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END OF THE WORLD SHOOTOUT - PART 1 | Shian Storm | Vimeo

Not the most polished, professional test ever, but we had 1/1000th the budget of Zacuto, and very little time. We do our best to stress the BMCC, 5DMKIII, GH3, and Hacked GH2 in a High Dynamic Range shootout. We went to some lengths to mess with the framing so as not to have the sensor crop give away which cam is which; primarily so that you'll focus more on which one(s) you like instead of trying to identify each cam. These comparisons have been graded down to the lowest common denominator to be as "equal" as possible. But in Part 2 we'll show you the raw footage.

END OF THE WORLD SHOOTOUT - PART 2
END OF THE WORLD SHOOTOUT - PART 3



The Year in Tech: Reflections & Predictions | Daniel Hayek | Vimeo
Comments from: Jared Abrams, Philip Bloom, Vincent LaForet, Joe Marine, Patrick Moreau, Jonathan Yi offer their thoughts on the year:

Joe Marine: Blackmagic Cinema Camera (while it's still not technically shipping in volume), was the first camera to really bring high quality codecs and high dynamic range to the masses for dirt-cheap. DSLRs are great, and I think they will continue to have their place, but as people become more sophisticated shooters or learn how to grade more proficiently, they start seeing the limitations of the codecs

Canon EOS 6D Review: Beautiful Full-Frame Stills, Crummy Full-Frame Video | Michael Hession | Gizmodo

The thing that the 5D3 does so well—that no other DSLR has accomplished—is reducing moire patterns (rainbow-like bands along detailed surfaces). But the 6D fails where the 5D3 prevailed. Moire is rampant. This single failure ruins the 6D as a viable alternative to the 5D3 for professional video.

Technicolor CineStyle Color Assist colour grading (review) | ERIK VLIETINCK | IT Enquirer

CineStyle Color Assist can be used on its own and from the above you could deduct the colour grading is non-destructible. If you remove the XML files from the folder where they are saved by default, the colour grading is gone too and you end up with your original footage.

CineSpider Car Mount Review | Mike Gentilini, Jr. | Vidmuze

Now, let’s go over the price. For the complete kit which includes the mount, all of the arms, four suction cups and four dolly wheels, the price is $420.00. Considering the quality of the parts as well as the versatility of the overall rig, I believe it’s a fair price. Remember quality is just as important as price.

How To Create A Lighting Diagram | Ryan Waters | Blog

Preproduction is king in the projects that I work on. As demonstrated by the 48hr Film Fest I competed in, the better prepared you are going into a project, the better the end result and the easier it will be to deal with any challenges on set when they arise. (And believe me, they will happen). One of the crucial parts of preproduction for the projects that I am involved with is the creation of the lighting diagram, and I'm going to share with you what my process looks like...

Frozen Camera: What a DSLR Looks Like When Shooting in a -25°C Environment | Michael Zhang | Peta Pixel

Back on 12/12/12, Alessandro participated in the One Day on Earth project, which aims to document life around the globe on a single day. He chose to create a time-lapse video of the night sky during two nights on the Swiss mountains Piz Corvatsch and Piz Nair. The temperature during those nights? -25°C and -15°C, respectively (-13°F and 5°F).

Panasonic Introduces AG-AF100A Micro Four-Thirds Camcorder | DV Info

Foremost, the newly-revised AF100A features 10 bit (enhanced 8 bit) 4:2:2 quality output for better gradation of tonal areas when recording onto external devices, such as a P2 HD recorder. The HD-SDI signal also carries a sync signal for the Rec Start/Stop with the AF100A trigger. Additionally, the AF100A is equipped with the popular expanded focus assist function, which enlarges the center of the displayed image for greater ease in focusing; and a 2.39:1 (cinema scope size) safety zone marker.

Where is Panasonic? | Matthew Jeppsen | Fresh DV

Today I posted the news on the incremental AF100A camera update, and it got me thinking about Panasonic as a company in the midrange film & video production market. I’ve been watching the demise of Panasonic’s hold in this market for the past few years. It’s not a pretty sight, particularly when you consider that they started at the top.

Film and TV Tax Incentives Renewed in Fiscal Cliff Deal, Section 181 Extended Through 2013 | Joe Marine | No Film School

If you’re involved in the film or TV industry in any way, there’s a good chance you or someone you know has benefitted from Section 181 of the U.S. IRS Tax Code since it was established in 2004. Basically, it gives any investor the ability to deduct 100% of the money they invest in that same year for production costs up to $15 million dollars — and possibly as much as $20 million dollars.

Anatomy of a Scene: ‘Django Unchained’ | MEKADO MURPHY | NY TImes

The scene finds Django (Jamie Foxx) and his partner, Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), on a mission to rescue Broomhilda from a plantation. In the video above, Mr. Tarantino narrates a closer look at the scene, discussing his choice of Ennio Morricone music, the delicate lighting and the subtle ways the actors play the moment.

Contender – Sound Mixer Simon Hayes, Les Misérables | Mary Ann Skweres and Bob Bayless | Below The Line

Instead of the usual prerecorded orchestrations that the actors would follow, the music was played by a live pianist, who knew the score intimately, located in a sound proof room on set, watching the performance on a monitor. The pianist had explicit instructions to follow the actor. This allowed the acting to take precedence. The actor – listening to the music through hidden earplugs – could speed up or slow down any passage, or even pause to emphasize a moment (just like a fermata).

TOM HOOPER ON HOW HE MADE HIS DREAM OF LES MISÉRABLES COME TO LIFE
| DAVID D. BURSTEIN | Co.Create

Hooper notes that when a director adapts a popular book for the screen, fans may nitpick, but at least they’ve never seen the story unfold visually before. “There are so many people out there who hold this musical so close to their heart. I wanted this to honor the fans and I wanted it to contain all the things that caused those people to be fans in the first place,” says Hooper. “Part of what that meant was that there were nonnegotiable uncuttable scenes, which had to represented in a powerful way.”

RED’s Dragon Sensor, Now with More Dynamic Range | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine

Now Jarred Land has released a sample image (above) on the RED User forum from a test camera that shows the sensor reproducing between 18 and 20 stops of dynamic range. Jim Jannard said that they see 18+ stops, and that the sensor would have about four stops more dynamic range than Red’s current Mysterium-X sensor with less than half the noise.