timecode

Do you ever wonder how long a Compressor encode might take? I finally figured this out the other day…

If you open the Batch Monitor and click the info button on the currently running encode:

You get an information window. Right there in the window is a Time Remaining entry!

This was probably located in the manual somewhere but who has time to read those things?

(SECAUCUS, New Jersey--July 23, 2008) Among the highest echelon of international wildlife cinematographers Dereck Joubert and producer wife Beverly Joubert, both Explorers-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, are currently in production shooting a feature film on lions in the wilds of Botswana. The (as-yet-untitled) feature film, slated for theatrical release early next year, is being shot with AJ-HPX3000 native 1080p one-piece Panasonic P2 HD camcorders. Mr. Joubert, an HPX3000 owner, is shooting in AVC-Intra 100, the industry's most advanced compression technology that delivers master-quality, 10-bit intra-frame encoding and full 10-bit, at full 1920 x 1080 4:2:2 video quality.

Company honored in Musical Instruments category (Los Angeles, California--July 23, 2008) M-Audio, a part of Avid Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVID), and a leading provider of creative tools for musicians, has been honored with the prestigious BRAVO! Award presented each year by consumer electronics leader Best Buy.

(Chicago, Illinois--July 23, 2008) As part of the newly expanded format of the Computer Animation Festival, SIGGRAPH 2008 will feature three all-star Production Studio Nights hosted by industry powerhouses Pixar Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and Lucasfilm. In addition to the Festival’s popular Competition and Invited Screenings, Festival Talks, and Production Sessions, each studio will host evening events at Los Angeles’ famed Nokia Theatre. Highlights will include an exclusive advance screening of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”, preceded by a conversation between Animation Director John Knoll and Director David Filoni, discussions with some of the industry’s most notable pioneers such as John Lasseter and Frédéric Back, as well as a tribute to the late Stan Winston, renown visual effects supervisor, makeup artist and film director.

(WIESBADEN, Germany--July 23, 2008) Panasonic PBITS Professional & Broadcast Systems has announced the AG-HPX171E compact and light-weight P2 HD handheld camera. The AG-HPX171E features a newly developed Leica Dicomar zoom lens providing the widest angle of any 1/3-inch class camcorder. Incorporation of the P2 solid-state recording system reduces the camera's weight by 25% compared with its predecessor, making the AG-HPX171E the lightest compact HD camcorder in its class, and significantly easier for camera operators to handle.

(WIESBADEN, Germany--July 23, 2008) Panasonic PBITS Professional & Broadcast Systems has announced the AG-HMC151E AVCHD tapeless professional handheld camera. Part of Panasonic's AVCCAM series of products, the AG-HMC151E incorporates the design concept of the highly regarded DVX100 and features a newly developed Leica Dicomar zoom lens, providing the widest angle of any 1/3-inch camcorder. At 1.7 kg, the AG-HMC151E is also the lightest 1/3-inch camcorder on the market.

Largest Independent Broadcaster Prepares for HD Era With Panasonic Systems (WIESBADEN, Germany--July 23, 2008) Panasonic PBITS (Professional & Broadcast IT Systems) have announced that LNK, Lithuania's largest independent broadcaster, has adopted Panasonic P2 technology for news and programme production.

TriCaster gives AFL fans around the world unprecedented access to the events and activities of ArenaBowl Weekend (San Antonio, Texas--July 23, 2008) NewTek Inc., manufacturer of industry-leading video and 3D animation products, today announced the Arena Football League selected TriCaster™ portable live production system to produce and web stream 11 ArenaBowl XXII Weekend events taking place July 24-27 in New Orleans.

Feldman Also Joins Feature Sales Team (Santa Monica, California--July 23, 2008) Ascent Media Group (AMG) has promoted Jackie Lee to the newly-created post of Vice President of Feature Sales/Creative Services Group. Lee will lead the sales effort for post production facilities in the group that provide Digital Intermediate and other services for feature films.

Design Studio Also Brands New Luxury Explorer TV Network (Los Angeles, California--July 23, 2008) Following a months-long design and animation process, Special Blend has delivered new branding for City Explorer TV, the largest in-hotel visitor information television network in the United States.

(Billerica, Massachusetts--July 23, 2008) Broadcast Pix™, the company that redefined the production switcher as a live integrated production system, announces the sale of its Slate™ 2100 switcher to the Voice of America (VOA) in Washington, D.C. A second Slate 2100 is also in place at VOA’s London facility. VOA is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people.

ProVideo Coalition.com: HD for Indies by Mike Curtis | Articles OK, maybe not EVERYTHING, but certainly everything pertaining to Redcode and how variable is their variable bitrate codec, how much space does X resolution at Y aspect ratio with Z codec take up, how many minutes/hours fit on a CF or Red Drive, what is the max frame rate, what does it depend on, etc. If you are planning on shooting

I watched all three episodes of 'Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog' last night, and enjoyed it more than just about any other video content I've seen that was made especially for the Net.

Variety notes that this was a project that Whedon and his brothers worked on during the writer's strike earlier this year. Cynthia Littleton notes:

"Dr. Horrible," which was shot over seven days in high-def vid at a budget in the very low six figures, tells the story of an underdog supervillain, played by Harris, who maintains a video blog to chronicle his efforts to be accepted by the Evil League of Evil. Horrible also has a softer side, as we see when he battles his arch-nemesis, the two-faced Captain Hammer (Fillion), for the heart of a girl he meets in the Laundromat (Day).

Whedon directed "Dr. Horrible," and co-wrote it with his brothers, Zack and Jed, and Jed's fiancee, Maurissa Tancharoen (Jed and Maurissa are writing partners and on staff of Joss' upcoming Fox drama "Dollhouse"; Zack is a scribe on the new J.J. Abrams' Fox skein "Fringe.")

Joss and Jed also penned the music and lyrics to "Dr. Horrible." Much of the musical recording was done at Joss' home studio "with my kids running around." Filming was done on location in Los Angeles at the end of March and some on the Universal backlot, on the New York street set a few months before it was destroyed by a fire.

The first of the three installments appeared on the Dr. Horrible site on July 15th, and the last was posted on July 19th. The video was hosted by Hulu, but there were no ads at all. All three videos disappeared at midnight last night. (Whedon explains his Master Plan for the project here.) Now, they're available on iTunes as paid downloads: $3.99 for the whole series, or $1.99 an episode. There's also Dr. Horrible merchandise for purchase.

All that is great... I just wonder about the last part of Whedon's distribution strategy: the video will only be for sale on iTunes through July 29th. After that, it'll vanish and later appear as a DVD.

What's the logic for making it unavailable to the legions of folks who'd be eager to buy it in digital form? (Let me answer my own question: to make the deal more enticing, exclusive, and profitable for a DVD distributor.)

Correction: The Dr. Horrible folks say, wisely, that the videos won't vanish from iTunes. (Thanks, Kendall, for pointing this out to me.)

Your thoughts?

Here's an interview with Whedon from Wired.

Interesting coverage from Ad Age of a recent talk given by Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the magazine's annual Madison and Vine conference in Beverly Hills. Google, obviously, is betting that advertising will support entertainment content on the Net... the company tried (and failed) to do paid downloads with its Google Video site.

Salient quote:

"The [entertainment] entrepreneurs -- and there are plenty of entrepreneurs here -- who will be most successful will be the ones who embrace the new technology with clever approaches. They won't just copy the old models; they'll come up with new ways of both making money, but also building brand. Seth [Macfarlane of 'Family Guy'] is a good example."

For those new to the XDCAM EX workflow, here are a few guides from Sony that will help you get all your non-linear editing ducks in a row. They have PDF workflow guides available for Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid NewsCutter, Thomson Grass Valley EDIUS and Sony Vegas 8.

Oliver Peters has written out a thoughtful Ten Tips For A Better Final Cut Pro Experience that run the gamut from editing shortcuts and tricks to getting a handle on media management. Definitely worth the read.

Recurring Production Seen on 14,000 Screens Is Shot in AVC-Intra 100 (SECAUCUS, New Jersey--July 22, 2008) Heads up and out of that popcorn tub to savor the arresting visuals of a digital pre-show with movie-related news and features that runs in thousands of theater locations and screens nationwide. For the past several months, production company Digital Kitchen has utilized Panasonic’s AJ-HPX2000 P2 HD camcorders to shoot this plum assignment for one of the world’s largest cinema advertising companies.

New technology will solve many compute-intensive problems – Initial target is eliminating JPEG 2000 and 4K processing bottlenecks (Montréal, Canada--July 22, 2008) PIXELLEXIS SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGIES has announced that it will use the TeraOPS-class Ambric® massively parallel processing array (MPPA) chip for its new RedBrix™ and RedCard™ products. The two companies are initially collaborating to bring a real-time HD Motion JPEG 2000 codec solution to market, with expectations of broader offerings in the future.

(Wayne, New Jersey--July 22, 2008) Award-winning children's program, Aqua Kids , travels the globe with JVC's GY-HD110 cameras to share its adventures with and educate young people about the importance of protecting marine life. Currently shooting its second season in HD, George Stover, Producer/Director of Photography, Aqua Kids discusses a typical shooting day, "We're always out on the ocean with salt water splashing, and waves crashing, and sometimes up to our waists shooting in water. And not once, over the two years that we've been using JVC's cameras, have we had any kind of head clog due to moisture or humidity. We shoot in some of the most extreme conditions. I'm really impressed with the durability of JVC's cameras," said Stover.

Visual effects nomination is among 23 Emmy noms for the HBO miniseries, the most of any program this year

(July 22, 2008) In an industry where longevity is a true measure of success, the CBS daytime drama Guiding Light is an all-time champion. Created for radio in 1937 as The Guiding Light , the show transitioned to television in 1952, and has since earned multiple Emmy Awards and the distinction of becoming the longest-running scripted series in broadcast history. Satisfying the viewing public year after year requires many things from a television production organization, not the least of which is superior writing and acting talent. These days such efforts also include staying one step ahead of ever-evolving audience expectations. In today’s era of reality television this means providing a “you are there” look that engages viewers as never before and reinforces the believability of the environments depicted onscreen. Guiding Light strategically enhanced its “look” earlier this year by becoming the first series of its kind to be filmed exclusively with small, hand-held, highly portable digital camcorders, which enable the show to be shot inside actual homes and offices, or on location practically anywhere. The camcorder chosen for this new production model was Canon’s XH G1, which is engineered with the technology, features, and durability necessary for producing five daily one-hour shows each and every week for an audience of millions of dedicated viewers.

(July 22, 2008) At IBC 2008, Cine-tal Systems plans to display its entire line of display, image processing and color management solutions. Featured products will include DAVIO™, the company’s new, portable HD video and DI image processing system, which will be seen in Europe for the first time. Cine-tal Systems will also show the latest versions of its acclaimed Cinemage precision monitors and eL1000 image processors.

(Toronto, Canada--July 22, 2008) FOR-A Canada is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. When first founded, the business of FOR-A America had been thriving in the U.S. and a sales network and relationships with video dealers in major cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa were established to satisfy demand in the Canadian market. “FOR-A Canada excels in understanding our client’s needs and specifically meeting them. We pride ourselves on building solid relationships by taking good care of our clients, taking the time to understand their applications and go the extra mile to ensure everything will work together,” Andrew Alexander, Vice President of FOR-A Canada for the past nine years. “Our success is due largely in part to our detailed understanding of the Canada market and our reputation for providing reliable, high-quality solutions.”

(Mayville, Wisconsin--July 22, 2008) Stantron®, a division of Mayville Products Corporation, now has its full line of audio and visual products available in catalog form. A complete listing and description of the company’s line of equipment racks and power systems can be downloaded from a literature download section of the site .

(New York City, New York--July 22, 2008) From New York-based Design + VFX house Headlight comes Wolfie , an inventive interpretation of the classic The Boy Who Cried Wolf fable. This animated two-minute short was stylishly crafted for the second annual Twenty120 film collection. The 2008 Twenty120 collection features works from renowned commercial directors, designers, television creatives, art directors and fine artists; spanning from Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, London and Cologne, Germany. This year's theme: Truth Vs. Deception .

Procedural Inc. Ships New Urban Modeling Solution, CityEngine, Allowing Mass Creation of City Models 10 Times Faster for Film & TV Production, Game Development, Architecture and City Planning; Free Trial Version Available For Download. (Zurich, Switzerland--July 22, 2008) At this year’s SIGGRAPH, a spectacular 3D recreation of ancient Rome (A.D. 320) will be revealed where revolutionary graphics technology has been applied to reconstruct the extremely detailed virtual urban environment. It wasn’t until now that professional users could actually buy the software that made it possible, Procedural Inc.’s CityEngine®.

(Hollywood, California--July 22, 2008) Cars, motorcycles, weapons and other hi-tech gadgets are a key element to the power and mystic of the latest Batman film Batman: The Dark Knight . To give energy and reality to these great “toys,” Hollywood sound recordists John Fasal and Eric Potter employed some high-end technology, using Sound Devices’ 744T field recorders and 442 and 302 field mixers to capture authentic sounds for the film. Under the direction of Sound Designer and Supervising Sound Editor Richard King, Fasal and Potter were mandated with the specific task of bringing a variety of vehicles to life. This included the Batmobile, the BatPod (Batman’s new motorcycle), semi trucks, S.W.A.T. vans, armored trucks, as well as a series of the Joker’s automatic weapons, the sounds of which all contributed to the film’s intense and dynamic comic book feel. While the majority of the sounds needed were loud, relieving the team of concerns about ambient noise affecting their recordings, trying to catch all the details of fast-moving vehicles is what could have turned into a considerable challenge. The pair required equipment that could withstand the varying weather, being placed in moving vehicles as they sped along through streets at break-neck speeds, along with the capability to record at a moment’s notice. Since the majority of the work was done on location, equipment that did not require lots of interfaces and cabling was key. Potter and Fasal found that the Sound Devices’ recording technology met every one of these challenges. Among the first to adopt the Sound Devices’ recording technology for effects work on War of the Worlds , Potter and Fasal already knew that the 744T, along with the 442 and 302 field mixers, would be the answer and function well in the variety of situations and environments required for this project.

(Peachtree City, Georgia--July 22, 2008) Avastor, a leading manufacturer of ultimate storage solutions for audio/video professionals, introduces its new line of SDX portable hard disk drives. Targeting the prosumer market – as well as the pro market – the SDX line is more competitively priced than the highly popular HDX drive which offers the ultimate in external professional portable storage. The SDX comes with a mandate for quality features that will enhance performance. For example, each SDX drive has an external 3 amp grounded DC power supply that auto senses 90-240V that makes for worldwide compatibility with an IEC power cord. Also every SDX has an ultra-quiet cooling fan for maximum heat dissipation and power and activity lights, a feature not usually found in drives in this price range. To ensure maximum connectivity, performance and durability, the SDX drives are available in an anodized aluminum design. The power adapter uses extra heavy gauge wire as well as a heavy duty connector with oversized pins for 5 VDC and 12 VDC.

The Independent Television Service just released the results of a survey, conducted this past spring, of more than 400 producers and indie filmmakers. San Francisco-based ITVS asked them about shooting in HD, distributing via the Internet, online promotion, and selling rights to their work.

The survey, in PDF form, is here -- it offers some great insight into the mind of the documentary filmmaker/producer. (Full disclosure: I'm in the midst of working on a research project with ITVS.)

From the conclusion:

In short, the survey shows that few producers are profiting from digital distribution today. Most, however, are optimistic about the future impact of technology, although concerns linger about how indies will use brand, niche marketing and flexible partnerships to succeed in the digital age. These trends are in line with the marketplace, where only three to four percent of film revenue is currently generated via online distribution, mostly by commercial blockbusters and viral hits.

Producers' perceptions of the future may reflect the experience of the music industry -- to which many referred in their comments -- where digital sales rose from almost nothing in 2003 to 15 percent of industry revenues in 2008, with some independent labels reporting up to 40 percent of their revenue flowing via digital distribution. For the independent film producer, however, few clear choices for online distribution have presented themselves to date, and many producers continue to move cautiously as they search and wait for better options.

There are some great quotes sprinkled throughout the report from producers who filled out the survey. Among them:

"Realize that more and more people, and especially young people, will have nothing to do with non-interactive, non-participatory content."

and...

“I am overwhelmed with all the things I should be doing…the promise of the Internet is still at arms length….I’ll have to stop making films and learn a whole new skill set? Rats.”

July 21, 2008 andndash; Canon expanded its iVIS high definition camcorder line today with two new models, the HF11 and the HG21.  These will be the first consumer-grade camcorders capable of achieving the 24Mbps ceiling for AVCHD compression. The HF11 records to 32GB of solid state memory. The HG21 records to a 120GB internal hard drive. Both camcorders were announced for the Japanese market only, and are expected to hit stores in September.

This fall, former 'SNL' star Jimmy Fallon will use the Web as a proving ground for his new late night show, before he replaces Conan O'Brien on NBC, according to the New York Times.

Bill Carter writes:

...The entries will not constitute anything like an entire hour-long show. “I expect that we’ll do something like five or 10 minutes,” [producer Lorne] Michaels said.

But he said they most likely will be on every night, to try to establish the rhythm of a nightly show. And he said, “I’m going to post them at 12:30 every night, so people will begin to look for Jimmy at that time.”

That's a really cool idea -- especially if the online version starts to build a community of viewers who can contribute their ideas (like guests they'd like to see), their feedback, and maybe even their jokes.

My Boston VC friend Mike Hirshland has some additional commentary,

About two months ago Promax, a Value Added Reseller (VAR) for Apple and Final Cut Pro located here in Southern California went out of business. Well, it looks like they are back in business.


VARs are struggling because people are configuring and buying their own Final Cut Pro systems, thinking that they can do it on their own. A few can, but many people lack the technical knowledge needed to build and test and basically get a fully functional working FCP edit station. This is the value of a VAR...the build and test and certify working Final Cut Pro editing systems.

When ProMax left...they left a big gaping hole. Who would people buy from now? There are others out there, like Keycode Media. But competition is a good thing.

The word on the street is that Matrox’s MXO2 release has been delayed for a short period of time as they iron out final hardware details, so if you are looking for true HD monitoring for FCP the original MXO looks to be one of the few affordable options out there. Ken Stone has written an extensive and detailed review of the MXO. It’s very informative, both as a review and a setup guide. I highly recommend the read.

The Matrox MXO is available from B&H for under $1000 (currently there are a few refurb units listed as low as $850). The MXO2 is backordered for the time being, you can get your place in line when it ships for $1595. All purchases made via those links help support FreshDV at no additional cost to you.

FreshDV interviewed the MXO2 Product Manager at NAB 2008, you can view that segment here.

UPDATE: Videoguys has posted a detailed FAQ on the Matrox MXO2 that covers basically any question regarding capabilities, configuration, and system requirements. They also compare the featureset to the AJA IoHD, Kona3, Kona LHe, Blackmagic DeckLink HD Extreme, Multibridge Pro, Multbridge Eclipse, and the Motu V4HD.

Users of the Canon XH-A1 may be excited to learn that the filmmakers making Crank 2: High Voltage are leaning heavily on the $3300 XHA1 and another affordable Canon offering, the sub-$1000 HF10. They chose these two camcorders for their image quality, compactness, and affordability. The first Crank film was shot on Sony’s HDCAM SR format using three Sony F-950 HD cameras.

“Mark: I won’t have back problems because, you know, they’re very light. And they’re really inexpensive so it doesn’t hurt my pocketbook, but no really, we can put these cameras in places that people haven’t and we can put 10 of them in places where people haven’t. And one of the things it allows us to do is…we’re doing this moving bullet time camera rig where we take 8 HF-10’s and we put it on a light weight piece of speed rail and I can roller blade and skate around Jason Statham as he’s blasting down the street with a weapon and capture just rad images.

Brian: I mean, this is an ADD movie so we should have ADD cameras, so you know the idea of like moving the camera in outrageous ways and being able to destroy cameras without blinking an eye is more important to us than, you know, sort of having this filmic image.”

I can find no references to capturing footage tethered (nor does the A1 have HD-SDI out, that is only available on the XH-G1), so it seems at least possible that they are recording HDV to tape. See the above image of the XHA1 on a handheld Fig Rig, it appears to have no tether. However they do mention the ability to shoot “full HD” 1920 x 1080, which neither Canon camera can do (HDV is 1440×1080, not full raster). Has anyone spotted other images or references of a capture device in use?

They also said that they are shooting with an aggressive in-camera look, and doing very little in post…which is an interesting approach. The Crank team showed a lot of excitement in the past about the Red camera, shot “Game” with it already, and they mention that in this article as well.

“Mark: We just want to move faster. We’re using these little cameras because, you know, red is a beautiful image. We love red cameras, we’re going to shoot with them again, but it’s like shooting a 35mm film and you need a ton of AC’s and it takes a lot of time for set up. With the cameras we’re using we literally can point and shoot and we have the same image quality that we had on “Crank 1”. You know full HD, 1920 x 1080 res—it’s great.”

It will be interesting to see how this film turns out, both in the way the camera is used cinematically, and the final image quality. Here’s hoping it turns out rad.

You can purchase the Canon XH-A1 and Canon HF-10 at B&H for $3299 and $819, respectively. Purchases made via those links help support FreshDV at no additional cost to you.

LifeDev has a thoughtful list of ways the filmmakers behind Batman: Dark Knight thought outside the proverbial box and broke the mold of standard comic book movies. And based on the records being set by the film’s box office performance, those risks are being rewarded. As the article asks, how are YOU thinking outside the box?

"Law and Order", "Black Gold" and "Deadliest Catch" among productions using Avid DS Nitris systems on multi-format, multi-resolution projects (TEWKSBURY, Massachusetts--July 21, 2008) Avid Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVID) today announced that a majority of today’s popular film, television and commercial projects such as 2008 Cannes award-winning Three Monkeys , Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch , NBC’s Law and Order , truTV’s Black Gold and ESPN’s E:60 , are finished on Avid® DS Nitris® systems.

Pixellexis Systems & Technologies has announced that it will use the TeraOPS-class Ambric® massively parallel processing array (MPPA) chip for its new RedBrix™ and RedCard™ products. The two companies are initially collaborating to bring a real-time HD Motion JPEG 2000 codec solution to market, with expectations of broader offerings in the future....

Side Effects Software, an industry leader in 3D animation and visual effects software, is pleased to announce the release of Houdini 9.5. This release introduces Houdini to the Mac community and significantly improves workflow and interoperability with new shelf tools and a variety of import/export formats....

Sony Creative Software, a leading worldwide provider of professional video and audio production applications, today announced the availability of Sony's new multi-codec video encoder for Blu-ray Disc authoring developed in conjunction with Sony Electronics and Sony Pictures Imageworks. Originally announced by Sony Electronics at NAB 2008, the BAE-VX1000 encoder is priced to bring high-speed, high-quality Blu-ray Disc authoring within reach of smaller studios....

(Los Angeles, California--July 21, 2008) Los Angeles-based DUCK, formerly Duck Soup Studios is pleased to welcome veteran multi-disciplined director Simon Blake to their growing roster. Over the past several years, Blake has directed under the aegis of Chelsea Pictures, Sandwick Films and Brick. Simon is best known for his conceptual mixed-media approach that seamlessly blends classic and cutting edge film and animation techniques to create magical, thought-evoking worlds.

(Los Angeles, California--July 21, 2008) Final Cut/Los Angeles has expanded its team again with the signing of Editors Matt Murphy and Dean Gonzalez. Murphy just completed a spot for Jawbone via ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Gonzalez is working on music videos for 9th Ward and LL Cool J, as well as spots for Adidas and Jimmy Choo. "Matt Murphy is a talented editor who brings a great deal of enthusiasm and passion to his work," says Eric Zumbrunnen, Editor/Partner of Final Cut/LA. "Plus, he's a great guy to hang out with."

(Sydney, Australia--July 21, 2008) Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), an international communications and information technology company, has received an order from Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), Australia's multicultural and multilingual public broadcaster, to supply a fully integrated broadcast solution for the comprehensive rebuild of SBS Australia’s playout facility in Sydney. The SBS playout facility will illustrate a real-world Harris ONE™ installation, comprising integrated products from its H-Class™ software suite and broadcast infrastructure and server product lines.

The Dark Knight is a masterful film. There are brilliant performances, great direction and some magnificent visual effects. This week we cover lead facility Double Negative about their impressive IMAX batpod shots and how their work fits so seamlessly into this powerful dark masterpiece.

Ken Stone’s tutorial site has another great addition, this one a Mark Spencer video tutorial on how to 3D animate a layered photoshop file using Apple Motion. Looks like a nice quick and dirty way to creat an intro or bumper for your next project. You can find it in the list here, or via this direct mov link.

Serving up fresh, crispy news views for users and consumers of DV, HDV and HD video

One of the excellent Super Sessions at NAB 2008 was a panel discussion that featured filmmakers Stu Maschwitz, Taylor Wigton, Dave Basulto, and Alex Lindsay. The panel was organized and sponsored by Redrock Micro, with Brian Valente helping moderate the discussion. Following the presentation and Q&A, the panel shot a short summary presentation and Q&A with FreshDV. We believe that this fifteen-minute discussion will be of great interest to independent and low-budget filmmakers, the professionals on the panel dispense a lot of wisdom and realistic advice that you can put to immediate use. You can watch the video embedded below, via our podcast feed, or at FreshTV.

(Please excuse our minor audio issues and focus on the excellent discussion instead)

One of the excellent Super Sessions at NAB 2008 was a panel discussion that featured filmmakers Stu Maschwitz, Taylor Wigton, Dave Basulto, and Alex Lindsay. The panel was organized and sponsored by Redrock Micro, with Brian Valente helping moderate the discussion. Following the presentation and QA, the panel shot a short summary presentation and QA with FreshDV. We believe that this fifteen-minute discussion will be of great interest to independent and low-budget filmmakers, the professionals on the panel dispense a lot of wisdom and realistic advice that you can put to immediate use. You can watch the video embedded below, via our podcast feed, or at FreshTV. (Please excuse our minor audio issues and focus on the excellent discussion instead)

Los Angeles-based DUCK, formerly Duck Soup Studios is pleased to welcome veteran multi-disciplined director Simon Blake to their growing roster. Over the past several years, Blake has directed under the aegis of Chelsea Pictures, Sandwick Films and Brick. Simon is best known for his conceptual mixed-media approach that seamlessly blends classic and cutting edge film and animation techniques to create magical, thought-evoking worlds....

Final Cut/Los Angeles has expanded its team again with the signing of Editors Matt Murphy and Dean Gonzalez. Murphy just completed a spot for Jawbone via ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Gonzalez is working on music videos for 9th Ward and LL Cool J, as well as spots for Adidas and Jimmy Choo....

Oliver Peters has a good post up on the merits of good ‘ole offline editing, even in today’s world of full-resolution HD editing and finishing.

The Director's Guild of America doesn't promote its annual "Digital Day" outside its membership... and doesn't share much of what happens there (aside from the occasional photo spread in the DGA Monthly magazine.)

That's a shame; I think aspiring DGA members would benefit from some video of the demos that take place, audio of the panels, and blogging about the event in general. If the Guild wanted to invest just a little bit in the next generation of directors, I think it'd pay off in a big way.

Anyhow, this year's Digital Day takes place in LA next Saturday, August 2nd, and the agenda looks interesting: sessions on motion capture, 3D television, virtual worlds, and developing content for the Internet and mobile phones. The theme this year is "Size Matters: Creating Content for Big and Small Screens."

Among the speakers are 3D cinematography gurus Vince Pace and Steve Schklair; Eric Brevig, director of 'Journey to the Center of the Earth'; directors Penelope Spheeris, Marshall Herskovitz, and Demian Lichtenstein; and lots of animation and visual effects supervisors. Apple, Avid, Red, Panavision, and Thomson Grass Valley are among the companies offering hands-on demos.

Here's the full agenda in PDF form. Note that if you have a friend who is a DGA member, they can bring you as a guest for just $35.

Avid codec engineer Justin Kwan has written up an in depth article regarding working with QuickTime files and the RGB and 601/709 import settings. Anyone who creates or works with QuickTime movies on the Avid Media Composer or Symphony should definitely check it out.

Pro16® Gear Delivers High Fidelity Audio Distribution (Seoul, Korea--July 18, 2008) A recent installation of Aviom gear at the University of Ulsan ice rink proves that you don’t have to sacrifice sound quality when transporting audio over long distances. The Korean university wanted a way to send audio from its radio station/studio to remote clusters of speakers in its ice rink over a stretch of some 500 feet/150 meters.

Calit2 Also Releases New Version of CGLX Cluster-Based Visualization Framework (San Diego, California--July 18, 2008) As the size of complex scientific data sets grows exponentially, so does the need for scientists to explore the data visually and collaboratively in ultra-high resolution environments. To that end, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) has unveiled the highest-resolution display system for scientific visualization in the world at the University of California, San Diego.

FrameCycler Anchors VFX Pipeline for 'Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D' VFX Supervisor Christopher Townsend Speaks about Stereo Postproduction (Munich, Germany--July 18, 2008) FrameCycler, with IRIDAS' DualStream stereoscopic technology, played a key role in the VFX pipeline for 'Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D.' With the additional demands which stereo filmmaking places on visual effects work, effective review and image analysis tools are essential.

View Latest Product Releases, Learn Tips and Tricks from Industry Experts, Attend Special Events and More (San Rafael, California--July 18, 2008) At SIGGRAPH 2008, Autodesk (Booth #501) will showcase the most recent releases of its 3D solutions and compositing applications, as well as the latest versions of the recently acquired Autodesk ImageModeler and Autodesk Stitcher software.

(Santa Monica, California--July 18, 2008) Artists from Ascent Media Group’s Todd-AO, Modern Music and Sound One facilities have received a total of seven nominations for 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards. Four of the nominations are for sound work performed for the HBO miniseries “John Adams.” Among the nominees for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie are Todd-AO Re-Recording Mixers Mike Minkler and Bob Beemer for the episode “Join or Die”, and Todd-AO Re-Recording Mixers Marc Fishman and Tony Lamberti for the episode “Don’t Tread on Me”. Music Editor Alex Gibson of Modern Music is among the nominees for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries for two “John Adams” episodes, “Don’t Tread on Me” and “Unnecessary War.”

Broadcasters From Around North America Add C100 and C200 Consoles to Their Facilities in Time for Digital Broadcasting Change (Oxford, UK--July 18, 2008) Solid State Logic, the world’s leading manufacturer of analogue and digital audio consoles and provider of creative tools for music, broadcast and post production professionals, is pleased to announce continued strong demand for its highly popular C Series digital consoles. Both the C100 and C200 are enjoying attention from a wide variety of installations throughout North America.

Nine Ikegami HDK-79EC HD Native Multi-Format CMOS Camera Systems Provide the Ability to Operate in 1080/60i, 1080/24p, 720/60p, or Optional HD Formats (Maywood, New Jersey--July 18, 2008) The arrival of HDTV has introduced new challenges for television production services providers, whose clients may ask them to create video programming in any of several HD formats.

RED Workflow & Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration Key To Tour De France Spots (San Francisco, California--July 18, 2008) With Tour de France currently underway, Specialized Bicycle Components has launched a new global campaign with help from Director Ian Schiller and Spy Post.