by Digital Camcorder News

Tapeless camcorders have become a hot ticket item and Sony is never far behind the trends. The HDR-CX7 nearly oozes ease-of-use, with few buttons or input/output jacks in sight. Sony’s first Memory Stick camcorder is definitely a looker, but will it deliver?

Quick Tour
The back of the camcorder is simple, with the power/mode switch and the record button being the only two buttons available. I really liked the recessed battery compartment, which, even with a high-capacity battery, keeps the camcorder looking slim and trim. Pull back the flaps next to the battery and you have your Mini HDMI, A/V output, and charging jack.

It should be noted that, because the battery is not fully enclosed, Sony gives you the option of using a high-capacity battery. Some manufacturers are manufacturing camcorders with enclosed battery compartments, which makes them look cleaner, but also makes it impossible for a larger battery to fit.

The LCD screen dominates the left side of the HDR-CX7, but when open (which it will be all the time since the HDR-CX7 doesn’t have a viewfinder) you have access to the main array of buttons on the camcorder. These include the back light, display button, index button, play button, easy mode, and the Nightshot switch. Also hidden underneath the LCD screen is the Memory Stick PRO Duo slot, just barely accessible when the camcorder is on a tripod.


Video Quality
Video quality on the Sony HDR-CX7 looks really, really good. The 1/2.9? CMOS sensor, which all of Sony’s top HD camcorders use, really does the trick. Colors are saturated just a little, but not overly so. Sony definitely hit a nice color balance.

The image is sharp, and the average camcorder user will be very happy with its performance. The prosumer may be able to nitpick and find something to complain about if they compare it to, say, the Sony HDR-HC7 HDV camcorder, but, overall, in the tapeless, memory-card camcorder market, this is the best I have seen.

Sony also seems to have solved much of the problem of motion artifacting. This occurs when there is a lot of movement in a scene, and AVCHD camcorders have been notorious to this point for creating a sort of motion trail look, which seriously degrades the image. Though there was just a little bit of artifacting apparent on the HDR-CX7, I had to specifically look for it to find it.

Low-light performance was decent, and should not disappoint the point-and-shoot market for which Sony has manufactured the CX7. In situations withlow light levels, the HDR-CX7 produced a fair amount of grain.


Touch and Feel
Sony’s touch-screen menu system is not loved by all, but over the past few generations of camcorders they have evolved it into a menu system that is much better than it was previously. Point-and-shoot users will appreciate the fact that there are not that many options that you have to stress over. More advanced users will wonder where some of the manual settings have disappeared to.

The target market for the Sony HDR-CX7 is definitely point-and-shoot, but it would have been nice to see a few more manual controls. However, you do get a few things like spot focus, spot meter, white balance, and a very basic exposure setting to play around with and satisfy your controlling side.

If you still feel overwhelmed by the sparse menu options you can also elect to press the "Easy" button. This puts the CX7 into an idiot-proof mode that completely automates everything. Grandma will thank you for this.

Recorded footage can be played back right away on the camcorder by hitting the play button (who would have thought?) on the side of the camcorder or on the lower left of the LCD screen. Up comes a screen with thumbnails of the scenes you have recorded. Tap a thumbnail and your selected scene begins playing immediately.

Sony does not include a Mini HDMI cable with the Sony HDR-CX7, which is a bit of a letdown for those who want to utilize their snazzy new home theater systems. They do include the component cable, but there is no component output on the camcorder itself.


Conclusion
The Sony HDR-CX7 was really fun to use, and produces great quality images. I would highly recommend it for the point-and-shoot user who wants a small, compact camcorder that records to flash memory. If you are a more advanced user, make sure you are OK with only a sparse offering of manual controls.

Whether you are shooting a birthday party, family events, vacations, or just horsing around, the Sony HDR-CX7’s small size and great quality will serve you well if you can front the cash.


Finally
Pros: Small and lightweight. Easy to use. Great image quality.
Cons: No viewfinder. OIS not effective enough. Spartan manual controls.

by Geniusdv.com

You can make your audio more dynamic in Final Cut Pro by panning sound effects from the left speaker to the right from within the Viewer Window.

A sound effect, such as a passing car panning from the left speaker to the right, can add another dimension to your project and lessen the flatness of canned sound effects.

Before you try this, keep in mind that you only need a mono clip to perform this effect, so if you have a stereo pair, unlink the two and delete one of the tracks.

1 Double click on the audio clip to load it into the viewer.
2 Click on the channel tab in the Viewer Window.
3 Option click on the purple audio spread overlay in order to get the pen tool to create keyframes and drag the points of the line so that it looks like the diagram below. When you begin to move the purple overly you will see a pink line underneath it. It helps if you think of it in this way: think of anything above the pink line as being the right channel and anything below as being the left channel.

Now the audio in this clip will pass from the left speak through the right when played.

Tickets are now on sale for the seventh annual FCPUG “SuperMeet” to be held January, 16, 2008 from 5:000PM - 10:00PM at the Mission Bay Conference Center, as part of the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, CA. This event promises to be the single largest gathering of Final Cut Pro users and Gurus in the world.

“The Mission Bay Conference Center is the largest venue we have ever had for one of these Macworld SuperMeets,” said Michael Horton, founder of the Los Angeles Final CutPro User Group. (lafcpug) and co-organizer of the SuperMeet. It is a brand new state of the art facility and the interior space is magnificent and spacious. This will be a sort of a Mini Macworld devoted entirely to Digital Video filmmakers and editors.”

The agenda is “Super Secret” according to Mr. Horton, but will be revealed shortly before the event date. “We can promise you this though,” he added; “There will be demos of new products, Final Cut Studio Tips and Tricks, show and tells, plenty of networking opportunities, and of course, our world famous Raffle with prizes totaling over $35,000.”

Tickets are only $10.00 per person and includes 2 raffle tickets. Tickets are on sale online only and it is expected this event will sell out. Food and cash bar will be available throughout the evening. Doors open at 5:00PM and this event is open to anyone who wishes to learn more about Apple’s Final Cut Studio or meet people who know more than you do.

For more information as well as a link to where to buy tickets, visit the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group website.

Source

Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy Enterprises, has donated $2 million US to the University of Southern California to fund an archive to preserve student films and historic documents.

The money will also create an exhibition space in the new headquarters of the university's School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. The archive, which already bears Hefner's name, holds more than eight decades of student films, including works by famous alumni such as George Lucas.

Hefner, 81, has already been generous toward USC's film school, donating $1.5 million in 1995 to create the Hugh M. Hefner Chair for the Study of American Film. He also gave $100,000 in 1992 to create a course on film censorship and has contributed millions to film preservation.

USC was also the recipient of a $175 million donation from alumni George Lucas last year. The amount included $75 million for the construction of new educational buildings and renovations of existing structures at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and a $100-million endowment for the school.

Sources: USC news and CBC

Hi dear readers,

this is a very personal post to all of you :)

You must be wondering, why is this kid updating his blog so randomly? Has he got bored...or is it writer's bloc?

Well, neither. I sure cant get bored of anything related to filmmaking - an emotion I'm sure is shared by all passionate filmmakers, film students and film buffs! As for writer's bloc, to be honest - that's an impossibility as well because all my posts aren't original (duh!)

Sometimes my stuff is 100% non-duplicate, like today! At most times, its a mash of borrowed knowledge from books and internet that I mould into presentable form and publish it here...making the language as coherent as possible. Sometimes, due to lack of time, I just copy and paste! However, whenever I do that, I make sure I attribute it to the people concerned, or link to the blog or website. Do point out if I missed someone.

This blog started off in November 2006, which obviously means...



So congratulations..to all of you! Yes you, the readers, who commented here, who read this blog, who e-mailed me with words of encouragement, who pointed out mistakes, filmmakers and film students, editors, cinematographers, screenwriters...I've had a varied audience. Every one doesn't comment, every one doesn't contact, and yet I'm aware that you came and read this blog. Here are some visitor stats to this blog in the last 30 days:

Well above you see a pie chart of the various different browsers (mostly FireFox and IE) used by people visiting us. Also, importantly, how actually people are getting to this blog. Well google has been kind, so we get got 71.4% people coming via search engines in the last month! Let's see something else below:

Above, the no. of people who visited us in the last 30 days from various parts of the world (only the top 10 cities during that time period).

I really feel exhilarated and triumphant when I find people from across the world, from various timezones, coming to this blog.

By now. you understand the graphic too well. I'm glad to see a good number of Mac and Linux users hitting up here! In fact, there's more Linux and Mac than Windows Vista!

I started out with this site with a sole dedication to digital filmmaking, but somehow, I could no hold on to it. We delved into various other branches of films and film technology. I hope you're not offended, coz I'm not! And now to the apology...

I do apologise for updating so randomly and making eager readers wait so long between posts. I've got a regular job at a prestigious sports channel now (since Septmeber, 2007 actually) and therefore my free time has become lesser and far between. Forgive me, and be prepared for delayed but definite updates!

And now, to the proposal...I want to make a short documentary film and have an idea in mind. Would it be feasible, if I asked for contributions (in the form of donations or share in profits, i.e. if at all its profitable) to the readers? Of course, the contributors will definitely see their names in the credits of the movie. Its just a proposal..maybe more of an experiment, if it works out, then what the heck! We'll make it more organized, with a good method of statistics and profit distribution...What say?

Doug Block is a multiple award-winning, New York-based documentary director, cameraman and producer. My discovery of his blog was quite by accidnt but I’m glad I found it. His latest series of blog posts are about (naturally) documentary Film.

He had the occasion to speak as a guest in Anthony Kaufman’s NYU Contemporary Documentary class. What he gave was his list of The Ten Rules of Personal Documentary Filmmaking. They’re fun and irreverent and best of all. . . true.

• RULE #1: Don’t make it all about you (even though, of course, it’s all about you)
• RULE #2: A personal doc is not your personal therapy.
• RULE #3: Don’t tell us your feelings. Show or indicate your feelings.
• Rule #4: A sense of humor is essential (especially self-deprecating humor)
• Rule #5: Put your story in context.
• Rule #6: Don’t make yourself out to be better than your other main characters.
• Rule #7: If you’re in it, don’t overstay your welcome.
• Rule #8: If you’re shooting it, learn how to shoot. (this is a big one)
• Rule #9: You’re not really you. You’re just a character in a story.

These are all great rules and if you look arefully, you can put them to use in your own life.

If you want to read more of Doug Block’s blog, click here

"Juno," a U.S. film about a teenage girl who gets pregnant and tries to find a couple to adopt her baby, won best film Saturday at the Rome Film Festival.

The film is directed by 30-year-old Canadian-born Jason Reitman, whose 2005 comedy "Thank you for Smoking" scooped a string of awards and was nominated for two Golden Globes. It was first runner-up for the people's choice award at last month's Toronto International Film Festival.

Critics praised the performance by actress Ellen Page as Juno MacGuff, the quick witted young woman who falls pregnant at her first sexual experience. Suddenly plunged into adulthood, she sets out to find a suitable set of parents to adopt her unborn child.

The best actress award went to Chinese actress Jang Wenli for "Li Chun" (And the Spring Comes), about a provincial opera singer who dreams of becoming the star of the Beijing Opera in the years between the end of the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square uprising.

Rade Serbedzija of Croatia won best actor for his role in the Canadian-Greek production "Fugitive Pieces." In the film, he plays Athos, a Greek archaeologist who saves a Jewish child from Poland who is orphaned during World War II.

A 50-member public jury, made up of selected moviegoers from Italy and elsewhere in Europe, judged the in-competition films at the second annual Rome Film Festival. Bosnian director Danis Tanovic, who won the best foreign film Oscar with 2001's "No Man's Land," presided over the jury.

Source: AP, Canada.com and IHT

Originallly printed at FilmStew.com
They cast their extras via MySpace, found locations and props through CraigsList and raised part of their $8,000 filmmaking budget by buying and reselling used horror film DVDs. They also relied upon MySpace to recruit their film’s soundtrack composer, a member of the Church of Satan, and for the critical role of babies, enlisted the services of a newborn nephew and niece.

Now, Baltimore pals Chris LaMartina and Jimmy George have a Best Feature Award from Shockerfest 2007 and a screening at the Charles Theater on October 23rd to show for Book of Lore, their indirect homage to the horror films of the 1980’s. Blending together the intrigue of a string of 1985 murders, a contemporary killing spree and a found book urban legends, Lamartina’s follow-up to his horror anthology film Dead Teenagers has been garnering solid reviews.

Given the fact that Teenagers was made for $300, it may well have the capability to cause brain damage, which happens to be the name of company distributing it on DVD via the Internet - Brain Damage Films. But say what you will, going from a budget of $300 to one of $8,000 is an exponential leap; at this rate, LaMartina and George may well be playing with a couple hundred thousand in a few years. In the meantime, there’s another small budget to raise for their next film, Dismember the Dolls.

“It’s an anthology, a sardonic splatter flick,” LaMartina tells the City Paper of Baltimore, where he works as a videographer for the office of Mayor Sheila Dixon. “It’s this guy who has to go around on Valentine’s Day and get all the body parts of the women he used to date. I’m thinking of it as Phone Booth meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.”

Notable passage from On Film Editing, by Edward Dmytryk:

Should the cutter make the cuts exactly as the director spelled out, or should he cut the film his way to arrive at the results which he thinks the director wanted, basing his judgment on his interpretation of the director’s expressed instructions?

The wise cutter will, of course, follow the second procedure, making the cuts in question his way to arrive at the desired result. And, if he is a very good cutter, that result will be, in the director’s words, “exactly what I was looking for.”

Here’s a quote I especially like:

In any creative effort, one must do one’s own thing, even if that thing is being done in response to another’s order. To do otherwise is to seriously risk a result which will please neither the requestor nor the executor.

The studios and other large production companies are signatory to the Writers Guild. This means they have agreed to use Writers Guild-approved contracts. Their names can be easily found in a variety of directories.

What are large producers looking for?
Their perceived needs can change monthly, or even weekly. They are constantly assessing the markets for the right formula. In general, they want something that can be easily pitched to other producers, studios, distributors and moviegoers. So the concept or central idea must grab them immediately.

They also want something written for the actor. They want a script that makes the difference between Bruce Willis doing the movie and Tom Cruise doing it, or Julia Roberts as opposed to Lindsay Lohan.

We must be aware that when a producer produces the script of a new writer, he's putting his job on the line. If the resulting movie fails, he could be canned for trying someone new. Whereas if a film using a proven writer fails, it can be seen as a fluke.

When a producer hires you, she's hoping you're up and coming.

These large producers have deals with studios, meaning that they have contractual agreements to produce a certain number of pictures with a studio or production company, or a studio may have first right of refusal. This is another reason why its better to let a producer take your project to a studio than go directly to the studio yourself. These producers are big because they have the money needed to finance a film.

Generally, large producers accept scripts only from agents.

However, if your query is strong enough, there are some WGA-signatory producers who may accept a script without an agent. In such cases, they may require a submission agreement or release. A submission agreement is a legal document is a legal document that basically absolves the producer or executive of responsibility if your work is accidentally stolen. It sounds horrible, but you should consider signing the release to get your work sold and produced.

Generally, these folks aren't interested in stealing your story. Theft occurs occasionally, but large producers are more interested in avoiding lawsuits than they are in a theft. Writer's paraonia is the hallmark of an amateur.You've got to get your ideas out there. Perhaps your best protection is your writitng ability, industry savvy and completed script.