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Video Tech News My Vacation: Disney Let Me Talk to a Turtle Filed under: Trends, Production As I mentioned earlier today, my family just got back from a trip to Disneyland. As we were getting ready to leave home, I decided to leave my laptop, shut my brain off, and just not think about video technology for a while. I was doing pretty well, until my wife and I sat down to something called "Turtle Talk with Crush" at Disney's California Adventure. Audiences sit in an auditorium with a large screen featuring and animated ocean scene. A host with a microphone explains what we are about to see, and invites Crush (the turtle form Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo) to enter. The animated turtle swims onto the screen, and the magic begins. A few audience members are selected by Crush to answer questions, then the turtle asks a few questions of his own. What it amounts to is a puppet show where the dummy has been replaced by a computer animation. I get that someone is talking into a microphone to supply the voice, and probably even using cameras to see the audience. What blew me away was what appeared to be quality animation being rendered on the fly. The mouth was in sync with the words, and gestures seemed totally random. I attended the show twice, just to make sure, and was treated to a completely different experience, with children asking very different questions. I concluded that some sort of motion capture technology is at use, however no amount of prodding could persuade the host to "pull back the curtain." If anyone has any insider info for this attraction, or even a good guess as to how it could be done, I would love to hear it. It also begs the question "how long will it be until animation is just captured from an actor's movement, and rendered on the fly?" Click READ for a Video via YouTube Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Read more...   Sing Along with Mary Poppins Filed under: Trends, Movies I must confess, my family just returned from vacation to Disneyland, and I've still got "Mickey" on the brain. This post isn't about the latest video doohickey or editing thingamajig... It's a about childhood memories. Starting January 11th, Hollywood's legendary El Capitan Theatre will begin exclusive screenings of the Sing-A-Long version of Marry Poppins. The film is getting the royal treatment, being projected digitally from restored film elements, and featuring a remastered soundtrack. Audiences are encouraged to dress the part of their favorite character, and of course belt out the tunes along with the film. Mary herself, Julie Andrews is scheduled to host each night. Screenings run through the 31st, and on the final night will feature a performance by songwriter Richard Sherman, the man who gave Mary her voice. I realize some of you "indie" types out there are probably turning up your noses, but keep in mind Mary Poppins was revolutionary for it's day. The film went on to win several Academy Awards, and this was back when they meant something! If you're in the L.A. area, and are at all interested in seeing one of American Cinema's high water marks restored for the big screen, this is a must see. Oh, and for the record, I would dress up as a chimney sweep! Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Read more...   RED reservations to open again Filed under: Cameras OK, you're kicking yourself for not getting in line for a fine new RED camera when the reservations were available. Well grab that extra $1000 because here's your chance. The RED crew has decided to make reservations available from January 21 - 24th. More info should be posted on their website soon, until then you still have time to collect those cans for some extra cash. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Read more...   XML and Final Cut Pro Filed under: Editing, Software Add XML to the list of acronyms you might want to learn a bit about. If you've done any web programming you may already be familiar with it. Look at a raw RSS feed, it's probably XML based. So what does this have to do with Final Cut Pro? Take a look at this article by Philip Hodgetts and you will get a better understanding of XML and how it can be useful to the video editor. You may find some tools you didn't know existed, or be able to create your own scripts to enhance your workflow. Don't be afraid to try! Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Read more...   Scenalyzer Live enhances capture process Filed under: Editing, Software, Post-production The capture tools in NLE's work fine for basic captures. But if you want to have more flexibility and get a little more done at capture time, you might try Scenalyzer Live 4.0. One of the things I really like about Scenalyzer is the ability to fast-forward through a tape and have an index created with thumbnails of each scene and start/end timecodes. This enables you to see what each scene contains, check the ones you want and Scenalyzer will capture them. This saves a ton of time compared to watching in real time. Another great feature is the ability to modify filenames or move them while clips are being captured. So once your whole capture process is complete you're all organized and ready to edit. There are numerous other features that make Scenalyzer Live worth the $39 investment. There's also a little review over on EventDV you might want to check out. The big drawback is that it is only available for Windows. As a switcher to the Mac platform, maybe you guys can help me out by suggesting similar alternatives for the Mac? Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Read more...   More... 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