In case you were wondering where I've been, well - I've been working. And something that has been in the works for some time now is getting a blog that lives on my website. While I've enjoyed having this blog page, it's time to move on and over to my company website.
You can know find my blog over at the 100 ACRE FILMS website.
There will be some exciting stuff coming up over there, so check it out.
Thanks for reading!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Editing Now and in the Future...
I know, I know…it’s been a long time since my last post here. I’ve no excuse other then I’ve been extremely busy with work. When you run a small production company, you’ve got to take the work when it’s there. And in this economy, that sometimes means taking more then you normally can handle. After a few long days, things are getting back to normal. I've had some really fun and interesting projects.
For those Premiere Pro users out there, Adobe released the 4.2 update for CS4. It adds AVC-I native support which is something long overdue in my opinion. I tested it out and it seems to work great. I have to say that while Adobe does make us wait for format support, when they do deliver it usually is very good. AVC-I is a great codec, and it was one of the reasons why I really looked at getting the HPX-300 camera. But having now shot a few projects with my EX-3, I don't regret my decision at all - the EX-3 is such an incredible camera.
Also included is updated support for FCP project importing. You now have the ability to import FCP 7 projects into Premiere Pro. While they didn’t add FCP export, I’ve read that they are still working on that. For those who live in San Diego, I am planning on showing the FCP-Premiere Pro workflow at the next Premiere Pro User Group meeting. I’ll post more on that when I have details. If you're a FCP editor and want to help out, please let me know. Oh, and just another word about the next meeting - it's looking like I'll have a really great raffle prize...can't say for sure just yet, but it's looking good! It could be a very Merry Christmas for one lucky person.
One other big note regarding Premiere Pro is the Mercury playback engine. What’s that, you ask? It' s only the next big thing in editing. When this is released, it will be a game changer - big time. It uses the GPU of your video card to playback multiple video clips with effects added from the timeline in realtime…we’re talking about some heavy effects on the clips – color correction, blur, etc. And it works on clips ranging from DV all the way to 4K RED files.
It’s still in beta testing now, and Adobe hasn’t said when it will be released (I'm hoping and praying it's ready for CS5). But know this, with Premiere Pro going 64 bit in CS5, adding this would make an already great looking release even better. If you want to know more, you can go here and watch a video about it - it's a few minutes in. You can also check out Dennis Radeke’s The Genesis Project blog for more info. I can’t tell you how exciting this is. It really has the potential to make editing so much easier and faster. It’ll be interesting to see what Apple and Avid come up with in response.
If you'd like to see full video about this, check here. This video says it all - it's just an amazing new technology.
That’s all for now…promise to not be gone so long again.
I hope you all have a great holiday season!
For those Premiere Pro users out there, Adobe released the 4.2 update for CS4. It adds AVC-I native support which is something long overdue in my opinion. I tested it out and it seems to work great. I have to say that while Adobe does make us wait for format support, when they do deliver it usually is very good. AVC-I is a great codec, and it was one of the reasons why I really looked at getting the HPX-300 camera. But having now shot a few projects with my EX-3, I don't regret my decision at all - the EX-3 is such an incredible camera.
Also included is updated support for FCP project importing. You now have the ability to import FCP 7 projects into Premiere Pro. While they didn’t add FCP export, I’ve read that they are still working on that. For those who live in San Diego, I am planning on showing the FCP-Premiere Pro workflow at the next Premiere Pro User Group meeting. I’ll post more on that when I have details. If you're a FCP editor and want to help out, please let me know. Oh, and just another word about the next meeting - it's looking like I'll have a really great raffle prize...can't say for sure just yet, but it's looking good! It could be a very Merry Christmas for one lucky person.
One other big note regarding Premiere Pro is the Mercury playback engine. What’s that, you ask? It' s only the next big thing in editing. When this is released, it will be a game changer - big time. It uses the GPU of your video card to playback multiple video clips with effects added from the timeline in realtime…we’re talking about some heavy effects on the clips – color correction, blur, etc. And it works on clips ranging from DV all the way to 4K RED files.
It’s still in beta testing now, and Adobe hasn’t said when it will be released (I'm hoping and praying it's ready for CS5). But know this, with Premiere Pro going 64 bit in CS5, adding this would make an already great looking release even better. If you want to know more, you can go here and watch a video about it - it's a few minutes in. You can also check out Dennis Radeke’s The Genesis Project blog for more info. I can’t tell you how exciting this is. It really has the potential to make editing so much easier and faster. It’ll be interesting to see what Apple and Avid come up with in response.
If you'd like to see full video about this, check here. This video says it all - it's just an amazing new technology.
That’s all for now…promise to not be gone so long again.
I hope you all have a great holiday season!
Monday, October 12, 2009
My New Camera - The Sony EX-3
I finally made the leap - the leap into HD. I just got my EX3 and I have to say...it's pretty awesome.
For those of you who know me, I've been shopping for a camera for some time now. I narrowed my search down to two cameras - the Panasonic HPX-300 and the Sony EX-3. Both are great cameras, and the decision was a tough one to make. But after spending time with both cameras, and thinking about what would be the smartest buy for me and 100 Acre Films, the Sony EX-3 was the winner.
Both cameras have some great features and some drawbacks. Both use CMOS sensors, which is a blessing and a curse, and both are tapeless (good) using expensive media to record on (bad). The HPX-300 has a 1/3" sensor, but the camera can record AVC-I which is a great codec. The Sony has a 1/2" sensor, but it records with an interframe MPEG codec - good, but not as good as AVC-I.
No camera is perfect. They all have things that can sometimes drive us nuts. I think that when you decide to buy a camera you really have to look at your needs, your workflow, and your budget. All of these should be primary factors in your purchase decision. For me, both cameras fit into my budget, both fit perfectly into my workflow, and for what I do - they are exactly what I need. But I felt that the Sony would serve me better then the Panasonic.
If you'd like to know more about the cameras, or you'd like to know more about how I made my decision, let me know and I'll share what I know and learned about both cameras.
Here's a short video I put together with footage shot with my new camera. There's some color-correction in a few shots (I didn't adjust the white balance on some shots), and but overall I left the footage as-is.
For those of you who know me, I've been shopping for a camera for some time now. I narrowed my search down to two cameras - the Panasonic HPX-300 and the Sony EX-3. Both are great cameras, and the decision was a tough one to make. But after spending time with both cameras, and thinking about what would be the smartest buy for me and 100 Acre Films, the Sony EX-3 was the winner.
Both cameras have some great features and some drawbacks. Both use CMOS sensors, which is a blessing and a curse, and both are tapeless (good) using expensive media to record on (bad). The HPX-300 has a 1/3" sensor, but the camera can record AVC-I which is a great codec. The Sony has a 1/2" sensor, but it records with an interframe MPEG codec - good, but not as good as AVC-I.
No camera is perfect. They all have things that can sometimes drive us nuts. I think that when you decide to buy a camera you really have to look at your needs, your workflow, and your budget. All of these should be primary factors in your purchase decision. For me, both cameras fit into my budget, both fit perfectly into my workflow, and for what I do - they are exactly what I need. But I felt that the Sony would serve me better then the Panasonic.
If you'd like to know more about the cameras, or you'd like to know more about how I made my decision, let me know and I'll share what I know and learned about both cameras.
Here's a short video I put together with footage shot with my new camera. There's some color-correction in a few shots (I didn't adjust the white balance on some shots), and but overall I left the footage as-is.
A Day at the Park from Eric Addison on Vimeo.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Some Interesting Articles...
The ProVideo Coalition website is a wealth of information. If you don't have it bookmarked, you should. There are some really smart people that post great articles there.
I came across a few articles that I thought I would pass along to you all. The first article is about using both Premiere Pro and Avid for editing, and using the speech transcription tool in Premiere Pro along with ScriptSync in Avid. While the writer, Steve Hullfish, prefers to finish his edit in Avid, I would stick with Premiere Pro for the entire edit. But I think the article highlights something that Adobe has going for it - it works well with others. Someone correct if I'm wrong, but outside using an EDL, I don't know another NLE that allows you to open up project files from a different NLE, and let you save out a project file that you can open in another NLE (just for Avid at the moment). "Big deal, Addison!" you might say. "Why would I ever want to take my project out of ___?" Well, here's one such example.
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/shullfish/story/speech_search_meets_scriptsync
Another great article is about shooting greenscreen. Alex Lindsay has wrirten two great posts on the subject, and if you do any greenscreen work, you should definitely give them a read.
part 1
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/alindsay/story/greenscreen_primer_part_1/
part 2
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/alindsay/story/greenscreen_primer_part_2/
I hope these help out some of you. Let me know if you see something great out there, and I'll try and post it here for everyone to read.
I came across a few articles that I thought I would pass along to you all. The first article is about using both Premiere Pro and Avid for editing, and using the speech transcription tool in Premiere Pro along with ScriptSync in Avid. While the writer, Steve Hullfish, prefers to finish his edit in Avid, I would stick with Premiere Pro for the entire edit. But I think the article highlights something that Adobe has going for it - it works well with others. Someone correct if I'm wrong, but outside using an EDL, I don't know another NLE that allows you to open up project files from a different NLE, and let you save out a project file that you can open in another NLE (just for Avid at the moment). "Big deal, Addison!" you might say. "Why would I ever want to take my project out of ___?" Well, here's one such example.
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/shullfish/story/speech_search_meets_scriptsync
Another great article is about shooting greenscreen. Alex Lindsay has wrirten two great posts on the subject, and if you do any greenscreen work, you should definitely give them a read.
part 1
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/alindsay/story/greenscreen_primer_part_1/
part 2
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/alindsay/story/greenscreen_primer_part_2/
I hope these help out some of you. Let me know if you see something great out there, and I'll try and post it here for everyone to read.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
San Diego Premiere Pro User Group
With all the Final Cut Pro editors having user groups, I felt like it was about time for those of us who edit with something different (and dare I say...better?) to have a group.
With that in mind, I'm putting together the San Diego Premiere Pro User Group. I've received the blessing from Adobe, and I've set up a site you can visit to join and get updated information - http://groups.adobe.com/groups/370282e160/summary
My goal for the group is to expand the knowledge of we Premiere Pro editors, as well as form a network where we can all call on each other when we need help. I have to be honest - there aren't as many of us PPro editors out there, and we should do all we can to help each other out.
One thing I want to try and do every meeting is have a member show something they created, and talk about how they did it - show the workflow they used, how they used Premiere Pro (and After Effects, Photoshop, whatever...) to create their video. I've learned so much by listening to others talk about how they did things, how their creative process works, and how they efficiently used their tools.
So, for those of you who edit with Premiere Pro and live in the SoCal area, I hope you can make it. It should be a lot of fun, and I hope you can walk away from the meeting with some good tips for making your work better. And who knows - you may make some new friends.
The first meeting will be on October 29th at 7pm. For more information you can check the website, or just contact me. If you want to attend, please let me know so I can get an accurate head count. See you then!
With that in mind, I'm putting together the San Diego Premiere Pro User Group. I've received the blessing from Adobe, and I've set up a site you can visit to join and get updated information - http://groups.adobe.com/groups/370282e160/summary
My goal for the group is to expand the knowledge of we Premiere Pro editors, as well as form a network where we can all call on each other when we need help. I have to be honest - there aren't as many of us PPro editors out there, and we should do all we can to help each other out.
One thing I want to try and do every meeting is have a member show something they created, and talk about how they did it - show the workflow they used, how they used Premiere Pro (and After Effects, Photoshop, whatever...) to create their video. I've learned so much by listening to others talk about how they did things, how their creative process works, and how they efficiently used their tools.
So, for those of you who edit with Premiere Pro and live in the SoCal area, I hope you can make it. It should be a lot of fun, and I hope you can walk away from the meeting with some good tips for making your work better. And who knows - you may make some new friends.
The first meeting will be on October 29th at 7pm. For more information you can check the website, or just contact me. If you want to attend, please let me know so I can get an accurate head count. See you then!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
No Reason Other Then It's Funny...
I came across this video and thought I'd share it with you all...enjoy
Monday, September 14, 2009
Five Things to Think About When Going HD
I get lots of email - too MUCH email to be honest. But I do get email from some great sources of information in regards to our industry. One such place is ProMax (http://www.promax.com/). They can help you build your edit system and much more. They don't seem to advertise systems that run Premiere Pro CS4, but I'll try not and hold that against them.
As someone getting very, very close to getting a new HD camera (the Sony XDCAM EX3 may soon be mine!), I'm looking at moving the majority of my workflow into an all HD environment. I've done a lot of homework, but I got an email from the folks at ProMax that listed five gotcha's for editing HD. It contains some really helpful hints, and I thought I'd pass it along to all of you. You may know some of this - you may not, but I hope it helps some of you who, like me, are leaving Standard Definition behind and embarking into the bright, shiny world of HD...
HD really is the future of video production and post. SD and DV are pretty much on their way out. It’s very hard to find a post house working with any SD and/or DV footage and most networks won’t accept any new content that is not shot and edited in HD. Having said that, to edit HD properly, you need to be prepared because there are some “gotchas” that if you don’t address before you start your project, you will have issues finishing that project.
Below is our list of the top 5 gotchas when editing HD:
Not getting the right amount or type of storage.
Make sure you have not only the right amount of storage (which depends on the type of HD you will edit), but also the right type. There are many choices out there, from SAS to eSATA to USB to Firewire drives. Each type has its positive and negatives. Other things to look into when getting a storage solution includes the speed of the drive (e..g 5400 RPM vs. 7200 RPM vs. 10K RPM) and how the storage solution is set up (such as RAID 0, 1, etc.). Picking the wrong solution for the type of HD editing you need to work on will make your project fail from day one.
Thinking all HD is the same.
All HD is not the same. If you are going to edit HDV, you can get away with a lower powered system running a Firewire drive. If you are going to edit XDCAM EX or DVCPRO HD footage, you will need a more powerful system to properly edit that footage. Thinking of editing uncompressed HD? Now you are talking about a high-powered system with lots of memory and storage space running in RAID mode. It’s important to note that all HD is not the same and you need to have a system properly configured for the specific type of HD you will edit.
Thinking you can use your SD images and motion graphics in your HD edit
Do you have a lot of Standard Definition images from previous projects that you want to use in HD? What about motion graphics you created in SD? How about stock footage that was shot in SD? You will need to up-res most of your footage that was SD to match the new resolution size of HD. Thinking you can just drop an SD footage, increase it’s size by 200% and think it will look great, is a big mistake that you don’t want to be caught making in the middle of your project!
Not having an archiving solution in place
HD takes up a lot of storage space. If you are working with a tapeless solution (such as XDCAM EX or P2) then you won’t have a proper backup of that footage in a secure tape. You need to figure out an archiving solution that protects the footage from any accidental deletions or hard drive crashes.
Thinking all NLE’s can author Blu-Ray DVDs
Not all NLEs can author Blu-Ray. In fact, depending on which platform you do your video editing on, you can be severely limited on the ability to author Blu-Ray DVDs affordably. Make sure you know all of your options before you start your project if your final delivery method needs to be in Blu-Ray.
And that's it - thanks ProMax!
As someone getting very, very close to getting a new HD camera (the Sony XDCAM EX3 may soon be mine!), I'm looking at moving the majority of my workflow into an all HD environment. I've done a lot of homework, but I got an email from the folks at ProMax that listed five gotcha's for editing HD. It contains some really helpful hints, and I thought I'd pass it along to all of you. You may know some of this - you may not, but I hope it helps some of you who, like me, are leaving Standard Definition behind and embarking into the bright, shiny world of HD...
HD really is the future of video production and post. SD and DV are pretty much on their way out. It’s very hard to find a post house working with any SD and/or DV footage and most networks won’t accept any new content that is not shot and edited in HD. Having said that, to edit HD properly, you need to be prepared because there are some “gotchas” that if you don’t address before you start your project, you will have issues finishing that project.
Below is our list of the top 5 gotchas when editing HD:
Not getting the right amount or type of storage.
Make sure you have not only the right amount of storage (which depends on the type of HD you will edit), but also the right type. There are many choices out there, from SAS to eSATA to USB to Firewire drives. Each type has its positive and negatives. Other things to look into when getting a storage solution includes the speed of the drive (e..g 5400 RPM vs. 7200 RPM vs. 10K RPM) and how the storage solution is set up (such as RAID 0, 1, etc.). Picking the wrong solution for the type of HD editing you need to work on will make your project fail from day one.
Thinking all HD is the same.
All HD is not the same. If you are going to edit HDV, you can get away with a lower powered system running a Firewire drive. If you are going to edit XDCAM EX or DVCPRO HD footage, you will need a more powerful system to properly edit that footage. Thinking of editing uncompressed HD? Now you are talking about a high-powered system with lots of memory and storage space running in RAID mode. It’s important to note that all HD is not the same and you need to have a system properly configured for the specific type of HD you will edit.
Thinking you can use your SD images and motion graphics in your HD edit
Do you have a lot of Standard Definition images from previous projects that you want to use in HD? What about motion graphics you created in SD? How about stock footage that was shot in SD? You will need to up-res most of your footage that was SD to match the new resolution size of HD. Thinking you can just drop an SD footage, increase it’s size by 200% and think it will look great, is a big mistake that you don’t want to be caught making in the middle of your project!
Not having an archiving solution in place
HD takes up a lot of storage space. If you are working with a tapeless solution (such as XDCAM EX or P2) then you won’t have a proper backup of that footage in a secure tape. You need to figure out an archiving solution that protects the footage from any accidental deletions or hard drive crashes.
Thinking all NLE’s can author Blu-Ray DVDs
Not all NLEs can author Blu-Ray. In fact, depending on which platform you do your video editing on, you can be severely limited on the ability to author Blu-Ray DVDs affordably. Make sure you know all of your options before you start your project if your final delivery method needs to be in Blu-Ray.
And that's it - thanks ProMax!
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