2015 Sundance Short Film Challenge Powered by the MediaStorm Player

The Sundance Institute has joined MediaStorm’s community of creative partners, leveraging the power of the MediaStorm Platform to distribute the winning films of the 2015 Sundance Short Film Challenge. The Sundance Institute’s Short Film Challenge, hosted in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is a collection of stories that place a spotlight on what is shared across humanity regardless of economic, cultural and geographic differences. These films illustrate how we can support one another to end poverty and hunger once and for all. This year’s stories are from five amateur filmmakers from Nigeria, Mexico, India, and the U.S.; as well as four films from professionals including Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady; Gael Garcia Bernal; Diego Luna; and Marialy Rivas. The films premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and will be available for free via the MediaStorm Platform and on sundance.org. Read our case study to learn…

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Open Call: Artwork Submissions for Nomadique Exhibition

Nomadique is seeking submissions for their upcoming multimedia art exhibition, inviting artists to reflect on the sensation of belonging. The pop-up show will be held in New York City in mid-April and will feature live performances, film screenings, and a gallery display. Submitted works may reflect on the following questions: To what do we belong and why? How does an anxiety of belonging impact our development and behavior? How does belonging affect our sense of purpose? Does belonging necessitate exclusion by nature? Entries include but are not limited to: film, photography, illustration, live stories, musical performances, dance, and written word. Learn more and submit your work at http://goo.gl/mOyivk. Deadline is Friday, February 20th, 2015.  About Nomadique Nomadique is a Brooklyn-based multimedia cooperative made up of filmmakers, photographers, journalists and musicians and consists of a small full-time staff and larger network of creative contributors.  

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MediaStorm Guide to Editing 2.4 Anamorphic Video

Currently at MediaStorm, we are using the Sony PMW-F5 camera. Our final frame size is 2048×858, also known as 2.40.

This more cinematic look is longer in width but shorter in height than the standard HD size of 1920×1080.

Though our final output is 2048×858, the captured frame size is actually a bit larger at 2048×1080. This allows for more wiggle room when deciding what stays in the shot. There’s more latitude as you can now position the frame up or downwards without having to up-res its size.

The MediaStorm 2.4 Editing Workflow

To begin, you’ll need to download the 2.4 crop-bars mask.

It is sized for 2048×1080, your capture size, but masks out the top and bottom so that only the final output frame size of 2048×858 is viewable.

This file should be placed on your top video track. Then lock it in place by clicking the lock icon.

Now you can reposition your video frame without inadvertently moving the mask.

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“Fight Hate With Love” Shortlisted for Tim Hetherington Trust Visionary Award

We are honored to announce that Fight Hate With Love has been shortlisted for the Tim Hetherington Trust's inaugural Visionary Award. The project, currently in production and helmed by Andrew Michael Ellis, MediaStorm's director of photography, chronicles the story of activist Michael Tabon. Mike has been caught in the revolving door of the prison system since he was sixteen years old. Incarceration became a way of life, seen as an inherited destiny for America's young Black poor, until he had a revelation--that he could break the cycle of the womb to prison pipeline gripping marginalized communities across the country. Fight Hate with Love is about one man’s journey to change the world and still be the guide his family needs him to be. It is a road fraught with struggle. In this film we explore what is possible and what is sacrificed when a man’s desire to be a hero for the…

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