Bandmateloops has released "three new Hip-Hop song kits, each with their own theme and style. The first song kit, called Hip-Hop RnB - Just Chillin’, is a fusion of modern Hip-Hop and RnB. The three complete loop sets feature influences from West Coast Connection and Mary J Blige, according to Bandmateloops. The second kit, Hip-Hop RnB - World-wide, has a Latin flavor, while the third song kit, The Players, mid-west/southern-style theatrics and 70’s super-funk. The song kits are available in Apple Loops, Acidized Wave, Rex2 and ReFill formats and cost $13.95 each." Perfect for Garageband and SoundTrack Users.

(via Macworld)

Apple has the site up for the new Mac Mini which now features an Intel Dual core chip, no design changes as far as I can tell. Front Row and the remote are also now included. With each passing revision, the Mac Mini is becoming less of a computer and more of a media center.

Update: With the Intel Dual Core, I can see this machine being a decent DV editing machine, mind you, the hard drive is still pretty slow but that can be solved with an external firewire drive. The Bus speed and RAM power though still hold back this machine from being anything close to a G5 or the likes.

According to a report, RealVideo is still ahead of Windows media, top Flash and Apple's H.264 codecs. Flash and H.264 according to the report trail significantly. There is also a section in the report that talks about how to shoot for the Flash codec. You can buy the report for $295, it includes still images and video so you could compare the results yourself.

Today, AJA announced the Kona LSe, a PCI-Express version of the company's analog and digital SD video capture/ playback card. Designed for Final Cut Pro users running G5 PCIe G5 systems. The card features 12-bit component or composite/S-video analog I/O. The Kona LSe boasts PCIe 4-lane compatibility, 10-bit SDI input, and two independent SDI outputs alongside AES I/O for sample rate conversion on input. The card offers balanced analog audio I/O; six-channel SDI embedded audio support; broadcast-quality TBC with VHS support; "Genlock;" RS-422 machine control; and AJA QuickTime drivers. Available on March 20th for $1000.

(via MacNN)

Most likely my next computer will be a laptop and most likely that laptop is going to be the MacBook Pro (15"). If I get the laptop, it will be my first Mac laptop and the first laptop I am considering doing some editing on. The reviews that have been streaming in have been similar to Macworld's  (preliminary) review of the product. Basically, native apps run quick (3.3 times faster) but the Rosetta translated apps have similar speed results as the Powerbook G4. Though CS2 is noticeably slower on the newer machine, I am guessing that is because Adobe optimizes their apps for the processor. Rumor also has it that Pro Apps including Final Cut Pro might have an universal version as early as Feb 28th when Steve Jobs is set to announce new products. The transition to Intel is happening faster than I imagined.

This Wired story about the problems that plagued Scanner Darkly really pains me. Richard Linklater (director of many classic independent films) and Bob Sabiston were the creators of the classic animation film Waking Life. They were once again reunited to work on Scanner Darkly, a movie based on a Philip K. Dick's novel starring Keanu Reeves. Unlike Waking Life, Scanner Darkly needed a more realistic animation which took longer to recreate especially for the animators who had very little experience in this area (or so it seems from the article). The project was so far behind schedule that Sebiston was not only replaced but locked out of the studios. I am big fan of Bob Sabiston because, besides being a cool guy (check out Waking Life DVD extras), he pioneered this method of rotoscoping. Also a big fan of Linklater so it feels like my parents or somebody similar are fighting and I wish they'd stop. Anyway, if any of you are interested in animation, I suggest you read the article mainly to see how much patience that artform requires.

With his notebook and FX1 in tow, Art Donahue shoots and edits peices for the news magazine "Chronicle" in Boston.  His $5,000 setup allows him to produce better video than $100,000 worth of equipment 10 years ago would produce.  With his added portability, he turns around packages the same day, and gets them on the SD/HD simulcast PBS affiliate in Boston.  The article is a great retrospective about how far we come, despite its sponsorship via Avid.

[Via Videoguys]

Supporting HDV, and all of it's various flavors, is finally coming around, and today Canopus says EDIUS 3 Pro supports all the flavors that the XL H1 can throw at it.  Although the camera is 1080i native, it can shoot a 24P style picture which Canon calls 24F, 30F (progressive 30) and 60i.  Realistically, the only thing really noteworthy about supporting these formats is the 24F support, which kind of throws a monkeywrench into the editing process.

Over at Apple.com you can checkout a new on-line seminar which focuses on shooting and editing in the field. The seminar is free, all you need to do is sign up and from there you can go through and watch the various movie clips. The seminar covers a number of topics including,

• What mobile digital video editing means for videographers.

• The how-to's of mobile field editing on the Mac using Final Cut Pro.

• How technology is changing the future of broadcasting and journalism.

Films change dramatically from scripts to the final edited piece. John August on his blog answers a readers question: "Does the editor read the script and use it as a framework when the screenwriter is not involved in editing? How else does she make sense of all the footage the director has shot to cut into a cohesive whole? Also, do you see the editor’s role as bringing to screen the vision of the screenwriter?" John August's has some insightful answers with some advice for writers mixed in.

From my experience as an Editor and Assistant Editor, reading a script is vital but so is forgetting about it. Like an actor, at some point, you have to leave the script or more importantly to leave the frame of mind of getting the piece to work in a predestined way. Most of the creative pauses that happen in editing happen when the Editor is trying to recreate the original idea and simply cannot. Many times I find writers more accepting of the fact that their ideas are to be modified, usually it is the director that has the problem with letting an idea slip away or adapting it differently. One of the best advices I received from an (Emmy Award winning) Editor I used to work for was that you have to treat the edit like a performance. Understand the material then work towards getting it right the first time. Each cut reacting to the ones that preceeded it. When I recently read The Conversation which featured interviews with Walter Murch. I understood why he chose to stand when he edited, his whole body was reacting and acting with a sense of urgency.

I've always been one to harsh on Media100, and mainly because they drove themselves into irrelivency by not supporting standards in the early days, and trying to "go it alone" with their own codecs and hardware.  They sure were popular, and I worked That may have been well and good, but with desktop video catching fire, Media100 kind of put themselves in the dog house.  Apparently to announce that they're not dead, they say they will be at NAB this year.  They're very careful, though, to target corporate, broadcast, post-production, and multi-media industries, without really mentioning desktop video.  They also say they're going to demonstrate new software, with little or no details.  Do you use Media 100?  Why did you choose Media 100?  Am I giving them too much crap?

If you have tuned into the Olympics over the past week and been wondering what it takes to put it all together, you can now get an insiders look courtesy of an anonymous NBC engineer who has decided to launch a blog filled with his Olympic experiences. The blog provides a behind the scenes look at what it takes to produce all of the HD Olympic coverage on location in Torino. The posts are filled with numerous pictures of all the super technical and extremely expensive equipment which has be set up throughout the city. There is also a lot of behind the scenes info and pictures that you probably won't be able to find anywhere else, definitely a site worth checking out.

[Via HD Beat]

Update: Looks like NBC may have gotten wind of the blog and shut it down, though no definite answer but for now the site is down.

If you ever find yourself in a forum and the members start throwing numbers around like 1080i and you have no clue what they are talking about, then these two (1,2) articles are for you. In the articles, Steve Mullen explains what 1080i means and all that it entails. This won't make you a better filmmaker, just a little less confused one.

(via FresHDV)

FresHDV has just put up an interview with Josh Oakhurst, an editor and indie filmmaker who works almost exclusively in HD. The interview covers a number of HD related topics including work-flows and hardware. Josh has some good advice for all the indies out there looking to get into the HD game, though if you are a big supporter of Panasonic's P2 format you may want to skip over some of his quite pointed remarks on the future of the format. This is just part one of the interview though look for part two later this week.

[Thanks Matt]

This tutorial beat me to the punch in explaining how to get high quality compression at low bit rates. Especially useful for putting up a video online. The tutorial is not specific enough so I still might be motivated to do it. Also, H.264 is an awesome codec but is not yet widely used. I would suggest using mpeg-4 for smaller sized movies and H.264 for the bigger sizes. Interesting to note that the article is part of Wikipedia/ wikicities called Keyframe which deals with Quicktime related stuff. And like all Wikipedia content, you can edit and be part of the community.

(via FresHDV)