[Marcus Warren]

What about features for Media 100? Can they be requested on this forum? It does not appear that anyone from Boris FX posts on the Media 100 forum, at least not in the past year and a half. I hope that is not bad news regarding Media 100.

[Marcus Warren]

Hi Jeremy. You will have to forgive Michael. Every time the issue of newer and better comes up, he always asks, what’s the big deal? I get the impression that if someone told Michael that he was going to buy a new car, Michael’s response would be, “Why do you want to do that? Your 1948 Buick is still running, right?”
Some folks, like Michael, are just fine with the status quo. Many of us aren’t.

But back to your question; Is Media 100 Dead? My take? Yes, Media 100 is functionally dead. Even if development continues, I fear that it is nothing more than a zombie, a walking dead piece of software. Floh has mentioned on this forum that work on on the next version is complete. Does it matter? I mean in the context of market share, marketing, the ability to take advantage of the newest technology and the like?

Artel Software/Boris FX has shown no stomach for hyping the software, or adding new content to the website or providing meaningful point upgrades. I feel sorry for folks like me who paid for the subscription service; you know, $100 covers all of the paid upgrades over the course of a year. There were none.

Boris Y hasn’t posted on this forum in more than 17 months. But he does post on the Boris FX forum. His ignoring this forum does not instill confidence in the future of the software. That probably does not matter to Michael, but it is a telling sign for the rest of us. Pay attention to what I am saying. Boris has not posted on this site in nearly a year and a half! That has to tell you something!

Jeremy, you are concerned about codecs. I am in the market for a new camera and Media 100 is my only real editing software. That automatically means that my choices are limited, when you consider all of the camera formats that Media 100 apparently does not support. Software like Sony Vegas (not the Pro version), Adobe Premiere Elements and Corel Studio probably natively support more formats and codecs than Media 100 and they cost less than $100. Media 100 retails for nearly $1000.

I mean, does it tick off anyone other than me that other NLEs have access to most advanced Boris software, but the latest BCC filters still are not available for Media 100 after all of this time? And the scenario extends to the latest FEC filters, Soundbite, heck, we don’t even get Media 100 tutorials.

So yes, Media 100 is dead. But Michael will tell you that it is still usable. Final Cut Pro v1 is still usable under the right circumstances. Folks on this forum admit to using versions of Media 100 that predate BorisFX’s acquisition of Media 100. Heck, my Amiga computers are still usable (sorta). Linear tape to tape editing is usable as well. So what?

We have software that appears to be unloved by the parent company even though it may still be in development. I’m not sure what happened, but sadly “it” did.

Jeremy, you asked should you look elsewhere? The answer is yes. I’d only reconsider if Boris his own self posts on this forum and give assurances about the future of M100.

[Marcus Warren]

Hi Peter, actually I did not know that the filters required After Effects spline masks to work. I just knew that they were not in my version of RED 5 (Media 100 Suite) but were mentioned in the Boris FX Boris RED 5 press release from 2010, which, by the way, does not mention the need for the spline masks.

Thanks for the clarification.

You infer that I have brought up this topic before…hmmm…must have been a long time ago, ’cause I don’t remember…but i am sure that you keep accurate logs.

Anyway, one more clarification, if you don’t mind. The BCC product comparison chart indicates that BCC 3D Objects are not available in Boris RED. But they are, aren’t they? Or are the 3D Object filters in BCC 8 substantially different from what is available in Boris RED 5?

Thanks.

[Marcus Warren]

Thanks Rich. These resources look good. I was familiar with some of them, but through your listing I now see them from a different perspective. I hope that there will be training focused on using RED as an “Advanced Compositor” and training on Media 100 Suite (since Boris RED is integral to the lSuite).

[Marcus Warren]

Try to score a copy of the book Plug-in to After Effects: Third Party Plug-in Mastery by Michele Yamazaki.

Most of your questions will be answered.

[Marcus Warren]

Design Essentials will help you with font selection and usage.

The author is referring to shooting with the camera handheld. If you are shooting handheld, a good way to get smoother shots is to shoot looser. You can experiment with this yourself to see how steady a shoot looks zoomed in (while hand-holding) compared to shooting the same shoot wider. it’s just harder to maintain a smooth shot while zoomed in(or zooming) as opposed to shooting that shoot wider. Additionally, if you want a tighter shoot, move closer to the subject while using the same foal length. Shoot so that you can cut (during the edit) between the wider and tighter shoots. Obviously, the moving the camera part will not be part of your final edit, just the change in shot composition as you cut from one to the other. I hope that I am being clear on this. Let me know if I am not. Keep in mind that you can use RED to so simulated zooms on shots.
As far as any lens distortion, you will have to experiment with that as well to see what works with YOUR camera. You will have to become intimate with your camera and lenses to know what works in any given situation. An external monitor will help give you a truer view of what you will actually see in your edit session.

Keep in mind that you can zoom successfully, particularly if your camera is on some kind of stabilizer; tripod, monopod, rig, etc.

[Marcus Warren]

Hi Doug. I enjoyed reading your reply.

Based on your goal, let me suggest a different approach. All of the books that I recommended will be useful to you at some point, but what you may want to concentrate on is good story telling. Tell a good story first. When you add effects, those effects should be in service of the story, nothing else.

It doesn’t matter if your video is a vacation video, wedding video, documentary or feature film, tell a good story. Use color, color correction, color grading, sound effects, choice of fonts, transitions, and effects to help tell the story, pace the story and move the story forward.

This old adage is a very worth goal: “A good story, well told.” Story is King.

You should not use an effect, or transition (or whatever) just for the sake of using it, or because it just looks cool (which sometimes is hard not to do). Use them only to serve the greater story. If you use that approach, you will become quite selective in what effects you use, why you use them, and how you use them. That in itself will help you learn VFX, because you will know exactly what you want to do to, based on the story that you are telling.

If you are really new to video production, I recommend a subscription to Videomaker magazine. A one year subscription is less than $20 (if you are in the US). The writing style is aimed at beginners and intermediate users, but believe me, it will be a long time before you outgrow the usefulness of the magazine. Also watch movies that you like (and the special features), and figure out what worked as far as story telling and the audio and effects that support the story and why it worked. Also peruse the videos at Digital Juice (digitaljuice.com). They use to do lots of tutorial videos (not so much these days), but those older videos are still on the site. Many of them are product-specific, but there is really nothing that you can’t achieve in RED. Even their product promo videos are good sources of inspiration. Many of the Digital Juice videos are downloadable.

As you learn, pace yourself. On a couple of videos, concentrate on font selection, and just do fade-ins and out of the titles. Choose fonts that convey the character or mood of the piece. The next few videos concentrate on color correction and grading. The videos after that, play around with speed ramping – making some scenes in the video move faster or slower. Then the next couple of video, use lighting effects to “relight” some of the scenes in the videos. The next set of videos, use sound effects. This “go slow” approach will prevent you from getting overwhelmed and will let you build on concepts you’ve grasped.

There are tons of books on telling good stories using moving pictures so I suggest researching them and picking one or two. Go for the ones that emphasize the three act story structure. Beyond the story how-to books, other books that are worth reading are How to Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck, the Shut Up and Shoot series, The Visual Story, and Sight, Sound, Motion: Applied Media Aesthetics by Herbert Zettl. This last one is very expensive, so check used book stores and sellers for earlier versions. It will be worth the hunt.The newest edition is $215 on Amazon. I’ve seen earlier versions in a used book store for under $25. I would also go ahead and pick up the Design Essentials book mentioned in my other posts. Also Developing Digital Short Films is a good book if you want one that gives you assignments and exercises to complete.

Learning to be a good video maker can be a life long endeavor. You should never stop learning and you should enjoy the journey.

One final word. Never underestimate the value of good, clean, pristine location audio and good lighting practices. Audio is at least half of the video experience and proper lighting (and exposure) are essential to making good videos.

Keep me posted on how you are doing.

[Marcus Warren]

If I were designing a course to follow I would recommend reading the books in this order:

Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist
Motion Graphic Design: Applied History and Aesthetics
Encyclopedia of Visual Effects
Digital Compositing for Film and Video, Third Edition
The Art and Science of Compositing, Second Edition

I am no expert by any measure but I do own all of the above books including the first edition of The Art and Science of Composting.

I don’t have the VES Handbook of Visual Effects, but it is on my “get list”.

Also, check out Steve Wright’s Compositing Visual Effects: Essentials for the Aspiring Artist, 2nd Edition.

[Marcus Warren]

I wish that I would have followed the link that Peter gave you earlier, I would have suggested another book by the same author.

Peter’s link leads to the original book by Brinkmann. The link below takes you to the second edition that was written almost ten years later…

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Digital-Compositing-Second/dp/0123706386/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352064003&sr=1-1&keywords=art+and+science+of+compositing

[Marcus Warren]

This one is pretty indispensable:

Apple Pro Training Series: Encyclopedia of Visual Effects by Damian Allen, Brian Connor and Ron Brinkmann.

It’s a slightly older book that focuses mainly on Apple’s Shake and to lesser degrees, Adobe After Effects and Apple’s Motion, but the concepts are applicable to RED and the book truly is an “encyclopedia” in terms of the knowledge it presents.