Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/16039
HDSLRs Expanding Role ably quick for the user and could take ad- vantage of the cores in an Apple MacBook Pro or laptop.” Red Giant Software’s (www.redgiantsoft- The upcoming PluralEyes 1.2 for Final Cut Pro from Singular offers features designed for HDSLR video. If HDSLRs intend to maintain their small form factor Sharpe doubts that the cameras will “load up with a lot of electronics and connectors for improved audio.” So dual- system audio will likely remain the method of choice for capturing quality sound. “For us, that means we’ll continue to improve the PluralEyes workflow,” he reports.“We have a large customer base now and get good feedback from them” along with a raft of testimonials. “PluralEyes shaves hours or days off the time taken to start the creative editing process,” Sharpe points out. “And it simplifies production too, because you don’t need complex cabling to connect recording devices or clappers or other intrusive techniques. Most customers find that Plu- ralEyes pays for itself on the first project.” MAGIC BULLET GRINDER After the first commercial was shot with a Canon 5D, Red Giant Software’s creative director, Stu Maschwitz, one of the founders of San Fran- cisco’s The Orphanage, re- marked to Red Giant co- founder Sean Safreed that it would be great to have a tool to create full-resolution, transcoded information that could be used for a Final Cut offline and sent to an editor elsewhere for finishing. Although shooters could use free Compressor soft- ware or features in Final Cut for transcoding, Maschwitz noted that those tools could- n’t create timecode burn-ins or file names, and HDSLR users needed a way to man- age that. “The current tools had crucial missing features for him and plenty of other shooters,” observes Safreed. “So we set about creating a batch tool that was reason- 20 Post • September 2010 www.postmagazine.com ware.com) Magic Bullet Grinder, which was released in late May, converts HDSLR video to edit-friendly formats for smooth playback and faster rendering. It gives Final Cut Pro users a fast way to get footage from Canon HDSLR cameras into their timeline for edit- ing, add timecode and generate proxies, all in a single, time-saving pass. Batch processing and multi-threading mean quick, pain-free conversion so editing can start even while shooting on location. Among Magic Bullet’s features are the ability to quickly conform media shot at 30fps or 60fps to 24fps for slow-motion ef- fects and support for the ProRes Proxy for- mat; the plug-in may be used to generate lower-resolution proxies for easy laptop editing that can be swapped later for full-res versions for final mastering. Safreed reports that a lot of users “ap- preciate that Magic Bullet Grinder is not in- side Final Cut or another application. Most want a separate utility; it makes it easier to set up on a laptop that doesn’t have Final Cut Studio installed.” Since Magic Bullet Grinder’s debut, he’s been surprised to discover “how many peo- ple struggle with media management on the set.They’ve been using Grinder as an on-set transcoding tool: they take the Flash card from the camera, dump the video to a batch window and say, ‘go.’ It’s a very fast way to have media ready by the end of the day.” The next release of Magic Bullet Grinder will boast more features, he reports.“We plan to respond to users by adding more timecode options — full-run timecode, time- of-day timecode, support for the metadata on the 5D or 7D.And we’ll have four or five other things that will make a difference to users. Our updates over the coming months will add a lot of value to the product.” DV3 PRODUCTIONS Producer/director/DP Obin Olson, who’s a partner in Wilmington, NC’s Dv3 Produc- tions (www.dv3productions.com), has been shooting with his Red One camera since he received it and has worked with Adobe to establish an efficient Red post workflow for Dv3’s spot and interactive online projects. When HDSLRs came on the market Olson was attracted by their low price point, small form factor and versatility.“I use them for capturing unique angles and shots you can’t get with 80lbs over your shoulder,” he says. He has mounted them on motorcy-