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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Job Alert: Associate Producer at Talking Eyes Media

Talking Eyes Media is seeking an Associate Producer to work out of their Montclair, NJ office. The candidate should be a self-motivated individual with an interest in documentary film production and at least three years of experience. The position requires someone with a high-level of organizational, communication, and production management skills.

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How to Make a Kitchen-Sink Sandwich

When you edit it's easy to become enamored with your favorite moments, maybe a bit of narration here or a visual sequence there–parts you think are really working. It's easy to do and it's natural. But the more important question is, do these sections actually work within the context of the larger piece? Sure, they're beautiful on their own but how do they affect the overall story? Do they advance it? Or are they like a beautiful roadside dinosaur attraction, striking but totally out of place next to the suburban highway? The question is, are you making a kitchen-sink sandwich? Have you fallen in love with every ingredient in your refrigerator: the mayonnaise, the bleu cheese, the horseradish, the sauerkraut? Sure, they're all fine on their own but slap them together and nothing quite makes sense anymore. So when you're structuring your movie, ask yourself this, does the section in question connect…

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