Enhancements facilitate fast, efficient and collaborative workflows, enabling editors to deliver high-quality results
Avid (Nasdaq: AVID) announced that the latest version of Avid Media Composer editing software is now available. Part of the Avid Artist Suite, powered by the Avid MediaCentral Platform, Media Composer 8.4 delivers accelerated high-resolution workflows, facilitates real-time collaboration, and frees editors from time-consuming background tasks.
“Today’s video professionals need to be able to handle whatever media walks in the door, ingest that media, edit it, and deliver a master for distribution,” said Charlie Russell, senior segment marketing manager, Avid. “Increasingly, the media they need to work with is greater-than-HD: 2K, 4K and Ultra HD. With the latest version of Media Composer, editors and assistants will be able to handle this high-resolution media, while leveraging their existing HD infrastructure.”
New Media Composer 8.4 features include: Custom raster support bringing Avid Resolution Independence to life, whereby users can work with any raster up to 8K, in any format; AVC-I, ProRes, XAVC-I and XF-AVC native high-resolution playback with optimized performance for Apple ProRes, Canon XF-AVC, Panasonic AVC-I and Sony XAVC-I, giving users the flexibility to mix and match high-resolution media in the timeline, from DNxHR to other popular formats, and edit with smooth real-time playback; access to the same AAX presets as with Pro Tools; enhanced closed captioning; Alpha channel support for QuickTime-wrapped Avid DNxHR which means users can now enhance their graphics, effects and compositing workflows when working with QuickTime applications; and Media Composer | Cloud with dynamic media folders and background services.
The latter enables customers to use Media Composer software and Media Composer | Cloud workflows on a single system, including remote cloud-based editing while simultaneously performing background uploading, rendering, consolidating, or transcoding.
Media Composer 8.4 is now available for download online and through authorized Avid resellers.
Steve McQueen Shows Wartime London Through A Child’s Eyes In “Blitz”
It was a single photograph that started Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen on the journey to make "Blitz." As a Londoner, the German bombing raids on the city during World War II are never all that far from his mind. Reminders of it are everywhere. But the spark of inspiration came from an image of a small boy on a train platform with a large suitcase. Stories inspired by the evacuation are not rare, but this child was Black. Who was he, McQueen wondered, and what was his story? The film, in theaters Friday and streaming on Apple TV+ on Nov. 22, tells the tale of George, a 9-year-old biracial child in East London whose life with his mother, Rita ( Saoirse Ronan ), and grandfather is upended by the war. Like many children at the time, he's put on a train to the countryside for his safety. But he hops off and starts a long, dangerous journey back to his mom, encountering all sorts of people and situations that paint a revelatory and emotional picture of that moment. SEARCHING FOR GEORGE AND FINDING A STAR When McQueen finished the screenplay, he thought to himself: "Not bad." Then he started to worry: Does George exist? Is there a person out there who can play this role? Through an open casting call they found Elliott Heffernan, a 9-year-old living just outside of London whose only experience was a school play. He was the genie in "Aladdin." "There was a stillness about him, a real silent movie star quality," McQueen said. "You wanted to know what he was thinking, and you leant in. That's a movie star quality: A presence in his absence." Elliott is now 11. When he was cast, he'd not yet heard about the evacuation and imagined that a film set would be made up of "about 100 people." But he soon found his footing, cycling in and out of... Read More