Notes On Video

Sony FS100E to get FREE firmware upgrade later in year to enable 24p, 30p, 60p, 60i | Philip Bloom | PhilipBloom Philip reports that one of the "main Sony Europe chaps" told him that Sony would be offering a free update to the camera that gives the Brits US frames rates and 24p (at the moment they have only 25p and 50p while US users have 24p, 30p and 60p) He doesn't know if they will bring 25p and 50p to US users. Boston Final Cut Pro User Group meeting recap | Mike Tomei | MikeTomeiBlog Mike's report from the latest BOSFCPUG meeting which focused on Final Cut Pro X , though other things were mentioned: One piece of news jumped out at me: Daniel Berube mentioned that the Boston SuperMeet is tentatively scheduled for October 20th, but the date may change to accommodate the schedule of a "special guest." Who could it be? Maybe Larry Jordan, or Kevin Smith (who was bumped from the Vegas SuperMeet), or maybe Apple executives begging us to stick wit...

[ This updates a previous post with more information ] CRASH & BURN: Making docs on a tight turnaround at FRONTLINE FRONTLINE's Director of Broadcast, Tim Mangini, will host this month's Pub Night with a behind-the-scenes look at how FRONTLINE gets top-notch journalism on the air quickly when the news comes calling. Using the programs created during the Egypt uprising and after the Death of Osama bin Laden as examples, Tim will describe the methods used to get timely, thought-provoking documentaries on the air in weeks or days instead of the usual 6-12 months for a typical film. From secretly flying in support equipment for crews in Egypt to troubleshooting the satellite truck trying to downlink the rushes in the hours before broadcast, you'll learn how FRONTLINE approaches these unique circumstances. Thursday, July 28 6:00 to 8:00 pm Pizza and Beer Direction to Rule Boston Camera RSVP: events@rule.com

Announced back in April at NAB, DaVinci Resolve Lite is a new reduced feature version of DaVinci Resolve that includes many powerful color correction features in a downloadable software package available free of charge. Blackmagic : Support Center Blackmagic : Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve Lite

Adobe Creative Suite's Lion limitations | Jackie Dove | Macworld Adobe posted a tech note listing incompatibilities with Lion , and now Macworld has provided a more detailed interpretation. Meanwhile, at last nights BOSFCPUG meeting, one presenter said that if you're using Adobe Creative Suite CS 5.5 you should not update to Lion just yet. Adobe : Known Issues with Adobe products on Mac OS 10.7 Lion Fear of Actors | Guy Ducker | Tales From The Cutting Room Floor Noting that directors and actors often has a dysfunctional relationship, Guy offers tips on working with them: Try to find with the actor the source of what you want, not the result – don’t tell them to be angry, let them know why they’re angry. How to put your DSLR movie on iTunes | Andrew Reid | EOSHD Some tips on how to get your movie on iTunes : There are two ways of putting your movie on iTunes. You can submit it to Apple iTunes Connect (as you can music and books) but there is a strict approval p...

A video taken using the just announced Panasonic DMC-FZ47 caught my eye; it's a tilt-shift effect that's built into the camera and is called "Minature Effect." I'm thinking this effect is now officially over-used, but I still like it! This camera makes available more manual controls when shooting video, letting the user set aperture and shutter as desired (something that's not always available on budget-priced cameras.) Here's some more details about the camera: The LUMIX FZ47 has a 24x optical zoom in a 25mm ultra-wide angle LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT lens, full-High Definition 1080i video-recording capabilities. The 24x optical zoom is optimized for video recording with a mechanism designed to minimize the noise of AF and zooming. The full-HD video capability is complemented with the high-quality stereo sound of Dolby Digital Stereo Creator and a Wind Cut function to reduce noise from background wind automatically. A Creative Video mode lets the user ...

10 Things wish I knew the first time I opened Premiere Pro | Clay Asbury | Post Tips Thinking of switching to, or buying Premiere ? Clay offers his advice to those just starting out: 8. Show Audio Time Units when making an Audio Edit. Helpful when looking at video frames don’t cut it. You can do this in the Source or Program Monitor. Go to the the pulldown menu and select “Show Audio Time Units”. How to rate your social media footprint and engagement for filmmakers | Chris Jones | ChrisJonesBlog What is Klout? Do you have it? Klout is an online tool that analyses and rates your social media presence, engagement, influence, outreach… How Documentaries Have Changed the World, Literally | Maggie Pearce | SnagFilms An interesting look at three documentaries, and the effect they appear to have had on society and business. Unfortunately, the studies aren't listed, which would have made this more useful. Amazon Beams Up CBS; Major Step In Instant Video Competition Wit...

UPDATED: See: this more recent post for detailed information: Rule Camera Pub Night - Frontline Documentary: Jul 28 Rule Boston Camera 's next Pub Night with be held on Thursday July 28th, and will focus on PBS' FRONTLINE and "their method for turning around docs with crazy-tight deadlines." This should be a great evening; I went to a panel earlier this year featuring some people from Frontline , and it was really informative! NotesOnvideo : Creating Documentaries July 28th, 6-8pm (free beer and pizza!) Rule Boston Camera: 395 Western Ave · Boston, MA 02135 RSVP: events@rule.com

I've been a happy customer of B & H for many years, though one thing that slightly annoyed me was that they charged your credit card for something, even if it wasn't in stock. Well now even that problem is solved; B & H has changed their pre-order policy and they now charge your credit card only when the product ships . Note : NotesOnVideo is an affiliate of B & H and earns a commission on orders placed using links to B & H from this site. SONY NEX-FS100UK in Stock Apropos of nothing, I note that the Sony NEX-FS100UK [the Sony NEX-FS100 with the kit lens] is currently in stock at B & H. They haven't listed it in stock for some time, so this could be an indication of supply improving. I only noticed this because yesterday I was looking for an item to link the above post to, and the NEX-FS100UK had been out of stock the last couple of months and I was going to link to that, but today as I was about to post this I discovered it was in stock!...

Initial thoughts on OS X Lion | John Montgomery | a tasty slurry of things digital [and more] John's been using Lion for a few weeks, and offers his thoughts and experience. He's found it mostly painless, though getting used to the change in scrolling has taken a while. Also he notes: A big app in the business is Nuke — and as I mentioned above it does not run on my Lion MBP. I’ve found bugs when using applications such as After Effects (10.5), Photoshop (5.1), Final Cut Pro, and others. But no “showstoppers” as we call them in bug testing. OS X 10.7 Lion and AE | Steve Forde | Adobe For After Effects specifically – there are no known specific issues to report with CS 5 or CS 5.5 running on 10.7 Lion. What's new in Lion: QuickTime and Preview | Christopher Breen | Macworld While Apple hasn't added back in all the features that were in QuickTime Player 7 , they have expanded the functionality of the QuickTime Player in Lion : Specifically, the new version...

Tuesday, July 26th | 6:00pm - 8:00pm | Cocktails & Appetizers UMass Alumni Club, 225 Franklin Street, 33rd Floor, Boston, MA 02110. Parking available on street and in the garage for $5. See a demo of Media Composer 5.5 , focusing on: Find features and workflows that accelerate your editing See how Media Composer 5.5 works with AJA Io Express and other gear you may already have Learn about the PhraseFind, powered by Nexidia, dialog search option and other productivity enhancing tools Gain insight into how ISIS shared storage enhances efficiency and collaboration Also; Telestream Representative, Alex Bisset will offer a presentation and live product demonstration focused on solving common business problems that are apparent in the modern day video-centric environment. He will demonstrate Telestream Pipeline HD, Telestream Vantage and Telestream Episode 6 - to show you how to solve common problems and how to automate an efficient media workflow, specific to your organizations...

[UDPATE 3:45 PM] Thoughts on Lion | Larry Jordan | LarryJordan.biz A warning about not upgrading in the middle of a project, and also a note about Final Cut Pro X : Third, a couple of weeks ago, I contacted Apple to see if Lion would bring any new features to Final Cut Pro X. Apple told me that it would not. Macworld : How to make a bootable Lion install disc or drive Macworld : Installing Lion: What you need to know This article is well worth reading. Macworld also has articles on How to install Lion over Leopard , and Should you do a 'clean install' of Lion? [UPDATE 1:30 PM] Adobe Support Note : Known Issues with Adobe products on Mac OS 10.7 Lion Reviews: Lion is Smooth, But Tried Too Hard To Be iOS | Brian Chen | Wired Mac OS X Lion: This Is Not the Future We Were Hoping For | Jesus Diaz | Gizmodo [UPDATE 1 PM] Apple Support: Final Cut Pro: Compatible versions for OS X Lion The versions of Final Cut Pro listed below are compatible with OS X Lio...

EF Mount Video Camera [CR1] | CanonRumors A hint of a rumor that Canon is testing a prototype camera that works with Canon EF mount lenses. Large sensor? Probably. Shipping? No word, though it seems an announcement isn't even expected until next year. Samsung Patent Creates Shallow Depth-of-Field in Digicams | Charlie Sorrel | Wired A patent to create shallow depth-of-field from a small sensor camera, but using two lenses. I have no idea if this makes sense; I suspect it might be simpler and easier to stick with a large sensor and a bigger lens. 3DA1 Camcorder in Space | Flickr NASA astronaut Sandy Magnus, STS-135 mission specialist, is pictured recording imagery of the International Space Station from the flight deck of the space shuttle Atlantis during rendezvous and docking operations with the orbital outpost. NASA astronaut Chris Ferguson, mission commander, is at left. See also: The Critical View : Panasonic AG-3DA1 Full HD 3D Camcorder En Route to Space Statio...

iTunes : OS X Lion - Apple® iTunes : OS X Lion Server - Apple® Macworld : OS X Lion: The Complete Macworld Review Ars Technica : Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: the Ars Technica Review Apple has also announced a new MacBook Air , 27-inch display and Mac Minis , all with Thunderbolt . The biggest surprise: NO OPTICAL DRIVE IN THE NEW Mac Mini!! Wow! Don't forget, you need to be running the latest version of Snow Leopard (not Leopard or Tiger ) to be able to run the App Store and download and install Lion . Apple will reportedly be selling the OS on USB sticks (for $69) in August for those that haven't upgraded. [UPDATED 10:00AM ] Roaring Apps is maintaining an Application Compatibility Wiki for Mac OS X Lion TNW : 5 Things to Do to Prepare for Mac OS X Lion

Do you have any recommendations for stick microphones? Personally, I'm not a big fan of stick - or handheld - mics. Are you going to be doing man-in-the-street interviews? Is that why you want to get one of these? Because for sit-down interviews, I either use a shotgun microphone, or alternatively, I prefer to use lavaliere mics; either wired or wireless. Audio-Technica AT8004L Handheld Omnidirectional Dynamic Microphone (Long Handle) [$89.95] The problem with handheld mics is that if they aren't highly directional, or held close to the person speaking, then they will pick up a lot of surrounding sound.  If they are hyper-directional - like a shotgun - and they aren't pointed directly at the person speaking, then they won't pick up the audio clearly! Shotguns Shotguns can be a useful choice in place of handheld mics because they will cut out some of the surrounding sound, and they don't have to be close to the persons face. Ideally you will have someone out ...

News Secret Final Cut Pro X: Some of Motion inside | Alex Gollner | alex4d Alex Gollner at alex4d has been rooting through Final Cut Pro X resource files, and has found some interesting things. Whether these are glimpses of things to come - or things removed as plans changed - remains to be seen: ...two explanations (amongst many) arise: more Motion features will be added to Final Cut Pro in future or to make sure that FCP X can accurately display Motion effects, a large part of Motion is built into FCP X but will never be usable directly by editors. See also: Secret Final Cut Pro X: Media and subtypes Secret Final Cut Pro X: XML & multi-user editing Why we're betting everything on FCP X | CrumplePop CurmplePop makes effects for Final Cut Pro , so it's probably not a surprise that CrumplePop remains committed to Final Cut Pro X . In a fairly lengthy post, they offer an explanation of why they see a bright future for Final Cut Pro X , and why " In a Year, ...

Should you buy or rent Adobe Software? | Macworld Adobe now offers the option to rent their software by the month. Should you? Macworld has printed two columns representing the opposing points of view. Personally, I think the "renting" option makes sense if you can't afford to pay the money up front, or if you know you only need the software for a short term project. Otherwise, buying makes the most sense. Right now, it makes even more sense to buy if you own Final Cut Pro , because you can take advantage of the 50% off switch discount on either the Production Premium suite or Premiere Pro is probably the best choice (see below)! Ownership is the way to go with Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 | David Blatner Why an Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 subscription makes sense | Pamela Pfiffner Offer runs through September 30th : Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium - License [ Add the Full version to the cart, then in the cart, click on the "Click here to enter a promo ...

Resources 100 Final Cut Pro X Questions Answered | Scott Simmons | The EditBlog Answers to questions asked during a recent Final Cut Pro X webinar: 1) is there an extend edit command for trimming? Yes, shift + X will extend the selected edit to the skimmer or playhead. Also get to know Trim Start option + [ and Trim End option + ] as they are very helpful when extending edits as well. Michael Wohl Demos Hidden FCP X Editing Tricks at LA Final Cut Pro Users Group Meeting | Rounik Sethi | MacProVideo Three videos of a recent LAFCPUG meeting on June 28th 2011 where Michael Wohl (one of the first designers of the original Final Cut and insider at Apple over the past 9 months) demoed some hidden editing tricks within Final Cut Pro X . App Store Volume Purchasing for Business | Apple There's now a page on Apple's site covering volume purchasing. Tutorials FCPX Tutorial: How To Use The Powerful Final Cut Pro X Color Matching Tool | Danny Greer | Premiumbeat.com ...

Red Epic on the Road – First Impression Video Blog | Tom Guilmette | TomGuilmette.com A video tutorial shooting with the Red Epic . My biggest bit of advice when shooting Red: Do not clip the whites, clip color channels or have too many pixels in noise. Once detail is gone or noise is present in raw r3d files, you can’t fix it in post. SoundWorks Collection: Dolby Presents Surrounded: 7.1 Cinema & Beyond | Michael Coleman | Vimeo Dolby gathered a group of cinema industry leaders and innovators from around the world for an exclusive Filmmakers' Forum held on Monday, July 11, 2011 in San Francisco, CA: The Impact of 7.1 Surround Sound on 2D and 3D Movies [54 min] Sunday Movie Blog: The Most Important Thing a Screenwriter Should Know | Clive | Filmutopia's Sunday Morning Movie Blog Why write? What to write? A screenwriter's career, therefore, is really about increasing the perceived value of their work... and that is the one thing that every screenwriter sh...

Making a documentary about The New York Times can't be easy. Where to start? Would you make it about the history of this famous publication, or would you make it about it's current impact? Do you look at it's successes, like the Pentagon Papers , or it's failures, like Judith Miller? Do you examine the process of news gathering and reporting, or why it's necessary to have newspapers? Do you look at where it is today, or do you look to it's future? I can't imagine assembling this documentary was an easy job, despite the fact that director Andrew Rossi had fairly extensive access to the paper, and some of it's staff, for most of a year. Page One is an intriguing account of the paper, but while it touches on The New York Times history and it's many problems, this documentary is really a homage to traditional newspaper reporting. It rasies the question; 'will The New York Times survive?' but it becomes clear that The New York Times is real...

Seems the Alamo Drafthouse Angry Voicemail caller is back, and she's not happy about Final Cut Pro X .

Top Ten Kick Ass Tips For Shooting Action Horror From 'Zomblies' Director Dave Reynolds | Dave Reynolds | ChrisJonesBlog Lots of good tips, from blood and working with guns, to storyboarding and lens choices. Telling Better Stories - A Report from 2011 EditFest in New York | Dan Ochiva | Editors Guild Very extensive summaries of the sessions from June's 2011 American Cinema Editors’s (ACE) EditFest New York. Well worth reading. Low budget is no problem for cell phone filmmaker | Mike Krumboltz | The Upshot A movie shot on cell phones - the Nokia N8 - which also happens to be the winner in the Nokia Shorts competition 2011 . There's a link to a "making of" video too. Photoshop CS5 HUD Color Pickers | Dan Moughamian | TipSquirrel I didn't know about the HUD (or Heads Up Display) Color Pickers in Photoshop ... The Tao Colorist | Patrick Inhofer | The Tao of Color Patrick's weekly round-up of interesting stuff. Alaska Road Trip ...