Quick Links, Drone News and Panasonic GH4 News

IFFBoston: How Do You Interview Subjects? | Filmmaker Magazine
At this year’s Independent Film Festival Boston, the panel “The Art of Documentary Film Editing: Case Studies” featured moderator Jim Hession, editor of Rich Hill, Lucia Small, director and editor of One Cut, One Life and Bryan Storkel, editor of Fight Church.
An audience member asked the panel how they interviewed people and whether they prepped them beforehand, adding “Whenever I interview people, they’re always really bad talking to the camera.”


Ask the Screenplay Doctor: How to Pitch a TV Series | New England Film
One of my partners and I have begun creating a pitch for a new television show. We've great faith in the idea, but I've never pitched for TV before. Is there a different approach to presenting our ideas when it is time? Besides a treatment, should we have a "pilot episode" teleplay at the ready? Should we also have a synopsis of several episodes? What do you recommend?


8 Things I Learned From My (Failed) Kickstarter Campaign | IndieWire
Mark Tapio Kines was the first person to employ online crowdfunding to finance a film; in 1998, he raised $150,000 in finishing funds for his debut feature "Foreign Correspondents." More than 15 years later, he ran a Kickstarter campaign for his third feature "Dial 9 to Get Out," but failed to reach his $120,000 goal. Below he details what he learned through his failed campaign:


Hot Docs: 9 Tips On How To Make Your First Documentary | IndieWire
You've got a great story idea for a documentary, but aren't sure how to pursue it. Today at Hot Docs in Toronto, Academy-Award nominated documentary filmmaker Marshall Curry, who is at Hot Docs with his latest project "Point and Shoot," moderated a panel discussion featuring first-time filmmakers with films screening at Hot Docs: Amar Wala ("The Secret Trial 5,") William Westaway ("Writer With No Hands") and Clare Young ("From the Bottom of the Lake").


Tech Notes on Final Cut Pro X | Larry Jordan
I get lots of questions every day about Apple’s Final Cut Pro X. Most I can answer using articles I’ve already written or just my knowledge of the program. A few, though, require some research. Last week, I headed over to Apple’s website to see what I could learn. Here are the results, written in Question/Answer format.


Top Ten Screenplay Essentials | The Script Lab
2. Outline Before WritingKnow at least how the story ends, begins, as well as the screenplay’s five major plot points before writing the script.


Drone News


YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK PUTS A BAN ON DRONE USAGE | DIY Photography
The last swing is coming from an unexpected participant – the US National Park Service (NPS). In a plainly titled notice – Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Drones) Prohibited in Yosemite National Park the NPS issued a notification that use of drones is prohibited while visiting the park.
While also addressing the legalities (or lack there) of using drones within the park perimeter, the NPS is also concerned with the safety and enjoyment of both park visitors and the wildlife living in the park




DJI Phantom 2 Zenmuse H3-3D 3 Axis Gimbal: The Full Review from Anticipate Media on Vimeo.

This is a full review of the DJI H3-3D 3 axis gimbal for the Phantom 2 UAV quadcopter and GoPro Hero 3/3+ camera. It is a great gimbal, but requires some significant tweaking to remove the wavy "jello" effects.
My jello was minor most of the time. I have seen it in most videos posted of the H3-3D in action. You can't see it on a small screen but you can see it on a big screen and it hurts the shots. In this video, I show you the H2-2D vs the H3-3D and why the H3-3D is much smoother in general, what jello can look like, and how to correct it (and enhance your visuals) with an ND filter.
Highest recommendation - but caveat emptor - this gimbal needs an ND filter to get great broadcast-quality visuals consistently, and DJI does not recommend using one. Very odd state of affairs.


Panasonic GH4 News


Panasonic GH4 96fps Test. How Good Is It? | Erik Naso
I’m a little disappointed that the image is a little soft. Not a deal breaker, but also not that great. I didn’t do any post grading at all so what you see is what I shot. I think I can add a little sharpening to it and that might help. If I get some time I will do a grade and upload another version. I dont know what causes the softness and how the other frame rates look other than 96fps. Dialing it down a little might help. Lots of testing to do. On the GH3 60fps looked great! Hopefully we can get a little more than that on the GH4.


La Jolla in Motion- GH4 slow motion and 4K test

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