Shane Ross/Little Frog in Hi Def

EDITGROOVE…FOR FCP

ANOTHER cool tool for FCP released today, EditGroove. This bit of software manages preferences and user settings for multiple users…on one machine or across a network. If you are working on one machine one day, then move to another, you can load your keyboard layouts….

Technorati Tags: add-ons, Final Cut Pro, Tools

By Lawrence Jordan

8:45 Introductions from the Organizers: Ken Goldberg, Tiffany Shlain, Lance Weiler, Scott Kirsner

9:00 AM John Batter, Co-President of Production, DreamWorks Animation SKG; former Group Studio General Manager, Electronic Arts - The Future of Animation, 3-D Cinema, and Games

John presented Dreamworks perspective on the future of 3-D. He described “Digital 3-D” as the next big jump in 3-D production and exhibition. Showed a clip from Kung Fu Panda that was recreated from the ground up using this new workflow. Pretty amazing looking stuff. Stated that all future DW animation productions will be in 3-D. Also demoed the same clip on a 46″ plasma television. Batter next showed a clip from upcoming film “Monster’s vs. Aliens” DW’s first major 3-D release coming March 27th. This clip was also impressive, particularly the fact that Steven Colbert voices the character of the president of the United States.

10:00 AM - 10:45 AM
The Future of Visual Effects and Pre-Visualization

John Gaeta, Visual Effects Designer, Speed Racer and the Matrix trilogy
John Knoll, Visual Effects Supervisor, Industrial Light & Magic
Euisung Lee, Halon Entertainment
Phil Tippett, Founder, Tippett Studio
Barbara Robertson, Journalist, CGSociety, Computer Graphics World, Digital Production (Moderator)

Taped John Knoll and some of Phil Tippett’s discussion of new tools and techniques being developed for VFX. If I can get clearance I’ll post them asap.

11:00 AM - 11:30 AM

New Forms of Storytelling

Michael Ferris Gibson, Director, 24 Hours on Craigslist & Producer, Truth in Numbers: The Wikipedia Story
Gregg Spiridellis, CEO Guy, JibJab Media
Evan Spiridellis, Head Art Guy, JibJab Media

The brothers Spiridellis, creators of JibJab, talked about building their content company and it’s explained a bit about its exponential growth. They also mentioned using taking thier content and spreading it across different products. Michael Gibson Talked about his film “Truth in Numbers: The Wikipedia Story” an example of collaborative filmmaking (he aggregated a crew and raised 60K online) after running out of money he created a trailer with what he had and was able to raise financing to finish. I taped both these speakers and will hopefully get clearance.

12:00 Just too much good stuff and and I’m finding it tough to write AND shoot. Will recap later this evening.

Technorati Tags: 3-D, Animation, digital cinema, theconvo

As a follow up to our series of interviews with John Leonetti, ASC about his experiences shooting one of the first feature films with the RED Digital Cinema Camera, here is a clip from the soon to be released film, “Hybrid“. The film was produced by Oliver Hengst and Elizabeth Wang-Lee, directed by Eric Valette with cinematography by John Leonetti, ASC. Hybrid was also the first feature film in Canada to be shot with the RED.

Thanks to Jakob Boersch at Stallion Media, LLC for helping us get this clip online.

Link to Interview with John Leonetti, ASC Part I
Link to Interview with John Leonetti, ASC Part II
Link to Interview with John Leonetti, ASC Part III

Technorati Tags: 4K, cinematography, clip, digital cinema, HD, Hybrid Movie, indie film, RED digital cinema, red one

By Lawrence Jordan

Today we present Part I of a three-part interview with Matthew Wood, supervising sound editor at George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound. Matthew is one of a unique new breed of craftspeople who have not only embraced digital technology but who, since early in his career, have contributed to its evolution. Starting out at Skywalker as a teenager, he’s had the amazing opportunity to see the technology develop from ground zero. From his beginnings as a QA tech on the first of its kind Sound Droid, he has had a chance to work on almost every digital editing technology used at the Ranch.

In this first segment I cover the basics. What exactly does a sound supervisor do? We go on to talk about how he approaches each project creatively, how technology has changed since he started out 16 years ago, and who were his mentors? We also talk about his current tools of choice and why those products best address his workflow.

Stay tuned for Parts II and III where we get more into what goes on up at Skywalker and his experiences working on his most recent projects, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and Disney/Pixar’s “WALL-E”.

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Technorati Tags: clone wars, digital sound editing, lucasfilm, Pixar, plug-ins, pro tools, skywalker sound, sound droid, sound toys, star wars, TDM, WALL-E, Waves

By Lawrence Jordan

After many years of working on the Avid Media Composer, and several years of working professionally in Final Cut Pro, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Media Composer is the digital equivalent of the Moviola, the primary tool of professional editors for generations. Final Cut Pro can’t make this claim and here I’ll explain one of the reasons why.

Invented in 1924, the Moviola was an editing device used to cut celluloid film. It was originally designed to be a home movie projector, but when sales didn’t take off, it was redesigned specifically to edit motion pictures. You threaded the film on the big, black (and later green) machine and you could run shots and sequences back and forth, pretty much until the sprockets wore out (and they did). The Moviola was a clackety, loud apparatus and if you weren’t careful, you could catch your finger in the threading mechanism. Having done this personally on several occasions I can assure you it wasn’t pleasant. My point being that editing on a Moviola was a much more physical experience than editing on a computer. This, of course, is true of so many of the work tasks digital technologies have replaced.

The physicality of cutting on a Moviola was also demonstrated by the fact that many editors stood at their Moviola. While reviewing the film, shot or sequence, the editor would mark the film with a grease pencil (a thick, greased-based marker, which you could wipe off the film) take it out of the threading mechanism and physically make your cut. This technique worked well and the modest machine was the de facto standard of the editing craft for many, many years.

However, the real magic of working on the Moviola was finding your cut point. Equipped with an actual hand-brake, it enabled you to find your cut point, and stop the machine on the exact frame you desired. This was (and still is) critically important. As an editor you become physically as well as mentally immersed in the material. Filmmakers talk about “feeling” the cut and I’ve known many editors who would sway with the rhythms of the action or dialog while cutting. It is almost like a dance, the film being your partner and when you were really in sync with your partners rhythms, you were really in the zone.

I know many readers are saying, so what does this have to do with Avid vs. Final Cut Pro?

Cut Point: The Moviola's Trusty Handbrake

Final Cut Pro has always suffered from something called “latency”. Latency in digital editing simply means that when you attempt to mark or stop on a specific frame (i.e. Moviola’s hand-brake) the software takes a moment to respond. It can also be observed when you play something in the timeline and it runs out of sync. This is especially true with some of the newer compressed HD formats hitting the market and is a complete deal breaker for almost all professional editors. The worst part about latency is that it tends to break the flow or, once again, the rhythm of the work.

This is one of several reasons that 99% of all major motion pictures continue to be cut on the Avid. You can stop and mark on a dime with no latency. This is true when working in a cut sequence or simply trimming a clip. Avid editors have the added ability to mark in or out continuously, in rapid-fire succession if they choose without the software exhibiting as much as a flinch. This has held true since the first day I worked on the Avid in 1992. Many FCP stalwarts argue that latency isn’t a problem. I don’t want to burst their bubble, but I’ve been working in the trenches with the software for the last several years and it just ain’t so. These folks have either never cut anything rhythmically or don’t understand what it is.

Final Cut Pro is a terrific product, I particularly admire the fact that it has enabled so many to gain a deeper understanding of the editing craft. However, if it ever is going to grab a larger share of the studio filmmaking pie, it will have to address the latency issue as well as several other non-intuitive functions that hinder its adoption by the majority of professional editors.

In the next installment of this series, I’ll discuss another of Final Cut Pro’s Achilles heels…Trimming

Technorati Tags: avid media composer, digital filmmaking, Editing, Final Cut Pro, moviola

Adam Wilt/Pro Video Coalition

Adam Wilt Reviews the Panasonic AG-HPX170P 1/3”, 3CCD P2 Camcorder

The first review on the net of the successor to Panasonic’s hugely popular HVX-200. Adam gives his usual in-depth analysis of what is expected to be one of this year’s “next big things” in digital cinematography. This article will be of particular interest to indie-filmmakers, production houses and cinematographers…(more)

Richard Recco/QC Central

Cineon/DPX Pro for Final Cut Studio 2 3.0.3

This is a professional set of QuickTime components to read and write Cineon or DPX images. Features include:- Full Integration with Final Cut Pro 6 and Compressor 3
- Solid playback with FCP 6. (If system meets recommended requirements.)
- Sequence Presets for Cineon or DPX based projects
- 32-bit float pixel support during import and export. (more)

IFSS/International Film School, Sydney

Dual-System Sound Sync Options

One particular production workflow that can be a sticking point for many projects is working in post with dual-system sound requiring synchronization.

Dual-System (aka Double-System) sound is simply that where the audio has been recorded separately from the picture, to a physically separate recording device and medium. The main unit used in the school for dual-system is the Marantz solid-state field recorder. This records 2 channel audio to compact flash memory cards in standard 48k 16bit…. (more)

Merinews - India

Video editing: The visual cut

VIDEO EDITING has become an inseparable part of today’s media and entertainment industry and hence the increased demand for video editors. The secret behind making art aesthetically appealing lies in the techniques of editing… (more)

Technorati Tags: adam wilt., cinematography, digital filmmaking, HPX170, HPX170P, hvx-200, indie film

The Complex and often arcane world of digital cinema mastering just became a bit more accessible as QuVis Corp. of Topeka, Kansas has announced the availability of a $699 digital cinema mastering plug-in for Final Cut Studio. The QuVis “Wraptor” enables FCS users to create professional-quality DCP’s or Digital Cinema Packages, the digital equivalent of a traditional film based “release print”, directly from a Final Cut Pro project. The plug-in uses the same QPJ™ encoding technology available in the company’s high-end, real-time mastering servers. QuVis developed the product in conjunction with Apple, who strongly supports the product.

Wraptor is actually a plug-in for Final Cut Studio’s Compressor. Considering Compressor’s distributed rendering capabilities, producers looking to take advantage of the plug-in’s low cost, will be able to do so without having to deal with endless render times.

The significance of this product should not be underestimated. To this point digital cinema mastering was one of the few areas of the digital filmmaking process that was not only difficult to decipher, but it was also very expensive. The cost of mastering a feature length film to a DCP typically runs in the 20K range, a stretch for the majority of aspiring and independent filmmakers. The Wraptor plug-in from QuVis seems like it has the ability to change all that and be another paradigm shifting tool that will help usher in a new era of digital cinema.

Technorati Tags: cluster, compressor, digital cinema, Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Studio, HD, plug-ins, QuVis, render farm, Wraptor

The RED digital cinema camera is causing a stir. It’s the paradigm shifting, production tool equivalent of Apple’s Final Cut Pro and it’s changing everything about ultra-high resolution digital cinematography. Directors such as Peter Jackson and Steven Soderberg have embraced it, and the Southern California based company can not make the camera and its accessories fast enough. In fact, if you were to order a RED camera today, it wouldn’t ship until December; that’s how hot this thing is.

That’s why I was delighted when I heard my friend, cinematographer John Leonetti, had just shot his latest film, HYBRID, with six RED cameras on location in Saskatchewan, Canada. HYBRID is an action thriller, and as John reveals, the thirty-one day schedule really put the RED system to the test. Here is part one of a three part series on John’s experience shooting with the RED; his background with digital cinematography cameras from other companies; his thoughts on the future of film and finally, the RED camera’s potential effect on the future of Hollywood.

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Link to Part II
Link to Part III

Technorati Tags: 2K, 4K, Cameras, cinematography, digital film, high definition, red camera, RED digital cinema, tapeless workflow

Here is the 2nd part of our 2 part series on the Red Rock Micro M2 Cinema Lens Adapter. In this segment our guest, independent director Stefan Glidden demonstrates how to assemble the adapter on a Panasonic HVX-200. He then goes on to show us how to adjust and calibrate both the adapter and the HVX for optimal shooting. We then take a look at some real world examples of Stefan’s work utilizing the M2. I hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions or feedback be sure to drop us a line.

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Technorati Tags: 35mm adapter, cinematography, hvx-200, independent filmmaking, lenses, red rock micro

Today we present part one of a two part segment on Red Rock Micro’s M2 Cinema Lens Adapter. 35mm lens adapters have really given independent filmmakers on limited budgets the opportunity to get a cinematic look while shooting on video. Since it’s introduction, the M2 has garnered much praise and now has quite a following from those working in the “pro” sphere, with filmmakers utilizing the adapter on music videos, commercials and feature films.

In this first part of our spotlight, Los Angeles based independent filmmaker and director Stefan Gildden gives us some insight on why he decided to purchase the Red Rock Adapter and what type of work he uses it for. He then takes us through each component of the product as mounted on his Panasonic HVX-200. Finally, we talk about some precautions that should be taken into consideration when shooting with the Red Rock M2.

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Technorati Tags: 35mm, cinematography, digital cinema, film look, hvx-200, indie, lens adapters, micro X, red rock micro

Today I profile storage supplier Dulce Systems, specifically their new ProRX RAID solution for Final Cut Pro and other high data-rate creative applications. Dulce has a reputation as being one of the best and most reliable vendors in the storage marketplace, and as this profile demonstrates, they have long and extensive knowledge of mass storage products and their customers needs. I sat down with their DoTS (Director of Technical Stuff) Robert Leong who gave me the details on the ProRX. Enjoy.

Click Here for a Window Media Version of this segment

Technorati Tags: avid media composer, disk array, Dulce, fiber channel, Final Cut Pro, network storage, RAID, Storage, XSAN

Many of us who have been cutting on the Mac version of Avid’s Media Composer have felt a bit neglected over the last few years, and to a certain extent, rightfully so. We sat and watched as Avid got the wind knocked out of it by Apple’s introduction of Final Cut Pro. Apple’s lower prices and integration with newer versions of the Mac OS came as a great step forward in the democratization of media and Apple ran a full court press on Avid’s dominance of the digital editing tools market. Avid struggled to find their way as the price of editing tools dropped, and the company that created and dominated modern digital editing found themselves having to play catch-up.

Today I write about the first manifestation of Avid’s “new thinking”, Media Composer 3.0. With a new team of top executives, lower prices and an emphasis on customer satisfaction, Avid is not only talking the talk, they are walking the walk. Media Composer version 3.0 delivers on the company’s promise to do business in a new way, and with the exception of a few minor hiccups (self-imposed as I quickly learned) my transition from 2.8 to 3.0 was not only painless, it was downright fun.

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Technorati Tags: Avid, avid media composer 3.0, digital editing, Editing, film making, Post Production, review, software, update