Sunday, March 16, 2008

Three three-letter cameras: EX1, F23, RED

Adam Wilt | 03/16- 08:24 PM

An unfair comparison of three entirely different cameras

On March 7th, Tim Blackmore and I visited Videofax, a San Francisco camera rental house. Videofax is unique in the area (as far as I know) in having both a RED ONE digital cinema camera and a Sony F23 HDCAM-SR camcorder. Videofax’s Leigh Blicher kindly invited us to come by and take a look, following the DCS RED Event the previous weekend. How could we refuse?

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

HBO FILMS’ ‘BERNARD AND DORIS’ SHOT WITH PANASONIC VARICAM

Scott Gentry | 03/05- 08:06 AM

** Poignant Drama of World’s Richest Woman and Her Butler Airs through March 31 **

SECAUCUS, NJ (March 5, 2008) – HBO Films’ Bernard and Doris, a drama inspired by the real-life story of the tobacco heiress Doris Duke and her last butler, was shot by Director of Photography Mauricio Rubinstein with Panasonic’s AJ-HDC27 VariCam® HD Cinema camera. Oscar winner Susan Sarandon (Doris) and Oscar-nominee Ralph Fiennes (Bernard) deliver acclaimed performances in this intimate drama that tells the hypothetical story of these two disparate characters and their unlikely friendship.

Bernard and Doris will play on HBO through the end of March; its next air date is Thursday, March 6 (ckeck http://www.hbo.com for details). The movie was directed by Bob Balaban, written by Hugh Costello and executive produced by Balaban, Jonathan Cavendish, Adam Kassen and Mark Kassen.

Director of Photography Rubinstein, a native of Mexico, worked for many years with director Alejandro Agresti, including the films The Cross (Cannes International Film Festival - Un Certain Regard) and Wind with the Gone (winner, San Sebastian International Film Festival 1998).  His first collaboration with an American director was Casa De Los Babys from director John Sayles. Other recent films include Sorry, Haters (shot with Panasonic’s DVX100 camcorder) from director/writer Jeff Stanzler, and Puccini for Beginners from director Maria Maggenti.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Petrol Introduces Mini Camera Accessory Bag

Scott Gentry | 02/28- 05:38 PM

Effective: February 28, 2008

Petrol, a Vitec Group brand, introduces the Petrol Mini Camera Accessory Bag. This new semi-rigid carrier is the convenient and comfortable way to transport essential accessories like batteries, chargers, and spare connectors.

The top lid’s dual directional run-around “upside down” zippers open quickly for easy access.  Inside, layers of bright orange padded fabric cradle and safeguard sensitive equipment.  Two removable dividers can be custom configured to provide extra security and protection. Underneath the main chamber, a second basement compartment offers additional cushioned space. Exterior zippered pockets on all four sides offer even more options for storage. Features include Petrol’s U-Grip ergonomic carrying handle and padded adjustable shoulder strap. The bag’s exterior is constructed of heavy duty waterproof blue and black Cordura.

U.S. List Price for the new Petrol Mini Camera Accessory Bag (#PMCAB-1) is $164. For further information on this or other Petrol products please go to http://www.petrolbags.com or contact: Petrol, 709 Executive Blvd., Valley College, NY 10989, Phone: 845-268-0100, Fax: 845-268-0113, Email: 

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

AFI Digital Content Lab Looking for Mentors

Chris Meyer | 02/27- 06:02 AM

Your chance to get some hands-on experience creating interactive media.

The American Film Institute’s Digital Content Lab (AFI DCL, for short) is looking for mentors for some high-profile interactive media projects, including Grey’s Anatomy and PBS’s News Hour. Details - as well as a calendar of upcoming events around North America - are copied below from their recent press release (follow the “more” jump if you’re reading this from a main page). This is a chance to become involved with designing what some hope will be the future face of television.

Whether or not it does turn out to be the future face of television is still out for verdict: I lived through the hopeful times of CD-I and other interactive media when a lot of us thought we were going to help raise the overall level of humanity by making coffee-table books available on an expensive, not entirely easy to use medium. This episode of misspent personal enthusiasm has left me a bit more cautious, thinking the computer is for interacting and the television set is for consuming. But the number of people who vote in response to an American Idol episode (or called in to a toll number during the Shall We Boil Larry the Lobster bit on Saturday Night Live, oh so many years ago) does indicate that at least some like to interact with their mass-consumed entertainment. So here’s your chance to try to design some interactivity that works:

Monday, February 25, 2008

Dynamic Range and the RED One

Chris Meyer | 02/25- 02:17 PM

Stu Maschwitz ponders what would be a good digital cinema workflow with the RED One camera.

Stu Maschwitz (he of The Orphanage, Magic Bullet, and The DV Rebel’s Guide fame), is one of my go-to resources when I want greater insight on digital film production workflow and its corresponding correct practices.

He recently wrote an excellent article on his ProLost blog about Digital Cinema Dynamic Range, in the context of learning how to use a RED One camera in way that would give him the same latitude of exposure control that we would expect when working with film (or other digital cameras).

Click here for the short version
Click here for the long version (and you really should read the long version – it’s very instructive)

Monday, February 25, 2008

Half-color Fashion: Why Project: Runway looks “thin”

Art Adams | 02/25- 06:00 AM

Wherein I discuss the differences between DVCPro25 and DVCPro50 with my toaster

Today I had an interesting conversation about bit depth with my toaster.

“So, tell me,” said Harold the Civil Toaster (not civil as in kind, but because he spent some time in civil service), “why the color palette of Project Runway looks familiar without my being able to place where I’ve seen it before.”

Naturally, my jaw dropped in surprise. My toaster almost never asks me cinematography-related questions. Mostly he just complains about life and politics. He’s a crusty old fellow.

“I thought the same thing. The colors looked familiar, but also not--almost as if they were too thin or something.”

“Exactly,” said Harry. (He’s very informal as appliances go.) “The colors have the subtlety that I’m used to seeing in footage shot on Panasonic cameras, like the SDX-900 or the Varicam, with accurate secondary colors--something that’s hard for most video cameras to do, although Panasonic does it quite well.”

“I worked with a sound person the other day who’d done some time on Project Runway.” I took a tray of real butter out of the refrigerator. Harry frowns on margarines and all fats that are solid at room temperature. “He confirmed that the show was shot on SDX-900’s, but at 25 megabits per second (DVCPro25) instead of 50 megabits (DVCPro50). I think it’s safe to say that a lot of the information that’s not being recorded in DVCPro25 is color information.”

“That’s strange for a fashion show, isn’t it? You’d think they’d want to emphasize the colors more.” As toasters go, Harry is more thoughtful than most. “Is it really just about economics?”

“I s’pose. You get twice as much tape time, but yes--the colors drop off dramatically. DVCPro25 is essentially the same as DVCAM, and neither of us like how that reproduces colors.”

“I can’t tell the difference between wheat and rye on DVCAM,” said Harry. “I suppose that’s okay if you’re shooting sports, but it would be a sad choice if you’re shooting a cooking show.”

“I think they do the same thing on Top Chef. They use the right cameras but at the wrong setting. It allows them to shoot for longer periods of time, but the image could be a lot richer.” I really love the way Panasonic cameras handle color. In DVCPro50 or DVCProHD formats the color depth is complex enough to resemble film, although it’s not deep enough to create as much separation as one would see with film. My experience is that color film is much easier to light as the subtlety of color and shading helps separate subjects from backgrounds without a lot of effort. 8-bit HD and video require a lot more backlight and edgelight to pop objects away from backgrounds; even in HD it’s very easy for scenes to turn to mush if there’s not enough done to separate objects from planes.

Uncompressed and higher bit depth formats show less of this “mush” effect. The Thomson Viper, for example, reacts very much the way film does, thanks to its ability to capture a much wider range of color and tonality--although if one were recording the footage to HDCAM or DVCProHD (both 8-bit formats) instead of HDCAM SR that mushiness would quickly return.

I find that the SDX-900 and Varicam, right out of the box, are a little too subtle for my taste. I do like desaturated images if there’s enough color depth to support them, but neither of those cameras look good when the color saturation is reduced. People tend to look dead, which is great for zombie flicks but not spots or corporate projects. (Well… it’s appropriate for -some- corporate. The dead flesh tone occasionally matches the liveliness of the content.) My tendency is to go into both the color correction menus (primaries and secondaries, also known as “Color Correction 1” and “Color Correction 2"), and turn the saturation for each color up to +20. Unlike Sony, whose steps tend to be very dramatic, +20 is only a slight change and adds just a little more chromaticity. If I’m not working with a paintbox I’ll also go into the white balance preset (I believe it’s found under the Operations menu) and change it from 3200k to 3300k, just to add a tiny bit of warmth.

I’ve had great luck creating a “bleach bypass” look with the Sony F900, reducing the saturation by dialing -50 into all the colors in the multi-matrix and using a black net behind the lens. Sony colors pop quite a lot, which makes it easy to dial them back for a more subdued look. The additional resolution of the 1080 image makes color separation slightly less important. 480p and 720p Panasonic cameras fall apart very quickly when desaturated or diffused, but the palette is so soft and lovely that I never find the need to do either of those things.

“I guess money trumps quality, at least when it comes to that last 20% of quality that we’re always trying to sneak into our art,” said Harry. “Speaking of which...”

From the thick toast slot he ejects a single piece of sourdough, wearing a small tuxedo with a lavender bow tie and spats.

“What the hell is that?

“If you have to know,” Harry says smugly, “He’s the Toast of the Town.”

I’m no slave to fashion. I ate him.

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