Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Lynda has a new Foundations of Audio Series + more new audio courses!






Lynda.com has announced the release of many new Audio courses to help you create songs, soundtracks, and voice recordings while learning the basics of audio software.

New courses for beginners include Audio Mixing Bootcamp, GarageBand ’11 Essential Training, and a brand-new Foundations of Audio series, including EQ and Filters and Compression and Dynamic Processing. Use these courses to produce audio tracks for both personal and professional projects, including home movies and slideshow presentations.

View a list of audio courses.

Excerpted from Lynda.com

An opportunity to try the new Vimeo

Open Your Eyes to the New Vimeo from Vimeo Staff on Vimeo.


Vimeo recently announced their new site. It's is not currently live, but if you go to the new Vimeo page you can log in and request to test out the new Vimeo site. If you do not currently have a Vimeo account, you will be prompted to create one in order to request to test out the site.

The Vimeo's site redesign proudly claims to have "zillions of improvements", many of which seem quite cool. The coolest improvement might be the full width video player. This enables you to view videos at nearly the entire width of your browser, while still maintaining more navigation and overall control than you would have with the regular full screen option. In order to make this possible, Vimeo has reorganized some of the tools and has included keyboard shortcuts.

There's now a follow option so users can follow people, channels, or tags. Updates to items you follow end up in your inbox, which has been renamed your feed.

Uploading video is now more convenient because (according to Vimeo) you can easily upload multiple videos at one time without things freezing on you or taking forever. There are also thumbnail previews on the upload screen, which appear to be moving images of your video as it's uploading.

Advanced searching is now available so you can do a search, click advanced and select options to further narrow your search.

There are more privacy options which allow you to block users from contacting you; you can hide videos, which will be clearly marked as private so you know which ones are public and which ones aren't; and you can hide the stats of your video.

There's also a newly created Creative Commons aspect to Vimeo. This means you can more easily browse videos with Creative Commons licenses.

Finally, they've enabled non-member downloading and more interconnectivity options with Facebook, Twitter, and Google's photo organizing software, Picasa.

These are just some of the new features. For the full scoop and to register to be a tester, go to the new Vimeo page.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Funny video: Fotoshop by Adobé

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.



Here's a funny and creative video about the wonders of Photoshop. This is not a real fashion ad, just a funny video with a message created by filmmaker Jesse Rosten.

Check out this Motionographer interview about the creation of the opening titles for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

"Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Title Sequence by Blur from Motionographer on Vimeo.



Check out this great Motionographer article/interview with Blur Studio where they discuss the creation of the opening titles for David Fincher's the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Blur Talks: “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Titles (Posted by Motionographer Staff)

If you haven’t seen Blur’s opening titles for David Fincher’s rendition of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, now would be a good time to climb out from under your rock and check them out (above).

In addition to listing the top-billed talent in a film, the role of a good opening credit sequence is to mentally prep the audience for the ensuing film. In that regard, Blur’s titles are an exemplary specimen — perhaps the best from 2011. When the final frame flickers past, your heart rate will have doubled and your pupils will have fully dilated. Consider yourself ready.

Blur’s Tim Miller was kind enough to give us some background on the titles and share some making-of videos with us. Make sure to read on past the jump for all the goodies.

I don’t typically think of Blur as a designer of film title sequences, but it seems you guys are making a push to be regarded as much for your design chops as for your animation skills. Is that a fair assumption? What’s the plan?

We’ve always had an inhouse design group, it’s just not a large as the animation/FX side. So we’ve always been in the game. As for movie titles, I would say this was more a project of opportunity than part of some uber-plan. We’ve done other projects with Fincher in the past, and we have several on-going film development projects with him. For what David had in mind for this title, we were just a natural fit.

But with that said we would like to capitalize on the work. We enjoyed the process, and we like to mix it up and do different styles of work. So hopefully there will be other opportunities for us like this. It’s nice to do something that doesn’t have a big explosion, aliens or gunfire for a change. Though, of course, we love all that stuff!

Excerpted from Motionographer

See the rest of the interview, including some additional videos here.

18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards

















Last night on Sunday, January 29, 2012, tons of Hollywood's biggest television and movie stars came together for the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. What's interesting about the SAG awards is that there isn't some predetermined committee that votes every year; instead its members vote on the SAG Award nominees and recipients. The Screen Actors Guild represents over 100,000 television and film actors. Of these, 4,200 are randomly selected to choose the nominees in thirteen performance categories (plus two stunt ensemble categories). Then all of the SAG members receive a ballot in order to vote for the award recipients.

The SAG Awards only honor performers in film and television; and they also give awards to out standing ensemble casts. See the nominees and recipients of the outstanding performance by and male and female actor in a leading role below.


Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Leading Role

Demian Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
WINNER - Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Leading Role

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
WINNER - Viola Davis, The Help
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Here is the full list of nominees and recipients.

SAG NOMINATED TITLES AVAILABLE FOR HOME USE IN MEDIA SERVICES

Moneyball – HU DVD 9419
The Help – HU DVD 9309
Bridesmaids – HU DVD 9014
Modern Family –HU DVD 8951-8957 (Seasons 1 & 2)
The Office – HU DVD 4011-4028 (Seasons 1-5)
30 Rock – HU DVD 8921-8931 (Seasons 1-4)
Downton Abbey – HU DVD 8391-3
Mildred Peirce – HU DVD 9481
Boardwalk Empire – HU DVD 9421-9425 (Season 1)
Friday Night Lights – HU DVD 9001-9019
Breaking Bad – HU DVD 8901-8911 (Seasons 1-3)
Midnight in Paris – HU DVD 9410
Dexter – HU DVD 6631-6650 (Seasons 1-5)
True Blood – HU DVD 3391-3405 (Seasons 1-3)



Sunday, January 29, 2012

New Media Center Software Training Sessions this week:
















The New Media Center is located on the lower level of the library past the Technology Services desk, next to Media Services. The NMC conducts open workshops on a variety of topics related to multimedia production. These 20 to 30 minute sessions are open to all AU faculty, staff and students with all levels of multimedia production experience. There are usually four or five workshops held each week. Check the NMC calendar for the latest schedule. For more information, contact the NMC staff (202) 885-2560.


Sunday, 1/29 at 3pm – Intro to Pro Tools
Sunday, 1/29 at 5pm – Intermediate Photoshop
Monday 1/30 at 2pm - Final Cut Pro X: Intermediate
Tuesday 1/31 at 12pm –Final Cut Pro X: Intermediate
Tuesday 1/31 at 8pm – NMC Equipment Training
Wednesday 2/1 at 8pm – Intermediate Photoshop
Thursday 2/2 at 4pm – Final Cut Pro 7 - Intermediate

Friday 2/3 at 12pm – Getting Started with Photoshop
Saturday 2/4 at 5:30pm – How to Make a Video

See the complete Spring Training Schedule by date or by topic.

There is a wealth of multimedia training resources available online. AU faculty, staff and students have access to thousands of hours of free training at Lynda.com. Create a personal profile and get started. More information about resources can be found at Multimedia @ AU.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Hot Docs: Feminist Philosophers: In Their Own Words now available in Media Services

Feminist Philosophers: In Their Own Words

This series provides educators and scholars with in-depth, digitally filmed interviews with many of the scholars who generated and initially sustained feminist philosophy in North America.

Susan Bordo – DVD 6924
Sandra Bartky – DVD 6925
Alison M. Jaggar: April 23-24, 2004 Chicago – DVD 9486
Sara Ruddick: may 21-22, 2004 New York City – DVD 9487

Series website.

School of Communucation Special Screening: The Best Work of Semester 1 - Friday, January 27, 5:00 p.m., Wechsler Theatre
























Friday, January 27, 5:00 p.m., Wechsler Theatre

Please join the School of Communication faculty and graduate students for a special event as they screen and celebrate the films of their first year MFA and MA graduate students.

A series of eclectic and talented work includes: Fiction, documentary, experimental and much more. The School of Communication is thrilled to present and support this work. Please bring all friends and family, and come to support the work of your peers!

Friday, January 27th, 5p
Weschler Theatre in The Mary Graydon Center
Open to all students, friends, faculty, and staff!

Official Facebook Event:
http://www.facebook.com/events/268912763175429/

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

84th Academy Award Nominations















The 84th Academy Awards nominees have been announced and mubi.com/notebook has nicely listed them with links to film clips and info. See a few of the nominees below or check it all out here.

BEST PICTURE

The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

DIRECTING

The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants, Alexander Payne
Hugo, Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Demián Bichir in A Better Life
George Clooney in The Descendants
Jean Dujardin in The Artist
Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt in Moneyball


ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill in Moneyball
Nick Nolte in Warrior
Christopher Plummer in Beginners
Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close


ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis in The Help
Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn


ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Bérénice Bejo in The Artist
Jessica Chastain in The Help
Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer in The Help

Video hack: Use InstantWatcher to browse Netflix streaming titles

The Netflix streaming catalog isn't accessible to non-subscribers and even subscribers will find it a hassle to browse so Instant Watcher was created by a third-party developer to make that process less of a chore. The site's design makes it look like a front for a pirate site but it's purpose is nothing more than to improve the Netflix users' experience and direct new business to Netflix by enabling the non-subscriber to see the streaming offerings before signing up. Joe Bob says: Check it out!

Link

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Apple introduces iBooks textbooks for iPad



















Last week at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, Apple introduced its iBooks textbooks for the iPad. They also introduced iBooks Author, which is user friendly ebook authoring software that enables users to create their own interactive textbooks.

Numerous tech blogs are saying that in just a few days there have been 350,000 textbook downloads from iBooks, not to mention 90,000 downloads of iBooks Author. Many are mesmerized, but naturally there are some skeptics; mainly when it comes to distribution to and re-use by students. How will textbooks be distributed to students? Will the concept of used textbooks be a thing of the past? How will libraries circulate these interactive textbooks?

See the C|NET News report on the Guggenheim Museum event:

Monday, January 23, 2012

New Media Center Software Training Sessions this week:
















The New Media Center is located on the lower level of the library past the Technology Services desk, next to Media Services. The NMC conducts open workshops on a variety of topics related to multimedia production. These 20 to 30 minute sessions are open to all AU faculty, staff and students with all levels of multimedia production experience. There are usually four or five workshops held each week. Check the NMC calendar for the latest schedule. For more information, contact the NMC staff (202) 885-2560.


Tuesday 1/24 at 12pm – Final Cut Pro X: Beginner
Wednesday 1/25 at 8pm – Get Started with Photoshop
Thursday 1/26 at 4pm – Final Cut Pro 7 - Beginner

Friday 1/27 at 12pm – Basic Motion Graphics for Video - After Effects
Saturday 1/28 at 5:30pm – Final Cut Pro 7 - Beginner

See the complete Spring Training Schedule by date or by topic.

There is a wealth of multimedia training resources available online. AU faculty, staff and students have access to thousands of hours of free training at Lynda.com. Create a personal profile and get started. More information about resources can be found at Multimedia @ AU.

Hot Docs: Deciphering Dyslexia now available in Media Services


"The trials and triumphs of four people facing a lifelong struggle with learning. Dyslexia is the most common cause of reading and writing difficulties, affecting about 10 per cent of the population. [This documentary] is designed to raise awareness and provide an understanding of dyslexia, to bring a human face to this invisible disability and to reduce the stigma surrounding it. The film profiles four individuals and their families. Their stories, along with expert commentary, illustrate the likely causes of the disability and the most scientifically sound strategies for intervention"--container.

DVD 9399

Film website including clip:
http://www.knowledge.ca/program/deciphering-dyslexia

Thursday, January 19, 2012

New URL creates easier access to Lynda!














Lynda can now be accessed from this url: http://www.american.edu/lynda
This is the easiest way to get to all the Lynda.com resources.
It's an easy to remember address and gives all the information a user would need - login requirements, products available, tech support information, mobile access, sample videos, and links to Lynda's newest tutorials and newsletter. Check it out!