If writing about music is like dancing to architecture, is reading about video like wading through garbage?

November 7, 2007 1:36 AM

I do video production. I read blogs. Where are the video production blogs that I want to read?

I read fresh dv (which is actually close to what I'm looking for) and all the "new camcorder/regurgitate the press release" sites, but I came across strobist recently. It's a lighting blog where people get all up into their various lighting tricks. Are there blogs for video production and "post-" that hash out the various tricks and techniques people are using? I'm looking for less "and buy the DVD to learn more" sites and more strobist/instructables vibe. Every time I search for video blogs, I get blogs posting the most recent youtube meme. Bonus points if they review equipment after a few months of use (as opposed to borrowing from the company for a day and going "um, shiny? Four stars!"

posted by history is a weapon to Technology (3 answers total)

Try the D-Word, which is slanted towards documentary film makers, but is equivalent to metafilter in its treatment and passion (as a community) about film, production and its associated technologies.

You do need to prove yourself as a participant in the industry - but, clearly, you are - so join up.
posted by strawberryviagra at 3:12 AM on November 7, 2007

Here ya go:

• HDforIndies - This is Mike Curtis' exceptional blog, that gives a no-bullshit view of all things production oriented, in addition to more "bigger picture" industry related opinions. But he's first and foremost a gear geek, so you get a ton of that on HDforIndies. He was one of the first bloggers to get his hands on a shipping RED One camera, and did a whole crapload of tests with the camera, and posted full-res plates from his tests (search for "Offhollywood" on his site to see those posts). He also had the first, and best real-world, no BS reviews of FinalTouch, before Apple acquired the product and turned it into "Color". HDforIndies is required reading for anyone interested in video/film/HD production.

• Little Frog In Hi-Def - A similar and nice companion blog to HDforIndies, by Shane Ross. He tends to be a quicker to be impressed by the "um, shiny" things, but he still has a ton of great real-world workflow oriented information there.

• ProLost - This is the blog of Stu Maschwitz, who was the co-founder of The Orphanage, former member of the "Rebel Mac Unit" at ILM, the developer of the famous Magic Bullet "film look" plugins, and recently the author of "The DV Rebels Guide", a book which is absolutely required for people who want high-end results on low-end budgets. ProLost is so wonderful, it speaks for itself. Just subscribe to the feed, 'nuff said.

• PrepShootPost - Eric Escobar's blog. This is a brand new blog, and it's turning out to be quite promising. Eric is a close associate of Stu Maschwitz (and did the demo videos for his recent "Colorista" plugin product).

• General Specialist - A fairly geeky, hardcore post-production oriented blog that is chock full of software oriented tips, hacks and reviews that doesn't assume the reader is a technophobe.

• Creative Workflow Hacks - Like GeneralSpecialist, but possibly even geekier. Dale, the proprieter of this blog is actually in the process of creating a free alternative to the mondo-expensive Automatic Duck timeline translation plugins .

• fxguide - more Visual Effects oriented, but because Visual Effects is so tightly tied to camera and other on-set gear, they cover a lot of that sort of stuff too. The guys who run the site are working professionals, so they are pretty unbiased and very deep in thier coverage of various production topics.
posted by melorama at 5:11 AM on November 7, 2007 [6 favorites]

I also find the Studio Daily blog and RSS feeds to be excellent, for the most part. Though you need to consider that it's the online presence of an advertising-driven dead-tree magazine, so take that FWIW.

So far, however, I haven't found a reason to believe that they are in the pockets of thier advertisers, like DV Magazine or Creative Cow is. In fact they recently posted a highly critical view of Apple Color which I found so very refreshing, considering that not many "mainstream" video production magazines would ever consider calling Apple out on shipping a faulty product. As a daily user of Color, I appreciate Studio Daily's candor, and am disgusted by all the other bloggers and magazines that nearly ejaculated all over themselves when Apple released the product back at NAB, and continue to hype Color as if it's the post-production equivalent of the iPhone.
posted by melorama at 5:21 AM on November 7, 2007