Cameron Moll's Blog, page 24

The Film Sessions: A Mixtape for Designers

Blake Allen, a man with impeccably good taste in music and the founder of Designers.MX, has just posted my mixtape: The Film Sessions, Volume One.

I'm a film score nut. For a short time during college I was a music major with aspirations of becoming a composer for films. Obviously, I never made the cut, so I live out glory days gone by through collecting and arrange scores that others have composed. Sure, I enjoy indie rock as much as anyone else while working, but I also enjoy relaxing instrumental pieces as a soundtrack to my workday.

Over the past couple weeks I've carefully edited, deleted, and arranged the 10 tracks in my mix. I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I do. I'm three songs into arranging Volume Two, assuming enough of you enjoy the first volume.

A few tracks have been edited to select only the part of the score that I felt was a strong complement to the others in the mix — and to the overall feel of the mix. Track 2, for example, from James Newton Howard's score for The Village, begins at the 2:36 mark. At that moment in the piece, the introduction is so aurally stunning that I never tire of beginning the song at that very moment.

So, go have a listen. When you're done, check out Blake's Movie Music mix for further listening. And because a few of you may ask, the cover art is a photo from my Instagram feed and the typeface is Knockout by Hoefler & Frere-Jones.

Hiring: Mobile App Developer at msnbc.com

Hiring: Mobile App Developer at msnbc.com:

True story: I almost accepted a job at msnbc.com several years ago — after having turned down one at Apple — merely because I was so impressed by the team's culture and innovative thinking. Here's your chance to work on their startup-like Labs team to help shape the way news is presented online.

Final Cut Pro X: $299

Final Cut Pro X: $299:

Due out in June, Final Cut Pro X is a 64-bit upgrade with a much-needed overhaul to the 90s-esque UI. And the price? That's a substantial cut, especially given the current Studio package runs $1,000. It will probably sell as a standalone product rather than bundled with Motion, Soundtrack, etc. Even then, my $200 Final Cut Express software just became obsolete.

The Real Lesson of Cisco's Billion-Dollar Flip Debacle

The Real Lesson of Cisco's Billion-Dollar Flip Debacle:

Michael Mace, partly refuting the assumption all of us made after yesterday's "RIP Flip" announcement:

Most online analysis of the announcement doesn't really explain what happened. The consensus is that Flip was doomed by competition with smartphones, but that says more about the mindset of the tech media than it does about Cisco's actual decisions. I think the reality is that Cisco just doesn't know how to manage a consumer business….

Cisco is an outstanding company, and an excellent place to work. But it screams respectable enterprise hardware supplier. To someone from a funky consumer company, going there would feel like having your heart ripped out and replaced with a brick.

However, Michael doesn't completely avoid the assumption that smartphone competition led to the demise of Flip:

If Pure Digital had remained independent, would it have innovated quickly enough? Maybe not; it's very hard for a young company to think beyond the product that made it successful. But merging with Cisco, and going through all of the associated disruptions, probably made the task almost impossible.

And finally:

The lesson in all of this: If you're at an enterprise company that wants to enter the consumer market, or vice-versa, you need to wall off the new business completely from your existing company. Different management, different financial model, different HR and legal.

#1D4D

#1D4D:

Today is One Day For Design, an initiative by AIGA. Add the hashtag #1D4D to your tweets to join in the conversation, or simply filter tweets by #1D4D to follow along.

The Hobbit: Filming at 48 fps

The Hobbit: Filming at 48 fps:

I tweeted about this earlier, but it's worth repeating here so I can excerpt a few highlights. On Facebook, director Peter Jackson describes why 24 fps (frames per second) — the standard frame rate used in nearly every major motion picture — is an antiquated practice:

Originally, 24 fps was chosen based on the technical requirements of the early sound era. I suspect it was the minimum speed required to get some audio fidelity out of the first optical sound tracks. They would have settled on the minimum speed because of the cost of the film stock. 35mm film is expensive, and the cost per foot (to buy the negative stock, develop it and print it), has been a fairly significant part of any film budget.

So we have lived with 24 fps for 9 decades — not because it's the best film speed (it's not by any stretch), but because it was the cheapest speed to achieve basic acceptable results back in 1927 or whenever it was adopted.

Currently Jackson is shooting The Hobbit at 48 fps. Live TV is 30 fps, so I would imagine 48 fps is comparable. It does, however, lack the "film look" many of us appreciate with motion pictures. Here's Jackson's take on that:

Film purists will criticize the lack of blur and strobing artifacts, but all of our crew — many of whom are film purists — are now converts. You get used to this new look very quickly and it becomes a much more lifelike and comfortable viewing experience. It's similar to the moment when vinyl records were supplanted by digital CDs. There's no doubt in my mind that we're heading towards movies being shot and projected at higher frame rates.

I'm not sure I'll be a convert, but I can't say without seeing it. Just as I tweeted, we'll either love it or hate. Kudos to Jackson for giving us the chance to judge with such a major motion picture.

Hand-drawn Web Icon Set

Hand-drawn Web Icon Set:

A set of 247 icons (32px and 128px sizes) with a hand-drawn feel. Free for commercial and personal use. Created by the Poland-based designers at 177 Designs.

WG Watercolor Brush Set

WG Watercolor Brush Set:

A nice set of 20 high-resolution Photoshop brushes.

Chromeography

Chromeography:

"In praise of the chrome logos and lettering affixed to vintage automobiles and electric appliances." The archives are a wealth of inspiration. Curated by Stephen Coles.

Coming Soon: Brief, a WooThemes Template

I've handed over several PSDs to the crew at WooThemes, a leading source for customizable WordPress themes. I'm quite pleased with how my WordPress template, which I've called Brief, turned out. It's now up to their exceptional front-end team to turn my designs into markup and make adjustments as necessary.

Besides embracing a minimalist approach for this project, I had another goal in mind for my template. I expressed the following in early conversations with WooThemes:

I'd like this design to appeal to more than just the web designer crowd, i.e. light on rounded corners, gradients, big buttons, and the like. If a graphic designer selling letterpress prints were to use this template — in addition to the guy creating icons and UI screens — I would be elated.

I think, or rather I hope, I've pulled that off. Look for the Brief WordPress theme in the WooThemes store soon.