CineLook FCPX plugin adds real film grain

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On Dec. 6, Denver Riddle (Color Grading Central) released a promising plugin that attempted to deliver what he called “the holy grail” of grading within a single FCPX plugin: a filmic color grade, noise reduction, sharpening, tinting, and filmic grain. It even includes a 2.35:1 widescreen format crop from within the effect. All for $29 bucks.

I tried it out last week, and found the “add grain” feature to be seriously lacking. All it did was add nauseating digital noise to the shot. I shared my disappointment with Denver by email, and he immediately replied. He agreed that the grain was lackluster, and shared that he was considering on a solution to add REAL film grain instead. That sounded pretty cool – but I figured it would take months. And wouldn’t including real film grain push the product toward CineGrain’s $300 price point? And add a lot of complexity to the interface?

So this morning, exactly one week later, I’m delighted to discover that Denver has shipped an updated CineLook plugin that does EXACTLY what I want it to: add REAL film grain to my footage, either subtly or dramatically, without having to mess with compositing layers. And it remains simple, and affordable, although somewhat more expensive due to him partnering Gorilla Grain to provide the scans. The combined plugin now costs $99 bucks; $69 if you want the grain only as a stand-alone plugin.

I did a test this morning on some footage from the film I’m currently cutting. Check it out! It’s amazing. (Note, however, that you will need to download the uncompressed footage from Vimeo to see the subtle but huge difference – it really doesn’t show up well after the compression that Vimeo lays down. The link won’t work unless you have a Vimeo Pro account to download the original footage). If you don’t have time to download the original footage, just click on the screen grabs below to view them at full resolution).

Notice in particular how the Gorilla grain stays clear of the shadows. The orig. grain in the first release of CineLook added all kinds of noise in the shadows. Using real film grain solve this problem and restricts the grain where it belongs: in the mid tones and highlights. It doesn’t mimic film: it IS film.

Here’s a screenshot that illustrates why this is so cool (click to view at full resolution):

For adding film grain, this plugin is in a class by itself. The closest competitor, CineGrain, requires you to download footage, then manually composite it on a layer above your footage using Overlay, and you can make refinements from there. But that’s awkward in comparison with what CineLook allows you to do, and the looks are virtually identical (although CineGrain offers a wider range of options such as light leaks).

For comparison between CineGrain and CineLook, I’ve taken three frame grabs below, all from actual size 1920×1080 frame (there is a watermark visible on CineGrain frame, because I used sample footage as I haven’t purchased it). Click each frame to see full resolution:

That's Rando: new documentary promo for long-distance cycling group

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When Lisa and I began shooting Beyond Naked last year, we wondered if anything was happening at the exact opposite celestial time of year from that other Solstice, which would become the climax of our film. We got wind of a strange bunch of people who ride all night long on that darkest of evenings, and we knew we had to meet them.

Ride organizer Joe Platzner graciously allowed us to follow him and his posse though the night. It was a great adventure, and we met some amazing people. Two of them, Greg Cox and Andy Speier, later joined our filmmaking team on June 18 and made a big contribution to our successful event coverage. Some of the footage we shot during this ride will likely also appear in the film, which we’re currently editing.

I cut this video to help promote this year’s ride (although I can’t imagine why they’d have any trouble finding people to join them!) If you’re interested in learning more, check out their site at http://www.seattlerandonneur.org.

Less than 24 hours left to get yours

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This is a seriously smart project. The more I think about it, there are a lot of situations where this would obviate my need to haul around a 3-foot long cineslider. And just a little controlled movement can really go a long way to adding polish to footage of all kinds, from quick iPhone grabs to carefully rehearsed DSLR shoots. I’m in!

CN-900 LED light: a solid, affordable alternative to LitePanels

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Every since I learned about LitePanels a couple years ago from Werner Herzog (who used them shooting Cave of Forgotten Dreams), I’ve wanted to own one. But the price tag approaching $2,000 has been a deterrent. Luckily, a lot of other companies have begun making LED lights over the past couple years, and some relatively inexpensive, quality alternatives have begun to appear on the market.

A couple weeks ago I learned that LitePanels is attempting to create a monopoly on LED lighting for itself, which would ensure that LED video lights sold in America will continue to be overpriced. Seems they own one of those vague, overly broad patents that the patent office hands out like candy nowadays, and they have the money to enforce it (it can cost as much as $5 million to defend against such patent claims, forcing even large corporations like Sony to settle out of court when faced with such action).

What’s intriguing is that the LitePanels cases are being heard in Texas Eastern District Court, which Ira Glass recently reported on in an expose story about patent trolls on This American Life, When Patents Attack.

But I digress. The LitePanels patent case has achieved at least something positive: it’s spurred me to purchase an affordable alternative while they’re still available. I recently purchased the CN-900 LED light, which is available on Amazon for about $450, after watching this review. I’ve had an opportunity to use the light on a project, so I’d like to add my observations.

The conference trailer I just finished for the upcoming Seattle Interactive Conference was a great opportunity for me to try out the CN-900 LED light. We shot 6 interviews with VIPs on tight schedules, making it essential that we set up quickly to get the job done. We asked for 20 minutes to set up our lights, 20 minutes for the interview, and did our best to stick to that. The easy transport and fast setup time of the CN-900 light was a big part of how we stayed on time and made the interviews look good.

Here’s a frame grab from each interview (key light was CN-900 in all cases):

Key observations about this light:

  • It has a serious green cast, which is easily removed by using the included minus green diffusion, or by using 1/2 minus green gel
  • It has a CRI of 75, which at first glance might seem to be too low for professional use. The low CRI is the biggest downside of the light in comparison with the LitePanels, which advertise a CRI of 90. But the fact is, without a side-by-side comparison, I’m hard pressed to say these images don’t look great. The color correct easily and are easy to balance with other daylight sources at 5400K native balance.
  • If balancing for tungsten, the included orange diffusion filter is too yellow and is useless. Use a CTO gel instead, and be sure to add 1/2 minus green to remove the aforementioned green cast
  • The frame is totally solid, made out of metal, not plastic, and it’s just as thin as LitePanels

As reported elsewhere, the AC power cable is a real design flaw, because the weight of the DC converter hangs and puts stress on the connector when the light is on a stand. The solution is low tech and simple: form a loop out of the cable about 6 inches from the tip, and fasten with gaff tape. Then, hang the loop on one of the stand’s knobs, relieving pressure from the connector. See photo below:

What’s great about the CN-900 is that it can be battery powered – by the same Tekkeon myPower ALL Plus MP3450i Battery (5-19V) that I use to power my audio bag. Yes, the CN-900 comes with a Sony V-mount plate, but V-mount batteries are twice the price. The Tekkeon is just under $140. And I’ve discovered a few tricks about how to get the most from it.

Use velcro strips to attach the battery to the back of the light. Be sure to set the correct dip switch voltage (15 volts for the CN-900 LED) before powering up your unit.

If you power the CN-900 at full blast, it will run for just under 30 minutes on a full charge (27-29 minutes in my tests). Then the light will abruptly shut off, going from full power to nothing without any dimming beforehand. But what’s intriguing is that the battery shows half to 1/3 power remaining at this point. It seems that powering at full power for half an hour causes the battery to overheat, triggering the shutdown, even though there is quite a bit of juice left. After letting the battery cool for a minute, I was able to switch the light back on at half power, and it ran for an additional 40 minutes. So as long as you don’t need full power, you can get a lot of time out of this battery. It takes 3.5 hours to recharge the Tekkeon.

Update: Traveling with CN-900 LED lights

Update: V-mount battery powers CN-900 for more than an hour

Update: How to color match a pair of CN-900 LED lights

Steve Jobs Lives

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As the world says good bye to its greatest entrepreneur, I tip my hat to you, Steve, the man who made so much of my creative life possible. From the time I entered college until yesterday afternoon, when I finished cutting a short commercial video that will help me pay for keeping my daughter in the same school, your products have brought my dreams within reach. Thank you.

New commercial piece for Seattle Interactive Conference

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I’m happy to announce the launch of a commercial piece we have completed for the Seattle Interactive Conference. For this video, Lisa and I interviewed 6 leaders in the local interactive scene, all of whom will be speaking at the first-ever conference in November. Since we had no footage from past events on which to draw, we went straight to the people who will be speaking at the event, and had a wide-ranging conversation about interactivity. Here’s the results:

Special thanks to Adam Sheppard of 8Ninths and Jamie Monberg of Hornall Anderson, who provided us with a substantial amount of the footage we used in cutting the video. And to the rest of the very busy people – Ed Fries, Vanessa Fox, and Shauna Causey – who made time for us and our equipment.

Tech details: We shot all the interviews on location with a two-person crew, myself (camera and editing) and Lisa (sound and production). I shot with Canon 60D, using a CN-900 LED as key light (a great light for traveling with, which I’ll blog about soon). I cut the piece on Final Cut Pro X 10.1, which is definitely more stable than the previous version. The biggest gripe I have about FCPX in the wake of finishing this piece, is a minor one: it’s tedious to color correct similar clips, because I found that cutting and pasting effects such as color corrections is unreliable when I had complex masks, audio filters, and third-party filters such as Magic Bullet Mojo, which I used to squeeze skin tones.

The opening shot I grabbed with my Canon S95 last Christmas on a family trip, as we were landing in Kito, Ecquador. Proving once again that the best camera is the one you have with you. After today’s big Apple announcement, I’m sure I’m not the only filmmaker lusting to have that be an iPhone 4s.

Rewire a Tekkeon battery to power MixPre and Zoom H4N

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My biggest complaint about MixPre and Zoom H4N is that they are both battery hogs. I’m sick and tired of getting interrupted midway though shoots because my Zoom or Mixpre batteries need to be changed. I priced several industry-standard NP battery distribution systems, and they just seemed way overpriced, and frankly more than I need. Would it be possible for me to build a bomb-proof power distribution system with a Tekkeon My PowerAll MP3450i battery and inexpensive parts?

After about a week of ordering parts and teaching myself how to solder, I’m happy to say the answer is, definitively, yes. Including the cost of soldering iron and 3rd hand soldering clamp, I was able to build a power distribution system that will power my audio bag all day and then some, for $205.00. Here’s what it looks like, and how to make it.

The battery and the DIY cables:

Ready to roll all day long:

Parts list:

The Tekkeon has two DC outputs: one is a variable voltage cable that supplies between 5 and 19 volts (set via a dip switch on the battery). The other is a USB out that provides 5 volts no matter what the rest of the battery is set to. The Zoom requires 5 volts, so it’s the obvious choice. This was theoretically the simplest cable – I ordered this one only and it was supposed to come with everything to immediately connect up to the Zoom, but they shipped me a unit with a tip that wouldn’t work with the Zoom. I was able to splice the correct connector by cutting off the tip of the Tekkeon power cable that I also ordered (see below), and putting on the appropriate tip, which Tekkeon sells in this pack of connectors. Just splice and solder the red and black wires together, and ignore the white and green usb data wires.

I didn’t want to perform surgery on the Tekkeon power cable that came with the unit, because I sometimes want to power my LED light with it. So I ordered one of the fine right-angle connectors from Tekkeon, which present a lower profile in the audio bag when plugged in. I cut the tip off it (which I put to work as outlined above), and got ready for the most challenging scene in this DIY drama: mating with the Hirose 4-pin male connector required by the MixPre.

First, you have to uncouple the Hirose connector, and remove the 4-pin connector that you must solder to. It unscrews from inside the main unit – I used a pair of needle nose pliers to get it turning, and then it came out by hand. Others recommend plugging it into your MixPre, which gives you a better grip to unscrew from. Here’s a picture that shows the Hirose broken down into it’s component parts, ready for soldering.

Soldering the Hirose 4-pin connector is not a trivial undertaking. The pins are very tiny, and my hands are the opposite of nimble. So a third hand device was mandatory for me, which I found for about $10 on Amazon, including a magnifying glass for extra credit. The magnifying glass turned out to be mostly useless, but the alligator clips were essential to holding everything in place during my many soldering attempts. The trick: pre-tin the cups and the wires, so that things bond quickly as soon as they’re hot. But first, which wires go where?

Knowing that the MixPre will simply ignore power that is the wrong polarity, I set about soldering different combinations until I found the right one. It took me 5 tries before I found the winning combo: #4 pin to positive (red), and both white AND black get soldered to the #1 pin. As I was grinding my way through the ordeal, some solder dripped onto the #2 pin while I was soldering the two cables to #1 pin, connecting the #2 and #1 pins with the both the black and white wires. So bit of a cluster there. Anyway, it works. (I think the #2 pin is ignored in this wiring scenario).

Oh, there’s one more thing. Once I had everything soldered up correctly, I realized I’d forgotten to slide the rubber jacket and screw-in body of the Hirose connector onto the cable BEFORE I started soldering. Which of course meant I had to redo everything. Don’t do that.

There’s some discussion in the forms about what voltage is ideal to set the battery to provide to the MixPre, which will accept anything from 5-18 volts. I chose 9 volts and it works great. The lights are much brighter on the MixPre when it’s powered this way, and it seems to power mics a bit hotter with 9 volts than it does with the internal AA batteries.

As a bonus, I discovered that both the Zoom and MixPre fail over to internal batteries automatically without interruption if the Tekkeon is accidentally switched off, runs out of battery, or if their cables come loose. Sweet.

Thanks to following websites for help: TaperJ on Tappersection.com has great advice on wiring Hirose connectors. Also thanks to instructables.com for advice on how to solder wire correctly.

Seattle documentary association hosts DocForest retreat for filmmakers

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Independent filmmakers tend to be a, well, independent lot. We like it that way, but it can get a little lonely at times. So it’s refreshing to see a local association specifically aimed at connecting local documentary filmmakers. Lisa and I have enjoyed attending a couple of SeaDocs screening events, where we met James Allen Smith, who joined our Beyond Naked filmmaking team on June 18. SeaDocs is putting on it’s largest event of the year next weekend, DocForest, and we’re looking forward to attending what looks like a great opportunity to connect with other local documentary filmmakers.

Here’s the scoop (from the SeaDocs website):

August 26-28 join the Seattle Documentary Association for DocForest, a documentary filmmaker’s retreat at the Kitsap Forest Theater. The weekend retreat formerly known as DocFarm will be filled with guided peer-to-peer workshops, documentary films, camaraderie, bonfires, and great food. Recharge your creative spirit at this breath-taking environment in the woods!

The weekend kickoffs Friday evening with a Happy Hour followed by Rapid Recharge an event where we show YOUR favorite, brain tingling, jaw dropping, inspiring clips. We will show five minutes of any genre of film you bring.

During workshops discover the myths of distribution; practice pitching your dream project and honing your idea; and explore the ethics of documentary filmmaking and the elements of storytelling.

Saturday evening is the screening of 10 min. Works-in-Progress clips.

DocForest events end Sunday at 2pm so you’ll have plenty of time to continue to enjoy the woods and head home.

Sleeping accommodations are available on site where you can bunk with twenty-five other people in the cabin or bring a tent to sleep alone. If you prefer to sleep offsite there are nearby hotels.

Ticket prices include the following chef catered meals: Friday Happy Hour; Saturday breakfast, lunch and dinner; and Sunday breakfast and lunch.

Get inspired and get to know your fellow documentary filmmaking community at the 2011 DocForest!

See http://foresttheater.com/driving-directions for directions to DocForest.

For Tickets:https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/187084 or call 24/7 ticket hotline 1-800-838-3006

Time ramping in Final Cut Pro X: so easy I can do it

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Time ramping. It’s been on my to-do list of “things to learn how to do in Final Cut” but never had time to face the fat tutorial. So this afternoon I thought I’d give it a shot in Final Cut Pro X, sans tutorial. It turns out to be ridiculously simple. Just click the magic wand icon (not kidding), select whether you want it to ramp up from 0 or down to 0, click, and you’re done.

This clip is all cut from time lapse footage that was shot slower than it should have been, so that it played back pretty jerky at 24p. I started out by slowing it to 50 percent using the incredible Optical Flow mode, which takes awhile to process, but the results are stunning, almost liquid. Then I sliced up the image and did some zooming on it to get the different close up views. Then I ramped the first clip from zero, and the last one to zero.

The difference between the old version of Final Cut and this new one is the difference between knowing you CAN do something, and actually doing it.