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.
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.
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!
With all the hype around AI for post production, AI for color correction is evolving slower than expected because, as we all know, Shot Match to This Clip in DaVinci Resolve rarely works, if ever for example. For all the latest AI capabilities added to recent DaVinci Resolve, this function is hardly improved upon, or mentioned at all. (I try it time to time though, just for kicks.)
So I was pleasantly surprised when AtomX Cast from ATOMOS unveiled its color matching by AI capability. Although I’m just taking theirs words from the demo videos below, this feature is desperately needed/required for DaVinci Resolve.
I wonder if working with raw camera signals make AI understand colors more better than video data wrapped in various media codecs?
Have you found this app working as their videos claim? Please share your thoughts if you have used it.
Long awaited DaVinci Resolve 18.5 is now out of beta. Check out two videos below that showcase its latest features.
As a bonus video, Darren Mostyn showed me cool hacks/tips that made my life easy as a colorist. It’s well worth your time, as always.