The last episode for the season of lost, finally, has some meaning to it !.. usually most episodes ends with a suspenseful twist , leaving you questioning and associating between previous episodes. Many people are saying that Lost has been straying from it’s plot, but as I see it is connecting so well. The last episode of season 3 was one of the best so far !! Season 4 will begin airing in February 2008, I just can’t wait for it !
Today I’m very excited because I finally received Final Cut Studio 2 .
The box is really heavy, it weighs about 16 pounds !!.I started opening it, then took the cardbox that supports the package off ..
The package consists of 5 manuals, 4 for Finalcut Pro, and one dedicated for the color correcting tool Color, as well as a package for the main software and supplemental material ( project files, templates, training DVD)
For a glimpse of what Final Cut Studio is about, and what it can do, (for non-techy readers out there :) ), it works like this:
1. Edit. Use Final Cut Pro 6 for native editing of virtually any format — from DV and SD up to HDV, XDCAM HD, DVCPRO HD, and fully uncompressed HD. Or use ProRes 422, a new post-production format from Apple that offers uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes. Drag clips with different formats and even different frame rates into the new open format Timeline.
2. Animate. Create stunning 2D and 3D motion graphics in real time with Motion 3, the fastest and most intuitive way to animate and express your creative vision. Just drag and drop to make dramatic particle effects explode into 3D space; form vector-based paint strokes with the swish of a pen. New Motion master templates let you edit text and drop in video without leaving Final Cut Pro.
3. Mix. Record and edit dialogue, add music and effects, and complete your mix with ease. Soundtrack Pro 2 lets you work faster than ever in its new, streamlined interface. You can even produce in surround sound using innovative visual tools. If you make changes to your edit in Final Cut Pro, you can rapidly update your audio mix with the powerful Conform feature in Soundtrack Pro.
4. Grade. Give your production a signature look or create a consistent feel for shots from different sources. Color is the newest member of the Final Cut Studio family, offering professional color grading that can elevate the quality of any production.
5. Deliver. Use Compressor 3 to create pristine-quality output for a wide range of delivery formats — including the web, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, and broadcast servers. A streamlined new interface lets you batch-process encoding with point-and-click ease. If film is your destination, use Cinema Tools 4 to output film lists that combine timecode and keycode in a single list. Or use DVD Studio Pro 4 for professional DVD authoring and mastering.
Source: Apple.com
I started using Motion 3, mainly because I really wanted to use a motion graphics applictaions that uses the graphics card more efficiently and gives me real-time playback, as apposed to Adobe After Effects. I liked the templates that comes bundled with the app, as well as the animation behaviors, thats a killer feature if you compare it to After Effects .
I didn’t test the other applications yet, I think im going to stay at home this weekend and start using them one by one !
Project Date: May 2003
Produced by: Innovation House, Wael Al-Omani, ahmad.TV
Client: National Association of Kuwaiti Students – Kuwait University
Directed By: Ahmad Al-Awadi
Director of Photography: Wael Al-Omani
Edited by: Ahmad Al-Awadi – Wael Al-Omani
Visual Effects, Sound Design, Screenplay: : Ahmad Al-Awadi
The Video:
2mGEul0h77w
How I began:
This was my first paid project, before that I worked on several personal projects, short clips in which I did some stunts for testing purposes, each time I’m done with a project I start to show it to my family, and then send it to friends in msn. One day I received a phone call from someone who saw my work from my one of my msn contacts -word-of-mouth playing its role:), he told me “flan” someone is looking for guys interested in Media production, so I took off and went to their social gathering, we exchanged opinions and such, at the end I showed my work to someone from the gathering, at that time he was running a company by the name Innovation House, and during that time, Innovation House was responsible for the 1st Job event conference, the project included a video intro for the conference. He offered me to Direct the video, I immediately accepted without any hesitation because It was a golden chance for me to work on something real, something that can be shown in a big event.
The Idea:
I sat down with the production team, did some brain storming, and came up with the idea, I came back home and drew the storyboard, sketching it really fast, check it here, it looks funny:
I need some drawing courses coz I’m the worst storyboard artist ever :P
The idea goes like this, it’s a story of a man who graduates from college and starts applying for a job, it presents the obstacles that a graduate faces when he applies a for job in Kuwait, but somewhat to an extreme.
Production Notes:
We shot the entire project in one day, I edited in in my old pc in 1.5 -2 days along with the sound effects, and delivered the next day, it was done really fast because we had a very tight deadline.
But at the end it wasn’t that bad, I was happy that the audience liked it, plus they requested that we present the video one more time, which we did.
Here is a video comparing the storyboard to the final clip:
Ep1epgIq7Tg
Toolkit:
Hardware: Canon Xl1 camera, 2X Lights, Regular PC (2.5Ghz, 1Gb ram)
Software: Premiere – Photoshop – After Effects
This project was one the first projects I worked on back in 2003, Although its pretty old but I feel that it’s special in a way, probably because I was really excited to work on it at that time. If you have any comments/opinions/suggestions I’d love to hear them, just drop them down below.
Last Tuesday I was at Second Cup for the 2nd Kuwait Mac user meetup, where Kuwaiti Mac users exchange knowledge, tips on Mac OS X, in a supporting social environment.
Highlights of the meetup:
- First we chatted with each other waiting for the rest of the attendees to come
- Next we introduced applications for Mac, VirtueDesktops, Isolator, Zekir
- Widgets: we showed a widget that does instant currency conversions, CurrencyConverter
- Tips: we explained how to use Smart folders along with the color coding labels
- Q&A: At the end we had an open discussion where we answered questions
- Giveaway DVD’s containing a handpick of Mac Apps
A lot of users are recently switching to Mac. Mac is really much more stable than windows, there are no viruses whatsover, no spyware, no adware, its clean and does the job with no hassle, let alone the applications that comes bundled with it, for more on mac, and why mac is a better choice than windows check this Link
I thank everyone who attended the user group, for more information/support on your mac, visit us at our new forum through this link, drop by and if you need support on your mac we would be glad to help, my username is (BigMac)
Read: Kuwait Mac Community
Hey there!, I know, I know, it has been a while since I last posted, mainly because I was working on a video that I hope it will be posted in a few days.
Today I stumbled across this website (Thanks M.T.S for the link!), It’s a comic book created by Dr.Naif Al-Mutawa, Founder of Teshkeel Media Group. I’m not into comic books myself, but it’s nice knowing that there is something from a Middle Eastern company that’s aiming worldwide.
