Film

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In the media world, one has to work with many different persons. Most of them have come to their position because of their talent and hard work. But every once in a while someone climbs the ranks just by making others believe that they can do the job. They probably manage to make a living off it, but no one really likes to work with them.

To these Big mouths I dedicate the following clip:

(via)

Florian Andrei pointed me to a paper discussing a new approach to combining stills and video photography to get much better results. This leads to

• Higher resolution
• Higher dynamic range
• Enhanced exposure
• Easy removal/exchange of objects

Here is a video explaining the idea with examples

P.S. I do notice the irony that since my warning against posting on Vimeo I have only used Vimeo examples…

Finally some solutions for still lenses are coming along for the Red One camera. And with it some exciting new possibilities, like simple remote focus and iris control. And image stabilization; all lenses that have IS will make for very sexy, light handheld lenses:

Videos are very popular, and most don’t think twice before uploading their own films to sites such as YouTube or Vimeo. Those are popular and very convenient - you just upload your video, they transcode it to a webfriendly format, give you the code to easily embed your video in your blog/website, and they handle all the traffic. But the downside is that you have to give away some rights.

Vimeo is becoming quite popular amongs independent film makers, for Vimeo has an exceptionally good quality. But reading their legal text, I stumbled upon this mumbo: 

you hereby grant [...] a worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicenseable (through multiple tiers) and transferable license (with a right to create derivative works) to use, copy, transmit or otherwise distribute, perform, publicly perform and display your Submission for any legal purposes whatsoever now known or hereinafter becomes known. 

In other words: While you still own the copyright to the film, you have now given Vimeo and its partnes the right to make new films out of your work. And even if you change your mind and remove the video, Vimeo still has the legal right to use your video. Forever. And it doesn’t stop there. Vimeo can license your film to another company. And that one could again sub-license it. You’ve essentially lost control of your video.

Distraction

Another downside is that your visitors might easily get sucked into watching other videos offered. And suddenly your visitor becomes YouTube’s/Vimeos’ visitor.

Not to forget that those video services also have to make a living, which usually boils down to advertising on your film.

Solution

So what to do? Bite the bullet, spend a few dollars on your own hosting (I can recommend Media Temple) and serve your video from a source your have control over.

It is easy to lose track as to which version of Final Cut should go with the plethora of Quicktime and Mac OS versions. But help is at hand.

Jon Chapell at the Digital Rebellion has put together a nice recommendation of which Final Cut Studio/Final Cut Pro versions go best with which QT and Mac OS versions:

Final Cut Pro Version	Mac OS Version	QuickTime Version
6.0.3	10.4.11 / 10.5.2	7.4.5
6.0.2	10.4.11 / 10.5.1	7.3.1
5.1.4	10.4.9	7.1.6
5.0.4	10.4.9	7.1.6
4.5	10.3.9	6.5
3.0.4	10.2.8 Update 2	6.2
3.0	10.2.8 Update 2	5.0.6
2.0.2	9.2.2	5.0.1
1.2.5	9.2.2	4.1.3
1.2.1	8.6	4.1.1
1.0.1	8.6	4.0.3
1.0	8.6	4b16

It’s been a while that I posted crew jokes, so here comes a fresh batch:

Why was the dolly invented?
To teach grips how to walk upright.

Why don’t DP’s smoke?
Because it takes them 6 hours to light it.

How many DP’s does it take to change a light bulb?
One, they just hold up the bulb and the world revolves around them.

How many Sound Recordist’s does it take to change a light bulb?
One, as long as he doesn’t have to stand up.

How many Account Executives does it take to change a light bulb?
“What do you think?”

How many Art Directors does it take to change a light bulb?
“Does it have to be a light bulb?”

How many writers does it take to change a light bulb?
“I’m not changing a damn thing!”

How many Producers does it take to change a light bulb?
“A light bulb is not in the budget!”

How many Teamsters does it take to change a light bulb?
“Four; you got a problem with that?”

How can you tell when a producer is lying?
His lips move.

What does an AD use for birth control?
His personality.