By the DV Staff, January 8, 2008
In the effort to make some sense of the amazing volume of new tools introduced (or delivered) in 2007 - from camcorders to codecs, from HMI lighting to DI color timing - we asked DV's top writers to each pick their favorites with the proverbial "indie filmmaker" in mind, resulting in this list. As some contributors lean toward production, some toward post and others toward distribution, each came at selecting their personal "bests" from a unique perspective, creating what we hope will be a useful tool in itself (running in alphabetical order by company) when it comes time for you to gear up for your next production.
ABOVE: Clockwise, from top, left, AJA's I/o HD, Apple's Color, Avid's Media Composer ScriptSync and Bron Kobold's DW200.
Creative Suite 3 Production Premium
Adobe
The Adobe CS3 Production Premium bundle signals Adobe's return to the Mac and offers the market a solid competitor to Apple's Final Cut Pro Studio. CS3 Production Premium bundles software covering all aspects of production, including field and studio shooting, post, effects, sound, virtual sets and distribution (SD and HD DVD authoring and even Flash production). And this is one of only two cross-platform post packages - making it attractive for Windows and Mac users alike. - Oliver Peters
http://www. adobe.com/products
Io HD
AJA Video Systems
AJA announced this product at NAB 2007 in conjunction with Apple's announcement of Final Cut Studio 2 and the new Apple ProRes 422 codec. If you are editing HD but can't handle "uncompressed" HD file sizes whether because you are editing on a notebook or just can't schlep a MacPro and massive RAID with you to the Amazon, this box answers your prayers. The ProRes codec is virtually lossless and files are no larger than SD files. This box transcodes in real time from any source to ProRes and as an added bonus is a stand-alone, real-time converter between different codecs. - Ned Soltz
http://www.aja.com
800 Ballast and Bulb
Alzo Video
Shooting in daylight-lit rooms is a drag if your lighting kit is tungsten-balanced. As there's nice daylight streaming in, you get out the old blue gels and balance for daylight. The gels sop up a lot of light and so you move them closer to the talent. Ugh! Or you tape 85 filters all over the doors and windows - time-consuming and impossible if you have an open door. The way to go is the HMI lights, as they are daylight-balanced. In the old days, HMIs cost $5,000 plus and needed heavy ballasts. But relief is now here with these $180 HMI units. - Stefan Sargent
http://www.alzovideo.com
ABOVE: Apple's iPhone and Alzo Video's 800 HMI.
iPhone
Apple
While it has its limitations, the iPhone has forced all mobile device manufacturers to "think different" about their next product's capabilities, integration and ease-of-use factor. (Inventive users have even figured out a way to use the iPhone as Pro Tools controllers and HD camcorders.) - David E. Williams
http://www.apple.com/iphone
Color
Apple
Apple Color offers the indie producer tools at the top end of capability for color "correction" (and improvement) and puts them in every Final Cut Studio user, for no additional cost for the software
. Even the less well-equipped can round trip to Color to apply presets while the more adept and experienced will want the neutral color background, 5600ºK lighting, broadcast HD monitor and probably a control surface. But even without these (somewhat expensive) accouterments, Color puts a lot of power for manipulating color and mood in every user's hand. - Philip Hodgetts
http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio
Media Composer ScriptSync
Avid Technology
Lined dramatic scripts and interview transcripts are the staple working tools of both filmmakers and documentary producers. Avid has introduced the first piece of software that takes the drudgery out of preparing scripts for editing. Avid has been the only NLE to offer script-based visual editing within the application's UI. Newly added voice recognition technology now reduces the time-consuming task of linking clips to the script from hours down to minutes. Few NLE improvements offer this level of increased productivity. - Oliver Peters
http://www.www.avid.com/products
Intensity Pro
Blackmagic Design
The Intensity Card for $249 was the big news for 2006. For 2007, Blackmagic Design added a Pro version. For an extra $100, you get analog I/O for your legacy analog gear, along with real-time downconverts from HD to DV. This device fits in any PCI express Mac or PC and works seamlessly with Final Cut Studio or Adobe Premiere to provide HDMI capture and output as well as analog I/o. I have described it as a breakthrough product and I mean it. - Ned Soltz
http://www.blackmagic-design.com
DW200
Bron Kobold
The DW200 is one of the most impressive small fixtures that I have worked with in a long time. With an incredible array of accessories, this versatile fixture suits many needs-and it's weatherproof! I'd like to see the price point drop considerably, but one small HMI that I'd definitely consider owning. - Jay Holben
http://www.bron-kobold-usa.com
ABOVE: Adobe's CS3 and Blackmagic's Intensity Pro card.
QC Integration FX
CHV Electronics
Noise Industries was the first to create an interface between Apple's very flexible Quartz Composer technology and the FxPlug format used by Final Cut Pro and Motion, but it didn't come at an indie-friendly price. CHV created an alternative with QC Integration FX that not only ships with 52 Quartz Composer plug-ins (52 plug-ins for the price of one) but can take any Quartz Composer composition, of which there are many available around the Internet, and use them as an FCP/Motion plug-in. An almost infinite supply of effect plug-ins is available for the cost of one. - Philip Hodgetts
http://www.chv-plugins.com
nanoConnect Box
Convergent Design
I seem to be doing a lot of green screen shots in my living room. I get great keys when I take HDMI from my Sony V1 and feed it into a nanoConnect box. Its output is HD SDI so the dreaded HDV compression is completely bypassed. I feed the SDI into my MacPro via a Blackmagic DeckLink card and record straight to disc at DVCPRO HD resolution in FCP 6. I key using Ultimatte's AdvantEdge 1.6.3 in Shake 4. - Stefan Sargent
http://www.convergent-design.com
Coming up: Best of '07: 30 Tools for Indie Filmmakers (Part II of III)
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