Notes On Video

Announcement Soon [CR3] | CanonRumors Excitement grows about a possible update to the Canon 5D : Things are heating up and we’re going to see an announcement soon. February 28, 2012 is still shaping up as the day of an announcement, though it could be a week later. We’ll be seeing a full frame camera announced. We’re still unsure if it’ll be a 5D Mark III or a 5D X. Highlights of BVE London. The broadcast video expo! Cool toys everywhere!! | Philip Bloom | Blog Philip talks about the BVE show. He notes that "there's nothing really sexy and new" at the show, though that might be attributable to the fact that the English hold this show two months before NAB: I check out the MTF EF adaptor which is now for sale, the Sony F65, C300, the excellent AJA I/O XT, the JVC 4K and the Atomos Samurai amongst others… Final Draft Inc Announce New Technical Support Policy | movieScope In addition to their iPad app Final Draft Reader , Final Draft have changed their support p...

Awesome Directors Project : Cinematic Lighting Tutorial | Indy Mogul | Youtube A very interesting behind-the-scenes video where the director shows how he put together a scene, including framing and lighting: Filmmaker Tom Antos, this month's Awesome Director, demonstrates how storyboarding and strategic lighting design are key to achieving a cinematic look. Accelerate your RED workflow with Adobe® Premiere® Pro CS5.5 | Adobe Thursday, February 23, 2012 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM US/Pacific A free webinar from Adobe: Join this webinar to learn how you can enable a robust workflow for editing, grading, and delivering native R3D footage in real time using Premiere Pro. See Wes Howell and Ted Shilowitz step through the RED editing workflow in Premiere Pro, including selecting RED sequence presets, quickly importing clips without transcoding or rewrapping, switching playback resolutions to meet the performance and image quality needs of every post-production task, adjusting the look o...

DP David Kruta On Shooting The Movie “Concussion” | Michael Murie | Filmmaker I interviewed David recently about shooting this indie movie with the REP Epic : I fought to shoot it on the Epic. I think something like an Alexa might have actually slowed us down because there was a lot of handheld shots. The movie was almost entirely handheld, so the small size and weight was really helpful. We had Zeiss Superspeeds – mainly for the price and the speed at which they can shoot – so it was great having these light, little lenses where you could shoot at 1.3. This was very important because we shot mostly available light, or modified with silks, but it was almost entirely available light and small lamps. DSLR Video Viewing Accessories | Photo This & That A review/comparison of two viewfinders (the Zacuto Z-Finder EVF Pro and Cineroid EVF4L ) and the Marshall  V-LCD50-HDMI monitor. Ultimately, he prefers the monitor: Unlike other Marshall monitors, the five-inch version uses...

RED Scarlet X – Review | Greg Blakey | Melbourne Geek An in-depth look at the RED Scarlet X : Quite frankly this image resolution is ridiculous in most instances, but so damn good. It is a ‘get out of jail free’ card when it comes to cropping or re framing a shot. I would not necessarily go to 1-to-1 pixel’s as you lose some of the clarity, but you do have a lot of room to move. Then once you go down to HD everything pulls together, it feels crisp and solid. Final Cut Pro X Advanced Tutorial - Multi-Cam in 10.0.3 | Dan Allen | YouTube One of the first tutorials I've seen on using the new multi-cam feature: In this HD Voice Tutorial for Apple Final Cut Pro 10 we learn how to use the built in Multi cam feature as of the recent update version 10.0.3 which automatically aligns your video footage, clips, material and audio streams, clips media etc based on either Timecode, audio waveforms and sounds as well as date of creation. A very flexible advanced tool. Adobe Production P...

Adobe is running their "SWITCH" campaign again for Adobe Production Premium CS5.5 [Regularly $1699, now $849] and for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 [$799, now $399]. Get 50% off. The offer ends March 2. Enter code: SWITCH

Flying with gear… | Philip Bloom | Blog Philip explains how he gets lots of gear onto planes: With smaller cameras it’s a bit easier, they can go in smaller bags like the ones Petrol make below (which take my C300 or FS100 just fine, too tight for my F3). My main carry on bag is made by Think Tank. I use the Airport Security V2 when flying to the US and back or internally there and the Airport International for the rest of the world. The US hand luggage max size is slightly bigger than the rest of the world…like the country 7toX for Final Cut Pro 1.0.1 – Details on the Bug Fixes | Philip Hodgetts | Blog Only a few days after release, and already an update to 7toX for Final Cut Pro  for XML transfer with FCPX : Bug fix for DV 720×576 sequence settings Bug fix for 44.1 kHz audio settings Bug fix for 0% Speed Rate Bug fix for markers on Generators Bug fix for non-standard frame rates. Final Cut Pro X Multicam Editing | Webinar | FilmmakingWebinars March 13, 2012 @ 10:...

I thought I'd done a pretty good job of explaining the differences between the Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle Thuderbolt [$227], the Intensity Extreme [$284] and the Intensity Pro  [$189] card the other day, but it appears not, because at least Patrick Inhofer expressed confusion about it (but then, he is getting old ...) To recap, these are capture devices that support 10 bit HD/SD with HDMI, analog component, composite and S-Video connections. Here's another way of choosing between the three models*: You're on your own from here... *Of course, the Intensity Extreme could be used on an iMac and the Intensity Shuttle on a MacBook , but I'm trying to simplify things for you!

I installed a 16GB upgrade into the iMac  yesterday. It was probably one of the easiest memory upgrades I've done, but still wasn't quite as simple as it seemed in the diagrams on the Apple Tech Note . I should note right up front that I'm bit of a techno-phob when it comes to doing hardware upgrades/installs, which I blame on the time I practically blew up a NuBus card on a Mac II . Apple provides detailed instructions that recommend lying the iMac down on a towel and attacking the memory slot from the side. That might work on a table, but after clearing the floor, I found I did most of the installation with the computer resting on its top edge. The next problem I encountered was that the Philips head screwdriver I had didn't fit the screws! A quick trip to the hardware store solved that problem. The screws are short and only have to be turned a two or three times (above). After removing the cover, you pull out the two plastic ribbons (below). If you...

Apple TVs are disappearing from shelves, could see an update next month as well | Seth Weintraub | 9to5 Mac There are rumors of an iPad 3 announcement in early March, and now the AppleTV is disappearing from stores too: But we also learned of another Apple Jxx product, the next AppleTV, codenamed J33 in the 5.1B software. Perhaps besides both showing up in iOS 5.1 software, the Jxx devices are also A6 devices? Episode 41: The fallout from Bunim Murray’s NLE choice | The Terence and Philip Show Everyone's talking about Avid's recent profit as though this indicates a big turnaround, yet don't forget that just back in November they had a lay off of 750 staff. I think it will be another couple of years before we really know what happened in the NLE market: Starting with the decision to go to Media Composer at Bunim Murray, Terence and Philip discuss the state of NLEs today and the business behind them. Its a long show and it covers a lot. Casey Warren of Mindcastle...

A look at AVID media composer 6 | Tej Bebra | Philip Bloom A sort-of follow-up to the earlier article on Philip's site with editors discussing FCPX : Avid opening up to third party support really means they are going aggressively after editors and post production houses that are not happy about the state of current affairs with Apple FCPx. Now combine that with Avid Media Composer’s 6 new support of Apple Pro Res capture and encode, and you can really begin to see how much this means to the industry and how devotedly Avid has re-structured itself towards the editor. It really was not that difficult for me to transfer my Final Cut Pro projects over to Avid Media Composer 6, and continue using my BlackMagic Design UltraStudio, AJA , or even my Matrox MXO2. How to export chapter markers from Final Cut Pro X | Digital Rebellion A work around using Pro Media Tools : There are several workarounds, such as adding chapter markers in Compressor, but these can be quite tedious as you...

I posted about the Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle Thuderbolt [$227] and the Intensity Extreme [$284] the other day, and I wanted to find out more about them. Here's what I have found out so far. Intensity Extreme My sources tell me that the Intensity Extreme should be shipping VERY soon. Officially it's supposed to be out Q1, but it may start shipping as early as this month. The Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt will be later, probably more like early Q2. As I had surmised, the Intensity Extreme is essentially a more rugged (aircraft grade aluminum casing), portable, and Thunderbolt version of the Intensity Pro  [$189] card, while the Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt is the desktop version. One downside is the Intensity Extreme  doesn’t do 1080p60/50. The Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt (the original Intensity Shuttle  [$189] is a USB 3.0 product) will do up to 1080p60/50, but it's larger, not as rugged, and you'll have to wait for it. Blackmagic tells me that cu...

How to Import C300 Footage in Avid, FCP X and Premiere | Andy Shipsides | CineTechnica Explains the software you need, and how to work with C300 footage: Canon provides a piece of software called the Canon XF utility, which is used to playback and download clips off their original media. It also has the ability to view clip metadata, mark timecode, and even apply a LUT to Canon Log footage for viewing. The XF Utility is hard to find on the internet, so here is the latest version (also including Log & Transfer and AMA plugins). The C300 records to Compact Flash cards, so a simple CF card reader is all that is needed to attach C300 media to your computer. Launching the XF Utility gives you the window below: MATH THE BAND "Four To Six" music video | Jonathan Yi | Vimeo Jon shot one of the early promo videos for the C300 (which Canon didn't actually show at their announcement event) and now he's back with a music video shot with the camera: Shot on a protot...

7 professional editors share their FCPX experiences | Philip Bloom | Blog Seven editors provide very detailed explanations of their views on FCPX : If you think this sounds like flowery hyperbole, you may be right. It’s hard to think of ways to convey feelings about software. So, I am merely trying to express the small sense of elation that I felt when I realized the upside of losing my trusted track framework. I felt encouraged to experiment more. I felt slightly liberated in my timeline edits. For someone who grinds away in editing interfaces day after day, year after year, for more than a decade, this was a notable change. There is something new here; a different way to edit. Final Cut Pro X named PCMag's Editors Choice for high-end video editing | Daniel Eran Dilger | AppleInsider Interesting award, though I wonder if architects look to PCMag for software recommendations? After its third minor update, Final Cut Pro X has been awarded "Editors Choice" ...

I didn't go to last years, and I probably won't be going to this years, but this day long conference organized by Hill Holliday could be interesting: With over 25 speakers, TVnext is organized into three segments: INTEGRATION presents social TV case studies from some of the leading television networks. INSIGHTS dives into the research and learnings from the millions of social impressions we create while watching TV. And INTERACTION features the latest innovations of interactive TV on both the primary and second screens. Date: February 27, 2012 Time: 8:30am – 5:30pm (EST) Location: The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston Tickets: $450 Contact Us: tvnext@hhcc.com Website:  http://tvnext.hhcc.com/

Last week I went to an event at Rule Boston Camera given by Sennheiser’s David Missall. He provided a lot of tips, including this one on reducing handling and cable noise on lavaliere mics (especially cardiod mics - which are more susceptible - though omnidirectional's can suffer from it too.) Just below the mic, loop the cable a couple of times and then tape it together (David uses surgical tape , which he says is also really useful for taping mics and wires to people's bodies!) As I understand it, the loop cancels out a lot of the noise that can travel up the cable (and can also absorb some of the tension if the cable gets pulled.) Mic handling seems to be a bit art-and-science, for more, see also: Sounds Of New Mexico : LAVALIERS: AN OVERVIEW [PDF] DVInfo : How to use a Tie Microphone (Lav)

Canon announces Canon EF 24-70 F/2.8L II USM, plus EF 24mm F/2.8 and the EF 28mm F/2.8 Yesterday morning I posted a link to a rumor about the new Canon EF 24-70, and then Canon goes and actually announces it that day, along with a 24mm F/2.8 IS USM and a 28mm F/2.8 IS USM. The latter two include IS which, according to Canon, "combats motion blur by four stops." In addition to a redesigned optical system - and it does have an 82mm filter thread - the mechanical structure of the 24-70 lens has been improved to offer enhanced zoom durability and greater shake and shock resistance. This is an interesting change, as according to an article I read about lens reliability, the current 24-70 was susceptible to early wear and tear compared to other Canon lenses. B & H is already taking preorders at $2,299 , which makes the current model $1,000 cheaper . I really wonder if the EF 24-70 F/2.8L II is worth that $1,000. Pop Photo : New Gear: Canon EF 24-70 F/2.8L II USM and Two...