May 21 09

Link Dump: More Articles & Case Studies

This week I’ve got a few goodies to put out there, including a few case studies I’ve found and been saving up, some insightful articles about internet-based distribution, and a few odds and ends, as always. So, without any more ado, here we go…

Gimme the goodies…

May 07 09

Link Dump: Articles & Thoughts

This week’s link dump post is a bit more article-based, with little to no free stuff or tutorials in the mix. I know, a more heady load, but it’s good for ya! Get those gears workin’ and thinkin’ and maybe something sweet-ass and original will come out of ‘em. Anyway, it’s basically a roundup from the usual sources, a few announcements, some cool case studies, and some food for thought for those of you of the filmmaking persuasion but not in the ‘I-need-to-know-this-effect-now’ category, go ahead and read past the jump. You other lot, check back at a few previous posts an’ git yer learnin’ there. Otherwise, on we go…

Gimme the goodies…

Apr 23 09

Link Dump: Tutorial Edition

As promised, here’s a pretty mondo list of tutorial and resource sites for your educational pleasure. I’ve organized the list, just like last week’s, into what made the most sense at the time. If you’ve got additions, suggestions, objections, or anything else, definitely feel free to comment on the post and let me know about more knowledge available for free on the ‘net. Yess…knowledge….

Gimme the goodies…

Apr 16 09

Link Dump: Free Stuff Edition

First off, welcome to the new blog! Yes, I know it’s awesome. I’m proud to say it’s my whole site collection hosted on one domain, inter-linked, organized and consolidated. Awesome. So now…on to the link dump.

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.

Gimme the goodies…

Oct 25 08

Link Dump: Eclectic

Alright, here’s a pretty scattered entry, and I’m sorry for it being late, but I’ve gotten home at midnight the last 2-3 nights in a row and haven’t been in much of a mood for more than sleep by that time, so here’s the entry, I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Gimme the goodies…

Oct 10 08

Link DUMP

Alrighty…sorry for the late post, but I think I’ll make up for it this time.  I’ve got a whopper of a list tonight…tons of stuff I’ve been discovering over the past two weeks.  So I’m not going to intro…here they are: Gimme the goodies…

Sep 03 08

Link Dump: Screenwriting

Alright, well, regrettably, this one’s going to be really short. I haven’t actually amassed many links this past week. Somehow I just didn’t look around I guess. I also was catching up on some things I’d posted a while back and still hadn’t gotten around to reading. Nonetheless, I’m posting now, so enjoy what I did find and take advantage of the resources I can provide. This week’s topic is screenwriting. Gimme the goodies…

Aug 28 08

Link Dump: Keying

Alright, this one’s going to be really quick because it’s 11:30 in a series of late nights and early mornings and I’m trying to beat the pre-sleep hunger and save it for morning. So, here goes…

We’ve been doing keying in school a lot recently, so while investigating that, I decided to collect resources and share them with you here tonight (did you notice I’m back on schedule? ). So, first off, Videomaker.com had an article on The Keys To Chromakey, basically a how-to for greenscreening, covering the basic production theory and offering some suggestions for equipment and tools. The ABCs of Chomakeys also looked good. Also, while searching through the site, I discovered their collection of video tutorials I didn’t know they had. Score!

Moving right along… of course I always check out After Effects tutorials, having some sort of fascination with the application, legally owning it myself, and loving the guys who make the tutorials I’ve found, and so I found this very useful tutorial about light wrapping around your greenscreen subject. Breakdown: basically what happens when you shoot something is light from behind the subject will bend around that subject, leaving little traces of the background on the edges of that subject. You’ll notice it the most in silhouette shots, where the edges seem semi-transparent. During a green/bluescreen shot, this happens just the same as normal, only since you’re keying out the blue/green in post, you often key out the egdes or parts of the subject with those shades of blue/green on them. Which is clearly a problem. This tutorial offers some tips on creating a preset to help you with fixing this problem and creating realistic light wrapping based on the new background image you’ve replaced your blue/greenscreen with. Nice long tip there from me… that one’s free . Following in the After Effects vein, this was just a cool little note I found for Mac users, getting a color picker while inside the AE interface. It sounds like a great help for motion graphics creators. Less for compositing work, but still a useful tool if you’re on a Mac.

Another AE link is this site, its list of tutorials being somewhat cool, the summer-to-winter effect was pretty decent, and their Hand Scanner and Aurora Borealis tutorials were pretty cool too.

Alright… into the more industry-friendly stuff… Shake tutorials. I found a nice trio of Shake keying tutorials using Keylight, which actually also ships with After Effects now, so some of this stuff might be useful there too. I wasn’t watching in that frame of mind though, so I couldn’t say for sure. All three parts are good, the audio’s just really low, so you’ll have to listen carefully with loud speakers (or headphones). Thanks to CreativeCow.net for those.

On the last – but not least – note of this post, is a new episode from Photoshop For Video about saturating reds in images without exceeding broadcast/video limits. Good stuff.

Enjoy the new stuff, and I’ll be back as always on Sunday with some new showcase stuff for you guys. Happy filmmaking and good luck keying. Send in commenst or questions or test footage if you like, I’d love to see something.

Aug 23 08

Link Dump

Alright, I know it’s late, but it’s the first week back at school, getting back into the swing of things, and, quite frankly, feeling more like spending as much time away from the computer as possible, given the amount of time spent on it while at school. Nonetheless, here’s my promised post-after-vacation (which was a great one, by the way).

To start it off with, this article, which I might have posted before, is all about The Dark Knight‘s effects, and offers some pretty crazy insight into the making of the thing. I’m heading off to see the IMAX version tomorrow. Should be fun. Next up in industry-related articles, I found but haven’t read this interview with Simon Reay, DP on the show Man vs. Wild (which I love), which should be interesting.

Among more indie resources, I came across this site, a sort of database of free sound effects. I know nothing of its value or quality or library, but it’s always nice to have one more place to look for that hard-to-find sound when you’re in a crunch. As always, IndyMogul came out with a few new episodes, and apparently are doing a steampunk combo episode with Threadbanger soon, which I’m pretty psyched about. One last thing I actually found quite a while ago but researched again for possible involvement is MobMov, a mobile movie theater group that basically promotes and premieres films in public places via projectors on cars and creating a mini drive-in theater. Sounds great, though their groups in my areas have always been small or nonexistent (though this is the only actual city I’ve been in while trying to get involved). Definitely worth checking out.

Aug 01 08

Link Dump

Heylo everybody. It’s been just over a week and I’ve amassed a pretty impressive collection of links since the last post. From always good ones to some new random finds I can’t quite vouch for yet, I’ve got a bunch of stuff. So let’s get started…

Firstly, Adam Wilt is full of good info. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much chance to read much of it yet, but every time it’s recommended it comes from someone with experience and knowledge in the industry. Next, via VideoCopilot (which recently posted this, raising questions and suspicions) I found this article (on the admittedly questionable resource Wikipedia) on match moving and motion tracking in filmmaking. I haven’t read it, but I’ll be covering that in school next semester, and with our final projects piling up right now and only a week left before their due dates (and our first break of the year!), I’ve got very little time. Since we’re talking about compositing, I found the VTC site, which has tons of tutorials and training DVDs (the link’s for Apple’s Shake, which we use here at school for compositing) and whatnot for sale, but they’ve also got some free chapters of their DVDs online, which may prove useful for anyone with holes in their knowledge, or wanting to brush up on some skills. It’s worth taking a look, anyway, as they’ve got wide ranging catalog.

Next up, while doing some research on drop-frame time code and NTSC (maybe at some point I’ll post about how little sense I can make out of using that standard), I found this site which had a pretty long looking video glossary, which is always useful. Speaking of reference, I’m sure I’ve posted this at some point in the distant past, but filmmaking.net is always a good site for pretty random filmmaking related facts. Similarly, DV.com seems like a good resource the few times I’ve glanced at it, but it was down at the time of this posting. Check it anyway though and comments if you find it’s back up.

Later on, while having a discussion at the StickToWhatYouKnow forum about camera stabilizers, I was pointed over to Videopia, and discovered that Eric from the beloved-but-now-defunct DJTV maybe have found a new gig, unless it’s a temporary or occasional type deal. Either way, it was cool to see him doing something again.

Ahh… alright, a few more. Back while searching through After Effects sites, I rediscovered ae freemart and redefinery via maltaannon’s blog, which looked like a great place for more technical AE tips and info. You know, the good stuff.

Of course, IndyMogul has come out with new stuff, I already mentioned VideoCopilot’s mysterious new post, and we’ll find out what happens with that. So, that’s all I’ve got for now. I’ve got a few things thing hovering in my tab list but I want to check them out before I post about it, and you can check out my Amazon wishlist to see a bunch of new film- and video-related books I added the other night, if you’re interested.

Also, there will be a showcase post coming up soon, but that just might be the last post for a bit. I’ve got a break from school starting next Friday, so I’m taking that week off. From everything. However, there’s at least one good post left in me before that, and even then it’s only a week and I’m back on (a rudimentary) schedule. Enjoy the links, leave feedback, additions to the list, etc.