Hawaii FCPUG » Mel Matsuoka http://www.hfcpug.org Hawaii Final Cut Pro Users Group Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:10:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 May ‘10 Meeting: “Quick and Effective Audio Sweetening” http://www.hfcpug.org/2010/05/17/may-10-meeting-quick-and-effective-audio-sweetening/ http://www.hfcpug.org/2010/05/17/may-10-meeting-quick-and-effective-audio-sweetening/#comments Tue, 18 May 2010 02:47:43 +0000 Mel Matsuoka http://www.hfcpug.org/?p=193 Wednesday, May 15 at UH Manoa, Krauss Hall. If you're going to invest your time and creativity in the editing, effects, titles, graphics and color grading of your project, it makes a lot of sense to ensure your sound is good too! In this presentation, Steve Szabo will use real-world examples of problematic audio and demonstrate some methods for lessening problems and improving the sound.]]> 1. MAY 2010 MEETING
THE MAY MEETING IS the 3rd WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH:
MAY 19

AGENDA:

A. Presentation: Quick and Effective Audio Sweetening
Presented by Steve Szabo
B. User Problem Solver
Presented by Steve Szabo & Mel Matsuoka

A. Presentation: Quick and Effective Audio Sweetening
Presented by Steve Szabo

The people who watch your video will notice flaws in sound far more quickly than they will notice problems with the picture. And unfortunately, it is a reality of modern production that the sound recorded in-camera or by a second device is rarely perfect.

If you’re going to invest your time and creativity in the editing, effects, titles, graphics and color grading of your project, it makes a lot of sense to ensure your sound is good too! In this presentation, Steve will use real-world examples of problematic audio and demonstrate some methods for lessening problems and improving the sound.

B. User Directed Problem Solver
Presented by Steve Szabo & Mel Matsuoka

In this User Directed Problem Solver, you will be able to direct the discussion.
Do you have a problem with your video that you can’t quite solve?
Do you experience issues with certain operations or functions that you would love to resolve?
This is a forum for getting “answers by demonstration” to your video issues.

Steve and/or Mel will address raised questions by demonstrating solutions using the applications in question.

DATE:
The May meeting of our group will take place on the 3rd Wednesday of the month.

WEDNESDAY, May 19th, 6:30 PM – 9 PM

LOCATION:
University of Hawaii, Manoa
Krauss Hall,
Yukiyoshi Room
PARKING: $5, and because it is in the evening,
PARK IN ANY PARKING AREAS ON CAMPUS
See map at this link:
Krauss Hall, Yukiyoshi Room Map

***** PLEASE RSVP *****
if you plan to attend.
SEATING IS LIMITED!

]]> http://www.hfcpug.org/2010/05/17/may-10-meeting-quick-and-effective-audio-sweetening/feed/ 4 Feb. 17, 2010 Meeting: Pizza and 2 short films with Academy Award nominated filmmaker Hanna Polak http://www.hfcpug.org/2010/02/16/feb-2010-meeting-pizza-and-2-short-films-with-academy-award-nominated-filmmaker-hanna-polak/ http://www.hfcpug.org/2010/02/16/feb-2010-meeting-pizza-and-2-short-films-with-academy-award-nominated-filmmaker-hanna-polak/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:40:21 +0000 Mel Matsuoka http://www.hfcpug.org/?p=168 The February 2010 Hawaii FCPUG meeting will be on WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 17, 6:30 – 9 pm. Because we’re expecting a large turnout for this event, YOU MUST RSVP FOR THIS MEETING!

Our February 2010 meeting starts off with FREE PIZZA at 6:30 (courtesy of the awesome folks at DigiEffects, makers of some of the coolest FCP and After Effects plugins on the planet!). We’ll follow that with screenings of 2 short films by Filmmaker Hanna Polak, who will be there to tell the amazing story of her life leading up to becoming a cinematographer and filmmaker whose film, The Children of Leningradsky, was nominated for both an Academy Award and two Emmy Awards.

For more information on Hanna Polak, check out her site, at HannaPolak.com


The Children of Leningradsky
Nominated for 2004 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject
Recipient of numerous international awards



This documentary takes an intimate and heart-breaking look at a group of homeless children living in and around a Moscow train station. Hanna Polak together with Andrzej Celinski captured numerous intimate and heartbreaking scenes in this raw, verite documentary, which combines footage of the children and Moscow authorities with alarming statistics about homelessness and its devastating effects in post-Soviet Russia.
35 min.

"This film is more than a film about the homeless children of Moscow. It is about the consequences of abandoning our humanity." – Hanna Polak


Stone Silence
Cinematographers: Hanna Polak, Jacek Petrycki
Featuring striking cinematography of modern Afghanistan and a riveting true story!

This gritty documentary by filmmaker Krzysztof Kopczynski investigates the 2005 incident in which a 29-year-old Afghan woman named Amina was stoned to death for the crime of adultery. Investigating the story of Amina’s life, and the events that led to her brutal, unjust death, Stone Silence tells the story of how Amina’s arranged marriage was unfulfilling to her compared to the real love and passion she felt for a friend. She eventually succumbed to her feelings for her friend, and paid the ultimate price for it. – Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
52 min

Pizza provided by DigiEffects (www.digieffects.com)

Free for MEMBERS and those for whom it is your first time at a Hawaii Final Cut Pro Users Group meeting.

Non-Members who have attended before, please become a member.
(SEE Instructions at the end of this Newsletter under NEW MEMBERSHIP)

DATE:
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 6:30 PM – 9 PM

LOCATION:
University of Hawaii, Manoa
Krauss Hall,
Yukiyoshi Room

PARKING: $5, and because it is in the evening,
PARK IN ANY PARKING AREAS ON CAMPUS
See map at this link:
Krauss Hall, Yukiyoshi Room Map

***** PLEASE RSVP *****
if you plan to attend.
SEATING IS LIMITED!

]]> http://www.hfcpug.org/2010/02/16/feb-2010-meeting-pizza-and-2-short-films-with-academy-award-nominated-filmmaker-hanna-polak/feed/ 0 HFCPUG August ‘09 meeting: What’s New in Final Cut Studio 3! http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/08/18/hfcpug-august-09-meeting-info/ http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/08/18/hfcpug-august-09-meeting-info/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:41:37 +0000 Mel Matsuoka http://www.hfcpug.org/?p=151 Our August ‘09 meeting is Wednesday, August 19 at 6:30 PM. Our main presentation for the evening will be “What’s New in Final Cut Studio 3″. We’ll also have a very special presentation by JVC, demonstrating their new line of Quicktime-native HD cameras!

Click “Continue Reading” for more details.AUGUST 2009 MEETING

OUR AUGUST MEETING IS WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19

AGENDA:

A. Presentation: WHAT’S NEW IN FINAL CUT STUDIO 3

Steve Szabo will deliver a presentation about and show the major new features in the NEW Final Cut Studio 3, featuring:

- FINAL CUT PRO 7

- MOTION 4

- SOUNDTRACK PRO 3

- COLOR 1.5

- COMPRESSOR 3.5

- DVD STUDIO PRO 4

B. NEW JVC Professional Cameras For FINAL CUT PRO

PRESENTATION AND PREVIEW OF THE CAMERAS

Presented by
Alicia Reed, District Sales Manager, JVC

Wayne Christiansen, President, Isys Video Systems

JVC representatives will demonstrate and present a seminar about the new JVC GY-HM100 and GY-HM700 solid state cameras. These cameras were designed with Apple to record natively in the .MOV format for drag-and-drop editing in Final Cut Pro. These cameras also record in .MP4 format, which is the XDCAM EX format, so can work directly with Avid, Adobe Premiere, and GV Edius as well. You have a choice of ergonomic shoulder-mount or hand-held cameras, and both allow you to record 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. There will be an opportunity to check out the cameras after the presentation.

DATE:

The August meeting of our group will take place on the 3rd Wednesday of the month.

WEDNESDAY, August 19th, 6:30 PM – 9 PM

LOCATION:

University of Hawaii, Manoa
Krauss Hall,
Yukiyoshi Room
PARKING: $5, and because it is in the evening,
PARK IN ANY PARKING AREAS ON CAMPUS
See map at this link:
Krauss Hall, Yokiyoshi Room Map

***** PLEASE RSVP *****

If you plan to attend. SEATING IS LIMITED!

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER:

You can follow The Hawaii Final Cut Pro Users Group on Twitter! Get meeting updates, members-only product discounts, and lots of other information useful to Final Cut Studio users and creative content producers!

http://twitter.com/hawaiifcpug

]]> http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/08/18/hfcpug-august-09-meeting-info/feed/ 0 Final Cut Studio “3″ is here! http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/07/23/final-cut-studio-3-is-here/ http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/07/23/final-cut-studio-3-is-here/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:31:05 +0000 Mel Matsuoka http://www.hfcpug.org/?p=131 It’s been a LONG 27 months since Apple released Final Cut Studio 2, but the wait is finally over!  Today, Apple announced the immediate availability of the new Final Cut Studio (note that it’s not called “Final Cut Studio 3″), including Final Cut Pro 7.0, Motion 4.0, Soundtrack Pro 3.0, Compressor 3.5 and Color 1.5.

We will be giving our thoughts on the new FCS3 features in a future HFCPUG meeting. But in the meantime, head on over to Apple’s “What’s New in Final Cut Studio” page to get the details (including screencasts) of all the new features!

]]> http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/07/23/final-cut-studio-3-is-here/feed/ 0 May 2009 Meeting Notes & Downloads http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/05/23/may-2009-meeting-notes-downloads/ http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/05/23/may-2009-meeting-notes-downloads/#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 21:51:27 +0000 Mel Matsuoka http://www.hfcpug.org/?p=92 Presentation downloads:

Links:

  • MPEG Streamclip: Free “swiss army knife” software for Mac or Windows that lets you mux/demux MPEG-2 files. It’s an awesome tool to have when authoring DVDs or Blu-ray discs. And despite its name, it also lets you play and convert many other formats, such as Flash Video, and will easily allow you to rip DVDs to Quicktime files for FCP import (unencrypted DVDs only).
  • Adobe Encore
  • Encoding Blu-ray video using Apple Compressor: From Adobe’s DAV TechTable blog
  • Blu-ray encoding with Compressor video tutorial: Excellent overview from Macbreak #165, with Brian Gary, author of Compressor 3 Quick Start Guide and Alex Lindsay from Pixelcorps/DV Garage
  • Creating Blu-ray discs with FCP, Compressor & Adobe Encore: Great step-by-step tutorial–including how to install a Blu-ray burner in your Mac Pro–from Kenstone.net
  • “Taming the Wild Blu Yonder”, Part I & Part II: Awesome 2-part article by Bruce Nazarian, discussing the state of Blu-ray authoring on the Mac. Discusses disc media, burner/playback hardware & software and an in-depth walk-through of using Roxio Toast to create Blu-ray discs. Although we strongly advise against using Toast for professional quality video encoding, it’s still an easy way to burn short Blu-ray videos onto standard DVD-R discs)
  • BluStreak Premaster: BluStreak Premaster is the first–and currently, only–software that enables the creation of Cutting Master Format (“CMF”) files on the Macintosh. If you are creating a Blu-ray title that will be mass “replicated” (read this to learn the difference between “duplication” and “replication”), you will need to own this software!BluStreak Premaster is currently available at a limited-time introductory price of $299. This price will increase soon, so now is the time to buy it!

Mocha for Final Cut Pro:

Miscellaneous Links:


]]> http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/05/23/may-2009-meeting-notes-downloads/feed/ 1 May 2009 meeting: “Blu-ray Video Disc Authoring on the Mac” http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/05/16/may-2009-meeting-blu-ray-video-disc-authoring-on-the-mac/ http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/05/16/may-2009-meeting-blu-ray-video-disc-authoring-on-the-mac/#comments Sun, 17 May 2009 07:35:01 +0000 Mel Matsuoka http://www.hfcpug.org/?p=81 Mocha for FCP, Imagineer Systems amazing planar-tracking tool (a $200 value!). Time permitting, we will do a brief deomonstration of Mocha, explaining how it was used on several recent local TV commercials. Click "Continue Reading" for more details about our May meeting! ]]> A. Special Presentation:
Blu-ray Video Disc Authoring on the Mac
Presented by Apple Certified Master Trainer, Steve Szabo

Blu-ray has become the format for delivery of HD on discs. With the dramatic increase in HD production and the rising popularity amongst consumers of movies on Blu-ray, the format has become more important as a means for us to deliver our content. But DVD Studio Pro isn’t capable of Blu-ray authoring. Until recently the only way you could author a Blu-ray was by using very expensive software ($50,000). Different solutions have begun to emerge for Blu-ray authoring but some are very limited and others are complex.

This presentation has been created to demonstrate the workflows now available to author Blu-ray discs on an Apple computer.
Topics Include:
- Simple Blu-ray discs authoring and what is lacks
- Encoding strategies for video and audio for Blu-ray
- Procedures for creating menus for Blu-ray; both static and motion
- Software available for Blu-ray authoring on the Mac
- Authoring professional Blu-ray discs on the Mac
- What is needed for burning Blu-ray discs
- What is needed for Blu-ray replication

B. HAWAII FCPUG RAFFLE
We have a few software packages that have been donated by our sponsors to give away.
RAFFLE RULES:
Every person who attends the August meeting and pays the regular $5 meeting donation will receive 2 free raffle tickets. Additional Raffle Tickets will be for sale at $2 each or 3 for $5. All tickets are eligible for all drawings. Once a ticket is drawn it will not be replaced into the ticket pool. Winning ticket holders must be present to claim their prize. If the holder of a winning ticket is not present at the time of drawing, another ticket will be drawn, until a winner is proclaimed.

C. Q. & A. WITH MEL & STEVE
Member Queries & Troubleshooting
Steve and Mel will take questions from members in attendance about any problems, issues or queries related to film and video. We’ll do our best to help clarify the facts!

DATE:
The May meeting of our group will take place on the 3rd Wednesday of the month.
WEDNESDAY, May 20th, 6:30 PM – 9 PM

LOCATION:
University of Hawaii, Manoa
Krauss Hall,
Yukiyoshi Room
PARKING: $3, and because it is in the evening,
PARK IN ANY PARKING AREAS ON CAMPUS
See map at this link:
Krauss Hall, Yokiyoshi Room Map

***** PLEASE RSVP *****
if you plan to attend.
We need to know how many will attend!

]]> http://www.hfcpug.org/2009/05/16/may-2009-meeting-blu-ray-video-disc-authoring-on-the-mac/feed/ 1