… for Random Weirdness

Tip #1442: Blackmagic Releases 6K Pocket Camera

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

BMD’s latest camera is available immediately for US$2,495.

Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro

Topic $TipTopic

Last week, Blackmagic Design released the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro. The following description is taken from the Blackmagic Design website (linked below).

The latest Pocket camera is “a new more powerful model that includes features for high end digital film. This new model includes a brighter 1,500 nit adjustable HDR touchscreen screen, built in ND filters, larger battery, plus support for an optional electronic viewfinder. This model also includes latest generation 5 color science, Super 35 HDR image sensor with 13 stops of dynamic range, dual native ISO of 25,600 and a popular EF lens mount.

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro is available immediately from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide for US$2,495.

Made from lightweight carbon fiber polycarbonate composite, the camera features a multifunction handgrip with all controls for recording, ISO, WB and shutter angle right at their fingertips. Because it’s an advanced digital film camera, the sensor is designed to reduce thermal noise allowing cleaner shadows and higher ISO. Plus the large 5 inch LCD makes it possible to get perfect focus at 4K and 6K resolutions.

Featuring a larger 6144 x 3456 Super 35 sensor and EF lens mount, also includes additional pro features such as built in 2, 4 and 6 stop ND filters, adjustable tilt HDR LCD with a bright 1500 nits that’s ideal for use in bright sunlight. It also includes two mini XLR audio inputs and a larger NP-F570 style battery.

Learn more.


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… for Random Weirdness

Tip #1439: The Importance of Diversity

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

A film set is a microcosm of the world. We need to make it better.

Image courtesy Bruno Massao, Pexels.com.

Topic $TipTopic

Tanya Jones is an executive producer, writer, director and creator. She is also Black. She’s written an excellent essay about the challenges of diversity on a film set that first appeared in PremiumBeat.com. This isn’t a summary – its a strong push for you to read her thoughts. There’s a lot each of us can do to make our industry better.

Tanya writes:

A film set is a microcosm of the world, in all its beauty and harshness. What I’ve learned the hard way about white males in production—the allies and co-conspirators.

I am a Black woman (sigh . . . my heart fills with pride when I type that), award-winning executive producer, writer, director, creator. My résumé spans over twenty years in production, and I’ve done well as a leader. Today, when I walk on set, I’m the one in charge. But, I could’ve done better, faster.

We all know the facts but here they are again, a hard slap in the face: “Among women who hold full-time, year-round jobs in the United States, Black women are typically paid 63 cents, Native American women 60 cents, and Latinas just 55 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men,” according to a September 2020 report from the National Partnership for Women and Families.

I could choose to stew in a simmering mess of resentment and anger but I’d never thrive there. I know myself well, and I know I do well in partnership, in co-creation. Some of my best relationships in this industry are with white men. Men who work with me, work for me, hire me, recommend me, inspire me, and see me for me. With these white men, I’ve co-produced a beautiful story where respect and a level playing field are the true starring roles.

Read the entire essay here – there’s room for growth… and hope.


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… for Random Weirdness

Tip #1438: Another Way to Find the Right Guests

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

MatchMaker is designed to make finding the right guest easier.

The MatchMaker.fm logo

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MatchMaker.fm is a relatively new service that seeks to connect podcasters – or anyone doing an interview, actually – with guests.

There are two sides to the website: People who host podcasts and people who want to be on podcasts.

“Finding the right guest for your show can help you reach a new audience whilst also giving your listeners a fresh new perspective.” (Matchmaker.fm website)

This link provides a description of their service.

While this link provides a series of tutorials on how to find and pitch the right guests.


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… for Apple Motion

Tip #1425: Cool 3D Text Lighting Tricks

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

All lights can be animated with keyframes so colors and shadows move.

Text light with backlight only (top) and then adding a dim front light.

Topic $TipTopic

This tip started by asking: “What can I do with directional lighting in Apple Motion?” The answer is: “Quite a lot of very cool stuff!”

Create some 3D text. In the screen shot, I used Optima at 275 points. Enter the text for your title.

  • Select the text in the Layers pane.
  • Go to Inspector > Text and set Lighting Style to Off.
  • Uncheck Environment.
  • Everything should now go black because all lighting is turned off on the text.
  • Go to Object > New Light and add two new lights.
  • Select a light and, in Inspector > Light, set Light Type to Directional. Do this for both lights.
  • Point one light – using the 3D Transform tool – toward the text, with the other light pointed away from the text.

NOTE: Remember, with Directional lights, position is irrelevant. Only the rotation direction matters.

When the angles are set, adjust colors and intensity to suit. In my example, the front light (pointing to the text) is pale yellow with Intensity set to 10.

The back light is pointing down and toward the front. Intensity is 100 and the color is dark blue.


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… for Apple Motion

Tip #1424: Lights Can Help 2D Video

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Motion lights can be colored and shaped to resemble actual lights, not simply colors.

A dark blue ambient glow combined with an amber spot light to create a night scene.

Topic $TipTopic

One of the most powerful, but little known, features in Apple Motion are its lights. These can benefit video clips in ways you might not expect.

For example, look at this shot from the film “Route 30, Too!”, directed by John Putch. The top image was the actual shot.

The bottom image applies a dark blue ambient light to change the time to late evening, while an amber spotlight creates the illusion of a porch light illuminating the hair and body of the actor.

The ability to use lights to create lighting shapes and colors that resemble bare bulbs, or spot lights, or lighting fixtures give us much more creative flexibility with key scenes than we could get with Final Cut alone.

Here’s a webinar that covers this in more detail.


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… for Apple Motion

Tip #1423: Messing with Transitions in Motion

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Motion provides lots of flexibility in designing transitions; starting with durations.

The blue bar displays the duration of the Transition A drop zone.

Topic $TipTopic

A “drop-zone” is a placeholder in Motion for video to be inserted by Final Cut Pro. By default, when you create a new Final Cut Transition in Apple Motion, it creates two special drop zones:

  • The green Transition A will display the video from the out-going clip.
  • The red Transition B will display the video from the in-coming clip.

Each of these two drop-zones runs for exactly one-half the duration of the transition itself, each represented by a blue bar in the mini-timeline (red arrow in screen shot).

However, these durations can easily be changed, which gives you more time to do interesting things with each clip.

Simply drag the edge of the blue bar for the selected drop-zone in the mini-timeline to change the duration. Then adjust scale, position, rotation in the Inspector, or add Filters and Behaviors. For example, you could have the new clip fly on screen as a black-and-white clip, flip around a few times, then zoom full-screen while switching to full color to end the transition.

The results might look tacky, but, well, it would certainly be eye-catching. In any case, consider the duration of each of these elements as totally flexible.


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… for Visual Effects

Tip #1444: Adult Animation is in its Heyday

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

There has never been a better time to develop an animated series.

Detail from “The Boondocks,” credit: Cartoon Network

Topic $TipTopic

This article first appeared in NoFilmSchool.com. This is a summary.

The animation world used to be for kids, but adult animation is having a heyday right now. Adult animation is actually one of the most successful genres of entertainment today. Shows like Rick and Morty, Big Mouth, and Clone High dominate the conversation. We have Primal, Samurai Jack, and The Boondocks all coming back.

HBO Max paid $500 million for the exclusive rights to South Park, and they haven’t stopped there. They have a revival of Clone High (picked up for two seasons), the Scooby-Doo prequel Velma, a take on Gremlins, more Harley Quinn, plus an ongoing slate of additional animated content, including an adult-focused Game of Thrones animated series.

Netflix is constantly developing new animated series, and Amazon is not far behind. Think about Bojack Horseman and Undone. According to “The Hollywood Reporter”, Netflix has invested over one billion dollars in animated programming.

Recording voice lines is easy for actors and only takes a few days. Much of the animation can be done for cheap in foreign countries. And you can write and animate year-round.

Another shift in all of this is the COVID-19 pandemic. With live-action TV and films sidelined, the animation genre was able to continue. It was easier following COVID protocols when you just are sanitizing a room and a mic. And lots of lines could be done remotely, over Zoom, with a proper mic setup.

There has never been a better time to develop an animated series.


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… for Visual Effects

Tip #1443: More Free After Effects Tutorials

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

MotionArray.com has dozens of free tutorials on their site.

Screen shot from a MotionArray tutorial.

Topic $TipTopic

MotionArray.com recently published more free After Effects tutorials on their website, with a special focus on text and typography.

Titles include:

  • Create 2 Dynamic Looping Backgrounds in After Effects
  • Learn 2 Popular Animations in After Effects
  • Easily Animate Individual Letters in After Effects
  • Create Your Own Kinetic Typography in After Effects
  • 2 Creative Text Reveal Animations in After Effects

And many more.

Here’s the link.


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… for Visual Effects

Tip #1441: Creativity is Always a Leap of Faith

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

The disabled “need to be five times more qualified” just to get work.

Kaitlyn Yang, Visual Effects Supervisor and Alpha Studios Founder

Topic $TipTopic

Visual effects supervisor Kaitlyn Yang was hooked on digital imaging when she was nine years old, upon discovering Photoshop and STAR WARS. She was recently interviewed by VFXVoice.com. This is a summary of her interview.

A graduate of USC Film School, Kaitlyn founded VFX postproduction company Alpha Studios when she was 25 and made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Hollywood and Entertainment, and has served on the Television Academy’s Awards Committee and as Co-Chair of the VES Los Angeles Section. An immigrant and wheelchair user, Kaitlyn overcame additional obstacles in her career and has used that experience to fuel her advocacy for diversity and inclusion, to further the representation of disabled artists in entertainment.

In her interview, she reflects on the biggest challenge she faced in the VFX industry: “being a woman.”

“Even to this day,” she writes, “when I show up to set as a VFX supervisor, the first question I’m asked is “who are you here visiting?” It’s an everyday thing that will change with time. The more women are seen and empowered in senior roles, the less these trivial questions will come up. I took a leap of faith in starting my own company, and I am committed to achieving greater equity and opportunity for everyone in VFX.”

“Early on, my mom said that because I have a visible disability, I need to be at least five times as qualified as a ‘regular’ person to be considered for a role …and going through my career, I agree with that. When I was starting out, I didn’t see people who looked like me on screen or behind the scenes. There are still negative connotations around people with disabilities or anything outside what people perceive as the norm, and that drove me to prove myself so that I would not be overlooked. I carry that drive forward to raise awareness of the untapped talent all around us and how those perspectives lend so much to storytelling and our business. Let’s all do our part to make it the norm to see diversity all the way down the end credits.”


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… for Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Tip #1447: Change Caption Timing

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Caption timing is adjusted in the timeline, similar to trimming clips.

A caption clip with three trimmed captions inside.

Topic $TipTopic

In Premiere, captions are contained in a caption file. As the screen shot illustrates, multiple captions are stored in the same file.

  • To change the duration of a caption, drag an edge; this is similar to trimming a clip.
  • To change the location of a caption, click in the center and drag the caption.
  • To delete a caption, click it, then press the big Delete key.
  • To add a new caption, double-click the caption file in the timeline to open the Caption panel. Click the Plus button in the lower right corner to add a new caption at the position of the playhead.
  • To correct a typo, use the same Caption panel.

EXTRA CREDIT

You can also use the Caption panel to adjust formatting and alignment.


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