I just returned from a wonderful 2 week production in Italy. The trip confirmed that I still want to retire in Tuscany and that I am still madly in love with the Mediterranean. Seriously - this is the place for me.
We shared some unbelievable food, wine, and sites in the Chianti region of Tuscany. The second half of our trip was spent in Naples. Napoli is an amazing city on so many levels and a place that I will definitely return to - I can’t wait to go diving along the Amalfi Coast as well.
We took a boat ride along the coast and it brought back so many wonderful childhood memories of mine. I spent many summers along the mediterranean with my father, ranging from Perpignan in the south of France all the way down to Corsica.
I have a LOT to share with you on this blog regarding the gear we used on this 2 week production (for a TV pilot.) That will keep me busy for sure in the upcoming weeks on this blog as we brought quite a few prototype pieces with us - definitely stay tuned.
For now, here is a quick time lapse video of a beautiful scene from Napoli. I love time lapses as much as anyone out there - but I think that they take on an entirely new dimension once you are able to actually move the camera itself.
Jared Abrams from Cinema5D stopped by the studio on Tuesday to sit down and chat. He caught me at an interesting time, as my crew and I were in the midst of packing for our trip to Italy (leaving today!). We still had time for a good talk though, and he even got me to expound on my love/hate relationship with gear - notice all the gear strewn about in the video - we packed 22 bags for the trip! The interview is embedded above, and you can read more at Cinema5D.com. (Sorry for the poor audio quality - apparently they had an issue w/ audio on their end.)
Well… the only thing better than posting this promo would be for me to actually have it in my hands for the job I’m currently prepping for… I’m leaving for a 2-week job in Italy on Thursday!
If you think no one else out there is more excited about this than you are - you’re wrong… I am!
Details on availability: still slated for summer of 2010 - basic wireless remote for iPhone in the $1,500 range and it goes up or down (wired is cheaper) from there, depending on the configuration.
Last week, Illya Friedman, President of Hot Rod Cameras stopped by the studio to chat about the Canon HDDSLR’s that his company is modifying to fit PL mount lenses. We discussed about the HDDSLR movement, the benefits of standard cinema lenses, and how modifying these cameras to fit those lenses creates more of an industry standard workflow.
As a still photographer who has made the transition into the world of motion, it was interesting to talk with Illya - as he pinpointed so many of the small differences between still photography and cinematography that account for large issues on set - many of which I have discovered myself over the past two years. Luckily for the end user, Illya and others have recognized these discrepancies and are providing a solution. Check out the video above to learn more about how Illya is engineering these cameras to work with professional cinema lenses.
And of course you can always check out Illya’s site directly by visiting www.HOTRODCAMERAS.com.
PS- The lens featured at the end of the interview is the new 14-24mm T2.8 Ruby Zoom by FOCUS OPTICS. Check it out by CLICKING HERE.
Well it was only a matter of time…we all knew it had to happen. More than one group has already entirely shot a short film and edited it - all on Apple’s new iPhone 4…
While many have been focusing on the antenna issues - others are taking the opportunity to shoot with these phones and produce some impressive work!
While I don’t see this changing the world of filmmaking overnight - I do think it points to a general trend towards smaller cameras, and using devices that are always on you at all times…
As Chase Jarvis said: “The Best Camera is the one that’s with you.” And I couldn’t agree more. Chase basically coined one of the foundational points that every young photojournalist has drilled into them by their mentors: ALWAYS HAVE YOUR CAMERA WITH YOU - YOU NEVER KOW WHEN SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN.
That’s why I think we’ll see a lot more of these videos in the near future - and especially in the news business - and it’s just a matter of time until a reporter does a live broadcast from a scene with “facetime” and that we see some breaking news videos shot with these phones.
This will likely cause yet another wave in the citizen journalism vs. professional media debate that’s been going on for years- especially for photographers.
Ever since the London Bombings and the Miracle on the Hudson (flight landing in the Hudson) - events that were primarily documented by amateur still photographs made with relatively high quality cell phones - breaking-news still photographers have found that it has gotten extremely difficult to compete with people who “are at the right place at the right time” equipped with just a cell phone.
I think the same will now happen in the video world… with phones that can shoot pretty amazingly clear 720p video - expect to see a LOT more first person footage shot by non-professionals on CNN, BBC, etc.
Interesting times… check out both of these videos. Pretty amazing to see what can be shot - with YOUR PHONE!!!!
I’m guessing that there are already a half-dozen people shooting music videos with them as well this week… I almost shot one with the previous generation iPhone 3Gs but didn’t think the quality was quite there yet.
I can say that both the 720p video and the still photographs I’ve seen coming out of the iPhone 4 are pretty stunning… I used one of the original digital cameras 10 years ago… the Canon DCS520 - and the quality of images coming off of this phone - ABSOLUTELY SMOKES that now archaic $20,000 camera… funny how things can change in 10 years… wonder what will happen in the next 10 years… heck - in the next 5 years to be honest!
Cine Gear took place few weekends ago, but as they say “better late than never.”
This video is small selection of some of the exciting products I encountered at CineGear. There were literally hundreds of vendors, so I didn’t see everything - but these are some of the ones I was able to catch on a quick afternoon visit (check out LitePanel’s new Fresnels, BronColor’s Kobold lighting system, RED’s Epic, and ARRI’s Alexa!). The expo itself was awesome - if you are in LA next year during it, I would strongly consider checking it out.
Of course, also keep checking out the blog in the future, as I plan on featuring more videos like these - including product overviews, interviews, and behind-the-scenes features. You can check in daily - but I’d recommend you subscribe to the blog to get an update whenever we post something up!
A little under two years ago I started this blog with a post titled “The Cloud is Falling.” I then went to cover the Olympics for Newsweek which helped to increase readership - and then I posted a little video called “Reverie” on this blog. And everything changed from that point on - for a lot of us.
Since then - nearly 5,000,000 visitors have graced us with their presence. And at times this blog has utterly overwhelmed me. In the months following Reverie or Nocturne - it was not uncommon for me to wake up each morning to more than 500 e-mails in my inbox from fantastic people from around the globe. (This number would not include junk mail.)
The problem was: My staff and I simply could not keep up. We were missing jobs left and right as they were becoming buried amidst the hundreds of e-mails. This blog’s readership is now north of 150,000 people per month.
At one point - I considered ending the blog. And then I realized that I couldn’t. This community is far too special to turn one’s back on. I’ve simply met far too many interesting people in the past few years - and any single one of them alone would justify continuing the blog. This HDDSLR movement is a bona fide thing - not just a flash in the pan.
So now I’ve come to the following conclusion: I need a little help from some friends to keep this blog healthy. I’m not able to focus on my career to the degree that I’d like to AND simultaneously focus on producing regular content for you all on this blog - let alone to be a husband and father to two young wonderful children. In this case, those friends are the “supporters” illustrated above. I’ve formed great relationships and friendships with the people at these companies and use their products on a regular basis.
Therefore, a little over a month ago I went to them and asked if they’d help support this blog in a non-traditional manner (more on that below). In effect these companies are contributing to help me hire someone to manage this blog. Every post you will see on this blog will continue to be written by me - that’s something that is essential to me. That new person (a young buck by the name of Justin Hamilton) will simply be there to help me grab the relevant graphics, links, check my spelling, and to shoot and edit the videos you will see as a new feature of this blog. For those of you who run your own blogs - you know that it’s not uncommon to spend 5+ hours to shoot, edit, grade, EQ and post a video - that runs all of a whopping 2 minutes on the blog…
My goal is to keep this blog as close to what is has been over the past few years - but to add more content to it with Justin’s and the above “supporters’” help.
So that’s the short version - below is the longer version for those who have been regular readers all along. It will cover a lot of the pertinent questions you might have btw.
The funny thing is: I was planning on writing about my video and photography workflow within the next few weeks (ok well months - it’s been BUSY). I can now cross that off my calendar because my buddy Chase Jarvis just did a pretty extensive video that describes his workflow - and he did it WELL.
And you know what? Our workflow is SCARILY SIMILAR - if not close to identical.
The only main difference? I back everything up to LTO Tape at the end of the process and keep two copies of those tapes - one in Los Angeles, and one in New York (kind of like Chase’s theory of making sure floods/meteors etc don’t strike the ONE location where your data is backed up. I call it Armageddon myself and joke that if CA falls into the ocean - I’ll have some data in NY…) I do also send my still masters to PhotoShelter for online storage as well.
One of my favorite sayings of all time is one by Bert Lance: “If it ain’t broke - don’t fix it!”
That comes into play here. Chase - thanks for saving me the time To everyone here - check out Chase’s video and his workflow - and understand that my workflow is nearly identical. I’ll detail some of the minor differences below after the video in case you want to get into the nitty gritty / nuances between our similar workflows.
Yesterday I posted a trailer for the new “Twisted Metal“ Playstation game that we shot in downtown Los Angeles. That shoot also happened to be the first time that I was able to put my iPad 3G to use on set. I have always found iPads to be a helpful tool for creative professionals - especially in film and photography - for sharing images, videos, and other multimedia material with potential clients and collaborators. This shoot marked the first time that I found it served an important role on set for me (albeit a high tech one.)
As is often the case with commercial shoots - storyboards, shot lists, and schedules are constantly changing until the last minute (if not during the shoot itself In this case critical information changed and was e-mailed to everyone just ten minutes before I arrived on set - the clients and creatives made some important changes to the storyboard.
Here’s where that can get tricky: I always like to arrive early to any job - at least 1-2 hours before my “call time.” Doing so helps me to relax and to feel ahead of the curve, it also allows me to chat with people and also to avoid any potential traffic nightmares in LA. The problem with doing this is that I am often out of touch during that time - i.e. away from my computer and printer for a few hours.
If schedules change, I can always deal with that on my iPhone, and the same goes for shot lists. But when storyboards change - that’s another issue entirely. Downloading storyboards in a trailer and printing them can take 10-15 minutes - way too long on set. And that’s where the iPad 3G comes in - I can download the files and view them on screen immediately - plus they are ALWAYS on hand from that point on (no more rolling them up and putting them in my back pants pocket…)
Obviously, as either a Director and/or DP, having access to the latest information is incredibly important - if I don’t have access to the latest, I could potentially make incorrect decision that could waste very valuable time - not to mention thousands of dollars… (more…)
My flight back to the States was cancelled today so I’ve got a rare bit of time to slow down and think of things. There’s been a lot that I’ve wanted to post on in the past few weeks and I simply haven’t had time - so here goes… consider these a random collection of thoughts that come in no particular order (lots of gear/tech tips towards the bottom of this post:)
1. Too Much High Tech? - I’ve had some pretty interesting discussions over the past few weeks with a variety of people following my post on a recent HDDLSR shoot. My good friend Joe McNally called me flat out “crazy” when he saw the gear we had at the Gulf Photo Expo this past week - which is a pretty fantastic compliment coming from him - given that he too has gone to the top of the Empire State Building (Joe and I are BOTH crazy for the record) - and has shot images hanging from a helicopter as well. My type of guy really - someone I’ve looked up to since I was in my teens… So when he calls you “crazy” - you know you’ve hit the jackpot. And to be honest: it is crazy.
Some of you may have seen Robert Rodriguez out with his Franken-Rig out there this past week - needless to say we’re all gravitating towards these cameras because they do something absolutely exceptional. Nobody would do this otherwise. I’ve never lost sight of the fact that one of the main strengths of this camera is that it’s light and small. I love going out with a bare body and shooting video as much as the next person. BUT - once you start to move towards producing “professional” looking video with these cameras - you’ll find you need good camera support to stabilize this camera that given the size of its sensor and lack of image stabilization - EMPHASIZES every single movement (intended or not.) So while I too have doubts some time as to whether or not I’ve gone off the deep end… when I see the final results the introspection ends.
That being said - I & this blog have been perhaps a bit too focused on technology to date. Expect that to change… I’ll keep the gear heads happy - but focus more on other things to - time permitting!
For now please look at a quick video I put together with 13 fantastic students at GPP last week - most of the students were still photographers who had never shot video before - and while I gave them as much guidance as I could in terms of gear and movement - each of these shots had a student operating the camera in a 3-Day shooting workshop (followed by 2 days of editing/grading.)
To everyone here - check out Chase’s video and his workflow - and understand that my workflow is nearly identical. I’ll detail some of the minor differences below after the video in case you want to get into the nitty gritty / nuances between our similar workflows.
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