The Editblog

I’ve been fortunate enough to have a Tangent Wave in my edit suite for the last month for testing and review. It’s a very pleasant unit to use and will totally change your opinion of Apple Color. Click over to the Editblog on PVC and give the review a look.

LAFCPUG Next Meeting: The Avid/FCP 2-Step

Oh man do I wish I’d be in LA on Wednesday, November 18 for the next Los Angeles Final Cut Pro user group meeting. It’s called “The Avid/FCP 2-Step.” It looks like it’s going to be an evening of frank and honest discussion about Avid in a Final Cut Pro world and vice versa.That’s right up my alley! From the LAFCPUP website:

The perception, (especially among FCP users) is that Final Cut Pro is slowly but surely taking over the post industry. While that maybe true in the “Indy” world, the reality is the Avid Media Composer is still firmly entrenched in Hollywood feature films and broadcast television. In order for you to compete in Hollywood it’s important to know BOTH tools. So lafcpug will devote the entire evening to the Avid/FCP 2-step.

What are the big differences between the Avid MC and FCP?
Is it hard to learn the Avid if I know just FCP?
Do I really need to learn the Avid?
And other FAQs

Join us as legendary film and sound editor Walter Murch returns to lafcpug to discuss “what is it like going from the Avid to FCP and back to the Avid.”
Also editor Steve Cohen will show us what is new in the Avid Media Composer 4.0.
Shane Ross will show off the new Mix & Match capability in MC4.0 which allows you to combine different formats, frame rates, and resolutions all in the same timeline.

Plus Stump The Gurus and World famous Raffle

Tickets go on sale Thursday, November 5 for $8.00. If you’re curious or unfamiliar with Avid then this might be 8 of the best bucks you’ve spent in a while.

First Impressions of the Tangent WaveVideo : the EDITBLOG on PVC by Scott Simmons.

Today I posted a piece over at the Editblog on PVC of my first impression using the Tangent Wave on a few small grading sessions over the last couple of weeks. I really like using a control surface with Color.

This video has made the Twitter rounds today but if you don’t use Twitter then you may not have seen it. Avid has taken advantage of YouTube and posted Media Composer 4 — First Look at the World’s Most Advanced Film and Video Editing System. Nice, polished piece. I wonder if they mixed frame rates during this production just because you can?

Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School.

If you’ve ever wanted to attend film school then this is it. While it’s not your typical 4 year or 2 year program it’s sure to be a very unique weekend at “a conference room of a Los Angeles hotel” during the weekend of January 8-10, 2010, with the master himself, Werner Herzog. For a $25 application fee, and $1450 if you are accepted, you won’t get any technical training nor will you get a lunch. But what you will get is guaranteed to be an experience unlike any other from a filmmaker unlike any other. If you don’t understand what that means then you don’t know Herzog and most certainly shouldn’t even be considering attending his film school. Read through the about page and get a better idea of what might be in store … though somehow I bet no one, not even Herzog, knows for sure.

I was able to spend a little edit time with Final Cut Pro on a fresh install of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard over the weekend. Read about over at the Editblog on PVC.

If you’ve ever tried to wrap you head around the Avid 601 and RGB settings on import and export then this is for you.

Imagineer Systems is hosting their 2nd Annual Video Contest. Deadline is September, 15.

The battles rages on with Final Cut Studio 3 and Avid feature requests.

Here’s some helpful info on aspect ratios and frame rates.

Suite Take has part 1 of a series on staying organized.

Steve Martin talks about 10 things he loves in Final Cut Pro 7.

Stu Maschwita helps of flatten our Canon 5D video for more latitude in post.

Alex Gollner talks about how to use Automator to set FCP poster frames.

Shane Ross talks about how to manage lots of subtitles in FCP.

Jason Calacanis write his case against Apple.

Mark Spencer has posted a free chapter to his new Motion 4 book.

Paul Zadie tells us how to put Adobe’s Kuler into the OS X color picker.

Viewing habits point to the future of tv and Internet video.

Codec wars 2009 codec comparison, though I wish they had also included Cineform.

Here’s an Arri D21 FAQ since RED’s not the only D-cinema camera out there.

Paramount puts Blu-ray first in staggered release. I remember when VHS worked this way!

How about an iPhone app for making storyboards? There’s an app for that.

And there’s one for script supervisors as well.

The iPhone goes head-to-head against the Flip Mino HD.

The RED Rocket card live on Vimeo.

Tile Stack is your creative playground: create, play, publish.

This guy hates his Apple TV (and I agree that it does have a lot of untapped potential).

Want some free HD green screen and visual effects plates to download and play with?

Another footage comparison of RED, 5D and Lumix.

Keep an eye toward motionworks for an A to Z of After Effects effects.

How to animate a matte key in Avid is a handy thing to know.

You got until September 25 to pitch for a $5,000 grant for your documentary.

Links from Twitter:

brucesharpeHow to install Final Cut Studio so it’s really stable. http://is.gd/2fP0o

HeathFashinaInteresting info about sending your sequence to Compressor from FCP7 http://tinyurl.com/nrwk5z

nicholaspattenThe Making of the Prius “Harmony” TV Commercial. http://bit.ly/P3hqo

andymeesis Red Giant the culprit behind FCP7 white screen master template issues? http://bit.ly/cxPnf

winstonavichHave you seen this Coen Brothers masterpiece? It’s only three minutes long. http://bit.ly/nF9ye

ianshepherdUsing compression to add punch, warmth and balls to your mix http://twurl.nl/3tje7c

mediaguy777FREE 10-Week Lightroom Course! http://bit.ly/ZD7hJ

wingrove: The Cineraw ‘Sparta’ (bluecam) evolves http://vimeo.com/5925874

kfirpravdaApple iTunes Getting Into Original Contenthttp://bit.ly/

micahstephensName the New Final Cut Studio, some funny suggestions http://bit.ly/HIrVr

emptyframe Sweet, screenwriting on iPhone.http://bit.ly/nwsUf

eastbayjay“YOJIMBO VS. EVERNOTE VS. TOGETHER VS. JOURNLER VS. EAGLEFILER” http://bit.ly/6DeLk

thedvshowhttp://twitpic.com/c3qb8 – vintage Vietnam era Hi-8 camera- could not get this past Airport security

alisterrobbieooh. just discovered the Film Tools site. sooo many toys. mmm car mounts for some summer driving fun.http://ow.ly/iy81

schnittman100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About.http://bit.ly/14MsYM No. 71 Remembering someone’s phone number. No. 92 Writing a check.

tylerginter And this is how the shutter works on a DSLR! So cool  http://bit.ly/qT55w

artguillotineThelma Schoonmaker on Her Career:http://bit.ly/qe3HH

And digitalreb has tweeted lots of good links:

Adobe CS5 to be Intel-only (no surprise):http://tinyurl.com/kug7f5

Apple offers matte display option on 15″ MacBook Pro: http://tinyurl.com/pnot7h

Even more people reporting Frame Controls issues with Compressor 3.5. Looks like a big bug:http://tinyurl.com/ng32yg

The 17″ MacBook Pro is equivalent to the top-end iMac in ProApp usage: http://tinyurl.com/lwdy4m

And off-topic:

I love these 13 examples of great out of focus photos.

toddzelinSome of the tops chef’s in America talk about the best and worst fast food in America. http://bit.ly/YFwLl

stevensantosRoger Ebert on the gathering dark age and the dumbing down of our culture http://bit.ly/U2tia

And you must check out District 9. It doesn’t matter if you like sci fi or not (I generally do not) as it’s one of the most original, amazing, thought provoking, violent and emotional movies that I’ve seen in many years. It’s filmmaking at its finest that must be supported. And it was shot on RED.

If you’re a user of CoreMelt plug-ins and you haven’t updated to the new V2 line of products that was introduced at NAB 09 then now might be the time. CoreMelt is having a Summer Upgrade Special with 40% off upgrades to V2 products. It’s for 10 days only, July 21 – July 31. This coincides with an update to version 2.2 that adds a number of new effects and transitions. The version 2 of the CoreMelt is a stand-alone plug-in for Final Cut Pro, Motion and After Effects that is no longer part of the FxFactory-engine based architecture. They new release is fast, has a lot of great effects and adds CoreMelt’s own tweaked interface to the Filter tab of FCP:

Tune in to Studio Monthly for an upcoming review of CoreMelt V2.

The Los Angeles Final Cut Pro user group meetings are now online for a small fee. This is a great resource.

The 2008 ACE Equipment Survey is up and online.

Get ready for some reading. The book DROIDMAKER: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution is available as a free pdf download. At least for now.

CineForm has a new product called the CineDDR, as in direct-to-disk recording.

The Edit Foundry has posted a great piece on Eye Trace.

ParticleMetrix is a new plug-in from idustrial Revolution.

Here’s some great viewing with the Top 10 Rock n Roll documentaries.

And here’s 10 bargains for no-budget filmmakers.

Our friend Jim Geduldick’s Final Cut User blog was featured on G4′s Attack of the Show.

While writing Please label tapes and disks: An open letter to DPs, camera ops, DITs I got a couple of good links about all of the different HD formats and frame rates that are out there.

Here’s a new 35mm lens adapter called the Modo35. Speaking of 35mm adapters, Call Box has a DVD about just that.

The DV Show lists out 55+ iPhone Apps For Video Pros as well a a great list of apps that might help Rescue Corrupt Video.

Digital Revolution has a nice list of Guides to Digital Filmmaking and products that make up a Virtual Film School.

Shane Ross found a sample contract that might come in handy for editors.

Here’s 404 Avid Tutorials.

Cameras is a free Mac OSX preference that lets you assign cameras to certain applications.

Norman Hollyn follows 15 Film School Tips in 20 Minutes with More  Film School Tips.

Yep, the new iPhone 3G S shoots video (though it doesn’t really edit it) … while it is cool it’s not the second coming though the fanboys go nuts over it with things like music videos, “film” competitions, expensive supports, stereo and shoulder rigs. Calm down people it’s just a phone that shoots crappy, non-HD video.

Could the SD card replace DVDs on our computers? It would be more like the future if they did.

Here’s 10 Photoshop Interface Features you (maybe) Didn’t Know Existed.

So apparently there’s hidden metadata in Final Cut Pro. That’s just like FCP to have something there that the editor can’t use or get access to.

So maybe you don’t need real scopes to produce broadcast legal tv. But with HD scopes finally this affordable why not if you’re producing for broadcast. To me it would be worth it just to have them all always available at a glance and not taking up screen real estate.

I’m not sure how I feel about 5 Second Films.

Links from Twitter:

lafcpug located 8 Documentary Dos & Don’ts.

bcfilmmaker tweeted the Top 5 Things You Need To Know When Making Your Low Budget Film.

5tu likes the Six No-Budget Lessons of Be Kind Rewind.

Underseen posted the helpful 25 Free Mac Apps That Will Boost Your Productivity.

karimamara points to IFC’s 50 greatest trailers of all time.

eastbayjay - Keep Your Customers Around with Better Customer Service for Your Freelance Business

TheEditDoctor found an HV20/30/40 focus ring.

PXLpainter retweeted @GuyKawasaki 12 Real-Life Locations Behind Out-of-this-World Films http://trkk.us/?gFD

Filmbot retweeted from 3DWorldMag: 10 defining moments in CG history.

rhedpixel found a nice site for vector brushes and artwork for Illustrator and other Adobe Apps http://vector-art.blogspot.com

kfirpravda wrote an open letter to Steve Jobs: Don’t Forget The Pro Users.

gopalbalaji got technical with a link to How Cineon File Format Works.

mrbarnard1: On-location feature film production in Hollywood has fallen to its lowest levels on record. http://sn.im/n25pq

stevensantos posted about Editor Anthony Harvey on the lost ending of Dr. Strangelove and PaulForte said to check out “Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes,”  a documentary about Kubrick’s archives … though the video doesn’t seem to be available anymore. Google it and you can find it in different parts.

Off topic:

Damn Man Babies is funny and Pingwire will kill a lot of time as you watch pics being posted to Twitter in real time.

And finally,  stevensantos also linked to this Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi’s about Goldman Sachs: http://bit.ly/10pqAg It will make your blood boil.

I posted a while back that the Basics of Avid Media Composer for a Final Cut Pro Editor article was coming in the Pro Video Coalition Post | Pipeline newsletter. It has come and gone for those subscribers and is now posted in the Editblog on PVC for all the world to read. If you’ve only ever edited on Final Cut Pro and are curious about what some of the main differences in the two applications are then this is a good place to start. The Avid2FCP Changeover Challenge is another though going in the other direction (see, we’re fair and balanced at the Editblog!). And since Avid Media Composer is available as a free 14-day demo then you’ve got nothing to lose except some time. I hope you find the article useful.