Recommended 10
Camera Tripods
Buyers Guide
By David Hague
We are often asked when a tripod should be used, and the generic answer is "whenever you have one with you". Unless you purposely want that jerky, jumpy video look that was a trademark of some TV shows for a period, there is nothing worse than a video that is not rock steady. There is a reason that TV camera operators routinely use them no matter the circumstances. Trust me, you wouldn't lug one of those dirty big TV camera tripods around everywhere with you by choice! But not all tripods are created equal. The one you can buy for $15 in Big W has nothing in common with any of the tripods you'll see in this story other than it has three legs and a screw to mount a camera!
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Recommended 11
Skateboarding over the Great Wall: Telling Danny Way's Story "Waiting for Lightning"
Project Profile
By none
Growing up in Palo Alto, CA, Jacob Rosenberg had a passion for skateboarding. As the years progressed, Jacob also discovered he had a passion for filmmaking. When the opportunity to combine the two presented itself, Jacob jumped at the chance. As Partner, Chief Technology Officer and Director of LA based Bandito Brothers, a full service media company that creates, produces, manages and distributes audio/visual content, Jacob seized the opportunity to spearhead and direct the sophisticated, heartfelt and visceral documentary "Waiting for Lightning" about longtime friend and skateboarding legend Danny Way.
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Recommended 12
Beautiful Berlin turned depressing for Korean spy thriller
Project Profile
By none
As the capital of Germany, Berlin is a beautiful city with both modern infrastructures and sites of historic interest, but as the setting for 'The Berlin File', a 2013 South Korean spy thriller written and directed by Korean action auteur Ryu Seung-wan and starring Korea's top actors including Ha Jung-woo, Han Suk-kyu, Ryu Seung-bum and Jun Ji-hyun against each other in the twisty tale of political intrigue and personal redemption, Berlin has to be unpleasant enough. With a strong opening in box office, the action blockbuster attracted 7 million admissions in early 2013 to become the all-time highest-grossing Korean action film and the critics applauded its "secretive and gloomy atmosphere", which contributed to the film's great success. The magic that turned Berlin from a beautiful city to a gloomy cold place was performed by colorist Park Jin-Young with CJ Powercast with her 8 GPU Linux based DaVinci Resolve.
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Recommended 13
Free Webinar: Creating Custom Facial Rigs in Anime Studio Pro 9
Events
By none
Join Vern in this 1-hour webinar as he shows you how to create your own facial control rigs to animate the faces of your characters in Anime Studio Pro. Learn how to build simple controls for opening and closing the eyes, and for animating the eyebrows. These control rigs will allow you to animate features such as these both separately and/or together.
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Recommended 14
Bread & Butter 3D
Interview
By Ko Maruyama
Here's why Zax Dow created Zaxwerks and why his software is so valuable even if you already have another 3D program. 3D work can be divided into two main categories: Bread and Butter work, and Custom work. Everyone would like to get custom work but it's the bread and butter work that keeps food on your table. The big mystery here is why most people use custom software on bread and butter jobs? Do they even realize there is a difference? Doing that is like drawing animation by hand; the result can be completely custom but boy does it take a lot of time and skill to do.
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Recommended 15
FlyingS3D sets Le Crazy Horse on Fire with Pablo
Project Profile
By none
FlyingS3D opened its doors early in 2010 as France's first dedicated stereoscopic 3D post production facility. FlyingS3D is the brainchild of managing director Audrey Bourdiol, who had spent her career up until then looking after the technical side of one of France's largest post houses. With already more than 30 major S3D projects under its belt, in 2012 FlyingS3D won the full post production for 'Feu' (Fire) - a 3D film by Le Crazy Horse - one of its most ambitious projects to date. Le Crazy Horse cabaret was founded in 1951 by the avant-garde artist Alain Bernardin and has delivered its own special brand of glamour entertainment to millions of men and women for more than sixty years. 'Feu' is designed to bring Le Crazy experience to cinema audiences worldwide; 3D was "the natural choice" to achieve this aim, says Audrey Bourdiol.
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Recommended 17
Preserving Groningen's History through Film
Company Profile
By none
Cultural heritage is a community's legacy. Something we live with today, and what society will eventually pass on to future generations. Acting as custodians of the past, archive centers around the world are tasked with not only storing content, but also making it accessible. Groningen Audio Visueel Archief (GAVA) is one such facility in the Netherlands responsible for looking after more than 24,000 audiovisual items relating to the region of Groningen, which are kept on formats varying from nitrate film base to digibeta. Founded in 1992 as the second regional AV archive in the Netherlands, GAVA specializes in cataloging and preserving sound and video programs about the province of Groningen, as well as productions created by residents from Groningen. In addition to acting as a repository, the center is also tasked with making all of its archived footage available to broadcasters, artists, museum organizations and businesses online.
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Recommended 18
Right on Schedule with The Delivery Men and DaVinci Resolve 9 for Andy Roddick Foundation
Project Profile
By none
The Andy Roddick Foundation (AFR) believes talent is universal but opportunity is not, which is why the nonprofit's goal is to provide all children with a support system that gives them hope for a brighter future. To achieve this goal, ARF has raised more than $10 million since inception to fund programs improving the daily lives of thousands of children. While ARF runs and supports programs that enhance educational and economic opportunities for thousands of children throughout the United States, the nonprofit is headquartered in the city Andy Roddick calls home: Austin, Texas. To help increase awareness and support for its local initiatives, AFR turned to Austin based production company The Delivery Men to create the "This Is" promotional film for its 2012 Andy Roddick Foundation Gala in Austin.
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Recommended 19
The Third Shift
Feature
By Ko Maruyama
The Third Shift is, at first glance, a story told through images in a calendar. But it's only part of a larger tale. The calendar is just a sample imagery found in the monthly stories that appear from the minds at Cryptonym Media, projected through eerie stereoscopic compositing. The creative writing and compositing are packaged into a tactile, technological, and interactive experience.
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Recommended 20
Sweet Sadie Helps Disney Theatrical Productions Commemorate "The Lion King's" 15th Anniversary
Feature
By none
A call was heard in New York that echoed around the world" was the emotional theme of a video produced by Sweet Sadie, Inc. for Disney Theatrical Productions commemorating the 15th anniversary of "The Lion King's" debut on Broadway. Disney provided the studio with a massive trove of stills and videos tracing the far-flung 15-year history of the show from which to draw. Employing After Effects, the Sweet Sadie team set about to bring this material to life by animating cast and crew images against new backgrounds, such as show set photography and crowd scenes complete with flash bulbs popping. 2.5D techniques were used to "cut out" foregrounds from backgrounds to stunning effect.
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Recommended 21
Forget Using Smartphone Cams!
Buyers Guide
By David Hague
Lately, users have shied away from using lower priced camcorders in favor of shooting video with their smartphones and this is a bit sad in my opinion. The quality of footage from a phone can never replicate that of even the least expensive of genuine camcorders due to a number of factors, not the least being the lens. The physical design is also a factor; camcorders are built the way they are for a reason, primarily the ergonomics with everything at your fingertips. And of course, the camcorder is always the right way up, shooting proper 16:9 high definition footage (PROPER high def) in landscape mode and not portrait as smartphones do. So which are the best low cost camcorders on the market? With a budget of $500, we wondered just what you could get...
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Recommended 22
The JVC GC-PX100 Camcorder
Product Review
By David Hague
Every once in a while, a piece of equipment comes out from a vendor that grabs you by the throat and gives you a shake as it yells, "Look at me!". The new JVC GC-PX100 is such a beast. In terms of camcorders, the GC-PX100 is quite different; the shape is different, access to controls is different and even some functionality is different.
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Recommended 23
The Panasonic AG-HPX255 Camera and BT-LH1850 Monitor
Product Review
By Jeremiah Hall
The AG-HPX255 is a hand-held 1/3 2.2 megapixel 3-MOS camera. It uses P2 cards. It records full 1920x1080, 10-bit 4:2:2. It is also capable of being used in a studio environment, thanks to a remote terminal compatible with Panasonic's AG-EC4 Paint Box remote control. Not bad for a camera that lists at $6,995.00. The BT-LH1850 is 18.5" monitor. It has a resolution of 1366 x 768. It's big enough for multiple people to look at, while being small enough to carry around to shoots. It has a built-in vectorscope, as well as a waveform monitor for RGB signals.
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Recommended 24
Replay XD: "A POV Camera Designed for Professionals?"
Product Review
By Douglas Spotted Eagle
In the earliest days of sport POV production, photographers were excited about the advent of the "lipstick camera" for its small form factor and ease of use. The camera(s) could be mounted on a wing, helmet, or other foundation, cabled to a recorder, and used for new angles in production. These bullet wonders helped create the sense of "being there." They were also horribly expensive and fragile. In modern times, we've seen the camera shrink in size, and dramatically improve in image quality. In many cases, this size-shrink inspires kludgy form factors, and this is where the Replay XD camera shines.
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Recommended 25
The Panasonic HC-V520M Camcorder
Product Review
By David Hague
If you are into sports video, you know that it almost a given that you need a decent zoom to get the action (and it goes without saying, a tripod as well). In still photography terms, my experiences in motor sport suggest a 200mm is the minimum and probably a 400mm the optimal. Of course you need to allow factors such as low light and depth of field to get the best of them. Panasonic has obviously realized this in terms of the video world and released the HC-V520M, a single CMOS hi-def camcorder that will sit easily in the palm of your hand, but sports a genuine 50x optical zoom and an "intelligent" 80x
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Recommended 26
Artbeats Starfields 2 HD
Product Review
By Stephen Schleicher
If you are going to do any kind of sci-fi related project, chances are you are going to have at least one shot that shows off the vastness of space. For those on a budget, spending the time rendering a high resolution space scene may be out of reach. Fortunately, Artbeats returns to outer space with a whole new collection of clips that you can use.
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Recommended 27
The Canon HF G25 Camcorder
Product Review
By David Hague
And still they keep coming. Today we received a new Canon HF G25 for testing, and true to recent form for most of the latest camcorder releases, the features and functions are truly staggering. This camera is designed to be fully automatic or as manual as you like. Things such as Auto Gain can be adjusted as can focus preset and a manual focus assist. Zebra patterning is there as are white balance presets for daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten and by colour temperature.
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Recommended 28
The Sony PMW-200 Camcorder
Product Review
By David Hague
The power of a motor vehicle is usually measured in kilowatts (although still more easily identified by most in the "old currency" of brake horse power). Sadly this is not always an accurate measure of grunt as other factors should also be brought into the equation such as power-to-weight ratios and so on. Similarly, most non-professionals (and advertising blurb and salespeople) tend to measure how good a camcorder is by its zoom factor, number of megapixels or even its internal storage capacity. While all of these are a small part in the total power factor they are by no means anywhere near the be-all and end-all.
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Recommended 29
Upload
Book Review
By Lou Wallace
In what may be a prophetic view of our future, Upload focuses on a time where cyberspace and virtual reality have converged, showcasing both the promising potential and the dark underside of these new technological wonders.
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Recommended 1
Smartphone News Byte: Too Many Stars in the 'S4' Galaxy Dull Samsung's Brand
Too many stars in the 'S4' galaxy dull Samsung's brand. New iPhone 5S parts leak, again pointing to internal overhaul. Nokia readies major smartphone camera reveal July 11
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Recommended 2
Video: Microsoft Office (Finally) Comes to iOS
The app isn't optimized for iPad, though. And it requires an Office 365 subscription.
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Recommended 3
Tech Companies News Byte: Best Buy to Open Hundreds of Windows Stores Within Its Stores
Best Buy to open hundreds of Windows stores within its stores. New Nexus 7 rumored to launch in July for $229. Apple suppliers ship parts for low-cost iPhone
...Read More »
Recommended 4
IPhone News Byte: IPhone 5S With Fingerprint Scanner, Cheaper IPhone in New Colors Launching This Year
iPhone 5S with fingerprint scanner, cheaper iPhone in new colors launching this year. Apple Looking at Bigger iPhone Screens, Multiple Colors. iOS 7 changes could be most important in iPhone history, says analyst
...Read More »
Recommended 5
Apple News Byte: IPhone 5S With Fingerprint Scanner, Cheaper IPhone in New Colors Launching This Year
iPhone 5S with fingerprint scanner, cheaper iPhone in new colors launching this year. Apple's E-Book Business Is Much Larger Than Previously Thought. Apple Looking at Bigger iPhone Screens, Multiple Colors
...Read More »
Recommended 6
Tech Companies News Byte: The Mac That Thunderbolt Built: the Newly Compact Mac Pro
The Mac that Thunderbolt built: the newly compact Mac Pro. 'Activation lock' to tighten iOS security. Apple's WWDC keynote: What didn't we get
...Read More »
Recommended 7
CNET Headlines - Apple, Mac OS X, Nissan
Apple's new products won't cheer investors, says analyst. Apple developer site buckles following WWDC. 'Activation lock' to tighten iOS security. Apple's WWDC keynote: What didn't we get. Apple promises iOS maps, messaging integration in cars
...Read More »
Recommended 8
Apple Worldwide Developers Conference News Byte: Apple's New Products Won't Cheer Investors, Says Analyst
Apple's new products won't cheer investors, says analyst. 'Activation lock' to tighten iOS security. Apple's WWDC keynote: What didn't we get
...Read More »
Recommended 9
Top News Headlines: Accused Shooter's Mother 'In Mourning'
More headlines: Turkish riot police storm Taksim Square; Apple introduces OS X Mavericks, iOS7 at WWDC; Tebow to Patriots.
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Recommended 16
Q&A with Sorenson Media CEO Peter Csathy on Partnership with Sony Creative Software
Sorenson Media and Sony Creative Software have formed a new partnership to offer the Sorenson Squeeze video encoding software to video professionals through the Sony Online Store. With this offering, video professionals will benefit from combined workflow capabilities of Squeeze and Sony Vegas Pro, including access to Squeeze 8.5?s professional features.
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