FreshDV

IDX Cam-Wave HD cuts the HD-SDI cables

One of the announcements we weren't able to personally cover at NAB was the Cam~Wave HD from IDX. Cam~Wave is a wireless system capable of transmitting a variety of uncompressed HD flavors up to ...

Prerequisites for Independent Film Distribution Success

Norman Hollyn has an excellent summary of a recent Hollywood Reporter article on indie film distribution. The article is a roundtable with industry players David Ansen, Kirk D’Amico, Cassian Elwes, Mark Gill, and Avi Lerner.

Norman Hollyn: "...the three things that caught my eye, have to do with distribution realities and ...

fxguide Red Camera Podcast with Graeme Nattress
fxguide has launched a new podcast series focusing on Red Digital Cinema called Red Centre. Episode #4 is an interview with Red guru Graeme Nattress. Looks like a great resource, well worth checking out. (Via Final Cut User)

FreshDV Review: Cinevate Ballare Dolly
We recently had the opportunity to check out Cinevate's Ballare dolly solution. The Ballare is almost entirely constructed of aluminum, and as such is quite rigid. It breaks down into a relatively small size for transport, and weighs around ...

AJA Kona 6.0 Adds Red-Specific Output Formats
Via Reduser comes this note on new features for Kona card users:
"...AJA Video is adding RED-specific video outputs for some of the unique frame sizes that the REDALERT and REDCINE software applications can produce. This additional support for RED will be included in the version 6.0 software driver ...

FCP Tip: Cutting to the Beat of Music
Via Zoom-in Online comes this quick tip on automatically matching images to song beat points (well, more or less automatically). Watch the video tip here.

Cellphone Projectors
A company called Microvision is working with Motorola and others to integrate "Pico" projector tech into mobile devices like cellphones. Devices are apparently in the works, and their concept gallery shows what could be one of the more popular applications...iPod integration. Looks very interesting, hopefully we'll see the ...

Adobe CS3 Interview from NAB ‘08
Zoom-in has a short audio interview with Adobe's Hart Shafer from the NAB expo floor. They talk specifically about the integration within Adobe Production Premium CS3.

CoreMelt ImageFlow and PolyChrome Plugins for FCP
Around NAB CoreMelt announced new plugin packages for FCP and After Effects Mac; ImageFlow Fx 1.12 and CoreMelt transitions. ImageFlow Fx is a set of plugins that deal specifically with still images. You can quickly created complex-looking animations and image manipulations without tedious keyframing. It comes with two ...

Million Dollar Look, $1000 Budget Bootleg NAB Keynote
One of the fantastic panels at NAB 2008 was the A Million Dollar Look on a Thousand Dollar Budget Super Session that featured Stu Maschwitz, Dave Basulto, Alex Lindsay, Taylor Wigton, and Brian Valente of Redrock Micro. You can watch about 45 minutes of this EXCELLENT discussion ...

Internet Film Financing Roundup
Cinematech has a nice summary of three current online film financing options, IndieGoGo, ArtistShare and IndieMaverick.

ShotPut EXpress Automates SxS Media Offloading
Panasonic solid-state shooters have had a fantastic tool called P2 Genie for quite some time now. The software simplifies and automates the process of dumping P2 cards to disk so they can be re-used in a shoot. I've used it, and it works beautifully. So I was delighted ...

Faking Motion Capture in After Effects
Here's a beautiful tutorial on how to effectively fake full mocap using simple trackers and the Puppet Tool. Brilliant!

Sony EX1 vs Red One in a Keying Test
Jim Arthurs has posted a Red footage vs EX1 footage bluescreen key test. Can you pick out which is which? I think I can, but I'm not certain. Which is a very interesting result in itself...

Spy Pen Makes James Bond Proud
Via Engadget: The ¥17,800 (about $175) DVR-BP features a 1-mm pinhole CMOS camera, mic, 2-hour battery, and 2GB of memory to store all your video deceit at 352 x 288 pixels.

Sony Vegas Pro 8 only $129
B&H is running a special on Vegas Pro 8. The Sony NLE normally retails for $469 for the full packaged version. B&H is now offering a basic retail version (no printed manual) for just $129. I've edited a few projects using Vegas back around version 6, and ...

James Cameron Interview on 4K and 3D
James Cameron's recent Variety interview was a good one. He talks about working creatively with 3D and the need for a further immersive experience over conventional filmmaking.
"I believe that Godard got it exactly backwards. Cinema is not truth 24 times a second, it is lies 24 times a ...

Kodak Z885 Digital Still and Video Camera Review
The following article is a review by FreshDV guest contributor Eugenia Loli-Queru. Geeks.com sent us over a Kodak Z885 for a review, one of their 8 megapixel digital cameras they carry on to their store. Description The Z885 is an 8.1 MP camera, with a 2.5" LCD ...

$100 Off Automatic Duck
Just noticed that Automatic Duck is offering a $100 coupon code on any of their software tools...Pro Import and Export for FCP, Pro Import for AE, and Pro Import for Combustion. This NAB-related special is good through the end of April, simply add the software to your cart ...

Get Access to a Red Camera with the Digital Cinema Grant
The Digital Cinema Grant Program is a recurring grant that awards a Red Digital Cinema camera to filmmakers for PSA's, indie features, shorts, and non-profit productions. They are now accepting applications for productions starting in August 2008. Have any FreshDV readers had experience with this program, or it's ...