OK, it’s a provocative headline, and while I don’t for a minute think Avid are deliberately setting out to sell out editors, it may be an inevitable result of inevitable technological innovation.
Category: The Technology of Production
There’s a group of enthusiasts shooting a brand new Cinerama movie – a travelogue about Los Angeles – and today I played an extra around the Griffith Park Merry-go-round.
This is shooting to real film, with a restored Cinerama camera.
Got me thinking about how size changes over time, which will lead to another post.
Episode 42: Toys and Trips http://t.co/HvzPz3yH A new episode of The Terence and Philip Show.
Terry has been deciding what equipment to buy, while Philip has some very specific technology needs for the upcoming Solar Odyssey project. Naturally the MacPro’s future features in the discussion. Terry’s video monitoring solution has been found but he’s still looking for audio monitoring tools, without it being too expensive or too cheap.
Discussion continues about the relative future of iOS and OS X (recorded before the announcement of Mountain Lion and Final Cut Pro X 1.0.3) and applications that might run on them.
Philip discusses the technology needs for the Solar Odyssey project: producing a reality TV show about the journey on the solar powered vessel Ra, under solar power. All equipment needs to run off 12v. During the production new technologies will be developed (as Philip discussed on his blog). Philip also discusses the types of software solutions they will be developing during the project.
Episode 42: Toys and Trips http://t.co/HvzPz3yH
Although I’ve shamelessly stolen the title from Joe B (@zbutcher on Twitter) I think it does represent a shift in the way we work with our source media.
Now, before I start let me be clear. I am NOT saying timecode is unimportant. I’m NOT saying that timecode is passé and suddenly irrelevant. Timecode remains incredibly important for any tape based access.
What I am saying is that text search – or phonetic search derived from text – is becoming a highly viable, and in many ways superior, way to search and find content. Timecode’s primary role was in being able to identify any given frame from a tape by tape and frame number. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, but as humans we don’t think in “reel and Timecode”, which is why text is a superior option.
By now you’ve likely seen the iPhone 4S vs Canon 5D Mk II side by side comparison that Robino Films put up on Vimeo. They are reproduced at Boing Boing and my friend Steve Oakley’s blog. On the face of it the iPhone 4S camera stands up to the 5D MkII very well. Improved resolution to 1080 and real time rolling shutter and stabilization makes this a very much improved video camera over the camera in the iPhone 4.
Facial recognitiion in the cloud http://t.co/kznweJhC
At one level this is kind of scary – these were the folks who discovered a Social Security number way too often, from a casual photograph in the street – at the level of production automation it shows the direction we’re heading for automatically generating metadata for postproduction.
Episode 35: The Templatorization of “Creativity” http://t.co/yIY8RGK9 A new episode of The Terence and Philip Show
The trend toward basing creative endeavors on templates has been a trend for many years, culminating in Hollywood’s use of its history as templates for its current production. Is it a case of profit over creativity?
Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on whether you value your personal creativity, or you’re pushing a budget to get a project finished.
A matter of Mynd over movies – Â http://tinyurl.com/3le8bh3 Sorry about the Variety Paywall if you get hit with it.
Clearly reading brainwaves is getting a lot more advanced than I otherwise would have thought. This project reads “something” from the collective minds of the audience to influence story.
What are the editing concepts in FCP X and who is to for? http://tinyurl.com/3lamwnu
Another episode of The Terence and Philip Show where we attempt to decode the editing paradigms in Final Cut Pro X and who it is for. Â I admit, when Terry tries to push “prosumers” as the target market, I got frustrated and agitated because we both agreed Final Cut Pro X was for professionals but not “hollywood’ professionals.
My DV Expo topics
9-5 September 20 Basic Tech for Producers (and recent Film School Graduates)
In this session, technology expert and DV magazine contributor Philip Hodgetts will cover the technological choices in production and post in a non-geeky way to help producers — and others without a technical background — make good technology choices for their productions. From formats to software choices; selecting cameras to creating Web video; designing graphics that will work and much more.  PRICE: $195 ($245 after Aug 31) Click here to register now.
9-5 September 21 Using Metadata For Production and Asset Management
Metadata is becoming increasingly important throughout the production cycle–from camera to asset management. In this session learn about the types of metadata in use; how each major NLE (Final Cut Pro 7, Final Cut Pro X, Premiere Pro CS 5.5 and Media Composer 5.5) handles metadata and how we can use that metadata to speed postproduction and VFX. Once post is done, assets need to be management through through distribution and repurposing. What tools are available, how are they used and how do they fit into the metadata structures promoted by SMPTE and other standards bodies. Â PRICE: $195 ($245 after Aug 31)Â Click here to register now.
9-5 September 22 Avoiding Postproduction Nightmares
Post expert and DV magazine contributor Philip Hodgetts details the most common (and costly) problems inadvertently created during production that will be “fixed in post.†From color correction to audio, and editing to the final QC pass on deliverables, he’ll not only reveal the tricks of the trade that he’d use to save your production, but also explain how you can avoid these costly issues in the first place. PRICE: $195 ($245 after Aug 31) | Click here to register now.
In the light of full disclosure, I certainly expect to be paid but I always deliver good value. There will be some overlap between the Basic Tech and Avoiding Postproduction Nightmares sessions as they both seek to make the technology understandable, but with a different focus to each day’s class.