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NEWS - April 19, 2021
My lead story this week is a video: The Six Priorities that Determine Where the Eye Looks First. This list, first created by Norman Hollyn and further developed by me, answers two questions: How do we catch the viewer's eye? And, secondly, how do we make sure they see what we want them to see? This concept was the inspiration that got me started writing my latest book.


NOTE: There's a follow-on video illustrating eyelines
and how they guide a viewer through an image.

There was a LOT of news this week. In a normal year, we'd be in the middle of NAB right now. And, many companies plan development based upon access to trade shows for promotion. Here are some of the highlights.

Maxon announced new versions of Cinema 4D, Moves by Maxon and, finally, Redshift rendering comes to the Mac, including the M1 series. 


Adobe announced that Premiere Rush now supports M1 Macs natively. They also released two new, though quite minor, features for Premiere Pro.

Premiere Rush link: New Features in Premiere Rush

Simon Says released an extension for Adobe Premiere Pro that supports speech-to-text transcription from within Premiere. Since Premiere has already announced upcoming support for speech-to-text, I reached out to Shamir Allibhai, CEO of Simon Says, to learn why they created this extension.


Arctic Whiteness released Final Cut Library Manager 3.90. This new version supports both Intel and M1 Macs natively, supports Final Cut 10.5.2 and cleans up some interface changes caused by Big Sur.


OWC announced they have partnered with Acronis to add Acronis cyber protection technology into OWC storage products covering file and folder backups, flexible management, and integrated anti-ransomware. After reading the press release, I still have no idea what this means. From what I've been told, this is just a partnership announcement, product plans are still to be announced.


Thinking of acquisitions, Xytech completed the acquisition of ScheduALL. Xytech is committed to completely supporting the ScheduALL application and all ScheduALL clients. Xytech also offers the MediaPulse facility management software and the MediaPulse Managed Cloud.


Last week's webinar on Illustrating Visual Literacy was great deal fun to present. It gave me a chance to step back from software and provide a look at how to create images that capture a viewer's eye. I illustrated a variety of camera placement, framing and blocking techniques and how each of them affects the emotion and story-telling power of an image. I was also able to highlight key insights from my book: Techniques of Visual Persuasion. My goals for the webinar were to focus on creativity, story-telling and using images to catch the eye. 


No webinar this week, I'm using the down time to take some of my gear to the shop for maintenance. Next week, though, is one of my favorite sessions: "Ask Larry Anything." To give me time to prep demos, please email your questions before we start. As always, registration to my live events is free.


I have a product review of the iRig Pre 2 this week. This portable preamp connects any professional mic to your computer, audio recorder, even an ATEM Mini providing high-quality audio in a very small, affordable package. There's a lot of good things here - along with a couple of cautions to be careful about.


I have three excerpts from last week's webinar. The first, "Controlling Where the Eye Looks," I've already mentioned. The second, explaining visual eyelines, was fun because I got to integrate some simple Motion effects to illustrate the concept. The third looks more broadly at how changing the position of actors and the cameras (called "blocking") affects the emotional impact of a scene. You'll find all the links in the Tutorials & Reviews section, below.

Spring is here and the family is in the process of getting vaccinated. Time to take a few days off and enjoy the scenery. I hope you can get your shots soon, if you haven't already, so we can start to get back to normal. THAT would be nice.

In the meantime, stay healthy and practice hope. Until Monday, edit well.
TUTORIALS & REVIEWS
» 6 Priorities That Determine Where the Eye Looks First (Tutorial)
» Not all visual elements are equal. These attract the eye first.

» How Eyelines Guide a Viewer Through an Image (Video Tutorial)
» An illustrated example of eyelines and how they guide the eye.

» Product Review: iRig Pre 2 - Simply Well Done (Product Review)
» Portable, high-quality mic pre-amp for field recording.

» Maxon Announces New Software Versions (News)
» New releases for Cinema 4D, RedShift and Moves by Maxon

» Simon Says Launches Extension for Premiere Pro (News)
» New transcription extension tied into Simon Says Assemble.

» How Camera & Talent Positions Improve Images (Video Tutorial)
»  The 180° Rule and the impact of blocking on the power of visuals.
Ask Larry Anything!
NEXT week, not this week: 9 AM and 12 PM (LA time)

Email your questions and I'll do my best to answer them!

Everything you need - all in one place!
Illustrating Visual Literacy

* How to attract the eye of the viewer
* Image content and emotions
* Positioning actors and cameras
* Camera framing
* The emotional content of visual composition

Everything you need - all in one place!
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