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DP David Kruta On Shooting The Movie “Concussion” | Michael Murie | Filmmaker
I interviewed David recently about shooting this indie movie with the REP Epic:

I fought to shoot it on the Epic. I think something like an Alexa might have actually slowed us down because there was a lot of handheld shots. The movie was almost entirely handheld, so the small size and weight was really helpful. We had Zeiss Superspeeds – mainly for the price and the speed at which they can shoot – so it was great having these light, little lenses where you could shoot at 1.3. This was very important because we shot mostly available light, or modified with silks, but it was almost entirely available light and small lamps.

DSLR Video Viewing Accessories | Photo This & That
A review/comparison of two viewfinders (the Zacuto Z-Finder EVF Pro and Cineroid EVF4L) and the Marshall V-LCD50-HDMI monitor. Ultimately, he prefers the monitor:

Unlike other Marshall monitors, the five-inch version uses a rear-mounted rocker switch that can very easily be switched on by accident (when being stored, it’s essential to remove it’s batteries). I also feel that Marshall has missed a trick by not powering the unit using the Canon LP-E6 battery designed for the EOS 5D Mk II (SEE BELOW).

Despite these shortcomings, the Marshall V-LCD50-HDMI would still be my choice over an EVF.

Hands On With The New Canon 24-70 & 24mm + 28mm IS Primes
| Dan Carr Photography
Dan got to spend a short amount of time with the new Canon lenses. Despite the price, he was impressed with the sharpness of the new 24-70mm f/2.8L II, and thinks the IS in the new EF 24mm f/2.8mm IS and EF 28mm f/2.8 IS primes will be really useful for video shooting:

The first use is shown above, though the camera doesn’t need to be a C300, any video shooting DSLR will do. IS is extremely beneficial to hand held video recording and whilst many people love to make out of focus shallow DOF videos the reality is that keeping a subject in focus at faster apertures than f2.8 is VERY hard indeed. Especially if you are using still lenses instead of cine lenses. An f2.8 prime with IS makes a lot of sense in this regard.

Sony NEX 7 – Review | Andrew Reid | EOSHD
A generally positive review of the Sony NEX-7 - the video quality sometimes rivals the GH2 and 5D Mark II - but there's some reservations:

The NEX 7 is let down by middle-of-the-road compression, an encoder that smudges fine detail and a downscaling method from 24MP to 1080p that introduces too much false colour.

Also, I was excited to shoot in the super flat picture profile offered on the NEX 7 but it is a disaster.

Adobe Premiere Pro Audio Bug Fix | Richard Harrington | Blog
A solution for an odd sound issue:

I've seen this problem pop up a few times. I think it's tied to a bad audio plugin that conflicts between Apple and Adobe software. It seems to happen on only a few machines.

It seems to be with CS 5.5 where an Apple audio PLIST file becomes corrupt. The symptoms are that Premiere Pro will play for a few seconds and stop.

Ready to Wrap for Lunch? Do This First | Evan Luzi | The Black and Blue
Continuing his series of tips for cameras ops is this list of things to do when you go on break (i.e. protect your gear!):

3. Get the camera as low as possible
This doesn’t mean that you have to put the camera on a hi-hat, but having the tripod at its lowest is best. Another option is to place the camera on the camera cart if it has a mount.
During lunch you’ll be stepping away from the camera and you don’t want it falling over on its own. I know that sounds silly, but why would you risk it? Take the time to stick down on the tripod and let the camera rest at a comfortable height where it will be more stable.

Camera maker Arri denies rival's espionage claims | David Cohen | Variety
RED sued ARRI claiming that one of their execs had stolen intellectual property. ARRI claims they knew nothing about it, and besides, they didn't need RED's help to build a camera:

In its answer, Arri denies its executives knew of or approved Bravin's theft of Band's emails, denies Bravin shared those emails with its team, and and "specifically denies that any action of Bravin constituted corporate espionage on the part of Arri."

The response asserts that "Arri required no information from Red to bring the Arri Alexa to market" ahead of the Red Epic.

Confessions of a Switcher: Moving to Adobe Premiere Pro and using an HP Workstation | Todd Kopriva | Adobe
Watch this hour long webinar with Christine Steele talking about switching to Adobe Premiere Pro, focusing on the hardware requirements. Note: registration required to view it.
Also includes links to other resources (reg. not required):

Christine talked about quite a few things in this seminar:

resources for transitioning from Final Cut Pro to Premiere Pro
hardware requirements for best performance with Premiere Pro
modifying keyboard shortcuts and using Final Cut Pro keyboard shortcuts
choosing and customizing workspaces

Don't forget that you can get 50% off Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium for Mac or for Windows through March 2.



Yanobox Moods for FCPX | Tej Babra | Blog
A review of an easy to use color grading plug-in for Final Cut Pro X:

To many who are new to color grading or simply have not done it before. Moods provides you with an option to turn on a “ Help Card” . This feature tuns on a few more circles that basically explain the functions of each color wheel. This is a nice feature to help with the grading process as it can be easy to forget which wheel is which.

Editing 101 - a car chase | michaschmidt | Vimeo
Can anyone in the UK tell me; is this clip a direct lift from the new Top Gear series? It does list some tips for editing a car chase:

- work on the sound even for the 1st rough edit
- continuity is essential
- get the best actors performance

- talk with & understand/ know the directors needs

Sony PMW-F3 S-Log Update | Peter Crithary [Sony] | Twitter
Note: Sony just recently offered a heavily discounted S-Log upgrade for PMW-F3 owners

#PMWF3, #F3, reaction to $899.00 #SLog very strong, we are slammed getting upgrades done. Sorry for some confusion, sorting it out now

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W O R D S   T O   L I V E   B Y

If you're going to show up late to a shoot, don't have a coffee in your hand.
@BenjEckstein

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Final Draft Reader | iTunes
As expected, Final Draft Reader has been released. There is no editing capability, and it costs $20.