The distribution company behind such great breakthrough films as Pulp Fiction, The Crying Game, Clerks, Sex, lies and videotape, The English Patient and No Country for Old Men has officially been laid to rest. Miramax Films, the pioneer’s of the indy film movement who were the brainchild of Harvey and Bob Weinstein have finally laid off the reminder of their workforce. According to Disney, who acquired the company in 1993 for $70 million, “Miramax will consolidiate its operations within Walt Disney Studios, and will be releasing a smaller number of films than in previous years. But it will continue to operate within the Walt Disney Studios.” However, in October Disney already announced that Miramax would cut down its production by 70%, down from 6 or 8 movies a year to just 3. Some the of more recent offerings ended up as flops such as Cold Mountain and The Four Feathers. One thing is for sure, with so many remakes and carbon copies out there Miramax was the one company that seemed to make major motion pictures that mattered and carried some sort meaning. This will be a very sad day for true film lovers out there.
Archive for January, 2010
Goodbye Miramax
Making Video: So Easy A Chimp Could Do It
For the first time in history a documentary was filmed entirely by chimpanzees. It aired last night on the British Broadcasting Channel (BBC). Though this was a great idea for a nature documentary (and an even better idea in regards to budget since the crew worked for free), it kind of made me sad for the following reasons:
1. According to chimpcam.com, the idea came to producer John Capener as he was watching a documentary. The documentary was filmed so poorly that he thought, “a chimp could have shot this!” It was at this point he began to research how to go about using chimpanzees for the crew of his next documentary.
2. If you’ve seen the teaser for Natural World: The Chimpcam Project, you may agree: humans have shot footage more poorly composed and less compelling than the footage the chimps managed to capture.
3. We’re one step closer to realizing that the movie Planet of the Apes is actually not that far-fetched.
All kidding aside, it is a creative approach to the typical nature documentary. And, in all fairness, the chimps did get some instruction prior to their attempt at being videographers. It’s a nice reminder, however, that if we don’t continue to learn and perfect our craft, someone, someday may replace us with our budget-friendly, water-fearing friend, the chimp.
Check out our tips on basic video production and how to make a video better than a chimp.
Panasonic’s LUMIX TS2 Gets Tougher – Waterproof to 33 Feet, Freezeproof, Shockproof – With The Ability to Record High Def Video
Panasonic today introduced the new LUMIX DMC-TS2, a successor to the company’s first rugged digital camera designed for active outdoor use, the LUMIX DMC-TS1. Featuring High Definition video recording capability, in the AVCHD Lite format, the new 14.1-megapixel LUMIX TS2 further strengthens its toughness when compared to its predecessor and is waterproof to 33 feet (10m), shockproof to 10 feet (2m), freezeproof to 14° F (-10° C) and dustproof*1.
“We have been very pleased to see that consumers found true value in Panasonic’s first rugged digital camera, knowing that they could take it on their outdoor adventures where it could withstand drops, water and dust. But even more, we saw that users enjoyed our LUMIX TS1 for their daily photo needs – they were able to take high-quality video and photo without worrying if they casually tossed it in their bag or used it in the rain,” said David Briganti, Senior Product Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “The new LUMIX TS2 gets tougher and we expect it to be a key product in 2010, as its rugged features are becoming even more desirable for active users, especially with this year’s new freezeproof capabilities. Families will enjoy this digital camera, both for their own outdoor activities, vacations, but also so they can allow children to take photos without the anxiety they might otherwise feel of damage.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Panasonic Unveils the World’s Smallest Photo/Video Hybrid Digital Camera
Panasonic today introduces the LUMIX DMC-ZS7, the newest member of the acclaimed superzoom ZS-Series of digital cameras that have gained worldwide popularity. Complete with its hallmark 25mm ultra-wide-angle Leica lens and a powerful 12x optical zoom (operable in video recording mode), this 12.1-megapixel powerhouse performer, also includes a new built-in GPS (Global Positioning System) feature that embeds photos and videos with the latitude and longitude location details, a useful feature when using an online photo-sharing website. The LUMIX ZS7 is also the world’s smallest photo/video hybrid superzoom digital camera*1, which can also record High Definition (HD) video using the recording capability in AVCHD Lite, which includes a dedicated video record button and new to the ZS-Series is a manual shooting mode. Read the rest of this entry »
Panasonic Introduces the LUMIX DMC-ZR3 Featuring AVCHD Lite HD Video Recording Capability
Panasonic today announced the introduction of the LUMIX DMC-ZR3, a fully-featured digital camera complete with AVCHD Lite High Defintion (HD) video recording capabilities, a25mm ultra-wide-angle Leica lens and a powerful 8x optical zoom – giving consumers a wide-range of shooting options, yet in a slim body that is small enough to fit in a pocket or small purse. New to the ZR-Series this year, Panasonic also introduces Intelligent Zoom, which extends the LUMIX ZR3’s zoom to an impressive 10x. Read the rest of this entry »
Corel® VideoStudio® Pro X3 Brings Speed and Creativity to PC Video Production
Corel Corporation today announced a dramatically enhanced version of its powerful consumer video editing software, Corel® VideoStudio® Pro X3. Offering great value at a new price of $99.99, Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 combines video editing, media authoring, real-time effects and DVD and Blu-ray burning, enabling video enthusiasts to create professional-looking productions in a simplified and streamlined environment that offers maximum performance.
Grammys Video Contest for I gotta feeling
Do you have what it takes?
CBS is airing the 52nd Grammy awards show and has a contest going on that can put the winner’s video right into the Grammy program. We told you about the amazing one-take one-camera viral video lip-dub by University Montreal Quebec film students.
The video was so well received that the group, “The Black Eyed Peas” who made the song allowed the Canadian students to keep the video on YouTube, and following that success, they are teaming up with CBS to allow anyone who thinks they have the guts, to upload their own lip-dub version to CBS’s site for a vote. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYmSlwJ2myQ
Haiti Earthquake – 360 Interactive Video Experience!
We’ve all been able to cruise around a virtual world with still images using Google map’s street view web application but what about using this concept for video?
New technology is currently being implemented by CNN in Haiti that allows the viewer to engage in the action using the Dodeca 2360 Camera System, a geodesic camera. Immersive Media who manufactures the camera is providing 360-degree, geo-coded web videos of Haiti to help relief agencies, first responders, government departments and news organizations.
The videos place viewers in the middle of an environment, giving them full control over what they see in a scene. With a simple click and drag of a computer mouse, online viewers can look sideways, up, down or all around in 360-degrees, while also pausing or zooming in and out. Each frame of the video is geo-coded, which will enable the planners and operations teams to pinpoint exact locations for relief, recovery and rebuilding operations. The video footage can be integrated with mapping applications to serve all kinds of purposes.
11 cameras stitch all the images together at once to capture every possible viewing direction at 30 frames per second. Still not impressed? On top of that, a surround sound microphone system is attached. You can see a full run down of the camera at CNN.
Techniques to Try
This time around I wanted to take a look at a technique that is very simple to execute and quite pleasing to the eye of the viewer. The “Star Trek” effect has been done countless times over the years in many major motion pictures. Although it looks very impressive now days to see people beaming from one ship to another and especially difficult to achieve, the truth of the matter is this is a simple technique that involves overlaying and cross dissolves. Which are two very simple techniques that can be used in every NLE out there today. The steps are actually pretty easy to execute.
Number 1: You are going to want to get a tripod and lock it down so that you can get two identical shots
Number 2: Grab two identical shots, one that features your subject reacting to the effect and one that is a simple static shot of just the background.
Number 3: In your NLE simply cross dissolve between the two or overlay the two and bring the opacity up when you want the subject to enter the frame.
Number 4: Add elements such as noise and film grain to make it appear as if the forces of gravity and time are pulling the subjects body mass together.
Be sure to take a look at how we pulled off this technique on Monday Jan. 25 right here on Videomaker.com!
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