KitPlus | Articles

VR and the importance of tracking

I would like to begin this article by clarifying what we at Shotoku mean when we talk about VR in live production. It’s not the production of immersive, 360 content where you need to wear a headset; we are talking about virtual studio (VS) and augmented reality (AR) work, such as placing graphics into a green screen environment or physical set. The...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 26 March 2018

Playing with Pink Floyd

For the founder of London-based Hangman, James Tonkin, this has indeed been a summer to remember. After sixteen years of working in the same suites, he designed and moved his team into a new future proofed facility in Kew Gardens created specifically for the manipulation and delivery of formats in up to 8K HDR. Soon afterward, he was approached by...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 12 February 2018

Reunion on Kingsman ensures efficient workflow for sequel

Both on and off camera, there are some collaborations that are built to last. Armed with the success of their work on the first film adaptation of the Kingsman comic book (Kingsman: The Secret Service), director Matthew Vaughan reunited with cinematographer George Richmond, DIT Joshua Callis-Smith and colorist Rob Pizzey, to deliver Kingsman: The G...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 02 November 2017

Plan to be smart at IBC

While chatting with a good friend last week, he told me he was full of foreboding about the coming IBC. It needs no introduction: this conference/exhibition is the largest gathering of broadcast professionals in Europe, and the second largest in the world, and everyone in our world knows about it. Ill give you some statistics later but, for now, le...

Submitted by Peter Savage 2

Published 19 October 2017

Production Communications in a Shrinking World

Communications today is a critical issueno matter if you are producing broadcast television, doing a live festival or rock concert outdoors, setting up a musical on the West End, or producing a local school play. Over the last few years, the proliferation of cell phones and other wireless devices has made it clear that most people prefer to communi...

Submitted by Gary Rosen

Published 19 October 2017

Managing colour from aquisition to delivery

Start with calibration The right colour management process can be the difference between being certain of what the end results are going to be, and having to spend time fixing things in post production. When we talk about colour management whether it is for photography or video it has got to start with calibrated monitors. Many people think about...

Submitted by Ollie Kenchington

Published 19 October 2017

Canon CN-E 18-80mm T4.4 Review

i The Canon Cine range of lenses have been around for quite a few years now. The CN-E Cinema Prime lenses became an early alternative to using PL adaptors or the Zeiss Compact Prime lenses. Other than that the choice was rehoused stills lenses or maybe if you were lucky a set of Zeiss super speeds. The cine lens set became a cost effective offering...

Submitted by Ben Sherriff

Published 07 September 2017

Object Based Audio - The first steps

i The world of broadcast audio is about to reach new levels as we embrace the future in terms of Next Generation Audio (NGA). Although at this stage we can\'t be precise about what this will bring, we do know that some 3D Immersive formats are already under development and will find their way into broadcast production and distribution very soon. Un...

Submitted by Peter Poers

Published 01 August 2017

Navigating Unfamiliar Territory

The traditional broadcast model - where TV networks play content on a linear schedule, and viewers tune in on their TV sets - is under siege. Linear TV is not going away anytime soon, but the model is becoming less and less relevant. Thanks to the rise of OTT services, viewers have become accustomed to watching content when and where they want, on...

Submitted by Vijay Sagar Vinnakota

Published 19 May 2017

DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel from Blackmagic Design - Revie...

Blackmagic\'s new, more affordable control surface for professionals is probably the most perfect panel I\'ve ever used. By Rebecca Goodeve I\'ve been a colourist for a number of years now. I\'ve worked on everything from Pan to the latest Lurpak commercial, and, in that time, I\'ve also had the chance to work with a variety of grading solutions cu...

Submitted by Rebecca Goodeve - new

Published 04 April 2017

Mixing console displays - central to usability

Since the introduction of assignable controls on mixing consoles, it has been essential to provide sound engineers with a clear picture of what the function and status is of each fader and other associated controls. Consoles can have over 100 faders. To allow the sound operator to keep track of the function of each panel and its current settings, c...

Submitted by Paul Hooper

Published 15 February 2017

The future of post production

Love it or hate it, 2016 will certainly be a year to remember, for many reasons. In the world of post-production, we\'ve seen high dynamic range become incorporated into UK studio pipelines for the very first time. We watched Ang Lee demonstrate exactly what you can do by shooting at 120 frames per second in combination with stereo 3D. We\'ve even...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 15 February 2017

You can have your OTT and IP IT too

It has taken a long time, for a variety of reasons, but the rising tide of pushing mainstream content over IP is now commonplace. Looking back a few years, some manufacturers, who were early to recognise the advantages, were keen to implement IP based interconnectivity, even though some of their customers remained, and are still, somewhat reluctant...

Submitted by Peter Blanchford

Published 13 January 2017

Scopes, a creative trilogy

The purpose of color correction is to fix any problems with exposure and color, ensuring the final image looks right. Color grading is used to set the mood by adjusting the colors of the video imagery to achieve a certain look or feel. At the core of color correction is tonal range: the range of brightness from dark (black) to light (white). When t...

Submitted by Paul Issacs

Published 07 December 2016

10 Ways to make your trade show booth stand out

With 15 halls and over 1600 exhibitors, there\'s little chance of seeing every stand at the IBC trade show - but this year I gave it a good try and racked up an impressive number of daily steps to prove it! Unlike most show visitors, however, I wasn\'t looking for the latest bit of tech or next product to purchase, instead I was focussed on how IBC...

Submitted by Candice Cowan

Published 10 November 2016