Viva La Difference: mixing media formats with Final Cut Pro 6

Having to render any media that does not match the format of the sequence is a problem that has plagued Final Cut Pro versions 1 through 5. With Version 6 (bundled with Final Cut Studio 2, no longer available as a stand-alone application) this problem has gone away. Version 6 of Final Cut Pro introduced the ability to mix video formats on the timeline, a long awaited feature that was the source of lots of teasing from the Avid snobs.
Read more

18th Annual Pro Video Show

The 18th Annual Pro Video Show (hosted by the Camera Company with the participation of the Boston FCP User Group, SMPTE/NE, and NPVA/NE) will be held Friday and Saturday, March 7-8, 2008 at Stonehill College (Sally Blair Ames Sports Complex) in Easton, Massachusetts. This popular annual event provides two days of informative workshops, seminars, and equipment demonstrations, with lots of opportunities to check out the latest gear. I will be presenting three seminars at the show you might be interested in attending:

• Web Video 2.0: Delivering Your Video Online (Friday, March 07, 1:00PM - 3:00PM, $25.00)
• Art of the Interview: Strategies and Techniques for Better Video Interviews (Saturday, March 08, 9:00AM - 11:00AM, $25.00)
• Interview Lighting: Professional Results On A Tight Budget (Saturday, March 08, 1:00PM - 3:00PM, $25.00

Read more

Doing Your Doc: NALIP Seminar comes to Boston Jan 11-13, 2008

Kick-Start Your Documentary at DOING YOUR DOC: DIVERSE VISIONS, REGIONAL VOICES, a Weekend Seminar presented by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) that takes place on January 11 - 13, 2008 in the Bartos Theatre at the MIT Media Lab (20 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts). This intensive 3-day workshop will provide an opportunity for documentary filmmakers to work with story consultant Fernanda Rossi, author of the book “Trailer Mechanics,” plus receive project mentoring on your proposal, trailer or documentary idea. Whether you are just starting out, have already shot footage on a documentary project, or are seeking finishing funds, this seminar designed especially for media makers in the diverse communities of New England, will prepare you to receive production funding and apply to national professional programs while developing your unique stories and views. For more information visit www.nalip.org/nalip/NALIP-Programs-DYD.html This seminar will also be held on January 25-28, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia if you can’t make it to Boston and want to attend.

Kaltura: Wiki meets YouTube by way of Yochai Benkler

One of the most interesting presentations at the Web Video Summit today was Shay David, Chief Technology Officer of Kaltura, talking about their business, which they summarize in one phrase as “Wiki meets YouTube.”

Their site provide a set of tools that allows groups of users to collaborate online in the creation and remixing of rich media. They are capturing the synergy between two macro trends, peer production and video sharing. Kaltura offers an SDK and is engaging partners to build collaborative video authoring capabilities into their sites. Among their goals is to build the largest network of remixable materials. I think this would be of interest to video journalists, documentary filmmakers, and mission based organizations. I also find it very interesting that Shay is inspired by the ideas of shared cultural production which have been eloquently articulated by Yochai Benkler.

Organizing a gel collection

As you collect more and more gels and diffusion, organization and storage becomes important. I store my gels and diffusion using the following two holding methods (as far as rolls go, those usually live in their original boxes).
Read more

Moby makes free music available to independent filmmakers

Moby has made a nice collection of tracks available at mobygratis.com which can be licensed without a fee for use by independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, anyone who needs free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short. Take a listen, there are some really good tracks available on the site. The site allows you to listen to the tracks and if you choose to use a track, there’s an easy licensing process.

Reframe Offers a New Model for Online Film Distribution

We’re finally right in the midsts of the digital media distribution inflection point. Several key trends that have pushed us along include: 1. the ubiquity of digital media and computation, 2. widespread adoption of high-speed internet connections in middle-class households, 3. dramatic improvements in video codecs (H.264), and 4. the popularity of viewing video on the web, fueled by sites like YouTube and Joost. We’re also at a point where a critical mass of media caretakers, rights owners, and media makers are seriously exploring the avenues available for them for digital distribution. There is no shortage of players who are trying to take old media business models and cash in on digital distribution (e.g. Jaman , iTunes , et al.) as well as a whole legion of start-ups experimenting with more interesting business model variations (e.g.Jalipo, Caachi , et al.) and then there are some folks who are thinking more along new lines (e.g. Participatory Culture Foundation , Renew Media , et al.).
Read more

Using SATA drives in the raw with your MacBook Pro

A while back I wrote about Using SATA drives with a MacBook Pro, and I also compared MacBook Pro external drive performance using SATA, FireWire 400, and FireWire 800. Today at the Boston Media Makers meeting I discussed my solution for cheap backup and archiving: bare SATA drives, this is attractive when you consider that Seagate 500 GB SATA drives are now down to $120 and come with a 5 year warranty. Other backup and archiving options like DVD-R or Blu-Ray disks takes a long time to burn and LTO3 tape systems are expensive. Hard drives offer a fast and cheap solution (but with the caveats I mention later).

Read more

Philippe Lejeune’s video of my Podcamp Boston 2 sessions

Artist Philippe Lejeune shot and created a wonderful video page based on the two Sessions I did at Podcamp Boston 2. Thank you Philippe for creating the page, which elevates web video to a new art form (I’m referring to Philippe’s page, not my work). I would love to see an authoring tool that made it easier to create dynamic pages like these that’s easier to use than the existing Flash authoring tools and conceives of video as one of many elements in the design of a page, rather than something that’s relegated to a player like on YouTube. I’ve seen several progams written to construct pages dynamically similar to this, but none that I’ve seen are as easy to use as iMovie. Art leads technical innovation, maybe this is prescient of the next iLife tool, iVideoPage…

Podcamp Boston 2

PodCamp Boston 2 takes place on Friday through Sunday, October 26-28, 2007 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center before VON Boston. Download the excellent Guide to Podcamp Boston 2 which contains everything you need to know including the schedule and session descriptions. Some of the amazing things about Podcamp Boston 2 include the depth and bredth of the sessions, the networking opportunities, and the fact that except for a small fee for the Saturday night party, it’s all free. Come learn, share, network, and enjoy the weekend.

Here’s a list of sessions I think will be of interest to filmmakers:

Read more

Next Page »