Notes On Video

Announcing: Sony’s First All 4K Ultra HD Media Player and Content Download Service | Sony More on Sony's new 4K player, including the cost to rent or purchase features: Also launching soon is Sony’s new Video Unlimited 4K Ultra HD service available later this summer with many more feature films, TV episodes and a variety of short-form video – all with 4K native picture quality and wider color gamut. The cost for Downloads of feature film titles as 24-hour rentals or for purchase will s start at $7.99 and $29.99. WHY (SUCCESSFUL) CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGNS CAN BACKFIRE ON STORYTELLERS | Mentorless Good thoughts on running a crowdfunding campaign.... after you've got the money: Decide that no matter what, you will do a bi-weekly update post-campaign to let your backers know where you are at. See your successful campaign as the true opportunity it is: getting people to root for you, not only for this project, but for your career, for who you are as an artist. You are your ...

Canon 70D |  optyczne.p Hmm..so a Polish website has posted a hands-on with the new Canon 70D. Unfortunately, I can't read Polish, but they have posted some videos showing the auto-focus performance of the camera with the EF-S 18-135mm lens and the EF 100mm, so you can get an idea of how that new focus technology works. EOS-M Price Cut | B & H Photovideo Canon made an attempt to enter the mirrorless market with the EOS-M, but the camera got mixed reviews - autofocus performance was sighted in several reviews. Now it looks like they might be phasing out the first model, as B & H is offering a half-price deal on the camera. Should you get one? No idea. It will work with regular Canon lenses, but you need to buy an adapter, which will set you back another $150. The  Canon EOS-M Mirrorless Digital Camera/ EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens is now $349, while the  Canon EOS-M Mirrorless Digital Camera with EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Lens is $299. 

Canon 70D  | B & H PhotoVideo This new camera looks intriguing, if only because of the new focus mode Dual Pixel CMOS AF which promises much faster and more accurate focusing while shooting. The demo looks good and a few people have had a chance to try it out and say it seems to work as advertised. Would I rush out and buy a new camera just to get that feature? Probably not, but it's good to see Canon actually adding an interesting - and useful - video feature to their DSLRs. CANON’S NEW EOS 70D – A REVOLUTION IN AUTOFOCUS FOR VIDEO? | News Shooter This is all very technical but essentially it seems to work very well if early online sample videos are to be believed. What is even more interesting to me is how Canon claim to have been also be working on how to make the video AF look more smooth and natural too. Ep. 51 - "The Dark Side" (with Gabe Cheifetz)  |  NeedCreative Podcast 7/1/2013 In this 51st episode of the NeedCreative Podcast, your co-hosts...

Arri Makes a “Baby Alexa”, Introducing the Alexa HD | Wide Open Camera ARRI takes out some features, but the price is still $30.3K, or maybe $44K: The key features lacking compared to other Alexa models is ArriRAW and high resolution, the camera is a straight-up HD camera with the Alexa’s classic smooth 14 stop of Dynamic Range, high ISO sensitivity, and uncompressed 12-bit 4444 or 422 max potential throughput. The Rasmussen Brothers on Shooting the Low-Budget Horror Movie Dark Feed, Part One | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine I had a great time interviewing the Rasmussen brothers about their experience making a low-budget movie. This is part one of three: We had just started playing around with the Canon 7D, and we were really impressed with the video quality. We decided that we could shoot a sort of Robert Rodriguez, guerilla-style film and stay within our budget. It was really the technology that made it possible; we realized that we didn’t need to have a fancy camera p...

Are you breaking the law by running a Crowdfunding campaign and not declaring your income? | Chris Jones Blog Crowdfunding in the UK, using one of the existing platforms like InideGoGo or Kickstarter is the same as running an internet sales store.You are selling perks. All sales are taxable income and if your entire turnover is high enough, they are also VAT attracting too. Making the Movie Was Easy, Crowdfunding Is Hard  |  Filmmaker Magazine Making the movie was easy, crowdfunding is hard.Ok, that’s a ridiculous oversimplification, but not completely untrue. I’m currently in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign to raise post-production funds for my first feature film, Sidewalk Traffic (a comedy/drama about a struggling filmmaker and new father in post-Great Recession NYC), which I wrote, co-produced and directed this past winter. 3D Dead? Don’t Count It Out Just Yet | Variety Pace says the next window of opportunity for 3D will come with the arrival of 4K Ultr...

Stanley Kubrick Exhibit @ LACMA | YouTube Stanley Kubrick Exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art ( LACMA). Pictures taken with my iPhone and the video was edited with iMovie. Includes his cameras, movie posters, memorabilia, and shows exhibits from Dr. Strangelove and Full Metal Jacket. Firmware – Canon EOS C100 | CanonRumors A function has been added which allows automatic continuous focusing and iris setting on a subject in the center of the screen when using the EF-S18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM lens. The polarity of the XLR terminal has been modified to improve compatibility with external audio devices. The pin configuration has been modified to be consistent with the Instruction Manual. SKIN - The 1st 5D3 Raw Short Film | Andrew Wonder | Vimeo The first narrative short created using the Canon 5D3 and Magic Lantern Raw Module. Filmed entirely on steadicam with Wonderscope 1.5x Anamorphic Lenses. All footage was shot between 1250 and 5000 ISO. SKIN ...

No idea how long this is going to last, but you can get this Canon lens for $734 at Amazon (It's normally about $1,150) This lens is popular with some video shooters for because of it's Image Stabilization, making it good for traveling shots. Amazon :  Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens for Canon EOS SLR Cameras

The Changing Shape of Cinema: The History of Aspect Ratio | Vimeo A very interesting history of aspects ratios, including where 16:9 came from: The Changing Shape of Cinema: The History of Aspect Ratio from FilmmakerIQ.com on Vimeo . Kickstarter is coming to Canada - later this summer MC 7 is out! What Avid won’t tell you about Spanned Markers | ProVideoCoalition So, one of the features I saw demonstrated at NAB in April that I thought was pretty cool was Spanned Markers. Markers or Locators (as they used to be called) have always simply provided a mark on a moment of time – a specific frame. But I have often felt that it would be very useful to mark a SEGMENT of time, like an in to an out point, for example. New plugin developer Lawn Road launches two products for Final Cut Pro X | fcp.co First is Color Precision a $49 set of ten plugins (there is no price on the website), well five really that are presented as both effects and titles in the pack. The plugin...

CineEurope: Sony Claims 4K Is Now 'Mainstream' | The Hollywood Reporter "4K is now 'mainstream,'" asserted David McIntosh, senior vp at Sony Digital Cinema, during the company’s CineEurope press conference on Tuesday. “The movement over the last year is very clear,” he said of the technology, referencing not only the company’s 15,000 installed 4K projectors, but its latest production gear and new Ultra HD (4K) TVs. Don’t Expect Things to Get Better for 3D | Home Media Magazine Let me make clear, right away, that I am not faulting the content side. I think our industry handled the advent of 3D quite well. For those who bemoaned, and now want to blame, the lack of product, consider this: 3D was never meant to be a whole new viewing experience, like Blu-ray Disc or, before that, DVD. Rather, it was always intended to be a selective experience, one that is not universally applied. Which Camera for Which Genre? Five Questions for D.P. Timur Civan | Mi...

Up Coming Events Canon C100: Best Kept Secrets  |  Rule Boston Camera | Boston Wednesday June 26, 10am - 12 noon Canon’s Ryan Snyder shares best-kept secrets of the C100 with an in-depth, hands-on demo of this affordable, high-performance camera plus a special look at the compact Ninja 2 Recorder from Atomos, ideal for capturing HD while doubling the color resolution.10am to 12n Sony Pro Day with the PMW-F5 CineAlta 4K camcorder  | Adorama | New York City Wednesday June 26, 2-6pm Adorama, 42 West 18th Street, NYC The hands-on training will give attendees a chance to experience the full capabilities offered by the Sony PMW-F5 camera and new Sony PVMX300. Create Now: Ask A Video Pro Webinar Series  | Adobe | Webinar Thursday, June 27, 201310:00 AM - 11:00 AM US/Pacific In this Ask A Video Pro Series, learn what's new in Adobe Creative Cloud and get tips and tricks on using new tools and services to create for video. Join these interactiv...

An Introduction to Buying Used Lenses | Jeff Guyer | Digital Photography School I know we all love the excitement of opening new boxes from B&H and Adorama. It would be a mistake, however, to avoid well-cared-for lenses just because they’re previously owned. Nikon, Canon, Tamron, Sigma and the others spend a great deal of time and money researching and producing lenses which are made to last. Adobe Software Moves to the Cloud: What Users Need to Know | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine Adobe Creative Cloud, the latest update to the Adobe application suite of programs, was released last week. This release marks a major change for Adobe away from a “purchase” model to a subscription model; if you want the latest versions of their applications you must now pay a monthly fee to use the software. Behind the Lens: Tom Burstyn Shoots Defiance | Creative COW I got onto Defiance through line producer Clara George. She and I have done a lot of work in the past -- we did a...

Why British film is all kitsch 'n' sink | Mike Figgis | The Guardian I'm pissed off with the British film club because once again I turn to Hollywood to make my next film. I made a film last year in London, ended up financing it with my producer out of our own pockets after being turned down by the BFI for both budget and post-production help.  Why video color changes on different monitors and programs | Technicolor Usually you don’t alter the gamma of an image because when using sRGB in your computer’s monitor setting and in your camera, it automatically sets the gamma to 2.2. This gamma value is used in a viewing environment that mostly exists in an office environment – meaning reasonably bright. The problem arises if your client watches the video on a TV or a theater: it will look too contrasty and you need to apply a gamma correction. Rule of thumb: you should color correct in the same ambient light situation as your client is watching the video. Cannes Lion...

Douglas Trumbull, Natalie Wood's Last Director, Returns With Sci-Fi Project | The Hollywood Reporter The innovative filmmaker, inventor (Showscan) and Oscar recipient's new 10-minute project was made in 4K 3D and at a high frame rate of 120 frames per second. (By comparison, The Hobbit was made in 2K 3D at 48 fps. And James Cameron’s high frame rate test from 2011 went as high as 2K 3D at 60 fps.) How Douglas Trumbull Made a 4K Film in 120 fps Stereo 3D | Studio Daily Trumbull shot with Canon C500 cameras in a 3D camera rig from 3ality and recorded raw data at 120 fps. Live-action elements, including actors, were shot in front of green screens in Trumbull's studio for later compositing into 3D environments. WE BET EVERYTHING ON FCP X – HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED | Gabe Cheifetz | CrumplePop In the two years since FCP X was introduced, there has been what FCP.co refers to as “The Plugin Explosion.” With a running start, and thanks to FCP X’s remarkable Effects archi...

Adobe Photoshop CC Has Already Been Pirated In Just One Day | FStoppers If true, that didn't take long: With the constant need for validation and continual updates through the cloud, many felt it would be difficult to pirate something that requires constant contact for it to stay updated. However, it took no less than a day for pirates to get around it. Adobe beats profit expectations, mulls subscription changes  | C|Net Adobe Systems beat analysts' profitability expectations by 3 cents per share in the second fiscal quarter, ratcheted its Creative Cloud subscriber total up 221,000 to 700,000, and is considering new measures to mollify those who don't like the subscriptions, the company said Tuesday. Adobe CEO admits need to 'tweak' Creative Suite's cloud-only policy | The Register "While we will still continue to offer CS6 on a perpetual basis, the feedback from our community is important, and we are evaluating additional options that will h...

5 Things I Learned at Alex Buono’s Visual Storytelling Tour | Jon Connor | Kessler University Lighting is such a crucial part of filmmaking. It’s also one of the most neglected and misunderstood. Watching shorts Alex shot as the DP of the SNL Film Unit, then having him show us why he chose to light things a certain way and then watching as they lit the scene in front of us as he peppered in practical tips and tricks while simultaneously fielding any questions we had was worth the price of admission alone. How To Bring a Cinematic look to a Small Budget Commercial, part 4 | Ryan Walters | Zacuto Part 4: Story-boarding On A Small Budget Before I begin story-boarding, I will either create a formal shot list, or I will have a rough idea in my head of the shots I need to tell the story. Then when I visit the location, with the script in hand, I will begin the story-boarding process using yet another iPhone app, Artemis. Product Advisory for the EOS-1D X & EOS-1D C | CanonR...

10 Lessons on Filmmaking from Director Alejandro Jodorowsky | Filmmaker Magazine 5. Be present, all the time. There is no difference between preparation and being on set. When I am filming, I am completely there. In every moment you are making a picture, every day, every hour, I am a hundred percent there. UPDATE - Free Webcast: The Anatomy of a 4K Feature | ProVideoCoalition Join us on June 27th at 11:00am PDT for this free webcast 4K is on the tip of everyone's tongue…but just how feasible is it today? Join us for a re-broadcast of a "How we make movies" event from RED Studios, Hollywood. Recorded in front of a live audience, Director Jeremy Torrie & Gary Jackemuk, colorist and DI Artist, discuss the benefits and challenges of creating a 4K workflow for their film, Path of Souls, while adopting the latest technologies to finish the film remotely. Filmmaker picks a copyright fight with “Happy Birthday” | Ars Technica Filmmakers and TV producers have l...

Lynda Obst: Hollywood’s completely broken | Salon I'm not sure everyone has stopped buying DVDs to steal the video online. Some of us just bought a lot of their favorite old movies, and then stopped buying when nothing interesting came along: There it was. Technology had destroyed the DVD. When Peter referred to the “transition of the DVD market,” and technology destroying the DVD, he was talking about the implications of the fact that our movies were now proliferating for free—not just on the streets of Beijing and Hong Kong and Rio. JVC launch a 4K camera with Nikon mount which gets almost everything wrong | EOSHD The sensor – the size of 1.25 inch is no-man’s land territory for lenses. Smaller than Micro Four Thirds but larger than Super 16mm, it conforms to no common video standard at all. It’s also completely unsuited to the photographic Nikon full frame lenses JVC requires you to mount on it. It isn’t suited to DX glass either. JVC ANNOUNCE JY-HMQ30 4K LARGE SENS...