In the News

[Update] Security Lesson – Sony PlayStation Breach

Leave a comment

Weeks later, Sony still in trouble: Read Sony yet to fully secure its networks: expert | Reuters

 

 

For the past week, rumors about a potential breach of all customer information in the vast online PlayStation world has turned from ‘maybe’ to the worst possible situation. Read the Krebs On Security report for details: 

Millions of Passwords, Credit Card Numbers at Risk in Breach of Sony Playstation Network — Krebs on Security

While not directly associated with digital cinema, it shows the extent that hackers are able to cleverly exploit nuances of sophisticated code that even the largest corporations attempt to keep secure. One of the basic rules of encryption is that anyone can create a secure system that they themselves can’t breach.

One of the strengths of Open Source software is that a world community is able to research code to find and fix problems. This is the path that DCI and SMPTE tried to follow, using international standards such as AES and ___ for the packaging, transport and playout, to protect the intellectual property that we are all given to play to our customers.

It appears that the transition from PlayStation 2 to PlayStation 3 allowed some glitches into the code. These were apparently discovered when hackers worked to allow PlayStation 2 users to enter the online system that had cut them off. Code in the PlayStation 3 developers kit provided the tools. Where Sony didn’t use enough outside help to give oversight by “White Hat Hackers”, “Black Hat Hackers filled the gap. Now, only as an after thought post-catastrophe, outside help is being asked to help secure a newly designed system.

This is relevant to the DCienma world as we transfer from Series I to Series II projectors, external to internal media blocks (IMBs to the cognoscente) and maintaining InterOp format deliver while transferring to SMPTE compliant formats and equipment. 

The lesson is: Learn more. Pay Attention. The other basic rule of security is Constant Vigilance, which requires a trained staff from top to bottom. That includes corporate executives, local management, chief techs, chief projectionist and each person in the stream who touches a security key.

Good luck to us all. The studio personnel are not the top of this chain. The artists, the producers, the writers and their lawyers are the top of the chain who are trusting us to keep their materials secure. As a professional in the industry, don’t let your name be on the list of defendants in a lawsuit for breach of duty.

Exhibitor News

CinemaCon Official PR [Updated]

Leave a comment

CinemCon PR not yet linkable to CinemaCon PR Site

RYAN REYNOLDS TO RECEIVE CINEMACON MALE STAR OF THE YEAR AWARD
WARNER BROS. PICTURES TO RELEASE “GREEN LANTERN” ON JUNE 17, 2011

HARRY POTTER FILM FRANCHISE TO RECEIVE CINEMACON HALL OF FAME AWARD
WARNER BROS. PICTURES TO RELEASE “HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS—PART 2” 
ON JULY 15, 2011

CinemaCon 2011 Press Releases

CinemaCon 2010 Press Releases

Ingest

Ashes of Dalsa Alight

Leave a comment

Digital cinema startup attracts $1 million in capital

KITCHENER — Cineflow Corp. has raised $1 million in new investment capital and received orders worth more than $500,000 for its digital cinema workflow systems.

The funding came from several sources including the provincial government’s Ontario Centres of Excellence and a Los Angeles-based digital production veteran who is joining the Kitchener company’s team in a sales and marketing capacity.

Marker Karahadian, who sold his video equipment rental network to Panavision in 2006, has invested $500,000 in Cineflow and will lead its sales and marketing activities, the company said in a news release.

In addition, Cineflow will deliver equipment worth more than $500,000 over the next eight weeks to two Toronto firms, the 3D Camera Co. and Sim Video. The products for 3D Camera will be used on a major 3D film being shot in Toronto beginning in April, Cineflow said.

Based on Otonabee Drive, Cineflow provides hardware and software solutions that allow movie directors and editors to review, edit, transfer and archive digital cinema footage.

The company, which employs 12 people, was formed in 2009 by former employees of Dalsa Corp. who left the Waterloo-based firm after it ended its digital cinema camera project.

John Coghill, Cineflow’s chief executive officer, said the latest developments are good news after a potentially lucrative deal last spring with distributer Band Pro Film was delayed by circumstances beyond the company’s control.

With venture capital scarce in recent years, the provincial funding “was instrumental in enabling us to continue to move forward with our compelling story and attracting someone of Marker’s caliber to our team,” he said.

Coghill is optimistic about the company’s fortunes.

“We have a pretty clear read on the market for file-based (production) systems now and this year is shaping up to be pretty exciting.”

[email protected]

Video Processing

Stone Review: Eizo CG245W Self-Calibrating Computer Monitor

Leave a comment

The Eizo ColorEdge CG245W is a 24.1″ monitor aimed for use by editing and graphics professionals working with both still or moving images. It is designed and constructed solely by Eizo and nothing is outsourced so that all quality control and testing is done ‘in house’.

The CG245W monitor weighs in at a not too heavy 22.3 lb. including the stand. It was delivered in a well packaged box constructed and designed to protect from any shipping drops. I have been amazed at some of the poor shipping practices by some companies but that is not the case here. Opening the main container you have a long, flat box containing the instructions, a disc with the manual and software and the sections of the shading hood for either horizontal or vertical monitor setup. A monitor cleaning kit is also included. Lift that box out of the main container and the monitor was well cushioned by fitted Styrofoam protectors.

I was impressed by the circular base of the stand which functions in the same way that a ‘lazy Susan’ might. You can easily swivel the monitor either left or right, raise or lower the stand or tilt the monitor to your preferences. At the same time, the outer portion of the stand has a hard rubber ring which prevents the monitor and stand from sliding on your editing bay desktop. There is a solid stability to it. The vertical section of the stand is what enables you to slide the monitor up or down and while it works just fine, there is a cheapness to the plastic that is used. One small part of the lower tilt section in the back of the monitor popped off. I was able to ascertain that this was no high grade plastic. After fumbling with it a few times I was able to insert it back in place and have had no problems since. The stand also provides a cable protection and confining box which really is quite useful. Just thread your cable into the opening of the box and things look neat and straight. A lot better than the spider network of cables I usually have had to look at.

The review continues and gets nicely detailed by Steve Douglas at: Eizo CG245W Self-Calibrating Computer Monitor

Steve Douglas is a certified Apple Pro for Final Cut Pro 7 and underwater videographer. A winner of the 1999 Pacific Coast Underwater Film Competition, 2003 IVIE competition, 2004 Los Angeles Underwater Photographic competition, and the prestigious 2005 International Beneath the Sea Film Competition, where he also won the Stan Waterman Award for Excellence in Underwater Videography and ‘Diver of the Year’, Steve was a safety diver on the feature film “The Deep Blue Sea”, contributed footage to the Seaworld Park’s Atlantis production, and productions for National Geographic and the History channels. Steve was a feature writer for Asian Diver Magazine and is one of the founding organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. He is available for both private and group seminars for Final Cut Pro and leads underwater filming expeditions and African safaris with upcoming excursions to the Cocos Islands, Costa Rica, Lembeh Straits, Indonesia, and Wakatobi. Feel free to contact him if you are interested in joining Steve on any of these exciting trips. His site is at: www.worldfilmsandtravel.com

 

Connectivity

Thunderbolt FAQ – CNET

Leave a comment

Its first inclusion in a computer is in Apple’s MacBook Pro line, which refreshed earlier today with Thunderbolt ports across the line (see CNET’s hands-on here). Intel followed up a few hours later with a press conference about the technology, as well as its plans to bring it to computers and devices over the next year or so.

To help readers better understand what the technology is and why it matters, CNET has put together this FAQ.

What is Thunderbolt?
Thunderbolt is Intel’s new input/output technology that promises to bring transfer speeds that exceed what is currently available with USB 3.0, as well as extending that speed across several devices at once. In terms of where you’ll see it, Thunderbolt will appear as a new port on laptops and PCs, as well as on devices that support it.

Taken from the CNET article:
Intel’s Thunderbolt: What you need to know (FAQ) | Cutting Edge – CNET News

Intel Promo with more pictures, and PR from potential OEMs: Thunderbolt™ Technology

The technology itself makes use of existing DisplayPort and PCI-Express data protocols to open up what you can do with a single port into multiple uses and at high speeds. This includes “daisy chaining” up to seven Thunderbolt-equipped devices together, while retaining full speed across all of them at once.

How fast is it?
Thunderbolt currently runs with a top speed of 10Gbps. Since there are two wire pairs, and the system is bidirectional, a single cable can have up to 40Gbps coursing through it at its maximum theoretical capacity (20Gbps upstream and 20Gbps downstream). Intel says that those speeds will one day top 100Gbps in data throughput when it moves from a copper wire to optical fiber. In the interim, copper wire has both speed and cable length limits, keeping cable length at 3 meters or less. The data transfer is also bidirectional, meaning it can both transmit and receive data at the same time, and at its top speed.

During Intel’s press conference about the technology this morning, the company demonstrated it working on a MacBook Pro, pulling four raw, uncompressed 1080p video streams through a Thunderbolt storage array, and feeding into a Thunderbolt-attached display, all the while topping more than 600MBps in its transfer speeds. An earlier test of just file transferring had gotten it up to 800MBps.

To put this in perspective of what’s been available up to this point, that’s twice as fast as the theoretical limit of USB 3.0, 20 times faster than USB 2.0, and 12 times faster than FireWire 800.

Here’s a demo from this morning’s Intel press conference that gives you an idea of what it’s capable of in a video editing and viewing work flow, as well as a file transfer:

When can I get it?
The long and the short of it is that you can get Thunderbolt today, so long as you buy Apple’s MacBook Pro, which is the first laptop to ship with a Thunderbolt port as a standard port across its entire line.

Following this is a good video and pictures. Read the rest of the article: Intel’s Thunderbolt: What you need to know (FAQ) | Cutting Edge – CNET News

Societies

HPA Keeps Giving…Schubin Cafe

Leave a comment

The HPA Technical Retreat has come and gone, but the Schubin Cafe keeps posting slide shows and videos from the event.

Don’t miss these two posts:
Schubin Cafe » Blog Archive » Alternatives to Two-Lens 3D (HPA 2011 Tech Retreat Presentation #2)
Schubin Cafe » Blog Archive » Alternatives to Two-Lens 3D (HPA 2011 Tech Retreat Presentation #2)

and subscribe to the RSS link:
Schubin Cafe

Tangential Art and Science

Stuxnet Solved

Leave a comment

The worm then appears to have been introduced into Natanz via infected laptops or USB drives. There, Stuxnet infected the Siemens control systems and, specialists say, manipulated centrifugal speeds to a degree that caused permanent damage to the motors.

This article is derived from Stuxnet: five companies used as spring-boards – The H Security: News and Features which was taken from Symantics papers that can be seen here: Updated W32.Stuxnet Dossier is Available | Symantec Connect

It is interesting to the community because it shows that an attack on somewhat secure, but somewhat monoculture systems can be done. And since we have somewhat secure, but somewhat monoculture systems, it is a lesson toward the premise of being constantly vigilant.

Symantec managed to trace the worm’s dissemination pathways and infection figures because Stuxnet itself apparently logs the computers it infects. The logged information contained exact timings and served as the basis for Symantec’s analyses. According to the AV vendor, 3,280 unique samples of the worm were responsible for approximately 12,000 infections.

Reportedly, the first attack took place in June 2009, and further attacks followed in July 2009, March 2010, April 2010 and May 2010. Various organisations were targeted repeatedly by the Stuxnet authors, and some computers were successfully infected several times.

The creators of the worm deployed three variants of Stuxnet via targeted attacks, but only the variant deployed in March contained what was a zero-day exploit for the LNK hole in Windows at that time. Using the timestamps in the compiled code, Symantec concluded that the first infection was already successful only 12 hours after the first version of Stuxnet was completed.

The new analyses show that Stuxnet actually contained two sabotage routines to infect and manipulate two separate types of control, but that the second routine was incomplete and disabled. Experts assume that the developers ran out of time.

The Future Holds...

KODAK Advances Lasers’ March on DCinema

Leave a comment

The industry group is named Laser Illuminated Projection Association, or LIPA and was co-founded by IMAX and the company they have contracted with to supply laser light engines for their projectors, the New England based Laser Light Engines, plus Sony and according to their press release, “other cinema-industry players”.

Kodak made a statement in October 2010 that said they supported LIPA’s goals, but had already made an application to the FDA for a waiver on their projection design, which they expected soon. Soon has arrived. Following is the press release from Kodak.

Kodak has also said that they are laser system agnostic in their design, and though their demo unit uses Necsel devices (from California), they could also use a system from other companies, including Laser Light Engines. The two companies are a 400 mile (650 kilometer) drive apart.

So, let me guess? What does the public want to know? Ah! Time. This press release states “within two years.” Earlier releases have said, “12-18 months.” 

For a concise look at the KODAK system at the time of its first demonstations in October 2010, see:
Large Display Report: KODAK Demonstrates Laser Projector

This magazine is editorially in favor of switching over ASAP. The advantages of an even wider gamut will be a great device for differentiating home entertainment from the cinema experience, and 3D will never look right until it is able to get out of the mud of <10 candelas. Lasers help this because they can not only push more light through the system economically, they can also put a coherent ‘spin’ on the photons. Typically, lasers put out a linear polarization which isn’t quite right for 3D…think about not having to move your head for 2 hours to keep the linear glasses aligned properly with the screen. But circular polarization is possible. It is just one more thing on the research plate, no doubt.

Cost? If a Xenon bulb costs $5,000 and a typical cinema spends that 3 times per year per projector, and if a laser system will last 10 years, that gives us a simple comparison to measure against; $150,000. Lenses for Xenon systems cost on the order of $15,000, while similar spec’d lenses of higher f# will be significantly less. Add savings for personnel costs (and the danger of handling Xenon bulbs) plus the advantages of 10 years of significantly lower air conditioning needs…against…against…hmmm…no one is talking figures for cost just yet.

FDA Greenlights KODAK Laser Projection Technology

 ROCHESTER, N.Y., February 24, 2011 – The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has approved a variance that allows for the sale of KODAK Laser Projector Systems using KODAK Laser Projection Technology to cinema exhibitors without the need for individual site or show operator variances. This is an important step forward in delivering brighter 2D and 3D images that provide higher dynamic range and a wider color gamut to theaters.

“The FDA approval brings KODAK Laser Projection Technology significantly closer to the marketplace and validates the work we’ve done to ensure that this technology is safe and dependable,” says Les Moore, Kodak’s chief operating officer for Digital Cinema. “In addition to allowing the sale of KODAK Laser Projector Systems using KODAK Laser Projection Technology, the FDA variance serves as a template to be followed by manufacturers that we license to incorporate this new laser technology.”

Typically, digital projection systems using high power lasers fall under the definition of a “demonstration laser” and must follow existing regulations for conventional laser projectors, such as those used in laser light show displays. Kodak has been working in conjunction with laser safety consultants and the FDA to address potential safety issues. The unique optical design of KODAK Laser Projection Technology manages the projector output so that it can be considered to be similar to conventional Xenon projection systems. The FDA variance allows the sale of KODAK Laser Projector Systems with KODAK Laser Projection Technology and theater/show configurations incorporating them.

KODAK Laser Projection Technology promises to bring vastly improved image quality to theater screens, including significantly brighter 3D viewing, and to dramatically reduce costs to digital projection in cinemas through the innovative use of long-life lasers, lower-cost optics and more efficient energy usage. Kodak introduced its laser technology in September 2010. The technology has been received enthusiastically by exhibitors, manufacturers, studios and viewers who have seen the demonstrations.

Moore notes that KODAK Laser Projection Technology is a key ingredient to potential improvements in digital cinema picture quality for both filmmakers and movie-goers. “This laser technology is a significant breakthrough that promises to have a positive ripple effect throughout the cinema world,” adds Moore. “We at Kodak have always endeavored to provide filmmakers with the best possible tools with which to tell their stories. That philosophy has served us well for more than a century, and we will continue nurturing that partnership long into the future.”

Kodak is in discussions to license this advanced technology, with an eye toward marketplace implementation within the next two years.

For more information, visit http://www.kodak.com/go/laserprojection.

 

 

About Entertainment Imaging

Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Division is the world-class leader in providing film, digital and hybrid motion imaging products, services, and technology for the professional motion picture and exhibition industries. For more information, visit: 

www.kodak.com/go/motion.

Twitter at @Kodak_ShootFilm.

 

Media Contacts:

Sally Christgau/Lisa Muldowney

760-438-5250

[email protected] / [email protected]

Courses

Manhattan Edit Workshop

Leave a comment

  • Learn the leading industry tools: Avid, Final Cut Pro and After Effects.
  • Work with top editors in our Artist in Residence Program.  Recent Artists in Residence include:  Meg Reticker (30 Rock, The Wire, Bored to Death), Jean Tsien (Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing, Travis.)
  • NEW! – Create a professional editors reel AND build your own website to showcase your work.
  • Take the Apple and Avid Certification exam FREE! ($300 value)
  • FREE! tickets to EditFest NY and EditFest Short Cuts events (over $349 value)
  • Cut on your own workstation for the duration of the class.
  • Get exclusive Six Week Alumni discounts on Mewshop workshops, and merchandise from B&H Photo and Tekserve.
Societies

MPEG envisages royalty-free MPEG video coding standard

Leave a comment

The MPEG working group ise looking for a new compression standard which would be “in line with the expected usage models of the internet”. It would like the new standard to achieve “substantially better compression performance” than MPEG-2 and is hoping it may be comparable with the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC baseline profile.

 

This article derives from H-Online’s article: 
MPEG calling for royalty-free web video codec

The issue of video codecs has been particularly controversial over the last year with the emergence of Google’s royalty free WebM/VP8 codec taking on the MPEG groups’s royalty encumbered H.264 codec. Last week, MPEG LA, a patent pooling company not connected to the ISO/IEC MPEG group, announced that it was beginning a search for patents essential to VP8 with an eye to creating a patent pool and charging royalties. Royalties for the use of H.264 for video on the internet were dropped in August 2010, but are still required to be paid by the makers of web browsers and video encoders.

 

Currently, it is unknown how many of, or how enthusiastically, the participants in MPEG will rise to the call for proposals. The March meeting of the MPEG group will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, over the 21st to the 25th.

 

Following is the press release from MPEG

 

MPEG anticipates March 2011 CfP for Type-1 Video Coding Standard

 

MPEG has been producing standards that provide industry with the best video compression technologies. In recognition of the growing importance that the Internet plays in the generation and consumption of video content, MPEG intends to develop a new video compression standard in line with the expected usage models of the Internet. The new standard is intended to achieve substantially better compression performance than that offered by MPEG-2 and possibly comparable to that offered by the AVC Baseline Profile. MPEG will issue a call for proposals on video compression technology at the end of its upcoming meeting in March 2011 that is expected to lead to a standard falling under ISO/IEC “Type-1 licensing”, i.e. intended to be “royalty free”.

MPEG moves toward a visual search standard by issuing Draft Call for Proposals

In its latest step toward creating a standard for efficient and interoperable designs of visual search applications, MPEG has issued a draft Call for Proposals at its 95th meeting. Like a barcode reader, but using regular images instead of barcodes, visual search enables the retrieval of related information from databases for tourists, simplified shopping, mobile augmented reality, and other applications.

Specifically, the call seeks technologies that deliver robust matching of images of objects, such as landmarks and text-based documents, that may be partially occluded or captured from various vantage points, and with different camera parameters, or lighting conditions.  The underlying component technologies that are expected to be addressed by the standard include the format of the visual descriptors, and parts of the descriptor extraction process needed to ensure interoperability.  Other component technologies, such as indexing and matching algorithms, may also be incorporated into the new standard.

Further details are outlined in the text of the call available at http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/hot_news.htm. The Final Call for Proposals will be issued at the 96th MPEG meeting in March 2011 with responses due in October 2011.

MPEG targets a new phase of 3D video coding standards

A Draft Call for Proposals on 3D Video Coding Technology has also been issued by MPEG at its 95th meeting. This call invites technology submissions providing efficient compression of 3D video and high quality view reconstruction that goes beyond the capabilities of existing standards. MPEG has already delivered 3D compression formats to the market, including MVC and frame-compatible stereoscopic formats, which are being deployed by industry for packaged media and broadcast services. However, the market needs are expected to evolve and new types of 3D displays and services will be offered. With this call, MPEG embarks on a new phase of 3D standardization that anticipates these future needs. The next-generation of 3D standards will define the 3D data format and associated compression technology to facilitate the generation of multiview output to enable both advanced stereoscopic display processing and improved support for auto-stereoscopic displays. Further details are outlined in MPEG’s Vision on 3D Video (http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/visions/3dv/index.htm). The Final Call for Proposals will be issued at the 96th MPEG meeting in March 2011 with responses due in September 2011.

Amendment to MPEG-2 systems is finalized at 95th meeting

MPEG is continuously improving the popular MPEG-2 Transport Stream (TS) standard (ISO/IEC 13818-1), one of its most widely accepted standards for broadcast industries.  At its 95th meeting, MPEG has finalized a new amendment to support recently developed video coding standards, Advanced Video Coding (AVC) and Multiview Video Coding (MVC), in MPEG-2 TS. This amendment extends the AVC video descriptor to signal the presence of a frame packing arrangement in an associated supplemental enhancement information message for the underlying AVC video stream component. The new amendment also adds signaling of an operating point descriptor of MVC which enables transmission systems to convey the relevant operating points that can be used by receiving devices.

In a related project, MPEG has also started a new amendment to signal stereoscopic video services carried in MPEG-2 TS. This amendment will support not only frame compatible video services but also service compatible video services which will allow implementation of backward compatible stereoscopic video services in HDTV systems.

MPEG hosts MPEG-V awareness event

At its 95th meeting, MPEG hosted the MPEG-V Awareness Event 2011, at which the full range of MPEG-V technologies, including several products and applications employing the standard, were showcased. These technologies cover applications for multi-sensorial user experience in the home environment, control of virtual worlds by real signals, motion capture systems and real-time avatar animation, multi-platform streaming for virtual worlds and mixed reality games. The workshop presentations are available at http://wg11.sc29.org/mpeg-v.

A hot standard moves fast

MPEG has approved the promotion of Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) to Draft International Standard (DIS) status. The draft is available from the Hot News page of http://mpeg.chiariglione.org.

Responding to a Call – How to Contact MPEG

The text and details related to the Calls mentioned above (together with other current Calls) are in the Hot News section,http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/hot_news.htm. These documents include information on how to respond to the Calls.

Communicating the large and sometimes complex array of technologies that the MPEG Committee has developed is not a simple task. Experts, past and present, have contributed a series of tutorials and vision documents that explain each of these standards individually. The repository is growing with each meeting, but if something of interest cannot be found, do not hesitate to request it. You can start your MPEG adventure at:http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/technologies.htm.

Further Information

Future MPEG meetings are planned as follows:

No. 96 Geneva CH 21-25 March 2011
No. 97 Torino IT 18-22 July 2011
No. 98 Geneva CH 28-02 November-December 2011
No. 99 San Jose US 06-10 February 2012

For further information about MPEG, please contact:

Dr. Leonardo Chiariglione (Convener of MPEG, Italy)
Via Borgionera, 103
10040 Villar Dora (TO), Italy
Tel:  +39 011 935 04 61
[email protected]

This press release and other MPEG-related information can be found on the MPEG homepage:

http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/

The MPEG homepage also has links to other MPEG pages which are maintained by the MPEG subgroups. It also contains links to public documents that are freely available for download by those who are not MPEG members. Journalists that wish to receive MPEG Press Releases by email should contact Dr. Arianne T. Hinds at [email protected].

Audio Processing

CML Artists on Music Libraries

Leave a comment

Original post: “The library companies seem like used cars sales men, and some of the same songs appear in multiple library so how can they say they have sync rights? my thoughts are that I can use these with out a sync license, because A.
they have no legal standing, B. the songs could be part of any library so only the artist could claim royalties, but the artists are setup with BMI,ASCAP which will get royalties when broadcasted and is the broadcasters responsibility.”

“…are music library licenses a scam?”

Later exposition: “My whole reason in posting this was to more less expose the music library companies, many of the songs these libraries have exist in other libraries (one library company can’t have exclusive rights) so how can they ever know where you got that song from? As far as royalties I always submit a music cue sheet to the broadcaster.

I just feel like we need something better to get music from artist to producer and eliminate these Music Library middle men.”

“I think your reasoning is completely faulty. The same artist could have multiple deals. BMI/ASCAP pays on WRITING the song, but not the performance. If you use the piece without rights from one of the companies, you may get away with it, but perhaps you won’t. If you don’t pay, you certainly wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. The artist and ONE of the libraries has to be paid.

 

It stuns me when creative people think this way. What if you sold stock footage to several libraries (which I have seen in stills), and I used it and didn’t pay? It’s the same as people who have pirated movies. How are any of us creatives getting paid for our work? Are you working for free? Are you giving away your own work? Why do you expect that someone else should not be paid for his creative work? Is it of less value than yours. My guess is that YOUR creative work is less valuable. A musician is creating something from nothing.”

‘I pay for all the music I use.   It is a bargain.

When I write a check for $1000 for, say, a 12 minute corporate film, it hurts for one second, but what kind of score could you get that money, with a dozen cues.

I am a Getty Motion artist and of course I feel the same way about my stock footage.  I get pretty upset when I allow use or license my footage for one production, and then I see it in other productions from the same production company.”

“When you buy a used car, are they selling the same physical car to more than one person? Or are you thinking that gee the used car lot has twenty of the same make and model of that car and my friend already bought one, so I’m going to go down to the lot and take another one whenever I need. I mean really the cars are all just copies anyway, and lots of them are in different used car lots.

BTW – Even youtube will require you to provide proof of music license when you join their revenue sharing program.”

“There are some terms being thrown around here which aren’t quite accurate. Copyright / License / Royalties are all completely separate (though often they are linked via contract). I’m no lawyer, but I do make a living writing music for spots and films so I’ve had to wade through these a few times. Here’s how I view it as a content creator.

SHORT ANSWER? The songs have a VERY CLEAR legal standing, and you MUST read the license that came with the material to know what you can and cannot do legally.

When I write music, even if it’s “for hire,” I retain the Royalties in perpetuity unless I’m stupid enough to sign them away. If a piece I wrote appears in a broadcast, I get paid royalties. Now, back to the “stupid enough…” part. If I sell my music to a Library and they turn around and offer it to you as “royalty free” what that means is that when I gave my music to that library I waived any rights to future royalties. I don’t like that… so I don’t sell my stuff to those  companies. But plenty of composers will, and that’s their right. BMI/ASCAP are in the business of collecting royalties. They have nothing  to do with copyright or sync licenses.

 

“Many libraries sell or even GIVE you a huge library of CDs. You APPEAR to own them, but …, you need to know (READ) the agreement. I have a giant collection of APM music for trailers. But owning the CDs doesn’t give me ANY rights to use them. They GAVE me the library, so I could have easy, quick access, but I have to individually license every single cut from the CDs.

… We bought a starter set of CDs and they kept supplying us with additional, new content, but we also paid an annual licensing fee to use the music, and we had to keep a record of which cuts we used, even though we had a blanket license. But whoever bought those CDs when the post company went out of business would have absolutely NO right to use those cuts, just because they owned the CDs. They would need to pay the same blanket annual licensing fee or needle drops to actually put the music on anything.

I’ve also bought “royalty free” albums from Sounddogs and other libraries and they specifically state that you are getting sync rights, but not broadcast rights, or that your rights are limited.

“In SOME cases, the act of buying the library gains you a sync license…”

“I’d point out that Music Libraries do exactly what your asking: Get music from artist to producer (or consumer.)  iTunes is the most visible example of that, enabling convenient access to popular music.

Production music libraries—like stock footage libraries—make it a lot more convenient for people in need of music to find and legally use music in productions at relatively affordable prices.

These libraries make what’s often a sizeable investment to acquire or make the recordings and optain the licensing or copy rights to songs.

Then they pay more to manufacture and package CD’s… coupled these days with expensive websites that allow you to search, preview, license and download a cut that gets you out of a jam at 2:17am on a Monday morning when you have to deliver a finished edit on disc at 7a.m.”

Video Processing

Ken Stone on Pixelmator

Leave a comment

 

Pixelmator is a relatively new application and, as such, it is not yet a full powered photo editing application like Photoshop, but it is much like Photoshop. It employs the same type of palettes, tools, adjustments and menus. Almost all of Pixlmator’s keyboard shortcuts are the same as Photoshop’s. So, if you have worked in Photoshop, there is very little to learn when using Pixelmator; you’ll feel quite comfortable. If you start off using Pixelmator and then, at some point, graduate to Photoshop, the transition will require little effort on your part to learn the Photoshop workflow. Pixelmator is Photoshop-esque.

That’s the beginning of Ken Stone’s new review of an image editing tool, which goes on to give detailed views, both narratively and pictorially, of this cool and inexpensive piece of software on Ken Stone’s Final Cut Pro Web Site. Here is the link for this article: Pixelmator

The site has a stable of writers who put out a weekly set of information on a variety of tools on a weekly basis. If you like your information delivered to your mailbox with a comfortable style, you can subscribe with the link at the bottom of every page. Every review or how-to will count to your weekly ‘continuing education’ requirements.

…Like Tangents In Rain