There's a new ultimate DV Rebel in the house

And his name is J. J. Abrams.

Magnum: The Edit Detector

Lloyd Alvarez has just released a super handy DV Rebel tool called Magnum—The Edit Detector. It's a script for After Effects CS3 that automatically finds edits in a layer by analyzing the imagery. It then either marks the edits with layer markers or slices the layer at the cut points.

The latter of course is a perfect first step to a DV Rebel grading workflow. Now you can easily get your cut into After Effects without worrying about EDLs or XML or whatever.

This process is known as "scene detection" in high-end grading systems, and now you've got in in After Effects. And it's free-as-in-beer. As in, Lloyd, I owe you one.

The BBC Are DV Rebels

This is making the rounds, and deservedly so. It's excellent work, just the sort of thing The DV Rebel's Guide is all about.

Some things to note, besides the obvious:

Notice how important the color correction is to the overall look and feel. You can see some of the shots prior to grading in the breakdown section, and they look OK, but not great. An aggressive grade hides a multitude of sins and turns war into WAR! (Chapter 6)

Ditto camera shake. Making the shots dynamic is genre-correct and hides the simple split-screen techniques. (Chapter 4)

These guys clearly had a plan. They knew what shots they needed and they went out and built them piece by piece. They started at the end and worked backward. (Chapter 1)

Last note: Look out. Soon a client or producer or both will come to you asking for the Omaha beach scene for a budget of three peoples' day rates. Notice that nowhere in the video do they mention how long the post took, or how many people it involved.

Thanks to Len for calling attention to this on the Rebel Café.

Stu at Macworld

Important edit: It's Wednesday, not Tuesday, that I'll be speaking both at the Peachpit booth and the FCPUG SuperMeet! D'oh. Further edit: I've updated the ProLost Google calendar with the correct info.

I will be mouthing off at Macworld SF next week.

On Wednesday at noon I'll be talking at the Peachpit booth about the good old Rebel's Guide.

Later that day I'll be rappin' at at the Macworld FCPUG SuperMeet (which is being sponsored in part by Adobe—figure that one out!). Doors open at 5 pm, event starts at 7 pm.