KitPlus | Articles

EXIT PLAN - Creating an indi SCI-FI for less than 3000 do...

with Richard Oakes Issue 108 - Decmeber 2015 The director behind new indie short "Exit Plan\" reveals just what it took to write, crowd fund, shoot and grade his very own proof of concept for a science fiction feature with DaVinci Resolve, a Pocket Cinema Camera, and only four crew members on set For founder of Dark Fable Media, Richard Oakes, film...

Submitted by exitplan

Published 15 December 2015

Dear Santa

with Dick Hobbs Issue 108 - December 2015 My Christmas list this year is very modest. I really do hope that my naughty:nice ratio has been appropriate and you will be able to get at least some of these down my chimney. 1 less bad language. I dont mean swearing: that is all right in appropriate situations. Indeed its absence can be silly: there is...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 15 December 2015

Riding the TV Marketing and Social Media Wave

with Safiya Pomell and Aislinn Fadian Issue 108 - December 2015 Television is something that has always interested me. My name is Safiya Pomell and my journey into the industry started in 2012 when I joined a specialist school on the broadcasting strand at the age of 15. Being apart of Television and Broadcasting at the University of Portsmouth has...

Submitted by Portsmouth University

Published 15 December 2015

Virtually there - media monitoring goes beyond hardware

by Simen Frostad Issue 108 - December 2015 Being a hardware manufacturer is a great thing. It allows you to design the totality of the product and the users experience of it, to create a plug-and-play appliance that is uniquely fitted to its task. And there are plenty of tasks that are best done with the help of a piece of dedicated hardware, for m...

Submitted by Simen Frostad

Published 15 December 2015

Setting out your terms of business

by Den Lennie Issue 107 - November 2015 Its one thing to win a client and work, but it can be a whole different thing getting paid. Setting out a simple one-page terms of agreement can protect you. Im not qualified to give legal advice so I encourage you to seek professional advice when setting up your own terms of business. In simple terms, you ju...

Submitted by Den Lennie

Published 01 December 2015

Missing Parts Of The Spectrum

by Graham Jaggers Issue 107 - November 2015 Since the phasing out of conventional filament light bulbs and their replacement with fluorescent and LED, many manufacturers indicate the colour accuracy of their lamps with a CRI (Colour Rendering Index) number. It is possible however, to illuminate a scene using lamps with quite good CRI ratings and ex...

Submitted by Graham Jaggers

Published 01 December 2015

Microphone Placement

by Beth Zarkhosh Issue 107 - November 2015 Recording vocals on your microphone sounds like an easy job, but making sure you use the correct techniques and appropriate placement is essential. Today well take a look at some of the industry standard techniques as well as some more weird wonderful recording solutions along the way. Its important to kno...

Submitted by Beth Zarkhosh

Published 01 December 2015

TVFutures:Student pitch

by Alex Watson Issue 107 - November 2015 Studying at university is so much more these days than just turn up to lectures, hand in assignments and get a degree, and at the end of my first year studying for a BSc in Television and Broadcasting at the University of Portsmouth, I had the opportunity to attain my Avid Media Composer User Certification....

Submitted by Alex Watson

Published 01 December 2015

Monitoring Q & A

Issue 107 - November 2015 What elements of modern console technology has made a large impact on your craft?Rob Wolifson: Historically, shows were set up differently, you had more time to prepare. For example, if a show was on at noon in one studio, the breakfast show would be done in a different studio, so transitioning from one show to the next wa...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 December 2015

Creating native looks in alien worlds: the making of The...

with Richard Baker Issue 107 - November 2015 Prime Focus Worlds Richard Baker explains how Mars was brought into stereo 3D with the help of Fusion Studio for Ridley Scotts new SciFi survival epic, The Martian Directed by SciFi master Ridley Scott, this years The Martian has all the makings of a space exploration epic to remember. The film stars Mat...

Submitted by Richard Baker

Published 01 December 2015

Budgeting and controlling costs

by Den Lennie Issue 106 - October 2015 This is a very important aspect of running a production, and one you have to keep a close eye on. Its very simple; you have your actual hard costs in one budget and you have what youre charging the client in another. Lets say you charge the client £450 per day for the camera package, but the rental house is on...

Submitted by Den Lennie

Published 01 November 2015

TVFutures: Student pitch

by Emma Cox Issue 106 - October 2015 Student Pitch - Our second article pitch comes from Emma Cox, third year student studying BSc Television and Broadcasting at the University of Portsmouth. Personally I think this months KitPlus theme of acquisition is a tricky one for students to write about, but Emmas approach displayed real insight, and it als...

Submitted by Emma Cox

Published 01 November 2015

Circles of Confusion

by Graham Reed Issue 106 - October 2015 We seemed to have gone from SD to HD to UHD in a very short time but has lens technology kept up?Most camera manufactures now produce 4K cameras but they often look very similar to HD cameras, are they just the same with a 4k chip and also have they added 4k lens? They publish very little information about th...

Submitted by graham reed

Published 01 November 2015

Ground breaking production tool

with Stefan Lange Issue 106 - October 2015 NEO¢, the latest product from British LED manufacturer Rotolight, is a revolutionary on-camera or location LED lighting fixture designed for the most demanding of professionals. NEO¢ includes several industry first features that set it apart from the field, notably amongst which is an arsenal of Cinematogr...

Submitted by Stefan Lange

Published 01 November 2015

Sony PXW-FS5 Review

by Alister Chapman Issue 106 - October 2015 I was lucky enough to get some hands on time with a prototype FS5 in Amsterdam at IBC. In case you havent heard about it, the PXW-FS5 is a compact interchangeable lens, super 35mm camcorder from Sony that can record in HD or UHD 4K. It shares many of the features of the already incredibly popular PXW-FS7...

Submitted by Alister Champman

Published 01 November 2015