Storytelling – WalterBiscardi.com http://walterbiscardi.net Creative Director, Branding, Original Content Sun, 18 Feb 2018 16:15:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.20 Quick Thinking for a Quick Storytelling Turnaround http://walterbiscardi.net/quick-thinking-quick-storytelling-turnaround/ http://walterbiscardi.net/quick-thinking-quick-storytelling-turnaround/#respond Fri, 16 Feb 2018 00:44:14 +0000 http://walterbiscardi.com/?p=5487 Days like today, I love my career.  Scratch that, I LOVE my career. 1:30 this afternoon I was requested to pull together a national, public facing project that will debut in about 6 weeks.  Requires filming both in Atlanta and in Tennessee.  2 hours later, concept is completed, film crew is booked and research is underway.  This is on-top of the other 20ish projects I’m already managing. The beauty of having a right and left brain that play very well together.  My left brain works quickly to come up with the creative and a narrative.  Then the right brain kicks in to plan out the technical, scheduling, crew and travel to execute that creative.  Doing all that in less than 2 hours, well that’s what makes me LOVE what I do.  Telling amazing stories. Stay tuned for more blogs from the road once we get going. ————– In a progressive career with renowned creative agencies as well as up-and-coming and well-established brands, Walter Biscardi Jr. has conceived and implemented numerous successful and often award-winning creative campaigns. Guiding all aspects from media, video, print, and animation, he consistently delivered premiere, revenue-generating solutions that surpassed result forecasts.  He is known as a […]

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Days like today, I love my career.  Scratch that, I LOVE my career.

1:30 this afternoon I was requested to pull together a national, public facing project that will debut in about 6 weeks.  Requires filming both in Atlanta and in Tennessee.  2 hours later, concept is completed, film crew is booked and research is underway.  This is on-top of the other 20ish projects I’m already managing.

The beauty of having a right and left brain that play very well together.  My left brain works quickly to come up with the creative and a narrative.  Then the right brain kicks in to plan out the technical, scheduling, crew and travel to execute that creative.  Doing all that in less than 2 hours, well that’s what makes me LOVE what I do.  Telling amazing stories.

Stay tuned for more blogs from the road once we get going.

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In a progressive career with renowned creative agencies as well as up-and-coming and well-established brands, Walter Biscardi Jr. has conceived and implemented numerous successful and often award-winning creative campaigns. Guiding all aspects from media, video, print, and animation, he consistently delivered premiere, revenue-generating solutions that surpassed result forecasts.  He is known as a leader who bridges the gap between creative and operational processes, ensuring on-time and within budget delivery for clients and organizations such as Food Network, PING, CNN and Georgia-Pacific.
Creative Strategy & Implementation / Concurrent Project Management / Branding / Communications / Operations / Budget Creation / PR / Animation / Art Direction / Video Production

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New Branding for Georgia-Pacific Corrugated http://walterbiscardi.net/new-branding-georgia-pacific-corrugated/ http://walterbiscardi.net/new-branding-georgia-pacific-corrugated/#respond Sat, 16 Dec 2017 00:44:44 +0000 http://walterbiscardi.com/?p=5490 Really excited to see my new branding campaign launched today.  “Life of a Box” introduces new branding for the Georgia-Pacific corrugated division.   Taking viewers through a three part story on how Georgia-Pacific produces a better box to help protect the most precious cargo. The corrugated division wanted to create an emotional connection to our audience.  I decided to let the box tell his own story.  Who knows the story of corrugated better than the box himself?  Drawing on my four seasons of animations with Alton Brown and “Good Eats,” I crafted the animation to be a combination of styles including paper-craft and stop-action.   The style allowed us to inject a lot of fun and humor into an otherwise dry subject. Atlanta Artist Colleen Finch created paper-craft models which I both photographed and manipulated with stop action photography in GP Studios, Studio B.  The images were photographed in RAW giving us ultimate flexibility in post to manipulate the imagery to suite the style.   Parts 1 and 3 were animated by Atlanta artist Amanda Davis while I animated Part 2. The wrap-around live action were filmed locally in Atlanta using the Sony FS7 in the 4k format.  The finished piece was produced […]

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Really excited to see my new branding campaign launched today.  “Life of a Box” introduces new branding for the Georgia-Pacific corrugated division.   Taking viewers through a three part story on how Georgia-Pacific produces a better box to help protect the most precious cargo.

The corrugated division wanted to create an emotional connection to our audience.  I decided to let the box tell his own story.  Who knows the story of corrugated better than the box himself?  Drawing on my four seasons of animations with Alton Brown and “Good Eats,” I crafted the animation to be a combination of styles including paper-craft and stop-action.   The style allowed us to inject a lot of fun and humor into an otherwise dry subject.

Atlanta Artist Colleen Finch created paper-craft models which I both photographed and manipulated with stop action photography in GP Studios, Studio B.  The images were photographed in RAW giving us ultimate flexibility in post to manipulate the imagery to suite the style.   Parts 1 and 3 were animated by Atlanta artist Amanda Davis while I animated Part 2.

The wrap-around live action were filmed locally in Atlanta using the Sony FS7 in the 4k format.  The finished piece was produced and uploaded to YouTube in 4k which I believe is a first for Georgia-Pacific.   All in all a very fun piece and the start of what we hope will be a long and varied campaign.

You can view Part 1 here.

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In a progressive career with renowned creative agencies as well as up-and-coming and well-established brands, Walter Biscardi Jr. has conceived and implemented numerous successful and often award-winning creative campaigns. Guiding all aspects from media, video, print, and animation, he consistently delivered premiere, revenue-generating solutions that surpassed result forecasts.  He is known as a leader who bridges the gap between creative and operational processes, ensuring on-time and within budget delivery for clients and organizations such as Food Network, PING, CNN and Georgia-Pacific.
Creative Strategy & Implementation / Concurrent Project Management / Branding / Communications / Operations / Budget Creation / PR / Animation / Art Direction / Video Production

 

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Holiday Facebook Live with GP CEO Christian Fischer http://walterbiscardi.net/holiday-facebook-live-gp-ceo-christian-fischer/ http://walterbiscardi.net/holiday-facebook-live-gp-ceo-christian-fischer/#respond Mon, 27 Nov 2017 10:03:03 +0000 http://walterbiscardi.com/?p=5529 We brought the iOgrapher out again today for a great Facebook Live chat with Georgia-Pacific CEO Christian Fischer hosting Major Bob Parker and wife Captain Kathy Parker from The Salvation Army Metro Atlanta‘s Angel Tree Program. Georgia-Pacific participates in the Angel Tree program each year to make a difference for Metro Atlanta kids and elders each holiday season.   This is my first holiday season with GP and it’s incredible to see the community outreach from my fellow employees.  We’re fortunate to have a CEO who is so comfortable in front of the camera and Christian did a great job with this interview with very little prep. The only tricky part for this Live webcast for me was walking backwards without tripping or shaking the camera too much.  Shout out to colleague Karen Cole for operating the LitePanels Lykos light and keeping me from bumping into anything! Watch the replay here.   By the way, that huge Christmas Tree you see in the opening scene is real, as are several other trees in the Georgia-Pacific Center lobby.  If you’re in the area, you should stop by and check out the trees.  You can grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate from the […]

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We brought the iOgrapher out again today for a great Facebook Live chat with Georgia-Pacific CEO Christian Fischer hosting Major Bob Parker and wife Captain Kathy Parker from The Salvation Army Metro Atlanta‘s Angel Tree Program. Georgia-Pacific participates in the Angel Tree program each year to make a difference for Metro Atlanta kids and elders each holiday season.   This is my first holiday season with GP and it’s incredible to see the community outreach from my fellow employees.  We’re fortunate to have a CEO who is so comfortable in front of the camera and Christian did a great job with this interview with very little prep.

The only tricky part for this Live webcast for me was walking backwards without tripping or shaking the camera too much.  Shout out to colleague Karen Cole for operating the LitePanels Lykos light and keeping me from bumping into anything!

Watch the replay here.   By the way, that huge Christmas Tree you see in the opening scene is real, as are several other trees in the Georgia-Pacific Center lobby.  If you’re in the area, you should stop by and check out the trees.  You can grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate from the coffee shop too.

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In a progressive career with renowned creative agencies as well as up-and-coming and well-established brands, Walter Biscardi Jr. has conceived and implemented numerous successful and often award-winning creative campaigns. Guiding all aspects from media, video, print, and animation, he consistently delivered premiere, revenue-generating solutions that surpassed result forecasts.  He is known as a leader who bridges the gap between creative and operational processes, ensuring on-time and within budget delivery for clients and organizations such as Food Network, PING, CNN and Georgia-Pacific.  His credits include multiple Emmy and Peabody Awards.
Creative Strategy & Implementation / Concurrent Project Management / Branding / Communications / Operations / Budget Creation / PR / Animation / Art Direction / Video Production

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Taking the Dixie brand to VR by Working Backwards http://walterbiscardi.net/taking-dixie-brand-vr/ http://walterbiscardi.net/taking-dixie-brand-vr/#respond Wed, 25 Oct 2017 13:17:38 +0000 http://walterbiscardi.com/?p=5514 In order to sell a product well, you need to understand the manufacturing process.  The entire manufacturing process.  GP Studios was tasked with creating an immersive experience to showcase how Dixie products are made to the internal sales teams.  Originally it was planned to start with the papermaking process, however I proposed starting at the very beginning, in the forest.   That segment introduced a vital message to the sales team, the sustainability of forests is first and foremost in everything Georgia-Pacific does.  Sustainability is a buzzword that can be tossed around, but to visually be reminded that this is more than just a word, turned out to be a key takeaway from the presentation. Before the scripting even began, I followed my normal plan of attack, working backwards from the end.  How the film would be displayed influences how the project would be produced.  Video framing, camera movement, sound design, graphics design and more are all affected by how the viewer will experience the presentation.   Because the idea was to immerse the audience into the presentation, I proposed filming in a super wide format, akin to the original 1960’s CinemaScope 2,55:1 aspect ratio.  We would film in standard 4k 23.98 […]

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In order to sell a product well, you need to understand the manufacturing process.  The entire manufacturing process.  GP Studios was tasked with creating an immersive experience to showcase how Dixie products are made to the internal sales teams.  Originally it was planned to start with the papermaking process, however I proposed starting at the very beginning, in the forest.   That segment introduced a vital message to the sales team, the sustainability of forests is first and foremost in everything Georgia-Pacific does.  Sustainability is a buzzword that can be tossed around, but to visually be reminded that this is more than just a word, turned out to be a key takeaway from the presentation.

Before the scripting even began, I followed my normal plan of attack, working backwards from the end.  How the film would be displayed influences how the project would be produced.  Video framing, camera movement, sound design, graphics design and more are all affected by how the viewer will experience the presentation.   Because the idea was to immerse the audience into the presentation, I proposed filming in a super wide format, akin to the original 1960’s CinemaScope 2,55:1 aspect ratio.  We would film in standard 4k 23.98 and then crop the image vertically to create the ultra-widescreen effect.  This was important to decide before production because the videographers had to frame correctly for the center 1/3 of the image.

I originally proposed an over-sized, wraparound screen for the ballroom.  Something that would fill the field of vision vertically and wrap out from the wall at least 25 degrees to create that ‘you are there’ feeling.  The viewers would have to turn their heads a little side to side in order to see everything.  That was going to require a screen over 75 feet wide and 8 feet tall and proved to be too expensive for the budget.  Then Director of Studio Operations, Brad Hinton discovered a ‘virtual theater’ concept whereby the viewer would be immersed in a 360 virtual theater with the CinemaScope widescreen at the front.   VR goggles using a Samsung smartphone, all triggered simultaneously so the audience experiences the film together.    Straight ahead would be the big screen, wide enough that they would have to turn their heads a bit to see everything.  If they looked all around, they would see the rest of the movie theater.  So we could create a ‘traditional flat’ presentation and our audience would be immersed into a VR theater.  It was a brilliant discovery and knowing that delivery mechanism up front was vital to the rest of production.

Since the viewers would be wearing the headsets, we had to be conscious of camera movement.  This presentation was not designed to be an entertainment attraction so we didn’t want to have fast camera moves that could be distracting or worse, make our viewers motion sick.   All camera movement was designed to be horizontal (left to right or right to left) and it would be done slowly and deliberately.  For the motion shots, we went with an OSMO rig with x5 camera to stabilize the camera moves and all other videography was done with the Sony FS7, both shooting in 4k, 23.98.

The scripting process involved many stakeholders including the Sustainability department in Atlanta, research and development in Wisconsin, Dixie brand in Atlanta, paper making facility in Alabama and the Dixie plant in Kentucky.  What I discovered was that there was no way for me to script the intricacies of the entire manufacturing process.  The better way to tell the story would be through the people who actually know the process at the facilities.  They can speak freely in their own words because they live it every day which creates a more natural piece.  So the scripting process was more of an outline and key bullet point process.  In order to keep the running time reasonable, I worked with the stakeholders to identify the key elements of each step of the process.  Then created an outline so each person would focus on only those key areas.   I designed the presentation to go from start to finish of the process with each segment handing off the process to the next step.  The two areas that were fully scripted was the opening segment on Sustainability and the close featuring the head of the Dixie brand.  I Directed the opening scene in the forest while the filming in the Naheola and Bowling Green facilities was Directed by Doug Congleton.

Once filming was completed, I pulled together the storyline from transcripts and worked with Editor Scott Franklin to assemble the story.  Ultimately we ended up with a frame size around 4096 x 1605.  It created that ultra-widescreen look and really forced your eye to look at what we wanted you to see.  Because the screen was so big in the viewers eyes, we chose a small, minimalist graphics package that would not detract from the visuals and break the ‘you are there’ feeling.   Because the audience would all be wearing individual headphones, we ensured that there was good stereo separation and sound placement to further reinforce the ‘you are there’ experience.

Ultimately the presentation far exceeded what was requested from the client and multiple divisions from GP have come back to request a public facing version be created.   Understanding the delivery mechanism of the message and working backwards from the end is how you achieve engagement results for your message.

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In a progressive career with renowned creative agencies as well as up-and-coming and well-established brands, Walter Biscardi Jr. has conceived and implemented numerous successful and often award-winning creative campaigns. Guiding all aspects from media, video, print, and animation, he consistently delivered premiere, revenue-generating solutions that surpassed result forecasts.  He is known as a leader who bridges the gap between creative and operational processes, ensuring on-time and within budget delivery for clients and organizations such as Food Network, PING, CNN and Georgia-Pacific.
Creative Strategy & Implementation / Concurrent Project Management / Branding / Communications / Operations / Budget Creation / PR / Animation / Art Direction / Video Production

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Sustainable Wood Forestry Messaging with Snake Chaps http://walterbiscardi.net/sustainable-wood-forestry-messaging-snake-chaps/ http://walterbiscardi.net/sustainable-wood-forestry-messaging-snake-chaps/#respond Tue, 29 Aug 2017 22:02:35 +0000 http://walterbiscardi.com/?p=5504 “Folks, here’s the snake chaps, be sure to put them on so the rattlers don’t get you.”  Now THERE’s a phrase I’ve never heard in my 25+ years of storytelling.  And let me tell you, that phrase wakes you up in a hurry.  Of course my response was, “I make these look good, don’t I?”  So why was I wearing snake chaps in the first place?  Well it was just another day in the life of a Creative Director running around the woods of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.   Each year Georgia-Pacific is audited by an independent auditor to ensure we source our natural fiber in a sustainable manner that meets rigorous environmental standards.  I was tasked with bringing that story to life, but of course it could not be told wholly by GP.  A company saying “we’re good stewards of the land and forest” is not nearly as strong as independent third parties speaking freely about the company.   I developed a storyline and production plan that would create a natural sound piece with no scripting.  The people would tell the story in their own words. In pre-production meetings two of the key messages that came out are that there is more forest […]

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“Folks, here’s the snake chaps, be sure to put them on so the rattlers don’t get you.”  Now THERE’s a phrase I’ve never heard in my 25+ years of storytelling.  And let me tell you, that phrase wakes you up in a hurry.  Of course my response was, “I make these look good, don’t I?” 

Rockin the snake chaps.

So why was I wearing snake chaps in the first place?  Well it was just another day in the life of a Creative Director running around the woods of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.   Each year Georgia-Pacific is audited by an independent auditor to ensure we source our natural fiber in a sustainable manner that meets rigorous environmental standards.  I was tasked with bringing that story to life, but of course it could not be told wholly by GP.  A company saying “we’re good stewards of the land and forest” is not nearly as strong as independent third parties speaking freely about the company.   I developed a storyline and production plan that would create a natural sound piece with no scripting.  The people would tell the story in their own words.

Bill and Nick filming on Fred Hight Jr’s land

In pre-production meetings two of the key messages that came out are that there is more forest in the United States today than 100 years ago and one of the reasons for that is consumers using paper products incentivizes land owners to plant more trees.   That was an aspect of paper products and the timber industry I had never heard, but it makes sense.  In a sense, sustainable forestry is gardening on a grand scale.  Instead of hundreds of acres of crops like corn, beans and apples, you have thousands of acres of trees.  The more people use paper products, the more acres of forest are planted to meet the demand.  Thus, more trees today than 100 years ago.

Nick and Bill filming in the woods on Fred Hight’s land

Working with Bill and Nick from Mother Nature News, we spent three days roaming the woods of Hattiesburg, MS with our trusty Nissan Armada 4×4 to tell the story.  I really wanted a cinematic look to this story, so the crew filmed with the Canon C100 in 24p mode and long lenses to allow a lot of separation between our on camera talent and the background.   I Directed the shoot, conducted the interviews and then created the first outline for the post production edit.

Long lenses allow a more cinematic look by separating the talent from the background.

Telling the story was the team from the GP Leaf River Cellulose facility, PwC Auditor Cheryl Woode and the Atlanta based GP Sustainability team.  Local landowner, Fred Hight Jr. set up the story brilliantly by telling us about his land which led directly into the sustainability story.  Cheryl, the auditor, confirmed that not only does GP meet the required standards, but exceeds them.   GP’s Forest Certification Manager David Brabham delivered the message on incentives to using paper products.  And finally Fred closed out the story with a declaration that his land will be here for many years to come.

In Post I pulled together the transcripts into a loose story and then turned it over to Nick for the edit.  We worked together very well to create the final story.

Our trusty Nissan Armada 4×4 sitting proud under a gorgeous sky in Mississippi

The entire piece came together to tell a well rounded story on the commitment of GP to ensure forests are going to be here for many years to come.  Our very success depends on it.

You can see the story here on MNN’s site.

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In a progressive career with renowned creative agencies as well as up-and-coming and well-established brands, Walter Biscardi Jr. has conceived and implemented numerous successful and often award-winning creative campaigns. Guiding all aspects from media, video, print, and animation, he consistently delivered premiere, revenue-generating solutions that surpassed result forecasts.  He is known as a leader who bridges the gap between creative and operational processes, ensuring on-time and within budget delivery for clients and organizations such as Food Network, PING, CNN and Georgia-Pacific.  His credits include multiple Emmy and Peabody awards.
Creative Strategy & Implementation / Concurrent Project Management / Branding / Communications / Operations / Budget Creation / PR / Animation / Art Direction / Video Production

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Sailing the Celebrity Silhouette: With an iPhone and iOgrapher! http://walterbiscardi.net/sailing-the-celebrity-silhouette-with-an-iphone-and-iographer/ Mon, 16 May 2016 23:39:48 +0000 http://www.biscardicreative.com/?p=4767 While on vacation recently, BCM Principal Walter Biscardi, Jr was able to combine two of his passions. Video production and cruising. Just before sailing on the Celebrity Cruises “Silhouette,” to the Caribbean, he picked up an iOgrapher which makes a very useful camera platform for the iPhone and iPad. Featuring interchangeable lenses, cold shoe mounts and tripod mounting points the iOgrapher essentially turns the iPhone into a professional camera giving the videographer great camera stability. The cruise was the perfect testing platform as we’re looking for new ways to work with video, especially in social media. We’re also testing some new ideas for the upcoming Contemporary Living Network and we can see the benefits of creating original content with this setup. The one thing he didn’t have on this trip was a shotgun microphone. Since the phone is mounted sideways on the iOgrapher, the microphone on the phone is not great for picking up natural sound and spoken word. Before the next vacation, he’ll be adding a shotgun mic. We also didn’t know about some additional apps for the iPhone that allow for manual Iris and Color Balance controls on the phone. You’ll see the auto-iris kick in quick in quite […]

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While on vacation recently, BCM Principal Walter Biscardi, Jr was able to combine two of his passions. Video production and cruising. Just before sailing on the Celebrity Cruises “Silhouette,” to the Caribbean, he picked up an iOgrapher which makes a very useful camera platform for the iPhone and iPad. Featuring interchangeable lenses, cold shoe mounts and tripod mounting points the iOgrapher essentially turns the iPhone into a professional camera giving the videographer great camera stability.

The cruise was the perfect testing platform as we’re looking for new ways to work with video, especially in social media. We’re also testing some new ideas for the upcoming Contemporary Living Network and we can see the benefits of creating original content with this setup.

The one thing he didn’t have on this trip was a shotgun microphone. Since the phone is mounted sideways on the iOgrapher, the microphone on the phone is not great for picking up natural sound and spoken word. Before the next vacation, he’ll be adding a shotgun mic.

We also didn’t know about some additional apps for the iPhone that allow for manual Iris and Color Balance controls on the phone. You’ll see the auto-iris kick in quick in quite a bit with all the bright / dark areas. And the color balance does change from time to time. We’ll add those apps before the next vacation as well.

All in all, very impressive to see the picture quality and especially the stability of the images. This entire project was filmed with the iPhone 6. Absolutely NO camera stabilization was added to any of these images in the video below.

Also VERY impressed with Celebrity Cruises and their Silhouette. This was our first time on Celebrity and we were so impressed with the ship, the crew and of course, the food that we booked another cruise on the Celebrity Reflection. Celebrity is just top notch, white glove treatment but without the stuffy attitude. Beautiful ship, wonderful people and a great time.

To read more on the iOgrapher: http://www.iographer.com

To read more on Celebrity Cruises: http://www.celebritycruises.com/

To find those light leaks and many other effects: http://rampantdesigntools.com

 

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Day One – Editing on DaVinci Resolve 12.5 http://walterbiscardi.net/day-one-editing-on-davinci-resolve-12-5/ http://walterbiscardi.net/day-one-editing-on-davinci-resolve-12-5/#respond Thu, 28 Apr 2016 00:00:56 +0000 http://walterbiscardi.com/?p=4433 At the recently completed NAB Show in Las Vegas, Blackmagic Design took the wraps off DaVinci Resolve 12.5.  It really could be a Resolve 13 but they probably wanted to avoid that unlucky number.  I’ve been predicting for over a year now that NAB 2016 would be the year this tool became a full fledged non-linear editing system and sure enough, it’s a solid editing platform. For those who don’t know the history, DaVinci Systems’ Resolve has been around a very long time in the film industry and was the de-facto standard for color grading and color enhancement in the industry.  At one time it costs millions to set up a single Resolve color grading suite.  When Blackmagic Design purchased the company, it was on its last legs and after first shoring up the product and bringing it into the modern era, Grant Petty and his team began evolving the product into a full fledged video editing system. Today I spent my first full day editing a real project on the 12.5 Beta.   The first thing I did was to purchase Alexis Van Hurkmann’s tutorial “DaVinci Resolve 12.5 New Features” from Ripple Training.   He’s such a great trainer and I kept that open on the second screen […]

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At the recently completed NAB Show in Las Vegas, Blackmagic Design took the wraps off DaVinci Resolve 12.5.  It really could be a Resolve 13 but they probably wanted to avoid that unlucky number.  I’ve been predicting for over a year now that NAB 2016 would be the year this tool became a full fledged non-linear editing system and sure enough, it’s a solid editing platform.

For those who don’t know the history, DaVinci Systems’ Resolve has been around a very long time in the film industry and was the de-facto standard for color grading and color enhancement in the industry.  At one time it costs millions to set up a single Resolve color grading suite.  When Blackmagic Design purchased the company, it was on its last legs and after first shoring up the product and bringing it into the modern era, Grant Petty and his team began evolving the product into a full fledged video editing system.

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The Media Panel on the new DaVinci Resolve 12.5 (Beta)

Today I spent my first full day editing a real project on the 12.5 Beta.   The first thing I did was to purchase Alexis Van Hurkmann’s tutorial “DaVinci Resolve 12.5 New Features” from Ripple Training.   He’s such a great trainer and I kept that open on the second screen as a reference while working.  It’s the best $49 dollars you’ll spend if you want to get up to speed on the new features in a hurry.  Use the code resolve40 when you check out.

The editing system is a new 27″ iMac 5k Retina  4.0 Ghz with 32GB RAM and all the top of the line graphics card.   Media is stored on our 48TB Studio Network Solutions EVO media share connected via 10GigE converted to thunderbolt.   The original materials were shot on a Panasonic GH4 at 4k UHD resolution in the H264 format.

Ingesting and organizing the bins was very straightforward if you’ve used any non-linear editing system before.  Can either select and drag individual items over or drag in folders from the Media panel.   The new layouts and options in the Media Panel are very intuitive as is the metadata editor.   After watching Alexis go over this panel in his tutorial, I jumped right in and started adding the Scene and Take numbers along with Comments on the good takes.   Really made it super simple to organize.  I really like the dual Metadata / Inspector Window.  Nice use of space to make them both share the same window.

Alexis Van Hurkmann's "DaVinci Resolve 12.5 New Features" open on the right hand monitor. Entering metadata into my project on the left hand monitor.

Alexis Van Hurkmann’s “DaVinci Resolve 12.5 New Features” open on the right hand monitor. Entering metadata into my project on the left hand monitor.

All audio was recorded separately on a Zoom H6 recorder and as always, we made sure to audibly slate each scene and take along with a proper slate or hand clap.    After placing all the video and audio clips into a single bin, I used the “Auto-Sync using Audio Waveform” command.   There were about 50 clips to sync and it was done in about a minute or so.  I LOVED that no new clips were created.  No multi-cam clips or extra clips to be sorted through.  The audio from the Zoom recorder was simply placed on a new audio track on the video clips.   Double click the video into the Source and I heard the clean zoom audio.

For the most part it worked perfectly.  There were 7 B-Roll shots that had no Zoom audio recorded for them, which I should have left out of the Sync bin, but forgot.   Resolve sync’d some random Zoom audio to those B-Roll shots.   I tried using the Clip Attributes function to select the original camera audio for those B-Roll clips but it didn’t work.  Most likely a bug and this is beta software after all, so that’s to be expected.  I reported this issue via the Blackmagic Design forum for the Beta software.

At first I set up using the FCPX keyboard shortcuts but almost immediately switched over to DaVinci Resolve shortcuts.  They’re definitely modeled on the FCP 7 shortcuts and I picked them up very quickly.

At first the system seemed very snappy but after I made just two edits it became sluggish.  I had a feeling it was the 4k H264 files.   Even Premiere Pro gets sluggish with 4k H264s.   The file sizes are very small, but there is a lot of processing involved to let them play smoothly.   Each time I loaded a clip into the Source window, it took a few seconds to draw out the frames and then when I hit play, there was a delay.  So I used the Media Management tool in Resolve to Transcode everything to ProRes.   Time well spent because the system was EXTREMELY responsive as soon as I started editing with the ProRes files.   Instant loads, instant JKL response on the keyboard.

Everything about editing in Resolve 12.5 so far is intuitive.  The Trim commands are fabulous and I especially love that some features are active by simply hovering over a different area.  Hit Trim and hover over the thumbnails in the video track and you’re automatically Slipping the video.  I use slip a LOT and loved this.  It was very intuitive and easy for me to poke around and discover stuff.

The ease of video and audio track assignments was refreshing.  I’m used to double setting the audio and video in Premiere Pro and then having a second set of commands for Pasting or snapping the playhead along the timeline.

The audio level control within the timeline is fantastic.  Full range of volume and loudness just by raising and lowering the volume without the need for any sort of gain control.   So simple.

The biggest thing I’m trying to figure out now is how to force Resolve to leave my 4k material at full 100% scale instead of scaling it down to fit my 1080 HD editing timeline.   I’m sure the moment I ask on a forum I’ll have the answer, but that’s about the only thing I couldn’t figure out on my own today.

There were some hiccups to be sure and I’m still trying to find some of the controls but as far as editing, it felt like trying on a new pair of shoes.   I was walking for a bit and then in an hour I started jogging.  Not up to full speed yet, but for a first day editing on the system, it was easy and intuitive.

Grant, Paul Saccone and the entire Blackmagic Design team have done an incredible job building up this app to be really useful, intuitive and simple to move into one of the most powerful color grading tools on the planet.  That’s Day One, I’ll update as we move along in the project.

Read Day Two here.

Grant Petty and I at NAB Show 2016. I enjoy my yearly chats with Grant.

Grant Petty and I at NAB Show 2016. The man behind the Magic.

 

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Biscardi Creative Completes “The Impossible Project.” http://walterbiscardi.net/biscardi-creative-completes-the-impossible-project/ Fri, 15 Apr 2016 14:39:57 +0000 http://www.biscardicreative.com/?p=4716 BCM completes “The Impossible Project” 7 Days.   5 Shoots.  11 Locations.   8 Cameras.   5 Completed Videos. The call came in on Friday.  “Our client saw the 4k culinary work you did and would like you to create 5 original videos with a mix of 4k and HD formats.  And we need it by next Friday.  Can you do it?”  It became what we called “The Impossible Project” and we were just insane enough to agree to do it. Blackmagic 4k Cinema Camera on the slider at the Tannery Row Ale House The parameters were laid out by the client needing our team to create 1 – 3 minute videos of 5 specific types of genres and elements.  Interior architecture, Urban Life and City, Parks and Nature and elements like that.  They wanted all original photography and the idea was to utilize as many 4k and HD cameras and formats as feasibly possible.  Blackmagic 4k RAW image of a skateboarder catching air in Atlanta Led by  Principal Walter Biscardi, Jr., a plan was quickly formulated to make this project a reality.  “Marion Laney and I have collaborated on a lot of projects since our ‘Good Eats’ days and with a project this crazy and with […]

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BCM completes “The Impossible Project”

7 Days.   5 Shoots.  11 Locations.   8 Cameras.   5 Completed Videos.

The call came in on Friday.  “Our client saw the 4k culinary work you did and would like you to create 5 original videos with a mix of 4k and HD formats.  And we need it by next Friday.  Can you do it?”  It became what we called “The Impossible Project” and we were just insane enough to agree to do it.

Blackmagic 4k Cinema Camera on the slider at the Tannery Row Ale House

The parameters were laid out by the client needing our team to create 1 – 3 minute videos of 5 specific types of genres and elements.  Interior architecture, Urban Life and City, Parks and Nature and elements like that.  They wanted all original photography and the idea was to utilize as many 4k and HD cameras and formats as feasibly possible. 

Blackmagic 4k RAW image of a skateboarder catching air in Atlanta

Led by  Principal Walter Biscardi, Jr., a plan was quickly formulated to make this project a reality.  “Marion Laney and I have collaborated on a lot of projects since our ‘Good Eats’ days and with a project this crazy and with so many elements to pull together, he was the first person added to the team.”

 

While Walter pulled together the plan to execute the overall project, Marion formulated a 2 day shooting schedule throughout the Atlanta metro region that would cover the City and Urban life along with Architectural interiors.  His input on locations was invaluable to get the imagery needed in a short amount of time.

Panasonic GH4 4k image of the wheel in downtown Atlanta

Walter shot for three days on his own and he teamed up with Marion for two days to shoot all over Atlanta, the Caribbean and Dauphin Island, Alabama.   “The Caribbean materials that I had shot in 4k and with my iPhone while on vacation turned out to be fortuitous because some of that fit perfectly with what was needed for this project and Marion happened to be in Dauphin Island so he was able to film some materials there.”

Blackmagic Design URSA Mini 4k detail of a Chevy Camaro ZL1

The key to the entire project was media management from the start.  “If we overshot with the cameras, which honestly I typically do, it would have overwhelmed the post production process.  So I made sure that we limited the raw photography to just ‘quality selects.’  We essentially shot as if we only had one camera card to use in an entire day so we both focused on just getting the best images for the project,” notes Walter

Sony a7rII 4k detail of the Tannery Row Ale House

In total around 10 hours of new original materials were shot using the 8 various cameras and all of this was edited down about 15 minutes in 5 videos for the event.  Not only did we finish the project, we delivered it at 10am on Friday.  “It was a lot of long hours, very little sleep, but wow did have a great time working on this project.  It was satisfying to not just deliver an original project of this magnitude to quickly, but to exceed the client’s expectation and deliver outstanding quality imagery.  That’s what makes it all worthwhile,” said Biscardi.

Sony a7rII 1080HD slo-mo at the Centennial Olympic Park fountain

We can’t divulge the specific details about what the project was produced for except to say that they’re being used for a private event and the footage will most likely be re-used for marketing into the future.   Here’s the specs on the cameras and formats used.

Cameras:
iPhone 6:
Panasonic GH4:
Canon 70D:
Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera:
Sony a7rII:
Blackmagic Design 4k Cinema Camera:
GoPro Hero 2 and Hero 3:
Blackmagic Design URSA Mini:

Formats Shot: 
4k RAW:
4k 3:1 RAW:
S-Log:
S-Gamut3.cine:
4k ProRes HQ:
ProRes:
ProRes HQ:
4k H264:
1080 HD H264:
720p H264:


Shooting 4k RAW details at the Tannery Row Ale House

Very special thanks to Lake Lanier Islands Resort and the Tannery Row Ale House for accommodating us on short notice.  Special Thanks to Flanders Scientific Inc for their assistance with the MYT Works slider / skate combination and for all the fun with the URSA Mini and the drift trike.

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Where You’ll Find Walter Biscardi at NAB Show 2016 http://walterbiscardi.net/where-youll-find-walter-biscardi-at-nab-show-2016/ Sun, 10 Apr 2016 19:07:00 +0000 http://www.biscardicreative.com/?p=4709 The view entering South Hall Lower   NAB Show 2016 is upon us and my schedule is coming together.   I’ll be primarily appearing in the Studio Network Solutions booth SL11113 giving the presentation Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing Best Practices.  (full details below) I’ll also be at some of the evening events and just hanging out.  So if you have the chance, come say hello and let’s chat!   Heck, if you want to meet up for a coffee and talk shop, ping me on Twitter, @walterbiscardi or drop me an email walter (at) biscardicreative.com.  Look forward to seeing you all! LOVE Stef and Sean from Rampant Design Tools   Saturday: Arriving in the afternoon and honestly, this is my quietest day.   If you’re in town and want to meet up to chat, ping me!  I’m staying over in the MGM Grand / NY NY area of the Strip. Sunday: If anyone wants to meet up for breakfast, ping me.  I’m also around in the early afternoon.   9pm I’ll be at the #PostChat meet-up outside the O’Shea’s Bar in The Linq restaurant district.  Outside between The Linq hotel and Flamingo.   I might even go up in the High Roller observation wheel Sunday night. Meeting Vashi! at the #PostChat […]

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The view entering South Hall Lower

 

NAB Show 2016 is upon us and my schedule is coming together.   I’ll be primarily appearing in the Studio Network Solutions booth SL11113 giving the presentation Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing Best Practices.  (full details below) I’ll also be at some of the evening events and just hanging out.  So if you have the chance, come say hello and let’s chat!   Heck, if you want to meet up for a coffee and talk shop, ping me on Twitter, @walterbiscardi or drop me an email walter (at) biscardicreative.com.  Look forward to seeing you all!

LOVE Stef and Sean from Rampant Design Tools

 

Saturday: Arriving in the afternoon and honestly, this is my quietest day.   If you’re in town and want to meet up to chat, ping me!  I’m staying over in the MGM Grand / NY NY area of the Strip.

Sunday: If anyone wants to meet up for breakfast, ping me.  I’m also around in the early afternoon.   9pm I’ll be at the #PostChat meet-up outside the O’Shea’s Bar in The Linq restaurant district.  Outside between The Linq hotel and Flamingo.   I might even go up in the High Roller observation wheel Sunday night.

Meeting Vashi! at the #PostChat meet-up

 

Monday: I’ll be in the SNS Booth SL11113 all day and presenting Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing Best Practices at 10:30am, 2:00pm and 4:00pm.

In the presentation I will take you though best practices for Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing.   These management tips can apply to other NLEs as well.  I’ll demonstrate the techniques I developed for managing the wealth of digital data created in today’s video production world, whether you’re in the corporate, broadcast or digital marketplace.   I’ll cover the basics of standardizing your project management including: Media Management & Organization, File / Folder Renaming, Transcoding, Media Cache, Shared Projects (2 or more editors sharing the same project),  Cross Platform (Mac & Windows), Archiving.  This is a must presentation for anyone looking to bring order to an expanding digital media workload and library. 

I’ll also be available all day in the booth to answer any questions you have about Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Shared Storage Workflow, 4k, UHD, Post Production and of course, anything to do with cooking.  Pizza On the Grill is my favorite!  So stop on by and say hello!

Monday Evening: You’ll find me at the Media Motion Ball located in the Monte Carlo.

 

Tuesday: I’ll be in the SNS Booth SL11113 all day and presenting Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing Best Practices at 10:30am, 2:00pm and 4:00pm. (see full description above)  Again, I’ll be available to answer any questions you have on all matters Post and of course cooking.  So stop by and say hello!

Tuesday Evening: You’ll find me for a little while at the Supermeet located in the Rio.  I don’t stay for the entire event and I generally just hang out in the vendor area to chat with folks.   Generally I end up going out for dinner after a few hours here.

Wednesday: I’ll be in the SNS Booth SL11113 all day and presenting Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing Best Practices at 10:30am, 2:00pm and 4:00pm. (see full description above)   Again, I’ll be available to answer any questions you have on all matters Post and of course cooking.  So stop by and say hello!

Wednesday Evening: I’m attending a private event and then will be on my way back to Atlanta bright and early Thursday morning.

I really hope I get to meet up with you this year.  Have fun!

BISCARDI CREATIVE MEDIA is a full service digital media production company near Atlanta, Georgia. Quite simply we’re the people who make video and media production easy for you.   No technobabble.  Just clear, concise and creative content delivered where and how you need it, on time and on budget.

 

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Where You’ll Find Me at NAB Show 2016! http://walterbiscardi.net/find-me-at-nab-show-2016/ http://walterbiscardi.net/find-me-at-nab-show-2016/#respond Sun, 10 Apr 2016 18:46:24 +0000 http://walterbiscardi.com/?p=4412 NAB Show 2016 is upon us and my schedule is coming together.   I’ll be primarily appearing in the Studio Network Solutions booth SL11113 giving the presentation Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing Best Practices.  (full details below) I’ll also be at some of the evening events and just hanging out.  So if you have the chance, come say hello and let’s chat!   Heck, if you want to meet up for a coffee and talk shop, ping me on Twitter, @walterbiscardi or drop me an email walter (at) biscardicreative.com.  Look forward to seeing you all! Saturday: Arriving in the afternoon and honestly, this is my quietest day.   If you’re in town and want to meet up to chat, ping me!  I’m staying over in the MGM Grand / NY NY area of the Strip. Sunday: If anyone wants to meet up for breakfast, ping me.  I’m also around in the early afternoon.   7:30pm I’ll be at the Colorists Mixer in the Venetian.  This is a paid / ticket required event that is sold out.  9pm I’ll be at the #PostChat meet-up outside the O’Shea’s Bar in The Linq restaurant district.  Outside between The Linq hotel and Flamingo.  I might also […]

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IMG_0442

NAB Show 2016 is upon us and my schedule is coming together.   I’ll be primarily appearing in the Studio Network Solutions booth SL11113 giving the presentation Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing Best Practices.  (full details below) I’ll also be at some of the evening events and just hanging out.  So if you have the chance, come say hello and let’s chat!   Heck, if you want to meet up for a coffee and talk shop, ping me on Twitter, @walterbiscardi or drop me an email walter (at) biscardicreative.com.  Look forward to seeing you all!

LOVE Stef and Sean from Rampant Design Tools

LOVE Stef and Sean from Rampant Design Tools

Saturday: Arriving in the afternoon and honestly, this is my quietest day.   If you’re in town and want to meet up to chat, ping me!  I’m staying over in the MGM Grand / NY NY area of the Strip.

Sunday: If anyone wants to meet up for breakfast, ping me.  I’m also around in the early afternoon.   7:30pm I’ll be at the Colorists Mixer in the Venetian.  This is a paid / ticket required event that is sold out.  9pm I’ll be at the #PostChat meet-up outside the O’Shea’s Bar in The Linq restaurant district.  Outside between The Linq hotel and Flamingo.  I might also try out the High Roller observation wheel Sunday night.

Meeting the amazing Vashi! at the #PostChat meet up

Meeting the amazing Vashi! at the #PostChat meet up

Monday: I’ll be in the SNS Booth SL11113 all day and presenting Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing Best Practices at 10:30am, 2:00pm and 4:00pm.

In the presentation I will take you though best practices for Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing.   These management tips can apply to other NLEs as well.  I’ll demonstrate the techniques I developed for managing the wealth of digital data created in today’s video production world, whether you’re in the corporate, broadcast or digital marketplace.   I’ll cover the basics of standardizing your project management including: Media Management & Organization, File / Folder Renaming, Transcoding, Media Cache, Shared Projects (2 or more editors sharing the same project),  Cross Platform (Mac & Windows), Archiving.  This is a must presentation for anyone looking to bring order to an expanding digital media workload and library. 

I’ll also be available all day in the booth to answer any questions you have about Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Shared Storage Workflow, 4k, UHD, Post Production and of course, anything to do with cooking.  Pizza On the Grill is my favorite!  So stop on by and say hello!

Monday Evening: You’ll find me at the Media Motion Ball located in the Monte Carlo.

Media Motion Ball

Media Motion Ball

Tuesday: I’ll be in the SNS Booth SL11113 all day and presenting Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing Best Practices at 10:30am, 2:00pm and 4:00pm. (see full description above)  Again, I’ll be available to answer any questions you have on all matters Post and of course cooking.  So stop by and say hello!

Tuesday Evening: You’ll find me for a little while at the Supermeet located in the Rio.  I don’t stay for the entire event and I generally just hang out in the vendor area to chat with folks.   Generally I end up going out for dinner after a few hours here.

Wednesday: I’ll be in the SNS Booth SL11113 all day and presenting Adobe Premiere Pro Project Management and Project Sharing Best Practices at 10:30am, 2:00pm and 4:00pm. (see full description above)   Again, I’ll be available to answer any questions you have on all matters Post and of course cooking.  So stop by and say hello!

Wednesday Evening: I’m attending a private event and then will be on my way back to Atlanta bright and early Thursday morning.

I really hope I get to meet up with you this year.  Have fun!

About the Author:

Walter Biscardi, Jr. is a 25 year veteran in media production and the Founder of BISCARDI CREATIVE MEDIA, a full service digital media production company near Atlanta, Georgia with services that include Video Production, Sound Production, Sound Mixing, Graphic Design, Animation, Post Production, Video Editing, Color Grading, Finishing, Digital Asset Transfer, Digitizing and Archiving. He’s also the Founder of CONTEMPORARY LIVING NETWORK, a digital lifestyle network coming soon featuring Life Worth Living.  He and his team have been a part of many national awards including the Emmy and Peabody.   Walter is also a frequent speaker at national industry events and offered training and consulting in the media industry.  www.biscardicreative.com     www.contemporaryliving.tv

 

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