I am a big fan and long time user of Adobe After Effects. Never used it? Well it is only the coolest software ever created, something like Photoshop for moving pictures. It is also the type of post production tool that turns a bland video into a masterpiece that will stop hearts and turn heads...if you ever manage to master it.

Being in the middle of a major effects project for a client I was immediately drawn to a post from the After Effects Facebook feed this evening -just check out this ama...

I stumbled across the picture below while surfing the World Wide Wait and it makes me realize just how spoiled we've become with built-in title generators and graphics tools in modern day editing applications. I have no idea what the story is behind this picture, but apparently this is how the folks at ILM created the iconic intro to the Star Wars films back in 1980!



May the force be with you!

I just completed a project that required a video clip to be sent to the University of Massachusetts Boston (www.umb.edu) for streaming from their online learning servers. It's easy enough to produce a Quicktime H.264 clip. But then the catch - they needed it at the NTSC frame rate of 29fps and an NTSC DV frame size of 720x480 pixels. Here in sunny South Africa we use 25fps and I work in 1080i HD resolutions which are 1920x1080 pixels.

I love little technical challenges like these.

I tried ...

If you're into pro video and audio, you've probably made the pilgrimage to MediaTech before. The event, held every two years, showcases the latest professional equipment on offer in the professional and broadcast AV world. This year the event was held in the Coca-Cola Dome.

The highlight for me was meeting Avid Application Specialist Oystein Riise Naess all the way from Dubai. Oystein really knows his way around Avid Media Composer and he was kind enough to show me around a few of the hidden ...

You've got to love LED lighting!

Pictured is yesterday's shoot - less than perfect ligthing conditions and I still got great results.

The completed clip is available on YouTube here

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by OFM's Yolanda Maartens yesterday evening. This was a brand new experience for me - usually Yolanda is the one behind the microphone and I'm in the control room with the sound enigneer! Being a techie by nature I really enjoyed being in the studio and seeing a pro at work. Folks, Yolanda is not just a great radio voice. She runs the entire show (and I really mean the ENTIRE show) by herself from the studio in Potchefstroom, tech support included!



I us...

I finally took the leap and upgraded to Adobe CS 5.5 Master Suite.
 
I've always wanted the full set of Adobe goodies but the pricing for a commercial licence is rather steep. However I find myself getting involved in more and more web and print projects so I figured it was about time to get the full set of tools.

CS 5.5 is sweet! The folks at Adobe are masters at intergration and all the apps in the Master Suite play along nicely as has been the case since the inception of the CS suites. Also, ...