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Saturday, November 19, 2011

Quick Links

SEO Tips - Film Riot's Ryan Connolly Weighs In On The Canon C300 Vs. RED Scarlet (11/19) | $4.95 Trials
Summation of Ryan Connolly's view of the two cameras:
Connolly chooses the Scarlet because:

It can shoot 4K with better resolution.
It's "future-proof," with the ability to upgrade the sensor later.


Re: Reasons to go for C300 over RED Scarlet X? | Tim Le | DVInfo
So if you ignore image resolution and total cost, lots of reasons to like the C300:
Media
- Scarlet exclusively uses RED SSD. The least expensive 64 GB drive is $950 and gets you about 25 minutes of run time.
- C300 uses off the shelf CF cards (but must meet minimum speeds). You can buy a 2 pack of 32 GB CF cards for $145. If you don't make a backup, 64 GB will get you 160 min of run time.
- Conclusion: C300 media is almost an order of magnitude more economical. If you consider cost per minute of run time, it's almost 40X more economical. RED's high performance certainly comes at a price.


PLAYBACK | Jarred Land | RedUser
Playback in-camera now available on the Epic!
And the first RED Scarlet shipped too!: RED Scarlet starts shipping for $9,750, first customer takes one home today | Engadget



S-LOG (G-LOG) for the SONY FS100 (updated) | Frank Glencairn
Frank tries to recreate the performance of S-Log on the NEX-FS100.
I was musing over S-LOG for quite a while and was wondering if something similar – or at least S-LOGish – can be achived via the PP settings. So I looked at waveforms of S-LOG files out of the F3. I tried to match them – as close as possible with the FS100. Of course that isn´t real S-LOG but if handled right, it can be quiete pleasing. Well maybe I should call it G-Log with a “G” like in Glencairn


Expert Tutorials | Sony
Sony, United Kingdom has posted a number of tutorials on cameras, Sony Vegas, Controlling Light Outdoors and Tips for Recording Great Sound.
Matt Davis has posted the first in a series of videos about the NEX-FS100, which he says will be posted at this page, but they don't appear to be there yet : NEX-FS100 In Depth: Pt 1 - Introduction


More Sony NEX-FS100 clips:
  • FS100 1080p/60fps Test | Eric Whitehead | Vimeo
    Decided to test out the full 1080p/60fps feature. Even compressed for the web it's pretty cool. The uncompressed version is obviously a lot better.

    I was shooting wide open (about 4.6/f) on the lens that comes with the FS100UK package with a Fader ND at about 1 stop. Gain was set to 0, and the shutter speed was at it's factory settings (I probably could have upped the shutter speed a bit).

  • sony lens test | Tigran Seferian |Vimeo
    Test with Sony SEL-18200

  • Customer Showcase #8 | Cinevate
    This week we have a video courtesy of Clint Regehr of CERVIDEO. Clint was fortunate enough to vacation in Tuscany recently and brought along his brand new FS100 to play with. Since Clint was going to make a promo spot for the bed-and-breakfast, he really wanted a camera that would capture it’s beauty.

  • My FS100 Test | Andrew Young | Vimeo
    Had a Sony NEX-FS100 to play with a few weekends ago. Here's some test footage I shot using various Nikon and Canon lenses that I have.


Keeping Up with the Firmware: Friday Edition | Jeff Lee | AbelCine
A look at some of the firmware updates announced or released this week, including the PMW-F3 firmware update:
Due out before Thanksgiving, version 1.20 of the F3 firmware will unlock S-LOG EI (Exposure Index) mode. While this will require users to have purchased the CBK-RGB01 4:4:4 and S-Log upgrade, EI Mode essentially allows you to shift your entire dynamic range up, allowing you to retain more highlight information compared to the standard S-Log.


Legal Music For Videos | Creative Commons
Looking for music to use in your videos? Here's some sources:
Can I use any song with a CC license on it?
Almost — you need to make sure that what you want to do with the music is OK under the terms of the particular Creative Commons license it’s under. CC-licensed music isn’t free for all uses, only some — so make sure to check out the terms (you can find these by clicking on each song’s license icon).

Most importantly, you need to use music that is not licensed under a No Derivative Works license. This means that the musician doesn’t want you to change, transform, or make a derivative work using their music. Under CC licenses, synching the music to images amounts to transforming the music, so you can’t legally use a song under a CC No Derivative Works license in your video.


Digital Movies to Replace Film by 2015 | Samantha Murphy | Scientific American
The end of film at the theater:
A report from the IHS Screen Digest Cinema Intelligence Service said that 35 mm film, which has been the dominant projection format in movie theaters for more than 120 years, is nearing the end of its life, as the majority of cinema screens in the U.S. are expected to go digital in 2012







Today's Goldbox deal at Amazon is for Trasncend SD cards







Friday, November 18, 2011

What They Said

Award winning editor Steve Audette [Frontline, Nova], speaking at last nights Pub Night at Rule Boston Camera:
A big problem that happens all the time with documentaries, is that you think you know what your story is when you go to make the documentary. You frequently find out, I would say 99% of the time, that the story is in the footage. It’s not necessarily the pre-conceived idea that you went in with.

And the truth of the story is in that footage, if you just let it be told.

Quick Links

First Look: Canon EOS C300 Cinema Camera | Barry Braverman | Studio Daily
Cinematographer Barry Braverman offers his take on the Canon C300:
More problematic for some folks may be the Canon 8-bit recording and HD-SDI output. To be fair, Canon extracts a remarkable 12-bits worth of data for each pixel, a very high level of performance that the company describes as “the best 1080p 4:2:2 implementation in the business.” Still, for most of us operating in the higher end of the industry, a ten-bit recording system like Sony’s HDCAM SR, Apple’s ProRes and Panasonic’s AVC-Intra are pretty much the norm now...


The Simplest, Fastest Interview Lighting Setup—Ever | Art Adams
| ProVideoCoalition
One light, a couple of pieces of foam core, and you're done? Lighting doesn't get much simpler than this!
Yes, it looks simple. Deceptively simple. Believe it or not, it takes a long time to learn to light so simply. There was a time when I used every light on the truck (or the van) on my shoots, but as I’ve matured the number of lights I use has dropped dramatically.

That’s very important, because it’s not enough to be able to do great work as a DP. You have to do it in a very short period of time. Creating the prettiest lighting setup in the world doesn’t help anyone if it takes so long that the director only has five minutes to get what they need. Lighting is important, but it’s not the most important thing.


Sony F3 Zoom Lens and SR-R1 Recorder | Andy Shipsides | AbelCine
Sony announced their solid-state recorder, the SR-R1 [$12,500] ages ago, but it's only just started to appear. Andy Shipsides provides a demo, along with the Sony 14-252mm zoom lens. A couple of notes about the lens; it goes from about T3.8 to T6.8, and has some extension at the front as it zooms:
This is the first of Sony’s SR Memory recording options, which utilizes the high-quality SR Codecs found previously on HDCAM SR tape. This devices is perfect for anyone working in the SR world, and is basically a much less expensive and more portable version of the SRW1 deck.
The SR Codec is explained on Sony's webspage: SR-R1 SRMemory recorder



Using the RT Fall Transition for Final Cut Pro X | Steve Martin & Mark Spencer
| Ripple Training
A falling leaves transition for Final Cut Pro X, includes instructions on how to use, as well as a link to download the transition for free. The transition may only be free for the week, so download now!



Bafta must recognise wordsmiths | James Moran | Blog
Writers aren't that important [And they are ugly and boring -Ed] so British Award show decides not to televise them.
In the main show, there are six acting awards in total. Drama and comedy shows are rightly split into single drama, drama series, mini-series, continuing drama, comedy and situation comedy.

Directing, while still hidden in the Craft awards, gets three categories – factual, fiction and multi-camera. Sound and editing get two each. But we just get ‘writer’, one award to cover the entire spectrum. What sort of message does that send?


Glidetrack SD Hybrid Slider | Glidetrack
A new slider from Glidetrack:
Following the phenomenal success of the Glidetrack HD Hybrid, we have expanded the range to include the Glidetrack SD Hybrid. Once again, the Glidetrack SD Hybrid slider system, has been developed in conjunction with Igus®. It has been designed to offer an evolution of the traditional plain Drylin carriage systems.


Vision Research unveils compact, super slo-mo Miro M110, M120 and M310 cams
| Terrence O'Brien | Engadget
The developers of the Phantom are bringing out some new cameras with all sorts of ridiculous frame rates, including 400,000fps. Prices vary, but will start at about $25,000!




Thursday, November 17, 2011

What Does That Filter Do?

Everyone knows what a Neutral Density filter does [Makes it darker - Ed], and what a UV filter does [Keeps dust off the lens -Ed], but what does a Haze filter do?

Today on "What Does That Filter Do?" we look at Tiffen's Glimmerglass.

Reading the specs, the first few seem pretty straight forward...
  • Softens Fine Details Like Blemishes
  • Adds Slight Glow to Highlights
  • Reduces Contrast
  • Minimal Highlight Flare


It's the next one that catches your attention:
  • Generates a Silver Sparkle in the Glass
A sparkle in the glass?! Well that'll look good for those "Director with the camera"shots! 
But then...
  • Brings a Psychological Edge to the Shot
  • Makes Subject Feel More Confident
I'm sorry, what?!! A filter that brings a psychological edge to the shot by making the subject feel more confident?! They offer a few more details:
The main feature of Glimmerglass is that it produces a silver sparkle in the front of the filter that makes your subject feel more confident. That sparkle adds a psychological element to the shot that makes your subject more responsive and confident that the session is going well. In that sense, Glimmerglass is as effective to look at as it is to look through.
Well, that explains that!

Quick Links

Final Cut Pro X: Version 10.0.2 release notes | Support | Apple
Bug fixes for Final Cut Pro X:
  • Fixes an issue in which a title may revert to the default font after restarting Final Cut Pro X
  • Resolves an issue that could cause files recorded with certain third-party mobile devices to play back incorrectly
  • Addresses a stability issue caused by changing the start time on a Compound Clip


Blackmagic Design adds Avid DNxHD Recording and Playback to HyperDeck Studio
| Blackmagic
An update to the inexpensive solid state recorder, the HyperDeck Shuttle, will be available at the end of November:
DNxHD is a broadcast industry standard for media files and adding native support for this compressed video format into HyperDeck Studio will allow dramatically longer recording times, lower media storage costs, and full file format compatibility with Avid Media Composer® systems. All media is recorded in MXF format, so it’s immediately available in Media Composer without any time consuming file copying or import processing.


DaVinci Resolve 8.1.1 Lite – NOT! The $995 Resolve Tax Is Gone | Patrick Inhofer
| The Tao of Color
A look at the Resolve update, and how the Lite version is no longer Lite:
Yesterday – if you wanted Resolve to play DNxHD files or render out to DNxHD – you had to buy a $500 add-on that enabled this feature. If you talked to the BlackMagic team about this ‘Avid tax’, they said were passing on the cost of the licensing – but only to those people who wanted DNxHD rather than imposing that $500 ‘tax’ on all the other people who didn’t need it.
No longer. DNxHD is now a part of every install of DaVinci Resolve – paid and free.


ARRI Releases New ALEXA Firmware 5.0 | Mitch Gross | AbelCine
Outlines the features in the firmware update:
ARRI has released the latest Software Update Packet (SUP), v5.0 for the ALEXA and ALEXA Plus cameras. All new cameras will ship with SUP v5.0 installed, and it is available as a free download from the ARRI website for all current ALEXA owners. SUP 5.0 is a major upgrade for the ALEXA cameras, with several important new features and useful improvements.


Cheap Halogen Work Lights vs Expensive Fluorescent for DSLR Video | Dave
| Learning DSLR Video
I started out with halogen work lights, then switched to tungsten lights. Now you can buy inexpensive florescent lights instead. Includes a video!:
The halogen lights give good results for a small price but they have several issues with them. They use a ton of current, this one set of lights is using about 900 watts. They also are very hot, so hot I never leave them unattended. Needless to say they are also not very professional looking. They don’t mix well with daylight because of their lower color temp.


THR's Directors Roundtable: How to Fire People, Who to Steal From, and Amy Pascal's Secret Advice | Matthew Belloni , Stephen Galloway | Hollywood Reporter
Directors Michel Hazanavicius, (The Artist), Steve McQueen, (Shame), Bennett Miller, (Moneyball), Mike Mills, (Beginners), Alexander Payne, (The Descendants) and Jason Reitman, (Young Adult), talk about directing:
Jason Reitman: I grew up in a directing family, and as I've become a working director, I've gotten the opportunity to meet a lot of directors. I always figured there'd be a piece of recognizable DNA that I'd be like, "Oh, there's that trait that I'm noticing," [but] that does not exist at all. I've met great directors who are incredibly shy, I've met directors who are arrogant, terrified of confrontation, directors who truly thrive on confrontation as a part of their process. Some directors are horrible with actors. There are tons of stories of directors who don't understand actors as human beings and yet they still get great performances.


Grass Valley Adds 3D to EDIUS | George Winslow | Broadcasting & Cable
In early December they will also make available a free 30-day trial version of EDIUS:
The new 3D support includes native support for 3D video clips captured with the most popular 3D cameras; clip pairing for synching left eye/right eye clips; 2D-to-3D conversion capability; and an array of tools on the editing timeline to make 3D adjustments.

Functions available in 2D are also supported in 3D, such as realtime color correction, keyer, transitions and multicam editing.


More Details on the Firmware Update for the Sony FS100 | Cinescopophilia
Shortly after he reviewed the NEX-FS100, Philip Bloom said that Sony told him they were going to provide a firmware update to address international frame rate support. Now that firmware seems to be approaching, and it may add a few other features:
3. Additional 4x and 8x Expanded Focus magnification: (with user selectable
focus area).
4. Selectable ISO or GAIN sensitivity display.
5. Selectable Focus indication in FEET or METRES (E-mount lens only).
6. Selectable Shutter indication as EXPOSURE TIME or SHUTTER ANGLE.


Intel demos Xeon E5 due for Mac Pro, working Knights Corner | Electronista
Oh No! Not Mac Pro rumors!!
The arrival of the Xeon E5 could end a drought for workstation processors. Apple's Mac Pro, and most other Xeon-based workstations, have had to use chips that in some cases haven't been updated since 2010. In part through Intel's timing, rumors have surfaced that Apple might axe the Mac Pro and focus all its attention on home PCs like the iMac.


Why all HDMI cables are the same, part 2 | Geoffrey Morrison | C|Net
Do you need to pay for expensive HDMI cables? Not if the cheap ones work:
Because of how the HDMI technology works, it's not possible for the cable to do anything to the picture but make it disappear. If the cable is defective, you're likely to get no picture or "sparkles," which look like white dots or snow. If you get this, return the cable; it's broken. If you're getting an image, it's exactly what your Blu-ray player or cable box is sending, 100 percent.



Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Quick Links

Sony F3 with S-LOG Shoots Ghost of Goodnight Lane | Jonny Revolt
| Creative COW Magazine
An insider's report on the first feature film to be shot on the Sony PMW-F3
The S-LOG option for the F3 also means that you can now use the dual-link 3G SDI ports on the back of the F3 to output 4:4:4 signals that capture the entire tonal range of that 35mm chip. The S-LOG option also adds a stop to the F3's standard range, for a total of 13.5 stops, about the same as the RED Epic, and very nearly as much range as Alexa, for much less money.


Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve Lite now Includes Unlimited Color Correction Nodes! | Blackmagic
This is pretty amazing. The free version of DaVinci Resolve now supports more than two color correction nodes (think of a node as an effect) per clip. Reportedly, only the first 10 are real time (possibly due to the one GPU limitation?) but this change is pretty huge; the two nodes limitation was the one big limitation of the lite version.
DaVinci Resolve Lite includes all the same high quality processing of the full DaVinci Resolve, however limits projects to SD and HD resolutions, unlimited nodes using a single processing GPU and a single RED Rocket card. Stereoscopic 3D features, noise reduction, power mastering, remote grading and sharing projects with an external database server are features only offered in the full DaVinci Resolve so are not included in this free DaVinci Resolve Lite edition.


ShrinkRay X for FCP X - Free for 1 Week | CrumplePop
I know I said I won't be using Final Cut Pro X for the foreseeable future, but the filter ShrinkRay X for Final Cut Pro X, is free for 1 week. And you can't beat free! After one week, the price will move to $75.
ShrinkRay X is a fast and powerful way to create tilt-shift effects in FCP X, so you can make big things look tiny (for instance, buildings, boats, or crowds). We've added a bunch of new features, as well as easy onscreen controls and FCP X's realtime playback.


“KING’S SPEECH” Oscar nominated Film Editor Gives Red Hot Seminar in NYC
| Awards Daily
Notes from the talk Tariq Anwar gave in New York a couple of weeks ago:
Anwar felt documentaries were great training to go on to edit feature films,”because they teach you story telling. In the end everything is story telling. That is what features are.” And features are what he is best known for now. A legend among film editors, Anwar edited “The Madness of King George”, “American Beauty” and this year’s Oscar winner “The King’s Speech” among many, many others.


5 Top Tips for Lighting on a Low Budget | Chris Thomas | Raindance
If all the world's a stage, I want better lighting!
3) Conceal
Make sure you have heatproof material such as ‘black wrap’ and aluminium flags for shaping the light and blocking unnecessary ‘spill’


Red Tactical Battle Armor, Try Matching This Canon | Cinescopophilia
Pictures and video of the RED Tactical Battle Armor, a housing to protect the camera.



Free Canon Live Events Presenting the Canon EOS System, Hollywood | DV.com
For those lucky enough to be in Hollywood, a couple of events focused on the Canon C300:
NOVEMBER 17, 2011, 7PM - 9PM
Dana Christiaansen, Director of Photography on Sam Nicholson, ASC's short, "XXIT," will discuss his experiences with the EOS C300 on the set of this visual effects and green screen heavy production.
DECEMBER 1, 2011, 7PM - 9PM
Michael Cioni, of Light lron, will give insights on EOS C300 workflow that he gleaned from his experience on the short film, "Sword," directed by Felix Alcalá and Larry Carroll.


Rebate on Sony PMW-F3 | B & H
There's an $800 rebate being offered on the Sony PMW-F3 through December 31st. This brings the price of the body only down to $13,160.00 and the body with the three PL lenses to $19,090.00.





Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Final Cut Pro X: Only for the latest and greatest

Though I bought Final Cut Pro X on the day of release, I have to admit that I haven't really done much with it since. I spent a little time experimenting with the new features (particularly editing DSLR footage without first transcoding) when I first installed it, and while it was interesting, I found it a bit disorienting. After that initial playing, each time a project came up I ended up editing it in Final Cut Pro 7 or Premiere Pro. Mostly it's an issue of familiarity and comfort; I know I can get it done in FCP 7, and how long it will take. Why risk using something else when you have a deadline?

But yesterday I wanted to edit together a demo reel, and I wasn't in a hurry. And I thought it would be a great experiment to actually edit a real project in Final Cut Pro X because there was a mix of formats, and the editing was very simple.

And after spending the afternoon playing with Final Cut Pro X I've come to the following conclusion: it might be okay on the latest Mac, but on my three year old MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard it's a dog!

I imported the eight clips into the project and tried to start editing right away (not letting it complete it's background rendering) and found that:

  • Performance was slow and jerky. Trying to select clips and drag them into the Project was close to excruciating.
  • It dragged down the performance of everything else. When I interrupted editing to go do something else on the computer, the whole machine ran incredibly slowly. This was a continuing problem during the entire exercise
  • The Share Export option is unbelievably slow: Finally getting the edit done, I tried to use the Share option to export the six minute final movie. Big mistake. Close to three hours later it was still going. I ended up quitting that and just exporting the movie at the resolution of the timeline, then recompressing in another app.

Now yes, I'm running this on an older MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard with 4GB of memory. Not exactly the latest and greatest. But if Final Cut Pro X isn't supposed to be a Pro app (as some claim) then why does it need a Pro machine to get halfway decent performance?! And this was a tiny project with very few clips or edits.

In conclusion, until I upgrade my machine, I'm going to have to leave Final Cut Pro X alone.

Quick Links

Rough Guide to DSLR Video ( Beginner / Intermediate ) | Ben Edwards
| IContactVideo
A very good overview and introduction to shooting video with DSLR for those new to the topic:
The main reasons people like DSLRs are:
The footage they produce looks great. I have a Sony Z1 (£2000) and the stuff I have shot on a Canon 550D (£500) looks as good if not better. The colours are vivid and the depth of field is nice and shallow (see Depth of Field section).


Sale: Red Giant Quick Looks 90% Off - Only $11! Celebrate 11/11/11 | Tollfarm
Sale ends today on Red Giant Quick Looks:
Quick Looks sets the mood for your footage in seconds, whether it’s a urban grunge, a desert sunrise, or the film stocks used in classic movies. Quick Looks is a lite version of Magic Bullet Looks, giving you the same speed and creative options but at a lower price. You can easily define the style of your video or film by choosing from 100+ look presets that add color and light to every scene, from a wedding event to the next Sundance original.


Introducing the Sony F65 | AbelCine | Event
Abel Cine is hosting the East Coast debut of the Sony F65 in New York, Tuesday Nov 22 from 6-9pm:
The evening will begin with an overview of the F65 and a discussion of the new advancements in the camera’s sensor design, including its amazing 8K resolution and increased color space.
This will be followed by a live camera demo and presentation of the F65’s key features. A workflow presentation will show the flexibility of the system and the support of third party manufacturers. The evening will conclude with a panel discussion featuring the evening’s presenters, as well as representatives from the post-production community.


Roger Deakins ASC BSC interview on In Time, directed by Andrew Niccol and due for release later this year.. | British Society of Cinematographers
An interview with Deakins about this film, which was shot with the Arri Alexa:
The second time I met with Andrew I was testing the camera and I had it in mind but I wasn’t sure, I wanted to get a better sense of what the film was before I suggested going digital. There is the idea of these two looks of the ghetto and the wealthy part of town, one was raw one was artificial and I thought the camera was a perfect choice for that as you can stretch it that way. It’s funny because the first question Andrew asked when we met was ‘you still shoot on film don’t you?’ and I said yeah I’ve only ever shot film, though I was keeping an eye on what was developing on the digital side of things. After meeting with him a few times I asked him to come to Deluxe to view some stuff I had shot on the Alexa. After the screening I asked what he thought and he seemed to be sold straight away.


Masters In Motion – Day One | Clint Milby | KesslerU
Short report on the first day of the Masters In Motion event:
The first day of Masters In Motion has wrapped! With speakers like Tom Guilmette, Joe Simon, and Philip Bloom, there’s now way anyone there didn’t walk away with some great stuff to take into their own filmmakingprojects.


Shooting Video On A DSLR Or Compact System Camera | Here's How
You can download the Vol. 10 No. 4 issue of HERE'S HOW! for free. It includes this article:
“Holy crap.”That was Laurie Few’s reaction when she saw the first video footage shot by Kirk Neff on a Nikon D7000 DSLR. Few is the executive producer for GlobalTelevision’s documentary show 16x9; Neff is the show’s award-winning director of photography.

Last season, 16x9 aired a segment about a young man who had lost both arms in an industrial accident, but was still managing to live a full life, including playing hockey.It was a compelling story,and Neff wanted a different look than he’d get with a conventional electronic news-gathering (ENG) video rig.


Read All About the History of Editing in this New eBook | Scott Simmons
| StudioDaily
Two new eBooks that cover the history of video edting, from 1898 to 1988, and 1988-2000.
It gives an insight into the development of CMX, Montage, Final Cut Pro, Avid, EMC, Media 100, EditDroid, Lightworks, D-Vision, iMovie, in:sync, Premiere, Ediflex, ImMIX, Link, and many other systems for the first time.
Amazon: Timeline [$4.99]
Amazon: Timeline 2 [$4.99]



Amazing Stop-Motion Music Video Made Using 920 Colored Pencils | Michael Zhang | PetaPixel
Another amazing stop-motino music video; this time with pencils! There's a link to a behind-the-scenes video too.



Sony Demonstrates New Closed Captioning Viewing and Audio Playback for Cinemas at ShowEast 2011 | DCinemaToday
Last month Sony showed new closed caption viewing and audio playback for hearing and visually impaired patrons.
This prototype technology, to be named Entertainment Access Technology, includes specially designed eyewear and a receiver with the capability to use headphones for the hearing impaired for the descriptive audio tracks. Deaf and hard of hearing consumers can use the glasses to view caption data and enhance their movie-going experience. The caption system is capable of providing a choice of up to 6 languages for playback and is driven by a wireless transmitter, and it is adaptable for 3D.


Redcine X Pro Tutorial Part 0 - The Basics | ItsNotFlare | YouTube
A quick video tutorial on setting up Redcine x Pro (beta 5) to process Red One, Epic, or Scarlet Footage.





Monday, November 14, 2011

Events in Boston this week

Tuesday Nov 15 6:30pm - 9pm
BAVUG - The Powderhouse Punch
At the Boston Avid Users Group meeting Rob Kirwan of Powderhouse Productions discusses how Powderhouse grew up with Avid and how they use Avid products such as Media Composer, Symphony and Interplay in their current setup and workflow. He will also touch on how the products have changed production models, business, etc.
Registration page: Eventbrite


Wednesday Nov 16 10am - 12noon
Rule Boston Camera - COMPLETE HIGH-PERFORMANCE STUDIO SOLUTION
Sony introdcues the HXC-D70 2/3" CMOS studio camera system and the MCS-8M compact audio video switcher - perfect for the small entry-level studio set-up in terms of both design and budget.
RSVP to events@rule.com


Wednesday Nov 16 7pm - 9:30pm
BOSFCPUG - Inside the Cutting Room: Sam O’Steen and the Editing of “The Graduate"
Join BOSFCPUG and renowned author BOBBIE O'STEEN ("Cut to the Chase," "The Invisible Cut") for an in-depth discussion of the editing on Mike Nichols’ THE GRADUATE. Bobbie - who was married to and worked with the movie’s legendary film editor SAM O'STEEN - takes the audience through each stage of the film, from novel to preview.
Registration Page: Inside the Cutting Room


Thursday Nov 17 Pub Night 6pm - 8pm
Rule Boston Camera - DOCUMENTARY EDITING WITH STEVE AUDETTE
Join award-winning documentary editor, Steve Audette as he shares his personal thoughts and inspiration throughout the creative process of editing documentaries for broadcast.
RSVP to events@rule.com




Adobe

Awesome video of the day!

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS | Vimeo

Okay, it's really a timelapse, but it's pretty amazing, So this is what the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey was all about!


Time lapse sequences of photographs taken by Ron Garan fragileoasis.org/​bloggernauts/​Astro_Ron and the crew of expedition 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from August to October, 2011, who to my knowledge shot these pictures at an altitude of around 350 km with a high ISO HD Camera developed by NHK Japan, nicknamed the SS-HDTV camera.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Quick Links

5D Mark II Firmware 2.1.1 | CanonRumors
Another update on a firmware update, this time with details, but the update is still not actually available anywhere to download! No noted change in video performance.



Q&A | 07. { WHITE BALANCE & KELVIN } | Casey L. Warren | Blog
Turn off Auto White Balance and learn about all things Kelvin:
4. Keep things consistent.
To me, I focus less on getting the whites balanced and more on overall color balance & consistency. If you are shooting a narrative, then focus in on the people. If you are shooting a product demo video, the focus is on the product -- make sure that the focus of what you are shooting is kept consistent throughout different lighting environments in the piece. For example, if you were to make a brochure for the Canon 5d mark II, you would want to make sure that the black color of the camera is kept consistent in daylight, indoor, mixed, etc, etc lighting environments, and you can do this with Kelvin.


Interview with Canon Managing Director Mr. Maeda | Jon Fauer | Film And Digital Times
And interview with Mr. Masaya Maeda, Canon’s Managing Director and Chief Executive of Image Communication Products Operations:
Q: When you were designing this camera, did you say, “Okay, we need a camera that shoots in really low light”? Was that an early important feature?

A: Yes, from the very beginning. But I do believe that we can still improve on our sensitivity. What we would like to truly target is shooting a crow in the middle of the night. And maybe, some day, the black spots on the sun.


Logitech gives up on Google TV | Jared Newman | PCWorld
Logitech loses money on their GoogleTV product, and decides to get out of that business for now:
So it’s no surprise that Logitech is running away from Google TV. Current CEO Guerrino De Luca didn’t rule out returning to the platform eventually, but for now De Luca said Logitech plans to sit “on the bench,” according to The Verge. A “grandchild of Google TV” may have a chance at success in the future, De Luca said.


5 Lessons on Doc Interviews | Heather McIntosh | MasteringFilm
Lessons drawn from the documentaries of Errol Morris:
2. Be prepared for equipment failure.
Being prepared is good advice, and equipment failure caused one of Morris’s more interesting interviews in The Thin Blue Line. Instead of a camera, we see an audio cassette recorder, which plays Harris’s confession to the murder. This scene caused some speculation about Morris’s intentions, but it actually was due to equipment issues. The end result, though, is an iconic scene and an important moment.




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