My edit suite runs two 25' DVI extenders, VERY heavy duty extenders that were about $120 each. This suite has run with the G5 Quad 2.5, the Mac Pro Quad 3.0 and the Mac Pro Octo 3.2 with zero issues running two DVI monitors and the extenders. Now I get the $7,000 top of the line Apple Octo Core machine with the ATI 4870 graphics card which of course Apple mandates with one regular DVI port and one Mini DVI port. I got the adapter that allows me to run two standard DVI monitors. The one connected to the Mini...
Recently a thread in the Apple Color forum had somebody remark that if you're delivering to the "Big Boys" such as Discovery and PBS you really should have external scopes in your shop. It's also been suggested that external legalizer boxes really should be used as well when delivering to the high end networks. The true fact of the matter is, the scopes in Color are very accurate, to the point that I don't see any differences on an external scope when we do have one. The Broadcast Safe in Color is good enough for "the big boys." We have...
As usual, the guys at FSI keep adding in more and more features based on user input and the latest round of updates have a couple of especially neat updates. And of course, these are free to all current owners of FSI monitors, just download the update from the website. EBU Gamma. True 2.35 EBU standard gamma setting for the monitor for anyone delivering material to european broadcasters. Yes, 2.4 is mighty darn close, but because of a request from a European user, they decided to make the monitors go exactly to the European gamma spec. Timecode Display. The monitors...
Well I don't know about the clothing optional part, but it's definitely a good gig for the right person with good Final Cut Pro skills..... http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/tfr/1250992268.html...
After seeing the FSI monitors and all their features at the first demo, I suggested to Dan Desmet they should create a video version of their user manual to make it easier to understand everything. Well that conversation led to the new How To video manual that was launched on the website last week. http://www.flandersscientific.com/index/videomanual It's also a great way to essentially get a demo of their products without actually seeing them in person....
Ok so the "official 18% grey paint" is something like $80 per quart and up. Thanks to this tip from Dan Desmet at Flanders Scientific, here's a really REALLY close knock off of that color for a lot less. You want Sherwin Williams SW 7071 color. The one to get is Duration Home, Extra White Matte Base, 6403-63925. The BAC code should be BAC Colorant 02 32 64 128 B1-Black - 20 1 - Y3-Deep Gold - 5 – 1 Why do you need 18% grey? Well it helps to keep your eyes neutral while you edit and color grade...
The National Science Foundation has issued a press release announcing the launch of the new series Science Nation along with taking the new website live. Biscardi Creative Media is providing all post production for the series which has reunited principal Walter Biscardi, Jr. with multiple CNN colleagues. http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=114908&org=NSF http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/index.jsp...
There are three elements to a good media project. 1. A Good Story 2. Good Images 3. The Right Music A good story should tell itself. Don't allow yourself to force parts together that don't fit if the dialog isn't there. Use narration to bridge caps and make connections between thoughts, but only if needed. Good images are well lit and composed. They tell a story all their own. The right music is probably the most important of the 3. You can set moods and generate emotions with the right music. You can set the pace of the story with...
Biscardi Creative Media is proud to have helped launch a brand new series for Dykstra Media called "Science Nation." The series of science stories are slated for air on Discovery Science in the near future. Post Production Supervisor Walter Biscardi, Jr. coordinated all the elements necessary to launch the stories from Graphics, Animation, Music and editing. Editor Roger Mahr is cutting the entire series with lead Producers Kate Tobin and Peter Dykstra. The series utilizes all formats from DV to DVCPro HD. Executive Producer: Peter Dykstra Lead Producer: Kate Tobin Post Production Supervisor: Walter Biscardi, Jr. Graphics Package design: Brian...
When it comes to explain if it is possible to edit files that are generated by a Grass Valley Server in a stand alone or SAN environment, usually people start the explanation by a "it's a little complicated..." or just assume that it is not possible. Let me try to make this simpler and show you what is possible and how you do it. First off, we will need to understand the terminology behind the equipment involved and have some assumption. What is following is true for latest software released version of Grass Valley Servers, called the K2-SD v3.3, K2-HD...
This problem has been around at least two years since we started using Encore CS3. Create an Encore BluRay Project on a Mac. In our case, a Mac Pro Octo 3.2 machine running the latest OS, Quicktime and Encore CS4. Save that project. Open the project on a second Mac that contains the BluRay burner. In our case a Mac Pro Quad 3.0 machine running the latest OS, Quicktime and Encore CS4. Get the error message, "This Project was created in Windows and cannot be opened." I posted a query in the Cow Adobe Encore forum, but no responses so...
I spent the day at the FSI offices last week getting a chance to really chat with Dan, Bram and Johan about the monitors and learning about all the features. Their offices are also in the Atlanta area so I took the opportunity to get some instruction on these monitors at their offices. I knew these things were full of features but I didn't realize just HOW many features and how much end user control they have. I really don't expect the feature set at the price point, but these guys are doing it and it's great for all of...
If anyone out there needs / wants a Dual Link to 3G Converter, AJA Video Systems has a nice little mini-converter out there. http://www.aja.com/html/products_converters_3GM.html What's 3G you say? The replacement for Dual Link HD. Instead of two cables, you get the full 3G HD signal down one cable. I honestly had never heard of it until we ordered our new Flanders Scientific monitors and they were talking about how their monitors offer only 3G and not Dual Link because Dual Link will be replaced in the near future....
Biscardi Creative Media has been selected to provide all Post Production services for a new series revolving around Science. The first run will be 15 weeks with an additional 35 weeks possible for 2009 and further expansion in 2010. More details soon....
I posted this originally in the Apple Color Forum but through I would share here as well.... Just had an all-day demo of four Flanders Scientific (FSI) monitors here in the shop. Overall extremely impressed and yes, you CAN have an accurate monitor for $2,495. I'm not going to go into full details as Nick Griffin will be publishing an article shortly on everything we saw here today but basically.... LM-2450W (24") and LM-1760W (17") look as accurate as my Sony CRT Multi-format monitor. Excellent blacks, excellent whites and good solid color throughout. The 24" has an option for the...
I'm wondering if anyone else has had this type of experience. You're editing along merrily on your Final Cut system when, suddenly, the dreaded "beach ball of death" appears, and after a few seconds, you get the dialog box telling you that "Final Cut Pro has quit unexpectedly," and usually due to some plug-in or another that you're using. It seems random, and as the dialog box so beautifully put it, unexpected. There seems to be no rhyme or reason why something like this would happen. It can be due to a Boris plug-in, or an AJA driver, or an...
To paraphrase a famous author, "I have seen the future of shared storage and his name is Ethernet." Last month we invested in the new Final Share system from MaxxDigital and after some tweaking, we now have 16TB of shared storage supported a high definition workflow with 6 workstations all running Apple's ProRes HQ in high definition, both 720p and 1080i. And actually it's not "workstations" in the traditional sense of the word, since we're running ethernet, we can connect any Mac computer to the array. So in our case, we have three Final Cut Pro desktop workstations and three...
Editorial has been completed on the new business television pilot developed by Biscardi Creative Media, ideaWercs and Arriving with BB Webb. BCM Principal Walter Biscardi, Jr. served as Director, Editor and Post Production Supervisor on this project. Additional credits include Brian Mead for logo design, Aaron R. Stewart for graphics design and Brian Little for opening title design. The episode was produced in 720p HD. More details will be provided as the series moves towards full production of Season One....
Biscardi Creative Media recently delivered an introductory project for an upcoming feature-length documentary about River Blindness disease. Produced by Gary Strieker and Cielo Productions, the project was a 10 minute overview of what the disease is and a brief look into some of the preventative measures being implemented by The Carter Center. The presentation, "The Crab and the Fly" was shot in 720p HD in multiple locations in Africa and Latin America over a two year period. Editorial was performed by Aaron R. Stewart and the final presentation was delivered on 1080i BluRay disc using BCM in-house BluRay authoring &...
A friend and associate of mine told me a tale of woe the other day. He made 1,000 dupes of a DVD project and delivered them to his client. Not long after that the client called with bad news. There was a tiny, tiny error in the program. A couple of seconds of the dreaded "Media Offline." He told me, "It was the kind of error you could overlook if you took your eyes off the monitor for a second." I said, "It's the kind of error that you might miss if you're tired of looking at the program." You...
My friend Dean recently bought the new Nikon D90 DSLR with HD video capability. His company Dean's Photography Services owns many DSLRs and his justification for the purchase was to be able to shoot short videos for some of his clients. He went along on a recent shoot as PA and to take some stills. He also wanted to shoot some HD video that I might be able to use. Yesterday he came over with the camera to see how the footage looked and how it would import into FCP. The Motion JPEG AVI clips imported into FCP with no...
Few FCP editors have anything nice to say about the Media Manager. It's bitten me a couple of times when trimming a project to send to another facility. Having said that it really works well in trimming large media files. I like to capture whole tapes or large blocks of material. Captured media is easier to deal with and it's kinder to the tape machine and tapes. Basically I take a large clip and subclip (CMD+U) just the portions I want to keep. Then I rename the subclips to match the clip content. This eliminates false starts, bad takes, and...
I like FCP to make a new media file for each camera start stop. I edit a fair amount of documentary programs with lots of B-Roll. Ever since my early NLE days using AVID I ve used the Subclip function to manage long B-Roll captures. I don t like to scrub thorough long clips, preferring the film approach where rolls are cut up into individual shots or scenes, labeled, and hung in a bin. This is the librarian aspect of editing as one of my college professors used to say. Rather than shuttling back and forth through tapes and batch...
Biscardi Creative Media principal, Walter Biscardi, Jr., will be Directing the Pilot episode of a new business television series. Being developed jointly by BCM, ideaWercs and Arriving with BB Webb, the series will feature success stories and inspiration from women in the business world. I m honored to be launching this new series as the Director and have always believed that editors make great directors, notes Biscardi. As an editor you know what you want to see and what you wish you had when cutting the show together. Knowing what will make the show better in Post helps me in...
Biscardi Creative Media is creating an original lifestyle television series. Developed by BCM principal, Walter Biscardi, Jr. the series will be presented to major U.S. networks by a production partner. The series re-unites Biscardi with actress Cynthia Evans who played the lead role in BCM s The Rough Cut short film, and Producer Sharon Collins who worked with Walter in the Environment Unit at CNN. The Pilot is scheduled for production in mid October 2008 with editorial slated for completion by late November 2008....
BCM has completed all color grading for the feature film, Keepsake from Stormcatcher Films. Shot on location in Virginia, the film was Directed by Paul Moore and shot over a 24 day period. D.P. Todd Gilpin did an incredible job with setting up the look of the film. He created a very rich canvas from which Colorist Walter Biscardi, Jr. was able to create an incredible palette of color. Biscardi worked closely with Moore, Gilpin and Producer Scott Tanner to bring out the gritty details and haunting images of the fight for survival. Keepsake is the first feature film project...
BCM is proud to have recently completed a fund-raiser for the Preeclampsia Foundation. When we started this project, we honestly had no idea what Preeclampsia is or what it can do to pregnant women and/or their babies. From the Preeclampsia Foundation website: Preeclampsia is a disorder that occurs only during pregnancy and the postpartum period and affects both the mother and the unborn baby. Affecting at least 5-8% of all pregnancies, it is a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine. Ultimately the condition can lead to death of the...
Biscardi Creative Media recently completed a series of animated elements for EyeOn Creative. The animations are used in short video presentations for children that all feature a Christian theme. Artists Walter Biscardi, Jr. and Aaron Stewart worked with EyeOn editor Roger Mahr to develop and complete the animations for four videos. Tools used: Photoshop, After Effects, Final Cut Pro....
The PCIe (PCI Express) standard will have a disruptive impact on the business and workflow processes in video/production/post production/etc. Leading storage vendors are catching on to the idea as we speak. The industry currently faces technology challenges in dealing with the continual purchasing of storage equipment to keep up with the rising needs of performance and archiving...
Well, we've got our HP workstation up and running with DoStudio's Trial Version now installed. The Trial version is the complete application with only the commercial replication features turned off. First impressions are this thing is definitely NOT DVD Studio Pro or Encore. This is a very serious tool along the lines of Apple's Color compared to the 3 Way Color Correction filter in Final Cut Pro. There is a learning curve as a lot of programming is manually done rather than simple drag and drop type of operations. This feels more like a professional authoring tool and less...
So many of you have read of our failings with Adobe Encore trying to create BluRay discs. Today we start a new chapter in BluRay authoring by transferring all our needs to NetBlender's "DoStudio." NetBlender has instituted a really neat month to month licensing option that's approx. $250 per month to use the software. This is truly a month to month deal. So I can activate it for September for $250 and then sign up again in December. There's no extra fees, nothing. They have several plans for 6 months, 12 months or you can outright purchase the...
I'm really happy to report publicly for the first time that we'll be providing all post production for 3 feature length documentaries that are currently destined for major film festivals and network HD broadcast in 2009 and 2010. We can trace at least part of this announcement to our investment in BluRay and in-house self-publishing of the high definition discs. Yesterday a sample 9 minute version of the first of the three proposed documentaries was presented to the Carter Center here in Atlanta. Among the people present were both hollywood executives and an executive of an international television...
Here's something interesting. An app that gives you native MXF in all QuickTime applications including FCP. Calibrated Software's unique solution successfully joins the separate video and audio P2 MXF files so that Final Cut Pro sees them all as ONE file - complete with TimeCode and Reel Name. PullDown can also be removed or added for select frame rates. And you're not just limited to Final Cut Pro, you can also natively import files in Compressor, Motion and Sound Track Pro. Not only that but they have also unveiled a DVCPROHD decoder for Windows. This is something our friends across...
I am a self-taught video editor in much need of new skills and approaches to producing creative and innovative approaches to wedding videos. I'm done with the slow-paced, cross-dissolves and melodramatic typical approach. bring on some sweet new tools or secrets! help!...
Before I get to the crux of my post, I would like to explain a few terms that a few people might not know about. Here is the progression of a cut as I do it...when dealing with a documentary project that has a script: RADIO EDIT - Laying out of narration and sound bytes. Just getting things in script order on the timeline. ROUGH CUT - Filling in the cut with footage. This is also the time that I start to ad pacing to the cut. Adding slates (title cards) where footage is missing and needed. FINE CUT -...
Rick Young of MacVideo interviewed me last September in Amsterdam, when I was working at NAB. He asked me about my thoughts on the Avid vs FCP debate. Here is that interview. Now you get to see what I sound like....
5/30/2008 SUGAR HILL, GA Biscardi Creative Media is proud to announce the completion of Jayne s Café featuring Jayne Olderman, owner of Red Warrior Records. Looking for a unique way to present her songs to a wide audience, Jayne created the concept of an unplugged café. Jayne and I have been working together for a long time and when she mentioned this project, I immediately jumped in and said we d like to produce it at BCM, notes Walter Biscardi, Jr., Principal Biscardi Creative Media. Our challenge was to be able to shoot it well in a very small studio...
Well, about time this came out. Too bad it had to be third party, but hey...at least we have it now. Final Print 1.6 To quote: A standalone application which prints a list of clips in a bin or markers contained in a clip or sequence. This provides a very useful workflow enhancement when handing off a project to someone else for further work. - Displays a list of clips/sequences in a bin or a list of markers found within clips/sequences. - Flexible customisation of columns including thumbnail. - Customise print output with colour of header text and your own...
Now here's something interesting, the folks over at Silverado Systems have partnered up with Vuze to create a different kind of contest. OpenCut is a completely open-source film competition designed to encourage people to take professionally shot material and edit it in their own way. As there is no "one way" to tell a story, so too can stories benefit from being re-edited and re-told from many different vantage points and perspectives. They have a short film shot on the RED camera with dailies they'll copy over to your hard drive. Then you cut it altogether any way you want...
As you output your project to tape, or to DVD...whatever. Or before you encode it for the web or DVD...watch it all the way through. Even if you have seen it three dozen times, it would be very wise to watch your project before you do your final output, or an output that is going out to the network. Why? Well...one of the other editors here came to me with a big issue...one that I have never seen nor heard of before. Last Friday he finished cutting his show...strung all the segments together, checked everything before the final render, then...
My producer from The Mexican American War and Andrew Jackson is teaching a 4 week workshop. Time permitting I might see if I can pitch in when it comes to the editing phase. Anyway, here is the press release for this event: HISTORY/DISCOVERY Channel Producer to conduct summer HVX-200/Final Cut Pro workshop at LA s Citrus College LA’s Citrus College of the Performing Arts is conducting a 4-week summer INTRO TO PRO HD workshop with Emmy-winning HISTORY/DISCOVERY Channel writer/producer/director Jim Lindsay. One of LA’s best-kept secrets for arts education, Citrus has been the home of the Grammy Foundation’s summer “Grammy...
If you're having any problems with Sony XDCAM EX footage the latest version of the XDCAM transfer software might be a big help. It has some new error correction built in that can recover corrupted material. The PDZ-KP1 XDCAM Transfer Software is an import plug in for Final Cut Pro. XDCAM Transfer Version 2.5 supports the current XDCAM HD and SD optical products, the new PDW-U1 optical XDCAM drive, and the PMW-EX1 XDCAM EX camcorder which records on SxS flash cards. Check it out: https://serviceplus.us.sony.biz/sony-software.aspx?model=pdzkp1 Technorati Tags: 24p , apple , final cut pro , indie filmmaking , video ,...
It hasn t been a good week for my hard drives. On Wednesday my old G-Raid...the one I bought four years ago...finally gave up the ghost. It had begun clicking over the weekend when I was copying footage to and from it, which is not a good sign. It did this before, when I owned it for about a year. But, I took it to G-tech in Santa Monica and in two days, I had it back in my hands. The same thing happened back then...clicking when copying. Well, after a few days of the clicking...it decided not to show...
Once we have the actual shot, we can then control the downloading of footage from the camera using Vision Research’s software. Thus far they’ve only released a version that runs on Windows. In order to preserve the Mac-loving image of Simplemente, we decided to run it on a MacBook Pro with Boot Camp. We can then select the ins and outs of any particular shot. Typically the exact moment you want to save is a tiny fraction of that 6 minute take and the rest is a lot of frames with no activity you can delete. The selected portions are...
I wrote two articles for the Final Cut Pro User's Group Supermeet at NAB. They appeared in the SuperMag magazine. Here's part one of the second article looking at Simplemente's work with the Phantom HD camera: Rune Hansen and Monica Reina at Simplemente in Mexico City recently acquired a Phantom HD Digital Cinema camera from Vision Research . We got to shoot a bunch of slow-motion footage and then worked with it in Final Cut Pro to create demo reels for theatrical projection. We needed to accomplish all of this in the space of about 48 hours. The Phantom HD’s...
I wrote two articles for the Final Cut Pro User's Group Supermeet at NAB. They appeared in the SuperMag magazine(which I named btw). Here's part two of the first article looking at an Apple network system that is being used at the Beijing Olympics this summer in China. For part one click here. Simplemente chose to work with Gallery Software, a UK-based company that has been making QuickTime-compatible applications for over a decade. For the Beijing project, Simplemente selected Gallery’s SIENNA, a complete integration suite for connecting Final Cut Pro workstations to the traditional newsroom broadcast workflow. SIENNA was developed...
I wrote two articles for the Final Cut Pro Supermeet at NAB this year. Here's part one of the first article looking at an Apple SAN network system that is being used at the Beijing Olympics this summer in China: Last NAB, we visited Simplemente, a production/post-production house and Apple Authorized Training Center/Dealer based in Mexico City. They’ve been working hard alongside one of their biggest clients, Televisa, the world’s largest Latin American broadcaster. This year Simplemente embarked on its most ambitious project yet, a complete post-production solution for Televisa’s coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Televisa’s...
...and it pains me to say it. But it is the truth and I have to call it like I see it. The past three days I have been trying to restore an old project. It s a decently complex project with green screen, tons of cuts, P2 footage and tape footage. I have not been able to get FCP to reconnect to anything properly wihtout going through file by file. This process should have taken a day at most with the recaptures and p2 reimport, instead I am on day 3. I usually have excellent luck with Media Manager...
We re experiencing a sudden Memory Error issue with Final Cut Pro that has led to bad renders. The issue has been happening on my Mac Pro for about three weeks now and it started happening on our PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5 yesterday. I also checked with a client in New York who is experiencing the same issue. When working on a project and attempting a render, we sometimes get the following error. Most often this error pops up if the system has been running a while, four hours or more, or I m rendering out a full episode of...
Last week, on Thursday (March 13th for those who really want to know) we needed to output the rough cut of the first show and send it to the network. In actuality it was the SECOND show, but episode one was still being edited...but that s besides the point. So on Thursday I was pulled off my editing of a segment for show one (EP 101) and assigned to cut the tease for show two (102). Cut the tease ....sorry, that always makes me giggle a little. Anyway...this was the beginning of a series of missteps that caused a couple...
Call for Entries - 2nd Annual SFMUG Short Movie Festival Deadline Physical- Postmarked by 4/16/08 Digital- Uploaded by 4/21/08 Any movie 5 minutes and under, any genre, any topic, but no commercials, industrials, or explicit adult content. Movies do NOT need to be made on Apple Macintosh computers or any specific software. Guidelines http://www.santafemug.org/film_fest/2008_film_festival.html Prizes: Best of the Festival Award - Apple Final Cut Studio 2, Toon Boom Studio 4 & Toon Boom Storyboard 2 Gold Award - Apple Final Cut Express 4, & Aquafadas iDive Silver Award - Aquafadas PulpMotion, Aquafadas BannerZest Pro, Aquafadas VideoPier & $50.00 Apple iTunes...
Here is the Kona KBox mounted on the back of my IKEA rack. I had to add an extra piece of wood to the side, but the 2U rack brackets fit nicely. Now...onto TIME MACHINE. In my MacPro I have 5 drives. The system drive is in Bay 1, I have three Seagate 500GB drives in the other 3 bays. One stands alone as a work drive, where I store show exports, imported footage and other odd and ends that I transfer to the server. The final two are RAIDED as RAID 0 and I use them to capture media...
The official title of the History Channel Series I am working on is STRANGE HISTORY. The stories will mainly deal with taboos, cultural and sexual, and strange cultural practices from around the world. There, now you know. The first week there I was working on one of the rental systems. Because my computer hadn t come in yet and because they didn t play on renting my system for a few weeks yet. Now, this rental system was a bit lacking. Sure, it had the Octo Mac 3.0Ghz and a LARGE Mackie Mixer (that you would find on an Avid...
this is in response to shane ross, who if you don't know, is a leader for FCP users here and several other major websites. he posted in my previous blog I agree that FCP can work very very well but let me ask you the following questions: Do your computer run on more than a gig of ram, a lot of the ones I work on at the computer labs I work at do not which is a problem. Are your computers built and run to just do that kind of work, or do you have people doing flash, photo...
Here it is. It took me a while to get this post up because...well, I am beat. I spent last weekend finishing the desk...and taking the remaining wood and unused scraps to make THREE bird houses...well, help my daughters make them. Kids demanding their dad s time...how can I refuse? So that was Saturday. But I am jumping ahead a little. The computer arrived on Thursday, Feb 28...a day ahead of schedule. I jumped for joy at work when my wife called. And when I got home from work...and after a quick meal...I put my full attention onto this machine....
OK...the good news is that the ATI X1900 XT card works in the new Mac Pro. All that was needed is for the firmware update to be run on it. The bad news is that this update cannot be run on the current machine. The machine will say this update is not needed, which is complete crap! What you have to do is find someone with a PREVIOUS Mac Pro, like the April 2007 model, have them install the card and run the update. Then the card will work. That is exactly what I did...I had my buddy Patrick Sheffield...
If you have ever wanted to uninstall Final Cut Studio (FCS), for whatever reason, doing so was a bit of a challenge. If you are like me, you don t know where all of the components and extras that FCS installs are located, or what half of them are even called. Now there is a way to do this. Jon Chappell, a contributing member of the Apple Final Cut Pro forums, has developed a small handy little application that finds and removes all the components Final Cut Studio installs. It is called the FCS REMOVER. Now I haven t tested...
IT S HERE! It was supposed to be delivered tomorrow, but it got here a day early. I was tracking it on FedEx and it seemed to be sitting idle in Fort Worth Texas...it was there for a while. But then I looked up the tracking number just after lunch yesterday and suddenly it was in Sun Valley CA (here in the Valley, close to Burbank Airport) and on the truck to be delivered! I called my wife...she was going to be out of the house from 11:45 to 3:00...and sure enough, that was when the delivery occurred. But then...
Quick update. My MacPro is finally shipping. And it turns out that I will be getting the original machine I ordered. Even though my dealer bent over backwards to get me the older version of the MacPro, I will be getting the new machine. Why? Well, the XSAN we will be getting will be running Leopard, so the fact that my machine will be running Leopard as well can only be good. And this saves me a few hundred bucks too...which is also a good thing. I am still tracking the progress of the shipment at Apple ...building the excitement....
This is something i wrote in another forum about Phenomenon apple s new compositor. it s sad. i trouble shoot fcp daily...actually..a lot more than that. they do such a sh*t job of making apps. really they do. I have NO faith in any major app they release with the spotty work they have done since i got into their proapps fcp 4.5 was THE most stable fcp ever, 5.0 went down the hole, 5.1 showed a resemblance of coming back to ok, and to say that i ve been happy with fcs2 and all that has happened around that...
Ongoing discussion at the Apple FCP forum. I am in a pickle. And goes to show that even people who are FCP Gurus and forum leaders aren t infallible. OK...the situation thus far. I needed a MacPro 3.0Ghz that was to be included in a Tiger SAN network running XSAN. The new MacPros...the one I ordered, do not come with Tiger installed, they come with Leopard. In fact, they are designed to work with Leopard and Apple highly recommends AGAINST installing previous OS versions on the newer machines as they might not function properly. They are designed to work with...
Well, I am still awaiting my MacPro. Everything else has arrived: Kona 3 with K-BOX, HD10AVA, RAM, X1900XT Graphics card...heck, I even bought the pieces to the desk I intend to build today. I am discussing the arrival of my machine on this thread on the Apple forums. Trying to build tension, and have fun discussions that aren t meant to solve issues. I ll post desk pics when I get the thing together. I bought various pieces at Ikea, but the design will be unique....
With the most recent Mac OS Update, OSX 10.5.2, the Matrox MXO is now compatible with all Mac models, INCLUDING the new MacBook Pros. Finally. To get this to work, the following is REQUIRED: Update to Leopard 10.5.2 Then Update to Leopard Graphic Update 1.0 Then install the Matrox MXO 2.1.1 drivers. This has been tested by Matrox and according to them, it works. This has always been a thorn in my side, as I try to recommend this great box, only to have to tell people, sorry, it doesn t work with the new MacBook Pro models. Well now...
(Freemont Street light show - I was in Vegas this weekend) I am on the verge of buying a new edit system for my next project, so I thought that I d take this opportunity to talk about setting up a good working system. Unfortunately I won t get into exact details on OS versions and QT versions, because that is information that I and others keep closely guarded as this is information we use for consulting. But I would like to explain the general steps and reasons for those steps. First off, lemme get into the specs of the...
So after dropping NAB once then reappearing, Apple has decided to join Avid and skip the NAB show floor altogether. This is an incredibly disappointing decision for a company that supposedly supports over 800,000+ Final Cut Pro users and countless other pro-apps users. NAB and IBC are the two shows each year where professionals, such as myself, can get the opportunity to see and try out the equipment and software we're all going to purchase for the coming year. People like myself spend thousands of dollars on these purchases and I have always found NAB to be particularly useful in...
While I am on a plane to New Jersey (business purposes), I thought I d take a little time to make a quick post. I am taking a little break from editing the documentary trailer. Things are slow going and the deadline was extended, because of a couple reasons. First off, I have a LOT of interviews to sort through for quote. And second, because a script is being written while I do this, and it isn t done yet. But the script will really be just a guide, one that I can add to, subtract from...change. Typical stuff, but...
Peter Wiggins has released his newest creation for Final Cut Pro called SupaWipe! Ok, we ve all had to create sliding graphics in order to create custom wipes. You know, you do an edge wipe underneath a graphic that you slide over the transition to make it appear as if the graphic is actually doing the wipe. Well, this is what SupaWipe does all as one transition! Peter supplies you with a bunch of preset graphics like an airplane and construction tape, but the really really cool thing is, you can use your own graphics. Anything you ve created and...
So you want to work more efficiently in Final Cut Pro? Well I have just the answer for you, Tabs! Yeah, those things you see in the corner of every window. They can make your life so much easier if you would only use them. Here, let me show you how in my newest tutorial! http://library.creativecow.net/articles/biscardi_walter/tabs/video-tutorial.php...
For those of you who followed my blog about the issues with the Primera Bravo II DVD Replicator printer, you know that I purchased a DiscMakers Medley unit to replace it. http://blogs.creativecow.net/node/330 Well, while DiscMakers claimed the print quality of this unit would be equal to the Bravo II, in reality it isn't. This is disappointing because they both feature the same printing unit from Lexmark. The difference appears to be in the Bravo II drivers as there are many more options available to the user to achieve incredibly sharp text and good solid colors. What was printed as a...
HUGE THANKS goes to Scott Simmons over at the Edit Blog. If you have trouble with ANY recent Quicktime update...specifically QT 7.4 or QT 7.3, The solution is to go back to a previous version of Quicktime. Apple still hosts them, and Scott dug them up. The name of the link has the version number is listed in the link. And if you don t want to do an Archive and Install of the old OS, you can use Pacifist to remove QT before you install the one you want. http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime731forleopard.html http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime731fortiger.html http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime731forpanther.html http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime72formac.html http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime716formac.html http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime652formac.html...
When Steve Jobs was giving his keynote speech for MacWorld 2008, my buddy Jared and I were standing in the CalDigit booth, both of us staring at our iPhones...parked on the MacRumors site and reading the announcements as they came. That s right...we BOTH had our iPhones out. Wy didn t we just look at one and conserve the other s battery? We were excited. WE ARE MAC ADDICTS! And last year the keynote was exciting. But, with each announcement, our excitement faded. iPhone update? OK...cool. Now I can make my icons dance. Now what? Oh, I can find where...
Until this weekend I have avoided the Media Manager, which has been dubbed the media mangler for good reason. In the past, when you used the Media Manager to do anything, it would produce varying results....none of them the correct ones. It still has issues with SPEED CHANGES, but that is because actual media isn t made. But other than that, its reputation has improved. So, here I am working on a project, that documentary trailer that was shot HDV and that I captured as ProRes and DVCPRO HD. I settled on editing it using the DVCPRO HD captures, because...
I have just noticed that exporting a still image from a DVCPro HD 720/60 timeline in FCP 6.0.2 yield a choppy, pixelated mess. Definitely wasn t the case with FCP 6.0 and I don t think it was a problem in 6.0.1 either. I also noticed that the images are not being exported in the true DVCPro HD aspect ratio either. Generally when you export an image, it will show up in another application at the same 960x720 frame size as the original, but upon opening the image in Photoshop or Preview, the image is now 1280x720. I would expect...
One of the things I am known for are my SHANE S STOCK ANSWERS to commonly asked questions. Getting a little tired of typing the same answer over and over, I decided to build a sort of FAQ (frequently asked questions) database and call them Shane s Stock Answers. So when the question came up, I d simply copy and paste my answer. People have often asked if I had a place I stored all of my stock answers...a site they could quickly search through to find what they want. Well yes, as a matter of fact, now I do:...
1/19/2008 SUGAR HILL, GEORGIA Biscardi Creative Media provided primary post production for the feature story, Green Evangelicals airing on The Weather Channel s Forecast Earth tonight. Artist Walter Biscardi, Jr. worked closely with Producer Bruce Burkhardt and The Weather Channel production team to bring the story together. Using Final Cut Pro 6 with the AJA Kona 3 capture card, Biscardi integrated BetaSP, DVCAM and DVD material into an uncompressed, widescreen standard definition timeline. He also created original graphics and motion graphics in Photoshop After Effects. The Weather Channel added all final lower thirds to the show. This was our first...
Everyone is talking about the new MacBook Air that was announced by His Jobsness yesterday at Macworld 2008 in San Francisco. I think you ll find that the majority of people s initial reactions are not glowing and positive as is the buzz with most newly announced Apple products. Yesterday was a far cry from the fan fare surrounding the iPhone announcement last year at Macworld or even all-but-forgotten Mac Mini in 05. I m a professional video editor so I m going to be looking at the product from this specific professional point of view and trying to see...
Originally posted on The Editblog . I recently got suckered into a low budget music video. How low budget? The decision was made not to hire an audio person for playback. Without that audio person it meant there would be no audio master made for the song and no timecode slate for syncing later in post. What was the solution? Use an iPod with video and make our own timecode slate! We dropped the audio into a timeline and then applied a timecode generator to a slug for one version of the song and color bars to another. This was...
OK. I am going out on a limb, but I am going to say it out loud and on the World Wide Web. I love MEDIA MANGER IN FCP. I am sure that you are all hearing the sounds of people hitting the floor, but it is true: I think that the Media Manager in FCP rocks. I am a bit sick of people bitching about the MM in FCP but I have to say that I have become a student of it and I have been using it to my advantage. I think that the biggest problem with MM...
Hey everyone - I just finished my first tutorial here with a new site I am starting ProVideoSchool.com. Please check it out and feel free to comment. (not sure if I can do embeds here so if not, I ll post the direct links. Also, these and future video posts can be seen on my other blog site, www.paulescandon.com/blog) http://www.paulescandon.com/blog/?p=21 http://vimeo.com/313140 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPoeSSVeKis The tutorial is how to achieve a quick and dirty bleach bypass look using nothing but the Final Cut Pro color correction filters....
For those of you, like me, frustrated with Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 turning on Snapping when you try to Option+Click a clip , Apple has a workaround. Actually, the FCP team steered me to it. Read this closely: Ensure Snapping is turned OFF in your timeline. Hold the Option key as you select and begin to drag either Audio or Video of the clip As soon as you are dragging the edit point RELEASE the Option key. Did you read that last part closely? I didn t the first time and it didn t work. So Option Click your clip...
While spec ing a new Mac Pro (8 core) system today, I found that RAM is now available at 3rd party sites. At www.crucial.com it s almost 50% less than Apple s pricing. 4GB RAM at Crucial - $269 4GB RAM through Apple Store with Mac Pro - $500 www.edgetechcorp.com has the same RAM for $229, though they only list the 3.0ghz as the top of the line machine, not the 3.2Ghz so I would check with them before purchase. Other World Computing (www.macsales.com) has their own RAM for $249.99 Nice to see the 3rd party sites have caught up...
Before I go into this, if you haven t read Chris Poisson s article here at the Cow on how to capture HDV as ProRes 422 via firewire please do so now. I ll wait. http://library.creativecow.net/articles/poisson_chris/hdv-prores.php ... Alright, let s talk about what I am doing now. I have been hired to edit a 5-10 min Teaser for a documentary...a teaser that will be used as a fund raising tool to solicit more money to finish shooting and editing this documentary. This documentary was shot on HDV at 1080i 29.97 using the Sony VU1 HDV camera...with another one as b-camera,...
Hi everyone - I ve been pretty silent for the last few months because I ve been hard at work on a new Creative Cow Master Series DVD - Internet Killed the Video Star: A guide to Creating Video for the Web. The 4.5 hour DVD will be available very shortly. Feel free to spread the word. Here s the basic description of the DVD: Whether you’re posting video for a client, putting your demo reel on-line, creating a video podcast, or building video training for the web, the Internet is conspiring to keep your work from looking its best....
A.C.E. editor Harry B. Miller III (http://imdb.com/name/nm0587823/) over at the American Cinema Editors Blog (http://ace-filmeditors.org/blog/index.html) talks about his experience in editing a feature film with FCP. A nice frank post about the strengths and weaknesses of the application in a tapeless feature film workflow. (thanks to Scott at the EditBlog for the link)...
In response to a query in the Final Cut Pro Basics forum, here s an example of why we would use more than one video track in FCP. This is an older project from 2003 hence all the video is offline, but it shows 17 track of video in use. Why? Because there is a lot of compositing and overlays going on to create an urban / gritty look requested by the Producer. When I get a chance, I ll pull a screen grab of this scene, but for the moment, as best as I can remember, here s what...
Let me first point you to the target Apple Discussion thread that prompted this discovery. Full credit goes to ILMSTMF...whoever that is (real name not given, location unknown). http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1290928 tstart=0 OK...while trying to troubleshoot a frame rate issue, Mr. ILMSTMF did something that shouldn t have worked. He imported an MXF file directly from the Contents folder...and it worked! He got the warning that the file wasn t optimal, but still, it worked. Since he imported only the video file, there was no audio. He imported that separately and could sync it up. Now...how the HECK did he do that?...
This comes from the Scott Simmons over at the Editblog. http://www.scottsimmons.tv/blog/2007/12/12/quicktip-identify-fcp-filter-in-the-timeline/ I have heard people ask for this all the time, and I didn t know how to do it either. All these things that FCP can do...some people know how to do this, some how to do that. Great thing is that we can share those tips with other. Thanks Scott....
Today I connected the EX1 to my Mac Pro in preparation to transfer the video clips over to Final Cut Pro. I had already installed the Sony Clip Browser and Sony XDCAM Transfer Tool v.2.1 onto my Mac several days ago so now it was just a matter of getting started. There is more than one way to transfer the files over but I elected to simply do it within the FCP log and transfer window. In order for this to work the software required is Final Cut Pro v.6.0.2, Quicktime Pro v.7.3 and Mac OS v.10.4.11, in addition to...
A few weeks ago we drove up to Burbank and shot Outdoor Channel show host Michael Waddell on a green screen for Outdoor Channel Broadband ( outdoorchannel.tv ) and OutdoorChannel.com site tutorials. I shot on Sony HDCAM and composited the pieces together in After Effects. Big ups to Rich Sinatra for virtually creating a copy of our entire site from within After Effects - he did all the dirty work and I just had to tweak some of the changes that have been made to our site in the last few months. Also, John Beattie recorded sound and produced the...
My FULL review of the Matrox MXO and the new 2.0 drivers (which actually came out in April) is up here at the Creative Cow. http://library.creativecow.net/articles/ross_shane/MXO.php...
I saved posting the airdate until the time was close. Well, it is close. And it will air THREE times very close to one another...so you will be sure to catch it. a href=http://www.history.com/shows.do?episodeId=251189 action=detail target=_blank Andrew Jackson. /a Sunday, November 18 08:00 PM Monday, November 19 12:00 AM (that s right...MIDNIGHT) Saturday, November 24 05:00 PM Not sure if these are Eastern or Pacific times...there have been times when it was set to air at 8PM and I find that it is on a 5PM...so 8PM eastern, 5PM Pacific. But then it re-aired later that night. Anyway, this is...
So there's been a lot of talk on the forums lately about Magic Bullet Looks now being available for use in editing systems and I'm even going to try it out shortly myself. But for those of you with Final Cut Studio 2, keep in mind you have probably the most powerful color grading software available for desktop computers in Color just sitting there . Yeah it's not perfect, there are some issues to work around, but I have to admit, even with the issues, the end results are nothing short of stunning. I thought I would share some before...
This serves as a reminder that there are so many things about FCP that I just don t know about. Here s one that I m sure ALL the Avid people would love to know, because I liked this feature in the Avid. If you add effects to clips in an Avid, and DO NOT render them, the footage will play back fine, just without the effects. VERY handy when you make changes and want to see how the cut works without spending a long time rendering and re-rendering. Now, I felt this feature was missing in FCP...because when I...
The Russian company iPro , a distributor of Apple solutions has announced that a 36-hour Final Cut Pro course will begin on October 22 in Moscow. As far as I know this is the first such class open to paying public in Russia. iPro must be testing water, otherwise why did it price the course so low, just about US$720 for a 36-hour (four days, complete with Apple certification exam) event in one of the most expensive cities of the world? The course instructor is Andrey Nazarov , a certified Final Cut Pro trainer, well-known video editor and globe trotter....
Hi all, At long last, my traning DVD for Apple's Color is now taking orders! If you've been staring at this incredible color grading software for a while, it's time to start using it! "Stop Staring, Start Grading with Apple Color" is what you need to get going. Here's the sales page with all the details and an incredibly cool trailer. It's my absolute pleasure to bring this title to you guys! http://library.creativecow.net/articles/biscardi_walter/stopstaring.php Enjoy! ...
SUGAR HILL, GA 9/8/2007 Jonathan Demme s new documentary, Man From Plains , about former President Jimmy Carter had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 7th, 2007. The film received a two minute standing ovation and will next be presented at the Toronto Film Festival with the Carters in attendance on Monday, September 10th. The film is an intimate two-hour portrayal of the 39th President set against the backdrop of Carter s Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid book tour. Biscardi Creative Media, located just outside Atlanta, Georgia provided extensive production support for this project working with Producer...
Currently I am color correcting a short film shot on DVCPRO HD...this while I am working full time editing a Discovery Channel series. But that is par for the course...main project, occasional side project. ANWAY, I want to mention a pretty vital part of my color correction arsonal. The book ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COLOR CORRECTION by Alexis Van Hurkman (found at Amazon.com. Now I have a couple tutorial DVDs on how to use Final Cut Pro s built in 3-way color corrector to match hue from shot to shot, and how to white and black balance, and some color correction tips....
So I just have to pass along this wonderful experience we ve had and it really underscores the tremendous community we have here at Creative COW. For about a year I ve been contemplating an upgrade to our facility to make it more efficient. When I started in 2001 I had one edit suite and hoped to add a 2nd one at a later date. In 2003 we expanded to that 2nd suite and I was eventually able to get a full sized rack unit to hold all my tape decks, my computer and some storage. It worked pretty well...
I ve started my in-depth testing with Apple s Color and my first tests show that DVCPro HD 1080i/50 material is a major problem in Color. Test One: I opened Color and brought in a 1080i/50 DVCPro HD clip to a timeline. 1 - The clip shows as 1920x1080 DVCPro HD and not 1440x1080 like it should. 2 - I cannot select DVCPro HD for the codec anywhere. 3 - I cannot set the Frame Rate to 25. It is greyed out in 23.98. UPDATE - This was operator error, frame rate needs to be set before adding a clip....
My tests on DVCPro HD 1080i/60 Material Test One: I opened Color and brought in a 1080i/60 DVCPro HD clip to a timeline. 1 - The clip shows as 1920x1080 DVCPro HD and not 1280x1080 like it should. 2 - I cannot select DVCPro HD for the codec anywhere. 3 - I cannot set the Frame Rate to 29.97. It is greyed out in 23.98. UPDATE - This was operator error, frame rate needs to be set before adding a clip. 4 - I could not render out a DVCPro HD File, the option to render out in “Original Format”...
My tests on DVCPro HD 720p/60 Material Test One: I opened Color and brought in a 720p/60 DVCPro HD clip to a timeline. 1 - The clip shows as 1280x720 DVCPro HD and not 960x720 like it should. 2 - I cannot select DVCPro HD for the codec anywhere. 3 - I cannot set the Frame Rate to 59.94. It is greyed out in 23.98. UPDATE - This was operator error, frame rate needs to be set before adding a clip. 4 - I could not render out a DVCPro HD File, the option to render out in “Original Format”...
When opening high definition projects created and finished in Final Cut Pro 5.1.4, FCP 6 is giving me what I consider a false Shift Fields error. Now the problem with this error is that I know for a fact that the Shift Fields filters was not applied anywhere in any of the HD projects I m opening. So I have been answering No to this message each time and have had no issues with playback of anything in the timeline. We are not getting this warning when opening a standard definition project. I have seen some posts in the forums...
Me and my big mouth! I innocently asked if the folks at AJA could make a few tweaks to the unit so it could REALLY be useful in the edit suite. I think they took my prototype to heart so it s probably my fault if the unit ships late. I think it ll be worth the wait though, I may never leave the edit suite again!...
As noted in the Apple Color forum today, Apple has now extended an offer to all former Final Touch users to purchase a full copy of Final Cut Studio 2 for only $499. This offer was made two days ago. Studio 2 was announced in April and started shipping the end of May. Oh and where is this announcement? On the Silicon Color Support Forum . A company that no longer exists. I just tried searching the Apple website for Silicon Color and got a bunch of user stories using the old product. I tried searching the Apple site for...
I m a seasoned - well seasoned user of Final Cut Pro. I was totally excited about Final Cut Studio 2. The features are incredible and outstanding. I can do more and better work than I have ever imagined before. Mixing formats, working in 3D in Motion 3, ease of compression in Compressor 3... WOW! It s been awesome! And ProRes422 and the ability to work completely in 1080p in any format that I want. I can t say enough about this awesome upgrade. Oh yeah, I can t forget Color! Finally, I got my hands on the most amazing...
Originally post on The Editblog Does that say 14 hours? Yessssssssssssssssssss it does. There’s a great thread at the Apple support forums called the SmoothCam dirty little secret about the massively huge analysis times for the magic camera stabilization tool in Final Cut Pro 6 known as SmoothCam. Yep, they are quite large. According to the FCP 6 user manual this is how SmoothCam works: Unlike other filters in Final Cut Pro, the SmoothCam filter must analyze a clip’s entire media file before the effect can be rendered or played in real time. Using the SmoothCam filter requires two independent...
In response to a post on the Creative Cow Final Cut Pro Forum, my choice for a control surface to run all Pro Apps on a Mac is a Wacom tablet. I run a 9x12 Intuos 3 in my suite and I just can t see working without one. For one thing, carpel tunnel syndrome just doesn t happen with a tablet, so you can work your 14 - 20 hour days and have no wrist pain. Second you get your entire workspace right on your tablet so there s no pick up the mouse and drag a second time...
You know it's been a few weeks since NAB and surprisingly nobody has talked about a nifty little feature of the new Final Cut Studio and how it interacts with the new iPhone . You can actually install a "lite" version of Final Cut Express by putting the install discs in your machine and then connecting the iPhone via USB. Go into the Customize settings of the Installation screen and you'll see a "Lite" option appear. This only shows up when the iPhone is correctly attached via USB so be sure to connect the phone first before launching the installer....
I have toyed with the notion of having a blog for a while now, but only yesterday did i actually find something worth discussing online...namely Artbollocks, and how it pertains to the video industry. If its a term you are not famiiar with let me explain....It refers to the way "artists" justify what they do by means of pretentious, overly complex and fanciful descriptions validating whatever creative decision they have finally chosen to take. I was reminded of this just yesterday, when visiting a major exhibition of works by an internationally renowned (and for the sake of this blog -...
As Chi-Ho Lee noted on the Final Cut Pro forum today, Quicktime 7.1.6 has been released in anticipation of Final Cut Studio 2 and you can now read timecode in the Quicktime Player. Wow! Finally! Not sure why it took so long, but here s the proof. If you click on the running time you now get a drop down box which gives you three choices of the Standard Running Time, Timecode and Frame Number. Here s the clip now showing the original timecode off the camera tape. VERY cool and now anyone with Quicktime Player can accurately see timecodes...
I returned back home from Las Vegas and NAB on Tuesday night after spending 2 1/2 days in the City of Sin, my last few hours being spent at the wonderful Hofbräuhaus next to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino where I, along with coworkers and friends, downed their great tasting German lager out of ridiculously massive 1 liter glass steins while enjoying what I have to imagine is "classic" Bavarian folk music. After having a few days back home to digest what I saw and learned (not to mention playing catch up on the current show I'm editing for...
Well. I might have bought Logic for no reason (thank god I make music too), But i was relieved to see that they finally got the OMF imtegrated in this version of soundtrack. How many times have I wanted to export an OMF from my FCP timeline into another app (other than Protools) on my mac to do the final mix on some of my projects. I can tell you that there was a huge sign of relief when I saw that the new version of the software was going to make it really easy to import OMF. For those...
It s a relief because the speculation has ended and we can focus on how we are going to use these creative tools in our everyday lives. In my case it s as a film maker and I have to say that I am thrilled. I like to think of myself as a complete film maker. My background is as an editor and everytime I see a release like this, I can t help but think about how much I wish it was all coming sooner. I mean, I m not getting any younger and these are all of the...
On Sunday, April 15 at the NAB Apple Event, I fully expected to see the application formerly known as Final Touch re-released under the Apple name. What I did NOT expect was for the product to re-christened Color and for the application to simply be given away as part of the new Studio 2 package. A little history here. Final Touch was the brainchild of Silicon Color and was positioned to compete against the likes of daVinci, a very high end color correction tool used for broadcast and feature films for years. Generally a daVinci session goes for anywhere from...
Well here are some images for those of you who aren t able to be here. I ll give my full verbal breakdown a little bit later... I m too tired to get into it right now......
Among all of the craziness happening in film and digital video, organization is still king. Being organized (and knowing how to) is a must for any one working in post-production. Yet so many times I see friends with terribly allocated scratch disks, disastrous file names, and scattered media. I used to be bad too, but I have seen the light and I come here today to share it with you. The Folders The key to any decent folder organization is to keep things separated. Each file type needs its own folder. FCP project files go into the "FCP files" folder,...
My my, the public beta of After Effects CS3 gets released AND Apple anounces Motion 3 . Go feast your eyes ! I've never played with Motion (I bought FCP & DVDSP, and never felt the need to upgrade to the studio), although I've sometimes wondered if Motion wasn't a better tool for some simple jobs. But looking at the pressreleases begs the question: is Motion still AE's little brother ? It used to look and feel like an iApp that found it's way in a pro-studio, but here are some observations on it's latest incarnation: The biggest surprise for...
We ve arrived in Sunny Las Vegas! Checked in to the fabulous Flamingo hotel which we really used to enjoy for the penquins in the outdoor habitat, but they checked out last year so it s not quite the same. Still gotta love staying in the original strip hotel that started it all. As you can see from the photo we re staying in the top of the line penthouse suite with a classic Strip view, only the best for Cow members! Tonight will be a little rest and relaxation as we ll be taking in the Jay Leno show...
Well folks, NAB 2007 is upon us and I hope to be able to meet some of you. So if you re going to Las Vegas, here is where you ll definitely find me! Sunday April 15 - Apple Event AM, Panasonic Event PM Monday April 16 - AJA Booth all day, Booth SL6113 directly across from Apple. Tuesday April 17 - AJA Booth AM, Booth SL6113. Creative Cow booth PM, Booth SL2626. Between Adobe and Grass Valley (on your right as you walk to the Apple booth.) Wednesday, April 18 - Presenting HD Finishing in Final Cut Pro as...
Ok, it s NAB time and I ve been receiving quite a few of those MUST SEE emails touting everything from Apple to Avid to everything in between. Today I received what has to be the dumbest PR I ve ever gotten from someone who teaches Avid. I m guessing this person doubles as a Porn Spammer on the side because it has all the qualities of the endless junk email I receive. Well, here, you can judge for yourself. I guess Avid is going all out this year to woo Final Cut Pro users, I wonder what the private...
So I ve been dealing with several issues with an international network that has a primarily European distribution area. We seemed to have everything worked out this morning and suddenly I get a notice from QC that our audio was suddenly rejected as being 8db too hot. 8db too hot! I m completely dumbfounded. How can audio on this show, which was professionally mixed, be 8db too hot? We ve already delivered three episodes and each passed QC with flying colors and suddenly we screwed up this big? Of course I check the timeline first and foremost. Tone is -20db,...
We've discovered an audio issue when using the Panasonic AJ-HD1400. A high end "crackle" is being added that sounds somewhat like sizzling bacon or crackling cellophane when laying back to tape via Firewire. I honestly can't hear it as I have a hearing loss in both ears, but the fine folks at CineFilm in Atlanta who convert our DVCPro HD masters to HDCAM heard it and alerted us. We tested a second 1400 unit and the problem occurred there too so it appears to be an issue with the model line. Panasonic is aware and are currently working on the...
I have a blog now, so I thought I would take you guys and gals into the Edit Suite and let y'all know what we're working on at Biscardi Creative Media. 2/28/2007 , Cutting Episode 4 of the environment series, "Assignment Earth" and this episode focuses on the Mekong River in Thailand. Footage is stunning HD shot by Roger Herr of Atlanta who traveled to Thailand with Producer / Host Gary Strieker. Roger and Gary took a Sony Z1 HDV camera with them because a lot of travel was via very small boat on the Mekong and if they were...
Interesting find today while doing some test renders in After Effects. I'm working on a DVCPro HD 1080i/60 project in Final Cut Pro which means I'm working with a real frame size of 1280x1080. It's an anamorphic format which FCP scales back out to 1920x1080 during playback. Well in After Effects I'm doing a series of animated maps and found that my graphics were more easy to position in 1920x1080 comps. My idea was to get everything positioned, and then switch the Comp Size to 1280x1080 DVCPro HD to do the final render. Problem was, my entire animation is in...
