ProVideo Coalition

LG WING: an innovative smartphone for filmmakers

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 18:15:23 GMT

Smartphones with large screens are an invitation for filmmakers, but the LG WING is a different take on the larger screen concept: its screen swivels up 90-degrees to reveal another screen.

The LG WING was introduced last September as offering the “world’s first gimbal feature in a phone with superb video recording”, and in terms of photography and video, the handset features everything needed to satisfy those willing to pay its high-price. The smartphone boasts three rear cameras – a 64MP Ultra High Resolution OIS Wide, 12MP Ultra Wide Big Pixel and 13MP Wide, and it also enables dual recording using a 32MP pop-up camera and one of the phone’s rear cameras simultaneously.

The results of that unique mode can be saved together in a single file, or in two separate files with the aspect ratio set to either 1:1 or 16:9. Now, to achieve that the LG WING uses one feature that is unique to this new product from LG: out of the box, it looks like a conventional, modern smartphone, but with a flick of the thumb, the front of the phone swivels up 90-degrees to reveal another screen, which opens up a whole host of new possibilities not available in other models.

The LG WING was designed with a goal: to offer uninterrupted, immersive mobile viewing experience. Large-screen handsets together with on-demand streaming platforms and high-speed internet has changed the way people consume content and the ubiquitous smartphone, now in its second decade of existence, provides the view-anywhere experience that TVs never could. Now, there is a problem: if you’re always connected, notifications have gotten out of hand. Nothing puts the brakes on an immersive viewing experience like a constant stream of notifications that appear every few seconds over your favorite program.

A 32 MP pop up camera

That’s where the LG WING makes the difference. With this smartphone you need never suffer from pop-ups blocking your view again, as all alerts can easily be shifted to the 3.9-inch Second Screen – keeping the spacious 6.8-inch FHD+ 20.5:9 aspect ratio Main Screen free for uninterrupted content enjoyment. What’s more, there’s no notch or punch hole thanks to the clever 32MP Pop Up Camera that remains hidden from sight until needed.

The design of the LG WING aims to allow users to watch content in all its glory. In Basic Mode the LG WING is like any other smartphone, but in Swivel Mode, when the entire front of the phone rotates clockwise 90 degrees, the second screen unlocks new usability and new possibilities to explore – a single application can be expanded to both screens or two applications can be displayed simultaneously, one on each display.

The swivel function is also something photographers and filmmakers will appreciate, as all controls can be moved to the second screen, leaving the image area free of clutter. No longer do you have to keep touching the screen over the image to adjust controls, as everything is now visible in a new interface that also acts as a grip allowing providing a more stable and ergonomic way to hold your smartphone when capturing stills or video. What’s more, if you receive a call while you’re using the main screen, you can reply using the controls on the second screen.

A gimbal for smoother video

With the Gimbal Motion Camera, the world’s first in a smartphone, says LG, the seconds screen becomes a convenient grip, providing the stability needed to capture clearer shots and smooth video footage in horizontal mode with one hand, normally difficult to accomplish with conventional bar-type smartphones. The gimbal utilizes six motion sensors in the phone to allow creators the ability to capture smoother, steadier videos and pictures.

LG WING offers functions typically found only on a real gimbal, just as a joystick for controlling the camera angle, a lock to reduce shakes and blurring, a follow mode for smoother videos when moving, pan follow for horizontal movement with minimal up and down shake, and first person view mode for capturing rhythmic and dynamic movements.

Editing video using the second screen

It’s not just about capturing images, though, because the Second Screen can be used as a dedicated editing palette while the video or photo is displayed on the Main Screen. LG WING also comes with LG Creator’s Kit, a collection of advanced imaging solutions including Timelapse Control, Voice Bokeh and ASMR Recording. Now we just need software companies to write their apps in ways that explore the features the LG WING offers.

In fact, LG WING expands the user experience by delivering next-level multitasking with the ability to run two apps simultaneously, one on each display. Powered by a with Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G 5G Mobile Platform with the Snapdragon X52 5G Modem-RF System, the LG WING offers, says LG, “a truly unique entertainment experience with instantaneous response times, cinema-quality graphics and incredible audio.”

The LG WING comes with a large 4,000 mAh battery provides enough fuel to multitask all day long. The device has 8 GB of memory and 256 GB of storage so you can keep all your photos, content and apps in one place for easy access. The LG WING is available for a retail price of $999.99.

Review: Zoom H8 multitrack audio recorder

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 16:43:33 GMT

Here is my detailed review on the recently released Zoom H8 multitrack handheld recorder. As you will see ahead, there is much to like and very little to criticize about the H8 in its ≈US$400 price category. I will cover each function, feature, benefit and performance. I will also explain its use in different production scenarios, and which very inexpensive accessories I would recommend adding to make it stronger in some of those. My H8 coverage is primarily for audio/radio documentary & storytelling (however it’s distributed, be it on air AM/FM/satellite (i.e. Sirius XM), closed-system Internet (i.e. Spotify exclusives), public web or podcasting) as well as audio for video, TV and film production. I am not a musician and will cover the musical production features and capabilities very superficially.

The above multilingual video was produced by Zoom Europe, not by me. My test recording is ahead in this article.

Overview of features and specs

At its core, the Zoom H8 is a multitrack recorder with multiple input sources and six (6) mechanical knobs to control the input gain of each individual source. I like the fact that those knobs represent the full range, will a full stop at the minimum and maximum position (unlike some devices whose knobs spin infinitely, even after surpassing the minimum or maximum gain). I also like the fact the they have numbers painted on the knobs. However, we must be aware that these knobs control software potentiometers (“pots”) which can be overridden by the touchscreen interface. When you do that, the physical knobs are not motorized to match the new setting and therefore (if you use the touchscreen interface to adjust gain a a particular input), the current setting on the knob will no longer reflect the current gain setting. That said, as soon as you move any physical gain knob, that potentiometer again jumps back to match and be controlled by the knob. This is fine once we understand it.

Of course, I love that the H8 can record proper 48 kHz sampling frequency and 24-bit resolution (see 48kHzAllance.com and also my 2015 article Understanding 24-bit vs 16-bit audio production & distribution) in addition to higher sampling frequencies like 96 kHz (which —for the human voice— I can only justify if you plan to use slow motion audio in post) and lower ones that I don’t recommend at all, no matter what, not even for recording audio for virtual PBX/IVR interactive telephony production, as explained mathematically at 48KhzAlliance.com.

Inputs:

6 balanced XLR inputs, of which 2 are combo jacks for 1/4” for unbalanced instrument or line input. Each one has switchable phantom power (for condenser mics or external pre-preamps… although you’ll probably never need one of those with the H8 given how clean and powerful the H8’s preamps are) and a switchable -20 dB pad for very loud sources.
Proprietary Zoom Capsule System 2.0 connector, which can add up to 4 additional audio channels, for a potential total of 10 with the optional EXH-8 module (each with an XLR balanced input, with switchable phantom power). The H8 works with the included XYH-6 microphone (pair of unidirectional mics, usable as stereo with 90 or 120 degrees, or dual mono) which also has a 3.5 mm stereo unbalanced input for unbalanced electret mics or unbalanced dynamic mics. This 3.5 mm input overrides the pair of unidirectional mics and shares the knob to control control input gain of that source. Many other capsules are available (or coming soon) from Zoom.

Outputs:

3.5 mm stereo TRS unbalanced line output with adjustable output level via the touchscreen, and even a tone generator to facilitate matching levels when feeding a camcorder’s audio input.
3.5 mm stereo TRS unbalanced headphone output with adjustable output volume via the touchscreen. (Although there is no physical knob for headphone volume, after you plug in your headphones, access is almost always available in the upper right corner of the touchscreen.)
Internal mono speaker for low-quality confidence playback
Transceiver port for optional bluetooth module (iOS-only at publication time of this article) to remotely monitor levels and transport controls

Preamps:

Fortunately, the preamps in the H8 have been improved to be cleaner than the earlier H6 model (which obviously makes it even better than the preamps in the H5 which I used to own). My understanding is that the actual gain in the H8’s internal preamps is the same +55.5 dB as the H6 but (unlike the H5 or H6) without the hiss at maximum amplification. Although I don’t own a Shure SM7b (the most gain-hungry dynamic microphone I know), my colleague Curtis Judd tested the H8 with an SM7B in his review and he found it to be clean at maximum gain with a more than healthy level. In my own test you’ll hear ahead, I used a new studio dynamic microphone (to be reviewed separately). (Curtiss Judd has been my guest twice so far on BeyondPodcasting .)

Internal recording:

SD, SDHC or SDXC card slot

Power:

Compartment for 4 AA batteries
External power via USB, with automatic fallback from the internal batteries to the external power, without stopping the current operation
The H8 is bus-powered via USB when connected to a standard computer with macOS or Windows.

Use as an audio interface via the same USB:

Mulitrack (up to 10 individual tracks + stereo mix = 12) or just stereo mix. Note that at present, multitrack is only available vía macOS and Windows, not with Android, iOS or iPadOS.
Stereo for iOS, iPadOS, macOS and Windows

Bulletproof and strong latency-free monitoring

The H8’s 3.5 mm jack for monitoring is designed to be used with TRS stereo headphones and even works with TRRS headsets with a microphone included. The H8 is fortunately designed to ignore the microphone on a TRRS headset, if present, while outputting the latency-free audio.

I call it bulletproof since it solves the issue discussed in my 2015 article TS/TRS/TRRS/TRRRS: Combating the misconnection epidemic (illustrated above).

The signal from this 3.5 mm output is very clean compared to the one I recall from the H5. Unlike some other devices I have tested recently (which have a much weaker headphone amplifier), using my Status Audio CB-1 isolating headphones (which are rated at 32 ohms), the output level in my headphones fortunately was great even at about 70% on the headphone volume when recording at -12 dB. Since the headphone amplifier in the H8 is so powerful, even the popular Sony MDR-7506 headphone (officially 63 ohms, although Ken Rockwell measured it to be even higher) should work fine.

The same 3.5 mm jack also works just as well for playback monitoring from the H8… or from your connected computer when using the USB Interface mode, as long as your app and/or system are set to send audio playback to the H8.

Some reviewers have criticized the fact that the H8 has a single headphone output.

That is easily solved To connect the single headphone output to up to four individuals, you can use something like the Behringer Micr AMP HA-400 headphone distribution amplifier ≈US$24. A single 3.5 mm to 1/4” stereo TRS cable would connect the distribution amplifier to the H8. Then each output can feed each headphone or in-ear IFB type earset. Each one will have its own level adjustment.

Three powerful apps with inappropriate names

The current firmware of the H8 includes three powerful apps for different types of productions. Generally speaking, I like the apps and the way they work, but i believe they should be named differently to allow content producers to better understand and take advantage of them. This is certainly not a reason not to consider purchasing the H8 or to use the apps, but simply a better way to understand them and their possible uses (and a suggestion to Zoom to rename them in a future firmware update).

App 1: “Field”

If you have your UI (user interface set to be in English, the first app is currently named “Field”. (If you have it set to be in Castilian, then it’s currently named named “Exterior” which is indeed a proper translation of the inappropriate name “Field” in this case.) I would have called this app “Standard” or “Typical”. I object to the term “Field” since I would use this first app even “in studio” for any multitrack recording (or live broadcast) situation where I didn’t need inboard virtual carts (aka “sound pads”) inside of the H8. If you have a spare audio player of any type (i.e. an iPod, iPod Touch, iPad or Android device), you could plug it into one of the available H8 inputs (like one of the 1/4” input or the the 3.5 mm input of the included XYH-6 module) and then take more advantage of the so-called “Field” app, which includes the pre-record option and simultaneous level meters for each input, both of which are missing from the “Podcast” app due to “real estate” (screen space) allocations.

I’ll clarify that if you want to use external virtual carts which are true stereo, then the simplest way to connect them will be to connect via the included XYH-6’s 3.5 mm input, since otherwise, it would occupy not one but two of the H8’s 1/4 inputs, A and B, which would also require occupying two inputs. On the other hand, if your external video carts are mono, then you could connect them only to A or B’s 1/4” input with a single cable. If you do use the input in the XYH-6’s 3.5 mm input, be sure to set the volume quite low on your external player (like 20%) or use an attenuating cable since this input is expecting mic level, not line level.

App 2: “Music”

For post mixing and overdubbing, including a metronome. As indicated in the introductory paragraph, I am only covering musical production very superficially in this review. Also, please note that the official Zoom H8 manual sadly states on page 94:

“Effects can only be used when the recording format is 44.1 kHz/16-bit WAV or 44.1 kHz/24-bit WAV.”

This means that these effects in the Music app are inappropriate and non-standard for proper video productions, as explained in 48kHzAlliance.com. This might be a dealbreaker for some producers who need to create in 48 kHz and want to do effects within the H8, but not for those who add effects using a separate app on a computer (which is what I do).

App 3: “Podcast”

The industry term “Podcast” refers to serial distribution and syndication with RSS subscription, not to any particular type of a production per se. That’s why I strongly object to the misuse of the industry term “Podcast” as the name of this app in the H8. The main attraction of this misnamed app within the H8 is its offering of virtual carts (aka “sound pads”) and has noting to do with any type of distribution. They probably chose the name because it being a marketing buzzword, but it really misrepresents its true functionality. This powerful app is equally appropriate for use with any type of live production where it is desired to play pre-recorded sounds, be they openings, bumpers, stingers, sound effects, commercial spots or a closing. All of those apply equally to live radio, live TV or live-to-drive (previously known as “live-to-tape”). So the short name I would give to this powerful app would be “Live”.

Although the virtual carts in the so-called “Podcast” app in the H8 fortunately do accept 48 kHz audio files, please note that when using this app, you immediately lose two of the six inboard XLR inputs. This is because the virtual carts (aka “sound pads”) occupy two recording tracks. I believe that for many productions, four local mic sources is often plenty. If you really need more than the remaining four mic inputs and really want to use the “Podcast” app because of the inboard virtual carts, you can use any of the attached microphones which attach to the module port, be it the included XYH-6 microphone or the optional EXH-8 module, which adds four additional XLR inputs (more ahead). However, if you want to use virtual carts and already own any type of external audio player, I would instead recommend using the so-called “Field” app and connect it as described in that section above to your external player. That way, you’’ill get more power in the H8 recorder itself, including the individual level meter for each sound source displayed simultaneously, a better use of the “real estate” on the touchscreen and the potential use of the pre-record option: Instead of pressing the touchscreen on the H8 to play a virtual cart, you’ll press it on your external player, as indicated above.

Apparently missing in the H8 recorder as of publication time of this article is any option for mix-minus. You’ll see that in my suggestions in the Conclusions section.

Filter + Compressor, Limiter or Noise Gate

With each input, we get to have an adjustable low cut filter (aka high pass filter) to cut rumble. This is very important and valuable feature

In addition, we have the option of:

Compressor
Limiter
Noise Gate

There are all properly translated if you set the H8 to be in Castilian as:

Compresor
Limitador
Puerta de ruidos

Each one gives us deeper control. The only important limitation to understand is that we can only choose one of these three things per input.

Test recording

The below recording is uncompressed 48 kHz WAV. Use Ethernet, wifi or unmetered data.

https://www.provideocoalition.com/wp-content/uploads/H8-review-audio-flat.wav

It is flat, without any equalization, filtration or compression. It is only normalized.

If you would like to hear the results of another finished recording made with the same dynamic microphone via H8’s preamp and A-to-D conversion after audio post-processing, check out the video in this recent article: Review: YoloBox touchscreen video switcher-recorder-streaming encoder.

Timecode in the H8?

Timecode is not a feature in the H8 as it is in some higher priced models from Zoom and Sound Devices. However, Tentacle Sync has documented a way to connect and record timecode on a track on the much cheaper Zoom H4n recorder, which is much less capable than the H8 in many respects. I am not trying to say that the clock accuracy of the H8 will be as precise as in a higher end recorder made to record timecode with external sync. What I am saying is that if your audio recorder budget is ≈US$400 and you require matching timecode just to facilitate auto-syncing hundreds of audio clips with hundreds of video clips in DaVinci Resolve (i.e. for a documentary produced in dual system), you should consider looking into Tentacle Sync’s documentation for doing it with the H4n and apply it to the H8.

How to read the touchscreen in bright sunlight?

The color touchscreen on the H8 works very well indoors. However, outdoors it’s nearly impossible to see. I recommend the use of a black focusing cloth (made for large-format cameras), a black pillowcase or a black t-shirt to solve this problem when using the H8 outdoors.

Ratings

Looks and build quality

Sound quality

(in its price range)

Zero-latency, bulletproof monitoring

48 kHz/24-bit recording and interfacing capability

Operability as audio interface with macOS and Windows

Operability audio interface with Android, iOS, iPadOS

(Multitrack is currently not available for these operating systems, only stereo.)

Indoor operability of touchscreen

Outdoor use of the touchscreen

Use the workaround I cover in the article.

Photo credits

Some photographs in this review are courtesy of Zoom and one from Behringer.

Conclusions and suggestions

I consider the H8 to be a very good offering within its price range. I love its appearance, ease of operation, physical knobs for input gain, and the capability of seeing independent inputs on separate level meters in the Field app. I would definitely recommend it as is, and even more if Zoom accepts my suggestions for improvements in future updates.

In a future firmware update to the H8, Zoom should add a mix-minus option for the line output. It should be selectable in the menu for a particular input (i.e. A or B since they have a 1/4” line input).
In a future firmware update to the H8, Zoom should rename the app currently called “Field” app to be named “Standard” or “Typical” as explained earlier in this article.
In a future firmware update to the H8, Zoom should rename the app currently called “Podcast” app to be named “Live” as explained earlier in this article.

Be sure to be on my free mailing list to be notified about the upcoming review of the new dynamic studio microphone used for this article, and any future ones.

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FTC disclosure

No manufacturer is specifically paying Allan Tépper or TecnoTur LLC to write this article or the mentioned books. Some of the other manufacturers listed above have contracted Tépper and/or TecnoTur LLC to carry out consulting and/or translations/localizations/transcreations. Many of the manufacturers listed above have sent Allan Tépper review units. So far, none of the manufacturers listed above is/are sponsors of the TecnoTur , BeyondPodcasting CapicúaFM or TuSaludSecreta programs, although they are welcome to do so, and some are, may be (or may have been) sponsors of ProVideo Coalition magazine. Some links to third parties listed in this article and/or on this web page may indirectly benefit TecnoTur LLC via affiliate programs. Allan Tépper’s opinions are his own. Allan Tépper is not liable for misuse or misunderstanding of information he shares.

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After Effects Classic Course: Rolling Shutter Repair

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 15:00:52 GMT

A “feature” of many or most video cameras these days is that the pixels at the top of a frame are captured at a slightly different time than the pixels at the bottom of the frame. If the camera or the object you were shooting moves during this time, there will be in offset in the position of objects, causing them to appear to lean along the direction of the camera’s movement. This distortion of the object can make it more difficult to composite new objects into a scene, among other problems.

This problem is known as “rolling shutter” – and way back in After Effects CS6, Adobe added a plug-in to remove this artifact. Maybe. The movie below covers how the plug-in works, what problems it can solve, and what types of shots will break the plug-in’s attempts to repair it:

These movies were previously appeared on Lynda.com/LinkedIn Learning. They’ve retired this course from their library, so we’re making the movies from it available publicly for free. You can either scan our page on ProVideo Coalition to see the other free movies we’ve posted over the last couple of years, or check out the Crish Design channel on YouTube.

Production During a Pandemic: Testing out the Filmtools PPE Essentials Kit

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 13:00:04 GMT

COVID-19 Compliance Officers, as the newest member of the production team, may be asked by productions to provide PPE, cleaners, and sanitizers to help keep everyone safe and healthy on film shoots. Luckily for me, most of the shoots that I’ve worked have provided adequate PPE and cleaning supplies for the duration of the shoot. But if you find yourself in need — whether as a C19CO, a film crew looking for a quick and easy way to stock up on some extra PPE essentials for a smaller production, or a crew member who’d rather have your own go-bag — then the folks at Filmtools have got you covered. Over the course of my two-day shoot, I used every single piece of this kit and had extras to give to other crewmembers and talent.

The Filmtools PPE Essentials Kit comes with:

1x Filmtools Catch-All Utility Pouch
1x 5-pack of Filmtools Washed Cotton Face Masks
1x 100-pack of Disposable Nitrile Gloves
1x 8-oz. Hand Sanitizer
1x 40-pack of 75% Alcohol Wipes
1x Face Shield

The catch-all pouch has a zipper closure and is made of woven nylon. It’s great for transporting most of the kit components, and it’s sturdy and rugged enough to handle the most extreme conditions on set. It features an easy-carry side handle that makes it easy to carry and hang, as well as multiple smaller pockets inside to keep smaller individual components separate for easy access. It was incredibly easy as a fast grab to throw in the car when heading out the door. The pouch is great for the smaller items like the sanitizer, wipes, and face masks. It’s a snug fit to keep the face shield inside the pouch, and as such I’d worry about damaging it in transport, but it does fit.

Honestly, my favorite item in the kit was the cotton face mask. I wore one of these masks all day for two twelve-hour days in a row, and the woven fabric created a nice, COMFORTABLE, breathable barrier that would definitely prevent droplets and satisfies the COVID-19 guidelines for productions. The cotton material helped with moisture wicking to keep the mask from getting damp throughout the day. They are washable and should be washed between uses. The masks don’t feature an adjustable nose piece to ensure a tighter fit around the nose bridge, which may be a deal-breaker for those who like a snug fit around their nose. Additionally, to secure this mask, you tie two sets of straps, which for some who are not accustomed to wearing tie-on masks, it may be tricky to get the best fit over your nose and mouth, but not impossible by any means. The kit comes with five masks, which allows you to keep a fresh mask handy for personal use and, in my case, gave me extras to give to the crew if needed.

While I DON’T recommend constant glove-wearing because I feel that it creates a false sense of security, the included nitrile gloves are perfect for on-set surface sanitizing to prevent chemical irritation that cleaners may cause to your hands. As an added benefit, the nitrile material is a safer option for those with latex allergies.

The included pump-dispensed hand sanitizer was another winner with me and the crew. At 70% alcohol, it’s higher than the CDC recommended 60% alcohol concentration for hand sanitizers. As a self-described hand sanitizer snob, I appreciated that this sanitizer didn’t ‘pill’ or leave a sticky or greasy residue after repeated use. Several crew members mentioned that they liked the way that it made their hands feel clean and moisturized and without any overwhelming scent.

The 75% alcohol wipes were another hit for me as the C19CO. At 75% alcohol, these are also above the CDC recommended 60% alcohol for sanitizers, and these were perfect for me at check-in to help keep my iPad and pens clean from person to person. As a human in the 21st century, my attachment to my phone is almost implicit, and these were perfect to help me keep my phone and laptop sanitized, and they’re ideal for use with other electronic equipment used on set (as always, check manufacturing details to ensure safety for use on electronics and always test use to prevent damage to surfaces). While not the best for large surface area sanitizing, they can easily tackle a smaller personal workspace or high-touch surfaces.

The included face shield is a smart PPE choice for talent to use on set after blocking rehearsals and when going for actual takes. I also recommend a face shield or eye protection in addition to a mask for anyone coming into close contact with unmasked talent on set (i.e. hair and makeup artists, sound).

All in all, I’d recommend this kit to any crewmember, talent, and C19COs who need a quick and easy nearly all-encompassing go-bag or as a supplemental PPE kit while working on productions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This kit was designed by the good folks over at Filmtools – people who work in the industry and understand the rigors of production. As a COVID-19 Compliance Officer, I can say with experience that this kit gave me a lot of the tools that I needed to keep myself and others safe on set. In combination with the other protocols undertaken and materials provided, this PPE Essentials Kit is a wonderful complement that rounds out any COVID-19 safety program for productions.

To learn more about the Filmtools Essential PPE Kit, click here.

How game engines and VR are changing filmmaking

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 12:15:40 GMT

Virtual Reality offers a unique way to experience narratives, but it’s also a tool that can help filmmakers create classic “flat screen” films. Paired with a game engine, VR offers a tool for indies and big studios.

From Plato’s Allegory of the Cave to Star Trek’s Holodeck or the film The Matrix, Virtual Reality has been around us for a while, even if the term itself only appears in 1987, coined by Jaron Lanier. A founder of the field of VR, Lanier was also a pioneer, and together with Thomas G. Zimmerman founded VPL Research, the first company to sell VR equipment for personal use.

We’ve not yet reached the stage that Lanier imagined for VR in the 1980s, with the DataGlove, EyePhone, and DataSuit – terms you can Google after, to know more – but these developments paved the way for early prototypes of systems like the original Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Lanier said, in an interview to the New Scientist, in 2013, that “the Oculus Rift folks remind me of the kids we were 30 years ago, and I am rooting for them to succeed. It would be awfully nice to see this latest wave of VR make a lot of people happy.”

Well, Lanier’s wishes are turning reality, and the numbers show that VR audiences are growing, and the medium is, as he wished, being used for more than entertainment. During the interview mentioned above, Lanier said that “as a practical technology, VR is already widely successful and adopted. My favourite applications are in medicine, particularly in surgical training and in augmenting surgery itself. For the last couple of decades every new vehicle, whether it rolls, floats or flies, has been designed in part in VR. Scientific visualisation apps are also extensively used in chemistry, neuroscience and other fields.”

Walk in VR like you are on a real set

Furthermore, VR is being used in entertainment, but not just to create games or titles that audiences can explore, like some of the storytelling experiences ProVideo Coalition has mentioned in recent months. Films like The Lion King have set a milestone and revealed how VR has become a key part of Hollywood productions, while many filmmakers have adopted VR as a platform to share their narratives.

Rob Legato, who reteamed with director Jon Favreau to bring the characters of the Disney classic back to the screen, said this about the process: “the VR component we introduced after The Jungle Book allows you to walk in like you would on a real set, put the camera where you want, and the physicality of it helps you to psychologically root yourself. You start doing very natural camera work because you’re in an environment that you’re familiar with. You know where the light goes, you know where the camera goes, you know where the actors are – and all of a sudden on day one you’re off to the races.”

He then added that “when we’re in VR, which is different from what we did on The Jungle Book, the VR experience gives you the visceral feeling of being there, of being up high or at a faraway distance, all those various things, you feel it. So Jon, Caleb, James Chinlund, Andy Jones and I could all walk in together as a group of filmmakers, a group of collaborators, and see things for the first time, look at things from different angles.”

From The Lion King to The Mandalorian

“Caleb might have a better idea to shoot something – he continues – to take advantage of a sunset that’s happening, and again it’s like music, where you’re bouncing off of each other. And when you’re done it’s a very successful location scout that otherwise you could never have done together in a CG world. But in the real world, or in our case a virtual world, we all can share in it and we all can respond to what we’re looking at – at the same time.”

The knowledge acquired through the experiences of The Jungle Book and The Lion King allowed MPC to refine constantly the tools used for Virtual Production and now, elaborates Favreau, “MPC has a suite of tools that are available to any filmmaker based on the innovations that we made on The Lion King.” Favreau continued to a game engine for a better workflow in film production and The Mandalorian is another example.

While on The Lion King and The Jungle Book Jon Favreau used the Unity game engine, for this new Disney title the team went with another solution, Epic’s Unreal Engine. One of the reasons is the Virtual Camera Plugin, which enables a user to drive a Cine Camera in Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) using an iPad Pro in a virtual production environment.

Game engines offer filmmakers the ability to replace classic previsualization methods with an immersive experience that cuts production time, but they also give independent creators and small teams options that until not long ago were only available to big studios. That explains why VR is becoming popular in film festivals around the world. Together or used on their own, these technologies open new options for creators.

VR became a key part of film festivals

Virtual Reality, which at first was only associated with “experiences” and video games, appeared as a key component of film festivals, from Sundance to Tribeca or SXSW, which showed everything from VR films, interactive or not, covering diverse areas, from documentary or animation to pure creative exercises. The second step of that experience was triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic that forced many events to move online. Although the change created some chaos, it has also revealed the potential to reach international audiences… using Virtual Reality.

In fact, throughout 2020, as many events moved online, organizers discovered a solution to bolster audiences and attract attention of filmgoers around the world: that explains why the already existing Virtual Reality events associated with festivals gained a new dimension, offering their content to anyone with a VR headset. The Cannes XR Virtual had its first edition this year, and events like the Venice VR Expanded or the LFF Expanded demonstrate the potential for this new way to share narratives from different filmmakers and artists.

No one knows if and when the world returns to the “normal” we knew before the pandemic, but whatever the future brings us, the couple of years, and in some cases the recent months, have moved technology forward more than many imagined. As Aaron Linne, Microsoft Teams Senior Product Manager, said recently, “we did two years or more of digital evolution in about two weeks or two months and that’s going to continue”, while talking about the growing use of communication tools.

Watching movies at home in VR

Film festivals will return in their previous form, but it’s highly probable that the virtual side of them will continue and expand. Industry events like SIGGRAPH 2021, for example, are planned to go back to Los Angeles, but the organizers already confirmed that the aim is to have a hybrid physical and virtual event. Filmmaking will also resume, while the growing use of tools based on game engines and Virtual Reality will contribute to make production faster and more accessible to many.

As new VR headsets enter the market, some, as the HP Reverb G2, offering resolutions – 2160 x 2160 pixels per eye – that suggest better ways to watch content, when connected to a PC capable of deliver the best visual experience, both consumers and professionals using the tools have access to better technology and, one hopes, more immersive experiences, suggesting we’re getting closer to Jaron Lanier’s dream.

As we move into the Winter months and more people stay inside, also due to the situation caused by the pandemic, it’s only natural that more people want to try the options offered by VR. As apps like BigScreen continue to offer an alternative to going to the movies in VR, we may see the interest in VR headsets to rise next Christmas. I must confess I am eager to receive my HP Reverb G2 headset and discover how watching films in VR has improved.

Reviewing The New 8K Canon R5 Mirrorless Camera

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 11:00:33 GMT

“Canon DSLR records RAW video!” An April Fool’s Day FaceBook post I saw in 2012. It was a joke. In 2020, the Canon R5 mirrorless camera can record 8K RAW video, and Canon is not joking.

The Canon R5 is the new flagship mirrorless still/motions camera from the Japanese imaging company. An early marketing push trumpeted the horn over the R5’s 8K Full-Frame raw recording capabilities. Then came the news the R5 could also shoot Full-Frame 4K 120 frames per second with autofocus. In my review, I look into the capabilities of the Canon R5, the 8K raw, 4K 120fps, and some of the more exciting features to see if this new flagship mirrorless is the real deal we all joked about but really wanted on April 1st, 2012.

2019 into 2020 was turning out to be an excellent year at Canon. In order of release came the Canon C500 Mark II, the C300 Mark III, and now the hotly marketed 8K capable R5 and 4K R6 mirrorless cameras; as I write this, news of the new C70 has landed. Years of innovation hit the market. Then as summer heated up, so did the over-heating news following initial R5 testing. It seemed 8K full-frame raw came at a price.

During the initial wave of R5 testing, I received both the R5 and R6 to test and review. Within a couple of weeks, Canon released a “best practices” to reduce over-heating and new firmware to mitigate the heat problem. As Summer falls into Autumn, the heat waves seem to have settled. Make no mistake; posts focusing on over-heating alone do not do justice to the full capabilities of the R5.

As a stills camera, the R5 is top-notch and near perfection in your hand—an extension of the photographer. I found the Canon R5 to be a pleasure to use. With little effort, I was able to capture beautiful still images out of the mundane. Photography with the Canon R5 was fun and creatively fulfilling to me.

A quick sunrise shot with dew on the grass

The 45 MP sensor delivered incredible detail shot after shot. The 20 frames a second of electronic shutter meant my lens could keep up with my feral toddler as she ran around my backyard. The incredible autofocus, and its speed, kept her in focus. The autofocus is so good I doubt users will ever flip over to manual focus. The raw photos showed great depth and loads of room for finessing the shadows and highlights in post. It felt like extreme pushing and pulling the raw image could be done with ease. The color, oh man, the Canon color, is oh so delicious with the R5.

I shot to protect my highlights meaning I lift the shadows considerable in the edit

As I toss praise upon praise on the still photography functionality of the Canon R5, know this: you cannot go wrong with the Canon R5 and still photography; you just can’t. Yet, you likely not looking to buy the Canon R5 just for still photography. Many of us want to try out the 8K raw video too.

Generally, as a video camera, the R5 felt like a solid side-kick. A Chewbacca to my Han Solo. Dependable. Trusted. The R5 always got the job done well. Though, my experiences did cause a bit of frustration, much like Han yelling at Chewie as they try to fix the Millennium Falcon in “Empire Strikes Back.”

Usually, my frustrations bore out of 8K and 4K 120fps limitations within the R5. These frustrations came with an earlier firmware for the R5, media unable to record fast enough, and I hope those problems do not persist. I was pushing the camera’s limit. I knew I’d find the camera’s breaking point and was not surprised to see limitations in 8K raw recording for a $4,000 mirrorless.

In my opinion, If you thought Canon made a $4,000.00 Mirrorless camera to outperform its $10,000.00 C300 Mark III or $15,000.00 C500 Mark II, you are crazy. Then again, I understand the other side of this coin. An 8K Camera should be able to record 8K for as long as you want, right? Except engineering, heat dissipation, and a load of other reasons may get in the way.

R5 Autofocus

The Canon R5 has stellar autofocus capabilities in both stills mode and video mode. In stills mode, the autofocus is just blazing fast and responsive. 5940 AF areas cover virtually the whole frame. These areas can be used together, individually, or in zones. You can use the multi-controller on the back of the R5 or using the touchscreen to select your AF points. Users can set the speed of the R5’s autofocus in the camera’s menu.

Above, you can see the Canon R5 Autofocus catch onto the wasp as I hand-held the camera. Shot in 8K RAW. The R5 comes packed with deep learning AI and subject recognition. What “deep learning AI” means is you can rely on the R5 to lock onto faces and eyes and focus quickly. So quick was eye-autofocus that the Canon R5 could keep up with my wild three-year-old daughter as she ran around the backyard. I found the fastest speed the best option when shooting 4K 120fps and much slower for 24p footage to give the appearance of a manually racked focus shift. I used the “look” of a perfectly executed manual focus pull to reveal scenes in my daily work. A combination of shallow depth of field and a good touchscreen and Canon’s AF lends itself to such shooting. With Video or Still Photography, the R5 autofocus felt like I could “set it and leave it.” For interviews, just be wary of a wandering focus point as subjects turn their heads.

R5 and Lowlight

Just a quick snap of my cat catching a nap in the sun

Shooting in Stills mode, I felt like any ISO was safe from too much noise. Even the highest ISOs bore less noise in the image than I expected and whatever was there was easy to reduce in Adobe Lightroom. Video always has a little bit more limitation with high ISO settings and noise present in the image. The R5 may present some noise in the deep shadows in the upper-mid to high ISO settings. Especially true when shooting CLog and viewing Clog on a monitor. Usually, applying a LUT or dropping the blacks/shadows down to a more acceptable level reduced the shadow noise very well.

8K shooting for 8K delivery? You might stay below 6400 for a clean image and if you do not have a denoiser. If shooting 8K for 4K delivery, you can get away with higher ISOs. Now, know this; for some reason, I did not set up an ISO noise test. I shot with Canon R5 so much I just forgot the actual ISO noise test. This happens to me more than I like to admit. If I’m enjoying a camera, I keep shooting only to realize the review period has ended, and I left a critical test undone. But, I accumulated a ton of experience with the R5, and 8K video really should be recorded 6400 or below or get to know our denoiser for the deep shadows.

Image stabilization

Now, this can be a bit wonky. If you were standing still or moving slightly, the internal IBIS smoothed out body movements and jerks. If I wanted to walk and shoot with the IBIS turned on, it could show a little warping like After Effects and warp stabilizer. The more movement IBIS tried to correct, the more warping present. If shooting hand-held for static shots, the IBIS smooths out very well and gives near tripod-like steadiness. This video example below was shot hand-held in 4K.

If you think Canon R5 shooters might not need a gimbal and IBIS will smooth out all unwanted movements, think again. Best hold onto that DJI Ronin S or pick up the new DJI R2, which looks terrific. Below, you can see a news story I mostly shot on the Canon R5. All my footage, except interviews, was shot hand-held. This is a news story to deadlines sometimes get in the way of a complete polish.

Build – button placement – weight

Canon built a solid camera in the R5. It felt good in the hand, balanced on the left/right axis and front/back with the 24-105 attached. The R5 comes weather-sealed in case you need it. The weight in hand felt good. Not too heavy and not feather-light.

R5 EVF and LCD Screen

Nice and bright. Good bounce between EVF and LCD. Both the EVF and LCD looked sharp and full of color. No complaints on either. The flip-out LCD screen is my preferred style, so I enjoyed the one on the Canon R5. Grabbing low shots are much more comfortable with a flip-out. It also meant I didn’t have to lay down to capture this dew in the grass sunrise shot.

8K

This feature alone may be why many pick up and shoot with the Canon R5. I know I dove headfirst into 8K immediately after unboxing the camera. Yes, the Canon R5 shoots 8K raw, and I loved every minute of it until the camera loaned to me with old firmware, over-heated. Since my review, it’s been a super busy year; Canon has improved upon the overheating issue and released guidance on avoiding over-heating. 8K, as an image, is pretty incredible but seems to come at a bit of a cost.

Typically, I shot 8K raw when I wanted a particular “wow” factor in a shot or sequence. Doing so added a “pop” to wide-shots and landscapes. I made this my way of working to avoid any over-heating. Yet, I wanted to shoot continuous 8K all the time, but I couldn’t, whether it be over-heating or media not quite fast enough to handle the data rate. FYI, make sure to invest in the fastest and approved media for the Canon R5.

4K 120 fps

I shot some 4K 120fps, not a ton, but enough to know 120fps on the R5 can be pretty sensational in the right hands. It is impressive to me to have a full-frame camera capable of 4K 120fps, whether it be a Canon R5 or another brand. We live in good times for camera operators. The 4K 120fps did not look softer than the standard frame rate 4K. When I shot 4K 120fps, the camera over-heated right when I got into the groove, which was frustrating. I’m hoping Canon’s latest firmware update fixed this problem.

Full Buffer

If you are shooting 8K or 4K 120fps, watch out for a full buffer in the R5. I experienced the camera capable of shooting 8K raw or 4K 120fps only to have the camera’s buffer fill up and cause me to shot shorter clips than I liked. It may take a bit to clear out the buffer too. I’m guessing it’s a buffer/card write problem. My media was just fast enough, and this could have caused this problem. Buy the fastest cards you can.

4K HQ vs. 4K

The Canon R5 is a 4K camera capable of shooting 8K. This is how I think we should approach the Canon R5 instead of the reverse. 4K on the R5 looks great and delivers as expected, if not a bit better than I expected. 4K HQ vs. 4K is a friendly debate for camera users to have with camera users. I write this with the belief most, not all but, most customers may not see a significant difference between the 4K HQ and 4K image.

Color – Clog

The R5 is not a dynamic range beast. The mirrorless camera gets around 11 stops, which is doable for a good colorist to massage the image into something better in DaVinci Resolve. I was able to grab a very contrasty scene, a sun setting behind clouds behind a building, and pull the shadows and mid-tones into a more pleasing image. The 10-bit HEVC source files help to capture just enough color information for this type of work. Yet, convert those H.265 files to an edit-friendly codec like ProRes or whatever you prefer. H.265 files will slow down your computer. I use EditReady to convert my footage.

The Canon R5 is a good camera. As a stills camera, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option. As a video camera, I have a couple of items on my list I wish were in the R5.

Better video exposure tools in the EVF or LCD Screen
Full-size HDMI output
Zero Record Limits
Zero over-heating (though engineering and realistic expectations may make this impossible)

Can’t have too many cat photos in a web post, right?

I used the Canon R5 nearly every day of my camera review period. I preferred the R5 over my very easy to use ENG B4 camera with an incredibly wide to telephoto lens. As a companion camera to a C300 Mark III or C500 Mark II, the R5, or even the R6, are great options to give you a one-two camera punch without the need to buy or rent a second full-blown cinema camera. If I were to travel more for work, the Canon R5 might be my go-to as a “B” camera for news coverage. The ability to shoot photos with the full-frame 45 mega-pixel sensor wouldn’t be a loss for me either. I’d likely place it in my kit for quick and easy access to whip out. What is remarkable is Canon has put an incredible stills camera in an 8K video camera. While not perfect, the R5 is hard to beat as an all-around stills/motion camera.

The most remarkable features on the Canon R5 help users capture the moment and not the different resolutions it can shoot. Incredible autofocus and image stabilization are the two giant features that helped me be better as a shooter, and isn’t this what we want, a tool to help us be better. To capture better images. 8K doesn’t help you capture a sharper looking image; it just helps you capture an image sharper. Take a look at the Canon R5 holistically, and you will look past the headlines and youtube reviews to find an outstanding all-around still photography and motions camera.

Unreal Build: Virtual Production, a free online event

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 12:38:19 GMT

Discover how virtual production is changing the game in filmmaking at the studio level during a free event, Unreal Build: Virtual Production, taking place online on Tuesday, November 10.

Epic Games announced Unreal Build: Virtual Production, an online event to showcase the incredible projects and innovations from film and television leaders who are pioneering new real-time virtual production workflows. It’s a unique opportunity to learn more about how the tools now available are being used in real world situations by some of the top Innovators in real-time production.

The free event, takes place online on Tuesday, November 10 kicking off at 9AM PDT/12PM EDT/5PM GMT, and all you’ve to do to participate is to register following the link to Unreal Build: Virtual Production, one more of a series of webinars, online courses made available by Epic Games in recent weeks.

As Epic Games says, presenting the event, “coming to you from the comfort of your own home on Tuesday, November 10” Unreal Build: Virtual Production “is a free half-day virtual event that showcases incredible projects and innovations from film and television industry trailblazers. We’ll also be bringing you the latest features in the upcoming Unreal Engine 4.26 release. Plus! Don’t miss a special guest presentation from Weta Digital and stay tuned for news on other exciting content.”

Italy’s first-ever LED stage

The programing will include:

A panel of top executives including Chris Del Conte (Amazon Studios), Lynwen Brennan (Disney/Lucasfilm), Girish Balakrishnan (Netflix), Shari Hanson (Paramount), and Christopher Cram (Universal Pictures) will discuss how virtual production is changing the game in filmmaking at the studio level – from creative opportunities for artists, to budgeting and staffing – and how they see virtual production evolving from here
Renowned cinema creature creator Aaron Sims will demonstrate how his studio is bringing new creatures into feature films with Unreal Engine
Animation studio AMGI will provide an under-the-hood demonstration of its real-time workflow for episodic animation, previewing its latest IP
VFX industry veteran Max Rocchetti will debut content and behind-the-scenes clips from an upcoming Warner Bros. film, shot entirely on Italy’s first-ever LED stage
The Mandalorian art director Andrew Jones will explore the value of virtual production in the art department from concept design through to final pixel
A sneak peek at upcoming virtual production tools coming later this year in Unreal Engine 4.26 and a special presentation from Weta Digital

A more detailed look at the program reveals what the different sessions offer. In “Production Design on ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 1”, Art Director of Disney’s The Mandalorian, Andrew Jones will discuss the value that virtual production delivers with assets built in the art department that carry through to the final picture. He’ll reveal the approach the studio took to virtual production on the space western television series, including a look at the techniques used as well as what worked and what didn’t.

In the “Against All Odds: From Start-up to Showtime in One Year” session the starting conditions are as follows: Money is tight, the director is old-school, and you’re racing against time. Nobody’s done this before in your region. All the odds are stacked against you. How do you take the leap and come out the other side alive? In this session VFX industry veteran Max Rocchetti will share a few takeaways from life on an indie production, debuting content and behind-the-scenes clips from an upcoming Warner Bros. film shot entirely on Italy’s first LED soundstage.

Unreal Creatures and the film industry

The session “Integrating Unreal Virtual Production into the highest-quality character animation pipeline” will explore how animation studio AMGI harnesses the power of real-time rendering to produce high-quality animation at a fraction of the traditional animation time. The presentation will dive into the latest tools and techniques AMGI uses for rapid prototyping of full-body and facial animation, showcasing a process of motion capture puppeteering mixed with key frame animation rendered at super-fast speeds.

Aaron Sims, creator of some of this generation’s most unforgettable cinema creatures like the Stranger Things Demogorgon, will debut new characters and discuss how his studio is bringing them into feature films with Unreal Engine. During the session titled “Bringing Unreal Creatures to the Film Industry” he will explain how Aaron Sims Creative came to adopt Unreal Engine, showcasing scenes and creatures from the studio’s Epic MegaGrant-funded film project, Dive. Over the course of the session, Aaron will reveal how virtual production has helped shape the film, extrapolating from this experience to other projects as well as the industry as a whole.

The examples above and the whole event offer a window into the future of film, television and animated content creation. Don’t miss it as there is also the chance, during the live event, to ask the panel your own questions in the live Q&A. The Unreal Build: Virtual Production free event takes place online on Tuesday, November 10 kicking off at 9AM PDT/12PM EDT/5PM GMT. Register to participate!

CineGear ON AIR: a tribute to Douglas Kirkland

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 11:32:26 GMT

CineGear Expo pays tribute to legendary still photographer, Douglas Kirkland in an ON AIR presentation on October 28, 2020. Register and participate!

CineGear Expo series of ON AIR live and on demand webinars is a series of industry specific talks created to keep the industry moving and talking through the pandemic. Previous events included a lively discussion about how COVID has forced the industry to rethink how film and TV is produced, or a live Zoom discussion with the legendary filmmaker Dean Cundey, ASC focusing on the art and craft behind some of his spookier cult classics from the Halloween films to The Thing, The Fog, Jurassic Park, and more audience favorites. Now it’s time to pay a tribute to Douglas Kirkland.

Under the title “A Cinematographers Tribute to the Photography of the Incredible Douglas Kirkland”, CineGear Expo pays tribute to legendary still photographer, Douglas Kirkland in an ON Air presentation on October 28, 2020. Known worldwide for his iconic imagery of top stars and filmmakers from some of the most influential films of all time, Kirkland has been recognized worldwide for his extensive body of work covering his 6-decade career. This event pays homage to Kirkland’s 250 black and white portraits of cinematographers shot from 1991 until recently for Kodak’s On Film ad campaign.

A unique portfolio of actors

The unassuming still photographer created some of the most fascinating portraits of famous artists from Man Ray to Coco Chanel to Andy Warhol, and musicians from Frank Sinatra to Mick Jagger to Diana Ross. His extensive portfolio of actors’ portraiture is unmatched: Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Leonardo DiCaprio, Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman or Romy Schneider, to name just a few. He has captured countless filmmaking pioneers like Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Oliver Stone, and James Cameron—whose work has impacted the art of motion pictures.

Hosted by Richard Crudo ASC, the show’s panel of renowned cinematographers includes: Steven Poster ASC, James Chressanthis ASC, Nancy Schreiber ASC, George Spiro Dibie ASC, Dante Spinotti ASC, AIC, Stephen Lighthill, ASC, Vittorio Storaro ASC, AIC, Don McAlpine ACS, ASC, and Reed Morano, ASC, DGA. Kirkland, his remarkable wife/partner Francoise, as well as son, director Mark Kirkland, join the conversation from their studio as each cinematographer recalls a personal story about the day Kirkland captured their image.

The one-hour program, available on Wednesday, October 28th at 11 am PDT, will include photos, footage and classic conversation about Douglas Kirkland as he enjoys his sixth decade as a still photographer.

To RSVP for the free CineGear event “A Cinematographers Tribute to the Photography of the Incredible Douglas Kirkland”, follow the link.

Maxon: here is the October 3D Motion & Design Show lineup

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 13:09:07 GMT

Mixing Cinema 4D with Unreal Engine to create animations, using Cinema 4D in virtual production are some of the talks included in the next series of Maxon’s 3D Motion & Design Show frees series.

The final days of October see the return of a free series of artist-focused streaming shows for 3D and motion graphics artists, part of the 3D Motion & Design Show, from Maxon. Hosted online from October 27-29, 2020, on the Maxon website and YouTube channel, the world’s top motion graphics and VFX artists will showcase 3D techniques and real-world production workflows using Cinema 4D, Redshift and Red Giant products.

Online events are growing in importance, as Fall knocks on the door and keeping social distancing becomes even more crucial. Staying home does not mean staying away from all the news about the industry and how creators are developing new ways to tell stories. Maxon’s 3D Motion & Design Show plays an important part in that experience with this free event that will be streamed live. If you can’t make it on the exact day and hour, no problem: all sessions are available on demand shortly after airing on 3DMotionShow.com as well as the Maxon YouTube channel. Viewers of the live event will be able to interact and send in questions via chat for the live Q&A sessions with artists.

Featured sessions

Here are some of the featured 3D Motion & Design Show sessions and speakers:

Creating the Unreal with Cinema 4D

Jonathan Winbush, Immersive Artist, Winbush Immersive – Sponsored by Unreal Engine

Winbush has been working in Hollywood doing motion graphics for movies and television shows since 2006 having worked on properties for Marvel, Warner Bros, Hasbro, Discovery Channel and others. In this session, he will take viewers through his latest Epic Games project where he combines the use of Cinema 4D with Unreal Engine to create the UE logo animation, which he will debut at this talk.

Character Building in Cinema 4D

Bri Marie, 3D Artist, Facebook Reality Labs

After spending two years as a designer/animator at Buck LA, Marie works as a 3D artist at Facebook Reality Labs in Seattle doing product visualization. In this session, she will walk you through the process of creating an original character based on an imaginative description provided by her young family members.

C4D + VR: From Pre-rendered to Game Engine

Ethan Shaftel, Director, easyAction

Shaftel directs film, immersive, and interactive projects. His VR films have screened at Sundance, Tribeca, and the Venice Film Festival. He’s also created interactive installations for brands, tour content for musicians, animated parade floats for Disneyland, and numerous other film and interactive projects. In this session, he will demonstrate how C4D can play a central role in all stages of virtual reality production.

Rendering in Style with Redshift!

James Ramirez, Art Director, Friedpixels

Ramirez is a director and motion designer based in Los Angeles. His film credits include Stranger Than Fiction, Quantum of Solace, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse. From highly stylized NPR renders to photorealistic dystopian popcorn machines, this session will explore how to use different features creatively.

Work With What You’ve Got: Nimble Experimentation in Cinema 4D

Lauren Fisher, Chief Creative Officer, The Famous Group

Fisher is a Los Angeles based designer, animator and director with over 14 years of experience in the entertainment and sports industry. In this session, she will discuss how she uses Cinema 4D in her workflow for a myriad of different projects from an animated docuseries, projection mapping to Instagram experiments.

There are more sessions to follow during the three day event, and a visit to the show website will give you all the information you need to decide which of the nearly 15 talks included in this new edition of Maxon’s 3D Motion & Design Show frees series you want to watch.

FiLMiC Remote for Android: a complete mobile studio experience

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 12:09:58 GMT

Mobile filmmakers using Android have a new tool available to them, thanks to FiLMiC Inc. The company extended FiLMiC Remote to Android OS, turning android devices into wireless controllers or monitors.

For a while now, with FiLMiC Remote it has been possible to turn any iPad or iOS device into a powerful companion application that opens up avenues of creativity that have traditional cost production crews thousands. The latest version, FiLMiC Remote V3 offers powerful wireless control, intuitive focus & exposure tools, and clean video monitoring options to expand the functionality of FiLMiC Pro. The app offers 3 distinct modes: Control Mode, Monitor Mode, and a Director Mode.

Filmmakers using Android have had to look with envy towards those using iOS devices, but that changes now, as FiLMiC Inc extends FiLMiC Remote to Android OS. The app transforms Android devices into wireless controllers, remote monitors for mobile filmmakers. FiLMiC Remote for Android syncs with FiLMiC Pro for remote camera control, shot preview and monitoring, creating complete mobile studio experience.

According to the company, “FiLMiC Remote now enables all supported Android mobile devices to sync with their primary Android device running FiLMiC Pro for a complete mobile studio experience. Now mobile Android mobile filmmakers can remotely preview, monitor and control FiLMiC Pro from separate Android devices, which is ideal for managing shots where the camera is not in reach or immediately accessible to the filmmaker.”

FiLMiC Remote has three modes

FiLMiC Remote for Android delivers three modes of remote mobile filmmaking capabilities, including:

Control Mode provides connected devices with access to the FiLMiC Pro interface for complete remote camera control in hard-to-reach camera placements, such as sliders, jib arms, car mounts and microphone stands;
Monitor Mode gives mobile filmmakers cinema production capability for a fraction of the cost, offering a four-up display with powerful analytics, including video preview, waveform monitors, vectorscopes and histograms;
Director Mode provides a clean video preview, ideal for directors, producers or crew with a device to monitor the production remotely. Users can switch between modes on the fly to check analytics and composition. FiLMiC Remote can also be set up in ‘preview-only’ mode allowing a camera operator to perform all controls from the device running FiLMiC Pro and allowing the Remote to be used solely for monitoring.

WiFi, Ethernet and more

FiLMiC Remote for Android wireless syncs mobile devices using available WiFi networks, a peer to peer network connection, or using a hard-wired Ethernet option for latency-free monitoring. A detailed tutorial and walkthrough of all the key capabilities of the app´s version for Android is available on the video above. If you’ve a compatible Android device you want to use as a remote and believe this can be useful to you, check the app’s page.

FiLMiC Remote for Android is available immediately and is priced at $9.99 USD. To download FiLMiC Remote for supported Android devices from the Google Play Store, follow this link. FiLMiC Remote is also available for iOS devices and can be downloaded from the App Store using this link.

Review: YoloBox touchscreen video switcher-recorder-streaming encoder

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 17:18:46 GMT

Here my review on YoloBox, a portable, all-in-one video switcher, touch-screen monitor, recorder and streaming encoder for popular platforms. YoloBox can switch between up to five video sources, of which up-to-three may be physical local cameras. The other two may be pre-recorded videos, either stored on an internal memory chip or from a web source. For under US$1000, YoloBox is very portable and has very few limitations compared to a more complete (but much less portable) system like Ecamm Live. Watch my video and read the article.

Historical background

For over 12 years in English here in ProVideo Coalition —and several decades in Castilian, I have been covering several software-based audio-video switching systems, from the Video Toaster, NewTek Tricaster family of products which run exclusively on a hidden Windows operating system, Streamstar, which also runs on Windows, WireCast Pro from Telestream which runs either on macOS or Windows, Teradek Live: Air Action which runs on iPad, Ecamm Live (covered in several articles) which runs exclusively on macOS, and VMIX which is exclusive to Windows. I have also recently covered the ATEM Mini family of physical video switchers from Blackmagic in several articles, which work standalone, with no visible operating system.

Self-contained? Totally portable? Partial levels of degrees

Of those that I have covered so far, all require an external monitor (or a laptop display or iMac screen) together with an external physical control device… with the notable exceptions of Live: Air Action for iPad and the standalone Streamstar CASE 800, both of which use an inboard touchscreen as part of the main unit.

The lack of external monitors or pointing devices makes them much more self-contained, making them more appropriate for field use. Although it is free to connect iOS or iPadOS cameras to Teradek’s Live-to.AirAction, if you want to connect SDI or HDMI cameras to Live-to.Air Action, this requires you to purchase, connect and power a proprietary source encoder from Teradek, which costs at least US$699 per camera. Although no external encoders are required to connect SDI or HDMI cameras to the Streamstar CASE 800, this device itself costs several thousand US dollars and although portable, is certainly not compact.

On the other hand, the 7-inch diagonal touch screen on the YoloBox is similar in 2D size to a 7″ Amazon Fire tablet in horizontal width and height, although substantially deeper to accommodate multiple ports.

including several HDMI, USB, Ethernet and an additional 3.5mm audio input and another for audio monitoring. We definitely won’t find all of those ports built into on any standard tablet.

YoloBox weighs only 480 grams (or just over a pound). That explains why it can even be mounted via a cold shoe on top of a camera. With very few limitations, the under US$1000 YoloBox is indeed optimized for in-the-field productions with a small crew, and when you need a very short setup time.

YoloBox can connect to up to two local HDMI cameras and one USB webcam or other camera with USB webcam-like output. As I recently covered, you can now also use iOS, iPadOS and certain Android devices with clean HDMI output from FiLMiC Pro to feed switchers like YoloBox. In preparation for this review, Francisco Javier Arbolí connected two of his Sony cameras via HDMI and one USB webcam. In addition to that, you can also add up to two additional sources like prerecorded videos from the internal memory chip or from a web source by entering the source URL. YoloBox also allows for picture-in-picture compositions and superimposing graphics for logos and lower thirds (which are called “watermarks” by YoloBox). YoloBox even offers superimposing a scoreboard. However, YoloBox does have chromakey or remote interview capabilities the way Ecamm Live does. With its internal rechargeable 5700mAh battery, YoloBox is ideal for more simple multicamera field production.

To connect to the Internet and broadcast live, YoloBox offers three options:

Ethernet port for best reliability and minimum latency
dual band 802.11ac wifi
LTE using your own data SIM card

…since YoloBox comes unlocked to work with you own data SIM card from your favorite provider. In my case, that’s Google Fi (covered in several articles, save US$20 by clicking here). No external computer, smartphone or hotspot is required to stream with YoloBox. Depending upon your available upload speed from your Internet provider and platform capabilities, you can broadcast with YoloBox at up to 1080p, although you can reduce it to 720p or lower if your upload speed doesn’t allow for 1080p. YoloBox has a built-in scaler for each input and accepts sources with any combination of 720p, 1080i or 1080p.

YoloBox comes with presets to broadcast to FaceBook, Twitch or YouTube Live. Other platforms or middleware CDNs can be configured via RTMP. You might use a middleware CDN if you want to simulcast on multiple platforms, be it YoloLiv’s own one or any other one that works with RTMP.

Conclusions and suggestions for the creator

It should be clear from the video and the rest of this article that YoloBox is a game changer for mobile multi-camera live production live production where the schlep factor must be the absolute minimum, there is a very small crew, and a minimum setup time. The only things I would recommend to YoloLiv (the creator of YoloBox) are:

Please add a software waveform monitor to facilitate matching cameras.
Please add the ≈ symbol in front of the streaming framerate to indicate VFR (variable framerate).
Please add an option to compensate for type 1 and type 2 camera shyness from 1080p cameras, as covered in many past articles. (Fortunately YoloBox can already compensate for type 3 shyness as I have covered in other articles.
Please add Castilian as a GUI interface, in addition to English and the Asian language(s) that are currently available.

In any case, YoloBox is already very powerful for this type of application. For more information, visit YoloLiv here.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank Francisco Javier Arbolí for shooting this video using his Nexus 6p (since his other cameras were otherwise occupied) and for providing camera sources in his home studio. I also thank YoloLiv for sending the YoloBox for me to review it.

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RECAP: Adobe MAX 2020 – Day 2

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 18:30:50 GMT

As is tradition, Day 2 of Adobe MAX really kicked off with Sneaks, where we are treated to a peek at the newest tech toys that the brains at Adobe Labs are working on. This year Paul Trani was joined by Chelsea Handler as they walked us through each employee/scientist/artist’s presentation. They started off in classic 2020 style by talking about Chelsea has been handling the quarantine (she’s thriving, not having kids was a good choice) and quickly ran through her technology bona fides (she’s a luddite). Between each presentation, Chelsea did a great job of making Paul uncomfortable and I’m absolutely here for it (haha). There weren’t a lot of video features demoed, but in particular Sharp Shots, Scantastic, and Material World could be big for video creatives, especially as we work our way into the 3D/Film hybrid future. There was a lot to get through on Day 2, a lot of really good sessions and labs, so I won’t waste any time getting to the goods.

You can watch the Sneaks presentation here, but I’ve got the new tech summarized by Adobe below:

Project Sharp Shots – powered by Adobe Sensei (Adobe’s AI and machine learning technology)
#SharpShotsSneak takes advantage of advancements in computer vision and deep learning to transform blurry videos into sharp, steady, action-packed footage.
Project Scantastic

#Scantastic offers an intuitive solution that leverages your smartphone and a photogrammetry pipeline to capture 3D models from the environment with minimal user intervention for immersive, 3D experiences.
Project Material World – powered by Adobe Sensei

#MaterialWorld is a tool for image-to-material reverse engineering. It provides an intuitive material identification process that works under natural lighting, avoiding the need for complex capture setup or user inputs. This results in a digital texture so real you can almost feel it.
Project Physics Whiz

#PhysicsWhiz introduces a physics-based layout tool that combines a user’s intuitive sense of physical manipulation with the precision of digital tools to simplify object manipulation in 3D digital tools.
Project On the Beat – powered by Adobe Sensei

#OnTheBeatSneak identifies out-of-rhythm body movements and aligns them to generate beat-synced videos for the perfect dance video.
Project Comic Blast – powered by Adobe Sensei

#ComicBlast disrupts the way comics are created and consumed through efficient, collaborative, and intelligent design and technology paradigms that make comic book creation fun and 100x faster.
Project In Sync

#InSyncSneak streamlines the disconnected path from an XD file to a production-ready application. It allows designers to share information about the design and implementation, create a bridge prototype from XD, and quickly push to a production site.
Project 2D Plus

#2DPlus enables users to take 2D objects in Illustrator and make them instantly appear 3D. It is a set of features – dynamic shadows, attached shadows, auto-arrange, and graphic lighting, that come together to create 2.5D’ish looking outputs that graphic designers will undoubtedly love, saving a huge learning curve of understanding 3D apps.
Project Typographic Brushes

#TypographicBrushes combines users’ drawn stroke inputs, the choice of brush, and the typographic properties of the text object to brings paint style brushes and new-type families to life in seconds.
Project AR Together

#ARTogether brings to life a multi-user experience where everyone shares the same view of the physical space and virtual objects, and can author and share AR scenes without compromising the quality of the experience.

Audio Essentials for Editing Audio Like a Pro

My first session was about audio. I’ve gotten pretty decent, workmanlike, at audio processing over the past couple years so I wanted to see if I could learn anything new. First thing: the presenter sounded great, which if you’re not a big education-seeker online, is actually (surprisingly) shocking. A lot of people will go online and say something like “Here’s how to light a scene professionally” and the video of them telling you this is lit poorly. I never understand that. Anyway, you’ll be able to watch any of the sessions I talk about by following the headline link above each summary.

The presentation starts in Rush, and as is intended Rush basically does the work for you. It’ll identify dialogue and music and tag them as such, and then you just go into the audio panel and select things like “Auto Volume, Reduce Noise, Reduce Echo, Enhance Speech (EQ), and Balance Sound (Compression). Easy. It can even auto-mix the music with the dialogue.

In Premiere it’s nearly the same, with a bit more granular control (and VSTs) available to you. Using the Essential Sound panel, you simply tag the appropriate clips as dialogue, music, or otherwise and use many of the same processing to get started; Dynamics, EQ Presets, Denoise, DeEss etc. Personally, I’ve been using the iZotope suite to tackle most processing but the Essential Sound panel carries its weight quite nicely.

One trick that was highlighted in the presentation, one that I often forget to lean on, is to use EQs to identify problematic sounds before eliminating them. With coloring, for instance, you’re used to additive behaviors (adding contrast, adding saturation, boosting highlights) and only then going in and subtracting problem areas, but with Audio it’s kind of the opposite; you want to boost small windows of frequencies and “sweep” that notch around the EQ visualizer until it sounds particularly bad, and then cut those frequencies. In the same way, you can figure out exactly where you should place, for instance, the beginning of a High Pass filter (to remove rumble/wind noise) is to actually use a Low Pass filter and move it around until you are just about to hear the speaker’s voice, back it off just a touch, and then swap it for the High Pass filter.

With audio, you often cut more than you boost.

In Audition, you’ve actually got some awesome visual tools to tackle problem areas. Spectral Frequency View has a Frequency Eraser, for targeted noise reduction using a graphic representation of your audio like a super detailed waveform. It’s honestly like using the healing brush in Photoshop, but for audio. It’s an awesome tool. As before, you can use the Paintbrush tool to highlight and preview problem areas and then use the Frequency Eraser to get rid of them. I’ll be using that tool more often for sure.

Days to Hours, Hours to Minutes: Streamlining Your Creative Process

This presentation was probably my favorite of the day. Really helped me articulate what was important to focus on, what’s important to automate, how to work while you move (again, momentum is everything), and how to problem solve. Definitely give it a watch. As it is described on the landing page:

Creatives today are expected to produce more content in less time than ever before. Tight deadlines, monstrous workloads, and limited resources force content creators to focus on simply completing assignments on time — instead of approaching each project as an opportunity to display their full creativity. Join David Leopold, senior director of creative experience technologies at ViacomCBS, as he shares his approach to removing friction from design and production workflows for top ViacomCBS brands, including MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon.

Everyone ends up having to wear a ton of hats, on multiple types of content, and you end up with an enormous toolbox. Creatives speak a common language in process and artistic/creative disciplines, and we’re great at talking inside baseball, but we often focus too much on the non-creative aspects of our jobs. We’ve all seen a workflow diagram, IGEST, DELIVERY, and ARCHIVE are common to everyone, but those things take up tons of time, removes time for the creative stuff (“The Work”) and aren’t worth the added time fussing over once you have a good workflow in place. Process is interesting but tends to get in the way of the thing we’re attempting to get to, which is a creative flow state. Creatives should spend their time being creative, no one cares about export settings and network speeds. How do we get to, and stay in, the creative zone?

David says not to focus on EFFICIENCY, but instead to focus on PRODUCTIVITY. Efficiency is minimal tools, maximum speed. Productivity is maximizing resources and minimizing friction. Efficiency is great for repetitive tasks, but creativity is not repetitive. It’s not about saving time, it’s about reallocating time. In his mind, an edit is never finished early, you just get as much done by the deadline as you can. Being finished early doesn’t mean you’re done. If you have the time you can always polish, experiment, and if your new ideas don’t work out you’ve still got your “finished” cut ready to roll. Sure, there are jobs that aren’t terribly creative that are “done” pretty quick, and it’s easy to say “well I’m not being paid to make this any better or different, so why put the time in?” but that spare time you have to experiment can make the next project better and perhaps can show you how complete that next project even faster. Use that time to your advantage! Don’t phone it in.

Eliminate Distractions. You know the distractions: Your phone, YouTube, Twitter… Apparently, after some scientists did science, it takes you 25min to get back on task after an interruption. Creativity is about being in the moment, stream of consciousness. Being interrupted is a killer. As Steven Kolter says, you want to be in that Flow State as long as possible.

Reduce Friction. Identify things that slow you down and eliminate them. Things that take too many clicks, things that can be automated, things that take you out of the flow because they’re not creative. You want to be able to create at the speed that you think. Honestly, I’m reminded of the feeling I had when I was reviewing that Puget Systems rig last year. I wanted to edit on that PC. Editing wasn’t a chore, and a big part of that was simply the fact that the computer was powerful enough to render out effects and play back footage in real time. I wasn’t waiting on warp stabilize, I wasn’t waiting on the render queue, I wasn’t waiting waiting waiting, I was making. That feeling is invigorating. Reducing the time spent doing non-creative tasks is huge.

1. Identify Problems
Look at non-creative tasks in the creative space.
Repetitive tasks that disrupt flow (like titling, lower thirds, ingesting)
Too many clicks (keyframing, masking, etc)
Lack of expertise (“I don’t know motion graphics”)
New asks and unestablished workflows (emerging technologies and new jobs)

2. Take Inventory
Maximize your toolset.
Find tools in your preferred applications that you don’t recognize (Menu items, shortcuts, etc)
Spend 15 minutes a day looking for new tools within your existing toolkit (look for new takes)
Look at release notes for new features in your software
Find basic tutorials for adjacent applications you don’t currently use or are an expert at.
Adobe has a ton of tools that are shared between programs (Audition, After Effects, PS > PP)

3. Play, Dream, & Develop
Solve problems.
Take list of problems and tools, start matching (Adobe Capture turns pics into vectors)
Acknowledge Gaps (identify problems that don’t already have a solution
Imagine the Possibilities (daydream, ignore the rules, try new solutions to existing problems)
Find off-label uses for things (that’s my SHIT)
Develop/Hack when possible (literally, scripting and whatnot)

4. Make a Plan
Simplify, Condense, Clarify
Get rid of extraneous details
Combine concepts into one overall concept (elevator pitch)
Be clear about what the problem is, and why we’re choosing to solve it this way
If it doesn’t feel familiar or magical, put it back on the shelf (solutions need to be elegant)

5. Communicate
The messenger must be an insider.
Keep it bite-sized. No one wants to learn a whole new workflow.
Don’t focus on the technical, you’re solving a creative problem.
— Focusing too much on the technical comes across as tech support. TS is not an insider.

Proven Feature Film Workflow Techniques for Video Creators

This one’s a bit more technical. If you’re an editor, you know Vashi Nedomansky. His Twitter, blog, and educational sessions are invaluable especially for people just starting out. I’ve likely seen everything he’s put out into the world, and have incorporated most of his tricks into my own editing workflow, but I still wanted to see what he had in store for MAX. In his presentation, Vashi distills down many of the things he often talks about into a brisk 30 minute presentation, of which my notes are shared below. Definately give his session a watch and follow him on Twitter for more!

1. HARDWARE & SOFTWARE
Get the best stuff you can afford. As I mentioned, editing on a slick machine is just lovely.

2. PREFERENCES & OPTIMIZATION
Get your settings and whatnot dialed in.
Turn on Auto Audio Waveform Generation.
Default Media Scaling: Set to Frame Size so everything scales appropriately in your Timeline
Make sure you’re using your CUDA playback if you’ve got an nVidia card.

3. ORGANIZATION & PREPPING ASSETS
Get those folders organized.
Familiarize yourself with the footage and organize it into those folders
Use the Media Browser for import! Don’t just drag and drop, it can cause issues. I personally use Watchtower to automagically handle all of that.
Hit the tilde key to fullscreen things/see footage in folders

4. THE ESSENTIALS OF EDITING
Mark In, Mark Out, Insert, Overwrite, Lift, Extract, Trim (bind those keys! Make it work for you)
Movies are made in increasing “chunks”: Shot, Moment, Scene, Sequence, Reel, Film

5. PANCAKE TIMELINE
Have your selects in one timeline and your assembly in the next, both onscreen simultaneously.
People often forget this part: Open your selects timeline in the Source Monitor, Hit “Wrench” > “Open Sequence in Timeline”
— This puts your footage in the source monitor and your output in the program monitor
— Allows you to use “Insert/Overwrite” and puts clip(s) in your main timeline easily

6. AUDIO & MIXING
Really, really focus on your audio! It’s hugely important and often more important than the visuals.
As a tip, hit the sequence “hamburger” > “Show audio time units” which allows you to work in milliseconds instead of frames for precision editing

7. COLOR CORRECTION
Editors end up needing to be a bit of a colorist (balancing/matching shots) when they
Learn your scopes!
Stick to the Lumetri Basic panel if you’re going to do anything. The granular tools are… workable.
The “ProLost” Order of operations are: Denoise, Correct, Windows, Gradients, Vignettes, Color grade, LUTS, Grain, Resize/Sharpen

8. VISUAL EFFECTS
Editors end up needing to do effects too (Split comps, titles, greenscreens)
As Ernie Gilbert said in our interview, it’s not cool until it’s cool. Don’t show the client a half-cocked piece!

9. VFX in AE
Copy the clip in Premiere, put it above original clip so you can always go back, Dynamic Link it
Your VFX guy can edit it as you work and it’ll update automatically, which is nice

10. MASTER FILE & DELIVERABLES
Highest Res possible, highest (5:1, 7:1) audio mix, Lowest possible compression
ProRess 4444, or Cineform which encodes faster, are the usual deliverables
Always ask for a spec sheet so you can pass QC

Enhancing Video Interviews: Quick Tips for Making Better Talking Heads

This one could replace a college course on getting prepped for an interview. A really straightforward, easy to follow, practical guide to talking head shoots (of which I’m sure we’re all intimately familiar with executing). I honestly can’t add much to this presentation, it’s worth just going in and watching as every second is spent getting you up to speed on how to tackle one of these shoots. As a working filmmaker/cinematographer/director, you’ll likely shoot at least one of these a month, usually more, so it’s important to hear some tried and true methods of nailing them. Once you have a solid workflow in place (and plenty of practice/pre-production) the work will disappear and you can maintain your attention with the subject. Talking head shoots don’t need to be complicated, this is where you can get away with “competent” filmmaking (Anthony Bourdain would destroy me for saying that, but it’s true).

The big things to focus on are amazing audio (get two sources minimum), great in-situ lighting (often using diffusion, bounce, and personally I like some negative fill in there if possible), plenty of b-roll, and a great connection with your interviewee. Documentaries, journalism, are all about the subject and you won’t get a good interview if the subject is nervous or feels uncomfortable. Its your job to make it seem like this is just a breeze in the park while simultaneously getting all the material you need. It’s a bit of a magic trick but it’s absolutely worth your time to dial it in!

Advanced Tricks for Every Photoshop User

This is another one I can’t add anything to without just re-typing what was said. Unmesh is the man when it comes to Photoshop. His YouTube is an absolute gold mine of education on the program, and I constantly use it as a reference when tackling larger projects or just trying to figure out how to accomplish something I’m new to. His videos do not mess around. No time is wasted. This presentation was no different. My concept of the “amount of time” a half-hour has been absolutely destroyed by Adobe MAX and this one went by in what felt like 30 seconds.

In his presentation, Unmesh goes over some of the new features in Photoshop that premiered (ha) at MAX while also sharing a few tips on how to best utilize these tools. Like I said, he doesn’t waste a single second so a bit of prior knowledge of Photoshop may be useful. He still does an excellent job of describing exactly what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. He actually has a longer, slightly slower video on his channel going over these features and more, if you’re interested.

Other Great Sessions

I was bouncing in and out of sessions all day, juggling my other obligations while also trying to find time to eat and take breaks, but I just wanted to briefly highlight some of the presentations that I think might be valuable to the average PVC reader to check out on top of everything I’ve mentioned thus far.

Valentina Vee is a popular filmmaker and Adobe Master Trainer, and she had a couple sessions that might be worth checking out. First, there was Adobe Premiere Pro for Social Media Video Creation in which she goes through some basic skills and tools within Premiere needed to get that content of yours (or your employers) out into the world quickly and effectively. She also had a really helpful session on Multi-cam Editing which can be a game changer not only for traditional multi-camera shoots, but I’ve used it for music videos as well to great effect. There’s a lot you can probably do with the auto-syncing and camera switching tools in Premiere.

Another presentation that I actually missed but looked promising was Jeff Greenberg’s Lab on Color Grading in Premiere. I personally use *cough* a competitor to Adobe for color correction, but I really do sometimes just need a quick grade that isn’t too fussy and being able to accomplish that within Premiere is incredibly helpful as I don’t want to be bouncing around programs all the time. I intend to go back and watch this one once MAX is all wrapped up, but I downloaded the workbook too just in case. These workbooks are awesome resources and I wish the Sessions (as opposed to the “Labs”, I just learned there’s a difference) had them too. I noticed in the chat window in Unmesh’s presentation that people were asking for workbooks, but as it was a “Session” those weren’t created. Hopefully next year!

I also continued on my education with Frequency Separation, hitting Part 2 of the “Frequency Separation 2.0” series from Earth Oliver (great name by the way) and I’m incredibly excited to start using his method in my photography. As I mentioned in yesterday’s article I had somewhat of a working knowledge of Frequency Separation, but only just and my results weren’t the best. I also knew I wanted to do certain things with the color layer (the “low frequency” layer) but didn’t know the best way to go about it, which this presentation fully informed me of. What a great sigh of relief that was! Again, very excited to get going. Part 3 of the series is coming up today!

At the end of the day I ended up in Part 3 of the “Mastering Collaborative Video Editing with Creative Cloud” Lab, having somehow skipped over Part 2, so I’ll definitely have to go back and really take all that information in soon. These sessions are going to be available after MAX for a year, so you’ve got the time if you need it. There’s a workbook for this Lab as well, so that’ll be an invaluable resource once I’m actually in a position to need to work within a Teams project. At the moment it’s all me.

On to Day 3

Day 3 is usually pretty casual, giving people time to catch up on things they missed or just walk around the convention center and check out all the booths (sad face), but tomorrow I’ll have a general recap of everything as I see it.

Onward!

Atomos announces RAW recording on Sony’s PXW-FX9

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 08:22:43 GMT

Atomos is making it possible to record RAW footage with Shogun 7 and FX9 with the AtomOS V10.42 firmware download available on the Atomos website. It’s a free update!

ProVideo Coalition noted, last May, that the Sony FX9 would get RAW recording in 2020. Well, it’s now! The new free AtomOS update available is the result of the cooperation between Sony and Atomos. With the new firmware the Sony’s PXW-FX9 camcorder with full-frame sensor is now capable of outputting RAW over SDI (it requires XDCA-FX9 extension unit), when paired with the Atomos Shogun 7.

With the camera and the Shogun 7 users can record, says Atomos, “pristine Apple ProRes RAW images at up to DCI 4Kp60, or in 2K up to DCI 2Kp180 continuous for stunning slow motion from the FX9 and XDCA-FX9 Extension Unit. The resulting images have amazing detail and a high degree of latitude to utilize in post-production – optimal for HDR finishing or to give greater flexibility in SDR (Rec.709). “

Recording over SDI from the FX9 – remember you need the XDCA-FX9 extension unit – with the Shogun 7 extends the performance of the class leading camcorder by taking RAW data from its state-of-the-art sensor and recording it in the flexible and efficient ProRes RAW format. Recorded with 12Bit color depth, which corresponds to over 68 billion color graduations.

With this announcement another camera joins and expands the ProRes RAW ecosystem. In fact, the FX9 with XDCA-FX9 joins the existing Sony RAW capable line-up of FS7, FS7 II, which both require the XDCA-FS7 extension unit, the FS5, which requires the additional CBKZ-FS5RIF license option, and FS5 II, which all work with the Shogun 7 to record in ProRes RAW.

The flexibility of ProRes RAW

The FX9 camera’s RAW output is now available via a V2.01 firmware update for the FX9 from Sony. Atomos also released the AtomOS V10.42 firmware download, available on the Atomos website, which makes it possible to record RAW footage with Shogun 7 and FX9, making the duo a powerful combination for filmmakers.

Jeromy Young, Atomos CEO, said: “I’m thrilled to be working with the team at Sony to bring this to life. It’s great to add Sony’s FX9 to the large and expanding ProRes RAW ecosystem. The flexibility and convenience of ProRes RAW make the FX9 and Shogun 7 an awesome combination for any filmmaker seeking perfect colors and amazing latitude in post. Initially we will have 4Kp60 and 2Kp180 ProRes RAW recording options and we’re constantly developing more capability in our product to support our partners like Sony.”

ProRes RAW has metadata supplied by the FX9. Apple’s Final Cut Pro X and other NLEs will recognise ProRes RAW files recorded by the Shogun 7 from the FX9’s RAW output and allow for them to be set up for editing and display in either SDR or HDR projects. Additional information will also allow other software to perform extensive parameter adjustments.

The Atomos Shogun 7 HDR monitor, recorder and switcher is a good option to use with Sony’s flagship handheld PXW-FX9. Precision-engineered for the film and video professional, it uses, according to Atomos, “the very latest video technologies available to deliver HDR and SDR monitoring you can trust. It features a highly accurate 1920×1200 HDR screen that is 3000nits in Peak HDR and 1500nits in daylight-viewable mode and displays 15+ stops of dynamic. It records to AtomX SSDmini or other approved SATA SSD drives for maximum reliability using proven standards. These are cost effective with a much lower cost per GB than proprietary memory cards.”

Control and storage advantages of Shogun 7

Apart from recording to ProRes RAW the Shogun 7’s portable size lets you monitor, analyze and tag while on set. The HDR monitor-recorder-switcher is, Atomos claims, “a completely flexible master recording and production station. Add to this, features ranging from asynchronous multicamera switching, a 3000nit screen, improved monitor assist tools, frame guides for Social/CDN production, Dolby Vision playout for HDR delivery and creators have more power to achieve their creative vision than ever before.”

Creators are granted complete creative control of their video images in post-production as ProRes RAW combines the flexibility of RAW video with the real-time performance of ProRes. That’s a key advantage that makes them want to use it. The format gives filmmakers incredible latitude when adjusting the look of their images and extending brightness and shadow detail — making ProRes RAW ideal for HDR and SDR (Rec.709) workflows.

Content creators and filmmakers also benefit from the storage advantage of ProRes RAW, where the codec harnesses the ability to capture 12bit RAW in the same file sizes as 10bit 422 standard ProRes. In addition to their ground-breaking combination of flexibility and performance, Apple ProRes RAW files are smaller than other RAW files – simplifying and accelerating file transfer, media management, and archiving.

ProRes RAW files recorded to the Shogun 7 from the FX9’s RAW output can easily be edited on the Mac. The format is fully supported in Final Cut Pro X along with a collection of other apps including ASSIMILATE SCRATCH, Colorfront, FilmLight Baselight, and Grass Valley Edius.

PVC Podcast Eps 26: NLE Battle Royale

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 21:30:28 GMT

This week, Scott sits down with versatile editors Oliver Peters and Tony Gallardo to talk about the “big 4” non-linear editing applications. They debate some of the strengths and weaknesses and talk about what makes the discussion of NLEs such a religious experience for many of those commenting on the internet. This is a reasoned discussion on the often controversial topic. Enjoy the episode!

The PVC Podcast is available on Apple, Anchor, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more. Subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes! Have a question/ comment? Shoot us a message on Instagram(@provideocoalition) or send us an email: social@provideocoalition.com.

Art Of The Cut Podcast Eps. 70 ("Charm City Kings” Editor Luis Carballar)

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 19:42:23 GMT

The Art of the Cut podcast brings the fantastic conversations that Steve Hullfish has with world renowned editors into your car, living room, editing suite and beyond. In each episode, Steve talks with editors ranging from emerging stars to Oscar and Emmy winners. Hear from the top editors of today about their careers, editing workflows and about their work on some of the biggest films and TV shows of the year.

On todays episode of the Art of the Cut Podcast Steve talks with editor Luis Carballar about the film “Charm City Kings.” You might know Luis from his editing work on the Netflix show “Narcos” as well as “The Devils Double” and “Amores Perros.” Enjoy the episode!

Todays episode of the Art of the Cut Podcast is brought to you by Filmtools.com, Hollywoods trusted one-stop shop for all things production and post. Make sure to use coupon code AOTC10 for 10% off thousands of products when shopping on Filmtools.com. Save big on your next equipment purchase with Filmtools!

Want to read/ listen to more interviews from Steve Hullfish? Check out the Art of the Cut Archive for more than 200 interviews with some of the top film and TV editors of today!

The Art of the Cut podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Overcast and Radio Public. If you like the podcast, make sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app and tell a friend!

RECAP: Adobe MAX 2020 – Day 1

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:54:44 GMT

Yesterday marked the first day of Adobe MAX 2020, this year taking place entirely online and free to access for all. I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to cover the event the past two years and this time was no different (although obviously, from the comfort of my apartment).

This year, as the format allows for more focus on it, I’m hoping to really dig deep into the sessions and labs but obviously will try to give those of you unable to “attend” a good sense of what’s going on during the three-day event. Some of the links to sessions below, largely the ones with celebrities, will not be available on-demand after the 22nd so be sure to watch them now!

Right off the bat, we know we’re not going to see a huge focus on video tools (as was also the case last year), but new features added to Premiere and After Effects have got many excited such as Scene Edit Detection, GPU acceleration for H264 footage (!!!), and an updated Rotobrush. That being said, inspiration and knowledge don’t come exclusively from people who work in the film industry so it’s important to keep an eye on other creative fields for ideas that otherwise would remain elusive to you. Another advantage to this new online format is I can just link some of the talks directly, and don’t have to summarize every single thing said. That’ll be a nice change of pace.

To start, we had the Keynote. Featuring a bit of hosting from Conan O’Brien, the talk focused on the new features and releases for many of the Adobe products as well as set the tone for this year’s theme, “Creativity for All”. Photoshop and Illustrator got some cool updates (some making model photography infinitely more accessible with tools like Sky Replacement and Automatic Retouching) as well as iPad releases, which was nice to see, as well as some film-esque color tools like Local Hue and Color Wheels. Adobe has also put more work into making their Cloud offerings and tools more integral to the work experience and now has the ability to live-stream directly from the programs themselves, to assist educators in sharing their knowledge with their audiences.

From the Keynote, I went on to The Art of Photography session hoping to gain some knowledge from Annie Leibovitz, who was scheduled for last year but had to drop out. I will say, as the session was scheduled for an hour I was expecting a bit more out of Leibovitz, but we were instead given just under 12 minutes of general life discussion, focusing on how the pandemic has affected her work and her outlook as well as some general history on her career.

In the interview, she talks about how virtual shoots haven’t been nearly as effective or engaging and spoke about the importance of the location and the subject in crafting a good portrait. Embracing the space, letting it envelop and speak to you, and interviewing the subject asking how they want to be portrayed, not just how you want the concept to go. A good location that the subject is familiar with (their home or workspace for instance) isn’t just a “backdrop”, it’s a character in and of itself. Like Roger Deakins, Annie comes from a more “documentary” background in journalism and carries that work into her editorial work, saying that Portraiture is just Journalism + Concepts. She also advises that, to be really good, you have to be relentless in your pursuit of your art, obsessed with it, and that you must review your body of work often to illuminate your current work for yourself and inform further decisions, a tip she got from an Art Director she worked with at Rolling Stone.

From there I clicked over to “Graphic Design — From Blank Screen to Brilliant” to hear from one of my big influences, Aaron Draplin, as well as a personal favorite Nick Offerman, who spoke briefly of the importance and beauty of imperfection. Like Annie’s interview, these segments were shorter than I had expected but Draplin’s was a proper presentation as he tends to give at his various talks, slides and all. Similarly to Leibovitz, Aaron focused on the topics at the forefront of this year, specifically racial inequality and how the pandemic has affected him and his work. He is also, most likely, the only presenter that gets a “TV-MA” warning at the top. Legend.

After hocking some of his wares, like his DDC Hardware Typeface (the official font of OWL BOT) and his Skillshare sessions, Draplin jumped in and spoke about the pandemic. Always seemingly a “glass half-full” guy, he focused on the things that made life a little easier during quarantine, such as his purpose-built home office, and how he waffled between working too hard (“When I’m busy I have purpose”) and feeling guilty for taking advantage of the potential excuse for time off. I can agree that down-shifting is hard when you get on a roll, as momentum is everything in creative fields, and it’s difficult to break out of that mindset that if you stop you’re going to fail. I think many of us find work to be the thing that we identify with most, and not having work can make one feel lost and potentially fearful, especially when that identity is tied up in a paycheck. Going from a 16/8 hour work/life balance to potentially 8/8/8 (adding leisure time) seemed borderline sacrilegious. Using that time wisely, then, was key.

A common theme of the first day was using that potential free time to clean shop, learn, optimize, and analyze your life for potentially ineffective habits. When’s the last time you updated your reel, your website, or your resume? How’s your workbench? Your room? Your apartment? Hell, what’s your fridge look like? A messy working or living space is a sure sign of being disengaged, and when compounded can become incredibly distracting. Visual noise, if you will. If you start with the areas that you engage with most and work your way outward, you’ll not only invariably end up working on the more pressing stuff first but also be able to tackle those “bigger” projects (like your reel) with more energy and a clearer mind.

After the design talk, I was whisked off to “Video in the Spotlight” which was largely Inspiration-focused, featuring interviews with Ava DuVernay, muMs, and Zendaya focusing on diversity, inclusion, and of course, the pandemic. A common refrain, they spoke of deeper reflection in this time of stillness and greater appreciation for what we used to take for granted, like simply going outside. Zendaya was actually able to make a small indie film (shot on film) with a small crew “bubbled” in a house, which I’m curious to see the results of.

One odd thing I noticed: the wide shot of DuVernay seems to be out of focus! They had a pretty obvious power window around her, blurring out the area surrounding her, with another on her face to sharpen it (and the noise). Brutal. Regardless, Ava spoke of the importance of collaboration even if the aforementioned stillness and solitude has inspired creativity within her, gaining inspiration from “literally everything” around her, and using this time to learn and truly feeling the juxtaposition between normal life and now. Stillness makes the few things that do “move” much more vibrant. She also spoke about not even picking up a camera until she was 30, shooting her first feature at 35, so that gave me a bit of hope (haha). She advises those wanting to start, women especially, to “just do it”. Make the film, shoot it with your cameraphone, just do it. Don’t be precious with your work, you need to make a lot of it. No friends? Make a doc! Just make it, now.

At this point in the day I actually had to hop on a conference call, but right after that I was able to hop into the Frequency Separation 2.0 session, which is the gold standard for retouching photos. The linked session is just Part 1, with Part 2 and Part 3 happening today and tomorrow, but one thing I’m really digging about this online format is that the workbooks and assets are linked simply right there in the course description, making it super easy to follow/work along and even save for later. Couldn’t really do that before! Even if I can’t make Part 2 or Part 3, I still have the workbook that goes over everything as well as the Photoshop Action Mr. Oliver created to automate the creation of the prerequisite layers needed to use the technique. I literally just yesterday was ham-fisting my way through Frequency Separation when touching up photos of some t-shirts I designed so this, while just barely mis-timed, is excellent to learn as I’m being asked more and more to provide photography services on top of my cinematography work. Can’t wait to apply these lessons to my actual work.

There was actually another Video in the Spotlight segment a bit later in the night, this time focusing on Asian Pacific personalities, with interviews from Taika Watiti and musician and director DPR Ian. Same thing, mostly focused on inspiring viewers, but worthwhile nonetheless.

Taika spoke of not getting comfortable, of keeping that aforementioned momentum (would be interesting to hear a conversation between him and Draplin!), and as Ava mentioned not getting precious with your work as 90% of “all art and ideas are shit, so you can relax”. Also, unlike fine art where you walk into a gallery and are told why what you’re seeing is important or interesting, film is still an honest, transactional medium. You can’t tell people “oh you don’t get it”, if you have to do that you probably just made a bad movie. As my film teachers used to say, “film is making the audience feel the way you want them to feel, when you want them to feel it.” The theme shouldn’t come first, the story should. If you come up with the theme first, you’re probably being a little too pretentious. You don’t gather the ingredients before deciding on what meal you’re cooking, right?

Watiti also spoke of the importance of fear, another common piece of advice amongst creatives, and finding some kind of peace in being nervous. Nerves mean you’ll be focused, try harder. Being too comfortable is where mistakes are made. Confidence doesn’t mean you’re not still nervous! Confidence just means you know you’re capable, not that you know what you’re doing necessarily. He also said you should take somewhere between 6 months and 12 years to write. I’m going to ignore that piece of advice, and try to get these articles out for you in a timely manner.

Finally for the evening, I was able to catch the first of the three-part “Mastering Collaborative Video Editing” session which has obvious valuable import these days. Once again, the workbook was available to download in the description of the video and I was able to hand that off to a friend who is actively cutting a documentary and has been struggling to find much info on the new Premiere Team Projects, or something laid out as cleanly as Mr. Barrie has done in his presentation. I’m getting a sneaking suspicion that 2021 will bring a lot more remote collaboration, and as a freelancer I’m always looking for ways to make every aspect of the experience working with me as smooth as possible, so I’ll keep Parts 2 & 3 solidly placed on my schedule. Efficiency is the spice of life.

That was it for me and Day 1 of Adobe MAX, and I must say it’s not the same as “the real thing” over at the convention center, but it does carry the same feeling. Even the branding and music choices between segments makes me happy and gives me a bit of energy. It’s also been nice to be able to pause, go back, and replay videos! My hearing isn’t the best and being able to grab a snack whenever, or bail out of a session to find something more at my skill-level or interest without getting shot daggers by the attendees and missing a ton of time in transit to the next room has been a nice experiential upgrade, if I do say so myself.

Tune in for Sneaks today at 9am! Hosted by Chelsea Handler, this is where you’ll get a peek at the cool stuff Adobe’s working on in the “X-Labs” as it were. Some of the stuff from last year’s sneaks eventually became features in the new releases of Photoshop and Premiere this year, so it’s worth checking out!

I’ll have a Day 2 recap ready for you tomorrow morning.

What Adobe is working on: Hardware decoding for AMD and NVIDIA GPUs and other improvements in ...

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:00:29 GMT

It’s been a blast to create Premiere Pro and filmmaking tutorials and creative vlogs on my YouTube channel for beginners, pros and everyone in between. I’ve used Premiere Pro for as long as I’ve been editing videos because it works the way I think. It’s intuitive and I love the integration with the other Adobe applications, like After Effects, Audition and Photoshop.

I edit on a Windows computer with an AMD Ryzen 7 1700 and an AMD Radeon RX 580 with 8GB of memory. It’s a solid mid-range system on which I can edit my 4k projects with ease. Working on this system also means that I benefited from two important Premiere Pro updates this year: hardware-accelerated encoding for AMD and NVIDIA GPUs, released in May, and now hardware-accelerated decoding, which I review in this video:

Depending on my schedule and brand partnerships, I produce between 2 to 5 videos a week. I need my workflow, from creating a project to exporting the video, to be very efficient. Premiere Pro offers a lot of different options and features that help speed up these tasks.

I shoot all my videos on a Sony a7iii and a6600. This means that, like most creators these days, I’m working in H.264. I like this compressed format because the files are smaller while maintaining high quality. But, of course, that compression means that the computer needs to do more work to “unpack” the video for playback or “re-pack” it for export. Premiere Pro does this really well, but with this year’s hardware acceleration updates, my GPU now does the heavy lifting. This means that my timeline is way more responsive when I’m editing, the playback is a lot smoother, and projects export faster.

I started making YouTube videos in 2019 and I’m now approaching 40k subscribers. I never expected my channel to grow like it has; I just wanted to have my own little place on the internet because I love storytelling and editing. When I was 16, I wanted to be a movie director, however, when I asked about my options at the film academy in Amsterdam, they said I was too young and lacked life experience, so I studied marketing, which ended up helping me.

If there is one thing I truly believe, it is that one of our superpowers as human beings is telling stories. In my videos, I provide tips and tutorials that help people use Premiere Pro so that they can tell their stories. I strive to do this in a very accessible, easy-to-understand manner while maintaining a level of entertainment.

Editing for YouTube is interesting: the storytelling needs to move fast. One of the most important metrics is “Average View Duration,” which is an important factor in my editing decisions. I find I need to make sure there’s something to grab your attention every 5 to 8 seconds – whether it’s a cut, a quick zoom in, a joke, an introduction of a new character, or a just a glitch. I used these little accent moments like punctuation, to support the flow of my stories.

Premiere Pro has always been really stable for me, but I’ve been loving the performance and workflow improvements. Hardware acceleration makes a big difference in my day-to-day. When I finish an edit, the job is not finished: I still have to do things like designing a thumbnail and creating promo cut downs, so faster exports helped my workflow (and my life). Auto Reframe was a game-changer for me as an online creator. It is an incredibly smart and efficient feature that saves me a lot of time when I create promos for my videos.

Speaking of stability, I am religious about keeping my drivers up to date. In the last few years of using Premiere Pro on a daily basis, it has crashed only a handful of times. If you’re experiencing crashes, there’s a good chance it has to do with drivers. So, a little tip: keep your drivers updated. Some people are scared of updating “before the app is ready” but Adobe does a lot of beta testing. I personally have never had issues with new updates. If you don’t update, you won’t be able to benefit from the impressive performance improvements, like hardware decoding.

Feel free to check out my channel sometime – I would love to see you there!

Learn more about the latest updates for the Adobe Creative Cloud video applications: http://adobe.ly/max2020video

ART OF THE CUT WITH the Luis Carballar, editor of "Charm City Kings”

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 22:14:37 GMT

Today, we’re talking with Luis Carballar. I asked Art of the Cut fans who I should interview and his name came up from several people who cited his work on the TV series Narcos.

Luis – who started cutting TV spots – has cut numerous feature films including Amores Perros, The Devil’s Double, Sin Nombre, Unknown and Cronicas… and as you’ll hear in the interview, he was Guillermo del Toros’ first choice to edit Pan’s Labyrinth, as well. Buckle up for a really great discussion with an editor who knows how to talk about his craft.

This interview is available as a podcast.

(This interview was transcribed with SpeedScriber. Thanks to Martin Baker at Digital Heaven)

HULLFISH: Luis, I loved this movie. The performances, the editing, the action. It had so much heart, I thought. Congratulations on a great movie.

CARBALLAR: Thanks so much. I loved it too. It was a real pleasure to work with Ant Hill and all the people from Overbrook Entertainment. I do think it’s a good movie with lots of good stuff in it.

HULLFISH: One of the things that’s huge, obviously, in this movie is the music. Did a music editor or music supervisor deliver a big list of music for you or where did some of that music come from?

CARBALLAR: We had a music supervisor towards the end. We kind of temped it with what we could. I’m not really a connoisseur of hip hop and that stuff, so I said right from the beginning that I was going to need help on that. The music was not really scripted except when Detective Rivers is driving with Mouse and he actually sings along with the song on the radio so they needed to have the rights for that cleared before.

We did have a music supervisor because we knew there were a lot of cues that we were going to be using. We temped it with different stuff from either (director) Angel (Soto) or even (producer) Caleeb (Pinkett). Or (producer) Clarence Hammond.

So right from the very beginning, we decided to embrace this idea of having a colorful movie.

HULLFISH: One of the great things with the music — from an editing standpoint that I really liked — was that there were places where it starts out full, like a needle drop, of some hip hop music, and then it becomes diegetic and there are other places where it starts diegetic and then becomes a full cue.

CARBALLAR: That’s something that I really like. I enjoy that. Sometimes it’s a way to keep track for a longer time. And also it’s something that turns or morphs. It’s kind of nice to hear music in the background that then turns into something more in-your-face, so you can actually hear it. It’s just an editorial decision that we embraced.

Avid timeline screenshot from Reel 2 of Charm City Kings (You can see this image in higher resolution by right-clicking on the image and choosing to open it in a new browser window or tab and then zooming in on it.)

Same thing with the sounds and ambiance. In the dailies, the sound was very colorful and there were lots of ambiances. For example, there are a lot of trains in the movie. I heard them in the background of the dailies recordings, so I asked the director if we could use them more in the movie and he was cool with it. So instead of trying to avoid it all the time, we decided to embrace it, so sometimes in the background, you hear some trains. Some of those were in the actual recordings and some were added.

HULLFISH: I’ve cut some movies that have shot down in Georgia during the summer and you can’t ignore the cicadas. Working around them is nearly impossible, so you gotta embrace them as an element of the ambiance and make them even louder if anything.

CARBALLAR: Exactly. Exactly. For example, in this case, they did shoot in Baltimore so the real sound is there, so why not just keep it?

HULLFISH: When you were switching from diegetic to full needle-drop audio or backward from that, did you just do that with a simple volume change in your picture cut, and then they tweaked it in the sound design? Or did you really try to do something that more sounded like it was coming from a radio in your cut?

CARBALLAR: In my cut, I used either an EQ or an Audiosuite plugin to try to make it more similar to a radio, but I didn’t go crazy.

HULLFISH: I loved the sense that the sound design gave you that made it feel like you were really IN the place. You knew where you were. It felt like you were really in that place. Can you talk to me about putting that stuff in and how it led to the believability of the movie?

CARBALLAR: The sound design was tricky on my end because there were a lot of sounds and with the motorbikes, it tends to become problematic because it’s very hard to control the sound of a very loud motorbike. It was always problematic in the scenes where the bikes were running and we had dialogue. So we did have to deal with all of that. You always preserve the dialogue first and you build from there. You have to feel the movie — what the movie wants and we thought it was kind of cool to treat the sound design like that.

HULLFISH: I felt like there was a real sense of the neighborhood. A lot of the quieter scenes you’re really feeling kind of the joyousness or the urban-ness of the environment through the audio.

CARBALLAR: I think it’s part of the colorful sense of the movie. As an editor you have to work with that to have more sound in the right places and less sound in the right places, so you create peaks and valleys and moments for resting and moments for NOT resting.

Sometimes a few little sounds in the background can make a scene potentially more silent because then you realize everything is silent. So it gives you a sense of calmness.

HULLFISH: There’s a scene like that that I was thinking of with the audio which was when Midnight Clique first arrives. Midnight Clique is this group of bikers that are going to become central to the film. When they finally arrive, Mouse talks to his girlfriend, Nicki.

He’s explaining to Nicki who these people are in almost reverential tones. Their arrival was very loud, but when they start having this conversation and he starts talking to her about the group’s importance and standing in the community, the audio really changes to something that is not realistic. It’s more romanticized.

CARBALLAR: Exactly. Exactly. That’s exactly the idea — to give it a feel of the love he has for the bikes and the bikers. So what we wanted to convey is that idea of him really loving that world and sharing it with Nicki.

HULLFISH: There’s a scene where Mouse — the main character in the movie — is on this bike that he’s supposed to be delivering someplace else and instead he goes and picks up his girlfriend and they go for a ride and as you cut this montage of them riding through the streets, you’re listening to a conversation that is about to happen. Can you talk to me about whether that was scripted that way or was it scripted as two separate scenes and how did you cut that together?

Timeline screenshot of Reel 2 of Charm City Kings

CARBALLAR: It was scripted as three different scenes. There was a dialogue scene as they got on the bike. There was the riding montage and there was the scene under the bridge with more dialogue.

The ride to that place took a long time. Obviously, there are some beautiful shots that we didn’t want to lose and you want to tell the story of how they got there and to see the city, so we had this idea of using part of the audio underneath them riding to that place and that gives you a chance to manipulate what is being said.

Part of that is his actual voiceover.

HULLFISH: Did you combine the three scenes into one scene throughout the post process, or was it three separate scenes in your editor’s cut?

CARBALLAR: From the assembly, you try to put everything as a whole the way it was scripted. It’s important to do it that way — for the directors especially — so that they can see what they shot and then they can start having their own process.

There’s dialogue you could cut right from the start — and you KNOW you’re gonna cut it but it’s not a good idea to cut it right from the start because the only thing that that is going to do is to point it out to the director so he’s gonna want it back and then you’ll never be able to take it out again.

HULLFISH: (Laughs).

CARBALLAR: Obviously I cut it to be best for the movie, right? But you need to give the director his own process. He needs to see that scenes are longer than needed, that scenes are breathing more than necessary, so then you can start condensing.

In this case, when I did the first pass I knew it was not going to work that way but I still left it like that, so we could talk about it. Once Angel (the director) and I were cutting together we know it had to be condensed. Then, at some point, we came up with that idea.

It’s similar to our previous discussion. He’s talking from the heart, in the same way, he’s talking from the heart when he sees the Midnight Clique coming and he talks to Nicki.

HULLFISH: It’s a very emotional scene about Mouse’s remembrance that his older brother always wanted to take him to the ocean.

People that listen to this podcast regularly know this about me — the first movie I ever cut, I did exactly what you say NOT to do — which was to cut a bunch of stuff that I knew was gonna be cut out, and then the director says, “Where’s my stuff?” Then you look bad.

CARBALLAR: Exactly. In all fairness, you have to give the director the opportunity to go through the process because they do need it. They shoot and they have a vision. And you don’t know know what it’s going to end up looking like. Oftentimes they have an idea of how to cut it. They have the right to watch it like that before you change it. Maybe after two shots, they’ll see that it doesn’t work, but you still need to respect their right to see things the way they envision it.

And it’s easier for the process in the sense that once they see it, they say, “OK. It doesn’t work. Let’s do something else.”

The same happens with whole scenes. There are scenes that you know you’re going to have to cut out of the movie for a number of reasons, but it’s not a good idea to cut them right from the beginning because the same thing is gonna happen. They’re going to notice and they’re gonna want to keep it longer than necessary.

HULLFISH: I did an interview with Sven Pape that he turned into a great video essay for his This Guy Edits YouTube channel and we talked about that exact same thing — that the director really needs their process. They need to live with it just like you got a chance to live with it because otherwise, they’re never going to trust that the decision because they didn’t get to go through it.

CARBALLAR: Of course. From the start, they had a reason they wanted and needed that scene. It’s not like people shoot scenes just to throw money in the trash can, you know?

HULLFISH: That’s true.

CARBALLAR: Sometimes it hurts to cut things out, but in the end, you have to do it. You have to go through that process.

To go back to something you said earlier, in my opinion, we shouldn’t call them Editor’s cuts, because it’s not really YOUR cut. You didn’t have time to do your cut and you’re not really cutting everything you would like to cut.

HULLFISH: I completely agree. So what do you call it?

CARBALLAR: I call it the assembly.

HULLFISH: Just the assembly.

CARBALLAR: Yeah. I’ve been in places where producers call it the Editor’s cut even closer to the final cut. The producers say, “Remember, the Editor’s cut was so bad?”

HULLFISH: That was one of my problems when I cut lines in my first editor’s cut before the director had a chance to weigh in. It was my ego. I didn’t want it to look like I thought those lines belonged in there.

CARBALLAR: Exactly.

HULLFISH: So you had to subvert your ego to be able to leave the assembly the way it was scripted because it really was not the way you wanted it.

CARBALLAR: Yes. And you don’t have time to deliver YOUR cut. You didn’t have time to work YOUR cut and come with a finished product.

HULLFISH: Right. Or the Editor’s cut would take a year instead of two weeks.

CARBALLAR: Exactly. It would take longer and it would probably be better. It could be even better than the director’s cut.

HULLFISH: We won’t go there!

CARBALLAR: Yeah, we won’t go there.

HULLFISH: There’s a great confrontation between Mouse and his mom near the end of the movie. There are very few cuts in that scene. It’s largely hand-held. And when I first watched it I literally thought it was a oner — which is a tribute to you because I didn’t see edits. I had to actually rewind and LOOK for the edits before I saw them. There are three or four edits, but it’s quite a long scene to play with that few edits.

CARBALLAR: Yeah. That’s scene is really nice. I had a version where I started cutting a lot more — not lots of cuts but you tend to cut more and we editors need to learn over time to let things breathe and not cut.

We’re editors and we tend to cut. We’re thinking always about where we can cut. Oftentimes, editors end up over-cutting things which is tough for the pacing of the film because — in my opinion — the more you cut, the longer the movie is going to feel.

I learned that cutting commercials because we would have a 60 second commercial and they would ask for a 40-second version of it, but they want all the same shots, just in 40 seconds. So you just trim shots. You take some shots out but you cannot take many because they want them, so you end up trimming everything to fit into 40 seconds. And oftentimes the agency would say, “This is even better because it feels like it’s longer.”

The reason for that I think is because there are more cuts, so it demands your brain to pay more attention. The more attention you have to pay, time gets expanded somehow.

In my opinion, it also happens in movies. Every time you do a cut, the audience’s brain needs to adapt.

There’s this trend now that directors want to try to do every cut using a different angle, which is nice. It looks nice and is kind of refreshing but also your brain needs to adapt.

For example, if you’re cutting up conversation back and forth between the same two angles — close-up of Character A, then close-up of Character B — your brain already knows that every time you cut you’re gonna go back to the same thing. Once your brain sees the first frame of it, it already knows what it is. So your brain doesn’t really need to figure it out every time you’re switching angles.

HULLFISH: Your brain is trying to figure out the geography of where the characters and the camera are to each other?

CARBALLAR: Exactly. So you make your brain work more in that sense.

Getting back to this scene specifically, it was really nice — the energy they had together, so it was more about respecting their performance — almost as a oner — and just intervening in the places where it was needed.

But we realized it was better to leave a longer scene than shorter.

HULLFISH: I was thinking the same thing about respecting the performance because both actors are killing it in that scene, so just let them do their thing, right?

CARBALLAR: Yes. The thing that I like about the movie is that it’s the story of this kid with his friends. There are tons of layers below that. It tells a story that is not that complicated, but you can dig into all the layers. There that there are a lot of layers in the movie and Angel brought a cast to it that really works.

He had to combine non-actors with kids with experienced actors. He really nailed it. The synergy the kids create together is awesome. You’re always a little concerned when you’re cutting movies with kids or non-actors or non-experienced actors.

You’re concerned about the performance and you know you’re gonna have to work a lot with that — and I did have to work a lot with performances — but the synergy between the three of them made the day.

HULLFISH: For those who haven’t seen the movie, the three or maybe four main characters in the movie are twelve or thirteen years old?

CARBALLAR: Yeah.

HULLFISH: The performances throughout the entire movie are outstanding. Can you talk to me a little bit about working with performance; molding performance? What do you do when you’re looking at dailies to find those beautiful nuggets that are in the movie?

CARBALLAR: Actually it was a little painful because there was a lot of really good stuff that we had to take out. For example, Sweartagawd is a really funny guy. And he would ad-lib jokes left and right.

HULLFISH: (laughs) For those who haven’t seen the movie, Sweartagawd is the nickname of one of the three boys.

CARBALLAR: These three kids — you could say — are the good, the bad, and the funny.

HULLFISH: It reminded me very much of the Bill Cosby Show with Fat Albert.

CARBALLAR: Exactly. So it was beautiful to watch them go at it. You do have to mold performances and you need to figure out the tone of every scene. Because you could have a scene that had a few jokes and then the following scene would also have jokes. It’s not a comedy, so you can’t keep going with that, so you have to choose where you put the jokes.

The same things go with drama, so you’re always molding and sculpting and trying to come up with something that works.

HULLFISH: Especially if you’ve got a transition between a funny scene and a very dramatic scene, you might want to take the funnier scene less funny — or MORE funny — depending on what kind of a transition you want between those two scenes.

CARBALLAR: In the end, it’s all about feeling it. And nailing or getting to the best place possible, which is kind of hard because it’s difficult to be objective.

HULLFISH: What kind of discussions did you have with the director about tone?

CARBALLAR: We would discuss what was best for every scene. In general, the tone is already there in the dailies because they obviously go for a specific tone, but inside that, there’s a range and in every scene, you can modify it a little bit or a lot.

So it was more on a scene-by-scene basis. For example, the director would suggest a shot and I would say, “Yes, but don’t you think this is a little too big or this is a little too small?” Then we would talk about it and decide together.

In the editing room, Angel and I were more like friends — talking to each other and deciding what’s best and trying things and then sometimes they work and sometimes they didn’t so we had to keep going at it.

HULLFISH: The movie is based on a documentary called 12 O’Clock Boys. (a reference to riding a wheelie — where the front tire is pointed to 12 o’clock.) Did you watch that documentary?

CARBALLAR: I think the movie says “inspired by,” and yes, I did watch the documentary. It’s really nice. It was shot a long time ago, so I think it was shot with Handycams and stuff like that, so obviously the quality of the picture is not really good but you get to see the actual Mouse and you get to see the actual bike riders and how that life is.

So I watched it before being interviewed because I knew it was based on that. When you get interviewed you obviously get the script — so you can talk about the script — and I watched the documentary.

When I met with Angel we pretty much were on the same page. I think he liked me because I tend to be passionate about things and I like movies that have humanity. The humanity in the script is what I’m looking for because I think it’s what we like in movies — the human values that are in there.

And I saw that in Angel, too, so I was really interested in it. It took some time to get the gig, but finally, we got it.

HULLFISH: When you say that the two of you were on the same page during that interview, the humanity of the script is one of the things where you two connected?

CARBALLAR: Yes. Right from the beginning of the interview, I realized he is a passionate guy and talented, so I really liked that and I saw his commitment to do this movie the right way.

HULLFISH: There’s quite a bit of hand-held footage in the movie. Is there a trick to editing hand-held or is there a trick to watching dailies that are hand-held?

CARBALLAR: No. Not really. It’s trial and error. Obviously, you need to control the movement of the camera and it could be complicated in the sense that sometimes you leave things that are a little bit bumpy because of performance, and sometimes you have to cut nice things because they are bumpier than you can afford.

In the end, you have to go for performance first and as long as it is not jarring and if your movie is good and it’s telling a story, people are not going to really mind some of that bumpiness.

There are people that don’t like to have any bumpiness at all, but I cut lots of movies — for example, Amores Perros was all handheld and the camera is moving all the time so I’m used to that.

HULLFISH: But with hand-held, not only are you looking at performance but also those places where camera movement is part of what you’re gonna want to make note of when you’re looking at dailies.

CARBALLAR: Yeah. Sometimes there are some gems that happen.

You start realizing that the job of the editor is not trying to shine. You shine when the story is well-told. That is your main job. Your job is to make everyone’s job look great — but especially the movie as a whole — the big picture. In the end, you’re serving that and not trying to make great cuts. Obviously, when you can, you do it, because you like it. So if you have the opportunity you go for it, but if you start making decisions based on that, you’re not going the right way.

HULLFISH: This is not a criticism, but there’s a great shot where Mouse gets a kiss that is a surprise to him. He’s shocked by it and there’s a beautiful moment after the kiss. He’s reveling in this kiss and the shot goes out of focus a little bit. I noticed it as an editor, but the performance is so good, and the moment is so good that you must have thought, “who cares?”.

CARBALLAR: Exactly. Exactly. Those are things that you face as an editor. That’s the difference between different editors. That’s where you bring not only your expertise but your feeling. It’s where you “dot the I’s.”

If you let it linger a little bit more — if you decide to leave that softness in the shot or not — you obviously see something that is soft-focus and you want to cut out of it, but sometimes you need to let it breathe for a moment.

I’ve worked on films where we do a pass through the whole film just adjusting silences and how long the silences are because if you make a big pause in an important part of a scene it makes a bigger impact if the previous ones are not that big. If you have a ton of big pauses, then when you do the important one, it’s not going to have the impact.

HULLFISH: That’s a voiceover thing. If you worked on TV spots before, you know that a good voiceover person leaves those pauses just after an important word. You don’t just run through everything at the same speed. The most important word hits — a little silence — continue, and that makes the word before it more important.

CARBALLAR: Yes.

HULLFISH: I’m enjoying this conversation so much. One of the reasons why you’re on the podcast is because multiple listeners of the Art of the Cut podcast said I have to talk to you. I can definitely see why.

CARBALLAR: If you want, I can tell you a little bit of my story.

HULLFISH: Please.

CARBALLAR: I was living happily in Mexico City. I cut Amores Perros and I had got a couple more — Cronicas, which is a really good movie that didn’t get enough attention. That was the first movie with John Leguizamo where he speaks Spanish — and he didn’t really speak very good Spanish, so it was a challenge.

HULLFISH: By the way, my last podcast was about Leguizamo’s first movie as a director — Critical Thinking — but I apologize for interrupting… continue.

CARBALLAR: I didn’t have an agent but the person who is my agent now called me and said asked if they could represent me in the USA. At the time, I was supposed to cut Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) in five months.

Two weeks later she comes back to me and offers me the movie The Unknown, so I had two movies back to back and that’s how I came Pan’s Labyrinth was going to shoot in Spain and it was gonna be cut here in LA, so at that time it made sense to move here for at least a year.

Two months before starting shooting Pan’s Labyrinth they called me and they said that it is no longer a co-production with Mexico. Now it’s a Spanish funded movie, so they are forcing us to include more Spaniards in key positions and the production people are already, so. you’re kind of the only one that we can cut and that’s how I got cut from that movie. But they said, “Guillermo says his next movie is yours,” and obviously his next movie came and went.

HULLFISH: His loss.

CARBALLAR: But that was part of what brought me here.

HULLFISH: I lost a movie because it was being shot in Canada and they already had as many Americans as they could and it’s a co-production with Canada, so it’ll have to be a Canadian editor.

CARBALLAR: It happens.

HULLFISH: What’s your process for watching dailies? When you’re watching dailies, do you watch them passively first? Do you take notes? Do you make selects reels? What do you do?

CARBALLAR: I don’t really do selects reels. Usually, my process for dailies is — I start cutting as soon as I can. In the end, this is a lot about trial and error. Oftentimes what I do if the script supervisor is good at marking circled takes, I usually check those first and start playing with those first. That way I have a way to compare.

Sometimes when the director is conscious of the importance of circling takes it is really helpful because then it tells you what he likes about performances or camera moves. So it kind of gives you a hint about what he likes and what he doesn’t like. They circle what worked, so usually I start using those and then compare with the rest of the takes.

HULLFISH: So you start cutting the scene from when you first watch dailies?

CARBALLAR: Yes. I watch the different angles to have an idea of what is in every angle and how I can use it, and then I start trying different things. Before committing to a specific way of starting a scene I like to do a couple of “trial and errors.”

HULLFISH: I love that method of starting with the circled takes. Some people wouldn’t. I love doing it that way — especially if you’re working fast — because if you start out with something that you know is gonna be usable, or that the director thinks is gonna be good, then when you watch the rest of the dailies it gives you something to compare to. Also, you have the structure of the scene in a better light and you know better what you’re looking for in each set-up.

CARBALLAR: Exactly. And you are going to check what you’re doing and make lots of changes before you get to a place where you kind of like it.

HULLFISH: You said you do trial and error. How many versions of a scene might you cut?

CARBALLAR: What I do is I duplicate a scene. For example, I have the first three shots of the scene and then I duplicate it because I want to try starting with the close-up before continuing because it’s going to impact the rest. It’s not the same if you start with the wide — where you saw the geography — than if you start with the close-up. So I’ll just do a third or a fifth of the scene and duplicate it and modify it. That way you’re trying different things before committing to something you like. Sometimes it clicks… you see it and you say, “This is the way.”

HULLFISH: We talked about how you aren’t really a selects reel fan…

CARBALLAR: The reason I don’t like select reels is because when you work with the director it’s hard to go back to that — just to the select reels. It works if the director says, “Do you have something more serious?” You might go to your selects and find it, but oftentimes they ask you for things that you didn’t select, or they want to see all the takes. That happens more often. So it’s easier to just go to the dailies and get it.

HULLFISH: Do you remember how long your assembly was?

CARBALLAR: No. Not really, but it was way longer.

HULLFISH: A rough estimate. How long was the movie?

CARBALLAR: It’s under two hours. I would say the assembly was at least 20 minutes longer — at the very least.

HULLFISH: Yeah. That’s common.

What was the process of getting from the assembly to the final? What are some of the things that changed — either structurally or scenes that you knew you had to take out.

CARBALLAR: Making changes is not always easy because obviously things were shot for a reason. But the big picture always has to be first. The big picture is what rules the rest of things. So if the big picture is a little long then you need to figure out what to do — and how to do it.

HULLFISH: Do you ever put a story board — PostIts or images on the wall — so you can see the big picture at a glance?

CARBALLAR: Yes I often use that. We didn’t do that on this movie, but I often use those and they’re really nice, especially when you start moving things around.

In this case, we moved a few things but not that much. The script actually really worked very well and there was some movement of scenes. There’s always some of that when you’re looking for better ways to tell the story. Either you combine scenes or you move scenes. For example, you could use half of a scene and combine it with another one to complete the idea.

HULLFISH: Can you think of any specifics like that?

CARBALLAR: For example, when the boys are starting to work in Blax’s auto shop, there was a lot of footage. There was a lot more story there. We ended up condensing it into a single scene.

HULLFISH: Luis, thank you so much for a wonderful chat. I enjoyed our conversation. Thank you so much for a lot of great wisdom and great ideas for editors.

CARBALLAR: My pleasure. Thank you, Steve.

To read more interviews in the Art of the Cut series, check out THIS LINK and follow me on Twitter @stevehullfish or on imdb.

The first 50 interviews in the series provided the material for the book, “Art of the Cut: Conversations with Film and TV Editors.” This is a unique book that breaks down interviews with many of the world’s best editors and organizes it into a virtual roundtable discussion centering on the topics editors care about. It is a powerful tool for experienced and aspiring editors alike. Cinemontage and CinemaEditor magazine both gave it rave reviews. No other book provides the breadth of opinion and experience. Combined, the editors featured in the book have edited for over 1,000 years on many of the most iconic, critically acclaimed, and biggest box office hits in the history of cinema.

DJI Pocket 2: a portable stabilized mini camera

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 16:59:24 GMT

Video resolution of 4K/60fps at 100Mbps, 64MP images using a high-resolution mode, and it fits in your pocket. The new DJI Pocket 2 has arrived, and it is good for storytelling or vlogging.

The second iteration of the highly popular Osmo Pocket, now called DJI Pocket 2, is DJI’s smallest stabilized mini 4K camera, a highly portable and lightweight body that packs full-scale performance, in a clear demonstration that size does not matter. The perfect everyday camera to have in your pocket, bag, or purse does not compromise on features, delivering improved image quality in both photo and video modes compared to its predecessor.

The 3-axis gimbal makes footage smooth and appealing. Supported by a 4K camera, a larger sensor, and a wider lens, Pocket 2 allows creators to get up close with their subject using a brand new zoom feature. With an upgraded focus system, says DJI, you can “lock onto and track moving subjects faster and more accurately than ever before. The DJI Matrix Stereo, a new and improved audio system, provides crisp and clear sound recording, while pre-programmed shooting modes allow anyone to create visually appealing content with just a few taps.”

The heart of the Pocket 2 is a small yet powerful 1/1.7” image sensor that captures images with improved quality. The sweeping 20mm f/1.8 lens provides a bright and wide cinematic look, says DJI, making it “perfect for all sorts of scenery or vlogging”. Photographs can be captured in 16MP or 64MP images using a high-resolution mode, while “a maximum video resolution of 4K/60fps at 100Mbps records in stunning details. HDR video has been added to make your videos pop with vivid colors.”

Improved audio experience

For those who need the extra reach of a long lens, DJI Pocket 2 also offers up to 8x zoom using the 64-megapixel mode or 4x lossless zoom in 1080p or 16-megapixel mode so you can get closer to your subject without actually moving towards it. Autofocus has been redeveloped using a Hybrid 2.0 AF blend of phase and contrast detection to increase speed and accuracy.

“There was nothing like the DJI Osmo Pocket on the market when we first released it in November 2018, and it immediately changed the way we capture life’s special moments,” said DJI President, Roger Luo. “DJI Pocket 2 takes it even further. We listened to our customers’ feedback and adapted the iconic design and form factor while raising the bar for the camera system. Pocket 2 brings an improved audio experience, as well as wider expandability. Whether you are out and about capturing everyday stories or a vlogger who requires more creative flair, the built-in intelligent features and different video templates allow anyone to create cinematic and engaging content. Everyone and anyone can shoot a video, but Pocket 2 can help you capture footage like a pro, taking your visual storytelling skills to a whole new level.”

Great images need great sound and DJI reworked the audio system to ensure footage sounds as great as it looks. The newly added DJI Matrix Stereo system consists of four microphones, strategically placed clear of a hand holding DJI Pocket 2, capturing an immersive audio experience that brings you back to the moment.

New accessories, more possibilities

Directional Audio enhances sound recording from those microphones to pick up as much detail as possible, with SoundTrack adjusting the audio based on where the camera is facing, while Audio Zoom narrows the sound field when zooming the camera in. To further filter out unwanted background sounds, an optional wind noise reduction helps keep the audio clean in outdoor settings.

Despite all the powerful features it brings to the Pocket line, the DJI Pocket 2, as the name suggests, easily fits into any pocket, making it the ideal companion to bring everywhere. Weighing just 117 g and offering up to 140 minutes of battery life, the DJI Pocket 2 is all you need to record those special moments without being weighed down.

If you want to take things to a whole new level, the DJI Pocket 2 can also be the starting point, as it showcases a highly modular design with a removable base plate that allows you to attach new accessories and expand your possibilities. A Micro Tripod, a Do-It-All Handle with a tripod base, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, speaker, 3.5mm audio jack, and wireless microphone receiver are included in the optional accessories. Whether you are a new user or experienced content creator, DJI Pocket 2 has everything you need to capture footage that will add colors, context, and meaning to your story.

Pocket 2 has a built-in editing tool

Similar to the original Osmo Pocket, Pocket 2 can be used as a stand-alone stabilized camera, connected to your mobile device with a dedicated phone connector, or operated remotely with wireless accessories for greater camera control. A wide variety of accessories have been created to ensure creators can get the most out of DJI Pocket 2, including a sleek charging case, wireless microphone set, waterproof housing, a smaller control wheel, extension rod, wide-angle lens, wireless module, and smartphone support system.

DJI Pocket 2 is simple to use and easy to understand. A suite of upgraded modes makes getting up and filming those special moments seamless and quick. Design and user experience upgrades include Fast Wake to power Pocket 2 on instantly, Drop Aware to take preventative measures when it senses the gimbal falling, and Pause Recording to quickly pause video recording during operation.

Osmo Pocket was the first camera to use the DJI Mimo app, and that tradition continues with a streamlined user interface, in-app features, and more. A built-in editing tool makes adjusting images and videos simple and ready to share on social media instantly, while a new AI Editor automatically previews the footage, selects the highlights, and creates a short video. Managing content has never been easier with functions like Batch Select that enables you to select, delete, or download multiple items at once.

DJI Pocket 2 is available for purchase today from store.dji.com and authorized retail partners. DJI Pocket 2 can be purchased in two options. DJI Pocket 2 includes the Mini Control Stick and tripod mount (1/4”) for the retail price of $349 USD. The DJI Pocket 2 Creator Combo includes the Mini Control Stick, tripod mount (1/4”), Wide-Angle Lens, Wireless Microphone + Windscreen, Do-It-All Handle, and Micro Tripod for the retail price of $499 USD.

Loupedeck has a new plugin for Photoshop

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 14:42:15 GMT

Loupedeck users have something new to look at, as a new plugin unveiled at Adobe MAX improves the editing experience in Loupedeck CT and Loupedeck Live.

Loupedeck, the creator of custom consoles for photo and video editing, designed to make the creative process faster and more intuitive, has announced a new plugin for Adobe Photoshop today at Adobe MAX. Loupedeck worked closely with the Adobe team to build the new plugin on its Unified Extensibility Platform (UXP) in Photoshop, and it is designed to provide an enhanced editing experience with Loupedeck CT and Loupedeck Live.

The new Loupedeck plugin is now available in the plugin marketplace found in the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application across all regions, at no additional cost to Loupedeck users. Just download it and explore the new features as well as faster overall performance of the Loupedeck CT and Loupedeck Live when working with Adobe Photoshop.

“We collaborated with Adobe to develop the new plugin and to ensure Loupedeck users could easily integrate and maximize their creative potential with the new features offered by Photoshop the moment they are available,” said Mikko Kesti, Founder and CEO of Loupedeck. “Our new plugin for Photoshop incorporates the software’s new features into both the Loupedeck CT and just-launched Loupedeck Live, giving creators the power to further customize their Photoshop experience. They can now leverage the full functionality of their device to produce professional quality results in less time.”

Plugin brings a series of improvements

Users of the new Loupedeck plugin for Photoshop will experience faster overall performance, as well as feature improvements like:

Ability to add adjustment layers and control their corresponding parameters with dials and/or wheel
Reset functionality for individual adjustment parameters
Intuitive control over Font settings
Quickly scroll through and view history panel with dial and/or wheel
Increased control over Curves, including the ability to adjust color channel curves separately and control curve points
Smoother control over Brush settings and Zoom In/Out functions
Streamline workflow by combining Photoshop actions into macros within the Loupedeck software
Full control over Layer Properties
Ability to control Quick Actions (e.g. select object, remove background) introduced in Photoshop in 2020
Better performance for Camera Raw

Loupedeck Live recent software update

“We’re big fans of the Loupedeck team and how their new plugin for Photoshop helps users speed up their workflow and produce high-quality results during the editing process,” said Vijay Vachani, Senior Director of Product Management and Partner Ecosystem for Adobe Creative Cloud. “Photoshop users will now have increased functionality when using their Loupedeck devices and the ability to take even more control over a wide variety of Photoshop features, including the newly introduced Quick Actions.”

The Loupedeck Creative Tool is available for purchase in the Loupedeck Online store for $549. The device currently features native integrations with Adobe Lightroom Classic, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition, Ableton Live, and Streamlabs. The Loupedeck Live is now available for purchase in the Loupedeck Online for $269.

One final note for users of the Loupedeck Live console: Loupedeck Software v4.0 – released by the end of September – , brings exciting new updates and features including a new UI for enhanced usability, advanced customization, additional native plugins for live-streaming and added support for Loupedeck Live – the power console for streamers and content creators.

Whether you are creating new content, live-streaming, editing your photos, video or audio – Loupedeck Live provides fast access to all your essential tools and software. Loupedeck Software version 4.0 is available for download here.