The Camera Game 2019

A look at what’s happening with 2019 production cameras so far this year

Daniel Brockett

The Panavision Millenium DXL 2 was announced in 2018 but has just come into use on major features and some episodic in 2019. It’s basically two-thirds of the way through 2019, and I felt it would be clarifying and helpful if I were to sit down and put fingers to keyboard to take a look at what’s happening with 2019 production cameras so far this... Read more

Blackmagic Design: It’s All About Infrastructure

Highlights from Blackmagic Design's recent product announcements

Daniel Brockett

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 6K is a groundbreaking camera in features and in price. Is The Future About More Than Just Cameras? I recently attended the webinar that Blackmagic Design held to make four new products announcements. I have to admit that I didn’t know what Blackmagic Design was planning on introducing, so I went into the webinar with... Read more

The Client Age Of Enlightenment?

Why shooting 4K RAW is worth considering

Daniel Brockett

A Monumental Change Just recently, an amazing thing happened to me. Not one, not two, but three different clients within a two-week period requested that we shoot their project in 4K RAW. Big deal you say? It actually is a big deal and in this blog, I’m going to focus on why this represents an actual global mind shift, at least for our clients. Frankly,... Read more

Hands On With The BenQ PD2720U

Seeing it the right way

Michael Guncheon

Finding the right monitor to use for your main edit app monitor can be a bit daunting. I want good color accuracy, the right inputs and something that’s easy to customize for my environment. I had the opportunity to run with a BenQ PD2720U display for a few weeks. I was able to see how it fit my needs as a monitor running various applications... Read more

Never Say Cut? Part 4

Truly fixing it in post

Michael Guncheon

When we last left the project, it was in crisis. The speed changes on clips didn’t make it through color grading properly because during production there was no urgency to stop the recording. As a result, very long clips were created. Because the clips were extremely long, it wasn’t practical to render out fully graded original length clips. Instead,... Read more

Never Say Cut? Part 3

An example of where things fall apart

Michael Guncheon

In part 1 and part 2 on this topic, I said project sizes for edit are getting larger and larger due to never saying “Cut!” I have tried to emphasize that this isn’t just a rant about my needing to manage storage. This time, I’d like to detail a concrete example of the impact of long takes on a project—how a lack of “cutting the roll”... Read more

Never Say Cut? Part 2

Creeping project size

Michael Guncheon

In my last blog, I mentioned that I wanted to give an editor’s perspective on the increased amount of data—footage clips—that editors have to deal with. It’s not just that file sizes have ballooned due to resolution increases or the need for more and more coverage. I talked about the lack of urgency to say “Cut!” quickly once a take is done. Directors’... Read more

Never Say Cut? Part 1

With project sizes growing, calling cut more often to shorten takes can have a more positive impact on the project

Michael Guncheon

Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to test out storage arrays of various speeds and sizes. Invariably, when I write about my experience, I include an obligatory sentence about the increasing size of the footage folder created from a shoot and, by way of ingesting, the size of edit projects. Over the next few posts, I’d like to present... Read more

OWC ThunderBlade

Taking it for a spin

Michael Guncheon

When I edit, speed matters. With resolution, bit depth and bit rate increasing every year (or so it seems), accessing the stored footage requires more and more speed. The usual solution offered up is to put everything on solid state drives—SSDs. Of course, that solution bumps up the price per terabyte pretty quickly. It’s like telling a DP just... Read more

More Editing Software To Consider

Old vs. new

Michael Guncheon

I mentioned previously that there are two other software packages to consider for editing. They’re Avid’s Media Composer and Apple’s Final Cut. In truth, there are several more, but I don’t have much experience with Sony’s Vegas, EditShare’s Lightworks or even Blender’s editing tool. That’s not to say that they aren’t good, just... Read more

Having Variety In Editing Software

Variety is good

Michael Guncheon

Last time, I talked about editing software that is subscription-based, namely, Adobe Premiere Pro. As I mentioned, although I was concerned about the subscription aspect of the product, even more important is having the tools I need. I haven’t found the miracle package that works for all my projects, so sometimes I step into other applications. With... Read more

What’s Your Gear Backup Plan?

It could be the difference between completing the shoot or coming back empty-handed

Daniel Brockett

Our Canon C200 is our main A camera on most shoots. It’s relatively large, heavy and expensive though. We can’t afford to have two of them so we have a spare. I recently found myself in a position that I didn’t want to be in. The camera system that I had brought to cover an event decided at the last minute to die. I use a lens adapter with this... Read more