Reel Inspiration:Take 1 with Joe Simon

Joe Simon is a BMX paragon, a four-time Telly Award-winning artist, an Event-DV Top 25 honoree, a presenter at Re:Frame San Francisco  and In-Focus 2010 and owner of Joe Simon Productions, an Austin, Texas-based studio specializing in cinematic high-definition and vintage wedding films. At the heart of it all though, Joe Simon, simply put, is an amazing filmmaker. With a keen eye for composition and a fearless disposition; he wields his Glidecam like a weapon in the hands of a warrior. He sleeps,eats,and breathes filmmaking. His body of work spans a multitude of genres from indie films,to music videos. Here is a link to his latest work. http://joesimonproductions.blogspot.com/2009/12/kim-adam-sea-dream-yacht-virgin-islands.html  
It is an amazing film that speaks for itself. When I saw one of the opening shots that seamlessly glides around the yacht. I had to wonder if he can walk on water, too. It wouldn't surprise me.

As a filmmaker, I am constantly looking for a good flick to watch but, it can be tough to pick one sometimes. After recently suffering through a series of poor Netflix decisions, Blockbuster blunders, and Hollywood Video horrors that left my soul empty and my brain craving more I decided it was time to leave the movie picking in the hands of an adept expert in the field. So here they are: Joe Simon's quick picks...


"Memento" (2000) Directed by Christopher Nolan -
"Amazing time-shift editing. The way the story unfolds forces you to think like Lenard (the main character). Love the directing and Guy Pearce's acting is amazing. If you haven't seen this, then do. If you have,then watch it again." - Joe Simon

"Traffic" (2000) Directed by Steven Soderbergh
"I love the cinematography in this movie, it's beautiful. It's amazing that Soderbergh is both the director and cinematographer of this film, that's a tough job on a small set, I can't imagine doing it in the Hollywood scene. While you're at it watch Oceans 11!" - Joe Simon

"Children of Men"  (2006) Directed by Alfonso Cuaron
"Another movie with amazing cinematography. There are quite a few one take sequences that are just ridiculous. The amount of rehearsing and set up needed to pull these off is mind blowing. Rent the Blu-ray and make sure to watch the special features."- Joe Simon
Here's one of the single take shots .


So, there you have it folks. The first installation of Reel Inspiration. Now take "Cloverfield" out of your Netflix queue and watch an epic movie not "Epic Movie". 


For more information about Joe Simon or to view some of his work be sure to check out: 
www.joesimonproductions.com 
 www.joesimonproductions.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Joe-Simon-Productions/44417640774

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Warning: If You own an Eyepiece for Your DSLR

Remember when you were a kid and you held a magnifying glass over an ant to see what would happen?Well I never did that,it was my friend Billy I swear, but I know the idea behind it is that the magnifying glass would increase the power of the sun and thereby scorch the aforementioned ant. Now if you are using what has become an essential part of my kit when shooting, the Zacuto Z-Finder, here is a quick tip. Make sure you do not, for extended periods of time, leave the eyepiece pointed upwards. If the sun beats down through the eyepiece, it is going right into, what is effectively, a magnifying glass. This could cause damage to your cameras LCD, which is not cheap to fix. I still could not shoot properly with any DSLR without the Zacuto Z-Finder, it is an absolutely essential part of my kit. This is just something I had never thought of before, but has been brought to my attention. So I will still never shoot video with my Canon 7D without it, but I will definitely not be letting the Z-finder's eyepiece point towards the sky for any lengthy point of time.

Update:
This is not a product defect as I mentioned and has already been documented here.
 http://store.zacuto.com/Z-Finder.html
Again, just something I hadn't even thought about but after a colleague discovered damage to his LCD we traced it back to sun exposure through the viewfinder so be careful out there.

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Free 5D,7D,1D FCP workflow from Idustrial Revolution

Just saw this and haven't had a chance to test it out properly yet but thought I would pass it along.

From Idustrial Revolution
"The Canon5DmkII can produce terrific results, but anybody who has tried to bring the files directly into FCP will tell you that they are difficult to work with and require constant rendering.

This unique workflow package allows the user to choose to edit in 1080p, 1080i or straight to standard definition 16x9 25fps. Custom droplets give one click access to compressor that will convert the H264 files into ProRes for editing. The user also has a choice whether to make the clip realtime (i.e. 30fps to 25fps) or timestretch so that one frame in 30fps is one frame in 25fps. This will result in a slowdown of 20% for pin-sharp results.
Compressor droplets are supplied to get the final 1080p/i self contained movie into standard definition 16x9 too.

An easy to follow workflow diagram helps plot the conversions needed to get the best quality from a Canon camera's HD output."

Free FCP workflow info and download from Idustrial Revolution

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Reel World: Paul Middleton Talks Canon 7D and the Future of Documentaries

                                                                      Photo Courtesy of Jon Connor

I sat down with television director/producer Paul Middleton on the set of the documentary "The Greatest Ever" which was being filmed in New York City exclusively on the Canon 7D. Stay up to date with his latest and follow Paul Middleton on twitter @middster.

Canon Filmmakers: Tell me a little about your background in television

Paul Middleton: I presume you could say my background is old school. Started as a runner in  a post production house not having much of a clue what I was doing. I then managed,somehow,to wangle my way into the BBC where I moved up the ranks: runner, researcher, AP until,I finally got my dream job working in the sports department. I worked there for a few years in London. I got to work on amazing sporting events from the Olympics to boxing in Las Vegas.
I then moved to Bristol where I worked on a variety of sports documentaries.After more than 10 years at the BBC, I thought it was time to venture into the big bad wide world on my own."
 
CF: On your latest project "The Greatest Ever" what made you want to shoot it on the Canon 7D?

PM: The executive producer on the project David McConachie (Queensbury Media) had told me he wanted to shoot on DSLR's to give a filmic look to it. We also wanted to give it a feel to take it away from the standard look of these types of documentaries. He showed me some work by Philip Bloom which looked fantastic and had been shot on DSLR's, which helped us make our decision."
 
CF: How did the Canon 7D work out in your opinion?

PM : "The 7D was fantastic and gave an amazing look! The one limitation, which I was aware of, was the lack of constant recording time. Most of the shooting was interview based, so the break in recording did not pose too much of a problem."

CF:  Do you plan on using the 7D for future shoots?

PM: "Wherever possible, I would definitely use the 7D again without question! I think shooting on the 7D is  a bit of an unknown concept, which I actually like. I am not sure if everyone used it, that it would be that exciting to film on it. I think at the moment the more 'risky' film makers would use it and have confidence in the end product."

CF: Do you feel that DSLR's are going to have an impact in your line of work?

PM: "They may, but I think on specific programmes where a limited recording time is not a problem. They would certainly make amazing promos, short films and with the right planning could be used on full length documentaries."

CF: If you had to rate the 7D from one to ten on this shoot what would you give it?

PM: "I personally would rate it as close to 10 as you can get (nothing is perfect!) As I mentioned earlier the only limitation I found was the stopping every 12 minutes when recording, which could possibly interrupt the flow of an interview. However, the look it gives is simply stunning and more than compensates for any small limitations. I think especially in a city like New York the portability and unobtrusiveness of the camera allows you to film  in places a larger camera may not, due to the attention it may draw. Also in low light the 7D outperforms any video camera I have used which is another bonus and saves carrying a massive lighting kit. Of course, one other super important thing is to have very good filmmakers operating the camera."

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NYC Documentary Shoot Part II

New York from Cristina Valdivieso + Jon Connor on Vimeo.

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