Reels in Motion Visual Effects News » Distribution

SIGGRAPH: Days Away

Scott Sullivan — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:58:41 +0000

Next week starts SIGGRAPH out on the West coast. We’ll keep you up to date with any announcements that we feel are newsworthy.

Big news is expected from Luxology, makers of the 3D program, modo. This is the announcement I’m waiting for the most.

© Scott Sullivan for Reels in Motion Visual Effects News, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Distribution, News, Technology.

Nine Inch Nails and the new distribution model

Scott Sullivan — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:37:47 +0000

Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails founder if for some reason you don’t know) has clearly got some forward thinking marketing and complete understanding of the future of the ‘new’ distribution model of the internet.

This past week, he released several versions of his latest album, Ghosts, a four volume set. The first nine songs (the entire first volume) was available as a high quality, DRM-free download - completely free! As in, free. The next option was, for $5, one could purchase the entire album as a digital download. Again, high quality (320kbps) file as an mp3 or AAC. And no copy protection on those files.

Finally, you can purchase, for $10, the actual CD. However… when you purchase the actual CD (which ships in April), you are given a link that allows you to immediately download the same high quality mp3 or AAC files as with the $5 purchase, and the CD will be shipped to you.

I think this is great forward thinking and he’s going to reap the benefits. After all, he’s doing all of this on his website. Not going through a record label.

This is just more mainstream evidence that content creators are beginning to distribute their work on their own. Whether it is a band like Nine Inch Nails or an independent film by any number of artists across the globe, we are seeing this trend rapidly grow.

And while the total number of sales are not as high as going through a record label (I believe Reznor sold 600,000 to 750,000 albums, well below the million album mark), they had several other benefits. They made more money (since they kept it all and didn’t give anything to the labels) and they were able to keep complete artistic control of their content both during production and then during the sales and beyond.

2008 will see many more mainstream bands breaking from the labels and releasing their music on their own. We will also see many more independent films released for either direct download or DVDs available for purchase on the film’s website.

What is even more exciting about this trend is small effects houses like ours have seen an explosion in new films being created and the level of quality has risen dramatically with the affordable HD cameras on the market. I love being able to work on these independent films in true HD, shot by a crew of independents with a vision.

It is an exciting time and we are in the very beginning of this revolution. Get ready for all the rules to be broken by the people, for the people!

Producing a Video Series: PreProduction - Build Your Shots

Scott Sullivan — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:05:35 +0000

Avoid Common Mistakes in Your Video
Try not to fall into the “look at me” attitude held by many editors. While that is what your audiences will be doing, it’s not what you want your viewers to be thinking. You want to guide their thinking and sell your story and your idea.

Instead, focus on your viewer. We just discussed details about this in the previous article in this series, but it’s worth repeating. Keep thinking what you can do for your client, not what they can do for you.

Don’t fall in love with your video. Whether you do your video yourself or you hire a video production company, don’t fall in love with your video so much that you get lost. It becomes very easy to focus on the trees and forget to look at the forest. It’s an overused phrase, but for good reason.

This is why feature films have initial screenings for select people. Directors will show their films to other directors, producers and editors for their input. After all they’ve been working on this project for months (sometimes years) and have become so involved that they sometimes have a hard time looking at their own film objectively.

So do what they do and invite honest criticism from close friends that you trust. You don’t want comments like, “Oh, looks great! I like it.” You should be looking for things like, “Ok, I like the tempo of the video, but this one shot tends to contrast too much with the others. Also, the spectator’s reaction is great in this shot, but you have a ketchup stain on your tie.” Look for honesty and specifics.

With these general tips out of the way, let me get this off my chest:

The 10 most common mistakes novice editors and filmmakers make with their cuts:

1. Bad Audio – If I can’t hear you, you just wasted the audience’s time. After all, would YOU watch a movie if you couldn’t hear it?
2. Out of Focus – Believe it or not, I have seen way too many videos with shots that are out of focus or go in and out of focus due to ‘autofocus’.
3. Too Slow or Too Much Dead Time – Anything that doesn’t add to your story takes away from your story. ‘Nuff said.
4. The Shaky Cam – Ok, if your audience feels motion sickness watching your video, you’ve got a problem. Some new films like the shaky cam look, but really, use a tripod. Trust me.
5. Performer/Talent is Too Small – I hate it when I watch a video of a stage and I think that I see a tiny little performer. Wide shots are great. They help establish location and setting. But you’ve got to cut to a tighter shot right after the wide shot.
6. Too Many Crazy Edits – I know we are in the age of fast edits, but if you cut too fast, I can’t even tell what you’re doing. This is actually a problem many magicians have while on stage – rushing their tricks. But that is a different book
altogether!
7. No Target Audience – The video is too general. Each video should be designed to hit a specific target audience. I don’t want to see college show material on the same tape as a trade show gig. You lose credibility.
8. Poor Lighting – This will be discussed in great detail later in the series, but, like number 2, if I can’t see your video, how can I like your video?
9. Bad continuity - Make sure you have a unified story and theme and stick with it. Don’t jump around and show everything just because you can. Confusion is your worst enemy. After all, you know what you want to say, but your audience doesn’t know what you are thinking unless you edit the video just right.
10. They didn’t hire me! Okay, not what you were looking for, but I’m only half joking. At least check out my website, ReelsInMotion.com for details and tips on producing a video. And my shameless plug: I not only produce promotional videos and specialize in visual effects and video magic, but also critique existing videos you may have.

Your Storyboard

A storyboard is a graphical representation of what you plan to shoot, all drawn out on paper. It usually looks similar to a comic strip. In fact, each frame in your storyboard will represent a different shot.

There are several reasons for drawing out a storyboard this early in the process. It helps you visualize your video early on
Allows you to see how certain shots will relate to each other You’ll be able to anticipate mistakes before they happen
During the actual shoot, this visual guide will help dramatically If you are hiring a crew (professional or friends), it helps you convey your ideas

You don’t need to hire a professional artist to draw up your storyboard. You can do it yourself.

How to storyboard your video

First, get a blank piece of paper, turn it sideways (lengthwise) and make several squares in two rows. Leave some room between the rows. Everything you want to include in your video will be drawn out in this storyboard.

Million Dollar Tip: Go over to your DVD collection and pop in any movie. Go to the “Behind the Scenes” section and see if they have a storyboarding alternate angle. I know the following have this feature: Matrix Reloaded (2003), Matrix Revolutions (2001), Unbreakable (2000).

Watch and see how they show the storyboard and how it compares to the actual movie. By switching back and forth, you can get an idea of how to use the storyboard to help create your video.

You do NOT need to have perfect drawings either. You can draw stick figures. It really doesn’t matter how good the drawings are. The main point is that you want to show all the different shots. Show a wide show. Show a closeup. Show an audience reaction Just as long as you can tell what they are. Use the extra space under each drawing
to describe the action in more detail.

Now, while you still have those DVDs out, get ready to receive a multi-million dollar lesson in film, moviemaking, storytelling and graphic design, all at once.

Get a million dollar education in video for $3.99

Put in your favorite DVD. Go to the special features. Now pull up the theatrical trailer for the movie. The TV trailers are good too, but only last for 30 seconds most of the time. You want the theatrical trailers (the previews they show before another movie) since they will be closer in length to your promo video.

Hollywood production companies will spend fortunes just on this one part of the film. Think about it. The theatrical trailer is the film equivalent of an entertainer’s promotional video. It takes a longer show (usually a 90 minute show) and shows you the most interesting parts in a quick “promo video” for the movie.

And it does it in just such a way that makes you want to go out and see their “show.”

Please don’t take this to mean just go out and copy what they did in the latest action flick. You’ll learn more by watching how they used lighting, camera angles, music and even colors to create a “mood.”

For example, low camera angles make the subject look powerful. Higher angles make the subject look weaker. Orson Wells used both of these examples wonderfully in Citizen Kane (1941). I would highly recommend watching this classic. Even today it is still a great film.

Go through your video and performance in your mind and think like you are making a movie. How would you, as a director, film each portion of your act to make it as dramatic (or comedic) as possible?

Also, watch how the camera moves. You’ll notice in almost every movie you watch there is one something missing. The zoom. The guys in Hollywood will not use a zoom. In fact, film cameras have a fixed lens – they cannot zoom in. Instead they use what’s called a “dolly shot.” The entire camera is on a miniature train track and the entire unit is rolled towards or away from an actor.

By using this technique of moving the actual camera instead of just zooming in, you can create a more dynamic shot. There is more action and the viewer feels like they are moving towards the subject. You can tell the difference by watching the background image. Does it just “get bigger?” This is a zoom. Does the background move as the
subject grows? This is a dolly shot.

So get a feel for how the camera can be used. This will give you many ideas that can be directly applied to your video.

As you do this, brainstorm and make a list. Don’t limit yourself. Even if you get a crazy idea like doing a “bullet time” effect (that freeze frame three dimensional effect used in all the Matrix films), write it down. Try not to get in the habit of limiting yourself.

The Future is Blu

Scott Sullivan — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:35:44 +0000

We’ve reported in several posts that Blu-ray was gaining in popularity. This is one reason why last year, we switched entirely to Blu-ray (and I went into this a bit in depth here.

If there was any doubt that the HD format war has ended, the latest news should put it to rest. According to WIRED:

Toshiba put HD-DVD out of its misery today. Reuters confirmed this afternoon that it will cease manufacturing HD-DVD equipment, following earlier reports from Japan’s NHK public broadcasting network.

Reportedly, this was in response to the Warner Brothers switch to Blu-Ray and last weeks announcements by Blockbuster, Netflix and WalMart dropping HD-DVD as well. I think that the only major player in the HD-DVD camp right now is Microsoft. Oh well. That will be like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
In the end, they will also join Blu-Ray.

So we have a winner in the HD format war, at least when it comes to optical discs. Now the questions is who’s going to win? Blu-Ray or HD digital downloads?

Grin!

Apple TV 2.0 Review: Podcasts Get Center Stage

Scott Sullivan — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:19:41 +0000

Today Apple released their “Take 2″ software update to all AppleTV owners. The update was made available as a software download (free for all current Apple TV owners). After a quick look around, this is a great update to the device for several reasons. For me, the most important update is the podcast update. But we’ll get to that.

Installation
First, the installation was a breeze. In the menu is an option to “Check for Updates.” After clicking this button, the device tells me an update is available and asks if I want to update now or later. I hit now and the download began promptly, as well as a progress bar telling me the remaining time for the download.

Once the download finished, it rebooted and asked me to choose my TV’s resolution. One more restart and I am presented with the Apple TV’s new menu. This is a much cleaner design than before and is more organized. I am able to select similar features as before, with a few additions.

Movies
Under the movies section, there is now an ability to search movies by different genres, by HD, etc. Under Television, it is structured like on iTunes. I can choose from Top Movies, Genres, All HD, Search, Trailers and My Movies. the Genres is broken down into typical subcategories like Comedy, Drama, etc.

Under each movie’s section, there is an option to watch the trailer, rent SD or rent HD. The My Movies category is for movies that were purchased and synced with the desktop computer. I was able to pull up without any problems the movies on my computer.

Podcasts
The podcast section also received a nice update. In fact, this is the section that most interests me from a video production point of view.

Not only can I watch my subscribed podcasts like before, but now I can browse shows just like under the movies and TV sections. Like the movie section, the Podcasts are divided into subcategories. As shown in the photo, you have Favorites, Top Podcasts, Genres, Providers, Search and My Podcasts.

The Fovorites category is empty when you start off, but as you watch podcasts, you can click it like you would bookmark a website. That podcast then shows up in your Favorites folder. The Top Podcasts is identical to what is shown on iTunes, with subcategories.

The Providers is a very interesting addition. I predict this will become the future version of channel surfing. The top podcast providers have a section here and you can flip through each one. For example, you can click from CNN to NPR to the TWiT network. Some are actual networks, some are new podcast only networks. When you click on that “channel” you see all the shows produced by that network.

Finally, you can search for a specific show. When I searched for magic, The Magic Lantern was listed and I clicked on it:

What is interesting is the related searches below the main show. This is exciting because it works just like on YouTube and also the Amazon “People who bought this book also bought this…” It is a way to recommend other shows that interest people.

Now that people can easily search for and browse podcasts on their computer without any need to go to their computer, I can see the number of podcasts begin to skyrocket. We’ve already seen an increase in the number of podcasts last year, but this is going to give a much bigger incentive for others to get their shows out there.

Now, new media networks like TWiT, Revision3, TPN and others are listed right alongside of CNN, MTV, ESPN, Discover and Disney.

Conclusion
This update makes the AppleTV a device that will possibly make it the iPod of TV. Other devices have done similar tasks before, but not with the ease of the AppleTV. Apple is king when it comes to taking something complex and making it dirt simple for the average person.

As a result, there will be more digital delivery devices like this and the competition will make all the devices even better. It will also mean people will want more content.

In 2008, we are not only going to see an explosion of content in the form of podcasts, but the quality is going to approach that of the big networks. We are already seeing this with GeekBrief TV and MacBreak.

The question is, are you taking advantage of this now and start your own production, or will you be struggling to catch up in a year?

HD-DVD Turning Blue from Blu-Ray

Scott Sullivan — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:51:59 +0000

According to Reuters (in this article), Netflix has decided to stock only Blu-Ray movies. This is just the latest nail in the HD-DVD camp. Earlier this year Warner decided to jump ship from HD-DVD to the Blu-Ray camp.

This announcement shifted momentum towards an unstoppable course. We reported and this shift back on 4 Jan 08.

Here is what Reuters said:

Online video rental company Netflix Inc said on Monday it would exclusively stock Blu-ray high-definition DVDs after a decision by some the world’s biggest movie studios in favor of the Sony Corp developed format.

Netflix said that with such a clear signal from the industry, it will only buy Blu-ray discs going forward and will phase out stock of HD DVD by about the end of the year.
Feb 11, 2008 - Reuters

Clearly the writing has been on the wall for HD-DVD. The question is, what is the future of Blu-Ray? Apple has supported Blu-Ray publicly. However, they are also pushing for direct download with the AppleTV and iTunes (both for purchase and rental).

My thoughts? While direct-download will ultimately win, at least for the next few years, I think Blu-Ray will become the standard. People like to have a physical disc that they “own” and can sit on a shelf.

Do we need that piece of plastic on a shelf? In the end, no. After all, we’ve been taking pictures for years using nothing but compact flash and SD cards. Which brings us to a future article I am working on: data backup.

Producing a Video Series: Why Pre-Production is So Important

Scott Sullivan — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:00:02 +0000

Part 1
Before you even begin to shoot your video, there is a significant amount of work that
you’ll need to do first. Since the actual shoot is called the production, this is called the
“pre-production.”

Over the past several years I have spent a fortune on books specializing in marketing,
time-management and similar topics. While reading a book by corporate motivational
speaker Brian Tracy, I read of the “one minute, ten minute” rule. Tracy starts out by
citing a mock emergency situation. He says that most people will spend one minute
planning (if that much) and use the remaining nine minutes to take action. When NASA
astronauts were put in the same situation, they would spend the first nine minutes
planning and only then execute a well thought out course of action.

The “one minute, ten minute” rule states that for every minute spent planning, you save
ten minutes of work. This is true for astronauts. This is true for businessmen, salesmen
and entertainers. This is especially true when planning a video.

If you want to save time and money during your video shoot (and who doesn’t?) then the
best way to accomplish this is by spending more time planning during the pre-production.
I can hear some of you already saying:

But, Scott, why not just go out and shoot as much video as possible right now? Can’t I
just make it look good with edits?

Yes, sort of. With today’s technology you can take bad footage and make it look better.
Two points, though. Notice I said “better” and not “great.” You can only do so much.
For example, you’ve seen home videos with bright backgrounds (like windows) and the
person is just a dark silhouette? It’s possible in post-production to bring details out on the
subject and make their face visible. However, it will never look as good as if it were
exposed correctly. There will be additional noise in the face and have a ‘grainy’ look.
Plus, this type of editing can be expensive (in time and/or money).

There is a term in computer program that says Garbage In/Garbage Out. Essentially, it
means that if you start with garbage, you’re going to get garbage back out. Video is
similar. In fact, in some cases, it’s worse. For example, in the world of analog video
each copy (or generation) loses quality.

I’m sure you’ve seen this if you’ve tried to copy a VHS tape. The copy has some “snow”
or noise appear. If you make a copy of the copy, the loss of quality grows. With digital
video, this isn’t the case. You can make a 10th generation copy and it will look just as
good as the original.

However, the problem still remains. If the original is garbage, the copy will look like
garbage. If your video has poor audio, you can tweak, but you can only do so much.
And again, you’re going to be paying for it in post-production editing dollars.

So we need to determine how to get the best footage before we even shoot a single frame
of video. Our technique will depend largely on where you will be performing. You will
have different constraints in a hotel banquet room than in a thousand-seat theater.

Where do you want to work?

The first step to capturing the best footage for your video is capturing the right footage
for your video. Huh? You’re going to want to make sure what you are showing in your
video is appropriate for the audience watching your video.

If you were an event planner for corporate events and you saw a video of someone
performing at colleges, in front of a college audience and another video of someone
performing in a banquet room for well-dressed adults, which performer would you
choose? This is true for the college market as well. If you have two tapes and one shows
a corporate looking speaker, the other a hip, fast-paced comedian, which do you think
will get hired for the college show?

EXERCISE:
So decide on whom you want for your main clients and where you want to perform. Begin with a
blank piece of paper and list them. Spend as much time as you need and make your list as long as
possible. Look at your act, look at your prospects and determine exactly whom you want in front
of you when you walk out on stage.

Handpick your potential clients

You should have a long list of potential clients by now. We now have to look at
trimming the list to our “A” list of prospects. At this point look through the list and ask
yourself, “Can this prospects afford my services?”

Again, I come back to Brian Tracy. A common truism in marketing is the “80/20” rule. I
know, too many rules! But this one is really important. It says that 80% of your business
will come from 20% of your clients. So focus on the top 20% of that list.

These are your new favorite people. You are going to design your video for them. How
do you go about doing this? For starters, find out what they are looking for in an
entertainer. The best way to accomplish this is to simply ask them.

EXERCISE:
Make several calls to people who hire the entertainment and simply ask them what
they are looking for in an entertainer. Take detailed notes with each call and look for
recurring trends. Look for the most common traits that these prospects want. Also,
ask them how long a video are they expecting.

Apple TV Review: Digital Distribution for Everyone

Scott Sullivan — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:41:32 +0000

I’ve now had quite a bit of time to explore the abilities of AppleTV. There are many things I like and, of course, some quirks that I think could be improved.

For those who haven’t read any of my previous posts or been watching the news, AppleTV is a small box that sits next to any widescreen television in the same way that you hook up your DVD player or cable box.

The main difference is that there is no slot for DVDs. There is no cable in connector. The only way to watch content is from a hard drive either inside the device or on another computer on your home network. It hooks up to your iTunes library and will play all your content in your library.

Want to watch a movie or TV show that you purchased from iTunes? You simply use the very simple remove and pick the show or movie you want to watch and click play. The show then streams from your main computer onto your television.

What makes this device different from a cable box or DVD player is that it has the ability to play movies in HD. And this is the big one: it has the ability to play podcasts.

As I’ve written before, podcasts are truly a wonderful thing for independent content creators. We are now in an age where anyone can record a show, edit it and broadcast it to the world.

The problem up until now was that content would be seen on a small iPod screen or computer screen. Now, these video podcasts are side by side with content from the big three networks and all the cable networks. Pretty big change!

So how well does the AppleTV work?

Hooking it up was a breeze. You simply plug in either an HDMI or Component video cable to your tv. It looks for any iTunes libraries on your home network and asks to which one (if you have more than one) you want to connect. From there, you can watch YouTube, any podcasts and any movies/tv shows on your main computer.

The quality varies depending on the content you are watching. At this moment, the podcasts are shining. Many podcasts are being filmed in High Definition (for example, MacBreak and The Washington Post). They are downloaded to the main computer automatically and are ready for you to watch at any time.

The HD content looks spectacular on our set. I have an older Sony HD set that is capable of 1080i. The AppleTV can connect to a 1080i set, but is only capable of playing 720p at 24 frames per second.

While this seems like a black eye on the AppleTV, it isn’t too much of a difference. Most people cannot tell a difference between 1080i and 720p unless the screen is larger than 60 inches and they are closer than 10 feet. I’m safe. I’ve got a 42″ screen and sit back pretty far.

Movies look great also. There is an optical digital audio cable in the back of the Apple TV to hook it into your existing sound system. Sound is very good. Not all of the movies on iTunes are surround (I’ll have to look up details on this).

In the end, the AppleTV provides the average person the ability to stream their content to the world instantly.

So we can go out and create films, episodic shows, documentaries and much more. And this can be delivered in HD for free to the world. This sidestep of Blu-ray and HD-DVD is a great boost to the independent producer. Blu-ray and HD-DVD are, technically, a higher resolution, but Apple TV offers something today that is infinitely cheaper and faster for most people to implement.

Has Blu-Ray Won the HD "War"?

Scott Sullivan — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 00:39:00 +0000

The battle has been raging for much longer than many had anticipated. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are the competing formats for the new High Definition format to replace the aging standard definition DVD.

Neither format is compatible with the other, even though they use the same three codecs (including the H.264 codec from Apple) for showing High Definition video. Both are the size of a conventional DVD, but hold several times more information.

Today Warner Brothers announced they will side with Blu-ray. There are also rumors about an Apple Blu-ray announcement in two weeks at MacWorld.

I believe that Blu-ray could begin to pull so far ahead that they win what has become a repeat of the Beta v. VHS battle that took place decades ago.

Reels in Motion has been investing in a Blu-ray pipeline due to what we have seen as a superior product. Blu-ray has a larger storage capacity and is a great backup medium for the new tapeless workflow we have adopted.

I’ll follow up with more information after we see what Apple announces (if anything) at MacWorld.

Scott

How to Produce Video for the Web

Scott Sullivan — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 04:01:00 +0000

&&As I wrote in my previous entry, there is a huge shift in how video is published. During the past several months, I have been using my iPhone more and more to watch videos. This is true for video podcasts, news, television shows and much more.

Reels in Motion has been producing these types of videos for clients for quite some time and we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t. Here are some things we’d like to share:

Keep it Short
Our audio-only podcasts have been averaging around one hour. This is a happy medium for several reasons. However, when producing content that will be delivered as video, the best time we’ve found is around 3 to 5 minutes. And even 5 minutes is pushing it a bit too long.
People (myself included) can listen to longer form audio only forms while driving, jogging, biking, etc. These activities lend themselves to longer blocks of time. This is why talk radio and long form radio shows like NPR work.

Video is a different beast. We watch video in short pauses in our day. While waiting in lines, quick breaks at lunch at work, etc. This is why most popular YouTube videos are in this shorter time frame. Anything longer takes much more commitment of time and we begin to ask, “is this video worth my time?” At three minutes long, we don’t think about it. We watch it.

So when you decide to make a video, keep the show to around 3 minutes.

Flash Me!
I entirely Mac based. I edit all my videos in Final Cut Studio and everything is in the Quicktime format. It is a great format. However, not everyone has the H.264 “flavor” of Quicktime on their machine. They can download it for free, but that’s an extra step.

So I post my videos as Flash videos so anyone can watch them on the website. However, I also advocate encoding the videos as H.264 Quicktime files. These files end in .m4v and can be played on portable players like iPods and iPhones.

And the bonus? With Flash’s newest player (version 9), you can play H.264 Quicktime files INSIDE a Flash player. What does this mean?

From a web visitor’s point of view, they appear to be watching a Flash video. 99% of all machines will play it. On the backend, you’ve got one Quicktime file (H.264) that can be fed into that Flash video and also be fed into an RSS feed for iTunes, iPhones and other players.

So you get twice the market penetration. You are now catering to the PC world and the Mac world.

Conclusion
These are just a few suggestions from what we have learned when producing video for the Internet. Broadcasting video online can be tricky to do correctly.

We’ll be posting more tips in this series as well as launching our new show, “Angie’s Phalangies” in the coming weeks. Stay tuned! In the meantime, please have a very Merry Christmas!

Scott

© Scott Sullivan for Reels in Motion Visual Effects News, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Distribution, Technology, Tutorials.