Aja Ki Pro the new video assist

It is very expensive to hire video recorders to capture from tape on hourly basis when shooting on HD. The Aja Ki pro is used along with cameras like Sony F-3, F-35  to stamp time code on tape and on the Aja hard drive, which is a tape less medium, which takes in the same time code as the tape which used for offline editing to save time and money to capture and also saves hard disk space. The Aja ki pro therefore acts as modern day video assist. 

Aja Ki Pro used on Gap Diploma Set with Sony F35

The Aja ki pro video has a lower video quality when compared to the tapes because the video is recorded from monitor SDI out cable and through BNC cables, which carries out the digital signals to Aja Ki Pro with time codes. Hence we only make the offline cuts on final cut pro or avid with apple pro res 422 HQ format or lower resolution format. If you plan to record on higher quality or even SQ which can be later connected via Edl’s or xml files in the lab for conforming and color correction on software’s like Nukoda,Resolve or Auto desk Smoke. Even Apple color can be used to connect with raw data or original clips.

The ‘Aja ki Pro’ contains the same time code as the tape. But due to some reasons if they don’t match then it becomes a problem.

This can occur if during filming you unplug the BNC cable which carries the time code information to the recorder or if you set the wrong tc settings. 

Overall Aja key Pro is the best recorder in the market better than Atmos Samurai in my opinion.

Making Cinema

Cinema is an art. It is just like any other art form like painting, sculpturing, and photography. The only difference between cinema and other art forms is that cinema is a visual medium. It is not like literature or a book. Cinema borrows from all art forms of the world to the screen by incorporating drama.

Cinema in the west can be categorized into genres whereas in the Asian sub-continent a narrative is considered according to the 9 rasas given by Maha Rishimuni in the book Natyashrastra.

There are two types of film forms:

Fiction (Not Real/Imaginative):
Example:
Feature films, Ads, short fiction films

Non-fiction (Real):
Example:
News, events which are real which are documented not acted out are called documentary.

Cinema should never be categorized but now days some consider cinema into categories generally in India:

A. Commercial Cinema
B. Art Cinema

You should consider that cinema is challenging like any other art forms. Art takes its time but there accidents and geniuses. Film making is a different ball game is not home videos on 8mm camera or high definition handy cam it has deadlines, require money and skills if you want to be professional in some aspects of film making. It also requires dedication and lots of practice to be good at it. Every one is not born creative some have to learn to understand there gut feeling it takes time to understand an art subconsciously to develop them. It’s not about good or bad cinema some make it big at first film and some have to make innumerable numbers of tries to succeed.

You can not make films just to be famous. A person has to have an agenda or message to convey to the world. Some of the world’s greatest artists or personalities had a tragedy which made to share the world a story like the Harry potter author J. K Rowling after she lost her close family, her mum when she was young.

There fore,a film maker should find a reason to make films and not go for money or fame.

Also Read:
Film making as a Career
http://utsabnov.blogspot.in/2009/02/talent-matters.html

We are all made of stars - Lipdub - Music Video

Lip Dub preformed to Moby's "We are all made of stars".
It was done by the students of Whistling Woods International,
Mumbai, India on Feb 5th 2012.
75 students took part in this endeavor.

Music : "We are all made of stars"
Artist : Moby
Label : Mute

Special thanks to all the students and crew who participated in this video.

Ways to edit Itunes information in mac os

Some DVD's or Audio CD's may not have embedded information of the singer composer, album and track etc. on the cd due to which the files are named as untitled and unnamed album.

Note:
The I-tunes makes a duplicate backup of music imported. so I tunes makes two copies of the song. If you delete the song from I tunes the files kept in the original files remains. It affects the I tune library only. (If you import from cd's then there will be only i tune file.)



Steps to follow:
Insert the CD
Open I tunes
import the tracks (songs)

Once its synced

Now, Right click on the song/track
Click on "Get Info" tab

Change the required information and click on "OK"

Now to be on a safer side to keep a backup of all the information.

Select all the songs and back it up on a separate folder by drag and drop method or via selecting the songs in the library by copying via right clicking and pasting on to the folder.

Mission: Impossible: 4 Ghost Protocol

Recently I saw the movie Mission Impossible 4 at Prasad I max in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh during my vacations from my film school during my term break. I must say I am not that great fan of mission impossible series but the movie bowled my eyes with extreme graphics of sandstorm and journey from USA to Russia of course with love to the streets of Mumbai my home town.

The one line premise of the film is " A story of a man who wants lead a regular life despite his dangerous job as a spy"  

The jump by agent Ethan a spy of IMF a fiction spy agency backed by the USA played by Tom Cruise was nail biting to see him jump off Burj Kalifa, a posh seven star hotel in Abhu Dhabi, UAE. Watching it on 70mm screen is heart stopping and very cool experience too watch. But being a film student and a editing student it does clinch to my eyes which won't bug a average audiences is to notice it in I-max screens is a shifting of the image aspect ratios to give the chills to the audience when showcasing the huge Arial shots. The cinematography by Robert Elswit is brilliant and eye pleasing.

The editing of the film is very smooth to the eyes and well cut but the pace and the rhythm does come down when the actors mainly speak about their past lives but the editor Paul Hirsch recovers and compensates with action cuts sequences in the film.  

The movie also showcases the characters entering the Kremlin as bogus military Russian officers and bombings that create tensions in short the movie is similar all previous majority of Hollywood spy movies which are set in political backdrops in pressure cooker situations.

Even though we see a special appearance of Anil Kapoor from Oscar nominated winning film fame of Slum Dog Millionaire who is showcased as a rich billionaire holding the keys to stop the USA and Russia nuclear destruction as some terrorist organization try to take control on satellites to launch missiles with the stolen launch codes when Ethan and his team try to stop them anonymously as they conduct unapproved state operations after the death of the IMF chief after he is being killed. 

Overall the music and the editing and direction of Brad Bird and the usage of prop does give the audience a edge that it does not test the intellect and also has small humor that can be easily understood. This movie should be definitely not missed.

Mixing frame rates on timeline

We have moved on from film bath to develop negatives from original camera negatives to digital age where film are being digitized  with 'digital intermediate' by scanning film.

The softwares like Filmlight, Davinci Resolve, Nukoda, Smoke, Luster are used to color correct and grade a film in digital color space on high end computers or even fast laptops "digitally" by a colorist or an editor on NLE's apps. Due to new improvements, frame rates and workflows may confuse a filmmaker.

MY FCP 7 TIMELINE DOING MY STUDENT PROJECT

Lets understand how a movie is edited for a film or digital film (video).

How a 'film' is edited:
When we use film the standard playback is 24 frames per second (24) which runs on the camera which exposes light on a negative and a chemical process takes place. Its just series of moving images which is called a frame. A frame is single exposure of image on a negative stored through photo chemical process which is developed as a positive in a lab from the original camera negative (OCN).

If you shoot on 60 fps or 48 fps doesn't matter since a film does not have a timecode. When you edit it optically the 48 fps and 60 fps will run slower when played on 24fps projector for example 'Raging Bull' slow-mo sequence.

But nowadays we convert film into tapes which has timecodes with edgecodes information as reference which tells the editor the physical address of the frames on the negative on 16MM/35MM/65MM negative. This process is called telecine (telekine) in which a editor gets the tape containing the rushes in form of Digibeta, DV tape or HD SR tape with digital logs containing data which the editor edits and later on makes a cut list for the negative cutter/confirmst to cut the film optically from the original negative or  the editor provides xmls or edl's to labs to scan the negative for color correction process (DI) and VFX to produce a married print which contains picture and sound which is stored on negatives, tapes, optical discs or DCP (Digital cinema package) on hard drives for distribution.

How a digital film is edited: 

The digital film is a popular format for shooting movies, television programs or documentaries. The advantage of digital is that its cheap when you want to make changes in offline stage and also because some cameras are light enough to shoot in extreme conditions like Go Pro Hero under water and for guerrilla style filming with DSLR Canon 5D Mark III cameras. C100. They are also new breeds of digital movie camera like Red cameras which is near to film look or grade them like film Even traditional camera makers are developing Arri Alexa and Sony camera pioneering digital cinemas.

Also because you can directly edit the film without going to expensive lab procedures for developing the original negative through telecine process which ends the long waiting process. You can right away start editing your contents after the days shoot on Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere or Avid Media Composer.

Even though digital film is fast catching up. It also poses some problem like on some DSLR cameras there is no continuous time codes it only records clip names, date and time of the video clip and the its shot on different cameras on different frame rates.

Digital Cinema:

There two types of digital recording medium
Tape and tape less

a. Tape:
If you shoot your content on DV, HDV, HD-SR tape.

b. Tape less
If you shoot your content on digital then its stored on Hard drives, RED Mag, Codex, Gemini, SxS, SD Memory cards, Optical disk etc.

All the tape less media is called OCF - Original Camera Files.

Mixing clip frame rates

Note: Backup your project first and rushes. This tricks and solutions may or may not work on different softwares but basics are same.

12 FPS to 24 FPS
If you have lesser frame footage. Let’s say 12 fps with dialogue.
Take the footage from media pool or media browser bin and drop it in the timeline.
Give a 24 fps export.

It will be a new OCF clip which you can bring back for offline edit timeline with transcode/proxy. Make sure to match source resolution on Resolve.

23.976  to 24 FPS
If you have 23.976 footage you want 24 fps then change clip attribute/interpret footage to 24fps it will speed the clip a bit. Only if you don’t have a dialogue.

Please also note if you convert the footage then you will make an entire new clip lose the original metadata and clip won't link during conform stage during DI due to the difference. The new clips become the master clip.

Adobe Premiere Pro has 'Interpret Footage' option.

Right click on the clip - Modify - Interpret Footage

Same can be done on Da Vinci Resolve with changing clip attribute in the Media Pool.
and export as individual clips or one single clip.

Updated Final Cut Pro X - You can use re timing to change fps to match project same with Compressor.

100fps/60fps/50fps/48fps to 24 for making slo mo
Same can be done to make slo mo shot let's say when using DSLR. Take 100 fps clip and change attribute to 24 fps.

In Pro cameras you can shoot 100 fps or any other slo mo fps and set project to playback and record as 24 fps to play.

If you have mixed clips 23.976, 25 fps, 30fps
Set the sequence to the lowest fps settings and add other frame rates clips in the timeline and give a ref export for final project frame rate if it's going for DI along with EDL/AAF. Check the sync and frames.

Nowadays in DI software a conformist has an option to handle mixed frame rates and frame sampling, blending or optical flow which is used for slo mo shots. It's better to pre plan and not think of 'Fix it in post'.

Other way is one by one make a standardised clip lets say 24 fps in external software like Resolve or using a different sequence in premiere. By setting a sequence let's say 24 fps and exporting as 24 clips at source res then by dropping it back in the editing NLE timeline sequence as single clip.

It may look like this 23.976 fps clips as 24, 25 clips fps as 24, 30 fps clips as 24 also using it as master original clip for DI.

Generally faced this issue during interviews at a events where the videographer has to constantly change frames for slomo on a DSLR and interview gets recorded at let's say 60 fps. You have to standardise it. I make a 24 fps sequence and export is as 24 and bring to timeline.

Update for proxies:
You can use Da Vinci resolve lite /Studio, Filmlight Daylight, silverstack lab or Adobe Media Encoder even Premiere Pro/Avid/FCP etc. to make low res proxy for offline edit.

If you are still using Final Cut Pro 7:

Cinema tools can also make 50 fps to 25 fps to playback clips as slomo or you can use compressor to re-time.

10 steps to make films on zero budget

1.Shoot something with anything (quality does not matter)

2.Ask your family, friends Dad or Mom even your grand parents for funding or make a ppt and upload your business plans on net to get funds
 

3.Once you get the funding after you beg, steal,borrow get a camera and ask your friends or family to act.

4. Find a editing software and edit it and add some sounds

5. Export it in best possible quality

6.Now Market it! upload it on you tube and other websites 

7.Tag your friends and family and ask them to like and share

8.Note the comments and reviews 

9. Now send it across film festival circuit on DVDs or to friends and circulate it.

10. Make a better film and re edit your previous film for funding.

Congratulations you are a film maker..! :)