News From Here & There

Shooting tips
Dylan Reeve, the Edit Geek, provides some shooting tips for cameramen that will help editors (as well as cameramen who also edit!) While these seem like common sense, the 6 tips are key to making your editing life easier (and some of these might be unexpected, like number four.)

4. The Preset is Your Friend
This one is a little contraversial, and I’ve actually had a stand up argument with a shooter about this – but I’ll lay it out here anyway. Stop manually white balancing and use your camera’s presets. There, I said it.

DylanReeve: Shooting Tips From The Edit Suite



4:2:2 Color
In this 10 minute video from the February UKFCUG meeting, Matt Davis and Rick Young talk about 4:2:2 vs 4:2:0 color encoding.
MacVideo: Technology Talk: how big a deal is 4:2:2? Featuring, Matt Davis & Rick Young



Sony PMW-F3
Travis MacRitchie provides an unboxing video for the Sony PMW-F3K (the kit that includes three lenses.) At the end of the clip there's some comparison video with the PMW-F3 and the Canon 5D Mark II.
Vimeo: Sony F3 (PMW-F3) Unboxing & First Impressions
And North American Camera offers a night test shot with the Sony PMW-F3 camera at -3dB with Slow Shutter ON at 4 FPS. Zeiss 25mm Super Speed 2.8-4 split.
Vimeo: Sony PMW-F3 Night Test Shoot



Amateur Actors
Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian's Film Blog asks if non-actors should be used in feature work, and looks at two current movies that do just that; Joanna Hogg's Archipelago and Ken Loach's Route Irish.

Using non-professional actors in a fictional movie is a high-risk business. There is a danger that they will, paradoxically, not look "real", or that they will look real and that their authenticity will somehow expose the fiction and createdness of the rest of the film.

TheGuardian: Should non-actors work in feature films?



Another RED Epic HDRx Example
Mike Seymour shows a single shot that demonstrates the wide dynamic range possible with the new HDRx mode in the RED Epic:

[this] is a single take shot from a car mount on a Duclos 11-16mm lens at 5K of a car moving from an extremely dark tunnel to a full daylight blue sky shot. The dynamic range required to achieve this shot as one pass in camera is thanks to the new proprietary HDRx from RED Digital Cinema company.

Over at the ProLost blog, Stu Maschwitz explains how HDRx is accomplished.
FXGuide: HDRx: The Impossible Shot
ProLost: Red Epic HDRx in Action



File-based workflows
Chris Fournelle, postproduction director for PBS Frontline, describes the workflow they developed for file-based acquisition:

The important takeaway is to organize your workflow so that it’s as universally comprehensible as possible. How would you want a project delivered to you? What information would you want if you’d never seen a frame of the production?

QGPT: Resources
QGPT: Scared straight: To lay out a prudent workflow for file-based video, it helps to work up some paranoia [PDF]



Wide-angles for the Panasonic GH2
EOSHD looks at wide-angle lenses for the Panasonic GH2, the Lumix 14mm F2.5 pancake, the Computar 12.5mm F1.3 and the Pentax 6mm F1.2.

The Lumix 14mm F2.5 is of course the most expensive option, but this has the least distortion, the best image, better colour and contrast, best resolution and of course covers the full frame.

EOSHD: Group test - fast wides for filmmaking on the GH2 (including Computar 12.5mm F1.3)



Sony vs Canon
Sony Alpha Rumors notes that DxOmark lets you compare the Sony Alpha 580 and Sony SLT Alpha 55 to the Canon T3i and Canon 7D, and the two Sony's score much higher than the Canon's, particularly in Dynamic Range.
Amazon: Canon 7D[$1,699]| Canon Rebel T3i [$799] | Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A580
[$799] | Sony Alpha SLTA55V [$749]



Other Bits & Pieces:

• iLounge reports that the Wi-Fi iPad 2 microphone produces much cleaner audio than the 3G model: iPad 2 Wi-Fi, 3G models show microphone differences
• FinalCutters assembles together a list of Final Cut Transitions
• AppleInsider notes that some owners of the new MacBook Pros are having problems with iTunes Home Sharing
• The Terence and Philip Show podcast discusses Thunderbolt
• Rob Ashe at Creative COW talks to Rob Ashe, about the design of "Conan" on TNT, from news of its new home on TBS, through title design and workflow engineering. Plus a trip through a single day, from prep, to post, to air. Designing Conan
• Douglas Trumbull. FXGuide has an interview with Douglas at the Adelaide Film Festival, where he talks about some of his classic films, immersive film-making, simulator rides, high frame rates and the state of the industry. fxguidetv #104: Douglas Trumbull
• Canon Australia caused some excitement when they posted that they would be making an "exciting announcement" - and then it turned out to be the 50,000th World of EOS member!
• Canon Rumors also reports that there might be a "significant" announcement from Canon at NAB. As they say, it's unlikely to be a DSLR, but maybe a large sensor video camera?

Upcoming Meetings - New York

CineAlta Production Group meeting NYC April 5th
This pre-NAB meeting promises that Sony's CTO and Vice President of Technology, Hugo Gaggioni will take attendees through the lineup of technology Sony will showcase at this year's NAB.
The embargo on information Sony has on some writers and publications comes off March 23rd, so expect to hear more about the new NXCAM cameras and more.
Sony Production Community: Sony CineAlta Blog

Adobe After Effects New York - March Meeting
March 31st
Steve Forde, Senior Product Manager, After Effects will be giving a technology preview of some of the cool stuff Adobe is working on. He’ll also open things up to a Q & A where you can ask him questions you’ve only hoped someone could answer (like “How do I create a new Solid?”).
AENY: March Meeting