CAMERAS: Food Fights with the FS700

When Adam Wilt and I shot “Fire and Ice” together on a prototype FS700 we had no idea that it would be shown at NAB… and that it would be hit. We wanted to do more, so we pitched Sony a commercial concept for a local company that involved high speed “veggie baseball.” Guess what: they sent us an FS700 again. Edible baseball never looked so good.

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How to get good production dialogue

Here’s a short and sweet video with a tip on the best way to get good production dialogue audio from your talent. Watch below.

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Using Parenting to Animate Layers as a Unit

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. Buried in the shuffle of the release of After Effects CS6 is that we concluded this series with a 3+ hour course dedicated to that book’s Final Project. Several movies from this course are available for free preview from lynda.com; we’d like… more »

Final Cut Pro X Multicam Editing webinar now available on-demand

I had great fun last week presenting the Final Cut Pro X multicam editing webinar for Moviola Filmmaking Webinars. It was a lightning fast 90 minutes and we covered a lot of ground but we didn’t get through everything I wanted to cover. The On-Demand version can be purchased and I recorded an extra screencast about one topic that I didn’t get to cover in the webinar. Check it out after the jump.

10 Final Cut Pro things FCP editors might be missing in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6

Adobe is making a big play for Final Cut Pro users with their CS6 release of Premiere Pro. It’s vastly improved over the Premiere Pro of old and is a lot like Final Cut Pro. There’s even a keyboard shortcut layout for Final Cut Pro users. But it is a totally different application than our old Final Cut friend and some things you’re used to in Final Cut Pro either aren’t there or just work differently. Figure out the differences and work with the changes as Premiere Pro CS6 is a great application … and as we all know Final Cut Pro 7 isn’t going to get any better.

Editing and Effects Together in One Editor Part 1

Post NAB 2012 Adobe has released the CS6 suite, Avid is pushing Symphony, and you may think that the editing revolution is over… but you would be wrong. Autodesk announced Smoke 2013 for the Mac platform for $3495.  There has been quite a buzz about Smoke since NAB. 

Editing and Effects Together in One Editor Part 2

Editing & Effects All-In-One
Autodesk has always been known for the strength of their effects and image processing tools. The tools in Smoke have been used in everything from major Hollywood blockbusters, to national commercials for major corporations, to finishing shows airing on premium cable and broadcast networks.  Personally, knowing that I am using these same tools for my local broadcast promos… gets me where my geek lives.  Smoke has some very powerful tools.  Who wouldn’t want to use those same tools on their own projects?

ATTO Debuts New Products at NAB 2012

Jeff Okonczak from ATTO Technologies took some time to tell us about what they were showing off at NAB 2012. He lets us take a look at the ExpressSAS 6Gb/s Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) which deliver the fastest available connection to SAS or SATA tape or disk storage.

Check out a Number of Hardware and Software Options from B&H

We grabbed Jerry Zorek, Manager of Business Development at B&H, to learn about what B&H was showing off at their studio booth.  He shows us a Resolve system with the full panels for DaVinci, Autodesk’s Smoke 2013, a Matthews motorized slider and the new Sony camera 300 along with a Marshall 3D monitor. 

Rigging the Bird

Mark Spencer talks about rigging and animating in Motion 5. He shows Steve Martin of Ripple Training how to work with multiple parameters within Motion and have the rigged parameters change at the same time to create fluid, animated objects.

Blackmagic: We’re ready to remove the Band-Aid!

Despite years of diplomatic prodding on my part, both via articles in ProVideo Coalition magazine and private emails, Blackmagic has still avoided and postponed offering RGB on its HDMI outputs. [If you’ve read my articles regarding HP DreamColor connectivity, you already know that the DreamColor engine demands digital RGB (not YUV/component) and true progressive (not interlaced or even PsF).] As a result, until Blackmagic updates their products (hopefully via a firmware and software update), you’ll have to spend an additional US$495 for an HDLink Pro 3D DisplayPort which will take the SDI signal from either the DeckLink HD Extreme 3D card or the UltraStudio… more »

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Learn After Effects CS6: a basics series

Brian Maffitt of Total Training is back on the tutorial beat after a long absence, with AE CS6 essentials training.

Adobe is coming to a city near you!

Join Creative Suite video experts for a free, in-depth seminar featuring the new Creative Suite 6 Production Premium. Discover the killer new features, and meet partners with complementary offerings that—when combined with CS6 Production Premium—deliver new workflows that work and flow.

Here’s what you’ll see:
•How Adobe Creative Cloud helps you break down creative barriers and revolutionizes the art of video production.
•The redesigned Adobe Premiere Pro CS6—the hub of your post-production workflow. With a streamlined user interface, powerful new trimming tools, and other creative advancements, you’ll see why more and more professional editors are turning to Adobe Premiere Pro.
•A faster, more productive After Effects CS6 featuring new features such as Global Performance Cache and the 3D Camera Tracker that add up to what is rumored to be the biggest After Effects release… more »