News From Here & There

Script Supervisor for iPad
Taz Goldstein at Hand Held Hollywood writes about Script Supervisor, an app for the iPad that keeps track of things on set; daily logs, production reports, you can even read screenplays. It will be available shortly, and interestingly, Taz says that it will be free, but the companies websites is very vague about the details.
HandHeldHoolywood: Coming Soon: Script Supervisor for iPad



RED Epic-M
Digital FX has posted a short video showing the new Epic-M up close: Vimeo: Red Epic-M Digital Cinema Camera



Using Final Cut Pro
Some NLE's let you rearrange the workspace in different ways. Walter Biscardi describes the different ways that he arranges the editing windows in Final Cut Pro depending upon what he is doing:
This is my Rough Cut layout. Maximum space for the bins and thumbnails where I want them.  Tiny timeline because for the most part I’m just straight cutting and putting in dissolves with little or no attention to audio.   I use this layout so I can see as much of my raw footage at a time and quick drop shots into the timeline for flow and timing. 
Biscardi Creative Blog: FCP Interface: One Window Layout does not fit all



The Future of Final Cut Pro
Meanwhile, Scott Simmons at The Editblog had a bit of time on his hands and has written a long post speculating wildly on what the future of Final Cut should or shouldn't be:
Out of FCP’s installed base, 90% of those working are very much unlike the other 10%. I think of that 10% as feature film and network television editors. But I know an awful lot of working, professional editors who are power users with this application and who have never cut a single frame of either movies or tv. The question: Is about Apple tailoring all (or even part) of FCPx to that 10%?
ProVideoCoalition: More random, mindless speculation about the new Final Cut Pro



Sony PMW-F3; Amazing Lowlight Performance
Philip Johnston at HD Warrior has spent some time with the Sony PMW-F3 shooting in low light, and he's pretty amazed by it:
You could produce a drama in street lighting and tell the Gaffer to take a night off, mark my words this will become the de-facto drama camcorder of 2011 and if the director of our local television drama Taggart reads this, start using a Sony F3 …YOU WONT BE DISAPPOINTED!
Those are pretty strong words coming from someone who recently bought the Panasonic AG-AF100, and said of that camera just a month ago:
This is unreal, during my extra material for my 40min Blu Ray DVD I recorded myself at 18dB, I have never seen a cleaner picture at 18dB in my life it’s jaw dropping.
There are some amazing cameras out there...
HDWarrior: F3 “First Play in low light”
HDWarrior: AF101 excels at 18dB



The Making of Rango
A short behind-the-scenes video from The Daily showing the process of making the animated movie Rango, including how the actors acted out the scenes before there were animated:





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