AI is already starting to affect how filmmakers are pitching movies. That&#8217;s what Jon Flynn, the executive vice president and head of FoxNXT for Fox Entertainment, revealed during TheWrap and What’s Trending&#8217;s first-ever AI Creator Day. Launched in April, FoxNXT is Fox&#8217;s internal AI and next-gen technology studio that&#8217;s dedicated to building digital media tools. Before leading FoxNXT, Flynn was the head of AI go-to-market strategy for media at Google. During Tuesday&#8217;s event at UCLA&#8217;s Ralph Freud Playhouse, Flynn revealed that a creative came to Fox Entertainment to pitch a movie but noted that, due to their AI-focused and budget-conscious approach, radically changed how they dealt with the studio. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never seen anybody do this. They did five different meetings, all in one feature meeting,&#8221; Flynn said during the &#8220;Rewriting the Studio Model: Upskilling Talent for an AI-Powered Future,&#8221; which was moderated by TheWrap&#8217;s Managing Editor for Business and PRO, Roger Cheng. &#8220;They said, &#8216;This is the typical budget for what we want to make our feature, but we want to use these [AI] tools, which we think is going to rationalize about 15% of the budget, which we would like to put back in because we do want to go to these two locations &#8230; We think we found a way not to break that budget that we&#8217;re putting in front of you as a proposal.'&#8221; Flynn noted that this one meeting with an unnamed creative wasn&#8217;t a one-off experience. He&#8217;s seen filmmakers going into pitch meetings being more conscious of how AI tools can be used to stretch budgets. This can include everything from adding an explosion into a show — a common effect that can be costly — to using AI to recreate multiple speculative angles from the tragic car crash that led to Princess Diana&#8217;s death, an approach that was used during the TMZ special &#8220;Celebrity Crime Scene: Princess Diana.&#8221; &#8220;If you have a big piece of content that&#8217;s on Fox, you&#8217;re going to be like, &#8216;Oh s&#8211;t, that show is amazing! That was great! How the hell do we do that for that budget?'&#8221; Flynn said. &#8220;That&#8217;s us being very diligent with the tools that we&#8217;re using to put more money back into the screen, so it looks bigger.&#8221; Flynn echoed a common framing of AI, that the technology&#8217;s ability to reduce the cost and time on projects will result in more ambitious projects, rather than simply job cuts and humans getting displaced. Repeatedly during the panel, Flynn emphasized that the savings AI provide doesn&#8217;t necessarily translate to cost savings. It also translates into time saved, which can be spent either bettering a project or working on a new one. &#8220;Say, for example, you save 20% aggregated across and you&#8217;re shooting a series with six episodes,&#8221; Flynn said. &#8220;You spend the same amount of budget for five, and you get six episodes. What does that allow us to do? It allows us to put that back into the system so that we can go and create more content, and we create content that is going to be relevant to distribution and the needs of our audiences.&#8221; Flynn confirmed that 20% in average cost savings in a benchmark is organization shoots for. But to make the most of those cost savings, Flynn emphasized the importance of AI education within Hollywood. &#8220;I think we have a big responsibility to this industry as a whole to train people on how to use the tools that we in the studio system use,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We can teach you those tools, but I cannot teach you 20 years of industry experience. I cannot teach you the art that you have inside your head and the stories that you have inside your soul. We can&#8217;t teach those, right? But we can teach you ways to get those out into a manner which will allow more of those stories to be told.&#8221; The FoxNXT platform isn&#8217;t the only way that Fox Entertainment has embraced AI. The media company has also used the technology in its vertical videos, video editing and in its advertising media platform. The company also has key AI partnerships with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. The post AI Has Already Impacted How Creatives Are Pitching Films, According to FoxNXT Head appeared first on TheWrap.

AI Has Already Impacted How Creatives Are Pitching Films, According to FoxNXT Head

Artificial intelligence is here and can&#8217;t be ignored, which one creator summed up neatly with a matter-of-fact comment. &#8220;I do voice acting as well, and so I&#8217;m already preparing for my job to not exist,&#8221; said Vincent Marcus, a creator and comedian who does impersonations, about why he&#8217;s gone all-in on AI. Marcus was speaking on Tuesday at TheWrap&#8217;s inaugural AI Creator Day, a part of our annual Grill business conference. The subject of the panel was about voicing AI-generated bot characters for AI social platform Cantina, which offers the potential for him to monetize his creativity. Being able to better monetize creator ideas and imagination was a key theme to the all-day conference. But an undercurrent was the inevitability of AI, and the perils of ignoring the technology that&#8217;s disrupting every industry. For creators, it&#8217;s a fine line to walk, with even the hint of using AI eliciting fan backlash. But for those at the panel, the upside of AI is too attractive to ignore. &#8220;This is where the future is heading,&#8221; said Rebecca Zamolo, a YouTube and founder of MOLO Fertility. &#8220;I think it&#8217;s important that we acknowledge that. I think it&#8217;s about being transparent with your audience.&#8221; Moderator Chris Detert with Rebecca Zamolo and Matt Slays, a husband-and-wife creator team. (Credit: Photo by Randy Shropshire for TheWrap) As AI has become more prevalent, more creators have been using the technology in their workflows. Some creators use this tech through third-party companies like Cantina; some use popular AI platforms like ChatGPT and Claude directly, and some use AI tools that have been directly added to the biggest social media platforms. For example, YouTube&#8217;s AI tools let creators A/B test headlines and thumbnails, and Ask Studio — the platform&#8217;s AI-powered Q&A offering — acts as a specialized AI agent that&#8217;s fluent in a creator&#8217;s channel, a feature that&#8217;s helpful for data analytics. TikTok has its Symphony Creative Studio, a generative suite that lets creators use AI to create text-to-video, image-to-animation and digital avatars. As for Instagram, the Meta-owned platform has Muse, a personal AI agent designed to help Instagram creators manage workflows, analyze account activity and plan content Zamolo and husband Matt Slays talked about how AI dubbing of its content has extended the reach of their YouTube channel. Slays noted that its channel went from having 65% of its audience being in the U.S. to 35% in short time (he didn&#8217;t specify), noting the wider international audience it now gets &#8220;We were able to exponentially grow our markets without doing as much,&#8221; Slays said. Don&#8217;t hate the game Shira Lazar acknowledged the stigma of the &#8220;AI creator&#8221; and polled several participants about what they should do it about it. &#8220;We don&#8217;t get to decide,&#8221; said Destorm Power, an entrepreneur and creator. &#8220;If they want to call me an AI creator, that&#8217;s fine.&#8221; &#8220;The game is changing, we&#8217;re just in the game,&#8221; said Bernie Su, head of creative for Pickford and an Emmy-winning web series creator. &#8220;We&#8217;ll do our thing. Audiences will react to us, and we&#8217;ll see what happens.&#8221; Zamolo acknowledged that they&#8217;re still testing the boundaries with what is and isn&#8217;t okay with AI. &#8220;If it gets crazy, they usually will call us out in the comments,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But I think that&#8217;s just part of learning how to use it correctly anyway.&#8221; But one of the key ideas several participants stressed was dispelling the notion that AI was killing creativity. Instead, that&#8217;s something that&#8217;s in greater need as the technology allows people to bring to life their wildest ideas. &#8220;Everyone’s creative. Get those ideas out there. Write them down,&#8221; said Katherine Rundell, senior director of partnerships at Cantina. &#8220;Keep those ideas flowing. Creativity is more important than ever in the age of AI. Lean into that.&#8221; The post Creators: AI Is the Future. We Need to Be Transparent About Using It appeared first on TheWrap.

Creators: AI Is the Future. We Need to Be Transparent About Using It

OpenAI has reportedly bought Glass Imaging – the company two ex-Apple engineers from the team behind the iPhone&#8217;s Portrait Mode founded in 2019 – for the camera in its first hardware device. In the same week, a former cinematographer turned carpenter has got a Digital Bolex rebuild working, built around the original Kodak CCD, a Raspberry Pi 5 and a V-mount battery, all inside a wooden box. Two stories pulling in opposite directions, and we talk about both. After IBC, we&#8217;re back to regular programming – all 47 of our IBC videos are now out. Nino and Johnnie start with big tech moving into cameras and a one-man camera build, then work through Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.5 and aperture control on the iPhone 18 Pro, the Sony FX5 delay in Japan, Sony&#8217;s DP7 and DP5 camera control monitors, Tilta&#8217;s EVF extension kit for the FX5, DJI&#8217;s SDR Transmission 2, the crowdfunding start of our own OrBrella light, Atomos&#8217; Best of Show-winning Shinobi 7 II, Accsoon&#8217;s CineView M7 updates, the Insta360 Luna Ultra firmware and its new telephoto lens, the Cartoni HyperRoll, and a quick run through more IBC gear from Vocas, NIPROS, FUJIFILM, Libec, Profoto, DigitalFoto, Rolux, CAME-TV and SIRUI – before closing with Hitchcock&#8217;s MacGuffin. This episode is sponsored by Hollyland – check out the Pyro S on their website. (15:06 in the episode) Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music PlayerFM iHeart Radio YouTube OpenAI Reportedly Buys Glass Imaging for the Camera in Its First Hardware Device – AI Image Processing From an Ex-Apple Team (02:12 in the episode) OpenAI hasn&#8217;t confirmed the deal, but Glass Imaging&#8217;s CEO and founder has been re-sharing the Wall Street Journal report and thanking his investors on LinkedIn, which we take as confirmation enough. The company&#8217;s Glass AI processing enhances images from smartphone and drone sensors, it also works at the hardware and sensor level, and it already ships in the Honor 600 series, where it enhances the zoom from a 200MP sensor. In PetaPixel&#8217;s side-by-side comparison, the Honor images beat the iPhone 17. Nino reads it as a sign that OpenAI&#8217;s first device – the one Jony Ive is working on – will be imaging-related, and as a loss for every other phone maker. Johnnie&#8217;s reply: &#8220;Wake me up when they have an actual product.&#8221; He has no problem with AI that helps with focus, exposure or noise, as long as it doesn&#8217;t replace the creative work. That leads to noise reduction, the original Leica SL that shipped without any, and why Nino expects LOFIC sensors like the one in the Osmo Pocket 4P to end up in almost every smartphone. Read more: OpenAI Reportedly Buys Glass Imaging for the Camera in Its First Hardware Device Digital Bolex &#8211; Image Credit: David Ross David Bross Digital Bolex Rebuild Reaches Working Prototype – Kodak CCD, Raspberry Pi 5, Free Loaner Units Planned (15:58 in the episode) David Bross, whom Johnnie interviewed in Focus Check ep103 about his free DIGILOG app, now has a working prototype of his Digital Bolex rebuild: the Kodak CCD sensor of the original Digital Bolex D16, a Raspberry Pi 5, firmware written in Python and V-mount power, in a wooden box built by a cinematographer turned carpenter. Johnnie has seen the first private footage, shot on a Carl Zeiss Jena lens, and calls it the most organic image he has seen from any modern digital camera – before the Kodak colour matrix has even been calibrated. David plans three units: one for himself, and two to lend to directors and DPs for free. Even a one-person project can&#8217;t escape the memory shortage: the Raspberry Pi 5 went from €124 to around €347. From there, we talk about where DIY goes next – a Sigma fp open gate hack we&#8217;ll cover next week, users installing their own apps on Android-based monitors, and Johnnie&#8217;s idea that manufacturers should hand the community cameras and firmware to experiment with. Nino&#8217;s counterpoint: nobody can keep a warranty on a camera running someone else&#8217;s firmware. Read more: David Bross Digital Bolex Rebuild Reaches Working Prototype Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.5 Released – iPhone 18 Pro Support, Variable Aperture Control, ProRes to Pro Video Storage (29:42 in the episode) Version 3.5 is mainly an iPhone 18 Pro support release, but it answers a question we had since the phone launched: Apple does give third-party apps control over the new variable aperture on the 24mm-equivalent main lens. We don&#8217;t have a review unit yet, so we can&#8217;t say whether that means finer control or the same four fixed stops Apple&#8217;s own camera app uses. The ultra-wide stays fixed at f/2.2, the telephoto at f/2.8. The app can also record ProRes to the iPhone 18 Pro&#8217;s new Pro Video Storage, a reserved chunk of internal storage that nothing else can fill up. Whether ProRes RAW can go there too is still to be verified. Johnnie&#8217;s first test, once we get the phone: drop it and see whether the mechanical aperture still works. Samsung dropped variable apertures from its phones partly because of mechanical issues. Read more: Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.5 Released Sony FX5 Delayed to Late October or Later in Japan – DVF-EL1 Viewfinder, XLR-H2 Handle and Launch Campaign Also Affected (33:49 in the episode) According to Sony Japan, the FX5, the DVF-EL1 viewfinder and the XLR-H2 handle are now delayed there until late October or later, and the local launch campaign, cashback included, moves with them. We had heard this before but held off, because we also knew of units being shipped here in Austria. B&H and CVP still list the camera as a pre-order. Johnnie wants more transparency from Sony, having heard of already-shipped units being called back; Nino has an off-the-record confirmation that the camera is selling much better than Sony expected. Our FX5 lab test is being done on a confirmed shipping unit and should be out next week. If you&#8217;re waiting for an FX5 – or have been asked to send one back – let us know what Sony or your retailer told you. Read more: Sony FX5 Delayed to Late October or Later in Japan Sony DP7 and DP5. Image Credit: CineD Sony DP7 and DP5 Explained – Native Cinema Line Camera Control, 2,000-Nit Calibrated Panels, Third-Party Wireless (38:42 in the episode) Nino talked to Sony at IBC about the DP7 and DP5: 7-inch and 5-inch, 2,000-nit monitors styled like the Cinema Line bodies, with native camera control and the same menus as on the camera. They&#8217;re wired: control runs over USB-C, the image over HDMI on the DP5 and HDMI or SDI on the DP7, so you always need two cables. FX6 and BURANO support is still to come, and the FX9 and VENICE will probably never be supported. Johnnie finds the DP5, at around $2,300, too expensive for a monitor aimed at FX30, FX3 and FX5 owners. Nino points to cheaper camera control monitors on the market but credits Sony&#8217;s rugged build and reliability, and thinks rental houses would love them – if they worked with the FX9 and VENICE. Read more: Sony DP7 and DP5 Explained Tilta EVF Extension Kit for Sony FX5 Detailed – Cage Base Plate, Nucleus Autofocus Integration, XLR Adapter in Development (44:50 in the episode) Moving the FX5&#8217;s fixed, top-mounted EVF is one of the most requested fixes for the camera, and Tilta now has its own answer as part of a full cage system, including a bi-directional Arca plate. The limitation compared to Mid49&#8217;s solution: for now, you can&#8217;t use the top handle and the relocated EVF at the same time. Tilta says an adapter is in development. Johnnie just wants the EVF a little to the side. Nino likes that the kit can turn the FX5 into a shoulder-mounted camera – something Johnnie gave up on for mirrorless bodies years ago. Read more: Tilta EVF Extension Kit for Sony FX5 Detailed DJI SDR Transmission 2 Launched – DCI 4K60 10-Bit HDR, Switchable TX/RX Transceivers, 4km Range (47:58 in the episode) Full disclosure: Nino&#8217;s upcoming long-form video on the SDR Transmission 2 is a paid collaboration with DJI. The new unit is about the size of an Osmo Action 6, with fixed antennas and no built-in SDI; an expansion plate adds SDI back without cables. The big change is that every unit is a transceiver – one switch turns it into a transmitter or a receiver. With six units, Nino ran five cameras into one director&#8217;s monitor on one shoot and one camera to five viewers on another. It transmits 10-bit 4K60 HDR, but drops Wi-Fi streaming to phones and tablets, which is why the original SDR Transmission stays in the lineup. Like all new DJI products, it isn&#8217;t launching in the US. Read more: DJI SDR Transmission 2 Launched OrBrella: the beauty of simplicity. Credit: SmallRig/CineD SmallRig x CineD OrBrella Light Introduced – 60W Umbrella-Style Light That Deploys in Five Seconds (55:35 in the episode) The early bird for our OrBrella is over – we extended it from 100 to around 200 units – and the crowdfunding campaign starts on Friday, September 25, running until November 8, at $169.99 / €178.90. As a reminder: it&#8217;s a 60W bi-colour light with green-magenta adjustment, its LED strips bounce into a white cloth for very soft light, and they can be flipped out for more punch. It&#8217;s 34cm wide, weighs 1.3kg, and runs on V-mount or USB-C PD, with a Sony NP-F attachment coming later. From the IBC feedback: the controller will be much quieter, the control box&#8217;s LCD brighter, and we&#8217;re checking whether an L-shaped connector for the LED strips still lets the light collapse. Johnnie also found it causes far fewer reflections in glasses. Read more: SmallRig x CineD OrBrella Light Introduced Atomos Shinobi 7 II & Shogun AV-19M Introduced – First Look (01:01:41 in the episode) The Shinobi 7 II won our IBC Best of Show award in the monitoring category, and Eric&#8217;s first look is now out. After a year in which Atomos seemed spread across headphones, microphones and wireless video, the Flanders Scientific acquisition and this monitor show a clear return to monitoring. The Shinobi 7 II is the brightest Shinobi yet at 2,800 nits, takes HDMI up to 4K60, offers USB-C camera control across brands (touch focus, ISO, white balance, aperture, shutter and record) and supports Log, HLG and PQ – at around €500 excluding VAT. It drops recording, which Nino thinks makes sense now that so many cameras record RAW internally. The Shogun AV-19M is a monitor-only version of the AV19 from NAB: a 19-inch 4K HDR touchscreen with 1,200 nits and no recording or switching, for 1,900 (€/$). Read more: Atomos Shinobi 7 II & Shogun AV-19M Introduced Accsoon CineView M7. Image Credit: CineD Accsoon CineView M7 Series Updated – Expanded Camera Control, Vertical UI, User-Built Android Apps (01:05:54 in the episode) No new hardware, but a lot of new firmware for Accsoon&#8217;s seven-inch monitors. We spoke to Effy from Accsoon about the lineup: the M7 Pro (SDI, HDMI and wireless, working as transmitter, receiver or plain monitor), the M7H Pro (HDMI and wireless) and the M7 (SDI and HDMI, no wireless), all dual-band at 2.4 and 5GHz. Camera control started with Sony and Canon mirrorless, now includes cinema bodies like the FX6 and C400, and this year the Nikon Z line (the ZR not yet). The UI now also works vertically. Because the monitors run Android, you can install other apps – even Sony&#8217;s own camera control app. Nino thinks that makes the M7 series the most fully featured camera control monitors on the market, starting at $550 / €580 for the M7H Pro and $900 for the M7 Pro. Read more: Accsoon CineView M7 Series Updated Insta360 Luna Ultra Firmware Update Released – 15x Zoom, Concert Stage Mode, 4K Vertical Video and a 450mm Telephoto Lens (01:09:55 in the episode) Three months after launch, a free update takes the Luna Ultra&#8217;s in-camera zoom from 12x to 15x and adds a Stage Mode for filming performers from the crowd. Insta360 also announced a magnetic snap-on lens for the telephoto camera with 1.5x magnification, so the range now runs from 90mm native to 450mm equivalent at 15x; the 20mm main camera is covered while it&#8217;s attached. Nino&#8217;s caveat: much of the reach is digital, so judge the image yourself. In our lab test, the Luna Ultra fell clearly short of the Osmo Pocket 4P in dynamic range, but many users prefer it for its removable screen and handling. Johnnie likes the idea of snap-on lenses – &#8220;anybody said anamorphic?&#8221; – and notes that the Luna Pro, essentially the Luna Ultra without the telephoto, is now available for $600. Read more: Insta360 Luna Ultra Firmware Update Released Cartoni HyperRoll &#8211; Image Credit: CineD Cartoni HyperRoll Explained – Skate Wheels for Any Camera Cage, NATO Rail Mounting, Lockable Wheel Angles (01:13:33 in the episode) High-end skateboard wheels on NATO rails, with angles you can lock on each wheel for repeatable moves – from a smartphone cage up to an ARRI ALEXA. Nino thinks the HyperRoll would have made much bigger waves during the slider and tabletop dolly hype ten years ago. Johnnie&#8217;s question is the price, at around €700 for the kit. Elisabetta from Cartoni told us they simply can&#8217;t make it cheaper without compromising on the bearings and wheels. Full disclosure: our own review is in progress, and Cartoni has already acted on our feedback. The kit now comes in a bag instead of a box, and a new U-shaped accessory takes larger cameras like the FX6 or camcorder-style bodies. Read more: Cartoni HyperRoll Explained Vocas EL-40 Eyepiece Loupe for the Sony PXW-Z300 Introduced – Magnetic Tool-Free Mount, Flip-Up Design, Swappable Camera Attachments (01:22:38 in the episode) Our Dutch friends at Vocas made a magnetic, tool-free loupe for the Sony PXW-Z300 that flips up and comes with a diopter. It&#8217;s a bit pricey, but it makes the camcorder usable on the shoulder again. There are versions for other cameras too, including the FX6, BURANO and Canon C400. Read more: Vocas EL-40 Eyepiece Loupe for the Sony PXW-Z300 Introduced NIPROS VEGA-R Fiber Adapter for RED KOMODO Introduced – Zero-Latency 12G-SDI, Analog Optical Transmission, 1GbE Control (01:24:13 in the episode) NIPROS is well established in Japan and now pushing into the West. The VEGA-R turns a RED KOMODO into a broadcast camera, with zero-latency 12G-SDI over analog fibre and 1GbE control. NIPROS also makes adapters for larger broadcast cameras and PTZ cameras like the Sony FR7. Shout-outs go to RAID, NIPROS&#8217; distributor in Japan, and to Greg Smokler, who is helping the company in the West. Read more: NIPROS VEGA-R Fiber Adapter for RED KOMODO Introduced FUJIFILM VF-GFXC2 Viewfinder for the GFX ETERNA 55 Explained – Native 4:3 OLED, Two Display Modes, Single-Cable Connection (01:26:10 in the episode) A viewfinder was one of our first requests for the GFX ETERNA 55, and FUJIFILM involved us throughout its development. It&#8217;s a 2048 x 1536, 4:3 OLED with 1,000 nits, and the image is so good that Nino didn&#8217;t need peaking, even with a very fast lens on a large sensor. The catch: it uses a proprietary connector, and the camera has only one, so it&#8217;s either the EVF or the monitor. Mark from FUJIFILM told Nino that compatibility with other cameras is the top request, but not an easy one. Pricing isn&#8217;t set yet, but it sounds competitive. Read more: FUJIFILM VF-GFXC2 Viewfinder for the GFX ETERNA 55 Explained Libec Q30B and Q50B. Image credit: CineD Libec Q30B and Q50B Explained – Quick Deploy Ring, 45kg Payload, Dust-Proof Spreader Locks (01:31:32 in the episode) Pull one control on the mid-spreader and all three legs deploy and lock – instead of one lever per leg, as on most quick tripods. Johnnie credits Libec for developing its own mechanism instead of copying others, tested for more than a year in the Arizona desert. There&#8217;s a 75mm version for €460 and a 100mm version for €620, more affordable than the yen pricing we first reported. Read more: Libec Q30B and Q50B Explained Profoto ProPanel 3×2 Accessories Introduced – 6x6ft SnapBag L, 40° SnapGrid S, Truss Clamp Kit (01:34:07 in the episode) The huge ProPanel 3&#215;2, which Graham reviewed for us and which costs close to $15,000, now gets a 6x6ft SnapBag L and a 40° SnapGrid S. Profoto makes them under licence from DoPchoice. Read more: Profoto ProPanel 3×2 Accessories Introduced DigitalFoto THANOS-PROCINE ELITE Camera Stabilizing System Introduced – 30Kg Payload, Improved Arm & Vest, and More (01:35:15 in the episode) We talked to Malcolm – the stabiliser operator and cinematographer you may know from Johnnie&#8217;s GFX ETERNA 55 review in London – about DigitalFoto&#8217;s new system, with an improved arm and vest over its predecessor. Johnnie thinks the price is very competitive, and Malcolm wouldn&#8217;t put his face on something that doesn&#8217;t work. Read more: DigitalFoto THANOS-PROCINE ELITE Camera Stabilizing System Introduced DigitalFoto Battery Handles for DJI Osmo Pocket and Insta360 Luna Introduced – 5000mAh, 20W Quick Charge, Color Display (01:36:50 in the episode) 5,000mAh, 20W quick charge, and a colour display showing the handle&#8217;s charge and temperature – solving the problem that you never know how much is left in DJI&#8217;s own battery handle. DigitalFoto also makes a wireless video transmitter that attaches to the Pocket over USB-C. Read more: DigitalFoto Battery Handles for DJI Osmo Pocket and Insta360 Luna Introduced Battery charger comparison. Image credit: CineD Rolux Foldable Dual V-Mount Charger Introduced – 100W USB-C Input, Fanless Design, 780g (01:38:40 in the episode) V-mount chargers are too big to travel with – we left ours at home for IBC. Rolux&#8217;s folds down small, is fanless, takes 100W over USB-C, weighs 780g and works with any V-mount battery. Read more: Rolux Foldable Dual V-Mount Charger Introduced CAME-TV Hub Pro Announced – 32-Headset Intercom Expansion, XLR Audio, 30-Hour Battery (01:40:28 in the episode) On its own, a CAME-TV master headset supports eight remote headsets. The Hub Pro takes that to up to 32 headsets, in separate groups, within about a kilometre of the base. The price isn&#8217;t final, with $400–500 mentioned; the KUMINIK8 Pro headset costs $128. Nino: there has never been a better time to get affordable wireless intercom. Read more: CAME-TV Hub Pro Announced SIRUI Aurora 15mm f/1.6 and 24mm f/1.4 Full-Frame Autofocus Lenses Unveiled (01:43:38 in the episode) Two wide additions to SIRUI&#8217;s full-frame autofocus primes, expected at $500–600 (or euros) each, with no final price yet. Johnnie likes the series – &#8220;something milky but still sharp enough&#8221; – and would use it on higher-end productions. SIRUI is part of the L-Mount Alliance, so the L-mount versions work with any L-mount camera. Read more: SIRUI Aurora 15mm f/1.6 and 24mm f/1.4 Full-Frame Autofocus Lenses Unveiled The Secret That Doesn’t Matter – Hitchcock’s MacGuffin in Screenwriting, Then and Now (01:44:59 in the episode) Our educational article of the week: Mascha on the MacGuffin, the object or idea that characters chase to drive a story forward. Hitchcock used one in almost every film, and there are more in Casablanca and in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. Once you know the idea, you&#8217;ll find one in almost every film. Read more: The Secret That Doesn’t Matter – Hitchcock’s MacGuffin in Screenwriting, Then and Now Where do you stand – is OpenAI buying Glass Imaging a sign of good things to come for image quality, or are you more excited about one person building a CCD camera in a wooden box? Let us know in the comments below or on YouTube, email us at podcast@cined.com, and don&#8217;t forget to subscribe to Focus Check on your favourite podcast platform.

Film AI

Get Film AI signals in your inbox

Deploy Autonomous AI Capabilities & Skills Runtimes

Related desks