… for Random Weirdness

Tip #1374: Unions Approve Resuming Production

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Media production resumes in Los Angeles – with strict safety protocols.

The SAG-AFTRA Logo

Topic $TipTopic

SAG-AFTRA, the Producers Guild of America and JPC, a bargaining group that represents commercial advertisers and advertising agencies, agreed to resume media production in Southern California effective Feb. 1, 2021, consistent with the expiration of the pause recommendation by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Learn more about the agreement.

“While commercial and independent production may return to Southern California at this time, the parties maintain that film and television productions must abide by the industry-issued COVID-safety protocols and will continue to monitor and consider orders or recommendations issued by the Public Health Department,” the groups said in a statement.

NOTE: The pandemic caused the lowest number of production days in Los Angeles in 25 years, down 48% from 2019.

The Producers Guild of America’s (PGA) Production Safety Task Force published a comprehensive safety guide for producers as they go back to work titled “COVID Safety Protocols for Producing Independent Productions.” These guidelines offer a comprehensive and detailed recommendation of the steps independent producers should take to help secure the safety of cast and crew during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn more about the safety protocols.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Random Weirdness

Tip #1378: Faster Ways to Edit Audio Files

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Editing sound bites using text transcripts is faster and more accurate.

Philip Hodgetts (Left) and Dr. Greg Clarke, co-founders of Lumberjack System.

Topic $TipTopic

The big problem with editing a documentary is the VAST amount of material you need to sift through. Or, perhaps you are a podcaster or creating oral history projects. You have the same problem – tracking your content across an almost unlimited number of files. There’s only so much you can keep in your head.

The team at Lumberjack System has created a tutorial on some dynamic features in Lumberjack that can improve your editing and speed finding the right clip. For example, live logging to help you get organized by combining Builder NLE with Premiere or Final Cut, etc.

The key is using Builder NLE. This allows you to put together an entire project from transcripts to finished audio file. There are tools for trimming and fine-tuning an edit within Builder’s Story mode, and it would be entirely feasible (and frankly quite feasible) to finish an audio-only project there.

However, they recommend assembling the story (or “Radio Cut” as they call it) in Builder NLE and then use the many trimming tools available in Final Cut Pro X, or Premiere Pro to make your edits.

Learn more.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Random Weirdness

Tip #1379: Keys to Success from an Executive Producer

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Be prepared, build relationships and leave your ego at the door.

Image courtesy of PremiumBeat.com.

Topic $TipTopic

This article, written by Tanya Jones, first appeared in PremiumBeat.com. This is a summary.

From being prepared to checking your ego, here are a few industry lessons from an executive producer to help you stand out and always make the cut.

Be Prepared for Things to go Wrong and Be Ready to Fix Them. Be ready to think of all possibilities and ask your team to weigh in. You don’t have to come up with the exact solution, but you have to take the lead and gather the players to solve it. You must exercise the maturity and ability to stay calm and keep everyone else calm. Timing is key, as well. Move fast and think on your feet.

Be Likable, Smart, and Have a Good Attitude. My motto has always been this, “It’s not who you know, it’s who you know and how much they like you.” Relationships really matter!

Always Be a Student. You don’t have to master every skill. Just listen and make an effort to understand why every piece matters in the story. How we tell stories and how we deliver stories is changing all the time. Be the first to see how content is changing and why platforms and services are making money.

Know the Audience. It’s important to understand the why. We can’t just tell stories without a vision in mind to lock viewers in. Understand how the content pulls in the audience and the dollars, especially if you want to pitch your own piece of work.

Check Your Ego at the Door. Don’t allow insecurities or fear to take priority over getting the job done. Always try to play well with everyone in the sandbox. Be mindful of your tone and how you speak to folks.

Your Job Isn’t Who You Are. No matter what celebs you work with or how hot your show scores in the ratings, these jobs aren’t our identities.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Visual Effects

Tip #1375: Red Giant Offers Free Color Training

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

These sessions can help demystify color grading in post.

Image courtesy of Maxon.com.

Topic $TipTopic

Red Giant, now a part of Maxon, announced “Demystifying Post-Production: Shooting for the Grade.”

Join the Maxon Color Training Team every Monday in February, as they investigate grading workflows for your camera gear. They’ll look at key aspects of production, such as how the sensor can affect your grade, and how colorists can take advantage of different picture styles, including paint, shade and raw settings. They’ll provide practical recipes to help in post-production, and also show how you can leverage the new color handing features in Magic Bullet Looks inside DaVinci Resolve.

They’ll feature DaVinci Resolve techniques for color correction, but the concepts we’ll be covering are applicable to multiple applications and workflows, including Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro X.

Learn more. All sessions are free.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Visual Effects

Tip #1383: New Ways to Educate Tomorrow’s Pros

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

In-person classes are better, but here are some good alternatives.

Vancouver Film School Makeup Design for Film & Television student Aerien Steadman works on a clay sculpture after limited groups of students resumed campus activities last August. (Image courtesy of Vancouver Film School)

Topic $TipTopic

This article, written by Chris McGowan, first appeared in VFXVoice.com. This is a summary.

Once the pandemic hit and turned classes into virtual events, VFX and animation schools scrambled to get their curricula online, make classes glitch-free and dynamic, and offer remote access to workstations.

“As the world changed, so have we,” says Miguel Rodriguez about Vancouver’s InFocus Film School and its response to COVID-19. Rodriguez, Head of the 3D Animation and VFX program, comments, “It definitely was a rough process of adapting to the new normal. During the first week of the quarantine we worked hard to set up online learning tools and remote access to the class computers. It gave [students] 24/7 access to their workstations without leaving home.”

USC’s School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) animation and digital arts classes are using Zoom, Blackboard, SyncSketch and Slack, according to Teresa Cheng, Chair of the John C. Hench Division of Animation and Digital Arts at SCA, plus “our Creative Technology department has worked out virtual desktop access for our students via Teradici.” However, she emphasizes that “our value is in our faculty. Zoom is just a tool. Of course, there are limitations [in not] being physically in the same space, but good teachers always find inventive ways to reach their students and deliver good content.

The College of Motion Picture Arts at Florida State University pursued a hybrid model for the fall of 2020, going remote when possible, according to Ron Honn, Filmmaker-in-Residence, Visual Arts. He notes that the school went the extra mile for its students when the pandemic began. “We were determined that our students would have the equipment necessary to continue work on their projects. So we shipped professional camera packages, lighting and grip gear, as needed, to students in their various locations.”

InFocus Film School’s Rodriguez observes, “These are difficult times for everyone, but it’s also a great opportunity to look into developing your career. People will keep watching shows, movies and playing video games, much more so during these crazy times. That means more work needs to be done, more hands and talent are needed.”

EXTRA CREDIT

The article includes many more interviews, photos and details on specific software tools used to enhance teaching.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Tip #1372: Premiere Pro – Sundance NLE of Choice

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

68% of Sundance films were edited on Adobe Premiere Pro.

The Adobe logo.

Topic $TipTopic

Adobe last week announced that Adobe Premiere Pro was used by more filmmakers taking part in the 2021 Sundance Film Festival than any other video editing system.

According to an Adobe blog, 68% of films used the Premiere Pro video editing software on their films; this is the third year in a row that Premiere Pro was the most used editing tool among Sundance Film Festival entrants. In addition, Adobe says that 89% of the 2021 lineup is powered by Creative Cloud tools, including After Effects and Photoshop.

Throughout the Festival you will also be able to see ‘When I Tell the Story’, Adobe’s short spot highlighting the work of Sundance Institute alumni Ro Haber (2019 Momentum Fellow), Natalie Erika James (2021 Momentum Fellow & 2021 Sundance Film Festival), Amber Fares (2019 Momentum Fellow), Rachael Moton (2019 Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellow) — and co-directed and edited by Carol Nguyen (2018 Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellow).

The 2021 Sundance Film Festival is taking place primarily virtually from Jan. 28-Feb. 3.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Tip #1373: New Features in the Latest Premiere Release

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

New features, faster performance and more inclusion.

The Adobe Premiere Pro icon.

Topic $TipTopic

Late last week, Adobe released a handful of new feature updates and performance improvements for Premiere Pro and After Effects.

Premiere Pro

  • Timecode Support for Non-Standard Frame Rates – Added support to display and use any non-standard frame rate timecodes, such as 120fps, 240fps or VFR clips.
  • Color space and Gamma changes – The default working space and Gamma curve is modified for all RED files.
  • Performance improvements in H.264/HEVC encoding for Intel TigerLake processors.

Learn more.

After Effects

  • New Lighting Correction in Content-Aware Fill – Handle lighting shifts in footage better with improved Content-Aware Fill. The new Lighting Correction helps you cleanly remove objects from footage where harsh lighting changes occur throughout the footage.
  • Color Space and Gamma Changes – The default working space and Gamma curve is modified for all RED files.

Learn more.


As well, Adobe announced it will be updating terminology across Premiere Pro, After Effects and Audition to provide an inclusive toolset for all users.

Learn more.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1376: Avoid Image Degradation

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Scaling an image smaller is fine, avoid scaling an image larger than 100%.

Topic $TipTopic

I get questions every day about how to maintain image quality while changing the size of an image (aka “Scaling.”)

The answer is simple, in theory, but tricky in practice: Bitmapped images, which include all digital video, are fixed in resolution. That means that each image is composed of a fixed number of pixels. As well, the projects into which we edit these images/video are also fixed in terms of pixel dimensions.

Assuming focus and exposure are good, the best an image will look is when it is scaled to 100%. You can probably scale an image to 110% without much damage, but beyond that typical audience members will start to see a difference.

When you make an image smaller, you are removing pixels, which, in general reduces the resolution of an image but doesn’t damage the perceived “quality.”

However, when making an image larger, you are duplicating pixels to fill the extra space. Duplicating a pixel means no new data is created. This makes a bitmapped image look fuzzy, soft or blurry.

  • In Final Cut Pro, you can set an image to 100% size by changing Video Inspector > Spatial Conform to None.
  • In Premiere Pro, you can see how much an image is scaled by Control-clicking a clip and enabling “Set to Frame Size.”

Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1380: Quantum Acquires CatDV

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Quantum acquires CatDV to better track all the data we are collecting.

The Quantum logo.

Topic $TipTopic

In December, Quantum announced that it has acquired Square Box Systems Ltd, a specialist in data cataloging, user collaboration, and digital asset management software. The acquisition builds on Quantum’s recently expanded portfolio that classifies, manages, and protects data across its lifecycle by adding technology advancements to further enrich video, digital images and other forms of unstructured data.

Square Box Systems’ flagship product is CatDV, an agile media management and workflow automation software platform that helps organizations with large volumes of media and metadata to organize, communicate and collaborate more effectively. CatDV leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to make it easier for businesses of any size to catalog and analyze digital assets such as video, images, audio files, PDFs, and more; enable advanced search across local and cloud repositories; and provide access control across the full data lifecycle for secure sharing and data governance.

Press Release.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Random Weirdness

Tip #1360: Tips for Filming Undercover

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Plan what you are going to do – then leave yourself options.

(Image courtesy ÓMKÃR ÑAÍDU, Pexels.com.

Topic $TipTopic

This article, written by Jourdan Aldredge, first appeared in PremiumBeat.com. This is a summary.

Just as in great investigative journalism, documentary filmmaking is about filming the very things that powerful people and subjects want to have filmed the least. That means, for those interested in careers as documentarians, that you’ll need to get used to filming undercover and undetected.

Research and Have a Plan. From my own experience working in documentary filmmaking—usually as a one man “Shreditor” (shooter, producer, editor)—you’ll often find yourself in situations that can be best described as “gray areas” in regards to whether you should be filming or not. Regardless of how you find yourself in one of these incognito or gray areas, your best bet is simply to do your research and have a plan.

The Right Tools for the Job. The trick is to find a camera, gear, and setup that will allow you the most flexibility to record with as little impact as possible, while still striving for quality footage, solid recording time, and enough dynamic range to work in a variety of lighting situations.

Inconspicuous Filming Techniques. Another popular technique for many documentary filmmakers looking to remain undercover is to shoot with many of the popular DSLR or mirrorless cameras that can often pass as simple photography cameras.

DIY Equipment and Hidden Cameras. I wouldn’t recommend using any of these cameras or methods as your primary means of documentary filmmaking. But, if you’re ever in a pinch and want to really stretch just how undercover you can go, these will certainly help you remain undetected.

Be Ready to Record and Improvise. I’ve personally found that the best shots come from spontaneous situations and from simply being quick on-the-draw, so to speak. Working on projects where you need to remain out of sight will stretch you even further to really push what your focus, gear, and expertise can handle.

EXTRA CREDIT

This article has several videos illustrating its points, additional links for more resources and lots of additional detail.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!