As a video Producer you have been assigned to produce a corporate video that you do every year. How do you keep this year’s video fresh, engaging, and still deliver the company message? Here are some simple ideas to keep your projects fresh with research, a new look, and by communicating with other industry professionals.

So you’ve scheduled your shoot, but want to make sure you have the capability to view the footage onsite through your laptop. If you are shooting with Sony cameras, the Sony Content Browser 2.0 is just the solution. The Sony Content Browser 2.0 handles all XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX, XAVC, and NXCAM clips. Including support for XAVC Intra 4K and XAVC Intra HD clip types.

Barbara Holler deals in the new and used professional video equipment market for New Pro Video Systems Inc. "The biggest change in the industry is that the videographer has merged with the cinematographer. Most people are going for that “filmy” feeling, so big cameras and sophisticated lenses are in demand, as are the PL mounts or lenses for the PL mount and DSLR market." says Holler

Companies are not only going to online job boards and newspapers anymore they are turning to YouTube in order to recruit potential employees. Recruitment videos are becoming the new craze when introducing job seekers to potential companies that are hiring. Recruitment videos allow for the viewer to become acquainted with a company while at the same time the company is able to prospect to a specific audience in which they would like to employ. By Kacey Trent Crews Control

Former Hewlett-Packard digital expert Al Kovalick, author of "Video Systems in an IT Environment," gives us the inside scoop on what we need to know about managing A/V + IT.

Try Jokerbox. No joke. In freelance production, space is often at a premium. From the space you have to pack equipment in your car, to a slot on your production cart—your production package is often dictated by space. One of the biggest space-eaters, albeit an important piece of production gear, is the Apple Box. Bringing it on location is like packing a basketball in your suitcase for an overnight trip.

Describing the highlights of this year’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) annual show in Las Vegas is like having a child explain all of their birthday presents in thirty seconds. So here I go. NAB highlights the trends of the video production community and is good barometer of the industry. Some of the major trends and main attractions from this year’s NAB show were 4K and beyond, lower costs for better resolution, gyro stabilization, helicopter shooting, and the Cloud and video.

As a DP at this years NAB, I am seeing some new trends. With the advent of 4K cameras, more and more accessories are being used to mange and control the image. The camera battery is becoming the main source of power for these items. Wireless transmitters such as the Paralinx, external recorders such as the Pix 240 or Ki Pro. Zoom and focus controls have been the standard in feature film production, but are now seeping into our side of the world. The Scatter box by Solid camera and the Jet Pack...

Although there have been wireless devices in the past that have connected to smart devices to send camera information and metadata, this is a major step forward to utilize cloud services to send high resolution files.

When the Canon 5D Mark II was released a craze began for the “shallow depth of field” look. Although this filmic look has been done for years, the 5D Mark II made it both readily available and affordable on a limited budget. Finally Canon used that same concept from the still camera and developed a video equivalent with their C-Series cameras. So, what is the difference between the Mark Series camera and a C-Series? The C-Series cameras provide professional XLR audio inputs and allow for...

By now you might have read a handful of reviews for the new Sony 4K cameras that recently started shipping. If you had the opportunity to read Adam Shanker’s review of the PMW-F5 then you have a general idea of what you can expect from it big brother, the Sony PMW-F55.

In a perfect world, we would only need one media to record everything. But this isn’t a perfect world. In the last couple years a plethora of new cameras, codecs and different types of recording media have been released. Sony has recently expanded their 4K presence and now has upgraded their SxS cards with the new SxS PRO+ cards. The PRO+ cards can write up to 1.5/Gbps and read up to 1.6/Gbps. They are designed to support the massive amount of information required in the capture of 2K and 4K...

It’s not a foreign concept for anyone in any industry. People understand this law, it’s quite universal, and it’s referred to as Murphy’s Law. It states, if there is a possibility of something happening, it is then likely to happen. It commonly pairs itself with drastic circumstances one would not generally consider preparing themselves to troubleshoot.

The LitePad Loop arrives in a handsome and well-designed padded soft case, with foam cutouts for the various pieces and accessories for the unit. The LitePad Loop and mounting assembly are robust, and I do like the magnetic accessory collar for attaching color filters – it’s an elegant solution and allows for quick swaps on-set. I was also happy to see that the kit came with additional 8” rods and a longer bracket, to allow for the use of longer telephoto lenses, something for which I’m...

If you were to tell a DP 30 years ago to “shoot it raw,” they may think you want your project to look gritty like Serpico. Now if you say “shoot it RAW,” it means quite the opposite. It means shoot it with minimal amount of processing in a RAW file format with the maximum amount of data.

It was just a few short months ago that I wrote about my love affair with the Sony F3. Love affairs can be short lived, and especially with HD equipment. As I approach my two year anniversary with the camera, I'm not surprised that Sony has announced the new F5 camera system, in fact I couldn’t be more excited.

If you are the type that likes to stay ahead of the technology curve, I have great news for you. Sony’s new PVM-X300 is a 30-inch 4096 x 2160 resolution monitor will last you well into the next decade. The PVM-X300's 30-inch 4K LCD panel is capable of displaying more than four times Full HD resolution in a single screen. Where Sony had it right was to create this monitor as portable as possible. They understand how critical it was for this product to be usable in the field, as much as it was...

Sony knows that 4K displays are not consumer affordable, yet. Only individuals with heaps of expendable income will invest in the first generation of 4K monitors and televisions. The idea behind Sony’s October 30th announcement was to stir up some excitement for their upcoming 4K production lineup. Sony’s goal is to make 4K production affordable so that content creators will utilize the technology, and effectively stir a demand for 4K technology on a consumer level. At which point we should...

After you’ve purchased that new camera, trying to ingest the new file type or resolution can cause the same effect, and slow down the process between shooting and editing. The Black Magic Design UltraStudio 4K is a rack mounted I/O device that supports 4:4:4, 4K, and 3D and outputs via 3G SDI, HDMI, and the increasingly popular Thunderbolt technology. If you have a bay of editing suites and looking for the fastest route between the raw media and your suites the UltraStudio lives up to that...