the fxphd deans blog

In this term’s DV Rebel’s Guide course at fxphd, we will be dropping in from time to time on the film makers from the new independent film Gabriel. Made for a song but then sold to Sony Pictures in LA, the action flick is opening nationally in November and is just insanely cool. We went out to Supanova with Post Production Supervisor Matthew Graham for the Cast appearance and autograph session. Even before the team turned up, the queue of fans seemed to be vast.

While the DV Rebel course covers a lot of material, it is nice to also track along and watch some true indie film makers realize the ultimate dream of making their film and selling it internationally, allow a wide audience to see it. Check back for more later - or sign up for the DV Rebel course for all the behind the scenes !

This term our in house production is a fake ipod lexus ad which shows the benefits of having an ipod connector in your car. The spot was just filmed on RED using a range of techniques. We will see this appearing in a range of courses from pftrack to nuke and smoke, exactly which classes is still being finalized. And importantly shots from this will be in this terms challenges - so you can have a RED effects shot on your reel within weeks !

As always we own all the right to all the music, images etc - so there are no problems in you using the material. And this is only one of several such projects in the pipeline - we also have a cop drama, a more gritty piece planned. This term will have more challenges than in any term before. As with last term, we will do full video reviews of your submissions for feedback.

We have been filming like crazy for all the classes, including the new advanced PFtrack course.

Some people just throw software at shots, if it won’t track in one program then they try another. But as we saw last term in PFtrack 200, if you know what you’re doing there is a lot you can do to solve a difficult shot. In this new term we will push PFtrack much further and in ways you may not expect - as we are here for face reconstruction and motion capture. The very popular professor Victor Wolansky returns for a 300 level course in what will be one of the most advanced 3D tracking courses anywhere on the web.