I’ve got a massve…and I mean massive collection of links ready for ya. So massive, in fact, that I’m breaking it up into a multi-part series, because frankly, opening tons of links at once won’t be fun for you, and copying and pasting and reviewing what all of them are won’t be so fun for me. Not all at once, anyway. So next week, Link Dump: Tutorial Edition. But let’s get started with part 1.

Freebie Lists

CreativeCow apparently has a 2-part article series full of links to free element sites online. Part 1, part 2.
Bittbox is an awesome tutorial and resource site, so definitely keep an eye out on that for resources.
MotionWorks is a cool place for tutorials and whatnot, but they’ve also got a decent free downloads area, so check that out if you’ve got a minute.
This blog post has got links to a huge amount of plugins and whatnot for After Effects, FCP, and other programs.
CSSStyle.me has a list of freebies here.

Applications

Here’s a list of free 3D apps available on the ‘net.
Norrkross MorphX is a free morphing application I found in my web-perusing. Could be cool to play around with, test it out a bit.
JES Deinterlacer sounds like a great tool to have for DV filmmakers. Interlacing = bad for most VFX, and generally looks bad, one of those aspects of video that makes it look like video instead of film. Good to get rid of it.
This could be a decent free audio editor. Looks similar to Audacity.

Add-ons, Scripts & Tools

Pixelfudger is a pretty cool group that makes macros for Shake, good tools, good collection, nicely useful set.
AEnhancers is a sweet-looking spot for After Effects related downloads (scripts, expressions and presets).

Textures & Photos

Lostandtaken has got some cool graphical resources (photos, textures, links to other resource sites).
A Touch of Texture has a bunch of texture photos, very useful for motion graphics or 3D endeavors.
MacText is a cool-looking texture photo blog, always useful stuff.
Not sure about the validity of this, but it’s a possibility…StockFootageForFree.

Finally, this site’s got an opportunity to submit your documentary-style film about your personal feelings in relation to Star Wars and George Lucas. I’m posting it mainly because it’s got a timeline, as the film will be completed and released eventually, so check that out, enjoy the links above, and I’ll post the next part next week. Thanks for visiting, hope these links help you out in your filmmaking endeavors and you like the new blog, and I’ll see you again next week.

First off, Studio Daily sent out their newsletter recently, sparking my interest a couple of times, firstly with this free app that helps catalog footage.  Excellent for any editor.  Next up, also an excitement for editors, is the announcement of RED and Adobe’s collaboration to make Premiere a native 2K editor for RED footage.  This got me all warm inside…I can’t wait to try working on that…:D.  Another brief Premiere article I’ve yet to read but definitely will is how to make old plug-ins work in Premiere Pro 2.  Great idea for an article.

Alrighty…since it maybe hasn’t come to your attention yet, Adobe announced their Creative Suite 4 (CS4) line recently, and with it new and improved versions of everything.  So, to celebrate, here’s some Adobe product related links.  Starting with tweaking colors in After Effects, followed by some tutorials, some more tutorials, some more tutorials and sample videos, and a new episode of Photoshop for Video on making cast shadows.

Next up, some cool application links.  First, VLC got updated; MediaInfo looks like a nice utility for quick file info reference right from within Explorer in Windows; Digital Rebellion has a cool-looking bunch of tools available for free; I discovered Wings 3D, a freeware 3D package (speaking of which, Blender has some awesome sample videos and galleries and tutorials available online, making it a formidable-looking package); SIR1 looks like it might be a cool little audio app to play with for some audio effects on your projects; digilab came up with the wonderful idea of creating a freeware tracking program, which could come in hugely useful during the VFX part of your projects.

Lastly, but certainly not leastly, some resource sites…following with the application trend so far in this post, I found Plugin.com, a database of plugins for all kinds of applications; VFXtalk has a nice resource wiki with a tool resource list; I found this Movie Making Manual on wikibooks.org, which I haven’t read yet but I’m always interested in moviemaking manual type stuff; I’ve been getting back into reading Stu Maschwitz’s book The DV Rebel’s Guide, (which is awesome), and found his blog and resource forum pretty sweet as well; Maschwitz mentioned Reel Stream in his book, and I had to check it out…look at the rig this guy made!  And these anamorphic lens flares (which are pretty cool actually, by the way…I like the stuff about the way they happen in the lens while shooting).

Alright, that’s it for this week.  I’ll try to be a little more on top of getting stuff up here, but I can’t make any guarantees.  For now, I’ve not gotten home before midnight once in the past 2-3 weeks, and it’ll be the same for the next few months, so until school’s out, I can’t guarantee perfect punctuality.  However, I’ll do the best I can with what I have.  After all, “when given an opportunity, deliver excellence and never quit” is the dv rebel’s/amateur filmmaker’s motto, right?  Right.  Happy filmmaking, and good luck!