Industry Category: Digital Rebellion Blog

FCPUG Amsterdam Supermeet 9-13-2009

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:32:29 MDT

If you're in Europe (or willing to travel), there is an FCPUG Supermeet in Amsterdam on Sunday 13th September.

As always, there's a lot of interesting stuff going on including:

Final Cut Pro co-creator Michael Wohl shows off FCP 7

Simon Walker shows how to do a Color grade in 10 mins

Jason Levine from Adobe shows how to integrate FCP and Adobe CS4 workflows

26 vendors will be showcasing their wares

The World Famous Raffle with over 43,000 Euros worth of prizes

Tickets are a steal at 15 Euros (around $20) or 10.50 Euros for students with valid ID. Doors open at 17:00 with the FCP Showcase, where attendees can meet third-party vendors and developers, and the main Supermeet lasts from 19:00-23:30.

It's being held at The Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Dam Square in the Netherlands. This
event is expected to be the largest gathering of Final Cut Studio users, Gurus and Digital Filmmakers in Europe during the annual IBC trade show. These shows are always well worth attending.

More details are here.

Could SD cards replace DVDs?

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:36:33 MDT

ComputerWorld has an interesting opinion piece entitled Is Apple trading SD cards for DVDs in MacBooks?. The author, Seth Weintraub, speculates that the inclusion of SD card slots in Apple's latest notebook line signifies a gradual shift away from optical media to solid state, similar to the way Apple killed off the floppy disk.

Whether true or not, it would make a lot of sense. Steve Jobs has made it clear that he is not a fan of the licensing system for Blu-ray discs, and switching to SD or SSD distribution would not only remove the need to use a proprietary, licensed format but also provide the opportunity for more powerful hardware DRM / encryption to protect content, such as that used by the military. Although DRM is unpopular with consumers, it is a necessary evil in order to get content providers to embrace a new format.

SD cards / SSD drives also have the benefit of being reusable (although distributors could choose to prevent writes at the file system or controller level) and being considerably smaller than optical discs, which is both convenient and good for the environment. As well as being smaller, they would be much faster at reading and writing than conventional discs.

The content creation process would be much simpler too. Burned DVDs are inferior to replicated DVDs, and so any mass distribution requires you to send your master off to a replication facility, which is an expensive process that can be very inflexible when it comes to quantities. SD cards / SSDs, on the other hand, can easily be cloned in-house for no cost and there would be no physical quality issues in doing so.

Computer manufacturers could use the space taken up by large DVD drives to increase the battery size of laptops, add more components (such as ExpressCard slots and eSATA ports, Apple), increase performance, reduce heat, or reduce the physical size of the computer. Television manufacturers could simply include an SD slot in the TV itself, removing the need for a separate player, saving both space and cost.

As to the format on such a disk, it would be silly to use H.264 as it requires royalty and licensing fees, and one of the positive reasons for switching to SD / SSD is to get rid of such licensing fees. As you may be aware, a battle for web video formats is currently ongoing and Ogg Theora, while weaker in a technical sense, could be a great open format for SD/ SSD-based distribution as bandwidth and storage space would be much less of an issue than on the internet.

SD distribution would also provide a means of increasing compatibility, as it would be possible to include NTSC, PAL, 16:9, 4:3 and HD versions on the same disk, which could be automatically selected based on the type of television being used (or the resolution of the computer display). If video formats should change in the future, it would be dead easy to include both the new and old formats on the same card to maintain full compatibility between old and new. Companies could even put 4K video on the card in anticipation of future technologies.

It would have the potential to really level the playing field for independent filmmakers. Right now the safest option for indies is digital distribution because it doesn't cost any money to put your film online. It just sits there, for free, until it is sold - in stark contrast to the DVD approach, where you pay a lot of money up front and hope and pray that you make it back. Most indies will not be able to get their discs into physical stores like Wal-mart, which makes getting through inventory much harder. The downside to a download-only approach is that by not going the DVD or Blu-ray route, you cut out a significant portion of the audience who have no desire for digital downloads.

It's very difficult for an independent filmmaker to create a Hollywood-quality DVD, as Hollywood has access to high quality hardware encoders and professional compressionists that are experts in squeezing out the maximum quality in the limited bandwidth available. With SD cards, bandwidth would be considerably higher and so it would take much less effort to produce a high quality image suitable for distribution. And if the video formats were open formats like Ogg Theora, there would be no license fees to pay for mass distribution.

Will this ever happen? Well, there are currently two barriers. The first is that the cost per GB of solid state media is very high. This is something that will decrease with time though.

The second, more pertinent, issue is the fact that many companies are heavily invested in DVD and Blu-ray technology including studios, post houses, distributors, replication houses, disc manufacturers, drive / player manufacturers, software developers, and let's not forget the consortium of companies that receive patent royalties. None of these will want to see their investments or, for some companies, their entire business model go out of the window.

Of course, this is all pure speculation. When the cost and size of SD cards becomes viable, there could be a brand new technology which renders this solution unnecessary. We'll just have to wait and see what happens, what Apple chooses to do, and if they have the ability to make an impact on this issue.

RED Rocket announced

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:54:42 MDT

Many within the RED community have been clamoring for an official conform tool to simplify online/offline RED workflows. Well, RED's gone one better with RED Rocket.

Rocket is a hardware R3D decoder and debayer capable of realtime output of up to 30 fps @ 4K or 24 fps @ 5K. This completely removes the need for an offline (at least with the RED One - Epic will still need it at high resolutions), allowing you to work with 4K directly in FCP, Premiere, After Effects, RED Alert!, REDCINE, REDrushes or any application using the REDCODE SDK.

It is PCI-Express (laptop users are out of luck here), is compatible with Windows, OS X and Linux, and features Quad-DVI and Quad-HD-SDI.

This is bad news for DVS which just introduced Clipster at NAB, however there could be a place in the market if they can undercut Rocket's $5k pricetag and beat it to market. There is currently no ETA on RED Rocket.

Update: Jim says two months but RED's release dates have been pushed back on many occasions.

NAB 09 Day 1

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:17:32 MDT

Yesterday was the first day of NAB. I'm not going to list every single announcement (for that you can go here), but I'm going to focus on what I feel were the biggest or most interesting announcements.

Avid completely redesigned their logo - I can see what they were trying to do but I'm not a big fan of it. Luckily they had some bombshell announcements to go with it. In a surprising move, Avid qualified Final Cut Pro to run on its Unity MediaNetwork and ISIS storage. This makes it considerably easier to use both FCP and Avid systems on the same project.

Avid also redesigned its support offerings and showcased RED support and stereoscopic 3D integration. Avid has always had the edge on FCP when it comes to media management but the recently-introduced AMA architecture takes that one step further. There is no need to Log and Transfer - just link to the P2 or XDCAM volume and all of the clips just pop up in the bin, complete with metadata. This is clearly a lot better than FCP's clunky implementation (hopefully something Apple will address in FCP 7) and Avid were keen to show it off.

Adobe announced it has partnered with several manufacturers to create TVs with Flash support. So you could theoretically watch a documentary on a subject and then view interactive content related to that subject.

But far more interesting was Adobe's post announcements. Adobe Story is a collaborative screenwriting application that is integrated with Adobe Premiere. There are very few details but it seems likely that it will build on Premiere's transcription function to introduce an Avid-like Script Sync feature.

This continues the recent trend of linking pre-production processes directly to post production software - something we will no doubt see more of in the future. Right now Apple appears to be considering storyboard integration.

Blackmagic Design announces UltraScope - 3Gb/s SDI and optical fibre scopes for $695. This is huge. Hardware scopes cost more than some cars, so a scope for $695 is a real game-changer. Lets hope it's good - Blackmagic's products normally are.

It is a PCI Express card that plugs into a Windows computer with a 24-inch monitor (alas no Mac support as yet) to display output on the screen. As one PVC commenter notes - the lack of Mac support is not necessarily a bad thing as you would probably not use the machine for any other purpose, thus a cheaper PC would be a better option.

This is a clever solution to an age-old problem and I wish I was at NAB to see it in action.

Blackmagic's HDLink looks to be a worthy opponent to the original Matrox MXO. This gives you HD monitoring via DVI or HDMI for only $495. Monitor 4:4:4 SDI video on a regular computer monitor.

In addition, Blackmagic have lowered the prices of several of their existing products.

Matrox CompressHD is a PCI Express hardware H.264 encoder. This allows you to encode H.264 faster than realtime using Matrox's MAX technology. Also announced is the MXO 2 Mini, which is a cut-down, smaller, cross platform version of the MXO 2. It lacks XLR and SDI ports, unlike its larger and more expensive brother but it works on PC, Mac, and all QuickTime-compatible editing applications. It costs $449 or $849 with the H.264-accelerating MAX option.

AJA has a very nice new website and have introduced the KI Pro. It connects to a camera and records to ProRes422 in the field, without the aid of a laptop. It is the only device to do this because AJA have an exclusive contract with Apple for ProRes support.

This means you can import footage into Final Cut Pro instantly without the need for transcoding. It also means that the post production team is dealing with the same video format each time, no matter what type of camera was used on set.

It can accept SD/HD SDI, HDMI and component inputs and can connect to your computer via FireWire 800 or Ethernet. It can also convert from one video standard to another in realtime. You can record to removable ExpressCards or an external hard disk. It can be remotely controlled through Wifi via a laptop or iPhone (nice!).

AJA also announced the Io Express which looks to be similar to the Matrox MXO 2. I haven't had time to do a feature-by-feature comparison yet though.

Finally, Panasonic is developing a 3D camera and JVC is developing a very pricey $200,000 4K camera.

That's what interested me... did I miss anything?

Look for the FCPUG SuperMeet on Day 2 (today) where a brand-new exclusive version of our very own Preference Manager will be given out on the SuperDVD.

Also, a lot of people think that Apple will release new details of Final Cut Studio 3 today. I don't think this will be the case - we'll have to wait and see I guess.

If you're going to NAB 09...

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:01:24 MDT

I'm sure everyone's probably noticed that this blog's been pretty quiet of late. That's partly because I haven't had much time lately and partly because I generally don't like to pre-announce things before they are due.

However, there is one thing I would like to announce right now. If you're going to NAB this year, be sure to check out the FCPUG SuperMeet on Thursday 21st April, 5:00 PM-11:00 PM at the Rio Hotel Amazon Ballroom. This is a great place to meet up with fellow Final Cut Pro users, learn new things and win great prizes in the raffle ($70,000-worth of prizes in the bag and counting). Entry is $15.00 ($20 at the door) which includes two raffle tickets.

The doors open at 4:30 PM, so be sure to get in there quick because the first 1000 people in the door get the SuperMeet DVD. This is a disc containing gigabytes of software, tutorials and discount codes. And the lucky recipients of this DVD will also exclusively receive the brand new, completely redesigned version of Preference Manager.

This version has taken into account much of the feedback from the original version, and version 2.0.0 aims to simplify the most commonly-used tasks while still providing customization for those that need it.

Brand new features include the ability to categorize backups, and the ability to link backups to specific projects so that settings are automatically applied when the project is launched. This is in addition to its prior functions of trashing, backing up, restoring and locking preference files. Preference Manager 2.0.0 is Leopard-only.

Preference Manager remains completely free but this version will be exclusive to those with the SuperMeet DVD. If you're not going to NAB or you miss out on the DVD, don't fret. You'll get version 2.0.1 a few days later which has some very minor features (like Tiger support and an improved application icon) that didn't make the deadline.

Also on the disc is the current version of FCS Remover and a minor new release of Compressor Repair that now displays a warning stating that it is designed for Compressor 3.0.x. This is to clear up confusion over some of the warnings 2.x and 1.x users were getting about missing Compressor files.

As this is a completely rewritten version of Preference Manager, we'd really appreciate feedback. We think this is a major improvement over the previous version but we'd love to hear what doesn't work for your needs and workflow (and of course, it's always good to know what does work too). You can use the bug report / feature request links within the application itself or contact us on Twitter.

If you're waiting for the 2.0.1 release, you can subscribe to this blog, our appcast, or follow our Twitter feed to hear when the new version has been released.

Wish I could be there, hope everyone has a great time.

Blu-ray license simplification coming mid-2009

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:49:29 MST

ZDnet is reporting that many of the problems preventing Blu-ray from coming to the Mac should ease in mid-2009 when new licensing comes into place.

A new licence will be established by mid-2009 as a "one-stop shop" for device makers. The licence will include all necessary Blu-ray, DVD and CD patents for selling Blu-ray players. The licensing programme will be handled by a new licensing company to be led by Gerald Rosenthal, former head of intellectual property at IBM. It will be based in the US, but will have local branches in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Instead of having to approach Blu-ray, DVD and CD holders individually and paying them separate royalties, the single licence should cut down the total cost of royalty payments by 40 percent, according to Sony.

The fees for the new licences will be $9.50 for a Blu-ray player and $14 for a Blu-ray recorder. Making Blu-ray Disc will cost 11 cents for read-only, 12 cents for recordable discs and 15 cents for rewritable discs.

Hopefully this new license coupled with new DisplayPort Mac Pros will encourage Apple to consider Blu-ray drives as an option for its high-end systems.

Macworld 2009 Keynote

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:08:03 MST

I've been busy today so apologies for the lateness of this post. I almost entitled it "Macworld 2009" before adding "Keynote" when I remembered that there is more to Macworld than just the keynote. And, of course, that's something IDG will be banking on next year when Apple will sadly be absent.

Phil spent a lot of time on iLife and iWork. I won't say much about them except that the Keynote Remote is an awesome idea.

Onto the 17" MacBook Pro. There's been a lot of disappointment with Apple's recent pro notebook releases, and Apple has luckily made some excellent decisions with this new one. It's glossy but you can thankfully change it for a matte screen for $50. It's considerably faster than the 15" one (up to 2.93 GHz, 6 MB cache, up to 8 GB RAM). It comes with a 320 GB 5,400 RPM hard disk that can be upgraded to either a 7,200 RPM disk or a 128 or 256 GB solid-state drive (I didn't realize they made SSDs so big nowadays - they're really advancing within the market). Like the 15", it comes with two Nvidia graphics chips and a large glass trackpad.

Like the 15", it's also Firewire 800-only. Luckily FW800 is backwards-compatible with FW400 so it's just a case of using an adapter, but that's one more thing to carry around with you. Not really a deal-breaker though.

There is some controversy over the battery. You see, it's fixed. I see that as a good thing for some and a deal-breaker for others. It will give you up to 8 hours of "wireless productivity" which is 3 hours more than the 15". It will also take much longer to deteriorate. For me, as someone who doesn't own spare batteries, I see that as a very useful thing.

However, if you regularly use your machine outdoors for more than 8 hours at a time, or are planning a trip to the Amazonian rainforest where it might be days before you see a power outlet, that could be a problem. So it's neither great nor terrible - it all depends on your needs. I can see third-party manufacturers filling this gap in the market though, much like the iPod "battery packs" that you can strap on.

The base model is still the same price - $2700. The 128 GB SSD adds $500 to the price and the 256 GB SSD adds $900. SSDs have now reached the point where their storage space is comparable with that of a regular laptop hard disk. Hopefully SSD manufacturers will now focus on lowering the price because they are still far too expensive.

It's going to be 3-4 weeks before they ship but Apple is accepting pre-orders today. If you select the matte screen it changes to 4-6 weeks.

The other announcements can be summed up quite quickly - fixed-price iTunes tracks are a thing of the past and Apple will now adopt price tiers of $0.69, $0.99 and $1.29. 8 million songs DRM-free today, the entire catalog DRM-free by the end of Q1. You can now purchase songs from the iPhone itself.

I was hoping Apple would go out with more of a bang considering it's their last Macworld but I guess their whole point was that they didn't need to save their big announcements for Macworld any more, as people would listen wherever and whenever it was. I wasn't expecting much to interest me as it's mainly geared towards their consumer line, but I was disappointed to see nothing of Snow Leopard.

Update: You can now view the keynote video online.

Macworld SF 2009 rumor roundup

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:45:31 MST

As you are probably all aware of, tomorrow is the date of the Macworld San Francisco 2009 keynote by Phil Schiller instead of Steve Jobs.

MacRumors has done a great job of rounding up the rumors pertaining to this event. It's definitely worth checking out - even if a lot of them seem to be from the same source.

It's also important to remember that Macworld SF is a consumer-oriented show so if don't expect too much in the way of professional products and equipment.

(As a side note: I would always advise buying the later speed-bumped version of a product, not the original. If Apple does release a fixed-battery MacBook Pro, there's lots of potential for problems and issues with the first-generation.)

What does 2009 hold for Final Cut Studio?

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:50:50 MST

Now, 2008 has been a year of frustration for us editors. We've seen few Final Cut Studio updates (and some of those have broken more things than they fixed), we've seen matte displays replaced with glossy ones, we've seen no Apple at NAB 2008 and we've seen very little in the way of Mac Pro updates.

Has Apple abandoned pro users? Are they more interested in making iPods? Yes and no. Yes, of course, they will want to put a lot of resources into something that contributes strongly to their bottom line. However, I don't believe they have abandoned pro users at all.

Everything changes with Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard is Apple's way of telling us it still cares. Look at the feature list - Grand Central, OpenCL, QuickTime X, even the 2.2 gamma change - is there anything there that will benefit the average Joe Bloggs user when he's checking his email? No, this is a lean operating system designed for performance. And it's also designed to sell Mac Pros of course, and make the 8-core Mac Pro you bought a year ago worthwhile. This is an operating system designed to put the Mac back on top of the list of pro must-haves. Apple has a massive head-start on Microsoft here.

And what better way to promote Snow Leopard and the Mac than with a highly-optimized version of its flagship pro suite, Final Cut Studio.

I don't think Apple is abandoning us at all. I think they are just diverting their pro app resources into something much better. Think how the number of patches and the number of fixes has dwindled lately. Updates are rare and they only fix major issues. It makes sense that Apple would only put resources into fixing major bugs if Final Cut Studio 2 was at the end of its life.

Another thing I find interesting is that Apple is putting Shake updates in Pro Applications Updates but it is not putting Logic or Aperture updates in there. This would suggest that there may have been a merging of the Shake and Final Cut Studio teams.

And let's look back at the original launch of Final Cut Studio 2. If you remove Color from the equation, there's really not much there. Worth upgrading, sure, but no big architectural changes like FCP 4.0 to 4.5 or 4.5 to 5.0. Could it have been a version designed to tide us over until the big changes came along? Only Apple knows the answer to that question.

So here are my predictions:

1. Final Cut Studio 3 launches in 2009 to coincide with the release of Snow Leopard. I don't know how backwards-compatible it will be, it could well be Snow Leopard-only (which also means Intel-only). It will be largely rewritten to take advantage of new Snow Leopard features and hardware acceleration.

2. LiveType will be killed off and its features will merge into Motion. Motion will inherit some of the features of Shake. This will better position it to compete with After Effects. It remains to be seen whether Apple will keep the node-based interface from Shake or spin it off as a separate application. I don't think Apple will completely merge the two together as they have different target markets and different complexity levels.

3. There will be greater interoperability between Final Cut Studio applications. Color will be redesigned to better fit into the studio. Interfaces will be improved so that there is greater coherence between applications.

4. Media management will be redesigned and there will be tighter integration with Final Cut Server.

5. The current NLE fashion is to have an automatic transcription tool. I would imagine Apple would implement this too, as it has great potential, even with the inevitable inaccuracies. Imagine this with Final Cut Server - you could easily search for that elusive line of dialogue within hundreds or even thousands of media files.

Ok, some of these are predictions, some of these are wishful thinking. But I believe Apple will at least optimize FCS3 for Snow Leopard technologies, because Snow Leopard is pointless if software isn't written to support it. At the end of the day, performance is what matters most.

Other features that may not come but I'd like to see anyway:

1. Why do we have to keep exporting to XML? Why not just make the FCP project file XML?

2. Add scripting abilities to the applications in the Studio and improve their expandability. Apple can't possibly think of everything - let third party developers fill in the gaps. It might also win over some larger companies who will be able to integrate it with their other applications and databases.

3. Blu-ray - Who even knows? It might interfere with Apple's iTunes business model but either way, BD support in Adobe Encore is proving that there is a demand for it and it is possible to provide it in an authoring application despite the draconian licensing issues.

Roll on 2009!

Macworld 2009 to be the last for Apple

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:30:32 MST

Apple just released a press release stating their intention to abandon all Macworld trade shows after January 2009. This is big news because Macworld is the most important trade show in Apple's calendar, and was the one they chose to use for announcing the iPhone.

Apple states that it has less need for trade shows due to the greater media presence it experiences nowadays, and I would say this is probably true. It's the reason they pulled out of NAB 2008 and it's the reason you shouldn't expect them at NAB 2009.

However, the more pressing question is this: why is Phil Schiller delivering the last keynote and not Steve Jobs? Surely Jobs should be present for the last one? Apple offers no explanation but this is likely to fuel further speculation about the CEO's health.

All I know is this - there are unlikely to be any huge announcements at the event, and it will become much harder to predict the best time to buy a computer now that Apple could spring new models upon us at any moment. But the computer industry is constantly changing and if you keep waiting for the next big thing, you'll be waiting forever. The best thing to do is buy what you need when you need it. Without the benefit of foresight, that's all you can do.

How to keep your job as an editor

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:32:53 MST

As an editor, there are certain technical things you can do that will, in most cases, result in instant dismissal by your employer. Here are some tips on how to avoid these pitfalls.

Black frames

We've all done it - you've got the timeline zoomed out, you drag a clip and think it snapped to the end of another clip but really it snapped to a marker or overlapping bit of audio right next to it. Consequently there'll be a gap and a flash of black when the clip is played back - which producers and audiences never fail to notice.

Before you output, put the playhead at the start of the timeline and press Shift-G. This will jump the playhead to the next gap in the timeline. If you encounter a gap, press Ctrl-G to close it. If no more gaps can be found, the playhead will jump to the end of the timeline.

Unsafe luma levels

Maximum white is higher on a computer than it is on a TV. Consequently, it is possible to set white levels beyond maximum levels for NTSC broadcast. If this happens, overmodulation can occur which means that the signal can leak to radio frequencies other than the ones assigned to the TV channel, resulting in the TV company getting into big trouble with the FCC. Not surprisingly, this trouble would come your way very quickly (that's a worst-case scenario by the way).

When I am color correcting, I always switch on the luma indication in Final Cut Pro (View > Range Check > Excess Luma). This will tell you with a warning triangle and red "zebra" lines which areas are above the recommended limit. You can then use a 3-way Color Corrector to bring down the highlights until the triangle changes into a green tick.

Then, just before my project is ready for output, I create a new sequence in Final Cut Pro and nest the old sequence inside it by dragging it from the Browser into my new timeline. I then go to Effects > Video Filters > Color Correction > Broadcast Safe to make the entire nested sequence broadcast safe.

Why do I perform this step when I already made it safe earlier? Because you can't be too careful. Maybe I thought I'd corrected each one but I'd actually missed one out by mistake. Maybe I added a last-minute clip that I forgot to correct. And if you're wondering why I nest it instead of just selecting all the clips and applying the filter to all of them, that's because I might be asked to make a last-minute change right before it goes out (in the world of broadcast TV anything is possible at the last minute). Nesting the sequence ensures that everything inside that sequence will be broadcast safe, no matter what I change later on.

It's also worth mentioning that the default settings for the Broadcast Safe filter work for the vast majority of cases. It's rare to have to modify them.

Peaking audio

Like luma levels, audio levels have a maximum limit as well. If they exceed 0 dBFS on Final Cut Pro's audio meters, they will produce an audible "crunch" noise that is very ugly to hear and will instantly distract any engaged viewers.

For broadcast work, it is recommended to have your dialogue around -12 dBFS (but not lower than -18 dBFS), with very loud sounds not exceeding -6 dBFS. Film post production tends to work with a higher dynamic range so the dialogue is normally around -18 dBFS.

The most important thing, however, is that your audio doesn't exceed 0 dBFS. To ensure this, after you've completed your mix, drag the sequence from the Browser to the Viewer, then go to Mark > Audio Peaks > Mark. This will put markers in your timeline at every point where the audio exceeds 0 dBFS. This is another of those situations where even though you've already mixed it, it's so quick and easy to check for peaks that there's no reason not to do it.

To remove the markers again, go to Mark > Audio Peaks > Clear or Mark > Markers > Delete All.

Incorrect field dominance

Here's one you probably won't spot unless you are using a broadcast monitor. This is why it's important to use a broadcast monitor or at worst, a regular TV, to view your work before output.

Interlaced video uses fields to display the image. There is a field for odd-numbered lines and a field for even-numbered lines, and they are displayed one after the other for every frame. But which one should be displayed first?

NTSC video uses the Lower (Even) field dominance, meaning it shows the even-numbered lines first. If you add a clip to your timeline that has Upper (Odd) field dominance, its fields will be reversed and the motion between those fields will be reversed, so moving objects will tend to judder as they move forwards and then backwards. PAL and HD video use the Upper (Odd) field dominance, with the exception of DV-PAL, which uses Lower (Even).

This is generally not a problem with footage acquired from an NTSC or PAL camera, as it will already have been shot with the correct field dominance. The problem usually occurs with motion graphics and visual effects sequences because they have been created in software that can create both types of footage and has to be manually told which dominance it should use.

If you have been given footage that has the wrong field dominance, first try to obtain correct footage from the person who originally supplied it. If this is not possible, go to Effects > Video Filters > Video > Shift Fields to swap the fields around.

In some cases, Final Cut Pro can get confused and think that a file with the correct dominance is incorrect, so it automatically adds a Shift Fields filter when you import it. If you suspect that the file is actually correct, first check the clip for automatically-assigned filters and remove them.

Finally, it's worth mentioning that when you drag the first clip to a new sequence, Final Cut Pro 6 will ask you to change the sequence settings to match the clip if they differ. A lot of people click Yes without thinking, but taking a moment to check whether the clip in question does actually have the correct settings will save a lot of head-scratching later on.

I hope this article has given you ideas on how to avoid these problems because in a lot of cases, mistakes aren't made through ignorance but instead lack of time, lapses in concentration, tiredness, etc. That's why most of the steps in this article are very quick and easy ways of double-checking after you've already implemented corrections. These are important aspects to keep under control so it helps to have a range of defensive measures in place. When your job could potentially be on the line, you can't double-check often enough.

Why release a 28K camera?

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:56:09 MST

As you surely must know by now, RED yesterday announced a revamped product line which included a camera capable of shooting at up to 28K.

Once the excitement of such a large number had worn away, I started to wonder what their strategy was. In a world where the biggest display available (IMAX) maxes out at around 9-10K, what is the purpose of releasing a camera that shoots nearly three times this resolution?

The answer can be found by looking back at the RED One. Now here was a camera that bucked the trend in all areas, but particularly the area of workflow. The unique workflow resembled photography more than film, and a lot of its features were designed so that you could be very flexible and change things in post that would normally be baked into the footage of a regular camera.

It seems that RED is putting large sensors in its video cameras for the same reason that SLR camera manufacturers are putting ever-larger sensors in their cameras. For a start, it's good for marketing, but more importantly, it offers you increased flexibility. For a long time, still photographers have been taking large photographs and cropping them down to frame the areas they want in the image, without having to make that decision on location.

So with RED's 28K camera, you could just sit the camera on a tripod shooting a static wide of the whole scene, add close-ups, zooms and pans in post, and then still be able to release for IMAX. Directors would not be tied to any of the decisions they made on set.

Now, to my mind, this would appear to take away some of the skill of filmmaking - following the general trend in which directors are increasingly directing their films in post, rather than on set. But then again, films are not judged on how they are made. If Francis Ford Coppola had made The Godfather the movie it is by sheer accident and luck, that would not change the fact that it is a masterpiece. Still photographers have been doing this for a while and they are not considered any less-skilled because of it. And although such a trend is uncomfortable for the purists like myself - if it results in better movies, this would be a good thing for the industry as a whole.

Replacing the CRT

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:46:05 MDT

Broadcast Engineering has a great article called Replacing the CRT. This details some of the existing and upcoming technologies looking to resign CRT broadcast monitors to the grave. They are:

* Plasma
* DLP
* SED (which looks very promising - not out yet though)
* OLED
* FED

This article is well worth checking out.

Blu-ray coming soon to the Mac?

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:31:54 MDT

I'm not normally one to believe rumors but a lot of Apple rumors have recently proven to be correct (Apple insider reckons Apple may be softening its stance on leaks). Here are the reasons why I think Blu-ray may be coming soon to the Mac.

1. Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, made correct iPod predictions (including leaked photos) in August of this year. He also made accurate predictions about iTunes 8, such as the Genius bar and several other features. This is clearly a man with inside information.

Well, around the same time he predicted that OS X 10.5.6 (we're on 10.5.5 now so that's the very next version) will have Blu-ray support built into the OS. Given his track record, there could well be substance in that.

2. Apple announced this week that it is holding a press event this Tuesday October 14th. As you can see from the invitation below (via Ars Technica) it is clearly related to notebooks. Apple wouldn't make a big deal about a minor speed bump so this must be a significant redesign.

3. Kevin Rose dropped another rumor on Friday. He claimed that Apple's press event this Tuesday will reveal laptops with Blu-ray drives.

4. AppleInsider claims it can confirm that Apple will be doing away with integrated Intel graphics for the MacBook line and using NVIDIA's MCP79 instead. This has a lot of nice features but the most significant is the integrated GeForce 9300 / 9400 chips on the motherboard. As well as supporting Open CL (the ability to use the graphics processor for regular computing tasks) in advance for OS X Snow Leopard, these chips offer full Blu-ray acceleration.

Ok, that last one could well be coincidence but I think there's lots to suggest that Apple is moving towards Blu-ray. People have been claiming that Apple will skip Blu-ray altogether and concentrate on their iTunes rental business but Apple is on the Blu-ray board. Why would they be on the board if they were determined not to use Blu-ray at all?

Other people seem to be shocked by the rumor, claiming that Apple would never introduce something so soon. Well, firstly, it's not shocking at all because a lot of new laptops have Blu-ray drives nowadays and secondly, this is the company that bucked the trend by killing off the floppy drive that is STILL present in PCs to this day.

I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

iPhone SDK NDA dropped

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:05:43 MDT

Generally speaking, I love Apple, but sometimes they do things that are just plain wrong. And I've been disillusioned with them a few times in the past but every time they've fixed the issue and put themselves back in my good books again.

And so it was great to read today that Apple has dropped the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) from its iPhone SDK. The NDA was something that was introduced with the first pre-release of the SDK, which was totally acceptable as it was pre-release software. However, it was also carried on into the final release and developers were not allowed to help other developers with problems or give details on App Store rejections. It led to a lot of confusion and general dissatisfaction among the developer community, especially as the app review process seemed somewhat inconsistent and developers were not allowed to bring these inconsistencies forward publicly.

Apple said:

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don't steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone's success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

This is a great day for iPhone developers and it is good to see that Apple is looking for ways to improve the development process. If they reduce waiting times and the number of steps required to submit an app, I will be very happy indeed.

[via TUAW]

RIP Paul Newman

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:59:04 MDT

We just lost a legend. RIP.

More details: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7639614.stm

How to get your films on the iTunes Store

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:31:13 MDT

This is very cool. TuneCore is a company that acts as an intermediate between indie musicians and Apple, allowing them to put their content on the iTunes Store for a flat fee per month. They've now extended this to video content.

I actually think their video deal is better than their music one because you just pay an up-front fee and then any money made on the film (after Apple's cut) goes to you in full. The fee varies according to the length of the content - for example, a 60 minute film costs $550 and a 90 minute one costs $770. The deal is non-exclusive, can be canceled at any time and you retain all rights to your content. Note that your content must be approved by Apple first.

This is a great way for independent filmmakers without a distribution deal to get their projects out to a large audience. More details are available here.

Escape Studios delivers online CG learning tool

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:28:14 MDT

I just received this in my inbox. Escape Studios, a London-based visual effects facility well known for its excellent CG courses, are now offering a system to study various CG courses via the internet. Previously the barriers to their courses were that you had to take the course in London (and if you're not a citizen, visas complicate things) and that you had to commit a period of several months to the course. You can now learn from anywhere in the world, at any time and take as much time as you like to complete the course.

The courses take the form of HD video tutorials and they are currently offering Maya Core (an introductory course) and Renderman as course options. Maya Core is 1,999 GBP (around $3,500 at today's exchange rate) but each module is available separately for 400 GBP (~$700). Renderman Freelance (for individuals) is $995, Renderman Commercial (for companies) is $3,995 and Renderman Education (for schools) is $3,995. Renderman certification is also available for an additional $100.

With over 600 videos for the Maya Core course alone, it looks incredibly detailed. Should you run into problems, you can ask an instructor a question or seek help from Escape's online community. They are offering a demo area with 2.5 hours worth of footage for free (after registration) which is definitely worth a look.

And if you're looking for work in the visual effects industry, I fully recommend their job site. It's UK-centric but they are now starting to branch out into other countries.

"How the West Was Won" restoration

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:04:39 MDT

The BBC has an interesting article detailing the on-going process of restoring the Oscar-winning 1962 John Wayne epic How the West Was Won.

This movie posed particular challenges because it was printed for Cinerama release, which meant that there were three different film rolls playing through three different projectors at the same time. Then add to that the fact that each film roll had deteriorated differently (often with physical warping and buckling of the film) - there is a real challenge.

iTunes App Store RSS feeds

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:45:56 MDT

As I mentioned earlier, it was a bit disappointing that Apple hasn't offered up RSS feeds for iTunes App Store applications. Well, the kind folks at Pinch Media have decided to fill that gap, offering up their own feeds. They've got four feeds listing New Applications, Recently Updated Applications, Top 100 Free Applications and Top 100 Paid Applications.

While I was on their site, I also spotted another article detailing how the percentage of free apps is falling. This doesn't really surprise me but it is a little disappointing. All of our apps so far (both web apps and desktop apps) have been free - I am running a business but I don't like charging people for something I don't feel is worth paying for. That's not because I feel the quality of DR's apps is poor, just that the functions they perform fall into a very narrow category (e.g. FCS Remover). I will undoubtedly create certain paid software applications in the future but these would be larger applications with more wide-ranging uses and not small utilities for a single purpose. It disappoints me to see people offering "flashlight" applications (basically just a white screen) for $0.99 when you could just open a blank Safari page for free to achieve the same effect. It really cheapens the store, as do the applications with loads of symbols in front of their name (e.g. "!!!!!!AAAAAAAAA++++++ Application" just to get their apps to the top of the alphabetical listing.

Unless your app is very popular (or very expensive) you will lose out because Apple won't even write you a check until you hit $250 (which is quite a high threshold compared to other revenue schemes such as Google AdSense), and if you're past the cutoff date for that particular month, you have to wait until next month to receive your check. The small apps are free money to Apple because Apple can earn interest on the money while the developer is trying to reach $250 and in some cases, they may never end up having to write that check. I know Google makes tens of millions every year from small sites that never reach the $100 threshold.

DR apps will come, I promise. Just not this month. Maybe late next month, when I should have fewer time pressures. Come the end of August, I should have some more time to work on things like this and work on improving our other apps like FCS Remover and Preference Manager, in addition to creating a few new ones that I have in my head. In the meantime, we still have the web apps.

Rough cuts

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:41:42 MDT

Shane Ross has a great post about "rough" rough cuts and how frustrating it is when producers cannot see past a lack of audio or sound effects, or a dodgy transition. What is worse is when the producer gets it into his or her head that you are trying to pass that off as the end product, despite your protestations to the contrary. That has happened to me and is a nasty situation for all involved.

I think the key is to make the producer comfortable with you. Normally these kind of problems go away on the second or third project as the producer realizes that you can do the job and are not a cowboy, and they get familiar with the way that you work. I also find that a comfortable producer will give you a lot more creative freedom (I prefer to see scripts as a guide rather than a rulebook for example) and in return you will take advantage of that freedom to return a better product, so it is mutually beneficial.

R.I.P. Sydney Pollack

Mon, 26 May 2008 22:55:30 MDT

Didn't expect to read this... Sydney Pollack just died of cancer, aged 73.

Read more...

Autodesk acquires Realviz

Wed, 07 May 2008 14:49:01 MDT

This is very interesting. Autodesk (Maya, 3ds Max, AutoCAD, flint, flame, Lustre.... the list goes on) has just acquired the assets of Realviz. Realviz Stitcher (for combining multiple images into panoramas) and ImageModeler (creating 3D models from still images) are very popular in the visual effects industry and have been used on several high-profile features such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

A quick visit to Realviz's site reveals that its products have already been Autodesk-branded. I see this acquisition as a good thing because it is clear that the purchase is not a defensive move and that Autodesk does genuinely want to develop the products further. I would particularly like to see Movimento, ImageModeler and MatchMover incorporated into Maya in one form or another.

Autodesk also announced today that it had completed the acquisition of Kynogon, makers of Kynapse artificial intelligence software.

Update: VFXWorld has an exclusive interview with Marc Petit, Autodesk's SVP about the acquisitions. He confirms that the products will be integrated into existing product offerings such as Maya but will also be available separately.

"We are seeing some fundamental changes in the way movies, television programs and games are produced. Being able to gather 3D data from 2D material can help at many stages of the production process. We see it in pre-visualization, where it's easy to build 3D environments or virtual sets by stitching pictures together or derive 3D models very quickly from set photos using image-based modeling. Games now require a lot of facial animation. Animators can rough out facial animations using a webcam and optical motion capture. Adding assist cameras on location to capture scenes from multiple points of view is a good insurance policy for post-production. Of course, you can extract camera moves to enrich the post-production process but you can also rebuild sets in 3D from these multiple points of view. Multiple cameras enable optical motion capture of actors in non-intrusive ways without the need for suits or dedicated stages. The performance of an actor can then be modified or augmented during the post-production process using regular 3D tools such as Maya or Flame. Moreover, combining all of these technologies with spatial image-based lighting allows for highly realistic integration of CG elements with live action. We believe that weaving these technologies and products more tightly into our existing portfolio should lead to some interesting new capabilities and will provide for a more efficient production environment."

NAB 2008 Summary

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:59:01 MDT

If, like me, you couldn't possibly keep up with all of the goings-on at NAB and decided to wait it out until the end, here is a short summary of the biggest announcements (or the ones most interesting to me anyway) in bitesize form.

RED
New low-end portable camera Scarlet

3K
Around $3000
Early 2009 release
New Mysterium X Sensor
1-120 fps (180 fps burst)
100MB/sec Redcode RAW and RGB recording via dual Compact Flash
4.8 inch LCD
Fixed 8x T2.8 lens
Auto and manual shooting modes
Wi-Fi control - this one opens up many possibilities

PVC Scarlet write-up

New high-end camera Epic

5K (up from 4K)
I have heard both $30,000 and $40,000 quoted (up from $17,500)
Early 2009 release
New Full-Frame S35 Mysterium X Sensor
1-100 fps (up from 1-60 fps)
100MB/sec (up from 36 MB/sec) Redcode and HDMI recording
6 lb body (down from 10 lbs)
RAW and RGB recording to Red Flash
Wi-Fi control
Fully upgradeable
You can get a full $17,500 credit for your Red One if you upgrade

PVC Epic write-up

New playback device RED Ray

Early 2009
4K in
4K, 2K, 1080p, 720p, SD playback
Can play back content from a regular red laser disc
Plays native R3D files from Compact Flash
4 HD SDI and 4
HDMI connections for 4K
2 HD SDI and 2 HDMI connections for 2K
2 hrs of 4K with 5.1 audio on a regular DVD
FireWire 800 for connecting external hard disks or cameras
Under $1000

PVC RED Ray write-up
Scott Simmons at the Editblog has several photographs of the various RED products.

Sony
PMW-EX3

Around $13,000
Uses SxS cards (similar to P2)
Removable lens
1080i / 720p switchable
Genlock and timecode inputs
Shoulder-mounted
Available late 2008

F35

S35-sized sensor
Extensive depth of field controls
Greater dynamic range than the F23 (800% more)
PL lens mount allows regular 35mm film lenses to be used

Panasonic
P2 Varicams (AJ-HPX3700 and AJ-HPX2700)

Now uses P2 cards exclusively. 5x P2 slots available on each camera
2/3" CCDs
Full-res 10-bit 4:2:2 AVC Intra-100 recording
Variable frame rates in 1-frame increments
Available fall 2008

AG-HPX170 solid-state camcorder

Improves on the successful HVX200
1/3" premium-quality CCDs offering increased sensitivity and lower noise
13x lens with 28mm wide-angle setting (widest in its class)
12-60 fps in 720p-mode
P2-only; no tape deck
Much smaller and lighter than the HVX200
Available fall 2008

Here is a great summary from DVXUser.com.

AJ-HVX200A camcorder

Successor to the hugely popular HVX-200
Incorporates the same lens and CCDs as the new HPX170 but with a tape deck for transitioning from a MiniDV workflow

Here is a great review from DVXUser.com.

64 GB P2 card

More than 4 hours of DVCPRO footage
More than 2 hours of DVCPRO50 or AVC-Intra 50
More than 64 minutes of AVC-Intra 100 or DVCPRO HD
Available fall 2008

AJ-PCD35 ExpressCard P2 drive

Allows P2 cards to be used in machines with ExpressCard ports
Can transfer from up to 5 cards at once
Available late 2008

Imagineer Systems
High-end finishing system mogul

Monthly subscription includes hardware, software and maintenance. Annual hardware upgrades
Open platform allows content sharing and management between multiple applications
Editing, compositing and grading integrated to allow you to switch from one to the other without rendering
Software "plugs in" to the architecture to perform certain tasks such as mogul/roto and mogul/comp with similar interfaces
mogul/serve shipping at NAB, other products to be determined

Studio Daily mogul interview

Matrox
MXO 2

Inputs: Component HD/SD, SDI HD/SD, Embedded SDI audio, Y/C, Composite, XLR audio, RCA audio, AES/EBU, HDMI, Embedded HDMI audio
Outputs: Component HD/SD, SDI HD/SD, Embedded SDI audio, Y/C, Composite, RCA audio, XLR audio, AES/EBU, HDMI, Embedded HDMI audio, Direct 5.1 surround monitoring
This does not have a DVI output like the MXO so it cannot output to a Cinema Display
Dynamic RT acceleration and hardware up/downscaling
Designed for HDMI monitoring with calibration and 1:1 pixel mapping
Black burst and tri-sync for HD
$1600
Released July 2008

Differences between the MXO and MXO 2 (PDF)
Shane Ross's write-up

Toshiba to drop HD DVD

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:12:39 MST

BBC News is reporting that shares of Toshiba have risen over speculation that it will scrap the HD DVD format. Toshiba was one of the pioneers of the format and has stood by it even after it was eclipsed by Blu-ray.

The article states that Toshiba is "reviewing its business strategies" but no decision has been made about HD DVD's future yet. This reflects a change in Toshiba's attitudes as it used to answer a firm "yes, the format will continue" when asked.

I hope Toshiba kills it sooner rather than later, as not only are they hurting themselves and the industry, but they are prolonging the inevitable. I think the major complaint about Blu-ray - price - will become a non-factor in the future as the industry can now focus its resources on one format to bring down prices, instead of splitting them between two. Also, technological improvements over time and increased demand will lower production costs and bring down prices as well.

Some people are wondering if it will all be in vain, as the download industry is just starting to take off. That remains to be seen but I don't think they are ready to directly compete with discs yet though.

Update 2/19/08: It's official. Toshiba has now suspended production of HD DVD players and recorders but will continue to clear out its inventory until March. This is a lot earlier than I had originally expected, so well done Toshiba for not drawing it out.

Apple pulls out of NAB 2008

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:54:27 MST

AppleInsider is stating that Apple has pulled out of NAB 2008.

Last year, Apple's main competitor in the video editing field, Avid, announced that it was not going to attend the conference, amid industry speculation as to its reasons.

In Apple's case, it is not necessarily a bad thing and does not mean that we will not see new video-related products. Setting up a stand at big trade shows is expensive and Apple have reached the stage where their brand is so strong that they do not need anyone else to help them market it. This was illustrated last year by the announcement of the iPhone at Macworld in January overshadowing all of the announcements at the CES show happening at the same time.

I repeat: this is not necessarily bad news. I quote Steve Jobs from this year's Macworld keynote: "All of this in two weeks. And there's still 50 to go."

Sonic drops HD DVD Scenarist support

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:23:26 MST

Video Business is announcing that Sonic Solutions has discontinued support for its HD DVD Scenarist authoring software. This is important because Scenarist is a popular product that is used professionally for disc authoring.

Sonic claims it wants to focus on Blu-ray and add extra functionality to the Blu-ray edition of Scenarist, rather than splitting its time and resources between two formats. Customers of the HD DVD version can exchange it for the Blu-ray edition.

As Toshiba seems unwilling to kill off HD DVD, many companies have chosen to pounce on it now that a possible winner has emerged. I think this is good for the industry, and the sooner Toshiba realizes this, the better.

Gartner: HD DVD dead by the end of the year

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:53:51 MST

PCWorld is reporting that Gartner Research has predicted the death of HD DVD by the end of the year. It dubs Toshiba's massive HD DVD player price cuts as "useless resistance".

While I have no idea how long it will take before Toshiba gives up, I am in agreement that it is incredibly difficult for HD DVD to make a comeback. It is too costly for the studios to output to three different formats (standard-def DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray). More importantly, HD DVD is already dead in the eyes of several consumers I have spoken to, and I am sure the recent negative publicity cemented this belief in many more people.

Lack of studio support and constant predictions of HD DVD's demise are denting consumer confidence and increasing Blu-ray's lead. If Toshiba is planning a comeback, it needs to be now.

As an update to my previous post, the "Save HD DVD" petition now stands at over 30,000 signatures and the "Let HD DVD Die" petition stands at over 10,000. I cannot see Warner or the others doing a U-turn on this policy, however, no matter how many votes it gets.

Update 1/30/08:
Video Business is reporting that HD DVD player sales rose significantly over the past week. This is likely to be due to the massive (half-price in some cases) price cuts that took place. Last week's player sales put Blu-ray at 63%, HD DVD at 33% and dual-format players at 4%. The week before it was 90% for Blu-ray and 7% for HD DVD.

This shows that consumers are more susceptible to pricing strategies in this war than previously thought. HD DVD is the cheaper format, in terms of both disc and player costs but if Blu-ray does become the dominant format, production costs (and presumably prices) will fall with time.

HD DVD not going down without a fight

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:57:21 MST

HighDefDigest has a series of articles on the ongoing HD-DVD vs Blu-ray saga. I have heard some consumer publications say that HD-DVD is dead and Blu-ray has won the war. This is completely misleading. HD-DVD has taken some heavy blows but it has not died yet. Microsoft has shown in the past that it is prepared to make a loss in order to increase the market share of inferior products.

HD-DVD is definitely not giving up the ghost here. Universal has confirmed that it has no plans to abandon the HD-DVD format, despite the escape clause in its contract.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence, Warner revealed that it plans to delay even more of its HD-DVD releases. The delays now encompass its catalog titles in addition to its new ones.

Retailers are supporting Warner's move as well. Retailers are becoming cautious about over-stocking HD-DVD titles and are dedicating more shelf space to Blu-ray discs.

Finally, an online petition has been set up, campaigning against the move to abandon HD-DVD. At the time of writing, it has received over 15,000 signatures. Recently, a counter-petition called "Let HD DVD Die" was set up. At the time of writing, it has over 6,000 signatures (including mine). Because the first petition has had a couple of weeks' head start, it's difficult to tell which one is actually "winning" right now, although it probably won't make much difference.

Oscar 2008 nominations revealed

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:46:59 MST

Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Director
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Reitman - Juno
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood

Best Actor
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie - Away from Her
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney - The Savages
Ellen Page - Juno

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James...
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Ruby Dee - American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

Best Foreign Language Film
Beaufort (Israel)
The Counterfeiters (Austria)
Katyn (Poland)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)
12 (Russia)

Best Animated Feature
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf's Up

Best Adapted Screenplay
Atonement
Away from Her
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Original Screenplay
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages

Best Music (Score)
Atonement
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma

Best Music (Song)
Falling Slowly - Once (performed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)
Happy Working Song - Enchanted (performed by Amy Adams)
Raise It Up - August Rush (performed by Jamia Simone Nash and Impact Repertory Theatre)
So Close - Enchanted (performed by Jon McLaughlin)
That's How You Know - Enchanted (performed by Amy Adams)

Best Documentary Feature
No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance

Best Documentary Short
Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari's Mother

Best Visual Effects
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers

Best Cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Art Direction
American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood

Best Animated Short
I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)
My Love (Moya Lyubov)
Peter & the Wolf

Best Short Film
At Night
Il Supplente
Le Mozart des Pickpockets
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman

Best Costume Design
Across the Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie en Rose
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Make-Up
La Vie en Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Best Sound Mixing
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers

Best Sound Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

Best Film Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

The ceremony takes place on February 24th. The producer has promised that the "show will go on" whether the actors are there or not, unlike the Golden Globes.