Oh this is too cool! A sweet custom case mod with diamondplate industrial-strength casing around a smokin-fast custom PC. The hardened case swings open to reveal not one, but two LCDs. They’d probably make you paint it matte black if you brought this behemoth on set though. Many more pics and details here. Construction and assembly video below…

(Thanks Anthony!)

Here is the eighth installment of our continuing series on the role of a Director and Assistant Director both on and off a production set. This part 8 segment deals specifically with an AD’s job on set, general set etiquette, and how an AD can take the load off a Director during production. There’s also a basic introduction to the order of commands and “calls” an AD makes during a take.

Watch all eight segments in the playlist below or at FreshTV, and please stay tuned for the next installment of this extensive series. Detailed descriptions follow the video playlist…

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

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.

The Part 7 segment delves into working with your cast and crew on a production set. Joe speaks to why a director should ensure equality and respect across all castmembers, and how to approach correcting an actor without making a scene. Finally, Joe offers practical suggestions on handling the inevitable unseen challenges and hurdles that will arise.

Levelator is a free cross-platform app from The Conversations Network that works magic on your audio recordings. This hybrid utility is perfect for podcasters, and works wonders on spoken word recordings and interviews. It includes a little normalization, some dynamic compression, a touch of limiter, and a lot of magic. The bottom line? Drag and drop an audio file to this app, and a few minutes later it will spit out a file with consistent levels and superior sound. I’ve been playing with it all weekend, and it’s my new favorite toy to run on files before I bring them into Soundtrack Pro for further sweetening.

“So what is The Levelator? It’s software that runs on Windows, OS X (universal binary), or Linux (Ubuntu) that adjusts the audio levels within your podcast or other audio file for variations from one speaker to the next, for example. It’s not a compressor, normalizer or limiter although it contains all three. It’s much more than those tools, and it’s much simpler to use. The UI is dirt-simple: Drag-and-drop any WAV or AIFF file onto The Leveler’s application window, and a few moments later you’ll find a new version which just sounds better.

Have you ever recorded an interview in which you and your guest ended up at different volumes? How about a panel discussion where some people were close to microphones and others were not? These are the problems the post-production engineers of Team ITC here at The Conversations Network solve every day, and it used to take them hours of painstaking work with expensive and complex tools like SoundTrack Pro, Audacity, Sound Forge or Audition to solve them. Now it takes mere seconds. Seriously. The Levelator is unlike any other audio tool you’ve ever seen, heard or used. It’s magic. And it’s free.”

(Thanks to Rick Henshaw for the tip!)

Last month at the IBC show in Amsterdam, a small Swedish company named Ikonoskop launched an exciting new digital cinema camera called the A-Cam dII. The dII offers nearly 2K resolution from a 16mm-sized CCD imager, records uncompressed DNG sequences to high-speed solid-state media, and can be overcranked up to 60fps. With a number of lens mount options that include PL, C-mount, and still image lenses (via the IMS mount), the dII has a lot to offer to those with an existing lens investment. Perhaps one of the greatest attractions of the dII is it’s compact, integrated design that thoughtfully includes a viewfinder tucked into the side of the body.

I wrote 1200 words on this new camera shortly after it was announced, comparing it to the Red One and Red Scarlet. You can read that article over at ProVideoCoalition. It’s an intriguing offering from both a price and performance standpoint, and since the announcement I’ve heard more speculation and questions about the dII than answers. So we got in touch with the Ikonoskop crew to try to get some of these burning questions answered.

The following 30-minute podcast is a frank and open discussion about the dII that should clear the air about what it does, and doesn’t offer. If you’ve got questions about this new camera, we hope this interview will answer them. Listen to the podcast by subscribing to our podcast feed.

 Ikonoskop A-cam dII Interview [30:21m]: Download

Editing organazized is giving away a few plugins that solve the issue of certain fonts and font weights not being made available in Final Cut Pro’s title generators. This has cropped up many times for me in various projects, and generally forces me to use the Boris Title3D plugin for titles. For instance, FCP’s built in text generator doesn’t allow you to use the Gill Sans “Light” weight choice. And Gill Sans “Plain” and “Bold” look like garbage. Title3D is fine in most situations, but a bit clunky to use. This free font plugin alternative, while not perfect, may solve your font irritations.

Another free plugin that looks useful is Andy’s Basic Text plugin. It pulls text from a RTF document, so there’s potential for non-editors to get involved in titling heavy lifting. Get it here.

Here’s a neat little resource, it’s a “calculator” of sorts that quickly lets you know what laws apply to content produced on a certain date, and with specific conditions. Check it out, this looks like a handy resource to bookmark.

(Via Pro Video Coalition)

Director and editor Paul Del Vecchio has created a fantastic video tutorial on how to convert 4:3 SD footage into 16:9 widescreen footage. He first shows how to accomplish this using Adobe After Effects, then later in Sony Vegas and other NLE’s using his free aspect ratio overlays. There’s quite a few handy tips along the way, and I personally found this to be an informative and helpful video tutorial.

We wanted to help host an HD version of the tutorial, and Paul has agreed to share it here at FreshDV. You can watch at FreshTV, or download an iPod version via the podcast feed. There are also 720p HD WMV and MP4 options linked below.

 720p HD Quicktime Tutorial Video [14:22m]: Download
 720p HD Windows Media Tutorial Video [14:22m]: Download

For more info on Paul Del Vecchio, check out his blog and production website.

Life Zero has a fantastic step-by-step article up that walks you through building your own super-fast RAID enclosure for editing and post-production. The final product delivers 4TB of storage, can be upgraded to 8TB if you buy larger drives, and best of all it delivers faster performance than the $5,660 CalDigit HDPro. At up to 400MB/s+ write and 500MB/s+ read in RAID 0, this unit is very quick. In RAID 5 mode, the speed drops to around 300 MB/s write and 400 MB/s read. The final cost for the system with today’s prices is a paltry $1414.51. Here’s the shopping list:

* DV Warehouse Edit Box 8ML (x1) $550.00
* Infiniband Cable from Amazon (x2) $71.26
* RocketRaid 2322 (x1) $274.85
* 500GB Western Digital WD5000AAKS (x8) $518.40

The Amazon items above would ship with the Free Super Saver option, and expect to pay $25-$50 to ship the RAID enclosure to your doorstep. So all told, you are still looking at well under $1500 invested in a RAID that beats the pants off one of the leaders in this arena. Very cool indeed.

For extra geek points, at a theoretical expense in total performance, you can try 750GB or 1TB drive configurations, yielding 6TB and 8TB, respectively. It’s nice that this RAID array offers the upgrade overhead should you need to add more space.

You can read the entire article here, it briefly discusses assembly and configuration of the system and screencaps of the AJA speed tests are there as well if you don’t believe the numbers.

Here’s a great resource compliments of Ken Stone’s Final Cut Pro resources site, this guide walks you through the filters and audio processing plugins built into the OS and FCP. So if you have been frustrated with subpar audio and need some tips, or just want to know what the AUDynamicsProcessor filter does, check this article out. Part 2 will be coming soon.

Techspansion, makers of the uber-economical Mac compression software VisualHub, are closing their doors and taking their ball home. Current owners of the software should take a look at these instructions on how to safely backup their copy of the app.

(Via Discrete Consine)

 Tiffany Shlain Interview [8:28m]: Download

I spoke recently with Tiffany Shlain, filmmaker, creator and founder of the Webby Awards, and a presenter at the upcoming event The Conversation. Tiffany discusses her role at the upcoming event for filmmakers, and talks shortly about her own self-distributed filmmaking projects. Listen to the podcast by subscribing to our podcast feed.

You can learn more about Tiffany and her upcoming projects at www.moxieinstitute.org. The Conversation event will be held this month in San Francisco on 10/17-18. Make your reservation at www.theconversationspot.com.

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.

In Part 5, the discussion transitions to the role of a Director and A/D in the casting and auditioning process. Joe talks about how he likes to run an audition and help faciliate the process, as well as what to look for in an actor’s audition. They also talk about making the offer to your actors, further table reads, and what to look for in the performances. These tips and concepts will help you better cast the roles in your next production.

In Part 6, Kendal and Joe talk about the specific roles and responsibilities of a Director and his DoP. The discussion centers around both the positive and the negative ways that a Director can interact with the camera dept, and how to avoid some of the common pitfalls on set and keep your production running smoothly and efficiently. They also talk about when to bring the DP into the pre-production process, to get the Director and DP on the same page creatively and practically. The discussion delves into using Overhead diagrams to visualize and help plan each scene, as well as the oft-overlooked yet critical location scouting process that can save time and money when it comes time to shoot. Finally, Joe and Kendal speak to the need to develop visual rules, style, and guidelines to help creatively guide a production.

This Part 7 segment delves into working with your cast and crew on a production set. Joe speaks to why a director should ensure equality and respect across all castmembers, and how to approach correcting an actor without making a scene. Finally, Joe offers practical suggestions on handling the inevitable unseen challenges and hurdles that will arise.

Watch all seven 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.

Scott Simmons points out that Media Composer 3.0.5 includes a new feature that FCP users have enjoyed for some time now, a tool that allows you to select clips on the timeline from the right or left of the cursor. He’s quick to point out that that Avid should be commended for adding a feature users requested, and not being concerned with the appearance of following in FCP’s footsteps. I agree… any feature that helps the editor is a good tool, and it’s great to see companies putting users before brand pride.

Via Tyler Ginter comes this article about a new Quad Full Autosteroscopic 56-inch HD display from Philips that is capable of displaying 3D images and video. It can be yours for a cool $25K. The big difference about this display is it’s incredibly high resolution (a technical hurdle for 3D displays) and an amazing 160 degree viewing angle with no funky glasses required. This would be a great complement to the new Fujifilm stereoscopic consumer cameras.

Paul Del Vecchio has shared a number of aspect mask mattes for use in editing and post production. Aspect ratios available include 4×3/1.85:1, 4×3/2.35:1, 16×9/1.85:1, 16×9/2.21:1, and 16×9/2.35:1. They are free to download and use, so check ‘em out.