Digital Content Producer

In the movie and TV industry, technology continues to grow at a faster rate every year. It seems it's now at a point where equipment gets outdated before you have it plugged in.

I wanted to know who's doing 3D, how, and for what types of productions. Dave Helmly, North American tech sales manager for pro video/audio at Adobe; CineForm CEO David Taylor; and Sean Kilbride, Nvidia's technical marketing manager, workstation products provided the answers in email interviews.

I'll take footage shot with the Panasonic AG-3DA1, mux the two streams into the CineForm format and perform some nondestructive 2D and 3D editing in CineForm First Light, then edit in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 with realtime 3D preview courtesy of Nvidia 3D Vision.

Having edited professionally for more than a decade now, I have watched the editorial landscape change dramatically in terms of clients' expectations--especially in the realm of commercial editorial.

In this article, I'll look at Red Giant Software Magic Bullet Steady ($199) and the Boris Continuum Optical Stabilizer Mac ($99). I was going to include the Image Stabilizer in CHV-Electronics MotionTracker-collection ($69), but the workflow was very complex and the tool performed very poorly in smoothing tests (though adequate at stabilization), so it wasn't worth your time or mine.

In this article, I'll discuss how to shoot, edit, and upload 3D videos to YouTube, and what you'll need to view them from that site. In two weeks, I'll look at how to produce for Nvidia's 3D Vision system and review that system, which uses active shutter technology to deliver the type of quality available in movie theaters and which you'll see in the 3D TV systems just starting to appear in our living rooms.

Greg Leuenberger, CEO of Sabertooth Productions, and his small team of designers, editors, and artists provide production, postproduction, animation, and graphic services to a variety of technology, medical/biotech and entertainment companies. Located in Sunnyvale, Calif., Sabertooth Productions has gained a reputation as the go-to post house of Silicon Valley.

Director Brett Froomer of @radical.media is well-known for his work for brands like Citgo, the US Army, Kodak, Prudential, and PDFA. He has also directed five personal studies, the latest of which, titled Sasha, tells the intriguing story of a little girl in Scotland who has two very different personalities.

In this issue, I'll discuss the image stabilization task in general, and analyze the usability, quality, and performance of Final Cut's SmoothCam filter and Motion's Stabilize behavior. In essence, these are the free tools that you likely already have.

Earlier this year, Adobe released its biggest Creative Suite update yet. The new nucleus of the package, Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended, does not disappoint when it comes to new features for video content producers.

Here at Firstlight Independent, we're just finishing up photography on a period Western called For Robbing The Dead. Set in the 1860s, our project required a gritty, realistic look, and we're shooting interiors on sound stages and exteriors in and around the Great Salt Lake. Our acquisition technology and workflow helped us make our days all month with beautiful images ready for post.

Last time out, we discussed shooting for multicam editing, and syncing your clips for multicam editing in Apple Final Cut Pro. This time out, I'll detail how to work with clips in the Viewer, how to switch camera angles, how to optimize playback in the Timeline, and other production details.

As the founder and live-action director at Kommitted Films, I was happy to continue my productive relationship with the Kaplan Thaler Group and Continental Airlines with Seamless, a :30 journey through New York, London, Shanghai, Buenos Aires, and Paris.