Studio 10 Productions | Video Production Services | Regina, Saskatchewan

Investing in Saskatchewan

admin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:09:24 +0000

Arcola Community School

St. Mary’s Community School

Client:

Arcas

Requirements:

Documentary Video

Description:

Studio 10 completed an external documentary video for both Arcola Community School and St.Mary’s Community School. This video included interviews with various teachers and support staff, and included different location in both Regina and Saskatoon.

Apple’s Lion, FCPx, and Adobe’s Production Suite

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:30:25 +0000

Yesterday, the new operating system, LION was released by Apple. With it’s release, Apple promised a set of many new features, including gestures, versions, and airdrop. For a production studio with multiple computers, the ability to easily transfer files between computers excited us.

The Plan

With the release of Lion, we decided to also purchase FCPx and the Adobe Production Suite. Before upgrading to Lion on all systems in the office however, we wanted play around with it on one computer and see if all of our software would be compatible. As for FCPx, we held off on purchasing it until the release of Lion as we were planning on doing a fresh OS install so our daily workflow was uninterrupted.

The Low Down

Three weeks before the release of Lion, Apple requested the return of all Snow Leopard discs. However, in order to install Lion, you need to have Snow Leopard installed. Luckily, we had a copy of Snow Leopard in the office.

The Install

We decided to use our multi-core Mac Pro to test out LION. Download time of LION was approximately 3 hrs, FCPx was about 30 minutes, and the Adobe Production Suite was about 3 hrs. Install of LION took an hour and Adobe also took an hour.

Functionality

LION: So far we are absolutely loving Launchpad but wished you could nest Applications beyond the one level or organization. This is something you are unable to do with the IPHONE/IPAD but we sure wish we were able to do this.

Our major concern at this point is whether or not all of my apps will work with LION. We have slowly been installing our apps and have not ran into issues as of yet but will be updating this post if we do run into issues.

We have only started to play with LION so haven’t experienced all of it’s features yet but similar to the APP compatibility, we will be updating this post as we explore more.

One thing to note when it comes to APPS is that Apple has dropped support for all PowerPC based apps as well as Rosetta so many older APPS will not port over at all.

FCPx: For now, we will not be using FCPx on a daily bases but plan on editing personal projects on it to familiarize ourselves with it.

ADOBE: So far, all apps seem to be functioning properly.

Although VERY basic, we have included step-by-step LION OSX instructions below.

HOW TO INSTALL LION with NEW HD:

Overall

It is evident that Apple is trying to phase out optical drives as it is a fail point for computers. They have decided to offer LION for purchase on thumb drives starting in August for $69.99 verses $29.99 in the APP Store.

Overall, we are happy with LION. Our opinions are fairly fresh however as we only have about an hour of run-time under LION. We have heard a lot of negative feedback on gestures but have not tried them yet as we installed it on my Mac Pro. We plan on purchasing the magic track-pad before installing on my Macbook Pro’s.

What’s to Come: Translucent Mirror Technology

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:12:21 +0000

Since the release of the Canon 5D Mark II back in August 2005, there has been a dramatic shift in ideologies when it comes to selecting camera packages for a given project. However, with the introduction of video in these low cost/low impact cameras, people have been able to capture a stunning image, without breaking the bank. Recently, Sony reintroduced a technology using a Translucent Mirror to capture the digital image (first introduced by Canon in the 60′s).

How it Works:

In essence, a portion of the light from the lens filters through the mirror component and hits the imaging sensor at the back, which records the picture. At the same time, the mirror would reflect another part of the light upward to another sensor for phase detection autofocus (AF).

Why this is Cool

Since there are no moving mirror components in the dSLR’s, there is no blackout time. This lets users view the scene and anticipate what might happen for the next shot. This is good for sports photographers who may miss an important moment while the mirror moves up and blocks the view.

Press Release

According to Sony, the translucent mirror helps to reduce the size and weight of the camera. This is because the conventional optical pentaprism used in dSLR’s has been replaced by an electronic viewfinder.

Continuous phase-detection autofocus even during video, live view or continuous shooting mode
Lack of camera shake due to mirror movement
No viewfinder blackout while taking photograph
Shorter shutter lag
Exposure, White Balance, and other settings can be easily and directly verified on the electronic viewfinder (and thus tweaked) before taking a picture.
More compact body

Downfalls

One distinct disadvantage of using such a mirror is that the view through the optical viewfinder is dimmer than an SLR using a traditional mirror system.

Lack of optical viewfinder – Digital Viewfinder…
Less light reaching sensor, due to portion of the light being reflected to phase-detection auto-focus array
Refresh rate limited by the time it takes the sensor to form an image; in low light this causes severe stuttering of the viewfinder image when panning
No real-time viewfinder update at high shooting rates, the viewfinder shows the last picture taken instead of where the camera is actually pointed; mostly a concern with fast-moving subjects.
The EVF has far less dynamic range than the sensor, so the EVF does not properly show what will be captured.
Over a period of time, the mirror surfaces can become soiled. As a result of this the mirror scatters the light rays and degrades the recorded image.

Until we see that camera, it is hard to tell if the new technology will fix the downfalls of dSLR’s but we sure hope it does! Although the images do look stunning from dSLR’s, if used in the wrong hands, can produce some very nasty imagery (moire, aliasing, etc).

What this Means for dSLR’s

Sony’s use of Pellicle mirrors in these two dSLRs is a sign that the company is serious about the dSLR business and is ready to take on bigger players like Canon and Nikon. It may also mean the firm could be preparing for a professional dSLR using this mirror, too.

Studio 10 worked closely with AdSpark to produce a 30 second television commercial for Knight Archer Insurance regarding the SaskPlateRenewal campaign. Knight Archer was the first to incorporate the new SGI Online Services initiative in Saskatchewan where clients can renew their plates online.

STEP Promotional Videos

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:49:22 +0000

Sakundiak Equipment

Gb Internet Solutions

Saskcan Pulse Trading

Display Systems International

Hillberg & Berk

Client:

Look Matters

Requirements:

Promotional Videos

Description:

Studio 10 worked with Look Matters to produce 5 videos for screening at the STEP Awards. The series was produced to introduce and describe the 5 companies nominated for Exporter of the Year by the Saskatchewan Association of Human Resource Professionals.