Cinematic compositing takes more than software. It takes careful planning, understanding the drama in every shot, and a sense of magic. It doesn't take a big budget.
In this Creative COW Magazine extra, we begin with our conversation with director Mark Allen, discussing his short film, "Least Likely." This 60-second science fiction epic was shot start to finish in 8 hours, including greenscreen shooting of a major fight sequence, on a budget that covered little more than food.
We've got Mark's film here at CreativeCOW.net, along with some HD images from it. Prepare to be amazed.
The article "Building Cinematic Composites" originally appeared in Creative COW Magazine's "Film Values" issue (September/October 2007). Other articles included conversations with filmmakers contributing to films and TV shows including Stranger Than Fiction, Friday Night Lights, Pulp Fiction, and Rain Man among many others. Be sure to get your complimentary subscription to the Cow Magazine in both print and PDF editions.
You've seen the previews. You've heard the buzz across the forums of CreativeCOW.net. Wait no more! Two of the most eagerly anticipated DVDs in Creative COW Master Series history are shipping now: Zaxwerks Invigorator Training hosted by Serge Hamad, and Stop Staring and Start Grading with Apple Color hosted by Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Both on sale now for the introductory price of $39.95, a savings of 20%!
Ready to buy? Then head straight to our newly redesigned Creative COW Master Series store, soon to be expanding to serve you better.
Taking advantage of new features in Apple Final Cut Studio 2, CreativeCOW.net Contributing Editor Stephen Smith freshens up the approach to an old effect. Project files are included so you can follow along, and customize to your own tastes. Stephen Smith
Yes! There's really a Boris! And he really wrote this tutorial for you. It takes advantage of the Boris FX title generators included with Final Cut Pro, with a little help from the Boris Continuum Complete video effects plug-ins, for titling power you might not known you had available inside FCP. Boris Yamnitsky
Allow us to introduce one of the most eagerly anticipated DVDs in Creative Cow Master Series history, Walter Biscardi's overview of Apple Color. Building on nearly 20 years of professional editing experience, as well as years of experience with Apple Color (and FInal Touch HD before it), he's got the perfect perspective to make working in Color easier than you imagined. It's the disk he wished he had when he started using Color. Walter Biscardi
The new issue of Creative COW Magazine is one that we feel may be the best issue we have ever done. It is filled with ideas, techniques and the experience of some highly experienced pros whose credits include The Green Mile, Rain Man and many other A-List projects.
If you are looking for the easy way out and a look like many other video projects done using canned looks, this is not the issue for you. But if you want real world advice from top experts that are at the top of their craft, then you won't want to miss this newest issue of Creative COW Magazine. It's definitely a keeper!
You can download it now, at the following links...
In this reprint from Creative COW Magazine, Creative Cow leader and broadcast editor Shane Ross uses his work for The History Channel to illustrate end-to-end workflow using P2 media and the Panasonic HVX200: from a multi-camera shoot in the middle of blazing gunfire, all the way to your living room. Read Shane's article here!
Starting and Running Your Own Business in the Creative Industry
Creative Cow leader Walter Biscardi is a 17 year veteran of broadcast and corporate video production who owns Biscardi Creative Media in the Atlanta, Georgia area.. Along the way, he's learned a few things to do, and not do, in order to be successful. But before you can succeed, you have to know: are you ready?
EDIT YOUR OWN POSTS If you look at the light red area above, you'll see a new link "Edit Your Post" which you will find inside any new post that you have added to the forum.
There are two restrictions to this mechanism:
You can only edit your post for the first 30 minutes, after that, it locks.
If someone responds before the 30 minutes is up, it locks.
RANK AND COMMENT ON ARTICLES We have also added the ability to comment on all Creative COW articles. You will find the "Comment" link at the bottom of all of our articles.
RANK CREATIVE COW FORUMS POSTS You can also rank all Creative COW posts. Doing so also effects the weighting that our new search engine uses to display search results. If you sort by "Relevance," you will get the 5 COW posts served at the top with lower rated results appearing further down.
SURF SUBJECTS USING OUR NEW 'TAG' PAGES Lastly, we have added a new "tagged" subjects ability that will let you surf pages related to your interests. You can find the "tags" links in both the light orange sub-navigation bar on any of our forums and also on our search engine page.
Watch for more new features coming in next week's newsletter.
Are you looking for a way to inform users of your local users group meeting -- or for a way to find one in your area?
Do you have an event that you are producing that you'd like to get in front of the COW's near half-million visitor log-ins each month?
Are you looking for seminars and tradeshows, film festivals and other events that are of interest to you?
CreativeCOW has added a new area that you will find in the site's orange navigation bar, just for events. It's easy to use, and you can let Creative COW members know of your upcoming event -- or you can find out about the events that are ahead.
Well, Creative COW has been undergoing a major site rebuild and today we are introducing our new front door homepage! We have gotten many nice comments about the COW's new interface and we hope that you will visit and take a look for yourself. It seems that lately, new things are coming daily, so if you haven't visited in a while, you are in for big changes.
The COW homepage also has new features and over the next few days, you will see even more features added.
What are some of the next items that COW members will see in the site? Well, there are many new RSS feeds, archiving and search functions that have and will continue to be added as they are finished. We also have new "skins" that you will be able to customize the site's color scheme with. Don't like our primary choice? We'll give you some other color schemes to choose from. Watch for these and even some secret project features, coming soon!
Creative COW
When needing a photorealistic 3D world, After Effects isn't usually the first program that comes to mind. Typically a 3D modeling/animation program is necessary to create virtual 3D worlds, but in this article CreativeCOW contributing editor Bill O'Neil demonstrates creating a 3D world for a TV spot he was hired to direct and post for the Big Ten Basketball Conference.
View Tutorial...
