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Staff BlogsIndustry Category
How to get your films on the iTunes Store I actually think their video deal is better than their music one because you just pay an up-front fee and then any money made on the film (after Apple's cut) goes to you in full. The fee varies according to the length of the content - for example, a 60 minute film costs $550 and a 90 minute one costs $770. The deal is non-exclusive, can be canceled at any time and you retain all rights to your content. Note that your content must be approved by Apple first. This is a great way for independent filmmakers without a distribution deal to get their projects out to a large audience. More details are available here. Categories: Industry, Useful sites, Indie Escape Studios delivers online CG learning tool The courses take the form of HD video tutorials and they are currently offering Maya Core (an introductory course) and Renderman as course options. Maya Core is 1,999 GBP (around $3,500 at today's exchange rate) but each module is available separately for 400 GBP (~$700). Renderman Freelance (for individuals) is $995, Renderman Commercial (for companies) is $3,995 and Renderman Education (for schools) is $3,995. Renderman certification is also available for an additional $100. With over 600 videos for the Maya Core course alone, it looks incredibly detailed. Should you run into problems, you can ask an instructor a question or seek help from Escape's online community. They are offering a demo area with 2.5 hours worth of footage for free (after registration) which is definitely worth a look. And if you're looking for work in the visual effects industry, I fully recommend their job site. It's UK-centric but they are now starting to branch out into other countries. Categories: Industry, Visual Effects, Useful sites "How the West Was Won" restoration This movie posed particular challenges because it was printed for Cinerama release, which meant that there were three different film rolls playing through three different projectors at the same time. Then add to that the fact that each film roll had deteriorated differently (often with physical warping and buckling of the film) - there is a real challenge. Categories: Color Grading, Industry, Visual Effects iTunes App Store RSS feeds While I was on their site, I also spotted another article detailing how the percentage of free apps is falling. This doesn't really surprise me but it is a little disappointing. All of our apps so far (both web apps and desktop apps) have been free - I am running a business but I don't like charging people for something I don't feel is worth paying for. That's not because I feel the quality of DR's apps is poor, just that the functions they perform fall into a very narrow category (e.g. FCS Remover). I will undoubtedly create certain paid software applications in the future but these would be larger applications with more wide-ranging uses and not small utilities for a single purpose. It disappoints me to see people offering "flashlight" applications (basically just a white screen) for $0.99 when you could just open a blank Safari page for free to achieve the same effect. It really cheapens the store, as do the applications with loads of symbols in front of their name (e.g. "!!!!!!AAAAAAAAA++++++ Application" just to get their apps to the top of the alphabetical listing. Unless your app is very popular (or very expensive) you will lose out because Apple won't even write you a check until you hit $250 (which is quite a high threshold compared to other revenue schemes such as Google AdSense), and if you're past the cutoff date for that particular month, you have to wait until next month to receive your check. The small apps are free money to Apple because Apple can earn interest on the money while the developer is trying to reach $250 and in some cases, they may never end up having to write that check. I know Google makes tens of millions every year from small sites that never reach the $100 threshold. DR apps will come, I promise. Just not this month. Maybe late next month, when I should have fewer time pressures. Come the end of August, I should have some more time to work on things like this and work on improving our other apps like FCS Remover and Preference Manager, in addition to creating a few new ones that I have in my head. In the meantime, we still have the web apps. Categories: Apple, Industry Rough cuts I think the key is to make the producer comfortable with you. Normally these kind of problems go away on the second or third project as the producer realizes that you can do the job and are not a cowboy, and they get familiar with the way that you work. I also find that a comfortable producer will give you a lot more creative freedom (I prefer to see scripts as a guide rather than a rulebook for example) and in return you will take advantage of that freedom to return a better product, so it is mutually beneficial. Categories: Video Editing, Industry, Analysis R.I.P. Sydney Pollack  Read more... Categories: Industry, Off-Topic Autodesk acquires Realviz A quick visit to Realviz's site reveals that its products have already been Autodesk-branded. I see this acquisition as a good thing because it is clear that the purchase is not a defensive move and that Autodesk does genuinely want to develop the products further. I would particularly like to see Movimento, ImageModeler and MatchMover incorporated into Maya in one form or another. Autodesk also announced today that it had completed the acquisition of Kynogon, makers of Kynapse artificial intelligence software. Update: VFXWorld has an exclusive interview with Marc Petit, Autodesk's SVP about the acquisitions. He confirms that the products will be integrated into existing product offerings such as Maya but will also be available separately. "We are seeing some fundamental changes in the way movies, television programs and games are produced. Being able to gather 3D data from 2D material can help at many stages of the production process. We see it in pre-visualization, where it's easy to build 3D environments or virtual sets by stitching pictures together or derive 3D models very quickly from set photos using image-based modeling. Games now require a lot of facial animation. Animators can rough out facial animations using a webcam and optical motion capture. Adding assist cameras on location to capture scenes from multiple points of view is a good insurance policy for post-production. Of course, you can extract camera moves to enrich the post-production process but you can also rebuild sets in 3D from these multiple points of view. Multiple cameras enable optical motion capture of actors in non-intrusive ways without the need for suits or dedicated stages. The performance of an actor can then be modified or augmented during the post-production process using regular 3D tools such as Maya or Flame. Moreover, combining all of these technologies with spatial image-based lighting allows for highly realistic integration of CG elements with live action. We believe that weaving these technologies and products more tightly into our existing portfolio should lead to some interesting new capabilities and will provide for a more efficient production environment." Categories: Industry, Software, Visual Effects NAB 2008 Summary RED New low-end portable camera Scarlet
PVC Scarlet write-up New high-end camera Epic
PVC Epic write-up New playback device RED Ray
PVC RED Ray write-up Scott Simmons at the Editblog has several photographs of the various RED products. Sony PMW-EX3
F35
Panasonic P2 Varicams (AJ-HPX3700 and AJ-HPX2700)
AG-HPX170 solid-state camcorder
Here is a great summary from DVXUser.com. AJ-HVX200A camcorder
Here is a great review from DVXUser.com. 64 GB P2 card
AJ-PCD35 ExpressCard P2 drive
Imagineer Systems High-end finishing system mogul
Studio Daily mogul interview Matrox MXO 2
Differences between the MXO and MXO 2 (PDF) Shane Ross's write-up Categories: Industry, Hardware, Cameras Toshiba to drop HD DVD The article states that Toshiba is "reviewing its business strategies" but no decision has been made about HD DVD's future yet. This reflects a change in Toshiba's attitudes as it used to answer a firm "yes, the format will continue" when asked. I hope Toshiba kills it sooner rather than later, as not only are they hurting themselves and the industry, but they are prolonging the inevitable. I think the major complaint about Blu-ray - price - will become a non-factor in the future as the industry can now focus its resources on one format to bring down prices, instead of splitting them between two. Also, technological improvements over time and increased demand will lower production costs and bring down prices as well. Some people are wondering if it will all be in vain, as the download industry is just starting to take off. That remains to be seen but I don't think they are ready to directly compete with discs yet though. Update 2/19/08: It's official. Toshiba has now suspended production of HD DVD players and recorders but will continue to clear out its inventory until March. This is a lot earlier than I had originally expected, so well done Toshiba for not drawing it out. Categories: Industry, Analysis, DVD Apple pulls out of NAB 2008 Last year, Apple's main competitor in the video editing field, Avid, announced that it was not going to attend the conference, amid industry speculation as to its reasons. In Apple's case, it is not necessarily a bad thing and does not mean that we will not see new video-related products. Setting up a stand at big trade shows is expensive and Apple have reached the stage where their brand is so strong that they do not need anyone else to help them market it. This was illustrated last year by the announcement of the iPhone at Macworld in January overshadowing all of the announcements at the CES show happening at the same time. I repeat: this is not necessarily bad news. I quote Steve Jobs from this year's Macworld keynote: "All of this in two weeks. And there's still 50 to go." Categories: Apple, Industry, Analysis
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