The Amman Filmmakers Cooperative

June 22, 2009

E-NEWSLETTER

1) Correction to EUROMED Report about Cinema Caravan
2) Quality Freeware tools save the day, from freewaregenius.com
3) Panasonic's DSLR that shoots HD with 35mm quality
4) Royal Film Commission of Jordan to have exclusivity over government AV
productions

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1) Correction to EUROMED Report about Cnema Caravan and the Cooperative

A EUROMED reports titled "Commission Staff Working Document Accompanying The
Communication From The Commission To The European Parliament And The Council -
Jordan Progress" reported incorrectly that "Within the framework of regional
programme Euro-Med Audiovisual II, a third edition of the Cinema Caravan was
organised in August 2008. The programme provided training for members of the
Amman Filmmakers Cooperative helping to establish links with the Ministry of
Culture and the Royal Film Commission."

No such training was provided or requested by the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative
from Cinema Caravan. The Amman Filmmakers Cooperative has no members or
membership. We have graduates of our educational program and/or beneficiaries of
our production services.

Cooperative graduates had benefited from other valuable Euromed programs such
workshops by Mediterranean Films Crossing Borders and travel grants to workshops
and festivals.

EUROMED Jordan report:
http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/pdf/progress2009/sec09_517_en.pdf

For other corrections:
http://jordanianfilms.com/mar-05-09-corrections.htm

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2) Quality multimedia & productivity tools save the day, from freewaregenius.com

Without a doubt, Freewaregenius.com has become our first stop for freeware
productivity tools be it office automation or multimedia or simply plain fun.
The website and services are managed by founder Samer Al-Kurdi who has done an
outstanding job updating his directory of useful freeware tools as well as
testing them to make sure they are free of malware. Visitors will find tools
such as WinCDEmu: a utility to mount disk/ISO images by double-clicking them in
Windows explorer. JPEG to PDF: a tool to convert JPGs to PDFs quickly and
easily. Faststone Capture: a screenshot capturing utility that can capture the
entire desktop, individual windows or objects as scrolling areas offscreen.
CCleaner: (Crap Cleaner) removes all sorts of unused files, temp files, cookies,
log files, cached files and other files from your computer. Free Easy CD DVD
Burner: Free Easy Burner is a CD/DVD burning and authoring program that supports
burning data and audio CD’s and DVD’s, copying CD’s and DVD’s (by
ripping and burning ISO’s), and Ripping audio CD’s into MP3’s.
MediaMonkey: MediaMonkey is an advanced music manager comprising a music player,
cd ripper, audio converter, ID3 Tag editor, and playlist generator. It also
supports external MP3 players, including the Ipod. Photology: automagically
finds images in huge image libraries. Photology scans all images and applies a
number of innovative filters such as faces, color, location, time of day,
exposure, etc. to find results. And much much more.

Freeware Genius Official Website:
http://www.freewaregenius.com

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3) Panasonic turns tables with LUMIX GH1, the still that shoots HD with 35mm
quality

For a while now, owners of digital still cameras had to contend with mediocre
video recording. Few argued with the video limitations of still cameras on the
grounds that a still camera shoots stills. A video camera shoots videos. Yet
videographers drooled over the possibility of using DSLR capabilities with video
recording at a DSLR budget.

Now, Panasonic has rocked the boat with its latest DSLR the Lumix DMC-GH1. This
digital camera does still photography as well as HD video, with an external mic
and interchangeable lenses, overcoming many of the limitations faced by other
manufacturers. Some users went as far as saying this Panasonic camera has sent
high end video manufacturers such as RED back to the drawing board. Here are
some of the reviews:

"The 12.1-megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 ($1,499.95 direct with Lumix G Vario
HD 14-140mm/F4.0-5.8 lens) isn't just a solid D-SLR"it's also a darn good HD
camcorder. In a well-lit environment, the camera can produce high-quality still
images, but it can also easily and silently refocus while capturing HD video"a
feat other D-SLRs have failed to master. No other camera we've seen makes
shooting video this simple." -- PC MAGAZINE

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346029,00.asp

"The HD branding on the kit lens is an indication that it, too, is an important
piece of the high-def video capabilities of the DMC-GH1. Specifically, the LUMIX
G VARIO HD 14-140mm/F4.0-5.8 ASPH./MEGA O.I.S offers compatibility with the
GH1's continuous autofocusing functionality, and features a low-noise AF motor
so as to keep focusing sounds to a minimum, and not detract from the audio
portion of videos captured with the GH1. Panasonic hasn't stopped at just
offering continuous AF during movie recording in the Lumix GH1, either.
Incredibly, the camera can use features such as Face Detection (linked to AF /
AE / white balance), as well as Intelligent Exposure, Optical Image
Stabilization, and even an Intelligent Scene Selector function -- all while
recording videos! Panasonic's press materials also seem to suggest that still
images can be captured during video recording, although it isn't clear as to
whether this involves any interruption of the video, nor whether full-res still
capture is possible during an ongoing video." -- IMAGINING RESOURCES

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/DMCGH1/DMCGH1A.HTM

RELATED LINKS

- Sample Video shot on Panasonic LUMIX GH1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ8YVKcMEQA

- Panasonic Official Website and Camera spec's
http://www.panasonic.net/avc/lumix/systemcamera/gms/gh1/index.html

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4) Royal Film Commission of Jordan to have exclusive over government AV
productions

Jordan's official newspaper Addustor reported that Jordanian Prime Minister
Nader Dhahabi ordered his government to channel any audiovisual production
projects to the Royal Film Commission of Jordan, citing the Commission's
competitive prices and expertise in the field of audiovisual production.


ADDUSTOR: Jordanian Royal Film Commission to have exclusive over government AV
productions

http://tinyurl.com/govfilm

Royal Film Commission of Jordan
http://www.film.jo
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