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BOX OFFICE: ‘Act Of Valor’ #1 With $25M Weekend, ‘Good Deeds’ $16M, ‘Wanderlust’ And ‘Gone’ Bomb | Nikki Finke | Deadline Hollywood
A $12M movie that made $25M on the first weekend will probably make a profit:

Educated guess is that they spent $45M-$50M total to hawk this actioner. Yes, they acquired domestic rights for cheap and aggressively pre-sold foreign. And, yes, the budget was only $12K. Looks like Relativity will recoup. Marketing-wise, Relativity launched an aggressive 400 screening program in over 40 markets as part of a multi-pronged strategy that spoke to gamers, action fans, sports fans, ethnic audiences, country music fans, patriots, military, women, and the faith-based community.

Big Roundup Of Canon C300 Rig Options | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter
Dan puts together a collection of rigs from Redrock, Zacuto, Genus and others for the Canon C300:

Redrockmicro had one of the first dedicated cage setups for the C300 and it was used extensively by Vincent Laforet and the other filmmakers who shot the promo films for Canon. The Ultracage Blue wraps neatly around the C300 giving it some protection and multiple mounting points for accessories. 15mm rods can be added top and bottom with option for a handle on the top. The baseplate form-fits the camera neatly and when assembled the basic cage does look very much like it is integral to the camera itself.

The C300 short Hustle and some before and after images | Scott Simmons
| ProVideoCoalition
Rob Bessette of Finish Post and Daniel Bérubé of Boston Creative Pro User Group talk about The Hustle, the short video made during a test shoot with the C300:

Overall I really liked the camera. In my opinion, it’s way better than the 5D or 7D. Way less video like. Still has a little more crispness than I’d like, but that’s just me. Doesn’t quite reach the Alexa as far as latitude is concerned, but does pretty damn well. Latitude was impressive and seemed like a real nice color range.

See also: Canon C300 Shoot No 1: The Hustle | NotesOnVideo



Canon C300 cold shoe “PIN” a word of warning! | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior
A note about a feature of the C300 cold shoe:

I realise its not rocket science but this wee gem of information may prevent one of you trying to force your monitor off the handle thinking as I did that it had become stuck. Fortunately I had time to decipher the problem as it was at the end of the shoot but a timely warning never to force anything out of its holder.

Canoflex Type C300 Cinema Base Shows Up At Filmtools | Jared Abrams
| Wide Open Camera
And Jared posted this short video look at a base plate for the C300:

This time Jim Martin had the new Canoflex cinema base for the Canon C300 camera. This base looks very similar to the older Arri 16 SR cameras. The Canoflex has two 3/8-16″ threads in front for 15mm rods. It has one 3/8-16″ camera left side mount and two 3/8-16″ threads on the bottom.

Filmmaker Vincent Laforet Discusses The Canon C300 | Neil Matsumoto
| HD Video Pro
An interview with Vincent Laforet about the C300:

Well, it’s only 1080 – it’s not 4K, 2K. It’s not 60 – 120-fps, 300-fps. It’s locked at 30-fps max at 1080. For those that are pixel-pushers that want 4K and 5K or that want to do sports shooting where they want to shoot 120-fps – it was a little bit of a letdown. But what made it come right back is when you actually use the camera. The dynamic range is astonishing. The fact that this camera is regularly being compared to being a viable B-camera to an ALEXA is about the biggest compliment you can give a camera.

Review: Sony NEX-FS100 “Super35” LSS AVCHD Camcorder | Adam Wilt
| ProVideoCoalition
Can't afford the C300? Maybe the Sony NEX-FS100 makes more sense. This in-depth review covers pretty much everything, including the color fringing seen when highlights are blown out:

I’m guessing that when a cluster of photosites is sampled and processed to generate an image pixel, having some but not all of the photosites in the cluster driven to their clipping values may be fooling the color-reconstruction algorithm used, just as channel-specific clipping in the highlights (on any camera) can cause a hue shift in the affected area.

M. Night Shyamalan Shooting 'After Earth' on Sony's F65 Camera as Studio Launches Training Program | Carolyn Giardina | The Hollywood Reporter
Meanwhile, at the high-end:

Sony began shipping its awaiting F65 4K digital camera last month, with roughly 400 orders worldwide. Sony Pictures’ After Earth has gone into production with director M. Night Shyamalan using the F65, while the studio introduces training workshops to support the new camera technology.

And if you can't get enough F65, here's an unboxing video!: Unboxing my Sony F65 | YouTube



How To Film A Wedding: Speed | Christian | Bright Lights Media
Some good tips about gear, getting help, and being prepared:

My final suggestion when it comes to making the day run smoother and faster is to visit the wedding location before the actual wedding. This saves you a lot of time from having to put the camera down and sniff out a spot with adequate lighting or with interesting visuals. Make a mental observation the day before and plan to bring the couple to your chosen locations. It’s just one less thing you’ll have to worry about, and you can spend more time on the actual filming.

More 5D Mark III Images? | CanonRumors
Today CanonRumors posted some pictures which may or may not be the Canon 5D Mark III, which may or may not be announced at the end of the week.



Thoughts on the (near) future of Metadata | Philip Hodgetts | Blog
Philip talked about metadata at The Boston Creative Pro User's Group a couple of weeks back. Here he talks about the future of metadata:

Everything you’ve shot is only an asset if you can find it and use it again (including knowing what rights are associated with it). So, once again I’ve been thinking about the future of metadata for production automation, largely because it’s the only way I think we can hope to produce the Solar Odyssey TV Show, and because I was presenting on the subject in Boston in the middle of February. Both are forcing me to think on the subject.

FCPX - Multicam In Depth | Chris Fenwick | One On One
A video tutorial on using Final Cut Pro X's multicam feature:

In this, the first of my tutorials on FCPX, I take a look at some of the details and tiny details about how to put together a multi cam edit in FCPX so that it is the easiest to work with. If you like it, let me know, I'll do some more on FCPX.

Adobe Announces Integrated Video Publishing, Advertising and Analytics Platform | Adobe Press Release
Today Adobe announced a video publishing system:

As part of the first phase of bringing the platform to market, Adobe is making “Primetime Highlights” available today. The new video publishing offering integrates a Web-based video clip editor with the Adobe Auditude ad platform enabling the industry’s first single workflow for creating and monetizing live video clips in real time. Video publishers are able to deliver ad supported clips that are instantly available – even while an event is still ongoing – making content more timely and less expensive to produce.

See also: Adobe introduces ‘Primetime’ end to end video publishing solution | 9to5 Mac