SXSW 08: Blogs, Buzz, and Buddylists

This afternoon I'll be moderating the Blogs, Buzz, and Buddy Lists panel at South by Southwest. If you're in Austin for SXSW, stop by. You'll see: Karina Longworth: film blogger, Spout.com

Victor Pineiro: Writer-Producer, "Second Skin" - premiering at SXSW

Ian Schafer: CEO, Deep Focus

Alison Willmore: Film blogger, IFC.com

... along with yours truly.

And if you don't catch the panel, I'll be in town through Wed blogging about the screenings and panels I attend. Drop me a comment or email and we can connect.

UPDATED: Two more sites that we discussed on the panel today:

All These Wonderful Things

The Workbook Project

Review: Stop Staring and Start Grading with Apple Color

Stop Staring and Start Grading with Apple ColorWalter Biscardi, Jr. - Creative Cow MasterSeries DVD-Rom - $49.95

Walter Biscardi, who is a leader at the Creative Cow website, has produced this fine Color training video. It's consists of just over 2 hours of tutorials in the form of 9 lessons. All the lessons are QuickTime movies.

A small FCP project file with three clips, which you take into Color, is included on the disc. The project file that he supplies you with is very basic. I was a little skeptical at first that having only three clips wouldn't be enough to learn the program, but it's actually enough to get you started with all of the basics. In fact, I think the simplicity of Biscardi's approach is an asset.

As a teacher, Biscardi is nothing if not an enthusiastic guy. (At times he's downright manic.) He assumes you're an editor well versed in other Final Cut Studio applications and now you're being asked (or wanting to learn) to be a colorist.

All the movies are screencasts. When Walter wants you to see something up close, he zooms in on the element of the screen he wants you to see. If he wants you to look at something in the user manual, he'll superimpose those pages on screen. It's all very helpful.

The disc's emphasis is really on speeding through as much as possible to get you to dive in. In most cases, I felt like Biscardi did a fine job of covering things with enough detail that the application felt approachable, but not overwhelming. Walt spends the most time on Setup, Primary, and Secondaries. One minor criticism: The Primary Out room is barely discussed at all and I felt like he sped through this room too quickly. (I later found myself not using this room much at all, but was that because Biscardi hadn't taught me about it? Or was that because Biscardi understood it's only occasionally used? I don't know.)

Another minor quibble I have is that the DVD's interface is clunky. It uses a web browser to load the QuickTime movies you're supposed to watch. It's slow to load at times, and this could be done more elegantly. As a solution, I found it was easier to simply find the QuickTimes on the disc and simply play them one by one without the interface.

Of all the discs I surveyed and studied, Biscardi gets you in the fastest. There's truth in advertising: By watching "Stop Staring and Start Grading" while following along on my own computer I was quickly able to navigate through Color with some confidence. Highly recommended.

[Creative Cow info page] [Amazon link for purchase]

Oscar® Bragging Rights: Avid vs. Mac

I ran across some amusing (because they're duelling) press releases today: Avid is touting that all of the nominees in "every single one of the nominated and award-winning films in the Best Motion Picture, Directing, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects, Documentary Feature and Original Score categories at this year's Academy Awards were created using at least one Avid, Digidesign, Sibelius or Softimage product."

What Avid doesn't tout is the fact that multiple-Oscar (and Best Picture) winner No Country For Old Men "is the first movie edited with a completely digital workflow on Mac to win the Oscar." Indeed, the Coen Brothers have done a fair amount of promotion for Apple's Final Cut Studio suite.

Review: Digital Color Correction - The Final Cut Studio Workflow with Apple's ColorTraining DVD

Digital Color Correction:The Final Cut Studio Workflow with Apple's ColorCall Box $75

Digital Color Correction:The Final Cut Studio Workflow with Apple's Color stars Stuart Ferreyra and Noah Kadner (host of other Call Box videos) discussing Apple Color. The tutorial is really aimed at absolute beginners to Color and color grading. Being a beginner myself, that was exciting.

Ferreyra is an expert. Kadner, admittedly new to Color, represents a pro and indie (even low budget) philosophy. Kadner asks questions to Ferreya as Ferreya moves throgh the app. Kadner's backwards ballcap sensibility brings a welcome looseness to the proceedings.

This isn't is a step-by-step tutorial. As is repeated a few times, the DVD is not meant to take the place of the manual. And, significantly, there are no project files. This is a DVD (not a DVD-rom) that you simply watch.

As I watched it, I had Color open, but I didn't really find myself following along in the application. Instead, billed as an "insider's look", it's like sitting down with a friend and watching over his shoulder as he works. Sometimes that's a great way to learn; other times you feel like you want the friend to move over and let you push the buttons. If the disc had gone a little further in having Ferreya discuss the artistry of being a colorist -- what he looks for in an image and how he has learned to adjust it -- this DVD could have been a home run. But I did benefit from hearing Ferreya discuss his craft and it does better than the other DVDs I'll be reviewing in terms of discussing the actual art of grading.

In sum I enjoyed the disc, but I didn't think it carried as much value as the other two Call Box discs I've seen, 24P Digital Post Production with Final Cut Pro and the DVX100 and Digital Color Correction:Panasonic P2 Workflow with Final Cut Pro and the HVX200. The latter, in fact, is a truly superb introduction for to the HVX and I recommend it to anyone new that camera and its unique workflow.

Working with Apple Color

As I began the process (still ongoing) of delivering my new film, Quick Feet, Soft Hands I started weighing whether or not to try to do the final color grading in Apple's Color. Certainly, in the spirit of self-reliance, it made sense to go this route. On the other hand, I have a lot of respect for the artistry that a colorist can bring to a project. When the quotes I was getting from some of the post-houses I was considering turned out to be far higher than what little I had remaining in my budget, I decided to spend some time learning Color. If I couldn't get the job done myself, I figured I could always raise some money and plunk down the money for a grading session with a pro. Color, though, is not nearly as intuitive app like Apple's other studio applications. (Color began as Silicon Color's FinalTouch application, and this is probably the reason it lacks the signature intuitiveness of Apple software.) On top of that, most people haven't had color theory in the way that they've had experience editing picture. At least, I certainly hadn't. So, for me, this was -- at least initially -- as complicated and intimidating as jumping into nonlinear editing after using a Steenbeck.

So, where to start?

What Equipment You Need to Start Working in Color: Aside from working on computers that meet Apple specs, I found that you want to do work in Color on the largest monitor(s) that you have available. You may find that you even want to purchase a new monitor.

I began by working on a Dual 1.8 G5 with two 15" 4:3 monitors set up at 1024x768 and I soon discovered that it was literally impossible to use only one of these monitors in Color's single monitor mode. Even when using two monitors, reading the text in the menus was not easy. So, you need a big monitor -- I'd even take one large monitor over two small ones (and I rarely say that). In the end, I did most of my work on a MacPro with two Apple 23" monitors with an external Broadcast HD monitor, which I have access to at Virginia Tech. If I hadn't had access to this computer my G5 at home would have worked, but it would have been slow on renders and playback. And upgrading my monitors would have been a must.

Can you work in Color without a broadcast monitor? Sorta. The color of computer monitors will not match that of output for television, so it's obviously far better to know what you're really looking at as you work. (Consider: Would you edit the sound to your project listening to it through your computer's built-in speaker?) I think that for matching the color temperature of one shot to another you're fine looking at a computer monitor. The problem is knowing whether or not the colors you're seeing overall on that monitor are accurate. So, at the very least, if mainly working with computer monitors, I would want to make sure that I had access to a computer with a properly calibrated broadcast monitor for a few hours to tweak settings before final rendering.

Aside from computer and monitor issues, you need a three-button mouse. I don't especially care for Apple's so-called "mighty mouse", but it can work. (I prefer Kensington's Optical Elite.) If you're going to go pro with this stuff, you'll want to purchase a colorist's control surface. But such things are expensive -- $5000 and upwards. (If you've got that kind of money what are you doing working with Color?) Seriously, if you're not doing this all day, a mouse should be fine.

Finally, you're also going to need some hard drive space. A full output of Quick Feet, Soft Hands meant re-rendering a little less than 20GB of new footage. (We brought it into Color in its native DVCProHD, but took it out using Apple's ProRes 422 HQ codec.) Loading up your computer with RAM is a good idea too, but then you probably already knew that.

Digging In

I learned fairly quickly that Color is not the sort of application that the novice can just jump into. The interface doesn't feel like an Apple application -- even navigating through "Open..." and "Save..." menus looks different. So I looked for help in the way of instructional DVDs. My next few posts on SRF will evaluate the pros and cons of each disc I watched.

After those posts I'll share the overall workflow we used to get Quick Feet, Soft Hands color graded and onto HDCAM for delivery to ITVS. Who knows? By the time I finish these posts the movie might even be delivered.

Film Preservation Manual

Chris Cagle over at Category D recently posted information about a film -- as in 16mm, 35mm, etc. -- preservation manual he found online. For me, this is perfect timing. Just this week some librarians at Virginia Tech asked Stephen Prince and me to look at our 16mm collection to assess what should be kept and what should be thrown out. The guide, authored by the University of Washington, is clearly geared to librarians (one chapter title: "I Found Motion Picture Film in My Collection -- Now What?"), but it's a useful (and free!) resource for anyone that has (or has access to) film prints.

You can download it here.

MacHeist: Indy Mac Software + Good Cause = Insane Deal

If you use a Mac, you absolutely must check out the insane deal that MacHeist -- an alliance of independent Mac software developers -- is offering. For $49.95, MacHeist is selling $428 worth of fully-featured (i.e., not demo mode) Mac software. And to make the offer that much sweeter, a good chunk of the proceeds go to charity. As of this writing, $227,000+ has been raised so far.

Plus, the software is good. I would recommend all three of the twelve titles that I've previously used:

SnapzProX - a screencapture utility that's GREAT for creating screencasts iStopMotion - a great program for shooting stop motion animation 1Password - a browser extension that saves all your passwords in one place, and generates secure passwords

I'm an especially big fan of SnapzProX. Last fall I used it (in demo mode) to create a screencast for some of my students. I found it to be the best application of its kind on the Mac. It normally sells for $69, but for the next four days people can get it, plus 11 other applications, for $20 less. And it goes to charity. So I'm getting out my credit card now.

As for the charities represented, according to the MacHeist wiki:

Purchasers can choose from the following list of ten charities, or opt to split the donation from their purchase evenly among the choices.

* Action Against Hunger * AIDS Research Alliance * Alliance for Climate Protection * Direct Relief International * Humane Society International * The Nature Conservancy * Save the Children * Save Darfur * Prevent Cancer Foundation * World Wildlife Fund

Panasonic HVX-200 for sale...

I'm selling my venerable Panasonic HVX-200 and its 8GB P2 card. No, I'm not giving up filmmaking; I just don't need the camera. I was looking to rent an HVX this summer for a few weeks to do some shooting in Knoxville and Roanoke. For the few weeks I needed it, a rental wasn't really cost-effective, so I just bit the bullet and bought the camera. Now that we've got a few HVX's at Virginia Tech, I don't need to hang on to this one. As many people who read this blog would probably testify, it is an awesome camera. The DVCPro HD codec at 24P is totally impressive. Anyway, if you're interested, email me personally [ pharrill AT you-know-what DOT com ]. You can ask me all about it and I can let you know all the details, accessories, etc. I'd rather sell it to a reader of SRF than put it up on Ebay, so I'll entertain any reasonable, sincere offer.

UPDATE: Looks like it's sold folks. Thanks for your interest!

From Here to Awesome

For filmmakers it is the best of times and worst of times. The tools are more accessible but the market has become saturated....From Here to Awesome is an attempt to answer some of the largest issues facing filmmakers today - discovery, distribution and sustainability.

- From Here to Awesome festival co-founder Lance Weiler

From Here to Awesome is a "new" film festival -- both in the sense that it has just launched and in its aims and approach. I encourage all filmmakers using film festivals as a gateway to larger distribution efforts (theatrical, DVD release, etc) to check it out.

Billed as a discovery and distribution festival, FHTA has been dreamt up by three filmmakers with unassailable DIY credibility: Lance Weiler (Head Trauma, The Last Broadcast), Arin Crumley (Four-Eyed Monsters) and M dot Strange (We Are the Strange). Their ethos and aesthetic run through the festival, from the way that they plan to use existing web community portals (YouTube, MySpace, etc) to conduct the submission and selection process, to the festival's filmmaker-friendly guidelines (e.g., no entry fee, all rights remain with filmmakers, etc).

Submissions are open (as of yesterday); the deadline for submissions is March 7.

In all, it's an ambitious undertaking, one that seems to be nothing less than a reinvention of the film festival. Here's wishing them -- and the filmmakers that submit -- the best of luck.

Check it out for yourself.

HD-DVD Burning with an "SD" Mac

This may be old news to some of you, but it was news to me: You can burn HD-DVDs (not Blu-Ray) on a Mac using a standard DVD burner, Final Cut Pro, Compressor, and DVD Studio Pro. I tried it last night. It works. The limitations?

- Standard single-layer DVD media storage limits mean that you're limited to burning shorter projects (under 60 min). - The article states you can't play these on an HD-DVD player. I don't have an HD-DVD player, so I haven't verified this. You can, however, play them on a Mac.

Hooking up my MacBook Pro to a television and screening the DVD played flawlessly. And it looked a lot better than a standard definition DVD.

The trade-off? As anyone who's done it before can tell you, encoding a project to H.264 takes a long, long time.

How to Send Big Files

Over the last month or so I've needed to send and receive a lot of large files (Final Cut project files, songs in AIFF format, DVD burn files, and so on). By "large" I mean in the 20mb - 4gb range. These files are usually too large to be sent via email because of file size limits, using an FTP site can be a hassle (as David Pogue has noted), and sending files via DVD-Rom via mail or FedEx is (comparatively) slow and pricey. For me, the solution has been to share these large files via a few of the several services that exist online. I have used YouSendIt, FileFactory, and Pando. All have worked just fine.

The first two are file-hosting sites; Pando, on the other hand, is a stand-alone application. It requires a (free) download, but it also allows for the sharing of much larger files.

If you find yourself needing to share large files and don't know where to start, a fairly comprehensive listing of file hosting sites is available on Wikipedia. You can also check out this article, which surveys some of the main services.

Dimmer Boxes

When I was looking through the new edition of The Filmmaker's Handbook, I noticed a lot of little changes and additions. An example: In a list of equipment to bring to the set, in the lighting category I noticed one addition: "dimmer boxes." I can't argue with that -- dimmer boxes help one light with finesse, and they're fairly easy to come by. I went to the trouble of making a couple dimmers (aka "hand squeezers") myself about a year and a half ago. I made a couple of 600 watt boxes, as well as a 1000 watt box. The supplies I got from the local home improvement store, though I remember that the 1000w dimmer was not widely available. If I remember correctly, I built all three dimmer for about $100 in supplies. They would have been cheaper, but the 1000w dimmer was considerably more expensive than the 600w.

In retrospect, instead of making those boxes, I would have been better off simply purchasing one of the many dimmer boxes or router speed controls (which can be used as a dimmer box) that are commercially available. They're cheaper, they're probably more reliable than anything I could build, and the heavy duty router speed controls can handle more power than the ones I built. Plus, the router speed controls have a safety fuse, which my self-built dimmers lack.

Shopping for some last week, I ran across lots of varieties. Here are some:

Dimmer Boxes:

Ikea Dimma - 300 Watts and under - $7.95 Note: Not useful for most motion picture lights, but if you just need something for practicals, these are nice and cheap.

Smith Victor - DC-1 Dimmer Control - 600 Watts and under - $23.95

Router Speed Controls:

Harbor Freight Tools - 15 Amps and lower - $19.99

MLCS Router Speed Control - 15 Amps and lower - $20.95 and $28.95, respectively, for the "home" and "industrial/commercial" use boxes

Grizzly G3555 Router Speed Control - 20 Amps and lower - $31.50

Rockler Router Speed Control - 20 Amps and lower - $39.99

If, however, you wish to build your own, you can find instructions in Blain Brown's Motion Picture and Video Lighting, 2nd Edition (p. 241) and, of course, there are plans aplenty on the 'net.

Resource for Writers: Occupational Outlook Handbook

Doing some researching and writing earlier this month, I was trying to decide on an appropriate occupation for a character I was creating. One of the most helpful online resources I found was the Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. If you visit the site, go to the search box in the upper right hand corner and type an occupation. If your search terms are too specific, just make it more general (e.g., try "dental" instead of "dental technician", which will give you lots of results). Eventually you should be led to an overview of the profession you're seeking, including the types of wages that might be expected, the type of education required, and so on. Useful stuff for writers, particularly the stuff about the downsides to each job. Can you say "conflict"?

Of course, besides its usefulness to writers, people that are actually, you know, looking for jobs might appreciate the link, too. Being the lucrative, high-demand profession that independent filmmaking is, though, I doubt many readers of this blog would ever need to use the site in this way.

Review: Primera Bravo SE Disc Publisher

Note: Though it's clumsy phrasing throughout this review I refer to the Primera Bravo SE Disc Publisher by its full name because Primera makes a similarly named unit, the Bravo SE AutoPrinter. The AutoPrinter model prints, but does not burn, DVDs. It's a critical distinction, and one that you want to make sure you're aware of if you decide to purchase either unit!

**

Though the days of online distribution are upon us, DVDs still remain a (if not the) most effective way of sharing work seriously with an audience.

Obviously, one way of producing DVDs of one's work is to burn discs individually on your computer. After burning, you can label them by hand or, if you have a printer that accepts DVDs, use a printer. This method works fine if you've just got a handful to burn. Sometimes these printers can be fussy, though. Don't get me started on my experiences with my Epson R200 printer.

Another way of producing DVDs is to have them produced by a professional duplication house (e.g., DiscMakers). This is the way to go if you need hundreds for festival submissions, online or in-person sales.

But what about if you need somewhere between a dozen and a thousand? What if you find yourself needing to burn and print a moderate number discs, particularly projects that need to be updated intermittently (like, say, a demo reel)?

The Primera Bravo SE Disc Publisher aims for this market. A combination laser jet printer, DVD burner, and robotic arm, it automates the burning and printing up to 20 DVDs at a time. I have been testing one for the past couple of months, and here are my findings:

Pros:

Once set up, it does the job without hassle. Setting up the Primera Bravo SE Disc Publisher with a Windows-based computer was fairly hassle free. And once it was set up the unit performed like a charm. Readers of this site may be doing a double-take -- Did Paul just say Windows machine? Yup. I first tried setting up the Bravo SE Disc Publisher using an older "sunflower" iMac. That unit simply didn't have enough RAM and processor speed to do the job. Worse, though, was the fact that, regardless of the Mac computer I used, the included software was buggy and the features were limited. On a Windows-based machine the Bravo SE Disc Publisher has worked flawlessly and the included burning and label design software is easy to use.

Automation is a beautiful thing. The Bravo SE Disc Publisher will do runs of 20 discs. In my tests, the unit only stopped mid-run because of an error once, and that error was an operator error. (The "finished disc" tray should be extended when printing one disc, but pushed in when printing two or morel I left it out once when I should have pushed it in.) After a number of runs I grew confident that the unit didn't need "nursing." I felt confident leaving it alone and concentrating on other work.

It's pretty speedy. The time it takes to burn and print a run of 20 is dependent on a lot of factors -- the length of the program, the design of the label, your computer's processor speed and RAM. With my set-up the Bravo SE Disc Publisher was able to burn 20 DVDs of a short program (30 minutes or so) with a basic text label in about an hour. I was satisfied with those results.

Results have been reliable. The DVDs I've burned work, and they look consistently good. 'Nuff said.

Cons:

Not so hot on Macintosh. Though, admittedly, I tried using an iMac that didn't have enough oomph to get the job done, the design/burning software included for Mac was not as feature rich.

Ultimately, whether this unit is for you depends on your DVD burning needs. The results are more immediate than sending the DVDs off for replication, and the thing is far speedier than burning and printing with your computer and a printer that requires you loading discs one-by-one. However, for the cost of a Bravo SE Disc Publisher (about $1500 online) you could do two 300 disc runs (including cases and full-color sleeves) at DiscMakers. And remember, you'll need to purchase blank DVDs, blank cases, print inserts, etc. if using a Primera.

You'll have to do your own cost-benefit analysis to determine what's most cost effective for the work you do, but for what it sets out to do, the Bravo SE Disc Publisher is a success.

Film Festival World: Resources

Film Festival World has recently launched a few useful resource pages worth checking out: Their Ezines, Journals, & More page selects some of the better sources of critical writing on film from around the (digital) globe. Alongside long-running magazines (like Cahiers du Cinema and Cineaste) are sites like the Rouge and Senses of Cinema. I'm looking forward to exploring the sites that are new to me.

Another resource worth checking out is what they call The Essential Film Blog Reader. Though some of my favorite bloggers aren't listed (Mr. Schnack? Mr. Lowery?) what's there is quality stuff: David Bordwell, Ray Carney, Chris Fujiwara, Girish, Sara Jo Marks, Chuck Tryon, and others. Needless to say, I was flattered by the compliment of inclusion (and their biography, which was done entirely without my input).

If you're unfamiliar with Film Festival World, you can read more about the site here.

Use Caution, Leopard Ahead

Apple's new operating system, Leopard, was released about 5 minutes ago. If you edit video -- and I assume you do if you're reading this -- read the post at Little Frog before you rush to upgrade. (Little Frog... Leopard... What is it with the animals today?). Shane Ross has some tips for upgrading, which I wholeheartedly endorse. The golden rule? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Read on...

UPDATE: Less than 24 hours after going on sale, Leopard is... going on a rampage. While there are, doubtless, some happy early adopters out there, several folks are making some noise about all of the problems they're having post-install. Topics in the Apple Support Forums with such inspiring titles as "Installation appears stuck on a plain blue screen" are not reassuring.

So, for now, beware. As one MacFixit article states:

Apple, having allowed this shipment to slip six months already, has had to get Leopard out the door before the end of October by hook or by crook. You may reasonably conclude that this cake is probably not entirely baked. As with Tiger, an early software update (10.5.1) will likely be needed to correct a multitude of issues. Until then, consider yourself a beta tester.

If you absolutely must install Leopard, read this MacFixIt article about the best way to install Leopard.

Review: The Filmmaker's Handbook, 3rd Edition

My earlier post on the 3rd edition of The Filmmaker's Handbook was written in anticipation of receiving it. Now I've got it in hand, and had a chance to look it over. A lot of people simply want to learn from a review whether or not they should own a book or not. If that's why you're reading, the answer is that, generally speaking, if you are a novice-to-intermediate filmmaker, this is an essential book.

Now that we've got that out of the way, here are some quickly-jotted observations:

There are lots of changes, but few surprises. And that's probably a good thing. There's only one new chapter, at the beginning, which lays out basic questions that filmmakers should consider before beginning their work. Aside from that, the changes are all revisions. The biggest change, because it's something of a philosophical shift, is that the chapters on Video now take precedence over the chapters on Film. And, of course, the video chapters have been (predictably) overhauled and expanded. The film chapters have largely gone (predictably) untouched.

It's still essential. I don't know of any single technical manual related to filmmaking that collects so much information in one place. None of its chapters can compete with my favorite books on sound, lighting, etc. but this is a great place for novices to begin and it's a great single reference book for the rest of us, particularly on the things that won't change as quickly as video (sound, lighting, film).

It's already starting to become obsolete. Steven Ascher notes this in the preface: "Right now, the pace of change in video and computer technology is so rapid, some things in this book could be dated before you get to the end of this sentence." There is a small, one sentence mention of the Red Camera (bottom of p. 34). I expect there will be more on 4K and RAW imaging in later editions.

There will be new editions, and probably sooner than later. The cover of this edition conspicuously notes that this not the "3rd Edition", but instead the "2008 Edition." Aside from noting that, well, it's still 2007, I have to imagine that this is a hint that we'll see this tome updated more regularly. And it is a tome.

Readability is reduced. The Handbook has been such a staple of film education because of its (relative) readability. Ascher and Pincus do a fine job of making complex technical concepts understandable for novices. But as the book has grown (see below) it has sacrificed some of its readability. There is simply so much stuff in this new edition that it can be a little difficult to navigate through it to find what you need. Luckily the index is above-average for this type of book.

It's big. Really big. I remember a film professor of mine once waxing nostalgic about how the precursor to the first edition of The Filmmaker's Handbook was a small pocket-sized book by Ed Pincus called Guide to Filmmaking. That book, my professor argued, was superior in some ways to editions of The Filmmaker's Handbook because you could stash it in your back pocket while you filmed. He had a point. This is a "handbook" in name only -- it has 830 pages and weighs nearly 3 pounds! (Here's a similarly sized work of fiction, as a point of comparison.) I wouldn't recommend eliminating anything, but I do wonder if perhaps the next edition shouldn't be called The Filmmaker's Desk Reference.

In sum, while this isn't my favorite film book, if you are new to filmmaking, or if you are beyond the basics but need a single desk (or on-set) reference for tons of technical stuff, this is probably about the best $16.50 you could spend.

Two Hands are Better Than One: LevelCam and "RebelCam"

Earlier this month, Matt over at FresHDV posted some photos of a new, fairly inexpensive ($50) gizmo called the LevelCam, which helps stabilize camcorder footage. This is no Steadicam -- there's no counterweight, no spring-loaded arm, no gimble. It's just a small horizontal mounting surface that allows a camera operator to hold a camera level with two hands instead of just one. The LevelCam looks throw-it-in-your-backpack small, which is an added bonus. Of course, if you're too cheap to spring for something like the LevelCam -- of if you just want to see how such a thing works -- you could build a similar contraption. Stu Maschwitz's DV Rebel's Guide has instructions for building what he calls a "ghetto cam." (Note to Stu: Not to get too PC on you, but I think "StuCam" or "RebelCam" would be a better name for it.) What is it? Basically a 2x4 and a couple of 1" dowels.

I just built a "RebelCam" to see just how much it helps stabilize the image, and I have to say that it works better than I expected. The materials cost less than $10; building it took about an hour. The two downsides are that a) it's kinda bulky and b) getting the camera mounted with a thumbscrew is a pain. For $40 more (and no effort) you can get a smaller, possibly more convenient version.

Of course, you can just try to hold the camera steady with one hand. People have done it for years. Or at least tried.

21 Mac Shareware Applications for Filmmakers

Back in July, I linked to a post that recommended 15 "must have" Freeware programs for filmmakers. Though it favored Windows users, it was still an interesting list of applications. At the end of that post in July I mentioned that I'd try to add to that list, so here it is. Listed below are 21 freeware and shareware applications that I use regularly or which have, at the very least, really saved my butt a couple of times. There are only two duplicates betwen the FreekGeekery list and the one below.

Granted, some of these applications are, at best, only tangentially related to filmmaking. While it may not be as sexy as editing your latest masterpiece simple stuff like email, writing treatments, doing budgets, taking notes, and - yes - simply maintaining your computer probably constitute at least some of your time as a filmmaker. At least, I know it does mine. And you know what? That's okay. It's all part of the same process.

So on with the list. If you see a favorite application of yours missing from this list, by all means say so in the comments.

21 Mac Shareware Applications for Filmmakers

AppleJack AppleJack is a system maintenance utility more than an application, and it's certainly not filmmaking related. So why list it? Because I find it indispensable when my Mac is acting up. When I was having problems with my Multibridge and OS 10.4.10, it was AppleJack to the rescue. Install it now and be thankful on that rainy day when your computer starts acting up. Cost: Free

Audacity Sound recorder and editor. Compare with Audio Hijack Pro (below). Cost: Free

Audio Hijack Pro Multifeatured sound recording application that lets you record internet radio, audio from Skype and iChat. Can be used to import analog (e.g., vinyl and cassettes) into iTunes. Etc. While there's some crossover between this and Audacity, the latter stands out as a sound editor, while Audio Hijack Pro lets you "hijack" streaming audio from various online sources. Both have their place in my Applications folder. Cost: $32

Capture Me Utility that allows you to capture screenshots even while playing a DVD on your computer. (OS X's built-in screencapture prohibits this.) Great for grabbing inspiring images to save for yourself or to share with collaborators. Cost: Donationware

Celtx A screenwriting and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pre-production organizer. Celtx has been, for me, the buggiest application on this list. Then again, when you consider the sorry state of screenwriting applications on the Mac it starts to look okay. If you don't already have a screenwriting app that works for you, this is probably your best bet for now, mainly because it's free. Someday I hope to be able to give a forehanded compliment to a screenwriting app -- for now "It's free!" is the best I can muster. (If you think this sounds cranky, ask me what I think of some of the screenwriting software in the $200 range.) Cost: Free

Cyberduck Open source FTP and SHTP browser. For a long time I used RBrowser to connect to the SRF server. Now this does the job. Cost: Donationware

DVD Spanner AKA Span DVD Automates burning of folders of large files over several DVDs. I used this to backup onto DVD several P2 cards worth of footage shot this summer and it worked like a charm. Cost: Free

DVDxDV Converts DVD files to QuickTime, which allows you to edit them in Final Cut Pro. I use this in tandem with MacTheRipper (below) to make subject-based dvds of clips for class lectures. The "Pro" version has added features, including batch capture and better performance with widescreen anamorphic footage. Cost: $25 (Standard version) or $80 (Pro version)

Journler This is a virtual notebook for all those idea scraps -- text, web clippings, audio/video files -- that are floating around on your hard drive, on your desk, or in your head. Previously I had used SOHO Notes, and this compares favorably. Cost: Donationware (personal use) or $25 (non-personal use)

MacTheRipper Rips DVDs to your hard drive while removing the region coding and copy protection in the process. Controversial? Yup. Useful? You bet. The website notes that "MacTheRipper is intended to backup DVDs you have legally purchased for personal use. Any copyright-infringing activity you choose to perpetrate using this application is illegal, immoral, and beyond our control.â" Cost: Free

NeoOffice An open-source replacement for Microsoft's Office suite. Word processor, spreadsheet, etc. Not quite as elegant as MS Office, but you can't beat the price, and there's something to be said for supporting open-source programmers over global monopolies. Cost: Free

Pacifist Allows you to extract individual files and folders out of Mac OS X .pkg package files, .dmg disk images, and .tar, .tgz, and .tar.gz file archives. Definitely not something I use every day, but it helped me out in a big way once, so it gets a mention. Shareware: $20

PDF Lab If you're trying to generate a PDF by using OS X's "Print to PDF" you run into problems when using lame applications (that means you, Final Draft 6), which require you to print your title page separately from your main document. PDF Lab is my workaround. Cost: Donationware

QuickTime Movie NoteTaker Allows the taking of notes while watching dailies, transcribing video interviews, etc. Cost: Free

SpamSieve Precision spam killer. Worth every penny. Cost: $30

SuperDuper! Backs up and clones hard drives. If that sounds boring, well, it is. But I'll take "boring" over "drama" (read: drive failure without a backup) when it comes to hard drives. Cost: Free

Taco HTML Edit Full featured HTML and PHP editor. I use this to modify aspects of the SRF site. Cost: Free

Transcriva Great application for doing transcriptions of interviews. If you need video functionality, compare this with QuickTime Movie NoteTaker (above). Cost: $19.99

Timecode Calculator As its name suggests, this does one thing and it does it well. Cost: Free or $7 (depends on which version you want)

Video Disk Space Calculator Helps you compute hard drive space for different codecs. I use this thing more and more now that I'm not strictly working with DV-based footage. Cost: Free

VLC Player Multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, etc.) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. Cost: Free

Finally, though I cannot vouch for them, Blender, Jahshaka, and CinePaint are all worth a look if you do animation or effects-heavy work.

If I've left something off this list, post a comment!

The Bible, Revised

In some fields, there's that one book which, without it, your collection would be hopelessly incomplete. In my opinion, every kitchen needs a copy of The Joy of Cooking, a library's not a library if it doesn't have the Oxford English Dictionary, and filmmakers... well, I would argue that all of us need a copy of The Filmmaker's Handbook by Steven Ascher and Edward Pincus. At least that was true a few years ago. First released in 1984, The Filmmaker's Handbook was one of the first, and best, books to cover almost all technical aspects of the filmmaking process. Its presentation of technical concepts was accessible to beginners; its depth of detail meant experienced filmmakers could return to it again and again, always sure to learn new things.

For years, the Handbook didn't need an update. Film technology had gone largely unchanged for decades. An f-stop's an f-stop, right? Then, in 1999, the Handbook was updated to include developments in digital video. A necessary nod to the present, no doubt, but also an invitation to obsolescence.

The 2nd edition was first published in March 1999 -- one month before the unveiling of Final Cut Pro 1.0. Things have changed. Radically. Needless to say, the Handbook's been long overdue for another update.

So when I say that the new edition of The Filmmaker's Handbook was released yesterday, well, if you're sentimental about books like I am, maybe you'll agree that this is a cause for celebration.

In many ways, though, it's a bittersweet celebration. At this point, I don't expect The Filmmaker's Handbook to present any especially new information, exactly. The internet keeps me up-to-date on this stuff far better than any book can now. And, like so much of the technology it will no doubt discuss, I suspect that much of the information found in this 3rd Edition will be out of date within a year or two. If not sooner.

Yet, even when discussing evolving technologies, books have their place. Books demand (or at least request) more attention than digitally-presented information does. That's a good thing, especially when you're trying to learn something. You can also carry a book to a remote location where you might never have the internet access that would allow you to google for a solution that might crop up on set. But most importantly, a book lets you dog ear its corners, mark up key passages, and write in the margins. At least, that's what I plan to do with my new edition as soon as it arrives on my doorstep.

And besides, a lot of what this new 3rd edition of The Filmmaker's Handbook will have to say has never gone out of style and won't for a long, long time. After all, an f-stop's still an f-stop.