It’s 1:30am Ontario time… just got back from a great night of networking and awards hosted by a national non-profit foundation. Made several connections for screening Rwanda: Hope Rises here in the fall.
Now for a quick ‘nap’ and up in three hours to catch a plane…
In 2006, DIY filmmakers were splashed with news of a hot new camera, the RED. I lined up with many other eager would-be camera owners and put my $1000 on hopes that it would deliver. After having shot with it myself in Rwanda and more recently back in Vancouver, and after prepping it for several high-profile shows, I can confidently say that this camera Kicks Ass.
4K, RAW photography, shooting to compact flash, flexible, tough, fast to work with, and it makes beautiful images. The proof is in the footage:
If you’ve got bandwidth to spare, here’s the clip compressed in 720p and full 2k. (right-click to download)
Aww… it’s my jeep, nestled next to the Hansen Family Van at our abode in Austin, TX. Eerily enough, you can find this photo yourself by clicking here. I guess Google’s been sending vans around with cameras on the roof, documenting city streets across America. Now you too can stalk your friends from the comfort of your living room…
This photo would’ve been taken between August and November of last year, while I studied at the Piko Fellowship with Chris Hansen.
This is fun: Vintage Logos on Flickr
Revealing the beauty of ancient computing… The Core Memory Project.
The weather this weekend reminds me of an early Sunday only three weeks ago. Davies and I woke to piles of snow on the mountains, too good to resist. We hopped in my Jeep, put it in 4×4, and headed for Grouse Mountain (which neither of us had skiied). We slushed through a parking lot buried in snow, piled up the tram and enjoyed a day of freshies in steep, new terrain.
Taken with the Chris CrappyCam 2000, aka his Sony cell phone
At day’s end back down the tram, the parking lot was bare, the sun was out, people were walking their dogs.
And how else do you cap off a classic Vancouver day? With a fine meal of course… after a crisp view of the ocean, bathing in the sun.
Ah, Vancouver…
This thing is pure gold: the Hollywood Microdolly. Sets up in two minutes, is smooth, light, and fits into a small handbag about 30″ long. It weighs maybe five pounds, and you can set up a new shot in less than 30 seconds. Fifteen feet of travel and it looks great.
This shot is from a tripod-mounted Red, sitting on top of the micro dolly. Saif was doing a press check at his workstation. Behind us is a 150-foot-long giant of a Heidelberg, pumping out four completed magazines every second.
We set this up while he was working. His movements weren’t coordinated – we tracked with him as he worked, guessing at each action. Having the Microdolly took this from a boring pan shot to a much more interesting movement that accentuates the speed of the action and the size of the workstation, while keeping the focus on his attentive character.
How does the world change when we evolve from a culture of production, to a culture of innovation? We Think.
Suddenly, things got busy.
Attacks in Rwanda during the commemoration of the genocide… Stuff like this is a sign of how complex and ongoing the rebuilding process is, and by correlation, how difficult it is to convey the story of what’s going on there accurately and clearly. This if the first attacks I’ve heard of since starting my film. Hopefully it’s the last…