BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD DIRECTS CANON EOS C300 SHORT

By Scott Macaulay

Here is a just-posted short science-fiction film, When You Find Me, directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and produced by Ron Howard. It’s short on Canon’s new EOS C300 camera. As Koo notes over at No Film School, the short was inspired by a photograph submitted as part of Canon’s Project Imagination contest.

… Read the rest

SHOOTING “TINY FURNITURE”

By Filmmaker Staff

Originally published in the Summer 2010 issue.

Only a few months after we selected her for last year’s “25 New Faces” list, writer-director Lena Dunham went into production on her second feature Tiny Furniture. Shot by fellow 2009 “25 New Faces” Jody Lee Lipes and produced by Filmmaker contributing editor Alicia Van Couvering and Kyle Martin, the film wound up winning the Grand Prize at 2010’s SXSW Film Festival and was picked up by IFC for distribution this fall. The film was shot on the Canon 7D, and we asked Lipes, focus puller Joe Anderson and Technicolor colorist Sam Daley to comment on the DSLR format and their production and postproduction decision making. –S.M.

“Choosing to shoot on the Canon 7D was a bold move on [director] Lena [Dunham’s] and [d.p.] Jody [Lee Lipes’s] part,” says focus puller Joe Anderson. “At the time of production there were few (if any) rental houses in New York supporting the new hybrid-SLR cameras as movie cameras. Subsequently we had to make due with far fewer accessories than a traditional movie production would use. Existing tools like matte boxes, follow focus wheels and multiple monitors had not yet been updated to work smoothly with these new cameras.” The production rented a few different types of handheld and tripod mounts, most manufactured by Zacuto, from still-camera rental houses in New York City, and Anderson worked with Lipes to retrofit them for the shoot’s needs.

Technicolor agreed to convert test footage to HDCam SR so that everyone would know what they were getting into. Before the test screening, Anderson remembers Daley warning them, “You really shouldn’t shoot with this camera. It records in the h.264 format, which is more of a YouTube format; it’s not meant for production.” “But that was before we started shooting, and before he saw the final tests,” adds Lipes. “I think the color correct is really what sold him — when he saw how much flexibility he had with the color while we were in the final grade.”

Anderson recalls that first screening of test footage at Technicolor: “We … Read the rest

CANON ANNOUNCES EOS-1D X

By Scott Macaulay

Get ready for the next round of DSLRs — Canon has just announced their EOS-1D X. From Engadget:

Stick a piece of gaffer tape over the unmistakable X, and Canon’s latest EOS-1D pro-level camera will look virtually identical to every 1D model that came before it. But once you flip up the power slider, this new king of the jungle will hum like no other. Canon’s phenomenally powerful EOS-1D X really sounds like the DSLR to rule them all. Its 18 megapixel full-frame sensor uses oversized pixels to battle noise and is supported by a pair of Digic 5+ imaging processors, which also help drive a 61-point high density reticular AF system, a top ISO setting of 204,000 (51,200 native), a 252-zone metering system, a 14 fps JPEG (or 12 fps RAW) burst mode and a built-in wired gigabit LAN connection, for remote shooting and image transfer.

Specifically referring to its video capabilities, Canon writes in its press release, “Featuring advanced video-capture capabilities, the Canon EOS-1D X’s upgraded imaging system and Dual DIGIC 5+ deliver greatly enhanced movie quality. In particular, the camera minimizes the occurrence of color artifacts and moiré, and enables the shooting of low-noise video even in dark conditions.”

Over at Planet 5D, there’s a summary of a conversation with Canon’s Chuck Westfall that has some additional details:

Video is here to stay in the HDSLRs and unless Canon is saving some amazing features for the 5D3 (which we all know is coming but we don’t yet have a clue as to the date (and neither do I), the video improvements in the 1DX are significant, but those expecting the next generation with huge advancements are somewhat disappointed. There’s no RAW video, no incredible frame rates above 60, etc. And we don’t know whether any of those are even coming in the next generation of video camera we expect to be announced in 2 weeks.

With the 1D X we did get many advancements including the removal of the 12 minute recording time. I found it interesting that we did finally get real clarification from Canon

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CAMERAS AND GEAR AT SXSW

By Scott Macaulay

I used my iPod Touch to shoot some short interviews at the SXSW trade show and Screenburn exhibits. (It’s the first time I used the iPod Touch instead of the Flip. The quality definitely isn’t as high, and there’s some drop-out and stuttering going on here. But the new iMovie, released to coincide with the iPad2, works on the iPod Touch, and while it’s not amazing it’s still pretty cool — despite occasional crashing and some difficulty scrubbing clips.)

Below are comments on the Panasonic AG-AF100 and Red Rock Micro’s DSLR rigs.

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JAMIE STUART AND THE CITY SYMPHONY

By Scott Macaulay

At the Chicago Sun-Times in a column entitled “The do-it-yourself auteurs,” Steven Boone writes about the city symphony film and ties it to Jamie Stuart’s recent Idiot with a Tripod. He puts Stuart in a category of “DDIY” (the extra “d” is for “digital”) filmmakers who are the “garage Kubricks” once prophesized by William Gibson. There’s also a video by Kevin B. Lee with text by Boone. Check it out below.

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GO TO VIMEO FILM SCHOOL WITH ANDREA ALLEN

By Scott Macaulay

Vimeo has launched what they’re calling Vimeo Film School — a collection of online videos walking you through the process of selecting a camera, learning to shoot and take sound, and mastering the next level of technique, like using follow focus and lighting. Here’s one of the early episodes below, in which Philip Bloom shows Andrea Allen the Canon 5D Mark II, the Canon 60D, and the new Panasonic GH2. Watch them all at the link.

Introduction to DSLR Cameras with Philip Bloom from Vimeo Staff on Vimeo.… Read the rest

JAMIE STUART’S “NYFF 48″

Jamie Stuart’s NYFF 48 is the latest in his annual cinematic trips to the New York Film Festival, “a 13-minute impressionistic juxtaposition of modern film’s evolution and man’s progress.” Turn your lights out, crank your speakers and watch. With appearances by David Fincher, Clint Eastwood, Olivier Assayas, Joe Dante, Charles Ferguson, Frederick Wiseman, and others.

The 720p file can be downloaded here. Visit Jamie at Mutiny Company.… Read the rest

SHANE HURLBUT’S HDSLR CAMERA PROTOCOL

By Scott Macaulay

D.P. Shane Hurlbut has been active in both HDSRL shooting and also, through his blog, HDSLR instruction. Check out this recent video outlining a D.P.’s camera protocol when shooting with these cameras.

Hurlbut Visuals Camera Protocol from Shane Hurlbut, ASC on Vimeo.

(Hat tip: Photocine News.)… Read the rest

A FREE GUIDE TO DSLR CINEMATOGRAPHY

By Scott Macaulay

If you’re a regular reader you’ll know that Koo’s No Film School is one of my favorite blogs. It has rapidly become a trusted source for new product news and evaluations as Koo looks at what’s new from the point-of-view of the working independent filmmaker. He also comes up with a lot of great finds, like this beautiful footage from d.p. Timur Civan, who put an ancient 1908 Wollensak 35mm F5.0 Cine-Velostigmat hand cranked cinema camera lens on his Canon 5D Mark 2, achieving a vintage, analog look. Check this out:

102 year old lens on 5D mkII – Video Footage by Timur Civan from Timur Civan on Vimeo.

But the main thing I wanted to tell you about in this post is Koo’s The DSLR Cinematography Guide. When he unveiled it I called it “astonishingly detailed and useful,” and now that it’s been beautifully designed and looks great on the iPad, it’s even more so. You can download it here. The cost? Zero. Nilch. Nada. Okay, something — your email address. That’s it. For simply being part of Koo’s list you get a book that is a fantastic primer for any filmmaker thinking about buying a DSLR. Head over there now. … Read the rest

UNBOXING AND SHOOTING WITH THE CANON 60D

By Scott Macaulay

Geek.com posted these two videos from J.J. Kim at Orange Wedding Films containing info on the new Canon 60D. The 60D sits between the Rebel T2i and the Canon 7D in their product line, and it has a flip-out LCD screen, which is obviously an attractive feature for anyone interested in shooting handheld video. The first is an unboxing video and comparison with the Canon 7D.

Canon 60D quick review video from Orange Wedding Films on Vimeo.

The second is test footage comparing the 60D to the 7D.

Canon EOS 60D vs 7D short sample footage from Orange Wedding Films on Vimeo.… Read the rest