The day Sundance began, Daily Variety’s lead article kicked off with: “In this brave new indie world of VOD, shifting release windows, RED cameras [italics mine] and social media marketing…” I was struck by how little any of this has to do with indie filmmaking alone. As a token of digital revolution, RED cameras are so five years ago. It’s hard to storm the ramparts when last year’s #5 and #7 box office hits were shot with RED Epics (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Amazing Spider-Man). In fact, not only were last year’s #1 and #4 hits filmed with …

RED has been making a lot of claims about their new super-sensor Dragon, that is currently in development. An upgrade to their EPIC cameras, Dragon was initially expected by the end of 2012, but that date has now been pushed back. Jim Jannard of RED first said that the sensor had more resolution than 65mm film scanned at 4K. He went so far as to say, “Dragon should never be compared to 35mm film. It should only be spoken in reference to 65mm film from here on out.” Now Jarred Land has released a sample image (above) on the RED …

This Tuesday we have the big announcement of “The New F” from Sony to look forward to. Will it be amazing? Sony is certainly talking it up, billing it as “The Future, Ahead of Schedule.” Peter Crithary of Sony has tweeted: Peter Crithary @CineAltaNews Those few that have seen, and know the features, their reaction is #GameChanger Of course, he’s from Sony, so he might be expected to say that. Filmmaker Sebastian Wiegärtner has said: Sebastian Wiegärtner @wiegaertner #TheNewF announcement will be very tough for some big players in the industry! I was so surprised yesterday! And Andy Shipsides of …

Another week, another iPhone announcement. I remember when I used to hang on every word as a new iPhone was released. What were the features? When would it be available? When could I order it? I’ve even lined up – twice – just to get it on the first day. In retrospect, does it really make sense to stand in line for several hours waiting for a… phone? But now it’s the sixth “new” iPhone (Original, 3G, 3Gs, 4, 4s, 5) and I find I’m not so enraptured. I don’t need to know immediately whether the camera is any better (see footnote …

At the end of last year I interviewed DP Dave Kruta about shooting with the Red EPIC [See: DP DAVID KRUTA AND THE RED EPIC]. At the time I also talked to him about the independent movie Concussion, which he’d just finished shooting. The movie is currently in post-production:   Q: How did you come to work on the movie Concussion? I was contacted out of the blue by the director, who’d seen my reel. She interviewed a whole bunch of DPs and I guess we just connected over the script and what she was trying to do. Q: Can …

As 2011 comes to a close, here, based on Google Analytics, are this site’s top ten posts of the year. 1. 25 New Faces of 2011. I mean, of course — what else would have been our top traffic-getter of the year? As it does every year, the unveiling of our 25 New Faces list outpaced everything else on the site by almost three to one. And one thing I’m especially proud of — at the time we pick them, the people on this list are real discoveries. As I look at lists with similar ambitions on other sites, I’m …

Dave Kruta grew up drawing and painting, but fell into cinematography in an unusual way. Working as a web designer, a job for a friend led to a video project. This eventually led to working as a DIT – he is a member of Local 600 DIT – but he says his passion is cinematography. He’s been doing more d.p. work this past year, perhaps helped by the fact that he bought his own Red Epic system earlier in the year. In this interview he talks about using the Epic and Alexa, the M and X versions of the Epic, …

Originally posted April 2011. The big NAB show in Las Vegas opened Monday, and I’ll be filing reports for Filmmaker’s readers at the end of every day through Thursday, when the show floor closes. For those unfamiliar with NAB, it stands for National Association of Broadcasters, a powerful trade association and influential Washington lobby, no bastion of progressive politics. But for filmmakers and indie producers, it also stands for the huge annual April trade show in Vegas, where the latest in cameras, lenses, recorders, lighting, audio, and all manner of production gear are introduced. TV execs, techies, DPs, and crew …

Jamie Stuart passed me this video, which Ray Pride posted at Movie City Indie. Check out the small size of the forthcoming RED Epic camera. Here’s another RED report from NAB, courtesy of Engadget: Ted Interview (Part I) from Landmine Media on Vimeo.