It’s not easy Keying Green…

The perfect blend of funny and poignant.

Kermit the Frog sings of how it’s not easy Keying Green.

The Digital Fact Book

I dare you to become an uber-nerd….! Amaze your friends, show off to your family, transcend the rudimentary and banal knowledge base of most digital filmmakers. Take the plunge and read the Digital Fact Book…!

This free e-book (embedded below and available as PDF download from HERE) is a complete A-Z a reservoir of knowledge concerning the terms, technology and technicalities of digital and electronic media production. What makes it particularly special is that it is written and presented in away that is very accessible and eminently reaable (assuming you’re just a little bit nerdy to begin with

From AAF format and the Alpha Channel; through Gamma, LUT and the Nyquist Limit and on to Wavelet and YUV the Digital Fact Book is a first class resource full of digrams, easy explanations and succinct descriptions.

Knowledge is power. The more you know, the more self-sufficient you are and the more employable you become.

Go on, embrace the nerd within.

View this document on Scribd

Using a Movie camera for Stills is more significant than using a Still camera for Movies

Why Capture the moment when you can Select it..?

This seems to be the question some high-profile still photographers are asking themselves. Why work with a camera whose mechanics are based around the idea of ‘capturing’ a moment plucked from the air – a snapshot – when you can simply hit REC on a video camera, capture 24+ photos every second and then, at will, select and choose any of the captured moments you wish? Up until this point, the factor preventing this mindset was Resolution – the fact that still image resolutions are very high and moving image resolutions are very low. But the times they have a changed….

Reports from a recent Vanity Fair shoot is that famed Photographer Annie Leibovitz shot a session with Tina Fey not on the usual assortment of Canon and Nikon digital SLR’s but rather with a RED ONE. The process..?
1) Press REC.
2) direct the subject in real-time to pose.
3) Press Stop.
4) Import the footage and from the 4k rushes pluck out the ‘moments’ you want from the 24+/sec you have availible.

And photogrpahy will never be the same….

Whilst an argument that the resolution of of RED at 4k is still not anywhere near the native resolution of high-end DSLR’s (let alone Digital mid-Format) there are two things that must be remembered – 1) that with a 35k RED sensor on the way this argument has a short shelf-life. And 2) How much reoslution do you REALLY need for a magazine shoot and for website publishing. 4K from a  RAW image might struggle if you need to blow up to a large framed print or billboard but it  is certainly plenty for just about any print-publishing purpose.

Photography in this way becomes not a process of timing, reflex and moment-capturing but rather a distinctly different mechanic more akin to selection and image isolation.

Whilst much of the discussion about the convergence of Still and Motion image acquistion has focused on Still cameras shooting Moving images; I’m inclined to suggest that  moves – such as those by Canon with their 7D HD DSLR – to use a still camera to shoot movies are not anywhere near so significant as using a Movie camera to shoot Stills. The former simply changes the tool to do the same job whereas the later changes the entire cretaive process and premise of Photogrpahy itself.

At this link you can see some of the images captured for the Tina Fey shoot

And Here you can see soem info about a similar shoot involving Bruce Willis

A definition of cinema?

What is a functional definition of cinema?

This may seem, on the surface, a easy endeavor but even within common usage of the term (let alone academic and scholarly discourses) there is great variation.

It is arguable that the word ‘cinema’ is most commonly used to refer to a physical place and location; the venue where films are shown – the ‘cinema theatre’. The ramifications for the use of Cinema as a locative noun position and frame other uses of the word into particular contexts both technical and cultural. By defining Cinema specifically as a place where films are shown then any broader application of the word is potentially consigned also to that specific location. Hence a definition of ‘cinema’ may be popularly accepted as ‘movies shown in a cinema’ – and this might be an easy enabler of common discussion, employing broadly accepted terms – but it is none the less highly problematic as it ties moving image works to a particular mode of viewing (and indeed a particular technical apparatus). When, in real terms, the proportion of ‘movies’ viewed by the populous in a cinema-theatre is but a tiny fraction of the total ‘movies’ they will view via other mechanisms (namely TV in the home or on-line) then the definition of cinema as a ‘place where movies are seen’ is a dysfunctional and an inaccurate descriptor. Similarly, in defining cinema by the apparatus of its delivery we also constrain it to particular forms of technology connected to that delivery. Hence, despite five decades of video technology, the term cinema still has a popular association with celluloid and projected 35mm film; a further small distinction used to separate a definition of cinema from other screen-based media such as TV.

To this we can add still other other variations of definition; in particular cultural constructs around cinema. Tied with the idea of cinema as a ‘place’ is the notion that cinema, as a term, has particular cultural connotations. That ‘going to the cinema’ is not just an act of visiting a particular venue but involves a deeper consciousness of occasion and spectacle. The implications for movie works viewed under the umbrella of such cultural constructs is to invest them with certain expectations which are beyond the content of the film itself. This gives rise to a common understanding of Cinema as an experience; a manner of experiencing a moving image beyond the movie itself. Popcorn, dark theatre, loud sound, big-screen, communal environment, Saturday night date and so on, are the hall-marks of a ‘cinema experience’ and a popular cultural association of the word ‘cinema’.

The third major association of the word ‘cinema’ is with a perceived notion of ‘quality’ and aesthetic. This perception gives rise to the common usage of the word ‘Cinematic’. In theory cinematic is simply an adjective derived from cinema; a means of describing something that is ‘of the cinema’ or connected to the cinema. But in more popular usage and understanding ‘cinematic’ is used to describe a particular quality of the work that lends itself to spectacle, scale and traits of the cinema theatre (ie large-screen, big sound, public crowd) as well as connotations of the works ability to generate immersion in the cinema experience. Here we may see a similar pattern to that established by the French New Wave critics in the 1950’s and 60’s who, whilst coining the term Mise en Scene desired to identify Mise en Scene as not a mode or paradigm for making a film but rather a particular quality that a film may or may not be in possession of. With this idea of ‘the cinematic’ as a discreet ‘quality’ we have a circumstance where a work of ‘cinema’ may play in a cinema-theatre but be judged as being a film that is not ‘cinematic’.

Certainly there are numerous other permutations but all three of these key variations on how the term ‘cinema’ may be interpreted, used and exploited are flawed. Whilst all three may find themselves accepted as given in common discourse they do not present a viable means of comprehension or of definition for cinema studies. Such definitions based on cultural constructs and specific technologies have no scope to evolve. It is possible, even easy, to imagine a future where the cinema-theatre has vanished (much as the Drive-In of old) and projected celluloid film has been totally replaced by digital technologies. In such a scenario the currently common defining elements of cinema as a ‘place’, a ‘cultural construct’ and a ‘means’ would be rendered defunct. Yet there would, no doubt, still be movies, still be ‘cinema’, just not as a location or a particular apparatus.

So, what this drives us to consider is what might be a viable and functional definition of ‘cinema’ that can account not only for current and past contexts, but which is not so tied to contemporary means and modes that it has no future functionality as cinema evolves? When considered in this manner the possibilities for a definition of cinema contract significantly to a distilled essence. Cinema is ‘the art of the moving image’. This acutely simple definition takes the two particular traits that are irrefutable for all cinema, both past and present, without tying it to any particular apparatus, institution or cultural context. Cinema is an Art because it is something wrought and constructed by a person (or group of people) that has no specific practical function; only to explore, engage, inform, entertain and edify. Likewise, cinema is a ‘moving image’ because this simple phrase alone sets cinema apart from its parents – theatre, photography and architecture. Whilst the means by which we watch cinema and the technology by which we display it may change and vary enormously, the fact that the image is moving will not.

Any other, broader or more specific definition of cinema just seems useless and un-helpful.

Apple Color Workflow

Arguably Apple Color is among the most frustrating pieces of creative software around – frustrating because it is on one hand amazingly powerful and on the other putridly inefficient and dysfunctional. Simple tasks often seem far harder than they should be and the round-trip between FCP and Color is not nearly as easy as it sounds. It’s also a tool that makes all but the uber-nerdy feel more like mathematicians than artists with an interface that just isnt conducive to creative flow. If you want a colour-grading experience that feel more like art than science RedGiant Colorista and MagicBuletLooks are the tools to go for.

But, that said, with excellent secondary colour correction tools and built-in motion tracking it presents two elements misisng from MagicBullet so it can be well worth the ffort if you can wrangle its quirks and issues into line.

Below is a set of articles that lay out different Color workflows and how to deal with soem of its inconsistencies.

Undertanding Apple Color Workflow

Color workflows with different types of sources

RED+FCP+COLOR: making it all work

And here’s also a 2-part video tutorial on the Color Workflow from FCP

FCP to Color part 1

FCP to color part 2

So you want to work in movies?

It seems a pertinent question to ask at the beginning of semester for our new First Tier students. Fortunately someone else has formulated a profoundly detailed and irreverent response to just this question, subsequently saving me a lot of time. Oliver Stapleton is a well regarded cinematographer who has penned such a response it covers a range of roles and posisbilities for those who want to work in ’screen media’.

From working out what you’re good at through to a virtual A-Z to of job possibilities within these industries, Stapleton breaks it down in a very readable way. At the same time it is interesting to read such an article, that isnt that old, and already to see some of the perspectives seem dated or outmoded. For example he writes “The dynamic range of film is something like 10 times that of the best currently available Digital Video format.” This was true several years ago but now the game has changed substantially and this statement just doesn’t hold up. Things change very fast in this industry.

Similarly, it’s very interesting to note the particular bias and bent of some filmmakers toward a particular and narrow view of what makes cinema special or important. Stapleton comments:

“Less clear is the future of film itself, and the “location” experience. As computers become cheaper and cheaper and more and more powerful, convincing images of just about anything can be produced right in the studio in California. Executives love this because they have total control and it’s cheap (relatively). But it’s still Animation however you look at it, and those of us who believe in photographing real people – actors or otherwise – in real places may become increasingly marginalized by the super computer. But this has a way to go so I wouldn’t put anyone off entering the industry right now as there is at least another generation who will experience the real world, or what’s left of it.”

Obviously the writer of this article sees the power of cinema – and his art as a cinematographer – in the ‘photographing of real people’ not a broader concept of ‘constructing’ or ‘acquiring’ a moving image. So the move toward the greater inclusion in cinema of animation, motion grpahics, virtual environments and synthetic spaces is a ‘loss’ and a detraction. But what one person rejects as a loss another embraces as a virtue and an opportunity to do something new.

In any art nostalgia for the past is the death of creativity for the future.

You can read the full article here.

Seeing what might be….

With every technological evolution connected to art there are those that sing it’s praises and those that are detractors. There are those that see the loss of something once held dear and others who see the gains made by the new and the different. Sometimes these are practical and industrial concerns, and other times they are creative worries.

When Photography emerged many declared the end of art now that a machine could capture life.

When ‘Talkies’ arose with sound-on-film, some declared the loss of visual purity and imagination.

When Colour arrived many declared that cinema’s mystique had been sacrificed.

When Widescreen became dominant many declared that composition, proportion and the golden-ratio had been dispensed with.

When Television came into being many declared that the communal nature of cinema was lost.

When home Video Cassettes arrived many declared that illegal copying of films was destroying the movie industry.

And yet amid the countless fears, apprehensions, misgivings and misconceptions there are those who have vision, who see past the now to a much bigger picture.

Francis Ford Coppola speaking erratically (and probably high on a horde of cocaine) at the 51st Academy Awards in 1979 commented:

“We’re on the eve of something that’s going to make the industrial revolution look like a small out-of-town tryout. i can see a communications revolution that’s about movies and art and music and digital electronics and satellites, but above all, human talent; and it’s going to make the masters of cinema, from whom we’ve inherited this business, believe things that the would have thought impossible.”

There are those who see what has been lost and those that see what might be….

Home-Studio reccomendations

Recently I compiled a set of laptop hardware/software bundles for indie filmmakers and recently graduating film school students. The intention was to put together systems that had great bang for buck and provided self-sufficiency in production of cinematic media – editing, graphics, audio and authoring.

Since then I had a number of requests for similar fit-outs of Desktop systems and, in particular, desktop systems that would function well as both all-round production tools for video as well as solid PC gaming rigs. So, below you’ll find 2 such kits – one ‘Bang for Buck’ system and one that’s a bit more powerful if you need extra horsepower for rendering and speedy turnarounds.

Along with the 2 hardware setups I’ve provided 2  software configs similar to the laptop solutions previously. Either software kit can be used on either hardware system quite happily. So it’s simply personal preference and production needs.

Both the hardware systems are spec’d from ENSPIRE which is a local Sydney-based company that have consistently made exceptionally good workstations, media-centres and gaming systems and  supply PC’s to some of Australia’s best post-production facilities.

For both systems I recommend the same monitor and speaker options. The Viewsonic VG2427wm 24in HD LCD is amazingly good for a knock-out price. Clear, sharp, native HD, good contrast ratio. Really cant go wrong. You can of course spend much more money on broadcast monitors but unless you’re producing a feature film or big-budget TV series it would be wasted money. This LCD will serve you very well and you can always take you movie to a full edit-suite to do a final check if you feel compelled to.

For audio I have suggested a stereo near-field audio option of KRK powered speakers but if you want more game/movie watching surround sound then there’s the LOGITECH Z-5500 THX Digital Speakers – $550. This set of THX certified 5.1 surround sound speakers are fantastic for games and movies and even can hold up to a pretty decent home surround sound mix (especially when you keep the perspective that this is exactly the kind of system that most folks will listen to your surround projects on) What’s not included in the sepcs is a Keyboard and Mouse which is far too much a personal preference scenario; i’ll leave that up to you.

Before we get onto the hardware some things to keep in mind. It might seem enticing to plug in a shit-load of RAM and go for the higher clock-speed on the CPU but you need to keep some perspective. First, that having more than 4gb of RAM is often useless to many of the applications you’ll be using which simply wont use it. On a 64bit operating system some apps can address more than 4gb of RAM but many software tools are likewise not fully 64bit compatible. If you were doing feature-length projects or lots of 3D and motion graphics rendering then 16gb of RAM on a 64bit OS might be great. But if it’s short-form video projects, audio work and gaming then mega amounts of RAM are a waste and money that could be better spent elsewhere.

Where extra RAM can be a benefit is for having multiple software tools open at the same time, but you need to ask yourself how often do you realistically ‘need’ to do that. Some may like to have After Effects, Premiere and Soundbooth all open at the same time and working together but big lumps of extra RAM may well cost more than its worth to do this.

In simple terms I’d suggest that 4gb is a benchmark. 6gb will give you extra RAM render space for tools like After Effects. Go for 8gb if you want multiple apps open. More than that you just dont really need unless you’re doing much bigger projects.

In regard to CPU speeds we have a similar cost vs benefit issue. If we take for example the i7 920 2.66GHz and its faster brother the i7 950 3.0GHz we have a price difference of almost $400. Is 0.34ghz worth $400? It will be faster sure, but does the fact that your final export render was 60 seconds faster really matter? Is it worth $400? The answer will most likely be no – not in the context of making short films, docos, corporates, online content and the rest of the stuff that will be bread and butter for the indie filmmaker starting a career (and playing games for inspiration in your breaks). So in the 2 systems below I’ve have spec’d the lowest clock-speed CPU in the class available which is still blazingly fast and will serve very well with great value.

Overall the focus of these rigs is affordability and flexibility. You can Always spend more and get better. But ‘better’ is a relative term and has to be seen in context of what are your needs and what the real-world benefits are. With the 2 hardware setups below and the respective 2 software packages the price range of these systems is between $5285 (for the less expensive system based on Sony Vegas software) and $7253 (for the more expensive system with the full CS4 suite)

In either case the idea that in 2009 you can have a complete home-studio post-production setup capable of real-time HD production for between $5k and $8k is rather mind-blowing. Go back in time 10 years and this would seem pretty out-there. Go back 15 years and it would seem absurd.

There’s never been a better time to be a filmmaker and the most powerful thing you can do is own the means of production.

So, onto the 2 systems -

Enspire Vitesse GX i5
Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz, 8MB Cache – Quad Core cpu
4gb RAM
1x 500gb system drive
1x 1tb project drive
BluRay Player/DVD burner
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 896MB, Dual DVI
10 USB ports
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP1 with Windows 7 Upgrade Coupon
3 year full parts and labour warranty
+
KRK Rokit RP5G2 – Powered 5″ audio monitor ($330)
Shuttle Pro Xpress jog controller ($95)
Lacie 1TB Quadra d2 External hard drive ($260)
Viewsonic VG2427wm 24in HD LCD ($320)

Price = $3085

Issues – No Firewire and no E-sata ports (these will cost approx $50 each to add in). Limited ability to expand internally.
Benefits – Massive bang for buck! 7 channel surround sound built-in.

Enspire Lightspeed FX
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz, 8MB Cache – Quad core with Hyper threading = 8 cores
6gb RAM
1x 500gb system drive
1x 1tb project drive
BluRay Player/DVD burner
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 896MB, Dual DVI
6 USB ports
1 FW 400
1 E-sata
+
KRK Rokit RP5G2 – Powered 5″ audio monitor ($330)
Shuttle Pro Xpress jog controller ($95)
Lacie 1TB Quadra d2 External hard drive ($260)
Viewsonic VG2427wm 24in HD LCD ($320)

Price = $3653

Issues – None to speak of.
Benefits – 8 cores for multitasking and rendering speed. Firewire and E-sata built in. Can be expanded internally with lots of PCI slots. 7 channel surround sound built-in. Really funky looking case

—

CS4-based software package
- Adobe CS4 $2400
- Cineform NeoHD $650
- RedGiant MagicBullet Looks $500
- Open Office $Free
- Celtx $Free
- Celtx Studios Subscription $50/year (for project backup and collaboration)
- Thunderbird (email client) $free
Price = $3600

Vegas package
- Sony Vegas (inc DVD Architect) $1000
- Cineform NeoHD $650
- RedGiant Magic Bullet Looks $500
- Open Office $Free
- Celtx $Free
- Celtx Studios Subscription $50/year (for project backup and collaboration)
- Thunderbird (email client) $free
Price = $2200

Owning the means of production

In the 21st century the single most empowering thing a young indie filmmaker can do to further their art and their career is to Own The Means Of Production…! The cost/power of contemporary computers and cameras leaves you with no excuse. When a fairly humble laptop can cut Intermediate codec 10bit HD in real-time then we really are in indie filmmaker heaven.

Owning your own gear allows you the means to be creative. A painter needs to own their own brushes and so a filmmaker needs to own their own computer. There’s just no excuse or reason not to. With your own means of production you allow yourself to work not wait to be allowed to work. Make a couple of corporate videos if you have to to pay off the cost of the gear and then you’re free to make your own films.

In this regard, and at the request of many students, ive put together some specs for  indie filmmaker laptop-computer kits and software configurations. The below setups aim to cover a few different preferences and purposes as well as budgets. They are also geared as much as possible towards an holistic and self-sufficient approach; ie variety of tools for end-to-end digital production – edit, audio, effects, colour and delivery. Each laptop system also includes the means to dual purpose as both portable and desktop studio with add-on external monitor. In some cases there may seem, on the surface, to be software double-ups, multiple software tools to do the same job; in these cases the additional tools are specified in order to make up for software shortcomings or provide more fluid and functional alternatives.

At the bottom of this post you’ll also find essential free plugins and utilities every editor needs.

—

Adobe CS4 based Laptop
Hardware:
- MacBookPro 15″ 2.66ghz $3800
- Viewsonic VX2233wm 22″ HD LCD monitor $300
- 2x Lacie 1TB Quadra d2 External hard drives (1 for project working, one for backup) $520
- Shuttle Pro Xpress jog controller $95

Software:
- Adobe CS4 $2400
- RedGiant MagicBullet Looks $500
- Cineform NeoHD $650
- Open Office $Free
- Celtx $Free
- Celtx Studios Subscription $50/year

Notes:
Most all-round system. Editing, Authoring, Effects comprehensively covered. Sound is covered by combination of Premiere’s own very good audio mixing and Soundbooth’s efficient audio editing and multi-tracking. OMF export from Premiere means direct integration with ProTools is possible. The inclusion of Cineform provides a complete lossless intermediate codec system equivalent (and in fact better than) ProRes. Whilst the colour tools in Premiere and After Effects are very good, Magic Bullet Looks provides a more fluid and creative colour grading system than the native tools in the package. Celtx Studio’s subscription gives you an online multi-user collaboration system for  pre-production as well as online storage backup and version tracking for all your scripts and projects.

TOTAL – $8305

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Apple Final Cut Studio based laptop
Hardware:
- MBP 15″ 2.66ghz $3800
- Viewsonic VX2233wm 22″ HD LCD $300
- 2x Lacie 1TB Quadra d2 EXT drive (1 for working, one for backup) $520
- Shuttle pro Xpress $95

Software:
- FCS3 $1500
- Colorista $250
- RedGiant MagicBullet Looks $500
- Reaper $60 (small business price)
- Open Office $Free
- Celtx $Free

Notes:
Solid all-round system though not as comprehensive as the above Adobe-based package – but cheaper. Colorista plugin to substitute weak and poor colour correction tools in FCP itself, avoid reliance on Apple Color for more simple needs and give a faster workflow on the editing timeline. Whilst Apple Colour is very good, Magic Bullet Looks is far more intuitive and creatively flexible. Reaper is a very low-cost but massively powerful multi-track audio and music production system that is more reliable and stable than SoundtrackPro; though isnt integrated with FCP. At such a low price it’s easy to justify having it to supplement or replace STP in your projects. Celtx Studio’s subscription gives you an online multi-user collaboration system for  pre-production as well as online storage backup and version tracking for all your scripts and projects.

Total = $7075

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Premiere based Laptop System
- MBP 15″ 2.66ghz $3800
- Viewsonic VX2233wm 22″ HD LCD $300
- 2x Lacie 1TB Quadra d2 EXT drive (1 for working, one for backup) $520
- Shuttle pro Xpress $95

Software:
- Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 $1200
- Adobe SoundBooth CS4 $300
- Cineform NeoHD $650
- Open Office $Free
- Celtx $Free

Lower-cost Laptop system focused on just on Editing and Sound rather than a more complete system. Premiere and Soundbooth together give you a very tightly integrated editing and audio package. If you dont need visual effects tools or complex colour-grading then these two together with Cineform for lossless intermediate formats provide all you need.

Total = $6865

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Vegas based PC laptop
Hardware:
- PC Laptop (various models including Dell XPS, HP, Alienware etc) approx $2600
- Viewsonic VX2233wm 22″ HD LCD $300
- 2x Lacie 1TB Quadra d2 EXT drive (1 for project working, one for backup) $520

Software:
- Sony Vegas (inc DVD Architect) $1000
- RedGiant Magic Bullet Looks $500
- Open Office $Free
- Celtx $Free

Very efficient, low-cost system where Vegas covers almost all needs on it’s own. Vegas is a comprehensive editing and digital audio multitrack system; it is also has very capable tools for mid-level compositing and fx. It can read an encode almost any format and it’s bundled with DVD Architect which is a very good tool for BluRay and DVD authoring. Of all the systems out there Vegas is the most singularly efficient, like a Swiss Army knife. With the addition of MagicBulletLooks, it becomes a very complete system where you can keep your project entirely within the one single application. Celtx Studio’s subscription gives you an online multi-user collaboration system for  pre-production as well as online storage backup and version tracking for all your scripts and projects.

Total = $4970

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Must-have free Software Utilities and Plugins:

Final Cut Assistant (repairs and manages FCP)

Perian (adds suppourt for many codecs otherwise not included in Quicktime)

Google SketchUp (fast and free 3D previs tool)

Mpeg Streamclip (video and audio format converter)

VLC (media player that delivers when Quicktime fails)

Kuler (colour palette tool)

VideoSpace (online and Widget video codec datarate calculator)

Plugins and Utilities for working with particular camera and NLE codec formats

ProRes Decoder Mac (to allow playback of ProRes files on Macs that dont have FCP)

ProRes Decoder Windows (to allow playback of ProRes files on PC NLE’s)

Avid DNxHD (to allow playback of DNxHD codec fiels form Avid systems)

Flip4Mac (allows playback of Windows Media files in Quicktime)

SxS Card driver (allows the connection and mounting of SxS memory cards used in Sony XDCAMEX cameras)

XDCAM Transfer utility (allows for browsing and re-wrapping of XDCAM(EX) files to MOV)

QT Movie Notetaker (tool for annotating and reviewing quicktime movies)

RED Plugins (variety of tools for importing, colour corretcing and managing RED R3D files)

HD, HDV, Lossless Intermediates

The number one most imperative ability and independent filmmaker needs to have is the ability to get a lot out of a little. This can mean a variety of things connected to budgeting, scheduling, finance, collaborations, making the most of creative opportunities and so on. But in regards to technology this key capacity of the filmmaker lies in their ability to get great results out of limited resources. By understanding the technical make-up of cameras, their shooting formats and the post-production workflow options, the indie filmmaker is able to maximise the impact of their films, avoid aesthetic problems and enact that creative vision in their head onto screen.

In the 21st century a filmmaker who doesn’t understand the tools of production intimately and throughly is like a painter who doesn’t know a thin brush from a thick one or what a canvas looks like.

Below are the notes from today’s class on HD, HDV and Lossless Intermediate workflows. It’s technical, occasionally complex and sometimes even mathematical But it is crucial knowledge if you want to get the visual result you’re after and spend more time making creative decisions instead of trouble shooting technical problems.

HD and HDV class notes (PDF)