Quick Links

Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 (5.5.2) update: Maximus functionality and bug fixes
| Adobe | Blog
I just ordered the Adobe Creative Suite and should get it Friday. And coincidentally, Adobe has just released a bug fix for Premiere Pro, which includes fixes for:

• Eyedroppers did not work on Mac OSX v10.7 (Lion).
• The Timecode effect overlay was not rendered.
• Closed captions were rendered in the wrong place, sometimes entirely offscreen.
• Enabling the display of closed captions would cause error messages to appear.
• Premiere Pro would crash or exhibit other instability when trimming with third-party I/O hardware (such as Matrox and AJA hardware) installed.

Pearl Jam 'Twenty' | Blair Jackson | Mix
An interview with the Eric R. Fischer, the primary mixer for the documentary Pearl Jam 'Twenty'.

Though he owns a considerable amount of traditional outboard gear, for this project, which was mixed entirely in the box, he used only plug-ins. For example, “I’ve started using Sonnox plug-ins, especially the Inflator plug-in on the older 2-track stuff, and it worked great,” he says. “It’s kind of like a ‘loudness’ button on a stereo. It adds some upper-end harmonic stuff and it heightens the bottom end. It was a big help.

Does culture really want to be free? | Scott Timberg | Salon
If you're a creative, you have to read this interview with journalist Robert Levine, author of the book “Free Ride.” The book is subtitled “How Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back," and Levine has a very clear perspective on what technology has wrought:

I was on a panel a couple of weeks ago and this guy from Creative Commons said: “You should concentrate on art; you shouldn’t worry so much about these contracts.” That’s exactly what any artist should never do. The record company guy does not want to make you money; he wants to make him money. Same with your concert promoter. Same with Google. They are not on your side. They’re on their side. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, because Google’s greed and self-interest has led to the creation of a valuable company, and many jobs, and some really remarkable technology, but it’s the government’s job to make sure they don’t trample the rights of other people.

Shooting for Twixtor | Chris Weatherly | Blog
A very short blog post that I want to highlite because it makes a great point about testing things out before you go shoot.



Cisco Predicts That 90% Of All Internet Traffic Will Be Video In The Next Three Years | Megan O'Neill | Social Times
I'm not sure this is really that shocking given that video takes up so much more space compared to text, and even pictures...maybe the shock is that video isn't already well over half the current traffic?:

In an interview with Beet.TV, Cisco’s VP for Marketing and Emerging Technologies, David Hsieh, points out that “video is invading all aspects of our lives.” He says, “Today over half of all Internet traffic is video—51 percent. And based on the current trends, we predict that in the next three years over 90 percent of all Internet traffic will be video.”

Bloggie 3D - Extreme Sports | Sony | YouTube
A short video shot with the Sony Bloggie 3D camera. I just wonder how they did the titles; probably in Vegas?



GoPro Cineform Studio - Overview for DSLR-Users | Lucas Pfaff | Vimeo
Another tutorial demonstrating how to use GoPro Cineform Studio. It includes links to another tutorial which was posted last week by David Newman: GoPro CineForm Studio 1.1 demo

The new Cineform Studio Software is free and can be downloaded from: gopro.com/​3d-cineform-studio-software-download/​



5DtoRGB Batch - Rarevision | Mac App Store
An update to 5DtoRGB Batch, v1.5.5 is now available as an update in the Mac App Store. 1.5.5 fixes a number of things including:

• Fixed issue where decoding matrix selection was ignored
• Fixed issue where loading a default.glsl script in command-line mode caused a hang
• Set default frame rate in command-line mode to 23.976
• Fixed directory naming errors when outputting to DPX

Canon EOS-1D X hands-on | David Pierce | The Verge
This seems to just be a collection of pictures of the prototype camera, but if you haven't seen enough of the new Canon, you might want to take a look.



DIY – Macro Light Tent for Shooting Seamless | Chadwick Paul | Blog
How to make a simple light tent using a cardboard box and some white paper.



Geek Talk Between Matt Jeppsen and Tom Guilmette | DV.com
In this short video, Ron Dawson, Tom and Matt talk geek about the Sony PMW-F3, Zeiss lenses and XDCAM vs AVCHD.



Guest Post: 5 Tips for Running a Documentary Project | JL Aronson | KickStarter
JL Aronson funded his movie Last Summer at Coney Island through KickStarter, and offers his tips for success:

Take rewards seriously. It's easy to kid yourself into thinking that people will support your project because they really like you or because they believe in your project just as much as you do, but at the end of the day, they want stuff. Even if it's a sticker and an online thank you. Offer a reward for all levels and put some thought into it. At the same time, don't offer rewards that will wind up costing what people put in (e.g., the DVD that cost you $8 in materials for donors who give $10).

Sorenson updates Squeeze, debuts Squeeze 8 Lite | Jackie Dove | MacWorld
Sorenson release an update to Squeeze, along with a new budget version, Squeeze 8 Lite, targeted at the prosumer at $199 (Squeeze 8 is $599.)

Available for the first time, Sorenson Squeeze 8 Lite caters to the needs of a rapidly expanding market of web developers, videographers, and content creators focused primarily on online publishing in popular video formats such as Flash FLV, Flash SWF, MPEG-4, QuickTime, Windows Media, WMA, and WebM.

New Exchange Plug-in for CINEMA 4D and Adobe After Effects | Press Release
| Maxon
Maxon announced a new plug-in for Adobe After Effects CS5 and CS5.5 that exports projects directly into CINEMA 4D R13. It's free and available now here: Plug-Ins:

The CINEMA 4D export appears directly in the After Effects export menu and generates a .c4d file containing 3D layers, cameras, lights, solids, nulls and footage. Even nested compositions are supported. All major layer attributes including animations (rotation, position, parameter, anchor points, POI, etc.), expressions, layer parenting, layer locking and layer visibility are retained. Render and document settings in CINEMA 4D are adapted accordingly to the After Effects’ project settings.

Morgan Spurlock launches documentary sponsorship program to help filmmakers find ad dollars | Associated Press | Washington Post
Last week director Morgan Spurlock, in partnership with Grey New York, has announced Launch PAD, an initiative to help filmmakers find sponsorship and product placement deals with advertisers. They are working with five productions now, and plan to select more in the coming months.
Contact email addresses can be found on this page: DOCNYC: Announcing Launch PAD



Honoring a Legend | Ben Eckstein | Blog
A short film about Kip Tiernan, the founder of Rosie’s Place, Boston. Ben explains how he shot the video and affers an alternative technique for using still images:

I decided ahead of time to shoot on a seamless backdrop with the (likely) intention of making the interviews black and white. We shot with 2 Panasonic AF100s, so we could have a second angle (this has pretty much become the norm for me for shooting interviews now). They gave me a lot of photos and some archive footage of Kip that I could use as well. I decided that in lieu of the normal “pan and scan” approach to moving on the photos in post, I would film the photos instead. I often see this approach on ESPN and in some documentaries, and I think it’s a nice visual change from the “Ken Burns” effect.

A Goofy Movie - After Today Live IRL Amazing Shot-for-Shot Remake | Ted Sowards | YouTube
Two years ago some high-school kids got together and made this homage to "A Goofy Movie," a shot-for-shot live action recreation of a song from the movie. It's pretty amazing.

Then read this interview with Ted Sowards, the creative force behind the project: Animation World Network: Disney’s A Goofy Movie (or at least part of it) lives – Live! It explains how they made the movie, and includes a touching comment from the director of the original movie.

What I realized, and honestly hadn't even thought about, was that this little film I made had made an impression, that it had affected a generation of kids who were now expressing themselves. Wow... be careful what you give to the world, they are watching.
-Kevin Lima