Associated Content has an article that outlines how you can get cast as an extra in a film production. A few excerpts:

“Here’s how it works. First you have to find and register with a reputable extra casting agency. You may have seen them online or advertising in your local papers. For the most part you want to stay away from those.”

“Any site or so-called agency is trying to sell you head shots or portfolios to become an extra, run. You are being scammed. You will only need one or two photos at the most and a Polaroid or digital photo will do.”

“…most just need bodies to walk down a street or sit in a crowd. Extras don’t go to wardrobe or makeup for the most part. Extra work pays in the range of $75.00 to $125.00 per day. Like I said you will not get rich, but it’s a fun way to earn extra cash.”

Josh Oakhurst has some thoughts on the new Sony HVR-V1U, calling it “Sony’s New HVX-200/ P2 Killer.” All in all he seems to like the new camcorder and has posted a cost breakdown of the V1U vs the HVX200. For me, I’m stoked to see another 24p option on the market, particularly in the sub-$5K price-range. Competition is good.

Following the recent announcement of the new European model HVR-V1E HDV camcorder, Sony has announced the HVR-V1U US version.

The V1U is true 24fps capable at 1080P (does 30p and 60i also) and records standard HDV to MiniDV tape. Three 1/4″ CMOS ClearVID chips allow a feature called Smooth Slow Record, which can capture a six-second burst of smooth slow motion at 240fps.

Douglas Spotted Eagle has posted a short “First Look” review of the HVR-V1U camera, and includes footage and a raw HDV .MT2 file for your geekly perusal. He’s also addressed low light performance, of particular concern to event shooters:

“The quarter-inch sensors were an initial concern when I first was told of their size, however this has proven to be a false issue. Under identical light, this camcorder with its 1/4-inch chips equal or outperform virtually every other HDV camcorder I’ve ever shot with. Because of the unique DSP, diagonal pixels, interpolation, and ClearVid technology, CMOS has demonstrated that it absolutely can create great pictures, even in less than ideal lighting situations.”

Sony has also concurrently announced the HVR-DR60 hard disk storage unit. It is a 60GB drive that can record 4.5 hours and connects via firewire. The DR60 offers several timecode options, a 14 second pre-record buffer, sudden-motion sensors, and runs off Sony L-series batteries (the same kind used in the camera). The NP-F970 battery will run the drive unit for over 13hrs. Impressive.

(Via Camcorderinfo)

The NAB New York Show will take place October 23-26, 2006. If you are planning on attending, you can get free VIP Expo passes here. FMC Clients, Post + 2005 Conference Alumni, Students, RTNDA Members, NAB Members, and 48 Hour Film Participants are also eligible for an additional $100 off total conference registration fees.

And with the money you’ve saved on Expo admission, now you can afford to register for one of the conference sessions.

Schneider Optics recently announced the HD 2X Tele-Converter for HD camcorders. The glass is a high-quality lens that doubles shooting range with no light loss. They have models designed to fit the HVX200, Panasonic DVX100 and the Sony HVR-Z1U (and consequently, the FX1 as well).

Here’s a pretty comprehensive list of free video editing software for all the major OS platforms.

Two tools that didn’t seem to make the list are Blender and AVIdemux.

The first hard disk drive was introduced on September 13, 1956. It utilized platters the size of pizza trays, weighed over a ton and stored a mere 5 megabytes of data.

Almost exactly 50 years later, Seagate has demonstrated technology capable of storing nearly 2.5 terabytes of data in the standard 3.5″ hard drive form factor. The drive uses perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) to pack in 421 Gigabits per square inch.

“At the demonstrated density level, Seagate expects the capacity ranges to result in solutions ranging in 40GB to 275GB for 1-and 1.8-inch consumer electronics drives, 500GB for 2.5-inch notebook drives, and nearly 2.5TB for 3.5-inch desktop and enterprise class drives.”

Seagate says that you can anticipate storage at these density levels sometime in 2009.

We’ve mentioned PMR technology a few times before .

Engineers at Warner Bros. Studios are working on a hybrid High-Definition video disc that will offer both HD-DVD and Blu-ray content on one side of the disc, and Standard-Definition DVD content on the flip side.

“Blu-ray uses a 405-nanometre wavelength laser to read data from tracks 0.1-millimetres-deep on the top surface of a disc. HD-DVD, on the other hand, uses the same wavelength to read recordings at a depth of 0.6 mm.

Warner’s plan is to create a disc with a Blu-ray top layer that works like a two-way mirror. This should reflect just enough blue light for a Blu-ray player to read it okay. But it should also let enough light through for HD-DVD players to ignore the Blu-ray recording and find a second HD-DVD layer beneath.

An ordinary DVD recording could be put on the other side, so that conventional DVD players can read the disc as well.”

Warner notes that such a disc would cost more to make, but not as much as it costs to manufacture three seperate format DVDs. Perhaps this sort of solution will render the High Def DVD war null and void. I certainly hope so.

(Via Camcorderinfo)

Iconix Video showed the HD-RH1 camera system at IBC recently. The RH1 is a high definition multiformat camera, well-suited to point-of-view (POV) applications. The camera features three 1/3″ 16:9 progressive CCDs that can acquire in all major HD resolutions and framerates, including 1080p/60 (when attached via dual-link).

The system consists of a tiny 1.32″ x 1.5″ x 1.92″ remote camera head tethered via cable to a small controller box measuring 8.4″ x 1.78″ x 12″ in size. The controller can be located as far as 30′ away from the remote head. All in all, it is very interesting system that is well-suited to a variety of specialized applications. I understand that the HD-RH1 was put to use during recent World Cup action.

(Via DVGuru)

Scott Kirsner on the latest studio dabbling in accelerated release windows:

“The LA Times writes about `10 Items or Less,’ the Morgan Freeman-Paz Vega movie that will be out this December in theaters, and only a few days later available for legal download on the Net.”

General Specialist notes Anandtech discovered that the Mac Pro CPUs are not soldered to the motherboard. So they did what any self-respecting hacker would do…they swapped out the single core chips for dual core models, creating a quad-core beast.

It seems that later this year Intel will be releasing the Kenstfield and Clovertown quad-core processors. The new models will be pin-compatible with the Mac Pro’s two LGA-771 CPU sockets. The line of thinking is that you could swap in two new processors and be sitting pretty with an 8-core Mac Pro.
In related news, a thousand video editors just wet their collective pants.

Digital Heaven announced VideoSpace v1.5, a new version of the free disk space calculator widget for OS X. New features for version 1.5:

- Support for calculations of up to 1000 hours duration (previously
100 hours)
- Support for IMX (30/40/50mbs) and XDCAMHD (18/25/35mbs) codecs

They also announced the addition of two new Final Cut transition plug-ins:

DH_RetroTV
Designed to replicate an old TV, DH_RetroTV is effectively three plug-ins in one. It has a Switch On mode where the image appears from black with optional picture rolling. The Channel Change mode is designed to be used between two clips and features controls for the amount of Wiggling and Noise. Finally there’s a Switch Off mode which reduces the image to a white dot. DH_RetroTV comes complete with five specially created and royalty free sound effects including mechanical on/off switches and channel changes.

DH_Dream
Designed to recreate the classic ripple and blur transition commonly used for flashbacks or dream sequences. Allows control over the amount of wave and blur and comes complete with two specially created and royalty free harp glissando sound effects!

DH_RetroTV and DH_Dream are available for individual purchase at $20/each.

And finally, DH also launched a new video podcast featuring Hot Tips for Final Cut Pro users. The first episode deals with slow motion options, check it out.

Yet another move that will push the HVX saturation even further into the market place and pushes aside one of the major hurdles keeping people from moving to DVCPRO-HD the lack of support on the PC side. Those who purchased the HVX200 early on found wide open arms from the Apple Final Cut camp as far as support and integration, not that everything was perfect but the support was at least there. But ah what if I’m shooting for a studio not equipped with Mac system but running Premier or some other NLE now we have a problem, or I myself do not want to make the move to Mac. Serious Magic announced today a great move forward for DVCPRO-HD with the release of a PC based DVCPRO-HD decoder. Designed to decode native P2 file from the HVX-200 into files natively supported by PC NLES such as Sony® Vegas®, and Adobe® Premiere® Pro.

FresHDV Reviews
The HVX Book
By Kendal Miller
September 13, 2006

$89
By Barry Green, DVXuser
www.dvxuser.com/articles/hvxbook/

Hello everyone. As an avid DVX-100 user and now HVX-200 owner, I have found the DVXuser forums to be an invaluable resource for networking and education. Now that information is carried a step further with the release of Barry Green’s latest project “The HVX Book“, which is a complete users guide aimed at teaching everyone from the beginning HVX user to the more intricate setting and nuances utilized by very advanced users.

This is not simply a users manual but a complete guide to the HVX200 offering insight into the many options and workflows offered by this camera. Weighing in at 269 pages, it is a very comprehensive resource. The full color glossy pages allow demonstration of what settings achieve specific looks. And if that isn’t enough Barry has included a CD of HVX Scene Files to help get you jump started if you are unfamiliar with setting things up from scratch.

All in all its a nuts and bolts approach to the camera that no serious user can afford to be without. Retailing at only $89.00 it’s money well spent in my opinion. And if you have a camera you already purchased and registered the serial number on, you can pick up a copy of this book free from Panasonic. Just visit here to claim your copy today

Photoethnography.com suggests the Sony ECM-T6 Omni-Directional Lav Condenser Mic as a good, cheap mic for audio and video interviews. The T6 is available for $12.95 at everyone’s favorite source, Bimi and Herschel Photo/Video.

I’ve used the Azden 503 Mics for some time now, and have been very satisfied with how they perform. They are $22.95 at B&H.

Another mic I’ve personally used is the Giant Squid Audio Lab Omni Mono lapel mic. It’s currently on sale until Sept 24th, you can get it at Giant Squid for $24.50. This microphone can also be wired with the special iRiver modification that when used in mono mode, doubles the line-in recording capacity of iRiver 700 and 800 series MP3 recorders. (The iRiver doesn’t detect normal mono mics as such, and requires a specially wired plug to enable double recording capacity.) My only small complaint with the GS Mono mic is that the clip isn’t as well-designed as the Azden 503. But it performs flawlessly in all other aspects.

Another nice thing about Giant Squid is that Darren can also custom-wire just about any configuration, plug or cord that you might ever need. He’s a real pro, and charges very fair prices for excellent quality equipment and work.