Notes On Video

Location, Location! The Movie Locations  site attempts to document all the locations that appear in movies. The current list includes some classics like North By Northwest as well as more recent titles like The King's Speech . Locations are indexed by Movie, Actor/Director and Location. MovieLocations : Movie: NorthByNorthwest Tax Incentives If you're looking to make a movie, you've probably already checked in to tax breaks, but watch out; many are under threat: New Mexico is just one of a number of states reviewing their incentive programs. There, the state's newly elected Gov. Susana Martinez has said she wants to cut that state’s popular tax credit from 25 percent to 15 percent. TheWrap : Budget Crunch! Hollywood Tax Breaks Under Siege by States Indie Funding Crowdfunding seems to be getting a lot of attention right now; KickStarter has got a lot of coverage, but there are other sites like IndieGoGo doing the same thing. Daniel Skubal is the lea

Another great panel from last years Public Television Quality Group's Boston Quality Workshop was on  Creating Documentaries . This panel featured Producer Michael Kirk , Cinematographer Ben McCoy , and Editor Chad Ervin talking about their experiences producing content for PBS's Frontline . Michael Kirk has been with Frontline since it's inception, and has produced over 55 episodes for the program. Cinematographer Ben McCoy has been working with Michael for almost as long, and is an expert on shooting what Kirk described as "guilty buildings." Editor Chad Ervin joined the group just a few years ago, stepping in to, as Kirk described it, "replace the previous drummer." Ben McCoy adjusting lighting for an interview The great thing about this presentation was that there was really three parts to it: Lighting Ben did a live lighting demo, showing how they like to light their subjects using minimal lights; he started with the standard three-p

Active 3D Glasses vs. Passive Panasonic UK's product specialist for consumer products, Steve Lucas , talked to Pocket-Lint about three-dimensional TV and explains why active glasses are better than passive: There will always be the type of home cinema buff who wants the ultimate viewing experience and active shutter system is the only technlogy that can offer that at the moment. It's right to have the choice available so that they can step into 3D at a level that suits their pocket. But, to have the best picture quality does require the active glasses which have a lot of technology in them. There's currently no other option for getting full HD to each eye Pocket-lint : Panasonic: Active 3D better than passive Panasonic HDC-SD90 and WW-CLT1 3D review The T3 blog has a short review of the HDC-SD90 , and mentions using it with the WW-CLT1  3D lens, a real budget solution: Connecting the 3D lens to the camcorder does take a bit of getting used to. You have to add

Canon has posted the manual for the upcoming XA10 . The camera itself is not expected to be available until March. The XA10 shares much in common with the high-end consumer camera, the VIXIA HF G10 [$1,499.00] which was announced at the same time at the XA10 . The most notable difference between the two is that the XA10 comes with a detachable handle that includes XLR inputs. The camcorder's native 1920 x 1080 CMOS sensor records 60i, 24p, PF30, and PF24 frame rates with a 10x HD video lens with an 8-blade iris (sensitivity to f/1.8) and a 35mm equivalent zoom range of 30.4mm-304mm. Other features include dual relay recording, waveform, color peaking, and zebra patterns. Canon : XA10 Product Page section Brochures & Manuals Canon: XA10 Instruction Manual [PDF] 11.5MB [ Click above link, then click the Brochures & Manuals section to access the Instruction Manual ] Amazon : Canon XA10 Professional Camcorder with 64GB Internal Flash Memory and Full Manual Control

Dashwood Cinema Solutions , a developer of 3D software solutions, will be unveiling three new Mac-based stereoscopic 3D products at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention, held in Las Vegas, NV from April 11-14. Stereo3D CAT – Fast and Flawless Camera Alignment & Analysis An on-location software calibration and analysis system that simplifies the calibration of left and right eye cameras. Equipped with a unique eyestrain warning system, Stereo3D CAT scans 3D footage and calculates the correct camera alignment points. Feedback guides illustrate the depth of the 3D shot and provide directors and cinematographers with a visual aide for making convergence adjustments and proper interaxial separation. Feature Highlights: Supports all 3D single or dual input and output modes, flip/flop left and/or right eye orientation, automatic or manual (with the new Dashwood 3D chart) disparity correction, and HIT convergence adjustment with automatic scaling Eyestrain wa

Panasonic AG-AF100 / AG-AF101 Peter Lundström at the editman blog has published his thoughts on using the AG-AF101, and compares it to the images you can get shooting with Canon DSLRs. He notes that he's having problems with getting the color right: You must be extremely careful when selecting colour temperature. Having white anything other than spot on and exposure higher than 85% will make yellow/orange to clip. It's one ugly clipping so you must avoid it no matter what. Blue, red and green are not as sensitive but watch out for yellow and orange. Under daylight balanced bulbs clipping is not bad. It clips but really nothing ugly about it. It's under tungsten one can run into problems.  In his latest post, he suspects that in bright sunlight, more ND (neutral density) might be the solution . theeditman :  Getting to know the AF101 B & H : Panasonic AG-AF100 Playing with the Phantom Flex Tom Guilmette went to Las Vegas to shoot a Ping Pong tournament, and

In addition to the User Manual (previously mentioned) there is also a Supplemental User Manual for the Sony PMW-F3K (camera plus three prime lenses) & PMW-F3L (camera only). Both can be found here (click the Resources Tab): Sony : Product PMWF3L B & H: PMW-F3K Super 35mm With 35mm, 50mm & 85mm [$18,950.00] B & H: PMW-F3L Super 35mm  Body Only [$13,300.00]

BOSFCPUG + BOSDSLR Mixer Feb 17th This event will be held at the Apple Store, Boylston St, Boston and will feature colorist Alexis Van Hurkman who will present an overview of DaVinci Resolve on Mac OS X. NotesOnVideo: BOSFCPUG + BOSDSLR Mixer; Feb 17th Sony CineAlta Production Group, meeting March 1st New York City The CineAlta Production Group meetings are organized and hosted by Sony's CineAlta Production Team, and are free and open to the public. They request that you RSVP. Location : Sony Wonder Technology Lab, HD Theater, 550 Madison Avenue, Annex ANew York, NY 10022 Date/Time :Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 7:00pm – 9:00pm Topics: Large Sensor Cameras . What is in it for you? How do they compare to HDSLRs? Juan Martinez , Senior Product Manager at Sony Electronics is currently working on the NXCAM Super 35mm camcorder and will describe the core technology of Large Sensor technology for motion picture acquisition and how it benefits you, and how this compares to HDSL

Sony has released a PDF version of the 150 page user manual for the PMW-F3K & PMW-F3L Sony : PMW-F3 Manual [PDF] Update : There is also a supplemental manual: PMWF3 Supplemental Operating Instructions [PDF]

Five Day, 20% off Sale on 8 Magic Bullet Products Red Giant is having a five day sale on eight of their products. Magic Bullet Colorista : Powerful, professional color correction right where you want it. $239.20 (Regularly $299)  Magic Bullet Denoiser : State-of-the-art video noise reduction, out of the box. $79.20 (Regularly $99) Magic Bullet Frames : Give interlaced video the look of 24p film. $159.20 (Regularly $199) Magic Bullet Grinder : Get video out of your DSLR and into Final Cut Pro, fast! $39.20 (Regularly $49)   Magic Bullet Instant HD : Crystal clear HD with one click. Now includes Resizer. $79.20 (Regularly $99)  Magic Bullet Looks : Set the mood on any timeline. $319.20 (Regularly $399) Magic Bullet Mojo : The look of a modern Hollywood blockbuster in seconds. $79.20 (Regularly $99)  Magic Bullet PhotoLooks : Your photo is worth a thousand looks -- now available for Photoshop, Aperture and Lightroom. $159.20 (Regularly $199) RedGiant : Five Days To Save

360 Degree Video   Ryan Jackson , Photojournalist at the Edmonton Journal , used four GoPro cameras to shoot a 360 degree panorama of a giant dodgeball game. It's pretty cool... Even better, in his blog he explains the step-by-step process; The short version of this story is that I shot with four GoPros, extracted still images from video, stitched the stills together into panoramas then recombined them back into video. For the much more detailed and nerdy answer read on…. Read it to find out what software he used, and how many hours - and gigbytes - of data it took to produce! RyanJacksonPhotography : Shooting 360-degree video with four GoPro HD Hero cameras Shooting 3D Underwater Want to shoot 3D underwater? Element Technica , manufacturer of 3D rigs says that its Technica 3D Neutron rig, mounted with Silicon Imaging SI-2K cameras, can now be enclosed in apurpose-built Neutron BORG 3D underwater housing system from HydroFlex. You can see a picture of it in the n

Sony Professional Europe just posted to their Facebook page that The wait is over! The PMW-F3 is now shipping and will be available at your local Sony dealer soon! No word on US availability...!

J VC Blog The Pro division of JVC has started a blog series with a " Countdown to NAB ." The first article covers live HD ENG operations and wonders if 4G broadband wireless will replace microwave. ProJVC :  NEW Live HD ENG backhaul technology as early as 2011? Steadicam Merlin Review El Skid explains why he doesn't like using the Steadicam Merlin with a DSLR, and instead prefers the cheaper Glidecam: Now, I have had some good results with the Merlin, but I finally had to concede last night that it’s simply not very good for DSLRs and I would advise against buying one for that purpose. I will add that I tried a Canon XHA1 (which features a locking pin to keep the camera set on the stage) and it worked beautifully, really well. For DSLR stabiliser uses I have to say the Glidecam is the one to get. WideOpenCamera :  STEADICAM MERLIN: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW B & H :  Glidecam HD2000 Stabilizer System [ $449.95 ] 12 Photographers - 2 Questions John Earl

The announcement on Monday of the new Canon T3i was greeted with disinterest bordering on distain by the DSLR video shooting community. What was new in this update to distinguish it from the T2i , which was announced almost exactly a year ago on February 8, 2010? Was this just a firmware upgrade in the guise of a new camera as one poster suggested? From the video shooter's perspective, the T3i doesn't look like much of an improvement over the T2i . It seems to have the same chip and image processor as the T2i , so while they've tweaked the auto modes, and added creative filters, we shouldn't expect any real image difference. One area where all Canon DSLRs suffer is in moire when capturing fine patterns. This happens because of the sampling the processor does when quickly scaling the image from the large 18 MP chip down to 1920 x 1080. For this reason, one new feature - a digital zoom - looked promising; perhaps the camera doesn't have to do as much data man

Panasonic AG-AF100 Good, Bad & Ugly Art Adams at ProVideoCoaltion writes about his experiences with the AG-AF100 on a recent shoot. In generally he likes it - particularly the video camera features not found in DSLRs - though has some problems with how it handles clipped highlights, color and noise. The AF-100 has a lot of potential, and I’d definitely go with it when the alternative is an HDSLR. Its layout and controls are familiar and it’s designed to do what it does, so it’s much faster and easier to program, judge focus and expose than an HDSLR. It also doesn’t moire like an HDSLR will. On the negative side, though, it’s still basically an HVX-200 with a larger sensor. It clips roughly the same way, which is not a good look in a large sensor camera, and it’s noisy too. The odd thing about the noise, though, is that it’s consistent throughout the exposure range: there’s no discernible change in noise between EI 200 and EI 800, and the exposure latitude doesn’t seem to be

Free Image Animation Filter for Final Cut  and After Effects Industrial Revolution has released a free iTunes- style Slideshow Generator plug-in for Final Cut Studio and After Effects . Features : Load, reorder and rename the files using the built in file browser. Select the depth of the stack, the number, the angle and even the depth of field of the display. Add round corners, soft edges and even a travelling gloss to highlight edges. Display with square or round corners, make them soft or use your own mask. Use the full XYZ camera movement & rotation to fly around the stack whilst animating. Choose the auto-animation feature or manual keyframe control to jump forward or backwards to any image in the stack. IndistrialRevolution : CoverFlux2 Flash Player 10.2 Adobe has released Flash Player 10.2. This official release adds Stage Video support: Stage Video lets websites take advantage of full hardware acceleration of the entire video pipeline. This builds on the H.264

"The Social Network" Making of Documentary on IMDB You can watch the entire 90-minute Making-of documentary for The Social Network at IMDB for free. IMDB :  The Social Network Behind The Scenes Documentary: Part One - Commencement Interview with Wally Pfister Inception cinematographer Wally Pfister talked to DP/30 about his career, how he got his start in movies, shooting IMAX and large formats, being a film holdout, the film making process, and the surprising lack of CG pieces in Inception . YouTube :  DP/30: Inception, cinematographer Wally Pfister Visual Effects "Black Swan" FX Reel A short clip shows how digital effects were used in the movie. Slashfilm :  Watch a Demo Reel of Effects From Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Black Swan’ Magic Bullet and "The Fighter" Red Giant Software talks to Josh Comen (visual effects producer) and Tim Carras (visual effects supervisor) at Comen VFX about how they used Magic Bullet Frames to de-interlace 60

Zacuto EVF Information Zacuto continues to update information about their upcoming EVF (Electronic Viewfinder.) They've now added a " Z-FinderEVF Pro " model to the existing three configurations they had previously announced. The Z-FinderEVF Pro combines the EVF Flip-Up model already announced, with a Z-Finder . This makes the product line a little more understandable: The EVF is available as two different models, one with a flip-up frame and the other without, and then you can buy both models with an included  Z-Finder . Zacuto : Z-FinderEVF The Sony E-Mount Announcement Sony's official announcement about the release of basic specifications for the " E-mount " includes the "endorsement" of the following companies: Carl Zeiss, Cosina, Sigma, and Tamron. Sony :  Sony Discloses Basic Specifications of the "E-mount" for Interchangeable Single Lens Cameras without Fee Varavon DSLR Loupes and Rigs DSLRNewsShooter has so

The next Boston Final Cut Pro User Group & Boston DSLR Meetup Group Mixer will be held on February 17th at the Apple Store, Boston. If you're in the Boston area, these events have proved to be informative, great for networking, and often have great pizza! COST: Free Admission with Registration PRIOR to Event Presenters: Peter Price, AJA Video Systems : "From Flash to Post" Interactive Workflow with KiPro Mini Alexis Van Hurkman, Colorist: "Why Resolve?" Alexis Van Hurkman, colorist and author of " Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema ," will present an overview of DaVinci Resolve on Mac OS X, from project ingest through grading and output, discussing both project workflow and grading technique. EventBrite : FEBRUARY 17TH BOSFCPUG + BOSDSLR MIXER [ UPDATED 2/10 : Added location, deleted note about possible change in date ]

Gale Tattersall is DP for the TV series House , and - in case you missed it - last year they shot the entire last episode of the season using Canon DSLRs. Gale is now a big advocate for DSLRs: So many advantages such as tighter eye lines because you can fit several 5D's into the same space as one or two conventional cameras. Cool options such as using electric lightweight helicopters that can get you stunning aireal shots at a fraction of the price. The ability to get into the tightest corners and spaces, and a million other applications. Not to mention the fact that with these small lightweight cameras our setups and turn-arounds are done at twice or three times the speed as when we use standard 35mm cameras. EOSHD has just posted an interview with Gale about using DSLRs in TV and film production. EOSHD : Interview with House Director of Photography Gale Tattersall Workshops Gale and HD DSLR Workshops is offering a series of three-day workshops in LA this year using digi

Zeiss CP.2 Lenses Richard Schleuning of Zeiss explains why being one of the last companies making a manual focus prime lens has it's advantages in video shooting. DigitalRevolutionMedia :  Zeiss CP.2 Compact Primes: An Interview with Richard Schleuning Adobe Creative Suite 5 tips and tricks Free eBook PDF Adobe has a 47 page free PDF that contains tips and tricks for exploring the creative possibilities of DSLR video editing with Adobe Creative Suite 5 software. The paper provides tips and tricks for navigating Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 , Photoshop CS5 , PhotoshopCS5 Extended , After Effects CS5 , and other CS5 components to help you along the way. Adobe : Adobe Creative Suite 5 tips and tricks [PDF] Interview with Director of Photography: Vangelis Katritzidakis Momentum Blog publishes an interview with Katritzidakis, who was DP for the Greek TV series The Island . The interview focuses on how he achieved the look he wanted using a combination of lighting and camera.

DPReview reports that Sony says it will make the "basic specifications" for the E-mount available for free to lens manufacturers and lens mount adaptors this April. Sony hasn't said what the specs extend to, but this announcement makes me even more optimistic that this means Zeiss will support the E-mount in the future (as I speculated wildly when Zeiss recently talked about future lens mounts during a presentation at Rule.) DPReview :  Sony to disclose E-mount specifications NotesOnVideo : Zeiss Lens @ Rule Boston Camera

Tiffen just sent out an announcement that the Steadicam Smoothee for the iPhone 4 is shipping, and the one for the iPhone 3Gs will be out shortly. The Smoothee is a low-cost - $180 - Steadicam for small cameras, and I have to admit that I'm curious to see how well it performs. B & H actually lists both iPhone models in stock, while Amazon says they are temporarily out of stock. B & H also lists Smoothee for the Flip , as well as different mounts (that let you switch between the iPhone and Flip ) but there's no delivery date for those yet. B & H :  Steadicam Smoothee for iPhone 4 [$179.95] B & H :  Steadicam Smoothee for iPhone 3GS [$179.95] B & H :  Steadicam Flip Ultra Smoothee Mount  [$24.95] - not yet shipping This sample video was shot using the Smoothee: Camera operator Michael Craigs is seen shooting with an iPhone 3Gs. The camera watching him shoot is an iPhone 4. 

Applying Filters to Part of a Clip This great tip from Scott Simmons at the ProVideoCoalition shows you how to apply a filter to part of a clip, and then adjust the part of the clip that it's applied to. Great tip! EDITBLOG :  Quicktips 2011 Day 07: changing FCP filters lengths partially applied to a clip Rob Imbs Final Cut Pro QuickTips Rob has put together an interesting  QuickTip on Final Cut Pro. Vimeo :  FCP Quick Tips - episode #183 Another Editing Tip I should note that I watched all of Rob's tip movie (above) going "Huh?" and "What?!" and then deciding "this isn't correct, or useful to anyone" before I got to the end and realized it was a joke! BUT, this tutorial at IncredibleTutorials is actually an article that goes into pre-production planning for editing a Final Cut Pro project. Talk First, Shoot Later; good advice for any editor. IncredibleTutorials :  Final Cut Pro Editing Starts Before the Shooting Stops – Tips

Still fighting the 3D Wars Walter Murch's (and Roger Ebert's) dismissal of 3D has not gone unanswered, and I have posted a few links to some of the pro-crowd, but here's just one more Frank Capria. FrankCapria.TV :  On Murch on 3D NotesOnVideo : 3D News Which I only included to provide some balance to the report from  Bloomberg  that glasses-free 3D TV's - which started rolling out from Toshiba late last year - sold less than than half their targeted numbers. And Sony and Samsung report that demand for their 3D screens has also been less than expected. Is the market speaking? Bloomberg :  Glasses-Free 3-D TV Sales Miss Expectations in Initial Month, Toshiba Says On The Ground In Egypt The LENS blog at the New York Times covers photography, video and visual journalism. The latest post collects together the experiences of several photographers in Egypt during the recent protests. Some very hairy stories: The moment I started photographing the crowd, they ju

It had been expected that Canon would make some announcements today, and they did; unfortunately many were hoping for a replacement for the 5D Mark II , instead Canon has announced two new low-priced DSLRs and some new lenses: Canon T3 / 1100D for $600 with a kit lens you get a 12.2 megapixel CMOS sensor, a DIGIC 4 Imaging processor, nine-point autofocus system and a 63-zone dual later metering system. BUT, full-motion video only goes to 720p; 1280 x 720 resolution. Canon T3i / 600D for $800 body only, looks to basically be a minor upgrade to the T2i ; for video shooters it notably adds a tilt-swivel LCD. It doesn't appear to do anything really new or different in the video capture department when compared to the existing T2i or 60D , though we'll probably have to wait for the reviews to confirm this. About the only thing that can be said for it is that it might make people thinking of buying the 60D for video - because of the tilt screen - look at the T3i instead. DP

Case Studies in Film Editing At the digitalFilms blog, Oliver Peters has collected together the interviews with film editors that he's written for Videography magazine. Movies covered include:  Ratatouille ,  The Bourne Ultimatum ,  No Country For Old Men and  The Dark Night . digitalfilms :  Case studies in film editing Edit to the Beat in Adobe Premiere In a Creative Cow tutorial, Richard Harrington shows how to edit a group of video clips quickly and sync them to an audio clip by using markers and the automate to sequence command in Premiere Pro . CreativeCow : Edit to the Beat CoreMelt FREE - 33 free plugins CoreMelt are offering 33 plugins from their V2 range for free, including: ImageFlow FX : Multipop Forward, Filmstrip, Carousel, Continuous Random Pan, Image Grid Pigment : Advanced Vignette, RGB Levels and Curves Gadget : Dewrinkler, Old TV CoreMelt : CoreMelt FREE!