Video production and editing has got to be one of the only fields in which cheating is not only accepted, it’s absolutely encouraged. Everything from flipped images to stunt butts, all designed to create the illusion of continuity. If you keep quiet about it, the audience will never know.
One of mine:
I have, on more than one occasion, created an entire scene out of thin air by simply combining long shots of characters with dialog from other scenes. I simply use the long shot where you can’t see the person’s lips move, and overlay the dialog from another scene as V.O. No one has ever caught on that it wasn’t planned that way.
But much like a magician who’s secretly dying to tell people how he did it, if you don’t let your colleagues know some of your best cheats, you won’t get the accolades you so richly deserve. So we’re all friends here, add a comment to tell us about one of your best cheats.
Tags: cheating, Editing, Video
Posted in Opinion | 1 Comment »
From wireless mics to battery-powered lights, remotes and some cameras, we use lots of disposable batteries in the video-producing world, as well as in other areas of our day-to-day lifestyle. Unfortunately, disposable batteries are bad for the environment, and proper disposal techniques aren’t always available, so we guiltily drop the dead batts into the trash with the rest of the garbage. We know about disposal facilities, but not all towns offer them nor make their use very convenient. The Fuji company has come up with FujiEnviroMAX batteries that have no harmful elements, like mercury and cadmium, are landfill-safe and are packaged using recycled materials instead of the PVC plastic many packaging materials carry. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Batteries, Fuji EnviroMAX, Green, new products, power
Posted in Accessories, Opinion, Videomaker | No Comments »
Are you frustrated by overkill plastic packaging that’s impossible to open? The annoying plastic casings we’re familiar with are designed to stop counterfeiting, tampering and theft, while ensuring visibility of the product and brand. But, besides being so difficult to open, the costs to create and assemble the packaging are often more than those of the product itself.
MeadWestvaco Corporation (www.meadwestvaco.com) has a solution that eliminates a lot of the plastic, freeing the planet of needless waste and freeing our hands from the cuts and scratches as we attempt to open these plastic cocoons. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Green, MeadWestvaco Corp., Natralock, packaging
Posted in Accessories, Computers, Opinion, Videomaker | No Comments »
From an Active Media Products press release:
8-Channel Controller and 128MB of SDRAM Cache Combined with Flex-Fit Adapter make these SSDs Ideal for High-End Desktops - Active Media Products, manufacturer of unique USB drives including the Obama drive, today introduced the new Predator GT series of 2.5-inch Serial ATA solid state drives that support outrageously fast data transfer speeds and include a Flex-fit adapter bracket to facilitate mounting in 3.5-inch drive bays.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 2009, New Tech, New Technology, Video
Posted in Computers, Press Release | No Comments »
Check out this video we found of a demo on the Making Of site. It’s an editing system called “Tamper” being created by Oblong Industries, a software company that’s looking into the future with a technology called G-speak. John Underkoffler, the creator, gave a demo of this amazing system at this year’s Sundance Festival.
The editing system’s design consists of human interaction by way of hand gestures, wearing special gloves. The user waves, flaps, grabs or spins the media being manipulated until the desired look is achieved. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Editing, future computer, G-speak, Making Of, Oblong Industries, Sundance, Video
Posted in Computers, Editing, Graphics and Animation, Producers | No Comments »
We have received word that seven different New York-based e-commerce sites selling camcorders have settled with the New York State Attorney General’s office for engaging in fraudulent business practices. (Two of these companies are going out of business completely. Of the remaining five, two are leaving New York State, but all have agreed to be bound by New York law and be monitored by the New York Attorney General’s office.)
According to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, “These companies engaged in the worst kinds of consumer fraud, from classic bait-and-switch schemes to blatant lies and bullying sales tactics.” These tactics included advertising at extremely low prices and then trying to upsell accessories, but if the person ordering turned down the accessories, the product that they were trying to order was claimed to be backordered, or the company would simply cancel the order.
We have received reports from readers who have been burned by unscrupulous mail order companies in the past, so we hope that this settlement agreement ultimately makes it easier for customers to find good deals from legitimate merchants.
If you have dealt with one of the listed companies, you may be able to get restitution; claims will be administered by the New York Better Business Bureau. The window for claims will be open from July 1 to December 31.
Posted in Business Issues | No Comments »
Reprinted from a Boris FX press release
Boris FX has announced the release of Boris Continuum Complete 6 which includes 15 New Filters, New 3D Objects, Exchange Keyframe Animation with Adobe After Effects. BCC 6 AVX is based on Avid’s AVX 2 plug-in architecture with support for Avid Media Composer, Avid NewsCutter and Avid Symphony. A special AVX 1 version of BCC 6 AVX for Avid DS will be released in the near future.
BCC 6 AVX adds nearly 200 plug-in filters to Avid editing and finishing systems. The new release features 15 new effects including Extruded Text, Extruded EPS, Layer Deformer, Cartoon Look, Lightning, and Swish Pan. In addition, BCC 6 AVX delivers unique workflow enhancements such as the ability to animate BCC filters in Adobe After Effects and transfer the animation to the Avid timeline - while preserving After Effects keyframes. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Boris FX, Filters, Plug-ins
Posted in Computers, Editing, Press Release, Videomaker | No Comments »
Other World Computing (OWC(r)) http://www.macsales.com, a leading PC and Mac technology company, announced today lower pricing of up to $300 and a new 0TB “Add Your Own Drives” Kit for the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 desktop hardware RAID storage line. Featuring Hardware RAID 5 redundancy to protect against data loss, the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 has four SATA hard drive bays for up to 8TB of storage; a “Quad Interface” of FireWire(r) 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA ports for Mac and PC compatibility; and data transfer speeds of up to 300MB/s. With this combination of features, the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 offers the highest level of data capacity, performance, and reliability in a Plug and Play desktop ha rdware RAID solution. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Other World Computing, RAID
Posted in Press Release, Videomaker | No Comments »
When we hit NAB, there was this feeling in the air that the new & the future will be 3D. Panasonic actually revealed their take on the issue at NAB, and recently I was thinking about how impressive this technology actually is. So I thought that I’d mention the prototype they announced as the Panasonic “3D Full HD” camcorder.
It’s looks crazy and it shoots crazy but will it work?
According to Panasonic, the camera will operate by placing two cameras side by side into a single chassis. Most 3D movies are generally done by mounting two cameras together, so this would be a slight variation with the same idea. The video from both camcorders are then linked together and exported as 3D video.
So I’m not entirely certain if this is a new technology that I’m interested in seeing get developed. Why to be honest? Why should I? What benefit does 3D have? I feel like there is no point, but who am I really… Just a guy that shoots video every single day.
Tags: 3D, Camcorders, new, Panasonic, Tech, technology
Posted in Camcorders, Press Release, Uncategorized | No Comments »
I just found this post on Gizmodo that I thought I’d share with you before the weekend. In one of those rare shots of Michael Jackson as “just an ordinary guy”, he’s checking out the camcorders at an interview in Ireland. First the Sony F900 Sony then the HVR-Z1U.
Read the story and watch the footage here:
http://gizmodo.com/5303026/michael-jackson-gets-his-geek-on
Happy Weekend
Tags: Gizmodo, Michael Jackson, Sony, Sony F900, Sony HVR Z1U
Posted in Producers | No Comments »
