Congratulations to all the attendees of last week’s After Effects Expert training at the studio, you’ve earned your expert wings in the first of such courses we’ve run. Jerry Leer, a top-flight Adobe trainer, was here from London for five days’ in-depth training in VfX, motion graphics and compositing. Thank you Jerry, you really know your stuff.

The training went through the whole workflow and covered areas such as text animation, chroma key and motion tracking. Five days’ work culminated in shooting on our green screen then compositing the footage into a 3D virtual set that the trainees built themselves.

One of the important lessons in using an application like After Effects is to learn to be as mechanical and structured as possible. As Jerry explained, After Effects itself isn’t creative. Part of the skill in this is using the mouse as little as possible – that means shortcut keys. So below is a list we’ve compiled of the most important shortcut keys (on Mac) for After Effects. Hopefully we haven’t missed any.

And here’s the full list from Adobe (PC and Mac).

Congratulations to all the attendees of last week’s After Effects Expert training at the studio. Jerry Leer, a top-flight Adobe trainer, was here from London for five days’ in-depth training in VfX, motion graphics and compositing. Thank you Jerry, you really know your stuff.

The training went through the whole workflow and covered areas such as text animation, chroma key and motion tracking. Five days’ work culminated in shooting on our green screen then compositing the footage into a 3D virtual set that the trainees built themselves.

One of the important lessons in using an application like After Effects is to learn to be as mechanical and structured as possible. As Jerry explained, After Effects itself isn’t creative. Part of the skill in this is using the mouse as little as possible – that means shortcut keys. So below is a list we’ve compiled of the most important shortcut keys (on Mac) for After Effects. Hopefully we haven’t missed any.

And here’s the full list from Adobe (PC and Mac).

MediaZoo are hosting a number of various film and comedy events over the two weekends of Belfast Fringe on the 14th-16th October and 21st-23rd October.

Jason O’Neill | Biscuits & Wine

Jason O’Neill has been making people laugh since 2003 when he caught the comedy bug after an open spot in the infamous Empire Comedy Club in Belfast. Later that year he got to the semi finals of the BBC new comedy awards, he also made the semi finals of so you think you’re funny at the Edinburgh festival. A regular performer in Dublin and Belfast comedy clubs. From the sublime to the absurd Jason does it all brilliantly. Jason has performed with some of Irelands top comedians such as: Des Bishop, PJ Gallagher, Neil Delamere, Colin Murphy and Andrew Maxwell.
Media Zoo Studios, Unit 21 Weaver’s Court Fri 14th Oct 8pm (doors 7:30pm) £5 BYO Facebook Event

The 15 Second Film Festival @ Media Zoo Studios

The cinema of distraction is here! The 15 sec Film Festival utilises today’s shrinking attention span, showcasing the best home-grown filmmaking talent in our micro-short films. Punters can view a show-reel of our 15 sec films in either our 2 seater Art Deco Mini Mogul Cinema or projected on our big screen. We will also provide tours of our studio, refreshments, filmmaking tips and much more.
Media Zoo Studios, Unit 21 Weaver’s Court Sat 15th + Sat 22nd Oct 2–5pm running time: 3hrs £3

Morgan Hearst | Failed Human

A brand new stand up comedy show from Morgan Hearst. Hilarious – Newry Democrat. Hearst has some genuinely funny material about the indignities attendant when life kicks you while you’re down – Culture Northern Ireland. The Carrickfergus man is the go-to guy for confessional rants -
Alternative Ulster Magazine.
Media Zoo Studios, Unit 21 Weaver’s Court Sun 16th Oct 8–9pm (doors 7:30pm) £3 BYO Facebook Event, Website

Marcus Keeley | I Was Dark and It Was Drunk

Marcus Keeley is a stand-up, writer, poet, film-maker and general dissenter. He relays his estranged musings on contemporary life and personal failures in an irrepressibly cynical, deviant and charming fashion. Unflinching, honest, hilarious – Seamus Fox. Darkly funny, all the bitter wisdom of a reborn Philip Larkin.
- Big Laughs, Belfast.
Media Zoo Studios, Unit 21 Weaver’s Court Fri 21st Oct 8pm (doors 7:30pm) running time: 90min £3 BYO, Buy Tickets, Facebook Event

Audio Picnic

Four of the fastest rising comedians in the land come together for a one off extravaganza. Sean Hegarty, Shane Todd, Micky Bartlett and Colin Geddis (I Am Fighter’s “Barry ‘The Blender’ Henderson”) have been taking comedy all over Ireland by storm in the last year, a show not to be missed.
Media Zoo Studios, Unit 21 Weavers Court Sat 22nd Oct 8.30pm / running time130 min £8 Facebook

Yes And Presents…A Show

Comedy improvisation from Belfast’s only comedy impro group. The spontaneous creation of comic scenes, sketches and skits based on suggestions from the audience. We don’t know what the show will be about as it will be based on your suggestions.
Media Zoo Studios, Unit 21 Weaver’s Court Sun 23rd Oct 7:30–9pm £3 BYO Buy Tickets, Facebook Event

In partnership with our good friends at Filmbase (Dublin), the studio is running a five-day Masterclass in Adobe After Effects. Jerry Leer, one of the UK’s most respected trainers, will raise your skill level to a high standard, and prepare you for an official Adobe certification exam to become an ACE (Adobe Certified Expert). The course also has an exclusive hands-on green screen / chroma key training module, run from the professional film studio at MediaZoo.

Course Dates: Mon 24th – Fri 28th October, 2011
Venue: MediaZoo Studios

Applicants may be eligible for a 75% bursary from Northern Ireland Screen, taking the course fee down to £337.50 – a bargain for five intensive days with a Master Trainer. Price includes textbook, course notes, and official Adobe ACE exam (taken at a later date). Full course fee (without bursary): £1,350.

The course is suitable for all skill levels but a basic working knowledge of Creative Suite and/or After Effects would be beneficial. Please register your interest at Bookings@MediaZoo.ie

Full course details are available here.

We took the 15 Second Film Festival to Northern Ireland’s largest cultural event last month, to showcase our latest object of enchantment: the Inflatable Cinema. We produced several show-reels for the Belfast Mela, featuring the best in Indian, Polish and Irish short films.

The Inflatable Cinema debut was a sell-out success and will be making lots of future appearances.

We’re currently borrowing the only Inflatable Cinema of its kind in the world, but we’ve ordered a brand new one for our touring New Media Roadshow/ Itinerant Cinematic Sideshow. This thirty-person cinema has been designed and is being built for us in the Netherlands by the pioneering architect Lambert Kamps.

The Belfast Mela was created in 2007, by ArtsEkta, Northern Ireland’s leading ethnic arts organization. It has since become established as an unmissable highlight in Belfast’s festival line-up and has rapidly reached status as Northern Ireland’s largest multi-cultural festival, attracting a collective number of 60,000 visitors over four years.

Why not hire the Inflatable Cinema for your event? Email Nikki at info@mediazoo.ie for more information.

A test shoot for the world-leading production company HBO was conducted in the studio, for the successful series Game of Thrones, testing green screen lighting in a medieval indoor scene.

The 1969 Apollo moon landings were recreated in the green screen studio, as part of 360 Production’s highly creative and challenging series of historical shoots.

Making History: Recreating the Moon Landing from 360 production on Vimeo.

Only the second of its kind in the world, we launched our inflatable cinema at this year’s Belfast Mela in Botanic Park, Belfast, on Sun 28 Aug.

The world’s smallest cinema has had guests queuing for a viewing at festivals all over Ireland, and now we’re seeking financial support to take up invitations all over the world, including the U.S. and Scandinavia.