Tag: resolve

New Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve. Major New Enhancements.

by davidhague178181403, posted in Broadcast News, News, Press Releases General, Today

– Blackmagic Design today announced DaVinci Resolve 18.1, a major new update that adds support for editing in vertical resolutions such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram TV, as well as automatic locking of individual timelines within bins for multi user collaboration. This update adds DaVinci Neural Engine enabled AI dialogue leveler and AI voice isolation tools to the cut, edit and Fairlight pages as well as vector keyframing for Fairlight automation curve editing. Fairlight grid support has also been added allowing customers to position clips on a grid based on timecode or musical tempo. DaVinci Resolve 18.1 also makes projects imported from ATEM Mini ISO projects easier to edit for customers, with audio now attaching to the video clips.


DaVinci Resolve 18.1 is available for download now from the Blackmagic Design website.

DaVinci Resolve 18.1 lets customers produce, export and post work quickly and easily on TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook shorts, Instagram TV and more. With added support for social media vertical resolutions such as 1080 x 1920, customers can choose square and vertical resolutions directly in project settings making it faster to setup a timeline to produce videos. Collaboration with other editors at the same time is also easier with the new timeline locking operation. This automatic operation prevents two users selecting the same timeline by locking it to the first user without the need to lock the whole timeline bin. Multiple editors can now work on different timelines in the same bin at the same time.

For audio, DaVinci Resolve Studio 18.1 adds new AI based voice isolation track FX so customers can remove loud, undesirable sounds from voice recordings. By adding DaVinci Neural Engine enabled voice isolation to the cut, edit and Fairlight pages using a new DaVinci Neural Engine AI based core effects process, customers can isolate dialog from background sounds in a recording, eliminating everything else from moderate noise to aircraft and explosions leaving only the voice. Voice isolation is perfect for interviews and dialogue recordings from noisy locations.

The built in dialogue leveler track FX in the inspector processes and smoothes dialogue recordings without the need for tedious level adjustments on clip gain or automation curves. Controls include real time scrolling waveform display, focus presets and three process options which allow customers to easily achieve natural sounding results. With the new vector keyframing of Fairlight audio automation curves, customers now have the ability to graphically enter, edit, trim and nudge keyframes with standard tools. Plus, there’s a new automation editing view which allows for faster and simpler management of curves and keyframes. DaVinci Resolve 18.1 also adds Fairlight grid support so customers can position clips on a grid based on timecode or musical tempo.

Editors now get a faster and smoother editing experience in this update with improved project importing when using ATEM Mini, so that audio is now attached to the video clips automatically making imported projects much easier to edit and helps improve workflows. DaVinci Resolve 18.1 adds DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor functionality to the edit page, including multicam switching, audio level, trim in, trim out and more! Plus, customers can use these functions in conjunction with the search dial for even more speed. There’s also support for subtitle track presets and per-track formatting rules. This means customers can now adjust individual settings for each subtitle caption, including font and style while retaining the track setting for size and background.

For Fusion users, customers can speed up their workflows with added support for magic mask in the Fusion page. The magic mask palette uses the DaVinci Neural Engine to detect animals, vehicles, people and objects, tracking their movement in a shot. Now customers can produce these clean traveling mattes directly in the Fusion page to add effects to characters or stylize the background. Plus, customers can now search for common keywords and categories for more than 200 tools. With this smart search functionality customers can filter the list without knowing the exact tool name to quickly find and apply tools to their visual effects.

DaVinci Resolve 18.1 also adds support for Dolby Vision 5.1.0 cinema trims, so customers can adjust the brightness levels of their high dynamic range images to optimize them for both cinema and television audiences. Customers can now also scale the DaVinci Resolve user interface incrementally to optimize the resolution for their specific Window or Linux display making it much easier to see the fonts on all aspects of the interface.

There are also significant performance improvements with multiple tools. Updates to the internal processing result in up to 10x faster Text+, 5x faster stabilization, face refinement tracking and analysis, 4x faster spatial noise reduction, better playback performance with large node graphs and improved Blackmagic RAW decoding on Apple silicon.

“This is a major update with new added support for social media vertical resolutions. Now, customers can work quickly and easily to create video posts for sites such as TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook shorts, Instagram TV and more,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “Plus, there are some other exciting performance improvements as well, such the new DaVinci Neural Engine AI enabled voice isolation tools, and new features for Fusion, such as support for magic mask. We’re always excited to see what our customers can do with these amazing updates to DaVinci Resolve.”

DaVinci Resolve 18.1 Key Features
* Vertical resolution options in project settings for social media.
* Select custom thumbnails and channels for YouTube uploads.
* Support for individual timeline locks enhancing multi-user collaboration.
* New DaVinci Neural Engine enabled voice isolation in Studio.
* New Dialogue Leveler for natural smooth audio.
* Vector keyframing for Fairlight automation curve editing.
* Fairlight grid support for editing to timecode or musical tempo.
* Reorganized and streamlined view menu.
* Support for Resolve FX Dust Buster in the edit timeline.
* Improvements to ATEM Mini ISO project import to keep audio attached to video clips.
* Improved speed editor functionality in the edit page.
* Subtitle caption properties can now be overridden individually.
* Support for subtitle track presets and per-track formatting rules.
* Support for Magic Mask in the Fusion page.
* Support for Dolby Vision cinema trims.
* Support for fractional display scaling for Windows and Linux

Availability and Price
DaVinci Resolve 18.1 update is available now for download free of charge from the Blackmagic Design website.

A crashed computer is more than just resurrecting documents, spreadsheets photos etc. Here’s a plan to help.

by davidhague178181403, posted in Case Studies, Editorial, Features, Today

It will happen to everyone at some stage. It might not be tomorrow or next week or even next year, but happen it will, and when it does, you need to be a goof little Boy Scout.

Be Prepared.

What is this disastrous possibility you ask? Simple dear reader, a hard drive failure.

The thing is, whilst your data (documents, photos, spreadsheets etc) ARE of course valuable, when it comes to rebuilding a system due to a malfunction, then the time-consuming part is not resurrecting that data.

I bring this up, as just recently I have been through this ‘trauma’ with a trusty 6-year-old Dell biting the dust. This machine has rarely been turned off in that entire time and so has had a hard life, and probably lasted maybe a couple of years longer than I expected. (My previous Dell lasted 4 years. I have used Dell XPS machines for nearly 15 years now I believe and been very happy with them as a whole).

Let me explain exactly what my setup is, and that will give you a feel for what, if unprepared, an almighty task would lie ahead.

The “box” contains a single 4TB drive split into a pair of 2TB partitions with all of the OS stuff (Windows 10 Premium) on the first partition (Drive C) and applications on the second (Drive D). For data, I have a Seagate 8TB USB 3 drive connected.

There is 32GB RAM and 8 USB slots for peripherals, one of which goes to a powered 16 port USB hub.

Why so many USB’s? This is a partial clue as to why reconstituting a system can be so painful!

I have a lot of peripherals I use daily. An awful lot. Here is a list:

If any of the above are not directly plugged in (the mouse for example) then they have a corresponding USB dongle that needs a port.

There are a few other things I dabble with on occasion that also require ports such as Arduino and Rapsberry Pi electronics, and of course there are needs to get data off drones, cameras, phones and so on.

A number of these need device drivers and so of course when rebuilding a system, you need easy access to these.  I back these up in a separate folder, each with a sub-folder for the exact device and meaningfully named to aid in later identification.

Speaking of backups, I use a pair of Seagate Barracudas in a RAID array and powered by a Synology NAS system. I was put onto this by Adam Turner (of Vertical Hold – an excellent techie podcast – fame) and it was quite easy to setup and maintain on my network.

But it doesn’t there of course.

Back in the “old days”, we had floppy disks as masters to our precious programs – later to become CDs and then DVDs. Today everything is mostly downloaded as compressed files (ZIP, MSI and so on) and so to save re-downloading all of these (with exception), I save the masters of these to again separate folders, also meaningfully named.

The major exceptions are those applications that have a Control Panel type system such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft Office and Maxon where there is no EXE or ZIP file as such, and these systems automatically update, so all you need to do is re-install the master controller and log in.

But then you also have all the plugins and so on you have for these programs, and if you have a Loupedeck CT (if not why not!) the downloaded profiles this uses, which when you boil it down comes down to hundreds, if not thousands of macros and icon images in each profile.

I use profiles from SideshowFX by the way which are both well thought out and dare I say it, beautifully crafted.

So, now knowing all this, even with a fairly regimented storage system of the stuff I need to get a dead machine to rise from the ashes in the form of a brand new Dell XPS becomes a 2 day job, at least to get everything back to the way you want it.

My suggestion therefore is that if you have not planned a resuscitation routine, you do so with some alacrity! Even with the best plans in place, and assuming nothing goes wrong, it’s a bastard of a job, so best make it as easy as possible.

Footnote: What IS interesting is that before it died on the old system, out of the 2TB I had as the OS “boot drive”, I was down to less than 15GB free. The 2nd partition, the D drive, has around 40GB free out of the 2TB. With the new system setup, and almost identical in configuration, my C drive has over 600GB free and the D drive 900GB.

It goes to show how much “rubbish” is picked up as you go along doesn’t it, despite how many times you run disk cleaners, defraggers and so on.

 

 

Basic Tutorial: DaVinci Resolve 18

by davidhague178181403, posted in Tutorials: Software

DaVinci Resolve which is a very powerful video editing package and available on Mac, PC and LINUX, has a free version available as well as its super powerful Studio version.

If you are starting out with video editing, or want to have a quick try and compare it to your existing editor, then this tutorial will get you up and tunning in around 15 minutes.

Creating Instagram Reels with DaVinci Resolve

by davidhague178181403, posted in Streaming, Today, Tutorials: Software

One of the current darlings of the streaming set is  Instagram with its Reels option. As both these and the other player TikTok use resolutions not generally native to video – vertical orientation as against landscape – there needs to be some steps made when creating video for these platforms so they look their best and conform.

DaVinci Resolve is a very, very full featured editor. So much so that it is used to make many of the Hollywood blockbusters you see in cinemas. But it’s equally at home making Instagram Reels too, and better yet, this can be done in the freebie version available at https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/

Here is a step by step in DaVinci Resolve to make a video for Instagram Reels.

  1. In the Media Pool, create a new timeline and give it a name
  2. In the dialogue box, deselect the “Use Project Settings” checkbox
  3. This will give you access to four tabs. On the Format tab, change the resolution to 1080 x 1920
  5. On the Output tab, deselect the “Use Timeline Settings for Output Setting”
  6. Click “Create”
  7. Add a clip to the timeline
  8. Right click the thumbnail for the timeline you have created in the Media Pool, and choose “Timeline Settings”. For the “Mismatched Resolution” setting, change it to “Scale Full Frame with Crop”
  9. On the Output Tab, Deselect “Use Timeline Settings for Output Scaling”
  10. Click OK
  11. You can now use the Inspector to change the position and zoom of the clip to suit and make sure the subject always stays central.
  12. If you move the clip up with the Zoom, this will allow space to add titles
  14. You can now export your movie using the Deliver tab
  15. Use the Custom Export and change the resolution to Custom and then the size to 1080 x 1920
  17. You can now render

GoPro? Drone? Other “action cam”? Here are the basics for editing your videos (Part 2)

by davidhague178181403, posted in Action, Action Cam Tutorials and Techniques, Drone Tutorials and Techniques, Today, Tutorials and Training, Tutorials: Software

Welcome to my 2nd tutorial on using DaVinci Resolve. The aim of these tutorials is not to turn you into a Steven Spielberg or George Lucas, but instead to get beginners used to the basics of editing footage you may have taken on your GoPro or DJI drone. You can get DaVinci Resolve for free from Blackmagic Design by clicking here.

If you missed Part 1, you can see it here.

My thinking is you don’t want to be a fully fledged paid up video editor, but you DO want to make good looking videos out of your material.

You can read the first of these which is an introduction to the basics of the workflow of editing here. This second tutorial goes to the next stage of actually cutting up your footage, adding titles, transitions, fades and a lower 3rd.

And do please let me know what you think in the comments below. They are all anonymous. You might also like to sign up for my weekly e-Magazine sent out to all subscribers. That is also free and all you have to do is enter your email address into the popup on this page (or email me at david@auscamonline.com).

Editing Basics – DaVinci Resolve (Part 2)

Now you have an overview of the editing process from Part 1, let’s put together a very simple project from scratch.

For the purpose I am going to use a single clip shot with my DJI Air2S at Whalebone Beach in the northwest of Western Australia near the tourist spot of Monkey Mia, famous worldwide for its dolphins.

Once we have the clip cut the way we want it, we’ll then add some transitions, a title graphic and a lower third overlay image. Finally we’ll render it out for distribution.

This is a frame from the final result.

As per Part 1, I’ll be using Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve for this project. This editor, which whilst easy to learn the basics, is very powerful in its capabilities. Better yet, its free and available for Windows, iOS and LINUX. You can get it here.

With the latest version of DaVinci Resolve, you have the option of working in full editor mode or alternatively, in a special mode called ‘the Cut Page’. In this tutorial we’ll be using the full editor mode.

Start by launching DaVinci Resolve. Along the bottom of the main window, you’ll see a row of icons. The one to click to use the Editor mode is the third from the left.

Click this and you’ll enter the Full Editor mode (Resolve may open at this automatically). The other icons are used for other functions within Resolve such as audio editing, colour correction and media management.

You’ll notice on the left there is a gray message saying there are no clips in the media pool. To load the clip we want to work with, click File and then Import and select Media from the flyout menu. You can now navigate to the location of your video file to be used in this project and load it into the Media Pool.

At this point, you may get a message asking to Change Project Frame Rate. There are times when you won’t want to for various reasons, but for now just click Change.

Editing Clips

We now want to go through this clip and select the portions we want in the final output. To this, double click the clip and it will load into the editing window.

The next step is to mark the in and out points of the segments of this clip and add them one by one to the timeline. The timeline is the area underneath the editing window where the clips will be assembled on a track. More complex projects will usually involve a number of tracks, sometimes dozens, there are separate track types for video, audio, titles, effects and so on.

To mark the first segment you wish to add, play the clip and when you find what looks like a good starting point, press ‘I’ on your keyboard to mark the “in” point of that segment. You can start and stop the playback with the on-screen buttons, or alternatively use the space bar.

Once you have an In point marked start playing the clip again to find the end of the segment you want on the timeline and press “O” key to mark the Outpoint.

Your editing window should show the two points.

To add this segment to your timeline, simply press the F12 key. This key is the Append command and will add the clip to the end of any other clips on the timeline. As this is the first, it will simply place it at the beginning.

Of course, there are other ways of adding clips to specific parts of the timeline such as between two clips, to fit a specific amount of time on the timeline, fit to fill and more. These options will be covered in a later tutorial.

Once you have pressed F12, the clip will appear on a track in the timeline. You’ll also notice there is now an extra item in the Media Poll, that of the Timeline. Resolve allows you to create timelines and then assemble them together. This is very useful when you have a complex project and want to break it up into manageable chunks.

The editing window has now changed and is instead showing the contents of the timeline.

To select the In and Out points of your next segment, double clip the original clip in the Media Pool again. You can see the In and Out points of the first segment are still there. You can scroll through the clip and mark another In and Out point and Append this in exactly the way did the first segment.

This image shows three clips have been marked and Appended to the timeline. If you press the Home key, the cursor on the timeline will move to the start of the video. You can now press the Space bar to play through it to the end.

When you have finished, press Home again to go back to the start.

Transitions

You’ll have noticed when the timeline switches from one clip to the next, the transition between the two is immediate. This is called a Straight Cut. You can add different ways for this transition to occur.

To the left of the Timeline you should see a window marked Toolbox and inside the Toolbox is an entry called Video Transitions. Clicking this will then open all the transition types available to you.

The most common to use after a straight cut is a Cross Dissolve. If you click on this and drag it on the line between two clips you should see a small white rectangle appear between those two clips. I have expanded the timeline here so you can see it better (expanding or shrinking the timeline is done by holding the ALT key and using the scroll wheel on your mouse).

If you now play the timeline, you’ll see between those two clips we now have a cross dissolve.

Now look at the panel in the top right. This is called the Inspector and contains all the parameters for objects in the Timeline. If you click the Transition tab, making sure the transition is still highlighted in the timeline, all the parameters for your transition can be seen. To change one, simply change the current value.

For example, if you change the Duration from 1 to 3 seconds, it will take longer for the cross dissolve to occur between the two clips. This will also show by the transition box in the timeline getting bigger.

There are many parameters you can change and the best way to learn what they can do is simply experiment. Just about any object you may place on the timeline will have these parameters by the way such as clips themselves, titles, audio and so on.

If you change a parameter but don’t like the result, simply put it back to its original value or Press CTRL+Z to undo it.

To add exactly the same transition to the next clip, select the first, Press CTRL+V to copy it, hover the mouse pointer over the next transition, right click and choose Paste from the menu.

Adding Titles

In DaVinci Resolve there are many types of titles from static ones like we’ll be doing in a second to complex ones like you see at the end of movies.

For this tutorial I am simply going to add a text overlay that describes the location of this video and place it in the top left of the screen.

If you look back on the Toolbox, underneath the Video Transitions entry there is one marked Titles. Click this, and similar to the list of available Video Transitions, you’ll see a list of Title types available to you.

We are going to use the one called Text.

Make sure your timeline cursor is at the start of the timeline by pressing Home or dragging it there with the mouse (you need to drag the cursor in the Time Ruler above the clip tracks in the timeline).

Next, click and drag the Text heading in the Toolbox ABOVE the track holding the clips you have edited. Resolve will automatically create a new track and place the title clip on it and you will see this in the editing window in the dead centre of the screen with the words Basic Title.

To change its content, if you look in the Inspector, you can see you have a text box where can change the text plus many other parameters such as font style, size, colour, location and much more.

In this shot you can see how I have modified the text, changed the font and size and added a shadow. Note that you can select just parts of the text and change those parameters. Here for example, the top line is in Impact 96 font / size and the next line is Impact 48.

Another parameter you can change is the position of the text. At present it is at X 960 and Y 540. By changing those values you can place the text anywhere on screen as you can see.

(Quick Tip: By placing the mouse pointer over a value in the Inspector, holding down the right mouse button and dragging left or right will change the values and you can see the titles in this case move as you change those numbers. Alternatively, you can of course just type the new values into the boxes).

Right. The only thing left to do with our title is drag the right edge of the clip on the timeline to match the length of the clips in the track below.

(Quick Tip: if you don’t want the title to last the whole clip, but gradually fade out, if you hover the mouse over the top right corner of the title clip you’ll see white dot appear. Drag this to the left and you’ll create a fade out like you see here. You can do this to just about any clip type)

Lower 3rd

A lower 3rd is a graphic element that displays across the bottom of the screen They are very common in news items and documentaries and used to pass on further information about the clip. This might be the name of the person speaking, a location, news flash or in the case of the one I am about to add, a company logo, company name and website.

I created this lower third graphic in Adobe Photoshop, but any graphics package that allows you to add transparency should be suitable. If you want to know the technique for creating this transparency, shoot me a quick email at david@auscamonline.com

First, I need to add the lower 3rd graphic to the Media Poll. Make sure the timeline cursor is at the beginning of the timeline. Adding the image file is done in exactly the same way we did with our video clip. Click File -> Import Media and navigate to the file to load it.

Next, click the file and drag it ABOVE the title track we added earlier. As soon as you release the mouse button, Resolve will create a new track to contain the lower 3rd graphic and you’ll see it appear in the editing window.

All you need to do now is drag the right edge of the clip to the place where you want the lower 3rd to finish. Here I have dragged it to make it the same length of the video clip duration. That is, it will stay on the screen from the start of the video until the very end.

Of course you can select the lower 3rd clip and investigate changes its parameters in the Inspector if you wish.

Deliver

Now that we have added clips, titles and a lower 3rd, the final step is to render the video out to a single file so that it can be distributed. This could be via a USB stick, SD card, on a portable hard disk or posting it to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for example.

Each of these mediums require different parameters and DaVinci Resolve makes it easy for some of them by having presets you can use. For now, we’ll just create a simple MP4 file that you could manually post to say Facebook or YouTube.

If you look at the bottom of the DaVinci Resolve window (where at the start you selected the Edit mode), the last option is Deliver. If you click this, Resolve will switch into the mode where we can render our clip.

At left are the parameters we can set for the final output such as format, codec, resolution and so on. The only one we need to change is the format. Click the drop down and change it to MP4. At the top, add a filename and choose a location on your hard drive to save the completed clip.

At the bottom of this panel is a button labelled Add to render Queue. Click this and Resolve will add this project to a queue ready for rendering. You’ll see the queue at the top right. You can render it now by clicking the Render All button or wait until later after you may have created some more projects.

If you click Render All now, Resolve will render the file. Depending on the size, length, amount of complexity (effects, transitions, audio, music etc) this can take from minutes to hours. Your computer’s specifications also have a huge bearing on this.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully edited, added titles and a lower 3rd to your video. Of course there is a lot more functionality in DaVinci Resolve and here we have just scratched the basics.

I urge you to go and download the full PDF manual and by all means, just have a play. DaVinci Resolve is a non-destructive editor so your original clips will always be intact as long as you don’t delete them.

If you have any questions feel free to email me at david@auscamonline.com

 

SoKrispyMedia Produces Viral Video Using New Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve Studio 18

by davidhague178181403, posted in Case Studies, News: Software Companies Plugins/ FX / Titling etc), Press Releases General, Today

live action production and visual effects (VFX) company SoKrispyMedia recently completed work on its newest viral video, “Trapped in a First Person Video Game,” using DaVinci Resolve Studio 18 editing, color grading, VFX and audio post production software, along with Blackmagic Cloud.

Best known for its massive viral films such as “Chalk Warfare” and its work with MrBeast and his recent “Squid Game” recreation, SoKrispyMedia is no stranger to cutting edge technology and innovation. Its newest video, based on the popular video game Dying Light 2 Stay Human, combines live action production, VFX and practical stunts, and was produced in only six weeks.

Director and Visual Effects Designer Sam Wickert shot most of the project on a Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 digital film camera, with post from media ingest to cut and color handled in DaVinci Resolve Studio 18, which is currently in public beta. “We were grateful for being able to stay in one package, honestly, as a 12 minute short film is a lot to tackle in a six week turnover time,” said Wickert. “Once you factor in all of the stages of post production, including selecting takes, assembly edit, audio, VFX, color, etc., there isn’t a lot of time left to bounce in and out of various pieces of software.”

Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve 18 could not have come at a better time for SoKrispyMedia. “Blackmagic Cloud was something we were really excited about and something we used quite a bit on this project,” added SoKrispyMedia Producer Micah Malinics. “We had a pretty busy schedule during our post timeline because we were traveling, taking meetings, and generally on the go. Since we were editing this film ourselves, we needed to find a solution to allow us to seamlessly access the project even if we weren’t at our primary workstation.”

“Blackmagic Cloud allowed us to work between workstations, regardless of where they were, without the need to migrate projects,” said Wickert. “This was great since we were editing the project on a pretty tight deadline. This isn’t something we could do easily in the past; for example, managing various project files across devices became pretty clumsy when we would go back and forth between multiple devices in one day. With Blackmagic Cloud, we didn’t slow down when moving between machines or even working on the road.”

SoKrispyMedia’s work with Blackmagic Cloud on “Trapped in a First Person Video Game” won’t be its last. “As more and more of our productions embrace remote workflows, it’s fantastic that we can work in cloud based and multi user interfaces easily and efficiently,” continued Malinics. “While there will always be certain needs to have artists and vendors in house, this workflow enables us to have a smoother experience in post whether our team is all together, working remotely around the world, or a hybrid of the two.”

“A lot of our work embraces innovative and bleeding edge technology, and we’re really excited with how Blackmagic Design is implementing these types of new features,” said Wickert. “The cloud workflow and DaVinci Resolve Studio 18’s AI tools and advanced hardware utilization really improve the way that we work, and we’re excited to dive more into DaVinci Resolve Studio 18, and the Blackmagic Cloud this year!”

 

 

Christmas Down Under Shot Using Blackmagic Design Cameras and Posted with DaVinci Resolve Studio

by davidhague178181403, posted in News, Today

Ion Network’s new Christmas film, Christmas Down Under, was shot using Blackmagic Design’s URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2. The film’s editing and color correction was completed using DaVinci Resolve Studio by Tasmania’s South Sky pictures during the height of the Covid quarantine.

The film, which is being distributed by Ion Network’s in the United States and by Level 33 globally, was directed by My Big Fat Greek Wedding’s Louis Mandylor and produced by Adam Horner of Ignite Pictures. It follows a tightly wound American, Ellie, who flies to Australia and enlists the help of an aboriginal tour guide and YouTube famous Uber driver to find her husband and his eclectic family.

Christmas Down Under, a full length feature, was shot in 20 locations in Australia over three weeks and required incredibly efficient filmmaking. Also, because the film is being shown in a crowded market of holiday films, speed and efficiency had to come with high quality.

“The holiday film industry is incredibly competitive, and more so now than ever. We’re now seeing almost every major network producing numerous holiday movies per year. So, quality matters and that was the reason we chose to use the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 and DaVinci Resolve,” said lead producer Adam Horner.

Instead of snow and rosy cheeks, an Australian Christmas means high temperatures, air conditioned interiors and outdoor shooting in unforgiving sunlight.

Maarten ‘Fish’ Talbot from Tazmania’s South Sky Pictures, 2nd Unit DP and a camera operator on the film, as well as an co-producer and editor, explained: “Getting an overall unique and culturally appropriate look for the film meant leaning into those differences while still having a Christmas feel. The Blackmagic cameras really handled the harsh Australian sun and Resolve let us pick a color pallet in post that set us apart from the typical Christmas movie.”

The film was shot by DP Luke Walker using three URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2s, with some of the scenes shot with all three simultaneously. To ensure that the tight deadline was met, Walker relied on the camera’s ease of use and ability to be set up and broken down quickly.

“For the simultaneous shots, the camera’s ease of use meant all camera operators were on the same page at all times. No other camera produces a look like the URSA Mini. With standard features like false color, being able to use different codecs, built in NDs and more, we found we had everything we needed,” Walker continued.

Post production, which was done at South Sky Pictures in Tasmania, took place in the middle of strict Covid quarantine rules in Australia. Editing and VFX were done by Talbot and post production manager Joshua Freeman, both using DaVinci Resolve Studio.

South Sky Pictures picked up the post production work for the film after an initial cut had been done in other software.

“We had to rebuild the entire project in Resolve, which actually helped make post quicker and more efficient since there were no stability issues and we could begin to edit without having to nurse our tech,” Talbot continued. “Adapting to Resolve was a surprisingly intuitive process because it could quickly ensure the editing process was streamlined, and we found we could instinctively cut much faster on it.”

He continued: “Resolve’s simple approach when it comes to user experience is great. You have to remember that this film was posted by two guys on having to work at home during the pandemic, so the way Resolve splits different aspects of post production into tabs meant we could have everything we needed in front of us without wasting valuable screen real estate or becoming fatigued by searching through the interface.”

The Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 and DaVinci Resolve Studio workflow was particularly useful when producers and network executives requested three new scenes late in the process.

Adam Horner, the film’s Producer said “These additional scenes were shot at the peak of Australia’s pandemic crisis, with most of our talent and crew unable to get together. The shoots had to be designed and shot in a way that made everyone appear as though they are in the same location, despite the fact that they were thousands of kilometres apart. Using Resolve and Blackmagic cameras meant the new scenes were cut and colored just days after receiving all the media.”

Revisit: Loupedeck CT and Custom Profiles

by davidhague178181403, posted in Features, Reviews, Today

Any tool is only useful as long as you have the appropriate other things it needs to make it work – a hammer is no good without nails (or other things to bash) or a soldering iron without heat for example.

Similarly, the Loupedeck CT is, by itself, a nice piece of engineering, and to be sure, there is some native app functionality built in, primarily programs from Adobe, Apple and Ableton, but not everyone uses those, so to make it work with other programs, custom built “profiles” are needed.

At launch there were a few available, notably for Microsoft Office programs such as Excel and Outlook as well as Google Chrome, but since then the available library has grown in leaps and bounds. You can see the full list here (and of course this changes as new apps are added).

I currently run a number of custom profiles, and indeed even dabbled in trying to make a few myself, time permitting. Once you understand how it works, its not hard, just a little time consuming.

Custom Profiles I Use

I have had a major commercial set from wwww.sideshowfx.com for Da Vinci Resolve for some time and find these invaluable with the feature set of Resolve so deep and diverse, and well worth the USD$34.99 giving access via the Loupedeck CT to 880 custom actions and 1500+ icons.

Just recently, a profile for Vegas 17 and 18 became available too, so this means I can use the Loupedeck CT with both of my major video editing apps. (For those arriving late, I know Vegas x backwards inside up and downside up and even assisted in some of the earlier documentation. Resolve I have been gradually getting into – and love it).

A MAJOR factor for me in both of these profiles is the ability to shuttle / jog the timeline and trimmers using the Loupedeck’s jog / shuttle wheel. I got used to this way of working back when, as for many years – even decades actually -I had been using a Contour Shuttle Pro, but with the advent of the Loupedeck CT and these profiles, this device become almost redundant.

It was certainly worth its money though and well and truly paid for itself, and even after all this time, is still chugging along without missing a beat.

Also of major use to me is the profile for my 3D application of choice, Maxon’s Cinema 4D. Again this is a program I have been using for many years – around 20 I think – and the Loupedeck profile makes many tasks even easier, faster and more precise.

For fans of Blender, also a 3D application, albeit an open source one and therefore free, there is also a profile, along with Maya LT and 3DS Max.

Conclusion

At €499 (around AUD$799), the Loupedeck CT is not inexpensive by any stretch, but trust me when I tell you that once you get used to using it and it becomes second nature as against hunting commands with a mouse or even short cut keying, it will dramatically increase your productivity and speed up your workflow.

 

 

Announced: Vegas Stream

by davidhague178181403, posted in Streaming, Today

Whilst Australian company Blackmagic Design has had runaway success with its ATEM Mini Pro hardware solution(s) for streaming video, Vegas Creative Software, has – somewhat belatedly – decided to use a software method to perform the same via its flagship Vegas Pro NLE.

Developed in conjunction with FX / titling wizards, New Blue, Vegas Stream is an add-on package to the main Vegas Pro NLE said to be “developed to serve the needs of content creators and broadcasters for multiple market categories, including the B2B market for corporate events, marketing and online team meetings; education markets looking for new, effective ways to connect with students and faculty, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic; and content creators looking for a more full-function, end-to-end live streaming production workflow for social media platforms such as YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Twitch, LinkedIn, Periscope, and other popular streaming platforms.”

As you can see from the screen shots, Vegas Stream has a clean, simple and full-featured workflow that lets users produce professional-calibre live stream productions complete with graphics, titles and imagery and it is relatively easy to distribute content to a wide variety of live-streaming platforms.

Key features in Vegas Stream include:

  • Live switching between multiple video sources, with the option to be displayed in picture-in-picture layouts. 
  • Ability to stream to Microsoft Stream or any other RTMP destination, including Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Twitch, all while quickly adding professional-quality overlay graphics and dynamic live titles. 
  • Fluid integration with Social Media platforms enabling users to include live feeds from Twitter or Facebook directly into a live stream production.
  • Integration with internal communications and messaging platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Skype, enabling productions to integrate messages and even live video from Microsoft Teams or Skype calls.
  • Support for NDI sources as additional cameras, monitor feeds, and more.

Vegas Stream and Vegas Pro: The Post Production Experience

As well as connectivity with its NLE Vegas Pro, Vegas Creative Software has made sure there is tight integration with its post-production platform VEGAS POST Suite. When a live stream event is complete, users are able to send the recorded event to Vegas Pro or Vegas Post, with all visual effects, graphics, and titles in place for further editing and delivery. 

Additionally, Magix Sound Forge Pro is included free with Vegas Pro letting users add sound and audio design to content. For customers not using Vegas Pro for post-production workflow, they can import recorded events to any major video editing platform.

Pricing and Availability

Vegas Stream is available as part of a bundled solution with both Vegas Pro 365 and Vegas Post 365 and on a subscription basis. Subscription pricing for the bundled Vegas Stream solutions – called Vegas Stream Pro 365 and VEGAS Stream POST 365 – is: 

  • VEGAS Stream Pro 365: $35.99/month, or $31.99/month with annual commitment;
  • VEGAS Stream Post 365: $51.99/month, or $41.99/month with annual commitment.

All pricing is in USD$ by the way.

We have received a copy of Vegas Stream along with the latest versions of the other Vegas Creative s\Software products and as soon as possible will provide a complete review. We’ll also at a later stage provide a side-by-side comparison of Vegas Stream along with Blackmagic Design’s ATEM Mini Pro and Da Vinci Resolve.

For more information on Vegas Stream and to download a trial, please visit https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-stream/#productMenu .

 

 

 

 

Tones and I Fly Away Music Video Completes Post Production with DaVinci Resolve Studio

by davidhague178181403, posted in Case Studies, Press Releases General, Today

Blackmagic Design today announced that Visible Studios used DaVinci Resolve Studio for colour correction and editing on “Fly Away,” the newest music video by global singing sensation Tones and I. DaVinci Resolve Studio was also used for VFX and sky replacements for the video, which includes dramatic scenes of people levitating and flying.

“Fly Away,” the latest song from Tones and I, was released in November of 2020. The inspirational song talks about chasing dreams and happiness, and eventually shows a number of them flying away into a beautiful sky while Tones and I sings in front of a group on a grassy field.

The music video, which had millions of views in less than a week, was shot and had post production completed by Melbourne based Visible Studios. Visible Studios producer and colourist Timothy Whiting, along with editor and directors Nick Kozakis and Liam Kelly, who all also worked on Tones and I’s music video for the hit “Dance Monkey,” chose to use DaVinci Resolve Studio, along with DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel for colour correction and DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard for editing.

Keeping the majority of the post production process in DaVinci Resolve Studio was a huge factor in meeting a tight turnaround deadline.

“We were on an extremely short timeframe for the video and were just coming out of Melbourne’s lockdown and needed to get the clip out before release. As much as we were able we kept everything within Resolve,” Whiting said. “Luckily in Melbourne we had just come out of lockdown. However we had learned a lot during the lockdown period and were able to still work from home using Resolve and sending each other DRPs as needed. It was a much more relaxed way of working. For our VFX artists, rendering out individual clips was a breeze.”

Footage was sent on a Friday afternoon, with post production needing to be completed by the following Monday. Each night after shooting, Kozakis and Kelly would edit footage and export a DRP file to Whiting for colour correction. He then graded the numerous VFX source shots first, and worked on sky replacements, which were needed due to the weather not cooperating with the crew’s wish for a sunny day.

“Once I had the DRP sent to me and imported, I was able to jump right into Resolve’s colour page. We graded the VFX source shots first, added a sky replacement, then exported out some for our compositors to create the flying people shots, while other composites were completed in the Resolve colour page using Resolve’s 3D Keyer,” he continued. “There were some minor changes to the edit based on label feedback, however we could just make those changes in the Resolve colour timeline with no need to reconform. Flying shots were completed Sunday, and on Monday morning I did the final sky replacements and colour grade and submitted masters Monday afternoon. All less than 3 days after wrapping the shoot.”

The “Fly Away” video was full of soft, clean images, including underwater shots, wide open fields, candle lit rooms and bright light penetrating dark rooms. DaVinci Resolve Studio’s colour correction tools were used extensively to dial in the look needed.

Whiting explained: “The DP, Carl Allison, was looking for a clean, soft look that still had some mood and shape to the image. With Resolve I was able to soften the image and add some glow, and the colour tools allowed us to add selective contrast. For the performance shots in the field, we were able to change the colour of the grass, generally brighten the image and replace the skies to give a bright happy look.”

One of the scenes captures people looking out from a dark room into bright light. Whiting explained the shot and how DaVinci Resolve Studio was used: “Our DP Carl Allison and Gaffer Branco Grabovac shone lights through the window and panned them on and off to create the effect. We accentuated them using bloom and light ray effects in Resolve. Looking through the window boxes into the characters dreams, we added light rays to the left window to sell the feeling of looking into a dream.”

DaVinci Resolve Studio proved particularly useful with the video’s sky and flying scenes. For the flying scenes, Showtech Australia productions worked with Visible Studios’ VFX supervisor Theo Touren. Actors were filmed on wires against a green screen, with background plates for the sky shot on the performance days.

“On the day of the performance in the field, we were hoping for a beautiful sunset but the sky was quite overcast and grey. Using a key, Power Window and the match move fx plugin on the Resolve colour page, we were able to completely replace the skies,” Whiting said. “Additionally for the shots of people’s feet flying into the air we had lost daylight. We performed a night to day conversion by increasing the exposure of the shot, noise reducing the shot, keying the grass and using the colour compressor to match the grass colour in previous shots. I then added a sky replacement and voila! Daytime.”