Google TV

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Q: What Do SHS, Converse, and Stillmotion Have in Common?

A: They are all awesome and I will be talking about them in this post.

I must apologize. It probably seems like I have been slacking with my posts lately. I promise I am not. I have been very busy with an awesome venture and so now I would like to proudly announce the launch of a new company that Amy Reese, Cristina Valdivieso and I have been putting together for a little while now. Our site is finally live! The company is called Society Hill Studios we will be producing hand-crafted,high definition wedding films. We are all very excited and we plan on having a helluva first year. We have some very cool projects coming up so, stay tuned!!

So that's one part but what about stillmotion and Converse? Watch the video below and then I'll explain.

evo 3.0 // two . a converse commercial from the sm evo experience on Vimeo.

One thing I really have always loved about stillmotion is their dedication to education and pushing the envelope. This was a little of both. During evo 3.o they challenged the attendees to really push themselves. The contest: come up with a 30 second commercial for one of three pairs of shoes. The shoe of choice here, Converse. I think it says a lot that these guys were so inspired/educated at this event and were able to pull this off in 2 hours and 30 minutes. That's for everything: conception, pre-production (including storyboarding),and shooting. Then they only had overnight to edit it.
Hats off!! Brilliant work guys! Go here for more information on the stillmotion evo experience

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What Do a Red Bicycle,a Bucket of Paint, and a Bride Have in Common?

First off I'd like to thank Brian Marks, a cinematographer from Red Bicycle Media ,
for sending me a nice email and sharing their work with me. I was so impressed by it I had to talk to owner James Pizzaro and get the behind the scenes scoop on this fresh Trash the Dress they did.

Rachael's Trash the Dress from red Bicycle Media on Vimeo.

Tell me a little bit about Red Bicycle Media. Who are you guys and what do you do?

We are a Cleveland based studio specializing in wedding films. There has been an evolution in the wedding videography industry where we have tried desperately to shed the tacky, cheesy way of capturing a wedding. The advent of digital SLRs has aided in this process of creating a more film-like "experience". We have noticed recently that there also is a danger of falling into the same trap and having our work look similar to others. Shallow depth of field, better low light ability, and camera stabilizers do not necessarily equate to a cinema. We have had to work harder in improving our story telling and making sure we use these tools in a motivated and innovative way.

For people that don't understand "Trash the Dress" what is it?

In simple terms, "Trash the Dress" is a way of prolonging the wedding experience. It has been controversial in that some people think that we are desecrating a symbol of one's wedding. We feel that it is the marriage , not necessarily the wedding, that is the bond between the couple. (Sorry, not to get too philosophical). Some brides realize that they will never be able to wear their wedding gown again and "Trash the Dress" is a way of immortalizing the dress and capturing that on film. It is meant to be fun and a form of artistic expression.

What do you think TTD sessions bring to the wedding filmmaking industry that wasn't there before?

For us it helped push our creativity and brings an element of fun into our filmmaking process. It also gives us another opportunity to work with the couple after their big day. Cinematography is no longer limited to just the day of the wedding, again, a way of prolonging the wedding experience.

What camera equipment did you use for this film and what motivated these camera choices?

Canon 7D , Canon 5D MKII , and an EX1 for Steadicam and over-crank.

What was the biggest challenge you faced on this shoot?

Keeping the paint and the rain out of the equipment was a challenge. Rachael was a great sport and fully cooperated with what we had her do...we must have made her jump through puddles for a half-hour trying to get the perfect shot. We were soaked but luckily did not damage any of the cameras or ancillary equipment. I had actually rigged an umbrella to the steadicam vest to keep me dry during many of the outdoor shots. As an additional note, one of the condemned buildings we shot in was the site of many an unsolved crime. Not a place you want to be after dark.

For more info on this company check these out:
www.redbicyclemedia.com
 Vimeo Best of Site

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Trolls Galore

I apologize in advance. This will be another slightly personal post but it has to be said...

Personal opinions are one thing but what I don't understand is very negative feedback about what is being done overall. Sure, I don't like that song, or sure, your cuts are off, or even hey, work doesn't appeal to me at all... subjectively critiquing one's work is a good thing but let me just say this:

If you have the balls to post your work online for the world to see, I salute you.

If you are giving away information to help the community, I salute you.

Honestly, I haven't had too much flat out negativity come my way but when it does I try to think about what underlying issue is going on that would cause a person to insult me. Remember, there is a difference... I swear, I'm not one of those overly sensitive girls.

So you may be asking yourself... What is a troll?

Urban Dictionary defines it as "One who purposely and deliberately (that purpose usually being self-amusement) starts an argument in a manner which attacks others on a forum without in any way listening to the arguments proposed by his or her peers. He will spark of such an argument via the use of ad hominem attacks (i.e. 'you're nothing but a fanboy' is a popular phrase) with no substance or relevence to back them up as well as straw man arguments, which he uses to simply avoid addressing the essence of the issue."

In case you're still confused I've included a photograph:

Don't let his grin fool you. As soon as he gets a chance to google you, he will find you and tell you you're a waste of space.

Here's a helpful diagram so you too can understand how the troll mind works... It may be small but it has 4 very important parts:

If you have found this post and you yourself are a troll please visit Troll Love... You too can find happiness.

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Mutual Respect

Filmmaking is our passion and our career. As a duo, we enjoy an array of styles. Through our work, regardless of what kind of project, our ultimate goal is to produce a piece that creates an emotional reaction with the viewer while maintaining intrigue through compelling visuals and sounds. We strive for this with all our work whether it is a wedding or a commercial piece. As filmmakers who are constantly trying to improve our craft, Jon and I are perpetually striving to educate ourselves and through the knowledge we gain, educate others. Regardless of our field, in order to succeed we need to have considerable technical and creative abilities. Through further understanding of each others genres, I believe we can continue to aim for an environment of mutual respect. I sincerely believe that within each genre there are those who just have it. They have that natural gift to produce compelling work. Whether it's commercial work, wedding films, or documentaries, they have the ability to tell a story beautifully.

When I first started shooting I viewed it strictly as a hobby. At the time, I was a photographer that was attracted to the concept of a "moving picture." After a few projects I decided to do the unthinkable... Shoot a wedding. To be completely honest, I had never seen a wedding video before. It wasn't until I started to feel the pressure of all the expectations that I began to understand how challenging this new field was. Over time, my perception and approach has continued to change.

I remember when I first started speaking openly about how much I enjoyed filming weddings. People warned me, "Do not tell commercial guys you shoot weddings." I still find this very interesting. Over the last few years things have changed. Now a days, it's not as often that I encounter someone within the film industry with a negative perception of wedding films. There has been a lot of progress and there are those that educate our peers. However, as I mentioned before, I believe that through further education we can continue to strive for mutual respect.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this :)

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The Things You Don't Know You Don't Know

by Jon Connor (via Steve Schwartz )
If you are offended by colorful language please stop reading now. I think it illustrates a good point and would assume it's nothing you haven't heard yet, anyway.
Just read an amazing blog post by Steve Schwartz titled "No One Knows What the F*** They're Doing" It comes with a handy chart for all of us to refer back to in times of need.

Make sure you read his blog post as it contains a lot more useful info and insight. He talks about feeling like you don't know what you're doing sometimes and the fact is that no one does. However, as the chart illustrates we all have "shit we know", "shit we know we don't know" and the most dangerous of the three "shit we don't know we don't know". Our goal through education should be to narrow that gap. More importantly just realizing that there are a lot of  things we don't know we don't know is a big step in and of itself. That moves a lot of stuff from that category to the "shit we know we dont know" category. This makes you less dangerous. Plus no one likes a "know it all". So next time you feel like you have gotten involved in a project that is over your head and you feel underqualified. Remember most of the other people involved are probably as clueless as you. Even if they are not, the fact that you now have this chart to refer back to should help. Don't be afraid of not knowing. Look it up. Ask questions. The most dangerous thing is to think you know it all. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. If you're reading this blog you are probably like me and always looking to learn, so the good news is your head is in the right place. Don't let the chart scare you. Embrace it. Seriously though read the original post here. 

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Is ISO the New Megapixel ?

"In 1975, the first digital camera took 23 seconds to record a 100-line black-and-white photo onto cassette tape. Today, a Nikon D3s takes photos with 12 million pixels at 1/8000 of a second. And it can see in the dark.

The conventional wisdom is that the romp-stomp-stomp of progress in digital imaging has proceeded on the mostly one-way track of ballooning pixel counts. Which wasn't always a pointless enterprise. I mean, 1.3-megapixel images, like you could take in 1991, aren't very big. The Nikon D1, introduced in 1999, was the digital camera that "replaced film at forward-looking newspapers." It was $5,000 and shot 2.7 megapixel images using a CCD sensor, large enough for many print applications. But still, there was room to grow, and so it did. Now pretty much every (non-phone) camera shoots at least 10-megapixel pictures, with 14 megapixels common even in baseline point-and-shoots. Cheap DSLRs from Canon are now scratching 18MP as standard. Megapixels were an easy-to-swallow specification to pitch in marketing, and became the way normal people assessed camera quality..."- Gizmodo.com
To read the whole article click here

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Sometimes You Can't Try to Play the Flute...

A long time ago when I was a child my Dad had an expression he loved using,as most Dads do I am sure. He used to say,"Sometimes you can't try to play the flute you just have to blow into it." This was usually in reference to his job as a civil servant which I don't think he found particularly fulfilling or fun. I thought it was a stupid saying when he I was younger and I never understood it really. Yesterday it popped into my head when we were debating whether or not to make a last minute entry in the Beyond the Still Contest. Watch our entry here and I will explain more
below.

Beyond the Still Chapter 2: See No Evil from Cristina Valdivieso + Jon Connor on Vimeo.

So here's what happened. We had a brilliant idea for the next chapter. It was going to be a masterpiece. We fly to Austin for a conference, Chicago for work and had a backlog that needed knocking out, so we basically procrastinated as many of us are guilty of. We had the perfect actor the perfect story with a perfect twist at the end. I blame myself for the next part but I thought the contest deadline was Feb. 15th and when I double checked earlier this week realized I was wrong and it was actually Feb. 11th. So we scrambled. Called friends. Found a new guy to play the main role. Then we got walloped with 20+ inches of snow. We gave up. "We'll get them next time," I told myself. Well, yesterday rolls around and it's about 3:00 p.m. the deadline is looming. We didn't want to enter the contest with less then our absolute best. We also don't like giving up. So at 5:30 p.m. we decided to do it. About half way through shooting we thought,
"We're never going to make the deadline, the film is going to be too short, let's scrap it." That's when I thought about what my Dad told me all those years ago,"Sometimes you can't try to play the flute. You just have to blow into it." So with some quick thinking we came up with an ending we were okay with. Is this the greatest film I have ever seen? No. Did we blow away the competition? No. Will we win this round? I have no clue. That's for the judges to decide and there's 100+ other entries from extremely talented filmmakers. If we did I would be shocked to say the least. However, by adopting my Dad's,"Sometimes You Can't Try to Play The Flute" theory
we accomplished something. We wrote,shot,edited,color graded, exported and uploaded our entry with 10 minutes left before the deadline. So even, if it isn't the greatest film the world has ever seen, at least we showed up. I have a feeling a big difference between those who succeed in life and those that don't is largely based on just showing up and doing it. I am not saying we should go through life doing things half-assed. I am merely trying to say sometimes we shouldn't quit so easy.So next time you find yourself making excuses for why you can't do something just remember "Sometimes You Can't Try to Play the Flute. You Just Have To Blow Into It."

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USA Today Feature on DSLRs

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The DSLR Cinematography Guide

                                             Photo courtesy of Amy Reese Pruett


I don't claim to know everything or even close to it when it comes to filmmaking or DSLR's.
That's the great thing about cultivating a useful online resource and community. You don't have to. We all need to help each other as much as we can. It elevates the bar. It pushes the community forward. We are only as strong collectively as our weakest link. So when you assist someone else
you make yourself better in the process. But enough of the "social commentary" diatribe. The point of it all is I would like to thank my good friend Chad Nickle from Wild Orchid Studios in Austin Texas for bringing this very,very informative article on DSLR's to my attention.
The DSLR Cinematography Guide

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Headed to Chicago Tomorrow For an EPIC DSLR Face-off

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to talk about this yet but the cat's out of the bag.

From Canon Filmmakers

Cristina Valdivieso and I are headed to Chicago tomorrow to meet up with DSLR Champion Philip Bloom, rock star photographer Sara Collaton and some surprise guests. We will be headed to Zacuto HQ later next week for an epic showdown pitting Canon's line of DSLR's vs. Nikon's and a Panasonic. Who pray tell, will they be battling? 35mm film. Who will win? No one knows. Read more here. Stay tuned for more details.

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Everything I Know About Standing Up for What's Right I Learned From Conan O'Brien

(Graphic courtesy of comedian Paul F. Tompkins Facebook page)

Under pressure by NBC to move to a later time slot so they could bump Jay Leno to 11:35 this was Conan O’Brien’s response:

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky. That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn't matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

I always thought Conan was a very funny intelligent guy. But WOW! That is refreshing. I mean just think of your own “ultimate dream job”. Then think of spending the better part

of your life working towards that goal only to finally achieve it. Would you be able to risk all of it to stand up for something you believed in? I think he has set quite an example here.

Bravo Conan!!

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Stephen Colbert Guest Hosts Zacuto's Web Show Critics with Philip Bloom

First Philip Bloom gets invited to Skywalker Ranch by George Lucas now
Stephen Colbert agreed to Guest Host this episode of Critics. It's
really amazing how much popularity and clout Philip has gained
over the last year. Enjoy this Canon Filmmaker's exclusive peek.
WARNING: This it not safe for work or intended for children under
the age of 18 unless accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

Critics: with Guest Host Stephen Colbert from Cristina Valdivieso + Jon Connor on Vimeo.

To watch more episodes go here http://www.zacuto.com/critics
If you'd like a HD-DSLR Workshop in your area
with Philip Bloom click here http://bit.ly/5gZFH4

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Canon Filmmakers Featured on Filmmaker Magazine's Blog

I was very honored to be featured in Filmmaker Magazine's blog. It is a great magazine and to be given exposure and recognition there was really cool. So if you have a second take a look at the DSLR debate
raging on, hahaha.
http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/blog/2010/01/reports-from-both-sides-of-dslr-debate.php

If you are not currently subscribing to this magazine or checking out their blog I highly
recommend it. It is a tremendous resource for independent filmmakers.

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Reel Inspiration: Take 6 with Jon Connor

So this is the next installation of the Reel Inspiration series.I realized that I haven’t really said

much about who I am or what drives me.

My name is Jon Connor. I directed my first “film” in 7^th Grade.

It was for a school project on Robin Hood.

Most kids wrote a report or made a diorama. Remember those things?

Screw Avatar and a $400 million budget.

A shoebox and an imagination was all you needed back then for 3-D.

When making this “film” I was on a very tight budget. I was 12.

 I had no money, a cheap handy cam, and no computer

capable of editing. I printed out all the titles and video taped them,

I edited it on my own version of A/B roll.

I plugged the camera into the VCR and used pause and record to

 cut out the crap as best I could.

We did have some epic special effects.

We lit the ends of arrows on fire and shot them into a house that was under construction,

 then cut to a close up of a house we built out of Popsicle sticks burning. Not sure why

 I thought my parents wouldn’t ask questions or be pissed about that, but I guess that

 was a good lesson to be learned. Anytime you try to get creative as a director

you have to answer to the “man”.

So that was it. I had the bug. Due to some setbacks like getting a “real job” when I was

14 as a busboy my career in this field went on hiatus.

In 1999, I enrolled in the Art Institute of Philadelphia for Video Production.

I learned a lot about a variety of topics: art, history of film, color theory, lighting,

 script writing, and worked my way up from their A/B roll suite to the Avid one.

 I shot 16mm film, Beta Max and DVC Pro. I saved up my money while working my

way through college and bought two 3 CCD Sony cameras with wide-angle lenses.

Someone broke into my dorm roomand stole them a week later. I was devastated.

I left college frustrated and disappointed. It seemed like everything I had

worked for was all for naught.

I bounced around for a while and worked a variety of odd jobs: I was a PECO electric meter reader,

 a used car salesman, a landscaper, a manager of a cell phone store, I worked in demolition

for awhile, I waited tables, tended bar,even shined shoes at a country club. Everything you can think

 of that has nothing to do with what I wanted to be.

Or so I thought.

I eventually moved back in with an old roommate from college and we started a video production company.

We shot social events mainly and a few low budget music videos. It paid the bills.

Fast forward to today. Literally. Today.

As I sat down and began writing this I really didn’t know what the point was but it just dawned on me.

All that stuff that I did, that isn’t what I wanted to be: a filmmaker and a storyteller. All of it.

Some of the lowest points of my life. It’s fuel. It’s material.

They are my stories. There are a million of them.

So when someone says, or you think, “What can I do that’s original? It’s all been done.”

No it hasn’t. No one knows my story or perhaps yours. They haven’t been told yet.

So I guess when we are lacking in inspiration,

maybe the best source is ourselves. It’s a largely untapped resource.

The best part about it is no one can ever say you copied, or imitated.

This is not a list of the greatest movies ever. I tried to pick a few you may not have seen that I thought were excellent at telling a story that piqued my interest and demanded my attention.

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels – This was Guy Ritchie’s directorial debut as far as I know.

He has been criticized since then by a lot of people who say all his movies look the same.

I don’t care about that. This movie is a perfect blend. Thisis storytelling how it’s supposed to be done.

The movie intertwines a castful of crazy characters and manages to keep building

tension and excitement throughout before it ends with a series of plot twists that I will not spoil here.

Just watch it. I thought the cinematography was excellent.

Editing spot on. Soundtrack was awesome.

Big Fish - Behind the grand visuals in this film there was an endearing tale. I liked the way

Tim Burton jumped back and forth from the past to present.

This film drew me in and kept my attention the entire time.

I also used to frequent a bar in West Chester, Pa. where the giant in this film was a

bouncer, before he passed away at way to young of an age. So I feel I have a personal

connection with this film as well.

Cool Hand Luke – This is a classic. Great use of symbolism. Growing up, Paul Newman was my hero, not because he made excellent salad dressing. Because I always saw him as “Cool Hand” Luke. I empathized with his character and to this day still root for him anytime I watch this film.

I guess I realized while writing this, that Content is King. You can have all the special effects in the world and I just am not that impressed. Tell an amazing story and you have me hooked.

You can follow me on twitter @jonconnorfilms

All photos courtesy of Gary Nevitt Jr.

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Reel World:DP Christopher Gallo shooting "Portable Life" on Canon 7D

As a Director of Photography Christopher Gallo's work has taken him to more than 70 countries and five continents. He has worked with such talent as Steven Speilberg, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. Gallo's work has been exhibited at the most prestigious film festivals (Cannes, Venice and SXSW) and his documentary "JUKEBOX" was archived in the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame". He currently resides in Venice, CA. and is working on his first feature narrative film with two Canon 7D bodies and Nikon lenses. The film is entitled "Portable Life" and will shoot in Europe,South Africa,Bali,Morocco, Turkey and the States. Plus he's funny as hell.

Final Version 7D Film out from RAWworks on Vimeo.


"I had used the 5d as a b camera on a documentary with my HVX and a Letus and it looked great. When I heard about the 24p on the 7D I started considering it as the b camera for the feature film. The reasons were: it does Pal, it's a 5 man crew, we travel constantly, allows for great stealthy B-roll shots, convenient car mounting and interior vehicle shots as well as the most important reasons....the ability to shoot in low light at a 1200-1600 asa and the ability to shoot with my old school Nikon primes. But the more I shot with it the more I realized that for the budget of this film, what camera in this price range(under 10k), is going to give you these images. The best I could compare it with is the ex-3 which sacrifices the lowlight capability,and low profile but more then anything the ability to shoot with my Nikon Primes.That glass looks stunning. So I started to push to be the first ones in the pool, and the test was on. I contacted Neil Smith and Jeremy Ian Thomas from Rawworks to do the workflow edit and color correct, and David Hays from E-film to do a film out, because the films financing comes out of the Belgium grant system and contractually they have to finish on film. Looked like super 16 and never took away from the story.
We saw the results at efilm and sent them to Holland for a screening for the producers and director and now I am on day 3 of 43 freezing my ass off doing night exteriors in Belgium with 2 canon 7d's. I guess they thought the results were good too. Do these cameras have limitations? Of course they do, all cameras do. The focus is an issue, the smoothness of hand held can be an issue or the shake on a long lens. You need to nail the exposure so you dont get grain while posting, but overall its pretty amazing what is happening and this is just the beginning. I am sure an uncompressed full frame 24,60 or faster will be out next year. Its a game changer." 
- Christopher Gallo
Director of Photography 
http://gallodp.com
http://www.vimeo.com/gallodp



Jeremy Ian Thomas
Creative Director 
RAWworks

www.hdirawworks.com

hdirawworks.blogspot.com

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Reel World: Why I Chose the Canon 7D to Shoot My First Feature.

by Filip Tegstedt

My name is Filip Tegstedt, I'm an indie filmmaker about to make my debut as a writer/director/producer. Next year, I'm shooting a little psychological horror film in Sweden called MARIANNE.

This here is my first blog about the project on www.canonfilmmakers.com and I'll try to keep the camera in focus.

First though, I do need to go into a little bit about this project if I may – what it is and who I am, so you'll see where I'm coming from.

My background is in screenwriting, or at least that's where I have my film school education. I started scribbling on this horror idea in 2003, but other projects and life has kept it dormant until February 2009 when I suddenly found a way to get the ball rolling. I've been working non stop full time on the project since then, and yes – being a writer, director AND producer on a feature film IS a lot of hats. I wish I didn't have to, but finding a producer willing to let an unknown make a feature debut in Sweden with a horror film is virtually impossible because of the way the industry here works.

Sometimes, you just gotta go out and shoot, man.

Now, because this film will be shot during summer in the northlands of Sweden, we won't need to use extra lighting on the exteriors, even outside the city. Even at night. This far north during summer, it doesn't really get dark – at least not for more than an hour or two, tops.

That saves us a lot of bother with hauling lamps and power supply. We can just bring the sound and camera equipment and that's it. Oh yeah, and the actors.
The budget on this film is low – actually, it's microbudget. I can maybe get 100,000-150,000 USD, if I take a loan with my summer house as collateral. Yeah I know, bad idea, right? Well it's an investment in my career as a film maker and we all need to make sacrifices.

So shooting on film is out of the question, obviously we're going digital. I've only ever shot on video anyway and this is not a good time to switch.
For a long time, the idea was to rent a RED ONE. I even looked into buying a used one and renting whatever equipment for it we needed. It might have worked, but in the end I decided to go with the Canon 7D instead. Here's why:

First of all, when we shot the pilot for this in May 2009, my good friend and technical advisor Soroush Shahrokni (find his stuff here: http://www.vimeo.com/user746382) had been raving about the Panasonic GH1 for several months already. I'm not a photographer, like I said my background is in writing, and so DSLR cameras are a completely new world to me. But after a couple of talks with him, and since Panasonic hadn't released the camera here yet and wouldn't until after we were finished shooting, I called them up and asked if we could borrow a GH1 to shoot the pilot, if we put their logo in the credits.

They agreed (Thanks again, Panasonic!) and I got my first taste of DSLR filming.
After that, we decided to start looking into alternatives to the RED. The RED is obviously a great camera, but sometimes you're better off owning your equiptment because the better you know it, the better images you will have. Just renting a great camera without knowing how to fully operate it might be a bad idea sometimes. You know?

I really did like the GH1, some of it's features I like better than the 7D. But the major problem with it was that you can't hook up an external HD monitor to it. A lot of the stuff we're shooting are with steadicam, and I also have a co-director who's way more experienced with photography than I am, so we need to be a few people who can see what's going on.

I also looked at the 5D, which I'm told would give me better picture, but I want to shoot this in 1080p 24fps. Also, because I bought the camera in the US to save money, but live in Europe, I needed to have one that could switch easily between PAL and NTSC. In case I need to shoot something in PAL, or in case I'd ever wish to upgrade and sell the camera, I can't be stuck with something that's only NTSC.

Then there was Nikon's new cameras that they were displaying at the Stockholm Film Festival in November, but since I need something that shoots full HD, they were out of the question unfortunately.

So the Canon 7D won.

I got it with three lenses: 16-35mm f/2.8L II, 50mm f/1.2L II and 85mm f/1.2L II.

It cost me a pretty penny, but was still cheaper than renting a RED for three weeks would have been. Plus, now I own a camera.

I've also ordered a Fader ND from Lightcraft, and I'm looking into some other equipment as well. Possibly a glide track or a Fig Rig, I'm not sure yet.
I'm still not the one actually holding the camera when we'll be on set – it's just not what I'm good at. I've got other people to do that for me who are much more experienced and knowing – but I did go out the other day and made a very, very quick test to see what it could do. You can check out the result here: http://www.vimeo.com/8326362 , but keep in mind that it's very raw. It's not run through After Effects, I didn't even white balance properly. Also, my current bandwidth prevented me from uploading a bigger file, and you'll see that on the compression.

Still, raw footage is a good measurement on what you can do with a great camera if you're a novice photographer. It can absolutely be better than this, but it can't get worse. That's saying something.

Oh and special thanks goes out to Kid Arctica of www.kidarctica.com for letting me use her music for the video. Check out her website, she does an amazing cover of Street Spirit by Radiohead.

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Reel Inspiration: Take 5 with Ron Dawson

Ron Dawson is an accomplished screenwriter, director, award-winning video producer, speaker and author. He is the founder and president of Dare Dreamer Media, a boutique new media marketing agency and production company specializing in online marketing and viral videos. For the second consecutive year, he was named to the EventDV 25, one of the top 25 event videographers in the industry as voted by his peers.

Ron is also host and producer of the weekly photographers podcast, F-Stop Beyond (both the video and audio versions). Billed as the “Fresh Air” of photographers, beyond business and branding, Ron gets into the heart and soul of the guest. Ron gets personal with some of the nation’s leading photographers from all fields.

As a producer of original online entertainment, Ron has produced or co-produced a number of other programming including Me2WeTV, Real Women Scrap TV, F-Stop Beyond: In Living Color, and a handful of Dane Sanders‘ Photo Minute series. Most recently, Ron was the creator and executive producer of the first  online reality TV show for and about professional photographers, “The Longest Day.”

In July 2009, he and his wife released ReFocus: Cutting Edge Strategies to Evolve Your Video Business, published by PeachPit Press.

"I've been passionate about filmmaking since 1992. I started my business ten years later in 2002. I left a high paying marketing job to pursue my passion. Since then I've been blessed to be named to the Event DV 25 the last two years. However, I've built a reputation in the video biz and among my peers as primarily a marketing guy. I left a marketing job to be a filmmaker, and now my filmmaking job has turned into a marketing job. What happened?


I'm on a personal quest to return to my roots as a filmmaker. To focus on doing work that I'm passionate about as an artist. Canon's 5D and 7D HD DSLRs have made filmmaking fun again for me. As much as possible we're using those cameras on most of our jobs now. We just finished a short film series for our long standing client, Pictage. It explores the themes of Dream, Create, and Inspire. It's my favorite work to date. I also recently completed my first 100% 5D photographer promo video for a photographer in Calgary, AB Canada. I also hope to start making personal films. One of the best ways to stay fresh, inspired, and creative, and to avoid burn out, is to invest time in personal work. There are a bunch of stories I want to tell. Now is the time to start telling them." - Ron Dawson


FAVORITE MOVIES
I don't have a "favorite" movie. That's an impossible question for me to answer. But, the five films which have most influenced my style of storytelling are (in order of release):
The Graduate
Do the Right Thing
When Harry Met Sally
Strictly Ballroom
Swingers
All of these films are ones in which character, dialog, and story play an integral part of the films' successes. That's where I feel I'm the strongest as a filmmaker: in my storytelling abilities. Weaving audio and visuals in a way to convey an emotionally powerful message. I'm also a huge fan of documentaries and love the work of Errol Morris and Janette Burstein. (I can do without Michael Moore though. However, he is a great storyteller.) And because of the 5D, I've lately taken great interest in movies characterized by stunning cinematography. Two films which I've recently seen whose cinematography I really admired are "Revolutionary Road" (Sam Medez director) and "Defiance" (Ed Zwick director).


INSPIRATION FROM THE STARS
Lastly, I have to give a shout out to SyFy's Battlestar Galactica. I've been watching the show for the first time on DVD and it is by far the BEST sci-fi drama EVER. (This coming from a huge Star Trek:TNG fan). Ironically though, the thing about BSG is that it's not even really at heart science fiction. Space is just a backdrop for what in essence is a well written soap opera and character drama. The themes, character development, and story arcs in that series are absolutely enthralling. Every episode ends with a cliffhanger (borrowing from the age-old days of "Flash Gordon" serials). The "bad" guys are not 100% bad. The "good" guys are not really all "good." Everyone is flawed, broken, and no one is above judgment. Even the most despicable character, the traitor Baltar, is a complex character who at times makes you actually root and care for him. That, my friends, is excellent storytelling. Whether or not you consider yourself a sci-fi fan, if you're at all interested in excellent storytelling and character development, rent—no, BUY, the BSG DVD series.


THE FUTURE
I'm excited about what's in store for our future. In many ways I feel like I'm starting all over again. And that's a fun feeling.


HOW DOES THE CREATIVE PROCESS LOOK TO YOU?
Below is the "Create" film we produced for our client Pictage. The password to view it is ppc09nola. Entirely shot with the 5D MarkII with Magic Bullet color grading in post.


Links:
Website: daredreamer.net
Blog: bladeronner.com
Book: ReFocus: Cutting Edge Strategies to Evolve Your Video Business (Peachpit Press): peachpit.com/refocus

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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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