sarcanon

I don't need to read Dr. Greer's works to know it's bullocks for the same reason I don't need to read the Bible to know that Judaeo-Christian theology is a fairy tale, nor the arguments of climate change deniers to know they're wholly detached from reality. The human mind is capable of all sorts of amazing things, including completely deluding itself into the most fantastical of notions. I don't claim that there is no such thing as extraterrestrial life (in fact, the Drake Equation makes its existence a virtual certainty). I just think the idea they've visited us is risible in the extreme. This is the kind of discussion on this topic I find persuasive: https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/ultraterrestrials/

I imagine some folks around here might be interested in this new KickStarter project:

Gone With the Wind...pshaw. Culver Studios (in its incarnation as Desilu) was home to Stalag 13 from Hogan's Heroes! That place has had as many owners as Elizabeth Taylor had husbands.

Of course, it's entirely possible their opinions could be completely genuine (if inarticulately stated), borne from many hours of listening to a wide variety of mics and recorders with that "sound" feeling. But, frankly, to me, it seemed like a couple of retrophiliac hipsters talking out their asses, more in love with the romantic ideal of vintage audio gear than any rational assessment based on personal experience. I wonder how well they would do in a blind test. Which is not to denigrate their film-making abilities one bit. I intend to go see 'Good Time' and expect to appreciate it. But being very good at one thing doesn't make you an expert on everything.

A couple of young co-directors, the Safdie Brothers (Josh and Benny), just released a film called "Good Time" which by many accounts is pretty good. They just did an, uh... interesting, interview for No Film School (read it here) where they discuss the audio for the film and do a bit of seemingly random name-checking. Portions related to audio excerpted without further comment: Josh: ... But if I'm obsessed with the image, Benny also obsesses over the microphones and the acoustics. Benny: When you hook up with somebody who's doing sound, they have their own kit. Our sound mixer, Patrick Southern, was going, "I've got all these microphones and I've got this boom mic." I'm like, "Alright! But we're gonna rent all these microphones and this boom mic because I've been doing a lot of research about them, and they sound incredible." But they are very delicate. They're British. And there are these amazing, incredible lavs. And then there's this one boom mic that only one rental house in the city had. You can buy them on eBay because they were made in the '80s and they kind of just got thrown away. But it's got such a specific feeling to it. It's a workhorse but it's a real, directional microphone. Josh: You wanted to have two boom mics the whole time on this! NFS: What were the mics called? Benny: I don't want to give it away. Josh: There is a recorder that we have yet to use that we do want to work with, the Cantar. Benny: The closest thing that we ever got to was the one that Patrick used on this one, the Zaxcom. Josh: I like our Sonosax, too. Benny: The thing is, it's really hard to find digital recorders that have that "sound" feeling. Most digital recorders [are designed to] erase all the sound. Then you add it later. The Zaxcom Nomad is very simple. It's straightforward, and then there's a lot of sound to it. It has "room tone," which a lot of people don't want because they want to have full, maximum, clean sound. It's the same with a lot of the digital cameras—they try and have nothing. No Film School: They're too pristine. Josh: Exactly. I've made short films where we used Nagra tape, and that's a crazy feeling because you can run out of sound. You can roll out on sound. But the warmth of analog tape is incredible. Benny: They don't make them anymore. Josh: Yeah, and also, it doesn't all need to be that nostalgic.

Sounds good. Where did you mount the 4061?

Try looking under Timeline Display Settings (wrench icon on Timeline) and select Show Audio Names menu option.

Tentacle Sync are showing a prototype of their timecode device that is slimmer, has an improved mic, and Bluetooth support and new app that allows remote configuration and control of multiple units.

If you're interested in viewing "A Face of War", it's available on YouTube in a series of ten segments, here. Talk about being embedded, these guys were in the s**t. And, in case it's not perfectly obvious, the sound IS the story.

May I suggest we qualify that with a "sometimes..."? When the production on a narrative feature is too cheap to hire a boom operator, schedules 8-9 pages a day, shoots two cameras with timecode and wireless hops on both, and wants every actor lavved in every scene (often as many as six), I'm sorry but they can expect bugger all in the reports. I did a show like that once when I first started out, and it almost killed me. Life is too short. That being said, I make every effort to make my reports as detailed as time and circumstances permit. Having started to do some sound editing and mixing work myself has made me appreciate the value of well crafted reports. I would even go so far as to say all production mixers should do at least a little bit of post work at some point in their careers. It absolutely improves your location mixing chops. It has mine, anyway.

It was a loaner from Panasonic to the DP, who has something of a social media following. A BTS video has been posted to his site, but it would likely only be of interest to camera gearheads.

I got a chance to work with the Panasonic Varicam LT last week, and saw that no one has yet posted any information about it. So I thought I would pass along a report of my experiences. All in all, no surprises with this well appointed cinema camera. I don't know how similar to or different from its bigger brother (Varicam) it is, not having worked with one. It support four channels of audio input. It has an XLR-5F for a stereo mic in on Inputs 1 & 2. It has two more mono XLR jacks for inputs 3 and 4. All four inputs can be recorded simultaneously, with 48V phantom power available in each. Internal recording is 24-bit 48KHz. Input levels are controlled via menus. Timecode input/output is via a BNC connector. It also has Genlock In via BNC as well. Configuration of timecode via the menus is straightforward. However, before you start, one gotcha to aware of before you attempt configure timecode is to make certain the camera is NOT in Variable Frame Rate mode and that a static Frame Rate has been set. When the Varicam is in VFR mode, timecode will be locked in Record Run mode, and it will not except an external timecode signal. Learned this the hard way when I couldn't figure why it wouldn't accept jamming from my Ambient LockIt. From the home screen: hit the Menu button then Rec Settings: Then enter the TC menu: From there, if connecting an external timecode source, set Free/Rec Run to Record Run and set the TC In/Out Sel menu to TC In. I could not detect any fan noise at all, though admittedly I never got closer than a meter away while rolling and none of our takes ever exceeded five or six minutes at a time. In case you would like to consult the manual directly, here are links to the PDF and HTML versions. That's about it. Beats working with any Red camera, hands down.

Unless I'm mistaken, the field recorder workflow is a feature of Pro Tools HD, and not the standard Pro Tools. Also, there are third party software applications that streamline the production audio conforming process, of which EdiLoad is probably the most well known. But as Phil suggests, it's far simpler if you can get picture editorial department to take this on. That's not always possible, unfortunately.

Correct. That accessory cannot be used with the FS5. So no TC in (or genlock), unless you want to record LTC to one of the audio channels, e.g., with a Tentacle. While it's true that it will only internally record 4:2:0 8-bit in "4K" (technically, QFHD, not true 4K), you can record 4:2:2 8-bit out the HDMI port into, say, a Video Devices PIX-E recorder or an Atomos Shogun. But, 10-bit 4K sure would have been nice. All the same, I like mine a lot. Just don't assume it's a cinema camera, and you'll get along fine.

Very nice indeed. Did you go to a seamstress to fasten the bits of canvas to the blankets, or did you do this yourself? I'd like to hear a bit more about this part was achieved. Cheers!