Notes On Video

This week FxFactory released Cineflare's  Final Cut Pro X Hand Held Effect , a plug-in that turns your video into...well a bit of a mess if you're not careful. You can add whip pans, lens focusing, zooms, and bumps and jitters. All to give you that classic camera-operator-wasn't-ready kind of feel. The idea is that you apply it to a locked down shot to make it look a bit messy. And since you're doing it in post, you can play with it as much as you like. I find that very appealing, because making something look naturally accidental can be very difficult and time consuming. So why not do it in post? And it's $49, which isn't too bad. My only gripe; it's only for Final Cut Pro X , and even though I have Final Cut Pro X it's not my editing tool of choice at the moment. Of course, you could recreate the effects yourself using After Effects or Motion , but a plug-in will save you some time.

I upgraded my iPhone 4 to iOS 7 last weekend, and since then I’d been unable to use Messages to send texts through the iMessage interface (I could send regular SMS messages). I did some searching on the net and found some different articles that had a variety of suggestions for fixing the problem. These boiled down to: Turning off Messages and FaceTime in Settings Resetting Network Settings That didn’t work, and some other suggestions (like backing up and restoring the entire iPhone , or using a Jailbreaking utility) weren’t particularly appealing, and seemed more of a last resort. But I was awfully close to doing just that when I tried using the Restore iPhone... option in iTunes (with the iPhone connected to my Mac.) That was when it told me that I needed to first turn off the Find My iPhone utility. That was interesting, because other instructions had talked about turning off Messages and FaceTime, but hadn’t said anything about the Find My iPhone function. I tu...

It's Friday, so I guess we all have to run out and spend money! There's been articles about the best time to buy different gear, whether it's best to rent or buy, etc. etc. I'm not sure I can provide any advice except this; if you aren't going to be shooting with it in the next 30 days, don't buy it. Buying things before you really need them doesn't make much sense - often you find out you didn't need the thing much at all. At least, that's what I've found. B & H Sales B & H has a bunch of "special" sales over the weekend: There's a wide range of stuff there, the most interesting to me are (but there's a lot more listed): Canon 32GB VIXIA HF G20 Full HD Camcorder $899 Rokinon T1.5 Cine Lens Kit for Canon EF $1,299 (That's $300 off. I'd do this, but I already have the 35mm and 85mm lenses!) Canon CN-E 24mm T1.5 L F Cine Lens $4,970 (save $250. There's similar savings on other Canon Cin...

This is a really good cover - and ukulele too! Have a great Thanksgiving!

EOS C300, EOS C300 PL Firmware Version 1.1.1.1.00 Please note that we suspended download services for Firmware Version 1.1.0.1.00 that was posted Tuesday November 13, 2013 due to a discrepancy in color balance. We would like to apologize for the inconvenience. Firmware Version 1.1.1.1.00 corrects this color balance discrepancy. Any cameras that are running firmware version 1.1.0.1.00 should be updated to firmware version 1.1.1.1.00. Firmware Version 1.1.1.1.00 incorporates all the functions and modifications listed below: EOS C300 Cinema EOS Camera & EOS C300 PL Cinema EOS Camera 1. Fixes a phenomenon where the previous Firmware Version 1.1.0.1.00 offered incorrect color balance. 2. Ability to move the magnification viewing area around the LCD using the MAGN Function. 3. Support for a 1440x1080/35Mbps recording mode. 4. ISO up to 80,000 has been added. 5. Added functionality to support the optional Canon GPS Receiver GP-E1. 6. A Key Lock menu setting has been added w...

Landon Van Soest Crowdfunding for Artificial Retina Documentary Light Darkness Light | Filmmaker Magazine I haven’t had a lot of luck with crowdfunding in the past and thought my project could get lost in the ether on a site like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. My film was one of just a few initial projects when Crimso launched so I was able to have a personal connection with the site administrators, and they featured us in a lot of their own outreach and marketing efforts. Big League Cine Summit | Big League Film School.com What Is Big League Cine Summit? Starting December 10, 2103 For three days you will have access to presentations by top cinematographers on specific topics and techniques. Each day will feature a set of presentations that you can access. You will discover information and techniques that the pros use that goes far beyond what you can get from any tutorial. This is the inside stuff! Click on the button below to see the presentation topics. Exclusive review ...

“Directors These Days Really Have to Understand the Business of Film”: Producer Christine Vachon in Wroclaw | Filmmaker Magazine These days when there’s a lot of downward pressure on the budgets of the movies we make, when we have to be more and more inventive about how to make our films work with the amount of money we have, we really need to be able to chart the audience. I only succeed as a movie producer if my movies make their money back. And the only way I can do that is to have an idea who the audience for my films is, and how to reach them. DaVinci Resolve 10 Adds Editing to its Toolset | Filmmaker Magazine But now Blackmagic is finding that the newer colorists have some editing background and for small changes “would like to just finish a project in Resolve rather than have to go back to the NLE.” When should you use raw - and when should you avoid it? This is the definitive answer | Red Shark News Shooting raw video seems to be a very loud and persistent buzz f...

What Screens Want | Frank Chimero Interesting discussion about software and how it's changing the way we interact with things...and it has a bit about the history of motion pictures too: Muybridge had discovered how to bottle movement, and like any good inventor, he did experiments to see if he could reanimate his frozen horses. Muybridge’s first attempts to set time in motion were to print the high-speed photographs radially on a glass disc and spin it while it was lit from behind. He called it a zoopraxiscope. VFX Protest Planned for Obama’s DreamWorks Trip | Animation Magazine Hoping to raise awareness about the plight of U.S.-based visual effects artist, activists are planning a protest during President Obama’s visit to the DreamWorks’ campus in Glendale this Tuesday (Nov.26). The Hollywood Reporter says about 500 green T-shirts have been purchased by organizers in the hopes that artists will wear them to express their support for this cause. ‘Go Green’ Demonstration...