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Big Fish, Little Fish, Camera-Top-Box

Big Fish, Little Fish, Camera-Top-BoxFor whole swathes of people within the television industry the concept of digital production - and what we generally refer to as ‘going tapeless’ – is probably now considered slightly old hat. Broadcasters, engineers, camera people and other early adopters of technology are so au fait with digital production the...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 July 2012

Crowd funding

MONEY AND THE POWER OF THE MIGHTY INTERNET!Peter Savage marvels at the power of the Internet to bring low cost documentary films to market and, inevitably, has an idea for one of his ownFor the last two weeks I have been speaking at the Look Listen Experience roadshow around Great Britain and, after my short (and sometimes informative) speech on bu...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2012

Are you out on the range

The main parameters to worry about in any stereoscopic scene are the most negative and positive disparity values. These numbers are usually expressed in percentage terms rather than in actual screen pixels. The distance between the numbers is the depth range. The depth budget is the maximum value this range can be allowed without being too uncomfor...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 May 2012

The evolving art of sports television

Given the choice of watching a major live event on site or via television, most people would opt for the real thing. Sure, you have to get to the venue, perhaps queue to buy a ticket, find your seat or maybe stand for hours. If it is a football match, the audience in front will probably stand up for a better view of each goal, completely blocking y...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

LED - A clean light at the end of the tunnel

We asked DoP & Lighting Specialist Jonathan Harrison to evaluate the current state of the industry. Jonathan has long been critical of LED products and the claims made by manufacturers in regards to their performance for high quality professional image capture, he has also been intimately involved in the development of some of the leading industry...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2012

Eye to Eye: Video Post-production

This column’s previous excursion into video post-production was just before the 2011 NAB Spring Convention, always a dangerous time to talk about new hardware or software when a deluge of upgrades, lookalikes and lite-editions are about to hit the aisles of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Quite a lot has happened in this category over the past 12...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Quality is the best policy

Despite all the changes in our industry at the moment – and maybe because of them – quality is more important than ever. HD has become the production standard norm. Why have audiences embraced HD so enthusiastically? Because it looks and sounds great. If you have a 42” or bigger screen in your home then the difference between SD and HD is obvious t...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Grading across the Atlantic

In the last five years, color correction has made leaps and bounds in terms of the way we grade, the performance capabilities of grading systems and even the locations where we grade. Only a few years ago, color correction suites were isolated rooms that were nearly impossible to connect to other offices or artists. But the color world has changed...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

So why bother with training?

Joseph Turner, the famous British painter (1775 to 1851) studied at the Royal College of Art from 1789 until his first exhibition at the Academy in 1793. Rembrandt (1606 to 1669) studied first with the famous painter Jacob van Swanenburgh and then with Pieter Lastman. Young talented artists need guidance from experienced and talented teachers to he...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Convergence Grading for Stereoscopic 3D Broadcast with Da...

After soldiering through a long run of freelance work in Soho, I had a couple of days off. I thought, “It’ll be nice to relax a little bit,” which is when I got the call. “We have this project with quite a tight turnaround, a couple of days to deliver 75 minutes worth of 3D.” I told them to hold on — this would be my first 3D job. They replied, “It...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2012

tv-bay Questions

Name & Title?Doug Garside, Chief Engineer at Edit 19 Ltd. based in ManchesterWho are you? (about yourself and who you work for)?As a teenage performer, I attended Manchester Youth Theatre for two years running and appeared in numerous amateur and college productions, including once being naked on stage at a catholic college! Having completed my A l...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2011

Learning from the master

In 1985 I took a job at Logica. In those days we were developing systems for teletext and subtitles, and later for graphics management, using computer hardware from DEC, a brand name that disappeared in 1998 when it was acquired by Compaq. The PDP-11 was revolutionary in that it was a 16 bit computer, but even then there was a suspicion that it did...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2011

Following the alien route of a freelancer

I don't like mushrooms. Slugs of the culinary world. Growing up I was forced to eat them (apparently they're good for you?), but now, at the grand old age of 19, I have to confess that I still don't like mushrooms. When I first started work experience, I had no idea what I was doing, where it would lead or what I enjoyed or not. Also, as I very rar...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2011

Back to Basics with Stereo 3D

In 2011 more than 35 networks in Europe and North America will broadcast stereo 3D programming — and several will launch dedicated 3D channels. 40 3D features are expected to hit theatres this year, and stereo-3D-ready consumer devices from TVs to video cameras to smartphones are hitting the streets. The demand for compelling content to meet the ne...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

Streamlining Final Delivery with an All-in-One Solution

Market differentiation is a challenge for professional content creators and post facilities, especially as budgets wane and client expectations for high-quality content rise. Over the last two decades, the business has changed dramatically with the transition to digital workflows. A few years ago you’d have to invest in tape decks, build a large in...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011