Redrock Micro rig tutorials

Continuing our video tutorial series, here's Professor Paul DeNigris with three lessons about setting up the Redrock Micro DSLR rig.

Basic Avid Editing Tutorial

Continuing our video tutorial series, here's Professor Paul DeNigris with a two-part "Basic Avid Editing" lesson!

Avid Capturing Tutorial

Following up on our "DV Deck Configuration" tutorial, here is a two-part lesson on capturing tapes and importing media into Avid Media Composer.

Digital Video Deck Configuration Tutorial

If you've ever had trouble capturing your tapes into Avid Media Composer, this tutorial from Professor Paul DeNigris is for you!

video2brain: 'After Effects CS6 3D Camera Tracker'

Wow. Check out the features Adobe has added to After Effects!

AE Tuts+ 'Create Custom Blood Spatter With CC Mr Mercury'

James Whiffin posted this tutorial on AE Tuts+ for using After Effects' built-in "CC Mr. Mercury" effect to create (in his words) "300-inspired blood spatter." Here's the preview, and the full tutorial can be found here.

AE Tuts+: 'The Naked Truth About Rotations '

In this tutorial, Bartek Skorupa discuss at length the differences between "Orientation" and "Rotation," the issues of "Gimbal Lock," and how to work around some of the limitations of rotating layers in After Effects. A but dry, but essential stuff nonetheless!

The Experts Agree: 'Shoot Flat!'

Both Stu Maschwitz (author of The DV Rebel's Guide) and Vincent Laforet (director and DP of many Canon 5D-shot films) have recently posted their processes for getting the best results out of their DSLRs. Basically the short version is "Shoot flat!" In other words, shoot with the least amount of contrast and give yourself the most latitude for color grading in post. Or in Laforet's words:

"The idea is to capture the flattest image possible with the most amount of detail and range of exposure possible.  Given that the Canon 5Ds compress the video image (it’s not capturing RAW) – you need to make sure you don’t crush the blacks or blow out the highlights as you won’t be able to correct for that in post.    You can always add contrast and saturation back to an image in post- doing the opposite is significantly more difficult especially off of the compressed file that the Canon 5Ds produce."

 Check out what both of these experts have to say. Here's Stu's article. And here's Vincent's.

How to Organize an Edit

Here's a helpful video for beginning editors on how to organize your footage when starting an edit. Host Richard Harrington uses Adobe Premiere, but his concepts are easily transferable to Avid, FCP, and other NLE's.

Summer Movie Season - Time for a Killer Poster!

In honor of the record-breaking opening weekend of The Avengers, here's a cool tutorial to kick off summer semester - "The Avengers Poster in Photoshop."

Design blog Abduzeedo takes you step-by-step through the process of emulating the look of The Avengers' iconic logo, using only Photoshop. Check it out!

Playlist: Getting Started with Avid Media Composer 6

Check out this playlist from Avid showing off some of the features of the latest revision of Media Composer.

Tutorial: Kinect MoCap Animation in After Effects

From ToolFarm.com:

"Today I’m going to show you how to use your Kinect to animate a digital puppet... in After Effects. Once you’re up and running, you’re going to be using a Processing app called KinectToPin, written by the very talented animator Nick Fox-Gieg. That’s where you actually capture the tracking data, as well as where you convert it to keyframe information After Effects can understand."

Here's Part 1 of the 4-part tutorial. Check out the rest over on ToolFarm.com or on VictoriaNeice.com.

DIY Sci-Fi Armor!

Courtesy of the guys at Indy Mogul!

New After Effects Compositing Course from Jeff Foster and video2brain

From Adobe.com: Jeff Foster, and video2brain, have just released a new video tutorial series, “Fundamentals of Compositing, Tracking, and Roto Techniques with After Effects.”

In this workshop Jeff Foster — video producer, compositor, visual effects artist, and author of “The Green Screen Handbook” — teaches you the basics of green screen compositing and setting up a streamlined roto workflow with After Effects and a Wacom tablet.

You’ll get real-world tips on getting the best mattes and keys from your green screen shots, stabilizing and tracking footage in After Effects, and using the Roto Brush feature to create quick and accurate mattes of anything that moves in the frame. You’ll also learn how to create more believable composites by matching your foreground and background plates, using roto-spline masks, and applying match-moving techniques.

Here are some free video tutorials from the series:

Best Practices in Software Keying

Stabilizing with the Warp Stabilizer in After Effects 5.5

Roto Brush Basics

Zacuto: 'Film Sound Sessions with Clinton Harn'

Camera accessories manufacturer Zacuto has been compiling some great articles to help filmmakers at all experience levels get better at their craft. Their "Film Sound Sessions with Clinton Harn" is no exception!

Sound.  It’s the most elusive element that seems to plague filmmakers so very often.  We commonly hear filmmakers saying things like, “sound is 2/3 film” or “sound will make or break a production.”  The list goes on.  Yes, we have been able to get that “picture” quality to a “pseudo” Hollywood look, but sound is difficult. Or is it?

The index of Harn's articles can be found here on the Zacuto site. Here's the current list:

Article 1, Sound Perspectives 101
Article 2, Tools of the Trade, Part 1
Article 3, Tools of the Trade, Part 2
Article 4, Tools of the Trade, Part 3 
Article 5, Tools of the Trade, Part 4 
Video Tutorials: Capturing Sound in Cars

And here's Harn's intro video:

Greenscreen Lighting Techniques Tutorial from Eve Hazelton

Here's an excellent video tutorial on properly lighting, shooting, and keying a greenscreen shot, courtesy of Eve Hazelton and Philip Bloom.

You can check out Eve's previous lighting tutorials here and here.

Instructables: Make a Cool Tron-like Daft Punk Helmet

For the budding prop-makers and/or lovers of Tron Legacy and Daft Punk, here's an awesome step-by-step Instructable for building a replica of Guy Manuel's iconic helmet written by propmaker Fennec Cooper. Fennec takes you through all the materials and tools he used, plus the steps for building a prototype, creating a mold to cast copies, detailing, painting, and lighting. Even if you don't ever build this particular prop, the methodology can work for any other type of helmet or armor piece you might think of.

Vincent Laforet and Vimeo go 'Behind the Glass'

Filmmaker / cinematographer / DSLR guru Vincent Laforet recently collaborated with the staff at our favorite video-hosting site Vimeo to produce a stellar series of basic lessons on lenses and depth of field called "Behind the Lens." Here's the first episode, but be sure to surf over to Vincent's blog to read the accompanying article and watch episodes 2 and 3!

Drive in a Car Without Driving in a Car!

This cool tutorial video comes from the guys at FilmRiot. Think about these tips next time you plan a driving scene.

How to Increase Canon 5D/7D Dynamic Range

Photographer and DSLR videographer Luka has shared this video on his Vimeo page that has some great tips for getting the most of your Canon DSLR footage. He specifically talks about the 7D but these concepts all apply just as well to the 5D Mark II. A very funny and informative tutorial!

How to increase the Canon 7D dynamic range (Tutorial) from Luka on Vimeo.