Visualnary » Editing

Enhance that video!

Martin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:52:34 +0000

I recently needed to uprez some footage from 160×120 to HD. I used the occasion to give Red Giant’s Instant HD a try-out. The results looked decent, but for comparison I also simply adjusted the motion settings in Final Cut Pro. Surprizingly, to me those results looked actually better.

Famous enhance moments

A fun compilation of all those films that use the (non-existing) enhance function that is part of any science-fiction/tech-thriller/computer-action movie. Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

(via)

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Free visual material for your project

Martin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:21:01 +0000

Barb Dybwad has collection a nice list of online resources where you can find free multimedia content for your use. My favourite one would be the Creative Commons search.

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Cart – beautiful short film

Martin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:40:57 +0000

I came across this beautiful shortfilm by a young film maker named Jesse Rosten, shot on no budget on a RED one.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch it in full quality on his website – but try not to read the story before seeing the film.

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Label your tapes, folks

Martin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:22:03 +0000

Scott Simmons wrote an open letter to cameratechs, Please label tapes and disks: An open letter to DPs, camera ops, DITs. He pleads to label tapes/harddisks in the following matter:

a descriptor of the project

date of acquisition

resolution w/ progressive or interlaced

frame rate

acquisition codec

camera used

contact information for questions

notes

So a tape label might look like this:

Fluffo corporate video
6/25/09
1080i
29.97
HDV
Canon HV20
Michael Bey cell 555-1212
director shot 24p

All pretty reasonable, and should be adopted as common practice. Actually, I would suggest adding ratio, operator and sound information.

Download the pdf

I prepared a simple form in the popular .pdf format that you can download here: Tape card

I also added a line for ratio, pre-filled some standard values, and added some info as to sound. Feedback is very welcome!

You can print out a couple of these sheets, cut them in fourths and have them in the camera bag. Even when you are in a hurry, you can quickly give valuable information to the hard working editor. (If you have an inkjet printer, it might be an idea to get those labels photocopied, so that they will survive the rain you and your camera will have to endure.)

…and since we are into co-operation: An open letter to editors

Dear editors, it would be great if you could give us camerafolk some feed-back about the raw footage. Both what you liked (we are humans, too), what is useless, what would make your life easier, and any other form of constructive criticism. (And if you could make a copy of the finished edit in the highest possible quality, you are entitled to some serious cameraman love )

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Producers not paying

Martin — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:01:54 +0000

As a follow-up to yesterdays’s post on Clients not paying, here is one from the writer’s perspective – but that one works just as well for any one who has ever worked for “deferred payment.” I’ve done that mistake as well, and of the maybe dozen (mostly short) films I’ve done that way, I ended up getting paid exactly zero times. And I have never met a single sould who did end up getting some money from a deferred payment job.

If you need the experience, you may consider working for free – just do not fall for the production assistant’s crap promising money down the line. If a film by chance should turn out to be a financial success, any self-respecting producer will immediately start a new production company, sell all rights to the film to this new company, and can rake in all profits.

And when it is time to make the next, proper budgeted, film, guess who they will not call? You. Because if you work for free, you can’t be any good, right?

Harlan Ellison with sharp, sharp teeth

Ellison is a veteran Hollywood writer, and even he get occasionally asked to do freebies. Here is an extract from the documentary “Dreams with sharp teeth”

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you are intrigued as I was, have a look at the well made trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

It made me order the DVD.

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EditQuette

Martin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:39:23 +0000

Jay Moeller has been working as an editor for over 10 years. Here are her 21 (funny, fitting) tips to clients on how to behave in the editing room

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Quick flash games

Martin — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:19:30 +0000

It is not often that I get to play games, and even more seldom that I write about them, but Splitter is a game that has many of the elements I like:

It takes no time to learn
You can play it for just a few minutes (perfect while waiting for a render)
You have to think about solutions
There are many solutions to each puzzle
No killing necessary
You can restart each lever without penalty
And it involves real life physics

Another game I can recommend is Buggles Connect over at the Casual Collective. Here you can play against other online players. It is quite fun trying to guess what the other player(s) might do and adjust your own strategy accordingly.

You place your markers in an empty spot and try to grab as many little Buggles as you can. Whoever has caught most of them at the end of 10 rounds, wins.

Enjoy.

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Free Final Cut plug-in

Martin — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:40:39 +0000

Before Graeme Nattress started at RED he was very well known for making exceptional plug-ins for Final Cut Pro. To celebrate his interview in the Digital Producer Magazine, Graeme currently makes his Bleach Bypass filter available for free. You can read the whole article to find the link, or click here. Installations instructions are on page two of the interview.

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250 computers for the price of 3 – and the size of one

Martin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:57:55 +0000

nVida just announced a supercomputer that would feature 960 cores and the speed of 250 computers, all for the price of under 10 grand usd. Read here for more.

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One Birger to go

Martin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:27:18 +0000

Looks like our Birger mount is on its way home.

Soon I’ll be able to give our Contax Zeiss lenses a proper try.

And my new laptop from Apple (MBP 2.8ghz Intel Duo, 4gig – my first Intel Mac) is also on its way, enabling me to work R3D files on the road.

Exciting times. All puzzle pieces are coming together.

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