Quick Links

How to “sort of” give your Blackmagic Cinema Camera a Super 35mm sensor! | Philip Bloom

So does it work? Absolutely. You can see clearly from the image below. It’s the same shot. Same camera, same light, same position just one is a passive flange distance adaptor the other the speedbooster. The full image is the speedbooster one which is clearly brighter, guesstimating it as about a stop brighter.

CANON 5D RAW HACK – USEFUL FOR REAL WORLD PRODUCTION? | Dan Chung | News Shooter

I know that sooner or later I will be shooting RAW much more often – but that might still be a few years away for most real world shooters (commercial shooters are getting there much sooner, it seems). Before then, recording, storage and post-production options need to improve and get cheaper. Right now I will only shoot RAW if I need the best possible image quality or need the extra latitude for a specific shot that would be hard to expose for any other way.

Why you MUST have 4K and raw and why you absolutely DON’T need it *
| Philip Bloom

Raw is brilliant. 4K is sexy as hell…BUT they both come with a number of quite severe headaches for the vast majority of people (including myself) who are clamouring for it. If those headaches were not there, then I would tell everyone to go for it, but as I am in somewhat of a position where people listen to me (still an utterly bewildering thing to me) and take what I do or advice I give as verbatim

Which Compact Flash cards for 5D Mark III raw video? | Andrew Reid | EOSHD

There are a lot of 1000x compact flash cards out there, with big variance in performance and price. Personally I have had the best results with the KomputerBay 64GB 1000x card, which only cost me 89 Euros on Amazon. Some KomputerBay and Lexar cards have been able to achieve 120MB/s sustained write speeds in Magic Lantern’s benchmark test, in theory enough for a Blackmagic Cinema Camera rivalling 2.5K 2560 x 1152 which requires 118.1MB/s at 24fps.

Turning the Internet Green: The FX Protest | Michael Murie
| Filmmaker Magazine

Over the past few months it’s been hard to miss the green icons showing up on Twitter and other social media in support of the FX Protest, an event that happened at this year’s Oscar ceremony to protest ongoing problems in the VFX industry.  While movies continue to make great use of visual effects, the companies that create these effects are being financially stressed and are going out of business.

The State of the VFX Industry and where do we go from here | Rick Young | Vimeo

Presentation by Scott Ross and Scott Squires live at the NAB SuperMeet, April 9, 2013This is an important presentation - for those who don't know, the VFX industry is in crisis with many facilities either struggling to make a living or going bankrupt. This is a world-wide industry problem, highlighted by the movie, Life of Pi, which brought in a tremendous profit, yet the VFX company which made the movie possible is now out of business.

Where is the best place to sit in a 4K UltraHD cinema? |  Aframe

In their words “Some have suggested that 4K is only meaningful for very large cinema screens. In fact, screen size isn’t the true measure of an audience member’s ability to pick out detail. The true measure is the relative distance from that person to the screen, the viewing distance. On paper, 4K is obviously the superior solution. But what about the real world? Will the ticket buying public actually be able to perceive the benefits of 4K resolution in actual theaters?”

Unlocking the Hidden Costs of Video Production | Chris Leydon

Video production isn't scalable, not really. There are some ways to make efficient use of crew time, with cramming as much into one shoot as possible, but that doesn't make up for the vast amount of pre and post-production time that's needed for a big project. The bigger the shoot, the longer it stays in post production.

Adobe's Creative Cloud Controversy | Red Shark

The current Adobe flap reminds me of the rancor two years ago at the introduction of Final Cut Pro X and the accompanying suspension of Final Cut Studio development. It is like the world erupted in fiery rage and I certainly counted myself among those who felt both a sense of betrayal as well as an instant dislike to the software.

Editing with FCPX – Part Two “long form” | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior

I am so glad I choose FCPX after a lot of deliberation and soul searching…version 10.0.08 is a great editing tool and the inbuilt chroma key is second to none, DON’T buy any 3rd party chroma key as they can’t compete with Apples own version, I tried one claiming better keying of finer detail and it was not a patch on the Apple version.

Dark Knight to rise for next James Bond? Christopher Nolan approached to direct next 007 film | Daily Mail

Nolan, who made the Batman trilogy Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises — and had time for Inception in between — would be a cool choice after Sam Mendes decided not to shoot Bond 24.

More Canon 5D raw news & Quick Links

Workflow video: Simple post processing of 5D Mark III RAW footage in OSX | Cinema 5D

Sebastian here has found a much more straightforward way to post process the raw files from the 5D Mark III which allows us to skip the relatively cumbersome After Effects conversion process. This new process only utilizes Adobe Photoshop’s raw import module

New 5D Raw developments – plus my low light comparison with Blackmagic Cinema Camera | Andrew Reid | EOSHD

The 4GB file size limit of FAT32 prevents continuous takes over 40 seconds currently. I asked Alex of Magic Lantern about overcoming this and he says it is perfectly possible but not a current priority. There’s a lot that comes before it – even basic stuff like assigning raw recording to a physical button. 

Wait! What? You can only record 40 seconds at the moment? How'd I miss that?



Easier 5D Mark III raw guide in 4 steps | Andrew Reid | EOSHD

For 1080p will need a 1000x speed card, preferably 64GB as some of the higher capacity 128GB cards currently have issues with lower than expected write speeds.
Mac users should use Mac Boot to prepare the card, whilst Windows users can use EOS Card. These apps are in the main zip you just downloaded. Only one download required in this guide.

Why I Don’t Care About Raw Video from the 5D | Nate Weber
| Wide Open Camera

For me, it changes nothing. I have done the magic lantern thing with my T2i, it brought an impressive array of features to a budget camera. I don’t think it really made it a good enough tool to still bring onto sets though, in 2011 or now. It’s stable for a hack but it voids your warranty and didn’t raise the quality of the video enough to validate its inherent risk.

The Rest

Adobe After Effects CC: Warp Stabilizer VFX | Adobe

A major upgrade to the much-loved Warp Stabilizer, VFX adds the ability to choose which objects within a scene get stabilized, reverse a stabilization, and preserve a scene's original scale to fix tricky shots such as aerial fly-throughs.

Editing long form with FCPX…PART ONE | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior

I came to a halt when a client had DV footage to edit as we all know FCPX does not entertain ingesting footage that was not shot on a card but you can import footage so my problem was how to get DV footage into my Mac. After extensive research I opted for a Black Magic Design board that would bring my HD footage via HDMI

Cinematographer Profile: David Kruta | IMVDb

Inspiration as a filmmaker can come from all different places. For DP David Kruta, he was able to succeed in his current career by drawing influence from his previous careers, including his time spent as a graphic designer and as a dish washer. Since his days washing dishes, David has gone on to work as a DP in the film world, the commercial world, and in the music video world with directors like Michael Lawrence, Grant Singer and Eli Stonberg.

THE HISTORY AND SCIENCE OF COLOR TEMPERATURE | FilmmakerIQ

Color can carry a lot emotional information in film – one type of information it can convey a sense of temperature. Learn about history and science behind Color Temperature. it’s application for opposite effects in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” and the Coen Brother’s “Fargo” and how you can apply them in your own productions.

New Lens Turbo NEX adapter auctions (Minolta, Canon, Nikon and Pentax). And first impression report | SonyAlphaRumors

Optically it’s better than I expected. I took a few pictures with the Lens Turbo and with a dumb adapter from the same distance, only changing the FL to get the same FOV. The images looked sharper with Lens Turbo than with a dumb adapter, though I didn’t do any measurements, so I don’t know yet if the resolution or contrast improved or the lens is simply better on the long end. 

Massachusetts Production Coalition: Legal Seminar: Saturday, May 18th
Coffee & Bagels at 9:30 AM. Seminars from 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
High Output Studios

The May 18th Legal Seminar will cover the rights, releases, licenses and agreements required by film and media makers to distribute their projects – including planning for festival and theatrical exhibition, broadcast, internet and other distribution. The panel will address legal and business issues that arise during the development and production process.The discussion will cover topics such as production contracts, copyright, trademark and rights clearances, fair use, privacy and distribution agreements among other considerations.

Quick Links

Space Monkeys, Raw Video, and Giving Us All You've Got | Prolost
One of the best looks at what's going on behind the latest Canon 5D hack:

But there’s a price to pay for recording 14-bit uncompressed raw. It requires crazy-fast CF cards, and you’ll only get 15 minutes of video on that 128 GB card, according to Cinema 5D, who graciously posted their workflow and samples, “after struggling for a day” to get it all working.

Low light test of 5D Mark III raw vs H.264 | Andrew Reid | EOSHD

The image is cleaner in low light with raw, with even exposures I rated ISO 12,800 coming out perfectly usable. I’m hesitant to say it as a matter of fact but based on my early observations the 5D Mark III seems to have surpassed the C300 as the ‘low light king’.

Friendly’s “Build Your Own Burger” Campaign Shot with Blackmagic Cinema Camera | Blackmagic

“It was my job to get the best images possible, and I couldn’t believe what the camera delivered in such an affordable and easy workflow,” he continued. “We turned it on, popped in an SSD and were recording. The camera was connected to a laptop running Blackmagic’s UltraScope software so we could monitor the image to ensure nothing was clipping.

Manfrotto 502HD Pro Video Head Review MVH502AH | Erik Naso
I quite like Manfrotto's lower-end heads and legs; you can get the 502HD with legs for just under $400. Sure they aren't as good as a Miller, but then they're almost 1/4 the price! In both cases you get what you pay for, and if you can't afford the best you have to make do...though I've heard a lot of praise for Sachtler's Ace series, which can be bought for just over $500.

This is the new Manfrotto 502 MVH502AH that has the patented Bridging Technology Ball-bearing drag system inherited from the 509HD and 504HD heads. Its much bigger than the 501 and 701 heads that have been discontinued. The 502 is considered an entry level pro fluid head by Manfrotto.

How To Bring a Cinematic Look to a Small Budget Commercial, Part 2 | Ryan E. Walters | Zacuto

The last step in our initial process is the creation of the video proposal. This is where we take all of our planning, development, and budgeting and merge it into one document that is easy to read and follow by our client. This is crucial to our process as it allows everyone to literally be on the same page.

How To Start Your Editing Business | Larry Jordan

What happens far too often is that a business is created by someone who understands one of these components really well, but doesn’t understand the other two and, hence, ignores them. This is sad, because many great ideas have died because the entrepreneur starting them didn’t take the time to get themselves started right.

Reader Question: How easy is it to steal a story? | Go Into The Story

Sure, there may be some individual or outfit who would be willing to take the risk of ripping off your idea. But that would mean (1) stealing your story idea, (2) developing it, (3) having a writer write it, and (4) get it set up somewhere. That is an arduous path. Plus there is that word: RISK. By using your idea for their project, they set themselves up for a potential lawsuit.

My Favorite Regional American Film Festivals ~Joe Swanberg | Zacuto

SF INDIEFEST – San Francisco – February
I appreciate any opportunity to spend time in San Francisco, but this Festival provides wild parties, enthusiastic audiences and a truly independent program that makes the city that much more appealing.  The main venue is in The Mission District, which borders The Castro. 

Quick Links

Canon 5D mark III RAW vs. Blackmagic Cinema Camera RAW | Cinema5D
Lots of excitement about the announcement of RAW recording with the Canon 5D Mark III:

What became clear is that both cameras provide very similarly capable RAW files. You can adjust everything and everything is possible. You can get similar details out of the sky and set all you like in post. Color temperature, tint, dynamic range, no problem. The 5D is just as strong as the BMCC, providing maybe a bit more dynamic range.

BIG NEWS – Hands on with CONTINUOUS raw recording on Canon 5D Mark III | Andrew Reid | EOSHD

Magic Lantern have done the seemingly impossible and given us a continuous raw recording mode on the Canon 5D Mark III. Once activated in the menus the 5D Mark III becomes essentially a full frame Blackmagic Cinema Camera and amazingly mine has not yet exploded. No more short bursts of raw, this is the real thing.

Andrew has taken to Twitter to post some more enthusiastic impressions:

Only just starting to sink in how good the image is. Digital film negatives are finally here. On a 5D Mark III

The CF card and 5D3 card bay area get slightly warmer than normal, but only a few degrees. No sweat!

Low light is INSANE on 5D Mark III with raw. Makes the H.266 video mode look like a smartphone camera

H.264 video mode cannot hold a candle to raw in any light never mind ISO 12,800

Colour and tonality is utterly insane and you have full control over noise reduction. When applied, fine detail remains. Stunned by it

Biggest difference in low light is colour, followed by fine detail. H.264 is all yellow and pale in comparison to raw. 5D3 ML is a beast

Also with my candle test I get 3-4 stops more in the highlights... Easily

I cannot go back to H.264 on ANY camera now. Blackmagic was good. This is just insane new level. FS100, C300, all dead to me now

in other news...

Technicolor Case Study: Oblivion | Scribd

As one of the first studio features to use Sony’s new F65 CineAlta digital motion picture camera, Universal’s big-budget 2013 movie, Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise, created a buzz of anticipation in the production community. Producers were excited by the camera, but had to make a decision aboutwhat digital workflow to institute, including how they would handle digital dailies given the production’s particular needs.

Zeiss Touit can they be used for video? | F-Stop Academy
Zeiss has announced some new, small lenses for Sony E-Mount and Fujifilm X-Mount, but they aren't really video lenses, and they are pretty expensive...

Often with smaller compact lenses , image clarity and contrast are compromised because fewer glass elements are present. Not the case with Touit. Th edge to edge sharpness is incredible even at wider apertures. I purposely shot stiff at f2.8 to test this. The images have great clarity also and the contrast levels are exactly what I’ve come to expect from Zeiss.

HORSES FOR COURSES: HOW TO SHOOT IN FLAT LIGHT | Matt Allard
| News Shooter

It was a very cold and overcast day which made shooting conditions very difficult. When the light is very flat you need to approach the way you capture images differently. You can’t rely on the light to give you depth and contrast. Flat light and snow are a difficult combination.

The Summer Blockbuster Colour Grading Tutorial | Juan Melara

I’ve received a lot of requests to share the techniques I use to achieve the various grades on this site and on Vimeo. But by far the biggest request has been to show how I create the cool/warm look. Otherwise known as the summer blockbuster look, the teal and orange look etc. The techniques I show you also form the foundation for most of the grades on this site. 

James Wicks on Color Restoring Classic 35mm Spanish-language Movies
| Tom Parish

Jim talks about the team effort that goes into repairing each film, such as the careful cleaning, optical scanning, restoration, the color restoration process, audio, and finishing. Jim covers two examples: one from a 1951 black-and-white film, the other from a 1956 color film that looks to be nearly as grand in scale as Gone with the Wind.

Kodak Bankruptcy: Key Hearing Approaches; Company Restates Commitment to Film | The Hollywood Reporter

Per the reorganization plan, two business units will remain with Kodak: Digital Printing & Enterprise; and Graphics, Entertainment & Commercial Films. The Entertainment Imaging division resides in the later, and per the plan would remain intact with its film products.

Quick Links

Conversation Series: Blackmagic CEO Grant Petty Talks Pricing and 4K |
The Hollywood Reporter

“Too many manufacturers make products that are way too expensive or too complicated. You have to buy their service contracts … but often they are used as a way for the manufacturer to produce poor quality products and make money off the service

Quick Note: Technicolor Color Assist now supports Apple’s Final Cut X
| Vincent Laforet

A quick note to say that the Technicolor Color Assist software which is a wonderful way to quickly set a look (or color grade/correction) on the set right there on the spot (on a shoot large or small) before those drives get shipped off into never never land… is now supported by Final Cut Pro X.

9 Tips For Low Budget Indie Filmmakers | DigiMediaDude

1. Get a committed team.  Make sure it’s a small crew and tell them that no one will get paid (at least with $$).
2. Own or borrow equipment.  Do not rent!

Jacob Rosenberg’s Ten Rules for Filmmaking | Larry Jordan

• A mistake is only a bad thing if you don’t learn from it
• There’s always a solution

J.J. Abrams: On Filmmaking | BAFTA | YouTube

J.J. Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness, Lost, Super 8) fills us in on balancing intimacy with hyperreality, why TV leaves room for surprises and the best advice he's ever been given.

Easy Ways to End Copyright Confusion | the future of ink

The US Copyright law has a clause called the “Fair Use” clause.  This clause allows for the use of minimal portions of other’s copyrighted material without written permission.  This clause is very vague and can be quite confusing.  Fair use is intended to allow the quoting of material for parody, commentary, news reporting, and education.

Audio for DSLR shooters… Choosing Microphones | F Stop Academy

Learning to record audio for DSLR shooters can be challenging. The secret to recording great audio is to get the microphone as close to the subject or person you are recording as you can. However, getting a mic close is not always physically possible..

Upcoming Events

Free Webinar on Color Grading with Tiffen | Richard Harrington

May 15th 12PM EST
Learn how to approach color grading tasks from production to post. Learn important techniques about what to shoot in the field including camera profile, white balance information, and essential metadata. Then in post you'll learn how to create popular looks that clients want.

May 22nd MPC Meeting at Coolidge Corner Theatre
| Massachusetts Production Coalition

Join us for a discussion on development and financing with Boston-based feature film producers Paul Bernon, Sam Slater and Blythe Robertson, moderated by journalist and WIFVNE Board Member Shannon Mullen.

BOSCPUG & BAVUG: Boston Preview of DaVinci Resolve 10 with Alexis Van Hurkman | Boston Creative Pro User Group

Wednesday, May 29, 2013 from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM (EDT)Boston, MA
Join us for a special joint mixer of BOSCPUG and BAVUG - featuring a special evening with writer, director and colorist ALEXIS VAN HURKMAN fresh from 2013 NABShow with the Boston Preview of DaVinci Resolve 10!

Quick Links

How We Did It: SNL "Djesus Uncrossed" | Alex Buono

I’m reading the script for the first time, thinking – “We’re supposed to shoot all of this…TOMORROW?”  The script was written by Zach Kanin and Colin Jost – two of my favorite writers at the show – and the scale of the spot was massive.  It was essentially: Ancient Rome and the Holy Land, to be shot in New York City with a few hours of scouting.

Canon EOS C100 review – an underestimated cinema camera | Cinema 5D

Here’s a camera I can truly recommend. It has no big red labels screaming things like 4K, 12bit, or 3D for that matter (that was last year’s hype), in fact it has nothing too fancy about it: It’s HD, it does 30p max and has a mediocre file compression system. But don’t be fooled by technical specs, because this camera is superb within its boundaries and a surprisingly strong, well rounded tool from top to bottom.

UPCOMING WEBINARS | Assimilate
Shooting, Color and Post with the Sony F5, F55 and F65
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - 10:00 PST

Join DP Tomas Tucker and Alex MacLean, colorist from Colorflow, as they guide you through their experience with one of the most in-depth camera tests ever of the Sony CineAlta camera family. Alex will use SCRATCH to illustrate and discuss the post-production workflows around each camera and detail his experience color grading, compositing and finishing images from all three.

Working with C300 LOG Footage in FCP7 – Plus Free LUTS | Jonny Elwyn

The other day I had to work with some C300 LOG footage in FCP7 and needed to quickly apply a LUT that would show the client what it might actually look like in the final grade. For a simple free way of doing this just grab LUT Buddy from Red Giant Software and follow the tutorial below. You can also download several free Canon C300 LOG LUTS from the great people at AbleCine.

1080P RAW Video Now Possible on Canon 5D Mark III & Real Anamorphic Shooting with the New Hack | Joe Marine | No Film School

Not only do we have news that RAW video at 24fps is possible on the Canon 5D Mark III, but we now know it’s possible to get a full 1920 x 1080 image with 1000x speed cards. The first samples were possible by cropping the image to 1920 x 820, but g3gg0 from Magic Lantern has unlocked a way to get the entire image — the full 1920 x 1080.

OPINION: WHY DAVINCI RESOLVE 10 IS SUCH A BIG DEAL | Movie Machine

The reason I’m excited is because Resolve will now feature an editor as part of the offering. The editor within Resolve has been talked abut as an Online Editor – which means to produce final pristine output, complete with titles, graded content and what effects you want to include.

Canon 5d mark III clean HDMI output compared to ALL-I in camera
| DSLR Film Noobs

The disappointing part for me is that the HDMI signal doesn’t contain audio.  I haven’t had many issues with the detail in the images provided by the 5dmkIII, but it would have been really handy to capture 4 tracks of audio with the ninja and have them all conveniently rolled into the a single clip.

John Toll, ASC Shoots IRON MAN 3 | ARRI News

John Toll, ASC recently turned his considerable talents to the cinematography of IRON MAN, Marvel Entertainment’s latest installment of the odyssey of the brash, brilliant industrialist Tony Stark. Robert Downey, Jr. returned in the title role and Shane Black directed. The movie’s box office take was the second highest opening ever for a film. For Toll, the project was memorable not least because it was his first feature film shot on digital cameras.

Audio101 - What is a Submix | FILM...SOUND...COLOR | Vimeo

that is just a basic overview ... i show you what it means to make a "submix" and how you can use that for a film mix or for a quick sound mix of an interview session with more than one interviewee. i used LogicPro for the film mix and Adobe Audition CS6 of the Interview session.

The Basics of Lighting for Film Noir from FilmmakerIQ.com on Vimeo.

Dispatch from a 48 Hour Film Project Screening

Last night I went to one of the six screenings of films made in this years Boston 48 Hour Film Project. This year 84 teams started the event and 81 finished - 63 of them on time. Having watched a team make a film, and being aware of what goes in to this sort of thing, I really think that everyone did a great job. Not all of the films were brilliant; and it's probably not surprising that none of the films were really perfect, but it was still an interesting - and inspiring - night for aspiring filmmakers.

Here's some more tips I gleaned from the showing:

• Plan your time: A significant number of films were 'late.' You have to plan out your post time, how long it will take to render that last edit (and leave yourself enough time incase there's a problem with that render) AND leave plenty of time to get to the drop-off point.
• Audio, audio, audio: The consistently weak part in many of the productions was the audio. Image quality was actually pretty good (thanks to DSLRs I suspect) but the audio was the biggest disappointment, whether it was background noise, muffled audio, different acoustic properties, mis-matched levels or effects and music that were too loud or didn't match the action. A few films did a good job, but it was noticeable how many issues there were with audio.
• A well developed story: It's a common theme in film making that you need a good story - and good actors too - but there were a number of films that had a pretty good story, but they didn't quite pull it off. Several times it felt like there was a piece missing; a scene that explained a motivation for example, or a real conclusion. Whether these were missed in the writing process, or they weren't able to shoot everything they planned, is subject to speculation. I suspect that had everyone had one more day to look at their edit and then shoot any missing pieces, then several of these films would have been even stronger. Of course, before you know it, you'll be having 7-day film projects!
• Simple Editing can be hard: You can spot bad editing mistakes easily enough, but once you get to a certain level of performance from the actors, then editing goes to another level in difficulty; a fraction of a second too long or too short on an actor can mean the difference between a performance that works, or one that doesn't. And it won't be the actor or the directors fault.
• Consistent Color: Jarring changes in color, particularly from shot to shot in a scene, but also from one scene to another if the scene takes place in the same general location, can really take you out of the moment.
• The credits are part of the movie: Under the official rules the credits aren't included in the length of the movie. But they are shown as part of the movie, and you should try and do a good job with them; people are watching them with your movie and they add to the impression the audience has of your movie.
• Getting the required line of dialog into the movie is hard: I think less than half the movies managed to really pull off the line without it feeling like it had been shoe-horned in.

One last thing. While there were several first-time teams at this event, there was also four teams that had competed in 9 or more 48-hour film projects. Clearly, they can be addictive!