TWN presents walk-in seminars on production topics you need - from production planning to new media production, sound recording and more. All classes are $20 ($10 for low income) unless otherwise noted. The workshops take place at Third World Newsreel. Schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, October 27th, 6:30 PM
Sound Recording: Tips for Better Results and New Gear with JT Takagi
An intro to getting decent sound and a look at some of the more popular mixers, hard drive recorders and radio mikes. Whether working with the 5D, the 900 or your tiny FS200. Facilitated by JT Takagi, recordist/filmmaker with gear courtesy of Professional Sound Services. ($20/10 low income)

Wednesday, Nov 3rd, 6:30 PM
New Media Production
Podcasting and more, a close view of New Media for the novice. Led by Andreas Jackson of MediaClectic and the Hip Hop Association.($20/10 low income)

Wednesday, Nov 10th, 6:30 PM
Getting Business Savvy with Your Production
Commerce, sales, the bottom line...the language of business and filmmakers. Learn business techniques that enhance your ability to get financing for your production - how do investors view a project and how can you as a filmmaker give your production the competitive edge?
Led by Robin Moore, Business Analyst for Film and Media ($20/10 low income)

Wednesday, Nov. 17th, 6:30 PM
Planning for Multiplatform Distribution and Marketing
Michelle Materre, both a marketing/distribution expert and a professor at the New School, Prof. Materre will talk about how to approach the marketing and distribution of your project - before you've even started shooting. Best practices, how-to's and why-to's and where to find the help you need. ($20/10 low income)

Wednesday, Dec 1st, 6:30 PM
Master Class with Laurens Grant, Producer/Director
The producer of "FREEDOM RIDERS" and "LATIN MUSIC, USA" and the director/producer of "ROKIA: VOICE OF A NEW GENERATION" talks about her work, how one becomes an award winning PBS producer and balancing producing work with her personal productions. FREE. Pre-registration recommended.

All Classes held at:
Third World Newsreel
545 Eighth Avenue, 10th Flr
between 37th and 38th Streets
1, 2, 3, A, C, E to Times Square
212 947-9277 x 15
RSVP and info - email workshop@twn.org

Commerce, sales, the bottom line...the language of business and of production companies. From LLC to getting work to what is your time worth? Enhance your production company's profitability and feed the starving artist.

The concept behind the upcoming workshop is to give filmmakers/producers a foundation that imparts a financial acumen in relation to having a company or being a sole proprietor. This workshop will be followed by the more advanced, Business/Financial Modeling for Filmmakers, at a later date. Topics of this workshop will include:

The 6 Business Driven Principles for Your Film

Adapt the Process
Balance Priorities
Collaborate across teams
Demonstrate Milestones
Elevate the level of abstraction
Focus on Quality

Instructor: Robin Moore
Robin Moore is a business analyst for film and media, who puts together investment packages for investors to secure funding for filmmakers. Companies Robin have worked for include Disney, WGBH, Lionsgate and Cablevision.

Location: Simple Studios
134 West 29th Street (b/t 6th & 7th Ave.)
2nd. Floor Room 205

Mopictive Members get discount with this code DYPC10
Cost of Workshop: $62 with discount

Workshop Size Limited....Reserve Your Space Quickly at this link:

Full Story via PCPro.co.uk/blogs

Watch a demo via YouTube and the John Nack on Adobe Blog.

DaVinci Resolve Control Surface: $30,000

"Blackmagic announced the release of the new DaVinci Resolve 7.0 that includes support for the Mac OS X platform, upgraded user interface, improved video field support, a new EDL library, improved shared database support, as well as new pricing for all models starting from a very affordable $995. Delivery for the Mac version is planned for sometime this summer - after June."

Full Story via ProVideoCoalition.com

MC Control by Euphonix

"Avid also announced plans to further develop an open-standard protocol that expands the compatibility between the Euphonix control surfaces and Avid and third-party audio and video applications."

Full story via Sports Video Group

In just two short years, the wildly popular HD-DSLR craze has put HD video-shooting still Cameras in the hands of thousands of filmmakers.

Manhattan Edit Workshop’s Video DSLR Fundamentals Class is a two-day, hands-on workshop covering the shooting techniques, helpful tricks, infinite accessories, and known workflow solutions for this amazing new filmmaking tool.

Through hands-on exercise and demonstration, instructors Josh Apter and Jem Schofield will lead you through camera set-up, shooting and editing with the most popular HD-DSLR models on the market.

Among the topics covered:

• HD-DSLR overviews and popular models.
• Best shooting practices, shortcomings and workarounds.
• Shooting video like film.
• Double-System audio.
• Camera support systems and “tricking out” your DSLR.
• Lenses, adapters and how to use them.
• Transcoding and ingesting.
• Editing and output.
• EZ setups and proven workflow techniques.

Class runs Saturday & Sunday 10am - 5pm.

Course Cost: $399
Class size is limited to 15 students.

For info & registration info: http://www.mewshop.com/courses/course_detail/Video%20DSLR%20Fundamentals%20Workshop/

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 | 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Speakers: Don Peebles , Jem Schofield
Event Type: Photography, Software
Join Don Peebles of Apple and Jem Schofield of theC47.com for an in depth workshop on shooting techniques, editing workflows and distribution options when working with HD DSLR cameras like the Canon 5DMKII & 7D along with Final Cut Studio.

The event will include live demos of lighting, audio and shooting techniques with HD DSLR cameras. Post topics will include demos of transcoding with Compressor, syncing double-system sound and editing in Final Cut Pro. Distribution topics will cover web, mobile & DVD delivery using Final Cut Studio.

Event details here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/eventDetails.jsp/id/605

One of my favorite FCP utilities of all-time is Digital Rebellion's Preference Manager. It's a FREE download off their website and lets you manage your preferences for each of the Final Cut Studio apps individually or collectively. The kids over at Digital Rebellion are at it again, this time with 15% off their paid FCS utilities.

Until Christmas, Digital Rebellion is offering a 15% discount on their products. FCP Versioner = $59, FCS Maintence Pack = $89, and Preference Manager is still 100% off, FREE. Check them out, send them some of your love in the color of green.

FCP Versioner is a $59 utility that works in the background. Every time you tell FCP to Save, Versioner exports out an XML along with a change log. Very nifty. Much less prone to corruption than an FCP Project file.

They also have put together a $99 bundle of utilities, FCS Maintenance Pack, that are too long to list but designed to fix or help avoid many problems that plague "tempermental" installs of Final Cut Studio.

- pi

VCA Fusion will be demoing my favorite NLE, Autodesk's $15,000 Smoke... on a Mac. If you're not familiar with it, Smoke is one of the most advanced NLE's on the market. Smoke runs on the Linux platform and late this year the Mac OS X version was announced and released.

The Smoke on Mac concept runs very much in the tradition of the Final Cut Pro mindset. Rather than buying all your software and hardware from a single vendor with 'approved' configurations - you 'roll your own' hardware. It's targets the Final Cut based shop running several edit rooms but needs a better finishing solution than Final Cut offers.

If you want to be one of the first to see Smoke running on the Mac, VCA Fusion has a demo tomorrow. You need to sign up:

Event Date: Wed, December 16, 2p & 6p

Where: VCA Fusion,  7th Ave between 30th & 31st Street

Event Details: http://www.vca.com/events/121609autodesk/121609autodesk.htm