Digital Media Management Best Practices

Camera Assisting 9 Comments

When shooting digital cinema, it’s important to have your workflow set out ahead of time. While film has an established protocol (for the most part) with handling printed takes, short ends, etc., the digital world has many options that can be cumbersome if not thoroughly explored. The last thing you want to deal with on set is lost footage or deleted clips – something that is very likely if you’re making your process up on the fly. And while no exact one way is right, there are certain guidelines that can lead you to a hassle-free digital workflow. And here they are:
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A Seat in the 4-D Immersion Theater for “Planet Earth”

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The National Aquarium in Baltimore has upgraded it’s facilities to provide a new “immersion theater” for it’s customers. I was there a few weekends ago to give it a try, luckily without any cameras ruining the film, and was able to experience a montage of “Planet Earth” best-of moments. The theater combines stereoscopic 3-D along with theater lighting, track lighting, mists, bubbles and other diddlywads to give you the experience of the world you’re in. And while it wasn’t the longest piece of cinema at 10 minutes long, I was able to get a good idea of what 4D meant and how it worked.

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American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Releases ‘Best Of 1998 – 2008′ Winners List

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The American Society of CInematographers, the nomination only honor guild of cinematographers, has released today the results of an online poll of the “best shot” movies from 1998 – 2008. There were over 50 nominees from the past decade that were dwindled down to the top 10 winners. There are some major players in this group, including Conrad Hall, Roger Elswit and Roger Deakins aka the Deaks. See the list after the jump…

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Useful Cinematography iPhone Apps to Have on Set (Part 2)

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A couple of months ago, I did a post that featured three useful cinematography/camera assisting iPhone apps to have on set. In my introduction, I stated that “the Apple iPhone is undoubtedly one of the most powerful phones out on the market today” and that “there are plenty of apps to help you become more efficient on set and make the iPhone one of your essential tools.”

Now with the release of the iPhone 4, the app store has only become larger as well as the user base of the phone, even within the few months since my last post. Since then, many apps have come into the store that I wasn’t able to cover in my original post.

Below you’ll find five apps that have the potential to turn your iPhone into a powerful tool on set for cinematographers, directors, and camera assistants.

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My Trip to the Aquarium: Or How Imagination is Lost Through the LCD Eye of a Camera

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This past holiday weekend I took a trip to the Baltimore inner harbor with my girlfriend to go visit the National Aquarium. She had never been and it’s a place I’ve been countless times both as a child and in my adult years. I love going to watch all sorts of exotic fish and animals as it creates a genuine sense of wonder for me. Some of them are so beautiful, some of them very ugly, and all of them have this enchanted way of living their life in these tanks, seamlessly swimming and floating in their captured world. There’s something immeasurably enchanting about watching these creatures – some so unrecognizable from anything around us. When I went this weekend, all of those feelings returned to me, despite the crowds, and I couldn’t help but think that I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. But then I noticed a nasty habit forming around me – cameras, lots of cameras. Flashes. Red lights. And it bothered me.

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RED Epic and Scarlet Cameras By End of 2010?

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Reading off Engadget, found at the comprehensive Reduser.net forums, Jim Jannard (founder of RED) has apologized for the “embarassingly late” production delays on the Epic (pictured above) and Scarlet cameras. He explains the cause of the delay was a bug that took months to find and put a “bullet in the back of it’s head.”

Admitting the humble beginnings of the RED one, Jannard explains that they don’t plan to release a “buggy camera with limited features this time,” instead opting to leave the testing in-house rather than in the hands of indie filmmakers who have that special itch to early adopt. That means the Epic and Scarlet cameras should take a bit longer to rev up into production, though the pain of an unstable camera should be removed.

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Toolkit: USB Lens Light (Perfect for RED one)

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A lens light is an essential tool to have in your kit for when you’re shooting in dark places.

Night-time exteriors, dark interiors, or light-sensitive scenes are all crucial scenarios in which having a lens light comes in handy.

And having one enables you to keep the focus/iris rings on the lens lit up so you can see them during a take and while you’re pulling focus.

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Arri Alexa Pace 3D System Steadicam Rig for Transformers 3 (w/Video)

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It looks like Michael Bay has decided to shoot Transformers 3 in 3D instead of using a silly post-conversion process. This is good news I’m finding by way of Slashfilm and stands firmly in the bounds of what I think Hollywood should be doing for the 3D revolution. For the job, Bay has enlisted 3D vet Vince Pace who endured a long tedious process of building a suitable 3D rig with James Cameron that resulted in Avatar and it’s monstrous box office success. With the Arri Alexa cameras, Pace has rigged an updated system to shoot 3D with the newest digital cinema camera. It’s the same system that Scorsese used/is using on his entry into the third dimension, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. More and video after the jump.

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The Subtleties of the Slate (Video)

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A friend I recently worked with showed me this video. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the clapper/loader on a film called Van Diemen’s Land. It’s a bit tongue in cheek and anybody who’s ever tried a trick slate will appreciate it. Enjoy:

Review: ‘Toy Story 3′

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I know I am late to the game with my review of Toy Story 3, Pixar’s latest installment in the playtime trilogy, but I felt like I had to be. I needed the film to rest in my mind for awhile. See, I grew up with the two Toy Story films, the first released in 1995 and the second in 1999 would’ve had me at 7 and 11 years old respectively. That meant these films were classic nostalgia for myself. Both films I saw at the height of my childhood when a movie wasn’t a work of art, or a business, or even a movie – it was purely story and characters. As you can guess, I love the first two Toy Story films and so I was a bit hesitant but also excited at the prospect of Toy Story 3. And when I finally saw it, I wanted the film’s presence and story to marinade before I dove into a review. I didn’t want my nostalgia and hype influencing a true exploration into the cinematic art of what director Lee Unkrich drew up. My revelations after the jump… (Also for those wary, this review is SPOILER FREE)

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