New tool: Aspect Ratio Calc

We've just added a new online tool to the site. Aspect Ratio Calc allows you to calculate the aspect ratio of various film and video formats. It also offers you the ability to work out the pixel width or height of the footage based on the aspect ratio.

This tool is very useful in ensuring that you are meeting the standards specified by your broadcaster or distributor, and also to make sure that you are delivering at the correct resolution and aspect ratio when creating CG footage from scratch.

It is available in standard and iPhone versions. We also have tools for calculating the disk space taken up by video footage and calculating the number of film reels needed to shoot a certain number of hours of footage. See our Resources section for more details.

New site design

We just launched our new site design. The old design was variable-width which meant that sometimes it looked a little strange when viewed on very large monitors. Our new design maintains the same width, solving the issue and looking more attractive at the same time.

We also have a brand new home page which is designed to give you quick access to the most popular pages on the site. In addition, we have split our service section into individual pages, allowing us to fill them with a lot more information than before. The purpose of the new design was to make the site more professional and increase its usefulness and we think this was achieved. Help us improve it even further by telling us what you think of it, either in the comments section of this post or on the feedback link at the bottom of every page.

Please note that there may be some issues over the next few days as a result of the upgrade and we appreciate your patience as we attempt to fix them, but overall the transition has been very smooth.

Tool bug fixes - improved browser support

I made a few bug fixes today to the web tools we offer. I had had a couple of reports of them not working at all for some people but I couldn't work out why that would be. Turns out that MS Internet Explorer differs slightly to Firefox and Safari on how it processes certain aspects of Javascript code. These issues are now fixed and the tools will work for Internet Explorer users now.

I also improved the XML validity of the mobile versions so these should be a little less browser-fussy now.

I owe it all to a little tool called ie4osx that allows you to run Internet Explorer 5 and up on an Intel Mac through Darwine. It's really useful for me because you don't have to install an entire operating system just to use one program. It comes highly recommended

The tools are located in the Resources section of the site.

A quick note on Feedback

We've been getting a lot of feedback recently about the site which has enabled us to improve it significantly based on your suggestions.

The feedback form at the bottom of every page is intended to be anonymous. The only thing we log is your IP address in order to prevent abuse, but this cannot be directly linked to a person (well, it can but only to law enforcement officials and not mere mortals). So if you report a problem or ask a question, there is no possible way for us to reply or assist you directly, as we have no way of contacting you. If you have a question or problem that would require a reply, please include your email address in the message so that we can contact you.

I'm writing this post because this has happened a LOT and I don't want to give the impression that we have poor customer support - it's just that we physically have no way of getting back to you unless you specifically provide it.

Thanks to everyone who submitted feedback.

New site feature: Glossary

We've now got a Post Production Glossary up and running at the site. This is intended as a reference for our clients and we hope it will give people more of an insight into the post production process and any complex terms we may use. We will be updating it regularly.

If you can think of anything we're missing or spot a mistake, please click on the Feedback link at the bottom of the page. As always, your views are highly appreciated.

Offline tools

We've had a lot of requests for this, and it took a while but your wishes have now been granted: we are now offering offline versions of our tools.

This means that you can use them in the field even when you are not near a wi-fi point. It's very easy: you go to the resources section, click the "Offline version" link for the tool of your choice and then bookmark the resulting link in your browser. You can then access the page and all of its functions without needing to be connected to the internet.

Please note that we are constantly updating and improving our tools and often times the changes will not be immediately obvious, so it is advisable to update your bookmarks regularly to make sure you are not running an outdated version.

Footage Calc (offline)
Film Rate Calc (offline)

New tool features

We've updated our online tools to allow you to link not just to the page but specific settings as well. This is great for showing friends, clients or colleagues the results of the calculation without having to get them to give them settings to enter manually.

Just click the "Link to this calculation" link at the bottom of the page you can then copy the location from the address bar on your browser and pass it on to someone else.

The updated tools are here:
Footage Calc
Film Rate Calc

And their mobile equivalents are here:
Footage Calc Mobile
Film Rate Calc Mobile

As always, use the feedback function at the bottom of the page to give us your suggestions.

New Tool: Film Rate Calculator

We've just released a new online tool to our Resources section, Film Rate Calc.

This tool enables you to calculate the amount of film required to shoot for a certain amount of time, and vice versa. This is really useful in planning the most efficient use of your film and should be in any script supervisor's toolkit.

We also offer a mobile version for those on the move. It's aesthetically designed for the iPhone but should work on any modern phone browser.

As always, we appreciate your feedback and will use it to improve our tools. Just use the link at the bottom of each page to tell us what you think.

Minor site updates

I made a couple of minor updates to the site last night and this morning.

Firstly, and most importantly, I have fixed the contact form. I had no idea it was broken and I think it had been like that for quite some time. I apologize to anyone who was unable to contact us for that time.

I have also made some updates to the Footage Calc app based on feedback I received through the feedback form that is now at the bottom of every page.

Changes:
* Fixed a bug that caused the wrong resolution to be displayed.
* Added support for ProRes codecs.
* Added support for various Avid DNxHD and Meridien codecs.

We now have a non-iPhone version here.

I am also working on improving browser compatibility on the whole site. I haven't had any reports of incompatibilities yet but I have noticed a couple of areas that could possibly cause issues.

As always, we encourage you to give as much feedback as possible because it enables us to make our services even better for you.

New site feature: Feedback

We've made a minor update to the site today. Every page now has a link at the bottom that allows you to submit feedback about that particular page.

We want to hear from you about how we can improve our site and the online services we offer. We figured that the most effective way to obtain feedback was to make it as quick and simple as possible so you do not have to login, enter any personal details or navigate away from the page. It's very simple.

Please note that the feedback form is for site feedback only. If you want to contact us about anything else, use our contact form instead.