the fxphd deans blog

Production is back in full swing in Sydney.

We have an fxguidetv this afternoon and a complex lighting shoot tomorrow for Digital Cinematography class with Ben Allan. For the DOP class we are buying a jib arm - ok it’s not just for the DOP class - I think a Jib arm adds real production value and as it works with our Red and our HVX200 - on our miller tripod and with our miller Head - so it is not that expensive.

Production value is a funny thing, I know we could build a smaller cheaper rig ourselves - (actually.. our friends at Miller are doing us a great deal) but with something like a camera support - you need great build quality - it can’t ever fail! Just a few things like good lighting - a dolly and a jib arm can make a medium production look very professional.

Over at the Photography course we are testing the Lens Baby for an upcoming class - this shot is from our portrait tone mapping class in a couple of weeks - Now we have the lens baby for the stills camera - the team here want it for the Red and P2 cameras !!! Anyway it is a great relatively cheap addition to the kit we bought at NAB.

I have to say doing fxphd is really seriously cool fun.

Regular readers of fxguide will undoubtedly remember our extremely popular article on Gareth Edward’s work on Atilla the Hun. After this article went up, we contacted Gareth about doing a course for us at fxphd and he was psyched about doing so. After our first week of classes, it seems we’ve got a new hit here at phd. Gareth pinged me before the class went out, making sure it wasn’t too basic. Hardly. Instead, it was a fascinating look at how he organized the job in order to get so many shots accomplished in such a short period of time.

The course is gonna be a blast. The first several classes will be taking a look at how he did actual shots on the show. Since we can’t distribute the footage from the show, we’ve recreated some of the shoots so that we have material that we can send out to our members. They’ll be able to use the principles learned in the course to create shots for their reels. I think it’ll be interesting for any compositor types…not just AE folks.

Next time….Part 2 of our behind-the-scenes look at our life at NAB

Mike is back in Sydney, Jeff in LA, and me in Chicago after a week in Vegas. The last thing we did is get up predawn on Thursday morning — with maybe a bit of hangover — and head out to the Neon Boneyard near Fremont street in downtown Las Vegas. It’s effectively the place where giant neon signs head out to pasture. Ones from the Sahara, Jack Binyon’s Horseshoe, Algier’s Hotel, and more. We were taping a class for this term’s Digital Photography: Photoshop and the Photographer course and figured that a giant lot filled with rusting neon would be a great place for a Nikon v. Canon western shootout. Look for that coming out soon at fxphd.

The best thing about Thursday? Heading home. It was an exhausting week providing coverage from Vegas. To find out more about what we did — as well as my ramblings about the Autodesk user group meeting — click through to the rest of the article….
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So we have been working hard here, but first Angie fxguidetv was shown during the autodesk user group and Angie is also in the main demo at the daVinci booth. Meanwhile, fxphd produced a new NUKE DVD at the Foundry booth and footage from fxphd is at Autodesk… so walking around the show fxphd and fxguide have a really amazing profile.
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So number Ep 2 of Red Centre is out… and it got featured on itunes…
can someone please write a review or two - if you like it !

Oh and subscribe.

Mike
UPDATE we are now in the top 100 Film and Video PODCAST list ! Whoa ! Please subscribe guys

Well today I fly to NAB. Jeff and I will then head to Vegas on Friday. Just a few reminders -

Sunday : we are talking at the Autodesk master class
Monday: BarCamp - see fxphd for details - free beer for PostGrads
Tuesday: We are talking at the Red Party.

For NAB : I will be twitter-ing : mikeseymour

And one for the road - I figured I would post another stunning image done by Rose Drapper from the new Photography class.

Also check out this week’s O week video for the run down on all the new classes.

Mike

We have started filming this term’s new courses and one of my personal favorites is the photography course. Tim Wheeler returns and is joined by Rose Draper and myself.

The first time we shot with Tim, some 2 terms ago, we stopped with just what he got in camera. This time we are following the images from camera to Photoshop. This image is from a shoot we did this week. It is one of several setups we did in the style of famous photographer Joyce Tenneson, in particular a body of her work from the book Illuminations. We asked Tim and Rose to develop an “etherial” style and I am so pleased with the results. Beautiful work. This image and others like it are covered in fxphd’s Digital Photography 203 course.

The cat is out of the proverbial bag with the new courses for April08 having been announced this week. The entire fxphd crew is psyched about the new term…we’ve listened carefully to our members and have a great lineup. During the week of April 7th — which we call “O-Week” (short for “Orientation Week”) — we’ll have our special Background Fundamentals episode detailing the term and new courses. This is available to everyone, and not just members. It’s a great way to get up to speed on the new term at fxphd.

Getting the new term together and rolled out takes a tremendous amount of work from everyone at fxphd around the world. If that wasn’t enough on our plate — and no April fool’s — fxphd chicago moved into our new loft space on the 1st and hit the ground running. We’ll be taking everyone on a video tour of the place when we get a chance to do so, but right now we’re just busy unpacking and installing our key machines. Pictured are Mark Dascoli (left) and freelance IT guru Robert Ferguson — pulling cables and installing the flame system.