Notes On Video

C300 | Rodney Charters | Vimeo Rodney Charters shot this video of Drew Gardner and Lan Bui talking about the Canon C300 while shooting at the Billingsgate Fish Market. The BTS video was shot on the iPhone 4S . How To Make Money From Moving Image: Producing & Others | El Skid | Wide Open Camera Another article from El Skid about making it in the movie business, this time about being a Producer: Producing is a skill all of its own and should not be considered the default fall-back for those who weren’t really good enough to direct. I’m really not very good at it, I’m way too nice to people and don’t negotiate prices properly. In fact I suck at producing. Which is bad really since about 90% of the work I do carries a producer/director credit. What I like is putting projects together, pulling all the elements into place so that it can happen. The budget and the operational side I’m just not interested in, which is why I prefer to hire a production manager to take care of al

Case Study: Rampart | HD Magazine A look at the workflow for the Arri Alexa used on the movie Rampart : “This was one of the first; if not the first; feature films to use the SxS module to shoot directly to ProRes 4:4:4:4 files,” notes FotoKem Vice President Mike Brodersen. “We did quality tests that showed the format holds up beautifully with no obvious compression issues. The images are recorded in Log C, which allows the full dynamic range of the Alexa to be captured even on relatively ‘lightweight’ media. The ease of media management and the lighter files, without the need for a big recorder or tethering, was important to Bobby in this case.” The Importance of Sound and Where You Get it From | Mario Feil | Zacuto Zacuto has been posting articles on audio lately, the latest on using music in your videos: 1-Man-Composer: I work with friends who design music by themselves with Logic or Cubase. Stock instruments and sounds are already included with these programs. They have ev

B & H is offering the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II at $1,974, that's $400 off. The offer appears to run through Jan 7th. It's a really nice - if rather large and expensive - lens.  -  Ahh, if I only had the money....

Redrock sent out an amusing little card this year. I particularly like the microTape spelling out the greeting...

Senior Director of Professional Engineering and Solutions at Canon, Larry Thorpe presents this powerful new camera tool offering quality and innovation at an affordable price. Join us for an overview of the C300 followed by Q&A. Boston Rule Camera 395 Western Avenue Boston, MA 02135 Thursday, January 5. 6:00 to 8:00pm • Pizza and Beer Space is limited. RSVP events@rule.com

Part 1 now live!! The Christmas mini shootout with the C300 (pre-production), F3, FS100, hacked GH2 and more!! | Philip Bloom | Blog Philip has posted the first part of his Canon C300 comparison, with some interesting conclusions: Bang for buck the clear winner was the GH2 with the Driftwood hack but this is purely on resolution. The F3/ C300 are damn close to each other and the FS100 not far behind. Part 2 moves onto skin tones and low light where the camcorders come into their own. I also take a look at how well each of the internal codecs hold up to colour correction and grading. Shootout reveals Panasonic GH2 resolution at Canon C300 level | Andrew Reid | EOSHD Andrew Reid at EOSHD looks at Philip's results and rates the cameras from best ( C300 and GH2 ) to worst ( AF100 and Canon 7D ): Although that is not the full story. For example I prefer gradation, tonality, colour and shadow areas in my 5D Mark II footage to the GH2. Stuff shot on the 5D looks great on a pl

I saw the Tintin movie - in 2D - the other night. I went in optimistic that it would be a good evenings entertainment; unfortunately, that wasn't really the case. In the interests of full disclosure: I was never a reader of the Tintin books. Though I was aware of them - and had glanced at them once or twice years ago - they never grabbed my attention. So I really knew very little about Tintin at the beginning of the movie, and came out knowing very little more. Tintin is also bring distributed in 3D (stereoscopy), but I won't be talking much about that as I only saw the movie in 2D. I will note that when watching the movie in 2D there was never a point where I felt "this is a stereoscopic set-piece" - a scene that was obviously composed to create the maximum stereoscopic effect. I've always found those scenes a little annoying in stereoscopic movies, and I even noticed it in the recent Hugo , so points to the producers for not doing that in Tintin .[ 1 ] Bu

5D Mark III Sooner Than Later [CR2] | CanonRumors Now the rumors say sooner rather than later on the 5D Mark III . But don't be surprised if it changes again! Barring another manufacturing problem in Asia, count on the 5D Mark III being announced around the end of March or early April 2012. Don’t Hold Back Your Art | Ron Dawson | Dare Dreamer The next two posts are sort of similar. This one is an argument for putting yourself out there... Do you know what’s so ironic about my initial feelings regarding this video? It has a sound bite by designer Rick Anwyl of Sonandsons.com (the presenter the day the video was shot) saying how each of us is unique and special, and that we each have something to give. He goes on to say “Find your voice. Be confident in who you are and what you do.” I guess I need to pay more attention to my own work. Under The Circumstances: The Phrase That Means Nothing & Everything | El Skid | Wide Open Camera ....and this post argues that you sho

I’ve had a chance the last couple of weeks to play with the Sony NEX-VG20 thanks to B & H PhotoVideo , who kindly loaned me a camera (full disclosure: I have to send it back.) The NEX-VG20 is an upgrade to the  NEX-VG10 , and one way to describe this camera is as a DSLR in a personal-camcorder body. Like a DSLR, it has a large sensor (I've read that it's the same sensor as the one in the Sony NEX-5N ),  and supports interchangeable lenses using the Sony E-mount. Like a camcorder, it has a flip-out viewfinder, a very different form factor, and a much better microphone. At $2,199 - with the $600 kit lens - this camera is not cheap, though you can buy it without the lens . Here's a list of things I like about this camera: Body shape: At first the camera just felt wrong in my hands; it wasn’t a small traditional camcorder, but it wasn’t a big body camera either. It was sort of in-between. After a week or so of handling it, I got used to it, and it actually works o

A Year with Large Sensor cameras | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior Philip looks back at the large sensor cameras he's encountered this year, starting with the Panasonic AG-AF100 : My recommendation is to get a prime lens that is f1.4-f1.2 for producing interviews and don’t be scared to give the subject breathing space by shutting down the iris to f2.8 there is nothing worse than a person moving in and out of focus during an interview, 9 times out of 10 you won’t know that till you have started the interview wether they sway back and forth. F65 "Behind the Scenes" | Sony A five minute video on the F65, with an interview with Curtis Clark, ASC. The Sony F65 | Video4 This F65 dealer has put together an information page on the camera. You can find most of this on Sony's page, but it's all in one place here: Some camera manufacturers measure their sensor resolution on the basis of “K,” a unit that equates to 1024 horizontal photosites. So a 4K sensor might ha

Canon C300 review and short film “Le Mont, La Pluie et La Nuit” | Philip Bloom | Blog Philip posts his review of the Canon C300 . Interestingly, he seems to think he will get one, but still keep the Sony PMW-F3 : Things I love about the C300: Size, the amazing image, EVF pretty good, the little lip at the front of the camera, light sensitivity, the onboard codec, the way it works with the Canon lenses, great quality LCD and waveform, actually works great in my hands ergonomically especially with IS lenses. Works out of the box without a rig surprisingly although a rig would be recommended for longer handheld filming. Excellent build quality yet still nice and light. The price at just under £10k for a camera of this spec is amazing. Remember this is not a DSLR but a high powered S35 camera. The need for more cameras…Why? | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior Philip asks Alister Chapman why he needs more than one camera: Now I have the luxury of owning an EX1R for run and gun, quick

Have a safe and merry day!