News From Here & There

GoPro Interview
Film and Digital Times interviews Brad Schmidt, head of the Media Department at GoPro and Rick Loughery, Director of Communications at GoPro about the history of the company. Interestingly, they came to digital comparatively recently:

RICK LOUGHERY: Nick started with a 35 millimeter film still camera that was worn on your wrist. And that grew into digital. It was through his own building and selling cameras. But the first cameras you wore on your wrist to take pictures of your buddy surfing.
BRAD SCHMIDT: It was almost like a Kodak disposable one, and we’d load up 35mm slide film into it. And the pictures came out great. And then the next generation was one that only recorded for ten seconds, and it looks kind of like old super 8. And that was only four, five years ago?

FDTimes: GoPro
Amazon: GoPro HD Helmet HERO Camera



Thinking of getting an iMac
There's been times I've thought of getting an iMac, but one of the things that turns me off is the thought that in a few years the computer will be way out of date, but you have to throw the screen out. Stephen Shankland reports that "when it get's old" you can turn the iMac into an external monitor:

Apple today published the official word on the subject: You can't use the new Thunderbolt iMacs as an external monitor with a DisplayPort cable. You can, however, do so with a Thunderbolt cable, which means a new MacBook or another new iMac could use it as an external monitor.

Cnet: Why an iMac now is in the cards for me



Ed Burns Podcast
This podcast features filmmaker and actor Ed Burns as he discusses his new film, Newlyweds. Referred to as a “companion piece of sorts” to his previous work, Sidewalks of New York, which followed the interwoven lives and loves of six New Yorkers, Newlyweds takes place entirely in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City.
Tribeca Film Festival: Meet the Filmmakers: "Newlyweds"



Shooting in Low Temperatures
Canon has posted a couple of occasional reports from Phil Coates who is shooting in the Artic with the XF100 and XA10 camcorders. Shooting at -40ºC presents some interesting challenges:

Coates has also taken dozens of Canon batteries with him as it’s impossible to recharge them at such low Arctic temperatures. He explained: “I need this equipment to work in temperatures that are twice as cold as your average freezer. Little things – like being very careful I don’t breathe on a camera as I’m moving it around and avoiding exposing the cameras to significant changes in temperature – become very important.”

Canon: Canon performing in the Artic



Panasonic GH2 purposely broken?
It's been previously reported that there are problems with the HDMI signal out of the GH2 camera that makes it difficult/impossible to use digital recorders with the camera, and now Andrew Reid at EOSHD suspects it's intentional:

I believe Panasonic purposefully programmed the firmware to have a random cadence pattern, because HDMI outputs and formats are too well understood for it to be a genuinely accidental flaw.

Of course, the assumption is that this is done so that this consumer camera doesn't compete with other "professional" products. He goes on to say:

Consumer and professional broadcast divisions should operate fully autonomously (and that is the official company line) but clearly this isn't quite the case.

But it's difficult to know whether this is intentional, a technology limitation, or a case of a photography division not really understanding how to handle video. I suspect it's as likely to be either of the last two, as it is a case of an intentional limitation added after the camera was developed.
EOSHD: How a purposeful bug prevents 24p external recording on GH2



Swede Fest: the only film festival in the world dedicated to sweded films. A swede is a summarized recreation of a popular movie, and the term comes from the 2008 film "Be Kind Rewind". Unfortunately, the deadline is May 9th. Event will be held on May 14th at the Full Circle Brewing Co, Fresno CA.



How Not To Save Money
Walter Biscardi was contacted by a Producer who ran into a problem when he hired a college student to edit his film. I'm not sure I should capitalize the word Producer, as it's clear he probably hadn't produced anything prior to this. Or he'd been really lucky, as he not only tried to cut corners and costs, but he didn't plan or manage the project well.

Walter isn't that sympathetic to the producer either, believing that the guy made a mistake in hiring a college student.

But the mistakes weren't limited to that; the Produce hired an unknown quantity to meet an important deadline, yet didn't seem to follow the progress of the project (he didn't see anything until the final edit was sent to him) and he didn't allow any time to handle any problems.

Indie film producers never budget enough money or time for Post Production. So they hire the cheapest person they can find and they have all sorts of issues in the edit that they can’t seem to explain. This cycle runs like a broken record here in Atlanta yet the Producers don’t learn. Post Production generally costs at least 1/3 more than Production. More if you’re shooting on the cheap.

But while Walter says:

Sorry to be so blunt, but you made a very poor choice to choose such an unqualified person to cut a project for such high profile expectations.

I'd go further; he didn't know what he was doing, and he used people who didn't know what they were doing. That's not being cheap, that's bad planning.

It's the old adage; Good, Cheap, Fast - Pick two.

Philip Johnston at HD Warrior comments on this article too, and adds his own experience:

When I budget for any job the same money is divided equally to the filming and editing as they are both equally important, it’s all very well getting the best DP to film with a RED ONE if you cant then afford for a 4K editing facility.

BiscardiCreative: Post Production is NOT an afterthought
HD Warrior: The Producer and Post Production

[UPDATE changed pick three to pick two!]