HDSLR Coalition Film Contest!

Not since the advent of the first motion picture camera have we seen a single technology affect filmmaking like the HDSLR. It has not only affected how we make movies, but who can make movies as well. We are now endowed with the opportunity to create motion pictures with all of the quality and beauty that studios produce.

HDSLR Coalition now challenges you to shoot a digital film that awesomely showcases the creative capabilities of this new technology. The theme of the video contest is “The 18th Hour”. It’s the most glorious time of day, when people shed their work shackles and flood the streets, highways and skies on their personal quests, to do what they choose, to go where they want to be, to live their lives! This magic hour occurs once daily between the hours of six and seven pm…that time is the 18th Hour.

The rules are simple. Using an HDSLR (any camera technically referred to as a digital single lens reflex camera that shoots either 720p or 1080p HD video), capture your narrative or documentary short. Your project can be set in any single or multiple places, but your story must occur and be shot between 6 and 7PM. You can shoot the entire video in one day, or across several days.

Read more

Newsletter Preview & Review

A few weeks ago, we published our ninth electronic newsletter: PVC Pipeline | Distribution, which included tutorials on the workflow from Final Cut Pro to burning a Blu-ray disc plus how to quickly get your video up on the web, as well as an interview with David Dudas of Sorenson including a review of Sorenson 360 video server service. These articles are now available for all PVC visitors to view; a list of them is included below.

Our next PVC Pipeline newsletter will return to the theme of Production. In it, Adam Wilt will give an in-depth review of the new Sony PMW-350 XDCAM EX camcorder, Steve Hullfish will provide a tutorial review of the AJA KiPro, and Richard Harrington will moderate a shootout between the Canon 5D mkII, Canon 7D, and Nikon D300s DSLRs that also shoot HD video. To receive exclusive access to these articles before everyone else, click here for your free subscription!

Newsletter News

A few weeks ago, we published our sixth electronic newsletter: PVC Pipeline | Distribution, which included an overview of the mobile media scene, exploring new media production as a way of expanding your business, using Apple TV as a client review tool, using Adobe Encore to create quick web sites with embedded video, and a review of Sorenson Squeeze 5.1. Subscribers had exclusive access to these articles for the past few weeks. These articles are now available for all PVC visitors to view; a list of them is included below.

We are about to publish our seventh newsletter, which will be the third edition of our PVC Pipeline | Production publication. It will include a review of the Sony HXR-MC1 camera by Adam Wilt, an “in the trenches” article by Richard Harrington on using waveform and vectorscope monitoring in the field, and more. To receive exclusive access to these articles before everyone else, click here for your free subscription!

PVC Pipeline | Distribution

This coming Monday, we’ll be releasing our third newsletter: PVC Pipeline | Distribution. As you can guess from it’s name, this one will be focused on the broad subject of alternate ways of getting your creation out into the world - from podcast production (including an insightful article from Alex Lindsay on the Pixel Corps’ experience producing podcasts for themselves as others, as well as Allan Tépper’s review of a tool he uses for his podcasts: Übercaster), to getting distribution for your independent movie (a great roundtable discussion led by the FreshDV folks, including award-winning producer/writer Jerome Courshon, and Scott Kirsner of Variety), to a tutorial by Michael Vitti on creating buttons for a custom DVD. So if you haven’t subscribed yet, do so now - it’s free, and you’ll get to enjoy these articles weeks before anyone else.

Blu-ray Disc for Mac is Here

MCE announces a new installable Blu-ray drive that fits nicely into the Mac Pro and Power Mac bays.  According to the release, it doesn’t even require new drivers.  Install and go.

The MCE Technologies Blu-ray Internal Recordable Drive for Apple Mac Pro and Power Mac is completely pre-configured for easy user installation. In addition to writing to 25GB single-layer and 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray discs, the MCE Technologies Blu-ray Internal Recordable Drive is compatible with all DVD and CD recordable media including DVD±R/RW + Dual/Double Layer, DVD-RAM, and CD-R and CD-RW. The MCE Technologies Blu-ray Internal Recordable Drive includes a 25GB Blu-ray (BD-RE) rewritable disc for instant storage right out of the box.

I may be making a purchase soon….  You can learn more here: MCE Blu-ray

Cable Salaries

Raise your hand if you’re in the Cable industry, have a show on Cable TV, work on a show that airs on Cable, or even if you just subscribe to Cable.

Want to know why you don’t get paid what you should be paid?  Why your documentary cost more to produce than you’re earning from airing on Discovery?  Why your Cable bill is so much?

According to MultiChannel News:
With the consolidation of its ownership into one public company expected by the end of the third quarter, Discovery Holding, which includes cable network powerhouse Discovery Communications, filed its first proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, revealing among other tidbits that founder and chairman John Hendricks received nearly $58 million in compensation last year.  I am so in the wrong vocation.

via [MultiChannel News]

No - the Format War is Just Beginning

Let’s face it, we all saw the Blu-Ray battle won some time ago.  Perhaps a far more interesting battle is heating up between rivals Microsoft and Adobe on delivering content via a graphical open run-time platform or via a web browser.

Adobe has tremendous distribution in Flash technology as it’s nearly everywhere.  Microsoft’s Silverlight leverages the graphical ability of their browser.  Adobe’s Air, is a distributable runtime platform that’s no longer in beta as of this morning.  You can download it here for Windows and Mac.

*Updated*

While perusing the net this evening I ran across something interesting on Tim Sneath’s blog.  Never been there before but was searching for Silverlight and MTV.  Actually trying to track down a rumor that Microsoft is offering Silverlight around and folks - prominent folks like MTV, are passing in favor of Flash.  So as I read his blog post about Silverlight and MTV I then clicked over to his example, which is Jackass 2.5 the movie supposedly being hosted by Limelight Networks and Microsoft.  Well, interestingly enough, it’s Flash.  Hmmmm.  Looks like I have more digging to do.

We’ll be watching this very closely as you can imagine not only here, but also in our soon to launch WebDevCoalition.  For more info, check out BetaNews.com

As a disclaimer - Adobe is paid advertiser of this site, and Microsoft isn’t…yet.  (maybe never now)

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