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DV Magazine, founded in 1993, was for over twenty years the "go-to" source for emerging and evolving digital video. John wrote for DV for over a decade as contributing editor, and became a popular speaker at the annual DV Expo held in LA and NYC. He was a lead admin for the popular DV.com Forums. The magazine went through several ownership changes during the era that John was contributing editor; at one point, CMP redesigned their website and decided to wipe the archive of earlier articles. The magazine was sold to Creative Planet in 2005, and eventually CP phased out the magazine and discontinued the DV.com website and DV.com Forums. We are working to add scans of original articles where possible, and at least the text of other articles - focusing on features and tutorials that are still very relevant.
Shout out to former colleagues Kimberly Reed, Adam Wilt, and Bruce Johnson!
DV Magazine Feature Articles
Note: List is not complete.
DV Goes to the Opera
Feature, September 2001
Video images have long been incorporated into live performance. But how do you generate an entire opera set with digital video?
What's a Legal Color?
Feature, October 2001
Rigid definitions of NTSC Color
Does Your Codec Scale?
Feature, December 2001
Review of DV Codecs and the durability of compressed images
Creating Legal Stills, Pt. 1
Feature, November 2001
How to create great-looking, broadcast-legal still images.
Creating Legal Stills, Part 2
Feature, December 2001
How to eliminate unsightly artifacts from interlaced images.
Case Study: Eighteenth-Century Map
Feature, December 2001
Case study of creating video-legal stills
Case Study: Etchings
Feature, December 2001
Case study of creating video-legal stills
Cameras
Feature, April 2002
What You Pay For; What You Get.
Lighting The Darkness
Feature, October 2002
Techniques for making night scenes look good.
How to Make Video Look like Film
Feature, December 2002
Creating video that resembles film isn't as hard as you think.
Keying 4:1:1 Footage
Feature, June 2003
With the right lighting techniques and keying software, you can pull a good matte from any digital video format, even DV.
HDV And The Future
Feature, January 2005
A look down the road for HDV.
HDV to Film: A Real-World Test
Feature, April 2005
An End-to-End Test of DV to the Silver Screen for a Low-Budget Film
This article became the basis of a professional training workshop at the 2006 NAB Convention in Las Vegas.
Reflections: Twenty-One Cinematographers At Work, by Benjamin Bergery
Feature, June 2005
A Book Review
DV Magazine Reviews
Note: List is not complete
Frezzi Dimmer Micro-Fill Kit
Review, February 2004
Dimmable On-camera Light for MiniDV CamcordersGood, professional on-camera light for miniDV camcorders. It's pricey, but built well. Self-powered and dimmable.
FireStore FS-1
Review, December 2002
Direct-to-Disk RecorderA really good value if it addresses your needs.
DigiMole 400 AC Pro Kit
Review, September 2002
HMI PAR Light Kit with Soft Bank A great option if you need a strong, daylight-balanced source or need to match daylight often. The most affordable 400W HMI on the market.
Magic Bullet
Review, November 2002
Film-Look Processing Plug-in for After Effects (Mac Only)Nice film-like color processing, filter emulation, and opticals. Clean telecine instead of grungy old-film look. You're in for long renders, though, and Windows users are out in the cold for the moment.
VTM-200
Review, October 2001
Multiformat Digital and Analog Test and Measurement Instrument
HDM-EV85
Review, August 2005
LCD HD Location Production MonitorA good option for HDV field production, though many will opt for monitoring down-res'd SD instead.
ShuttleXpress
Review, October 2005
A dandy, low-cost control option that makes clip editing easier.Jog/Shuttle Control
HVR-M10U
Review, August 2005
1080i HDV VTR A great deck for an HDV edit suite.
Two-Lite Mini Package
Review, March 2005
Dimmable LED On-Camera Light KitExcellent daylight soft light for pros with big budgets.
Edius HD
Review, January 2005
Real-Time SD and HD NLEA good, solid choice for entry into HD editing, especially for users who must work in both HD and SD. New HQ codec is nice.
Panasonic AJ-HD1200A
Review, March 2005
DVCPRO HD Deck with IEEE 1394 CardThis deck is superb for HD-SDI transfer, but IEEE 1394 remains a question mark for pro use.
Kino Flo ParaBeam 400
Review, March 2005
Studio Fluorescent Luminaire This is an excellent and cost-effective unit for studio installations; for portable gear, look elsewhere. The units are also available for rental directly from Kino Flo.
Test Gear 1.0
Review, August 2004
Signal Monitoring Plug-InGreat addition to your After Effects system. Latest versions, and a lot of memory and speed, are recommended.
System VJ20
Review, October 2003
Tripod System with Fluid HeadA good tripod choice for straightforward, reliable performance.
Matrox Parhelia
Review, September 2003
Triple-Head Video Display Card
zMatte
Review, June 2003
Chroma Keying SoftwareVery good choice for experienced users. Moderate price. Once you get the hang of it, zMatte produces fine composites.
AdvantEdge
Review, June 2003
Ultimatte AdvantEdge is an excellent option if you can justify the price.
dvMatte
Review, June 2003
Chroma Keying SoftwareEasy to use, but motion artifacts are noticeable.
540 ART Road Runner Tripod Legs
Review, June 2003
Carbon Fiber Two-Stage Tripod LegsA perfect solution for the run-and-gun shooter who needs fast setup and lightweight portability.
516 Pro Video Fluid Head
Review, June 2003
Quick-Release Fluid HeadA good solution for shooters who need smooth variable drag, but don't need the features of a $1000 head.
Softbank D1 Kit
Review, February 2003
Quartz Fresnel Lighting KitAn excellent choice for the documentarian who shoots mostly interviews.
Realtime DV Editing Boards
Review, January 2003
Realtime DV Editing BoardA good bet, especially if you like 3D DVEs and need chroma key and color-correction.Realtime DV Editing BoardGood, solid, basic performer for simpler editing and DVD creation, but not as powerful as the Matrox RT.X100 or Canopus DVStorm.Matrox RT.X100 and Pinnacle Pro-One RTDV Compared.
Multicam
Review, June 2002
Multicamera Editing SoftwareGood bet for the event videographer who does a lot of multicamera shoots. Unique.
Gyoury Light System
Review, May 2002
Fluorescent Light KitVery flexible, competitively priced, multiapplication fluorescent light kit.
The Real Meaning of Real
Review, February 2002
DV ponders the true meaning of realtime as we round up the latest DV-format capture boards.
Aspect HD
Review, July 2005
Real-Time HDV Editing Plug-In for Adobe Premiere ProIf you're moving to HDV, you'll find Aspect HD is a great editing solution that provides real-time previews and higher quality composites than native editing of MPEG-2 files.
DV Magazine Columns
Dissecting A Great Scene
Column, August 2003
Looking at the "La Marseilles" Scene in Casablanca
A Conspiracy of Noise and Distraction
Column, January 2004
What we can learn from unexpected bagpipers.
A Child's Primer on Field Production
Column, February 2004
A straightforward lesson on cookies, inkies, and X-wings.
Lighting Dark Skin
Column, May 2004
Dark skin shouldn't look washed out.
Gotta-Have Gadgets
Column, June 2004
Little tools we depend on.
Production Tales
Column, July 2004
How did you get into the business?
Dollies, Wheelchairs, and Wagons
Column, August 2004
How to bring smooth, horizontal camera motion into your productions.
The Craft of Lighting: Outdoors at High Noon
Column, September 2004
Fun in the sun with reflectors and butterflies.
The Craft of Lighting: Light For The Eyes
Column, April 2005
The French have a saying, "Les yeux sont le miroir de l'ame": The eyes are the mirror of the soul.
The Craft of Lighting: Hard or Soft Light?
Column, May 2005
When do you use hard light? When should you use soft light? What's the difference anyway?
The Craft of Lighting: Lighting Food Shots
Column, June 2005
Learn the basics of lighting food shots.
The Craft of Lighting: Lighting for Chroma Key
Column, August 2005
Part 1: Lighting the Background
The Craft of Lighting: Lighting for Chroma Key, Part 2: Lighting the Foreground
Column, September 2005
Techniques for lighting the foreground for chroma key.
The Craft of Lighting: The Noble British Physicist and the Color of Light
Column, October 2005
The Science of Light
The Craft of Lighting: Using Gels
Column, January 2006
An overview of using gels with lighting.