Sensors and Lenses - Part 2 January 13th 2020 - 09:00 AM

Last time, we talked about the history that created modern digital cinema technology, and particularly the factors which lead to the modern push for ever larger sensors. It’s been going on in some form for twenty years, to the point that we’re now asking for bigger imagers than cin…

Future Production January 10th 2020 - 09:00 AM

It’s not controversial to say that film production in London has been booming for a few years, and there’s no real secret as to why: in 2006, Gordon Brown’s government introduced tax incentives that have played at least a part in provoking a doubling of production spend since 2009, and t…

The Times They Are A-Changin’ December 17th 2019 - 09:00 AM

Bob Dylan was riding a crest of social change when he wrote those lyrics in 1963. But the words popped back into my mind as I thought about several recent conversations with friends who complain of their struggle to stay afloat in today’s video production business. 

Sensors and Lenses - Part 1 December 11th 2019 - 09:00 AM

The push to create the ideal digital cinematography camera has now been going on for, arguably, two decades. There were a couple of standout attempts in the 1980s involving high definition tube cameras, but the introduction of Sony’s HDCAM tape format in 1998 served more or less as the starting p…

Real Film Grain For Video December 9th 2019 - 09:00 AM

People have been making pictures for both the big and small screens for almost a century. In an industry with a history that long, it’s no surprise that the perpetual search for something new has long been tempered by a certain respect for tradition. Or, to put it another w…

International Resolution Benefits Wireless Microphone Operators December 6th 2019 - 09:00 AM

Every three to five years, government delegations from around the globe gather at the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA) and World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) conducted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) — the United Nations (U.N.) specialized agency for information and communication technologies. Their mission is to review emerging technologies, negotiate use o…

5G And Live Production November 28th 2019 - 10:00 AM

This past summer the NBA did a little experimenting using 5G and mobile phones to cover their summer league. This is not User Generated Content (UGC) by any means. It also was not an off the shelf deployment of 5G and demonstration of its capability.

That “Voice Of God” Sound November 27th 2019 - 10:00 AM

Few memories in broadcasting are more powerful than that rich, booming “Voice of God” sound heard on RCA ribbon microphones in early TV and radio studios. Those mics made most voices sound much better than they actually were — elevating the ego of many a disc jockey or announcer.