KitPlus | Articles

An artist gets bored of the same colour palette

by Rob Tarrant Issue 95 - November 2014 So the wait is over. The brand new VariCam was launched at IBC in September. Above all else that means extra choice for high end episodic dramas, advertising and movies, where it has to be said the choice has been limited for far too long. Since the introduction of the original VariCam in 2002, the first high...

Submitted by Rob Tarrant

Published 01 December 2014

Do Not Be Cheap With Your Data

by Kieron Seth Issue 94 - October 2014 Everyone used to leave a Betacam or DVCPro tape on the shelf for years. It would probably work fine a decade later (as long as the VTR still worked). Now production companies are stacked high with external hard drives full of archived video projects and media files. It\'s a recipe for catastrophe - apparently...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 November 2014

Trouble- Shooting Your Mac Editing System

by Larry Jordan Issue 94 - October 2014 So, there you are. Ready to start editing, except your editing system doesn\'t start. Or crashes in the middle of an edit. Or, most insulting of all, just sits there waving the "Spinning Beach Ball of Death\" in your face. Sigh... While there are an unlimited number of gremlins and bad actors that could cause...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 November 2014

Move and Deliver

Issue 93 - September 2014 In an industry that hands out a lot of awards, it can be easy to take the revelation of each golden statuette or glass embossed brick with a pinch of salt. When NATAS hands out a Technology and Engineering Emmy, however, people sit up and take notice. This month Video Services Forum, Media Links, Nevion, DVBlink, Inc, Harr...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 October 2014

Shooting Cinematically

by Ben Baldwin Issue 93 - September 2014 One Monday morning in July I headed to Pinewood Studios to spend an hour in the company of Den Lennie and Philip Bloom for a Sony Webinar - Shooting Cinematically. Both DOPs share a passion for helping aspiring filmmakers grow their skills and confidence and both have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to c...

Submitted by Ben Baldwin

Published 01 October 2014

Suriving IBC

by Larry Jordan Issue 93 - September 2014 I long ago lost count of the number of trade shows I’ve attended -- it runs into the hundreds. From small table-top affairs to massive shows like IBC, NAB, CES, and many others now long forgotten, I’ve attended shows, exhibited at shows, and covered shows as press. In this article, I want to share my experi...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 October 2014

Flying a Drone part 1

by Jon Pratchett Issue 93 - September 2014 Drones! The word imparts a sense of fear into the hearts of many. You immediately think of US spy planes, covert missions to attack forces deep in enemy territory. Yet it’s also the word that many now use to describe those little flying multi rotor things with GoPro’s on that seem to be popping up everywhe...

Submitted by John Pratchett

Published 01 October 2014

Making the invisible visible

by Charlie Watts Issue 92 - August 2014 September 2014 will see a brand new communication and televisual experience unleashed for University of Portsmouth students within the newly opened Eldon Building. Catherine Harper, Professor and Dean of the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) Faculty, and Gary Bown, Principal lecturer, have both made it t...

Submitted by Charlie Watts

Published 01 September 2014

Keeping it real

by Will Strauss Issue 92 - August 2014 With Sky buying into an immersive video start-up, and the BBC trialling content on an Oculus Rift headset, virtual reality could be about to move from simply sets and studios to a whole new realm. Once residing purely in the realms of science fiction and, latterly, video gaming, it appears that virtual reality...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 September 2014

An editors perspective

by Larry Jordan Issue 92 - August 2014 When it comes to chroma-key (also called “green-screen key”) the phrase “Don’t worry, we’ll fix it in post.” is a recipe for disaster, because if you don’t shot your key right during production, it will be painful, timeconsuming and expensive to fix it later during editing. I know, because I’m an editor. Bad c...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 September 2014

What Directors do and dont do

by David Crossman Issue 92 - August 2014 Piers Haggard the BAFTA award-winning Director for his BBC TV work - says you can\'t teach Directing any more than you can teach Art. Piers may be right but I believe there are some directorial skills which can be passed on. Like many crew members and actors I have suffered at the hands of inexperienced Dire...

Submitted by David Crossman

Published 01 September 2014

Lighting for virtual sets

by Mike Perry Issue 92 - August 2014 We often get asked why lighting for a virtual set is not working well. The client has fitted a virtual studio painted with domestic green paint and fitted with presumably suitable lights, but the camera just can’t get a decent image. Where’s it all going wrong? Well, to answer questions about lighting a virtual...

Submitted by Mike Perry

Published 01 September 2014

The First Musketeer

by Neil Oseman Issue 91 - July 2014 Based on The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, The First Musketeer is a brand new take on this famous adventure. Written and directed by Harriet Sams, director of photography Neil Oseman takes us behind the lens of this new gritty six part mini drama shot on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Set in the South of Fr...

Submitted by Neil Oseman

Published 01 August 2014

On Set of Top Gear festival live

Issue 91 - July 201420th June 2014, London UK - Zero Division provided a bespoke installation of the Boxx TV Zenith system for the Top Gear Festival in Barbados at the newly renovated Bushy Park race track, and provided on-site support during the event. The Top Gear Festival is a live show staged to tens of thousands of visitors, to bring the spiri...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 August 2014

The Challenges of streaming media

by Larry Jordan Issue 91 - July 2014 Internet streaming. It sounds easy, but doing it is surprisingly difficult. I know, Ive been streaming live audio every week for the last seven years for my podcast Digital Production Buzz. And Im streaming video from my website for the last three years as part of my on-going software training. If everything is...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 August 2014