A Video Interview with Rodney Taylor, ASC

We sat down with Rodney Taylor, ASC at the Entertainment Technology Expo in Burbank (November 2011) and discussed what it takes to become an accomplished cinematographer.

Basic Lighting Setups for Green Screen

There’s more to lighting your green screen than just sticking some green fabric up on a wall behind your talent and hoping for the best! Planning ahead and choosing the right setup for the shot you’re hoping to get is a key factor in determining what kind of lighting setup you’re going to require. Will it be in a studio? On-location? Indoors or outdoors? Full-length with walk-ons or just a talking head? Will your actors be making contact with the screen? These are all questions covered in this video lesson from my Green Screen Workshop series - this is a FREE video lesson, so enjoy!

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Drawing Parametric Shapes

As we mentioned awhile back, we’ve been busy the past year and a half creating an extensive, multi-course video training series based on our popular beginner’s book After Effects Apprentice. Each course has two or more movies that are free for all to view; we’re re-posting those videos here on PVC to make sure you don’t miss them. In this movie, Chris shares a number of tips and tricks for creating parametric shapes.

Avid Media Composer 6 review online

Last week a review that I wrote of Avid Media Composer 6 went online over at Studio Daily. Here’s the link so if you’re interested in what I think is a rather thorough review that tries to go beyond just bullet points and a feature list then please give it a read. Now that I’ve had a couple of months beyond the first kicking the tires reaction here’s a few more MC6 observations.

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Review: Panasonic AG-AC160 and AG-HPX250 1/3” 3-MOS camcorders

While all the attention is focused on large-single-sensor cine-style camcorders, Panasonic has come out with a line of high-quality 1/3” 3-MOS handhelds that leave little to be desired. The HPX250 is a handheld version of the shoulder-mount HPX370, while the AC160 and its simplified sibling, the AC130, bring the same fundamentals to the AVCCAM (AVCHD) world.

Recently in After Effects

Here’s another summary of the last week or so of news on After Effects—with assorted tutorials, scripts, demos, documentaries, and more.

Videoguys’ Top 10 Products of 2011

2011 has been quite a year for Videoguys, and our industry. In April, at the FCPUG SuperMeet during the NAB show in Vegas, things changed dramatically when Apple gave a first look of their new FCPX editing software. I was at the event, and the room was filled with excitement, energy and anticipation - that is until after the Apple presentation. The professional editors and broadcasters in the room left feeling nervous and uneasy about Apple’s commitment to them, their workflows and the needs of professional post-production. When Apple actually released FCPX later that summer web blogs and forums were lit up with frustrated FCP editors, wondering why Apple would abandon them and leave them drifting in the wind.

FCPX isn’t just Apple’s… more »

Smoke Scene

Based in Greenville, South Carolina, Skyline Post is many things to many people. Founded by ad agency and post-production veteran - and current Skyline CEO - Randall Owens six years ago, Skyline combines qualities of an ad agency, a post facility, a boutique production house, and a branding consulting group into a unique blend that has attracted a wide variety of customers.

From start to finish – an arsenal of tools

How important is the hardware behind your editing rig?  The proper configuration is key in making sure you have the right machine to meet your client’s finishing demands. 

Expression Shorts - Auto Fade Layer

Learn how to fade a layer up and down without using keyframes. The cool part is that you can change the in/out points of your layer and it’ll adjust accordingly.

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Null Swapper - Plexus/Particular Utility Script

Need a helping hand changing your 3D/2D Null layers into Light layers so you can use them for Plexus or Trapcode Particular? Well this short tutorial will show you how, plus you get a free script that does the actual work for you. HOORAH!

Book Review: “The DSLR Filmmaker’s Handbook: Real-World Production Techniques”

There’s little more popular these days than being a budding Indie filmmaker slinging a 5D MkII over your shoulder and firing off hours of footage that you can then spend months editing to make your masterpiece come alive! The biggest problem is that MOST folks entering this endeavor are totally clueless about the process or where to even start - thus making every mistake in the book in the process. The DSLR Filmmaker’s Handbook: Real World Production Techniques (Sybex ISBN 978-0-470-87660-2) aims to help you get started with not only the basics of using the gear, but also the film-making production process in a visual overview - PLUS some very cool tips & tricks.

BOOK REVIEW: “How to Shoot Movies Without Shooting Yourself in the Foot”

This book is not for everyone. If you don’t eat, breathe and live cinematography… maybe you should read something else. Seriously. This book may not be for you. (But if it is… you’d better not miss it.)