Circle of Confusion

End of the Year

2011-12-31T13:28:00.000-08:00

Find The Bliss Within (The Buddha of El Cerrito)

I've been quite busy (happily) this past quarter and have been a little light on postings (one of the few rules I do have about this endeavor is that I promised myself I would not post just to post). Most recently, I completed work as a colorist on the documentary feature, For I Know My Weakness by John Dentino. It's an intense, personal documentary which he's been working on for 7 years. It's always humbling to be the person who has been chosen to help finish such a long, intense journey.

As we approach the end of the year, I want to thank everyone who reads my blog. I am constantly amazed that there are people out there who take the time to read what I write. The past couple of months have been heavy on technology and media and less on the art form. I am hoping to balance that a little bit more in the new year. Ultimately, none of any of this matters unless there is ultimately something created which moves, challenges, confuses or entertains us. Thanks to all the amazing people this year who have done that for us all. Particularly those who will never be famous, but bring us stories because they have to do it, not in a search for fame.

Instead of a holiday video, this year I'm posting a link to a holiday song.

The Spiritual Four Quartet in 1941 at the Fort Valley College Folk Festival. Amazing. I've been unable to locate any pictures of the group. Check out the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress recordings, I've been working my way through them the past year or so. There's so much amazing American music there, and it belongs to all of us.

Have a great New Year!

Whoa, Sony and Panasonic

2011-11-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Wow, I knew Sony was doing badly in its consumer division, but this article in SplatF shows just how much money they are losing in their professional division as well. Combined with Pansonic losing $5.5 BILLION (much of it in their consumer TV division) this year, it really shows how much the landscape is changing at the top of the food chain. Sony, however, did make a profit in their film division. Panasonic will be closing facilities which will affect LCD and plasma production. I still have not seen a break out of the financials for the professional products division at Panasonic. What does all this mean for the era of professional quality gear with better and better specs at ever-cheaper prices?

For Lovers Only- $.99

2011-11-09T09:09:00.000-08:00

This week the Polish Brothers movie I discussed previously, For Lovers Only, is available as an iTunes rental for $.99. It's a good chance to see a good movie and to check out the iTunes Store rental experience at the same time.

The film was made with only a cast and crew of three, the two Polish brothers, one on camera (a 5D) and the other an actor, and one actress. It is being self-dstributed online only for now. It's been getting a lot of press lately in the film world. It's an interesting experiment, as cameras become ever light sensitive the whole idea of what is needed in a film crew will evolve. It is also a lot more honest than asking a whole host of people to work for free. Although, I did finally meet for the first time someone who worked on a "spec" project who got paid (a small amount, ten years later) when the project got picked up by a cable channel.

Here's the trailer, again:

for lovers only... from Polish Brothers on Vimeo.

Google, Pay TV?

2011-11-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

What's the hype?

Matt Rosoff is doing a good job on concisely focusing on Google and what they seem to be doing as far as becoming a content distributor. This piece complements the other stuff that I've been posting about Google recently. As an armchair quarterback, to me it seems what will ultimately determine Google's success in the longterm is whether they can recognize that online TV is about more than how content is distributed. They do have the social platform in place for complementing online content, but it's a big if as to whether they can position Google Plus as a product that is so ubiquitous, like Facebook, that it becomes a natural extension of any online distribution products they create.

From Rosoff's article, it seems as though they're taking a cable TV-centric view of what they're doing. Here's to hoping that they don't end up just recreating what already exists, only more and through a different portal. Otherwise, it could end up in the Google Graveyard. Strangely, this list doesn't include Buzz or Orkut.

The History of Improving TV

2011-11-02T22:12:00.000-07:00

Just a short post, I want to point everyone to this funny article by Matt Rosoff: a pretty definitive list of "iTV Failures." Ah, the memories, Web TV in the 1990's.....wait a minute...it's still supported by Microsoft!.

Loose Ends

2011-10-31T08:20:00.000-07:00

Give me that old time rock n' roll

As an addendum to my last post (To Free or Not to Free), I see that Fast Company in their piece 20 Riskiest Business Moves of 2011 has listed as the 19th riskiest business move Music Labels Surrender to Spotify. The main risk: jeopardizing paid sales with the freemium model.

Also, the recent update of Google TV and the announcement Friday that Google will be acquiring a lot more original content for YouTube should pretty much clarify where they are headed. If you thought that 900 cable channels was amazing, get ready for hundreds of thousands or maybe millions delivered online. As I've said before, there will be more content than ever. There's a tremendous amount of opportunity out there to those who can visualize and take advantage of this new order. As the curse goes, may you live in interesting times...."

To Free or Not to Free, That is the Question

2011-10-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

Pre-IPO

The subject of whether every entertainment product should be available for free just doesn't seem to die, particularly in the music industry. There is always some new company out there that seeks to disrupt an already disrupted marketplace with a new offer of free. All these years after Napster, well, there are new companies out there offering free, with business models seemingly TBD, or at least fully explained. Where will this never ending dream of achieving marketplace dominance of free finally end up? Who will be the proverbial last man standing?

This article from the Business Insider is a brief, intelligent look at the state of the streaming music business and one company's (Rhapsody) attempt to hold tight to making people pay. Interestingly, there's no mention of Pandora in the article.

Several months back I attended a respected film industry event and nearly swallowed my tongue when one of the speakers said that they thought "we were through the worst" of competing against free. I hope that they're right, unfortunately, I have my doubts.

Even a Broken Clock is Correct Twice Per Day

2011-10-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

Fast Company seems to be going full-on into the media/tech battle I briefly discussed a couple of posts ago (and earlier). They refer to it as The Great Tech War of 2012. I am very interested in learning about Amazon and where it is headed. Hopefully this article will fill in some of the blanks, particularly with regard to how each company is using its data. Amazon seems to be building its empire the most quietly, with the exception of the cloud data loss debacle. It also seems to have a maniacal attention to detail.

I can attest to receiving in-depth customer service with regard to a complaint I made over the intricacies of the Amazon MP3 download system: how annoying it was to constantly update the downloader, how the whole system feels jury rigged, how it creates a media folder separate from the iTunes media library folder and just generally messes with the whole "it just works" juju of my Mac. My point: do not underestimate any company that is willing to listen and respond (more than once, and nicely) via a living human being to the cranky complaints of a customer over a $.99 download.

Creative Destruction

2011-09-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

Where's the on button for this thing?

When I talk about old media, I mean really old media. I was an exhibiting artist, mostly paintings and prints, for years. Life, making a living and the cost of real estate seemed to be the main causes for the end of that period of my life. I do miss the physicality of painting and taking the time for the introspection necessary to condense a lot of experience into one static physical object. It can be a profound and, at times, exhilarating process.

As long as the roots are not severed, all is well.

Recently, I have been trying to streamline my life, pruning if you will. Part of that process was going through all of my (much too much) artwork in storage. Some of it I kept, some I gave away and the rest went to the dump. It's interesting to compare the reaction between my non-artist and artist friends. The non-artist friends were mostly horrified and thought that it must have been some horribly traumatic event for me. The artists all, to a person, understood that analyzing and selectively pruning your past is a powerful and important aspect to being a creative person and moving ahead. There were a few rough moments but overall, it felt really good.

How about that quality of light?

The Big Three?

2011-09-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

My enemy's enemy?

With Facebook's recent announcements, I will repeat my armchair opinion that the three companies fighting it out for dominance in the new media (we need a better term for it because I'm not talking about what is stereotypically thought of as "new media" but rather the new world of media consumption we are beginning to see) world are Apple, Facebook and Google. They are profiting primarily by either taking (or will be taking someday soon) a piece of media sales within their platforms or by selling user information, usually to advertisers. Facebook looks like it will be unique in that it has no commitment to hardware, unlike Apple or Google (depending on what they do with their Motorola assets). This is going to be a very interesting fight.

If Facebook can leverage their digital scrapbook concept later into an intelligently curated stream, they will be a very formidable force. They do have the advantage of being somewhat more focused than the other two on this particular area. They seem to be on the forefront now of breaking down the concept of what media is, how it is delivered and how to make money from it. No doubt, they will be busy analyzing user behavior, perfecting algorithms that are predictive and pull in content from a much wider range of sources. The big question with the Facebook model is whether people are going to be willing to do all of their media consumption in public.

As I've said before, I believe the future of media consumption is going to become smaller chunks, provided via algorithms that not only find the content but also reconstruct it in a way that provides a meaningful narrative to the viewer, consumed more or less constantly. We will consume more media than ever. However, less and less of it will be what we consider now to be professionally produced. Yes, the higher-level content will still exist, there may just be less of it. Unfortunately, there will be less of the low to mid-level content that provides so much employment for my friends.

State of Internet TV

2011-09-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

The Cloud knows what you want

This article (TV in the Cloud) is a good companion to the link I posted at the end of my last post. That article discusses how Google is quietly becoming an online TV powerhouse by directly buying over $100M of their own content for YouTube and supposedly trying to acquire Hulu.

TV in the Cloud is one of the better summaries I've seen recently about the state of online TV recently. And, I buy Erick Schonfeld's view of social's integration with online TV. He believes that it will be useful as a TV guide, showing you what people you know or respect are watching. This is a logical, concrete and most importantly, likely to be successful step towards integrating social with TV. But please, no clunky cable-like user interfaces. It is also worth noting his observation that the TV Industry is still largely resistant to these changes and, importantly, don't seem to understand that online TV is about more than how content is distributed.

If you want to read how that resistance is affecting what you can watch, read this very good article from the Above the Crowd blog about why Netflix changed its pricing structure. Netflix cracked the code about how to make money with online streaming content when everyone said it was impossible. Now, everyone (understandably) wants a piece of the pie, even though many of them do not really seem to still understand how to make it work. What does that mean? Get used to fracturing in the delivering of content, that is, for the immediate future it seems like you will be looking more places (and paying more providers) for the same type of content you found in one or two portals making it more expensive and more difficult to locate.

Netflix, The Innovator's Dilemma and the Golden Egg

What's New Is Old

2011-09-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

Project Runway 3000: Inter-Galactic Social Edition

Is it just me, or is new media and certain aspects of social starting to feel old (as opposed to mature)? Facebook, Twitter, to me they are feeling tired and too time consuming. Quora, very interesting if you belong to the church of the startup. Google Plus? It seems even key Google execs have stopped posting. Google is finally getting ready to make it open for "everyone." I haven't exactly heard a wave of excitement from the masses.

What is the payoff to hundreds of millions of people broadcasting unedited and often incoherent bites, aside from contributing to our understanding of truly newsworthy events like the recent Arab revolutions? Yes, there is also some interesting work being done on meta-analysis of these streams of information, say to track the spread of influenza. However, it seems that most of it is self-broadasting as a means of personal marketing. Who really thinks that people who subscribe to 300 plus Twitter streams are doing anything other than trying to get those people somehow interested in themselves? Who has the time to monitor that many streams and to what benefit? Social media seem to be a net-sum game: time spent on Twitter is time not spent on Facebook, etc. How much self-marketing is really healthy and how far do people really need to go down the road to developing personal brands? Ultimately, whether you represent a large corporation or yourself, social media is only effective if you are providing useful, timely information.

I have been through quite a few apps meant to make some kind of coherent personalized narrative out of social and/or news and they all have all failed, either as businesses or in their functionality. I've given apps permission to interpret my Facebook, Twitter, RSS and pretty much anything else to which I subscribe and ended up with nothing but nearly generic results. They were definitely much worse than manually scanning RSS feeds or Twitter streams. Believe me, I am a true believer: whoever gets the next step right, curating content automatically and in a way that tells a story to the recipient combining news, video, social, etc., will be the next Big Winner. I want it to happen. And yet, I am coming closer to the opinion of a good friend, in explaining how they use their Facebook account: "Facebook is the perfect delivery platform for baby pictures." That may explain why Facebook is the largest online image hosting platform, I'm guessing larger than almost all the others combined.

How long will the idea that "social television" is a clunky TV interface tied to chat rooms, or check-ins to your favorite shows or tweets from show stars hold sway? Someone, please help me understand how any of this is an interesting way forward?

The most interesting aspect, at least for me, is that the mid-1990's promise of interactive media is quietly coming to fruition without CD's or DVD's.

The future of media: it's in your hands

I do want to talk about Google soon, and how they are silently changing the way content will be delivered. Now, if they only could implement super fast broadband nationwide.......

Bart Simpson and the Blockbuster Look

2011-09-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's kind of eery how close Bart Simpson's flesh tones are to those found in a Michael Bay movie. This awesome interactive chart can be found here, on Slate.

Bart

Shia

Interactive, Gamification and B.S.

2011-08-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

Now, tell us, do you feel engaged?

I don't have time to really do a proper post, but someone forwarded this to me and it's too good not to share. It is a blog post titled "Gamification is Bullshit: My position statment at the Wharton Gamification Symposium." It is a short, articulate statement, written in plain language, about the problem of when "experts" try to latch onto the new thing and how it can end up being a lot of, well, bullshit. See also, Interactive Media. And no, getting people to populate your content for you for free is not interactive media and please don't pretend that it's necessarily engaging with your audience.

The whole idea of viral in new media is starting a whole lot like old media, with a marketing sector out there providing "scientific" advice about how to create, distribute and, most importantly, track the people watching branded viral content distributed according to some master marketing plan. Yes, it is the creation of the appearance of the spontaneous explosion of interest in branded online content. There are people out there teaching classes on it as I write this. I always knew those cute cats were at their core demonic messengers of doom. Remember. Nothing is free in this world. If you are not paying for your content, you are the product being sold.

You Can Haz Branded Content

Content will not get better until the people with the money understand that the rules of the game have shifted. The kids have come to play with their Bullshit Meters.

Well, ok, maybe not all of them.

One Addition

2011-07-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Wow, I just saw this, and it reminded me of a movie that I left off the list on my last post. Jackpot, by the Polish brothers. A genuinely offbeat and visually interesting movie. It was shot by M. David Mullen who has shot most of their films and is one of my favorite cinematographers. The stories I've heard about working with them (leaner than lean) and the films they have made put them in the forefront of interesting American filmmakers.

Their latest film, For Lovers Only, had a cast and crew of three. The two Polish brothers, one on camera (A 5D) and the other an actor, and one actress. It is being self-dstributed online only. I can't wait to watch it this weekend.

Here's the trailer:

for lovers only... from Polish Brothers on Vimeo.

Let the Right Ones In

2011-07-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

Let the Right One In

We do this to tell stories. So, I thought I'd share some of the one's that I've enjoyed over the past year or two. Most of them were made in the past decade, however, there are a few exceptions. This list isn't meant to be inclusive, systematic or really have any larger meaning. It's just some films that I've watched recently and enjoyed. Many of these films grossed under $100,000 and some were as low as $20,000 in their U.S releases.

There are not any big Hollywood films in the list. It's not because there aren't any good films made in Hollywood, but they get their coverage elsewhere. These are films that typically are not going to get much coverage in the media, even after winning major international awards.

Really good French/Belgian movies from the last 5 years.

Many of the best movies coming out recently are low to mid-budget films coming from Europe, including many French and French-Belgian productions. They seem to be able to still put the financing together for really engaging character driven stories.

The Class

The Class: This one was somewhat experimental in that it was workshopped with the actual immigrant kids who also star in it. HIGHLY recommended.
A Prophet
I've Loved you So Long
L'Enfant
Lorna's Silence

Four Lions

Other fairly recent European films

Four Lions-I think you can safely call a comedy about 4 wannabe homegrown jihadists in England transgressive (and funny). Christopher Morris may be the new Ricky Gervais.
Let the Right One In: Really interesting look to it, captures that modern alienated Nordic feeling. One of the best vampire movies ever. It is astonishing that it only grossed $49,000 in its opening weekend in the U.S. It was remade as Let Me In (2010) in the U.S.
The Lives of Others: wow. Beautiful and incredible acting. The claustrophobia of living in a police state.

Lives of Others

Others

Lady Vengeance- last film in the twisted Oldboy trilogy.

Whisky: Uruguayan comedy.

Bubble: really compelling Soderbergh. He uses "real people" as actors and shot this on a shoestring.

Cutie Honey: Get your Cos Play on. Not a great film but who can resist a live action Japanese female superhero.

Play Time: this is a taste one. I love Mr Hulot and this is arguably the best of the lot. It is great to look at, the cinematography is phenomenal, and the physical comedy really good on a big screen. Get the Blu-Ray and watch it on the biggest screen you can find. Made in 1967 by Tati.

Play Time

Documentaries

September Issue: rightfully got a fair amount of press. And every visual person should be well-versed in Grace Coddington.
Salesman: an awesome, awesome classic. A reminder of why the Maysles brothers so heavily influenced the course of documentary film making for 50 years. A day in the life of door-to-door bible salesmen.
Valentino: The Last Emperor- Surprisingly, another fashion-related film.
Wasteland-won the IDA feature award last year
Bus 174: Brazilian. It will change you. Really. Maybe one of the most important documentaries of the last 25 years.
La Vida Loca: I can't recommend this doc highly enough. Christian Poveda lived a dangerous life and ended up getting killed in the end. In the meantime he recorded the reality of gang life (imported from the U.S) in El Salvador. There is one scene in it that is like a waking fever dream.
Stevie: by Steve James (Hoop Dreams). One of the few movies where the reflexive mode really works well because the film maker allows himself to be presented in a less than perfect light. The moral center of the movie is provided by a white supremacist ex-con.

Salesman

Iranian: the best of my recent obsession with Iranian cinema
It is really a shame that we don't get to see more Iranian films here. They produce a decent number of films and have some incredibly talented directors.

Kandahar- released in 2001. Made by the prolific Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Gabbeh- another Makhmalbaf film.
Close-Up- Abbas Kiarostami. This film is an innovative blend of documentary and narrative film making. And watching a real life trial in Iran is fascinating.

Close-Up

And winner of possibly the most disturbing film I've seen in a long, long time: The Chaser (Korean). I felt terrible for days after watching this. If horrendous serial killers are your thing, then this film will scratch your itch.

Don't Ask

Old Friends

2011-06-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I also got to spend time with some old friends....

It's Not Easy Being Green

2011-06-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

Played hookie from DaVinci this morning and instead got lucky and was able to spend a couple of hours talking with Isidore Mankofsky. What a legend. And, he's still working at age 80. It's nice when someone at his level is actually willing to take the time to have a nice, intelligent conversation with regular people like me. It definitely charges your batteries after going to events with people who are full of themselves.

Last night I was at the LAFCPUG meeting dedicated to FCPX. Larry Jordan, the inimitable Michael Wohl and Phillip Hodgetts were all presenting on what actually CAN be done on FCPX (or as Michael Wohl calls it "Z," as in "forget about Final Cut, this is something completely different.") It was a sold out house full of post production professionals. About three hands went up in the whole theatre when asked who was planning on purchasing it. And with good reason. It offers a lot of innovation as far as GUI/database interaction for a video editor, unfortunately, it lacks a lot of standard features that a working professional would expect. Say, telling you when your audio is out of sync.....apparently in the future audio will never be out of sync because X isn't going to tell you if it is.

I have a good idea what Apple was thinking, and in the longterm it was probably the right corporate strategic decision. In the not too distant future most video is going to be shot in H.264 either on DSLR's or phones and end up being viewed on devices like the iPad or iPhone. But as far as alienating cultural tastemakers in such a huge way, what were they thinking? I'm guessing we won't see the Coen brothers or Walter Murch on their marketing materials moving ahead, apparently they're at a place where that kind of approval is no longer needed for their products. And we all scratch our heads, and try to figure out where to go next with all of this.

Spiritual Center

2011-06-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

Time to go to that special place, you know, the film that makes the world seem like it really will be ok. That there's hope, and that there are other people in the world out there who get you. The spiritual center film tells you a lot about a person and how they view themselves.

Yes, it is time for me to screen Caddyshack again. Am I the only person who feels like the world is full of people who want to belong to some sort of Country Club?

OK, time to get back to work logging video from the December shoot in the Amazon.

On a Lazy Sunday Afternoon

2011-05-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

Playtime. For fun, I made a couple of grades up for footage on a recently completed film. I love this work so much I think I could do it as a job. Click on the images for larger sized versions.

For the first shot, an underwater shot, I was looking for drama. My inspiration are the Turner storm paintings. Two versions, one with more saturation. I don't think I need to point out that the original shot is pretty awesome already.

Original (ungraded)

Test Grade (less sat)

Test Grade (more sat)

For this interview shot, I had two goals in mind. The first was to really make the face pop from the background and, second, to give it more of a narrative, ominous look.

Original (ungraded)

Test Grade

And After All the Hard Work....

2011-05-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

Are you sure you want to do that, Dave?

When I color grade for something that is going to be digitally projected on the big screen, I tell the Director, "remember, this is what it looks like, because even after all this work it may end up looking not-so-great at some of the screenings." There are so many reasons, the projector was never set-up properly, the globe is too old, an inadequate projector, ambient light in the auditorium.....Now you can add a new possibility to the list of uncontrollable exhibition variables that make you wake up in the middle of the night (yeah, I do tend to obsess about this stuff): the theatre may project your 2D project through a 3D lens. Hey, who'll notice that you've lost 85% of the original brightness?

This is a really interesting article. Who knew that you need a password and "security clearance" to open a projector? It also has a neat infographic that does a nice job of quickly explaining aspects of digital projection.

Yes, I know, people who have graded broadcast television for years are laughing at me. Go to your local electronics retailer and look at the variations of the same image displayed on different brands and models of televisions. And, yes, then there's the vivid mode setting. Add to the mix wide variations in compression/bandwidth through different cable providers, Internet distribution and you quickly realize that you "do your best and forget the rest."

10/31/11 ADDENDUM: This article summarizes Sony's response to the claims of the article I cited. It was published a couple of days after I wrote this post. I first saw it this morning. As it concludes, regardless as to who is at fault, sometimes the theatrical experience can sometimes less than satisfying despite all the hard work and good intentions of everyone involved.

Manufacturing Stoke Update

2011-05-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

We're making good progress after a couple of set-backs. Day 1 took a turn for the worse after some sort of FCP/Color XML disaster (that's the guess anyway). In the end, even though Color saved the project and the grades while we were working, when we reopened it they were gone. Project archives were there for every project save, but none contained the grades. The grades were nowhere, we spent a fair amount of time, as you might guess, looking for them. Let's hope FCP X Suite, in addition to being awesome, also has an industrial grade structure supporting it.

Also, please, please, please, follow the sequence prep guidelines on my website. Some of them are essential. Certain things, say Tiff file dimensions, may crash Color before you can even open it. Also, there are those moments of disappointment when you get to important shots and need to keyframe an effect but cannot because there's a variable speed effect that hasn't been baked into the clip.

We are back on schedule, and things are looking really nice. The film makers are willing to take chances and have a clear vision of what they want their film to look like. Sweet.

Manufacturing Stoke

2011-05-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

I'm in the grading room with the DP of the feature surfing documentary Manufacturing Stoke, Maximillian Schmige. We'll be grading it over the next several days, the premiere is May 21 in San Diego. Gotta love doc folks, always living on the edge....I'm looking forward to this because Max is a very talented DP, the footage was shot with an artistic eye and he's also an all-around awesome person.

Here's the (ungraded) trailer:

misfit pictures presents...
World Premiere in San Diego, May 21st
For more information, www.manufacturingstoke.com

I'll report back if anything interesting comes up.

Color Grading Equivalent to a 50 Car Pile Up on the Grapevine?

2011-05-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

Celia Cruz still could rock the house, though. I think she was 78 when this was dropped.

New Narrative Colorist Reel

2011-05-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

There's a lot going on....I now offer SCRATCH as an option. The image processing algorithm on it is amazing and it can handle pretty much any workflow. It will be interesting how the new version looks when it comes out this summer. It is supposed to be able to handle any codec, natively, end to end.

I also put together my narrative colorist reel this past week. I've gotten a lot of really great feedback on the documentary colorist reel I posted a few weeks back, thanks to everyone who took the time to view it.

Here is my 2011 Narrative Colorist Reel:

It is available for viewing at higher resolution here. And, it also available in full 720P on Creative Cow.

I also want to put out a huge thank you to Carlo Kamin, who edited this. He is an extraordinary editor with a broad range. Check him out and hire him....you will be happy you did.

Interestinger and Interestinger

2011-04-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, learning the SCRATCH U.I. is pretty complicated. But once you do, the image processing algorithms are pretty redonkulous and I think that the tool set can help you work more quickly. There is a version coming out for Mac that supports multiple layers and native workflows for just about every codec in existence. Here, they give an overview of the new version (from Windows tower-only software to being able to run on even MacBook Pros with the new version).

Another Day at the Office

2011-04-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

I am currently getting fully up to speed on SCRATCH. It's a powerful system, especially for working with full resolution R3D and stereoscopic work flows. More in the not-too-distant future....

Someone is Making Money

2011-04-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

Interesting story here. Arianna Huffington is being sued by bloggers who created free content for her site, which she recently sold for $315 million.

So, let me get this straight. If you create content for free, whether out of passion or because you think it will lead to paying work, someone else is going to take what you've done and try to make money off of it regardless? Really, I've done plenty of free work and I understand how it is used in the entertainment industry to grow your career, work with awesome people or do things that you may not have been able to do otherwise. I still do free work for people I know and like, it's fun to have a shared passion with old and new friends.

But, it's not a business model. Unless you can make up for the no income part with volume. I am constantly amazed that there are people out there who don't understand that if you don't make money, you won't be creative because you aren't sustainable. Being able to sustainably support yourself is an ongoing radical act of creativity. When you're 25 and living in your parents' house it doesn't seem so important but it gets clearer as time passes.

Surprisingly, to people who take a more black and white view of life, I welcome the new world into which we are heading: low-cost or free content, aggregated by companies and fed back to consumers at a profit. It's what people seem to want, and the idea that people are interested in what each other have to say is encouraging. Even if what they have to say isn't always well-formulated or presented in an artful visual manner, there are some moments of real clarity that come out of this cauldron of living culture.

My only message is: keep your eyes open, and make wise choices for yourself.

Who Comes Up With These Anyways?

2011-04-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

Home, suite home

This Wall Street Journal blog post lists the "Top 10 Dying Industries." Included in it is Video Post Production Services. Has post production been hit any harder than any other aspect of the entertainment world? I am really curious as to how they measure this. These kinds of lists are kind of silly: best company in the world to work, best place in America to live.....How do they measure this, is it only large post-production houses, what do they consider Video Post Production Services....sometimes it's amazing the authoritative tone that these things take on without any supporting information.

Happiness, like opportunity, lies in the eyes of the beholder, whether it's in Irvine or South Philly, in your home post suite (i.e., bedroom) or at Deluxe.

Guide to Prepping Sequences For Color

2011-04-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

Don't even go there

I have revised my guidelines for prepping a sequence for color grading in Color. I decided to create a comprehensive reference that would cover nearly all scenarios, so it should hopefully be a timesaver. I also included detailed instructions for accomplishing each required step, including the dreaded Media Management function. It is written to be accessible for most skill levels. So, relax, and tame that timeline.

Yes, there is a new version of Final Cut Pro coming out sometime "this spring." And yes, there are wildly divergent ideas of what direction it is heading, iMovie Pro, Final Cut Interactive.....when it happens, it happens.....

Anyway, it's available here for everyone to download and use. Cheers!

And as always, please feel free to feed me any corrections, comments, etc.

2011 Documentary Colorist Reel

2011-04-04T06:34:00.000-07:00

This reel focuses on the type of color correction issues particular to documentary film making: underexposure, improperly color balanced footage, mixed light footage, low bit rate footage, high contrast footage, etc. Rather than create a strictly beauty reel, I want to show real world corrections on footage representative of the difficult footage that sometimes comes in from the field.

Documentary filmmakers tend to care more about things like what can be done when a celebrity interview has been shot in three different color temperature light sources rather than creating a flashy look (although we do that sometimes as well). Please let me know what you think.

You can view it at full resolution here. Please turn scaling off if you view on full-screen mode, or it won't look correct.

There is also a narrative film reel coming soon.

The song is "AirBjork " is by Moe Pope & Headnodic. It is from the amazing compilation "Bjork Remixes" available for FREE download here.

Festivals

2011-03-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty lucky the past year or so, as far as the people with whom I've been able to work. A few of the films have made it to the major festivals.

The latest announcement was that Smut Capital of America will be screening at Tribeca this year. Ben Leon and Michael Stabile did a really good job of creating a short film about a complicated subject. Ben deserves a lot of credit for editing it visually in a more evocative rather than literal way. I was the colorist on this film.

I did production work on The Union, which will open the Tribeca Festival. It's an understatement to say that I was lucky to get to work on that. And, I also did some production work on the third film, Troubadours, which screened at Sundance this year.

Upgrades and Soderbergh

2011-03-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

OK, I am going to be upgrading my website with new reels, photos, and other info, but wanted to share some of the good stuff that has been happening.

The color grading room:

I'm particularly proud of the fact that I made the dimmable D65 fixtures myself.

The screening room:

I can playback from the color grading room directly to the ten foot screen. Schwing!

My friends know that I love Steven Soderbergh's explorations into film structure (here and here). Not to mention, here. OK, I gotta stop or this is going to turn into a very long Soderbergh post. Anyway, I was shocked to see this on Twitter. It makes me sad that the sheer filmmaking joy in Schizopolis no longer burns within him.

A very serious filmmaker

What is Free?

2011-03-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

OK. This is the last product post for awhile. The reason why I am including it is simple. We, as media producers, are always yammering about how to actually make money off of our creations. Recent theory seemed to be: give it away now and then someday you'll be able to charge for it or get ad revenue...... now everyone is talking about social and using social to make money. I still think that sometimes it's just better to make a good product and for people to PAY FOR IT.

Red Giant (and Stu Maschwitz) created a neat product awhile ago, Plastic Bullet, the first (that I know of) iPhone app for easily applying looks to your iPhone photos. Totally worth paying for, yes? Hmmm, then some other company came along and made a "free" product along the same lines, supported by annoying adds in the interface, promoted the heck out of it and got some VC money. It's a fine product, and if you want to get tied into that company's social media experience (which they are no doubt working very hard at monetizing) go for it. But do I really need a log in to play with some images I've taken with my phone and then wonder how yet another area of my life is being harvested electronically?

Personally, I just want to take pictures and use a clean interface to have fun with them. And maybe send a couple to friends....and not have every aspect of my personal creativity/relationships commoditized.

Anyway, Plastic Bullet is on sale for a few days at the iTunes store for $.99. I own it and, despite the recent spate of Red Giant posts, have no relationship with them. Their products just keep crossing my path recently and I still like to root for the little guy because, well, I'm a little guy.

Also, I recently completed a substantive project using Colorista II. A post will be coming soon about the good, the not so good and the just plain different of using it versus other color grading products. I have sent a couple of emails to Stu asking about some technical questions I have about the product. My biggest concern is how it clamps video to make it what appears to broadcast safe. Hopefully, I will hear back from him before I do the post.

Inevitability of Innovation- Part 2

2011-01-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

The U.S. news media has been getting a huge smackdown from Al Jazeera with regard to the coverage of what is happening in Egypt. President Obama and Hilary Clinton aren't watching CNN. Al Jazeera's website has become the primary source of information as to what is happening, and guess what, it's a free stream of their live broadcast. Apparently, people would rather try to understand the struggle of oppressed people in a vital region more than they'd like to see Kim Kardashian be interviewed by Piers Morgan or watch John Boehner weep for the 800th time in public.

Insight: Shopping is fun

Al Jazeera, to the best of my knowledge, is not available on any U.S. cable providers, even though it is a credible news provider and tends toward harder news, as opposed to personality journalism.

Creative destruction

The Inevitability of Innovation

2011-01-30T10:44:00.000-08:00

This is a great interview with Steve Jobs, shortly after he got the boot from Apple. It is almost a blueprint for his future and really shows how important of a role having strongly held principles/beliefs can play in creating significant innovation. My favorite quote from it is him talking about starting a new post-Apple company and possibly being a competitor with Apple:

It is hard to think that a $2 billion company with 4,300-plus people couldn't compete with six people in blue jeans.

Magic Bullet Colorista II

2011-01-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

You looking at me?

I'm not big into promoting products. However, every once in a while I do find tools that are worth mentioning. Red Giant has quietly done a great job of building, and improving, their product line. The Magic Bullet line, especially Colorista, is really starting to become a "must have" for, indies, editors and colorists. One great thing is that they are compatible with Final Cut, After Effects and Premiere. Why would you want an additional color correcting tool when you have perfectly good ones in Final Cut (Color) and After Effects (Color Finesse) or now, DaVinci Resolve?

Using Color (or DaVinci) requires a commitment. They are professional color grading tools, the timeline needs to be prepared for ingestion and the interface is daunting for people with a limited color grading background. Some projects, either due to the time or budget constraints, are just not worth the effort of going through that process. Obviously, the flip side to this is if you really want to do more complicated work, then you are going to want to go through the effort of putting a sequence into Color, DaVinci or Color Finesse. However, there are times when you just need to get things done and you want to keep the sequence in your editing software. This is when Colorista comes into play.

I won't go into all the features of Colorista. Red Giant, to their credit, have done an outstanding job of posting tutorials showing Colorista's features and how to use the product efficiently. The new version has added some nice functionality (particularly the keyer) and makes it possible to do some pretty complicated corrections within Final Cut. That said, having the tools and being a good colorist are not the same thing and not having basic tools, like a calibrated monitor, make it hard to create predictable (as in you are sure that what you are seeing is what is actually there) results. The level of analysis and technical/artistic skill of a trained colorist cannot be replicated by a piece of software.

I really like Stu Maschwitz's tutorials, they are plain language and are geared towards just getting the job done for do-it-yourself indy film makers. It is also fascinating to watch other colorists' thought processes while working and Stu has some quite interesting insights. That said, his approach is just that, one approach and one set of eyes and I encourage anyone who uses the software to read further and play around with it to create their own vision. One of the joys of this business is that watching and analyzing films is considered "work." The other thing to note is that the workflow/interface used in Colorista varies a little bit from most "pro" color grading tools. It's neither a good thing or a bad thing and I think that Stu deserves recognition for designing a product that is different and communicating directly with his end users about using it efficiently.

I own (and have paid for) and use Magic Bullet Colorista, Grinder, Looks, Mojo and DeNoiser. For the do-it-yourself film maker, they open up a whole world of exploration and looks that previously was inaccessible. For the working professional they are useful professional tools that you can add to your tool bag and use when they are the most efficient solution.

Lighting Education-Mole Richardson

2011-01-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

I have been lucky enough to have spent quite a bit of time at Mole Richardson, assisting at lighting classes and helping light special events such as film and camera tests, ASC/SOC events, etc. Larry Parker has been doing an amazing job at educating film students as to how to properly do power distribution and pretty much all elements of lighting a motion picture, all for free, for years. And the Mole Richardson lights are real things of beauty: built to last three lifetimes. There is a whole generation of skilled electricians and gaffers out there who have cut their teeth at the Mole Stage.

They have now started to share some of that knowledge online:

I can't wait for the video on operating a carbon arc, my favorite lamp.

Should I Work for Free?

2011-01-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

Nice flow chart here to help you with your decision making process.

No reason for this other than this guy is swanky

Boxee iPad App: Integrating Social Media and On-The-Fly Transcodess

2011-01-07T13:46:00.000-08:00

Boxee is one of the more innovative set-top box companies out there for watching streaming media on your TV. This is a brief on-floor demo of their iPad app at CES. Facebook and Twitter integration, ability to save videos for prioritized viewing later and, holy crap, on-the-fly transcoding when watching media from your computer hard drive on your TV. This is awesome, but, you can't help but wonder how long it will be before this is all integrated into TV's? Samsung seems to be heading in that direction.

(Si Si) Christmas Dance Party

2010-12-25T09:38:00.000-08:00

Voulez vous partir with me?

Ari Emanuel Speaking about the Future Media Landscape

2010-12-24T22:13:00.000-08:00

This is a very interesting conversation with Ari Emanuel, Hollywood super agent at the recent Web 2.0 Summit (whatever that's supposed to mean). Some of the things that he says about the future of media are similar to points that I have been making. Of course, the difference is that he actually knows about what he is speaking. The future is coming quickly and for small players, the window of opportunity is getting smaller as the big players start to actually figure out what is happening. Agility and the ability to pull together sophisticated media production and marketing quickly by leveraging technology and the incredible wealth of knowledge available to everyone with an internet connection will be as important for indies as it is for Lady Gaga.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday. Much exciting news coming in the next couple of months.

Personal Brand Schizophrenia

2010-12-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

I am just back from Brazil. It was an amazing experience, I will write about it further when I have a little time to digest it and write about it intelligently. I realize now that I have not even spoken about the substance of the project. Let's just leave it at now that I am very fortunate to be able to participate in documenting a sustainable development project in the Amazon facilitated by this organization. It was energizing (and a real privilege) to meet people who are doing so much right to improve a piece of the world through hard work, brains, humility, stamina and more hard work.

Beautiful, but not always easy

There is so much happening right now in my world, I will try to touch on a few important other thoughts today (against the advice of the experts who warn about keeping a focused personal brand--rather than corporations becoming more human, it seems as though we are increasingly assuming their attributes).

I wanted to post a link to this: Flipboard, a subtle, but important step forward in how I see us all consuming media in the future. Media created by people you know and curated/repackaged for your consumption.

I will leave today's post with a few questions:

1. Is there any reason to think that in the future visual media will be any more highly valued than music has become? In China, it seems as though literally no one pays for music now. People there are scrambling to try and create anything that people will pay for surrounding the consumption experience, especially using social media. Indie filmmakers, is this sounding familiar? Once the bandwidth logjam is broken, and it will be broken, unless we are willing to become completely uncompetitive as a nation in the global marketplace, how will media producers stop visual media from becoming as valueless as an mp3 in China? It seems like a survival strategy that madia producing companies like NBC/Universal are being consolidated into pipeline providers like Comcast. As someone who creates visual media, and knows the dedication, skill and hard work that goes into its creation, this is not an easy question to ask.

2. Will the future of paid media production involve largely only a few high-end producers of technological wonders (like Batman, Ironman, etc.) which can only be produced with a lot of capital and organizational/technical expertise? Will most of the rest of the media consumed be produced by, well, everyone and curated through Facebook, YouTube and other online social repositories? It seems as though we are well down the path to ever-increasing media consumption, however, rather than being consumed as a separate viewing experience it will be consumed nearly constantly, in small bits, and much of it created by people we "know" (at least online).

I'm not leaving until I get my $.99 for that download

Brazil- Arrival

2010-11-18T10:20:00.001-08:00

Travel by bus is also difficult

Finally, I am safe in Brazil 6 airports and 40 hours later. Fighting travels sickness off, (nothing to do with hygienic conditions in developing areas) and everything to do with municipal/airport authority institutional capitalism (thank you Panda Express at George Bush International Airport). I had forgotten what it’s like to fly on non-U.S. airlines: lots of fresh air in the cabin, food service, multiple beverage services on short flights….. Meanwhile, at George Bush I saw my first “self-service” boarding gate, for an international flight no less. Apparently our future in the U.S. is even more jobless (and chaotic—no one to control people at the boarding gate??) than I’ve even imagined. And on the San Francisco-Houston leg of my trip I felt like a fish in an oxygen starved aquarium

I am now in Santarem, Para State, Brazil. I will be staying for the next night or two in a hotel best described as 1970’s military dictatorship Internationalist architecture relic. Think Internationalist more as in 1970’s coup-conspiring ITT, not Le Corbusier. But, as in all things Brazilian, it is the wonderful people that make it a living place. And there are definitely worse places to land at 1 a.m after all your plans have been disrupted.

I recommend highly the book, Amazon Journal: Dispatches from a Vanishing Frontier by Geoffrey O'Connor if you have any interest at all in the reality of the not-that-distant Amazonian past and how it ended up portrayed in the media. One thing I have realized in my preparation for this trip, and already from the very short time I have spent traveling across Brazil, is just how much more complicated the situation is here in the Amazon than I had taken the time before to understand. As opposed to (what O'Connor refers to as) the eco-kitsch, Indian-kitsch, and political-kitsch, etc. that we have all been fed. No matter how much we realize that this information is not reality, it is so pervasive that it does end up shaping our perceptions.

Ceci n'est pas un indien

This is opposed to the good kitsch of which there seems to a fair share here in Brazil and which I hope to share with you as well, like a huge fake Christmas tree constructed out of burlap standing mutely in the 93 degree heat with the tropical birds squawking up a riot. More later on how similar the internal “dream life” image the media creates in Brazil is to the U.S. version.

Not Christmas in Connecticut

My producing partner arrives hopefully tomorrow, after an unscheduled delay in Lima and being separated from his equipment. Then, it will be time to get hard at work. More on that later. Roughly we will be working in this region till next week, when we head out on the Arapiuns River (Amazon tributary) and later the Tapajos (also an Amazon tributary) River. My posts will be fragmentary and sporadic, but I hope to share some of the interesting moments I find with you.

Interesting fact that I learned while preparing for this trip: the Amazon area was a large lake and the river flowed from the lake to the Pacific, not Atlantic. The geological events that created the Andes mountains reversed the river’s flow.

Tchau.

Qwiki

2010-11-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

I have to make this short, as I leave for a month of filming in Brazil tomorrow. This is definitely a step in the direction to which I see media consumption moving. Forget watching movies or shows in segregated time blocks, we will be experiencing bits of media constantly and not just from "professional" media producers. Nightmare or dream?

For sure, the future of media consumption will be imperfect. Funny that they coded this crazy product but couldn't get all of the video to load at the correct aspect ratio on Vimeo. They may need to add a couple of teenagers to their marketing team.

Qwiki at TechCrunch Disrupt from Qwiki on Vimeo.

Update

2010-11-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

I am now tweeting, mostly about technology and the future of media consumption: @cmieritz.

Also, here is an interesting article that clearly explains how Facebook and Google have become direct competitors (include Apple on the list as well). Essentially, it is a battle to see which company will become your everything. I am guessing that Facebook has replaced the Trilateral Commission in the paranoids' minds-eye by now.

O.K., back to my Amazon trip preparations.

Visually Mapping the World?

2010-10-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

I know it's popular to bag on Microsoft but this is pretty amazing stuff. Are they going to leapfrog Google in photographically reproducing the world online? And with crowdsourcing rather than actually investing in a physical infrastructure to do it? This is already being integrated into Bing Maps and it is also a nice showcase for Silverlight.

Click on me

Mapping Information (and life)

2010-10-23T17:38:00.000-07:00

It is time to start sharing the groundwork of what I am learning about an affirmative future for media, media consumption and generally, understanding information. I think this post will be best served by letting the really smart people speak for themselves. The first video is long and somewhat abstract. However, I suggest that information, like life, is promiscuous and the parallels are obvious between what he is speaking about here and how we may build our knowledge of using and understanding media/information.

This video is a lot more accessible. It is a kludgy and preliminary step in the direction that Enriquez lays out in his lecture. This is not the only group of people mining this territory, but from what I know the efforts seem to be similar.

In ten years, I suspect that this will be as dated as Pong, which was the future when I was a kid.

Finally, I think this does a better job of explaining the theoretical thinking behind the "Sixth Sense" technology.

And, if you want to see the reality of where we are today in the marketplace, here is digital intuition, on your cellphone in 2010. Don't get too excited. I've used it quite a bit and sadly, I'd rather sort through all my information manually (actually the more accurate term would be intuitively) still. But look out John Henry, the machine is gaining on you.

Here are Enriquez' "new rules" for life:

1. It is imperfectly transmitted code.
2. It happens.
3. It is promiscuous.
4. It adapts.
5. Likely it is common.
6. Humans increasingly design/control life code.

Life and information are moving ever closer together and at a quickening pace.

The Burden of Dreams

2010-10-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

I have been a little silent lately. There is a lot going on, in mid-November I am going to Brazil to help shoot a film in the Amazon about a non-profit that is doing a sustainable development project. I have also been thinking a lot about what I am doing, professionally. That, is a dangerous thing in the film business. It is an industrial workplace, geared towards grinding out film after film, with everyone hoping that each one will advance them a tiny step towards their ultimate goal or at least help them pay their rent.

I have a somewhat unpopular view. There are too many films being made. What? Ok, more precisely, there are too many films being made that are not adding anything to the conversation about film or life, or even the conversation about the potential of technology in media production. Does the world need 10,000 short films that are basically variations on the same thing, over and over and over again even if they are shot on the newest camera? Hard question, particularly when the industry of film schools is churning out thousands and thousands of bright eyed graduates who are sold a dream (and very high tuitions) every year and the industry of film festivals is selling the same dream (news flash, most film festivals are about tourism and economic development). It is a big machine that sucks you up, regardless of your intentions. I have been disappointed to recently see a few really interesting projects, innovative in structure or process, gradually become "regular" projects because that is where the positive feedback comes from the system.

Anyway, I hope to share some of my thoughts in the not-too-distant future about, well, possible futures in media creation. There are a lot of really interesting possibilities out there, even if the current tendency is to milk the present model to death. I am a firm believer that, for the most part, it is human nature to only change when we must. In the meantime, I will satisfy my current need to do something that will hopefully be of use on the ground for people doing important, difficult (and unglamorous) work. I will be working hard to let them tell their own stories, a far harder job than many people realize. We all like to overlay what we know, or think, instead. In this age of media over-simplification, vilification of those who think differently and "instant experts," I think we can all use a lot more small dollops of little truths from those who do not have the time to have a media presence. I don't pretend to have answers, but hopefully I can at least learn to start asking some good questions.

Destroy what we do not understand or, just try to make money off of it?

Is it me, or does Werner look kind of buff in this?

River City

2010-09-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

I had an iPad/Alexa/DSLR/DaVinci dream in 4K/3D last night.

Am I the only person out there who gets weary of all the shuck and jive going on in the creation of culture? Blogs that are promoting technology, selling dreams to sell themselves by association? Tweets that are just personal brand building? I have to admit that, at times, I find it extremely discouraging that the new normal for making ground-level culture seems to often be so cynically capitalistic, particularly when we have so recently seen on a large scale just how likely this mindset is to fail and leave us all to flail on our own. I'd like to think that we are all more than personal brands. Don't get me wrong, I love technology and know that there are extremely liberating aspects to what is happening right now. But just how real are these "relationships" that we claim to be building in the ether? Are we all just salesmen?

Every time I log into my Blogger account, there it is, the monetize button. Is that all we can aspire to now, to be little Mad Men? Is that all culture makers can aspire to, being productive sub-units in Adam Smith's dream? It seems to be an unquestioned assumption now, internalized by even the most ground-level culture makers. My hope is that people will realize at some point, you are doing it all on your own anyway, create your own path and do what feels right for you. You don't necessarily have to follow the "new" rules any more than you need to follow the old.

And for heaven's sake, please stop buying technology and throwing it away, replacing devices every few months. Somewhere, there is an extremely poor person disassembling your "recycled" piece of technology and most likely getting poisoned (and poisoning their local environment) doing it. Really, it's not ok. The questions I ask myself are: Can I do what I want without the new upgrade? Will I make any money off of it? Not perfect, I know, but at least it keeps in check the mindless upgrade beast that lurks in all of our hearts. OK, no more cranky posts for a long, long time.

On a positive note, I'd like to mention a blog that I've found that I like quite a bit by Brad Bell. It's really quite nice, beautiful and an interesting mix of technology, film, social concerns and their intersection.

Working with a Colorist, Preparing a Sequence for Color

2010-08-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

I guess this post should really be titled, "Working with Me as Colorist," as I can only speak for my own preferences. I am briefly going to touch upon prepping a Final Cut Pro sequence for grading in Color 1.5.

Color has come a long way from version 1.0 as far as stability and its ability to work with various types of clips. However, there are certain best practices that I like for people to follow before they provide the Final Cut sequence to me for grading. I have created written guidelines which can be downloaded here. Some of these best practices are absolutely necessary, others are optional but if not done will limit options for working with a clip in Color, affecting things like to ability to do things like key framing. It may seem like a hassle, however, remember that Color is a powerful professional tool and it is absolutely worth the effort. Your editor, if they have sent any projects to be graded in Color, will probably be aware of most of these. I just want to make it as straightforward as possible and save everyone time.

If anyone has any questions or corrections regarding these guidelines, please feel free to drop me a line. The main point of this is that it's better for you to have your editor prepare the sequence for me than it is to pay me to do it. I will do it, but personally I'd rather spend all of the money you pay me to make your project look awesome.

Out-Innovated Again

2010-07-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

Everyone Here for Free iPhone Bumpers Please Line Up to the Right

Sorry for the video only post, I am in the middle of a grading a project and several other deadlines. But, trust me this is hysterical. Leave it to the Chinese to come up with the funniest, over the top, anti-Apple animation ever. Their view of Steve Jobs' solution to the iPhone 4 antenna issue is worthy of Peckinpah.

Why Can't Vimeo Get It's Act Together?

2010-07-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

Who is behind that curtain?

Oh, just try doing a mobile site with Vimeo. Cute, cute, underdog Vimeo. That's why they're always behind the curve and doing everything patchwork, right? But they have such a cute site!

Um, sorry but they're owned by IAC, a super gynormous company that has bought and trashed sites like bloglines.com, ask.com.....and own properties from Collegehumor.com to match.com. The Gannett of the Internets? But wait, Gannett at least innovated the idea of a national newspaper, USA Today.

Fortunately, you, my 5 loyal readers, do not have to fear me selling out.

I Want My (3D) YouTube TV

2010-07-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

Come with us on a trip to the 3D future!

Zowza. It's starting to look like the early 90's all over again. Sony has just announced that they will be supporting 3D YouTube video on the PS3. Why is this like the early 90's? Well, they are supporting Flash and promoting that as a 3D video player, lining up Sony, Google and Adobe against Apple. The stars are aligning again for another battle of a generally inferior technological standard (Flash) promoted by "PC" against the upstart technologically superior HTML 5.0 (at least in non-3D, I need to research HTML 5.0 and 3D) being promoted by Apple. I wonder where Microsoft stands in this battle. Frankly, I liked the world a lot better when Google was lined up with, and not against, Apple.

This whole 3D thing is either going to bust open and be ubiquitous or is going to be another spectacular flameout, with dens across America littered with unused/unusable 3D televisions. Click here for a short and interesting history of 3D film. The most interesting fact is that prior to Avatar, the most financially successful (adjusted for inflation) 3D movie was a softcore porn flick, The Stewardesses.

New Site Up

2010-07-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Shakes, the camera assistant

I am still working on my first blog post about working with a colorist. In the meantime, in addition to doing some production work and development work on a couple projects, we launched the newly revised version of my website yesterday. A color grading job or two are in the immediate future. Welcome to the new film economy.

Documentary Colorist Reel

2010-06-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

Important: for optimal viewing in full screen mode, turn scaling off. Trust me, it won't look like it should otherwise.

I uploaded one of my colorist reels yesterday. This reel is focused on more meat and potatoes type of corrections particularly pertinent to documentary films (especially footage shot under less than ideal conditions) rather than more flashy Hollywood-type effects or putting a subtle sheen on really well shot and lit footage. I understand and do that type of work as well but will showcase that on a separate, narrative reel.

My next couple of posts will focus on working with a colorist, well working with me as a colorist. There is no one approach to color grading. Working with a colorist can encompass a wide range of experiences from paying $600/hour in a high-end house to working with someone in their bedroom, and a whole world in-between. The thing that is important for me is that people understand what to expect when they start the process and to be able to make intelligent choices.

I am very interested in getting feedback on the reel and also hearing questions/topics filmmakers would like me to talk about with regard to the process of color correction. Please feel free to email/IM me.

Free the Bits

2010-06-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

Is there latency in your packet shaping, or are you just glad to see me?

It has been speculated for years that bandwidth providers (that'd be phone and cable companies) in the U.S. are slowing innovation and capacity increases on their networks. Don't take my word for it, even the conservative Wall Street Journal is finally on board. Why would they want to do that? It seems mostly like a waiting game, trying to put off the day when entertainment users can download content as easily as music lovers were able to download mp3's back in the day. These companies fear the day that their lucrative (and in the case of cable companies, local monopolies) businesses models that have served them so well are changed. The companies that own the pipelines and distribution are increasingly the companies that own the content, say NBC/Comcast or Time Warner.

What does that mean, besides the fact the people pay huge cable bills and still cannot pick (and only pay for) exactly what content they want delivered? Now there's a radical idea, not paying for the Golf Channel because you don't want it. For one thing, it means that innovation in new media forms are being stifled. There are people out there with ideas out there that cannot be tried because they just are not feasible given data constraints. It is in the interest of these companies to keep you passively watching cable TV and at best letting you DVR it so you can watch it on your schedule. Forget interactivity, forget mob-sourcing, forget just about anything that isn't pretty much just a sickly derivative of the same stuff that's we've been watching for the past 60 years.

This has been a pet peeve of mine for years, especially with regard to decreased innovation. Why is this important? Culture is big business in the U.S. It is a huge export product as well as being a political tool. Will Hollywood become like GM and lose it's market share and profitability to other foreign producers through willfully slowing innovation and clinging to dying business models in order to control (slowly dwindling) profits? Remember, in the 1960's it seemed inconceivable that Japanese cars were anything other than oddities to American consumers. People laughed at the cars, their size and their quality. With the democratization of media production, isn't there a whole world full of people out there now with their own media creation dreams?

The U.S. currently ranks #28 in Internet access speed and and "is not making significant progress in building a faster network." The average download speed in Korea is four times faster than it is in the U.S. And upload speeds, key for interactive media, those are even slower, usually by an order of 2-3X. How long will consumers raised on interactivity and the belief that they are all media creators be willing to live with that? And given the recent performance of U.S. mobile broadband providers like AT&T, will the future be more of the same?

The Good Old Days are Gone

2010-06-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

Interactive, multi-media experience circa. 1973

Nice short article here in Advertising Age with observations about how media consumption patterns are going to change, quickly, with the coming generation of infants that are immersed from birth with multi-touch, interactive media tools. The human mind is a plastic thing, malleable, and many people are predicting the demise of the type of deep thinking that we typically associate with reading and, well, reflective thinking. Interestingly, there's a decent NY Times article here today that explores the effects of immersing the human brain in an increasingly digital environment. It pays to remember that generally TV and most film never induced a deep-thinking type of brain activity, so I guess the difference is the length and type of media immersion that we are experiencing.

We don't understand the long term evolutionary impacts due to changes to the format, interactivity or length of media experience. But, I think it is safe to say that media creators need to be thinking hard about what they're doing. The old dominant command and control structure of large media companies seems even more vulnerable as young consumers search for more personal and, well, interesting media experiences rather than the one-size-fits-many approach that is still surprisingly prevalent today. Or, it is possible that alternatively the bulk of society will be feeding their children slightly modified interactive marketing intended to create lifelong brand loyalties from infancy, delivered through ever cheaper e-waste produced offshore. Only time will tell the story on that.

It should be a really exciting time to be a young media creator. Many of the constraints of the past are being thrown aside and the people who can visualize the future will be the new powers. Media creation is more decentralized, less "heavy industry" and more nimble than it used to be. People starting small production companies now should have relationships with developers and information architects as well as with camera people, electricians or animators. They will also require new types of creatives. People who understand how to create satisfying and intimate experiences for the users (note, not consumers) of their media. Personally, I think it's good and that there will be some real pioneers in the next few years who breakthrough in reaching people in a way they've never been reached by media before. I think it's reasonable to expect that in the not-too-distant future, the kids of today will be laughing (hopefully) at what we accepted as entertainment.

We're ready for the future here.

Will the future of media production be more "boutique-oriented"? There will probably be an element of that start-up type culture, which will eventually grow into a more complex, mature industry. Disruptions to the current model are just beginning and people who are waiting for things to get "better" may be disappointed. I can't help but wonder whether the schools that are churning out "film school" graduates, particularly the 1 year or 6 month certificate-type programs, are preparing their students for careers in 1995 Hollywood. It seems to me that the future media maker is going to have to be more and more nimble and manage their career in ways that unionized workers never had to consider. But, if you're young and smart, you should be excited because your time is coming and our environment will be more media saturated than ever. Those who don't adapt may be relegating themselves to a never-ending life of low paying, non-unionized freelance work, with no benefits and scrambling even for that work.

I'd really love to hear other people's thoughts about what the future is going to bring to media creation. People seem to be getting so distracted by things like 3D and new cameras (and learning endless workflows that seem to become obsolete in a year) that I worry they are not seeing the bigger picture.

Rodney Charters Straight Talk about Cameras and CInematography

2010-05-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.macvideo.tv/camera-technology/interviews/index.cfm?olo=rss&ArticleID=3224564

This video is absolutely worth watching. It's a recent interview with Rodney Charters, ASC (NAB?). He gives a pretty much dead on state-of-the-art discussion about cameras and cinematography 2010. The discussion is frank, much to the chagrin of Sony I'm sure. It's great to see someone in his position not pulling punches. I think it's part of the new reality for all of us, people are better informed than ever and they have their BS meters on sensitive and don't want to hear corporate propaganda or shilling. He even talks about something called "film." The only thing I would have liked more of is a discussion of where he sees the new RED's fitting into the picture. It was only a year and a half ago that I was at HD Expo watching him show travel footage he shot with his RED and Canon film lenses!

His most important point passes so quickly that if you aren't paying attention you'll miss it: everyone has access to technologically advanced pro level gear. If you want to stay on top as a cinematographer, you'd better know how to light. These are really wise words. Even if you lean heavily on your gaffer, which is a beautiful thing, you have to know when things are right and when they're not. On indie and corporate projects, there will be times when you're in a hurry and you need to fix things yourself. Your gaffer may be setting up the next scene or, in the case of corporate, you're wearing multiple hats. I am really glad that instead of buying a Varicam, I spent my time on sets learning how to light and slinging cable.

Colorist

2010-05-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

I've been busy working on my color grading reel. I hope to have it online within the next two weeks.

Back to the Future(s)

2010-04-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

We have perhaps reached a tipping point in Hollywood, film investing can now have absolutely nothing to do with stories, or even making films (yes, I know what the cynical among you are thinking). The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved creation of "a market for trading futures contracts based on the predicted box-office revenue of Hollywood movies." That's right, a film futures market. On the bright side, if you fund a film you will probably be able to hedge your investment and bet against your own film's profitability. It worked great for sub-prime mortgages!

Read about it here.

Flushing Vegas

2010-04-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

If like me, you haven't gotten your hanami in this year, here is a link to some virtual sakura viewing. Just click on the blossom on the map. The site is for photos taken by dog owners, so you can also get your fill of cute little fluffy Japanese dogs if you like.

Vegas Flush

2010-04-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

I survived NAB 2010. I can't spend more than a day in Las Vegas without getting alternately annoyed, depressed or creeped out, so it was a very very long day there. If you want more balanced reports from people more-better adapted to the Vegas ecosystem try my friend Eric Escobar's blog. He was the perfect person to tag along with for an action-packed day, although I did miss the private hotel room session with Alexa.

Better living through nodes

What rocked my world? DaVinci Resolve for Mac for $995. If you don't know what that means, there are no words I can speak that will make you understand. BlackMagic hit it out of the park on this one. Not only have they saved one of the truly great brands (and great product) but they've figured out a way for it to thrive. Very clever, people who still haven't figured out Color will have to have this. This seems to be one of the most successful marketing tactics in the film/broadcast world, aspirational marketing. Adobe has been a genius at it, giving endless presentations of everything their new refreshed product lines can do to people who will buy them and use maybe only Photoshop. Resolve is a major step up for anyone (well anyone who hasn't worked as a colorist in a high-end professional post-production house), both in terms of capabilities and the learning curve. I have to say it again, DaVinci Resolve for Mac for $995. I still can't believe it. The multi-point tracker makes Color's look like a toy and it handles high-end workflows that require a lot of tinkering in Color. This isn't a complaint against Color. Color is amazing, it just ups the game for those of us who have cut our teeth on it. And they have created a pricing structure that allows you to grow your capabilities as your business grows. Thank you, BlackMagic, you get the new marketplace. Buy only what you need now and invest more money only when it will make you money.

You think you're ready for me, big boy?

BlackMagic also has another genius product, UltraScope. Tecktronix, et al. should be a little nervous right about now. This is a professional scope product, capable of 3Gb/s monitoring, every line is there, constantly updated, WITH THE ABILITY NOW TO ZOOM into each scope, for $695. All the information is there, like a beautiful electronic ghost wave, shimmering and dancing. Again, if you don't know what this means, there are no words I can speak that will make you understand the beauty of this. And, they also have a portable version. They also announced support for Mac at NAB, desktop at least. The portable version will work with Mac once Apple includes USB 3.0 on laptops (that is a topic for another day). Do I sound happy about saving $15K on dedicated scopes? Heck yeah, being able to zoom into your scopes is essential for balancing flesh tones and blacks.

Dance of the RGB Parade

The other genius product? GoPro HD Hero. Buy one now. I did, on the spot at NAB, along with at least a few hundred other people. $300, or less, for a camera that shoots pretty darn nice 1080/720P, includes sound and a waterproof housing that is good to 180 feet, a focused accessory kit and records to CF? They sell accessories for helmet cams, surfboard cams and soon, 3D. A $600 3D rig? That was the first 3D announcement at NAB that I actually found interesting.

Between decentralized distribution and truly professional grade products that are selling for prosumer prices, it is truly an interesting time to be making media.

Blurring the Line- Part II

2010-04-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

I originally made this post in January of this year. This time I address the issue from the narrative filmmaking side. It was originally titled "Blurring the Line Between Fiction and Non-Fiction."

HBO hearththrob?

We all know that a lot of "reality" TV is largely scripted. And I've spoken before about documentary filmmakers (Herzog, Morris) taking liberties with factual truths in their own obsessive searches for more poetic Truth. But what about narrative filmmaking that blends non-fiction/documentary aspects?

I recently made my way through two TV series produced by Section 8 (George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh), Unscripted and K Street. Both were limited run, one-offs for HBO, K Street directed by Soderbergh and Unscripted directed by Clooney and Grant Heslov. They are similar in their blending of real people (James Carville, Mary Matalin, Krista Allen, Bryan Greenberg, lots of famous politicians and actors), using real events mixed with fictitious characters and storylines to give authentic experiences of certain aspects of Hollywood and Washington D.C. I have to admit that I was quite skeptical when I started watching them but found them both engaging and wanted more when I reached the last episodes. The cinematography in both is, well, what I will call Soderberghian (if you've seen The Girlfriend Experience or Bubble, you'll know what I'm talking about). That is to say, they were shot with almost only available light and almost taunting you with their homeliness at times (particularly in K Street). They were both shot primarily by Tom Inskeep.

They are interesting variations on Soderbergh using "real" people to play fictitious characters (Bubble). For Unscripted, there was no written dialogue, it was largely improvised from incidents in the actors' lives. Each episode of K Street was based on a breaking news story and shot within days of airing on HBO. I'd like to do a little deeper analysis at some point, but for now wanted to point out these interesting experiments. They are all worth a watch and available on Netflix: Bubble, K Street, Unscripted.

Blurring the line- Part I

2010-04-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

I am going to repost a couple of posts that I made awhile back about something in which I am very interested: filmmakers walking the line between narrative and documentary filmmaking (and I'm not talking "reality" TV). This is an issue that keeps coming up and since I have a lot more readers than I did when I originally made these posts, I thought it would be good to put the discussion out there again. There are interesting ideas being tried out there by people like Soderbergh, Herzog and others.

This post is originally from December 2008 and was titled, "WWD?"

I attended the International Documentary Association's annual awards recently. Werner Herzog received a lifetime achievement award. His acceptance was brief, but to the point. Documentary filmmakers need to break out of "outdated" modes developed during the 1950's-60's (that would be direct cinema) in order to reach current audiences. The reception to that advice, to me anyway, seemed, um, subdued. It's been a hard year.

I've been somewhat disappointed to discover that there are still a significant number of documentary filmmakers who consider other modes of storytelling as not being "real" documentary. Or, that many are still wedded to the idea of the documentary filmmaker as the noble underdog reporter of facts that represent the "Truth." Personally, I find it offensive that we live in a society where basic reporting of current events and issues (essential to maintaining a functioning democracy) has been abdicated to essentially poorly funded volunteers. Worse, those poorly funded volunteers have been made to feel like they have to limit their creativity to "objective" journalistic standards that many of the established for-profit media sources even no longer feel compelled to follow.

What is true is that while the number of documentary films being made are multiplying, the audience does not seem to be there for this explosion of films. The host Morgan Spurlock, who has a better handle on popular storytelling than most, mocked himself by pointing out that "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?" grossed $384K domestically, while "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" grossed $92M. I should point out that I know several intelligent people who would, without question, rather watch a talking animal movie rather than any documentary.

Happily, both of the feature award winners offered less than "traditional" storytelling. "Man on a Wire" uses extensive re-enactments, which seems to be controversial with a surprising number of people 20 years after the "Thin Blue Line" and 80 years after "Nanook."

More interestingly, the co-winner "Waltz with Bashir," is an animated documentary. I highly recommend seeking it out. The opening put me off a little but by the end of the film I was completely engaged. The animation creates a distance from the actual people involved in the events while at the same time, it also draws the viewer in. I still cannot explain exactly why. Maybe our defenses are lower with animation than with actual video of conflict and atrocities. Maybe we don't judge animated "characters" as hard as actual participants and are more receptive to their story. Perhaps the participants themselves were able to be more uncertain and real, less defensive, knowing that their actual image wouldn't be used. As a result, the filmmaker is able to subtly communicate many traumatic truths and the nature of memory when trying to recall these types of events.

My point is that filmmakers must become more creative in their stories and their storytelling. Audiences have become more sophisticated and jaded, whether we like it or not. If we want to reach them, and quite possibly even make a living doing it (remember that the people who created direct cinema all made a living doing their work--if we want to survive, we need to make money to film another day), we need to talk to them and not at them. I don't think that it's an accident that some of the most consistently successful documentary filmmakers of the last 25 years, Moore, Morris, Herzog are among the most non-traditional and innovative. If an intelligent effort is made, people will watch (although Iraq burnout seemed to sink "Standard Operating Procedure"--it grossed $229K domestically). There will always be a place for the direct cinema type of documentary; see my post about "La Vida Loca." It would just be a lot more interesting for it not to be nearly the only storytelling model used by filmmakers.

Other notable films that innovate with their storytelling?? "Bus 174" (in my opinion, one of the most important films of the past 20 years) and "Stevie" are two outstanding examples. I would even propose looking at some of Chris Marker's work, even his fiction work ("Sans Soleil"), for potentially innovative documentary storytelling models.

Buy this film.

These are hard times for filmmakers, just like the rest of the world. Funding and distribution seem to be more distant than ever. I know many people who have barely worked since August, and before that there was the writer's strike. The economy is in complete turmoil, class divisions are greater than at any point in recent history and we seem to have burned our bridges to many possible solutions in the past 8 years. As creative people, it seems like we have nothing to lose. We are funding ourselves, donating equipment and time....why aren't we telling our stories in our own way? It seems like this is the perfect time to innovate and be free to actually have a vision.

Here is one definition of documentary film: A non-fiction film that uses a minimal amount of re-enactments or fictionalization in order to present some kind of truth about its subject.
Non-fiction is defined as: the events portrayed in the film are/were in some sense "real." Truth: not necessarily based on facts; reveals some detail or experience that can be understood as "true" to someone. I like a lot about this definition. The one area that I still think about, and question, is how much fictionalization (and of what type) and recreation is acceptable for a film to still be considered a documentary. I come down more on the side of more as opposed to less, as long as it effectively communicates truths, personal, perceived, impressionistic or otherwise. I think that I'd rather have less facts and more truth, as opposed to the shovels of facts, with little truth, that we are fed every day by the mainstream media.

So, What Would Werner Do? This is an extract from an August 19, 2005 interview with the Austin Chronicle:
AC: In your nonfiction work, we see a blending of fictionalized moments and what we think of as conventional documentary technique. You spoke at Sundance about staging a scene with a droplet of water, glycerin, actually –
WH: The water drop scene and the dialogue that I purely invented is in The White Diamond.
But your question is somehow poking into what is documentary for me. I'm after some deeper truth [rather] than just facts. To find some sort of ecstasy of truth, I stylize, I fabricate, I stage, I invent dialogue all over the place. So when you speak about documentaries, do it with a necessary caution....

Porange and Teal

2010-03-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

If you have any interest in color correction, I recommend reading this funny post.

Hard and Fast Practical Thoughts on the 7D

2010-03-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

OK. First thing, I am not an expert on VDSLR's. Stu Maschwitz and Ben Cain are really amazing at providing all the technical analysis you'll need. And you know where to go for your fix of camera test porn.

I realized last week that I needed to regroup a little and pull together what I needed to know to use them successfully. So, instead of going out on a beautiful Sunday, I turned my apartment into this:

Don't worry, there will be no screen grabs of waveforms or vectorscopes.

What have I learned?

1. DSLR's are really simple to use. That's why people who buy them are like crack addicts with them. They are pretty much a pick it up and shoot kind of deal. Sure, you can get into superflat curves and whatever, but the real truth is that you can take the standard setting, knock the artificial sharpening down most of the way (lowers the amount of aliasing) and the contrast down some and you are good to go. Just make sure you know how to white balance the camera correctly. That is the one aspect that is a little confusing and the one area where I consistently see issues with the finished footage.

2. White balance- the instructions are more complicated than they should be. Find a white object. Focus and expose it correctly and then take a photo (you can do this in movie mode) of it. The camera uses the rectangle in the middle for the white balance calculation, so the whole frame doesn't need to be white. Then go to the menu, select the 2nd tab (a camera followed by a colon), scroll down to CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE and select it (the "set" button). Select the image you just shot with either the QUICK CONTROL DIAL or the MAIN DIAL and hit "set" again. Select OK. Hit the MENU button again to exit the menus. Use the WB button on the top of the camera to select CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE and you are good to go.

3. Heat- if you shoot with the camera running all the time, it may overheat. If it is your only camera, you are shooting documentary footage, and it is warm out, bring an ice pack and a wash rag to keep the camera cool.

4. Data Corruption- I have pieced together the following procedures to help prevent data corruption. Yes, it happens quite a bit. I've personally seen it and it's all over the boards.

Format the cards only in the camera
Be careful putting the cards into readers/cameras. Bent pins can cause corruption.
Make sure that the camera is done writing and that the computer is done offloading before pulling the card out of the reader/camera. Always unmount the card before removing it from a card reader.
A remote, but real, possible cause of corruption are computer viruses.
Buy only UDMA cards. I think that the all the SanDisk Extreme Cards are UDMA.
Format the cards in the camera before leaving for each shoot to ensure that they are good.
Don't use a super cheap CF card reader. I use the SanDisk Extreme FW 800 Card Reader (they also make a USB 2.0 version). The SanDisk Extreme cards seem to be the consensus card I see in production environments, so I bought the reader that they made to go with the cards. Believe me, I didn't want to spend the extra $40.

5. For most shooting situations, set your shutter at 1/60th.

6. If you can afford it, get a lens with Image Stabilization. Shaky footage seems to be a real hobgoblin with these cameras, particularly on a long lens. They are hard to hold steady. I've met one person who is an absolute genius at operating these cameras, keeping them really steady handheld and being able to "blend" the out of focus moments really nicely on the fly. Most people just can't concentrate enough or practice enough to reach that level. Or there's always the monopod.

7. Focus- you wanted shallow depth of field, you've got it now. Now you know why there's someone on narrative films whose sole job is to ensure that the image is in focus at all times. Outside of sound issues, an image with "searching" focus is the most issue likely to draw your viewer out of the story you are working so hard to tell. You don't have to have a follow-focus, fancy mounting gear, etc. But you do have to concentrate always and practice a lot beforehand. It isn't easy.

8. Sound- the sound is not very good on these cameras, everyone knows that. Great sound is essential to any project. Google "dual system sound DSLR" or something like that and you will get all kinds of solutions.

I just tried the new Canon E-1 plugin for Final Cut. I'm sure it'll work fine, but I deleted the thumbnail files, and I think you need them to make it work. My one complaint is that it's getting ridiculous trying to keep up with all the plugins necessary for all the codecs out there. Somewhere along the line it's easy to lose track of upgrades. I actually used MPEG Streamclip to batch convert the H.264 files to ProRes today. It works, is free and is faster than Compressor.

The 7D is an amazing camera, it made a ridiculous, backlit shot of my dining room table look all sexy and romantic. If I had shot it with my HPX 170, it would have looked like a backlit bunch of stuff on a table. Just remember, that along with the good comes some annoying and sometimes ridiculous issues. I promised myself that I wasn't going to post any footage, but it's short and it makes me laugh out loud. Can someone please explain this? I've seen lens breathing before but not like this. Why is it that the white bar only moves? The dynamic range of the camera explains itself.

Have fun, but for god's sake, don't make your dramatic climax a rack focus shot of a Kodak Super Gray Card.

UPDATE: I got this explanation from Charles Haine, uber-technologically adept DP/Colorist:

     A lens will breath differently for different colors/wavelengths of
     light, since everything wavelength of light will bend differently.
     Since white light has all the wavelegnths of light in it, it'll spread
     much more, and in more directions. I think that's why you see some
     color fringing on the white boxes. Since the black boxes are the
     absence of light, they won't spread as much.

Horses for Courses

2010-03-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

VDSLR's are amazing. More precisely, they are amazing still cameras that shoot acceptable video. Why only acceptable? Read Ben Cain's blog, there are about 10 posts with solid DSLR technical analysis, ranging from dynamic range to the benefits of lenses with image stabilization.

Acceptable video, but yes, sexy acceptable video. Like any camera, it's horses for courses. I was on a documentary interview shoot this week and the second camera, a 7D, kept overheating and needed to be shut down several times. It was pretty warm in the rooms but not really hot. I can't point out enough that it's essential to know your camera and what its limitations are before you start shooting. If the 7D had been the only camera, it would have been a disaster because these were people who did not have time to schedule a second interview, or wait for a camera to cool down.

Canon 5D Mark II - Over and Under Exposure Tests from Ben Cain / Negative Spaces on Vimeo.

National Day of Unplugging

2010-03-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

March 19-20, sunset to sunset. Read a book, think, stare out the window. I am currently reading "After the Deluge" by San Franciscan, Chris Carlsson. I can't even begin to summarize all the amazing things he has helped birth in an attempt to make people at least think about how to make the world a better place.

Taking a little time for reflection improves your work, whatever it is, but particularly if you are a creative type.

Also, a great piece of viral documentary film marketing.

GIGO

2010-03-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

I was talking about the last color grading work I did (see the post before this one) with someone and they said, "geego." I said, "wha?" He said "Garbage In Garbage Out." I understood his point immediately. Don't go into a shoot thinking that you can "fix" everything in post. The truth is that you pay, either up front or later, but you always pay at some point if you want quality. It can be equipment, people's time, locations, planning, etc., but quality has a price. For example, the footage that I graded for that documentary required a lot of time to make it look good. I put a bunch of extra time into it because: 1) it was for a friend, and 2) because of the topic matter. But, realistically, what it would have cost to pay market rate to do what I did would have been out of reach for many filmmakers.

Here is what I probably would recommend in a situation like this, a documentary film with a lot of difficult footage: select a couple of good looking shots (post correction) which repeat themselves in the timeline to which the same corrections can be applied. These really nice looking shots will serve as the visual baseline for your piece. You then spend less time (and money) correcting the rest of the shots. As long as you have that baseline of good looking shots, your audience will be forgiving of the other shots interspersed between them especially if they are verite. Again, I repeat that this is for documentary films, narrative film grading is a different beast.

CLARIFICATION: For clarity's sake, when I am talking above about cost cutting, I am speaking generally which is probably not a good idea. What is "expensive" will vary from production to production and mean different things to different individuals. Paying $300-$400/hour for a grading session on a DaVinci with a highly skilled colorist is normal for some people while for others it is incomprehensibly expensive. Having your editor grade your feature length documentary may be the perfect solution for you, while others may want someone who is an expert in color correction. Sometimes having someone who is more expensive per hour is cheaper in the end because they do the project more efficiently or because they have better skills to help express your vision. Or, sometimes they are just more expensive. The real point is, if you want quality, plan ahead because quality costs skill, money, time, energy, etc, and it's best to know how you are going to allocate your precious resources to meet your goals. Research your options and the people who are going to do your work.

Remember, the process of getting something into Color, or any color correction process, will also take time. So, if you have a messy timeline that is more than mostly straight cuts, you will have to do a lot of prep work to get it into Color (this will be a future post). Either you will have to do it or you will have to pay the colorist to do it. It's best if you plan from the beginning that the project will be color graded and keep your timeline REALLY ORGANIZED. There are also times that I would recommend keeping the project in FCP and having it graded with Colorista. This compromise limits what you can do quite a bit but makes it more feasible economically to have your piece graded.

I guess the point of this post is that if you want to have a really good looking film, you have to plan (and budget) from the very beginning.

Now I am going to play some more with my new, sweet tool:

Love Your Colorist

2010-03-03T18:26:00.000-08:00

I just finished color grading a documentary. I thought that I'd share a few before/after screen shots the editor sent to me. This footage was particularly challenging: the film is about children with cancer. The children and their families were all given Flip Camcorders to shoot footage. If you think an image from a $2500 DSLR is thin, imagine some of the images from a $150 camera shot by non-professionals solely in ambient light. I should also say that there were also some very nice images, really remarkable given the cost of the camera.

There was a serious red skew with blotchy magenta spots on the flesh tones in this image. The real challenge was not only in giving the flesh an overall naturalistic color but also disguising the darker magenta artifacts without making the thin image look overly worked. When I say naturalistic, I mean making his flesh look as good as possible while still retaining the overall feeling that it was shot under fluorescent lighting as opposed to trying to make it look like it was lit on a Hollywood set. Flattering but authentic. If you click on the images, a larger version will open in a new window.

This image also had a serious color skew.

This image had contrast and color issues. The greens were a little too yellow in the background and the water color isn't right either for the time of day. This is actually when it gets fun. I closed my eyes and put myself in that place and that time (late dusk in summer) and visualized what it looked like. That is the intangible part of being a colorist, can you see what the intention was in your mind and actualize it? It's late in the day, so there is a little yellow lingering but the shadows are turning blue, particularly a challenge to make look subtle in the greens. It becomes a balancing act.

I feel like my job is done well if, when people watch a film, they don't notice what I've done and stay absorbed in the world created by all those who pass before me in the process.

Rose Water and Pomegranates

2010-03-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

I have been on a little bit of a Iranian cinema tear lately. I most recently watched Close-Up by Abbas Kiarostami, also the director of Taste of Cherry. Close-Up is a hybrid documentary/narrative film (as well as a film about film), a structure near to my head and heart these days. It's been a sobering realization, watching these Iranian films, the latitude that many directors there seem to have in structure and storytelling compared to what we are fed, even through our "indie" film movement. The trial scene, actually a real trial filmed documentary style, is a narrative masterpiece, subtly revealing the story's "characters." I am jealous, Film Forum in NYC is showing a new 35mm print right now. Don't get the wrong idea, these films are beautiful because of the people in them and their stories (the photo above is a still photo by Kiarostami, a noted photogher as well), not because of big budget cinematography. They are filled with little gems, mostly conversations between everyday people, oftentimes while driving.

I hadn't fully realized until recently how poetic, artful and, well, trying at times mainstream Iranian cinema could be. It gives me hope that we will use the cinema to think and dream again. Enough with the toys, explosions, robots, apocalypses and cross-marketing already. Film, and culture, needs to be more than product marketing delivery devices.

Click on the mouse for a special treat.

"Kiarostami’s films are extraordinary. Words can’t relate my feelings. See his movies and then you’ll see what I mean.” – Akira Kurosawa.

Think Like a Pirate

2010-02-28T07:41:00.000-08:00

It is worth taking a look at this video if you create media. He doesn't say anything that, if you're really paying attention, you don't know already. But, he does say it clearly and concisely. I like at the end how he says off-hand, "people have moved on from Blue-Ray."

The lessons:

The days of tightly controlling your product are, or are nearly, over. The Blue-Ray "consortium" example is a great one. High licensing fees and lots of rules have made many people just avoid it until a new means appears (online distribution).

There will always be "Hollywood." However, it will exist only to make projects that require that type of artistic/financial complexity. It seems doubtful that all those union jobs that have disappeared are coming back. Just ask all those people who worked for record labels in the 90's. Right now it feels like a lull in the storm for film and television. Once the stranglehold is broken on bandwidth, many of the large media producers also own the cable companies, all bets are off.

Cinematography Light

2010-02-25T09:41:00.000-08:00

OMG. Thank you, Ben, for pointing out this great feed. I've been doing a lot of color grading lately and reading it is making me (kind of) miss carrying around 70 pounds of camera equipment in the mud and rain. And all the random things that happen while doing so, like being attacked by birds of prey.

Anyway, back to what inspired this post, this one is for all the devotees of camera test porn. It's not what you're probably expecting.

There is a moment in Cleo de 5 a 7, where Corinne Marchand is in a cab and the camera is handheld on her. At one point the cab turns and the camera, seeing an interesting passer-by, pauses for just an split second on that passer-by before panning back to Marchand. Totally by instinct and total genius.

Trust

2010-02-10T07:51:00.000-08:00

When's my movie deal?

The name of this article says it all, Thanks to All Those Shills on Twitter and Facebook, People Don't Trust Their Friends Anymore. Now, hurry up and sell your camcorder that you use to mostly make web video or DVD's and buy a RED. Or is it, sell your RED and buy a DSLR to shoot a documentary? Sell your DSLR and buy an entire 3D work-flow? Then, spend every waking moment learning twisted work-flows for each new product out there that has been social-media marketed directly to producers and directors by a blog/twitter feed/Facebook friend, etc. that they follow.

I almost choked the first time I saw an ad on Craigslist looking for a DP to include a RED with lenses in their day rate. Are there that many of those cameras out there already? Don't get me wrong, I love all the technological advancements of the past few years. It's truly an amazing time to be a creative person, but I always have to stop and ask myself "what's in it for me?" Will it help me pay my rent? Will it make me creative in a way that the technology that I am currently using can't? Would I be happier spending a little of that time, money and energy on life, my family and friends? And, what's in it for the people pimping the dream? Sometimes it feels as though we have so thoroughly internalized all the hype that we are doing the manufacturers marketing for them. That wouldn't be of the plan, would it? Hopefully, there is more for us to aspire to be, as individuals, than unique brand identities cross marketing with other brands.

Rip Torn

2010-02-01T20:27:00.000-08:00

I can't even express how sad this makes me. Rip Torn was arrested again, this time for breaking into a bank while armed. He was so drunk, he thought it was his house.

Torn is a brilliant and fiercely independent talent. Sadly, he will probably be remembered most for Dodgeball or Men in Black. There's a decent profile of him here in the NY Times magazine.

Torn, Nicholas Ray and Marilyn Chambers

R.I.P. Miramax

2010-01-28T17:31:00.000-08:00

Ready to be consolidated?

Nothing seems to signify the end of an era better than the news that Miramax is closing its New York and Los Angeles offices. It will continue to operate on a small scale after being "consolidated" within Disney Studios.

3D Converges on Us

2010-01-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

Technology marches on at an amazing pace. I will be focusing this year on how to integrate storytelling into interactivity and multi-platform delivery rather than worrying about more new technology to buy. 3D, literally, gives me headaches. I think engaging the audience is more important than employing another technology to enhance the passive viewing experience.

I can't wait for the first 3D wedding videography.

Indie Apocalypse

2010-01-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

For a particularly bleak outlook for independent film, check out this article, extracts from the diary kept by director John Hillcoat during the making of The Road. The diary ends with this epilogue:

My own new project – with a much-loved script by Nick Cave and a dream all-star cast – has fallen apart. The finance company that we began The Road with has also fallen apart, having to radically downsize to one remaining staff member. The great divide has begun, with only very low-budget films being made or huge 3-D franchise films – the birth of brand films such as Barbie, Monopoly: The Movie – who knows what’s next, Coca-Cola: The Movie?

I end the year appropriately – gazing into the apocalypse of my own industry.

Nice analysis here of the backstory on Cinemablend. Further signs that the only indie films will be no-budget this year? While I do think we shouldn't extrapolate too much from the emotional state of one obviously very tired director, I do believe that it is time for the non-mainstream cinema to embrace change and to embrace its changing audience and new economic circumstances. The cinematic experience, as it is currently exists, is over a century old and stuck in the past. Funding/distribution? Maybe not as old of a model, but rooted in an outdated command and control mentality (I am being extremely polite here) that seems destined for a shake-up, analogous to what the record industry went through during the past decade.

Blurring the Line Between Fiction and Non-Fiction

2010-01-05T17:45:00.000-08:00

HBO hearththrob?

Old and New

2010-01-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

My New Year's resolution is to spend less time running to keep up with technology and finding more time to creatively explore the technologies to which I already have access. Speaking of old technology, I finally got to operate a carbon arc lamp recently (thank you, Corwin Nunes at Mole Richardson). The light that they generate is incredible. It wraps around faces beautifully and creates incredible eye highlights, little teeny diamonds. No creepy HMI spectral discontinuities, just pure lighting goodness. Sigh.

I also got to go to screen dailies for a project that I worked on that was shot in 35mm on the new Fuji Vivid Eterna 500. It is a quite nice stock. It's color reproduction struck me as a little more subdued than with the Vision 3, with very subtle flesh tone gradations, especially to black. Word that I heard is that Fuji is committed to film (it is a very small part of their overall business) for the long-term. It's nice to remind yourself of the subtle joys of "analog" now and then.

Next week I will be color grading my first 5D Mark II project (the same camera that took this still). I'm very curious as to how well it will hold up.

Film Joke

2009-11-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

An AC and a grip are out fishing, catching lots of fish. The AC pulls out some tape and marks an X on the bottom of the boat.

Grip: "What did you do that for?"
AC: "So we know where our spot is so we can come back to it."
Grip: "That's dumb, how can you be sure we'll get the same boat?"

I Bring What I Love

2009-11-11T17:44:00.000-08:00

If you're in L.A., I highly recommend getting to the FREE screening of Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love on November 17. There will be a discussion afterwards with the Director, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. I recommend also staying for that; she is an extremely bright and engaging person. This film explores someone who knows exactly who they are are (in a profound sense), what they believe and their journey to give voice to that experience. It's no understatement to say that during that journey, he risks all that really matters to him to spread the message.

I have been a fan of Youssou N'Dour's for 25 years or so, but after watching this film I realized how little I really knew about him and his music. Structurally, the film is not perfect, the filmmaker clearly had to include enough back-story to engage the uninitiated. But the upside is, even if this is the first time you've ever heard of Youssou, you will enjoy this film. His personal charisma is quite engaging, as is his amazing music. It's definitely worth seeing on a big screen because a lot of it is shot in Africa and it's great to be able to absorb it all at the theatrical scale.

It's been a very good year for music documentaries. Two others that I can recommend are: Anvil! The Story of Anvil (now out on dvd) and It Might Get Loud. Anvil is kind of a real-life Spinal Tap story, except by the end of the film you love them, instead of just laughing at them. Anvil is a Canadian heavy metal band that inspired the likes of Metallica, Lemmy Loud (Motorhead), Slash (Guns n' Roses) but somehow never seemed to find a payday. The film documents their ongoing struggle to make it back to the top of the music world.

It Might Get Loud struck me personally as sort of an odd duck. First, it is directed by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth). The premise is that Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge are brought together in a room and talk about guitars, music and play together. The film weaves together that footage with archival and contemporary footage of the three. It's an interesting film and is definitely worth watching, if nothing else, for the insights about each of them individually as artists. And you do realize by the end that they are each a serious artist. The Edge comes off as surprisingly insecure. Watching Jimmy Page's fingers play the guitar is the definition of fluency. And Jack White is surprisingly upfront about being a white kid who just wants to play the blues.

Happy Place

2009-11-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

November has been kind of a rough month, so, today, I did what any sane person would do: I went to Panavision and took cameras apart and put them back together. Then I loaded them with film and unloaded them. I am officially back in my happy place.

People, please be kind. All the pushiness and junior high-level meanness makes me nervous. We are living in a world that is changing really quickly, let's concentrate on being an integral part of it, rather than fighting for scraps of the old world.

That Barton Fink Feeling

2009-11-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

Hollywood

Every day, to earn my daily bread

I go to the market where lies are bought

Hopefully

I take my place among the sellers.

Bertolt Brecht

American Poems 1941-1947

Shipping and Receiving

2009-11-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

OK, not the most scintillating stuff, but it's good to know which companies actually stand behind their products. I got my bus powered OTG hard drive back from Other World Computing after a week or so. It had a defective bridge card, which they replaced, and then sent it back to me. In the end, getting the drive made whole cost me nothing more than a trip to the UPS store. It also made me happy that they repaired the drive rather than tossing the whole thing and shipping a new package to me, less e-waste. Very pleased how that played out, however, if I had needed the drive during this time period for work I would have been out of luck. That is always something to think about when considering whether to buy locally or over the Internet.

What my living is starting to look like......

My Streamlight Scorpion flashlight also went haywire after a recent job. Happily, I had purchased it from an authorized reseller (meaning it was covered by the lifetime warranty and also meaning it was more expensive). I shipped it back to them, at my expense, they replaced pretty much most of the flashlight except for the shell and shipped it back to me with new lithium batteries. Again, they replaced what needed to be fixed/upgraded rather than throwing the whole thing away and sending a whole new package. In the end, it cost me about $5.00 to ship it to them, which was offset by the cost the new batteries.

The whole idea of buying junk that you throw away after a short time drives me crazy. I guess this post really isn't about warranties, rather it's about thinking of how much waste you generate in your professional life and trying to minimize it. I upgrade my computers rather than buying new and generally wait to buy something until I absolutely need it. It makes good business and environmental sense.

Yikes, I Know it Happens but Still..........

2009-10-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

I bought two new bus-powered hard drives to transfer P2 files in the field for a new camera that I bought for documentary and corporate work. Today I did my first green screen and work flow test. One of the drives died almost immediately after transferring the data! It couldn't be any clearer, always immediately back your data onto two hard drives and verify that it's good before reformatting those cards. The drives were On The Go (OTG) drives from Other World Computing. I just spoke with customer service and they are emailing me a return shipping label and will replace the drive upon receiving the fried one. It was a one-minute conversation.

I will keep you posted as to whether their customer service follows through on honoring their warranty quickly. I am hopeful, I have had good luck with OWC and am a long-term customer. OK, as I am typing this the shipping label has already arrived. Good sign.

Motion Media in Magazines?

2009-10-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

The idea of "living magazines" is one example of how media is changing, of how forward-thinking media makers will be able to find new opportunities as old ones evaporate. It also is an example of the "smaller" opportunities (as opposed to the dream of creating motion pictures, big budget T.V. or commercials) that will be available to media makers in the future. I suspect the future will be full of these smaller "disposable" media experiences throughout the day with the more engaging content being interactive.

I do have big concerns about e-waste for this type of media, especially magazines. What are the ramifications of creating largely single-use high tech media experiences?

The downside of this convergence between still photography and motion photography is that both traditional motion picture producers and still photographers are now competing for the same opportunities. In the end, the old rules will still apply: those with a good eye and who can shoot quickly and economically will thrive.

Helicopter Boyz and Your Future

2009-10-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

The old ways of doing things are passing more quickly than many people realize. Or as Ted Hope succinctly puts it:

Cinema, in its current concept and execution, is both derived from and depending on a world that we’ve passed by.
• It is no longer is the most complete & representative art form for the world that we inhabit.
• It no longer mirrors how we currently live in the world.
• Cinema is now a rarefied pleasure requiring us to conform to a location-centric, abbreviated, passive experience that is nothing like the world we engage with day to day.

Mobile, light, nimble, ....those are the future media makers. It's actually really exciting, technology is moving so fast that it is already leapfrogging those who want to create old style media by using new technology (that would be the deluge of stuff out there that tries to pass itself off as innovative web-content or some indie film that really is just a low budget imitation of Hollywood film). More people seem to like to do things now, or at least they want interactivity. That's a good thing, right? Does anyone really think that the old passive entertainment model was that great, aside from T.V. network executives? Social media is just one example of people shaping media to their own world.

The new DSLR's are awesome, especially for people like me who like the discipline of distilling a story down to one frame; the addition of HD video/depth of field is like a gift. But there are lots of little miracles out there that will help change the way we tell stories, so I am equally excited about the S1000PJ's of the world as well (what was used in the Helicopter Boyz performance). What will write the future is how you, the creatives, put it all together. Don't mourn the passing of the old, keep your mind open to the answers that appearing daily and have fun playing with them.

Honest Truths: does the world need a documentary code of ethics?

2009-10-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting discussion here about the idea of a possible "code of ethics" pertaining to documentary filmmakers. Access to this topic requires D-Word membership.

http://www.d-word.com/topics/show/166?pos=1

It is based on the release of the report "Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in their Work" which is available here:

http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/honest_truths_documentary_filmmakers_on_ethical_challenges_in_their_work/

I have to admit that I am a little perplexed by the idea of a code covering all documentary filmmakers. The variety of work, and storytelling techniques used, in the genre is so diverse, I'm not sure that it is possible (or desirable) to come up with an all-encompassing code. Is this type of code, no matter how well-intentioned, doing documentary filmmakers a disservice by painting them as "journalists" alone? Does someone who uses a more impressionistic technique for expressing a truth really need to live by the BBC code of ethics (how well are traditional news organizations living up to their own code of ethics)?

Many documentary filmmakers do strive to fit into the category of journalist, but there are others (including some very important voices) who do not. Would this type of code actual end up hurting the genre by driving away diverse voices who now self-identify as documentary filmmakers? Thinking about it, Robert Flaherty and Werner Herzog would probably be in violation, if not in letter then at least in spirit of the code. Could such a code be used in lawsuits against filmmakers who do not use a journalistic model for their filmmaking? Is it fair to expect filmmakers, who are in the minority, to live by, and be judged by a code that was created by a "consensus" of the majority?

Is an "ecstatic truth" more real than an "accountant's truth? " Interesting stuff, there are some who would argue that much journalism, with its codes of ethics, actually present less truth under the cover of presenting many details. Honestly, it freaks me out a little when people claim to know/ present the "Truth" as opposed to truths.

10 Most Watched Web Videos of Summer 2009

2009-09-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, what if TV were eliminated and people could distribute whatever they created economically to nearly everyone else in the world? Surely a new golden age of creativity would follow? It does seem that the web really is having a democratizing effect: as a repository and distributor of the lowest common denominator. As Jimmy Cliff said, "give the people what they want."

Here are the most watched web videos, summer 2009. I recommend skipping the videos and just listening to the song. Trust me, you'll be a lot happier and feel a lot better about the future of mankind.

I think one of the greatest fears I have in my life is that I become so overwhelmed by mediocrity that I can no longer tell the difference.

Kermit singing about keying greenscreen

2009-09-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

Wow. I don't know about Fusion but I do shoot a lot of green screen and love pretty much anything having to do with Jim Henson. Great viral ad.

Finally, A Pansonic Single Card P2 Reader Is Coming

2009-09-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

If you use the Duel Adapter for P2 data transfers with a Mac laptop, do not upgrade to Snow Leopard. There is no driver to support the card, for that matter, my recollection is that Duel seems to have stopped developing Mac drivers for their card some time ago. There have been lots of complaints about reliability and compatibility with Duel Adapters, but they've been the only game in town if you want to import a single P2 card with your laptop (and not tie up the camera). I personally have not had any issues but there are a lot of complaints out there.

The good news is that Panasonic announced that they will be releasing a single card P2 card reader in Spring 2010. They don't say what the interface will be. Let's hope that somebody makes a Snow Leopard driver for the Duel card before then.

Do Screeners (and Yourself) a Favor

2009-09-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

People who screen films for contests, awards, grants, advice, etc. really, really want to see your film. Why else would they spend so much time screening films, usually for free? In this new age of technological democracy, however, there are sometimes a few glitches. DVD's recorded on your home computer can be finicky to play on someone else's equipment. And sometimes it happens 60 minutes into the film. By the time you've tried 3 different players and are calling friends to try playing the disc on their equipment and still have a stack of other films to watch (on top of your normal work life), you are wishing that you could just skip the bad spot on the disk and continue at the next chapter.

Chapter? Yes, it is really helpful if you put chapters on your disks. That way the screener doesn't have to fast forward through 60 minutes of film if they are actually able to find a player that will play through the bad spot. Or, it may make the difference as to their being able to watch the disk at all (sometimes you just can't get beyond the bad spot on the disc). Or if, they are interrupted by life while screening, they can easily pick up where they left off. Love the people who want to love you.

Weird Viral Advertising

2009-08-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. This is one of the most disturbing ads I have seen in a long, long time. It proves that all you need to make a commercial in 2009 is a camcorder, laptop, trampoline and three guys in singlets in a North Hollywood park (and hopefully, After Effects). Sounds like the set-up for a very dirty joke. MSI tablets, catch one while you can!

I swear I saw the guy who throws the laptops doing jumping jacks in the parking lot outside my laundry mat in Hollywood.

Dogs on a skateboard

2009-08-06T18:07:00.001-07:00

God I just love that dog on a skateboard. Hang on baby, Friday's coming.

My current favorite blog, The Business Insider, has been providing an ongoing analysis of the current state of (the lack of) monetizing online content. It looks at Google/YouTube, Hulu, et al. using real numbers to give the state of the art. The bad news? No one, including the big boys, are making money off of content. And the heralded democratization of content creation brought about by online distribution? It says, "content creation is expensive, it takes talent, and lowering barriers for the creation of crap only provides you with more crap." So, professional content isn't making money and we are sinking in a sea of crap made by amateur (or amateurish) content creators, what hope is there? According to the article, "whatever golden tomorrow video may acheive, it won't be driven by the major media companies, at least not in the foreseeable future." Hmmmm, wait a minute. Where's the money going to come from to create the new paradigm, if not from deep pockets or inspired individuals?

The article is deja vu, all over again. It could have been written a few years ago, verbatim. So, why does it seem like we're going nowhere, fast? No one, including a lot of really smart (and well-paid) people, seem to be able to answer that question. The article, while flawed, does raise some good points and is definitely worth a read. For me, another question is, are we starting to approach the end of "free?" Today, Rupert Murdoch announced that all of his publications worldwide will begin charging for certain content. I expect other major online content providers will follow in kind.

Will they succeed? A couple of things seem apparent. First, people don't seem willing to pay for online content alone. They expect some kind of added value. Content creators who can come to terms with that in a big way (and figure out what is the "added value" that people are willing to pay for) will at least survive until this is all sorted out. The other thing, which I repeat over and over again, is that somebody has to pay something somewhere for the content we create. I know it sounds obvious but there are armies of people out there working for free, or close to it, to create content that is not innovative or particularly interesting. Emulating what exists already may be gratifying, "Look, I can do that too," but ultimately is slow death. Unless, you are willing to have another job to subsidize your creativity. But, if you're footing your own bill, why make watered down garbage that emulates TV?

Final Cut Studio Resources (and more)

2009-08-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

Apple has recently put all of its Final Cut Studio documentation online and made it searchable. Thanks to Eric Escobar for highlighting this great new resource.

Here is a link to the FCP Help Home page:
http://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutpro/

This is good stuff, they even discuss workflows and using different formats with FCP. This should help answer a lot of questions, or at least empower people to be able to understand their problems and articulate their questions more clearly.

The Final Cut discussions page is worth a look as well:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=939

Usually, someone has already asked the same question you have....and lots of power users are out there supplying answers. It's like getting a free consult from an expert.

Then, there are the Forums on Creative Cow:
http://forums.creativecow.net/

This is the mothership for getting questions answered on just about any kind of software or hardware issue related to video production. These are all working professionals, so it's worth taking the time to review the archives first and to formulate a good question. Most likely you will be rewarded with a good answer.

Finally, I also recommend Moviola's Resource Center:
http://www.moviola.com/resource_center_main

It has been put together by FCP uber-geek (and awesome instructor) Andrew Balis. Workflows, tutorials and tips for both Avid and FCP are here. And the "Knowledge Zone" is a nice primer on video. This is all stuff that you would pay for in a class.

The final thing I'd like to say is, this is all technical knowledge and it doesn't make you an editor. I am an Apple Certified Pro in Final Cut and I definitely don't consider myself a real editor. But, put me on a location with a camera and give me 10 seconds and I will figure out a shot that expresses what you want to say. Or show me a scene from your project and my mind will automatically look for ways to use color correction to help make it stronger. My point? It's good to be self-sufficient, but, if you have a project that you really love and believe in, find a real editor with whom you can collaborate. The difference between being proficient in software and being an editor is enormous (as is having a camera and being a cinematographer).

Interesting Color Correction Tutorial

2009-07-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

Stu Maschwitz, now of Red Giant Software, has posted a nice color correction tutorial on Creative Cow. He goes through the process of emulating the look of a few of this year's summer blockbusters. Even though he uses Magic Bullet and Colorista software in After Effects, this tutorial is applicable to any software.

Even if you aren't going to do a lot of color correcting, this is quite interesting to watch because he gives you a primer on how to look at and dissect the color palette of film images. It is also fascinating to watch the process of a colorist, how they fiddle with things, etc. As a film maker, it will also help you be able to speak more intelligently with your colorist.

I think I am going to bite the bullet, pardon the pun, and buy Colorista. I already own Magic Bullet Looks (which I've used mostly for brainstorming looks) and work in Apple's Color, but I can see how useful Colorista is, particularly as a complement to Looks. The main value I see in Colorista (in Final Cut) is that it is a tool that you can use within Final Cut Pro (with vignette tracking!!). Color is amazing, but sometimes you don't want to take the time to roundtrip things in and out of FCP, especially if it's not too complicated of a correction (but more complicated than the 3 Way color corrector can handle). Roundtripping requires a bit of preparation, particularly on a long timeline with motion graphics, still photos, etc.

The other tool that he used which I found cool was the Hue/Saturation effect in After Effects. I didn't know that it was hidden in there. You can define what the color range is for each of your color channels in After Effects. Nice tool. I am starting to understand why some people like to live in After Effects.

If you go to the Red Giant site, check out the "Indie Film" looks pack created by Eric Escobar. It's a nice selection of pre-made looks for use with Magic Bullet Looks or Quick Looks. They are a nice addition to the pre-set looks that come with Magic Bullet already.

Hollywood Joke

2009-07-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

So a guy goes to the circus. He's enjoying himself, when he notices an old, old man following the elephants around with a shovel and a garbage can, cleaning up their dung. He can't stop watching this tiny old guy struggle to drag the can around, stooped over and shaking, barely able to lift the shovel. At the end of the circus, he finds the man and says to him,"why don't you retire? " The man, stooped over turns up and looks at the man and says, "what, and give up show business?"

Back to the Future II

2009-07-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

Someone I respect a lot made a funny comment about the RED camera, saying that it was potentially "the DeLorean of the camera world." What a funny image. It makes me imagine RED user meet-ups, 20 years from now, talking about how it was ahead of it's time and got killed by a conspiracy......too bad it's not made out of stainless steel.

It's a joke, o.k., so don't get all worked up. It's just a camera. In search of a post workflow.