Redrock recently announced that they would begin packaging ScopeBox Lite with their well known M2 Micro35 Adapter. ScopeBox is a software used to take SD/HD signals and ingest them using a standard Firewire interface, allowing you to monitor a high res output on your laptop or computer. It also includes a full array of tools and scopes to monitor your signal and make adjustments on the fly, you can also use the app to record direct to disk. I recently tested this app on a shoot I was working on and found the toolset to be an incredible asset and deadly accurate. According to RedRock’s Brian Valente, “The Lite version is the field monitor only, which includes the flip function. It is offered as part of our M2 adapter kit at no cost, so you can have a great field monitor with rightside up image at no extra cost.” Thanks Brian!!

In the market for a mattebox for your shooting rig? Well which size do you want…4×4, or maybe 4×5.65? Perhaps the mack-daddy 6.6×6.6? Or one that accepts circular filters instead…

As you can see, there are a number of sizes and styles available from a variety of manufacturers. If you aren’t sure, here’s a great resource that will explain why you might need a certain size matte-box for your application over another. And many thanks to the always-informative Bruce Allen for the link!

A new study on hard disks was recently presented at the 5th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies by Bianca Schroeder and Garth Gibson. The research paper called “Disk failures in the real world: What does an MTTF of 1,000,000 hours mean to you?” is the culmination of years of statistics gathered from 100,000+ hard drives in a variety of “real world” production environments.

The study reveals a number of fallacies, misconceptions, and some outright lies about storage technology and reliability. High-dollar SCSI, FC, SATA, and even RAID users are in for a few suprises…what you thought you could depend on might not be so dependable. An excellent summary of all the major points can be found over at Storage Mojo in a post entitled “Everything You Know About Disks Is Wrong.” And yes, that title sums it up nicely.

During production of the 1951 movie Distant Drums, a sound effect was born. Collectively entitled “man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams”, a sequence of short scream sound effects were recorded in studio, and take number 5 was used in the film during a alligator attack scene. Two years later the scream was recycled in The Charge at Feather River when a character named Private Wilhelm was shot with an arrow. In the ensuing years, the “Wilhelm Scream”, as the collection of takes became known, was used in a number of Warner Brothers films. And somewhere along the way the Wilhelm Scream developed a cult following of sorts. Damn Interesting has the story:

Since it was first blurted out upon the world, the scream has been featured in over two hundred movies, TV programs, commercials, video games, and theme park attractions, and it has been heard by countless people. Notable filmmakers have also specifically requested the Wilhelm scream for their movies after learning of its history, including directors Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and Peter Jackson.

It’s a distinctive sound sample and quite recognizable when you hear it in a film. There is a handy montage of various scenes and movies the scream is featured in at Youtube. Here’s a sampling; Star Wars, Willow, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Gremlins, Spaceballs, Lethal Weapon 4, Batman Returns, Resevoir Dogs, Toy Story, Wallace & Gromit, and most recently, Superman Returns. Where have you heard the Wilhelm Scream? Take a look at this list if you need a hint.

smcFanControl 2.0 is donationware software that enables you to simply and easily setup thresholds and better control your MacIntel workstation or notebook cooling fans. Simple, but might be handy. Can someone with an Intel mac please drop a comment and let us all know how it works?
(Via Lifehacker)

Two quickies from Scott Kirsner’s excellent Cinematech website…

*From the WSJ: ‘Hollywood Weighs Copyright Protections’:
“…Many movie executives agree that physical DVDs still need copy protection, but some are starting to discuss whether the heavy-duty digital rights management now on electronic copies is the right route.”

*Video Fingerprinting Overview: Who’s Doing What:
“The New York Times dubs it ‘content-recognition software’; others call it video fingerprinting. The idea is to create a kind of digital dragnet that would allow copyright owners to prevent snippets of their work from being uploaded to video-sharing sites, or circulated around the Net. Who’s developing this technology? Here’s my short list…”

Just noticed that B&H is now accepting pre-orders on the highly-anticipated new Canon HV20 24P HDV camcorder.

“…We are accepting orders and it will be shipped when in stock. Orders will be filled in the order they are received. Your card will be charged upon placing the order.”

Does anyone know if they limit the number of pre-orders for new models?

If you’ve been under a rock for the past week or so, you might have missed the HV20 announcement. It looks like a nice little package, and since it supports 24F & 30F I’ve got a feeling that a lot of Canon shooters are going to buy one simply for use as a cheap VTR.

Scott Simmons Editblog points us to several FCP vs. Avid comparisons and discussion by professionals in the film business, members of the ACE. Some of the comparisons are somewhat dated, referring to older versions of the software. Some are as recent as fall of last year. But throughout, the concerns and issues each user shared are still very relevant, and might prove helpful to someone who is looking to choose a NLE, or jump ship to a different platform. I agree with Scott completely when he states “…a number of their complaints about FCP were just typical differences in the way the two applications work.”

You would think that it would be high-level functionality that would be a deal-killer for most editors, but here (and in other cases I’ve read) it seems it’s the seeminglyinsignificant interface and app behavior traits that are what people either love or hate about a specific software package. That is, Avid editors tend to prefer Avid, Final Cut Pro editors tend to prefer FCP. I suppose it is human nature to want everything to operate in the manner we are used to. As a commenter to Harry B. Miller’s post stated, “FCP is not Avid and vice versa.” Anyway, a great post and some very insightful perspectives on the never-ending holy war that is Avid vs FCP vs Whatever. Check it out at the editblog.

Josh Oakhurst has written some commentary on the issue of Home Theater vs Traditional Theater (that’s “Theatre” for all you folks across the pond).

“…two weeks ago Kristine and I venture to the nearest Regal Cinema chain to catch CHILDREN OF MEN. Our reward for arriving promptly before showtime - a 2wenty minute in- your-face, too loud, can’t escape, it 14′ tall commercial. Forget screaming children, ringing cellphones, or bored high school kids with nothing else to do - for my $18.50, the 2wenty is reason enough to stay at home.

Netflix doesn’t have commercials.”

Oakhurst goes on to clarify just what it would take to get him back in a Cineplex, and I’ve got a feeling that he’s not alone in his conclusions.

Seasoned videographer Joel Peregrine offers some interesting insight on the subject of payment ethics in the business of Wedding and Event Videography. What prompted the commentary was an article last year in EventDV magazine arguing the position that videographers should be paid in full in advance of a wedding date, and long before the finished edit is delivered. The article was written by another long-time wedding videog, Kris Malandruccolo. She states:

What if the bride writes you a rubber check? She now has her finished product and your headaches are just starting. What if you hired a freelance editor? He’s expecting to get paid for the editing job that he just completed, yet you haven’t received final payment from this bride. Under no circumstances should you send out any version of the video before you have received payment in full. Make sure a check clears before the bride gets her DVDs.

In contrast, Joel suggests “I don’t believe it is acceptable to pay for services in advance which are carried out over a period of time”, and goes on to outline his concerns. Both articles were admittedly written some time ago, but I feel they remain relevant and a good point of discussion.

Everyone’s favorite free 3D software has just been updated with a host of new features. The 2.43 release of Blender offers sculpt modeling, render baking, retopologizing tools, improved fluid simulator (now with particles), more compositing modes (including defocus node), and much more. Check out the full list of improvements.

Convergent Design is now shipping the HD-Connect MI HDMI > HD-SDI video converter, which we believe to be the first such converter to market.

The HD-Connect MI converter accepts uncompressed HD/SD video (and digital audio) from an unencrypted HDMI source, retrieves the time-code from the 1394 connection, and multiplexes the video + audio + time-code into an HD/SD-SDI stream (at 1080i50/60, 720p50/60, or 486i/576i resolution). This versatile product also features RS-422 to 1394 deck-control translation which has been extensively tested on Avid, Final Cut Pro, Premiere, Quantel and Media100 systems. This deck control translation allows offline / online batch capture to an NLE.

This looks like a very interesting option for those in need of full 4:2:2 colorspace directly off the camcorder imager, obviously greenscreen and VFX applications spring to mind. HD-Connect MI is currently priced at $695. More info at www.convergent-design.com

It’s a new tutorial from the industrious crew at Ken Stone’s site, and it’ll show you how to use Compressor and DVD Studio Pro to author up to 50 minutes of hi-def content to a standard, plain-jane 4.7GB DVD-R blank. The resulting disc can be played back on “most modern Macs.” So obviously it’s not a delivery medium to the client, unless your client happens to have a newer Apple computer. The author sums up his own article by saying, “if you want to make HD Dvds onto 4.7 GB DVD-Rs then set the preferences in DVD Studio Pro to the HD format required, encode your assets through Compressor, and then follow the same procedure as one has used to make SD DVDs.” But I’d suggest reading the whole enchilada, there are quite a few steps in between, and author Rick Young does a nice job of documenting all of them clearly.

Ripple Training just added “The Art of Encoding in Compressor” & “Color Correction in Final Cut Pro” to their online library (previously only available on DVD). They are also running a promotion on any items in the online library for the month of February. Enter the code febpromotion while checking out to get 25% off your order.

You may have read Millimeter’s article on the use of Sony HDV camcorders in Clint Eastwood’s latest two films, Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. We mentioned the writeup not too long ago. Now Digital Content Producer has another article along the same lines, and mentions a few more major films and productions that used the Sony Z1 cameras for second unit and supplementary footage. In addition to the formerly noted films, they specifically mention use of the HDV cams in Baghdad ER, House Arrest, and Southland Tales.