After Effects Camera Controls

The After Effect's camera can be an unwieldy beast unless a few less than self evident rules are followed. Firstly turn Auto Orient off. Layer > Transform > Auto-Orient. If you don't the camera has a mind of it's own. Secondly to really gain control you'll need to use null objects to control various parameters of the camera. To get the most out of the camera you'll need to build a fully blown camera rig. I've had one source for this knowledge that I found myself referring to again today. Camera Control, Basic 3D camera control tricks in Adobe After Effects By Trish and Chris Meyer Part 1 and Part 2 is an excellent resource at dv.com.

YouthNet

Just finished shooting a promo for charity organisation YouthNet. It
was an outside shoot, thank god it didn't rain. We shot interviews with
under 25 year old festival goers at Roehampton university. I'll have a
rough cut ready for the end of March. This post is a test post via the
magic of emailing blog updates. Wow!

ThinkSync Short Film Competition

ThinkSync Short Film Competition. Music to download and I think you get a Shooting People membership if you enter. Whatareyouwaitingfor?

Motion + MIDI

Midi control in Apple's Motion! What really? Yes! I really haven't used midi control in Final Cut yet - for audio keyframing let alone midi in Motion. Great article on Motion + MIDI at ProVideo Coalition.

Phil Bloom and the Sony EX-1

I recently had a conversation with some friends - John and James at Toast about the merits of the Sony PMW-EX1 and Panasonic HVX-200. I have to say that I seriously thought about buying a HVX-200 - given it's status in indie/DV rebel production circles but found the thing so clunky - when compared to the silky like quality of the Sony Z1 interface. I bought a Z1. Even though the HVX offered a Leica lens, 100mbit/s DVC Pro HD recording rates and the chance to go tapeless. Maybe I was wrong. The thought that I was wrong has been bugging me for a year. Then Sony released the EX1 - and I got the chance to be bugged about another camcorder I maybe should have waited for or chosen. Well now I can worry more and indulge my fears. You and I can compare shot for shot of each camcorder til our eyes bleed here. I have to say that the EX1 images in this not very scientific test look so much better than HVX.

I've been flirting with getting a 35mm lens adapter for the Z1. But given the rate of change in the camcorder market maybe I should wait? I was flirting with the Letus Extreme. Over at Philip Bloom's blog you can read about Phil - cameraman/editor/director/catalogue model (no that's not true) grapple with a an EX1 and a Letus Extreme. Always informative. He's off in Las Vegas at the moment shooting a documentary on two (read it and weep) Sony EX1's. Lucky lucky man...

Talking of 35mm for digital camcorders - who would have thunk it - Interesting article on testing 35mm adapters on the set of 24.

UPDATE 11/03/04
Article on the merits of HVX v EX1 at ProVideo Coalition. Adam Wilt turns the argument into do you want an HD only camera or do you need SD. If you need SD then of the two the HVX wins. However in some environments less encumbered by legacy HD only will do very nicely me thinks.

After Effects CS3 Professional Studio Techniques

I've been wanting to read this book (well previous versions anyways) for a while. I finally ordered a copy off Amazon last week (order from the USA it's a lot cheaper). I've only managed to grab the odd 10 minutes here and thee to read it before I pass out at night. When will I get more time to read it? Not this week but soon. It's not aimed at the new user and it's aimed firmly in the effects area of AE work - and not the design - too many books try to do both and do them badly. I highly recommend After Effects CS3 Professional Studio Techniques. Mark Christiansen also writes the blog Flowseeker

The joy and pain of a wide angle adapter

So I got hold of a Schneider / Century Optics Fisheye Adapter for my Z1 camera. I've used it on a few shoots so far and it's been great. Yesterday however I managed to put the thing on wrongly. You have to match yellow dots - and I matched the wrong ones and I don't know my own strength and the result is I now have a permanent adapter fixed to my camera. I'm hoping somebody somewhere can fix it. Fingers crossed.


UPDATE: Alan at PEC on Dean Street and Debbie managed to get the thing off. Thank you. ! was abusing the thing and not putting it on properly. I have learnt my lesson. I hope.

Brand X

I've been working on a project off and on for six months. It's a one and half minute promo for Glass Partnership. It's nearing fruition and will be going live soon. Here are a couple of grabs for a design I put together for an animated every brand "Brand X". It was rejected.

Mainstage 08

Promo for T&G event - 30 seconds