Jonathan Butler: DV_Video_Audio_NLE_etc

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 01:57:27 GMT

DV Rebel's Guide. Mark Frauenfelder: I'm looking into making some videos, and I just heard about this book: The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap. It sounds great.

Written by Stu Maschwitz, co-founder of the Orphanage (the legendary guerrilla visual effects studio responsible for amazing and award-winning effects in such movies as Sin City, The Day After Tomorrow, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), this book is a must-have for all those budding filmmakers and students who want to produce action movies with visual effects but don't have Hollywood budgets.
The Orphanage was created by three twenty-something visual effects veterans who wanted to make their own feature films and discovered they could do this by utilizing home computers, off the shelf software, and approaching things artistically. This guide details exactly how to do this: from planning and selecting the necessary cameras, software, and equipment, to creating specific special effects (including gunfire, Kung Fu fighting, car chases, dismemberment, and more) to editing and mixing sound and music. Its mantra is that the best, low-budget action moviemakers must visualize the end product first in order to reverse-engineer the least expensive way to get there.
Readers will learn how to integrate visual effects into every aspect of filmmaking--before filming, during filming and with "in camera" shots, and with computers in postproduction. Throughout the book, the author makes specific references to and uses popular action movies (both low and big-budget) as detailed examples--including El Mariachi, La Femme Nikita, Die Hard, and Terminator 3.

Link

By noemail@noemail.org (Mark Frauenfelder). [Boing Boing]

Sat, 22 Jan 2005 21:18:25 GMT

Shall We Do the Tech Sundance?. As more indie filmmakers take advantage of cheaper, more powerful video technologies, plenty of high-tech companies scramble to latch on to some Sundance buzz. By Jason Silverman. [Wired News]

Wed, 08 Sep 2004 16:45:56 GMT

Sony readies high-definition camcorder. The electronics giant is betting that consumers are ready to spend a couple of grand to up the quality of their home movies. [CNET News.com]

Fri, 02 Jan 2004 00:41:38 GMT

Make a Movie in 24 Hours. Could you write, cast, shoot, score and edit an entire movie in a day? The 24 teams that competed in New York City Midnight Moviemaking Madness think they can. By Xeni Jardin and Choire Sicha from Wired magazine. [Wired News]

Tue, 28 Oct 2003 16:31:40 GMT

Kinda Cool direction of Film from within 3D Games Report from Machinima awards 2003. Hugh sez, "The Machinima Film Festival 2003 happened on Saturday in New York City, and quite a lot of what it revealed was surprising. For example, Machinima is going pro much faster than most people anticipated - the films that swept the awards were either already commercial (and in one case bound for Sundance this year) or going that way - Red vs Blue is hopefully heading onto shop shelves soon. And the attendees were mostly older film-makers or film students, many of them already established as creators in other media." Link (Thanks, Hugh!) [Boing Boing Blog]

Sat, 23 Aug 2003 13:12:17 GMT

Apple Article on Shake
Good article on Shake and its use in the industry. Also nice to hear about the program at Savannah College of Art and Design.
Shape-Shifting with Shake. Compositor Ed Mendez, who can wield the tools that yield the requisite magic, discovered a new route into mainstream Hollywood. Soon after leaving Savannah College of Art and Design, Mendez was working on projects including [base "]X2[per thou] and [base "]Matrix Revolution.[per thou] [Aug 22] [Apple Hot News]

Fri, 22 Aug 2003 15:49:03 GMT

DVD Studio Pro 2: Must Buy Rating. Creative Mac[base ']s David Nagel writes [base "]DVD Studio Pro 2.0 isn[base ']t just a reworking of an earlier version. It[base ']s a complete overhaul. And I, for one, can[base ']t spot a single flaw that makes me regret this course of development. In every respect, DVD Studio Pro 2.0 provides a richer and more intuitive authoring experience than earlier releases, with a revamped interface that enhances the experience just that much more. And the price point is just unbelievable.[per thou] [Aug 18] [Apple Hot News]

Sat, 16 Aug 2003 01:53:05 GMT

High School Filmmakers. [base "]Here in Chicago,[per thou] reports David Bernstein in the New York Times, [base "]Carlo Trovato, an English teacher and film instructor at Von Steuben High School on the city[base ']s North Side, said that interest in filmmaking swelled after the school added digital media production to its curriculum about four years ago. Last year, with much-needed grant money, the school purchased five Apple eMac desktop computers and Final Cut Pro editing software for its media lab [sigma] Student demand for the course has surprised even Mr. Trovato; he said 200 students now typically sign up for 30 spots per class. Two years ago the school added a second film class. And a film festival, now in its fourth year, attracts more entries each year.[per thou] [Aug 15] [Apple Hot News]

Thu, 14 Aug 2003 14:32:11 GMT

Final Cut Pro Update Available Final Cut Pro 4.0.1 update available. Apple has released Final Cut Pro 4.0.1, an update to its professional editing software for film, HD, SD and DV... [MacMinute.com: Up-to-the-Minute Apple Mac News]

Tue, 05 Aug 2003 14:54:14 GMT

OpenShiiva. The latest version of the OpenShiiva video encoding utility has 2-pass encoding and can convert DV video (like from iMovie) to MPEG-4 with better quality than Apple's encoder. [Hack the Planet]

Thu, 31 Jul 2003 21:48:27 GMT

Readers: iSight problems, solutions [The Macintosh News Network]

Thu, 31 Jul 2003 18:08:31 GMT

Woods Hole Film Festival 'Tech Day' draws Apple, others. Woods Hole, Mass., located on scenic Cape Cod, is the site of the 2003 Woods Hole Film Festival. The event kicked of on July 26th and runs through August 2nd. Friday, August 1st will feature a new program installment -- the first annual Technology Day. Apple and others have come on board to be part of the event. The goal of Technology Day, according to the Woods Hole Film Institute (WHFI), is to educate independent filmmakers on the latest developments in digital filmmaking and to give them an opportunity to master digital media applications used in content creation, special effects design, promotion and distribution. [MacCentral]

Wed, 30 Jul 2003 07:00:39 GMT

More on Soundtrack As I wrote about previously, Soundtrack is great. Looks like more support is coming in the way of this new web site. Soundtracklounge.com debuts. Soundtracklounge.com is open for business. It's a Web site dedicated to support Soundtrack, the new music software published by Apple. Soundtracklounge.com itself provides news and info related to Soundtrack, and also offers members a place to upload and share project files, samples and loops. The site also features reader forums where users can discuss tips and techniques related to Soundtrack. [MacCentral]

Tue, 29 Jul 2003 03:14:44 GMT

SIGGRAPH: Alias debuts Maya Personal Learning Edition 5. Silicon Graphics Inc. subsidiary Alias Systems announced on Monday the release of Maya Personal Learning Edition 5, a new version of the 3D graphics and animation software that's free for non-commercial use. Based on the most recent version of Maya Complete, Maya Personal Learning Edition 5 touts a new hardware rendering option that uses the latest graphics card technology, a unified rendering workflow, animation enhancements to constraints, forward/inverse kinematics and ghosting, Maya Paint Effects polygon conversion and more. Maya Personal Learning Edition 5 is compatible with Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. [MacCentral]

Sat, 26 Jul 2003 02:34:58 GMT

Macs in action: Music video director Mark Romanek. Apple has posted an article on music video director Mark Romanek, who is recognized for his work for Nine Inch Nails, Madonna, David Bowie, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash and others... [MacMinute.com: Up-to-the-Minute Apple Mac News]

Fri, 25 Jul 2003 20:55:44 GMT

Cool, 3D Story Boarding A bit much just to play with at $349, but it is pretty interesting. FrameForge 3D coming; 3D storyboarding software. Innoventive Software LLC on Friday announced the release of FrameForge 3D, a 3D storyboarding software application that simulates multi-camera control. The software was developed for directors, filmmakers and other visual artists who want to create and manipulate storyboards. While the initial release is for Windows only, Innoventive noted that a Mac version is coming in the fourth quarter of 2003. [MacCentral]

Thu, 24 Jul 2003 19:41:30 GMT

On Demand Rendering Power with IBM Partnership Very interesting concept of making the power for rendering on demand available to CG animation. IBM to partner with 'next-generation Pixar'. IBM is planning to challenge Pixar, creators of "Monsters Inc."... [MacMinute.com: Up-to-the-Minute Apple Mac News]

Thu, 24 Jul 2003 02:30:24 GMT

Mac OS X selected as sole Unix platform for MotionBuilder 5. Kaydara today announced that it has selected Mac OS X as the single Unix-based operating system for the development of MotionBuilder 5, the upcoming release of its award winning real-time 3D character animation software package... [MacMinute.com: Up-to-the-Minute Apple Mac News]

Tue, 22 Jul 2003 22:50:20 GMT

Peachpit releases first Apple Pro Training books. Peachpit Press has released three books from its Apple Pro Training series, including titles on Final Cut Pro 4, Shake, and Logic 6... [MacMinute.com: Up-to-the-Minute Apple Mac News]

Tue, 22 Jul 2003 22:49:11 GMT

LiveType, Calligraphy toosl for Final Cut Pro [The Macintosh News Network]

Mon, 21 Jul 2003 03:14:27 GMT

Digital Editing Rising Poised to Ride the Next Wave in Digital Media Equipment. Avid Technology, which makes digital audio and video editing equipment, could benefit greatly if high-definition television finally catches on. By J. Alex Tarquinio. [New York Times: Technology]

Thu, 17 Jul 2003 19:44:44 GMT

Let me say that I known nothing about music, musical notes, composing, etc. However, I have played with Soundtrack (as part of Final Cut Pro 4) and it is very cool. it's easy to start using, and addictive to play with. It changed my mind about how to add music in certain parts of videos I was editing together. There may be other programs out there which do the same thing, but it sure was a nice surprise trying something like this for the very first time. Apple introduces Soundtrack as standalone product. Apple today announced that Soundtrack, its royalty-free music production tool previously available only with Final Cut Pro 4, will be available in August as a standalone product for US$299... [MacMinute.com: Up-to-the-Minute Apple Mac News]

Thu, 17 Jul 2003 19:08:59 GMT

This is a very cool product, if you're at that particular level. I am not, yet. Macworld CreativePro: Io ships; FireWire video capture. AJA Video Systems Inc. noted Wednesday that it's shipping its Io device, a FireWire audio/video interface designed to work with Apple's Final Cut Pro 4 software. The company is shipping Io to select pro dealers and distributors worldwide. [MacCentral]

Thu, 17 Jul 2003 18:20:34 GMT

Indie Auteurs Bond With Software. Fans of Final Cut Pro, Apple's popular digital video-editing system, see themselves as more than just filmmakers. They're guerrillas fighting the banality of mainstream Hollywood. Michelle Delio reports from the Macworld Expo in New York. [Wired News]

Thu, 17 Jul 2003 17:55:55 GMT

Is it just me, or would it have been better to be renamed to Maya rather than Alias? Seems like Alias is the anti-identity... New 'Alias' for Alias|Wavefront. Silicon Graphics Inc. subsidiary Alias|Wavefront is celebrating its 20th anniversary by announcing a corporate identity change from "Alias|Wavefront" to simply "Alias." The previous "Alias|Wavefront" identity was created in the mid-90s when Alias Research and Wavefront Technologies were both acquired by Silicon Graphics Inc. Both companies had developed various tools for 3D graphics and animation. Alias makes Maya, a popular 3D rendering and animation software used in film, video game development, and other markets. [MacCentral]