Notes On Video

When I was growing up, while other kids were watching Monty Python , I was listening to  The Goons  - (I blame my father. )  The Goons was a BBC radio comedy program produced in the 50's starring Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, and Spike Milligan, the well known typing error, who also wrote the thing. One of many things that set The Goons apart was it's extensive - and imaginative - use of sound effects; the BBC had (and has) one of the largest sound effects libraries. Which gets me to the point: Pro Sound Effects is offering the BBC Sound Effects Library , pre-installed on hard drives. Prices range from $599 to $4,999. The BBC Original Sound Effects Library 61-165 Extension to BBCʼs Best of the Best on Hard Drive $599.00: The BBC Original Sound Effects Library 61-165 is a versatile international collection of 2,000 royalty-free sounds delivered on hard drive with embedded metadata. Categories include international ambiences from Poland to New Zealand, sounds fro...

Yesterday , I was wrapping up the news summary and I came across a funny tee shirt and thought I'd write up a short note about it: DV Culture has a White Balance Here T-shirt It's funny! Cute! And $20!! But if you can afford such humor, go for it! DVCulture : White Balance Here Tee ...I didn't really think much about it, and I even miss-typed Cute as Cut! [ oh great, you ruined the joke-Ed ] Anyway, imagine my surprise when I get tweeted: DVCulture: Store is live! @notesonvideo we have lowered our prices for you. :) And it's now $14.99. Wait! What?! Is this how Steven Colbert feels?!! Wow, I have influence over T-shirt pricing. [ Feel the power-Ed ] I swear to only use this power for good... Canon has a new solid-state video camera It's 4:2:2! Awesome! And $6,799!! But if you can afford such technology, go for it! Canon: XF300

Sony had already said they had a firmware update for the HXR-NX5 that fixed the Buffer Overflow and "Error writing to external memory" problems some users have encountered. BUT, you had to send the camera in to Sony to get it updated. Now Sony has told some users that the firmware update will be available for download next week and will be user-installable. DVInfo.net : User-installable firmware upgrade for NX5!

That Luke found out who his father was... you should have seen his face! : The original trailer:

The Olympus PEN E-PL1 is a Micro Four Thirds format still camera that can also record video at 720p. Camcorderinfo.com put it through it's paces, and while it's a small camera with quite good performance - they particularly noted a big reduction in noise compared to the E-P1 - they don't recommend it for those looking for a video-capable DSLR: There are a number of models from Canon and Panasonic that offer better video quality (and Full HD recording) compared to what the E-PL1 is capable of. The E-PL1's cheap price tag and compact design, however, make it a compelling choice if you're looking to play around with a video mode on a camera with an interchangeable lens system. Camcorderinfo.com : Olympus E-PL1 DSLR Camera Review

Right now, unless you're on the cutting edge of web development or in software/hardware video development, you don't really need to know anything  about WebM and VP8 . Better to let those on the bleeding edge play with it, and worry about browser adoption rates and things like that, and then in a year or so - if the water seems right - you can jump on in. But incase you're curious, WebM is a project from Google to create an open video format for the web [ subtext: we don't want to pay the H.264 patent holders ] The WebM Project consists of: VP8 , a high-quality video codec released under a BSD-style, royalty-free license Vorbis , an already open source and broadly implemented audio codec a container format based on a subset of the Matroska media container Note that VP8 is the compressor, but WebM is the architecture that the codec plays within (so expect people to use the two names interchangeably.) Several companies have already announced support for i...

Adobe Soundbooth CS5: Short Review and Speech Transcription comparison Christopher Breen at MacWorld takes a look at Soundbooth CS5 and is woefully underwhelmed: If you’re considering upgrading to the current version from Soundbooth CS4, don’t bother. There’s not nearly enough new here to justify the purchase. Unfortunately - or maybe indicatively - he doesn't mention Soundbooth's speech recognition function and whether it's improved from CS4. I had been under the impression that this feature might have been improved; though that perhaps was wishful hoping on the part of other people. For those not following, Soundbooth will take an audio track and attempt to transcribe it, adding the text to the video tracks and making it possible to search for clips based on what is said. It's an incredibly useful feature for documentary filmmakers - if it works. Over at the Information Technology Forum blog Marcia Gulesian has compared Adobe Soundbooth CS5 's performanc...

May 27th, 11:00AM PDT Webcast 3D Perspectives - Images and VFX Tim Sassoon - Vxf super for Alice in Wonderland - The Aviator, et al., Cinematographer Barry Braverman and Bob Kertesz, Blue Screen, LLC will discuss: Top 5 issues to be aware of & who can solve them What options are available for acquisition - rigs & camcorders New roles on set - the Stereographer & Director of Photography Over view of post and workflow in addition to new storage requirements Converting 2D to 3D Creating Visual Effects in 3D Registration is free, but it's limited to 500 people. Createasphere : Up Next: 3D Perspectives - Images and VFX Createsphere/EXPLORE Entertainment Technology Exposition September 21-22 New York The Entertainment Technology Expo in New York, formerly known as HD EXPO, is where future technology and creative vision converge. Now expanded to two days, the Expo brings together industry experts and technical innovators for lively panel discussions, informativ...

There's something about old cameras that seems to attract people... In 1987 Fisher-Price started selling the PXL 2000, a toy camera invented by James Wickstead Design Associates (JWDA) for under $100. The plastic camera recorded audio and video onto audiocassettes, and according to JWDA was the lightest, least expensive and easiest to use camcorder on the market at the time. More than 400,000 units were sold before it was discontinued in 1989, and it clearly inspired many . And it clearly still is inspiring some filmmakers. Tonight, Thursday, May 20, 2010, PXL THIS 19 , the annual toy camera film festival screens at 8pm at Echo Park FIlm Center, 1200 Alvarado St (at Sunset Blvd) LA CA 90026, 213-484-8846, admission $5. [ Okay, so without being a wet blanket, and acknowledging that often art can be improved by the obstructions around it, I can't help thinking that it's better to film something as well as you can, and then run it through a filter or other post pro...

More " House " stuff If you aren't over- Housed yet, Videography has an interview with cinematographer Gale Tattersall. Interestingly, it appears that they got to use the Red Rock Micro remote-control focus (which isn't officially out yet): Redrock Micro has this wonderful system we used that lets the assistants use an iPhone or iPod to control focus remotely. It's quite an ingenious system that is able to drive the internal focus mechanism within the lens. You have to keep your iPhone in airplane mode, though, so you don't get a call in the middle of your focus! Videography: Gale Tattersall, Director of Photography, 'House' 'Help Me' Updated Final Cut Pro filters updated Boris Continuum Complete 7 AE 05/13/2010 Over 200 filters for Macintosh and Windows versions of Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro CS5, CS4, and CS3. (Demo) What’s New in this Version - 11 New Filters - Support for 64-bit Host Applications - Adobe After Effects ...

The next version of Final Cut Pro

I guess the test was a success... Canonrumors is reporting that the next season of House will be shot with 5 and 7D's, though probably using different lenses...

CNET reports that Apple says that Final Cut will be staying Pro. In response to AppleInsider's article about Apple moving Final Cut away from Pro users - and eerily echoing emails from Steve Jobs - an Apple spokesman told CNET : The next version of Final Cut is going to be awesome, and our pro customers are going to love it. So there you go...nothing to worry about!

I only just bought a 1.5TB drive, and noticed that the price of 2TB is falling to within consideration [though have you read some of the comments about the Western Digital My Book Essential USB 2.0 , these drives seem to include some built-in software in firmware that does odd things and that you CANNOT remove? I'm not sure I want to touch those... ] Now Seagate comes along, talking up 3TB drives , which - frighteningly - no longer seems that big! Initial reports were a bit disturbing for while they said that these drives would work fine with Windows 7 (and NOT work with Windows XP ) there was no mention of how they'd work with Mac OS. Now Electronista reports that Seagate confirmed to them that Snow Leopard should work fine with these drives; and installation may be easier than Windows 7 . No information on what happens if you hook these up to Mac OS Leopard ... These 3TB drives are expected later this year. [ Meanwhile, anyone looked at Seagate's new GoFlex sy...

I blame the release of Adobe CS5 ; clearly it's put the cat amongst the Final Cut pigeons, and everyone's paranoid about whether Apple is going to drop the product or otherwise screw things up. Just last month , someone sent Steve Jobs an email enquiring about the future of Final Cut , and got a "Don't Worry" email back. Now comes Appleinsider reporting that: According to a person with knowledge of Apple's internal Pro Apps plans, the company has shuffled around management within the Final Cut team in order to retarget its efforts to more closely match the needs of the majority of its customers. Apple's Mac customer base has steadily shifted from desktop models to notebooks, while also broadening out from a high end creative niche to a wider installed base that includes more prosumer and advanced home users. Actually, from that quote, it's a little unclear what this might mean, though the article generally leans towards the doom and gloom side ...

Philip Bloom interview B & H Insights newsletter has A conversation with Philip Bloom , an interview conducted with Bloom during a recent trip to New York. Particularly interesting are his comments about using traditional ENG cameras, and switching to HDDSLRs; I hate to say this. I sold my [Sony] EX1 last year. I still have an EX3 . I didn’t need both. I like the EX3 -- the shape, the shade, it’s a great camera. I will use the EX3 on a job this year. I’ve got NanoFlash for it. I’m going to be able to output some really high quality images. But I’ve shot other documentaries purely with the 7D . I was always scared of using the 7D or the 5D for interviews because of the 12-minute time limit. With the 5D before then it was the issue of 30p (not originally 29.97fps) which is now gone. That was the biggest stumbling block for me on most projects. The 7D came along and fixed that. The 5D got new firmware and fixed that. We still have the issues of the 12-minute thing. It hasn’...

A week and a half ago I came across a mention of CoreMelt and it's Rolling Shutter Reduction , and highlighted it, but now I get a press release dated May 18th saying that CoreMelt is "pleased to launch Rolling Shutter Reduction inside Lock & Load X. CoreMelt's Lock & Load X " -- so I don't know if the page was just a place holder and they just released the software update, or if they just released the press release.... They do say: We have included shutter coefficient settings for the Canon EOS 5D mkII, 7D and 550D. This is afree update for current users of Lock & Load , and Lock & Load X is available for Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, and Motion . A version for After Effects is coming soon. CoreMelt : Rolling Shutter Reduction

I'm assuming this is an online webinar or some such, anyway, it looks interesting.... Working with DSLR Video with Adobe CS5 Production Premium Wednesday, May 26th, 2010, 10-11:30 PDT Join Richard Harrington, co-author of From Still to Motion: A photographer's guide to creating video with your DSLR .  He'll explore the options for creating and working with DSLR video in CS5 Production Premium which includes Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Adobe After Effects. You’ll learn everything from practical shooting techniques and essential lighting to easy editing strategies and online sharing. You’ll also be introduced to the latest Dell Precision workstation and NVIDIA Quadro graphic solutions to help you make the best decision to outfit your editing needs – including taking advantage of the latest performance improving updates in CS5. Register online here: Event Details [ UPDATE ] According to the confirmation I received, it's an Acrobat Connect Pro meeti...

Sean Stiegemeier has taken some stunning time-lapse sequences of that volcano in Iceland nobody can pronounce the name of and put them together a short movie. It's really something: Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo . Apart from the spectacular scenery, the other thing that stands out about these shots is that he's using a motorized dolly: a prototype (v2.1) of the Dynamic Perception Timelapse Dolly Stage Zero Dynamic Perception Timelapse Dolly Stage Zero from MILapse on Vimeo . This looks really interesting because they say it will be reasonably low-cost: Dynamic Perception's mission is to provide low-cost and easy-to-use photographic motion-control systems. Our focus is to enable creativity and experimentation through open and unencumbered hardware, firmware, and software. Founded by the creators of the OpenMoco open-sourcemotion-control system we are striving to provide flexible and expandable kits for so...

The new Canon 4:2:2 solid-state camcorders , the XF300/XF305, are expected at the end of June, and a few initial hands-on reports are already  starting to appear . A lot of questions remain - many of which won't be answered until users have them out in the field - but  Chuck Westfall , technical information advisor, Professional Engineering and Solutions Division, Canon U.S.A., Inc. provided some answers to a few questions I had about the cameras: Canon XF305 What is the situation with the Editing environments support? Will the developers be releasing updates in time for shipment of the camera? What will end users have to do to be able to edit the 50Mbps 4:2:2 video? Canon has already worked together with the 4 major NLE (Non-Linear Editing) software providers, namely Adobe, Apple, Avid and Grass Valley, to ensure full compatibility of XF series video even before the cameras have been delivered to the market. Canon will supply plug-in software for Apple's Final Cut Pro...

The Making of The Vietnam Sequence From “The Last 3 Minutes” Shane Hurlbut has been posting some interesting pieces on his blog . The latest is a post about shooting a battle sequence and breaks it down shot-by-shot: When you design shots that play all out as one shot everything has to work. The camera has to be in sync with the explosions, the performance has to work, the smoke level has to be just right, the focus must be sharp, and I could go on and on. When McG and I designed the helicopter crash in the beginning of Terminator:Salvation it played as one shot but it was a series of hook-ups as we call them that seamlessly go together to give the viewer the appearance of one complete uninterrupted shot. Hurblog : The Making of The Vietnam Sequence From “The Last 3 Minutes” D3s video Tom Bol provides a short write-up on how he shot a video using the Nikon D3s. He covers the gear he used, which included a tilt-shift lens, and a Red Rock rig. Tom BolPhotography : D3s video ...

I didn't watch the season finale of " House, " partly because I don't watch " House " normally, so watching it because of the camera used to shoot it seemed a bit silly; and also because I didn't think I'd really learn anything. I figured it wasn't going to be terrible - they wouldn't have used it if it was - and not being a regular watcher, I wouldn't even know if this show was stylistically any different. So I left it to others to watch and report. There's a thread over at Philip Blooms site with some interesting comments. To sum up, I think everyone was generally impressed, or happy with the results, and most of the complaints are acknowledged to be more along the lines of nit-picking than serious criticisms: The noise was distracting on one…maybe two setups? Otherwise it looked clean and great. The depth of field was a little too shallow for me on some of the bathroom scenes at the end The only thing I noticed was the color ...

I'm really looking forward to the screening of the last episode of " House " today - I'm getting a little sick of the continual posts and articles about this episode being shot with DSLRs! Even  USA Today  has gotten in on the act, though they manage to make it sound like the director shot the episode with his Flip camera: ' House ' director producing episode with digital camera, memory card , though it does include some interesting details: ...he convinced the producers to do an entire episode, using 3 5Ds and a host of Canon lenses: 14mm, 20mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, the 70-200mm and 24-70mm zooms. (They didn't have to go out and buy the lenses--Canon loaned them to the producers). For memory cards, he opted for eight 8 GB compact flash cards to shoot the scenes. He opted for smaller capacity cards, because the scenes were short [ NOTE : the 85mm L lens is on sale ; grab one and a 5D and start shooting your own episode of House !!!]

I just saw that there are some "instant rebates" being offered on Canon lenses through 7/10. While it's not every lens, there are some good lenses with rebates, including: Canon Normal EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Autofocus Lens -$25 ($344.95) If you can't afford the f/1.2 , this 50mm f/1.4 is a pretty good lens! Whether you have a full frame 5D or a smaller sensor 7D or T2i, a 50mm lens is a useful one to have. Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens -$65 ($884.00) What sets this lens apart is the Macro mode, and stabilization. And , it's a 2.8mm L lens for under $1,000! Canon Zoom Super Wide Angle EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Autofocus Lens -$100 ($1,420.00) I have this lens and really like it a lot; if you like the wide-angle end of things it's a great lens. Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM Autofocus Lens -$130 ($1,869.00) If I had a 5D I'd probably be saving for this...but since I have a 7D I'm saving for the 50mm f/1.2 instead! Canon Fisheye EF 15mm f/2....

Adobe has a page listing 64-bit plug-ins for After Effects

The “ Making a Feature Film in Massachusetts on an Indie Budget ” panel at the recent Independent Film Festival of Boston was moderated by Mike Bowes of Central Productions , with Garth Donovan, director of Philip the Fossil , Mark Colucci, director of Slip and Fall , and Kurt Bergeron, production designer for God of Vampires . The following is an edited version of their comments: Q: How do you make it happen? Garth: For me it’s belief in the script. Once you have the script and the actors, then you can find gear, you can find people who will be hungry to work on your film. Kurt: A lot of it was just going out to everyone we knew. If you gave us a thousand dollars, we gave you a producer’s credit. If you gave us five thousand dollars we gave you an executive producer’s credit. We raised fifteen hundred dollars having a raffle at conventions, and whoever won the raffle got to die in the movie. That worked so well we raised another fifteen hundred dollars, and whoever won the ...

Jeff Foster reviews After Effects CS5 for MacWorld and reports a significant performance improvement with the 64-bit support, though notes that all your plug-ins need to be upgraded and CS5 is not backward compatible with CS4. Roto Brush requires times and practice, and Mocha for After Effects  (which is included) is not the full version, but otherwise he's impressed. MacWorld : After Effects CS5

The season finale of House airs tonight, Monday, May 17 (8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX, and Canon has issued a press release reminding everyone that this episode was shot entirely on Canon DSLR cameras: “We take great pleasure in congratulating the cast and crew of HOUSE on completing the first network television episode to be completely shot on a DSLR camera,” stated Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A., “This milestone marks a paradigm shift in the way professional cinematographers and filmmakers capture HD video.” Canon : [ Note: as at posting time, this link is broken ] Canon U.S.A. Congratulates HOUSE on Completing the First Network Television Episode Shot on a Canon DSLR Philip Bloom : In depth interview with Greg Yaitanes, Executive Producer and Director of “House” Season Finale shot on Canon 5DmkII

10 Essential Websites for Indie filmmakers To those aspiring filmmakers out there, here are 10 websites worth checking out. Sireh Cengkeh: 10 Essential Websites for Indie filmmakers When musicians made money Mike Jagger, interviewed about The Stones musical past, and embracing technology: I am quite relaxed about it. But, you know, it is a massive change and it does alter the fact that people don't make as much money out of records. But I have a take on that - people only made money out of records for a very, very small time. When The Rolling Stones started out, we didn't make any money out of records because record companies wouldn't pay you! They didn't pay anyone! Then, there was a small period from 1970 to 1997, where people did get paid, and they got paid very handsomely and everyone made money. But now that period has gone. BBC: Sir Mick Jagger goes back to Exile An Hour of CS5 for Designers Online Seminar Look forward to a filled hour going from Ph...