Your Video Expert Blog

Looking for a Specialized Angled Cable? Found the place for you!

I was looking around today for a specialized cable -- I needed (or wanted) a firewire cable that would connect my Windows Notepad PC with one of my external Hard Drives.

The cable I have is the regular 4-6 pin FireWire cable - but where my computer sits on my desk - the end of the 4-pin connector is getting in the way at times. So I figured if I could find a right angle connector, that would be great!

Took awhile to find but I did... turns out there is a supplier that specializes in angled cables. In fact that's their company name (and website URL): Angled Cables.com

Now I am eager to receive my order and put this to the test!

A Look at Three of the new 4K Video Cameras Showing at NAB 2012

The NAB 2012 Show (National Association of Broadcasters) is taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada this week and some of the most talked about news from the huge exhibit showcase is 4K Video Cameras.  Wall Street Journal provides this nice summary of this newer technology with an introduction to three of the new tools

Final Cut Pro X - Opposing Viewpoints

Since Apple released their new totally revamped version of Final Cut Pro last year - Final Cut Pro X - there has been lots of discussion (and complaints) in the professional video production community about the changes in the software, and a great deal of it was wondering why Apple would release a product that is so dramatically different from it's predecessor. 

There has been some conversation from Apple about these changes, how they wanted to start with a new palette and create a tool that would address the production needs of today and tomorrow without being restricted to the software concepts and work-flow that was developed more than 10 years ago.

Still - a number of folks remain less than pleased with the Apple product and have moved or at least examined competing or alternative application/solutions. 

Today I wanted to share two opposing viewpoints - one that cements the disgruntled editors who believe this new application does not address their needs and the other perspective of how Apple Final Pro X has been embraced by a network program and has "revolutionized their post-production".

First - an article written by Jan Ozer of StreamingMedia.com has an article that appeared this week on OnLine Video.net.  The title of the article points to the opinion to be shared "How Apple Took the ‘Pro’ Out of Final Cut Pro".

Jan does address how the latest release (back in January 2012) of the Apple software did bring some more functionality to the application but has some continued concerns about the robustness of the software to meet the needs and demands of the professional video community.

Jan concludes the article "FCPX and Apple’s all-in-one computers will be wonderfully successful products for consumers, but most experienced professional users prefer a completely different value proposition."

On the flip side is an article titled Final Cut Pro X - In Action. To be transparent here, I should point out this article was released on the Apple PR website and is part of an Apple Press Release. 

But there are some salient comments and testimonial from professional folks who are and have adapted the Final Cut Pro X work-flow into their busy post-production schedule of the TNT prime time drama Leverage.

I have no intention of steering you towards or away from Final Cut Pro X - just think it's important to be aware of the conversations taking place, of the differing viewpoints about the newest tools we might use in our video projects.  Ultimately I believe the tool that suits each individual best is the one they should choose and use (and some of us regularly use more than one tool for our jobs).

Adobe to Unveil New Tools in the XS6 - Creative Suite 6 at NAB 2012 Next Week

Adobe has announced that NAB 2012 - held in La Vegas, Nevada next week - will see a premiere of their latest media post-production suite of applications...CS6 - Creative Suite 6

"The suite features significant updates to familiar tools including powerful new versions of Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition®, Adobe Story, Adobe Media Encoder and Adobe Photoshop®". 

Adobe will be releasing two brand new tools - as part of CS6 "Adobe SpeedGrade™ CS6 for professional color grading, and Adobe Prelude™ CS6, an elegant solution for the process of ingest, logging and transcoding, essential tasks in a modern file-based work flow."

Of specific interest to us video producers - here are the changes to expect in the new Suite "for advanced video editing, Premiere Pro CS6 incorporates a new user interface, trimming and OpenCL support in the new turbo-charged Mercury Playback Engine. After Effects CS6 is the biggest release in a decade, with huge performance gains and powerful 3D features."

Eadward Muybridge, Google Doodle, and Moving Pictures

Today is the birthday of Eadward Muybridge.

For all us who are involved with the motion picture/videos, etc. this gent is a pioneer you may have heard about.  Eadweard was - among other things -the inventor of the Zoapraxiscope.  This device allowed him to stitch together still images (photographs) and display them as if it were a moving image (think movie projector).

To settle a bet (one of the men on the bet was Leland Stanford)... he set up multiple cameras that took photos in series which he then displayed in motion with his Zoapraxiscope.  You can actually see one of these inventions in the museum at the Cantor Museum at Stanford University in California (and you can make it work - I did and it is amazing!)

Google is honoring his birthday today with a working Doodle that displays what his invention looked like...well, at least the finished product. Stop by the Google search page today and click on the play button in the center of the Google Doodle - you'll see a re-creation of the infamous horse race that was a pre-cursor to film.
Good stuff!

If you would like to read a little more about Eadweard - check out this article in the UK Guardian: Eadweard Muybridge Celebrated in a Google Doodle.

Dog's Perspective of a Visit to the Dog Park

The action video cameras from the Go Pro company have been responsible for many creative videos in recent months.  Here's one I saw just today and really liked the perspective/s.   The video was edited by Kelsey Wynns and shot by, well... by Bishop - his Great Dane.

Kelsey recently purchased a pair of GoPro cameras and had one mounted on a collar around Bishop. Resulted in some cool shots - even dog owners who spend a lot of time at the local dog park probably have not seen these views!  You can read more about the project on Kelsey's blog: http://kelseyw.com/

Kelsey confirms what I was thinking when I first saw the video - he used Twixtor for the motion manipulation effects, cool thing that Twixtor!

As I watched this, I was reminded of an assignment I used to give to my Video students some time ago, as we were learning about creative camera composition and POV shots. One of the examples I would give them is --- think of storyboarding part of the day from the point of view of your pet.  Really, I did!