Notes On Video

Learning to Light Better | Lowel Lowel makes a wide range of lighting products, and their website has a great Lighting Resource Center with "Lessons" and lighting examples. Acting School Showreel - Lighting notes | Ed Moore | “... Camera set.” Cinematographer Ed Moore helped shoot a series of scenes for students at the Birmingham School of Acting and in this post explains the techniques used to achieve some of the results: For this particular scene I gelled the HMI with peacock blue and added a warm fill (justified by a desk light I got props to place on the desk) which was a dimmed 650W bouncing off the white lastolite which was placed at a fairly low angle. The cyan/orange contrast was what I was after as it’s such a popular look in Hollywood stuff at the moment and whilst it’s usually applied in the grade I thought it would be fun to get in camera. Using Popular Television to Boost Your Knowledge of Classic Lighting | Luke Townsend | Digital Photography Scho...

Letter from Pixar Animation Studios Animator, Austin Madison | Willie Downs | Animator Letters Project PERSIST on telling your story. PERSIST on reaching your audience. PERSIST on staying true to your vision. Remember what Peter Jackson said, "Pain is temporary. Film is forever." The text of the letter is also reproduced here: Persist | Letters of Note Video Space – A Tool for Video Editors | Chadwick Paul | Chadwick Paul.net A video size calculation widget: One of those great tools is a Mac OSX widget called VideoSpace, made by Digital Heaven. This little widget app is an ideal calculator for determining the amount of storage you need for almost ANY popular video format, frame rate, and resolution. Infographic: The 3D breakthrough | Quantel A graphic showing 3D ticket sales around the world.  Doesn't show trends though... Sony NEX-FS100 Accessories with Brian Young | Vistek | YouTube This video includes the Canon EF mount from Birger, which is still...

I am a journalist who puts together all kinds of stories that require interviews and all kinds of shots and creativity. I was looking at the Canon VIXIA HF G10 as well as this add-on for XLR inputs [ Canon MA-300 Dual XLR Microphone Adapter & Holder for GL-2/XL-2 Camcorders ]. I was wondering what you think of the video and audio quality these pieces would provide? I was also wondering if the video files from this camera can go into Final Cut Pro easily? -CB I like the look of the Canon HF G10 a lot. Infact, if I was in the market for a camcorder for under $2,000, that camera would be at the top of the list (with the Sony HDR-CX700V a close second.) I've played briefly with the HF G10 at a show, and was impressed with it's professional features like focus assist (which doubles the image in the viewfinder), peaking (also helps with focus by displaying color outlines where sharp edges appear), a visual indicator for focus range, zebras and exposure waveform. The ...

Just watched the last launch of the Shuttle Atlantis on NASA TV . The Atlantis is now in an orbit of 140 by 136 miles...

Indie Filmmaking Edward Burns is an indie director/actor who has been working hard to promote his latest film, Newlyweds . If you're in the indie film business you should follow Ed ( @edward_burns ) for tips and inspiration; at the moment you'll learn a lot about promotion through different mediums! He is mentioned in a couple of recent articles: Hollywood's Bubble Is Bound To Burst | Paul Shuttle | Huffingtonpost Consider the career of Edward Burns, whose performances in Entourage and Saving Private Ryan have overshadowed compelling work as a writer-director of 11 films. His fourth, the well-regarded Sidewalks of New York, cost $1,000,000; Newlyweds, his latest, just $9,000. His is an example of the emerging phenomenon. Rapid Prototyping | Scott Smith | E-Filmmaking Scott Smith has started a new blog on filmmaking, and in this post he explains how it quickly went from idea to execution. He also talks about how "rapid prototyping" as it applies to mod...

The Future of Final Cut Pro X | David Frey | DAVID A. FREY Blogspot David thinks that Final Cut Pro X will become the foundation on which third-party tools will make FCPX a professional tool: After downloading some upgrades and spending money on additional "apps", pluggins, 3rd part software/hardware, a Pro Editor will actually have built himself a Final Cut Pro X editing station which basically resembles a FCP 7 platform, but it will be able to background render and allows editing while ingesting media. How unclear use of language has caused two weeks of panic about FCP X | Chris Kenny | Nice Dissolve Chris offers an explanation for why FCPX lacks certain "pro" features, then goes on to defend Apple in a following editorial: Why Apple is worth defending | Chris Kenny | Nice Dissolve Chris thinks the future won't be invented by Avid: People can’t understand how someone can simultaneously admit that Final Cut Pro X is, at present, largely useless to...

Shedworx has released a free conversion tool, Smart Converter which is available in the Mac App store. It features a drag-and-drop interface; drag the file to the tool, then choose the conversion type and click convert. Smart Converter - ShedWorx

After returning from an Apple Executive Briefing for #FCPX I feel a mixture of relief but in-trepidation. The updates will prove everything @hangmanstudios Top 20 Requests for Final Cut Pro X | Richard Taylor | FCPX.TV The list is currently at 24; though one of those is: "Fix Bugs" My take on the Apple FCPX Briefing in London 6/7/11 | Peter Wiggins | FCP.co Yesterday I posted Tweets from Sam Johnson who attended an Apple event about Final Cut Pro X. Peter also attended, and has posted his take. NOTE: There is a correction to yesterday's post; the volume licensing comment was for FCP7 Main item was FCPX demo which for the first time looked pretty good with somebody working it (apart from Randy) who knew what they were doing. Very slick compared to some of the recent 'stumblethroughs I've seen. I hope Apple put a version of that demo online. See also : NotesOnVideo : Final Cut Pro X - sort-of news from Apple The more I use #fcpx the more convinced I...

Steve Martin of Ripple Training is coming to Boston in July, and the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group is holding a couple of events: July 21st Free Workflow Mixer FINAL CUT PRO X Makes its Debut in Boston! Featuring Apple Certified Mentor-Trainer Steve Martin Also See the Boston Premiere of GenArts FCP X-Ready Sapphire Edge Plug-in DATE : Thursday, July 21st TIME : 10AM - 6PM (Check-in begins at 9AM) VENUE : Exposure Place Studios - Studio A, EP Levine, 219 Bear Hill RoadWaltham, MA 02451 BOSFCPUG: July 21st BOSFCPUG: Boston Premiere of FINAL CUT PRO X July 22nd $65 FCP X Workshop with Steve Martin BOSFCPUG Final Cut Pro X $65 Workshop with Apple Certified Mentor-Trainer Steve Martin: "Final Cut Pro X: Editing on a New Foundation" DATE : Friday, July 22nd TIME : 10AM - 6PM (Check-in begins at 9AM) VENUE : Exposure Place Studios - Studio A, EP Levine, 219 Bear Hill Road, Waltham, MA 02451 This one day workshop will focus on helping you get the most from Fina...

So How Much Did it REALLY cost to make ‘Plot Device?’ | Aharon Rabinowitz | Red Giant Red Giant produced a short movie to promote their new Magic Bullet Suite 11 , and it has been quite a hit. A lot of people have asked what it cost, and now they have posted an article explaining the costs, and how others should be able to produce similar results for similar costs Hint : Rent gear. Beg, borrow and steal the rest. But let’s say this film cost triple what we actually paid. Even that cannot explain away the incredible quality produced by Seth Worley in Plot Device. At the end of the day, a director, even on a limited budget, can produce amazing stuff if they have talent and the right set of tools – something we proved with Plot Device. Review: Zacuto Z-Finder EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) Test | Sebastian Wiegärtner | Wiegaertnerfilms The new Zacuto EVF is the winner for me. It has large HDMI in and out, possibility to upgrade the firmware via USB and upscaling function for all cur...

There's lots of little oddities - should I say differences? - in Final Cut Pro X that seem to annoy me. One of these is adding transitions to Titles. When adding Text and Titles over video, I often like to use a transition (either a wipe or dissolve) to bring them on and take them off. In Final Cut Pro 7 , it's easy; you put the title on a track above the video, and add a transition by clicking and dragging it to either end of the clip. Try that in Final Cut Pro X , and it's a different story. Once again, you drag the title above the video. It appears to be in a "track" above the video. But try dragging a Transition to either end of the Title "track" and nothing happens. Title added above video Turns out that if you want to add a transition, you have to first turn it into a Storyline. That's simple enough, just right-click the clip and choose Create Storyline. Turning Title into a Storyline And now it's a Storyline, you can add a tran...

Sam Johnson , a Post-Production Engineer in London just tweeted the following about a private (but on the record) Final Cut Pro X briefing held today by Apple with some of Apple's key enterprise contracts. Lots of "coming soons," which is sort of what we thought they were saying... 1.XML in/out is coming via 3rd party soon...no FCP 6/7 support project support coming ever it seems... 2. Ability to buy FCPX licenses additional FP7 license for existing enterprise deployments coming in the next few weeks...[ CORRECTION : Apple only says that they are looking into this...] 3. EDL import/export coming soon... 4. AJA plugins coming soon for tape capture and layback...capture straight into FCPX bins. [ CORRECTION : Will not be a plug-in, but an an AJA application] 5. XSAN support for FCPX coming in the next few weeks... 6. Broadcast video output via Blackmagic & @AJAVideo coming soon... 7. Additional codec support via 3rd Parties coming soon... 8. Customizab...

Regular readers of NoteOnVideo (insert joke here) will remember that I started reviewing  Sell Your Own Damn Movie! by Lloyd Kaufman  a week or so ago. Well now I'm back with the second part; which is also the conclusion. This means: I actually finished reading it I had nothing better to do this July 4th weekend there won't be any more parts in this series; unless Lloyd does a sequel But first, let me digress.. Years ago I read a book on Meditation, and at the beginning of the book the author essentially said "Meditation is simple; it's so simple, I could tell you what to do and how to do it in less than a page. But you won't believe it unless you have a whole book to go with it, so here's the book..." I felt a bit like I was having a similar experience as I read Lloyd's book. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of interesting information and tips through out the book covering the ins-and-outs of movie promotion, but I often felt that m...

Video Rolling shutter: Sony NEX-FS100 vs Canon EOS 7D | YouTube Just a little comparison between Sony NEX-FS100 and Canon EOS 7D Sony FS100 Green Sensor Example | Matthew Thomas | Vimeo [ Video posted showing an image problem. One poster wrote: ] The green colour is the filter in front of the sensor. It's a anti aliasing (blur) filter sandwiched with a IR cut filter, this also has anti reflective coating on. Summer Days | Sony FS100 | Cody Cha | Vimeo Shot on Sony NEX-FS100. Lenses: Canon FD 35-105mm f/3.5, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 , Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 , Canon EF 500mm f/4 Sony NEX-FS100 1080p/24 Stock Lens Test | Aaron Nanto | Vimeo 1080p/24 test of the new Sony NEX-FS100 Cinema Camera with stock lens (Sony E-mount 18-200mm). Sing Me Out | Frank Glencairn | Vimeo I made this, to try out my new picture profiles for the FS 100. The wobbling artifacts you see sometimes are from the image stabilization. I shot everything handheld, since it doesn´t look too goo...

3D Projectors and 2D Movies Back in May there were reports that 3D projectors were messing up the projection of 2D movies, because theaters weren't switching out the 3D lens when showing 2D movies, resulting in a loss of brightness when 2D movies were being shown. Sony came back saying it takes less than 20 minutes to switch the lens (which seemed like quite a long time anyway) but now Roger Ebert says it takes longer than that: It takes two hours to change a 3D projector to handle 2D. So, never see a 2D movie in a 3D-capable theater. It will be dim. @ebertchicago I saw X-Men First Class over the weekend, and I thought that was very dim. Maybe I was seeing it on a 3D projector.... NotesOnVideo : News From Here & There : Sony says Boston.com wrong about Digital Projectors Creating a Shot List | Ron Dawson | BladeRonner Last Friday I talked about the importance of creating policies and procedures. In that post, I talked about the value of having a written equipment che...

I'm only pointing out that they ditched the cutesy title " iSteve: The Book of Jobs " because I couldn't believe it in the first place! AppleInsider : Authorized Steve Jobs biography gets 'more elegant' title

A Former Avid Employee’s Thoughts On FCPX: “Even though the FCPX rollout seemingly exposes Apple’s hubris, I’m glad they did it.” | Zac Cichy | techvessel Zac interviews Mike Bernardo , who used to work at Avid We worked on building “next generation” editor software. New UI, new technical foundation that would take advantage of multiple CPUs and GPUs. Unfortunately these efforts ultimately went nowhere, since the company as a whole was too timid and worried about disenfranchising the existing customer base – exactly the problem Apple is facing now. FINAL CUT PRO X. Is it really that bad or is it a tool for a new Pro category or: How I got a refund | Shmuel Hoffman | SHMUEL HOFFMAN'S BLOG! I think the title should be OR: Why I got a refund... UPDATE: The software starts to disintegrate itself. More and more features are starting not to work anymore, whether its about corrupted project files that causes FCPX to crash or title effects that render only parts of the text as oppo...

Tips Use clean title as adjustment layer in Final Cut Pro X | Tapio Haaja | Tapio Haaja's Blog One thing I love in After Effects are adjustment layers and I just realized you can actually use titles as effects in Final Cut Pro X and they behave just like adjustment layers (actually you can go much further in Final Cut Pro X). FCP Tip – Change Colored Markers FAST! | Chadwick Paul | Chadwick Paul Blog One often overlooked power feature of Final Cut Pro 7 is the ability to not just make markers with the “m” key. The “m” key always gives you the same default red marker. What if you had to indicate something like script markers with one color and a select part of a take with another? Final Cut Pro X Tips from a Final Cut Pro 7 Editor | Richard Taylor | LAFCPUG Final Cut Pro X, FCPX, is a new V1.0 application. It is not an update to Final Cut Pro 7. To help make the transition easier for those who actually want to use FCPX, I’m assembling some of the tips that I use whi...