A word From The President

Transcription

1 Scanlines Quickie Where art and technology meet Journal of BRISBANE MOVIE MAKERS July, Phone A word From The President BMM Spice - अव श वसन य Half the year has gone in a flash and the club has done so much. The changing strategy to be more active and creative has certainly added a bit of spice to the club. Walking into the Comedy shoot on 18th July was truly amazing. It was a hive of activity with so many people taking on a piece of the action and contributing to the three-camera shoot. It made me very proud to be a member of such a good team. Col of course made sure that the ironic Call Centre scene was packed with fun of spice with two funloving Indian actors joining us for the evening shoot as the tables were turned with a pinch of अव श वसन य pronounced avishvasaneey spice. अव श वसन य is Hindi for Unbelievable by the way! So BMM has done its bit for diversity and multiculturalism in a way that a truly Aussie club can do. Have some fun, poke fun at ourselves and twist the humour with an innovative Aussie Call Centre scene! To cap it all, an editing challenge has been issued so that members can get involved. With good guidelines and suitable material we have a large field of members who are entering the editing competition based on the footage captured. For many of us this will be the first time we have used footage from three cameras. It is not too late to take up the challenge just ask Col if you wish to have a go. Is this the sort of activity that members want? With the response to date I think so! We have found our own BMM spice. So please say a big Thank You to the committee for backing this up and particularly Catherine and Col who have taken the leadership. And, of course, we must not forget Mr Ugg because the Ugg Cup was the incubator. Well done one and all!

2 Pennies by the sea Those of us at the last club meeting were privileged to see a screening of Pennies by the sea, a short promo by Catherine for an event to be held at Sandgate later this month. The reaction to it told us it was good. Just how good is up for all to see. On Facebook, it has now received over 10,000 views. This has to be some kind of record! On behalf of all, Scanlines wishes the heartiest of congratulations to Catherine and the BMM team (Col and John T, I believe) for an outstanding effort. Who says we can t do it! Doing a line for BMM Members may not be aware that BMM has it s own phone number. The idea is that anyone who wishes to contact BMM does not need to hunt around for an individual s number, the club number gives them access. This is particularly important for strangers wishing to contact us. The number will appear on our webpage and other places where people may be searching for their first contact. The number is: What s on your wish-list?? The committee is considering seeking a grant to upgrade some of our equipment. We have reached the stage of deciding what we need to ask for, and are compiling a list. However, it s not entirely the committee s decision Members generally have the right to make requests regarding what we/they need. So, if you have a need for a particular device to allow you to proceed with a project you may be itching to produce, let the committee know. Of course, we are not suggesting minor items here, rather more substantial gear that can be shared among all members, so it needs to be generally useful. Contact a committee member or , or even phone-in on the number above. Better to do it sooner than later! Adventures in editing. Part, err... Those who have endured this newsletter for the past couple of years will be aware that your humble editor has been trawling the world for the El Dorado of editors. This was provoked by Sony who, at-the-time proprietors of Vegas, had done nothing with it for around three years. Of course, the world was moving on and Vegas, once among the very best of NLEs, was on the slippery slope. In disgust and despair, many long-term users, myself included, started looking at what else was available. The news that Magix, in Germany, had purchased Vegas was a real ray of sunshine and the original team (in Madison, Wisconsin from Sonic Foundry days) set to work on a mammoth upgrade task. So busy have they been that in the nine months or so since the Magix purchase, there have been five or six valuable upgrades to Vegas 14 and Vegas 15 is listed as coming soon. Among the six or eight alternatives I looked at, only two really stood out. One was Edius, which was rather impressive (talk to Stewart for details) and the other, Resolve. Ah yes, Resolve. Owned by Melbourne based Blackmagic design, Resolve has, for many years, been the most-used colour-correcting program in Hollywood and the rest of the professional world. It is safe to say that most of the movies, of all sorts, that have appeared on our screens in more recent times have been colourised and graded using Da Vinci Resolve, to give it it s full title.

3 I looked closely at Resolve. But because of it s huge user base complexity and astronomic price, that s all I did. It was designed to be used in a colourising factory with many simultaneous users sharing a network. And it was not an editor. Then, something remarkable happened. Blackmagic attached an editor. And they dropped the price to zero! Huh??? All of a sudden there was a new game in town. That version attracted a lot of interest. Blackmagic said they had seen the future of movies and it was nothing like the past. The big market of the future was in smaller, independent producers. Multiple small businesses and huge numbers of non-professional, independent producers which is what advanced amateurs are called these days. They would need a self-contained edit/colourising package purely on economic grounds. And when they advanced, there was a paid extended package designed for traditional, multiple users. And, there were minimal audio facilities. To cut a long story short, in the past couple of months a new version has been released. Version 14. What a transformation! The entire look and functionality of the program has leapt ahead. All the old colour facilities are still there, so traditional users are not disadvantaged. But the door is opened to a vast army of new users. What it looks like. This is actually the render page, but shows the timeline and a selection of open windows. There are many, many windows available in each page allowing many functions and there are five basic pages along the bottom of the picture. Version 14 is claimed to be 10 times faster than the previous one and there are a huge number of improvements and enhancements. But the one causing the most interest is the audio. From having almost no audio capabilities in version 12.5, Blackmagic has made a big step forward. They have purchased the Fairlight company and added the results into Resolve. Anyone who has not been in the business could be forgiven for scratching their heads over this. What s Fairlight? The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was developed in 1979 by a couple of fresh-out-ofschool young men in Sydney. It was effectively the very first device of it s type and sold hugely around the world. The name came from a hydrofoil ferry that used to pass the basement of a grandmother of one of the men where their workshop was located. As years passed, Fairlight evolved into a manufacturer of high -quality audio processors. Now, Blackmagic, an Australian company has purchased Fairlight, another Australian company, and incorporated many of it s devices into Resolve. I have not had time to check out just what has been incorporated, but what I have seen looks reasonably impressive.

4 Here is a colour-correction page. As always, there are many variations available to allow almost anyone to find a configuration with which they are comfortable. Note the node-based structure at the top right. Yay! Here is a different, but simpler edit page. This one has a source viewer, different open windows and a different colour-scheme for the timeline clips. As mentioned, all of the five windows (Media, Edit, Colour, Fairlight and Deliver [Render]) can be varied almost ad infinitum to achieve a layout to suit a personal preference. Video and audio track numbers are unlimited (of course), as are variations on viewers and everything else.

5 Last picture, for now. This one shows a colour page again, this one illustrating the use of a power window to allow operation on just a face without affecting the rest of the frame. There are several other facilities for different circumstances. It s not hard to see why Resolve became a favourite of the colour-correction world and with it s modern, new UI it can t help but succeed. This has been a rather long-winded waffle on Resolve. But the program has so many variations and functions that it s almost impossible to describe. In fact, the most daunting thing about it is the sheer number of things it can do. It s almost overwhelming! In it s previous life it was clearly a twenty-five year learning process. But, when my brain cooled a little, I began to see that, for a normal user, it s not necessary to learn to use everything. It s like fifty NLEs rolled into one. Just pick one configuration that works, then explore others at leisure. The whole timeline/edit thing is really not unlike Vegas and not difficult to use. One thing to note, is that it s currently Version 14 Beta. That is, of course, it s not in it s final form. Examination of the forum reveals an untold number of users busily digging about for bits that don t work so well while others are busily suggesting changes to allow for even more facilities. The really surprising thing is how quickly Blackmagic responds. Inside a couple of days, many problems are fixed and many requests implemented. After a couple of months, it s up to variant five or six. Most of the problems seem to be details in obscure corners of the program. Still, it doesn't cost anything, so we can t complain. One may gain the impression that I m a bit over the top on Resolve. Well, I am. A couple of years ago I was impressed, but found the whole thing Hollywood oriented, with no capability to interact with any camera I was likely to use. In that couple of years, the whole program has undergone a re-incarnation and, at the same time, cameras used by advanced amateurs are moving quickly into the world of slog, 10 bit and RAW, promising a new world of picture quality. It s going to happen, it can t be avoided. Those who don t want to be part of this (yet another) brave new world need an up-to-date smart phone. Those who do look forward should keep a weather-eye on programs like Resolve.

6 More Legal Music Following our long-standing agreement with Fresh Music in the US, we have obtained another five CDs. Like our previous purchases, this music may legally be used on videos we produce. Those interested in this music may buy copies of the five discs in MP3 format for $4 the set. Once suitable music has been selected, the original disc(s) can be copied in the original WAV format. For those not aware, MP3 is an inferior format, recently officially discontinued, and some NLEs may not accept it although, these days, a number do. Financial members of BMM are legally permitted to use any music in the collection, provided it is used in conjunction with a video and provided the specified credit is included. There is no cost involved in using this music. A few sets of the new MP3 discs remain for sale. Lost and (hopefully) found department Recently, a group of members went on location for a day s shooting. The club radio-microphone was to be utilised. On opening the box, the receiver output lead was found to be missing. This is a special lead, about 300mm long, with a screw-on 3.5mm CB connector at one end (to fit the receiver) and a male XL connector at the other (for input to the camera). In effect, the whole mic system is useless without this lead as there is then no input to the camera. Fortunately, I had my own lead with me on the day, so we got by sheer good luck. If you have used the radio mic at any time, please have a glance around to see if the lead has been misplaced. It may be very difficult, or impossible, to replace, not to mention expensive. The missing receiver lead.

7 A woman has twins, and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named 'Amal.' The other goes to a family in Spain, they name him Juan'. Years later; Juan sends a picture of himself to his mum. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wished she also had a picture of Amal. Her husband responds, ''But they are twins. If you've seen Juan, you've seen Amal.'' A SENIOR S PERSPECTIVE OF FACEBOOK. For those of my generation who do not, and cannot, comprehend why Facebook exists: I am trying to make friends outside of Facebook while applying the same principles. Therefore, every day I walk down the street and tell passers-by what I have eaten, how I feel at the moment, what I have done the night before, what I will do later and with whom. I give them pictures of my family, my dog, and of me gardening, taking things apart in the garage, watering the lawn, standing in front of landmarks, driving around town, having lunch, and doing what anybody and everybody does every day. I also listen to their conversations, give them the "thumbs up" and tell them I like them. And it works just like Facebook. I already have four people following me: two police officers, a private investigator and a psychiatrist. From Col Coming Soon. July 20 meeting This issue of scanlines is a little late because we have been waiting for confirmation of items for Thursday night. Now they are confirmed and the wait was well worthwhile. Because, this meeting, we have: A look at progress on some recent shoots. You saw the shoot, but how did it turn out? What went wrong? How was that dealt with? How will it be dealt with? Valuable information on the next stage of any production. How would you handle it? An interesting insight into individual approaches. Here is a look at a valuable shooting aid that I ll bet few of us have ever employed. I, for one, having enjoyed the convenience and utility of this simple facility for several years, now, would never be without it again. We won t spoil the surprise by revealing what it is, but John T will run us through it. As is his wont, Peter A is expected to present an item that will both inform and entertain. Whatever else comes up. That should take us up to cup-of-tea and bedtime. Don t sit at home watching TV come along and discover how to make your own and better. Join the activities and enjoy yourselves. See you there!