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Friday, May 17, 2013

More Canon 5D raw news & Quick Links

Workflow video: Simple post processing of 5D Mark III RAW footage in OSX | Cinema 5D
Sebastian here has found a much more straightforward way to post process the raw files from the 5D Mark III which allows us to skip the relatively cumbersome After Effects conversion process. This new process only utilizes Adobe Photoshop’s raw import module


New 5D Raw developments – plus my low light comparison with Blackmagic Cinema Camera | Andrew Reid | EOSHD
The 4GB file size limit of FAT32 prevents continuous takes over 40 seconds currently. I asked Alex of Magic Lantern about overcoming this and he says it is perfectly possible but not a current priority. There’s a lot that comes before it – even basic stuff like assigning raw recording to a physical button. 
Wait! What? You can only record 40 seconds at the moment? How'd I miss that?



Easier 5D Mark III raw guide in 4 steps | Andrew Reid | EOSHD
For 1080p will need a 1000x speed card, preferably 64GB as some of the higher capacity 128GB cards currently have issues with lower than expected write speeds.
Mac users should use Mac Boot to prepare the card, whilst Windows users can use EOS Card. These apps are in the main zip you just downloaded. Only one download required in this guide.


Why I Don’t Care About Raw Video from the 5D | Nate Weber
| Wide Open Camera
For me, it changes nothing. I have done the magic lantern thing with my T2i, it brought an impressive array of features to a budget camera. I don’t think it really made it a good enough tool to still bring onto sets though, in 2011 or now. It’s stable for a hack but it voids your warranty and didn’t raise the quality of the video enough to validate its inherent risk.


The Rest


Adobe After Effects CC: Warp Stabilizer VFX | Adobe
A major upgrade to the much-loved Warp Stabilizer, VFX adds the ability to choose which objects within a scene get stabilized, reverse a stabilization, and preserve a scene's original scale to fix tricky shots such as aerial fly-throughs.


Editing long form with FCPX…PART ONE | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior
I came to a halt when a client had DV footage to edit as we all know FCPX does not entertain ingesting footage that was not shot on a card but you can import footage so my problem was how to get DV footage into my Mac. After extensive research I opted for a Black Magic Design board that would bring my HD footage via HDMI


Cinematographer Profile: David Kruta | IMVDb
Inspiration as a filmmaker can come from all different places. For DP David Kruta, he was able to succeed in his current career by drawing influence from his previous careers, including his time spent as a graphic designer and as a dish washer. Since his days washing dishes, David has gone on to work as a DP in the film world, the commercial world, and in the music video world with directors like Michael Lawrence, Grant Singer and Eli Stonberg.


THE HISTORY AND SCIENCE OF COLOR TEMPERATURE | FilmmakerIQ
Color can carry a lot emotional information in film – one type of information it can convey a sense of temperature. Learn about history and science behind Color Temperature. it’s application for opposite effects in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” and the Coen Brother’s “Fargo” and how you can apply them in your own productions.


New Lens Turbo NEX adapter auctions (Minolta, Canon, Nikon and Pentax). And first impression report | SonyAlphaRumors
Optically it’s better than I expected. I took a few pictures with the Lens Turbo and with a dumb adapter from the same distance, only changing the FL to get the same FOV. The images looked sharper with Lens Turbo than with a dumb adapter, though I didn’t do any measurements, so I don’t know yet if the resolution or contrast improved or the lens is simply better on the long end. 


Massachusetts Production Coalition: Legal Seminar: Saturday, May 18th
Coffee & Bagels at 9:30 AM. Seminars from 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
High Output Studios
The May 18th Legal Seminar will cover the rights, releases, licenses and agreements required by film and media makers to distribute their projects – including planning for festival and theatrical exhibition, broadcast, internet and other distribution. The panel will address legal and business issues that arise during the development and production process.The discussion will cover topics such as production contracts, copyright, trademark and rights clearances, fair use, privacy and distribution agreements among other considerations.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Quick Links

Space Monkeys, Raw Video, and Giving Us All You've Got | Prolost
One of the best looks at what's going on behind the latest Canon 5D hack:
But there’s a price to pay for recording 14-bit uncompressed raw. It requires crazy-fast CF cards, and you’ll only get 15 minutes of video on that 128 GB card, according to Cinema 5D, who graciously posted their workflow and samples, “after struggling for a day” to get it all working.


Low light test of 5D Mark III raw vs H.264 | Andrew Reid | EOSHD
The image is cleaner in low light with raw, with even exposures I rated ISO 12,800 coming out perfectly usable. I’m hesitant to say it as a matter of fact but based on my early observations the 5D Mark III seems to have surpassed the C300 as the ‘low light king’.


Friendly’s “Build Your Own Burger” Campaign Shot with Blackmagic Cinema Camera | Blackmagic
“It was my job to get the best images possible, and I couldn’t believe what the camera delivered in such an affordable and easy workflow,” he continued. “We turned it on, popped in an SSD and were recording. The camera was connected to a laptop running Blackmagic’s UltraScope software so we could monitor the image to ensure nothing was clipping.


Manfrotto 502HD Pro Video Head Review MVH502AH | Erik Naso
I quite like Manfrotto's lower-end heads and legs; you can get the 502HD with legs for just under $400. Sure they aren't as good as a Miller, but then they're almost 1/4 the price! In both cases you get what you pay for, and if you can't afford the best you have to make do...though I've heard a lot of praise for Sachtler's Ace series, which can be bought for just over $500.
This is the new Manfrotto 502 MVH502AH that has the patented Bridging Technology Ball-bearing drag system inherited from the 509HD and 504HD heads. Its much bigger than the 501 and 701 heads that have been discontinued. The 502 is considered an entry level pro fluid head by Manfrotto.


How To Bring a Cinematic Look to a Small Budget Commercial, Part 2 | Ryan E. Walters | Zacuto
The last step in our initial process is the creation of the video proposal. This is where we take all of our planning, development, and budgeting and merge it into one document that is easy to read and follow by our client. This is crucial to our process as it allows everyone to literally be on the same page.


How To Start Your Editing Business | Larry Jordan
What happens far too often is that a business is created by someone who understands one of these components really well, but doesn’t understand the other two and, hence, ignores them. This is sad, because many great ideas have died because the entrepreneur starting them didn’t take the time to get themselves started right.


Reader Question: How easy is it to steal a story? | Go Into The Story
Sure, there may be some individual or outfit who would be willing to take the risk of ripping off your idea. But that would mean (1) stealing your story idea, (2) developing it, (3) having a writer write it, and (4) get it set up somewhere. That is an arduous path. Plus there is that word: RISK. By using your idea for their project, they set themselves up for a potential lawsuit.


My Favorite Regional American Film Festivals ~Joe Swanberg | Zacuto
SF INDIEFEST – San Francisco – February
I appreciate any opportunity to spend time in San Francisco, but this Festival provides wild parties, enthusiastic audiences and a truly independent program that makes the city that much more appealing.  The main venue is in The Mission District, which borders The Castro. 

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Quick Links

Canon 5D mark III RAW vs. Blackmagic Cinema Camera RAW | Cinema5D
Lots of excitement about the announcement of RAW recording with the Canon 5D Mark III:
What became clear is that both cameras provide very similarly capable RAW files. You can adjust everything and everything is possible. You can get similar details out of the sky and set all you like in post. Color temperature, tint, dynamic range, no problem. The 5D is just as strong as the BMCC, providing maybe a bit more dynamic range.


BIG NEWS – Hands on with CONTINUOUS raw recording on Canon 5D Mark III | Andrew Reid | EOSHD
Magic Lantern have done the seemingly impossible and given us a continuous raw recording mode on the Canon 5D Mark III. Once activated in the menus the 5D Mark III becomes essentially a full frame Blackmagic Cinema Camera and amazingly mine has not yet exploded. No more short bursts of raw, this is the real thing.
Andrew has taken to Twitter to post some more enthusiastic impressions:
Only just starting to sink in how good the image is. Digital film negatives are finally here. On a 5D Mark III

The CF card and 5D3 card bay area get slightly warmer than normal, but only a few degrees. No sweat!

Low light is INSANE on 5D Mark III with raw. Makes the H.266 video mode look like a smartphone camera

H.264 video mode cannot hold a candle to raw in any light never mind ISO 12,800

Colour and tonality is utterly insane and you have full control over noise reduction. When applied, fine detail remains. Stunned by it

Biggest difference in low light is colour, followed by fine detail. H.264 is all yellow and pale in comparison to raw. 5D3 ML is a beast

Also with my candle test I get 3-4 stops more in the highlights... Easily

I cannot go back to H.264 on ANY camera now. Blackmagic was good. This is just insane new level. FS100, C300, all dead to me now

in other news...


Technicolor Case Study: Oblivion | Scribd
As one of the first studio features to use Sony’s new F65 CineAlta digital motion picture camera, Universal’s big-budget 2013 movie, Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise, created a buzz of anticipation in the production community. Producers were excited by the camera, but had to make a decision aboutwhat digital workflow to institute, including how they would handle digital dailies given the production’s particular needs.


Zeiss Touit can they be used for video? | F-Stop Academy
Zeiss has announced some new, small lenses for Sony E-Mount and Fujifilm X-Mount, but they aren't really video lenses, and they are pretty expensive...
Often with smaller compact lenses , image clarity and contrast are compromised because fewer glass elements are present. Not the case with Touit. Th edge to edge sharpness is incredible even at wider apertures. I purposely shot stiff at f2.8 to test this. The images have great clarity also and the contrast levels are exactly what I’ve come to expect from Zeiss.


HORSES FOR COURSES: HOW TO SHOOT IN FLAT LIGHT | Matt Allard
| News Shooter
It was a very cold and overcast day which made shooting conditions very difficult. When the light is very flat you need to approach the way you capture images differently. You can’t rely on the light to give you depth and contrast. Flat light and snow are a difficult combination.


The Summer Blockbuster Colour Grading Tutorial | Juan Melara
I’ve received a lot of requests to share the techniques I use to achieve the various grades on this site and on Vimeo. But by far the biggest request has been to show how I create the cool/warm look. Otherwise known as the summer blockbuster look, the teal and orange look etc. The techniques I show you also form the foundation for most of the grades on this site. 


James Wicks on Color Restoring Classic 35mm Spanish-language Movies
| Tom Parish
Jim talks about the team effort that goes into repairing each film, such as the careful cleaning, optical scanning, restoration, the color restoration process, audio, and finishing. Jim covers two examples: one from a 1951 black-and-white film, the other from a 1956 color film that looks to be nearly as grand in scale as Gone with the Wind.


Kodak Bankruptcy: Key Hearing Approaches; Company Restates Commitment to Film | The Hollywood Reporter
Per the reorganization plan, two business units will remain with Kodak: Digital Printing & Enterprise; and Graphics, Entertainment & Commercial Films. The Entertainment Imaging division resides in the later, and per the plan would remain intact with its film products.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Quick Links

Conversation Series: Blackmagic CEO Grant Petty Talks Pricing and 4K |
The Hollywood Reporter
“Too many manufacturers make products that are way too expensive or too complicated. You have to buy their service contracts … but often they are used as a way for the manufacturer to produce poor quality products and make money off the service



Quick Note: Technicolor Color Assist now supports Apple’s Final Cut X
| Vincent Laforet
A quick note to say that the Technicolor Color Assist software which is a wonderful way to quickly set a look (or color grade/correction) on the set right there on the spot (on a shoot large or small) before those drives get shipped off into never never land… is now supported by Final Cut Pro X.


9 Tips For Low Budget Indie Filmmakers | DigiMediaDude
  1. Get a committed team.  Make sure it’s a small crew and tell them that no one will get paid (at least with $$).
  2. Own or borrow equipment.  Do not rent!


Jacob Rosenberg’s Ten Rules for Filmmaking | Larry Jordan
  • A mistake is only a bad thing if you don’t learn from it
  • There’s always a solution


J.J. Abrams: On Filmmaking | BAFTA | YouTube
J.J. Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness, Lost, Super 8) fills us in on balancing intimacy with hyperreality, why TV leaves room for surprises and the best advice he's ever been given.


Easy Ways to End Copyright Confusion | the future of ink
The US Copyright law has a clause called the “Fair Use” clause.  This clause allows for the use of minimal portions of other’s copyrighted material without written permission.  This clause is very vague and can be quite confusing.  Fair use is intended to allow the quoting of material for parody, commentary, news reporting, and education.


Audio for DSLR shooters… Choosing Microphones | F Stop Academy
Learning to record audio for DSLR shooters can be challenging. The secret to recording great audio is to get the microphone as close to the subject or person you are recording as you can. However, getting a mic close is not always physically possible..


Upcoming Events


Free Webinar on Color Grading with Tiffen | Richard Harrington
May 15th 12PM EST
Learn how to approach color grading tasks from production to post. Learn important techniques about what to shoot in the field including camera profile, white balance information, and essential metadata. Then in post you'll learn how to create popular looks that clients want.


May 22nd MPC Meeting at Coolidge Corner Theatre
| Massachusetts Production Coalition
Join us for a discussion on development and financing with Boston-based feature film producers Paul Bernon, Sam Slater and Blythe Robertson, moderated by journalist and WIFVNE Board Member Shannon Mullen.


BOSCPUG & BAVUG: Boston Preview of DaVinci Resolve 10 with Alexis Van Hurkman | Boston Creative Pro User Group
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM (EDT)Boston, MA
Join us for a special joint mixer of BOSCPUG and BAVUG - featuring a special evening with writer, director and colorist ALEXIS VAN HURKMAN fresh from 2013 NABShow with the Boston Preview of DaVinci Resolve 10!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Quick Links

How We Did It: SNL "Djesus Uncrossed" | Alex Buono
I’m reading the script for the first time, thinking – “We’re supposed to shoot all of this…TOMORROW?”  The script was written by Zach Kanin and Colin Jost – two of my favorite writers at the show – and the scale of the spot was massive.  It was essentially: Ancient Rome and the Holy Land, to be shot in New York City with a few hours of scouting.


Canon EOS C100 review – an underestimated cinema camera | Cinema 5D
Here’s a camera I can truly recommend. It has no big red labels screaming things like 4K, 12bit, or 3D for that matter (that was last year’s hype), in fact it has nothing too fancy about it: It’s HD, it does 30p max and has a mediocre file compression system. But don’t be fooled by technical specs, because this camera is superb within its boundaries and a surprisingly strong, well rounded tool from top to bottom.


UPCOMING WEBINARS | Assimilate
Shooting, Color and Post with the Sony F5, F55 and F65
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - 10:00 PST
Join DP Tomas Tucker and Alex MacLean, colorist from Colorflow, as they guide you through their experience with one of the most in-depth camera tests ever of the Sony CineAlta camera family. Alex will use SCRATCH to illustrate and discuss the post-production workflows around each camera and detail his experience color grading, compositing and finishing images from all three.


Working with C300 LOG Footage in FCP7 – Plus Free LUTS | Jonny Elwyn
The other day I had to work with some C300 LOG footage in FCP7 and needed to quickly apply a LUT that would show the client what it might actually look like in the final grade. For a simple free way of doing this just grab LUT Buddy from Red Giant Software and follow the tutorial below. You can also download several free Canon C300 LOG LUTS from the great people at AbleCine.


1080P RAW Video Now Possible on Canon 5D Mark III & Real Anamorphic Shooting with the New Hack | Joe Marine | No Film School
Not only do we have news that RAW video at 24fps is possible on the Canon 5D Mark III, but we now know it’s possible to get a full 1920 x 1080 image with 1000x speed cards. The first samples were possible by cropping the image to 1920 x 820, but g3gg0 from Magic Lantern has unlocked a way to get the entire image — the full 1920 x 1080.


OPINION: WHY DAVINCI RESOLVE 10 IS SUCH A BIG DEAL | Movie Machine
The reason I’m excited is because Resolve will now feature an editor as part of the offering. The editor within Resolve has been talked abut as an Online Editor – which means to produce final pristine output, complete with titles, graded content and what effects you want to include.


Canon 5d mark III clean HDMI output compared to ALL-I in camera
| DSLR Film Noobs
The disappointing part for me is that the HDMI signal doesn’t contain audio.  I haven’t had many issues with the detail in the images provided by the 5dmkIII, but it would have been really handy to capture 4 tracks of audio with the ninja and have them all conveniently rolled into the a single clip.


John Toll, ASC Shoots IRON MAN 3 | ARRI News
John Toll, ASC recently turned his considerable talents to the cinematography of IRON MAN, Marvel Entertainment’s latest installment of the odyssey of the brash, brilliant industrialist Tony Stark. Robert Downey, Jr. returned in the title role and Shane Black directed. The movie’s box office take was the second highest opening ever for a film. For Toll, the project was memorable not least because it was his first feature film shot on digital cameras.


Audio101 - What is a Submix | FILM...SOUND...COLOR | Vimeo
that is just a basic overview ... i show you what it means to make a "submix" and how you can use that for a film mix or for a quick sound mix of an interview session with more than one interviewee. i used LogicPro for the film mix and Adobe Audition CS6 of the Interview session.




The Basics of Lighting for Film Noir from FilmmakerIQ.com on Vimeo.