Author Archives: Nick

In-camera After Effects? Yes please.

A remarkable bit of new research promises the power of After Effects with automated in-camera technology. Their technique uses data from still photos to improve the quality of video footage, such as detail, dynamic range, exposure and lighting. Furthermore, it can … Continue reading

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Reports of film’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

Back in the 1980s, video was supposed to be the nail in the coffin for film (and look what happened to video). But thirty years later, the sound of hammering is hard to ignore… The three biggest camera manufacturers (Arri, … Continue reading

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Thinking in colour

Colour film was a slow revolution. It was commercially available in the 1930s, but not predominant until the 1960s. The highly-saturated Technicolor look from this era is now iconic, and the choices made over film stock and lighting largely determined … Continue reading

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Moved to tears? Finding the emotion in action games

I guess it was always a stretch, turning an ultra-violent alien gorefest into a tearjerker, but somehow David Fincher’s Gears of War trailer achieved it a few years ago. However the new trailer for GoW3 has attempted to do the same … Continue reading

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What’s your screenplay worth at the box office?

A while ago, I saw this presentation (sorry, no embed available) by the always fascinating Malcolm Gladwell and I’ve repeated its chilling message to several screenwriters since. He talks about some software called Epagogix which can predict the box office success of … Continue reading

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NerdNite – Film Editing: Another Version of the Truth

I gave a talk at NerdNite Wellington (@nerdnitewelly) on Monday about propaganda and film editing. The video’s now online here: Many thanks to @teh_aimee and @chelfyn for arranging another awesome NN! UPDATE: the fullscreen version of the Keynote presentation is … Continue reading

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Michael Bay enters the dingy 3D debate

Box office revenue for 3D has been looking a little flat in recent months. The fourth Pirates movie sold more tickets in 2D than 3D. This clearly worried Michael Bay and Paramount whose Transformers: Dark of the Moon is about … Continue reading

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Lytro adds a third dimension… Actually, make that a sixth.

The experimental Lytro camera records “light fields” which allow you to refocus images after you’ve shot them. AllThingsD has a decent explanation of how this works: Lytro’s camera works by positioning an array of tiny lenses between the main lens … Continue reading

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Scratch that…? Reactions to FCP X.

A mere two months after it was previewed at NAB, Final Cut Pro X has been released to some excoriating reviews. I can’t remember ever seeing such a poorly received product release. The reviews speak for themselves (as of 23 … Continue reading

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Human insights into post-production…

There are a lot of blogs out there, and like any form of media, it’s hard for a n00b to find a niche that hasn’t already been extensively filled and sculpted before. I’m a film and video editor, and there … Continue reading

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