Digital Mentors

Posted on August 24, 2011 by maineFilmmaking in equipment, Post Production, Production, Video | 2 Comments

I like to think of the people I follow online as my own personal Mentor, a Digital Mentor. Through their site updates, blogs, tweets and etc. nuggets of intelligence are constantly flowing through my iphone, ipad and WiNDOWS 7 PC. Some of the best resources that I have found over the years are:

Filmmakers:

Stu Maschwitz a rebel filmmaker who created the Bay Area company, The Orphange after working at ILM. He wrote the DV Rebel’s Guide back in 2007. It is packed with incredible production information which is still relevant today. Check his site out at ProLost.com

Philip Bloom, first person I followed and learned about DSLR’s over a year and a half ago. philipbloom.net

Vincent LaForet – Diddo, LaForetVisuals.com – Also here is a great FCP to CS5.5 workflow video by Vincent for all you Premiere Pro crossovers out there.

Visual FX:

Mark Christiansen, AE CS5 Book, awesome – Christiansen.com

Andrew Kramer – VideoCopilot.net – Tons of introductory and advanced AE tutorials

A new favorite site for me is BlenderGuru.com – Amazing resource for anyone stepping into Blender – Like myself…

AfterEffects Scripts:

Harry Frank from Gray Machine

AeScripts.com – Tons of insanely useful AE Scripts for Cheap!

Tutorial Sites:

CreativeCow.net

Aaron Robinowitz and other tutorials from RedGiantSoftware.com

Gear Sites:

CheesyCam.com

Digital Juice – Signup for their newsletter to get great deals on their media packages.

TimeLapse sites:

TimeLapse Forum, TimeScapes

Follow these few websites, twitter updates and etc. will help keep you up to date with the changing New Media landscape.

Also please post your favorite resources from podcasts to twitter peeps in the response to this post.

Short Film Using the Panasonic GH2

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Mark in How to, Production, Video | Comments Off

With HDSLRs the talk is all about shallow depth of field and of course the ruling champion in that regard is the Canon 5D MKII, but that’s not to say you can’t get some pretty decent shallow DOF looks from some of the other popular HDSLR cameras on the market. One such camera is the Panasonic GH2. Using the Micro 4/3 sensor size, the GH2 has a sensor that is about 9 times larger than the average sensor in your common HD video camera including many professional HD camcorders. This larger sensor size, aside from improved image quality and low light capabilities, allows us to get the coveted shallow DOF look.

Like I said the Canon 5D MKII with its full frame 35mm sensor is the king of shallow DOF but don’t think for a moment that cameras like the GH2 can’t achieve a really nice DOF or Bokeh look. If you combine the techniques that have been used for years by shooters using 1/3 or 1/2.5″ sensor you can get a very shallow DOF effect that will isolate your subject in the frame and draw the viewers eye. Here is a small short done using the Panasonic GH2 and the Canon 50mm FD lens for the shallow DOF shots. There are a couple of DOF shots at the start and one in the middle.

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Let’s get it Started, Welcome to Maine Film Making

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Mark in Production, Video | Comments Off

Welcome to Maine Film Making. Now when we say Maine Film Making we really don’t mean you have to be in Maine to use and enjoy our blog. We just happen to live in Maine and we just happen to love making movies and videos. It’s that making movie and videos part that’s the really important thing. If you have a passion for all things video then you have come to the right place.

So what are we going to do here? Glad you ask, we are bringing you along on our journey as we learn and develop our skills using the latest batch of HD capable DSLRs such as the Canons, Panasonics and Nikons. Regardless of the camera that we use or you use, we hope that as we reveal what we learn maybe you will find something that helps you out as well. We know there are a lot of blogs out there already catering to the HDSLR craze and yes this is yet one more, but as we all have our own approaches to problems and solutions we want to add our little bend on the subject to the virtual landscape. You never know when a problem we encounter might just be the same thing you are working through as well. So Hold, buckle in, and lets get it started!