Category: technology

I just got done reading a fantastic article over on FreshDV. Kendal explores a lot of things I’ve thought but never been able to quite put into words.  In addition, he provides some inspirational backup in the form of quotes from fantastic cinematographers.  Go read it.

If it pisses you off then you need to go out and prove him wrong.

Of course, by proving him wrong – you’ll likely end up proving him right.

The central premise is that just because you have good equipment, that doesn’t make you a filmmaker.  Just because you make pretty pictures, that doesn’t make you a cinematographer.  Making pretty pictures with good gear isn’t enough – you have to practice your craft make good, defendable decisions, and understand why the decision you made work in that specific situation.

There is lots of room for experimentation, montages, test footage, etc in the world Kendal describes.  Just don’t (always) call those things “art.”

When I teach at both the high school and college level, I always ask the kids “What prevents you from producing films at the highest level?” I consistently get two answers:

1. Not enough time
2. Our equipment sucks

The not enough time argument is legitimate, I tell them.  While there is NEVER enough time to do everything you want when you are a filmmaker – the pressures of student life make those time constraints even more restrictive.  So #1 – check… not much we can do about that.

However – the second reason – Once I get that answer, I call bullshit and show them this:

Ayz Waraich (@ayz on Twitter) is a fantastic up-and-coming filmmaker.  He is consistently honing and improving his craft.  He understands how his choices affect the story.  Everything on the screen helps move the script forward.  He is humble and thoughtful, eager to learn, and he shot that film on what is essentially a Sony Handycam.

It ain’t the gear, folks.  Its the person (or more often the team) who wields it.

So go out and prove Kendal wrong.  Go make a film and learn from it.  Then make another (and learn from it).  And another (and learn from it).  And another…

I made this comment on Twitter the other day (retweeting the entertaining and insightful tech columnist David Pogue):

#facepalm RT @Pogue: Did you hear about this? Google’s Chrome browser won’t play H264 videos anymore. Idiotic… http://bit.ly/fBTNIL

I received an interesting reply via Facebook from one of the smartest people I know, Robert Mason of Doghouse Productions:

This is interesting. Sounds like it might mean short term pain, but long term, high quality Open Standards CODECS seems like a good thing. In my audio class we have been discussing Vorbis and FLAC, which are the audio equivalents of Theora. Interesting times…

This led me to a little (semi)rant, that I thought might be relavent for the Groovy audience.

I understand the sentiment, but the problem is the current open standards are measurably (even with an untrained human eye) not as efficient as h.264 (similar bitrates produce noticeably different results).

While Vorbis compares favorably with .mp3 (in many cases being even more efficient), the same can not be said for VP8 and Theora vs h.264.

As much as it can be hard to swallow, sometimes private industry does it better than the open source community.

On top of that, this decision has a tremendous impact on professionals – like… oh… say… me. All of our video is distributed in h.264 format (granted, not everything is html5 compliant, yet). So now I’m faced with a decision both for my company’s website, as well as every client I’ve delivered media to in the las 24 months or so – either their website (potentially) now doesn’t fully support the Chromium Browser – and that means possibly the Chrome browser, or we’re going to have to re-encode every piece of video and deliver in 2 formats (because while a browser may support VP8 or Theora, the client’s laptop may not).

And on top of that, none of my professional software provides adequate tools for encosing VP8 or Theora – which means I’m having to rely on shareware or open source tools with very little official support mechanism behind them. Which means if something goes wrong, I need to rely on the wisdom of the crowd to save my ass when I’m on deadline. And the crowd is, in my opinion, a little hit-or-miss.

I’m generally agnostic when it comes to tools a person uses. I think you should be able to utilize whatever makes you fast and efficient. Where I get frustrated is when people place roadblocks to me using the tools that work best for me. And in this case, Chromium (and I have no doubt that this decision is being driven by Google – aka private industry – even though Chromium is technically a separate organization) is putting up a potentially huge (and expensive) roadblock!

I consider myself a lifelong learner. I love learning new things, and I do my best to keep up on technology and filmmaking techniques. Our clients rely on us to be “the experts,” and the only way to do that is to continually seek out educational opportunities.

Over the last year, I’ve been tentatively dipping my toes into 3D production. However, I’ve found the learning curve to be daunting – and I’ve found it difficult to locate a good, fundamental 3D resource. That is, until I discovered NewMediaWebinars.com. For $25, I was able to download an on-demand seminar given by James Neihouse, a cinematographer on (among many other things), the 3D Hubble IMAX film.

Think this guy knows his stuff? Um – yeah. I think he does.

The specific seminar I watched was Stereo 3D Filmmaking Bootcamp. While I found the seminar to be a little dry at times (there’s a TON of technical information that he throws at you), this was one of the best primers on stereo cinematography I’ve ever seen. At the end, I not only understood the basic techniques, but also quite a bit of the “why” of stereo cinematography. James does a fantastic job of giving you visuals that illustrate not only how the 3D works, but also why!

I have to say the seminar wasn’t perfect. I tend to struggle a bit with the powerpoint/audio nature of most online seminars and this one is no different – there’s just something more engaging about seeing a person’s face while they’re presenting that I always miss with webinars. That, combined with the dry nature of some of the technical details, meant I wasn’t able to sit through the entire 90 minutes without getting up from my computer and grabbing some caffeine.

However, at the end of the seminar, I was fired up to go out and shoot some 3D and try his techniques. I’m probably not ready to have a paying client, but I’m confident I have enough of a foundation that I can learn what I need. Now we just need to get a 3D monitor… oh, and a stereo rig (or camera)… and a script that calls for 3D…

Finally, as part of the download, I got the entire slide deck, a bonus podcast with James Neihouse, a file with reference links, and some stereo footage to play around with in FCP.

Overall? Well worth the $25 – and absolutely satisfied my lifelong learner craving.

Full disclosure – after viewing the seminar, NewMediaWebinars.com and I began a dialogue about having me teach a future class. It now looks like I’ll be talking about asset management in Final Cut Pro in March. Hopefully I can avoid some of the presentation pitfalls I identified in the Stereo 3D Filmmaking Bootcamp. If not, feel free to call me out on it!

From Qualcomm, Inc’s Leadership Summit 2009; Mark Oliver from John Deere (yes, THAT John Deere) talks about how Qualcomm’s Smart Services helps keep their end users running efficiently. Groovy Like a Movie is proud to have partnered with Qualcomm, Inc to produce this project. What I find interesting about Mark’s talk is how wireless technology has infiltrated and improved industries that we don’t generally think of as high tech!

As he says, “It is just the beginning…”

From Qualcomm, Inc’s Leadership Summit 2009; analyst Barry Runyon discusses how Smart Services can transform the health care industry. Groovy Like a Movie is proud to have partnered with Qualcomm, Inc to produce this project. Health care is obviously a huge issue right now, and any technology that could transform the system in positive ways will be a huge benefit to everyone!

From Qualcomm, Inc’s Leadership Summit 2009; analyst Scott Ellison discusses how Smart Services can affect a range of industries. Groovy Like a Movie is proud to have partnered with Qualcomm, Inc to produce this project. I love to hear what people on the cutting edge are thinking about technology, and wireless will continue to grow and affect all of our lives in really interesting ways.

We’re proud to have partnered with Qualcomm, Inc to capture highlights from their 2009 Leadership Summit. I’m a bit of a technology geek, so it is really exciting when I’m allowed to get a sneak peek into what people are coming up with for the future.

I am not an avid reader/writer of blogs. I can’t help but to feel like Doogie Howser or the Sex and the City woman when I start writing. I just don’t feel comfortable writing down my thoughts for others to read. I keep thinking—does anyone care what I think? I guess blogs are good venue to share ideas or to find out what not to do. I need to make that jump into the cyber world because I now realize that it is becoming an expectation or necessary part of society, especially in the communication/media community. I had the same trepidation/disinterest regarding cell phones a few years back but now I carry one around everywhere I go and can’t imagine my life without it. So then…this blog is about sharing what works for me when I need to come up with something creative for a short video or film project.

Inspiration from music and art:
I find I can be the most creative while exploring ideas through music. One quick thought in my head needs to be worked out; I try to explore the idea/image thorough music. The images come to mind before anything else. I then try to string them together with music. Explore the possible tones and styles though the music…what would fit with the concept or scene? It’s like meditation in a sense and I don’t know where it will take me. Usually it works out. It takes about 30 minutes for me to “get in the mood” after that the ideas come more easily. I jot them down in words or sketches and rework them later. While I rework the ideas/words/sketches it helps to reference paintings, photographs, and various other arts to try and pin point the tone and style (still listening to the music of course). I then have story boards and paintings to reference the look and music to reference the tone and feeling. I can then hopefully take that to the crew or client and put it all together to make something cool or at least something I feel proud of.

I am not much of a concert-goer, however, when an artist I love comes along to perform– I’m there. And I was definitely “there” this past Sunday night at the Hollywood Bowl to see Radiohead (one of the greatest bands of our time, if not the greatest). Not only was I blown away by their incredible performance, but I was greatly impressed by their visuals. Just a few years ago, concerts mainly stuck to flashing lights and a camera or two on the band (for those with lousy seats in the back). But now, thanks to technology and creative minds, not only do we get a treat for the ears at these concerts, but a treat for the eyes as well! Radiohead’s set had thoughtfully chosen colors, patterns, and movement that went along with the mood and tempo of the song. The screens showed more than one camera on the stage. They showed each band member as they performed with various filters and colors along with it. This reminded me of a show I had gone to last year for a band called Of Montreal. Not only did they have lights and screens, but instead of showing the band play on the screens, they had animation as well. Not even live video but video made especially for the concert.

Of Montreal

Radiohead

And all this spectacle does not take away from the performance at all. I would say it enhances it. I think more bands should have videos during their concerts. Musicians are artists (most of them) and with that, artists generally have an appreciation for all other forms of art. In bringing video into their performances, they are sharing their love of other forms of art with their fans as well. Radiohead even has a special relationship with artist Stanley Donwood who is in charge of all their album art. Of Montreal has used artwork by David Barnes, frontman Kevin Barnes’ brother. He has done music videos and album artwork as well.

Music and video have been used together for years, but now it’s in a new, refreshing form.

What shows have you been to that have blown you away aurally and visually (with the use of video)?