Notes On Video

FILM TAX INCENTIVES | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine A recent panel on State Tax Incentives sponsored by the Massachusetts Production Coalition was centered on tax credits for Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but much of the advice is applicable to other state programs. It’s important to note that while many states offer some form of tax incentive for filmmakers, there are several important differences between the various programs: whether it’s a rebate or a credit, transferable, has a cap [the state has a total limit per years for all credits], the minimum production budget requirements, and several other details. Packing | Benjamin Eckstein | Blog Benjamin thinks he has the packing of his gear all sorted out, so he wrote a blog about it: A backpack is important to have.  When walking at length (like through an airport) it is great to have your most valuable items well supported on your back.  Make sure to get a backpack that can fit in most overhead compartments...

Something I didn’t mention in my report on Tuesday’s BOSCPUG meeting is that Rob Bessette of Finish Boston also demoed Blackmagic’s Resolve 9 . Resolve is a sophisticated color grading application, and this new release features a significant UI improvement. The previous version had the distinct impression of being designed for Linux, but this release actually is starting to look like a regular Mac/Windows app. On the downside, you still need to know how to do color correction, but the program seems simpler now; and don’t forget there’s a free version you can download and use. Wednesday night was SMPTE New England ’s meeting at Rule Boston, and Juan Martinez , Senior Product Manager, Broadcast & Professional Solutions of Sony was there to talk about 4K. They’d brought a Sony F65 and a 4K projector along, though the demo fairies struck and they had a lot of problems getting the 4K version of the Taylor Swift movie shot on the F65 to play, and had to use a 2K version inst...

Canon C100 at IBC2012 | Hireacamera | Vimeo Den Lennie chats with C300  owner and filmmaker Nino Leitner about the C100 : I'm positively surprised that the build quality seems to be exactly the same, I mean they have the magnesium parts and, you know, it's really the same material...I think there are a few things that are a little difficult, for example you don't have 50p or 60p so there's no way of shooting slow motion. SHOOTING DIARY: SEAN MEEHAN ON SHOOTING IN SMALL SPACES | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Meehan : I would say the biggest challenge was just trying to come up with creative shots. The option was to shoot out of the cell where some light was coming in from the window that gave us this blue background. Otherwise, the walls were pretty white and they were drab, but not necessarily in the best way. I found that it didn’t look interesting drab; it just looked like I was shooting her up against a wall. Redrock ultraCage expansions | Vincent Laforet ...

Marco Solorio of One River Media spoke at last night's Boston Creative Pro User Group about the Blackmagic Design  Cinema Camera . Also present were a couple of reps from Blackmagic. I'm not going to go into great length about what he said, partly because it's late, and partly because it's all there in the two videos he has already posted online: Comparing the Cinema Camera & 5D Mk III Texting is Gefährlich – A Cinema Camera Short, Part 1 (and Part 2 ) The first compares the Canon 5D Mark III and the Blackmagic Cinema Camera at some length, while the second is a "short" that was shot using the BDCC. Marco has written a couple of extensive blog posts that covers the production of this short, and most of what he talked about at the meeting is covered there. The Bad News The bad news from the meeting is that production of the BDCC has been seriously constrained by a parts supplier. It appears that they aren't shipping any cameras at the...

Ever go for months with nothing to do on the weekend, and then get invited to three parties on the same day? That's what this week is shaping up to be. If you're in Boston this Wednesday, September 26, 2012, you can pick from several interesting events. I'd already posted about : Learning Lab at Rule Boston Camera: The Impact of Cinema Cameras on a TV News Shooter at 10am University of Massachusetts Boston Film Series showing of CRAZY HORSE at 7pm . Now there's two more events worth checking out: SMPTE New England :  4K Digital Cinematography—The Real WorldWith Juan Martinez , Sony Electronics at 6:30pm at Rule Boston Camera Juan Martinez, Sony Senior Product Manager for Acquisition, will discuss 4K digital cinematography and how it relates to the real world. Mr. Martinez will talk about the imaging technology related to 4K, especially as it relates to the Sony equipment that he is responsible for, such as the NEX-FS700 camcorder. Boston University Center...

Recently I was chatting with a music guy that had been working on the soundtrack for a movie project. He'd been passed the project in a rather disorganized state. It had been cut in Final Cut Pro 7 , but it wasn't clear that the editor had cut many large projects in Final Cut before, and there were some problems with the project that was causing him serious grief. When he got the project it required a lot of re-rendering just to get it to play. It turned out that the media had been imported in multiple formats rather than transcoding to ProRes. Some of the audio was in MP3 format. These are all things Final Cut Pro 7 doesn't like. He'd also tried converting it from 29.97 to 24, but had given that up when he'd discovered that all the audio got moved around after changing the frame rate. In short, he'd spent a lot of time wrangling the data in Final Cut , and I don't think he was impressed. As I talked him through it - and it turned out he'd alread...

Ridley Scott Talks RED EPIC and Explains How We Can Save the Theatrical Experience | Joe Marine | No Film School Just recently we had one of the more respected cinematographers working today, Roger Deakins, talking about his experience using the Arri Alexa. Now, Ridley Scott gives us a little bit about his experience working with the RED EPIC in 3D and also explains how we can get people back into movie theaters Adobe Audition: Audio Repair | Larry Jordan | Blog How to remove power-line hum and (some) audio glitches in Adobe Audition : Audition felt that Photoshop should not be the only software with a Spot Healing Brush, so it added one, too. I’m not going to say this brush does miracles, but, boy, its really close. This repair tool works best when you need to remove a range of frequencies, such as a beeping cell phone, without removing dialog at other frequencies. Logic Pro for Film & TV Mixing | Ben Allan | The Film Bakery A step-by-step guide to working in au...

Comparing the Cinema Camera & 5D Mk III | OneRiver Media | Vimeo This video compares the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera and the Canon 5D Mark III in several tests. This includes dynamic range, sharpness, pushing levels, banding, artifacts, rolling shutter, chromakeying, wide/telephoto lengths, DOF (depth of field), low light, macro blocking, contrast, and more. Test footage from the pre-release Panasonic GH3 at Photokina | Andrew Reid | ESOHD But I will say that the GH3 has an extraordinary codec, is a step forwards from the GH2 in every way. The only concern I have is for the stability of very fine textures – the GH2 remains unique for being so clean in the way it scales the full sensor from 18MP to 1080p in video mode. What is the tonic? I feel it is needed again here. New lenses Ahoy! - Matt Allard looks at the latest offerings | Matt Allard | DSLR News Shooter Matt looks at several lenses, including the Samyang/Rokinon Cine lenses: The 24mm and the 35mm o...

Interview with Yoshiyuki Inoue, Senior Engineering Planner for the Panasonic GH3 | Andrew Reid | EOSHD Interesting interview about the Panasonic GH3 , though there's a lot he can't say (like who makes the sensor!) EOSHD : Are you aware of the hack for the GH2, the hack project? Inoue : Ah yes! EOSHD : How much of an influence was it for higher bitrates in the GH3? Inoue : The reason we didn’t build on the high bitrate movie mode (officially), were internal Panasonic regulations for heat dispersion. Otherwise we could have had problems, we could not guarantee it. Exclusive – Canon confirm 1D C 4K DSLR is identical hardware to a 1D X | Andrew Reid | EOSHD Interestingly depressing news if this is true; they charge twice the price for slightly different firmware? Then again, look at the price of Canon's video cameras... Canon wanted to make a distinction in price because they believe (rightly) that Hollywood and many many pro filmmakers would be more than willing to ...

Vimeo: Tip Jar and Pay-to-view! | Vincent Laforet | Blog Vimeo has added a way to tip film makers... First is Vimeo’s Tip Jar which enables us to crowdsource funds to support future work. I’m a big fan of this! Viewers will be invited to give tips before, during or after watching a video. And Vimeo will give 85% of that money straight to the creator – which is more than reasonable. And you can start doing this TODAY if you’re a Vimeo Plus or Vimeo Pro member by simply activating the feature. Introducing Vimeo Tip Jar and more Creator Services from Vimeo Staff on Vimeo . Panasonic GH3 hands-on report | Andrew Reid | EOSHD There’s very minor moire and aliasing present in this early hardware. Whilst the GH2 rendered sloping horizontals and fine patterns extremely cleanly with no shimmering, the GH3 I used had a touch of aliasing and in some cases even a bit of moire on a stripy shirt viewed from a distance. VERY minor, but like the OM-D E-M5 it was there, at this early st...

Sony Europe and US held two webchats last week on the new PMW cameras; the PMW-100 , PMW-160 and PMW-200 . As I did for the NEX-EA50 chat from last week, I have edited the chat to put the answers next to the questions and cleaned up some of the text.  Note that the PMW-150 is a European camcorder, in the USA this is the PMW-160 camcorder. Q: What is the main differences between the PMW-100 and the PMW-150? Do you have the exact size in mm of the sensor for both? Dave Stannard:  The initial difference is that the PMW-150 is a 3 chip 1/3" camcorder, however the PMW-150 also has a 20x wide angle zoom lens. The PMW-100 is a single chip 1/3" camcorder and has 1 lens ring with assignable control. Kanta:  PMW-100 is a single chip camcorder and PMW-150 has three chips. Both are using 1/3 inch. Sebastian: One main difference is that the PMW-100 is using a single 1/2.9" CMOS sensor and the PMW-150 is a 3 CMOS 1/3" camcorder. Then you have a 10x Zoom lens with on...

It was the first day of Photokina yesterday, so it seems appropriate to cover all - or some - of the still camera news. Mixed Feelings About The 6D I really don't know what to think about the Canon  6D . As I feared, the 6D turned out to be - on the video side of things - very average. No great step forward in features or quality, and in one regard, a step backwards (no headphone jack.) It is smaller and lighter, and has built-in WiFi, but I don't think that would get me to buy it. It's described as their lowest-prcied full-frame camera, but you can buy a new 5D Mark II right now for less than the list price of the 6D, so it's hardly breaking new ground. And on the video side of things, Canon really seems to be only going through the motions, leaving it to the video side of the company with the C100 , C300 et al. No headphone jack, no higher quality compression, no uncompressed video out through HDMI? Panasonic and Nikon could steal me away; it's only the ...

Today Panasonic will announce the GH3 , and Canon will announce the 6D . But that's not what's really exciting; there's a great series of events going on over the next two weeks here in Beantown: September 19 :  Social Media Tools for Today's Image Makers at Rule Boston : 10 AM - 12 NOON Photographer, filmmaker and creative director Greg Hren shares his thoughts and experiences on the use of the blog and behind-the-scenes videos as poignant tools in today’s powerful social media landscape. September 19 :  MPC Meeting – OBERON in Harvard Square : 6:00 – 9:00 PM We are delighted to announce the Fall MPC Meeting will be on September 19th at OBERON in Harvard Square. Welcome your friends and colleagues back for the Fall with a great night of cocktails, presentations, and networking. September 20 :  The State of Tax Incentives : 6:00 – 9:00 PM Join us for an expert panel discussion where we examine film & TV production tax incentives in the region, and give ...

IBC has been and gone, and here comes Photokina with possibly more goodies. Of course, this show isn't focused on video, but with most  still cameras blurring the line, we'll probably see at least a couple of interesting announcements. If we don't already know what they will be... Panasonic will announce the GH3 . Francis Ford Coppola's favorite camera gets a serious upgrade, adding a video bitrate of 50Mbps (72Mbps ALL-I). Now that's serious.   Panasonic GH3 presentation video [UPDATE: PRICE $1299.99 samys] from van gogh on Vimeo . In what must be one of the poorest kept secrets, Philip Bloom has already posted a video - and written in the abstract - about the camera:  New short film “Genesis” shot on pre-production new “G” camera from Panasonic…more on Monday! It's good to see that Panasonic has finally made another stop forward on the video side of things. Now what about upgrading the AG-AF100 ? Canon Meanwhile, Canon is expected to announ...

Yesterday Sony Europe hosted a webchat on the new NEX-EA50 . For the next 30 days you can read an archive of the webchat here : http://www.bit.ly/NXCAMchat . Below is an edited version of the chat (primarily I have grouped the answers with the questions): Q: Why no ND filters? Alvaro Ortiz:  ND filters included on FS700 were completely newly developed, and they are extra-thin due to the short flange-back distance (sensor to mount), so their inclusion on EA50 would've involved a significant increase of price Kanta: The FS700E has the ND filter in it but it makes body big and it is rather costy part. For EA50EH, you can find several types of variable ND filter from optical filter manufacturer, which gives you seamless ND control. Q: I have the Sony EX3 with the ST-7 Shoulder mount with heavy duty battery fitted. I can see that this cam has a shoulder mount that can be retracted and used how ever is there provision for a heavy duty batter to be added? Dave:  the...