Post-Production
Filmmaking - Post-Production
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Red Giant updates Magic Bullet Looks & PluralEyes
Red Giant has today announced updates to two of their filmmaking software tools. Magic Bullet Looks has become popular with filmmakers who want to do a quick color grade for a project but don’t have the time – or the skill – to use a tool like DaVinci Resolve. This update adds several features, but perhaps of most interest to those who already have the tool is the promise of speed increases of up to 95% on Windows, and 25% on Macs. According to Red Giant, this release was entirely rewritten on their new development platform Universe, which provides GPU accelerated […]
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A 558-Day Timeline? Maxing out the New Mac Pro and Final Cut Pro X
The folks at FCP.co have detailed a series of tests designed to push their new Mac Pro hardware and Final Cut Pro X software to their breaking point. In one, they layer over 1,000 tracks in 4K. In another, they create a 500,000-pixel wide timeline. And in the final, they create and scroll through a 558-day timeline. Here, from FCP.co, are their conclusions: We pushed FCPX and the Mac Pro to silly limits, of course nobody will make a year long or a 500,000 pixel wide timeline, but it’s good to know the combination will go that far. It seems […]
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Why You Should Apply to the IFP Narrative Lab
The deadline to apply for the 2014 IFP Narrative Lab, April 4, is coming soon, and in advance of that deadline, I thought I’d write some words about my debut feature Something, Anything being selected for last year’s Lab, what happens in the first week of the Lab, and things to consider if you plan on applying. And let’s be clear: If you’re working on your first feature you should apply. * * * In Spring 2012, producer Ashley Maynor and I set our sights on applying to the IFP Lab when we were halfway through shooting Something, Anything, which […]
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Reimagining an ID: Sound & Vision
Television stations – like distribution and production companies – can have a lot invested in their IDs. They represent the brand in the mind of the consumer. In 1972, WGBH created a station ID with a logo sting by Gershon Kingsley. That sound has become closely associated with WGBH, and they’ve made several updated IDs using that original Moog synthesizer sound through the years. Paul Sanni, an editor for the Creative Services department and the Masterpiece series at WGBH has twice worked on revisions of the ID. Sanni has a background in audio and video and for the latest version […]
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Adding Motion to “Stills” with Cinemagraph Pro
Cinemagraph Pro from Flixel adds motion to a still image. In essence you shoot a sequence of video, and then indicate the area of the image that you want to see in motion – perhaps just the hands of the subject of a portrait, or the water in the lake of a scenic picture. While the masked area remains in motion, the rest of the scene is totally still; the lack of motion draws the eye to the part of the image that is moving. It’s an interesting effect, and could be useful in video or film for dream sequences, […]
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Red Giant’s New Effects Library and Community – Universe
Visual effects software developer Red Giant today announced the public beta of Red Giant Universe, a new environment for building as well as distributing filter and transition effects. The effects and transitions are GPU-accelerated, work on both Mac and Windows, and support After Effects, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro X and Motion. Red Giant says they are releasing 50 new free and premium tools as part of Universe, but prior to release did not specify how many of them are free. Universe’s Premium option provides access to more tools as well as existing Red Giant tools that will be ported […]
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Nailing the Score of the Art Forger Documentary Art and Craft
Art and Craft follows prolific art forger Mark Landis just at the moment his elaborate 30-year con is exposed. What follows is a guest blog by filmmakers Sam Cullman, Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker about a central consideration in making this film. Art and Craft is in the final days of a Kickstarter campaign to raise finishing funds, including monies needed to mix the score they write about here. When we first read The New York Times story about Mark Landis in 2011, we were immediately intrigued — what kind of art forger donates his work to museums instead of […]
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The 12 Most Desired Final Cut Pro X Features
Final Cut Pro X (FCP X) was announced in April of 2011 and released in June of the same year. In the nearly three years since its release I have slowly increased the amount of work I do with it. As of this writing I am in the early stages of editing a feature-length documentary using Final Cut Pro X. I agree with the post-production masses that say Apple should have handled the launch of FCP X much better than it did. I could go on and on about what I wish they would have done differently. I won’t. That […]
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The Future of Compression: Google Attempts to Replace H.26X… Again
For a second time, Google is attempting to pitch a compression format as the replacement for an H.26X compressor. They tried to do it three years ago for HD video when they pitched VP8 as a replacement for H.264 and had little success. Now they’re back with a new angle: VP9 is the format for 4K, and they are putting it up against H.265, the new 4K compressor that is also referred to as HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding). Should you care? Compression codecs can be fascinating, frustrating and their naming confusing. For example, everyone’s heard of H.264 and AVCHD, […]
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“Walter Murch: From The Godfather to the God Particle”
Legendary film editor, sound designer, writer, translator, amateur astronomer and director Walter Murch needs no introduction. (Oh, what the hell, his credits include The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tetro and more.) In addition to being a great filmmaker, he’s also a great teacher and talker about film. Here, at the 2013 Sheffield Doc Fest, where he accompanied the doc, Particle Fever, he gives an inspiring speech on film editing, technology, audience expectation, how film grammar is changing with digital technologies, and physics. Don’t miss this.
