December 2006

Annual Holiday Party

About 30 people gathered for holiday cheer at the now-annual Holiday Happy Hour at Dave & Busters in Mission Valley on December 8th.  Everyone enjoyed some free food and beverages, and all chapter members received free gaming cards. There was lots of mingling, good wishes for the holidays and a good time was had by all!

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November 2006

Fixing It In Post

Many thanks to Sandra Dedic and Carlos McEntire of Four Square Creative for hosting the November SDMCA-I meeting as well as:  
 
Michael Towe, of M2 Digital Post, who gave a presentation highlighting Avid Adrenaline’s abilities for color correction & Auto Desk Combustion’s strength in compositing. We’d like to thank Keycode Media for providing Mike’s equipment.

Carlos Stoliar, showed a demo reel and gave a presentation on Apple Shake, showing the interface and workflow for this powerful compositing and image processing application.

Erik Addison, gave a presentation on  Adobe Production Studio, with  its updating capabilities and Clip Notes, an application that lets you output your timeline to a PDF file that you can transfer via e-mail or FTP or post to a Web site. Clients can make notes and send them back to the editor where they appear in context. Eric has free (PC only) try-out versions of Production Studio – email Erik for more information.

Mike Brueggemeyer of Multi Image Productions gave a presentation on Adobe After Effects – and showed a couple examples of After Effects Motion Tracking capabilities. Now we know how to clean up an ugly issue in a testimonial!

And as if that wasn’t enough, we had a brief visit with Mike Krewitsky of Pro Sound and Music who gave us a short tour of Pro Tools mixing and sound processing.

Mike Gault of Four Square topped the evening with a tour or Four Square’s large Kearney Mesa facility. Many thanks to all our presenters.

2006 November Meeting

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October 2006

Camera Tips and Tricks – DP’s Show and Tell

Watch Mike Kurtz's time-lapse video taken of the meeting.

The definition of Director of Photography - DP - is varied, but one is “to predict the final outcome” using a combination of vision and tools. Predicting the success of an MCA-I meeting depends on a number of factors including the right combination of people, location and topic.

“Great session last night! It reinforced my knowledge and motivated me to go the extra mile to make my shots the best they can be every time. Our students from the UCSD Extension, DAC program, were very motivated to learn more and a few want to join MCA-I.”
MCA-I Member

This was a great meeting. More than 60 people from San Diego, LA and Orange County converged in Carlsbad at JM Digital Works. Ken Kebow had a chance to show off their facility and invited us back for a meeting in 2007.

Many thanks to Bill Bork and Martin Bank for starting the ball rolling with Karla Walters to bring down the Bogen Imaging arsenal (including the Formatt Filter Package) and introducing us to the educational arm of the ASC (the American Society of Cinematographers).

Before the main program began, our usual social networking hour was enhanced with the presence of so many new faces from all parts of Southern California. After general housekeeping and a few door prizes, Mark Bender (our local Bogen Rep) demonstrated Reflecmedia's Chroma Key package. A few more door prizes and let the show begin.

Our three panelists, Michael Kurtz, Ken Garff and Daryn Okada (President of ASC) were super. Each one providing exceptional examples of their work followed by entertaining explanations of “how they did it” using some of the tools we had at our disposal, as well as with intangible philosophical and inspirational ideas. We had some great tools - the Formatt Matte box from Bogen, as well as the Sony PDW-F350 XDCAM and a 42” monitor provided by Val Reynolds.

Each panelist endorsed the concept of getting it right at the camera, so that you don't have to “Fix it in Post” (see our upcoming November meeting information). And making sure you understand the capabilities of the camera before you start. For example, today's digital cameras have less latitude - and filters will help you control your image at the source.

A filter junkie, Daryn Okada uses filters like words. And compared to the filters he was using 20 years ago, today's filters have better glass and more options. And with HD, which sees everything, the panel suggests using softening filters to increase the shadow detail and give you more control.

Here is a suggestion for what filters could be in a basic DP Tool Kit (your mileage may vary).

Blue Grad #2 and #3, Sunset Grad #2 and #3, Soft Effects #1/2 and #1 (or some other softening filter), ND Grad (.3 or.6), Polarizer, Tobacco Grad #2

Mike Kurtz brought a Warm Cards kit and demonstrated setting or changing the white balance the right way - not using the back of the script or a white t-shirt. He also brought several of his re-purposed devices for adding motion to a shot when the budget or circumstances preclude a dolly, jib or crane - from a wheelchair, to a small hand-held gyro camera stabilizer, to a carpeted furniture moving dolly enhanced with a cushy bean bag and a C-Stand arm - he calls it his “Kinder-Kam”. Daryn elaborated on these low cost motion solutions with his story of shooting a film in Russia and using a similar technique to move the actress under a train, instead of moving the train over her. [Mike Kurtz's time-lapse video of this meeting.]

The new HD cameras also bring needle sharp images - making control over the depth of field critical in overcoming the challenge of creating a representation of the real (3D) world of emotions in 2D. This means decreasing depth of field so the foreground is sharp and the back ground soft which will focus the viewer's attention on the subject. Use the tools at hand to allow you to open up the lens - narrow the depth of field.

Daryn explained another DP tool - the Macbeth Color Checker chart on the first few shots to confirm that you have what you think you have color wise - after using filters and adjusting camera settings. Cameras have endless settings these days, so be sure to have it nulled out when you start. Know your camera and all the setup parameters!

A question from the audience asked how streaming media might change some of the rules. After discussing that there are rules and limitations of each distribution media, the bottom line is to always shoot to tell the story and engage your audience was the advice from the panel.

Daryn had a chance recently to do a high end camera comparison between film and HD. “Film sets a high bar,” he said. HD cameras are close, but not equal across the board. Whatever camera you use, you need to know your idea.

Parting thoughts from each of our talented guests included:

Mike - Put the camera in unique places. And throw out the first thought that comes to your mind. Let your imagination work with that idea to come up with a better one.

Ken - As we move into more resolution - look at your shots differently. With HD, the camera sees so much - there are so many pixels - you have to be careful not to shoot too close.

Daryn - Shoot for the media. Check everything out. Know the rules first - then you can break them. Take your personality and put it in the shot.

Door Prizes included several items from a special grab bag of Sony swag provided by Val Reynolds, LED tweaking lights from VO Guy - Travis out of the Orange County Chapter, two reference books from the American Society of Cinematographers and our grand door prize (a member perk) was a Lowel table top light kit picked up at this year's NAB. Back up door prizes from Bill Manning, ASC and JM Digital Works will roll over to next month.

2006 October Meeting

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September 2006

Legal Issues

Cynthia Jones, founder of Avatar Legal provided a very informative presentation to help keep us media professionals on the up and up, relatively free from litigation and out of jail. Okay, it wasn’t that scary, but attendees learned some important adult stuff about staying on the right side of the law concerning: contract law, copyrights, trademarks, and privacy law. She also touched upon copyright ownership and fair use obtaining trademark protection, and avoiding liability under California privacy laws.

Cynthia was very informative, answered many questions and is providing her PowerPoint Slides for download . Plus here's a great article on "The Boundaries of Copyright" .


Thanks to Kerry Garnett at TV Magic He gave a facility tour to attendees and looks forward to helping any of us if we need new equipment.

2006 September Meeting

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July 2006

Summer Beach Party

The 2006 Annual MCA-I Picnic last month was a smashing good time. Smashing the volleyball over the net. Smashing through the morning overcast skies for a sunny afternoon. And smashing the re-fried beans to make frijoles for the Mexican food buffet. About 35 members, friends and family came to play at the bay. Definitely a good time was had by all. And we have the pictures to prove it.

2006 Beach Party

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May 2006

Getting Profitable New Business

The May 31 meeting of MCA-I was hosted by James Kunitz at his studio, DV Creations, in Santee. James went all out in providing great food, including turkey and ham sandwiches on croissants, Mrs. Fields style cookies, sushi, a variety of drinks, chips and candy and more. Many thanks for your generous hospitality, James!

DV Creations has a nice sound stage with lighting grid and instruments, chromakey bg and white screen bg capabilities and set design and building. Please give him a call if you are in need of such amenities.

P. 619.631.1880 X. 201
F. 619.374.7473
9323 Stevens Rd. Suite A
Santee, CA 92071

About 30 members attended to hear a presentation by marketing consultant Colm Kelly. Colm provided worksheets for everyone in attendance and gave a very interesting presentation on how to choose a marketing strategy for your small business. Marketing campaigns that work for big business such as logo recognition campaigns and ads with no action message in them do not work for small business.

Some highlights of the presentation were:
1) The size of your print ad does not sell...your message sells
2) Your message needs to include all four steps of the AIDA Formula:
Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
3) He showed how to design a flier or print ad that works to generate calls.
4) Additionally Colm shared how much one should budget on advertising depending on how much monetary return one can expect over the life of that client. For example, if the Gross Profit Margin of a sale is 40% and an advertising campaign costs $2000, then one should aim for a minimum goal of $4000 in Gross Profit. Depending on how much a business wants to increase the businesses income, then one can calculate how may customers need to respond to each ad in order to make the campaign worth undertaking. Tinker with the copy of the ad and the marketing medium until those response results are achieved.

Colm Kelly can be reached at his company Smarter Small Business at 760-602-9821. He offers a half_hour free consultation to small businesses in addition to seminars and individual consulting.

Beverly Woodworth, Treasurer, also shared the results of an informal marketing survey she undertook. She had called 25 production companies listed on the International MCA_I website. 15 of those companies took the time to answer questions such as what type of advertising/marketing works best for you in getting new customers. One successful large production company has a sales staff that makes "warm calls" to their target market based on stories they read about them in the newspaper and trades. This way they establish a connection right away with the company and set themselves apart based on understanding some of the specific needs of the company. Another company takes out a trade booth at big trade conventions of its target market. Their goal is not to sell to the convention attendees, but to work the room talking to other vendors during booth set up time and tear down. It's a way to reach a lot of businesses interested in actively marketing themselves. He then calls these business contacts back after the trade show to set up on a meeting to pitch his services

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April 2006

NAB Wrap Up

The 2006 NAB Wrap-Up was a good time for all. AV Concepts hosted the event and boy, did they treat us right with barbequed hamburgers and hotdogs at their spacious building. And talk about door prizes! The two tables (really two big equipment travel cases, but who's checking) held such prizes as Video Hum Filters from Brendan Wood at Empire State Filter Company, Table-Top light kit from Lowel-Light Manufacturing ,a grab bag of goodies from Sony, AV Concepts even kicked in with a set of two-way radios, a 24-pack of permanent markers, batteries, and gaffer's tape! And all the “how to” books (from Peachpit publishers), pens, clips, and key chains (among other things) Luke Jungers and Mark Schulze begged, borrowed, or stole (just kdding!) from NAB! Anyway, on to the Wrap-Up!

The evening started with a barbeque provided by, AV Concepts. They provided hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, chips, well, you get the idea. After everyone ate their fill, the meeting started. Sony representative, Val Reynolds gave a great presentation on where Sony is going with HD video. He showed video demos of the various formats and capabilities of the latest Sony equipment -- including the new XDcam PDW F350 HD camcorder, and PDW F70 XD HD Deck. A Q & A session followed the videos.

Next, Tom James from Panasonic gave a comprehensive presentation of Panasonic's equipment line-up. ( Tom showed off the new AG-HVX200 HD camcorder, and talked about a few products designed to extend the working life of existing equipment. He also answered a few questions.

Then, it was time for the slide show, which consisted of pictures “from the floor” of the NAB show in Las Vegas. We saw everything from adaptors to zebras! (you know-zebras in a video camera), and everything in between. This was accompanied by a running commentary provided by Mark Schulze, with a little help from Luke Jungers.
All in all, it was a fun and productive meeting for all the 40 or so attendees. Remember, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas - except for NAB!

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March 2006

What’s Hot and What’s Not in “The State of Streaming Media Technology

Interesting Link: Shooting Video For Webstreaming

Over 50 people were at Vortex Data Systems on Wednesday, March 22 to learn about “The State of Streaming Media Technology” from a panel of online media experts. MCA-I would like to thank Catherine Bristol and the Vortex Data team for their generous hospitality while hosting this event.

Chad Reese, New Media Producer for Insurance Journal, opened the forum with a crash-course on streaming media. Chad provided resource links while briefing the attendees on streaming media terminology, encoding techniques, choosing appropriate codecs, and using third party streaming services.

The next presenter was Mary Lynn Price, an underwater videographer and streaming media enthusiast. Her underwater “DiveFilm Podcast Video” was recently an iTunes featured Podcast. Mary Lynn discussed video Podcasting workflows and tools for creating Podcasts. More Podcasting information can be found on the DiveFilm website.

Following Mary Lynn was Steve Christian, VP Marketing at Nine Systems Corporation. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Nine Systems helps today's best-known companies broadcast audio and video over the Internet and wireless easily, affordably and reliably. The Nine Systems team created a live streaming Webcast in a matter of minutes from the Vortex Data Greenroom.

The final presenter of the evening was Doug Reese, a pioneer in audio streaming at MP3Tunes. Doug demonstrated another side of the streaming media future. MP3Tunes is a Music Service Provider that provides a personal music locker with unlimited online storage, making it possible to access one's music collection from many devices. Mr. Reese is the lead developer of the streaming technology used at MP3tunes.

2006 March Meeting

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February 2006

A History Lesson! FREE screening of “The Cutting Edge - The Magic of Movie Editing” with special guest speaker Director and Executive Co-Producer Wendy Apple

On the big screen it was “The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing”. Behind the podium - the film's producer and director Wendy Apple, telling the stories of how the documentary came to be. And to start things off - a network nosh of around 70 whom all came to KPBS for an evening of learning more about the art and history of film editing.

Prior to getting the speaker segment of the program underway, San Diego MCA-I Chapter Communications Director, Mike Fendt, and Webmaster, Kerry McCall, were the recipients of the “Shining Star” award, given to recognize those who have made significant contributions to their chapter as leaders. New Chapter President, Mark Schulze, handed out the awards. Then International Chapter President, Connie Terwilliger, gave an update on the latest International developments, including information and an invitation to be a part of Pro Track 2006.

Wendy took the stage and entertained us all with the stories of how “The Cutting Edge” came into being. (Click here to read more about this). After fielding questions, Wendy ran a short film on editing that was created by A.C.E. (American Cinema Editors) in the 50s, and prior to “The Cutting Edge's” release was the only film, to her knowledge, about the craft of editing.

Then everyone settled in for 90+ minutes of excellent documentary story telling about the history of movie editing. So many big names were on the screen telling their stories - editors like Walter Murch, Dede Allen, Michael Kahn, Alan Heim and more, often times with their Directors, including Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Alexander Payne and many, many more. There were famous movie edits from some of the biggest blockbusters ever made. And there were stories of the beginnings of editing styles and how they evolved over time and impacted moviemakers of the last century. “The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing” informed us, entertained us and made us all laugh. If you would like to have a copy of this movie, it's available on DVD and very reasonably priced at Amazon.com.

Special thanks to our host for the evening, KPBS, who provided us with an excellent facility to view the film and numerous personnel to help coordinate all of the media and logistics…Plus kicking in some t-shirts and nice coffee mugs as door prizes. Thanks also to VER (Video Equipment Rentals 619- 299-8336), for providing the HD projector for the Feb meeting. And four lucky attendees went home with their own DVD copies of “The Cutting Edge” courtesy of the San Diego Chapter of the MCA-I.

2006 February Meeting

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January 2006

Guerilla Lighting/Annual Planning Meeting

About 50 people gathered at San Diego Production Centre to help plan the chapter's activities for the year and get some good lighting tips from Mike Brueggemeyer.

In addition to passing amendments to the chapter's bylaws, new officers and board members were elected:

Officers:
President: Mark Schulze
Vice President: Luke Jungers
Communications: Mike Fendt
Webmaster: Kerry McCall
Membership: Martin Banks
Treasurer: Beverley Woodworth
Logistics: Bill Bork
Programs: Jim Staylor

Board Members:
Jason Taylor
Phil Ferrari
Craig Bentley
Chad Reese

Many thanks to departing board members Ray Asturias, Mike Brueggemeyer and Steven Viel!

The last part of the planning portion of the meeting was getting attendee input about what programs we should put on at this year's meetings - stay tuned for announcements of future meetings!


Mike Brueggemeyer presented a 90-minute mini-seminar on lighting people. Mike began the presentation with instructions on how to set up a production monitor to reproduce accurate color using color bars from a camera. Even if your monitor does not have a “blue gun only” mode, Mike showed how you could use a piece of blue gel over the monitor to set color balance.

Mike went on to discuss how most people have a “good” side and a “not so good side” to their faces. To find the “good side” you look at which way a persons nose hooks and put the key light on that side of a persons face. With a single key light set at the proper angle, Mike explained Rembrandt lighting and the look that can be achieved. By using a 2'x4' sheet of foam core, Mike showed how to bounce in fill light and cut lens flare. By adding a rim light from the back, Mike was able to bounce more light with the foam core achieving a variety of different looks.

If you missed Mike Brueggemeyer at the San Diego Production Centre you missed another great presentation brought to you by the San Diego MCA-I. Become a member today and take advantage of the training, resources, and networking the San Diego MCA-I brings to you.

Door prizes: Video Gear Rentals donated Pancro lens cleaner, a Lee gel lighting pack, and lots of gaff tape. Broadcast Rentals gave out lanyard flashlights.

2006 January Meeting

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2002

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