Peter Jackson has stirred some controversy when he announced that he will be shooting The Hobbit at 48 frames per second (fps). Film purists are crying out loud in face of that “crime”. Stu Maschwitz – who I highly respect – has been a proponent of 24 fps for years and a clear, laid back opinion on the topic. With all due respect I have to argue …
One thing that many CG artists don’t get right at first is camera movement. It’s all too easy to do things with the camera that is not possible in the real world. Moves that defy inertia and gravity – or even space as it moves through obstacles.
One great way to learn about camera work is Hollywood Camera Work Master Class. They now also released an add-on Hot Moves for those trailer-worthy shots. The master class is a great resource on learning how to block out shots – especially character driven ones. Hot moves is more about those “wow” moments.
Luckily, all those moves are relatively easy to do in CG at no cost. Once you start to move in the physical realm it really gets expensive and complicated. So enjoy what you can do in CG 
Oh, and pay close attention to your frame rates, exposure and shutter speeds while you are at it. It is equally important to the way you move your camera to get a great result.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Hollywood Camera Work. I just happen to find their training videos a great resource that I like to recommend to you.
For a guy that has a background in software development and CG/post production the ever wonderful world of production craft and equipment can be full of small technical hurdles. Sometimes it takes a moment or two to make sense of what others have honed for decades.
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It has been a busy week over at RED and it seems that Jim Jannard still is vocal:
Stu Maschwitz posted an insightful article over at prolost.com: Seven Fetishists and why they should relax. Fun and interesting read.
While the EPIC-X may be delayed there is still lots of work going on in the stereo-rig world. Vizworld has posted a picture of a lightweight S3D-rig with two EPICs. This is quite a departure from the usually bulky and heavy rigs used so far with larger cameras (for example Element Technica’s Quasar).
Jeff Kilgroe maintains a thread over at REDUSER.net with a list of current versions of RED software.
In other – inofficial news – it seems that RED is on top of the bug that plagues EPIC.
This was definitely not the week for the guys over at RED:
First, the guys over at RED have hit a mean bug which will cause delay for EPIC and Scarlet. On top of that they are forced to find a new manufactoring company.
Later, Jim Jannard commented on Canon’s way of downsampling (or rather not) their full resolution to HD by line skipping. This comment cought plenty of fire around the web. It is funny how others have critisized line skipping and its related aliasing problems but when someone who really knows what it means to do it otherwise (not to say: better) flaming ensues.
I can understand that RED is now revising their strategy of openess.
Guys, cut RED some slack. They turned over the world of digital film cameras, working pretty much out in the open. Something like HD video features on a DSLR was not even thinkable before RED disrupted the market. They put out an incredible camera with the RED One in virtually no time at an incredible price. Yes, they are notoriously behind schedule but that is to be expected. I don’t see how Canon, Panasonic and Sony are anywhere near on schedule with their 4K+ cameras, recording RAW at a sub-50K price.
RED has been very open and super-supportive in the past years. Maybe its time to cut them some slack and be equally supportive!
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