HPA Tech Retreat 2010 - Day 3

The Tech Retreat’s third day covered regulatory issues, HDR imaging, using a plasma for reference monitoring, SOA, networking, file-based workflows… and Mo Henry. 

HPA Tech Retreat 2010 - Day 2

The 16th Annual Tech Retreat was officially opened by HPS President Leon Silverman today. (As with yesterday’s coverage, this’ll be stream-of-consciousness coverage.)

Are You A Wireless Outlaw?

A side-effect of the Digital Television Transition (remember that?) comes home to roost on June 12, 2010.  That’s the day that wireless microphone systems you own might be ILLEGAL to operate, as decreed by the FCC.  They insist it is time to scrap any wireless that operates in the 700 megahertz band.

“But Bruce,” I hear you saying, “I don’t want to be a criminal!! How do I know if my wireless system is legal?”

Let me help you out, friend.  Click on this link to be taken to the FCC’s official list of the outlaw wirelesses.

You’re welcome.  Glad to be of service!  I looked up my two systems - an old Samson UM1 and a much newer Sennheiser EW100G2 -and luckily, neither made the list.

But below, let’s talk.  Now, no one here - not PVC, and certainly not me - condones lawbreaking of ANY type.  Still, what will YOU do if you find your cherished wireless on the list?

RED Day

RED Leader Jim Jannard at Ren-Mar RED Studios on Saturday.

On Saturday 16 January, RED hosted three open-house sessions in Hollywood, for CML (cinematography mailing list) members, ASC (American Society of Cinematography) members, and for RED ONE owners. I attended the CML session, and here’s a quick writeup on what we learned. [updated 10:15pm PST: M-X performance details]

Apple + Tablet = New Video Distribution Outlet?

As a long-time Apple user (and - full disclosure - Apple stockholder), I’ve learned long ago to take Apple rumors with a grain of salt. However, combine patents (some going back to 2005), leaks from developers, and the rental of a big hall for a special event in late January, and you start to feel something might actually happen - although it’s certainly not a lock. Personally, I’m thrilled with the speculation that the rumored “iPad” iSlate iPad will be more about media than computing. 

Trish & Chris, Unplugged

We recently had the pleasure of being interviewed via Skype by John Dickinson of Motionworks for his excellent Unplugged series, where he chats with people who either create After Effects plug-ins (such as Peter Norrby of Trapcode or Zax Dow of Zaxwerks) or training (such as Brian Maffitt of Total Training or Andrew Kramer of Video Copilot). It was a freewheeling affair - we thought he was going to cut out that intro when we were making faces at him, and yes, those are margaritas we’re drinking - and we covered a lot of ground, including the early days of After Effects, how we got started in the industry, what we do for inspiration, our opinions on the training market, and our philosophy of learning a complex program such as After Effects for motion graphics production. We hope you enjoy it.

• cllck here for Part 1 on the early days, and breaking in
• click here for Part 2 on the training landscape, and what we do for inspiration

From Wired magazine: The Good Enough Revolution

Continuing with the links to other good articles that are great reads for our particular industry comes a link to a Wired article called The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine. That kinds of sums up a lot of what is going on in film and video production today wouldn’t you say? That Flip camera footage that comprises a large part of your program would have been flat out rejected on broadcast television at one point in the past but today ... it is good enough.

Surviving in Post, Another Tool to Add to the Arsenal

Take a rapidly changing market, throw in new “low to no cost” distribution methods, add two lumps of recession and you have our current business environment. And it isn’t pretty. Surviving in post has always been a challenge, but now it is a nightmare. Fortunately Philip Hodgetts’ new book “The New Now: Grow your production or postproduction business in a changed and changing world” has come along to help navigate these tumultuous times.  In spite of the lengthy title, this is an excellent guide full of helpful tips that I would recommend to anyone in our industry.

Page 1 of 10 pages  1 2 3 >  Last »