cinema Archives - Flick Harrison

March 19, 2018November 13, 2019

New Camera – Panasonic UX90

So after some camera research and helpful discussion from people on the EvilFB and elsewhere, I decided on the Panasonic UX90 camera. Played with the one at VIVO Media Arts Centre (the UX180 with higher-end outputs and one nicer shooting mode) and shot some dance / music at Chutzpah! Festival & The Norman Rothstein Theatre… what a great camera!

My fave is the touchscreen focus: I can tap things on the screen and have them come into focus, which is help when shooting wide shots of live shows when performers are rarely in the centre of frame where focus assist comes in.

This chart is what helped me decide on the hard facts but I also had to feel the smooth zoom, see the nice colours and feel like it would do the job nicely. The 4k sensor is great, mostly I will use it (for now) as a stabilized 1080p60 but that big chip makes for very not shaky!!!

Ask me about this chart if you want. I compared the Canon XC15, XF400, Xa30, the Sony HDRNX80, Panasonic UX90 and Panasonic G5.

DSLR / DSLM form factors are too annoying – switching lenses and swapping out batteries chiefly the problem. Plus power zoom is a thing I need.

So – as always – I love to make media and my new project Polity is here to help you make video with your organization and their community. Hit me up!

August 23, 2015August 25, 2019

Trick iDVD into recognizing a modified video file

After many years working with iDVD, I’ve finally beaten the worst bug – I mean feature – of that clunky kids’ program.

The worst thing that could happen when creating a long iDVD project was to realize, after burning, that there was a typo in the credits or a sound glitch that you had missed in editing. Bad enough to go back and re-edit the footage, and re-output to an MOV file, that’s some time and effort. But the worst part was that when you re-opened your iDVD project, iDVD would throw up an error – “Modified Asset Warning.”

The only thing iDVD would fail on at that point would be to mess up all your chapter buttons. They would still be there, with their proper names, but they would all point to chapter one. This was unavoidable, even if you had named the file the same thing, all the chapter markers were in the same place, etc etc.

Since renaming chapter buttons and selecting thumbnails is so clunky in iDVD (my projects often have 40 chapters per disk!) it’s worth finding a way to avoid this error if you ever need to re-export a video file with minor changes.

I finally figured out that the reason it fails to accept the file is that the TIME STAMP has changed! This is truly the mark of an amateur program – good as it is. It assumes that if the file has been modified since you last opened iDVD, then there must be a mistake, and it doesn’t even bother checking the length, the file size, the placement of chapter markers – anything!

Notice the “modified asset warning” error message – click through to see an example – complains about the date stamp! It’s easy to miss if you don’t hit the dropdown triangle – the first time I’ve ever seen such a drop-down in an error message. No wonder I never noticed it before.

Continue reading “Trick iDVD into recognizing a modified video file”

March 31, 2015August 25, 2019

Flick teaches DSLR filmmaking at Dawson City International Short Film Festival

If you have friends in Dawson City, or headed there for the film festival, spread the word about this workshop I’m teaching…

In this 3-hour session, participants will be introduced to DSLR cinematography for documentary and drama. Bring your own DSLR camera and compare with your colleagues’! We’ll discuss the differences between DSLR cameras and dedicated film or video cameras, including advantages and disadvantages in comparison to ENG and cinema cameras around Run’n’gun, sound, stabilization, form factor, overheating, and data rates.

Interchangeable lenses bring the beauty (and danger) of depth-of field but a whole new category of learning about chips, adapters, connectivity, speed doublers and more. We’ll touch on gear that can make your DSLR behave more like a regular camera, replace or adapt some of the functions like sound recording, and hacking your cam to unleash the power inside it. And we’ll talk practicalities of hand-holding with or without rigs, manual vs. automatic adjustments, monitoring or using separate-system sound.

Flick Harrison (www.flickharrison.com) is a writer, media artist, filmmaker, hacker, community artist, educator and drone pilot in Vancouver. Starting out on the CBC youth series Road Movies as one of Canada’s first professional videographers, he’s since made videos in Pakistan, the US, Mexico and China. As part of the Art and Social Change project, he is studying community arts across Canada in conjunction with SFU, Concordia, U of A and U of T.!

His work has been seen on dance and theatre stages, by millions on television, been nominated and won awards internationally, and slipped into, under and through almost every Canadian funding niche. The Globe and Mail called him “hilarious,” and the Georgia Straight called his work “gorgeously sophisticated.”

August 18, 2014

Green leadership from Canada could curb Russia’s soft power

I just published an article on Rabble.ca about the Ukraine crisis.

“The crisis in Ukraine has just escalated and spread to our shores. By sending military supplies to the government in Kiev, Stephen Harper is drawing Canada into the crisis as a belligerent and playing into the hands of Putin’s most hawkish advisers. Harper’s policy shows the kind of good intentions that pave the way to Hell. Canada can do better.

Military support from NATO in the face of Russian opposition could help Putin justify his own unilateral missions – like the dubious supply convoy that is now waiting at the Ukrainian border, or even his secret weapon, troops, and armour deliveries. Also: what would happen if someone shot down the Canadian supply plane, or that of any NATO member? Would that put us at war with Russia? …”

Read the rest at Rabble.ca.

July 25, 2014

“A Moving” at the International Film Festival of Kashmir

4th International Film Festival of Kashmir 2014

The dance film I made with Rob Kitsos, “A Moving,” has been accepted to the Kashmir International Film Festival from August 2-11 2014!

If you just happen to be in the Kashmir, that would be your chance to see it … 😉

July 2, 2014

Introduction to Final Cut Pro @ VIVO Media Arts

logo VIVO has not disappeared, it’s just gone underground while the landlord laughs and the City of Vancouver steps in to the rescue.

I’m teaching my very popular Final Cut Pro X workshop there on July 12th, now EXTENDED by one hour to fill you up with Apply goodness.

Total 4 hours (Saturday, July 12th, 1-5pm) | $42.50 for VIVO members / $50 for nonmembers

Learn how to import, edit video, add effects and titles, and output to dvd, web, or master files on the once-and-future king of editing software. Stop paying for Adobe subscriptions and get back on the FCP bus!

Final Cut Pro X has finally overcome the clunky launch and now it does pretty much everything an editor needs it to do. (Beginner workshop)

Instructor: Flick Harrison

This Month | VIVO Media Arts Centre.

June 23, 2014

“A Moving” dance film at the 2014 Sardinia Film Festival!

The film I made with Rob Kitsos, “A Moving,” will play this week at the Sardinia Film Festival in Italy…

The film features Kimberly Stevenson, Katie DeVries and Rob Kitsos with music by Martin Gotfrit and visual art by Michael Morris.