DC Metro FCP UG

After spending most of 2008 raising funds, 19th & Wilson is pleased to
announce that Ghosts Don’t Exist is moving into preproduction phase (with
production slated for May of this year). Thus far, production locations will
be in the Metro DC area. Soon we will announce the date for casting calls,
which will most likely be in March.

We would like to thank Executive Producers Chris Cooley and James Mercurio
for their support, and Producer Tanner Cooley for his significant work on
championing the project. We also would like to recognize Tony Cord and
Chadleon Booker for their assistance and hosting a great 19W event.*

With the greenlighting now comes the time for us to being to finding crew.
We are looking for:

- Gaffers
- Grips
- Sound Engineer
- Personal Assistants
- Runners
- Assistant Director
- Data engineer for the Red One
- Production Designer

We are also looking for any DC Metro Area local businesses who would be
willing to donate or give a great discount on their products and/or
services.  We are in need of:

- Hotel rooms
- Food on the set
- Wardrobe
- Hair and Makeup
- Red One Camera & Equipment
- Lighting
- Generator
- Conference room or an Office Space

19th & Wilson is now accepting applications for the following crew members
on the upcoming film “Ghosts Don’t Exist”:
Director of Photography
Sound Engineer
Line Producer
Post Production Editing & Sound.

Please send us your resume and demo reel, if necessary, along with your
salary requirements for a 15-18 day shoot in the DC Metropolitan area to
contact@19thandwilson.com

Thanks,
19th & Wilson

Please send an email to contact@19thandwilson.com if you would like to be
involved.

Read the full press release at www.19w.com

Let them know you heard about this from the DCFCPUG.

I’ve been working with Mr. Mercurio and team on his Screenwriter’s Workshop coming to DC in April. The paid workshop will be 18-19 April. Location TBR.

Rodney
DCFCPUG

A “thank you” sale at digieffects is happening now through tomorrow. The company is celebrating “100% growth in 2008″ by offering the MegaSuite for $199 (usually $799) and the Aurorix/Berserk/Delirium bundle for $99 (usually $599).

FCP Plugins:  Recession-proof.

Here is a fresh batch of FCP plugins from across the Pond, care of Luca.

These additions were inspired by requests for certain effects, transitions or generators not currently included in FCP, as well as “the need to have specifically tailored effects for routine image control.”

These plugins are free, but donations would be appreciated and, as always, would inspire more plugins . . .

If you have a chance to use them, comment below and let everyone know what you think.

Here are two exceptional tutorials on primary and secondary color correction, courtesy of Director/Writer Eric Escobar and his PrepShootPost blog.  While both tutorials happen to demonstrate Red Giant’s Magic Bullet Colorista plug-in for FCP, don’t worry if (like me) you’ve never used Colorista.  The concepts translate seamlessly to FCP’s Color Corrector 3-way filter, and probably a slew of other CC tools or applications.  (That said, you may find yourself pining for a couple of Colorista’s added features, which are highlighted in the tutorials).

The Primary CC tutorial can be found here, and the Secondary CC tutorial here.  And take some time to peruse Eric’s web site, especially if you have any interest (as we all should, right?) in the “Prep” and “Shoot” – rather than merely the “Post” – aspects of filmmaking.

FilmFellas Cast 2 Trailer from Steve Weiss, Zacuto USA on Vimeo.

This is a behind the scenes peek featuring influential and emerging new filmmakers who are making, creating and challenging the independent film scene and how we view entertainment. This is a four part series. The last one premiers on the 15th of February 2009… The next series starts in March so look for it in a separate posting.  You can also find them on iTunes; just search for Zacuto.

What are your thoughts on FilmFellas? Webisode 1,2,3 and 4 now posted:

                                                     Zacuto and Vimeo presents, FilmFellas

FilmFellas from Steve Weiss, Zacuto USA on Vimeo.

 
FilmFellas – webisode 2 from Steve Weiss, Zacuto USA on Vimeo.

 
FilmFellas – webisode 3 from Steve Weiss, Zacuto USA on Vimeo.

FilmFellas – webisode 4 from Steve Weiss, Zacuto USA on Vimeo.

Here’s what I like to think happened:  I posted a request for instructions on how to put together an animated heart-rate graphic in Motion on the Apple forums.  Producer/Editor Andy Neil responded with a step-by-step primer for Motion beginners.  I turned those steps into an illustrated tutorial (with Andy’s blessing).  Upon seeing my tutorial, Andy was inspired to put together a slightly more sophisticated video tutorial himself.

Here is what I think actually happened:  All of the above, except Andy had been working on his own tutorial for a while and was merely prodded to finalize it after I posted mine.

Here is what I hope didn’t happen:  Andy saw what a hack job I did, and felt compelled to post something more, uh, usable – to save poor FCP users, and his own reputation.

No matter how it happened, Andy’s tutorial is better in most every respect than mine.  First, it’s in video format, which is always nice.  Second, Andy has a better understanding of Motion and its capabilities, and presents those options clearly.  Third, his process gives you more control over the final graphic, which also looks better.

So, please check out his tutorial and look for more as he builds his site.

What did I learn from the tutorial?

1. How to more effectively use the Paint Stroke Tool.  (I had relied on the Bezier Tool because I didn’t realize how easily you could smooth out the initial freehand drawing).
2. How to batch-move keyframes in the timeline.  (Awesome time-saver).
3. That prodding more skilled artisans is sometimes the best service I can provide.  Uh, you’re WELcome, FCP users.

Recently, I needed a basic animation of a heart-rate graphic.  You know, like on a hospital monitor.  I am more comfortable in Final Cut Pro than I am in Motion, so all I wanted was a looping animation that I could drop in FCP and composite as I saw fit.  A few Google searches and a quick post to the Apple Motion forum later, I found an easy process that met my humble needs.  (Thanks to editor/producer Andy Neil for his explanation!)

Here is the result:

And here’s how I made it:

STEP ONE:  Create a new project and set the timeline length to 3 seconds. That seemed like plenty of time for one heartbeat cycle (and some handles for trimming).  Your timing needs may vary.

STEP TWO:  Draw the heart-rate graphic using the Bezier Tool.

Some folks might prefer the Paint Stroke Tool. I have neither the hardware nor the skill to freehand this stuff.   I also experimented with the Line Tool but the various lines cannot be “Grouped” for purposes of the steps below, and I couldn’t figure out how to make one continuous piece using the Line Tool without grouping.  Here is the finished drawing using the Bezier Tool:

STEP THREE:  Set the playhead to the first frame, hit “Record” and make the adjustments detailed below (involving the timeline playhead and the First Point Offset and Last Point Offset sliders).

You can either hit the Record button on the canvas, or just press “A”.  Then do the following:

• a.  Set the Last Point Offset (“LPO”) slider to 0.
• b.  Move the timeline playhead to 1 second. This equated to Frame 24 in my project.
• c.  Set the LPO slider to 100.
  
• d.  Move the timeline playhead back to frame 16. The goal here is to find the right timing.  You can experiment with what’s best for you, but a good place to start is to halve the frame number at which you set your playhead above (in step b), then add a little.  For example, I set my playhead at 24 frames (1 second), so the half-way point is 12 frames.  I bumped that to frame 16.
• e.  Option-click the dash to the right of the First Point Offset (“FPO”) slider. This sets a keyframe at frame 16 (or whatever frame you choose in the previous step d) for the current value of the FPO – which is 0 at this point.
• f.  Move the timeline playhead forward 2x the number you chose in step d. In my case, I moved the playhead to frame 32 (16×2).  This put it well past the 1-second mark from above, which is an important aspect of getting the timing to work.
• g.  Set FPO slider to 100.

STEP FOUR: Stop recording and hit play.

That’s how I generated the animation at the top of the page.

NOW, the fun part begins with 2 simple questions:

1. How would you improve this process, which is meant to generate the basic heart-rate animation using Motion? and
   
2. What would you do next to spice up this simple animation in Motion?  (i.e. using particles, replicator, emitters, etc.)

Prizes: Prizes will be awarded to each winning photographer. The prize package is subject to change at the full discretion of the Aperture Nature Photography Workshops.

As of October 1, 2008 the prize package includes but is not limited to:

1 Firewire Drobo – approximate value $500
1 Lensbaby Gift Certificate – approximate value $350
1 Premium subscription to lynda.com value $375
1 set of all current Peachpit Press Photo-related books – approximate value $500
1 ThinkTank 360 Photo Bag – approximate value $350
1 Apple Aperture 2.1 – approximate value $200
1 Lifetime Pro Membership to Photrade – approximate value $500

All food, hotel** and ground transportation at the workshops plus admission to all National Parks and related venues. Free training from the accompanying professional photographers and $275 travel money to cover transportation to and from the venue.

Entrants must be available to attend the workshop. Workshops cannot be rescheduled. In the event that a winner cannot attend, they will forfeit all prizes and an alternate will take their place. There can be no exceptions.

WHAT: Prize package is described below and for the first section, the winner must be available to attend a workshop at Yellowstone National Park, April 29 – May 2, 2009.

WHEN: Submissions open from Saturday, Janurary 24 at 2:00 PM, PST until March 15, at 2:00 PM PST.

HOW: Each participant may submit one photograph in total. All images must be digitally uploaded. Images should be 1024 pixels on the longest side at 72DPI.

Go to the ANPW site for more details on the Yosemite contest or head on over to Apple’s Aperture site for more information on Aperture 2.

I know we have some photography interests out there as I am one of those using Aperture and my trusty Canon EOS Mark II/III digital cameras.

So go ahead and enter and you just might WIN!… its free to compete….

Rodney

DCFCPUG

Get your reel seen on a 24ft silver screen in the state of the art 300 seat digital theater in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center during the 2009 NAB show. There will be four different showcases to compete in: Cinematography, Editing/Visual Effects, Animation, and Student Work. Go here to register for NAB.

NAB is one of those events you don’t want to miss…. with over 100,000 attendees from 167 countries you are bound to meet and mingle with the movers and shakers in the industry (and maybe bump into a few celebrities too…) Without a doubt, you can meet new colleagues in the business and learn a few new things along the way. NAB will be held April 20-23 2009 in Las Vegas, NV.

Go register and used the code [X102] to get a VIP pass for the exhibits.

Hotels go fast for NAB, so book your room early!!

Enjoy!

Rodney – DCFCPUG