Splice Now

Adding to the list from yesterday, here are a few more new features in Media Composer 5:

• The ability to select timeline views from the keyboard (hallelujah!).
• Separate solo and mute buttons for each audio track.
• Ability to turn on waveforms for each track independently.
• Ability to deactivate any audio track to save system resources (this is different from hitting the old speaker icon — which didn’t really deactivate the track).
• Standard “landing bar” for the timeline cursor — at the top of the timeline window.
• Not only does linked selection work in segment mode, it also works in trim mode. When it’s on, if you select video for trimming, audio is selected, as well (and vice versa).
• Red support means that you can directly play R3D files and also apply and change color value information using a histogram (and in your choice of colorspaces: REDSpace, Camera RGB, and REC.709).
• And last but not least, AMA support for native ProRes files.

Avid’s Bob Russo does a good job demonstrating most of the new features in this 5 minute youtube video.

And in a this 15 minute video podcast from the Avid booth at NAB, Matt Feury goes over the new features (and some old features) and shows how they work together in the editing room. Avid Events Rewind Blog. Same thing on iTunes.

The American Cinema Editors held its 60th annual Eddie awards ceremony last night with Bob Murawski & Chris Innis taking home the prize for “The Hurt Locker,” Debra Neil-Fisher winning for “The Hangover” and Kevin Nolting winning for “Up.” Alan Heim and Lee Percy won for “Grey Gardens.”

The ACE awards just seem to keep getting better, and this year the presentation was consistently entertaining, with a lot of humor and, at times, some rather edgy patter. I offer all the winners my humble congratulations.

From a tech-centric point of view, the highlight of the evening was ACE’s first-ever Technical Excellence Award, which went to the Media Composer. Avid CEO Gary Greenfield was there to receive it, and many Avid folk were on hand to share in the festivities.

The technical Eddie couldn’t have been awarded at a more appropriate time. Avid has made a remarkable turnaround in the last couple of years, and the Media Composer has come a long way very quickly. Congratulations to all those at Avid who helped make it possible.

The Winners Were:

Feature (Dramatic)
The Hurt Locker – Bob Murawski & Chris Innis

Feature (Comedy or Musical)
The Hangover – Debra Neil-Fisher, A.C.E.

Animated Feature
UP – Kevin Nolting

Half-Hour Series
30 Rock: “Apollo Apollo” – Ken Eluto, A.C.E.

One-Hour Series for Commercial TV
Breaking Bad: “ABQ” – Lynne Willingham, A.C.E.

One-Hour Series For Non-Commercial TV
Dexter: “Remains to be Seen” – Louis Cioffi

Miniseries or Motion Picture for TV
Grey Gardens – Alan Heim, A.C.E. & Lee Percy, A.C.E.

Documentary
The Cove – Geoffrey Richman

Reality Series
The Deadliest Catch: Stay Focused Or Die – Kelly Coskran & Josh Earl

Student Editing
Andrew Hellesen – Chapman University

Career Achievement
Neil Travis
Paul LaMastra

Golden Eddie
Rob Reiner

Technical Excellence
Avid Media Composer