We recently picked up a new Macbook Retina for editing on the go. Since we are all Adobe all the time I only installed CS6 on this machine. There is no Final Cut, Motion, or Compressor on this machine. This left me without ProRes! With a bit of googling I was able to figure it out. Check out after the break how I got the Apple codecs including ProRes on my new Mac:
A great article here describes the danger of customer engagement on your website if your video buffers. The important part:
A new study by Ramesh Sitaraman, of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Shunmuga Krishnan, of Akamai finds that the exact amount of time before viewers begin to abandon online video as a result of buffering is two seconds. After two seconds, the abandonment rate is reported to increase at roughly 5.8% per-second; meaning that after eleven seconds you will have lost over half your audience.
We purchased a Wacom tablet this afternoon to streamline our storyboarding process a bit more. I was really excited to test it out but ended up having to scrap a half hour of work because I made a few mistakes. Here they are, learn from them:
We bought the ‘Bamboo Capture Pen & Touch’ model and so far love it. Once I setup the software and preferences it really helped streamline our process. Anyone else have examples of storyboarding that caused a palm-to-forehead experience? Share it in the comments.
With a DSLR or any other digital video camera you can lose a lot of the detail in a shot if you are not careful. By default some cameras, like the Canon XH A1, have an image that is a bit washed out. The Canon 5D Mark II, on the other hand, has a default image that has more contrast and is much more saturated. So which produces the best picture? Who knows, but here’s what we like.
Read on…
Update 12/12/12: We bought a 5d and equipment in July of 2011. We love it and have been shooting exclusively with it for a year and a half. Occasionally we’ll bring along a 7D or the XHA1. Check out our portfolio to see what the camera can do.
The purpose of this guide is TO TELL YOU WHAT TO BUY. Most comparisons take a hands off approach letting the user decide. Not us, we tell you how it is. Here’s a quick chart in case you don’t know what to buy:
| 60D | 7D | 5dmarkii | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost* | $999.99/$1299.99 | $1849.99/$1899.99 | $2499.99/$3299.99 |
| On a Budget | X | ||
| No Budget | X | ||
| Best Image | X | ||
| On a Budget but willing to stretch |
X | ||
| On a Budget but just want a body+lens in a kit |
X | X |
* Prices are based on lowest online retailer with good feedback on google products
Read on…
Last week I finished up a series of commercial spots that will air all over the state of Wisconsin. The spots are :23 :7 spots, meaning that the main commercial runs 23 seconds and then there are 7 seconds of space at the end for local “dealer tags”. In order to complete this project, I worked with an ad agency representative to pull together video clips, logos, and contact information from about 70 different dealers across the state. It came to my attention that many of these businesses have one thing in common: a terrible logo.
I am sure, however, that most of these designs were created with little to no budget. So I thought it might be fun this afternoon to give you a few tips on “How to Cut Costs on Your Branding, or How to Make the Worst Logo Ever.”
We all know we shouldn’t be doing zoomed in handheld shots, but sometimes on a live shoot you break rules in the heat of the moment. Whether it’s the only way to get a great (you think) shot, or you aren’t paying attention. The end result is the same: shaky and unusable footage. Luckily we have tools like After Effects CS4 that provide a myriad of effects that can help you accomplish just about anything.
If you haven’t yet, go check out the Video Copilot’s tutorial on stabilization. They’re a great site with a ton of tutorials for AE that you can mess around with for days.
So, now you know how to stabilize but you are editing some 108060i footage and that large target box is so dang big that it takes hours to track a 30 second clip. No one has time for that. The trick is to do a little bit of motion tracking yourself to speed up the process. The trick is after the break.