Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Upgrading Without Tears — Moving from MC4 to 5

Upgrading Without Tears — Moving from MC4 to 5: I received an email from an editor recently, a long-time Avid user, which started more or less like this: “I’m using MC5 on a TV series. But I really don’t like it. And the other editors on the show all have the same impression.” He went on to explain how much he dislikes the FCP...

Using Shared Media with Final Cut Pro X

Using Shared Media with Final Cut Pro X: Untitled Image.pngFinal Cut Pro X organizes your media differently from previous versions of the software. Instead of storing references to media files from arbitrary locations on your disk, your FCPX projects refer to a disk-level Events Library. This lets FCPX keep really impressive metadata and automate tedious organizational tasks, but it can complicate your workflow if you're dealing with many unrelated video projects or working with other editors.

Understanding Log Grading

Understanding Log Grading:
In the last post, we discussed what log is and why it’s used in digital cinematography cameras. Now we’re going to look at exactly how it’s implemented and what you should know about how to deal with log coded images.
The easiest way to explain what’s going on is to do it graphically. If we take a “standard” image, one that looks proper to the eye, and plot the input values along an “x” axis and the output values along the “y” axis, the input values would equal the output values, creating a straight line on the graph. Here is that plot as a starting point.



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Monday, September 26, 2011

Let Mac users either use Wi-Fi or Ethernet

Let Mac users either use Wi-Fi or Ethernet:
If you manage Mac OS X clients, it can be a challenge to manage laptops with access to external Wi-Fi or ethernet networks.
For many companies it is important that their laptop users can access external networks for email and Internet access (e.g. at home, in the hotel or at a customer’s site) or because they need to access your customer’s server while they are on-site.
This means that most likely you let your users add network settings on their own.

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Automatic Duck's Wes Plate Joins Adobe | Studio Daily

Automatic Duck's Wes Plate Joins Adobe | Studio Daily
Automatic Duck co-founder Wes Plate is jumping to Adobe, joining the product marketing team to help improve compatibility between Premiere Pro and other apps that use the AAF and OMF project interchange formats. Plate's father, company co-founder Harry Plate, will help him with that task while continuing to support other Duck partner companies.

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Broadcast Television Series Post Production

Broadcast Television Series Post Production:
The explosion of digital camera formats has given producers an unprecedented variety of choices for shooting scenes: Flip Phones, iPhones, Canon D5 and D7 cameras, Panasonic P2 and AVX-HD cameras, Arri Alexa, Sony F3 and numerous others, each with its own unique CODEC. Unfortunately, this variety can create a whole new range of headaches when its time to ingest the footage into non-linear editing systems. PPD has experience with all these formats and can work with clients to find solutions to their digital workflow challenges.

Case Study: RISE – a High-Speed Film in Stereo 3D at 2000fps

Case Study: RISE – a High-Speed Film in Stereo 3D at 2000fps: By Nicolas Henri Sieber, Kamerawerk At Kamerawerk we have a tradition of shooting our own projects to advance our skills and create state-of-the-art showcases for our clients. We aim to demonstrate what is technically and creatively possible, so when I...

Video Inspection Tools

Video Inspection Tools: If you get lots of strange formats and weird incompatibilities you've likely used a video inspector app before, maybe VideoSpec or Media Inspector.

Open Source Alternatives To Photoshop

Open Source Alternatives To Photoshop:
Sptember 26, 2011
by: skyje
One of the benefits of editing software is that you can take an image or media file and edit it through Photoshop, one of the most popular sources for editing and design. The one big problem with this software is the cost. If you want to get a basic Photoshop program, it could cost you in the ballpark of a couple hundred dollars. You can get a low end computer for that price. This article is for those who want to do some editing, but don’t want to shell out exorbitant amounts of cash. Here’s a list of some of the top open source software alternatives to Photoshop that would make an excellent addition to any virtual office:

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Sunday, September 25, 2011

What Log Is…….And Isn’t

What Log Is…….And Isn’t:
With the rapid success of the Arri Alexa, the continuing evolution of Red (specifically its deployment of the RedlogFilm gamma curve), and the use of log curves in things like the Sony F3 and Technicolor’s Cinestyle curves for Canon DSLR’s, I thought it might be a good time to talk about exactly what log is and is not, specifically in the context of digital images.

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Scratch video tutorials 1-15


Scratch video tutorials 1-5
  • Output Node
  • Red Meta Data
  • Cleaning up human complexions
  • Using dissolves to animate color effects
  • Paint out visual effects using texture layers

Scratch video tutorials 6-10
  • Using scaffolds to shape the lighting of a scene
  • Tips for getting the most out of the tracker
  • Using recursive scaffolds for creative effects
  • How to make a monochromatic silver look
  • Reverse Assemble

Scratch video tutorials 11-12
  • Surrealistic Skin Tones
  • Scratch Roundtripping with Media Composer

Why is it so hard to convert FCP 7 XML to FCP X XML?

Why is it so hard to convert FCP 7 XML to FCP X XML?
I was a little shocked to find people posting on Twitter and Facebook that they had tried to import Final Cut Pro 7 XML into Final Cut Pro X with the new “import XML”. That would be like opening a Word document and complaining that it didn’t translate from Spanish to English while opening the file.

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Saturday, September 24, 2011

ACES - Academy Color Encoding Specification

ACES - Academy Color Encoding Specification:
The ACES system has been created by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science technology committee in order to achieve a more accurate color pipeline, regardless which camera you are using.
ACES-gamut-300x400
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Adding a Transciption in YouTube

Adding a Transciption in YouTube
A while back I wrote about adding Captions in YouTube. It's a pretty straight forward process, though you have to put in start and stop times for each piece of text, which can be quite a lot of additional work.

Project X27 (10 to 7) - XML from FCPX to FCP7, Premiere, Color and more!

Project X27 (10 to 7) - XML from FCPX to FCP7, Premiere, Color and more!:
At LAFCPUG’s special meeting at DV Expo, Assisted Editing showed a new project called "Project X₂7 (10 to 7)" which lets you easily convert a Final Cut Pro X XML to Final Cut Pro 7! This is what Philip Hodgetts, whose day job is at Assisted Editing, wrote about this app:
"Project X₂7 (10 to 7), (...) takes the brand new FCP X Project XML export and converts it through a simple drag and drop applet to FCP 7. FCP 7 sequence XML is generated and loaded directly into FCP 7.
This allows you to take your FCP X timeline (Project) to FCP 7 or directly to Color, Adobe Premiere (and via dynamic link to After Effects) or other FCP 7 XML workflow."

Friday, September 23, 2011

Final Cut Pro 10: “There’s a Third Party App for That!”

Final Cut Pro 10: “There’s a Third Party App for That!”
There a great new article on Post Magazine’s website which you should read in its entirety. There’s some interesting statements in there about Apple’s thinking as they released and are now updating the software. Here are some of my takeaways from the article:

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Sonnet's Echo Express PCIe 2.0 Uses Thunderbolt to Power Portable RED Workflows

Sonnet's Echo Express PCIe 2.0 Uses Thunderbolt to Power Portable RED Workflows: Another Thunderbolt-enabled device is almost ready for Prime Time, this time part of a go-anywhere RED workflow. Sonnet announced today that it participated in a technology demo with RED Digital Cinema during IBC in Amsterdam earlier this month that will bring 4K RGB playback and real-time transcoded R3D files to any new Mac computer, including laptops....

Magic Bullet Looks Color Grading Tutorials: Introduction

Magic Bullet Looks Color Grading Tutorials: Introduction: Learn how to give your films a cool stylized look the same as is done in Hollywood. In this color correction / color grading tutorial I give a brief introduction of what Magic Bullet Looks 2 is and the concept it uses in creating looks.
Watch Tutorial

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Lion King 3D: in-depth with Disney

The Lion King 3D: in-depth with Disney:
The Lion King 3D: in-depth with Disney
Lionking3d_featured
At fxguide, Disney stereographer Robert Neuman discusses his work for the 3D conversion of The Lion King, recently re-released in cinemas. The project involved unarchiving the original Disney CAPS files, and the creation of an entire depth score for the film.

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RED CEO teases 4K 3D laser projector, bound for theaters and (millionaires') homes

RED CEO teases 4K 3D laser projector, bound for theaters and (millionaires') homes: Red LogoWe all love RED -- the company puts out some of the best pro-quality digital video cameras on the market. But, what about the other side of that equation? All of that 4K footage is worthless without something to watch it on. CEO Jim Jannard, notorious for his ability to build hype and mystery, took to the REDUser Forums to tease some details about an upcoming 4K, 3D laser projection system that will be targeted at both homes (presumably well off ones) and theaters. Details about the projector are still scarce, but we do know it won't be using TI's 4K DLP chip, and that it will rely on passive 3D tech rather than active, which Jannard said "landed in the La Brea Tar Pits." The image is apparently so bright and clear that it left Stephen Pizzo, co-founder Element Technica, "speechless." We just have one question: when can we expect our review unit?

Fraunhofer Presents Light Field Camera Research

Fraunhofer Presents Light Field Camera Research: It’s not the camera that makes the picture, but the cameraman. Now, it can be creatively reworked after taking the picture with software by changing the depth of field and angle of view. Secondly the computer calculates the original quality

FOR-A to Showcase Award-Winning Archival System at Digital Asset Management Conference

FOR-A to Showcase Award-Winning Archival System at Digital Asset Management Conference:
image
FOR-A Corporation of America, a leading manufacturer of video and audio systems for the broadcast and professional video industries, will showcase its LTR-100HS Video Archive Recorder at Createsphere’s Digital Asset Management Conference, being held from September 22nd to 23rd at The New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan (Booth #206). The recorder supports LTO-5 technology, the latest standard in long-term, high-capacity tape storage, to provide an effective archive solution. The LTR-100HS utilizes FOR-A’s media asset management platform called Media Concierge, creating a combination of LTO tape technology and FOR-A’s baseband and MXF file technologies. This enables an easy transition for video content into a file-based storage system architecture.

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Film Look: Technicolor CineStyle v.s. Marvels Cine

Film Look: Technicolor CineStyle v.s. Marvels Cine:
In this video The DSLR Film Noob compares Marvels’ Cine Picture and Canon & Technicolor’s CineStyle color correction using DSLR footage.


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Post Production: Did Everything Change in Post? : Apple FCPX or Not: The Debate

Post Production: Did Everything Change in Post? : Apple FCPX or Not: The Debate
It's been five months since the "big sneak peek," and three months since "everything changed in Post." I was asked recently, "So where do we stand now? What's everyone doing?" Well from where I'm sitting and the conversations I'm having with many Final Cut Pro folks in the industry, there are three camps forming within the Post industry.

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Panasonic AVCCAM Importer for FCP 7 Now Available

Panasonic AVCCAM Importer for FCP 7 Now Available:

Panasonic has now released the AVCCAM Importer software that was announced at NAB 2011. This Final Cut Pro 7 plug-in allows you to edit AVCCAM (Panasonic’s variant of AVCHD) footage directly, without having to run it through Log and Transfer first. Previously, you would have to transcode AVCCAM footage to ProRes before working with it in FCP 7, but now you can work directly off the .mts files from the camera. This software also allows you to use QuickTime to view the AVCCAM footage, so even if you’re using Final Cut Pro X (which has native support for AVCHD), this will add AVCHD playback to QuickTime.


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Introducing Post Haste

Introducing Post Haste:
We're pleased to announce our newest product, Post Haste for Mac. Post Haste is a tool for organizing your projects. Everyone has their own way of structuring project folders on their hard disk. Post Haste simplifies this by allowing you to assign folder templates for different project types or scenarios, such as editing, visual effects and motion graphics.
When you start a new project, launch Post Haste and enter a few details about the project such as the project title, client name and the name of the editor. Choose a template and the directory you wish to place the new project folder into and click Create Project. Post Haste will copy the contents of your template into a new folder for that particular project. It's a big timesaver.


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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Full Details: Apple Updates Final Cut Pro X – Larry’s Blog

Full Details: Apple Updates Final Cut Pro X – Larry’s Blog
About two hours after Apple updated Final Cut Pro X to version 10.0.1, earlier today, I was in a meeting with key Apple product marketing folks to discuss the new features. Let me share with you what I learned.

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The Most Wicked Optical Illusion I've Seen So Far

Promo Scape Accelerates Editing and Authoring with Facilis TerraBlock

Promo Scape Accelerates Editing and Authoring with Facilis TerraBlock: Promo Scape editing, motion graphics, DVD and Blu-ray authoring house in Melbourne, installed a Promo-scape-facilis Facilis TerraBlock SAN last year for faster more flexible shared storage.
Promo-scape-facilis

Sorenson Squeeze Server 1.5 Transcodes with Adaptive Bitrate Support

Sorenson Squeeze Server 1.5 Transcodes with Adaptive Bitrate Support: Sorenson Squeeze Server 1.5 transcoding system now works with three major adaptive bitrate Sorenson-squeeze-server-1_5 streaming platforms - Adobe Dynamic Streaming, Apple HTTP Adaptive Streaming and Microsoft Smooth Streaming.
Sorenson-squeeze-server-1_5

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The Rise of the Previs of Planet of the Apes

The Rise of the Previs of Planet of the Apes:
The Rise of the Previs of Planet of the Apes
Apesprevis_featured
The digital simians in Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of Apes represent breakthrough performance capture work by Andy Serkis and incredible VFX tech via Weta Digital. To help in the planning effort for the effects-heavy film, a bevy of previs artists tasked with literally choreographing just about every shot featuring a digital ape. fxguide talks to Image Engine and Pixel Liberation Front, two of several studios involved in the previs.

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Christie show 60 frames per second 3D for the first time

Christie show 60 frames per second 3D for the first time: Christie's Solaria Series CP2230 projector showed the 60fps 3D with a combination of other currently available products like the RealD XL Cinema System and International Datacasting’s SuperFlex Pro Cinema Event PlayerChristie used the occasion of ‘The IBC Big Screen’ theatre screenings at RAI Amsterdam last week to show what is believed to be the world’s first mass-audience demonstration of a 3D High Frame Rate (HFR) D-Cinema system using a single projector.

Editor's Technique Infographic

Editor's Technique Infographic:
There are many infographics out there, but none for film editors. So I teamed up with Nina from Nina's EDL and created one. Enjoy!


Nonlinear editors

Nonlinear editors
These are heady days for high-end nonlinear editing system providers. But, we may have recently lost one of the biggest players in the game.

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A quick note on the Final Cut Pro X XML format

A quick note on the Final Cut Pro X XML format:
Apple released a Final Cut Pro X update today which added several much-needed features, one of which was XML import and export. I've seen a lot of confusion on Twitter so I'm going to clarify some terminology.

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Check your APP Store update for FCP-10, Motion-5 and Compressor.

Check your APP Store update for FCP-10, Motion-5 and Compressor.: Just by chance I was looking at an Apple APP when I noticed I had two updates, I opened them up to discover the first major update to FCP-10 and Motion 5.

עדיין אין מולטיקאם
עדיין אין OMF לסאונד
עדיין אין הורדה/דגימה ממקורות חיצוניים

ProRes Codecs now a free download

ProRes Codecs now a free download:
Apple has released the ProRes Codecs as a free download for Mac QuickTime here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1396

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Monday, September 19, 2011

Color grading and finishing in Premiere Pro CS5.5 | PremierePro.net

Color grading and finishing in Premiere Pro CS5.5 | PremierePro.net
Speed up your color grading and finishing!
This video tutorial teaches how to do primary, secondary and some pretty advanced color correction in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5. You’ll learn how to create masks for color correctioninside of Premiere Pro, and to tweak parts of the image without affecting others. You’ll learn how to use Jarle’s Grading Tools (a collection of useful presets) to speed up your own color grading workflow.

RT@AvidAsstEditor
Don’t like the frame displayed in the Bin with Frame view? Click on the frame & hold KL or KJ to find what you like, then let the keys go!

Cross-Platform, Multi-NLE, Tape-Less Transcoding Workflow Tips

Cross-Platform, Multi-NLE, Tape-Less Transcoding Workflow Tips:
If Workflow is the Answer, then it’s one hell of a Question…!
For a very long time post production workflow has been built upon consistencies - consistent delivery, consistent format, consistent platforms, consistent tools, consistent viewing environments. But then along came a veritable tsunami of digital detritus that washed ashore - in a very short span of time - a greater diversity of tools, formats, platforms and systems that all previous years put together.
And with that diversity came new expectations. Too often unrealistic expectations born of ignorance, but none the less a seismic shift in what was expected of production, the tools and the personal skill-sets that make it all happen.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Lightworks Announcement, 8th September 2011 - EditShare

Lightworks Announcement, 8th September 2011 - EditShare
Almost one year ago we released the first beta version of Lightworks as a free download in the first phase of our journey towards Lightworks Open Source. A lot has happened since then and we are now ready to announce the next steps in the evolution of Lightworks.

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Canon DSLR’s: My Favorite Picture Profiles

Canon DSLR’s: My Favorite Picture Profiles:

Introduction

With the introduction of the new Cinema Picture Profile, I wanted to do a quick post on MY favorite picture styles as well as how to use/install them. Picture Profiles/Styles (PP) are meant to optimize the dynamic range in the image. One of the hardest parts about them though is picking the right one for the right job. I find that it all depends on shooting conditions and final output.

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Friday, September 16, 2011

Canon go to Hollywood on the 3rd of November 2011

Canon go to Hollywood on the 3rd of November 2011:
Here we are again…are Canon going to finally announce its long overdue large sensor camcorder, who knows but one things for sure, going by Canon’s recent record if they do enter this marketplace it’s not going to pussy foot about like Sony and Panasonic, you will see a camcorder with… 1. 4:2:2 10 bit [...]

Thursday, September 15, 2011

How to Use Your Laptop as a Free External Monitor for Your Canon DSLR

How to Use Your Laptop as a Free External Monitor for Your Canon DSLR:
by nofilmschool.com
I’ve been doing a number of interviews and filming self-shot videos as part of my attempt to make my first feature film. I’ve used a number of external monitors with my 5D Mark II in the past but I don’t actually own one myself, so I haven’t been able to see the rear LCD while I’m standing in front of the camera. But as I was shooting an interview with NextWaveDV’s Tony Reale today, he mentioned that I could use the free bundled EOS Utility software to monitor the camera’s output over USB with my laptop. As the author of The DSLR Cinematography Guide, it seems stupid that I didn’t know this, but I’d either forgotten (very possible, as my brain is quite frazzled these days running the campaign) or I’d never tried it in the first place. It’s the cheapest way to get an external monitor (since it costs nothing):



HP’s $729 27-Inch IPS Panel Hits a Sweet Spot

HP’s $729 27-Inch IPS Panel Hits a Sweet Spot:
HP ZR2740W IPS display
The most intriguing news from HP this week is the introduction of the ZR2740w display, a $729 27-inch IPS panel with native resolution of 2560×1440 pixels. It’s not a DreamColor display, but it also doesn’t cost $2500. HP is aiming the affordable ZR2740w, as well as more modest IPS panels in 24-inch, 21.5-inch, and 20-inch configurations, directly at the animation, broadcast, design, and game development markets.
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E-Watcher - a new plugin for Final Cut Pro 7 that tracks your files and folders!

E-Watcher - a new plugin for Final Cut Pro 7 that tracks your files and folders!:
E-Watcher is a Final Cut Pro 7 plugin for Mac OS X that tracks folders that you specify, making content and changes available in your FCP browser: "with e-Watcher you don’t need to search for files, they come to you!".



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YouTube Blog: Edit your videos with YouTube

YouTube Blog: Edit your videos with YouTube: Until now, when you uploaded to YouTube, your video was hosted and shared, but couldn’t really be changed. If you wanted to trim off the end...



Is Google getting in on the post production game?

MOG Announces mxfSPEEDRAIL ProRes Support

MOG Announces mxfSPEEDRAIL ProRes Support: (Maia, Portugal--September 14, 2011) MOG technologies, the leading supplier for centralized ingest solutions, announced that mxfSPEEDRAIL S1000, the company’s SDI/HD SDI recording system, now supports the Apple ProRes codec. The addition of ProRes compatibility allows mxfSPEEDRAIL customers to seamlessly integrate the codec into their workflows while enjoying the great flexibility of mxfSPEEDRAIL.

Thunderbolt Coming to Windows PCs Courtesy Acer and Asus

Thunderbolt Coming to Windows PCs Courtesy Acer and Asus:
Thunderbolt logo
The other shoe dropped on the Thunderbolt front today as Intel used the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco to demonstrate the high-speed I/O protocol running on a Windows 7-based Ultrabook prototype. Molly Eden, Intel’s VP and general manager for the PC client group, used Thunderbolt as part of a keynote pitch for Ultrabooks, a catch-all term for an upcoming breed of notebook computer (Intel uses the term mobile device) that seems to take its inspiration from the ultralight but generously powered MacBook Air.

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doremi dcp creation plug-in for fcp

doremi dcp creation plug-in for fcp: Click the pic or here for the PDF. It’s good to know that while FCP may be dead to me, at least it’s not going to be totally useless. Doremi has produced a DCP creation plug-in which is advertised to create 2K, 4K and 3D DCP files directly from your FCP timeline. Costs 950 bucks, [...]

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Rumor: Canon 4K S35 Video Camera Announcement By November 2011.

Rumor: Canon 4K S35 Video Camera Announcement By November 2011.:

I picked up a little info about a possible new S35 camera from Canon. It could be a rumor but this sounded as legit as it gets. I am only putting this out there because we recently invested heavily in Sony cameras and wanted to throw this info out to our viewers. If you were thinking of spending more than 10K on a camera system then you may want to hang tough until late November. If you have a specific project in mind then please use the camera systems available now.

Nucoda 2011.1 released

Nucoda 2011.1 released:
mxf-444-gui-alexa_501x138
Image Systems Nucoda 2011.1 offers a range of new features including support for the Avid Artist panel, along with improvements in performance and functionality.

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Transitioning: BIG Premiere Pro Interlace “Gotcha!” on Export

Transitioning: BIG Premiere Pro Interlace “Gotcha!” on Export:
Well, I got burned by a very large “gotcha” when exporting a project for color grading in Apple Color.
The project was a 10 minute story for a broadcast series, all shot P2, 1080i / 29.97. I edited in an AJA 1080i / 29.97 timeline with all the native material. At the end of the edit, I exported a Self Contained ProRes Quicktime to be sliced up and sent into Color. The Export looked correct in Color, I did the color grade, rendered brought it back and it looked all wrong. Like it was 24p stutter or something. I got burned by an extra step in the export process I didn’t think I needed.


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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

How to best use twixtor for extreme slow motion

How to best use twixtor for extreme slow motion:
I have used twixtor myself for a few projects but I have never had terrific success with it. One of the best filmmakers I know who uses Twixtor really well is my friend Salomon Ligthelm, whom I met when he lived in Dubai back in January last year. He put up a new video a couple of days ago, Gravity, and he was kind enough to write this guest blog post on how to get the best out of it.
Twixtor will not give you as good results as a dedicated high speed camera of course. They do that job incredibly well. You need to light a lot to make them work but as you will read below you need to do the same with twixtor to get the high shutter speeds needed. But for those whose budget means renting a Phantom Flex or something similar is out of the question Salomon guides you through the best ways to make the most out this powerful, but tricky plug-in.
Gravity – Director’s Cut from Salomon on Vimeo.


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Panasonic @ IBC11 highlights by Pro AV Director Christian Sokcevic

Sony : Sony speeds up SxS PRO memory card range : United Kingdom

Sony : Sony speeds up SxS PRO memory card range : United Kingdom
AMSTERDAM (IBC Booth 12.A10), 9 September, 2011: Sony Corporation has expanded its SxS PRO memory card range with a new generation which offers twice as fast writing speed than previous models. The new SxS PRO 64GB, SBP-64A model, can read and write data at up to an astonishing 1.2Gbps* through an ExpressCard slot, without the need for an adapter.

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Apple Embarrassed by Rival (ADBE)

Apple Embarrassed by Rival (ADBE)
Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE ) announced Thursday that demand for its video editing software "has exploded ... with 45 percent growth on the Mac." That, Adobe says, was caused by the "large number of Apple Final Cut Pro customers switching to Adobe Premiere Pro."

Q&A: XenData Co-Founder/CEO Phil Storey on LTO, Solving the Avid Archive Problem, and the Future of Tape | Studio Daily

Q&A: XenData Co-Founder/CEO Phil Storey on LTO, Solving the Avid Archive Problem, and the Future of Tape | Studio Daily
XenData has built a business on facilitating the connection between LTO-5 tape archives and all the stuff in a facility's "tapeless" workflow — all the gear that expects to be writing to disks, not tapes, at the end of the day. Basically, XenData figures out ways to make those tapes look like disk-based storage, eliminating one more workflow headache as vendors and users work out how to get all of their equipment working in harmony. At IBC this week, XenData is stepping up with a new revision of its flagship server product and new technology collaborations with companies like Harmonic and Avid. We asked company CEO Phil Storey to give us a preview, and asked him what's next after tape.

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Detailed demo of the Baselight for FCP7 plug-in

Detailed demo of the Baselight for FCP7 plug-in:

image

Right around the time of NAB 2011 rumors began floating around that Filmlight was going to release a Macintosh-based software only version of their Baselight color grading product. It made sense as a rumor as many other companies had been introducing reduced cost Mac versions of their products plus Baselight would already run on a Mac laptop as Baselight customers can get a Mac laptop-only license as a great learning tool. What Baselight did was surprise everyone with a work-in-progress Final Cut Pro Baselight plug-in. Now we’ve got a demo of the Baselight for FCP7 in action.

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מסך הראשון בעולם באיכות 8K4K

מסך הראשון בעולם באיכות 8K4K
תומך בטכנולוגיית Super Hi-Vision

DFT Digital Film Technology Ships FLEXXITY 1.0 Software for Dailies, Archive, Playout Mastering Applications

DFT Digital Film Technology Ships FLEXXITY 1.0 Software for Dailies, Archive, Playout Mastering Applications: DFT Digital Film Technology, provider of high-end film and digital post production solutions that preserve, manage, and deliver your pictures, announces that FLEXXITY V1.0 is now shipping....

Atomos Announces Samurai Support for Avid DNxHD, for Seamless Avid Integration

Atomos Announces Samurai Support for Avid DNxHD, for Seamless Avid Integration: The highest quality, most affordable SDD and HDD recorder just got better with support for Avid DNxHD. (Amsterdam IBC, The Netherlands--September 9, 2011) Atomos, creator of the Ninja and Samurai portable field recorder, monitor & playback/playout devices, is excited to announce that the Samurai will support the Avid DNxHD® production codec in addition to Apple ProRes.

AJA Ki Pro Mini To Support Avid DNxHD Video Codec

AJA Ki Pro Mini To Support Avid DNxHD Video Codec: AJA’s Highly Portable 10-bit 4:2:2 Flash Disk Recorder to Enable Lens to Post Solution for Avid Edit Workflows (Amsterdam IBC, The Netherlands--September 9, 2011) AJA Video Systems streamlined lens to post workflows with the introduction of its Ki Pro family of portable video recorders. The newest product in that family, Ki Pro Mini has been in high demand, facilitating direct camera-to-edit workflows that eliminate the time consuming video encode step. AJA is working jointly with Avid® to build support for the Avid DNxHD® video codec into Ki Pro Mini, enabling further production efficiencies to Avid Media Composer®.

XDT Announces Version 3.2 Of Its Unique Catapult® Suite At IBC 2011

XDT Announces Version 3.2 Of Its Unique Catapult® Suite At IBC 2011: Revolutionizing Networked Media Transfers and Review for local and wide area workflows (Melbourne, Australia--September 9, 2011) XDT Pty. Ltd., a developer of advanced software-based solutions for post production and digital film, is introducing version 3.2 of its flagship Catapult suite of products, including new additions to the product family and several groundbreaking enhancements to the Catapult Protocol at IBC2011.

HIERO - a desktop application for collaborative VFX workflow is coming!

HIERO - a desktop application for collaborative VFX workflow is coming!:

HIERO is a desktop application for collaborative VFX workflow which provides a scriptable timeline tool for NUKE that conforms edit decision lists and parcels out VFX work to NUKE artists. Close NUKE integration allows shot progress to be viewed in the context of the edit, and will in turn free up finishing systems to concentrate on their real strength – finishing. The software is also ought to significantly reduce the infrastructure work required to keep a VFX team up and running with pain free shot distribution and management.

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HD Magazine IBC 2011 Digital Dailies Now Online

HD Magazine IBC 2011 Digital Dailies Now Online:

HD Magazine DIGITAL DAILY Day Two Now online

IBC Digital Daily Day One is now online as a download at an online flip bookIt's IBC 2011 and time for HD Magazine's Digital Dailies. Free digital magazines as a download or an online flip book. See them here

The Foundry Previews HIERO

The Foundry Previews HIERO: The Foundry is previewing its new HIERO system at IBC (booth 7.B21). HIERO is a desktop application for collaborative VFX workflow expected to be available later this year. It provides a scriptable timeline tool for NUKE that conforms edit decision lists and parcels out VFX work to NUKE artists. Close NUKE integration allows shot progress to be viewed in the context of the edit, and will in turn free up finishing systems to concentrate on finishing.

ARRI Ships First ALEXA M Units to Cameron | Pace Group

ARRI Ships First ALEXA M Units to Cameron | Pace Group: ARRI arrived at IBC 2011 with working prototypes of its highly anticipated ALEXA M and ALEXA Studio cameras, and announced that the first ALEXA M units have starting to ship to James Cameron and Vince Pace, co-chairmen of Cameron | Pace Group (CPG). CPG announced a strategic collaboration with ARRI at NAB 2011.

Resolve 8.1–Do the Engineers at DaVinci Ever Sleep?

Resolve 8.1–Do the Engineers at DaVinci Ever Sleep?:

It seems like just yesterday that DaVinci released version 8.0.1 with its new color balance control interface, and DaVinci Lite, a free 2-node and HD-limited version. But, not content to rest on their laurels, DaVinci has eliminated a decimal place and announced DaVinci Resolve 8.1, with even more feature enhancements. Most are subtle, but welcome additions to a variety of users.Top of the list is is enhanced AAF round trip support. A new Format popup in the Export Session dialog (that appears when you click the Export button in the Conform page) lets you choose whether to export XML or AAF (previously it only expoted XML). Choosing AAF generates a file for Media Composer that can be directly relinked to the media you output from Resolve.

New Times for the Art of Imaging

New Times for the Art of Imaging:
On 7th September 2011 in Los Angeles, Sony demonstrated their F65 Camera. The 4k camera with an 8k chip. Why 8k? Because according to the Niquist Shannon Sampling theorem, to derive an actual and accurate measurement of (in this case) resolution you need twice the sampling rate to achieve a true measurement. Therefore an 8K chip delivers true 4k resolution.In what follows want to use some of the flurry of posts on the Cinematographers Mailing list on the day after 7/11 as a snapshot to examine the attitudes and the developing language of those at the coal face of this developing technology.

Avid Unveils Dynamic New Graphics Platform Avid Motion Graphics


Avid Unveils Dynamic New Graphics Platform Avid Motion Graphics


Avid® (NASDAQ: AVID) today unveiled Avid Motion Graphics™ —the company’s next-generation graphics platform. With a revolutionary new real-time 2D/3D graphics rendering engine, Avid Motion Graphics lets media enterprises—including broadcasters, sports teams, and post production companies—create thrilling graphics and arresting imagery while journalists and others integrate those graphics into their stories. Incorporating a bridge to the Deko product family, Avid Motion Graphics makes it easy for existing users to migrate their assets to the new platform and transition at their own pace.

adobe + iridas = fcp dead

adobe + iridas = fcp dead:
You can view the official press release here and read a nice explanation of the acquisition here. As history repeats itself and Adobe snaps up a $20K+ color grading app just like Apple did when they acquired Silicon Color, distributors of Final Touch, I am here to officially pronounce Final Cut Studio dead. Maybe you were...

A call for open formats

A call for open formats:

The following is taken from a post to the Telecine Internet Group:

Wanting around at IBC this year, one thing stuck me more than anything else. There are now more proprietary capture formats than ever before.

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THX Announces New cineSpace Enhancements at IBC 2011

THX Announces New cineSpace Enhancements at IBC 2011: THX announced enhancements to its popular THX cineSpace color management software with support for 64-bit operating systems on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms, in addition to 64-bit support in cinePlugin versions for Adobe Photoshop, Apple Shake, Eyeon Fusion, Nucoda Film Master and Nuke. THX acquired the cineSpace Color Management Suite from Cine-Tal Systems earlier this year.

What is the Future of the Big Color Grading Systems?

What is the Future of the Big Color Grading Systems?
With the introduction this past year of Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve software-only version at 699 Euros, it seems reasonable to ask what the future of big color correction systems will be. Here at IBC, I asked a few experts for their take on this – Steve Bannerman of Assimilate, Dado Valentic, colorist and stereo expert and Steve Brett, technical director at Pandora and inventor of the Pandora color correction system.

Adobe to add new 3-D color grading features with acquisition of IRIDAS technology

Adobe to add new 3-D color grading features with acquisition of IRIDAS technology
Looking to increase its presence in the professional post production arena (including 3-D), Adobe Systemsannounced at the IBC2011 show that it has acquired certain assets of privately held IRIDAS, a Munich, Germany-based provider of software tools for digital color grading and enhancement of professional film and video content, including stereoscopic technology. Adobe said color grading is becoming an increasingly important part of content creation with the advent and rapid growth of High Dynamic Range (HDR) video.

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AVID MC, FRAME RATE CONVERSION AND COLOR

AVID MC, FRAME RATE CONVERSION AND COLOR:
OK, I can finally come up for air. August was a VERY busy month for me. On top of my regular day job, I took on two side jobs (after hours work). One was really easy…online a 23 min reality show. That was straightforward and I was able to do it in two four-hour nights.

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Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 (5.5.1) update: bug fixes, including some for Mac OSX v10.7 (Lion) compatibility « Premiere Pro work area

Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 (5.5.1) update: bug fixes, including some for Mac OSX v10.7 (Lion) compatibility « Premiere Pro work area
Today, the Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 (5.5.1) update was released.
Soon, but not yet, you’ll be able to install this update by choosing Help > Updates.
For now, you must directly download the update packages from the download pages for Windows or Mac OS, using the “Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 5.5.1 update” link. You must choose the correct patcher based on your original installation type—electronic download or DVD.
If you have difficulty with this update, please bring questions and issues to the Adobe Premiere Pro forum. Don’t ask questions in the comments on this blog post, which fewer people will see.

Sony Nex 5N AVCHD 60P Conversion. Magic Bullet Grinder To the Rescue. « Wide Open Camera

Sony Nex 5N AVCHD 60P Conversion. Magic Bullet Grinder To the Rescue. « Wide Open Camera
We have been testing out the new Sony Nex 5N camera for an upcoming documentary. The Sony Nex 5N will shoot 60P in 1920 X 1080. This is a first for a smaller interchangeable lens camera. Our first tests gave us some pretty bad results. We found that most of the problems lie within the transfer from 60P to 24P. To be more specific 59.94 FPS to 23.98 FPS. Here is a quick step by step process to get your AVCHD 60P footage to work with your system. We are using FCPX for this little exercise. It should work with other systems as well.

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Panasonic AVCCAM Importer - Adds AVCHD support to QuickTime

Panasonic AVCCAM Importer - Adds AVCHD support to QuickTime: Panasonic announced the AVCCAM Importer back in April, but only just got around to releasing it. The AVCCAM Importer is actually a component that adds support for direct playback of AVCCAM files within QuickTime. With it installed you can play AVCCAM files inside the QuickTime player, or even within Final Cut Pro 7, without conversion. More...

Monday, September 12, 2011

Panasonics AVC Ultra

Panasonics AVC Ultra: AVC Ultra, the collective name given to Panasonic’s group of professional AVC based codecs, represents a single workflow destination for professional users working at many levels in the production cycle. As a unified, seamless group of codecs based on the H.264 standard, AVC Ultra offers enhanced flexibility for both high-end and mainstream production through its [...]

IBC 2011: JVC 4k camera, Sony F65 and more

IBC 2011: JVC 4k camera, Sony F65 and more:
This is my last written blog report from this year’s IBC. There will be a video report that I presented for CVP TV later in the week, but I just wanted to share with you some cool stuff that I saw.


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Avid Adds New EUCON Media Workflow Partners

Avid Adds New EUCON Media Workflow Partners: Avid announced that FilmLight and Colorfront have joined the EUCON ecosystem of supported media applications, providing customers with more creative options in their audio and video workflows. EUCON, (Extended User Control), is a high-speed open control protocol that has been adopted by many of the world’s leading software developers, delivering highly responsive control panels for a range of different audio and video applications. The protocol was developed by Euphonix, which was acquired by Avid last year.

Blackmagic Design announces DaVinci Resolve for Microsoft Windows

Blackmagic Design announces DaVinci Resolve for Microsoft Windows:

Blackmagic Design announces DaVinci Resolve for Microsoft Windows which will allow customers to use a wide range of hardware for building color correction systems with the advantage of a wider selection of GPU processing options with support for up to a massive 16 GPU’s per system.

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Baselight 4.3 released

Baselight 4.3 released:

The Baselight software release (version 4.3) includes powerful new features, triple headed displays and a sea change in responsiveness and productivity.

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ASSIMILATE previews remote grading at IBC

ASSIMILATE previews remote grading at IBC:

ASSIMILATE will be previewing new remote grading sessions over IP using dual SCRATCH systems, giving SCRATCH artists new commercial opportunities in today’s geographically dispersed international production industry. In addition, the company will show new 3D stereo features that make comprehensive handling of left eye and right eye images, either together or separately, far more intuitive. All of ASSIMILATE’s demonstrations will be held at its IBC stand H7.11 at the RAI in Amsterdam.

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HD Magazine - HD Mag - Bullish Avid Announces New Ongoing Crossgrade Offer for Final Cut Pro Users

HD Magazine - HD Mag - Bullish Avid Announces New Ongoing Crossgrade Offer for Final Cut Pro Users
AVID today announced that beginning 1 October 2011, it will offer a Final Cut Pro crossgrade price for qualified customers on an ongoing basis. The new crossgrade will allow Final Cut Pro users to buy Media Composer for $1499 USD. Avid’s current limited-time cross grade promotion, at $995 USD, ends at the end of the month.

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Post Magazine - IBC 2011: Sony's OLED monitors

Post Magazine - IBC 2011: Sony's OLED monitors
First stop for myself at IBC 2011 was to see Sony's new Trimaster EL OLED reference broadcast monitors. OLED is a hot topic at IBC, and Sony are one of the only distributors to be showing them this year, and I have to say they did not disappoint.

Red EPIC Canon mount test drive review | fxguide

Red EPIC Canon mount test drive review | fxguide
We recently had a chance to test drive the new Canon EPIC mount, so we headed out for a wild day of swinging and eating out – with monkeys, gorillas and wild cats.

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Friday, September 9, 2011

Facilis Unveils Newest Software for TerraBlock Shared Storage Solution at IBC 2011

Facilis Unveils Newest Software for TerraBlock Shared Storage Solution at IBC 2011: Showcases TerraBlock 5.2 with multi-user write inter-server spanning and mirroring (Amsterdam-IBC, The Netherlands--September 8, 2011) At IBC 2011, Facilis Technology, a leader in advanced shared storage solutions for post-production and content creation, is unveiling version 5.2 of its TerraBlock SAN. The new software release delivers enhanced performance and flexibility through data protection and load balancing, inter-server mirroring, multi-user write spanned volumes and more new features.

PROMISE SANLink Adapter with Thunderbolt Revolutionizes FC SAN Connectivity

PROMISE SANLink Adapter with Thunderbolt Revolutionizes FC SAN Connectivity: PROMISE Technology, a leader in providing high-performance storage solutions to the rich media market and leader in designing cutting-edge Thunderbolt devices, now brings unrivaled connectivity options to the growing number of systems with Thunderbolt technology....

The Tangent Designs Element, An Evolution

The Tangent Designs Element, An Evolution:

I posted an article a few weeks ago with information about the new Tangent Element color correction control surface to be unveiled at IBC. Well, IBC is upon us (almost), and Tangent Designs has posted some photos of the new surface.

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Sony's F65 4K digital motion picture camera price and ship date announced!

Sony's F65 4K digital motion picture camera price and ship date announced!:

The F65 digital motion picture camera by Sony is the successor to the Sony F35. The camera produces a resolution of 8768 x 2324 pixels but the sensor size is the same as the one in the F35. Now we know the price of the new camcorder - the F65 will cost... $65.000 and will ship in January. It seems that now Sony and RED will be close competitors.

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ALEXA Frame Rate Safety Guide

ALEXA Frame Rate Safety Guide:

One of the most often misunderstood aspects of the ALEXA menu structure pertains to the camera’s frame rate options. There are four separate places to set a frame rate and they all do something very different. Here I’ll walk you through each one of them and give you tips on how to make sure you end up with the correct frame rate for your shoot.

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r3d data rates

r3d data rates: Thanks to Eric Z on reduser.net for posting this handy reference. proactively • sharing the knowledge • peter Like this:Be the first to like this post.

InfColorPicker - An open source iOS color picker

InfColorPicker - An open source iOS color picker:
One of the things I’ve done several times in my career as a developer is to write color pickers. I was one of the authors of the color pickers in an early Mac painting program Color It! years (and years) ago. Since then, I made a couple freeware color picker components for the Apple extensible color picker dialog that was present in Mac OS 7.x (until it was superseded in Mac OS X by the new color picker panel). After starting at Adobe, I wrote the color picker panel and dialog used in ImageReady (where I included a mechanism for doing web-safe color selection, which at the time was a useful feature). And when Phil Clevenger came to us with a design for a popup color picker for Lightroom version 2, I loved the design (there are a couple fun elements to it, especially if you play with modifier keys while it’s up) and implemented it one weekend.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

STORM | Your On-Set Digital Lab | The Foundry

STORM | Your On-Set Digital Lab | The Foundry
Like the rest of you, we were very intrigued to see REDCINE-X PRO. We love the look of it and see it as proof of RED's commitment to its professional users. STORM is a professional tool for RED users and now that REDCINE-X PRO has emerged, justifying investment in developing STORM becomes harder and harder against free software of this breadth. We say this with a heavy heart, because we're fond of what we've done.


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Magma ExpressBox 3T gives you 3 external PCIe slots over Thunderbolt -- Engadget

Magma ExpressBox 3T gives you 3 external PCIe slots over Thunderbolt -- Engadget

מחשב iMac (עם Thunderbolt) יחד עם המכשיר הזה הופך אותו למק פרו. עכשיו אפשר לחבר כרטיס פייבר, כרטיס AJA וכו.

3cP / Image Control Pro - Cinematographer's Color Correction System for iPad on the iTunes App Store

3cP / Image Control Pro - Cinematographer's Color Correction System for iPad on the iTunes App Store
Image Control lets you color correct, crop, and mask your images on a calibrated screen, then create a matching 3D LUT for post-production. Images can be imported from the Photo Album, camera, or via WiFi. Color correction tools include printer lights, curves, color wheels, RGB controls, and a Zone System ruler. Monitoring tools include waveform monitor, vectorscope, and...

Adobe announces 45% growth for its video tools for Mac - Final Cut Pro X guilty?

Adobe announces 45% growth for its video tools for Mac - Final Cut Pro X guilty?:

The industry is not happy with Final Cut Pro X and it was not hard to predict that this would result in a more favorable situation for Apple's main competitors. Indeed - Adobe announced today that the company sees an important, 45% growth year over year for its video creation tools on the Mac platform. Some even say that this percentage shows that demand for CS5.5 tools has exploded this year and Adobe should thank Apple for it. The data clearily shows that the reception of FCP X might be the main reason for such a growth as the general demand (on all platforms) for Adobe's video tools has grown 22% year over year so we can see that the Mac platform has the biggest impact on obtaining such an amazing result.

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Humbled by an EPIC – guest post by Jacques Mulder

Humbled by an EPIC – guest post by Jacques Mulder:

By Jacques Mulder

Its been 2 months with my EpicM and have been meaning to write something about it, I can say in all fairness this camera quite easily found a way to humble my role as a Director and an individual. The camera has opened up so many more opportunities then I could have ever expected, my Bomb Squad (Brian Sheckelhoff) handler has been privvy to my tours across this planet, starting with Dubai, I ventured to Singapore, Barcelona, bit in Munich and Frankfurt, to Johannesburg and Cape Town. I now sit in Dubai with 4TB of footage that I just so desperately want to share. I met over 300 people in my travels, (I kind of know how TED feels) and in that time I met them all, the skeptics, the enthusiasts, the bewildered the flabbergasted and the random unknown. All the while people received the handling of the camera with fascination – all of them!

In this shot we had no lights, HDRx turned on.

Looking Good, Everywhere – a color management case study

Looking Good, Everywhere – a color management case study: "180" is the first movie for director Jayendra, who has had a long successful career in high end commercials...it is no surprise that he insists on great image quality. I was approached to ensure that the pictures were indeed stunning, and to manage the deliverable versions so that film cinemas, digital cinemas, DVDs and internet copies would all look the same in spite of their very different technologies and color gamut.

Onsight Installs Fourth SGO Mistika System to Boost DI and Stereo 3D Productivity

Onsight Installs Fourth SGO Mistika System to Boost DI and Stereo 3D Productivity: London-based DI and stereoscopic 3D facility Onsight recently installed its fourth SGO Mistika 4K postproduction system to meet growing demand. Onsight now offers clients a suite of SGO products, including four Mistika systems operating on shared storage, the Mistika on-set production tool and an SGO SAN.

Dealing with Big Monitors

Dealing with Big Monitors: This is a little one, but it’s made an outsized difference to my work. Some of you are undoubtedly cutting on laptops, but for those sitting in front of a couple of 24″ screens, a common complaint is that so much screen real estate makes it easy to lose track of the mouse cursor. Though [...]