Camcorderinfo has posted an interesting article that talks about the wide variety of HD cameras being used to capture the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. They also briefly touch on the various custom camera rigs dreamed up by Garrett Brown, such as the DiveCam. For more details on that particular rig, check out this article in the Wall Street Journal. I absolutely love the fact that the DiveCam is so low-tech, and that they solved the above/below water exposure differences with ND gels. So simple, and yet so effective.

Recently FreshDV launched the first part in an exclusive multi-segment training series on directing. These intensive FreshDV Film School Director’s Course video tutorials delve deep into what is required of a director and assistant director, both on and off set, and what areas those on that career path can concentrate on to achieve their goals. The discussion is hosted by FreshDV’s Kendal Miller, and Chicago filmmaker Joe Martin brings his unique perspective in teaching the role of a director.

Part 1 was a 15-minute introductory video that discusses the basic qualifications, job description and overall tasks a director is responsible for in a production.

Part 2 deals with the script revision process, both in pre-production and on set. Whether a script change is sparked by a creative choice, a budgetary concern, or to fix a shooting problem, the Part 2 video segment covers the basic protocol and tangible essentials of how you can handle this in your next production.

Part 3 digs deep into the pre-production responsibilities of a Director and Assistant Director. Joe and Kendal discuss the process of breaking down a script by scenes and shots, assigning scene numbers, and building the day to day schedule. They show a sample script breakdown sheet and other necessary forms. Independent filmmakers by and large seem to have the attitude that planning doesn’t matter…but as Joe says in the video, pre-production should be 80% of a project. These tips and techniques will help you get a handle on the planning and pre-prod process, and help you come in under budget and make your shooting schedule.

Part 4 deals with daily production schedules, timesheets and the venerable callsheet…Joe’s “most beneficial information you can generate.” Joe and Kendal discuss planning, accountability, and working with the other members of a filmmaking crew to effectively reach the common goal…completing the project on time and budget.

Watch all four segments in the playlist below or at FreshTV, and please stay tuned for the next installment of this extensive series.

If you enjoyed this tutorial series, please tell a friend or post the link in your favorite forum. Thanks for watching.

 Digital Rapids Interview - Encoding the Olympics [17:47m]: Download

When the first games began a week ago at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, NBC launched their extensive coverage of the games on a handful of NBC Universal networks as well as at NBCOlympics.com. The site offers an unprecedented amount of live and archived video content…when the games wrap in a few weeks, they will have an archive of over 2000 hours of Olympics video. In the first 3 days alone they reported 17.7 million video streams served.

We spoke with Mike Nann of Digital Rapids, the company tasked with encoding the video feeds which ultimately end up streaming from NBCOlympics.com. Digital Rapids is one essential link in the video coverage chain…they take the source feeds from 100+ cameras coming in from multiple venues day and night, filter and compress them on the fly, and send every single stream (at multiple resolutions and bitrates) across the Pacific Ocean on Limelight Network’s CDN. Those feeds are then either streamed live from the NBC site, or archived for users to play on demand. Did I mention this was happening LIVE? This podcast interview is my discussion with Mike about how they are accomplishing this massive task.

Download via the attached link, or subscribe to the iTunes podcast feed.

Image by Kathy Zhuang, Creative Commons licensed with attribution.

Here’s an interesting post that talks about why the concept of “Show, not tell” sometimes works better with a film’s audience.

“If you show the actions of a character, the audience will make their own judgements of who that character is and what they want. These judgements of the characters combine in the audience’s minds to build up their own stories about the ingredients of your movie. One of the tricks then is to let the audience sometimes get ahead of the characters and at other times let them fall behind.”

These are concepts that can be written into a story obviously, but they also can be affected in the edit suite.

However, consider that this concept doesn’t always work in every situation: In “The Dark Knight”, for instance, there was no “show” backstory on the Joker. Typically superhero movies use flashbacks or some way of quickly bringing the audience up to speed on the motivations of the character. In “Dark Knight,” the Nolan brothers had the Joker “tell” his own backstory, the only caveat being that the stories varied wildly upon each subsequent telling, and the overall effect was in fact to “show” his insanity. It’s a refreshing approach that seems to be a hybrid of both “show” and “tell.” Think about these principles as you write and edit your next project.

Recently FreshDV launched the first part in an exclusive multi-segment training series on directing. These intensive FreshDV Film School Director’s Course video tutorials delve deep into what is required of a director and assistant director, both on and off set, and what areas those on that career path can concentrate on to achieve their goals. The discussion is hosted by FreshDV’s Kendal Miller, and Chicago filmmaker Joe Martin brings his unique perspective in teaching the role of a director.

Part 1 was a 15-minute introductory video that discusses the basic qualifications, job description and overall tasks a director is responsible for in a production.

Part 2 deals with the script revision process, both in pre-production and on set. Whether a script change is sparked by a creative choice, a budgetary concern, or to fix a shooting problem, the Part 2 video segment covers the basic protocol and tangible essentials of how you can handle this in your next production.

This Part 3 segment digs deep into the pre-production responsibilities of a Director and Assistant Director. Joe and Kendal discuss the process of breaking down a script by scenes and shots, assigning scene numbers, and building the day to day schedule. They show a sample script breakdown sheet and other necessary forms. Independent filmmakers by and large seem to have the attitude that planning doesn’t matter…but as Joe says in the video, pre-production should be 80% of a project. These tips and techniques will help you get a handle on the planning and pre-prod process, and help you come in under budget and make your shooting schedule.

Watch all three segments in the playlist below or at FreshTV, and please stay tuned for the next installment of this extensive series.

If you enjoyed this tutorial series, please tell a friend or post the link in your favorite forum. Thanks for watching.

Are you using overlapping audio cuts or crossfades in your edits? If not, you could be missing out on a powerful technique that pro editors have been using for years. Also referred to as L-cuts or J-cuts, overlapping audio either before or after a video cut can go a long way towards making a transition less jarring. It is not only a quick fix for small audio imbalances, but a powerful creative tool in your editing arsenal. HDFilmtools has the scoop, including specific instructions for FCP editors (though the overlap edit can be accomplished with any decent NLE software).

“In today’s world of whiz bang, high-tech, digital editing, the power of the lowly overlap cut has been all but lost in the tumult. I’m sure many of you have heard the term overlap, pre-lap or post-lap before, but you may not know exactly why one would use this technique when creating a sequence. Understanding this subtle, simple and effective tool, which editors pull from their bag of tricks every day, will make you a more seasoned and better editor.”

Via Flowseeker comes this fantastic trove of creative ideas for how to lens and frame the concept of Authority.

Photographer Richard Ross has an online photo exhibition entitled “Architecture of Authority” that manages to convey a sense of power and control very well in single images, and even more so when viewed as a collection. If you are looking for innovative ways to show authority in your next film or video project, I highly recommend browsing this collection.

This is a bit off-topic, but we’ve all been there so I thought I’d share it anyway. This humorous short video shows what Stop signs might look like if designed by committee.