Ad

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Quick Links

3 Minute Short Film Challenge BTS | Aaron Strader | Vimeo
I already wrote about the 3 Minute FIlm Challenge (FilmmakerINSIDE A THREE-MINUTE FILM COMPETITION) but Aaron Strader made a Behind-The-Scenes video:
I was asked at the beginning of the day to shoot a BTS by Paul Antico and Rick Macomber. Shot everything with my Canon 60d. Big thanks to Todd Mahoney for supplying me with great GoPro video!
Part of the July 1, 2012 "Under 3 Minute Film Challenge" sponsored by Anticipate Media and Macomber Productions. For this challenge each cinematographer, using a pen as a prop, had to produce a narrative script and shoot it in a few hours on location at The Willows Park in Salem, MA. In addition the phrase "This isn't going to be easy" also had to be used in the story.


3 Minute Short Film Challenge BTS from Aaron Strader on Vimeo.


Interview with the creator of the Automatic Speech Alignment feature in Audition CS6 | Ellen Wixted | Adobe
Brian King is a PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering, and for the last several summers he’s worked as an intern in Adobe’s Creative Technologies Lab, an internal “think tank” where some of the technology that makes our products work like magic is developed. Brian’s research led to the hugely popular Automatic Speech Alignment feature, also known as Rubbadub, which he initially previewed at Adobe’s MAX conference in 2011.


REVIEW: Adobe Production Premium CS6 | Adam Garstone | HD Magazine
I was interested to see Adam note some performance problems and other issues in Premiere Pro, having spent the day fighting with the program:
Premiere Pro CS6 is a fantastic release, but it’s a shame that Adobe seem to have added lots of attention grabbing new features without fixing some of the fundamentals that are broken, and always have been. With its 64-bit architecture, Mercury Playback Engine, 4k support and complete lack of Magnetic Timeline (ahem!) PP CS6 could have been, in many ways, the missing Final Cut Pro 8.


Adobe Hardware Performance White Paper | Chris Meyer | Pro Video Coalition
I might need to read this; but I don't have a MacPro:
The core of it then goes through each of the programs covered and discusses which functions in each stresses which components of a system (for example, ray-traced 3D rendering in After Effects CS6 greatly benefits from specific qualified NVIDIA video cards that support CUDA processing, while multi-processor rendering in After Effects benefits from having more RAM).


A couple of tutorials for After Effects:
reducing flicker for stop-motion animation and time-lapse photography
| Todd Kopriva | Adobe
There are many causes of flicker, including–but not limited to–auto camera settings, the type of lens used, high aperture settings, fast shutter speeds, Av stepping, Tv stepping, natural lighting changes, incandescent and fluorescent lighting, fluctuating electricity, clothing worn while animating, and the materials that are being photographed.


Tutorial - Time Lapse in After Effects | Chris Fenwick | One On One
On the BMW MINI Takes the States 2012 trip we shot a lot of time-lapse shots. I told Nicole Salmeri, my assistant editor that I would show her how I process time-lapse shots in AE… this is a REAL fast run thru of how I process the shots.


“We’ll fix it in post!” - A résumé of my first feature film | Daniel Freytag
Daniel says he hates the expression, and offers some experiences of his own:
Our initial idea was to record video and audio separately and to sync them before the edit using PluralEyes. That was a mistake! Marc, our soundman, and I now know that you should never rely on software! PluralEyes is still a great tool to sync video and audio files. But somehow it didn't like our footage very much and after dozens of hours there was a large part which couldn't be synced! Afterwards we developed a better workflow how to handle a 5D and external sound (or use a decent camera with real audio inputs).


User Review: SONY f65 Cinealta Camera | David Proctor | HD Magazine
Our early testing used the full RAW S-LOG recording at 24p, offlined in DNX and onlined on Dirty Looks’ Baselight with colourist Tom Balkwill. We were instantly impressed with the camera’s colour rendition, natural skin-tones, native sensitivity and excellent dynamic range. The mechanical rotary shutter also completely eliminates rolling shutter, the plague of all CMOS sensors.


Round Trip Between Avid Media Composer and Davinci Resolve | manonthedollar
| YouTube
A small boy discovers an efficient way to move seamlessly between Avid and Resolve, and heals a nation.



Friday, July 20, 2012

Quick Links

The next BIG THING is coming | Sony Professional | Facebook
Sony Professional has posted the following graphic on their Facebook page and invited people to guess what's coming. Given that they say to stay tuned to www.sony.com/xdcam, it would appear to be some sort of professional video camera. Could it be a new version of the PMW-F3? Or 4K support for the NEX-FS700? Or something else entirely?



Preparing for Battle as a No-Budget Filmmaker | LEWIS MCGREGOR | Dare Dreamer
Lewis documents his low-budget production:
There is a high chance that a no-budget filmmaker will have 3 things — a DSLR, a pirated copy of Adobe’s software, and an overall amount of knowledge of special effects from Video Copilot. When you start the film you start at the very bottom, once your cast has been cast, locations found and it comes to the end of your pre-production as a no-budget filmmaker you may have noticed you have solely inherited these responsibilities


Epic Slow Mo with the Sony FS700 | Luke | Neumann Films
Another blog post on producing a low-budget production. In this case, a lot of horse-trading was done:
I realized that people wanted to see some normal speed shots, some low light tests, and some rolling shutter examples so I did those too but I won’t be using them in the tutorial video I make. Instead I will be doing a blog post that handles my actual review/impressions of the camera. I will include a bunch of raw footage so that you can see first hand what I talk about.


10 Tips for Shooting Steady Hand Held | Through The Lens Film School
I was shooting hand-held yesterday. I should have read this beforehand:
7. Watch Horizontals and Verticals
Pay attention to keeping horizontal and vertical aspects of the frame upright and level. Particularly when you are moving or walking backwards with the camera, with everything else going on it’s easy to let the shot drift off kilter. If this happens the resulting footage will look second-rate and unprofessional.


SHOOTOUT: Apple Laptops vs Mac Pro rendering Premiere Pro CS6 video effects
| Bare Feats
The MacPro still trumps the MacBook Pro:
So is the 2012 MacBook Pro equal to the 2010 Mac Pro as a Premiere Pro platform? It depends on what functions you use most and what GPU you are sporting. Taking combined CPU and GPU performance into consideration, the RMBP is NOT the equal of the 2010 (or 2012 'speed bump') Mac Pro -- especially if you have a high-end NVIDIA GPU. It doesn't mean using a MacBook Pro is a bad idea. Just not equal.


THE NEW MAGIC LANTERN 2 HACK FOR CANON DSLRS: MARCUS WATERLOO TESTS IF IT READY FOR PRO USE | Marcus Waterloo: | DSLR News Shooter
I found the new version of the hack very stable and a great help with the sound; being able to adjust the levels during the take is amazing. I know how important sound is, but I’m not really a sound person, and just being able to plug the mic straight into the camera with the AGC disabled for little shoots like this is massively useful.


Polone: Reality TV Isn’t Real, and Why Viewers Don’t Care | Gavin Polone
| Vulture
Are people still watching reality TV?!
While watching June’s season finale of The Real Housewives of Orange County, my experience in TV production told me that much of what went on during the fight-filled episode had to have been staged. The camera angles were too planned, the plot was too linear, the interpersonal drama too heightened.


Canon C500 | hurlbutvisuals | OW.Ly
Shane Hurlbut has posted a picture of a Canon C500 being used for a shoot.



A cute stop-motion:

SonyFS700 Stop Motion from Tim Pierce - Zeros&Ones on Vimeo.




Thursday, July 19, 2012

Quick Links

INSIDE A THREE-MINUTE FILM COMPETITION | Michael Murie
| Filmmaker Magazine
I finally finished the write-up of a recent gathering of local DPs and actors to shoot some quick projects. It's up on Filmmaker's site:
Freelance videographer/filmmaker Sean Meehan had connected with Rick just two months earlier when Jared Abrahms had retweeted that Rick was looking for a shooter to assist on a documentary. For this event, “Rick put out that he was looking for some actors,” said Sean, “and I responded to him on Twitter asking, ‘What age range are you looking for? I might have some people.’ He told me the age range, and then in the second tweet right afterwards he said ‘Also, do you want to work with the C300 in a little while?’, and I jumped at it.”


EXCLUSIVE: Blackmagic Answers Your Questions about Their New Cinema Camera | FilmmakerIQ
An interview with Blackmagic President Dan May on the forthcoming Blackmagic Digital Cinema Camera:
[BMD] We are just waiting finish a few bits of certification the product is lined up and ready to go we just need to get these last bits tightened up and they’ll begin shipping. The challenge is they’re going to ship from our manufacturing plant in Australia and they’re going to come over and then they’re going to go to channel partners so even if we turn the knob next week and said ‘hey they’re shipping in July’ its still going to take them a week


Adobe Prelude: Ingesting and Converting DSLR Footage to ProRes | Clay Asbury
| Premiumbeat
I've been playing with Prelude the last couple of days, so I was happy to see this tip on transcoding to ProRes:
Transcoding your DSLR footage to Pro Res in Adobe Prelude gives you a 10 bit, edit friendly codec that FCP, AVID, & Premiere can all handle. This is a great file choice when you work with a variety of nonlinear apps (it’s a popular intermediate codec for FCP). ProRes is also a solid option if you plan on color correcting in Apple Color or Black Magic Resolve.


10 Tips for Submitting to Film Festivals | Danny Greer | Premiumbeat
IS THE FILM A FIT?
Do your research when it comes to which festivals you’ll apply. Take a look at past films that have screened. Read reviews from past festival attendees. Do the programmers primarily accept narrative? Is there an emphasis on short films?


Seven Tips on Preparing to Market Your Script | Elliot Grove | MasteringFilm
3. Table reading –the dialogue rewrite: A table reading with actors (from a local theatre group, or acting school) is a great way for your piece to come to life. Actors would not normally expect to be paid, although it is polite to offer some refreshments, or help with transportation costs.


JVC Wi-Fi Camcorder - Smartphone Linking | YouTube
I haven't been paying attention to low-cost Wi-Fi video cameras, but this demo from JVC has me a little intrigued (even if some of the examples are a little awkward and the guy annoys me...) And the JVC Everio Wi-Fi GZ-EX210 is just $329.



30 Awesome Behind The Scenes Photos From Old Movies | BuzzFeed
Awesome? Maybe not, but a few are interesting....




Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Canon Cinema with SNL's Alex Buono in Boston Aug 1st


14-year veteran of the Saturday Night Live Film Unit, Alex Buomo will share how shooting with Canon DSLRs, along with the new Canon C300 has revolutionized the way he works.

WHEN: Wednesday, August 1
5:30-6:30pm Food & Drinks
6:30-9pm Presentation with Alex Buono

WHERE: WGBH Yawkey Theater
One Guest Street, Brighton, MA

RSVP: events@rule.com

Quick Links

“THE SOLAR ODYSSEY”: SHOOTING WITH THE SONY NEX-FS100, PART TWO
| Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine
The second part of an interview I did with Todd Mahoney about his experience with the Sony NEX-FS100:
You were using the kit lens?
Yes. The only problem with the kit lens is if you are trying to do a zoom pull, it’s very tight. It’s not smooth enough; that was the only downside of the lens. I think that with the FS700, when they make a lens for the rocker, that will solve that.


Overview of Miller Compass series of tripods | Philip Bloom
Philip looks at just some of the tripods he uses:
A good tripod should be right up at the top of your list when you buy kit, along with some basic lighting and basic sound gear. Before a camera, before lenses. Why? Because these are not camera specific. They will also last you through multiple cameras. A good tripod will last a hell of a long time, that is if you spend money. I had been asked to recommend a good tripod recently for $100. I couldn’t.


Media Encoder Help / Help and tutorials | Adobe Blog
Some help and info on Media Encoder:
Encoding quick start
Add and manage items in the encoding queue
Working with log files
Working with custom encoding presets
File formats supported for import


Forget Windows Media Player, Here Are 3 Free Ways to Play WMV Video on a Mac
| OSXDaily
I use VLC for this, but this article recommends a couple of other apps as well:
#2: VLC
VLC is the classic swiss army knife for video files, it will play virtually any video format, it’s cross-platform compatible, it’s quick, and it’s free. VLC’s other benefit is that it works fine with obscure audio formats, and if you’re wanting to stream a video from one computer to another you can easily do that too.


Adam Kerchman | Blog
Adam is a Boston/New York based D.P. who's been pretty busy lately; read his blog, which includes some stuff about the recent Three Minute Film Competition (my write-up on that should be up in a couple of days):
One of the last shots of the day was the final portion of Paul’s piece. He looked at me, and asked if I wanted some time behind the camera. Now it was my turn to look at him like he was nuts. OF COURSE I DO! I got to shoot everything at night. The slide was on a Kessler Cineslider, and everything within the car was handheld. Both were completed in one take:


Quick Guide to Video Lighting | Evan Pugh | DPReview
Intro tutorial:
I was talking to someone recently and telling them about the gain on one of our new digital video cameras and how high you could push it without too much grain and they said 'great, that will save having to light'. This got me thinking. Are we not in the business to make the best looking pictures we can that are artistically designed to best tell the 'story' whether that be fiction, documentary or corporate?


What I like about Red Epic…and what I don’t like about Red | Michael Sutton
| Wide Open Camera
Clearly Mike is a thrill seeker, as he takes another poke at the hornet's nest that is the world of RED fanboys:
Now for what I do not like about Epic and Scarlet. I do not think the Scarlet was marketed properly and fairly to Epic owners. Yes I am sure I will get lambasted for this but I really don’t care and have said this from day one. If I bought a Epic (and many of me friends did) for $58K plus dollars and then Scarlet was announced after I paid I would be a little agitated. Yes the two are different but scarlet having a factory second Epic sensor, the ability to use the same accessories, and for the most part having the same codecs, etc at a fraction of the price is a real pisser.


The Magic of Rancho Las Lomas | Dan Douglas | Vimeo
Time-lapse and slow-motion shot with the Sony NEX-FS700.

Young Life's Southwind Camp | W. Ashley Maddox | Vimeo
Another nice movie with slow-motion that...wait...it wasn't shot with the NEX-FS700?!! No! It was shot with the Sony NEX-FS100, Gopro, & Canon 60D. Sure, it's not super slo-no, but it's not bad at all...




Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Quick Links

Adobe SpeedGrade CS6 provides powerful, advanced video color grading
| Jeff Foster | MacWorld
While it’s a powerful color grading and filmic effects creation tool with 3D stereographic finishing capabilities, it may not be for everyone, or practical to use on every video production you edit. The workflow takes some getting used to, but if its effects are needed, the learning curve will prove worthwhile.


Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 Review | Ron Risman | CameraTown
Premiere Pro is not a consumer piece of software, and as such, it really shines when it has the necessary power, ram, and storage to let itself go. While Premiere Pro CS6 will run on most computers with a minimum of 4GB of memory, there are some basic hardware requirements that your PC should have to really allow the software to shine. First, your PC needs to have a 64-bit processor (most of the computers in the past 3-4 years do).


Why Can't We Have Beautiful Digital Cinema Cameras? | Joe Marine | NoFilmSchool
Article that seems to be arguing that the look of cameras is just as important as what they do:
It’s nice to see camera designers beginning to appreciate that a $100,000 camera shouldn’t just be a sensor shoved into a grey box. Blackmagic is one of the first companies in a long time that has very carefully considered all of the these factors when they designed the Cinema Camera.


Canon 1Dx v Canon 5D3 | James Miller | Vimeo
The Canon 1D X is arriving in more hands:
My thoughts. It appears that the 1Dx has a very different strength OLPF or type, you almost get a pixel shift that makes it look like refraction of an image. I suspect it will show signs of aliasing (minimal) and if you look at the clock on the left of the frame you can see this. Should have done an off tripod shot of these bricks.
But it certainly appear much sharper at 100%. Yes you can bring the 5D3 up in sharpness but you could also add to the 1Dx but with caution.


Analyze the Frame: Cinematic Sony NEX-FS700 Test Footage | Tony Reale
| NextWaveDV
A look at the performance of the Sony NEX-FS700:
I’ve been hearing people say that the Sony FS700 is too “videoish”. I recently shot a short action film which was my first chance to really test out the FS700. Each scene was lit and setup as you would any true film. In these scenarios I was really blown away by the image from the FS700. Coming from a Canon 5D MkII, the FS700′s codec held up so much better while still having a ton more dynamic range.


According To Coppola, A $700 Video Camera Beats A $65,000 One
| Michael Hession | Gizmodo
More comments on the Zacuto Camera Shootout:
The contenders included a wide range of cameras, ranging from the $65,000 Sony F65, right down to the iPhone 4. Audiences of filmmakers around the world were shown each camera's results, the names of each camera remaining a mystery. The most favored machine, to the shock of many, turned out to be the $700 Panasonic GH2 micro four-thirds camera.


Misconceptions about the Zacuto shootout - the obvious and the not so obvious
| Andrew Reid | EOSHD
Andrew explains why the Panasonic GH2 really is the best camera:
Misconception - "Coppola did not pick "the GH2" as having the best technical performance, he picked the way it was used as being more appealing than the way some of the others were."
This is only half true. Any shot is a marriage of 'the way the tool was used' and 'the technical performance'. The resulting shot is the sum of all parts. You cannot give the camera no credit or say the camera doesn't matter, even if the lighting was a bigger factor, the camera still plays a critical role in delivering the image.


Interview with Bruce Sharpe of Singular Software | Aharon Rabinowitz | Red Giant
Singular's software has been acquired by Red Giant. Bruce Sharpe explains:
In this interview, I sit down with Bruce Sharpe, CEO of Singular Software to talk about what all this acquisition stuff means for the future, and how it will effect existing and new customers.


Updating my MacPro | AOTG
Upgrading your MacPro with a PC card, the EVGA GTX570 Nivida GeForce (though it's discontinued):
Yes this card is a PC not designed or officially supported by Apple. (Warning I am not responsible for any damages caused if you attempt this on your on MacPro towers. ) However thanks to a great colleague form twitter Juan Salvo I did not have to spend a huge chunk of cash on another Quadro 4000. I could spend less than half that price on a PC graphics card known as the Nividia GTX570, and to my amazement, installing it is a simple plug and play.


Final Cut Pro X: Apply Limiter Filter to Audio Clips | Larry Jordan | YouTube
In this Final Cut Pro X webinar preview, Larry Jordan shows you how to apply the limiter filter to your audio clips - Enjoy!


Picosteady: the NEW Steadicam-like Stabilizer for iPhone | TAZ GOLDSTEIN
| Hand Held Hollywood
A Kickstarter campaign for a stabilizer for the iPhone (do we really need another one?):
There’s no denying the Picosteady bears more than a passing resemblance to Stedicam’s Smoothee stabilizer (or other stabilizers of it’s ilk). But, I suppose that simply proves the design has been effective


Have you recently switched from FCP 7 to another NLE? | Poll Code
An internet poll (so use only for your own amusement) of what Final Cut Pro 7 users have switched to (results as at 10:55PM, July 16):



Sony NEX-FS700 Clips
Everyone is getting their hands on the Sony NEX-FS700 now

Copter Kids FS700 Slow Motion Test | Trent Palmer | Vimeo
Just got our hands on our new Sony FS700 and wanted to do a quick test of the super slow motion mode from the air. Results turned out pretty killer. Big thanks to Paul Mudd for letting us play up at his place and for pouring an entire beer on himself so we could see what it looked like in slow motion! Behind the scenes footage by Scott Horn.


Sony FS700 test - Whistler BC | Switchback Entertainment | Vimeo
Our FS700 just arrived, so we took it out and played with it for a couple of hours today. The shots in this edit are mostly 240 fps and 480 fps. Good fun! Expect to see nothing but super-slow motion for the next year or so! haha
Shot with the Sony 18-200 kit lens (can't wait to see what it can do with some good glass) Anyone got a metabones canon adapter they want to get rid of?


Epic Slow Mo with the Sony FS700 - Production Diary #1 | NeumannFilms
| YouTube
The Sony NEX-FS700 is ours for the weekend and we are attempting to create three videos during that time. An Epic Slow Mo video, a camera review (more like my impressions), and comparing it to another camera in the price range. This is a behind the scenes look at one scene for the Epic Slow Mo video.

Eye Dee 4 - Slow-Motion - Sony NEX-FS700 | Todd Sheridan | Vimeo
@ 240 frames per second. Shot on the Sony NEX FS-700 with Canon lenses (via Metabones adapter).


Portable EntertainmentHome EntertainmentComputersCamcorders
Digital Cameras & Gear
Pro Audio
You go to B&H

Monday, July 16, 2012

Zacuto Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout and other News

The second part of Zacuto's Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout 2012 has been posted. To recap:
In Part One of Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout 2012 you were presented with unlabeled footage of a complex party scene designed by Bruce Logan ASC, the test administrator. We heard form legendary DP’s in the industry talking about what being a “cinematographer” really means to them; in many cases challenging us to rethink our understanding of camera technology and how it relates to filmmaking–and how all of that relates to talent, creativity, collaboration and experience.
In this episode you get to see the reactions of audiences to the tests, and you also learn which camera was which:


After watching it, these were the takeaways for me:
  1. How subjective any test and comparison is
  2. How different DPs set things up differently, so the results were even more subjective.
  3. It's really impossible to produce a completely unbiased comparison
While a couple of cameras visually stood out as "not so good" (the iPhone and 7D had some visual issues) it was a lot harder to pick between the rest; which was obvious from the responses of the audience members.
The best and worst thing about this is how subjective it is.
I'm starting to wonder how much longer we need to do these comparisons. For the last few years the question was always: can digital rival film? I think we're really beyond that now. Now it's as much about ease of use, workflows, and personal preference as it is about actual performance differences.
Unless you're risking a mistake you're just repeating yourself, you're not adding anything, you're not growing.
Perhaps more interesting was hearing the discussions, and hearing the Cinematographers talking about their work.


NeedCreative Podcast Ep. 4 - It Is What It Was
The fourth episode of the NeedCreative Podcast with Jason Sidelinger and Paul Antico has been posted. This episode features Matthew Allard of Al-Jazeera English talking about his experiences in filming cinematic news. Topics include:
  • An update on the Under 3 Min Film Challenge - Sean Meehan's new short and what it meant
  • Moving from news and documentary work to narrative
  • Bashing people online - why it happens, why it shouldn't
  • Camera Fanboys and why they're all very silly
  • The C300 and the new WFT-E6 Wireless Adapter
  • Matt's experience with the new Sony NEX-FS700


July 24th BOSCPUG: Adobe CS6 Production Premium with Al Mooney
This months Boston Creative Pro Users Group meeting should be interesting for anyone using Adobe software. You have to register to attend, and my understanding is that it could be sold out soon.
BOSCPUG



Sunday, July 15, 2012

Quick Links

A Quick Hands-On with the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera | CreativeVideo
CVP in the UK got to see the prototype of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera [$2,995.00], and offer some thoughts:
The first thing that everyone at CVP who hadn’t previously seen the camera at NAB said was “I really didn’t expect it to be that big!” – It seems that most people expect the Cinema Camera to be not much bigger than an iPhone, yet the reality is that it’s a fairly chunky unit that weighs in at a hefty 1.8Kg for the body only… At this weight it’s far heavier than an SLR and the lack of any natural handgrip position means that in standard form it’s really suitable for tripod mount use only.


A new hands-on report with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera | Andrew Reid
| EOSHD
Andrew Reid offers his interpretations of CVP's thoughts:
Raw (and even ProRes compared to highly compressed DSLR footage) allows you to bring up a hell of a lot of shadow detail. So even with a sensor rated at a native ISO of 400 relative to the native ISO of 800 on a DSLR or FS100, this is not so much of a problem. With gain applied to reach ISO 1600 and a fast aperture lens, I am sure the Blackmagic Cinema Camera will look great in low natural light conditions.


EDITOR ALAN EDWARD BELL ON “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN” | Scott Macaulay
| Filmmaker Magazine
Editor Alan Bell talks about editing, and The Amazing Spiderman:
You know, I always find this interesting: on a little movie like 500 Days of Summer, the director shoots the movie over 21 days or something, and then he gets 10 weeks to come up with a cut. Then, you’ve got a movie like Spider-Man that shoots for well over 90 days, and he gets 10 weeks to come up with the first cut. But there’s a huge difference in terms of the amount of work and the type of work you’re doing in that 10 weeks!


Avid Media Composer/Symphony 6 Canon DSLR Complete Workflow 12min Guide
| Alex Walker | Wide Open Camera
Video tutorial on the Avid/DSLR workflow:
I’m using Symphony 6 here but the workflow is identical in Media Composer. We start with AMA native H.264 playback, then cut offline DNxHD36 files and relink to the originals, and then wrap up with encoding for the web using Sorenson Squeeze 8.5 and x264. The complete workflow through web delivery. Depending on your hardware capabilities you can choose to cut the h.264 files natively or transcode to an offline option to optimize performance.


Analyze the Frame: Reviewing your video footage on your computer7 | Tony Reale | NextWaveDV
Interesting article about how Gamma can be different on different hardware, and applications:
So now that we know what gamma is, there is one last thing to realize. Though we can change the settings in our NLE to adjust the gamma of the image, the decode of gamma is left to your video playback device. Be it a computer, phone, iPad, TV, etc. they all decode video differently. To make things even more complicated, not all video players decode gamma the same either. This is evident if you have ever opened up a video file in Windows Media Player and then in Quicktime. They look drastically different.


Apertus – The Open Source Camera | Philip Bloom
To me, the idea of an Open Source camera sounds about as exciting as an Open Source car:
“The goal of the Apertus project is to create a powerful, free (in terms of liberty) and open cinema camera that we as filmmakers love to use. The idea of using an Elphel camera for this particular purpose was born in 2006, found many followers over the years and ultimately resulted in this community driven project entitled “Apertus”.


DSLR Video Tips with Richard Harrington: Three-Point Lighting
| Adorama Photography TV | YouTube
A tutorial from Richard Harrington on the basics of lighting:
Three-point Lighting is a combination of a Key light, back light, and a fill light. Three-point light gives you full control over the light and shadows casting over your subject. Understanding the three-point lighting technique gives you the building blocks to advance with your photography.


Perfect Pixels: What’s new in Photoshop CS6 | Richard Harrington | Adobe.com
Richard did a one hour tutorial on Photoshop CS6 which will be of interest to anyone who works with video:
  1. The adaptive wide angle feature to improve your images
  2. Search features to find filters used in a project
  3. Blur tools to enhance and blur portions of an image to use as background plates
  4. Content Aware tools to scale and improve aspect ratios in images


Sony PMW-100 XDCAM | B & H PhotoVideo | YouTube
This is more of a promotional video than a review, but does provide some information on the PMW-100 [$3,480]:
With its high-quality MPEG HD422 (50 Mbps) recording capability, the PMW-100 can contribute to your creativity in many different applications including news gathering and documentary production.