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Technical

Know Your Panasonic Codecs! DVCPRO HD, AVC Intra & AVC Ultra
Posted by Brad on May 18, 2012 & filed under Blog Home with 0 comments.

Asking a freelance director of photography about the codecs of their Panasonic cameras is like asking a mechanic about the engine of a car. Be prepared for a long technical answer. All you need to know is why a certain codec is important and correct for your shoot. Panasonic currently has two often confused codecs: DVCPRO HD and AVC Intra. The third codec, AVC Ultra, is to be released next year.

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Crews Control University On Mobile Recording Devices
Posted by Brad on May 16, 2012 & filed under Blog Home with 0 comments.
Crews Control University On Mobile Recording Devices

Crews Control University is a series of educational seminars on new technology, equipment, and software. The most recent Crews Control University was held at the Crews Control offices, and a couple representatives from Abel Cinetech gave demonstration of a vast array of mobile recording device. Mobile recording devices are recording devices that attach to a camera and can record different formats, codecs, resolutions, and other options.

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NAB 2012: It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Posted by Brad on May 04, 2012 & filed under Blog Home with 1 comments.
NAB 2012: It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Once a year in Las Vegas the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) annual tradeshow highlights the new technologies for the upcoming year but also indicates trends of the broadcast industry. Trends have carried over from last year’s NAB show with larger sensors cameras, higher resolution for less money, and versatile technology that makes production lighter, faster and easier. Let's unwrap the wonderful gifts of NAB 2012.

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Corporate Meeting Planners Guide To Video
Posted by Rebekah on Mar 16, 2012 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.

Are you planning a big conference and need to record the event? Is your boss saying things to you like “We need to capture the keynote speaker”, “We need to stream the event live” or, “We need to put the video on our website later”? Here is a guide to what questions you will need answered to contract the right types of companies.

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Gamification for Your Office: Lessons Learned From Office Space
Posted by Jeremy Person on Mar 13, 2012 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.
Gamification for Your Office: Lessons Learned From Office Space

When was the last time you had fun at work? For many of us it has been a while and fun at work is usually something you do during lunch or around a watercooler. Employees may view work as dull, boring, unimaginative, and very often we see employees who are completely disengaged. Do a search for “employee engagement facts” and see what results you find. If you think employees are actively engaged you may be surprised to learn that many employees are not only disengaged, but actively...

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Optimize YouTube Video with Tags and Keywords
Posted by Tim Lorang on Mar 02, 2012 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.
Optimize YouTube Video with Tags and Keywords

One of the most common mistakes video producers make when they post videos on the internet is to not do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for the video. Search engines cannot see the content of a video and they depend upon the metadata or the closed caption transcript to know what the video is about. This post will describe how to optimize the metadata on YouTube for SEO.

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The AJA Ki Pro Mini: The Little Recorder with Big Dreams
Posted by Brad on Feb 22, 2012 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.
The AJA Ki Pro Mini: The Little Recorder with Big Dreams

The technology to make create instant files directly from a tape-based camera is not new. Many companies have been marketing devices since tapeless cameras first camera out. But as the market becomes more refine, the devices become more intuitive. AJA has been one of the leaders in this market, and their most recent device, the Ki Pro Mini is no exception.

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Sound Devices Goes Visual with the Pix 240/220
Posted by Brad on Jan 24, 2012 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.
Sound Devices Goes Visual with the Pix 240/220

Sound Devices doesn’t sound like a company that would make a splash with a video mobile recording device, but they have in a big way. The Pix 220 and 240 are mobile video recorders that create up to 10-bit digital video files and transfer them to a compact flash of solid state drive. Not only can the Sound Devices Pix record from a tape to make an instantaneously digital file, it can convert resolutions of the file at the same time. The Pix 240 and 220 offers real-time conversion from 1080i...

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White Paper: Deliverable Data Management and Hard Drive Usage in Video Production

Examining the Loss of Magnetic Media From Repeated Hard Drive Usage in Video Production

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Containers, Codecs and Video Formats Oh My
Posted by Rebekah on Dec 06, 2011 & filed under Blog Home with 0 comments.

“What is the difference between containers, codecs and video formats and why do video professionals need to know this stuff?” HELLO! I’m not an engineer or a programmer, why can’t we just leave this technical jargon for editors to figure out? As motion picture professionals in a digital age we can no longer ignore that the singular chemical process of film has been replaced by non-linear data. Figuring out this information can be daunting so let’s break it down into three sections....

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The Wireless World on the Teredek Cube
Posted by Brad on Jul 09, 2011 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.
The Wireless World on the Teredek Cube

Advancing in technology today means making “less” of something. Camera technology is no different. It started by making the camera tape “less”, and now manufacturers strive to make the camera wire “less”.

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The VSEO in Video Productions
Posted by Crews Control on Jul 08, 2011 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.

Creative Asset Management is a key component of the video performance strategy. Implementing a content management strategy before shooting will help you to optimize your content for video search engine optimization (VSEO) if you intend to publish your content to the web, or for internal use, will help you manage locating, tracking, and building your content library. Whether you’re producing a video to publish for the viral or internal use, on or offline, here are some tips for implementing...

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Bebob Rouge ML-120 – Hot Swapping Dead Batteries
Posted by Brad on Jun 21, 2011 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.
Bebob Rouge ML-120 – Hot Swapping Dead Batteries

Red Light. Green Light. Red Light. Green Light. Much like the children’s game, video production is a sporadic stop and go ordeal. As a director of photography, when your green light is up, the client wants you to make the most efficient use of your time, and there is nothing worse than equipment failure. The Bebob Rouge ML-120 hot swap adapter can eliminate that moment for the camera battery for the RED camera. The Bebob Rouge ML-120 will take over when the battery dies for 2 minutes, enough...

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When Content is King, Video Rules
Posted by Crews Control on Jun 17, 2011 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.

Video is on track to be the most widely used online application. It’s creating a new standard for corporate communicators in today’s marketplace. When your organization incorporates a video messaging strategy the goal is to achieve optimal engagement and branded influence, but the content of your messaging is what reveals that actual outcome.

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The Ultimate Multifuctional Camera Platform: The DC Slider
Posted by Brad on Jun 14, 2011 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.
The Ultimate Multifuctional Camera Platform: The DC Slider

Do you ever wish that your camera support gear could multitask like a Leatherman Multi-Tool? With a simple flip of the wrist, a tripod could become dolly track; with another flip, a c-stand. The DC Slider manufactured by Floatcam, with distribution from Matthews Studio Equipment, offers this multifunctional concept to the camera platform. The DC Slider has a platform that can become a Mini Jib with a 63” jib arm.

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Creating Media Conscious Content
Posted by Crews Control on Jun 10, 2011 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.

The way society pays attention to media has changed. Are you shooting content relevant to the change? Going, going and soon to be gone are the days of static non-interactive content. Even in today's traditional television programming, messaging consists of commercials plugged with web inducement to activate engagement in audiences.

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Light on the Run: Litepanels’ Sola ENG LED Fresnel
Posted by Brad on Jun 06, 2011 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.
Light on the Run: Litepanels’ Sola ENG LED Fresnel

Many would agree that the key to successful lighting is control. Ask any freelance director of photography, however, and they will often tell you that control is difficult—if not impossible—to maintain in location production. With Litepanels new ENG camera-mounted lights, controlling light on location should be worry-free. Sola ENG LED Fresnel by Litepanels is a revolutionary...

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Video Communications: a Trend or a Tradition?
Posted by Crews Control on Jun 01, 2011 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.

The evolving landscape of new media has without question fundamentally reshaped corporate communications. Traditional measures for producing video content have new practices to comply with from standardizing production metrics to digitizing archives with streamlined meta-database referencing. Many companies new to the world of video communications are flocking to capitalize on the paramount trend sweeping the web with hopes that producing a video will put their business front and center on the...

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Viewing the World through the Zacuto Z-Finder EVF
Posted by Brad on May 25, 2011 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.
Viewing the World through the Zacuto Z-Finder EVF

Today’s technological world is about balance. People love large, epic technology in their homes, but the small portable for the everyday. Location production is no different. Sometimes location productions warrant a monitor when the camera is locked down, but sometimes the production is too run-and-gun to utilize a monitor. Zacuto has presented a good balance between those two situations with their Zacuto Z-Finder Electronic Viewfinders (EVF). Their line of attachable viewfinders has a 3.2”...

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Lightning Fast Transfer Speed with Thunderbolt
Posted by Brad on May 19, 2011 & filed under Technical with 0 comments.
Lightning Fast Transfer Speed with Thunderbolt

Apple and Intel have developed together a new transfer technology epically entitled Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt transfer technology is currently exclusive to the Lacie Little Big Disk drives. Thunderbolt technology integrates data and display protocol over a single cable, and can allow up to 10GB/second transfer speed bi-directionally from the drive to multiple sources.

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