KitPlus | Articles

Is it my eyes, is it in focus?

by Graham Reed Issue 100 - April 2015 Is it me or as I get older, and my eyes not as good as they were, are viewfinders getting smaller and less sharp?When I started as a cameraman the cameras were large (EMI 2001\'s) as were the viewfinders. They were large format cameras with a 30mm 4x3 sensors and the normal aperture was f 3.5, so a shallow dept...

Submitted by graham reed

Published 01 May 2015

Back in the day

by Larry Jordan Issue 100 - April 2015 Congratulations, TV-Bay, on your tenth anniversary; as well as the 100th issue of TV-Bay/KitPlus magazine. Very cool!Ten years ago seems like forever. Some of us were editing with Final Cut Pro 5. LiveType was still with us. Others were using Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 (CS3 was still two years in the future). Stil...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 May 2015

Extreme equipment for the Film and TV industry

Issue 100 - April 2015 Big films require big shots and to get the action in camera, you need grip equipment and the latest camera support technology to make that vision a real possibility on set. Whether filming underwater or capturing high speed vehicle to vehicle action, Chapman Leonard UK have always looked to supply productions in the UK and Eu...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 May 2015

DOPs discuss minicams, lenses, 4k and all

by Mel Noonan Issue 100 - April 2015 If anyone knows about the practical reality of using minicams and lenses it has to be the DOPs who are out there using them. We are now seeing minicams used in all areas of production, some with 1080p and 4K capability at prices you would not have believed possible a few years back. I spoke to some of the DOPs I...

Submitted by Mel Noonan

Published 01 May 2015

Rise of the drones

by Jeremy Braben Issue 100 - April 2015 Drones are taking TV and film productions where they have never gone before. But how can they be used to best effect, what challenges do they present and will they replace helicopters in aerial filming? Jeremy Braben of Helicopter Film Services (HFS) has some of the answers... The recent explosion of unmanned...

Submitted by Jeremy Braben

Published 01 May 2015

Loudness normalisation for podcast streaming

by Jon Schorah Issue 99 - March 2015 For media companies steeped in traditional workflows, the exploding demand for over-the-top (OTT) content on many different devices is offering up significant new opportunities as well as challenges. If content owners can re-purpose their assets effectively, they can reach existing and new audiences through chan...

Submitted by Jon Schorah

Published 01 April 2015

Open Source for Film and TV Production

by Dan Mulligan Issue 98 - February 2015 There\'s nothing like a new project to make you feel excited about life, and excited is definitely how I\'ve been feeling since I adopted an Open Source policy to my companies\' camera and workflow divisions. My background is in cameras. I started out assisting and focus pulling before moving up the ranks to...

Submitted by Dan Mulligan

Published 01 March 2015

The road to Sundance Film Festival

with Kivu Ruhorahoza Issue 98 - February 2015 Things of the Aimless Wanderer, the latest feature from Rwandese filmmaker Kivu Ruhorahoza (Grey Matter) is a beautifully crafted narrative about paranoia, mistrust and misunderstandings. Premiering at this year\'s Sundance Film Festival, audiences can expect an arresting film that reveals a series of c...

Submitted by Kivu Ruhorahoza

Published 01 March 2015

Dialog-based search accelerates content discovery for any...

by Drew Lanham Issue 97 - January 2015 If you can\'t find it, then you can\'t reuse it. Those are a broadcaster\'s words to live by as media libraries grow at exponential rates. But the need to find and reuse media assets is not confined to large, traditional broadcasters. Organizations of all types and sizes are finding that the ability to uncover...

Submitted by Drew Lanham

Published 01 February 2015

Four must-haves for modern media workflows: Enhancing you...

by Laurent Fanichet Issue 97 - January 2015 It\'s always been about the struggle to manage lots of assets and adapt your MAM to suit in the world of digital media workflows. In the early years, enterprise storage infrastructure couldn\'t keep pace with the demands of SD, so the first non-linear editing systems were turnkey solutions with proprietar...

Submitted by Laurent Fanichet

Published 01 February 2015

Eye to Eye: Video Post-production

Video post-production has long been one of the fastest developing subsets of the broadcast business. It was among the first to lead the shift from hardware into software, bringing huge advantages in terms of affordability and ease of use. I can still remember the high cost, heavy weight and low quality of the early analogue tape to tape video editi...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2015

High Resolution graphics for 4k and beyond

by Jesper Gawell Issue 96 - December 2014 It seems like 4K is everywhere these days - it\'s the dominant topic at broadcasting trade shows. Is there substance behind the hype? Will it transform television the way HD broadcasting did? Clearly, one of the "next big things\" in the media and entertainment world is higher resolutions and 4K delivery o...

Submitted by Jesper Gawell

Published 01 January 2015

4k - fancy fad or future of broadcasting?

by John Halksworth Issue 96 - December 2014 Given the increasing popularity of 4K or Ultra High Definition (UHD) televisions, as well as 4K-capable video cameras, it is safe to say that 4K/UHD is here to stay. While filmmakers in all spheres have been shooting in 4K for some time, distribution of 4K is still in its infancy with very few cinemas sho...

Submitted by John Halksworth

Published 01 January 2015

4k - The biggest New Years resolution

by John Ive Issue 96 - December 2014 Whether it is Ultra High Definition (UHD), 4K or 8K - the predictions surrounding when and if this higher resolution format will become a widespread reality are still rife in the broadcast and media industry. The consensus in the sector seems to be that we may be edging marginally closer. However, many of the ba...

Submitted by John Ive

Published 01 January 2015

BAH! Humbug

by Dick Hobbs Issue 96 - December 2014 Yes, it's that time of year again. When, if you are a commercial broadcaster, you start coining it in with the Christmas commercials. Presumably if you are a director or a post house, you are already pitching for next year's blockbusters. They never have the look of something that has been knocked up on the sp...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 January 2015