KitPlus | Articles

Panasonic AF101 review

In 2008 Canon released its latest stills camera the 5DMk2. Little did they know what they had released on the videographers world. This so called STILLS camera had a hidden talent, that of course of remarkably good 1080p video. The indie film makers went wild, no more did they have to bolt on large cumbersome depth of field adapters to their video...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

tv-bay questions

Name & Title?Barrie Williams, owner and founder of Pixelfantastic, a boutique post production facility 13 miles east of SohoWho are you? (about yourself and who you work for)?I started my career in front of the lens as a musician, touring Europe for several years playing Jazz violin. We did a lot of TV work, so I became very familiar with the insid...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

Intercom for Sports Production

The best kind of intercom system is one that works so well that it only takes a button or two to push when communication is required. Because of how quality intercom systems simplify communication, it is one of the broadcast industry’s most undervalued technologies. However, it is absolutely essential to a successful broadcast, especially in the fa...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

Guaranteed Income or working freelance

I am not a morning person. But by mid morning (so about 11am), once I’ve had my caffeine fix and something to eat, I’m good to go. Unfortunately, coffee and cake won’t make me proactive. Up until recently, my working life consisted of just working a Saturday shift operating a photo lab in a store in the local town centre. (And I’m currently still t...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2011

SOLID STORAGE FOR SPECIAL EFFECTS

While it’s easy to be dazzled by the brilliance of visual effects on the big screen, the less showy side of film post-production often goes unrecognised. Here, Double Negative (known affectionately as DNeg) reveals how an array of Infinity|8 RAID systems and ATTO RAID adapters keeps all that amazing work safe and secure. Double Negative’s trophy sh...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 August 2011

Any Channel, Anywhere. How Distribution Service Providers...

One of the features of the diversified, multi-platform media world we have today is the greater involvement of organizations that perform a specialist role in the complex chain stretching from content originator to viewer. It has been a long time since a broadcaster has owned the entire chain from talent, camera and production crew all the way thro...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 August 2011

Its good to talk

Online, my sister is quite the socialite. She has more friends on Facebook than people I’ve ever met, and a very active Twitter account. Let’s not even get started on LinkedIn, Buzzsprout, Flickr, You Tube, MySpace and Scrib’d. Half her life is on the web, and while the conventions of these online relationships remain a mystery to me, my sister is...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2011

NAB and the format wars

By the time you read this article you may be sitting comfortably on the plane ready to take-off to Vegas. Every year the show comes at a strange time – just after the shooting season has started in the northern hemisphere. As a result, most of the camera companies at the show will have already sorted their purchasing needs for the year ahead, espec...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2011

Where is the real source of digital creativity

The summit of Live music has always been dominated by large bands, filling arenas consisting of high production values, funded by record labels and advertisers looking to attain a huge audience. The opposite end of the music spectrum however, still holds a colossal circuit of unsigned bands, desperately promoting on the streets to get the crowds th...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2011

BBC Academy

Today’s broadcast industry depends on a mobile workforce of skilled professionals. And in the YouTube age where anyone can upload a film, what distinguishes the professional from the amateur? In short - great training!A recent survey of industry freelancers reveals that more than half rank training as one of the most important factors in developing...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2011

Tape goes West at UWE

Three years ago a convoy of white vans arrived at the Faculty of Arts at the University of West of England in Bristol. An hour later its entire stock of SVHS camcorders, linear editing decks and analog tape were history. In came Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro and Panasonic digital camcorders. Now 20 professional tapeless HD camcorders have taken up...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2011

Camp, ash, irritation and embarrassment

I am writing these words in the last days of December and you are reading them in the first days of January, so it seems like a good opportunity to look back on 2010 and see what we toilers in television have learnt. Against the odds there were some good programmes on the box. Astoundingly, ITV delivered a drama series that was just like the good o...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Lighting Q and A

I AM SETTING UP A STUDIO WHAT IS THE MOST EFFICIENT AND PRACTICLE WAY TO LIGHT IT Modern studios and current camera technologies have changes the way efficient image capture can be achieved. No longer do we need huge 5K and 10K lamps in our small to medium studios, but a new generation of lighting tools is now available, and has actually been aroun...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2011

TV Bay Questions

Who are you? (about yourself and Online Creative)I am the owner of Brighton based post production facility, Online Creative Ltd. I started the company in 1999 primarily as an edit facility which has since developed further into a production company and training facility. We have recently invested in a fully equipped grading suite to add to the serv...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2011

HotTips on how to be a better lighting cameraman.

First up, don’t worry too much about HDFor most of my early career I shot with film, not video, so I usually approach things from a film point-of-view. This means I don’t see an awful lot of difference between SD and HD. In my opinion, the extra definition has more of an impact on the make-up team and the set designers because, regardless of what l...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2011