All of our new commercial productions from our Term 2 Television & Video Production class have been uploaded to YouTube.
Hi-Def on Vimeo
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BCIT Television & Video Production’s very own Ashif Jivraj headed down to NAB 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada last week to check out the latest and greatest from the film and television production community.
His report? 3D. 3D. 3D.
Movie studios and Television Executives are going gangbusters for 3D. Of course the main reason is that it increases their revenue stream, but when used correctly (see Avatar), it can be a nice way to give viewers an immersive cinematic experience (or motion sickness).
One of the other big releases was a new camera by ARRI, Alexa. The writing seems to be on the wall for traditional filmmakers, and ARRI, one of the industry leaders in film technology is rapidly adapting to a new digital production system. The industry was taken unaware when the RED One was released a couple of years back. Now the industry is playing catch-up and new production options are appearing on an almost daily basis.
Taking a different cinematic path, Digital SLRs (the Canon 5D Mk II) and the more reasonably-priced 7D are making decent production inroads judging from the number of productions they are being used in. A recent EnGadget post talks about the 5D being used to shoot the season finale of the series “House” (airing on May 17th).
It’s safe to say that we’re working in very interesting times in the industry…
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(Note: No students were blinded in the making of this science, but it was the best title I could come up with … The only other option was trying to find something that rhymed with “Bill Nye the Science Guy”)
So what’s this about Science? We had the opportunity to take our production on the road and head down to the Telus World of Science to do a live production of their Centre Stage science education show.
This was our first live event production using the new Broadcast Pix production flypack that we’ve been introducing the students to this semester (check the blog history for info on our practise events back at the school).
We are actively looking for projects that students can produce with our equipment to get additional production experience. If you have a project you’d like to submit, please feel free to contact us.
Details:
- 4 camera shoot (2 x Sony DSR 370, 1 x Sony DSR 400, 1 x Panasonic AG-DVX100BP)
- Broadcast Pix Slate 100 Flypack
- Crew (15 students, 3 Instructors)
- Load-in 10:30, Full Facs 12:45, Showtime 15:20, Wrap 16:00
I have linked a copy of our SW Technical Production Manual that includes some project planning details for aspiring production staff out there (some contact information has been removed for privacy reasons).
We expect students to provide this type of documentation (and more!) when planning their projects.
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Our last two productions for this term took place this week – it would have been nice to have a bit more warm weather in the forecast (considering both productions had exterior components), however rain or shine, we got it done!
First off on Tuesday was a spot for helping asthma sufferers using the “Buteyko Breathing Method“, where a couple spending a nice warm summer day in the park deals with an asthma attack using a special breathing technique.
On Thursday we made our way to Tsawwassen and onto the Boundary Bay beach to shoot a commercial for Kayotics Skimboards. Our actor made a fairly quick transition from his day-to-day work in a cubicle to a more exciting work locale.
Our two HD commercial shoots this week kicked-off with a spot for Neptoon Records, which caters to all musical tastes. Check out the image gallery for a couple of the more unusual examples you can find in the store.
Also this week was a commercial spot for ZipCar, a short-term car rental service available in the metro-Vancouver area. In this case, it’s particularly useful for short shopping trips, especially when your hands are full!
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What a night!
First off was a going-away party for both our Associate Dean, Brian Antonson and his administrative assistant Janet Wadsworth. Plenty of good stories, good friends and good food. Thanks to everyone who was involved both planning and holding this event. I’m sure it left everyone with fond memories.
Also tonight (as if the party wasn’t work enough), we had our Big Info Session, where all of BCIT’s programs show up and show off to the general public. The broadcast department had some great displays up (would it be too much to say we stole the show?).
Part of the Television Booth at the BCIT Big Info Session
This was the first public performance of our Broadcast Pix production system in combination with our iMac edit stations and Panasonic HPX-300 P2-HD cameras.
This was also the first time that we had an end-to-end digital workflow.
- Footage was shot on the Panasonic HPX-300 P2-HD cameras
- After aquisition, the footage gets loaded onto the iMac Final Cut Pro edit station via P2-reader and a USB interface
- The finished edits are pushed via ethernet to the clipstore on the Broadcast Pix system and into our live show.
For the most part, it worked flawlessly – just a few hiccups when the power went out (note to student editors: “save often”). Looking forward to our next live event in the second week of April when we take our class out on location to do a live show for a client!
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