Filmmakers Garage

My new office

Hello all.  As many of you will have heard, I’m not working at Sheridan College anymore.  I left at the start of October.  Support staff at Ontario colleges had been on strike starting at the beginning of September.  While I was out on strike, I decided it was time to move on to something new.

So where am I now?  I am working at a company called The Adpharm.  We are an advertising agency for pharmaceutical clients (hence the ‘ph’ in ‘Adpharm’). The Adpharm is a small company and I am the New Media Developer.  Essentially, this means I am developing iPad apps and I am the company’s go-to guy for technical issues.

Now that I am developing apps full-time, I’ve been able to focus on iOS in a way that was impossible before.  I considered renaming this blog, but I think I’m going to leave it for now.  I still have a passion for filmmaking technology.  And I still have a relationship to the film programs at Sheridan College (I was up there twice this week for events).  There is a good chance I might be teaching a new course as a part-time instructor next September.  That being said, I think it is time that I admitted my inner-coder and started posting some iOS related content here.

So, let’s start with an Xcode 4 tip.  My apologies if it this exists (and please let me know if it does) but I searched high and low for a keyboard shortcut key, or a way to map a keyboard shortcut, to toggle between my project windows and the Organizer in Xcode 4.  I frequently move between my code and the SDK documentation (because my brain doesn’t seem to be able to retain much detailed information) so having to reach for the mouse was driving me nuts.  I finally found a solution by accident.  Now I keep my project windows in one Mission Control space and my Organizer window in an adjacent space.  To toggle between them, I use the default keyboard shortcuts that move between spaces – Ctrl-Right_Arrow and Ctrl-Left_Arrow.  So, with that problem solved, here is an XCode4 question that I’ve not yet found a solution to.  When I have multiple projects open, why does Xcode sometimes randomly pop a different project window to the top when I am switching back to Xcode from another application.  Very annoying, since there don’t seem to be any keyboard shortcuts to move between projects, I am forced to reach for the mouse – anyone know a solution?

Next.  I love Storyboards.  For the kind of apps I have been developing lately they are really convenient to get demos and prototypes up and working rapidly.   There are a few things I don’t like about the current implementation though.  I don’t like that I cannot place additional views within view controllers (that aren’t tied to the controller’s view property).  Before storyboards, I used this frequently.  For one thing, during development, I would often have different versions of a complicated view in the controller.  This way I can quickly swap them in and out as I was testing out an idea.

An update about my apps that are currently available in the iTunes store…  I decided to give away StartingLineup for free a few months ago.  This decision was fuelled mainly by a feeling of guilt about not being able to provide very good tech support for the app.  I figured if it was free people really couldn’t complain too much.  Since then, the app has been flying off the shelf.  It rose up into the top 30 free sports apps in Canada this week (today, it looks like it has dropped down to #44).  I think I was way ahead of the curve when I released this app.  At the time, hardly any hockey coaches had iPads – now this is common.  I’m glad that people are finding the app useful since  I put a lot of hard work into it..

I’ve got another side-project that I have been actively brainstorming this week.  I am getting very excited – I think I have some very cool ideas – now the challenge is to see if they can be achieved within the confines of iOS 5!

For those of you who are interested in what we have been up to this summer on the ‘tech’ side of ATVF, here is a rundown:

1. Avids have been updated to version 5.5.1 of Media Composer.  I’m not expecting any major changes from the version 5 that we finished last year with.  It would be nice if AMA was a little more stable.  That one really came back to bite us on the #$$ last year.
2. Generally, the capacity of the Avid RAIDs has been quadrupled.  I’m expecting that we will shoot the 3×3 projects on the Red this year, so there was a need to accommodate more material than last year.
3. We’ve updated to Adobe CS 5.5 in the lab.
4. We were planning on installing several new MacPro’s in the lab, but Apple has been taking longer than anticipated to introduce new models.  As a result, we are temporarily recycling some older machines (as a bonus we have thrown in dual-monitor setups for now).
5. To Lion or not-to-Lion, that is the question.  I’ve prepped a lab image that uses Lion, but now I’ve found out that no-one else is rolling out a Lion-based image in their labs this year.  There is a licensing issue that is creating a roadblock.  So, I may be rebuilding an image next week that rolls back to Snow Leopard.
6. There are no big changes in the camera kit this year, but we have worked hard to fill in a lot of the smaller gaps.  We have a bunch of new cases for all the gear, including the post-audio gear.  We have a sweet new magic arm setup from Ultralight (to replace the magic arms from Red that we keep breaking).  Our Alan Gordon director’s viewfinder is fixed!  Our Red EVF is in the process of being fixed.  We finally have the Bomb EVF that we ordered last October!  And today I ordered a Cinevate Atlas 10 slider that I think could be very handy for doc shooting and other things.  I’m still looking at making some big changes to our DMT workstation – I’m hoping that Thunderbolt drives start shipping soon!
7. We have reclaimed that back room behind the war-room.   This room will be available as part of the production office, and also will be used as a colour correction suite.
8. Both the Avid suite and the Digital Filmmaking Centre will be updated with new Canon Realis WUX10 projectors.  This should be a huge improvement over the previous projection system!  The install is probably not going to happen until later in September though.

Randall’s guide to efficient NABing:

1. Get to the convention centre early. You’ll avoid long Starbuck’s lines.
2. While you are waiting for the show floor to open up, visit the NAB bookstore. It gets really busy later, so hit it first, before anyone else realizes it is open. You’ll spot awesome books on filmmaking that you never knew existed. I jot down as many ISBN numbers as I can (learned the first year that books will put me over my weight allowance on the return flight).
3. Start the day at the back of Central Hall. The crowds all congegrate at the front of the room, so you get a lot more chances to have good initial conversations if you start at the back. Lately I start near the Sony booth and work out from there.

There seem to be fewer big product announcements than other years.  Some exceptions:

1. Sony has two new cameras – the F65 that I mentioned in yesterday’s post and the PMW-TD300.
2. There are some Thunderbolt devices being demonstrated here.  At the Blackmagic booth, they’ve got the UltraStudio 3D hooked into a Promise RAID via daisy-chained Thunderbolt cables.  At the Matrox booth they are demonstrating the MX02 device.  When I ask manufacturers about availability, most get squeemish and say they hope to have something by the ‘end of the year’.
3. I had heard of this before NAB, but the Teradek Cube is a very cool gadget.  It does live H.264 streaming from the camera, and it can also be configured to save out the H.264 proxies on a computer.  This means that you can use an iPad as a monitor to view live (granted with a few frames latency) material from the camera, or to view clips that you have shot already.
4. By chance, I happened on the Post Pit just as Taz Goldstein from HandHeldHollywood was starting a presentation on using the iPad for film production.  Obviously, based on my recent activities (www.rippledigital.com) this was interesting to me.  He had highlighted a lot of interesting apps, some of which I did not know about.  He also mentioned POMFORT, who is demonstrating an iPad in a physical slate case here at NAB.  When the clapper claps, their iPad app detects it and records the timecode.
5. The main product from POMFORT, is a management system for materials coming off of camera on set.  It looks like a nice tool and a much more organized way to handle materials than the free and semi-free tools that we are currently using in ATVF.

The other interesting thing I attended yesterday was a presentation in the Content Theatre on the 3D broadcast of the Sony Open golf tournament from Hawaii earlier this year.  All of the primary people involved in making this happen were on the stage to discuss it.  If you have any questions about how they put something like that together, come talk to me when I get back.

I’m very much behind schedule if I want to see everything at the show this year.  Lots of walking to do today!

The biggest mystery of the day – how did they know my name at Starbucks?  I paid cash, and they never asked my name, but somehow my name was written on the cup when my grande americano appeared.  Is Starbucks using RFID?  Does my credit card have an RFID chip in it?   Hmmm…
(UPDATE:  I discovered at day’s end that my NAB conference pass has an RFID tag embedded.)

Today the Sony F65 digital cinema camera was outed.  After resolving some technical difficulties with the playback system, we watched ‘The Arrival’, a short film by Curtis Clark. This is apparently the first film to be shot with the new camera, which is still in development.  To be honest, I wasn’t blown away.  Yes, a remarkable dynamic range was demonstrated.  But we have already seen similar abilities exhibited by the Arri Alexa and, to some extent, by the Red Epic.  Yes, the detail in the picture was impressive.  But, based on the size of the projection screen, only viewers in the first couple of rows of chairs would have been able to tell the difference from a 2K project.  If the F65 is priced at around the same point as the F35, I’m not sure whether the subtle differences of ‘true’ 4K capture will matter to that many productions.

I very much enjoyed the presentation by Douglas Trumbull, VFX supervisor on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and many other films.  Doug talked about his experience with the development of Showscan.  In developing this system, experimentation revealed that frame rates of around 66fps could provide an illusion of reality.  Lessons learned during these experiments are very relevant with recent announcements by Peter Jackson and James Cameron about their plans to shoot projects at frame rates higher than 24fps.  Doug is currently developing a digital version of Showscan.  He has also recently shot a music video that utilized the Phantom 65 camera system with the Z3D Zepar lens system.    This system allows the capture of 2K 3D material using a single camera.

I need to dispel a couple of myths.  First, it is not warm in Vegas.  At least not on this visit.  I have a feeling it was warmer in Toronto today than it was here.  My sister reports (I’m staying at their house here in Vegas) that there were snowflakes in the air today in North Las Vegas.  Second, this is definitely not a vacation.  I was up at 6am on this Saturday morning to get myself to the convention centre with plenty of time to spare before the start of the Digital Cinema Summit (DCS).  I recalled that last year they ran out of coffee and I wanted to ensure I was adequately fueled to begin the day.

One of the most interesting presentations of the day came from Chris Johns, representing UK satellite broadcaster Sky.  For the naysayers back in Canada, who don’t believe there is a place for 3D on your home screens, I say watch the current Sky 3D demo reel.  It really communicates the value of 3D stereoscopic when it comes to sports, the arts, and nature.  The David Attenborough documentary they commissioned,  Flying Monsters 3D, looked particularly interesting. Listening to the Sky presentation, I found myself wondering why there isn’t an equivalent Canadian broadcaster aggressively exploring the possibilities of 3D stereoscopic production.  After all, the population/market of the UK isn’t vastly different from that of Canada (62 millions versus 34 million?).  Canadian content providers have been slow to even re-broadcast 3D content from outside sources.  Sky has recently published a set of recommendations for 3D stereoscopic which you can find here.

The last panel discussion of the day brought together representatives from most of the major TV manufacturers.  They were a defensive group when it came to discussions of disappointing sales numbers for 3D TVs in 2010.  All are optimistic that 2011 and 2012 will bring significant growth in sales.  Finally many manufacturers are shifting to systems that utilize passive glasses.  I thought it was very odd that nearly every booth at last year’s NAB was demonstrating 3D using passive displays when this technology was completely absent from consumer offerings.  Even the active-shutter glasses seem to be becoming more affordable – Samsung now offers a deal that provides four pairs with a new set for $100.   The consensus of the panel is that auto-stereoscopic displays for home – the ones that don’t require glasses – are a long way off – perhaps 7 to 10 years.  After a slow start, it seems as though more 3D blu-ray titles are starting to appear.  Currently there are about 70 titles available.   More blu-ray titles, more 3D video games, and more tent-pole live events are expected to drive sales.

Hi all.  It has again been a while since my last post.  So first, let me summarize some things that have been going on.

In the Advanced TV & Film Program, we are marching onwards towards the start of production for the 2nd term projects.  It is only four days away now.  Technically, our approach is much the same as last year.  The biggest difference is that we now have two Red One camera bodies.  So there isn’t a worry that one may go down and cost us days when we have a very tight schedule to begin with.  It has been a bit of a rush to get the second Red ready to go.   Read more…

There have been a lot of new developments with cameras over the past year.  Since I’ve just ordered another Red One MX, I feel like this is a good time to review some different camera systems.  This can be very contentious territory though, so before I start, I want to give a clear summary of my particular point of view.

I am not a shooter.  I studied Camera and Lighting at Sheridan, when Richard Leiterman was the instructor, but I haven’t shot any moving pictures for a few years.  I am the Technologist for the Advanced TV & Film Program at Sheridan.   As such, I spend a lot of time observing student filmmakers in action.  I do my best to acquire equipment that I feel best suits their needs when shooting and enhances their learning process.  I do this in consultation with our faculty and industry advisors.  I try to keep myself educated by attending as many industry events as possible, including NAB.  I am also working with our research centre (SIRT) at Pinewood Studios.  We are an educational institution, so we have limited funding, but we do have the advantage of several valuable industry partners (Panavision, P/S Production Services, Deluxe, etc).   Based on all of this, here are my views on selected camera systems: Read more…

Moose Prints in the Sand

Today is October 21, 2010.   Production of the ATVF 3×3 films has started.  I am visiting the studio tonight with the Production Design class.  We are shooting this year at the New Toronto Studios on Buckingham Ave..  This is the same location that we used last year.  The set for this year will be a small-town bus or train station.  Due to the generosity of Panavision, Fuji, and Deluxe, we are shooting on 35mm film again this year.

I’ve just returned from my annual photography trip to the North.  The weather was stunning this year – warm and sunny.  Every morning included thick fog banks though, which made shooting in the morning a challenge.  I did get a few shots that I like very much though (included in this post).

Recent technical developments in ATVF include:

• Purchase of an additional Red One MX.  I just received final approval minutes ago and I hope to be able to place the order today or tomorrow.
• Kitting of our Canon 5D Mark II for cine shooting.  I ended up purchasing most of the accessories from Cinevate.  I like their stuff – it has a nice solid feel and is reasonably priced.  Plus they are a (relatively) local company so I like to be able to support them.
• All the usual summer upgrades and updates.  We are running all the latest and greatest software.  Again this year, Sheridan has an amazing deal with Adobe that allows the students to walk away at year’s end with a full copy of Adobe CS5 Master Collection.

Read more…

With the start to another  year of ATVF only a few days away, I thought it was time that I posted an update.  Where have I been these last few months?  Mainly in my basement office, toiling away on my top-secret summer project.  I have become an iPad app developer.  I feel safe to make this pronouncement now that I have two apps available on the iTunes store.  The first, was the 3×3 iPad app that I posted about a few months ago.  That was a free app that was intended as a promotional vehicle for the Advanced TV & Film 3×3 projects (this year’s 3×3 screenwriting contest is ON right now btw).  That app was a modest success with several hundred downloads including dozens outside of North America.  After I completed the 3×3 app I felt confident in tackling something more ambitious.

Read more…