Brad Webb

David, If you can get me a Blu Ray and a drive, I'll dub all the scenes you want to Digibeta and then get you Apple ProRes or uncompressed 8 or 10 bit Quicktimes. brad

I have to do this all the time for work. We cut a lot of sizzle reels for the studios and it's like pulling teeth to get them to send us an HDCAM or even a Digibeta of a feature. First I rip the VIDEO_TS folder with all the VOB files using Mac the Ripper. Use Main Feature extract and not Full Disk. This gets the feature onto your desktop so that you can convert the video files. Once that is done I drop the VOB file into MPEG streamclip. Sometimes there are some dummy files in there. You may get an error message that says that there are timecode breaks. Click "Fix Now" and then click "Do not skip any frame" on the pop up box. Usually I convert them to Apple Pro Res 422. Another good codec is Photo - JPEG. Both of these codecs are FCP native. Make sure you check the Deinterlace Video check box. You can also mark In and Out points in MPEG Stream clip, so that you only export the scenes you need. I for in points, and O for out points (just like in FCP). I haven't used handbrake in forever, but I think it rips the file into an MP4. Going from this codec to a larger one may be causing some of the motion stuttering. If you're still having problems feel free to PM me here, or at Reduser.

This is like saying you hate Pepsi because they use celebrity endorsements, you won't eat at McDonald's because you hate clowns, or you won't use by an iphone because of all the hype behind it. None of that matters. If you like the taste of Pepsi, drink it. If you like the images Red produces, shoot it. Red has done something that no high end motion picture camera company (film or digital) has ever done before, which is make a high quality camera that is relatively affordable.

If there were ever a time that an actor's voice performance as a CG or animated character was so incredible they get nominated for an Oscar, I have no problem awarding the oscar to an Actor because the voice you hear is the actor's voice. It is still acting. The oscar is for best cinematography, not best virtual cinematography. Now, can there be a director of photography on animated and CG movies, YES. Look at the credits, there already are. However, the oscar is for best cinematography, not best director of photography. That is there difference. What is cinematography: cin·e·ma·tog·ra·phy    /ˌsɪnəməˈtɒgrəfi/ Show Spelled[sin-uh-muh-tog-ruh-fee] Show IPA –noun the art or technique of motion-picture photography. No, I was using the sun as an example. The art of cinematography comes with shaping the light.. real light. Whether you soften, add to it, or block out the light, you are shaping real light. In turn, would you take out all of the light bulbs in your house and use that light you rendered instead? You house would be pretty dark at night. How about you light a plant with only virtual light? That plant's not gonna last too long. On a less serious note, this has been fun sparring with you. You are a great debater.

Both are equally difficult and take very talented artists to created beautiful imagery. One group uses cameras, lights, lenses. The other group uses computers and software. One is cinematography, the other visual effects. This is not the same thing. The end result is the exact same, a written script. This is like comparing a hand cranked camera to the cameras of today. Yes it is much easier to write a script on a laptop, but it's still a script. Filmed cinematography = photograph. Rendered cinematography = painting. No matter how photo realistic the CGI looks, it is still a computer painting. It is visual effects. I'm not saying it has less value, I'm only saying they are different. Wrong..A render of a sunset is not sunlight, but a computer simulation of sunlight. The word "the" is the word "the" no matter how you write it, but the word "sunlight" is not sunlight. That is the difference.

There was a problem with the clips for cinematography. Some of the source footage got corrupted and there was not enough time to fix before it aired. That is why there was no cinematography clips.

There was a problem with the clips for cinematography. Some of the source footage got corrupted and there was not enough time to fix before it aired. That is why there was no cinematography clips.

The Teamsters that drive the big trucks, the trailers, the mechanics, etc deserve that kind of money. The Van drivers do not. This is the biggest problem with the unions. It's a total waste of money that could be going somewhere else. On the flip side, there is so much money wasted above the line that it is ridiculous. Every show has a few producers in name only that take a big paycheck for doing nothing. Then there are always useless political hires that do nothing and get paid for it. Many office PA's do nothing all day. Money is wasted all over the place in the film biz. From top to bottom. If a real company wasted money like that it would be out of business in no time, or it would be AIG or the Government. You are 100% right Tom, this is not sustainable. The Unions really screwed themselves with the latest deal that made it so much harder to get health insurance. That was one of the big reasons to join the union, and that is gone. All the Unions have gotten too big and care more about having political power than protecting their members. What the hell are your dues paying for? Once you give that up, there is no way the studios will give that back. People will start dropping out of the union, fewer people will join, and power will dwindle. SAG totally f'd itself by threatening to strike after the writers. The studios were able to see they could save a ton of money by switching a bunch of TV shows to digital, and by passing SAG altogether. Not to mention that there was a political struggle within SAG which made them weak. They had no bargaining power.

Is a photographer the same as painter? They may look similar but a photograph is photograph and a painting is painting.

I have no problems with a voice actor winning best actor in a cartoon. They actor still created the performance with their voice. But you are right on, the cartoon character is not an actor, and CGI is not photography. There are elements of cinematography used to create CGI, but it is still CGI.

When you shoot a sunset you are on earth, and you move the camera, actors, grip gear, to get the great shot. When you render a sunset you put the sun wherever the F you want it, you have the light fall however soft of hard you want it to, you can put whatever you want in the background be it a lake, the sun, a burger king, the sun and the actors faces are at the same brightness level.etc. Hell you can have the camera start at the sun and follow the ray of like a few billion miles to the actors sitting on a hill and have it all in one shot.

White Ribbon.

I'm not surprised it won, but I was surprised it got nominated. Only members of the Academy that work in the field can nominate films. Obviosuly those that work in the profession feel like Avatar was amazing achievement in cinematography. All members get vote on the winner. This is why every Victorian era film wins best costume.

Obviously nobody could predict that. My original intention was to reply to this: I just wanted to point how digital has a lot to do with the issues at Panavision. It's not the only factor, but it is one the big ones.

Best green screen lighting