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Home » The Past Week in Review, for April 4, 2011

The Past Week in Review, for April 4, 2011

Ed Burns’ very Indie “Newlyweds” closes the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival. Photo credit: Edward Burns Fans page on Tumblr

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week…just so you don’t have to.

The news today includes proliferating VJs, enchanting marimba sounds, and how we’ll all be using Cloud apps real soon.

New York Mag Goes VJ

New York Magazine plans to offer video journalism as a regular feature of its site. What might be a bit unusual is that the mag created its own video school to accomplish this; the first weekend classes began in February at $995 a pop. (More on the academy here.)

As reported in the New York Observer, the school is one more project by Michael Rosenblum, a New York-based producer and video consultant who has started similar schools for The Guardian, USA Today and The Travel Channel. Supposedly, those attending the course will learn of job openings from the NY Mag editorial staff, who sit in on the meetings.

Rosenblum also runs New York Video School, which joins an ever expanding number of online video schools.

Adobe Takes 0n DSLRs

It’s no secret: HDSLRs have quickly become accepted for creating everything from music videos to feature films. Ever wonder who lays claim to creating the first feature film using a DSLR? Searching for Sonny makes a case for its production in 2009 as the first “film” shot entirely on a DSLR. However, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, shot in stopmotion on Canon DSLRs and released in 2005, makes for a better claim. You can find more on the production in this Editors Guild article.

Support from major software makers for DSLR production, however, has built slowly. Adobe is one of the few aggressively staking out that market. Makes sense, as the company sits in a sweet spot, since it offers closely integrated software for both still and video editing in its Creative Suite packages. (The company is expected to make an announcement about a new version of CS at this month’s NAB.) Adobe has also recently launched a number of pages on its site to promote and teach how its apps can be used in DSLR production.

This page of the site offers useful tips for those involved in regular video production with DSLRs.

Of course Adobe creates these pages to convince you to pony up for the software. A professional won’t think twice about it. But the $1700 tab for Production Premium might not be an easy sell for many beyond the pro and enthusiast markets. Truth is, the latest versions of CS unlock much of the potential of smaller format gear, paying dividends as useful as an upgrade from an old DSLR delivers.

Better Apps and Improved Sensors

More powerful apps turn up in even lower-end gear. A Business Insider reporter thought that Vimeo’s new video editing app was as fast and flexible as the well-regarded iMovie app for iPod Touch and iPhone. Vimeo, of course, is the online enthusiast-streaming site that prides itself on the quality of its community-monitored video.

Getting higher quality images continues on the hardware end via improved sensor technology according to this CNET article. At the Image Sensors Europe conference this past week a Sony semiconductor unit executive touted the rollout of BSI (backside illumination) type CMOS sensors, which offers much improved lowlight sensitivity via a basic redesign of the standard CMOS sensor. That’s helpful, since pulling a good image out of low light levels has only been solved with deploying as large a sensor as practical.

Now, smaller cameras are benefitting. While their smaller sensors won’t yield the tight DOF (depth of field) a Canon 1Ds delivers with its full 35mm-sized sensor, capturing a useful image in difficult, low-light level environment is probably more important to users of cellphones, for example. BSI technology is one reason the iPhone’s camera is superior to many competitors.

Ed Burns’ Guerrilla Tactics, Woody’s Paris, Pricey VOD & Marimba Fun

A couple of weeks ago we noted Ed Burns’ tweeting the guerrilla production of his latest film Newlyweds. The actor/director/producer claimed it cost only $9000 to shoot with a three-person crew and a Canon 5D. He must have done something right: This past week the Tribeca Film Festival announced that Newlyweds was chosen as its closing night film, a significant tribute to Burns’ skill and indie chops, according to this Filmmaker Magazine article.

Another New York director’s film opens a different classic film festival: Richard Brody tips us off to a recently posted trailer to the new Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris. Has Woody made a rom-com? In any case, we’ll know soon after the film opens the Cannes Film Festival on May 11th.

As DVD sales continue to plummet, new distribution schemes are part of the studios plans to capture more post-theatrical revenue. WB, Sony, Universal and Fox plan to charge $30 for a VOD screening of recently released feature films, according to this Variety report. The majors will soon launch Home Premiere, a common branding under which each studio plans to offer movies at $30 a pop, with a viewing window of two to three days.

The 6thFloor NYT blog offered up news of this remarkable Japanese commercial. The short take is that it involves building a long, wooden marimba in a forest, and setting up the descending plates so that a bouncing wooden ball plays Bach’s Cantata 147, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. Sure, it’s to sell an NTT Docomo cellphone, but that’s handled discreetly at the end, while the whole production is to be marveled over.

Get Thy Data into the Cloud

You’ll probably be using a cloud-based business service soon, if you haven’t already signed on to one of the proliferating storage and music start-ups. This Business Insider article comments on Amazon’s roll out of an Android Appstore the prior week, followed by its new Cloud Drive service for the web and Android this past week. Want to use the Cloud for storage? Amazon offers 5GB of storage for free, besting services such as Dropbox. Buy an album from Amazon, and you’ll get the storage bumped to 20GB, again for free.

Finally, last week we wrote about Scenios coming out of beta on its Cloud-based production service. (Scenios uses Amazon’s S3, an open platform that offers access to the company’s extensive Web-based storage arrays.) The Tribeca Film Center-based company touts its cloud-based production management system as the first to be available to producers worldwide. It happens to be free too, offering 5GB of storage for a single project.

This past week Scenios announced that Bravo’s TV show Inside the Actors Studio recently became the first major television program to use its cloud solution to manage its entire production workflow. Becoming the first production to move a successful show—it’s now been in production for 17 years with viewers in 125 countries–to a new production scheme doesn’t come as a total surprise in this case: Jeff Wurtz, producer and director of the show, co-developed the online workflow procedure with Scenios CEO Mark Davis.

Inside the Actors Studio, produced via an SD tape-based workflow for its first 16 years, went to a tapeless HD workflow built around Scenios for its 2011 season. “I’ve cut production costs even while collaborating with my team more effectively,” says Wurtz, who has won an Emmy for his editing on the show. Wurtz uses Scenios to post and manage scripts, budgets, call sheets, locations and production schedules. Crewmembers can access the Scenios system from any Mac or PC web browser, iPhones and on location via an iPad.

Since Scenios automatically shows if crewmembers have read production updates and script changes, Wurtz says he doesn’t spend time worrying about his team being on the same page when live production starts. “This is something I should have had years ago,” says Wurtz. For more, visit the Scenios web site at www.scenios.com.

About Dan Ochiva

New York City-based journalist and NYCPPNEWS founder Dan Ochiva writes and consults on film, video, and digital media technology.

Community & Partner Links

NAB Looks Toward In-Person 2021 Show

The National Association of Broadcasters said it has done research that shows there is growing sense that the 2021 NAB Show could be an in-person convention this October.

Not surprisingly, NAB said that the availability of a vaccine for COVID-19 will be the biggest influencer (for three in five respondents) in whether to attend an in-person event.

To read the full article on Broadcasting + Cable, click here.

 

Rupert Neve, the Father of Modern Studio Recording, Dies at 94

When the Seattle grunge band Nirvana recorded their breakthrough album, “Nevermind,” at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Calif., in 1991, they used a massive mixing console created by a British engineer named Rupert Neve.

The Neve 8028 console and others he made had by then become studio staples, hailed by many as the most superior consoles of their kind in manipulating and combining instrumental and vocal signals. They were responsible in great part for the audio quality of albums by groups like Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Grateful Dead, and Pink Floyd.

Read the full obit in the New York Times.

New York City Movie Theaters Can Reopen at Limited Capacity, Gov. Cuomo Says

After nearly a year of closures, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has given movie theaters in New York City permission to reopen at limited capacity starting on March 5.

During his daily press briefing, the Empire State leader said cinemas in the city will be permitted to operate at 25% capacity, with no more than 50 people. Moreover, other safety measures such as masks, social distancing, and heightened sanitizing measures will be required. Last October, New York venues outside of the city were allowed to reopen with similar restrictions.

To read the full article in Variety, click here.

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

If you want to start production, here’s the latest news from the Mayor’s Office

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Amazon Prime Video Direct and the Dystopian Decision to Stop Accepting Docs


Chris Lindahl and Dana Harris-Bridson outlined Amazon’s position in IndieWire: “When Amazon made a unilateral decision in early February to stop accepting documentaries and short films via Prime Video Direct (a policy that also covers ‘slide shows, vlogs, podcasts, tutorials, filmed conferences, monologues, toy play, music videos, and voiceover gameplay’), the announcement also served as a quiet purge.

The above continues on to some surprising conclusions on DOC NYCs Monday Memo, 

Disney to Close Upstate Blue Sky Studios

Various sources have reported that Disney is in the process of shuttering Blue Sky Studios, the largest animation studio on the East coast. The former 20th Century Fox animation division pulled in $5.9 billion churning out 13 feature films including the Ice Age franchise.

Publications have noted how Disney – which had three animation studios including Pixar and Disney Animation – couldn’t make the case to have these many houses when the pandemic took a toll on the company’s profits.

Some 450 employees will lose their jobs, though some hope to get into one of Disney’s other animation houses.

Here’s Deadline’s report.

Here’s Variety’s report.

Epix Announces ‘Godfather of Harlem’ Season 2 Premiere Date

Epix revealed that the second season of “Godfather of Harlem” will premiere on April 18. Set in 1964, the crime drama series explores the collision of the criminal underworld and civil rights movement. The second season will follow Bumpy Johnson (Forest Whitaker) battling the New York crime families for control of the French Connection, a pipeline for heroin that runs from Marseilles to New York Harbor.

To read the full Variety article, click here.

Sony’s FX3 is a compact $3,900 camera for filmmakers

Sony has announced the FX3. As expected, the camera is essentially an A7S III with features from the company’s Cinema line crammed into a body that looks like the A7C. Its backside-illuminated full-frame sensor has an effective resolution of 10.2-megapixel when shooting video and 15 stops of dynamic range.

To read the full story on Engadget, click here.

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