NEW! Music Video from Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Watch Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. “Simple Girl” music video (official). The Detroit indie band, which consists of Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein, they recently premiered the new visual for the feel-good track from their upcoming Nothing But Our Love EP. The musical duo duels on the basketball court in an attempt to court and impress a girl they have known for years…

On their website they write,

Ladies and gentlemen… our new video. We managed to combine our love for basketball, lemonade and good-natured competition into what we hope is roughly 3 minutes of cinematic gold. Enjoy!

Find out who the victor is in the new clip below:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. “Simple Girl” Music Video (Official)

Directed By Joel C. Warren

Thanks to everyone who participated in making this happen!

(Warner Brothers Records, Mute, Digiteleo, Axis Media, Cort Johns, Josh Epstein, Daniel Zott, Tom Novell, Mike Justice, Alan Janush, Justin Spindler,
Travis Wright, Carly Francavilla, Adriana Francavilla, Jenna Baum, Noah Wolfson, Paige Hollis, Adam Doyle, Dominic James, Tyler, Scott, Abby, Cortney, Robyn, Heather, Corey, Stratton Camera, Detroit Power and Light.. et cetera..)

NEW!.. Thank you CHINA…. Kinefinity KineRAW S35 2K cine camera…

We could see this coming a MILE away….
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=28654472&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0

Kinefinity KineRAW S35 2K cine camera from Olivier Koos on Vimeo.

Cross Section Views of Leica Lenses

Leica Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50mm sliced cleanly down the middle, revealing all the glass and pieces inside that go into making the lens.

Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux M ASPH lens

 

The Great Camera Shootout 2011 – Episodes 1 & 2

In the most scientific camera comparison to date, “The Great Camera Shootout 2011: a documentary of the Single Chip Camera Evaluation (SCCE)” premieres with Episode 1: ”The Tipping Point.” The first episode of the 3-part web series examines three SCCE Tests: The Dynamic Range Test, The Under Exposure Test and The Over Exposure Test.
Robert Primes, ASC, designed and administered the full series of tests. “That’s right,” says Web Series Director Steve Weiss,”We didn’t want people to think that these tests were biased in any way. So Bob created the SCCE as an independent organization to conduct the testing.” Additionally, Bob Primes designed the tests with his own technicians and selected the cameras to be tested.

The impressive 12-Camera line-up includes: 35mm Kodak 5213 & 5219 Film, Arri Alexa, RED ONE M-X, Weisscam HS-2, Phantom Flex, Sony F-35, Sony F3, Panasonic AG-AF100, Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 7D and Nikon D7000. In addition to the SCCE tests, the web series features commentary from some of the top DPs in the industry, which was filmed at worldwide screening locations in Sydney, Amsterdam, New York, London, Las Vegas (NAB) and Hollywood “You’ll hear from indie filmmakers, event shooters, commercial DPs, directors and corporate filmmakers,” says Steve Weiss, “Although you are not watching these tests in a 2K theatrical setting, hearing such commentary from people in the ASC, BSC, ACS, CSC, NSC, ICG and the SOC, will help you evaluate the significance of these tests.”

This first episode of the series looks at the dynamic range and usable latitude of each camera. “We need to see how these cameras record real scenes,” says Jens Bogehegn. Thus, Bob Primes, ASC, designed an under-exposure scene and an over-exposure scene. In regards to methodology, the camera master had to set their camera to record the widest dynamic range and they were not allowed to change any settings between the two scenes. The combination of both of these scenes will show the usable dynamic range of each camera. The featured scenes are shot by Michael Bravin and lit by Matt Siegel and Nancy Schreiber, ASC.

***The featured tests include three scenes: a back-lit test chart shot by Michael Bravin, an under-exposure scene lit by Matt Siegel and an over-exposure scene lit by Nancy Schreiber, ASC.

For more information on “The Great Camera Shootout 2011, go to zacuto.com/​the-great-camera-shootout-2011. To watch previous episodes of The Great Camera Shootout 2010″ visit zacuto.com/​shootout

Commentary in this Episode Features:
Academy Award Winner Russell Boyd ASC, ACS (Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, Ghost Rider, Forever Young); Academy Award Nominee Don McAlpine ASC, ACS (Moulin Rouge, Patriot Games, X-Men Origins: Wolverine); Calvin Gardiner ACS; BAFTA TV Award Winner Nic Knowland, ASC (The Final Passage, Around the World in 80 Days); Emmy Award Nominee & ASC Nominee Gale Tattersall, ASC (House, Ghost Ship, Wild Orchid); Mykelti T. Williamson, Actor (Forrest Gump, 24, CSI: NY); Ken Glassing (CSI: Miami); Philip Bloom (Sophia’s People, Greenpeace: Voices of Change); Terry Hopkins (London Film School); Dan Chung, James Mathers (Digital Cinema Society), David Wexler (Broken, The Wind) and more.

CAST & CREW
The web series documentary features two different independent crews. The SCCE Crew: Administrator Robert Primes, ASC; Station Chiefs: Michael Bravin, Stephen Lighthill ASC, Nancy Schreiber ASC, Matt Siegel and Mike Curtis; Line Producer Josh Siegel. The Shootout 2011 Crew: Editor Karen Abad, Graphic Designer Chris Voelz, Producers: Daniel Skubal, Scott Lynch, Jens Bogehegn and Eric Kessler; Web Series Director Steve Weiss.

Episode 2, “Sensors & Sensitivity” of the three part series continues with tests covering sensitivity, resolution, compression and the relationship between them. These tests were designed and administered by Robert Primes ASC, director of the Single Chip Camera Evaluation (SCCE) and shown at 2K screenings around the world to indie filmmakers, event shooters, commercial DP’s, directors and corporate filmmakers alike. Their opinions on the footage are invaluable when it comes to understanding what all this data means in real world shooting situations.

To measure the sensitivity, the SCCE team used the Signal to Noise ratio of each camera to determine the threshold of acceptable noise. “Michael Bravin shot an opto-electronic conversion function or OECF chart,” says Steve Weiss, director. The chart uses twenty different grey patches that are analyzed by software to determine how the sensor converts the illumination into digital values.” A low light scene was lit by Stephen Lighthill, ASC to show how noise can affect a shot in the real world.

Matt Siegel was in charge of measuring the resolution of each camera by shooting a 3ft wide Siemen star chart. This chart is used to find the Spatial Frequency Response (SFR) of the sensor which shows the smallest details a camera can capture. The final test in episode two covers color compression and sub-sampling. Each camera was recorded, if possible, to an external recorder to capture the most uncompressed image possible, with the Wringer chart, the differences between on-board and off-board recordings are shown. “Some cameras can record in 4:4:4” explains producer Jens Bogehegn, “but other cameras compress the image by removing color data, this can be 4:2:2 or 4:2:0.” A Still Life scene was also shot by Steven Lighthill, ASC and Nancy Shreiber, ASC to show the real world implications when resolution and compression are pushed to their limits.

Come watch Episode 2: “Sensors & Sensitivity” and learn from some of the best in the business! We promise you won’t be disappointed.

The featured scenes in this episode are shot by Michael Bravin, Matt Siegel, Stephen Lighthill, ASC and Nancy Schreiber, ASC. The still life scene was designed by Rhonda Rolston.

Commentary: Jay Lee, Jack Cummings, Dan Freene, Daniel DeMoulin, Daren Finner, Nino Leitner, Jonathan Bregel, Jon Carr, Jan Crittenden: Product Manager-Panasonic, Bruce Logan, ASC, Cinematographer “Tron,” James Kallemeyn, Sam Shinn, Johnson Liv, Chris Cooke, Mark Steel, Dave Kittredge, Richard Crook, Ken Glassing: Cinematographer, “CSI-Miami,” Gale Tattersall, ASC, Cinematographer, “House,” Michael Lewis, Sebastian Tr, Mathew Medeiros, Paul Ream, Michael Watson, Peter James, ACS, ASC, DP “Driving Miss Daisy” & “Meet The Parents,” Robert Primes, ASC, Ryan Koo, David Johnson, Rodney Charters, ASC, Cinematographer “24,” and Robert Haddad.

CAST & CREW
The web series documentary features two different independent crews. The SCCE Crew: Administrator Robert Primes, ASC; Station Chiefs: Michael Bravin, Stephen Lighthill ASC, Nancy Schreiber ASC, Matt Siegel and Mike Curtis; Line Producer Josh Siegel. The Shootout 2011 Crew: Editor Karen Abad, Graphic Designer Chris Voelz, Producers: Daniel Skubal, Scott Lynch, Jens Bogehegn and Eric Kessler; Web Series Director Steve Weiss.
Additional SCCE Testing Methodologies
All of the manufactures were invited to be involved with the tests and provide a technician with their camera. In cases where the manufacturer declined to send a representative, Bob Primes assigned a camera master who was an expert with that particular camera to manage it as it rotated though all of the series of tests. Each test also had a station chief who kept the tests consistent across cameras.

Lighting Basics: Where to place your KEY LIGHT

 

By Shane Hurlbut ASC;

In the HD world and film, lighting is king.  Knowing how to light and not just rely on available light is what being a cinematographer is all about.  I thought I would do a series of posts that will address the basics in lighting and use my film “The Greatest Game Ever Played” as an example for all of them.  Key light, back light, and fill light.

The key light is the most important light you can place. It lights the actor’s faces and brings out their emotions.  I like to study the features in an actor’s face. You can quickly see if one side is better to key from. This information is always in the back of my mind  so when you are blocking scenes, you can make suggestions that would aid in getting the key from the correct side. Sometimes it is not possible because of the location or the blocking will not allow it, but at least it is a starting point.

Once you block the scene with the actors, it’s time to think about the best way to light the scene, and where the key light should come from.  Prior to this, you have been on location scouts, talked with the director, even possibly blocked it with the talent in a rehearsal and probably already have a good idea.  Right???? or Wrong????  Right, in the sense that you have thought all of it through. Wrong, in the sense that you should not be locked into that if the actors take the scene in a different direction.  Keep yourself nimble; be able to react to a curve ball. They are usually brilliant and well worth the re-think whether it lands on the correct side for their face.

I look at the actors blocking and how best to let them move within a space when deciding where that key light should go.  My best advice is to light an area, but many times when you light an area, this creates a flatter look.  I don’t do flat.  Try to figure out a way to hold nice contrast with the use of flags to shape the light or practicals in the space that can key your actors, windows, doors, etc.

Marking actors is a great idea to get them in the ball park for camera line ups but after that, I try to lose them so that they feel natural and organic in a space and not worry about the marks. It is my job to move the camera to adjust, not the actors. This is one of my most important objectives.  Back in the day, with the camera being so heavy and focus being so critical, marks were king and it was the actor’s job to hit their marks, as well as give an amazing performance.  Things change: the cameras are now 2.5 lbs in some cases and the focus pullers have to be ZEN MASTERs.   Try to always roll out with a slider on the camera so that you can adjust and not ruin a performance because the camera was not able to be in the right place at the right time.  Handheld will give you this ability if the scene warrants it, or you could use a Steadicam.  It can be the most beautifully lit scene, but if the performance isn’t there, it really doesn’t matter, does it?

Let’s take the end scene of “The Greatest Game Ever Played” as an example.  I wanted this to feel like the golden boy, the new champion bathed in beautiful late afternoon sun. His moment, in a shaft of light.  We actually blocked this scene several times with Shia LaBeauf sitting, then with him standing, discussing how to bring Stephen Dillane our Harry Vardon character in at the perfect time.  The director, Bill Paxton,  wanted a western feel at the end, where the old gunslinger surrenders and walks through the swinging saloon doors at the end to leave the new champion.

Once we decided that Shia would start seated, how was I going to key his face?  He was sitting very close to the lockers that surrounded him in a big U shape.  I saw all of the lockers. Where should the key light come from?  If I brought it from behind camera, that would be very flat. I knew I wanted him in a golden shaft, so this would be my starting point.  I set that hot 3/4 backlight coming through the window, using  a Mole Richardson 20K Fresnel full spot dimmed down to 50 percent.  I let what naturally would happen take over.   If a bright shaft was blasting through a window and hitting his head and shoulders, it  would bounce off of the lockers and floor, so that would be his key light.  But would that be enough light? Not really, plus it was very warm bouncing off of the brown lockers, so I hid a bounce card in the bottom of the locker, the sunlight shaft hit the bounce card and illuminated his face.

When Shia stood up to put his jacket on the hot light exploded off of his left arm and lit his face, this was a happy accident and looked awesome, but when he put the jacket on he didn’t have enough light on him, I wanted to see that small smile. It was so important.  To help this along I hung a white towel at the top of the locker so he would get a little love from that.  I wanted this moment to feel very personal and intimate. He had just won the 1913 U.S. Open. This was his time, the lone gunslinger, after he shot the other cowboy dead in the streets. Keeping the contrast fairly heavy so that Shia separated from the background was paramount.  This would create the world going dark around him with him in this spotlight/shaft of light. Once I lit the scene, it seemed very monochromatic.  Something was needed, COLOR CONTRAST.  What is color contrast?   When a scene takes on only one or two tones, I feel that it lacks depth and dimension.  A way to bring that back is to add a different color than the one or two colors that are in the scene and usually one that goes 180 degrees in the opposite direction.  Shia had brown pants on and a tea stained shirt. We had brown lockers and golden light coming through the window.  It needed blue undertones in the shadows to give us that contrast.

To add the color contrast, I used 2-4 x 8 foam core bounces behind camera with 2- 5500 Kelvin 1200 LTM HMI Par lights with half CTB bouncing into them to mimic north light coming through the windows on the other side of the locker room.  What is NORTH LIGHT?  This is ambient light that has a very creamy feel, soft, diffused, coming from the north, that is usually slightly cool in tone from it reflecting all of the blue skylight.

My lighting technique is to start with what naturally would happen and then choose to change or alter it, depending on the look and feel of the project.  Greatest Game wanted to feel like a painting so my tones and colors were saturated with a higher contrast range.  My inspiration for this film came from a book that I bought called Bound for Glory “America in Color” .  It was a photography book that showcased 1100 Kodachrome prints that had been found in an attic in the Midwest, dating back to 1939.  These were FSA prints that were thought to have been lost and the first color prints ever shot.  They had an extreme contrast in the blacks, with a chalky mid tone, and deep saturated blues, oranges, and reds.  Both Bill and I thought this would be the perfect look for this film.  No one had ever delivered this cinematic expression before and we were excited to try it.  Many hair, make up and wardrobe tests were done to make sure that the colors that were chosen for the golfers and cast to wear would handle the deep contrast.  The costume designer originally had Harry Vardon in an olive colored suit.  With our test, the suit dissolved into the green grass and tree background.  So we opted for a yellow suit to contrast this, which worked out beautifully.  A funny note –when you shoot the hundredth roll of film, you always crack a bottle of Champagne for everyone on the crew to enjoy. We cracked it on the film test.

Never stop looking at light.  Put the images of light in your memory bank to pull from.  Travel, ingest imagery, photo reference books are so important for creativity.  Arcana in Santa Monica is an amazing resource.

This article by a friend of ours – Shane Hurlbut – www.hurlbutvisuals.com

The craftsmanship is apparent.

Sweet stuff: Hawk Anamorphic 45-90mm T2.8

 

Vantage Film, the designer and manufacturer of Hawk Lenses, premiered their lightweight, compact Hawk Anamorphic 45-90mm T2.8 zoom lens at Cine Gear Expo. It will be available in both 2x and 1.3x squeeze (2x for 4:3 and 4-perf image areas; and 1.3x for 16:9 and 3-perf image areas). The anamorphic element is in front.

The zoom lens weighs a mere 4.5 kg, focuses to 2’6″ and is 220 mm long. The front diameter is 125 mm.

I think I’m gonna go SMOKE (Autodesk)… here are a list of things removed from FCP in version X.

While FCPX may totally rock for the home user, those industry professionals that made Apple the power house that it is are gutted by the new version as the following have all been removed:

• 10-year Legacy Project Support
• Multi-camera Editing
• Autosave Vault & Versioning
• Assignable Audio/Video Tracks
• DVD Chapter Markers & Marker Export
• Log & Batch Capture from Tape
• XML & EDL Import/Export
• OMF Export
• Customizable Workspaces
• Customizable Bin Column Views
• Copy/Paste Clip Attributes
• Photoshop Layer Support
• In/Out Section Timeline Exporting
• Broadcast Video Monitoring
• Output to  Tape
• More than one Timeline per Project

For now we will stick with FCP 7… however;

YAY FOR SMOKE FOR MAC!

Autodesk Smoke combines the non-linear creative workflow of an editor with 3D visual effects and finishing tools. The result is the power to deliver today’s best content fast – in a single, efficient creative application that fits your workflow. Thus, we will be evaluating the workflow of Autodesk Smoke over the next few months….

Intro to Final Draft and Celtx

This video is an introduction to two types of screenwriting software; Final Draft and Celtx.

What matters most in digital photography…..

 

Although the meaning of dynamic range for a real-world scene is simply the ratio between lightest and darkest regions (contrast ratio), its definition becomes more complicated when describing measurement devices such as digital cameras and scanners. Recall from the tutorial on digital camera sensors that light is measured at each pixel in a cavity or well (photosite). Each photosite’s size, in addition to how its contents are measured, determine a digital camera’s dynamic range.

Black Level (Limited by Noise)	White Level (Saturated Photosite)	Darker White Level (Low Capacity Photosite)

Photosites can be thought of as buckets which hold photons as if they were water. Therefore, if the bucket becomes too full, it will overflow. A photosite which overflows is said to have become saturated, and is therefore unable to discern between additional incoming photons — thereby defining the camera’s white level. For an ideal camera, its contrast ratio would therefore be just the number of photons it could contain within each photosite, divided by the darkest measurable light intensity (one photon). If each held 1000 photons, then the contrast ratio would be 1000:1. Since larger photosites can contain a greater range of photons, dynamic range is generally higher for digital SLR cameras compared to compact cameras (due to larger pixel sizes).

Technical Note: In some digital cameras, there is an extended low ISO setting which produces less noise, but also decreases dynamic range. This is because the setting in effect overexposes the image by a full f-stop, but then later truncates the highlights — thereby increasing the light signal. An example of this is many of the Canon cameras, which have an ISO-50 speed below the ordinary ISO-100.

In reality, consumer cameras cannot count individual photons. Dynamic range is therefore limited by the darkest tone where texture can no longer be discerned; we call this the black level. The black level is limited by how accurately each photosite can be measured, and is therefore limited in darkness by image noise. Therefore, dynamic range generally increases for lower ISO speeds and cameras with less measurement noise.

Techncal Note: Even if a photosite could count individual photons, it would still be limited by photon noise. Photon noise is created by the statistical variation in arrival of photons, and therefore represents a theoretical minimum for noise. Total noise represents the sum of photon noise and read-out noise.

Overall, the dynamic range of a digital camera can therefore be described as the ratio of maximum light intensity measurable (at pixel saturation), to minimum light intensity measurable (above read-out noise). The most commonly used unit for measuring dynamic range in digital cameras is the f-stop, which describes total light range by powers of 2. A contrast ratio of 1024:1 could therefore also be described as having a dynamic range of 10 f-stops (since 2¹⁰ = 1024). Depending on the application, each unit f-stop may also be described as a “zone” or “eV.”

Thanks Cambridge in colour.