Daily Beast on the lost art of DVD Special Features, thanks to Streaming

Liz Arcury at Daily Beast has this article. I just talked about Jonny Elwyn’s favorites, but this is another article that hits home for me, as I cut so many great DVD behind the scenes.

The really sad part is that most streaming is going to end up with commercials anyway, because that is the only way for it to make money, sadly the best part of streaming will go away. And so many movies are not available on streaming and almost none of their special features are available anywhere.

Even the one place that still does some special features, Disney does not go in depth enough. And I miss audio commentaries too.

Working on Lord of the Rings was a dream job, but BTS features got smaller and smaller, till they were nothing but using EPK footage, and now even that is gone for most features. It is really sad for film students, and film lovers.

Jonny Elwyn on the Best DVD Extras for Film Editors on Film Editing

From Johnny Elwyn, and I of course appreciate it after working on DVD Extras for years, including Lord of the Rings, King Kong and some of the Hobbit.

It really is such a shame that there are basically almost no special features being produced anymore, as they barely have any for streaming except for a few for Disney+.

I did love doing special features, but now there is basically only the EPK footage to make very crappy and short special features.

ProVideoColation on Using NDI Tools with Premiere Pro for Zoom Review Meetings

Nick Lear has posted this article on using NDI Tools instead of a streaming box to stream your Premiere Pro timeline over Zoom.

This is of course not going to work as well as a dedicated streaming box. And though he says the audio from Premiere will also now playback on your machine (not sure how it does that, but he says it works, but I doubt they can hear you talk, so I would recommend LoopBack to the mix so you can combine Premiere and your Microphone to make audio (and run your computer through headphones so their isn’t audio feedback).

Pretty that you can try getting this running for free (or $99 for Loopback), though obviously dedicated hardware will run better.

Blackmagic has released an updated web presenter in 4K for $695 a great solution for work from home streaming

Blackmagic design has done it again and have released a 4K streaming version of the web presenter.

The previous $495 version could accept a 4K signal, but it only could output at 1080, but this can output at a full 4k for a better signal for $695.

And like the previous model it has a USB C out so you can connect it to your computer as a web cam to use in Zoom. And with my UltraStudio 4K I could easily run it via the SDI input without bothering the HDMI out (though it also has an HDMI out).

I was talking to a DP with the director on a notes call and I really wished I had this setup so We could do live sessions. I know a lot of producers like to do a session in person and being able to stream live to a producer and talk really is something I need to add to my setup soon so I can continue to work at home. I am really looking forward to trying out Sofi Marshall’s setup and getting this going.

postPerspective’s Karen Moltenbrey on remote editing The Queen’s Gambit and the documentary time.

A must read on remote editing during Covid. I also love that the Queens Gambit was cut on an iMac. I also love that Tesorow would also love to work remotely with in person screening, mixing and color correction.

I completely agree, remote editing should be the future of editing. Now to figure out how to write off computers now that AB5 in California has made being an independent contractor and all of it’s tax benefits basically illegal.

Video Editor Chris Salters with 2 levels if remote Collaboration Worklows for any budget

Trailer editor Chris Salters has posted 2 remote collaboration workflows, one free and one including a second computer. Great to see an almost free solution and a much more robust solution as well as solutions better than Zoom though much more expensive (starting at $399 a month). 

I like that he sets up a solution that will work with other programs as well.

The budget solution creates a new video monitor which means you are eating more of your precious video memory, which worries me a little, but for screening should be ok.

And the other solution requires another computer and some hardware, so might be more for where companies can provide hardware.

Blackmagic Design has reduced the price of ATEM Mini Pro and ATEM Pro ISO by $100 each

 

Now I think you only need the $295 ATEM mini if you attach it as a web camera to stream your edit live, but if you want your edit to be live on YouTube or to record it you could go for the mini pro.
Still the Web Presenter may in fact be a better solution for streaming for me. Since I have the $495 Blackmagic Ultrastudio 4k, I have spare SDI ports and that way I could stream a 4k sequence as the ATEM MINI only accepts up to a 1080 60p sequence while the Web Presenter accepts up UHD 60p sequences though streams out at only 1080 60p. Of course I lose the ability to see me in a picture and picture via a gopro.

Allan Tépper at ProVideoCoalition does an in depth review of the Blackmagic Web Presenter

 Allan T�épper at the ProVideoCoalition has done a very in depth review of the Blackmagic Web Presenter, and since this is one of the real-time remote streaming solutions and the way Sofi Marshall did her streaming, I thought I would link to this awesome review.

I still think that Atem Mini might be the better solution with it’s build in picture in picture, but I haven’t actually tested it, so I don’t know for sure.

New Apple TV announced with new remote and color balancing feature

 

3 days ago Apple announced a new Apple TV 4k with a new remote and A12 Bionic Chip. It supports higher frame rate HDr, Dolby Vision and 60 fps.

The coolest feature which should at least hit some previous models is part of tvOS 14.5 according to 9 to 5  Mac, is color balancing using your iphone. 

This will not color balance your tv, but instead the output of your Apple TV to correct for your TV’s color balance! Wow! Apple needs to make an SDK for this feature, as I would love to have it in Adobe Premiere and DaVinci resolve on my Mac!

It still doesn’t account for Apple’s weird color shifts on the Mac. Be interesting to see how this balances for your own clips played back on an Apple TV from Premiere or Resolve, but for streaming and purchased movies this should be a godsend.