The Boring Detector Is Anything But Boring

Do we really need a boring detector?

Michael Guncheon

A recent beta release of Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve introduced a boring detector. By detecting long shots in your sequence, it can help highlight all the yawn-inducing scenes in your project. I imagine it would light up like crazy if you edited “2001: A Space Odyssey” or “Rope” or “Birdman.” Maybe the next beta release will give... Read more

Stocking Up, Part 2

Fixing a common mistake when you use stock footage

Michael Guncheon

Previously, I posted about a common mistake that occurs when you use stock footage. I gave the example of inserting a slo-mo 24 fps stock clip into a montage of 30 fps footage. The sequence was natively 30 fps. (I’ve rounded 23.976 fps to 24 fps and 29.97 fps to 30 fps for clarity.) It turns out that edit software is so obliging when it inserts... Read more

Stocking Up, Part 1

A common mistake using stock footage

Michael Guncheon

I recently wrote about coming across stock footage where the clip metadata didn’t align with the actual clip. In particular, a file may say it was shot at 23.98 frames per second, but in reality, it was shot at a different frame rate and then conformed to 23.98fps. There are other times when the metadata lines up properly but things still go wrong.... Read more

5 Features Worth Talking About On The Canon EOS C500 Mark II Cinema Camera

Find out if the features on this new Canon EOS cinema camera will catch your attention

By Dan Brockett

The C500 Mark II is the first digital cinema from Canon that’s truly modular. Pictured here with the optional V-mount back, shoulder mount/baseplate, rods, lens support, handgrip extension At IBC 2019 in Amsterdam today, Canon introduced a new digital cinema camera, the C500 Mark II. I’m not going to go deep into the specs of the camera as they... Read more

“Jay Myself” Is An Insightful Film About Photographer Jay Maisel By Stephen Wilkes

A new film explores a master photographer, who left his unique home in New York City after nearly a half-century

By Amy Touchette

I recently watched Jay Myself, a documentary film about the monumental move of renowned photographer and artist, Jay Maisel, who, in February 2015 after forty-eight years, begrudgingly sold his home—the 35,000 square-foot, 100-year- old landmark building in Manhattan known simply as “The Bank.” Sold for over 50 million dollars, it was the largest... Read more

Taking Stock

Is stock footage metadata accurate?

Michael Guncheon

Stock footage has become a commodity. Sometimes I use a single stock shot and other times—for example, with a pitch piece—all I work with is stock footage. As will all commodities, the quality varies. Some shots look great, others only look okay. Oftentimes you don’t know which until you buy the shot and can look at the full resolution files.... Read more

Nesting To The Rescue

Using nesting to fix a problem with speed changing a clip

Michael Guncheon

In a previous post, I recounted a problem I ran into when I tried to match an offline sequence to a finish or online sequence. Basically, the camera originals were very long and had been trimmed because it wasn’t feasible to render out color-graded full-length clips. I tried to duplicate the edit using those trimmed clips. When I compared the graded,... Read more

Seismic Rumblings In Video Production

Video/digital cinema production in 2019 feels as if there are some groundbreaking changes underway. Here's a look at three of them.

Daniel Brockett

A view of Cine Gear 2019 at Paramount Studios. Video/digital cinema production in 2019, to me, feels as if there are some groundbreaking changes underway. I’m not sure if you have felt this lately, but I definitely have. BMD Resolve 16.1 public beta has some interesting Ai features that are supposed to preemptively help editors cut more efficiently. Seismic... Read more

Making A Difference With Difference Blending

Using a blending mode to achieve perfection

Michael Guncheon

You might think that the image that leads this post is missing. Or maybe it’s a mistake. I can assure you that it’s not. It’s exactly the image that should be there. In fact, it’s perfect. Before I explain the image, I want to talk about the tools that editors have at their fingertips. A lot of the tools are all about making a difference on... Read more

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