Feature:

Avoiding Footage Loss - Tactics for Storing and Recovering Data

Months of planning and work can go into a filmmaking scene. There's the set design, lighting, location scouting, and many other facets that all need to work in concert to pull off a great shoot. With all of the care and attention put into the production, there should be more directed towards the actual product. If the footage data is damaged, corrupted, or incomplete, then all of the efforts going into a shoot were wasted. High-end cameras are not foolproof, and occasionally errors occur that disrupt the data. And people are certainly not foolproof, as they sometimes make unwise decisions about storing and protecting data. Thankfully, there are some best practices production teams and filmmakers can follow to best protect valuable footage. Read More

There are quite a few elements to consider when tackling a video project for marketing and advertising purposes. A video project requires a script, voiceover, character development, themes and movement. Whether it's for a game, marketing or entertainment, animation is a great and creative way to bring a story to life. While animation is a top choice for video development, it requires a few extra elements to consider, such as deciding between 2D and 3D animation. For those who don't have much video production experience, it can be difficult to decipher which animation method will yield better results. But believe it or not, there's a time and a place for each one. Read More

Feature:

3 Reasons Why You Need to Embrace AR in Your Workflow

The year 2017 marked a new development in my work as the mobile team manager at Vectorworks, Inc. - one that perfectly aligned with a new trend in the AEC industries. Apple just introduced its ARKit to complement the new iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X models. This platform allowed developers to create Augmented Reality (AR) applications that integrated live images from a device's camera with dynamic 3D models developed by the user. Read More

Project Profile:

Exploring "The Depths" of Filmmaking

"The Depths" blew audiences away at the Manhattan Film Festival where it won Best Feature Film. Telling the story of two men desperate for success, "The Depths" follows wannabe screenwriters Mickey Hansen (Patch Darragh, "Sully") and Ray Ferguson (Michael Rispoli, "Sopranos") who decide to fully explore the depths of murder and crime as part of their writing process. Also starring Charlotte Kirk ("Vice"), Hampton Fluker ("Shades of Blue") and Michelle Veintimilla ("Gotham"), "The Depths" was shot by DP Omar Portilla with a Blackmagic Cinema Camera and graded by Colorist Tim Buttner with Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve Studio. Read More

Feature:

How Artificial Intelligence Is Projected To Influence The Automotive Industry

Artificial intelligence and data science are two main technologies that forms the processes of the automotive. Since 2017, Udacity selected a group of 18 talented engineers (out of hundreds of applicants) to form the Self-Racing Cars team Udacity offer the first self-driving Nanodegree program. The program was Built in partnership with Uber, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Nvidia. After a huge success, Udacity introduced another Nanodegree program for the beginners. At last, MIT and university introduced their courses in the automotive industry. Read More

Business Issues: By Miles Weston

Content Insider - Good, Bad

It won't be long and the leading people in the global M&E industry will be gathering in Amsterdam. With the seismic shift that is taking place everyone will be intent on how they can make the right decisions to not just survive but prosper. It's especially true of the exhibitors who want to stay ahead of the pack, stay in the race. They can only do that by leveraging every opportunity possible. Commit, plan, execute, follow-thru... If you don't there may not be a next year. Read More

Project Profile: By Miles Weston

The Young Gaucho

Good films are like fine wine...they have to cure/age to be something worth shown, viewed, enjoyed. But Ed Darino had no idea how long it would take him to finish a docudrama about his native Uruguay. But now after years of the finished shoot aging on celluloid he has reached a point in his life when it's time to deliver his work to viewers. As with most independent filmmakers he's finishing up all of the easy work - production/post. Now comes the tough part getting it placed and seen. But for now, here's the story of his visual travels... Read More

Feature: By Iyke Iheukwumere

Assimilate Scratch - A Workhorse in television and feature Post

Assimilate Scratch over the years has become a trusted tool, used for everything from on-set DIT to digital intermediate and finishing. One of the industries where scratch is being heavily used is VFX, and this is in part due to scratch's open support for xml scripting, which allows most VFX post houses to build their entire pipeline around scratch. One of such VFX houses is FuseFX, where I worked as a VFX editor for almost three years, working on various television shows such as The Blacklist, American Horror Story, Agents Of Shield, Luke Cage and feature films such as American Made, The Purge (Election Year). Read More

Technology: By Miles Weston

Content Insider #573 - Options

The content delivery folks have finally figured out the obvious. People don't want a big bundle of entertainment options. In fact they don't want options at all! Nope all you want is one option...your content. That could be tough but the more different your tastes from your neighbors, the more they're similar - musicals, comedy, drama, horror, documentary, immersive. The providers who are ahead of the game even know what you want before you do which is why you keep coming back again and again without thinking much about it. And the people in the know are ordering up more content from really good indie filmmakers in record volumes. People may not be able to describe great content but they know it when they see it and increasingly there's more really good stuff to see. Read More

Technology: By Miles Weston

Content Insider#572 - Saving Creations

It's a poorly kept secret that great films, TV shows, long/short content aren't created/produced by big companies that can somehow live with the fact that some people like to steal rather than pay for their entertainment. Instead it's a freelance business with talented people investing time, money and sweat to produce the visual stories people enjoy. You could entrust your best work for someone else to store, save and protect for you or you can keep it close to you until someone decides they want to rent it to people. In the cloud your stuff is just data where people like to nose around. At your home it's your stuff and probably a little safer from nosey/nasty people. Read More

People:

Bogdan Darev, Filmmaker and VR Pioneer

It is quite baffling that the film industry continues to stubbornly offer super hero and fantasy entertainment which continue to promote division and resolution of conflict by violence. The industry fails to capitalize on cinema's inherent gift to teach, nurture and unite. I say all of this because I passionately feel that the emergence of VR allows for us to explore new uncharted territories where greed has not yet corrupted and bankrupted the spirit of innovation and expression. Read More

Featured News:

Performance Arts and 3D&360VR Technology Join Forces to Give Viewers a Truly Immersive Experience in "The Cabiri Anubis" Film

Both Virtual Reality (VR) 360 and 3D have the power to engage audiences in the action and emotion of a film narrative or performance, but combine the two together and you can create a compelling and highly immersive experience that brings the audience directly into the "reality" of the scenes. This is exactly what film producers and directors Fred Beahm, www.fredbeahm.com, and Bogdan Darev, www.bogdandarev.com, have done in "The Cabiri: Anubis", a 3D/360VR film, now showing at the Seattle International Film Festival's (SIFF) VR Zone, www.siff.net, on May 18 through June 10. Read More

Interview:

Shooting the "Devil's Tree" with DP Anthony Dones and URSA Mini 4.6K

When you have to put an actual warning message on your film's site telling people not to actually go to the places in the film, you know you are dealing with a truly scary horror film. Today we are speaking with Anthony Dones, a Miami based DP who has produced content for national television, corporate/commercial work, music videos and a now growing list of feature films. We reached out to him to discuss his recent work as cinematographer on "Devil's Tree, Rooted Evil" a horror film shot exclusively on the URSA Mini 4.6k. Read More

Project Profile:

Stop, Collaborate and Listen: A Stop Motion Team Effort Brings "Two Balloons" to Life

Led by Director and Writer Mark C. Smith, a dedicated group of filmmakers from Portland, OR created a visually stunning stop-motion short that follows two intrepid lemurs and their adventures in the sky. "Two Balloons," which originally wasn't conceived as stop motion, took four years to complete and had many twists and turns along the way. The team spent 16 months storyboarding, building sets and securing space in a warehouse, and then started shooting. Read More

Business Issues: By Miles Weston

Content Insider #570 - Awards, Profits

Hollywood lived for their award galas. You know the red carpet, beautiful people, breathtaking dresses, dashing dudes. The awards almost guaranteed good ticket sales. But with more companies focusing on the bottomline and the thousands of new streaming opportunities out there, there's more interest in getting recognition where it counts...in the bank. Sure indie filmmakers still attend the myriad of film festivals hoping for a prize but a check from someone who wants the content for their library is a little more important. Subscribers have an unquenchable thirst for new, original content. Even in the visual content industry it's all about supply and demand. And demand is great! Read More

Feature: By Kevin Gardner

4 Ways to Make Your Website Relevant

Perhaps you've used a website to drive your business results. The rapid advances of website functionality and designs have brought new expectations to web visitors. These features and expectations have fueled the growth of digital enterprises. However, it has become essential for online retailers to respond to customer expectations effectively. You don't have to rebuild your website every 12 months, but regular updates, layout improvements, and minor tweaks can go a long way to increase your website traffic. Your website's needs and functionality will keep changing to respond to your visitors' expectations. Here are a few tips to make your website relevant throughout its lifetime. Read More

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