KitPlus | Articles

Capturing the spirit of Mexico

Filmmaker, director and editor, Leonardo Dalessandri first came to fame with his stunning video ‘Watchtower of Turkey,’ which with more than 200 million views, garnered the accolade of Best Vimeo Video in 2014. His vibrant images are combined with a unique editing style, incorporating slow motion, hyper lapses and invisible match cuts to produce ge...

Submitted by Leonardo Dalessandri

Published 12 February 2018

TVFutures: Learning is the key

If you asked me the question ‘where do you see yourself after you graduate’ three years ago I would have probably answered ‘in a lot of debt, but if you don't think about it, it doesn't exist because three years is a long time right ?’. WRONG! These three years studying Television and Broadcasting at the University of Portsmouth have been the quick...

Submitted by Abbie Neill

Published 12 February 2018

State of the Nation

This morning I was eating my healthy muesli and idly listening to Radio 4 when someone came on who claimed to be from the Oxford University Computational Propaganda Project. Now regular readers will know that I am fond of a bit of good old-fashioned obfuscation. But talking about computational propaganda when what you mean is fake news on social me...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs - new

Published 12 February 2018

Looking back at IBC 2017

IBC feels like a bit of a dim and damp memory now, but a few over-riding memories do remain however, not least of which was the Arri party to celebrate its 100th year. It was like an old-school manufacturers IBC/NAB party, back when manufacturers had marketing budgets, and lots of sales people. It got IBC off to a great start; thanks Arri. Among th...

Submitted by Duncan Payne

Published 02 November 2017

When a lens is more than just a lens

Matching shots between different cameras can be tricky at the best of times. But how do you match lens characteristics between a live action shoot and a CGI composition? The CP.3 XD lenses from Zeiss offer an efficient solution to this with their frame accurate meta-data. The ZEISS CP.3 Cinema Primes have all the characteristics that have made ZEIS...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 02 November 2017

A bluffers guide to image stabilisation

i(Due to the number of image references this articleis best read via the digital magazine on the link above)This month’s article is about Jelly. Unfortunately, not the kind that can be served with whipped cream after about four hours in the fridge (sorry) – but instead the video artefact seen from improperly stabilised video cameras. One of the gre...

Submitted by Mike Colyer

Published 19 October 2017

A 360 degree view of fashion

Im often asked, what do you do when the students arent around?, and the simple answer is, as it would be from any university technical support member of staff, I get involved in passion projects and these help me to stay up-to-date with the kit and keep my hand-in with video filmmaking. So, in April this year the Faculty of Creative and Cultural In...

Submitted by Michael Parsons

Published 19 October 2017

Live event streaming solutions

i It\'s summer! Just those two words alone are exciting. Combine them with words such as "music festival\" or "sports\" or "travel\" and you have yourself a summer to remember. To ensure you have the hottest summer yet, consider live streaming your event ¦ wherever it is. Let fans face the music - live! In the UK, we strongly associate summer with...

Submitted by Lorna Garrett

Published 07 September 2017

Media Production Show and other news

i So, the 2nd Media Production Show has been and gone. Hands up who went to Islington by mistake? I know at least two people who did. Their secret is safe with me! For me, the sign of a great trade show is when I come away really enthused about an innovative use of existing technology or a brand new product. When I find something that combines both...

Submitted by Duncan Payne

Published 07 September 2017

The Dressing Room - shooting steamy scenes

i W\'s latest factual entertainment series relies completely on the ability of fixed rig filming setups to make cast members forget their inhibitions. Described as a fly-on-the-wall documentary, "The Dressing Room\" gives TV audiences unprecedented access to team-sport dynamics off the field of play by inviting them into the hidden world of dressin...

Submitted by Josh Portwine

Published 07 September 2017

Lighting - the stuff you do not see

i Lighting is the stuff you don\'t see that makes a difference in what you do see. How the audience feels about a character and whether the scene is scary, tense or upbeat are communicated by the quality and placement of light. Lighting can take the drama to a whole new level - think about film noir with all those shadows on the wall. So called "na...

Submitted by Tama Berkeljon

Published 07 September 2017

Integrated and automating marketing campaign production

i ITV, as an integrated producer broadcaster, creates, owns and distributes high-quality content on multiple platforms. It operates the largest commercial family of channels in the UK and delivers its content through traditional television broadcasting as well as on demand via the ITV Hub. ITV has the largest share of the UK television advertising...

Submitted by James Gilbert

Published 07 September 2017

Infrastructure boost with single node storage solutions

i Like other market segments, the motion picture and video production industry is dominated by smaller productions and facilities. Until now, the only option for this portion of the market to take advantage of the performance, fault-tolerance and ease of management of a modern scale-out storage platform was to invest in a storage cluster consisting...

Submitted by Lee Griffin

Published 07 September 2017

Can university really set you up?

i When deciding what career you want to go into and which University to go to, there are so many questions that go through your head. I know when I first started considering University, my grades just weren\'t good enough. I knew which undergraduate course I wanted to do, but I still had a way to go. Well, I decided to go back to College just so I...

Submitted by Jess Sutton

Published 01 August 2017

Why is drone training even an option

It\'s fair to say that one of the most disruptive, liberating and inventive technological advances for independent filmmakers in recent years has been the incredible leaps made in the world of Drones. Things we never thought possible are now completely within our reach and what is more they are easy and cheap to achieve. An operator can majesticall...

Submitted by Tim Bearder

Published 19 May 2017