Inventing the Movies

Some of the things I love about summer are weekend trips to the Berkshires, taking time off for a vacation, and all that means more time available to read books. On my summer reading stack this year was an advance copy of Inventing the Movies, a new book by Scott Kirsner that takes you on fascinating romp through the movie industry’s hundred-year love/hate relationship with technology and innovators. The book is an entertaining read with fascinating historical research and fresh insights from interviews with a long list of contemporary luminaries including director Peter Jackson, computer graphics pioneer Ed Catmull, and entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

With a keen attention to multiple perspectives, Kirsner presents the view of industry executives who are reluctant to innovate, and contrasts their views with the innovators who have advanced the many technologies like projection, color, sound, non-linear editing, digital projection, internet distribution, etc. that have transformed the industry over a century of change and revived it over and over again for many generations of audiences. Inventing the Movies is a lively book of interest to innovators in any field, as well as people who love movies and want to take a look at the business and technological machinations behind the many screens in their life: cinema, television, home theater, personal computers, portable media devices, and video-enabled phones.

Last week I did an interview with Scott Kirsner about the book, how the project got started, and what he plans to do next. The interview is currently being edited will be posted on this blog sometime before September rolls around.

The book is now available from Amazon.com. The book is also available as an e-book from LuLu. Scott Kirsners blog post on the book is here.

Sony PMW-EX1 Camcorder (BOSFCPUG Presentation)

The Sony PMW-EX1 XDCAM EX camcorder represents an important milestone in the evolution of digital video camera design. This is the first all-in-one camcorder to provide videographers with the productivity of solid-state memory card recording, the quality of three true high-definition 1/2-inch CMOS sensors, all in a compact all-in-one form- factor.

In this demo and presentation at the Boston Final Cut Pro Users Group meeting on Thursday, July 24, 2008, I discussed the features and benefits of the camera and demonstrated the simplicity of XDCAM EX workflow with Final Cut Studio 2. I wrote about my first impressions in a earlier post.

Dowload PDF of Presentation Slides(from SlideShare)

View Presentation Slides Online (at SlideShare)

Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video

The Center for Social Media of the School of Communication at American University recently published The American Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video, an important guide for producers of online video who make use of copyrighted materials without specific permission.

Online video has become a vibrant part of our everyday communication landscape and an important component of political discourse. Increasingly, video creation and sharing depend on the ability to use and circulate existing copyrighted work. As more and more video is being shared on the web, financial stakes are raised and the legal status of inserting copyrighted work into new work has become an important issue for online video makers, video hosting providers, and content owners to understand the legal rights of makers of new culture. What some people claim is “piracy” in the online environment might be lawful use protected under the fair-use doctrine of United States copyright law. Mashups, remixes, and parodies are part of an important cultural practice: recycling of old culture to make new, and this process of copying other author’s works is woven into the social bargain at the core of copyright law in the fair use provisions, which are not well understood by most online videomakers. This new document should go a long way in helping to narrow this gap of understanding among online videomakers.

This document provides a long-awaited and much needed code of best practices that will help online videomakers, copyright holders, hosting providers, and other interested parties in developing a better understanding of the copyright doctrine of fair use in the context of online video. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances. What are these circumstances? Most often it is acceptable when doing a parody, or making a critical comment or appropriate quotation. Many of the uses you see online are acceptable, many are not. This code of best practices does not clearly define the limits of fair use rights (that’s determined by the trends in case law, quite complex), however, it does provide much needed guidance to what are currently acceptable practices and draws upon actual activities of media creators as discussed in the study, Recut, Reframe, Recycle: Quoting Copyrighted Material in User-Generated Video and backed by the judgment of a national panel of experts. It also draws upon the professional judgment and experience of documentary filmmakers, whose own code of best practices has been recognized throughout the film and television businesses and is described in the document, Documentary Filmmakers Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use.

Improve your video using cinematic language techniques (Podcamp Boston 3 presentation)

For over a hundred years filmmakers have been evolving a language for communicating efficiently using visual and audio elements over time. This session consisted of examples and discussion covering the fundamental elements of cinematic language which can help dramatically improve the effectiveness of any video production, regardless of budget. Appropriate for media makers at a beginner to intermediate level who want to improve or fine-tune their expressive potential.

View slides (on Slideshare): Cinematic Language PC3

Download slides as a PDF document (from SlideShare): Cinematic-Language-PC3.pdf

Art of the Interview (Podcamp Boston 3 presentation)

The interview is a fundamental element of most documentary films and many video blogs. Through examples and discussion this session, which I presented at Podcamp Boston 3, covered practical strategies and techniques including how and why to use interviews, how to choose the right interview style (e.g. walk-and-talk vs. formal sit-down), how to choose a form of address (e.g. first-person vs. third person), tips for prepare for an interview, suggestions for putting subjects at ease, how to conduct an interview, and more. The session was designed for both beginning and intermediate videobloggers and documentary filmmakers.

Related to this presentation, see also my previous post, “Notes on the Interview” (January 23, 1006). This is a set of notes I’ve collected that I use to remind myself of things to think about when I’m preparing to do an interview.

View slides (on SlideShare): Art of the Interview PC3

Download slides as a PDF (from SlideShare): Art-of-the-Interview-PCB3

List of example clips screened and discussed (year, description, roles):

“Student Activities Midway” (2006, video podcast story segment, MIT ZigZag Episode #10, Co-Producer, Director, Editor)
“MIT Freshman Experience” (2007, video podcast episode, MIT ZigZag Episode #14, Producer, Director, Editor )
“Journey to MIT” (2007, excerpt from series produced for 2007 MIT pre-commencement show, Co-Producer, Director of Photography)

Some of these clips can be viewed at: kino-eye.com/about/reel/

Unconstitutional FISA Bill Becomes Law

I usually don’t blog about political issues on this blog, but enough is enough. On July 10, 2008, President Bush signed into law the clearly unconstitutional F.I.S.A. Amendments Act, which gives the Bush administration virtually unchecked powers to monitor Americans’ international phone calls and emails, and grants immunity to telecommunications companies that illegally aided in the president’s warrantless wiretapping program. Congress may have rolled over and joined the conspiracy to weaken constitutional protections, however, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a broad coalition of plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of the law. Some Democratic leaders who still respect the right to privacy have promised to revisit the issues surrounding the FISA Amendments Act during the 2009 debate over reauthorization of USA Patriot Act provisions. I suggest reading more about this issue on the ACLU web site. Thomas Paine wrote, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” (The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777).

I’m disappointed with Barack Obama’s vote for this bill, which represents a reversal for him. He previously opposed that provision. Why did he change his position on this? Character is revealed through action and this action proves that his demoncratic liberal talk is just that, talk. His actions have now revealed that now that he’s the heir apparent, he does not want to take a stand for the constitution or freedom. So much for the oath of office he hopes to take if he’s elected president.

The F.I.S.A. bill passed 69 to 28 in the Senate, and a number of Democratic senators, including Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, and former rival Hillary Clinton, voted against it. Michael Falcone in The New York Times politial blog quoted Clinton as saying, “… even as we considered this legislation, the administration refused to allow the overwhelming majority of Senators to examine the warrantless wiretapping program. This made it exceedingly difficult for those senators who are not on the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees to assess the need for the operational details of the legislation, and whether greater protections are necessary. The same can be said for an assessment of the telecom immunity provisions.” On an issue of such importance, not to mention a grievous violation of the constitution, all representatives should have been given the information so they could make an informed decision about the merits of this legislation and if anything was rotten, they could leak it to the press. If only we had a true free press (but that’s another issue). Clinton also said, “I cannot support this legislation when we know neither the nature of the surveillance activities authorized nor the role played by telecommunications companies granted immunity.”

What was Barack Obama thinking when he voted yes? So much for the “Audacity of Hope.” If Barack is elected president, will we continue to see erosion of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as the Executive Branch slowly gains more and more power as the Bush administration has done for the past eight years?. If Obama voted yes as to not to appear weak on terrorism, it demonstrates his weakness as a leader, a lack of respect for the Constitution, choosing political expedience over the leadership he’s always talking about, one more erosion of liberty that is so fragile. At one point Obama spoke about his intent to filibuster (his so called words), and now that he expects to be president and looking forward to having all that unconstitutional power at his disposal, he votes yes (his real action). Most politicians fail tests of character, and Barack has failed his. Character, once again, was revealed through action.

Podcamp Boston 3, July 19-20, 2008

Podcamp Boston 3 will be held this weekend, Saturday, July 19-20, 2008 at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, Harvard Medical School, 77 Louis Pasteur Avenue in Boston. If you’ve not already done so, now might be a good time to register as space is limited this year, the event is being held in a much more intimate venue.

If you’re interested in blogging, podcasting, video on the web, social networks, and how you can get the most out of Web 2.0 and new media, PodCamp is the event for you with two days of great conversations, knowledge sharing, and insights into the leading edge of new media.

Check out the schedule, you’re sure to find something of interest. Yours truly will be doing two presentations on Saturday morning following the Opening UnKeynote: “Improve your video using cinematic language technique” (10:00 - 10:45 am) and “Art of the Interview: Strategies and Techniques for Better Video Interviews” (11:15 am - 12:00 noon). I’m also participating in the “Project Reviews” session with Larry Lawfer on Sunday morning. Hope to see you there!

Sony PMW-EX1 XDCAM EX camcorder: first impressions

A friend recently loaned me his Sony PMW-EX1 XDCAM EX camcorder for a few days so I had a chance to take this fascinating new camera for a spin. In this post I’ll share my first impressions. I’ll be taking the camera out for another spin next week for more shooting, so I’ll get into the details of camera operation and post-production workflow in subsequent posts.

The top seven things that stand out for me and thus make the EX1 the first camera I’ve taken a serious interest in since Panasonic’s introduction of the AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD camcorder include: 1. solid-state memory recording, 2. true HD (1920 x 1080) imaging using three 1/2-inch CMOS sensors, 3. no-fuss 24P and 30P recording, 4. a spot meter, 5. a flip-out LCD viewfinder that’s quite sharp and bright with an effective peaking circuit for razor sharp focusing, 6. a 5.8mm to 81.2mm, f/1.9 zoom lens with full-manual override, a real aperture ring, and a real focus ring controlling the optics directly, and 7. most of the controls and buttons you use most often are in relatively logical places with reasonable ergonomics. All in all, the EX1 represents an interesting mating between a 1/3″ handicam and a 2/3″ professional camcorder. What you get from this union and what you think of it has a lot to do with where you’re coming from. For a handycam camcorder perspective, this is one big heavy monster that’s unwieldy except on a tripod or using some form of camera support. From a professional camcorder perspective, this is a small and light alternative, much better for hand-holding off the shoulder.

In terms of first impressions shooting with the camera goes, the first thing I noticed is that while the camera is a bit on the heavy side for hand-holding in “handycam” mode, the adjustable handle with the ergonomics of a pro 2/3″ zoom lens handle made it easier to use as a handheld camera. Of course, on a tripod the camera is right at home. A camera’s handholdability is all relative, I’ve grown used to shooting with my HVR-A1 and a friend’s Sony HVR-V1 over the past year, so I find the EX1 to be a big change in terms of weight. But the extra weight is worth it, for the image quality is absolutely spectacular. Goodbye HDV (and good riddance to videotape), hello XDCAM EX!

There’s lots of serious glass in this camera, as the 1/2″ sensor requires a larger lens than 1/3″ chip cameras like the Panasonic AG-HVX200 (still an excellent performer). And while it’s still not providing the 2/3″ image sensor look of a professional camcorder, the 1/2″ sensors are a big improvement over 1/3″ sensors in most prosumer cameras. It’s easier to get separation between the foreground and background. I’d like to see Sony come out with an APS-sized single sensor camera (like a documentary form-factor Red) someday, but I digress. The EX1 is clearly not in the middle of the pro-sumer price range, it straddles between pro-sumer and low-end professional gear in terms of price. While the camera alone sells for $6,500.00, by the time you add a couple of 16G memory cards and extra batteries (which you’ll need), a wide-angle adapter, and a few other gismos, you’re looking at something hovering around a $9,000.00 purchase. That’s a serious chunk of change when you compare it to the HVR-Z1 HDV camcorder, but if you look at it another way, this camera does most of what the Sony PDW-F350 XDCAM HD camcorder does for much less dough. So it’s either a very expensive pro-sumer camera or an amazing price/performance breakthrough in professional level cameras.

Not all things are rosy, however. Audio was clearly a second-thought with this camera, with digital recording there is no reason why Sony can’t support four channels, but it only supports two. One of the features I’ve really enjoyed with the Panasonic HVX200 is recording camera mic audio on channels 3 and 4 while running audio from my mixer into channels 1 and 2. Having the ambient sound is a nice plus, as well as it often makes it easier to hear a director’s questions in an interview. Battery life is short, so you’ll have to buy one or two additional high-capacity batteries with this camera. In addition, for folks who shoot with a 35mm lens adapter, you’ll not be pleased with the camera’s inability to invert the viewfinder image. There is no ability to shoot in standard definition, so for those quick and dirty jobs that require standard definition deliverables, your stuck converting in post. But no camera can be all things to all people, and this camera seems to have most of the bells and whistles most people want.

Since I’m Macintosh and Final Cut Pro user, I found this camera integrated seamlessly with my Final Cut Pro workflow. I have previously worked with XDCAM HD and I found the workflow to be pretty much identical, except there is no need for a camera or deck. If you’ve got a MacBook Pro you’re all set, you simply slide the SxS card into the ExpressBus/34 slot. Otherwise, you can use the camera to transfer media via USB2 to your computer or use an external USB2 SxS card reader available from Sony. For all of this to work, you’ll need to download two pieces of software, the SxS card driver (from here) and the XDCAM Transfer Utility (from here). It was a snap to ingest footage, rename the clips, and bring them into Final Cut Pro. The much fast transfer time of the SxS cards was a welcome change from having to do HDV captures in real-time. And the footage shot in the HQ mode looks spectacular. Ahh, the beauty of real high definition progressive scan images, simply breathtaking. Some sample images and images of the camera can be found in my Sony PMW-EX1 Flickr set. I’ll be adding more images as I do more shooting, as well as links to motion images in a future post.

Viacom will soon know what you watch on YouTube

A recent BBC news story, “Google must divulge YouTube log,” reports on the latest phase in the Viacom case against Google’s YouTube: A U.S. court ordered Google to disclose the viewing logs of each and every YouTube user. This gives Viacom access to over 12 terabytes of data so they can prove their dubious claim that “infringing” videos hold more appeal than non-infringing ones. As the EFF and others have pointed out, this is a serious setback in user privacy. It’s a black-eye for Google who should have made IP address data anonymous a long time ago. And shame on Viacom for even asking. Google should have been keeping the data in anonymous form. Another tarnish on the shiny Google image, and just another pound of slime on the already greedy image of Viacom.

Google said the log should not be handed over because of privacy concerns, in their submission to the court Google said: “Plaintiffs (Viacom) would likely be able to determine the viewing and video uploading habits of YouTube’s users based on the user’s login ID and the user’s IP address.” But the court ruled these concerns were “speculative”. So much for the judge’s respect for rights to privacy.

The copyright thing is out of control, no, not copyright law per se, but how corporations are using it in a desperate attempt to stem the tide of media change. Another argument why we need a more vibrant, competitive, user-driven media ecosystem. And this can happen if you embrace the change, make the change, be the change. This summer, avoid Viacom channels like Nick@Night, TV Land, MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Bravo, etc. and go out and make your own media and watch the great media that’s being made by your fellow citizens. Check out the great shows on blip.tv. Check out the wonderful short films on YouTube. Be the media, or encourage those citizens who are.

A record number of Americans are using the internet to get news about the election

A recent Pew Internet and American Life Project report titled “The Internet and the 2008 Election” states that a record-breaking 46% of Americans have used the internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views and mobilize others. And Barack Obama’s backers have an edge in the online political environment. 35% of Americans say they have watched online political videos–a figure that nearly triples the reading the Pew Internet Project got in the 2004 race.

One thing I found interesting about this report is that it found that Democrats are more positive about the role of the internet. Online Democrats are more likely to say the internet helps them feel connected to their candidates and the campaign. In contrast to online Republicans, both independents and Democrats who use the internet are more likely to agree with the statement, “I would not be as involved in this campaign as much if it weren’t for the internet.” One-quarter of online independents (26%) and Democrats (23%) subscribe to that view, versus 16% of Republicans.