The Atomos Sumo M has just been unveiled at IBC 2017, along with new converters and a new HDR collaboration with YouTube. After the success of the Atomos Sumo – the impressive 19″ HDR Monitor-Recorder – Atomos has decided to release a monitor-only version. Atomos has also announced a collaboration with Google’s YouTube division to enable easy HDR uploads and, going back to its roots, Atomos is also releasing a wide range of converters for the broadcasting and film industry. Atomos Sumo M In an earlier article this year, we talked about the Atomos Sumo, a 19″ Monitor/Recorder that can handle 4K 12-bit Raw, 10-bit ProRes/DNxHR, as well as 1080/60p live switching and recording. The Atomos Sumo M offers much of the same functionality, minus the recording feature. The display panel is the same, and it still includes its impressive HDR features. Here are the features in detail: 1920 x 1080 Touchscreen Display 10-Bit FRC Monitor Processing HDMI 2.0 and 12G-SDI Inputs/Outputs SDI/HDMI Cross Conversion 1200 cd/m² Brightness Import LUTs from Master Caddy Media HDR Mode with 10-Stop Dynamic Range High-Bright Mode for REC. 709 Viewing HDR Collaboration with YouTube Atomos has announced that it will be collaborating with Google’s YouTube division to make HDR workflow easier. Atomos has embedded a flag into their ProRes files that’s automatically recognised when uploaded to YouTube. YouTube then converts the files to H.265 and, upon detecting that flag, will display the content in HDR whenever someone with an HDR-capable monitor plays the content. This metadata flag is also kept while editing in platforms such as Final Cut X and Adobe Premiere, with AVID getting compatibility with this flag through a future upgrade. Atomos Connect Converters The new Atomos Connect converter range has landed, and it forms a comprehensive and versatile lineup of 15 different conversion, signal processing and system integration boxes that connect, convert, scale, sync, split and repeat your video signals. Each converter is color-coded according to use, making life easier for broadcast and AV system integrators: blue for connect, red for convert, yellow for scale, green for sync, black for split and white for repeat. All converters feature common analogue, SDI, Fiber and HDMI connections for conversion and distribution tasks in SD, HD and 4K. They have locking DC and HDMI connectors, USB power and detachable mounting ears. Bright LEDs show their status, and they can be configured using the free ConnectOS software. What do you think of the new Atomos Sumo Monitor? Which converters are you most  interested in? Are you going to adopt the HDR workflow? Please let us know in the comments below.

The latest Adobe CC Update adds revamped responsive design features, intuitive motion graphics and new time-saving audio tools.  Adobe Premiere Pro CC With this latest Adobe CC update, Premiere Pro sees the implementation of simultaneous editing across multiple projects, allowing users to import projects into one another with fully-flexible control over copying extracts of sequences, editing them, or even collaborating and sharing the projects across multiple users. Previously, Premiere Pro CC couldn’t open more than one project at a time, and users only had the option of importing either a whole project or a sequence – a workflow process that lacked fluidity. This improvement is far more streamlined and faster than working in projects separately. Teams in the same facility now have the option of collaborating on shared projects at the same time. On larger productions or projects with multiple episodes and sequences, simultaneous editing can improve the editing time and overall workflow. Users can be granted specific access, whether it is read-only or fully editable, however this is only available to CCT and CCE users. The new Adobe CC update also sees improvements in Premiere’s virtual reality and 360-degree video capabilities. These include transitions, composited titles and orientation-based audio in the VR environment. An exciting improvement is Adobe Immersive Environment, giving editors the ability to use a VR headset while navigating through the timeline to have a true experience of the content before finalizing and exporting a project. Keyboard-based edit tools are accessible so one can perform cuts and changes while experiencing the environment in real time. Effects applied to a VR timeline across stitched and stereoscopic media are also now cleaner, without artifacts or seamlines. The Premiere Pro CC Essential Graphics panel has also been improved. Responsive design features will now respond intuitively to temporal and spacial changes to graphics and text, whether that is changing clip duration, adjusting the frame size and so on, without affecting the in/out animation keyframes. Multiple graphics layers can also be edited simultaneously too, for implementing stacked effects. Fonts can now also be selected as favourites and previewed in the program monitor. The responsive design also works in conjunction with the many motion graphics templates provided in Adobe Stock. Adobe After Effects CC Updates to After Effects CC include better integration of data-driven effects and animations using JSON data files. These can be imported natively into a project and used to develop automatic graphs and charts like those used in infographics, which can be edited over time. Interpolation in the data stream is performed automatically as effect parameters can be simply pick-whipped to the data group, for faster and more efficient animating. The performance of After Effects CC has also been improved, with the Mercury GPU engine accelerating motion blur, layer transformations and heavier effects while rendering. This is a handy improvement when using the integrated 3D application Cinema 4D Lite to composite true 3D objects in After Effects compositions. Other updates and improvements for After Effects CC include the ability to animate graphic path points to shapes, layers and effects, linking with the new data-driven functionality. Keyboard shortcut mapping has also been updated with a visual guide on custom shortcuts, and we see the same improvement to the font menu and VR editing that Premiere Pro CC has received. Adobe Audition CC Adobe Audition CC also has a number of updated features which include Auto-Ducking, where the volume of music is lowered automatically when dialogue or other sounds are audible. The software detects the dialogue and measures it against the loudness of music, reducing the latter in the timeline automatically. You can adjust parameters such as the fade responsiveness and sensitivity much like you would with keyframes, but saving much more time in the process. Other updates include faster mixdown performance, promising 400% faster processing than the previous CC version, as well as the ability to make changes to effects or parameters while playing through the timeline. Overall, this Adobe CC update adds a number of intuitive improvements that will certainly benefit many Adobe users. For more information on the new features and updates.  You can sign up for an Adobe CC subscription here. Will you be using the features in the new Adobe CC release? What updates would you like to have seen? Let us know in the comments.

There’s an email from Apple ghosting around the interwebs that may find its way to your inbox, too: Final Cut Pro 7 won’t be starting up once you upgrade to the upcoming macOS High Sierra. We’re witnessing the final death to the classic Final Cut Pro. Time to make a choice! RIP Final Cut Pro 7 This is it, people. The classic Final Cut Pro 7 is officially dead. If you were part of the mob struggling to accept the new kid on the block, called Final Cut Pro X and introduced back in 2011, then this news might be the final stab to the heart. You might wonder what took Apple so long – after all, Final Cut Pro 7 lived for another 6 years after the introduction of Final Cut Pro X. Perhaps it was FCPX’s rough start that made Apple hesitate for so long. Anyway, it’s finally time to move on. The Final Death of Final Cut Pro 7 If you haven’t got the email from Apple yet, then you probably don’t know what’s going on here. In order to get you up to speed, here is the official announcement by Apple: Dear …: Our records show that you may be using applications included in Final Cut Studio. We wanted to share some important compatibility information about these applications and macOS High Sierra, which will be available this fall. Older versions of Apple pro video applications — including applications in Final Cut Studio — will not launch on a computer running macOS High Sierra. New versions of Apple pro video applications — including Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, and Compressor 4 — are compatible with macOS High Sierra. You can purchase these applications on the Mac App Store. You can learn about the transitioning from older versions of Final Cut Pro to Final Cut Pro X here. For more information about compatibility of Apple pro applications on macOS High Sierra, please view this support article. Sincerely, Apple If you’re still using Final Cut Pro 7 for your editing work, this is bad news. On the other hand, it was just a matter of time, really. Its direct successor, Final Cut Pro X, has now reached version 10.3.4, having evolved quite a bit from its miserable first releases. However, if you’re not into the way Apple thinks NLEs, there are plenty of alternatives! Alternatives to Final Cut Pro 7 It’s no longer just Apple vs. Avid like in the old days. There are other players with really good NLE solutions on the market. There’s Adobe Premiere Pro which has evolved steadily from its beginnings in the 1990s. Then there’s Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, of course – not only a full-blown color grading suite but now a NLE, too. A few alternatives to Final Cut 7. Avid Media Composer might still be the king of the hill when it comes to classic editing, but Premiere Pro follows hot on its heels. If you’re not into the subscription model of Adobe Premiere Pro, you might want to have a look at Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve. This gives you not only the industry-standard color grading suite, but also an NLE and, since version 14 is imminent, a full-blown audio editor too. All for free with a few limitations, or, if you want the whole package, for $299. Following Blackmagic Design’s business model, Avid also offers a free version of its famous Media Composer, too. Spanish company SGO, who now offers the free Mistika Insight, takes the same line. There are other (paid) applications, of course, such as GrassValley Edius or Vegas Pro. Or, if Apple finally managed to convince you, maybe Final Cut Pro X is the right choice. For another $299 it’s yours. Conclusion There are a lot of alternatives to the now-defunct Final Cut Pro 7. However, if you still have FCP7 projects sitting in your computer, you might want to double check if you’ll ever need to work on them again, as these project files are not compatible with Final Cut Pro X. Once you’ve upgraded to macOS High Sierra, you won’t be able to open them again. You could skip High Sierra, of course, but that would only delay the problem down the line. Anyway, it’s sad to finally say goodbye to this piece of software. Final Cut Pro 7 served many of us very well in the times of the indie cinema revolution in 2008 with the introduction of the Canon 5D mark II. Farewell! Links: Avid Media Compser Free | Final Cut Pro X | DaVinci Resolve | Premiere Pro | Mistika Insight Which one is your NLE of choice? What kind of payment model do you prefer? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

In this guest post, Stewart Addison explains what shooting RAW really means, the different kinds of RAW, and when and how to implement a RAW workflow. In case you missed it, Canon recently announced the C200, it’s first sub-$10,000 cinema camera to shoot RAW. As with every announcement for a RAW camera, folks on the Internet have been quick to point out how simply untenable RAW file sizes and workflows are for a large swathe of filmmakers. While it is true that shooting RAW is tricky, time consuming, and hard drive-filling, the benefits absolutely outweigh the costs. Even for quick-turnaround shooters, the precision, image-richness, and future-proofing RAW shooting options provide make it a must-have feature for anyone buying a cinema camera today. What is “RAW”, really? DaVinci Resolve – a free software from Blackmagic Design that can handle RAW. Put simply, RAW footage is the plain, unprocessed, data from your camera sensor. To edit RAW footage as a moving image, it has to be processed in post with programs like Blackmagic Resolve, RED Cine-X Pro, ARRIRAW and in a limited capacity Adobe Premiere Pro. When shooting in other formats, the camera (or external recorder) will process what the sensor ingests into said format, losing sensor data in the process. With RAW, all of the data collected in the sensor is available to use in post. Shooting in H.264 on a Canon 5D MKIII, for instance, compresses the file size to 1/18th of its uncompressed stream by only fully recording one full frame per half second, and taking in only visible changes to cover the other 13 frames (in 24fps) that aren’t being fully captured. Pair this with the baked-in picture profiles you recorded with and you’re left with very little data to play with in post. Any exposure fixes or color changes you need could prove difficult and might result in your image breaking down. Even with a larger codec, those risks persist, though to a lesser degree. Uncompressed video, which processes the footage into video but doesn’t apply any block, wavelet, or temporal-based compression is a great way to get a lot of information, but you still lose bit-depth (color information). Uncompressed video usually comes in at 10-bit, giving you 1024 possible tonal values, whereas 12-bit RAW has 4,096 possible values. Moreover, RAW data doesn’t bake in ISO and Kelvin (white balance) data, allowing you to change it in post. To sum up the RAW experience, I will call on a fantastic quote from Kurt Lancaster. “To shoot RAW means to thicken the color of your images, making them more dense—a lot more data provides more headroom to push and pull footage in post, to correct errors made during shooting, as well as to shape the look and feel of your film.” The advantages are plenty and aren’t nearly as costly as they seem. Storage varies RAW footage can take up a lot of storage… But there are solutions. Yes, storage space fills up quickly when you shoot RAW. An hour of 16:9 ARRI Alexa ARRIRAW footage will eat up about 605 gigabytes, the URSA Mini Pro takes up about 648 gigabytes in 4.6k RAW (CinemaDNG RAW), and the C200 comes in at around 512 gigabytes per hour. It’s a lot, especially if you want to keep a backup or your RAW video. If storage is a problem, however, you have solutions. When you shoot RAW, you make your major color/exposure changes before you process the footage, meaning that you can vastly condense your file sizes to fit your needs before anything is added to your hard drive. Your camera still needs hefty storage options, but backing up your footage to your computer becomes as friendly as you need it to be. The new Canon C200 features smaller files thanks to its Cinema RAW light format. Moreover, you still have resolution and camera choices at your disposal. The C200 offers a Cinema RAW Light format that’s considered 3 to 5 times smaller than traditional RAW formats. But wait, there’s more! Not all RAW cameras shoot truly uncompressed RAW, giving you additional options. If 12-bit color depth covers what the human eye is able to see, and truly RAW sensor data comes in the form of uncompressed RAW files, then the standard for pure RAW output would be 12-bit uncompressed RAW files. The ARRI Alexa XT can internally record RAW data this way at the price of nearly one terabyte per hour of footage. If that sounds like a lot to you (yes, it’s a lot), there are other options. RED cameras offer a variety of compression options. RED approaches RAW differently. REDCODE RAW (.R3D files) uses a variable bitrate wavelet technique that can compress RAW files at various levels for smaller storage space, and has improved from 12-bit to 16-bit over the years. RED .R3D files have also been optimized for different workflows, allowing filmmakers to preview and work with footage at lower resolutions while retaining the information of the full resolution image. According to RED, wavelet compression at 3:1 is mathematically lossless, while 5:1 and 8:1 are visually lossless. This compression can allow you to shoot RAW with smaller file sizes than shooting ProRes, which is some achievement. This isn’t a purist’s RAW recording, but for many the differences are negligible and they are overwhelmed by the benefits. As technology advances, more cameras will likely take the RED .R3D model, and many already have. Sony’s CineAlta cinema cameras offer varying degrees of compressed RAW using external recorders, with the benefit being the ability to record at high frame rates and with high resolution. As noted above, the C200 takes a similar approach to compressed RAW with Cinema RAW Light. However, the first iteration of RAW for Canon’s cinema cameras, the one in the C500 and C700, is very different though. Canon’s top of the line C700. With the Canon C700 camera, Canon joins ARRI as having the closest to a purely RAW output, with 12-bit depth. The Canon C500 records 10-bit external instead of ARRI’s 12-bit (or Sony and RED’s 16-bit). Canon Cinema RAW (.RMF) files pridefully contain no processes applied to the data coming out of the image sensor. These are huge 4k files, bigger than 4:3 ARRIRAW at 2.8k. Cinema RAW Light (compressed RAW) looks like a different direction for Canon it remains to be seen whether the company maintains its RAW purity with its flagship line. Finally, RAW recording isn’t all internal, shifting the gear up, external RAW recording adds cost to your bottom line. The C200 offers truly economical RAW options because it offers lower file sizes and records internally (as opposed to the C500, which requires an external recorder). The same goes for RED and post-Alexa classic ARRI cameras (internal RAW recording). Sony, on the other hand, only offers RAW via external recorder on its cameras. While that adds money and hassle to your bottom line, external recorders often provide the extra horsepower to add features otherwise unavailable internally, so they make sense for certain filmmakers. The point is, RAW is not a singular, unfriendly, codec. Its benefits are available to filmmakers with varying needs and workflow priorities, you just have to do your homework first. Speaking of workflow priorities… Not as much time as you think It seems impossible to come across a review for a RAW camera that doesn’t mention how RAW isn’t an option for quick turnaround shooters. First of all, what is quick turnaround? Two days? One day? Six hours? Yes, I’ll concede that time-sensitive news coverage has little benefit for RAW video, but a lot of filmmakers who work in quick turnaround environments aren’t on such a short leash. RAW workflows are possible if you know what you’re doing, especially when shooting RED .R3D RAW which has native support in Adobe Premiere Pro, you can drag the .R3D files straight to the timeline. First of all, each batch of RAW footage is not some new, unexplored, color playground. You can monitor through different LUTs and color spaces while shooting, and have them ready in your project settings for processing. With a little pre-production organization, you can know the look you’re going to get before you step on set and get the footage processing the minute your card has been filled up. Working with a LUT on a Blackmagic Design Video Assist 4K. No time for specialized settings for each new project? Find a color outcome you like and make it your default for every project. You not only get the rich images RAW provides, but you’ve also tuned the colors to your taste. Finally, processing time doesn’t have to be lost time. I’ve found that, for most projects, a day of shooting would yield 2-3 hours of total processing time. That’s time that can be cut into chunks on-set if you have a DIT, or it’s time that can be spent while you’re busy with other obligations. If you’re organized, processing doesn’t have to drastically alter your completion time. You don’t HAVE to shoot RAW Unless you’re shooting on a Digital Bolex (R.I.P) or RED DSMC1 camera, your RAW-shooting camera has other recording options. When you get a project where RAW isn’t right for that project, don’t shoot with it! When you get a project where RAW is beneficial, you’ll be very glad to have all of that flexibility in post-production. It’s worth it With RAW, you not only get rich, beautiful colors and the ability to correct mistakes and adjust ISO and Kelvin (white balance) after the fact, you get creative freedom you aren’t afforded with any other codec. You can find the exact look you want without compromise and, if you change your mind, you can go back and reprocess that footage for an entirely different look later. RAW footage is the digital version of a film negative. Once you have that at your disposal, you definitely won’t want to go back. How prevalent is RAW footage in your day-to-day work? What particular challenges do you find in working with it? Let us know in the comments below!

Meet the Elgato Stream Deck, a programmable keyboard designed specifically for the needs of gamers. Wait, what? Well, rest assured: there’s more to it because this little device has the potential of simplifying and speeding up your post-production workflow just as much as it steps up the pro gamers’ game. The Elgato Stream Deck isn’t a pro video device. It’s designed for hardcore gamers who stream their gameplay using Twitch and other platforms. They make extensive use of shortcuts for all sorts of things: chatting with other gamers, capturing screenshots and performing complex combinations of different actions of their virtual heroes. The Stream Deck helps them to do all this at peak performance and speed by providing a set of 15 buttons which can be programmed to your liking. The Elgato Stream Deck Everybody loves keyboard shortcuts as they eliminate the need for a mouse for a specific command. The downside is that you have to memorize all these shortcuts for all these different applications. Grab a still in DaVinci Resolve? ⌘⌥G. Toggle an image to black & white in Photoshop? ⌥⇧⌘B. Did you know that one by heart? Really? If you’re sitting in front of your computer 24/7 this shouldn’t be an issue, but if you (like me) find yourself clicking around the menus on the hunt for that command that you just can’t remember the shortcut for anymore, then Stream Deck could be a big time saver. Although somewhat reminiscent of an external number pad, each of the buttons on the Stream Deck doubles as an LCD screen. This allows you to know exactly what kind of command you’re about to trigger when hitting that button. The list of preset actions is limited to a range of gaming-related set of commands for now, but there’s one section of interest for post-production workflows. In the System section there is one particular item which is the focus of this whole article: Hotkey. Configuring the Stream Deck In order to program the Stream Deck you’ll need to install the accompanying software. With it you can just drag and drop functions like the above-mentioned hotkey to each of the 15 LCD buttons. Each button can also act as a “folder”, giving you a total of 225 buttons: 15 folders with 14 assignable buttons in each plus one “go to top” button that is created automatically. I’ve set up folders for DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro and Photoshop. You can also assign an app launcher to a button. In my setup, I have given folders application icons, and inside each folder is a launcher for that app plus several hotkey functions I use frequently. Shorctus for DaVinci Resolve. The rocket will launch the app. In my example, I quickly created a bunch of icons for things like JKL control, previous and next clip, adding different nodes and one shortcut for grabbing stills. It’s not super advanced, but I find it very convenient to not have to reach out for the keyboard for every basic task. Your setup can be completely different, of course – therein lies the beauty of this device! Once you’re done programming the Stream Deck you can export your setup to a file. That way you can import several sets of configurations if needed. Build Quality The Stream Deck is a very compact and streamlined device. It’s about 12cm x 8.5cm x 2cm (4.6” x 3.3” x 0.8″) and weighs only 190 g. It comes with a hardwired USB 2.0 cable of about 1m (40″) in length and an adjustable stand which allows for different viewing angles. The top plate is made of metal so the device doesn’t feel plasticky at all. The buttons stick out quite a bit, so if you’re used to the butterfly keys of the new Macbook Pro you will have to press harder than usual in order to activate the buttons. It’s not bad, it’s just a bit unfamiliar, at least to me. The pressure point feels a little soft but with a good bounce, so these buttons seem to be built for some serious hitting! The stand is basic but functional. You can adjust it to several angles and then just slide the Stream Deck into place. A certain angle seems to be necessary since the actual LCD screens sit a bit below the button surface and therefore the displayed icons are much clearer when viewed straight on. Features of the Future Since the Stream Deck was originally designed for gamers, it’s not perfect for postproduction workflows. But that’s OK. Since having the device here for testing, several updates have been released already. Elgato seem to have an open ear for their community and they will expand the set of features over time. Some things that would be really nice to see for our line of post production work: Presets for different pro video apps such as Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve. An auto app switcher. For now the Stream Deck is not aware of which application you’re working in at the moment. It would be nice if it would switch accordingly. Integration of keyboard mapper preference panes. That way you could assign the LCD buttons right from Premiere’s keyboard mapper for example. All this is possible I assume. But again, the Stream Deck wasn’t designed for post production workflows. So nobody’s to blame here, really. It’s just that since all of this seems actually possible, it would be nice to see these features sometime in the future, right? Alternatives There are alternatives out there, obviously. For DaVinci Resolve you can choose from a range of pro control surfaces, ranging from $1,000 – $30,000. The Stream Deck is $150, making the comparison a bit apples and oranges. The Blackmagic Design control surfaces are far more advanced and complex, but on the other hand they only work with one single application. Then there are the X-Keys keyboards which are more in the same league with the Stream Deck. The X-Keys XK-24 USB keypad offers the same functionality for the same price, but lacks the LCD screens, so you have to add your own little paper icons. I think the Stream Deck, although mostly aimed for gamers, is the better and more flexible device. The Stream Deck is available for $149.95. Read all about it here. What do you think? Which hotkeys would you use with this device? Or is a pro control surface the way to go? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

My name is Matt Bendo and I am a cinematographer based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In April of 2017, I won the CSC (Canadian Society of Cinematographers) Award in Branded Content for my commercial Storm. In addition to working as a cinematographer, I am also a budding director. I shoot a variety of productions such as shorts, documentaries, music videos, and commercials. Overall, I am a very passionate visual storyteller. Name and age: Matt Bendo, 25 years old. Currently based in: Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Language (s) spoken: English. Occupation: I am a cinematographer and director. How did you get started in our industry? Growing up I would dabble in animation and game design. I was incredibly excited that I was able to tell stories with my mind and a computer. I wanted to be a traditional animator, but luckily I found that I was best suited as an artist with a camera that could paint with strokes of light. All of my understanding of pacing, composition, and storytelling transferred nicely over to film. During my time at the University of Windsor, I realized that I wanted to be a filmmaker. I really feel like film is the medium in which I can best express myself. When I first moved to Toronto, I didn’t know anyone. I contacted the CFC (Canadian Film Centre) and volunteered for 30 days as a 2nd AC. Each day, I was able to meet a new cinematographer, director, and 1st AC. This really helped me get an initial connection with the wonderful film community that exists here. Each day, I would walk onto set and envision how I would light and block the actors. When the cinematographer and director would come on set, I would observe how a more experienced filmmaker would handle the task. I began to study what they did because I knew it would be beneficial to me as the basis of a strong foundation to help develop and hone my own skills. I learned a lot about lighting and on-set politics during that time. I believe it was a very crucial period for my growth.   One day, after a camera prep during a bus ride home, I asked the cinematographer of the project when is it appropriate to call oneself a cinematographer. I explained to this person that I wanted to be a cinematographer, but I didn’t know when I was allowed to call myself one. This person told me that if I wanted to be a cinematographer, then I should call myself a cinematographer and start shooting. I took the advice and started calling myself a cinematographer. Within the month, I had landed a few gigs as a cinematographer. What types of productions do you mostly shoot? Lately, I have been focusing on commercials with a cinematic flair, as I am intrigued by the challenge of concisely telling a story. The turnaround time with commercials is quick and I feel that I am able to grow at an accelerated rate because of this. I am able to test and develop shooting techniques while hoping to discover and hone my visual style before transitioning into long-format narrative film. I am very passionate about shooting cinematic commercials because it feels like I’m shooting a visually striking short film. After winning the CSC Branded Content award for my commercial entitled Storm in April 2017, I couldn’t wait to get started on my next Branded Content project, Legacy, for the boxing academy Kombat Arts. The clients entrusted me completely with their brand and, since I was the director, cinematographer, and editor, my creative vision was easily facilitated. I was able to take some risks with the lighting which I feel were successful and I had a great experience shooting and developing the visual style for this project.   What is your dream assignment/job in our industry, and what are you really passionate about? I would absolutely love to be a feature film cinematographer. I am very passionate about cinematography and storytelling in general, which is why I really enjoy creating cinematic commercials. Cinematography is the medium through which my obsession with visual storytelling can be best expressed. The goal of a cinematographer is to use precise camera movements, compelling compositions, and strokes of light to evoke feelings in the audience that transcend simply displaying images on a screen. I want to tell stories that give the viewer goosebumps. I have always been fascinated by techniques cinematographers use to subconsciously manipulate an audience’s emotions and, as a budding commercial director, I found that the best way for me to execute my vision was to direct as well as DP. In the work that you are presenting us, now that it is done, what would you have done differently throughout the production? I definitely should have hired an operator for the entire shoot. I was so sore by the 3rd day that I needed to bring in an operator for some of the in-ring scenes. Having an operator allowed me to take a step back, compose, light, and block out the scenes more efficiently. Not having to worry about physically moving the camera myself allowed me to spend more time communicating my vision to the actors and crew. What current camera, lenses and sound equipment do you use? I shoot with the ARRI ALEXA Mini and various types of spherical and anamorphic cinema lenses. Though I believe lenses are investments that typically have longevity, I currently rent the lenses because the type and style of lens needed tends to be different for each project. I love to shoot with anamorphic lenses for my cinematic style commercial projects, but most of my jobs require spherical glass.  You chose to shoot your project with ARRI ALEXA Mini. Can you please describe why you chose to use it, what was your workflow, were you happy with the results and will you ever go that way again? I chose to shoot this project with the ARRI ALEXA Mini because I think it is a very versatile camera with a fantastic color science. I had to shoot in the 4:3 sensor mode because I was shooting with 2x anamorphic lenses: the Cooke SF Anamorphic. I tend to key light my subjects from behind, which allows me to utilize the nice flares that the Cooke SF Anamorphic lenses are capable of. Often, people like front-element anamorphic lenses due to their funky artifacts and oval bokeh, but I am mainly interested in the 2x squeeze factor. The 2x squeeze allows me to create what I believe to be more cinematic compositions. Since, I am more concerned about 2x squeeze rather than the typical funky characteristics of front-element anamorphic lenses, I enjoy shooting with the rear-element Angenieux anamorphic lenses as well. I have shot with the Angenieux 30-72mm T/4 and 56-152mm T/4 anamorphic zooms on many occasions, but the speed of the T/2.3 Cooke SF Anamorphic lenses was necessary for some of the low light conditions in this project. Before production, I decided to keep the aspect ratio at 2.73:1 instead of cropping the sides to make it 2.39:1. I originally did this on a short film back in 2016 and I was very pleased with the results. I brought the footage into DaVinci Resolve, added a 2x desqueeze, a light color grade, and exported all of the proxies. I edited with the proxies inside of Premiere Pro.   I tend to do my sound design with Cal Cuffaro. I get the edit locked and then we lock ourselves in his studio for two days and finish the sound design in Logic. What’s your favorite light equipment and why did you choose that kit over other solutions? I don’t have favourite lighting equipment per se. Every job requires different tools. I am beginning to use LED lights quite often on set, though. In Legacy I utilized a lot of ARRI LED fresnels. Their low power draw and RGB capabilities made them very versatile tools. I have also been using an LED mobile china ball setup that a friend of mine developed. Do you use drones or gimbals in your productions? If so, what is the most effective way you’ve found of deploying them? I would say that I rarely use drones or gimbals in my productions. I tend to stick to a dolly, as I find that I am able to create more precise movements and better compositional framing. Of course, there are different tools for different purposes and I have used gimbals when they are the proper tools for the job. I used Freefly’s MōVI Prop on Legacy during the running shot at night. I was holding the MōVI Pro as I was being pulled on a doorway dolly alongside the runner. I was surprised that the MōVI Pro could balance the ALEXA Mini with a Cooke SF anamorphic lens. It took a bit of messing around, but we eventually had it balanced perfectly.   I have also used gimbals as remote heads on cranes. Specifically with the MōVI, we put the Mimic on a tripod head and control the movements of the gimbals remotely. In my personal experience, having the Mimic on a tripod head or wheels instead of in a handheld unit allows for more exact and fluid movements. What editing systems do you use? When I am doing my entire post-production workflow, I like to use Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, After Effects, Photoshop, and Logic. How much of your work do you shoot in Log and what is your preferred way of colour correcting? Now that I own an ARRI ALEXA Mini, I shoot 100% of my work in Log, usually ARRI Log in ProRes 4444XQ files. I used to shoot in RAW when I would rent RED cameras. I am used to colouring the majority of my own projects, but I recently had a chance to work with Clinton Homuth of Alter Ego Post on Legacy. It was a wonderful experience and I believe I will be outsourcing the majority of my colouring work to professional colourists now. You can follow Matt Bendo and his creative work here and here.

In this guest post, Yossy Mendelovich dives deep into the editing process, and explains how to face the technical and psychological challenges of this stage of filmmaking. Sometimes, shooting is the easiest part. You just have to press that red button and the images start flowing onto the camera’s sensor and are then captured onto the memory card. The problem comes later when, after an intensive few days of shooting, you find yourself faced with thousands of clips and hours of footage that need to be transformed into a story. Someone will have to edit that eventually, and, being an independent filmmaker, that someone is most probably going to be you. This is why having a vast knowledge of the video editing discipline is one of the most important capabilities you can have. In this article, I’ll try to build a methodology around this challenging editing phase. Step 1 – Shoot for the Edit A good edit starts before even pressing the “Record” button. Being able to “see” the final film during production in order to shoot relevant material can really give you the upper hand and make editing easier during the post stage. Step 2 – Make sure you have enough material (footage + sound) It is quite frustrating to open your editing application and import the media only to discover that you don’t have enough material. Step 3 – Make a backup Backup your media to at least three copies, and verify the all the sources are located at different locations. Make sure you backup your footage daily to several copies in different locations. Step 4 – Watch and arrange clips into folders This is where the post-production stage begins. You should watch all your clips and organise them, whether this is done in folders within your operating system, or in bins inside your editing application. Oh, and yes… you must watch ALL your clips! It is also recommended to do this after each shooting day, as this will often help you discover if there are any missing shots. If your have more shooting days ahead of you, then that gives you a chance to get those necessary shots. Also, make sure you watch all your clips even if you’re certain they’re terrible. You may be amazed to find a little diamond among the rubbish — a fraction of a second of outstanding footage that could make a big difference in your film. At this stage, let’s suppose you have about 1000 clips derived from ten shooting days. Now it is the time to build your first timeline: the rough cut. Step 5 – Open you favorite editing application It’s important to note that your editing application, or Non-Linear Editor (NLE), is just a tool. That said, there are three major editing NLEs: Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Premiere and Avid Media Composer. They are all considered professional tools, and you could easily edit a whole film with each one of them. Many will defend one particular software over another, leading to an ongoing battle about which NLE is the best, but it’s really not that relevant. After watching a film, you can’t tell what system it was edited on, so just choose the right tool for you. And what is the right tool? The tool you know the best. Step 6 – Filter junk footage Now it is time for “throwing away” all non-relevant footage. Reduce your clip count and discard anything that you consider is non-worthy cinematographic footage. Note: DO NOT DELETE – just re-locate those discarded clips to their own dedicated folder. Step 7 – Transcoding Let’s suppose that from the 1000 original clips, you are left with 750 that are usable. These are the clips that need to be transcoded. The transcoding process is very important since it allows you to achieve fast playback with no app lag or dropped frames, and is particularly essential if the timeline is to be complex, e.g. one that is composed of dozens of video and audio tracks. Example of a complex timeline – Clips must be transcoded to an editable format like ProRes. Step 8 – Start building your story (=timeline) Watch all your clips (again) and “drag and drop” them into the timeline to start creating your rough cut. The rough cut is your very first timeline, and is maybe the most painful part of editing. At first, you may have the impression that everything looks good, any you may want every last piece of footage to be in the film. However, eventually you are going to have to make hard choices and filter, cut, delete and drop expensive footage. The goal during this first timeline stage is to allow you to not say goodbye to your beloved footage just yet. Step 9 – Create more cuts (more timelines) Now it is time to continue with the hard emotional choices and cut, trim, delete, and drag and drop parts from that rough cut into more reduced timelines that are more relevant to the story. DO NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR SHOTS ! You will need at least two more passes into new timelines until you get to the desired final cut, at least in terms of footage, and there will be a few more stages after that until you finalize the final cut, which includes the soundtrack, sound effects, filters, grading and more. Step 10 – Build your story until the final cut Let’s talk a little bit about how to cut. How do editors know what is the right sequence of shots, assuming there isn’t a storyboard which can help yout focus in the story-creating process? Assuming you are a one-man-band, in most cases you will have to finalize your timeline yourself. Is there a right way to organize all the remaining clips in the timeline to make this process a bit easier? Well, there is. Let’s analyze the last film I made, which was not a paid gig but a birthday present for my wife’s 40th birthday. The goal of the film was to demonstrate the importance of not wasting time doing things you don’t want in your life. I personally wanted the film to look very dynamic, fast, engaging and stimulating. The final result is below:   Out of the many hundreds of clips I ended up filming, I decided to use the open door scene for the opening shot. Why? Because it’s logical. Opened door = opening scene = logical starting point. The next step was to throw the audience right into the action by using the hyperlapse shot. That shift from a closed room was achieved by combining a flash transition and cropping into the light to make this shift fast and surprising — like waking up from a dream. There is a concept here: from closed room to the fresh air of the sea, straight to the shot of Santa Monica Pier, all at a fast pace. In order to emphasize speed, I shot the hyperlapse from under the lifeguard’s booth, which made the shot seem a lot faster due to the booth acting as a physical layer. The camera was pointed directly at a bridge, symbolizing in my opinion a new direction in life. After the hyperlapses, I edited a few shots of water splashes just underneath the bridge with a combination of two transitions: Zoom & Pan, and Fade-In. These transitions are good to switch between shots in action in an elegant way, so I decided to stitch those two together in the timeline. The next shots were those with my son surfing. Here I used two directional transitions corresponding to the direction of the waves in the shot — again to create organized motion. It was also a logical choice due the physical connection between the bridge in the ocean and the surfboard in the sea, which leads to a conceptual connection: Closed room → open the door → go to the bridge of life → leave everything behind and surf. There is some very spiritual continuity here. Let’s take a look at this part of the timeline: Here is an example of the Zoom & Pan transition which was used in the surf scene: The waves were moving from right to left, so it was logical to make the Zoom & Pan transition the same in order to create continuity and flow in the video. The next step was to edit the end of the video. Why? Because I already knew how the video would end — it was already in my mind. It’s definitely OK to start editing from the end! You don’t necessarily have to start editing from the beginning – just edit what is in your mind and stitch it together according to the story. Think of it like taking an exam: if you don’t know the answer to the first question, move onto the next one. It’s the same with editing: when you feel stuck with your creativity, just DO NOT STOP. Go to the next part of the story and try to produce more artistic ideas. I knew that I wanted the scene of my son taking a picture to be the end of the video, so I made this cut right after the first part above was finished. This is how that scene looked in the timeline: Logical Construction in Editing Although there aren’t any defined rules on how to edit, there has to be some logic derived from the story you are willing to tell. As mentioned above, I wanted a spiritual, motivational, artistic and dynamic look and feel, which led me to cut and stitch frames that had some sort of logical connection between them. Let’s take a look at some examples. Hyper Lapse Connection: Kinetically – Movement Connection: Physical Connection (completion or opposite): Life Event Connection: Flow and going forward: The tools above can give you a few starting points to help you start building the story in your timeline. Now it’s a good time to nail those points according to the story and create a destination – like building a path that leads to something meaningful. Let’s analyze my video’s timeline in terms of logical flow. Story Timeline Analysis:   Step 11 – LUTs, grading and filters The methodology of color correction and grading is beyond the scope of this article and will not be discussed here — but bear in mind that this is one of the most important stages of editing. It is a good time to implement the relevant 3D LUTs (Look-Up Tables). The reason you don’t want to implement LUTs during previous stages is because LUTs lead to complex calculations for every clip, taxing the processor and possibly causing the application to slow down or lag. You still need to cut and trim the timeline and preview footage, so you need that speed. Step 12 – Sound design 50% of a film is sound, so it is an extremely important element. Make sure you INVEST IN SOUND: build an extensive sound library and use it wisely. Also, remember that the audio must be derived from and serve the story you are willing to tell. After adding the audio, there are Mixing and Mastering processes in order to verify that the sound stays clear and clean. A timeline can even feature dozens of layers of sound effects and music (the green clips in this screenshot), so make sure you invest in audio. Step 13 – Export the master Last but not least is the final process of exporting the final cut in all required deliverable formats. Conclusion: Editing is like a mental fight There are some stages that are harder then others from a psychological point of view. The evolution of going from a rough cut to more advanced versions is a very frustrating process: sometimes you may get the feeling that you’re stuck and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. At this point, you must remember that it is purely a psychological thing. Advanced editors are experienced enough to recognize this phenomenon, which I call the “Do Not Break” point. The DNB point is the stage when a real editor lifts himself mentally to make the edit move along and create the story. The good thing is that the DNB acts only as a “psychological point” after which everything in the edit process becomes easier, bringing you closer and closer to your finished film. Hopefully this article helped break down the editing process into workable chunks. If you have any tips on how to approach this stage of filmmaking, please let us know in the comments section below!

The new Pond5 Add-on allows you to browse, audition and purchase stock material from right within Adobe Premiere CC. The new Pond5 add-on — available for download from the Adobe Add-On marketplace — aims to streamline the workflow for users who rely on stock material for their work. Instead of browsing the Pond5 catalogue on its website, Pond5 has made it possible to go through the whole process of browsing, auditioning and purchasing media right from within Adobe Premiere. The Pond5 panel makes it possible to quickly search the catalogue of over 7 million videos and 1 million audio files thanks to its search bar and filters, which include price, duration and frame rate. Once you find a suitable clip, you can simply drag a watermarked version straight into your timeline to start editing. Once you’re happy with your choice of material, you can chose to replace the watermarked versions with Hi-Res files. This will open a window prompting you to purchase the required clips, and voila! You’ve just added stock material to your project without ever leaving Premiere or even opening up a browser. In order to help you keep things organised, the Pond5 Add-On even lets you access the existing Pond5 Media Collections associated to your account, as well as create new ones right there in the application. Downloading the Pond5 Add-On also gets you 50 video clips with a total value of over $1000, so you can get started with adding some great-quality clips to your work straight away. The Pond5 Add-On is already available for download from HERE. To see it in action, don’t miss the promotional video below: Are you a Pond5 user? Let us know your experiences with the new Add-On in the comments section below!