(Image: Bill Fischer, Director of the enthusiasts association EAA Warbirds of American, is a ‘re-enactor’ during the shows annual event. Photo credit: Mark Forman)

I’ve done photography for Warbirds, the magazine of a group dedicated to the preservation and safe operation of ex-military aircraft. I was asked what went into taking photographs and shooting video around an ever busy flightline, so here are a few thoughts.

As a photographer and DP, I know I need to look at the job in its most basic form so that I can figure out what I want the image to say as part of the final story. As an artist I also want the images to be emotional and not flat and technical, unless of course, there is a direct technical aspect that the image has to deliver.

As I develop my plans for the job, I next want to understand what I will be doing each day during the shoot. Will I spend most of my time on the flightline? How much time will I spend in the air? Am I expected to mix in interviews with the older veterans, pilots or other crew? Is the shoot to take place at night or in poor weather conditions?

Each of these factors will influence both the final images I come away with as well as my preparation for taking them.

Here is some of the planning I did before going out to shoot lovingly restored classic “warbirds” as old military aircraft are referred to. (The headquarters of the sponsoring organization, EAA Warbirds of America, is in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. That’s where the Experimental Aircraft Association holds their yearly airshow EAA AirVenture, which I’ve covered regularly.)

Basic Prep

I prepare the cameras to withstand the conditions of being on the field for the one week of rain, dust and the oil and smoke of piston-powered aircraft exhaust. I clean each camera and each lens every night. Lenses of course are also checked regularly on the field for necessary cleaning. I rely on a few micro-fiber cleaning cloths and a “rocket” bulb-style manual blower for this purpose.

I also keep three times the amount of camera batteries you might normally take along each day. Why three times? If you have a battery failure or forget to recharge one set then you still will have enough to shoot that day. I’m just as careful to have enough memory cards, and carry them with me at all times.

Make sure you have a system of numbering and identifying all batteries and memory cards on hand so you can track which are charged, which cards are empty, etc. Update this throughout the day.

Talk to the Important People

Making sure that if you are shooting in a potentially dangerous situation that you plan and talk to all involved parties is just good common sense.

Safety always comes before getting any shots on a site as busy and potentially dangerous as an active airfield. As a photographer or videographer you must be aware of all conditions around you at all times, and you need to make sure others are just as aware. For example, if it’s too noisy and I cannot talk to a pilot when he’s in an aircraft, I try to be in his line of sight at all times. If I am on the field, one of the best places to set up at is a number of feet behind the line crew. This also allows me to get the shot of the interaction between those in the aircraft and the ground crew. Standing close behind an active aircraft isn’t smart, nor anywhere inside that aircraft’s turning radius.

When I talk to pilots I always make safety paramount. Avoid placing the camera in any position that can compromise operation of the aircraft or visibility or possibly even the loss of the object overboard.

If you are flying secure every item but make sure you can access it when needed. If you are using a tripod on board tie it down. Carrying additional nylon straps and a magic arm or two in you kit helps. But ask the pilot first before you start clamping to any surface!

On the Active Field

Of course you’ve already secured permission from the field’s Operations Manager, right? Keeping informed with a radio receiver tuned to the right frequency is also a good idea. If you move be sure that everyone knows where you are going and get permission again. Problems can occur quickly, so always make it clear where you are and where you are going..

Camera parameters and shooting

People often ask what cameras do I use when shooting aircraft, whether in flight or on the tarmac.

The answer depends on the subject. I usually take along two DSLR camera bodies and three lenses. In my case I’ll have a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon 1D Mark IV. The lenses include a wide zoom 16-35mm f/2.8, a medium zoom 24-70 f/2.8 and an image stabilized Tele zoom 70-300 f/3.5- f/5.6. I also have ND filters and a circular polarizer filter for use in reducing reflections when needed.

If you’re anywhere that it might rain, you need to pack rain covers and cases. I currently use KATA Rain Covers to protect from poor field conditions. Moving equipment around is always a pain. To keep down weight I use soft cases that fit on a large 2-wheel cart that folds flat for storage.

When shooting on the ground I keep to the midrange of the cameras settings. As things change fast and you may not have the time for painstaking setups, use the auto function even though some pros may frown on it. Auto does the job on most static subjects in normal daylight, and usually it’s most important to work fast.

However I favor high shutter speeds if I need to catch moving aircraft and regularly work at 1/2000th of a second during an airshow. There is a second school of thought that propellors should be blurred for stills. If you want to do that be aware the aircraft will be possibly blurred as well.

Camera sensors generally work best near their native EI (Exposure Index). I keep my Canons set at 100-400 for fairly low noise (less grain) but sometimes I purposely shoot at a much higher EI to get an effect or to capture a low light scene.

Shooting Video

Recently there has been the introduction of a number of larger sensor video cameras such as the Canon C300, while just last year we saw the Sony FS100 and Panasonic AF100.

Such CMOS-based cameras can shoot aircraft well, since you’re getting large sensors with good glass in compact packages. However, test these with various subject matter you’re likely to come across such as spinning propellers. CMOS sensors can create issues with moving objects where straight things are skewed in the shot. With propellers this can create a sickle shape or other distracting unnatural shapes.

But while larger camcorders are fine on the ground, HD-capable DSLRs are obviously ideal to shoot with when you’re faced with the tight surroundings of a classic aircraft cockpit or doing hand-held shots.

Rigged for cockpit shooting. Photo credit: Mark Forman

A good carbon-fiber tripod with a small fluid or friction head carefully matched to the weight of the camera is another basic tool. If it’s new to you, practice creating smooth pans and tilts. Nothing will get your audience sicker than unsteady shooting with rapid zooming or jerky movement.

If you intend to hand-hold use a wider angle lens and avoid telephotos even if the camera has a built-in stabilization system. While there are external stabilizer rigs such as the Steadicam, these specialized devices can be expensive to rent and require either hiring a camera operator or spending the time to learn it well.

Audio of course forms the second half of most video productions. Having the right microphones for the job is crucial here. Wind noise and extremely loud sounds are simply part of shooting aircraft, so be prepared with gear that can handle high SPLs.

Lighting should be kept to a minimum unless you can control the entire scene.
Smaller LEDs can be a lifesaver but placement of these lights is crucial because of safety concerns when working with active aircraft.

This is obviously only touching on what goes into shooting on location in an airport. You can reach me at my website if you have further questions.

Later,

Mark Forman
Mark Forman Productions
http://screeningroom.com

(Image: Mark Forman ready for the streets of New York on the Forman Camera Bicycle. Photo Credit: Mark Forman)

NYC Production & Post News is happy to announce the coming debut of a regular weekly column by DP and photographer Mark Forman. Familiar to those in and around the New York production scene, Mark will be writing on the latest products and trends in digital video camera systems as well as HDSLRs.

AbelCine’s Mitch Gross explains the technology behind the new Arri Studio. Photo Credit: Mark Forman

An MFA graduate of the film program at NYU’s Tisch School, Mark has made a career as a DP, aerial photographer, and innovator of HD and camera gear for production. His patented Forman Camera Bicycle has won a rep as a versatile camera support for working on the tough streets of New York. Meanwhile, Mark’s early work on the use of HD for screening dailies as well as for presentation enabled him to offer support for and work with artists such as Allen Daviau ASC, Ellen Kuras ASC along with the director Robert Altman.

A member of SMPTE, SOC, and a Charter Member of The Digital Cinema Society, Mark was recently appointed to the SONY ICE Independent Certified Expert Team specializing in Cinematography.

Plan to check back for Mark’s debut column, coming the week of January 15th.

(Image: Presenting his new film ‘Twixt’, Francis Ford Coppola tries on an Edgar Allan Poe mask that contains 3D glasses.)

The Past Week(s) in Review: For August 22 and August 29, 2011

This edition of TPWR covers the past two weeks of news.

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week…just so you don’t have to.

This week we share the good news about local production, learn about a filter that can save you from DSLR headaches, and find out that an older, established filmmaker is more experimental than ever.

Mayor Bloomberg on the set of Pan Am with Media & Entertainment Commissioner Oliver and other officials. Photo credit: The Mayor’s Office.

Upbeat about Production

More good news on the growing number of prime time TV shows filming throughout the five boroughs. According to a recent press conference held by Mayor Bloomberg, we have some 23 shows now shooting regularly; eight of them were selected from 20 pilots shot in the city earlier this year.

Bloomberg made the announcement from the Steiner Studios stages of Sony Pictures Television’s “Pan Am”, set to debut on ABC this fall. Steiner, based in the Brooklyn Navy Yards, is now expanding to double its size. It is already the largest soundstage production facility on the East Coast, with the expansion adding some 2000 jobs to the 2200 jobs at throughout the Yard.

In a release, Steiner Studios Chairman Douglas C. Steiner thanked the Bloomberg administration for its continued support of the entertainment industry. “This onslaught of film and television production is a direct result of the mayor and other elected officials working together to make New York City competitive and hassle-free,” he said. This was taken from an article in The Hollywood Reporter, which you can read here.

Variety credits recently enacted long-term tax incentives granted by the state. An improvement over the previous year-by-year incentive extensions, the five year term offers a more stable environment for the studios for budgeting and other planning. The Variety article says that business boosters, including local studio heads, have learned to be “savvy in lobbying for production incentives at the state capital.”

QR Talk

Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, won the director the fest’s Directing Award. Major prize talk continues to build for Durkin as well as actors Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes well in advance of the film’s October 21st release. But there also seems to be a good bit of interest in Fox Searchlight’s use of QR (quick response) codes on early posters to trigger the trailers.

The gimmick here is that the previews aren’t available any other way online–you really do have to use your smartphone to scan the QR codes on posters you might find on the streets of Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Los Angeles–to get to these specific trailers. Entertainment Weekly’s Inside Movies claims to have had the scoop on the first use of these smart-phone-only posters.

Photo credit: MGM
Kubrick Invents the iPad, Personal TV Follows

Seems that it’s not the monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey that garners interest these days but the “iPad like” TV notepads two of the astronauts on the Jupiter probe use. Samsung indeed cites these objects in the movie–they’re the size of a notepad and feature a functional video screen–as an example of prior art in its court case against Apple, who claims the Korean manufacturer has infringed its patented iPad design. You can read further details on Foss Patent’s blog here.

Following the lead of personal media, John Clancy, CEO at Azuki Systems, writes on Mashable that the future TV is “all about personalization.” We all knew that, and Clancy’s company makes platforms for mobile phones enabling cable companies and others to offer a good video experience on the go.

The basic argument isn’t new either: Since viewers no longer make plans to sit down and view specific content on a regular basis–we all want content whenever and wherever we happen to be–cable companies and channels like HBO want to offer video service alternatives that keeps up with their viewer’s habits.

While content creators and service providers are “making a mad dash to get screen time on mobile and other connected devices”, these new delivery options are stumbling because experience is not seamless when using the various devices. Azuki, of course, provides the one item Clancy says is lacking–the “key ingredient for success — personalization.” Metadata behind the video is used to split longer shows into smaller chunks so that viewers can catch clips on the go. Worth a read if just to learn how much control can be exerted over your distributed video.

Photo credit: metaio
Siggraph Notes, AR, & ARRI

Over at Studio Daily, editor Beth Marchant offers a quick take on SIGGRAPH 2011. Top tech presentations at the show in Vancouver, says Marchant, included Nvidia’s Project Maximus (a graphics technology that allows users to access and scale different parts of the GPU as needed) and Amazon’s “Cluster GPU Instance for its EC2″ –this service allows smaller facilities to rent processing power to render scenes. Meanwhile, BlackSky Computing ups the ante on cloud computing schemes like Amazon’s EC2 cloud by claiming it isn’t very effective beyond the capability of working with short sequences. BlackSky may enter the market for high-performance processing and rendering with its own competing service.

Augmented reality may offer a whole new way to use smartphones, or it could just be a gimmick for gamers. With that conclusion still up for grabs, you might take a look at an intriguing video “Roadmap of AR and the Vision of an Augmented City” to get a better idea of what the latest developments offer. Created by the Media Processing Division of chipmaker ARM and the R&D department of German-based AR company metaio, the video shows how more powerful smartphones capable of realtime 3D motion tracking will provide real-time contextual, digital information overlaying urban scenes.

You have to wonder why they haven’t offered this already since the Munich-based company has been around for much of the history of cinema, but ARRI CSC has launched its own Expendables Online Shop. Found at arricscstore.com, the store offers all the items you’ll need for handling camera, lighting, and grip work.

Photo credit: Kevin Brown
Wormholes, CDN Woes, & Bird Talk

In an area within MIT’s student cafeteria, you can find a Plexiglas dome that sits over a video screen. You can find the exact similar setup in Stanford University’s cafeteria. What is it? First, consider that there is an always on, high-speed link between the two conversation areas. (The plexi dome acts as a chamber to funnel audio while not disturbing others nearby.) Meant to make realtime long-distance interactions casual and arbitrary, the designers of the system act all science-fictioney by calling the link a wormhole. See if it heralds the future of long distance interactive communication by reading the the rest of the article on the Boston Globe’s site.

Over on the GigaOM site, reporter Stacey Higginbotham offers us an inside look at content delivery specialist Akamai and the “scary future of streaming video.” Seems that within two to five years, the throughput requirement for certain single video events will reach some 50 to 100 terabits per second. That is about the equivalent bandwidth of what it takes to distribute a TV quality stream to a large prime time audience today. Problem is that this is an “order of magnitude” beyond the largest online video events held today, according to Higginbotham, and that’s without adding all of bells & whistles of interactivity, which many claim we desperately want. See what you think by reading the article here.

The LA Times interviews Pixar’s Brad Bird for an article entitled “Hollywood isn’t Brave Enough to Copy Pixar’s Process”. While Pixar has become “the gold standard among popcorn films”, Bird opines, Hollywood studios are doing everything to copy the famed animation studio except actually taking the time and effort to really, truly develop a good story first. A good storyline is a central tenet of the vaunted Pixar process. Read more about Bird’s thoughts on current trends in animation by clicking here.

Photo credit: Mosaic Engineering
DSLR’s Savior, Flash & Jobs

In short review/article on his site, DSLR enthusiast Philip Bloom claims a new anti-aliasing and moire filter from Mosaic Engineering solves the two most serious problems–aliasing and moire generation–you will face when shooting with Canon’s 5DmkII. It seems the filter removes the interference patterns on details that are generated by the camera’s line skipping. Is this a simple cure for what Bloom calls the “bane of shooting with DSLRs and the single biggest problem”? Read it here and decide.

Fast and efficient Flash memory rules in the world of consumer computing (i.e. iPads, smartphones, digital cameras). Except in limited cases, the price of solid-state storage has remained too high to allow it to move into the world of large-scale computing like data centers. Now, Pure Storage, a new start up, says that it can use consumer level flash storage along with its software to pull the price of Flash storage down to less than that of hard drives. That’s a mighty achievement if true. Read more here in Steve Lohr’s article in the Times’ Bits blog.

There have been plenty of testimonials to Steve Jobs on his resignation from Apple. At least read one of them from someone who has something to do with our industry: Here’s a note from George Lucas, who sold Lucasfilm’s computer graphics division to Jobs, a sale which famously created Pixar Animation Studios. But of course that only came after a number of years of development and many millions invested in the new operation. Read more of Nick Wingfield’s article in the reporter’s Wall Street Journal blog by clicking here.

Elle Fanning & Coppola on the set of ‘Twixt’
Still Going Strong

Francis Ford Coppola brought Val Kilmer and the composer of his latest film Twixt to the recent Comic Con convention for a talk. What made that panel more than just the usual dog and pony, says reporter Jason Adams on JoBlo.com, is that this original horror tale-said to be inspired by one of Coppola’s own dreams–will be presented as a live performance. That’s right–Coppola claims to be returning to the early days of cinema when things weren’t so locked down to present some of the “magic and spontaneity of live performance art”.

Coppola, working with electronic musician and soundtrack composer Dan Deacon will “change the experience to suit the audience” in real time. Read more about the ever experimenting FFC and his new idea for presentation by clicking here. Twixt premieres at next month’s Toronto International Film Festival.

As an aside: If you would be curious to see how an earlier, eager Coppola marked up a page from “The Godfather”–and a heavily marked up page it is with “Hit hard and bloody!!” among the exhortations he made to himself–then click here.

Raul Ruiz
Memories of a Cine Magician

Raul Ruiz, the little heralded filmmaker (at least in the U.S.), passed away recently. (If you haven’t had a chance to see one of his many intriguing works, check out his transfixing Mysteries of Lisbon, which is still showing at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center.)

Producer James Schamus posted a touching remembrance on Scott Macauley’s IndieWIRE blog, calling the director/author “one of the truly great, idiosyncratic and visionary voices of world cinema.” Both Schamus and Macauley—along with a raft of downtown notables of the time including Christine Vachon, Michael Kirby, John Zorn, Kathy Acker, and Jim Jarmusch—worked or acted in Ruiz’s 1987 film The Golden Boat, a goof on the New York art scene at the time.

This bit from AP’s obit sums up his career neatly: “A favorite of cinephiles, Ruiz rebelled against the conventions of moviemaking in an extensive, varied body of work that didn’t result in a widely-known masterpiece, but left behind a vast, labyrinthine collection of experiments, curiosities and innovations.”

The Past Week in Review, for May 17, 2011

While you won’t find the music to this Dickson Experimental Sound Film (circa 1894) on the new National Jukebox site, you can still pick among some 10,000 recordings for free.

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week…just so you don’t have to.

This look at the past week’s news includes a look at trends in 3D production, tips on what goes into making a successful start-up, and the debut of a national jukebox service.

Technicolor’s DSLR Love, Zacuto’s Rig

This past week I visited with Domenic Rom, senior vice president of Technicolor Creative Services at the company’s Leroy Street offices. Domenic wanted to discuss new products Technicolor released at the NAB last month. With him was Bob Herman, Technicolor’s PR manager, in from the West Coast.

I’ll write about these new services in an upcoming article. The new services include Technicolor’s CineStyle, which is become an instant hit. No surprise, as it offers the ability to integrate the output of Canon’s DSLR cameras into Technicolor’s full DI workflow.

But if you do want to keep up with what’s happening with DSLRs for video production, Philip Bloom’s site regularly offers up good reviews and opinion pieces about the latest production gear and software.

In a recent posting, London-based Bloom reviews the Zacuto Scorpion Rig. Zacuto, out of Chicago, moved quickly to become one of the leading gear makers for the DSLR market. Their latest high-end production rig that offers a much more usable approach for employing these small cameras within a more or less traditional film style shoot.

Sony 3D, Indie 3D, Even Small Objects Get 3D

With 3D production now becoming a serious alternative for filmmakers, educational resources that can shed some light on what actually is required to create usable 3D content becomes a clear need.

Last week I attended an evening seminar by Sony’s team from its 3D school in Culver City, California. I’m writing up that story for the editors Guild website. I’ll post a link to it here shortly for anyone wanting more info about what this free seminar offers.

Meanwhile, it’s no surprise that Hollywood directors with huge budgets can pull together the resources to do a 3D production,

However, for an indie to take on 3D production has seemed an exercise in fiction. High-end 3D gear is well beyond what most folks with meager budgets could ever consider.

But in her recent Variety article “Indies embrace cheaper 3D”, writer Karen Idelson notes that lower costs for 3D production gear and new post solutions have joined with the promise of a bigger box office to attract indie filmmakers.

Here’s one rather eye-popping example: With an average screen pulling in some $27,820 in its debut weekend, Werner Herzog’s new 3D film Cave of Forgotten Dreams (IFC) is not only making the most money of any film in his career but also came out on top of the total US box office–yes, that includes beating out Fast Five--according to website Box Office Mojo.

You can read more of Idelson’s article here.

Another type of 3D can also be important to a production–Indie or otherwise–and it too is coming down in price due to improvements in technology. The Times’ Melena Ryzik writes about MakerBot; the Brooklyn-based start-up has designed a consumer-grade, desktop-size 3D printer that uses melted plastic to build models of your designs.

The ability to easily and relatively inexpensively create 3D objects is a welcome tool. Graphics artists and those doing models for movies and commercials often need a real-world version of their creation to produce molds for final art. Meanwhile, creating your own movie props from scratch could solve production headaches. The MakerBot device was recently demo’d at a weekend Make-a-Thon which the reporter covered in an article you can find here.

The most recent iPhone and iPods have garnered kudos for their high res screens that reach 326 ppi (pixels per inch). Here’s a report of a company–Ortus Technology–which had recently developed a 4.8-inch color liquid crystal display with the pixel density of 458 ppi.

While a display like that might in itself be useful for production or post, a further interesting point is that the company now offers a similar sized screen that can deliver some 229 ppi when used in a dual-screen 3D mode. Ortus spots the development as an ideal viewfinder for use in 3D camera systems.

Cloud Services, Encoding and Video Delivery via the Web

More developments keep turning up to offer low-cost, or often free, production services that rely on cloud computing to deliver the goods.

In January, Vid.ly, a new website and service from Encoding.com, began a public beta. Users need only upload a video once; the service then transcodes it into 14 popular web and mobile formats, according to this article in VentureBeat.

Once the video has been encoded, you also get a short URL link. Once clicked on, that link automatically provides the video file that’s compatible with the device that’s just been connected.

It’s not just for those uploading cute animal videos either. If you have a number of video files, you can point to the source files stored via FTP, HTTP, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) or other cloud storage services.

What’s it cost? Well, who can keep up with free (at least for now)?

VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi also writes about Zixi, a cloud video start-up that recently raised $4 million in a to fund its web video broadcasting business.

Zixi is completing the build out of the system to deliver HD video via the cloud for broadcast, enterprise and video-on-demand services. Current customers include CNN, Reuters, and CBS Sports.

While Cisco, Polycom and others already offer some form of HD video delivery via the cloud, Zixi claims it has developed methods of making the best use of available network bandwidth, as well as minimizing start-up delay.

At NAB 2011, hardware company Haivision announced it collaborated with Zixi to create its line of low-latency Makito encoder and decoder HD H.264 appliances. Haivision spots the devices as ideal for field use in breaking news (to replace pricey satellite uplinks) and connecting production facilities over low-cost and readily available Internet connections to save “thousands of dollars every month” when compared to managed-performance network services.

More on the Makito product here.

But the actual delivery of movies and other entertainment en mass over the public Internet is hitting a snag as we move further into our age of digital distribution.

A company like Netflix, of course, relies on the Internet to build its fast growing business of delivering movies and TV shows directly to viewers’ homes. But as Netflix’s CEO makes clear in the following article, anti-competitive action by ISPs via new broadband caps and other controls on video traffic might just quash all this as the ISPs fight to keep more of your money and not be tossed aside as nothing more than just the “dumb pipes” as some disparage them.

ISPs also fight the implementation of network neutrality as planned by the chairman of the FCC and Obama’s appointees. A number of members of Congress are siding with the broadband industry, and plan to limit how much control the FCC has over this new growth in network traffic. You can read more in this article from GigaOM here.

Last month, there were a number of reports that Apple was putting the final touch on its huge new data center in North Carolina that will actually be key in the company’s cloud-based video service. While this is speculative, the timing is right as Apple’s new OS Lion is said to move much of its capability to the web.

Check out this article from Business Insider for more on Apple’s purported plans.

VC News ala Scoble

Here’s a short, fun read by the nonstop blogging engine known as Robert Scoble entitled “What I learned by interviewing 23 start-ups in past few weeks”. Scoble offers up videos of his meetings with a variety of successful launches. The hot start-ups turn out photo/camera apps to those who are building apps around non-Apple iOS smartphones. These latter, according to Scoble have, for the first time, the coolest apps out there.

The National Jukebox

Yes there is such a thing, at least after the Library of Congress and Sony Music Entertainment got together to announce it. Now anyone can access “the largest collection of historical recordings ever made publicly available online.”

That’s large as in “more than 10-thousand”. Not bad when you consider that this is only the beginning: only music from the archives of the Victor Talking Machine Company are included, which Sony controls.

Here’s an article from the NPR website that discusses the collection.

If you want to go directly to our new National Jukebox website click here

Adobe’s Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium offers significant upgrades for creatives working on both Macs and PCs.

Next week we kick off a series of reviews for the latest version 5.5 of Adobe’s Creative Suite (CS) collection. Announced at NAB 2011, the suite has gone on sale this week.

The software suite is so significant a tool in any creative’s work that we’ll be dedicating a number of articles and reviews to the package over the coming weeks.

I’m happy to note that S.D. Katz will be offering one of his highly regarded in-depth tours of the package. Steve, an author of Shot by Shot, one of the most popular film directing books of all time, brings many years of creative inquiry to his reviews, writing with a clarity that befits a screenwriter.

With Creative Suite 5.5, Adobe moves to “regular mid-cycle releases,” which it describes as minor upgrades every other year that alternate with major upgrades at two-year intervals. This brings a bit of clarity to how to think about the CS universe, which is actually five separate collections with many moving parts. We will concentrate on Production Premium, the suite that collects apps most relevant to moving media creators.

The programs collected in Production Premium? Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5, After Effects CS5.5, Photoshop CS5 Extended, Adobe Audition CS5.5, Flash Catalyst CS5.5, Flash Professional CS5.5, Illustrator CS5, Adobe OnLocation CS5, Encore CS5, Device Central CS5.5, Bridge CS5, and Media Encoder CS5.5.

Here’s Adobe’s page on Production Premium for more specific info.

If you’d like a complete comparison of the products available in the various packages, click here.

Here’s a short video on the overall Creative Suite package.

Audition, an enhanced version of the audio processing and editing app Soundbooth from Version 5, now works on both Macs and PCs. Once again the extensive integration between apps pays off for busy users. Without the time-wasting import/export cycle, you’ll quickly move individual audio clips and multitrack mixes or complete video sequences between Premiere Pro and Adobe Audition for editing and sweetening.

Photoshop, one of the major apps in any creative’s paint set, garnered significant upgrades in its prior version, including a capability of working with video in the Extended edition. It doesn’t gain a significant makeover here. However, one nice move: Photoshop can now be accessed over a network, which potentially makes it much more relevant for use in a postproduction environment.

Flash, which brings animation, video, and interactivity to web pages and increasingly smartphones, remains the subject of a pitched battle between Adobe and Apple. Whether you agree with Apple or not on this complex question—there are plenty of good points pro and con–Adobe points out that some 131 million smartphones are expected to have Flash Player installed by the end of the year. That’s a pretty good market beyond desktops, and you’ll have the full version of Flash Pro to work with here.

OnLocation offers sophisticated logging and metadata preparation for on set and on site production. The app can even scan imported media for problems such as audio pops and clipping and off-the-chart video highlights.

While not mentioned as a separate product, you’ll also find Adobe Story screenwriting software in the package. Story actually lives mostly on the web as a CS Live online service. You can find out more about it here.

Story stores script info and other metadata in an ASTX file (Adobe Story Interchange format). When you import a script into Premiere Pro, that apps speech analysis capability improves since it can compare the script to the project’s audio files. Once the script is synced to your edit, you can search the spoken text of your clips or build a rough cut using the script to mark in and out points. Story also runs on Apple’s iOS, so scripts (including various versions and revisions) can be tracked on a mobile device.

Dual-system DSLR production gets attention too. Premiere Pro’s “Merge Clips” function allows you to sync stand-alone audio files with video clips recorded on a separate device. Using in and out points, timecode, or numbered markers as sync reference, you can sync up to 16 audio clips to a single video clip.

The speed of Premiere Pro, when married with Nvidia’s Quadro series graphics cards, makes editing RED 2K material (you can handle 4K RED files with Nvidia’s top PC-only Quadro 6000) as well as 3D into a real-time affair. Click here for an Adobe video explaining how real-time 3D editing works in Premiere.

While there are a number of useful new features in the latest version of After Effects, many at the NAB demos remarked on the ease of camera stabilization via the new Warp Stabilizer. Click here for a demo.

What’s it cost? Production Premium CS5.5 lists for $1699, with good deals on upgrades from previous versions of the suite.

For productions that can bill against rentals and not purchases, Adobe helps budgeting by introducing a subscription plan. Options include either regular monthly payments or pay as you use. For more information about Subscription Editions, click here.

There’s much more to come, so check back on a regular basis.

Ed Burns’ very Indie “Newlyweds” closes the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival. Photo credit: Edward Burns Fans page on Tumblr

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week…just so you don’t have to.

The news today includes proliferating VJs, enchanting marimba sounds, and how we’ll all be using Cloud apps real soon.

New York Mag Goes VJ

New York Magazine plans to offer video journalism as a regular feature of its site. What might be a bit unusual is that the mag created its own video school to accomplish this; the first weekend classes began in February at $995 a pop. (More on the academy here.)

As reported in the New York Observer, the school is one more project by Michael Rosenblum, a New York-based producer and video consultant who has started similar schools for The Guardian, USA Today and The Travel Channel. Supposedly, those attending the course will learn of job openings from the NY Mag editorial staff, who sit in on the meetings.

Rosenblum also runs New York Video School, which joins an ever expanding number of online video schools.

Adobe Takes 0n DSLRs

It’s no secret: HDSLRs have quickly become accepted for creating everything from music videos to feature films. Ever wonder who lays claim to creating the first feature film using a DSLR? Searching for Sonny makes a case for its production in 2009 as the first “film” shot entirely on a DSLR. However, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, shot in stopmotion on Canon DSLRs and released in 2005, makes for a better claim. You can find more on the production in this Editors Guild article.

Support from major software makers for DSLR production, however, has built slowly. Adobe is one of the few aggressively staking out that market. Makes sense, as the company sits in a sweet spot, since it offers closely integrated software for both still and video editing in its Creative Suite packages. (The company is expected to make an announcement about a new version of CS at this month’s NAB.) Adobe has also recently launched a number of pages on its site to promote and teach how its apps can be used in DSLR production.

This page of the site offers useful tips for those involved in regular video production with DSLRs.

Of course Adobe creates these pages to convince you to pony up for the software. A professional won’t think twice about it. But the $1700 tab for Production Premium might not be an easy sell for many beyond the pro and enthusiast markets. Truth is, the latest versions of CS unlock much of the potential of smaller format gear, paying dividends as useful as an upgrade from an old DSLR delivers.

Better Apps and Improved Sensors

More powerful apps turn up in even lower-end gear. A Business Insider reporter thought that Vimeo’s new video editing app was as fast and flexible as the well-regarded iMovie app for iPod Touch and iPhone. Vimeo, of course, is the online enthusiast-streaming site that prides itself on the quality of its community-monitored video.

Getting higher quality images continues on the hardware end via improved sensor technology according to this CNET article. At the Image Sensors Europe conference this past week a Sony semiconductor unit executive touted the rollout of BSI (backside illumination) type CMOS sensors, which offers much improved lowlight sensitivity via a basic redesign of the standard CMOS sensor. That’s helpful, since pulling a good image out of low light levels has only been solved with deploying as large a sensor as practical.

Now, smaller cameras are benefitting. While their smaller sensors won’t yield the tight DOF (depth of field) a Canon 1Ds delivers with its full 35mm-sized sensor, capturing a useful image in difficult, low-light level environment is probably more important to users of cellphones, for example. BSI technology is one reason the iPhone’s camera is superior to many competitors.

Ed Burns’ Guerrilla Tactics, Woody’s Paris, Pricey VOD & Marimba Fun

A couple of weeks ago we noted Ed Burns’ tweeting the guerrilla production of his latest film Newlyweds. The actor/director/producer claimed it cost only $9000 to shoot with a three-person crew and a Canon 5D. He must have done something right: This past week the Tribeca Film Festival announced that Newlyweds was chosen as its closing night film, a significant tribute to Burns’ skill and indie chops, according to this Filmmaker Magazine article.

Another New York director’s film opens a different classic film festival: Richard Brody tips us off to a recently posted trailer to the new Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris. Has Woody made a rom-com? In any case, we’ll know soon after the film opens the Cannes Film Festival on May 11th.

As DVD sales continue to plummet, new distribution schemes are part of the studios plans to capture more post-theatrical revenue. WB, Sony, Universal and Fox plan to charge $30 for a VOD screening of recently released feature films, according to this Variety report. The majors will soon launch Home Premiere, a common branding under which each studio plans to offer movies at $30 a pop, with a viewing window of two to three days.

The 6thFloor NYT blog offered up news of this remarkable Japanese commercial. The short take is that it involves building a long, wooden marimba in a forest, and setting up the descending plates so that a bouncing wooden ball plays Bach’s Cantata 147, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. Sure, it’s to sell an NTT Docomo cellphone, but that’s handled discreetly at the end, while the whole production is to be marveled over.

Get Thy Data into the Cloud

You’ll probably be using a cloud-based business service soon, if you haven’t already signed on to one of the proliferating storage and music start-ups. This Business Insider article comments on Amazon’s roll out of an Android Appstore the prior week, followed by its new Cloud Drive service for the web and Android this past week. Want to use the Cloud for storage? Amazon offers 5GB of storage for free, besting services such as Dropbox. Buy an album from Amazon, and you’ll get the storage bumped to 20GB, again for free.

Finally, last week we wrote about Scenios coming out of beta on its Cloud-based production service. (Scenios uses Amazon’s S3, an open platform that offers access to the company’s extensive Web-based storage arrays.) The Tribeca Film Center-based company touts its cloud-based production management system as the first to be available to producers worldwide. It happens to be free too, offering 5GB of storage for a single project.

This past week Scenios announced that Bravo’s TV show Inside the Actors Studio recently became the first major television program to use its cloud solution to manage its entire production workflow. Becoming the first production to move a successful show—it’s now been in production for 17 years with viewers in 125 countries–to a new production scheme doesn’t come as a total surprise in this case: Jeff Wurtz, producer and director of the show, co-developed the online workflow procedure with Scenios CEO Mark Davis.

Inside the Actors Studio, produced via an SD tape-based workflow for its first 16 years, went to a tapeless HD workflow built around Scenios for its 2011 season. “I’ve cut production costs even while collaborating with my team more effectively,” says Wurtz, who has won an Emmy for his editing on the show. Wurtz uses Scenios to post and manage scripts, budgets, call sheets, locations and production schedules. Crewmembers can access the Scenios system from any Mac or PC web browser, iPhones and on location via an iPad.

Since Scenios automatically shows if crewmembers have read production updates and script changes, Wurtz says he doesn’t spend time worrying about his team being on the same page when live production starts. “This is something I should have had years ago,” says Wurtz. For more, visit the Scenios web site at www.scenios.com.

Producer/director Gary Winick, winner of a 2003 Spirit Award, passed away on Sunday, 27 February.

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week, just so you don’t have to.

Film at Lincoln Center/Indiewire blogger Eugene Hernandez is among those offering reminiscences and appreciations of New York indie producer/director Gary Winick, who passed away Sunday, February 27th. Winick is credited for his career in the New York community, notable for helping to start InDigEnt, the independent film company that produced “Pieces of April,” “Personal Velocity” and “Tadpole,” which Winick also directed. Hernandez also points out that Winick, a winner of a 2003 Spirit Award, was an important early proponent of digital video gear for short- and low-budget shoots.

Variety reports on NY distrib Tribeca Film’s announcement of nine new acquisitions, which brings to 26 the tally for releases in 2011. That’s over twice the number of releases over its freshman year, so you can see the distrib isn’t shy in pushing ahead in a difficult market. Among the new pick-ups are Vincent D’Onofrio’s directorial debut “Don’t Go in the Woods,” a “rock ‘n’ roll horror musical.” And then there’s Vincent Gallo once more using his craggy face as his calling card: he stars as a captured Taliban fighter in a direct to VOD of Jerzy “Deep End” Skolimowski’s thriller “Essential Killing”.

For those of you who look to HDSLRs as a viable alternative for image making–and we’ve all flirted with the idea, haven’t we?–you can now buy the latest of Canon’s entry level DSLRs that does just that. The Canon Rebel T3i/ESO 600D, announced earlier this month, keeps most of the same internals as last year’s T2i but adds choice bits such as an articulated screen and more setup info for beginners. You can read Digital Photography’s review here.

Don’t be too surprised in learning this, but almost everyone in America reports rising rudeness and other unmannerly behavior in the use of mobile devices in public. Intel paid good money to figure this out for us.

You should further not show any astonished reaction to learn that Philly-based Atomic Cheesecake productions has produced a 3D music video using two paired iPhone 4s. Suppose the result suffices for all of those mistaking heavily compressed iPod and iPhone music for the real thing.

You can find a more serious take on lower cost 3D production during Studiodaily’s webinar on Monetizing Stereo 3D this Tuesday, March 1st. We’re not talking James Cameron style production here, but basic work of the sort that will pay you back in today’s marketplace. I can’t give any promises on how useful this will be–and you’ll have to drop $99 to find out–but one good sign is that Randall Dark, a recognized producer/director with years of experience in practical applications for HD and 3-D, will be on the panel.

Over the weekend, Apple is said to have divulged details of JointVenture, a new small business program to be launched later this week as part of the Cupertino-based company’s Wednesday press conference. Apple plans to charge $499 for up to five users of this Apple ProCare-on-steroids venture. While features such as priority access to the Genius Bar and customized workshops might seem a little enticing, comments surfacing on the net already complain that it probably won’t work out easily as Apple’s in-house Genius crew is already stretched to the limits. More at 9to5 Mac.

Abel Cine plans to offer another two-day intensive training session on the Phantom Flex camera system. The well thought out high speed Phantom has made slow motion production much more accessible. While not cheap at $1725, the classes are said to be popular, and with limited class space anyone interested should sign up now. Starts March 31st.

While you might be satisfied just reading the article’s title “How social media store your mind, took advertising with it”, this screed on AdAge Digital’s site does go on to point out that it’s not just that nostalgia for older tech that loses out: a new Stanford study finds that we are being distracted to the point where marketers have to spend more and more money just to attract smaller and smaller parts of our attention. Makes ya sad.

Finally, if moment-by-moment pop cult news distraction really, truly is your crack, you’ll want to sign up for Anticipation Index. Brought to you by NY Mag and Trendrr, the idea is to track what popcult folks are expressing the most interest about in real-time on Twitter and the rest of our social web. The New York Observer quotes one of the party’s involved describing it as infoporn. We tend to agree. Not that we’d know what that porn part is all about.

Photo credit: Okii Systems

If you follow the HDSLR scene, you’ll know that new 3rd party gear for the HD still cameras turns up regularly. Company’s like LA-based Hot Rod Camerasfor example, have responded to the interest for such gear and grown quickly, turning out custom camera mods that greatly improve them for more traditional video shooting styles.

Among manufacturers, Canon has attracted the most such mods; the company has been aggressive in turn in opening up their technology to enable such creative tweaks such as the EOS’ USB and HDMI ports, which are natural links between the camera’s innards and the outside world.

New on the block is the Okii Follow Focus from North Carolina based Okii Systems. This attachment fits in a variety of places on or off the camera while transmitting digital data via Canon’s miniUSB port. This hand-held manual remote control crucially enables real-time focus control. You might pair this with a small external monitor that could connect to the Canon via its HDMI out port. Now you’ve got a compact, efficient method to focus and to monitor the depth-of-field during video shoots.

There are some ways in which this doesn’t work exactly as you might expect, though, so be sure to read the full details on the site. In any case, you can find more info here.

Josh Apter (left) and Jem Schofield offer a low-key approach to training. Photo Credit: TheC47

This is last minute, but if you’ve wanted to learn what all the fuss is about shooting video with a DSLR, you can learn that along with some practical shooting and editing skills at Manhattan Edit Workshop’s DSLR Intensive Workshop.

Things kick off this evening, with the rest of the weekend a jam-packed hands-on workshop where you’ll learn shooting techniques, helpful hacks, how to make use of the seeming infinite number of accessories, and how you need to prep to post what you’ve created.

You’ll also get a chance to see one of the first available models of Panasonic’s new AF-100 micro four-thirds interchangeable lens camcorder, which is poised to become a hit since it borrows the good aspects of DSLR shooting while packaging it all in a form factor that’s actually useful.

You’ll have two very good instructors–Josh Apter and Jem Schofield—to lead you through camera set-up, shooting and editing. (Visit Jem’s production-friendly site C47 to get a sense of how low-key but effective teaching is done.) Don’t worry if you can’t make this workshop: Due to the subject’s popularity, MEW now offers the class on a more or less regular basis.

More info here.

Growing numbers of DPs now use HDSLRs—the most popular seem to be Canon’s EOS series—to solve specific shooting needs. Others are starting to embrace them in order to shoot entire feature films, enjoying the camera’s small size and price combined with great glass and 1080p HD output.

Now, cinematographers are chasing down lenses out of the mainstream, choosing one lens for the ‘creamy’ look it delivers, or another for its color rendition or other unique features.

Shane Hurlbut, A.S.C., does just that in a recent blog posting devoted to the highly regarded Leica R lenses. Since most HDSLRs inherently mount only to each manufacturer’s camera, Hurlbut goes into the rejiggering that must be done to fit them to a Canon EOS series, along with details on other modifications. You can find that info here.

Hurlbut recently finished shooting a feature shot mostly with the Canon 5D Mark II, claiming it will be the first HDSLR-shot full-length feature released by a major studio.

You can find Shane’s main tech website here.

He recommends this Leica R and Canon database for anyone wanting the tech details on mating the two.