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Monitors and Filmmaking
The difference between a movie and a video is that a movie is created in the filmmakers’ minds and a video is created on a monitor. Viewfinders on cameras have always been an afterthought. Early film...
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Money
Imagine this: It’s the Producer’s Invitational Pancake Breakfast. Large hotel ballroom: happy grips, electricians and DPs are pouring batter and flipping pancakes for their guests. Directors, camera...
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How to get trained
Almost everyone now seems interested in video or cameras or movie making. Filmmaking has become a popular hobby and even a sport. This is perfectly fine. However, I find that very few people are...
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DIY DCP
You used to hear a whir, the sound of sprockets pulling film from a 15 pound reel at a relentless 90 feet per minute. Then the thpt of a splice going through the gate, then the plunk of the mechanical...
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Keying and compositing in NukeX
You’ve seen it before: composited people with hair helmets. If you’ve done any keying yourself, you probably notice it all the time. And you’ve seen worse: webbed fingers, grey outlines, green, magenta...
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Ask me no questions and I’ll speak in no fragments
A sign taped to the door says “Quiet– filming.” This only makes you more nervous. You enter the room: it’s mostly pitch black, except for the brightly lit chair in the middle. A very friendly stranger,...
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Blocking Before Coffee
Feature film: first day. The crew and I start to run out of things to prepare; the director is 45 minutes late, despite the nervous producer’s assurances that he is on his way. Finally, the first-time...
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Preview: the Mini XTC 9250-XL
Just in time for NAB, the 9250-XL is everything that a producer could want in a camera. The revolution has begun… Don Starnes directs and photographs movies and videos of all kinds and is based in...
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