fps when used with capable cameras.


Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Quick Links

Blackmagic Production Camera 4K Review | Videomaker
You do need to avoid low light scenes and will probably end up using an external audio recorder, but other quirks are easy to work around. If you are a producer that needs to upgrade to 4K and are tight on cash, for less than $3,000, the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K produces images that simply can't be beat.


 F35 vs. Blackmagic 4K | DV User
See the images below, I can happily say the F35 more than holds its own, I actually prefer it.The F35 seemed to render and capture the colors I observed more accurately. The combination of the F35/Zeiss yielded that right shade of orange 'out of the box'.The Blackmagic felt a little duller in terms of color (some of this is was due to 4:2:2 ProRes). While the Blackmagic could be color corrected to match more closely, on F35 the information was just there, it didn't need to be invented or tweaked.


Hollywood, Meet Oculus Rift: Studios Quietly Toying With New Virtual Reality Camera | Mashable
Palo Alto-based startup Jaunt has been quietly building just such a platform, which it hopes it can deliver to virtual reality headsets not just immersive cinematic-style narrative content, but live events as well. With a new $6.8 million capital raise, a full working demo and meetings scheduled all over Los Angeles, the company — which has been toiling for months in "stealth" mode — has de-cloaked and is ready to mingle.


Opinion: Cameras and post production can work now at unimaginably high quality. But do we need it? And do we want it? | Red Shark News
I’m happy as anything to see more capability in cameras, but we should be careful to consider whether the purpose of that is to show more to the audience, or to make a better job of the output formats we currently serve. The experience of filmmakers like the late, great Tony Scott, with his use of deliberately-mistreated (cross-processed, pushed, etc) film shows that we may not even have to make a choice, simply because a 6K, 16-stop, wide-gamut imaging pipeline remains capable of transmitting a 2K, 10-stop monochrome image.






Cinematographers discuss their lighting techniques and go-to instruments | HD Video Pro
Ask cinematographers about their favorite "go-to" lighting tools and, as might be expected, you get a pretty diverse range of opinions and answers. What's more surprising is that while technical advances and the digital revolution have had a huge impact on the lighting world, spawning the increasingly popular ultra-versatile and ultra-portable LEDS, many DPs will still often rely on basics when it comes down to the aesthetics of capturing an image.


New Get Started Fast w/ Media Composer | Software FAQ | Community|Avid
Q:  Why is Avid offering a Media Composer subscription license?A: Many of our customers have asked for this option and we delivered.  That’s why you now have a choice—gain access to the latest Media Composer toolset as needed on a low-cost monthly or annual basis, significantly lowering entry to the industry’s most trusted editing tool, or purchase and own it outright, as before.  World class Avid support and software upgrades are now included in all plans. However, perpetual licenses must be renewed after the first year to continue receiving support and upgrades. New support options means help is there when you need it. See the Media Composer License Comparison Guide for more information about these new Media Composer licensing and support options.


GoPro Cages Hit a New Low of Just $22 Delivered | Cinescopophilia
Well what can we say other than you can now get a GoPro cage for the measly sum of $22. Delivered!


THREE TIPS FOR GETTING A VIDEO PRODUCTION JOB – EXCELLENT ADVICE FROM COLUMBIA J-SCHOOL’S DUY LINH TU | News Shooter
As the end of this school year approaches, many of my J-School students are worried about getting jobs. They are laying out beautiful resumes and putting together WordPress portfolios with slick Snow Fall-esque themes. Over the years, I’ve been in the fortunate position of hiring crews to work with me on various projects. The resumes and sites my students are obsessing over are gorgeous, but I can’t remember an instance when either of these things compelled me to give someone a job.  


FIVE THINGS THEY NEVER TELL FIRST-TIME PRODUCERS—BUT SHOULD! | Film Independent
1. Get a day jobIf your focus is features it will most likely take much longer than you think to get one off the ground. And once you do, the fee on your first time out scales between shockingly low to devastatingly free. Find a job where you can earn a living and meet people while moving your projects forward.


Tuesday, April 29, 2014

GH4 News Continues, and other things

My Panasonic GH4 Has Arrived. My First Impressions | Erik Naso
I did a quick grade and I mean a real quick one. Its a tad more blue in the shadows than I like and I kind of jacked up the green on the leaf but hey I’m moving fast today! As you can see the highlights hold on and have a nice white color. Thats a big deal and I’m really excited to push the GH4 around.


GH4 4K and Slow Motion Samples | prolost
First things first: Having held and operated the GH4, I’m more enthusiastic about owning one than anyone should be based on this hastily-shot footage alone. The camera is capable of much better.




Other News


So this adapter isn't really anamorphic; it changes the bokeh of the Sigma lens.
VID-ATLANTIC CINEMORPH $40 ANAMORPHIC ‘LOOK’ FILTER FOR SIGMA 18-35 – A TASTE OF CINE GLASS WITHOUT THE COST? | News Shooter
The new CineMorph Mod Filter for Sigma 18-35 marks another new departure for the firm. Fitted to the rear of the lens, it transforms the Bokeh effect in an anamorphic like way – although not in the same way as the genuine article. The filter does not stretch or squeeze the image like a real anamorphic lens or adapter.


The Little Ones: 10 Almost New Shortcuts in Premiere Pro CC (And a Couple of Others) | Strypes in Post
1. Clear In/Out Marks in Project PanelIf you insert a clip into a timeline, Premiere will remember the last in and out marks that you have made on the source clip. If you need to make a stringout from the rushes in the project panel, you need to clear the marks. In Premiere Pro CC, you can select the clips and hit the shortcut for clear in and out. By default, this is mapped to Opt X. Clear in or out works as well.


New Samyang Lenses to be Released Tomorrow | Digital Camera Review
Samyang company announces expansion of its sales portfolio and market release of new photographic and cine lenses. New Samyang 35mm f/1.4 Canon AE, 300mm f/6.3 Mirror DSLR photo lenses and VDSLR series is to be released on April 29th 2014. Samyang 10mm T3.1, 12mm T2.2 and 7.5mm T3.8.


A rig that makes your DSLR more videocamera like:
THE LOGGER’S LUNCHBOX – AN ALL-IN-ONE ENG STYLE SOLUTION FOR DSLRS | News Shooter
If you use DSLRs for video on a regular basis then you’ll be familiar with the issues. Want decent audio? You’ll have plenty of trailing cables and bolt-on boxes. Want better ergonomics? You’ll need a rig. Fed up of changing the batteries in everything? A universal power supply or battery pack adds even more to your already loaded rig.


FINAL DRAFT 9 SCREENWRITING SOFTWARE REVIEW | Videomaker
Final Draft 9 is essential to professional screenwriters, but beginners and indie filmmakers may want to try a cheaper or free competitor.


Adobe Discontinuing Volume Sales of CS6 Apps | Larry Jordan
However, support for all CS6 products will continue past the June 1 date. “Support will continue as long as feasible – no firm date on dropping it, it’s all dependent on OS / Platform viability, so some ways off yet.”


The Crowdfunding Backlash: What Do You Owe Your Backers? | IndieWire
It's reminiscent of what happened when Zach Braff's Kickstarter-funded "Wish I Was Here" sold big at Sundance and some of the film's backers complained that he had forgotten the little folks who helped the film get made. Part of the reason that crowdfunding works is because it allows people to feel part of a larger community -- whether it's a community of Zach Braff fans or a community of online gamers.


What is 4K? | Sony | Twitter

Monday, April 28, 2014

GH4 news and other things

Looks like the GH4 is going to be a hit, that's good news for Panasonic.
Panasonic GH4 demands outpaces supply, production ramping up | Imaging Resource
Panasonic Japan posted a message noting that orders for the GH4 have exceeded their internal expectations, and apologized to buyers who will have to wait for their cameras to arrive. They're beginning to ramp up production in order to fulfill the demand for the camera.


Great first impressions of the GH4 from a user not familiar with Panasonic's Lumix camera line. Interesting that the author also doesn't see the point in buying the external Input/output box:
FIRST USER IMPRESSIONS OF THE GH4 – BY W. ASHLEY MADDOX | News Shooter
Recording media: I thought I had to buy a special card for it to record it 200 Mb per second, but it turns most of my current cards seem to work fine. If it continues to work with them, then Class 10 will be all I need to shoot 4K internally and also at the highest bit rate for 1080P HD.


Panasonic GH4 Slow Motion Tests via GearAddix 96fps 1080p | CheesyCam
The ability to shoot 4K has made the GH4 camera very popular, but also overshadows many of the other great reasons to buy a GH4. One of the stand out features is it’s ability to shoot 96fps at full 1080p. The GearAddix Team immediately finds ways to abuse test this new feature.


Other News


Under the Skin using One-Cam | HD Warrior
You might wonder what cameras the production used to accomplish that — tiny GoPro cameras, perhaps? Or surveillance cams from one of the big manufacturers like Sony or Panasonic? Well, the footage had to intercut seamlessly with the production’s main ARRI Alexa cameras, which were shooting ARRIRAW, so quality was paramount. It turns out Under the Skin used the One-cam, a new modular system developed by London studio One Of Us specifically for Glazer’s use on the film.


A Top Composer Shares Tips for Making the Most of Your Score | Film Independent
“If the director is completely sure what kind of music they want for the film maybe that’s not necessarily an advantage, in terms of talking to composers. In my experience directors tend to have already figured it out. And maybe they figured it out too early.”


Best NAB … or nah? – My favorite products!  | Freytag Film
This year's convention of the National Association of Broadcasters was quite different for me. After visiting Vegas two years in a row I felt like this year's event was a very quiet and unspectacular one. Maybe because I wasn't on the show floor myself. Maybe I wasn't caught in the new-gadget-hype-bubble. Maybe there were actually less innovations than last year.


Part 2 of 3: Case studies in aerial multi-rotor filming plus the safety and the law! | Philip Bloom
So for part two of the 3-part blog post series on shooting with Phantom type quadcopters and bigger. At the top of the post are 3 little edits of some fun that I have had learning to fly and shoot with these. It’s incredibly addictive, actually quite expensive if you suffer losses (which almost everyone I know has) and it also can be quite dangerous.


Sensor Color Balance: What It Really Is | DV Info
Years ago I shot a test with a Sony F35 and proved that silicon sensors are much more “balanced” under daylight than they are under tungsten light. I shot a test chart under both kinds of light and saw that under tungsten light, which contains lots of red and not much blue, the red channel was very clean and blue was very noisy, while under daylight the opposite was true: red was a little noisy and blue was very clean.


Sneak Peak of the Directing Motion Tour | Vincent Laforet
Here’s a sneak peak into some of the content I’ve been working on for the Directing Motion Tour that starts in just over a week and goes to 32 cities over the next 10 weeks.  These are but 6 examples our of nearly 200 that I’ll share with you during the daylong workshop that also combines live shoots where you can put this theory into practice.



In a recent email, NVIDIA explains how new Mac Pro users can use NVIDIA cards - switch to Windows
Q: How can I put NVIDIA GPUs in the new Mac Pro? | NVIDIA
A: Unfortunately, that’s not possible. But there are some good alternatives. The first option is to simply add an NVIDIA® Quadro® K5000 for Mac to the older PCIe–based Mac Pro. For Adobe Premiere® Pro users, our tests have found this will outperform most models of the new Mac Pro. Another option is to connect a Mac (any Mac, not just the Mac Pro) client to a server with NVIDIA GRID™ technology. This would deliver a GPU–accelerated Windows–based virtual machine with the Windows version of the software you want to run to your Mac. For users who are open to switching completely to a Windows-based system, we’d recommend Dell Precision or HP Z workstations with Quadro graphics, which could yield the highest performance of all options.


Lens Rebates | B & H Photovideo
There's a sale going on for Canon lenses - you can get a mail-in rebate of up to $300 on certain Canon lenses. There's also some savings on Sony E-mount lenses, including $100 off the Sony 10-18mm f/4 OSS Alpha E-mount Wide-Angle Zoom Lens.