Studio Berezin Film

I had an interesting discovery about Final Cut Studio today (FCS 3, FCP 7). I went and shot something with my HD camera in 1080/60i format with the idea of using it later in the SD NTSC timeline (the NTSC DV, to be exact). My camera shoots HD only, so I didn’t really have another option, and I naively thought, what the heck, it’ll just work. Well, not so fast… First of all, my camera’s real-time downscaled RCA output to NTSC for some reason looked pretty bad compared to that of native DV cameras on the same shoot. Bummer. So I tried to drop my HD footage into the DV timeline to replace the bad looking clips. To my utter disappointment, the HD footage in Final Cut looked horrible, even worse than the RCA feed.WTF? So, after a number of hours and extensive tests, here’s what I finally concluded. First, my RCA output is not that bad after all. Even my horribly outdated DV palmcorder digitized a decent picture from that output. Something must have gone wrong in...

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son. Netflix , IMDB Director: Francis Ford Coppola STC Genre : Institutionalized “Group” – the Family “Choice” – whether Michael joins family business or not “Sacrifice” – will Michael sacrifice his family or his soul? I don’t think it requires any comments – this is such a classic. One of my takeaways, because the movie is so long, it helps if the setup is actually a bit tighter than the beat sheet suggests, or at least is spiced up by more action. But then, I’m an action junky…

Two men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment, embark on a week long road trip through California’s wine country, just as one is about to get married. Netflix , IMDB Director: Alexander Payne STC Genre : Rites of Passage (mid-life crisis) “Life Problem” – Miles can’t get over his divorce “Wrong Way” – lying your way through “Acceptance” – moving ahead the way you really are Somewhat slow starting and gradually gaining pace, this movie definitely hits the mark by the end. Interestingly, many Hollywood movies have a very impressive beginning and a (comparatively) pathetic ending. But not this one – it actually picks up the pace, suspense and overall quality towards the end. My impression was that the filmmakers dragged their feet through the opening and setup and couldn’t wait to get to the meat of the story, which is really in the second half of act 2 and act 3. Overall, a pretty damn goo...