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Camera and Support Resources Sensor Image Size ......Ever wonder what the difference is between 1/4'', 1/3'', 1/2'' and 2/3'' sensors on video cameras and how they relate to 16mm and 35mm film cameras? Wonder no more with this article, or at least wonder less. (take me to more info) 30' Jimmy Jib owner/operator ......Eric Young has a 30' Jimmy Jib with dutch head and has a lot of experience, has worked on plenty of high-end television and film productions yet is independent-friendly. Highly recommended, easy-going and a true artist at the shot. (take me to more info) Crane and multi-cam production service ......Got a multi-cam production and you'd like to switch it live? In the comfort of a state-of-the-art, air-conditioned production van? Or maybe you want to stream it live to the Internet? Want high production value with a monster crane? Motion Video Co. has a great equipment setup, can handle HD as well as SD multicam productions, with titles and effects. Owner Mark Truss is a great guy, easy to work with and professional. (take me to more info) LANC Information ......A site found floating around the Net and I didn't know how long it would last there, so I copied it here on one of my pages. First time I've ever seen a part number for the LANC protocol manual. I'd always been told it was top secret, hush hush, don't you know? (take me to more info) Great Compressor ......A quirky name for a great vocal, two-channel compressor/limiter. FMR Audio, an Austin company, is developing a field version of the RNC (take me to more info) Digital Videography (II) ......The Art and Craft of Digital Video is an amazing collection of how-to articles on DV from 2-pop, a creativePLANET.com affiliate (take me to more info) Super8 Film Stock ......The Film Emporium carries a good line of Super8 film stock (take me to more info) 24P Dedicated Website ......Great website devoted entirely (well, not entirely but predominately) to 24 FPS Progressive recording. Check out their resources page (it's a frame-based website, otherwise I'd have a link straight to their resources page). (take me to more info) Killer Camera Rigs You Can Build ......This is a pretty funny-looking website and I haven't seen the book, so don't know if it's worth the money, but they claim to have a lot of designs for camera stabilization rigs. The designs can at least give you some ideas for your custom-made stabilizers. Here's a free plan: mount the camera to a big 2x4 and have two people run with the 2x4 -- Ethan and Joel Coen used this home-made rig in BLOOD SIMPLE. (take me to more info) Back Focus Adjustment ......A great page for learning how to calibrate the back focus adjustment on your manual lens. Also includes a link to a nice PDF and bitmap files of Seiman's Stars. (take me to more info) Cinematography for professionals ......Professional resources for cinematographers, DPs, and camera operators. Check out the forums and get tons of great advice and inside information on the techniques and craft of creating movie pictures. (take me to more info) Super8 Film Processing Information ......Has information about where to send your Super8 film for processing. Apparently, there are only two labs available for Super8 film processing. (take me to more info) The Canon XL2 Watchdog ......A great place to get information about this exciting new camera. Also check out the DV Community with great people posting and answering questions about everything DV and filmmaking. (take me to more info) Steadicam Operator's Manual ......The Steadicam (take me to more info) Poor Man's XL-1 Stabilizer ......XL-1 Homebrew Stabilizer is a do-it-yourself project for a Canon XL-1 stabilizer. I haven't built it, but the plans look good and should work. (take me to more info) Skateboard Dolly Plans ......Skateboard Dolly is a great site for homebrew track dolly plans, which is based on professional rigs. Caution: these plans are simplified -- I plan to post information in the future, describing what they forgot to mention. (take me to more info) Film Tools ......Film Tools out in Beautiful Burbank California has a bunch of really cool camera car mounts and other essentials/expendables. Great website, too. (take me to more info) The Poor Man's Camera Stabilizer ......Check out the $14 poor man's camera stabilizer by Johnny Chung Lee. His design is more appropriately called a pogo stick but it's the best description I've seen of how to make a cheap steady device. (take me to more info) Austin's Super8 Resource ......Austin's very own Cinemaker Coop is a really cool ogranization for Super8 fanatics. They host screenings, competitions, workshops and seminars with some of the biggest names in the Super8 world. (take me to more info) Super8 resources ......The Super8mm Militia is a cool Super8 resources website. They have a film stock page that's of special interest if you'd like to know more about commonly-obtained Super8 film (at least, common here in the states). (take me to more info) DV and IEEE-1394 ......The Silver List for DV and IEEE-1394 products made for the PC and Windows (take me to more info) Desktop Video ......Desktop Video website is a great location for more links than you can shake a film leader at. (take me to more info) Great Earphones ......A great pair of acoustically flat, high isolation earphones. Once you get used to having something stuck in your ear, you'll love the awareness of sound you get. Can be combined with over-the-ear hearing protection cups for great isolation (take me to more info) Using a DAT in the field ......Using DAT in the Field by Manfred Klemme. Written in 1995, this is a good overview of field recording with DAT machines. DAT will be discontinued by most of the major manufacturers due to end-of-life transport supply issue (they ain't making no more DAT transport mechanisms due to decreasing demand). That said, DAT recording will continue to be used extensively in film and even video production (sound folks like to have total control over the sound recording equipment). (take me to more info) Underwater Camera Housing ......Gates Housings rents their "bullet-proof" underwater camera housings. You can rent housings directly from them for your next underwater production - cool! (take me to more info) Ron Dexter's Info Site about Camera ......A kick-ass site with tons of great information. Just one small item from his site, the "Seiman's Star" is very handy for adjusting the back focus on a manual lens. He also has instructions on how to make the back focus adjustment. The Seiman's Star chart is great in that it's designed for, as Don puts it, camera viewfinders that have awful resolution (take me to more info) The Camcorder Controller ......A UK page that offers information for homebrewing a LANC-based controller (take me to more info) LANC Information (II) ......This includes the same detail as the above link. Probably the best summary of this simple, yet beautiful language from Sonyland. (take me to more info) Sony S Link Resource Center ......Has some information about LANC and quit a bit about S-Link (as you can imagine). (take me to more info) Sony Protocols ......Provides information for Control-S, Control-L (LANC) and S-Link which are used by Sony to control cameras, VTRs and other consumer electronics. (take me to more info) The Super 8 Guy ......A site for all your Super 8 needs. (take me to more info) Small Movies for 8mm, Super8 and 16mm ......A fun and artistic site devoted mostly to film cameras and especially those lovable, small format films such as 8mm, Super8 and 16mm. (take me to more info) Real PXL2000 Modifications ......This set of pages tells you all about how we modified our Pixelcam and several others to output baseband video and audio to a VCR or monitor that presents a 75 ohm load. Thanks to several people who contributed information for these mods. (take me to more info) Almost PXL 2000 Modifications ......This can help you extract baseband video from your Fisher-Price PXL2000 Pixelcam. CAUTION: this modification DOES NOT WORK if you are feeding the video into a 75 ohm input, such as a VCR or DV deck. (take me to more info) Sony TRV900 lover's page ......This is another fan site for the popular little Sony 3-chip miniDV camera. It has a great FAQ as well. (take me to more info) Sony TRV-900 and PD100A site ......A website full of tips and tricks from happy owners of the Sony handicam that could. (take me to more info) The Canon XL1/XL1s Watchdog ......A great place to get information about this exciting camera. Make sure you check out the DV Community listing as well, some great people posting information and answering your questions about everything DV and filmmaking. (take me to more info) Sound and Music Resources Microphone University ......Microphone University won't cost you a bunch of money but it will tell you lots of good stuff about recording in the field and studio (mostly geared toward recording musical instruments). Go to the download section for a variety of guides. (take me to more info) The MA-100 Info Page (for audio & the XL-1) ......Canon XL-1 and how to get audio using that MA-100 accessory? Finally, this page explains it all. Read it carefully and commit it to memory (or print it out and carry it in your billfold/purse). (take me to more info) Film Sound Design ......A large site dedicated to the art of production sound and sound design for film. (take me to more info) Music Library Tutorial ......Again, Jay Rose comes to the filmmaker's rescue with a Music Library Tutorial and Music Library Reviews and Contacts on his dplay.com site. (take me to more info) Production Sound ......Production Sound articles that are great, lengthy, meaty, big and bouncy. Best of all, they're free from a great company out in California. I've talked with them on the phone and they're very knowledgable and friendly. They sell equipment and offer fair prices on good sound equipment. (take me to more info) Sound Equipment Rental ......If you can't get it here at Mopac Media, then check out Music Makers Rental, they're a great place to rent audio gear. The folks are extremely nice and their equipment well maintained. Highly recommended among professional sound engineers. (take me to more info) Rights Clearances ......New England Films has a summary article called Getting in Tune that helps explain the various rights clearance you need to put music to your movie. (take me to more info) Music Libraries - Advice ......Advice on selecting music libraries by Kevin Triplett of Mopac Media (take me to more info) Gene Michael Productions ......Gene Michael Productions is a buy-out music library that has excellent production value and a good range of music, with new discs added each year. This website was under construction when I last checked on it. You can reach them at (800) 955-0619. (take me to more info) Asociated Production Music ......Associated Production Music is a great needle-drop music library. You call them up, tell them what you're looking for in terms of mood, style, whatever and they'll send you free loaner discs. You choose which songs to use, pay for a blanket license for your production, send the loaners back and you're done! (take me to more info) License Music ......LicenseMusic.com is a great place to listen to music and download what you want straight to your hard drive. You can get a cost estimate for their music license right on their website (take me to more info) Cue Pop ......CuePop is a very interesting on-line production music and sound effects library. The music is FREE (see how can it be free?) and is downloaded in "Hi-Fi" compressed MP3 format. If you can't use MP3, they'll send you a CD of songs that you pick out for $8 per 60-minute CD. (take me to more info) Crystal Sync, How and Why ......Recording sync sound with a film camera, like 16mm, Super16 or Super8? Check out the Film Group FAQ for sync sound. They also sell crystal sync modifications for most cameras. (take me to more info) Premiere Unplugged ......Premiere Unplugged is Jay Rose's article on how to achieve particular audio effects with the standard Premiere audio plugins. Good example of how to experiment with the built-in filters. (take me to more info) The Digital Playroom ......Jay Rose's Digital Playroom is a great site to wander around in and pick up great tips and tricks. Make sure you listen to the orson Wells outtakes. (take me to more info) Production Tips - Audio ......Production Sound articles that are great, lengthy, meaty, big and bouncy. Best of all, they're free from a great company out in California (take me to more info) Music Machines ......Music Machines is a great place to research that old synth or melletron you found at yesterday's garage sale. (take me to more info) Sound Effects ......Sound Effects over the internet. Looks like you can get sound effects in several different languages. (take me to more info) Some of Audio's more technical information ......Turner Audio has a very nice tech section on their website for sound. Sounds great, yes? (take me to more info) Lighting and Grip Information Olden Lighting ......Olden Lighting is a great place to rent big lights, big lighting packages, beefy stands, fantastic numbers of fans, a peck of nets ... they even have grip trucks and effects. The people there are really nice, helpful and competent. Open on Saturdays. What more could you possibly ask for? Oh yeah - ask for Walter Olden or his Operations Manger, Dewayne McFarland. They can also help you get grips and lighting designers for your production! Best of all, Olden Lighting is just around the corner from Mopac Media do you can get all your equipment in one convenient area. (take me to more info) Tips for Lighting and Production in General ......Production Tips is a useful website for lighting tips (take me to more info) China Lanterns ......China Lantern is a design for soft, omnidirectional light. A great alternative to lighting a real Chinese Lantern on fire or paying $500 for a Chimerically Chinese Lantern (take me to more info) Replacement Bulbs ......Replacement Light Bulbs.com sells, um, replacement light bulbs. They seem to have the best prices I've found. Also, on their home page, they have a lot of technical information about light bulbs. Very good reading (take me to more info) Video and Film Technical Resources Broadcast Standards ......Broadcast Standards from around the world is a handy page when you want to send copies of your video to foreign lands. NTSC, PAL, and SECAM/MESECAM all listed. Whew! (take me to more info) Content Creation ......The EditTrain is a hip site for cool content creation and technical tips (used to be Richard Lin's tip page, now greatly expanded). Check out the Garage Sale while you're there! (take me to more info) DV to Film Transfer ......Swiss Effects provides information about film-to-video transfer. Obviously for digital video filmmakers, you should go with Filmteam since they have the better transfer system (take me to more info) FilmTeam DV to Film Transfer ......Filmteam has a proprietary system for increasing the resolution of digital video before transferring to 16mm or 35mm. Their website has useful information about the process and examples of their work. (take me to more info) Video Formats ......DV Formats explained! Do you feel confused about DVCAM, miniDV, DVCPRO and D-9? Do you know what IEEE-1394 is, what codecs do, or what the heck is 4:2:2 and 4:1:1? You're not alone, but this website can lead you through the maze of standards and geek-speak. (take me to more info) Digital Videography ......Adam Wilt's website is a good resource for digital videography. He has an excellent FAQ for all those nagging questions, like, "How do I get that filmlook everyone's talking about?" (take me to more info) Filmmaking Resources Texas ......Texas, in its wisdom, has allowed video producers to buy equipment and supplies without paying sales tax as long as that equipment or supplies is used in the product of material that is later resold. (take me to more info) CyberFilmSchool ......Claiming to be the ''Movie School Encyclopedia,'' this website has a good collection of links. If you haven't had enough links here at Mopac Media, head over to CyberFilmSchool and comb their links! (take me to more info) SoCal Blog ......Interesting articles on this one by a group of southern California filmmakers. (take me to more info) Pro8mm Film ......Pro8mm Film fortunately still sells great film stock. Supposedly, they take 16mm stock and cut it down to 8mm, so it's pricey but you get a good choice of professional film stock. I think they used to be called Super8Sound. (take me to more info) The MakeUp Web Ring ......The Makeup Webring is for all you gore-philes. (take me to more info) The NATPE Report ......The NATPE Report for Texas Film and Video News convers the convergence of television and new media. (take me to more info) Smith Creek Studios -- Tips ......A studio nestled in the hill country of Texas, near Wimberly. There are some great tips on interviewing, lighting, sound and other aspects of filmmaking. Rodger Marion is a nice guy and very helpful. (take me to more info) Free Video Coding ......Here's a site that lets you create html code to embed video into your website. This is really cool, doesn't have any adware or spyware crap in it, it's totally free and even gives you the option of supporting their site or not. Awesome! (take me to more info) Stop Motion Animation Software ......If you want to do claymation or stop motion animation with inanimate objects (or patient animate objects!) then take a look at Stop Motion Pro software. Unfortunately, only for Windows -- I'm still looking for Macintosh software so if you know of anything that can record single frames via firewire for the Mac, please let me know -- thanks! (take me to more info) IndieFilmmaker ......A site dedicated to the independent filmmaker. Guides and links to market resources, distributors, books, forums and other filmmaker resources makes this a website useful for people actually making movies. (take me to more info) How to make a film - in laymen's terms ......The Eejit's Guide to Filmmaking is a tongue-in-cheek site that explains in layman's terms how to make a film. A great site for the light side of the technical and creative stuff. (take me to more info) Scott Spears Filmmaking Page ......Scott's website has plenty of articles and videos to keep you entertained and knowledged up. Wanna learn about Chinese Lanterns? Wanna be the best Production Assistant you can be? Wanna know about location scouting? It's all here and more. (take me to more info) The Internet Movie Database ......Got a film question. Here's the answer. (take me to more info) Film Threat Magazine ......Chris Gore started this thing 20 years ago - and it's still going. (take me to more info) Indiewire Magazine ......THE place for up to the minute info about independent film. (take me to more info) Austin Callback ......Austin Actors showcase. (take me to more info) Production Resources around the Country ......Ned Miller's Production Resources is useful for the directories, if you're planning a shoot in some other part of the country and need to contact a local there to help out. (take me to more info) International Production Services ......Kemps Film and Television production services online handbook appears to be a good resource for international production services and companies. (take me to more info) Beating Writer's Block ......Story and character generator for those times when you have writer's block or want a chuckle. (take me to more info) Alternative Filmmaking ......Unhollywood is a site for alternative filmmaking outside the southern California studio system. (take me to more info) More Austin Actors ......Got a budget? Find an actor at Casting Works LA, located in the fabulous 501 complex of Austin. (take me to more info) Austin Actors ......Find an actor at the AustinActors.net, a great organization founded by Brad Koester, PhD, and Nice Guy. Their site is attractive, well laid out, and has great resources. If you are an actor near Austin, a producer, or a filmmaker, this is a worthwhile site and organization to check out. (take me to more info) Storytelling and Special Effects ......The Stupendous Site of Filmmaking is a quirky artistic site for storytelling and special effects. (take me to more info) Filmmaker.com ......Filmmaker.com has got to be the definitive site on the subject of filmmaking, with a name like that, eh? (take me to more info) MakeUp and Special FX ......Like A Story is part of the Make-Up Artist Web Ring and has a great section of links to Special Effects forums and other filmmaker boards. (take me to more info) More Production Tips ......Production Tips is a useful website for your filmmaking needs and questions. (take me to more info) Movie Cost Breakdown ......Movie Cost Breakdown, a great reference article for comparing costs between 16mm and 35mm film versus various digital video scenarios. Also gives you an idea of what to budget for your movie. (take me to more info) Indie Slate Magazine ......For independent filmmaking west of the Mississippi, check out Indie Slate, a bi-monthly publication. Full of articles, events, and production notices, it's a good reference for anyone working in the film industry or wanting to break in. (take me to more info) Austin Film Resource ......The Austin Film Resource is a website dedicated to local filmmakers here in Austin, helping them connect with other people and resources, including production announcements and job postings. They're acquiring articles for publications, so if you have an article, an idea, or know someone with writing skills, send email to Erick Opeka. (take me to more info) Texas Flm Commission's Production Hotline ......An online Production Manual and Production Hotline is maintained by The Texas Film Commission. (take me to more info) Texas Film Commission ......The Texas Film Commission serves the filmmaking community in Texas, mostly the studios since they're main purpose is to bring more production money to the state, but they also have an independent spirit and provide some services for no/low-budget productions, especially location scouting. (take me to more info) Austin Film Works ......Austin Film Works is an Austin-based film and video production school founded by Steve Mims. I've taken his "Production One" class and had a blast, meeting lots of good people and shooting my first three shorts. (take me to more info) DV Related News ......Global DVC is a site for DV related news created by Jan van der Meer from the Netherlands. Sometimes news items published are rumors and for products, but usually they let you know that information is unofficial. (take me to more info) Post-Production, Animation and Special Effects Resources Daily Edit News ......Daily Editors Net is a site full of up-to-date news for editors (take me to more info) Video Fields and Frames ......A page that takes the mystery out of video fields and frames. Great reference for understanding why your video looks the way it does. (take me to more info) Special FX - Light Sabers! ......If lightsabers (tm), ala StarWars (tm) is your thing, then you should check out this collection of tutorials on how to get that LucasFilms (tm) effect. (take me to more info) Industrial Light and Magic (Fan Site) ......The Unofficial Industrial Light and Magic (tm) fanboy site. (take me to more info) Special FX - FAQ Site ......The Official Alt.Movies.Visual-Effects FAQ Site from the alt.movies.visual-effects newsgroup. No, really! (take me to more info) DV Upsampling via SDI ......This is a hot topic these days and is covered in excellent detail in this article by Graeme Nattress. Summary: With the advent affordable SDI-equipped equipment, filmmakers are discovering an increase in quality when capturing DV via SDI instead of Firewire. Doesn't make sense at first, because digital is digital and you can't add to something that's not there, but the transfer smooths the 4:1:1 color space data. It's not as good as if you started with 4:2:2 capture but it's a good step up. Check out the article! (take me to more info) Vintage video ......Got an old set of 1" or 2" reel-to-reel videotape? Did you even know there's such a thing as 1 inch videotape? (I remember the stuff at my high school, the football department was using it to analyze plays.) Need to transfer PAL to NTSC? Here's a place that has a bunch of vintage video players and other cool stuff. (take me to more info) Captioning -- Subtitles and Open Captioning ......If you need to do subtitling or open captioning on your production, this is da shizzle. Well-documented and intuitive interface, it's capable of accepting a wide variety of captioning files or you can generate them from scratch. Lots of flexibility, this is one of my favorite packages and I'm using it right now to place super-titles on a multi-cam opera production. This software runs on Windows XP (not 2000) and Macintosh OSX and OS9. (take me to more info) Ken Stone's Final Cut Pro ......Photographer Ken Stone has a comprehensive site for Final Cut Pro tips and tricks and related resources. If you're cutting with FCP, you need to check out his site. It goes back to FCP2 but has FCP4 and hopefully some FCP5 once he's had a chance to work with it. (take me to more info) 3d Globes of the Earth ......3D Globes of the Earth and other novel animations are downloadable from this site (for a fee). (take me to more info) MPEG Resources ......MPEG Pointers and Resources provides tutorials and resources on MPEG encoding (take me to more info) Special FX Headquarters ......Visual Effects Headquarters is an archive and showcase for featured effects houses. A good place to go for information on major motion picture effects. (take me to more info) Special FX - The Matrix ......Ever wonder how they got that Matrix look? Well, wonder no more, here is the company that pioneered the technique and the equipment. (take me to more info) Special FX Company ......Reel EFX is a real SFX company. No, no kidding! (take me to more info) More VFX talk ......Readings on Visual Effects, Animation & Film Making is a webpage of several books on special effects with a short description of each (take me to more info) Special FX ......VFXTalk.com is devoted to articles and offers for special effects, from desktop to major studios. New at the time I posted this link (Jan 2003), the website is being developed so check it out often. (take me to more info) PAL to NTSC ......If you want to convert from PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL, you can check out Perry Mitchell's website (he uses frames - here is his home page) or camcorderinfo.com or buy software from RE:Vision Effects, Inc. or Focus Enhancements or DV Films. (take me to more info) Digital Editing ......The Digital Video Editing site is a splashy resource for, you guessed it, digital editing. The Techniques section offers lots of good advice. I haven't had time to explore all the corners of this site, but it looks worthwhile cruise around it. I haven't seen where they are selling anything, but the style seems to suggest a commercial bias (take me to more info) De-Interlacing Methods ......Field De-interlace methods is a good resource for editors wanting to de-interlace a still image captured from a video clip. (take me to more info) Bluescreen Info ......The Bluescreen Page is a great resource for information on how to do bluescreens. (take me to more info) Titles ......Holy Flickering Titles, Batman! How do you create titles in Premiere or any of the half dozen editing/titling software? Here's a great tutorial on why titles flicker and how you can reduce or eliminate it from your projects. Warning: It's not as easy as you might hope. (take me to more info) After Effects Forum ......Adobe After Effects User's Group is a great forum for asking, "How do you do that?" (take me to more info) Post-Production Forum ......The forum at grinnerHester.com has a community that is active but still small, so you can meet people who are doing editing and post-production. Looks like a great place to hang out. (take me to more info) Post-Production Reviews ......Final Cut Pro users can find lots of useful information at Ken Stone's Final Cut Pro website, including rev