Upcoming Masterclasses + Open Days

There are several Masterclasses and Open Days on offer this month from various UK dealers.

One of our local west London dealers, Prokit, is holding a free Sony PMW-200 Camcorder Masterclass with cinematographer Alister Chapman at its Chiswick showroom on Thursday 21st March.

The Sony PMW-200, which records at 50Mbps, has proved to be a popular camera, and Christina regularly does training with it. It benefits from having half-inch sensors, whereas its competitors in the compact camcorder market, like the Canon XF305 and Panasonic HPX250, have 1/3-inch sensors.

The seminar will cover various aspects of shooting on the PMW-200, including:

- Overview of the features and workflow of Sony's XDCAM format

- Advanced shooting modes such as slow motion and 50P recording, interval recording (timelapse) and the PMW-200's cache record function, plus various shutter functions.

- How to get the best from the sensor and format: Understanding Picture profiles, detail and gain levels, gammas, matrix settings

- Advice on archiving workflow

Next week Chapman is doing a Sony PMW-200 Masterclass at Visual Impact in Bristol on Wednesday 27th March, where he’ll also be discussing the PMW-100 and PMW-150.

On the same day, Visual Impact will also have a Sony PMW-F5 Hands-on Day in London, at its offices in Teddington.

Chapman is also doing daily, one-hour overviews of the F5/F55 looking at 4K, colour space, raw and workflow at NAB in Las Vegas, 8th – 11th April, and is holding workshops in Helsinki, Vilnius, Riga in March and April.

CVP (Creative Video) is also holding a Sony PMW-F5 and PMW-F55 Open Day at its Glasgow offices, with two Informal Drop-in Sessions: one in the afternoon (12pm to 5pm); and one in the evening (5pm to 7pm) on Wednesday 27th.

Incidentally, Alister also conducts expeditions to film the Northern Lights in Norway, and to chase storms and tornados in the US (New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and other states in the tornado belt), with the next one coming up from April 13th to April 20th. These include tuition on how to get the best shots of these natural phenomena.

Have a look at his beautiful timelapse footage of the Northern Lights embedded below:

By David Fox

BVE2013: Tiring but successful...

Thanks to all who came to see us at BVE2013. The freelance seminar, in particular, was a huge success. Even though the seminar room was at least twice the size as previous years, there were still about 30 people standing, most of whom stuck it out to the end - so, sorry if you ended a tiring day even more tired than you should have been.

We got a great response, with lots of people asking further questions as we packed up, and some very nice messages on Twitter after the event, such as:

Nelly Diancova ‏@DiamondsNickles
@UrbanFoxTV Marvellous presentation today. I am so driven to follow all the pieces of advice you shared with the audience. Big Thank you !

Giuseppe Cifaratti ‏@CifGiu
My favourite seminar at today's @BVExpo was @UrbanFoxTV . Really valuable advice! #bve2013

Jamie Montgomery ‏@scuuk
@UrbanFoxTV hey Christina, many thanks for the great seminars over the last couple of days at BVE.

Jayne Topping ‏@JayneTopping1
@UrbanFoxTV Hi Christine - seminar yesterday was very helpful. Can you point me in the direction of the seminar info please? Thank you.

For anyone else, like Jayne, who wants to view the presentation to get all the links and information they couldn’t scribble down, the PDF of the PowerPoint is available at http://www.urbanfox.tv/seminar/

The earlier Skills Zone session down on the exhibition floor was also rather packed, although in much more limited space it was never going to be easy for everyone to crowd around or be able to hear everything. However, it was good to be able to answer people’s questions directly.

That was also the purpose of the previous day’s Ask The Experts seminar, where we had an excellent panel (thanks to the experienced producer/director Matt Davis - www.mdma.tv, post production guru Alex Gollner - www.alex4D.com, and audio consultant Nick Way - www.nickway.co.uk). Incidently, Matt has an excellent post on BVE2013 on his blog.

Unfortunately, the room was less than a third full, partly, it seems because the brochure description of the seminar didn’t really explain what it was about, according to some of those that came. However, there were more than enough questions to push us ten minutes over our time slot, so we hope that anyone who did come along got something out of it.

BVE itself certainly managed to draw the crowds, despite the move to docklands, although, like us, most arrived later in the morning than they did previously. Still, there was lots of interest on the show floor, some very good deals available, and lots of people to meet that we hadn't seen in ages....

Come see us at BVE - free seminars

Broadcast Video Expo is Britain’s best conference and exhibition for anyone working in the video industry. It has lots of interesting FREE seminars to attend, and is probably the single best place to find out what is happening and make new contacts.

Previously it took place at Earls Court, which was ideal for those of us in what is a west-London-centric industry. However, this year it moves to the Excel Centre in distant east London, so it’s lucky that the seminars we’re taking part in aren’t early in the morning…

There are apparently 283 seminars in total (including those in specific manufacturer’s theatres), so BVE is a great opportunity for some free training. There are also supposed to be 331 exhibitors, so there is a lot to see and do – it’s worth making the journey.

We’ll be taking part in three sessions:

The Digital Clinic – ask the experts

When we’ve done Q&A sessions at previous BVE conferences they have always been packed, so we’ve got another “ask the experts” session this year (Tuesday 5pm), with the assistance of some well known names to answer your questions on any aspect of production and post-production, covering cameras, audio, lighting, editing, and general production problems you may have.

We’ve got a group of independent experts to answer your questions, all experienced industry professionals and media trainers. The current line-up includes the ebullient Matt Davis - www.mdma.tv, the effervescent Alex Gollner - www.alex4D.com, and the ever audible Nick Way - www.nickway.co.uk (although as they are all freelance, that might change….), as well as ourselves. So do come along and bring your questions.

The clinic will be held in the Producers' Seminars Theatre from 17:00 - 17:45, 26 Feb 2013.

Running your own business

Christina will be taking part in one of the drop-in Skills Zone sessions on Wednesday at 4pm, to answer questions about running your own media business. The Skills Zone is worth checking out if you want to develop your career, as there are sessions about CV writing, tax, contracts, script writing, pitching, and starting out in cameras.

The seminar will be held in the Skills Zone Theatre from 16:00 - 16:45, 27 Feb 2013.

Thriving as a freelancer

On Wednesday (5pm) Christina is giving her ever-popular talk on how to survive and even thrive as a freelancer in a digital, self-shooting world (this is always packed - as seen in the photo from last year, so come early if you want a seat….). It is particularly useful for anyone starting out in the industry, but there will probably be many things that will be useful for people who have even been freelance for several years.

It will cover all the essentials from getting work to getting paid, including the three most important lessons she has learnt as a freelancer…

The seminar will be held in the Producers' Seminars Theatre from 17:00 - 17:45, 27 Feb 2013.

By David Fox

CPUG Amsterdam SuperMeet at IBC

The Creative Pro User Group Network will be holding its Fifth Annual Amsterdam CPUG SuperMeet to coincide with IBC (the International Broadcasting Convention – Europe’s biggest broadcast conference and exhibition). 

There will be lots of presentations and demonstrations, including sneak peeks, and the seemingly endless raffle with more than €31,000-worth of production and post-production kit to be won.

As usual, it promises to be the biggest meet-up of Final Cut, Adobe, Avid and Autodesk editors and independent filmmakers during IBC. Food will be included and there is lots of opportunity to network.

It is being held in the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky on Dam Square. Doors open at 4:30pm with showcase of more than 20 software and hardware developers, such as: Adobe, Autodesk, Avid, Blackmagic Design, Red Giant Software, Atomos, Axle Video, B&H, Amsterdam's College Of Multimedia, Drobo, The Future Store, G-Technology, Mocha, Noise Industries, The Padcaster, pond5, Promise Technologies, Shutterstock, Sonnet Tech and X2Pro (many of whom are donating raffle prizes).

SuperMeet presentations begin at 7pm, and will include (not necessarily in this order):

The award-winning cinematographer John Brawley, who was the first to get his hands on the new Blackmagic Cinema Camera, will show what it can do and talk about how it works and his post workflow using Blackmagic Design’s new DaVinci Resolve 9.

Michael Cioni, CEO of Hollywood post facility Light Iron Digital will lead a discussion about how the changing media ecosystem is changing filmmaking, and talk about new workflow and creative opportunities. One of Light Iron’s specialities is on-site dailies, and it has created a couple of iPad apps: Live Play – an automated digital playback and on-set collaboration tool; and Todailies (below) – which gives directors, cinematographers, script supervisors, and key production personnel the ability to take home and review camera takes or pre-visualizations.

Ken La Rue and Marc-André Ferguson, from Autodesk, will run through the all-in-one workflow of the new Smoke, including dealing with green screen, keying, tracking, colour correction and editing. The Smoke 2013 pre-release trial will be available until December and can be downloaded at: www.autodesk.com/smoke-trial.

Adobe’s Al Mooney will give an update on Premiere Pro CS6, and share a peek at “some very exciting future technology”.

Avid’s Adam Green will be revealing Avid news from IBC, while Filmlight's Martin Tlaskal will show off Media Composer’s AVX2 plug-in architecture with the latest Baselight for Avid plug-in.

Freelance trainer/author, Simon Walker will demonstrate three new releases from Red Giant Software: Trapcode Mir, PluralEyes and Knoll Light Factory, the light effects tool developed by ILM Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll. Webby Award-winner Seth Worley (who made the brilliant Plot Device) has directed another excellent short film, Order Up, to show off what Knoll Light Factory 3 can do.

There are also likely to be other speakers, including independent film makers/editors.

Tickets cost €15 each online (€20 on the door), or €10 for students and teachers. But, you can save €5 off the ticket price by using the promotional code ibcvip when registering.

Also of interest during IBC will be DSLR Meetup 2012 Amsterdam with Philip Bloom on Saturday, September 8th at 8pm, at Café ‘De Pont’ behind Central Station (and a short trip on a free ferry). The theme of the evening is time lapse.

By David Fox

FREE freelance survival talk - Bristol

At BVE this week I did my one hour seminar on "How To Survive As A Freelancer".

We had a great attendance with people sitting in the aisles and crowding outside the entrance. But, if you missed it, and live in the Bristol area...

Standing room only at our BVE talk

I'll be doing it all over again for FREE on Thursday 
23 February 2012.

We'll be giving info and help on:

• Getting your finances sorted 
• how to get paid and what to do if clients won't pay up
• getting professional advice 
• marketing your services 
• the two best ways to get more work
• and some thoughts on alternative ways to make money

There will be other speakers there too - giving advice on financing, specialist insurance and accounts.

You will need to book a place by emailing Selwyn Foreman at:
info@bradleyforeman.co.uk 
or call 07958 127 925

There will be a whole day of talks suitable for those about to become freelance or have been for a while, or for small media businesses.

Networking and exchanging business cards at the first talk

Explaining the quickest way to get paid

Here are some nice things people have tweeted about the talk this week:

Rebekah Taylor @Rubyekah
@UrbanFoxTV -Fantastic talk yesterday surviving as a freelance. A must see If u're there 2day catch her at 15:00 go watch! @BVExpo#BVE2012

David Symington @davidatkeencity @UrbanFoxTVThanks for a great seminar on how to survive as a freelancer!!

Celes @Celes
@UrbanFoxTV hi, thanks for your talk at bve.

Adrienn Major @_MissMajor_
really enjoyed @UrbanFoxTV 's seminar for freelancers #BVE

Meet us at BVE – Free seminars

As usual, we’ll be giving talks at BVE/The Production Show at London’s Earls Court next week (14-16 February 2012). Our five sessions will be part of an extensive free seminar programme, with more than 300 seminars across the three days.

We’ll be doing our Production On A Budget sessions every morning (10am) in the Production Theatre with lots of advice on buying equipment and what to look at while you’re at the show, while Christina will do a session on How To Survive As A Freelancer at 3pm in the Producers Theatre (on Tuesday) and in the Production Theatre (on Wednesday) – both theatres are in the Production Show section right at the back of the Earls Court 2 exhibition centre.

The Production Theatre will also feature sessions on Shooting Sub £15k Music Videos by Den Lennie, budget feature film production, underwater filming, shooting in the cold for Frozen Planet, Fathoming the Fundamentals of Formats from Prokit, and how to make the most of Blackmagic Design's Atem switcher.

The Producers Theatre will include the 99-minute Film School (in less than half that time…), with Raindance Film Festival founder Elliot Grove (who will also do a session on Writing For Low Budget Filmmaking), plus seminars on Strategies for Survival in a Freelance World, virtual production, how to win commissions and funding, motion control DSLRs and special effects make-up.

There is also an Arri Production Skills Centre [Free tickets required], with lots of sessions on lighting (including two each day by Jonathan Harrison), as well as seminars on using the Alexa and colour grading.

In the main Broadcast Video Expo section of the show, there will be 11 theatres/seminar areas, dealing with big picture issues such as the next steps for 3D, new developments in religious broadcasting, cloud computing and brands becoming broadcasters, to practical hands-on workshops.

The 3D Revolution [Free tickets required] will look at the latest developments and where 3D might go next, with keynotes from William Sargent, founder of leading Soho post house Framestore, and Dave Blackham, MD of Esprit Films (who will discuss shooting wildlife and caves in 3D). Panasonic’s Peter Van Hooke will present sessions on the recent Elbow concert shot live in 3D. There’ll be several case studies and sessions on when 3D is worth using and how to use it best.

The Audio Room [Free tickets required] also covers 3D, with a panel discussion on immersive audio systems led by Pieter Schillbeeckx, Head of R&D at Soundfield. There is a wide range of practical advice on audio recording, including Phil Coates on working in extreme locations, Graham Boswell from SADiE on how to eliminate pops and glitches, and Jo Tyler of Bournemouth University on the sonic potential for radio, and sessions on loudness metering, HD Voice (for mobile audio) and audio post.

The Post-Production Theatre [Free tickets required] has one of our favourite trainers, Larry Jordan, with: a practical overview of Final Cut Pro X; Creating Motion Graphics that Don't Suck; Compressing Your Video for the Web - and Making It Look Great; and What Creative People Need To Know About Storage. Other sessions include: the making of a Top Gear Live commercial, and lots on tapeless production.

Broadcast Meets IT picks up the tapeless theme, with Mark Harrison, Controller of BBC North, discussing the issues of file-based production and Shane Warden of IMG World presenting tapeless workflows at the Rugby World Cup. Dr John Zubrzycki of BBC Research and Development will discuss Super Hi-Vision for London 2012, and Phil Rutter of AndCubed hosts a debate on 4K production and delivery.

The Institute of Videography will offer sessions in the IOV Theatre on how professional videographers can get involved with local TV stations, what videographers need in their post-production toolkit, and lots on weddings, including Shooting the Marryoke Wedding Sequence.

The Content Delivery Theatre will deal with all sorts of online and other methods of delivery and making money, connected TV, the use of second screens (such as iPads) while also watching TV, broadcast playout using channel in a box systems, and social TV.

There will also be one-day sessions dedicated to various aspects of a specific topic. Religious Broadcasting on Tuesday 14 February; Demystifying the Cloud on Wednesday; and Brands Becoming Broadcasters on Thursday.

The Sony Experience Masterclass Theatre includes sessions on the FS100 by Den Lennie, the F3, F65, and using XMPilot to speed up logging on the BBC’s Escape To The Country.

Added to these are practical sessions offered by Avid [Free tickets required] and Adobe, and FCP X sessions run by Soho Editors.

There's also the opportunity to try out lots of new equipment...

Free registration is available at www.bvexpo.com/register using Priority Code EBPR2.

By David Fox

Hands on with Canon's EOS C300

Anyone in London who wants to get their hands on the new Canon EOS C300 large-sensor XF camcorder has at least two opportunities in the coming week or so.

Creative Video has a hands-on day with the EOS C300 on Thursday (December 1), with three sessions (at 10am, 2pm and 6pm), at CVP in Brentford, TW8 9EX (on the A4 near Sky).

ProKit in Chiswick has its Digital Cinema Open Day from 10am to 4pm on Thursday week (December 8), which will include demos of the C300, with someone from Canon on hand to answer questions, as well as competing cameras from Sony and Panasonic, plus accessories from Genus, Shape, Cinekinetic, Petrol, Miller, Manfrotto, Atomos, Sound Devices, and more.

Free music for your videos

Christina has written a comprehensive piece on where to get free or low-cost and royalty-free music for your videos on her Canon XF Notebook site.

Also worth a look are all her Training Course Notes pieces, on such topics as Peaking, Face Detection, Synchronising Timecode, and tapeless media. Although they are aimed at users of Canon's XF camcorders, a lot of the information, particularly for Peaking, is relevant to users of almost any camcorder.

MacVideo Expo on Tuesday

MacVideo Expo takes place in London on Tuesday (October 18), with lots of interesting sessions, with debate, demonstrations and discussions on all manner of Mac-related production and post production.

It begins at 4pm with Expo organiser, editor, director and author, Rick Young presenting an hour-long session on: Getting to grips with Final Cut Pro X.

At 5pm, there is a chance to visit the exhibitor showcase, network, have a drink and tuck in to the buffet meal.

At 6.30pm, the main sessions start, with a heavyweight panel discussion: The state of post-production on the Mac, featuring: Chris Roberts, freelance producer, editor and Apple Certified Master Trainer (pictured), long-time editor, and Avid user, Barry Stevens (who edited Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and many episodes of Dr Who), filmmaker and Apple Pro Apps Mentor Trainer, Jonathan Eric Tyrrell, and Rick Young.

At 7pm there is Grading in Premiere Pro, when Apple Certified Master Trainer and Adobe Certified Instructor, Simon Walker will share some of the processes he has found useful, how plug-ins help him work faster, and will be showing some tips to get up to speed quickly in Premiere Pro. It is followed by an Adobe presentation on CS5.5

At 7.30pm FCP editor, Philippe Baudet, will look at how to bridge the gap between post production and live event production, and his use of Macs and Blackmagic Design's ATEM production switchers for productions for some of the biggest broadcasters and music acts in Europe.

After a break, at 8.30pm, G-Technology will talk about soon-to-be-available Thunderbolt products, while at 8.50pm Telestream, has a session on advanced distributed transcoding workflows for post using Episode 6 multiformat encoding software.

At 9.10pm Jonathan Richards, talks about shooting with the Panasonic AG-AF101 large sensor video camera.

At 9.30pm, the big finish will be an hour with DoP, director and filmmaker, Philip Bloom (pictured), looking at how to choose the right camera for different shooting situations, with footage shot with such cameras as the Panasonic AF101; Sony NEX-FS100; Sony PMW-F3; and Red Epic.

The Expo will take place at the Royal Society of Medicine (5 minutes walk from Oxford Circus or Bond Street tube stations), 1 Wimpole Street, London W1G 0AE, which is a really nice venue.

It costs £10, with entry from 4pm, and the buffet meal. Register at: www.macvideo.tv/events/Macvideo-Expo-Oct/

By David Fox

UKFCUG Glasgow meeting Thursday

The UK Final Cut Users' Group is holding its first ever meeting in Scotland this Thursday (22 September), with an interesting looking line up.

Doors open 6.30pm, and the first presentation starts at 7pm, with How To Edit with FCPX by Rick Young (pictured top), who will reveal what it is good for, how it works, and how to integrate FCPX into your current workflow.

After a half-hour break, at 8.30, Andy Bellamy from AJA will introduce its latest products, including the new Io XT - the first dual Thunderbolt port I/O device.

At 8.55, Alastair Brown, who created the Glidetrack, will show how these tripod mounted dollies for DSLR and video cameras evolved, and what it enables users to do.

At 9.20: After editing for a decade in FCP, what's it like to switch to Adobe Premiere Pro? Producer/director, Matt Davis (pictured) is making the transition from FCP7 to PPro 5.5. What were the advantages? What were the pitfalls? What were the surprises?

9.45 - 10.30pm - IBC overview: HD Warrior, Philip Johnston, and MacVideoTV's Rick Young will look at what was new at IBC 2011, including: the new JVC GY-HM150; AJA offering DNxHD recording for the Ki Pro Mini; new Thunderbolt devices; Sony's SR memory and 100GB optical discs; Mike Tapas adapter for manual control of EOS lenses on large sensor DSLRs; and more….

It will be in the Thistle Hotel, Cambridge Street, Glasgow, G2 3HN, and entry costs £5. Click here to register for the UKFCUG Glasgow meeting. Seating is limited.

By David Fox