Notes On Video

Reimagining an ID: Sound & Vision | Filmmaker In 1972, WGBH created a station ID with a logo sting by Gershon Kingsley. That sound has become closely associated with WGBH, and they’ve made several updated IDs using that original Moog synthesizer sound through the years. Five Things Not To Do When Shooting a No-Budget Film By Yourself (And Why I Did Them Anyway) | Filmmaker D.P. Sean Porter’s credits include Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, Eden and, opening on Friday at the IFC Center, Eliza Hittman’s It Felt Like Love. Here he contributes a guest blog post on the latter film, listing the five rules he made for himself that he wound up breaking when shooting this highly recommended micro-budget picture. Hands-On Review: the Canon VIXIA Mini X Full HD Camcorder | B & H Photovideo Join Mia McCormick, of Kelby Media, as she discusses the Canon VIXIA Mini X Full HD Camcorder, and why it may be the video blogging tool for you. This video explores the specifications of ...

If you have any interest in Panasonic's upcoming 4K digital mirrorless camera, the GH4 , then you should watch this interview with Panasonic rep Matt Frazer. Zacuto’s First Look: Panasonic Lumix GH4 | Zacuto Panasonic representative, Matt Frazer, visited Zacuto headquarters in Chicago to give us a first look at the Lumix GH4. This latest offering from the Lumix lineup is making headlines as the first-ever (DSLM) digital single-lens mirrorless camera with built-in 4K video recording. Review of the Zacuto C300/ C500/ Blackmagic Pocket Camera Z-Finder PLUS get yourself a nice C-Cup for your C100! | Philip Bloom When Zacuto brought out the first Z-Finder for the 5DmkII almost 5 years ago suddenly we had a hope in hell of getting our shots in focus. Since then they have refined it, brought out the cheaper junior and of course added their EVF for it. I still use the Z-Finder Pro on the back screen of my Canon 1DC all the time. It’s an essential piece of kit that I cannot recomm...

5 Tips for Working in High Frame Rates | Production Hub Learn from Matt Drake and his DP Matt Novello, the team behind Bullet Theory Films. They recently shot a commercial for Sinter Fire Bullets’ frangible ammo. The team wanted to avoid using CGI effects, so they chose to shoot with the Phantom v711 at extremely high frame rates (up to 80,000 fps) to capture the live bullets. 4 BACKGROUND TIPS TO MAKE YOUR ACTION CAM VIDEO LOOK PROFESSIONAL | VideoMaker 1. Use the weather Whether it be sun or storm, you can use the natural weather and natural light to add highlights to your shot. As an example, the photo above shows a bike rider jumping off a dirt mound, but it shows the white fog in the background which really pops the image of the rider. Are Quadcopters Legal? | B & H Photo What Changed? Before attempting to answer that, we should consider why this legislation is being pushed through now. RC enthusiasts have been operating small-scale unmanned aircraft for decades...

It appears that this commercial was shot on the ARRI Amira: BLACKMAGIC 4K PRODUCTION CAMERA GETS A PL MOUNT CONVERSION FROM DENZ | News Shooter German manufacturer Denz is the first to offer a solution with their custom PL conversion. It requires the tube of the original EF lens mount to be carefully milled out, providing the additional space that the larger elements on some PL lenses need. Black Magic Camera Battery Exploded (Aftermath) | YouTube After getting footage for the Kickstarter video for me new game, my Black Magic Camera's battery exploded, spewing smoke violently. We ran out of there for safety reasons. However, knowing we had to get some footage of it, we put damp rags over our mouths and ran back in to grab some footage. An overview of Sony's upcoming 4K camcorder, the FDR-AX100 : Sony FDR-AX100 4K Handycam | B & H Photovideo Paired with the built-in 12x Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar T* lens, these cameras will render a 35mm equivalent of...

CalDigit T3 Thunderbolt. Versatile And Fast In A Sleek Package | Erik Naso This very handsome solid enclosure comes with three drives in four different capacities starting at $450 for the 3TB model with standard HHD. 6TB, 9TB and 12TB configurations retail for $749.99, $899.99, and $1199.99. Several options are also available with SSD drives. NEWSSHOOTER READER FRANK REDWARD TESTS THE C100 DUAL PIXEL CMOS AF IN THE REAL WORLD – WITH NON-CANON LENSES | News Shooter The C100 is a great camera. A lot of people have rubbished it, mainly due to the price and lack of a few features such a more powerful codec, faster frame rates for slow motion, the absence of a SDI output, the tiny viewfinder and ridiculously placed EVF, but you know what? this camera just works and works well. It’s reliable, the image is wonderful and the low light, now at 80,000 ISO is brilliant. ONE DAY IN BOSTON 24-Hour Filming Event to Focus on Boston on April 26 | BOSCPUG The world’s largest media collab...

A review of the Sony RX10 which mainly focuses on the still photo side of things: Sony RX10 review: the everything camera | The Verge Does the RX10 always take the best picture, in every situation, no matter what? No. But I never found myself wishing I had a different camera. Just the opposite, in fact: using the RX10 is like having a DSLR and a bag full of lenses with me at all times. And while I would have otherwise been changing lenses on my DSLR, I just zoomed in, got the shot, and moved on. And here's a tear-down of the camera: Nikon releases a new mirror-less still camera that does highish frame rates. Nikon V3 features 120fps HD video | EOSHD The Nikon V3 will be the first mirrorless camera to feature 120fps HD slow-mo at 1280 x 720 resolution. Also available are 400fps and 1200fps at lower resolutions. Nikon have added an electronic stabilisation mode (called EVR) and 1080/60p to round out the spec. Now it appears that the train company didn't know a...

“The Delivery” Short Film – A Product of a Blackmagic Production Camera 4K Test | Planet 5D Adrian Tanner sent us this very nice Blackmagic Production Camera 4K ‘test’ he shot a couple of weeks ago. Pay attention to his description of shooting this as a one man band and shooting it without a ton of accessories. 4 KEY BENEFITS OF 4K VIDEO PRODUCTION | VideoMaker 4K video was a theme that was front and center at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. Retail electronics manufacturer's are starting to roll out the early stages of 4K video hardware. There are large screen TVs capable of displaying 4K resolution. Focal Reducer comparison on the Pocket Cinema Camera | Ruben Kremer Recently I took a gamble and bought a 0.72x focal reducer from an eBay store called Roxsen. It's the RJ Focal Reducer. Unlike the Mitakon Lens Turbo, this one fits without any trouble at all. Last weekend I got around to giving it a field-test whilst shooting a video for a client - an excl...

Assembling the Billing Block | New York Times The blurb at the bottom of a movie poster is called the "billing block." And while it might look like a bar code of haphazardly packed type, it is in fact the product of detailed legal agreements and intense contract negotiation. Shooting RAW with the Sony F55 and R5 recorder: Just how good is it asks Matt Allard? | News Shooter Shooting RAW on the F55 really was a pleasure and I was blown away by the results.  The downsides are of course the ginormous file sizes and the extra work involved in post.  I can do basic grades myself, but dealing with RAW and DaVinci Resolve is something that definitely takes me out of my comfort zone.  If you're interested in the PMW-F5 or PMW-F55 , then Sony is offering a promotion where you get a free Sony Prime lens with your purchase...but you don't get to pick which one. Many are speculating that this is a pre-NAB clearance thing. Offer expires March 31. NAB opens April 5...

This article seems to celebrate the pricing of Panasonic's GH4 4K camera by bashing Canon. And they have a point; pretty much everyone agrees that Canon has been sitting on their hands when it comes to the video capabilities of their DSLRs. On the other hand, as expensive as the 5D Mark III is, it still has a very large sensor with excellent low-light capabilities...it remains unique, and even if the Panasonic GH4 is 4K, and even if it's low light capabilities are as good, the Canon 5D Mark III still has a much larger sensor. So Canon can probably go on selling their camera for a year or more. UPDATE: Canon HDSLRs vs. Micro 4/3 Panasonic GH4 | HD Cam Team Sadly, Canon has been crippling the entire EOS DSLR line and selling them overpriced, taking advantage of their brand name and big line of lenses to sell. But when we look at the products themselves we found LOT OF THE SAME since many years ago, with some few exceptions of improvements in specific features. Meanwhile...

Last week the FAA's rule limiting commercial drone use was overturned, though as this piece points out you might want to be careful for the moment to see how it all shakes out: Lawyers on commercial drone ruling: proceed cautiously | PBS Adelman, chair of the Unmanned Systems Practice Group at the LeClairRyan law firm in Annapolis, said he would advise entrepreneurs to hold off on investing in production of more drones for at least a few more weeks. Looks like the pricing for the Panasonic GH4 should be official today. The GH4 will be $1698 and the add-on box (the DMW-YAGH) will be $1998 . The cost for the camera is impressive and you can save $399 by ordering the two together (though no that the camera on it's own is expected to be available prior to the bundle.) Panasonic GH4 pricing official – $1698 body only, $1998 for the external 10bit / XLR box   | EOSHD The bundle deal saves you around $400 and the GH4 body only is a full $300 less than I expected i...

THE TRAGIC DEATH OF SARAH JONES LEAVES UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT SAFETY ON SET | VideoMaker Safety goes far beyond location permissions. A live film set is a dangerous environment. There are numerous dangers, from equipment in motion to cable littered floors to suspended light fixtures. Any producer, at any level, needs to take the proper precautions and measures to ensure a safe set for all cast and crew. Careful preparation and planning do more than ease the workload, it allows the crew to enjoy what they do. Indie-darling filmmakers: Vimeo has $10M with your names on it | C|Net The company is carving out a $10 million fund to directly invest in films that either premiere at one of the top 20 US film festivals or garner $10,000 in crowdfunded support on sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, in exchange for giving Vimeo a window of time as the only place you can go to see the videos through its Vimeo On Demand pay-for-play platform. New York Times Movie Reviews, $11,000 a...

Interesting development in drones - judge rules that commercial drones aren't illegal. Now what will the FAA do? Judge rules commercial drones are legal, undoing six-year ban | The Verge Today Judge Patrick Geraghty dismissed a $10,000 fine levied by the FAA against Raphael Pirker, a Swiss drone operator who used a camera drone to film on the University of Virginia campus. "At the time of respondent's model aircraft operation... there was no enforceable FAA rule or FAR Regulation application to model aircraft or for classifying model aircraft as an UAS," the judge writes. Other News ‘This Is the End,’ ‘Now You See Me’ VFX Firm Closes Doors, 100 People Laid Off | The Wrap Modus FX, a Canadian visual effects vendor that counts “Now You See Me” and “This is the End” among its credits, is shutting down after six years. ...The company was undone after a number of projects it was slated to work on were delayed. Deluxe to close Hollywood film lab | Los Angel...

4K is here! Blackmagic Production Camera Review | EOSHD I’m not sure how long me and Miss Blackmagic are going to last to be honest. She has some very bad habits… She drinks ALL the juice in the fridge. I have run out. Her sister, the Pocket Camera went through about 6 Nikon juice cells in a day once. This one is much worse. Then there’s her weight. I have to be very delicate what I say here, but she’s a little on the heavy side especially when she is carrying around that big juice carton all day in her handbag. Want another opinion on the Blackmagic 4K camera? Here's our second, independent, review | Red Shark News Before we start, we're going to have to come to an agreement. That agreement recognises the fact that the Blackmagic Production Camera is a very serviceable little device, and the fact that it's very cost effective. So, should I happen to write something even slightly less than positive about this camera, I want you to assume that the mitigating words “...

Things seem to be heating up in the drone world. And I'm not just talking about Amazon deliveries or Facebook . Just back in December the FAA announced that it was - finally - going to get a move on about drone regulation, and picked six test sites to evaluate drones. So we're all on track for new rules by 2015, or 2017: FAA names 6 sites for testing drones  | USA Today The Federal Aviation Administration named six teams across the nation that will host the development and testing of drones to fly safely in the same skies as commercial airliners. The announcement represents a major milestone toward the goal of sharing the skies by the end of 2015, in what is projected to become an industry worth billions of dollars. Meanwhile, everyone's buying drones, so some people think the FAA is in danger of losing the war: FAA risks losing drone war | Politico The result, observers and drone users warn, could be a Wild, Wild West in the nation’s skies. As small dro...

So Sony has 4K projectors , $30K 4K cameras , 84" 4K Monitors , 30" 4K monitors , $16K 4K cameras , an $8K 4K camera (if you ignore that fact you have to spend a lot more to actually record in 4K), a $5.5K 4K camera , a $4.5K 4K camera , and they will shortly start shipping a $2K consumer camera, the FDR-AX100 . Which got me to thinking; surely they will come out with a 4K version of the NEX-VG30 body pretty soon too? They've already had the VG10, VG20 and VG30 in pretty quick succession, so it must be a popular camera design. Surely, the only question is when - it's not an NAB type camera, but surely before the end of the year? And what will they call it? - the VG40 sort of ties nicely to 4K...though maybe they should drop the '0' at the end? Except that Sony has killed the NEX brand name for their 'still' camera line, so it's likely that the new model will have a different name altogether... Sony FDR-AX100 But if an "NEX-VG40...

Reader Paul Antico has been experimenting with his new Mac Pro and different hard drives and reports  some excellent results with Toshiba drives: So I got a pile of Toshiba 2TB drives for backup (I just put them in a USB 3 dock) recently, and just today tested them for speed. (They are $75 each - 2TB for sale at B&H, Amazon, Microcenter... the price varies within $10 [ At the moment they seem to be about $86.00 - Ed ]). Keep in mind they are empty, but still: 180 Mb/sec. That’s FAST for a spinning HD! These drives are very highly rated too; they are Hitachi (toshiba bought the plant) [ Hitachi are reliable according to this failure rate chart - Ed ]and have historically very low failure rates. I have old drives like 7 year old 1 TB drives that get 80MB/sec.

Here's a Better Edit Room | Tribeca Considering that an edit suite is ideally an environment where creative debate and collaboration is taking place, the default way they’re designed is, in my opinion, insane. The counterproductive setup of a normal edit room, even at the biggest studios and nicest post-production houses is a study in separation and walls. Canon C500 vs. Film Camera Test | Shane Hurlbut If we were to compare the C500 and film side by side, immediately you can see more of the different tonalities in the background. The C500 kept a much cooler tone in the shadows and the background, while the yellow forklift comes across as a very punchy energized color. The film on the other hand is more grey in the background and the color of forklift kind of blends in the background and doesn’t stand out. A piece about director Billy Wilder: The Wilder touch | Cinephillia and Beyond Wilder's method is a combination of gags, familiar slaps, games with sweater sl...

'Midnight Rider' Death: DGA Says Employers 'Ultimately Responsible for Ensuring a Safe Set' | The Hollywood Reporter The death of the assistant, Sarah Jones, has prompted concerns about the safety of crew members on film sets. While the DGA couldn't comment specifically on the Midnight Rider incident, noting that there's an ongoing investigation into the accident, they did express their sympathy for those who were affected. A petition has been started to get Sarah's name on the Memoriam tribute at the Oscars. The deadline is today: Petition To Add Sarah Elizabeth Jones To The Academy Awards Memoriam Tribute | The Petition Site The Diamond Brothers Dissect the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K | Filmmaker Magazine “The interesting thing about this camera is what happens when you change from ProRes 4K to just ProRes HD,” Josh said. “Surprisingly, in a good way, there is no field of view change. I don’t know how many people here have ever shot with a...