DaVinci Resolve 19! (Beta)

BlackMagic Design finally revealed DaVinci Resolve 19, and released a beta. I spent my last weekend dutifully watching the videos below to learn about the new features of the latest version.

With these features across all aspects of the program, this is worthy of 19 in its name.

Along with the new version of Resolve, DaVinci Resolve Micro Color Panel is announced & released at $509. It is cheaper than the Micro Panel ($859 with a DR Studio license), and mostly importantly, it’s designed and built to be a portable gear for laptops and iPad Pros with the dedicated slot. With the new iPad Pros (M3 chip with OLED!) rumored to be coming out soon, you can finally replace MacBooks for your post works on-the-go.

Since I own a Micro Panel that serves me well at my home studio/office, this is not for me. But I’m excited that this new panel offers a preview to an upgraded/updated version of Mini Panel which BlackMagic Design must be working on inside their labs.

So I’m already looking forward to see what BlackMagic Design will release at next year’s NAB.

CTRL+ALT+DESIRE - Paramount+ Documentary Series

I worked as the online editor for the true crime docuseries, CTRL+ALT+DESIRE, produced by Ark Media. This 3 episode series will be streaming April 16th on Paramount+.

You can watch the trailer below:

This one shook me to my core, even though I've seen and worked on many true crime series.

Addum: Paramount+ released the first episode so that you sign up to witness its shocking conclusion.

C’est moi.

How Animated Movies Are Edited (featuring Batman)

Editor Andy Young presents informative & hilarious takes on how he utilized Adobe Productions for Premiere Pro to edit the feature animation, Merry Little Batman. It’s a must-watch if you are an editor aspiring to edit animations like yours truly.

I’m little surprised that he didn’t mention other Adobe programs like Photoshop or After Effects, that are often cited as another strong consideration to edit in Premiere Pro, thanks to Dynamic Link.

However, his interview on editing Harley Quinn season 3 do mention them, so he may have left that out in this presentation to focus on the editing parts.

An Apple Event Shot on iPhone

As you probably have heard/seen already, Apple held the first evening keynote/event to announce M3 Macs on October 30th.

I’m already asking: M3 Ultra, when?

But the real surprise, or One More Thing in Apple parlance, was the last card at the end of the event stream.

It almost overshadowed the new M3 chips & Macs and proceeded to generate discourses on what Apple really meant by “shot on iPhone.”

Apple-the master marketers of technology, released the following video as if they were expecting the discourses. And the video revealed the production & the post-production workflows of their events for the first time, because it highlights their biggest product, even if it steals spotlights away from new Macs. And the accompanying article details more with the behind-the-scenes photos.

The biggest takeaway for the people, most notably the post production professionals using Final Cut Pro X, was that Apple didn’t use its own NLE software to make their biggest videos. Haha…

Its post production workflow appears to be (and remains to be, I might add) Premiere Pro + After Effects (not shown in the video), and color + finish in DaVinci Resolve.

However, I wasn’t a least bit surprise because I worked at RadicalMedia, the production company behind the Apple virtual keynotes & presentations since its inception (due to the pandemic). It may haven’t been a public knowledge until Apple acknowledged & credited the production company in the video. No, unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to work on it but I’ve talked to coworker(s) about their experience (without knowing that I will be working on an Apple TV+ project later).

I know that the production chose Premiere Pro to edit, neither FCP X or Avid, because it offered faster turnarounds of GFX & VFX with After Effects integration.

A real surprise to me was the new BlackMagic Camera app, because the first Shot on iPhone 15 commercial was the Olivia Rodrigo music video, which used the default iPhone camera app.

Either the Blackmagic camera app wasn’t available at the time of filming, or Apple doesn’t want to show another company app in its commercial for average consumers.

All in all, this has been interesting turn of events for video professionals as Apple embraces and incorporates more professional features, gears, and apps to highlight its growing platforms, rather than pushing/forcing their own solutions.

Because at the end of the day, Not Invented Here is a dangerous path for a big tech company like Apple.

p.s.

Stu Maschwitz wrote more in-depth article about what does and doesn’t matter about Apple shooting the event with iPhone 15 Pro Max.

“Apple wants to sell iPhones, and to accomplish this, they spared no expense to put the very highest image quality on the screen.”

Yes.

DaVinci Resolve 18.6 is OUT!

In less than a month since the 18.5 release, Resolve 18.6 it out (pdf for the list of new features)

Many quality of life improvements are welcomed, but I’m mostly/pleasantly surprised by how fast BlackMagic Design incorporated Apple ProRes Log into this release.

It’s not a new software release without AI these days. These 7 AI, excuse me Neural Engine features, will save time and enhance your colors/looks.

It’s great to see that Fusion is getting attentions with new features and improvements in this release because I always felt like Fusion is an afterthought, a checkbox, in the toolsets of DaVinci Resolve. I’m trying to do more in Fusion that I could’ve done with After Effect, for example.

It’s a lot to chew on for .1 release, but that’s the nature of this cutting-edge technology/business. Soldier on!