We interviewed Ikonoskop recently about the new A-Cam dII, a digital 16mm replacement. They promised footage soon, and cameras later in the year. It seems that at least some footage is now available. It looks like preliminary test footage however, and I am interested to get my hands on some RAW DNG files from a production camera. Snag a copy at www.ikonoskop.com/dii/footage/

Editing organazized has a short post on the FCP feature “Show Duplicate Frames.” It’s a handy, though somewhat obscure feature. Check it out, might just save you some time in the edit.

FinalCutuser has an exclusive 50% off deal on the new Warp FCP plugin from Red Giant Software. Looks like a handy plugin (I could have used it last week for a billboard replacement).

Art Adams has posted the results from a very informative test with the Red camera. The results indicate that Red One tungsten-lit greenscreen footage can be improved if you use an 80D blue filter over the lens. This helps clean up noise in the recorded Blue channel, which isn’t nearly as clean as the Red and Green channels. With a blue filter, edges are improved and noise and digital grain is reduced, theoretically leading to a better chroma key in post. In fact, Art even goes to far as to suggest shooting with an 80D filter all the time, given enough light. One reason you wouldn’t want to shoot with the filter is that it cuts 1/2 to 2/3 stop of light transmission, which may be an issue depending on your light kit or scene limitations. It’s an informative writeup, and Art has included some very telling footage framegrabs that illustrate the issue. Definitely check this one out if you are working with the Red, or intend to.

Just a quick offtopic reminder for FreshDV’s US readers; if you haven’t early voted, don’t forget to exercise your right to vote today. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled geekiness.

Over at our PVC channel I’ve posted my review of the sleek little DiscPainter radial disc printer from Dymo. It’s a unique, compact solution that has a lot to offer. While I was less than enamored by it’s inability to print borderless, it did manage find a place in my cold, hardened reviewer’s heart based on the DiscPainter’s pure convenience and speed. Check out the review if you are in the market for a fast printer that will take up a lot less space on your desk.

There’s a sweet handheld camera script for After Effects over at PVC.

Ahh, freelancing. It’s an idyllic concept, but can be very frustrating. One constant irritant is the flaky client. Here’s a few tips from FreelanceSwitch on how to identify the three types of flakes.

Okay guys you know how much we love Imagineer’s stuff!! Well here is the scoop on a GREAT sale tomorrow only.

From Kevin Bourke:
Just got word from the Imagineer Systems team; they’ve launched a one-day only, crazy-scary sale for Halloween. Aimed at students, freelancers and small shops (they’re saying shops of no more than 3 people tops!) can take advantage of some serious deals on several Imagineer Systems VFX tools. Here are the details:

IMAGINEER SYSTEMS 1 DAY SALE: OCT 31st only!
SUPER SCARY PRICES for Students, Freelances, Small Shops!

90% off planar tracking, removal and rotoscoping tools:
monet, mokey, mocha or motor! If you have never checked out these tools, this movie is a great one to watch: http://www.imagineersystems.com/support/tutorials/movies/

TO PURCHASE:
Visit Imagineer’s on-line shop http://www.imagineersystems.com/store/index.html to buy your discounted license.

1) Add a mokey, monet or motor nodelocked license to the cart
2) Go to Checkout
3) Fill in the customer information page
4) On the order details page add the following coupon code: imagineer_halloween
5) On the summary page, enter the Host ID of the workstation you want to run the software on.

To qualify for discount, you must be a freelancer, student or from a company with 3 or less employees. Larger companies that abuse the promotion will force us to stop the promo!

Offer expires: October 31, 2008

Digital Content Producer has posted a review of the updated Varicam, the Panasonic AJ-HPX2700. Their conclusion? It’s takes all the good of it’s predecessor and adds even more goodness. With additional framerate options and an expanded featureset, there’s a lot to like. One major area of improvement? Recording options:

“In addition to recording traditional DVCPRO HD, the AJ-HPX2700 enables capture of 4:2:2 images at 10 bits using AVC-Intra 100, effectively delivering for the first time at this price point a master-quality camcorder à la HD-D5 to the broadcast shooter.

The impact on screen is immediately apparent to me, with more accurate color rendition and extremely smooth gradients. These two factors are especially evident in facial shadows and smooth monochromatic areas of the frame, such as the sky or an actor’s wardrobe. Shooting in 10 bits in AVC-Intra, there is little risk of seeing dreaded compression contours or banding, which have long plagued traditional 8-bit video codecs.”

Check it out here.

FreshDV has four free passes to PAUSE New York City, an event for motion graphics pros and filmmakers on November 10-11. The passes are worth $199 each, and we’re itching to give them away to our readers. Here’s how it’s going to happen.

We’ll be giving the tickets away in two separate bundles so that two lucky readers can each bring a friend. Entering is simple; all you have to do is link to www.freshdv.com between now and midnight Sunday 11/2, and then drop us an e-mail to confirm the link. That’s it. It doesn’t matter where you link from, it can be a website, a blog, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, whatever. Just link. We’ll randomly select two lucky prize package winners from the pool of entrants. Specific contest entry rules follow the event details.

Event Details:
PAUSE: Ideas in Motion debuts November 10 - 11, 2008 at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Centre in NYC. From 30-second commercial spots to feature films and experiential design, PAUSE NYC examines the concepts, techniques and principles that drive the world’s leading creative studios. The two-day event features 12 one-hour presentations, a panel discussion, special screenings, and nightly socials as only FITC can deliver. Confirmed presenters include: BTRY, Brand New School, BUCK, Digital Kitchen, GMunk, HUSH, Joseph Koskinski, MK12, UFO, filmmaker Hillman Curtis, music video director Chris Milk and video and feature film director Mark Romanek.

“PAUSE NYC is one of our most exciting projects to date,” says Shawn Pucknell, Founder of FITC. “Attendees can expect a very dynamic event with opportunities to engage, learn and connect with the best creative minds in the industry.”

PAUSE NYC is open to anyone who works with 3D and motion graphics technologies — whether After Effects, Combustion, Maya, Motion, or a combination of these and other bold new toolsets. Tickets range in price from $119 to $249 US (Student and Regular). Go to www.pausenyc.tv for details or to register.

FreshDV Pause NYC Ticket Giveaway Rules: No purchase necessary. You must be a living, breathing human that possesses a name and e-mail address to enter this contest. Got that? Good. To be eligible for the random drawing for free passes, you must link to www.freshdv.com before 11/03/08 and e-mail contest@freshdv.com to confirm your entry. The e-mail should contain your full name and the webpage or url that contains the link to FreshDV. Entries that do not properly indicate linkage will be discarded, so double-check those urls. E-mail entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM Central Time on November 2, 2008. Two package winners will be selected randomly from all the entrants. Both selected winners will each receive two (2) passes to the event. Winners will be notified on or before 11/4/08. Your e-mail address will only be used for the purpose of contacting contest winners. Good luck!

In this four-part series of videos, the host of NPR’s This American Life talks about how to tell stories for broadcast. His insight comes from a radio show standpoint, but it translates seamlessly to film and video production. I really enjoyed this series, hope you do as well.
Continue reading ‘Ira Glass on Storytelling’

The LA Times has an interesting article in which director Christopher Nolan breaks down a scene in Dark Knight. It’s a revealing look into the filmmaking and creative process. Here’s a snippet on how they lit the scene:

“The scene starts between Gary Oldman [as James Gordon] and Heath with the lights out, and [director of photography] Wally Pfister literally just lit the scene with the desk lamp, the table lamp, and nothing else. And then when the lights come on, Batman is revealed, and the rest of the scene plays out with a massive overexposure. He overexposed like five stops, I want to say, and then printed it down to bring some of the color back in. But it’s this incredibly intense overhead light which let us move in any direction. We had a handheld camera and shot however we wanted, be very spontaneous.”

“We start in a very controlled way, but even within that frame, the way Heath is bobbing in and out —and he’s actually bobbing in and out of the focal plane because, you know, it’s very hard to follow someone whose leaning toward camera the whole time. It actually really adds something. We’re continually trying to catch him with the focus. You really see his movement back and forth. That way, even in a tight frame, you have this sense of strangeness. On the other hand, you have Batman sitting there just very, very controlled, restrained as you say. Then there’s a point where it spills over into real physicality and he drags the Joker across the table. We go handheld at that point and shot the rest of the scene with handheld to be very spontaneous in its movement.”

Crossover allows Mac and Linux users to run Windows games and other apps on their system, relatively seamlessly. Codeweavers is giving away licenses today only. Get yours here.

Confused by some of the rendering-related terminology, behavior, and settings available in Final Cut Pro? This article at Ken Stone’s FCP tutorial site is the most extensive treatise on the topic I’ve ever seen. This is a must-read for FCP editors both new and experienced.