Happy Holidays!

Thank you to everyone who has been reading this blog. Thanks for all the kind words,support and inspiration you have all given us over the last year. In 2010 we have some exciting stuff planned for the site that we are sure will make it more useful and interesting for everyone! Stay tuned!

Christmas Tree from Cristina Valdivieso + Jon Connor on Vimeo.

Abominable Snowman from Cristina Valdivieso + Jon Connor on Vimeo.

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When Disaster Strikes: Oops I deleted all of my footage two weeks ago!!!

Scenario: Two weeks later you realize the footage you deleted off of your desktop is somehow not backed up anywhere!! Now what?

CF cards the media used for recording with the Canon line of DSLR's are a very robust media. They can withstand a lot of punishment that a DV tape never could.

Due to the cost of CF cards, however, you need to be constantly offloading the cards and backing them up. The importance of this was driven home to me at Re:Frame San Francisco by Den Lennie , the tapeless workflow guru and co-founder of F-Stop Academy . During his presentation he talked about the majority of problems with this type of media boiling down to one thing, human error. Well, anytime I do something good, or take part in something I am proud of, I am very quick to toot my own horn. Why should it be any different when I do something bad? Really bad. We had a few consecutive jobs that put us out in the field and had us juggling our Seagate 1 TB drives like a circus performer. Everything was backed up at least twice across 2 MacBook Pro's,an iMac,a Mac Pro with a RAID 5 Array,four 1 TB Seagate Drives and

two 500 GB Seagate Drives. Seems like a year or two ago that would have lasted us a lifetime as far as storage goes. Well not anymore. The Mac Pro was filled to the brim and therefore I could no longer edit on it properly. I called my partner in crime,asking what could be deleted off of the desktop. The answer was "Make sure Everything is backed up before you delete anything!" I did. I checked and double checked. Everything on the desktop was backed up on external drives.

Delete.

I then began working on the task at hand. Fast forward two weeks.

I am starting to work on the next job in line.I go into the folder and... empty. "Hmmmm, that's weird." I thought. So for whatever reason I check another project folder on the external. Nothing. Another. Nothing. I am officially at DEFCON 1!!! Alarms are going off! I'm officially freaking out!! It feels like my life is over.

It's too painful to remember everything I lost that day. Lets just say it was about 450 GB of video footage that I could never recreate.

If I would have shot these on a regular video camera I would still have the tapes. Damn you!! I cursed my ambition. My reliance on this new technology and my idiotic finger for hitting that delete button. In an utter panic and in between sobbing uncontrollably(some details have been altered for dramatic impact) I turned to Twitter. I downplayed the severity of the situation but my sheer panic must have resonated because in a matter of minutes I had a number of replies. They ran the full gamut from, please tell me this is a joke, to surely there's a backup somewhere, to condolences on your loss. Then I got a direct message from @CodyPChristian. It said he had a similar problem once and was able to recover his files. We went back and forth as he diagnosed the problem. What OS are you on? Where were the files? Back and forth.Back and forth. Then he sends the Tweet heard round the world.(some details have been altered for dramatic impact)

Data Rescue II. Two words and a Roman numeral.That was the solution. I ended up using Data Rescue III just because it was newer and I felt like I needed any new developments in technology to save me as this was a hopeless cause in my mind. The most tedious part of the entire task was going into the preferences and un-checking the majority of the massive list of files this thing can recover/reconstruct. I was only interested in Quicktime files as I wanted this thing to just focus on recovering all of that footage that was lost. It cost $99 but this thing worked a miracle. It recovered over 450 GB of information that was gone!! It had a specific search function for just such an occasion aptly called Deleted Files.

This tale serves a few purposes. Always,always,always back-up. Then back-up your back-up's back-up before you ever even think about hitting delete. If you do find yourself in this predicament, and you are using Mac OS, Data Rescue III worked a miracle for me.

 Lastly,but probably the most important, I owe a huge thank you to @CodyPChristian This guy does a little bit of everything check him out at http://codypchristian.net/ He didn't need to help me out. He gained absolutely nothing from doing that, other then the satisfaction of helping a poor sap out that just deleted a lot of valuable footage. Regardless,he spent his time to find out what my problem was and to find a solution for me. That speaks volumes to me about the kind of guy he is,his character and willingness to help out when he can. So for data recovery I recommend Data Rescue III. For virtually anything else I recommend http://codypchristian.net/ 

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Reel World: Charles Son Talks Canon 7D and the City of Black & White Documentary

I caught up with Charles Son the co-director of an amazing short film, shot on the Canon 7D, about Mat Kearney’s last show of the City of Black & White tour. It’s really exciting to see what he and Ryan McNeil were able to do with this piece. The Reel World series is all about the practical application of DSLR’s as a filmmaking tool.

It’s one thing to go out and shoot cool beauty shots for fun,but this series is an attempt to highlight filmmakers in the field using these cameras in real world settings.

City of Black & White — Canon 7D documentary from Charles Son on Vimeo.

“Everything I've learned has come from watching movies and shooting them myself. Going to college for video production didn't help me much, other than meeting like-minded people with whom I still work today.  I think I had already learned the basics in high school, studying Scorsese and making movies with my parents' camcorder.  Since I graduated three years ago, I've been working in Hollywood at a great production / editorial company called Pictures in a Row.  So many great minds there, who have taught me a lot.I do a lot of editing as well as shooting, and it's great to do both.  If you think like an editor when you shoot, you're not going to be kicking yourself in the edit bay.

The job just kind of fell into my lap at the last minute. My co-director Ryan McNeill got a phone call from Mat's record label the night before the show to ask if we could fill in for another shooter.  We figured it'd be a quick little fluff piece, but we didn't realize how charismatic and insightful Mat would be on camera.

I had just bought the 7D a couple weeks before and I was dying to use it for more than just tests.  And since this was going to be at night with dimly lit rooms and exteriors, it was a no-brainer to use the 7D and test out its low-light capabilities in a real situation.

Simply put, the 7D kicked major ass.It more than exceeded my expectations.I couldn't believe the latitude it gave me and how well it worked in low light.I don't think we would've been able to do this shoot without it.  It's great to have so much control over the depth of field.  When I watched the raw footage, I was amazed at how "big" it made everything feel... there's a larger-than-life quality you get, where you can almost feel the size of the sensor in the images, as opposed to smaller chip cameras.And using interchangeable lenses, like a tilt-shift, is definitely a blast.

I love the Zacuto Rapid Fire.  It's so small you might not think it'll help that much, but it really does.  It's extremely easy to customize to your body.  And it's light enough that when I wasn't shooting I could leave it attached and carry it around by the 7D's neck strap.  I definitely want to try out a bigger rig at some point with a counterweight that goes over the shoulder to make it feel even more like a film camera.After the shoot, my back-ordered Z-Finder finally arrived and it too is glorious.

Ryan and I really need to thank Mat for being such a great subject to document! It was his idea to climb up on the roof for the main interview, and a lot of people have said that the roof shots are the most beautiful.He actually kept a lookout on the security guards there, and found the right time to sneak up the ladder.Maybe he should be a location scout...

Since most people don't know that DSLRs shoot video now, it's pretty entertaining to me when ordinary people start posing for you like it's a picture at events like these. If I tell them I'm actually shooting video, many will get self-conscious and don't want to be on video. And there have been a couple times when people looked so happy to be in a picture, that I pretend to snap one before walking away!("Oh that was a good one!Great smile!")I'm sure that's going to change quickly as these cameras get more popular.

Although the 7D is great in low light, the noise can be distracting in really high ISO shots.  Our colorist, Adam Sakellarides, used a great noise reduction program by Neat Video on a lot of shots.  It's a great program, extremely easy to use, and it helped immensely.  We did keep the noise in the black-and-white shots because it felt right.
And some noise can be very beautiful. However, you can definitely see the junk from the H.264 codec in a few shots... that blocky pattern that looks terrible and you can't do anything about.  If only Canon could give us uncompressed video...

These video DSLRs are such a huge step toward the democratization of filmmaking. I equate it to the release of the Panasonic DVX-100 with its 24p video. Anyone can now have professional tools and techniques at their disposal at an affordable price.  It's very exciting times. But we all need to watch out for the next generation, since there are 8-year-olds running around now with 7Ds and editing in Final Cut Pro on their new iMacs! ” – Charles Son
Check out Charles Son on Vimeo.

I couldn't agree more. I think we are living in exciting times as filmmakers.It's more about the person behind the camera
and having talent but this is a perfect example of someone gifted going out, and getting amazing results with the Canon 7D.

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Not a Good Time to Be a Field Mouse...

  This was shot on a Photron SA-2 High Definition High Speed Camera. Shot of 'Checkers' the eagle owl, 1000fps 1920x1080 resolution. Shot by  www.slowmo.co.uk 


Dear Santa,
 How about a little 1000 fps in that firmware upgrade?  
Thanks. I'll leave the milk and cookies in the usual spot.

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Everything I Know About the Canon 7D I Learned from Louis C.K.

So I have been getting a lot of emails and messages on Twitter asking me all sorts of questions about shooting with the Canon 7D . I am going to attempt to cover the majority of everything I've learned about the 7D since I started shooting with it.
The Canon 7D has limitations that have been well documented all over the web. I recently watched
A Constant Forge , a documentary on director John Cassavettes
And one line, in particular, rang true. He was talking about never wanting to shoot another commercial film because money ruined the creative process for him.
He said something to the effect of, “ Limitation is the key to inspiration.”
I think in the day and age we live in we have become a society with a short attention span.We want it bigger,better,faster and NOW.

It’s like the bit by comedian Louis C.K., Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy.
(Although I'm a huge Louis C.K. fan I missed this so  I'd like to thank
@AmyPruett for sharing this with me)




We need to master our craft and get back to the basics. Shot composition and storytelling. I plan on working on those two myself.
Be thankful for the amazing technology we have at our disposal and stop whining like a bunch of spoiled children. Aliasing,WAHHHH. Moire,WAHHHH.
12 minute limit WAHHH, No Audio Control WAHHHHHHH. What do you want Canon to give you for $1700 ? Should it come with your own personal DOP to set all the shots up for you too? Do you remember what it took a few short years ago to get this type of look for a film? It would have been impossible to do what you can now for this type of money.
So, instead of this RED vs. the Canon DSLR civil war that is erupting in the filmmaking community, How about this ?
Take whatever equipment it is that you have the good fortune of owning and go shoot something amazing. Let your limitations be your inspiration.
Force yourselves to think in a way you never have before. Can’t afford a 7D ? Go get a Flip HD, shoot it on your iPhone. Just do it.
Sorry. Now back to the original point of this whole post.
What do I know about the Canon 7D that could be helpful?
Something simple yet one of the most important steps when shooting with the Canon 7D , Canon 5D MKII, and any other camera really, is flattening the color.
It may seem pointless to you. Why would I flatten the color? I want it to come out of the camera with rich vibrant colors. No you don’t. That’s why God invented color grading.
My weapon of choice for color grading is Red Giant’s Magic Bullet Looks . It is an absolute necessity for me. The things I can do with it in post are absolutely fantastic.
It’s one of those things where you can download the software and begin using it almost immediately. A very intuitive interface, and the ability to save your own custom
looks actually makes color grading fun. Who knew? Here is how you Flatten the Color on Your 5D (also works on 7d ) Thanks to Stu from ProLost for this.

Turn Auto Lighting Optimizer OFF. I haven’t seen this documented anywhere but I hate this feature. It basically sucks to me. Should be called Auto Make picture look crappy
IMHO. So disable this feature. Period.

You need one or all of the following. A tripod, a monopod, Glidetrack , Glidecam , Zacuto Rapid Fire or Tactical Shooter . Get yourself something to stabilize your camera.
There’s nothing that turns me off more then shaky handheld footage. It looks amateur.
With HD video it is very noticeable and rolling shutter is not kind to this type of shooting.
Not saying handheld shooting can’t be done with a Zacuto Z-Finder and sniper like breathing tactics it was actually done quite well as demonstrated in this post by John Moon of Northernlight Filmworks .
However,for the average shooter, myself included, shooting handheld is a good way to end up with a lot of useless shaky footage.

Lenses. Lenses. Lenses.
A very common question is what lens should I get? Well that is a difficult one to answer specifically,it depends on what you are shooting, but I can offer some guidelines. The 7D works with a 1.6
Crop factor so here is your simple math equation to figure out what a non APS-C lens becomes effectively on the 7D. Take the lens (i.e. 50mm ) multiply by 1.6. Here are a few lenses
already figured out for you.
16-35mm = 25.6 -56mm
35mm = 56mm
50 mm = 80mm
24-70mm = 38.4 -116mm
85mm- 136mm
70-200mm= 116 -320mm
Now which lens do you want to buy? I am a bit of a lens snob and also one of the key reasons I shoot with the 7D is for low light capabilities. So I personally would avoid buying a lens higher then a 2.8. Unless,you will be shooting in well lit situations or it is a lens to compliment the prime lenses you already have.
I have heard the 70-200 F/4 is sharper then the 2.8 but it also can’t shoot in low light so, I like the 50mm 1.4  as a very cheap workhorse lens. At a little more then $350 if you’re just starting out it’s a good lens to get you up and running. The 24-70 2.8 has a great range and is one of my favorite lenses.
Let’s say you shoot weddings, or you want to get close ups of people/things but from far away the 70-200mm 2.8 is absolutely wonderful. As far as the rest of the lenses go I haven’t had much experience with them so I can’t say a lot about them.
Here’s an idea though. Either rent the lens first or better yet see if any of your friends who are photographers already shoot with Canon. If you are out shooting something and you ask very nicely they may just let you try one
of their lenses. If they aren’t that nice? Maybe you will have to go out and shoot a little behind the scenes piece for them in exchange for some of their knowledge on lenses and to try out some of theirs.You not only will gain valuable insight but you may also make a great business connection and perhaps even a friend.
So there you have it. Hopefully that helps someone. It’s not everything I know about the Canon 7D but it’s a start.

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