[TaoColorist] Sunday Morning Reading (Thunderbolt: Dead On Arrival?)

Published: Sun, 02/05/12

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The Tao Colorist

Curated links of news, reviews, thoughts, career advice, and humor 
for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sunday.
Issue LXXIX                                                           Brought to you by: Tao of Color.com
Editor's Note: Long-time readers know I'm a suffering New York Jets fan. What most of you don't know... Which is the single team that can get me to root for my despised divisional rivals, the New England Patriots, to win the Super Bowl? My cross-town rival: the New York Giants. Tonight the Giants meet the Patriots on the grid-iron. I'll say it right now with the expectation that these words never ever EVER cross my lips again: Go Patriots (I don't have the heart to put an exclamation point at the end of it... has a Super Bowl ever ended in a tie? Or a rainout? Or maybe I should wish for a Soccer score so no one ever wants to remember this game?)

The Craft

  • Grading A Complex Shot using Assimilate Scratch - What's the difference between a 'finishing' app and a 'color grading' app? This tutorial shows it pretty well. The colorist is grading a television commercial with complex compositing and multiple alpha channels using Assimilate Scratch. Nice. (Vimeo.com)
  • 2012 Best Picture Oscar Nominations: The Colorists - Who graded which Best Picture and Best Cinematography nominee, in what city, and on what system? The only film missing is The Artist. And the majority were shot on 35mm. They were all graded on a nice cross-section of color grading and finishing systems. (iColorist.com)
  • Exploiting A Single Light Source - Another great post by Art Adams on lighting. This one about using a single source of light. If you're new to color grading it's important to read articles like this. Being aware of the direction and source of your footage's light ensures you don't impose your will at cross-purpose to the DP, resulting in a weaker-than-necessary image. (ProVideoCoalition.com via @IAmColorist)
  • 5 Lesson from Stanley Kubrick - I especially like "The Power of Adaptation". (MikeJones.tv)

The Tools

  • Seriously.js: A Realtime, Node-Based Video Compositor for the Web - It's Open Source based on WebGL. Includes about a dozen image effects. (Badassjs.com via @zbutcher)
  • Tangent Element Control Surface: Pre-orders Available - If you've been waiting for these panels, here's the BH Photo link to place your pre-order. $3500 for the full kit. Quantities are limited. If decide to buy and want to support the Tao Newsletter, use this link. We'll make a commission and it costs you nothing extra. (BHPhoto.com)
  • Autodesk Smoke: Up Your Game - This article appears on the sponsored Autodesk channel on PVC.com - but the post facility featured is one of my clients and if you want to work at a post house I completely agree with Evan Schechtman's advice about learning Smoke. (ProVideoCoalition.com)
  • [Review] JamSync by Light Illusion - An app for quickly syncing time-code based dailies. Humorous is the update to this post worried about all those 'jurisdictionally protected' unionized Hollywood assistant editors whose jobs are threatened by this little utility. (NegativeSpaces.com)
  • ACES: The Color Space - An intro into the ACES color space. (ibtimes.com)
  • Roundtripping from FCPx - Through DaVinci Resolve and FCP 7. Good tips for projects originating from FCPx. (DV.com)
  • [Video Review] MochaPro Review and Rotoscoping Tutorial - From the perspective of a MochaPro newbie. (vimeo.com)
  • Stereo 3D Production with GoPro - From shooting through post, this article walks you through the 3D pipeline, featuring Cineform's Studio software. The end of the article details how to get a set of free anaglyph glasses. (ProVideoCoalition.com)
  • Mac OS 10.7.3 Update Warning - A small set of users are unable to launch any apps after installing this update. Here's the fix. (LifeHacker.com)

      

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Flanders Scientific Broadcast Monitors

The LM-2461W is an affordable 24" color critical reference monitor featuring 10bit color depth, 3G/HD/SD-SDI Inputs, 12 onboard scopes, and DCI P3 support. All standard and all for just $4,995.

Learn More About the LM-2461W

 

The Business

  • YouTube is Building a Parallel Universe to Cable TV - An interesting article outlining how YouTube is moving beyond 'cat videos' and its serious media strategy of creating dozens of micro-niche specialty channels. All delivered via the internet. (VideoNuze.com)
  • Netflix's Secret Weapon Against Bandwidth Caps - Two words: More compression. (Gigaom.com)
  • Re-Thinking Modern Cinema - A profile of Hollywood Cinema, a chain of movie theaters, and an architectural firm that's helping them design unique theaters. Having just seen a movie at an AMC Dine-In Theater, I found it interesting how modern theater designers are re-thinking the movie-going experience. For the record, the dine-in experience was... mediocre... the seats were top-notch, sightlines were excellent but paying the bill in the middle of the movie is a very annoying distraction. (DigitalCinemaReport.com)
  • D-Box: Feel the Movie - Motion seating timed with the movie. This link displays a D-Box enabled theater near you. US and Canada. No word if tickets includes discounted dry cleaning for spilled drinks. (d-box.com)

First (and Second) Impressions

  • Pomfort's LiveGrade - A short post with an update on how LiveGrade's beta is working with the Avid Artist Color. (NegativeSpaces.com)
  • Avid Studio for the iPad - No. It's not Media Composer for the iPad. But initial reviewers are saying it's a huge step up from iMovie for the iPad. I had a bunch of links for this story. These two seem to sum them up. Most interesting: You can't send your timeline to Media Composer. But you can open and edit your Avid Studio iPad timelines on . . . (wait for it . . .   wait for it . . . wait for it . . .) . . . Microsoft Windows. (ProVideoCoalition.com, HandHeldHollywood.com via NotesOnVideo.blogspot.com)
  • [Software Update] FCP 10.0.3 - They say you only have one chance to make a good first impression. For most readers of this Newsletter Apple blew that opportunity with FCPx. This past week's FCPx update is probably what *should* have shipped... it includes a 're-think' of multicam editing and 'beta' support for external monitoring. Both AJA and BlackMagic have shipped updates to support the latter feature. Be careful when installing these new drivers - according to Philip Hodgetts, FCPx is using brand new (for Final Cut) method for live output and we should expect some'glitches' in the road. (PCMag.com)
  • 7toX for Final Cut Pro - The only thing making bigger news in FCP-land than the latest FCPx update? A new app from third party developer Intelligent Assistance that translates your FCP 7 projects to FCP 10. In this post developer Philip Hodgetts lays out some of the challenges they had in getting this app to market. You can find 7toX in the App store (at the time of this writing, it's #31 of the Top Paid Apps). (PhilipHodgetts.com)

Say Something

  • [Forums] RedUser.net: Avid Color on Windows - Are you trying to get the Avid Color control surface to work on Windows with DaVinci Resolve or REDCine-X? Here's a discussion thread just for you. (RedUser.net)

Outside The Box

Edumacate Yer'self

  • One on One Color Grading Training - If you're looking for training on most of the major color grading systems, then be sure to check out iColorist.com. Upcoming class schedules are on their home page. (iColorist.com)
  • THX Calibration and Color Management Training - With new classes in London, Cape Town and Singapore. (THX.com)
  
Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers
 JL Cooper Eclipse Avid Artist Color Tangent Wave

Software: v2.6b4

 Mac: v2.6.2

Software: v3.8

Color Plug-in: v 1.0.5
 PC: v2.6.2
Firmware: v1.9

Updated:
Nov 21

 Updated: October 20 Updated: Jan. 28(ish)
 

Sunday Morning Fun(nies)

  • Where to Watch the 2012 SuperBowl Live Online - Yup. Today is SuperBowl Sunday. Kickoff is 6:30pm Eastern. If you're stuck grading, here's how to stream the game via the Intertubes. (Gigaom.com)
  • [Video] SuperBowl Sim - EA Sports fired up Madden 2012 and predicts the Giants win with a last second field goal after Manning throws a pick allowing New England to tie the game a few minutes earlier. Let's hope real life turns out differently. (YouTube.com)
  • [Video] Flying People in NYC - If you have time to click on only one link today... this is it! Absolutely guaranteed to put a smile on your face. (YouTube.com)
  • Colorist? Or Barista? - Why choose? Be both. After practicing Day for Night color grading, practice your Latte Milk Pattern techniques. It won't help your day rate but clients will never forget you. This video describes creating the perfectly textured milk and then shows you how to create patterns. The patterns start at 3 minutes in. (YouTube.com via Tao Treasurer)
  • Exploding Car @ 1000 Frames Per Second - Do I need to say more? (YouTube.com)

Swap Meet

  • [For Sale] JL Cooper Eclipse CX Colorist Control Surface - Someone is selling a used Eclipse on EBay for a great price. If you're interested, just remember - it's EBay. Check it out first, if you can. (ebay.com)

Gear Heads

  • [Video] Is Thunderbolt Dead? - The linked article is a bit... tough to read unless you're a seriously die-hard Trekkie who also buys AJA gear. I recommend scrolling straight down to the MacBreak Weekly excerpt where Leo Laporte & Company discuss the future of Thunderbolt and if it will ever live up to its potential. (ProVideoCoalition.com)
  • USB 3.0 Roundup #2 - A second set of benchmarks, this time with USB 3 3.5 inch drives. Most interesting is the observation that Dual and Quad enclosures are slower than single connection enclosures... food for thought. (BareFeats.com)
  • [Review] Pegasus Thunderbolt RAID 5 - Plus an interesting tidbit in this article about formatting the Pegasus RAID with Journaling turned on. (ProVideoCoalition.com)
  • [Q & A] Thunderbolt, SSD and Storage Trends for 2012 - Product Managers for Adobe, Apple and Avid discuss hardware trends for 2012. (StudioDaily.com)

Your Career

  • 10 Tips to Successful Freelancing - Running a 'boutique' one-man color grading shop means I'm a Freelancer with overhead, so this article resonates with me. The section about taxes is especially true. My only quibble: Why only try raising your rates in Year One? Every year you should be trying to raise your rates and dropping off one or two clients while gaining new ones at the higher rate. (AE.TutsPlus.com)

Super Ads

  • The Super Bowl Ad That Almost Killed Apple - We all know about the famous Ridley Scott directed '1984' Super Bowl ad, yes? Maybe you didn't know that in the next 100 days that ad generated 50% more sales than Apple's most wildly optimistic sales projections. But have you heard about 'Lemmings'? It was the ad that Apple ran during the Super Bowl the following year. And it was a total flop. Here's the post-mortem by the Ad Man behind both spots. (Forbes.com)
  • Why Super Bowl Ads Suck - Apparently, lots of choices can go wrong. (Forbes.com)

 
Learn to Grade Using a 16-Minute Short

MasterClass: DaVinci Resolve 8

Workflow + Technique + Interface Training

DaVinci Resolve, DaVinci Resolve Lite : Mac & Windows!
Colorista II | Apple Color | FCP 7
 

Tweet of the Week

"Looking for exceptional 1080/60P content shot in #SLog for #NAB to show in our #4K theater, #PMWF3, #F3, email Production(at)am.sony.com" (via @CineAltaNews)

Trolling for Purpose

  • [Sarcasm] NASA Seeks Proposals for Small Satellites - Eagle-eyed readers know the Tao Newsletter is saddened by the state of the US Space Program. We can't help but wonder if this is what rock-bottom looks like? Not only is NASA reduced to launching Small Satellites... they've got to troll the internet for ideas. (Nasa.gov)

Don't Flop

  • [Video] A Rap Battle - Between a 17-year-old and his former teacher. The kid is good. The teacher is better - and the prof doesn't need to resort to a torrent of expletives to demolish his opponent in one of the best 'your mama' put downs you'll ever hear. Not safe for work. Or kids. Or anyone who considers themselves decent and upstanding. Perfect for the rest of us! (YouTube.com)
 

Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you next week. Happy Grading!
  
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