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Saturday, February 26, 2011

ARRI Workshop - Newton MA

Talamas Broadcast is offering three free workshops on the ARRI Alexa Friday March 11th and Saturday March 12th. Presented by Michael Bravin, the workshops are identical, though the Friday 6pm event will include an ARRI Alexa Open House - an informal gathering with food and drinks where people can network and ask additional questions.

TalamasArri Alexa Workshop

News From Here & There

Roger Deakins Forum
Cinematographer Roger Deakins hosts a discussion forum on his website, and even pops up frequently to reply to questions and comment. Roger has made several comment's over the past year about the end of film and moving to digital, and he's answered several questions about this.
I did test the image from the Alexa right through to a release print. That's not something I always do but with a new camera and the digital format I wanted to be sure of the final image the audience would see if it were a film print.The main difference between film and digital is the sharpness of the image. The crisper digital image does tend to see more blemishes than a film image but that is purely to do with the way the camera resolves fine details.
RogerDeakinsOnline: Forum



More Sony PMW-F3 Tests
Timur Civan has posted a second test with the PMW-F3 (he previously looked at low-light performance) and has posted a resolution test:
This camera is sharp.  It resolves cleanly 31 lines per millimeter on the sensor itself. This is good for an HD camera.
TimurCivanSimple resolution test of the Sony F3
NotesOnVideo: News From Here & There



Creating 3D Effects in Final Cut Pro
Simon Walker demonstrates how to create 3D effects within Final Cut using Red Giant Warp.
RedGiantFinal Cut Friday: New Quicktip on Creating 3D Effects in Final Cut Pro



More on Panasonic pre-NAB announcements
In addition to new workflow tools, Panasonic announced a new monitor, the BT-LH910l, a 9-inch LCD monitor for field and studio applications with 1280 x 768 WXGA pixel resolution, a new solid-state AG-HPD24 P2 deck, and reduced prices on P2 cards.
PanasonicRolling The Dice At NAB with New Panasonic Pro Video Products




10 reasons to stay out of film business
Jared Abrams at Wide Open Camera offers ten reasons why you shouldn't get involved in the film industry. Jared says he just wanted to share some of the hard truths of the business, and I think that can be useful BUT, I would point out that nearly every one of those reasons applies to other creative vocations.
WideOpenCamera10 Reasons To Stay Away From The Film Business

Friday, February 25, 2011

News From Here & There

Product Reviews
  • Sorenson Squeeze 7 Joe Herman reviews the latest release of this compression tool and recommends it for those who do a lot of compression work.
    NYCProdcutionNews: Sorenson Squeeze 7

  • Zacuto Z-Finder: Erik Hecht consider's this viewfinder a DSLR user essential:
    ChaseJarvisBlog: Erik’s HDSLR Video Essentials: the Zacuto Z-Finder

  • Focus 35 Skater Dolly: Ron Risman reviews this inexpensive skater dolly from Focus 35, which looks suspiciously like the skateboard dolly design that several people have produced (I even managed to construct one myself!)
    Cameratown: Focus35 Rotation 360 Skater Dolly Review
    NotesOnVideo: DIY Slider Dolly

    And if you're really adventurous, Greg Royar shows how he created an automated slider based on an Igus slider in this video:
    Vimeo: DIY Automated Timelapse/Slider


Making Movies

Editing
  • Panasonic pre-announces professional solutions prior to NAB, including a new AVCCAM Importer that eliminates the need to convert AVCHD ".mts" files to ProRES422 files before editing in Final Cut Pro.
    BroadcastingCable: Panasonic Unveils Pre-NAB Product Plans

  • This is what an Editor does: 25 days of editing work compressed into 3 minutes. It's a bit like watching that guys six years of photo's of himself.
    ProVideoCoalition: Time lapse of a Television Editor

New MacBook Pro's Are Fast

PrimateLabs did some benchmarks on the new MacBook Pros and found the performance "amazing." The fastest is 80% faster than the previous fastest machine. In fact:
...if you look at our Mac Benchmark charts, you'll see that the fastest MacBook Pro is faster than a lot of Mac Pros (including the current generation of Mac Pros). The new MacBook Pros truly are portable workstations.
Primatelabs: MacBook Pro Benchmarks (Early 2011)


Large Sensor Camera News

How Much Would You Pay For The Panasonic AG-AF100?
Cinematographer David Wexler got to use the Panasonic AG-AF100 for a recent one day shoot, and was impressed:
Overall, I was very pleased with the cameras performance. All the on board tools I expected in a video camera were there. The large sensor made a big difference in isolating focus to, “tell a better story”. The micro 4/3rds format on the AG-AF100 seems to be the most readily adaptable on the planet so it is easy to [use] a variety of lenses without modifying the existing mount and voiding any warranties.
Interestingly, he relates that he asked a Panasonic rep why the camera used SD cards rather than P2 cards, and the rep implied that it would have doubled the price of the camera.
ZacutoHow Much Would You Pay For It?



Using The Panasonic AG-AF100
EOSHD spent the day playing with, and comparing the Panasonic AG-AF100 and GH2. There's some interesting observations comparing the - admittedly - very different cameras. One's a professional video camera, while the other is a consumer still's camera that does video; but they are often compared because the chip, electronics and video output are identical/very similar.
The GH2 has more rolling shutter on it's HDMI output than in live view on the LCD, which is strange. What appears to be happening is a bit of line skipping to produce a low resolution live view feed for the LCD, whilst the more sophisticated pixel binning technique is used for HDMI and it's full 1080p obviously, so rolling shutter is worse.
EOSHDAF100 and Voigtlaender 25mm F0.95 hands on



Philip Bloom's DSLR Shooting Tips
CNET Australia has a video interview and tips from Philip.
CNETDSLR film-making with Philip Bloom



Sony NEX-5 Shoot
Matthew Jeppsen writes about a proof of concept shoot done with the Sony NEX-5. The NEX-5 is a still camera that has the same mount and similar - maybe identical - chip and electronics as the NEX-VG10; but it's a lot smaller!
Despite the challenges of working with the camera system (very few manual controls), we think that the finished result turned out pretty well. And I was very impressed with the quality of the Sony Alpha lenses that attached via an E-mount-to-Alpha adapter for the NEX camera.
FreshDVSoccer Girl - A Sony NEX-5 short film



Shooting a fast car with a DSLR
A behind the scenes video with lots of interesting shots of a car. Worth watching for inspiration.


How to shoot a fast car with a DSLR from Martin Steimann on Vimeo.



Affordable Tripods For DSLRs
Caleb Pike at DSLR Video Shooter runs through some different tripods in a fairly extensive video.
DSLRVideoShooterEpisode 012: Finding an Affordable Tripod for DSLR Video Work




Thursday, February 24, 2011

Birger Engineering To Show EF Mount At Rule LearningLab

Birger Engineering is working on a mount adapter that will provide auto and manual iris control and auto-focus of Canon EF mount lenses on the Panasonic AG-AF100.

They'll be demoing it at the Rule Camera LearningLab on Wednesday, Mar 2, 10am-12noon.
RSVP to events@rule.com

Rule Boston Camera: Events
Birger Engineering




News From Here & There

Finding A Job In The Film Industry
Michael Rabiger provides 11 tips for getting a job:
Your reel. With your resumé enclose a professionally laid out DVD.  Some people put a different DVD together depending on the type of job or company they are approaching.
masteringfilm: Eleven Tips for Finding a Job in the Film Industry



Sony discontinues NEX-3
There's reports that the NEX-3 has been discontinued. The NEX-3 is the little brother to the NEX5, both still cameras that share the E-mount of the NEX-VG10video camera. Both the NEX-3 & 5 also support video, though the NEX-3 only does 720p.
Sony Alpha Rumors says not to worry; the NEX-3 is being replaced with the NEX-C3.
EngadgetSony NEX-3 discontinued, probably has NEX-5 to blame
SonyAlphaRumors: (SR5) NEX-3 officially discontinued in Japan!



Shooting in Low Light
Richard Harrington's latest video tutorial covers shooting in low-light:
Lighting should be your first step, but capturing gorgeous images with DSLRs in low light situations is not only a possibility, but an artistic venture with the amount of control offered by these cameras. In this video tutorial, Robbie and Richard discuss low-light shooting strategies, including controlling your aperture, ISO, lenses, and shutter speed.
CreativeCow: Low Light Shooting Strategies



Amazon Streaming
Don Reisinger at CNET takes a look to see whether Amazon Prime streaming is really supported by "200 devices."
All in all, Amazon's new streaming plan works quite well. Amazon's library isn't as deep as Netflix's, but with 5,000 pieces of content already, there is plenty to choose from. If Amazon adds more content over the coming months, its streaming service might just cement itself as a worthwhile competitor to Netflix in the booming streaming market.
CNET: Amazon streaming: What works, what doesn't



120Hz must die
The Edit Doctor hates, hates, hates the look of 120 hz television;
So its inventing/creating more “in-between frames” through this smoothing process and it kills the the whole 24 frames per second look that film had and makes it move more like - VIDEOTAPE!  Wasn’t that what we were trying to get away from?
Without getting into the substance of the debate, a little historical note. The Doctor notes that:
It was determined years ago that 24 was the minimum amount of frames per second your mind could see and process, AND still see it as a persistence of fluid motion.
But Mark Schubin, a film/technology historian, says that prior to sound, films were being projected at a range of speeds; some slower and some faster than 24fps. Stanley Watkins from Western Electric did a study of the speeds being used,
But he found that if he did a weighted average of what the big theaters and the little theaters were doing, he came up with 24. And 24 happened to be, for the number of frames there are in 35 mm film, 90 feet per second, which was a nice round number.
theeditdoctor: 120hz Television "Smoothing" MUST DIE!!!!
NotesOnVideo: The 24p debate: Part I


Happy Birthday Steve Jobs - Apple Announcements

There was no big party, but Apple announced new MacBook Pros this morning. Notably, the 15 and 17-inch models feature quad-core Intel Core i7 processors.

They've also announced Thunderbolt; which was previously referred to as Light Peak, but it appears everyone is using the Thunderbolt name now, Intel has their own page up about it.

All interesting stuff, though I'm not in a market for a new MacBook Pro at the moment. I'm assuming they'll bring this stuff to the iMac next; which would turn the iMac into a powerful editing system too. Ahh, so many ways to spend money!

Apple: MacBook Pros
Intel: Thunderbolt



And a Happy Birthday to Mr. Jobs.

Donate to New Zealand earthquake appeal - get a chance to win Kessler Crane Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly or 1 of 10 Rode Video Mic Pros

Philip Bloom, with support from Rode Microphones and KesslerCrane is running another "competition" - I'm not even sure that's the right word - but donate to the New Zealand Earthquake Relief Appeal, then send the receipt to Philip and you'll be in for a chance to win one of the prizes. They did a similar appeal for the Queensland Flood Appeal and raised over $25,000!

PhilipBloom: Donate to the New Zealand earthquake appeal and be in with a chance of winning a Kessler Crane Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly or 1 of 10 Rode Video Mic Pros!

[Update: great, I didn't include the link]

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Ki Pro Mini & Panasonic GH2 - no go

I mentioned last week that at the BOSFCPUG Mixer, Stuart Cummings of Watermark Productions had said that he'd heard reports of problems from some people who were trying to use the Panasonic GH2 with the Ki Pro Mini, but since he'd only just got the unit himself, he hadn't yet been able to try it.

Well Stuart dropped me a note to let me know that he did try the GH2 with the Ki Pro Mini, and it doesn't seem to work. But the Panasonic AG-AF100 works just fine.

NotesOnVideo: AJA Ki Pro Mini @ BOSFCPUG + BOSDSLR Mixer
Watermark Productions

Final Cut Pro Update - confirmation

Larry Jordan has confirmed that he went to Cupertino last week and got a look at the upcoming version of Final Cut Pro. He says that he can't say much else about it, though he did tweet that it was "jaw-dropping"!
LarryJordan: I’ve Seen The New Version of Final Cut Pro…

News From Here & There

New Version Of Final Cut Coming?
Alexia Tsotsis at TechCrunch reports that Apple has been showing an upcoming release of Final Cut Pro to editors to get their opinions. He also says that it's “dramatic and ambitious” and may be released in the spring.
TechCrunchNew Final Cut Pro Is Real, And It’s Spectacular (And It’s Expected Spring 2011)



Comparison of Sony Bloggie Touch and Flip UltraHD
SonyRumors publishes a comparison of the new Sony Bloggie Touch[$154.95] with the Flip UltraHD Video[$179]
Speaking of technical specs, the Bloggie Touch outshines the Flip UltraHD in every scenario. Offering great zoom, resolution, Face Detection, Image Stabilization, Macro Auto Focus, Self Time and still camera to name a few. On top of that, Sony placed a Exmor™ CMOS Sensor under the hood, insuring crisp video both during daylight and nighttime.
Remember that this is Sony Rumors website, but it includes some sample videos.
SonyRumorsSony Bloggie Touch Review, and Bloggie Touch vs. Flip UltraHD (video)



Apple Rumors
If rumors are to be believed, it looks like Apple will announce new MacBook Pros, new iMacs, the iPad2, a Final Cut Pro update - pretty much everything you can think of - sometime soon. And one of the things being talked about is Light Peak which is a high speed communication protocol developed with Intel and it sounds like it could replace USB, Firewire, Ethernet, you name it.
EngadgetApple's Light Peak implementation called Thunderbolt, coming in new MacBook Pros?



Low Cost Lens Gears
The low-cost lens gears from Half Inch Rails are available and are being sold by Wide Open Camera. They cost $45 for three.
WideOpenCameraHIR Lens Gears



Another Short Sony PMW-F3 Test Video
Florian Foest has posted a Sony PMW-F3 video test to Vimeo shot using a variety of lenses; Sony 35/50/85 T2, ARRI HS 25mm T1.3 and Angenieux 16-42 T2.8.  Some good shallow focus examples.
VimeoSimple Sony F3 Test_720p




Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Panasonic 3D Bit & Pieces

Panasonic 3D Lens & Camcorder
I actually got to see the Panasonic 3D conversion lens (VW-CLT1) at a Best Buy store on the weekend. Unfortunately, the camcorder wasn't working - the battery was flat - but I could actually handle it. It was smaller than I had imagined, so on the front of a small camcorder, it wasn't that unwieldy. It was very plasticy, but that's not exactly surprising.

You can buy the lens with a camcorder right now, but the lens doesn't appear to be available separately yet.
B & H: Panasonic VW-CLT1 3D CONVERSION LENS [$349.99] available for pre-order
B & H: Panasonic HDC-SDT750K [ $974.97] available now



Panasonic thinks 3D TV's have reached critical mass
TechRadar spoke to Panasonic's CTO Eisuke Tsuyuzaki about 3D television. He's optimistic:
"Within North America, the industry shipped some 2 million Full HD 3D enabled televisions after just nine months on the market," he said."This is a significant milestone. It means we have already surpassed what I call the laserdisc threshold. We have already taken 3D from geekdom to an early mass market."
TechRadar: Panasonic CTO: 3D is out of geekdom and into mass market



At the Film Nation Shorts Awards 2010 yesterday, The Sky Creative team talked about how they created the new Panasonic Sky Movies sponsorship ident that is played before each 3D Movie, and @PanasonicUK tweeted some of the advice they passed on:
"Think what your shooting and try and get as many layers in the frame"

"Make sure the space between layers isn't too large"

"Shots of reflections don't work in 3D"

Amazon Prime; unlimited free streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows

It was rumored a month or so ago, and now they've gone and made it official. Amazon is offering free streaming for (many) movies and TV shows to their Amazon Prime members (Amazon Prime costs $79 a year, and provides free two-day shipping on all orders.)

I have Amazon Prime, so I can watch now on my computer, but it appears that I don't have anything (at the moment) that will let me stream to my TV. I may have to buy something like the Roku XD Streaming Player 1080p

Amazon: Main Page

[UPDATE: Engadget says the quality of the video is okay, but not great.

UPDATE 2: Just watched a bit of Silverado. Impressed that it started so quickly - I figured they'd be deluged right now - and quality is just okay; Standard Def, not HD

UPDATE 3 10PM: Looks like you do get HD versions. Waiting a minute or two at full screen, the resolution improves on my computer (hard to tell whether 720p or what it is, but it's pretty good, and a friend with a Roku says he's getting HD on his TV set.]







News From Here & There

Sony PMW-F3 Preliminary Tests
Timur Civan reports on ISO tests with the new Sony PMW-F3 conducted to look for the noise floor and clipping points of the camera.
in conclusion, some more obvious than others.

consider your absolute work horse iso's 280, 400, 800.

the higher iso's is tolerable according to each person that uses it, but honestly in the biggest of emergencies it's not a disaster if you have to use them. but if you are shooting a feature film, you should be able to light at a 280, and 400 most of to all of the time, and 800 when it's a rushed night/day. and have little to no issues in post.
TimuCivanSony F3 - Preliminary Tests



YouTube to Award $10,000 Grants to Nonprofits
YouTube is running a competition for Nonprofit organization videos:
Beginning today, video submissions will be accepted until March 2, 2011 when a panel of expert judges will select four finalists in each category, which include Best Small Organization Video, Best Medium Organization Video, Best Large Organization Video, and Best Thrifty Video (for videos produced for under $500). 
YouTubeYouTube to Award $10,000 Grants to Nonprofits That Produce the Best Videos




Five Common Focus Puller Mistakes
The Black and Blue blog is back with more tips for focus pulling:
A rack focus done right will be seamless and unnoticeable by the audience. Done wrong, however, and it can attract a lot of unwanted attention. Part of mastering the rack focus is to understand the mood, the pace, and the tone of the scene. It will also largely be determined by the camera move itself.
TheBlackandBlue5 Common Focus Pulling Mistakes



Product Placement in the UK
A new logo has been adopted and must be used on programs in the UK (and Europe) that includes product placement.
The logo has to be shown at the beginning of the programme, and repeated after any advertising break during the programme. It also has to be shown again at the end of the programme.

TV channels don’t have to show the logo on programmes that were originally broadcast outside the UK (for example, a US drama series that is then shown in the UK).
OfcomProduct placement on TV



The Canon 5D Mark II Was A Game Changer At The AP
It's easy to forget that the video capability of the 5D Mark II was originally inserted at the request of the AP (and other news organizations) who were looking for the ability to shoot short video clips to put up on the web. Kevin Roach, AP's VP for Broadcast News talks to Beet.TV.
Beet.TVA Canon Still Camera is a "Game Changer" for Video Journalism, the AP's Kevin Roach



Interview with director Gregg Bishop
The Bitter Script Reader interviews director Gregg Bishop:
There are several routes you can take to become a professional filmmaker & no one is better than the other. However, I firmly believe that you can read all the books and attend whatever classes you want, but the best way to learn filmmaking is by doing it. Learn by doing. If you want to direct, borrow a camera and direct something.
TheBitterScriptReader: Interview with director Gregg Bishop - Part I: Making a $15,000 feature film



The 50 Greatest Film Titles
A lists of the greatest film titles, includes a description and YouTube clips. The "Touch of Evil" (#3) opening is curious because Wells wanted to remove the credits from the famous crane shot.
IFC: The 50 Greatest Opening Title Sequences of All Time






Monday, February 21, 2011

Steadicam Smoothee for iPhone 4 - First impresions

I've had the Steadicam Smoothee for iPhone 4 for a few days now, but the weather being what it is, I've really only had one chance to spend any extended time shooting with it. Last Friday I shot some behind-the-scenes video at a taping of the Melrose Massachusetts Television (MMTV) program "After Hours with T.C. Restani."

Apart from the usual iPhone video complaints - poor sound, difficulty in poor lighting - the Smoothee itself seemed to perform pretty well. Operator error may still be at work here - this was the first extended time I spent using it - so I may still get better. As with a "regular" Steadicam, for best results you want to plan out your moves; if the talent suddenly changes direction, it can cause you serious framing problems!

I also wish there was better exposure control (actually any exposure control) on the iPhone!

But perhaps most of all, I'm thinking that some kind of lens shade - maybe just a piece of black paper taped on the front of the iPhone - could improve things; I had a lot of problems with the studio lights washing out the picture when pointing the camera in some directions.

One last note; putting your iPhone on one of these completely does away with "shooting incognito"; everybody seems to notice it!




B & HSteadicam Smoothee for iPhone 4 [$179.95]
Amazon: Steadicam Smoothee for iPhone 4 [$179.95]
B & HSteadicam Smoothee for iPhone 3GS [$179.95]
Amazon: Steadicam Smoothee for iPhone 3GS [$179.95]
B & HSteadicam Flip Ultra Smoothee Mount  [$24.95] - not yet shipping

Soho Tank

One of the interesting items on display at last weeks BOSFCPUG + BOSDSLR Mixer was the Sohotank, a drive storage enclosure available in two, four and eight slot configurations. An 8-bay unit was brought along by local reseller, Stuart Cummings of Watermark Productions.

The four and eight-bay Sohotank units are available in models that support eSATA or mini-SAS. In addition to the Sohotank models, there are also Sohoraid models. The 4-bay Sohotank ST5610 and the Sohoraid SR4 seem very similar; I'm not sure of the exact differences!

I'd not heard of these before, and they seem to be difficult to find online; it's not even obvious if you can order them on the manufacturer's website!

At around $600 for the eight-bay unit (I can find no pricing for the four bay Sohotank!) these might be an alternative to the Drobo unit.



Raidon: Sohotank (manufacturer; link to 4 enclosure unit)
Other World Computing: Sohotank (online sales, 8-bay Sohotank unit. Sohoraid also available)
Watermark Productions (Boston distributor)

Amazon: Data Robotics Drobo 4-Bay USB 2.0/FireWire 800 SATA Storage Array DR04DD10 [$349.99]
Amazon: Drobo S 5-Bay USB 2.0/FireWire 800/eSATA Storage Array DRDR3A21 [$689/00]

News From Here & There

A Big Year For Cameras
Matthew Allard, Aljazeera Senior Field Cameraman, Kuala Lumpur writes that "2011 promises to be the most exciting yet for professional shooters," and looks at what has come, and what might be just around the corner.

The article opens with a little hint of conspiracy theory:
The other problem I suspect has been the case for a long time is that Japanese companies seem to have informal agreements with each other. No one likes to shame another company by bringing out something that is so much better than any one else’s product.
And yet in talking about whether Canon will release something that competes with the Panasonic AG-AF100, he lists four very different reasons why they might not, and doesn't include the conspiracy theory:
  1. They may be very happy with selling DSLR’s and don’t want to take away potential sales in that area.
  2. It’s not cost effective for them to build a Hybrid DSLR/Video camera at this point in time.
  3. They are waiting to see what everyone else has done and then respond.
  4. They are planning on building a more high end camera to compete in a completely different market.

Also overlooked; the upcoming Sony NXCAM 35mm camera (though interestingly, the release of this camera probably won't be that startling, following on as it does from the Panasonic AG-AF100 and Sony PMW-F3.)

One good piece of advice; spend your money on lenses; they will probably last you longer than the camera!
DSLR News Shooter2011 A big your for cameras? An opinion by Al Jazeera Cameraman Matt Allard



Capturing the News in Cairo
And DSLR News Shooter also has an article by Duncan Sharp about shooting the Cairo revolution with a Canon 5D Mark II.
DSLR News Shooter: Duncan Sharp Capturing The Cairo Revolution For Sky News HD On A Canon 5DMKII



Gale Tattersall Interview
Photo Cine News has an interview with House Director of Photography, Gale Tattersall.
Tattersall told me there are two things to know as a cinematographer; you have to know how to compress life into the medium you are using. For example if you are shooting digital video how do you shoot a scene so that it reflects the almost limitless latitude of the human eye while contending with the technological limits of the medium. And second, you have to know what you want to your audience to look at, at that point in time in the story.
Photo Cine NewsThe Cinematography Arc – An Interview WIth House MD DP Gale Tattersall



Alexa vs. RED One
Another comparison video; this time, the Arri Alexa and RED One camera.
Pampuri's BlogARRI Alexa VS Red One Mx … suite …




Employing the Art of Editing Seminar by Thomas Ethan Harris
Eric Harnden writes about his experience at an editing seminar given by Thomas Harris:
What did we learn [from these two clips]?  Both great movies.  Both with pretty much the same scene.  There was some differences in the cutting.  Did the quicker cuts feed the frenzy of the later film? Yes.  Take away from this portion of the program: study these two scenes ('cause I can't describe all the cuts to you) and see what differences you can see.

The whole night and the entirety of my review will be a "go do some homework and improve your filmmaking" primer. 
Quintessential's PosterousIn the Cut: Employing the Art of Editing, My Impressions, Part Deux and Tr3s




SoundTrack Pro free Webinar

FilmmakingWebinars is offering a free webinar April 5 @ 10:00AM PST on mixing Final Cut Pro projects using Soundtrack Pro. You can also purchase an HD version of the webinar and bonus material for $25

In this webinar, Final Cut Pro guru Larry Jordan walks you through the process of improving the quality of your audio mixes in your video project. You'll learn specific workflows and techniques using Soundtrack Pro from the Final Cut Pro editor's perspective.
FilmmakingWebinarsMixing Your Final Cut Pro Projects Inside Soundtrack Pro

Glidetrack Hybrid's @ B & H

B & H now lists the new Glidetrack Hybrid models, though delivery is 2-4 weeks:

B & H: Glidetrack Hybrid - 20" (0.5m) [$473.95]
B & H: Glidetrack Hybrid - 40" (1m) [$536.95]
B & H: Glidetrack Hybrid - 59" (1.5m) [$599.95]

Sunday, February 20, 2011

News From Here & There

Danny Cohen on The King's Speech
StudioDaily has an interview with Danny Cohen, cinematographer for The King's Speech.
The montage scene where Colin Firth is going through his vocal exercises, for example. We shot almost all of that handheld, save for one dolly shot, in 20 minutes at the end of the day. We had a time constraint (we were losing the afternoon light) so we had to figure out the quickest way to shoot it. We decided it was best to put the camera on the shoulder and shoot it really simply. The process of filmmaking invites so many ideas and strong points of view, but the reality on set is most decisions are made by necessity.
StudioDaily: Cinematographer Danny Cohen on The King's Speech



How to be a better Focus Puller
The Black and Blue blog provides three tips for improving your focus pulling skills:
The easiest way to become a better focus puller is to become exceptionally accurate at guessing distances. You should strive to become a human measuring tape. The best 1st AC’s will walk into a room and have a real, tangible sense of the space they’re in.
theblackandblue.com: >3 Simple Ways to Become a Better Focus Puller Over the Weekend



Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve Mailing List
Patrick Inhofer (The Tao of Color blog) has started a mailing list for those interested in the Resolve color editing application.
This is a forum for video professionals to seek and share information regarding Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve color grading software. This forum is not intended for hobbyists or novices.
Yahoo Groups: >resolve-l · DaVinci Resolve -L



Cineroid EVF Review
Both Redrock and Zacuto have received a lot of attention for their upcoming EVF's, but Cineroid has gone and beaten them both to the punch; their EVF seems to be shipping, and James Stoneley has a review:
Overall I’m very impressed with the EVF. It’s light, well built, has a ton of useful features and I think it’s quite good value for money. It’s not cheap but you get a lot of bang for your buck and it’s the first of its kind to come to market. I love the freedom it gives you to shoot accurately without a cumbersome monitor.
TheConvergence: >Cineroid EVF Review



Avid changes name of Euphonix MC units
Avid purchase Euphonix a while ago, and now they have changed the names of their products. The MC Color is now know as the Artist Color. Similarly, the MC Transport, MC Control and MC Mix have all changed their names. It's unclear why; maybe so people don't think the MC stands for Media Composer and that the units only work with Media Composer?
Avid: Euphonix
B & H: MC Color - Color Grading Control Surface [$1,459.95]
B & H: MC Transport - Compact Media Controller [$388.95]
B & H: Euphonix MC Control v2 - Touch-Screen Control Surface [$1,499.00]
B & H: MC Mix - Control Surface for Audio and Video Software [$1,259.00]