Cinematography
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Leitner’s Mondo NAB, Part 3: SSD, Tapes and Storage
Originally posted April 2011. At back-to-back press conferences prior to the opening of NAB’s show floor, both Panasonic and Sony acknowledged the still-unfolding natural disaster in Japan and asked that our thoughts be with the Japanese people. Sony added that despite critical damage to its media plant in Sendai, supplies of HDCAM-SR tape would return to normal by June. Sony’s Sendai Technology Center (which I’ve visited) practically invented the high-performance tapes necessary to DV and HDV (metal evaporated) and HDCAM-SR (metal particle), and still manufactures a preponderance of them. Having persuaded both film and television industries to adopt HDCAM-SR as […]
by David Leitner on Nov 27, 2011 -
Leitner’s Mondo NAB, Part 2
Originally posted April 2011. I wish to continue my notes about developments in large-sensor cameras, but of course the magnesium-powder newsflash sucking up all the oxygen at NAB today is Apple’s stealth sneak peek at Final Cut Pro X last night. Apple hasn’t officially attended NAB for several years—many of us miss the consummate showmanship of their former press conferences—so when news broke on the eve of NAB that an entire slate of speakers at the 10th annual FCP User Group SuperMeet had been swept aside for a special guest, Apple fever took hold. The event sold out in a […]
by David Leitner on Nov 27, 2011 -
Leitner’s Mondo NAB, Part 1
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 […]
by David Leitner on Nov 27, 2011 -
Sony’s New HXC-D70 HD/SD Studio Camera
Studio cameras aren’t something I usually spend much time looking at, but I just sat in on a demo of Sony’s new HXC-D70 HD/SD System Camera, which has some interesting features. The HXC-D70 only started shipping three weeks ago, and Sony considers it their budget 2/3” sensor studio camera; it sells for about $20,000. While it might have many potential audiences, it’s plain that Sony intended this for studios and corporate environments who are currently shooting SD but plan to move to HD. This camera works happily in either mode, will work with older CCU-D50 camera control units, and it […]
by Michael Murie on Nov 18, 2011 -
Shooting Tiny Furniture
Originally published in the Summer 2010 issue. Only a few months after we selected her for last year’s “25 New Faces” list, writer-director Lena Dunham went into production on her second feature Tiny Furniture. Shot by fellow 2009 “25 New Faces” Jody Lee Lipes and produced by Filmmaker contributing editor Alicia Van Couvering and Kyle Martin, the film wound up winning the Grand Prize at 2010’s SXSW Film Festival and was picked up by IFC for distribution this fall. The film was shot on the Canon 7D, and we asked Lipes, focus puller Joe Anderson and Technicolor colorist Sam Daley […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Nov 17, 2011 -
Getting Started in 3D
I had the good fortune of attending a day-long workshop on 3D production this past weekend. It was notable because we had a chance to actually use the Panasonic AG-3DA1 camcorder and to view the results projected using Panasonic’s new home 3D projector, the PT-AE7000U. In the interests of full disclosure; I have previously written at some length about my suspicion and distrust of the whole 3D thing. I blame it on seeing Jaws 3D in 2D at a drive-in movie at a formative age. To me, 3D seems to be an effect that is useful now and again, but […]
by Michael Murie on Nov 17, 2011 -
Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd Talks The Hurt Locker
Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd has shot almost 50 features with numerous directors, but when it comes time to discuss his work on Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, his collaborations with two other helmers need to be referenced. The first is Ken Loach, the director Ackroyd is most associated with. The Manchester, England-born d.p. has shot many of Loach’s films, including Raining Stones, Ladybird Ladybird, Land and Freedom, the Palme d’Or-winning The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and his upcoming Looking for Eric. In these films he developed an unadorned, naturalistic camera and lighting style that gave them an almost doc-like verisimilitude. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 14, 2011 -
Storaro Talks Shop
Originally published in our Web Exclusives section on June 8, 2007. It is entirely without hyperbole to introduce Vittorio Storaro as one of the most singular and influential cinematographers in the progression of modern motion pictures. His color palette on films such as The Conformist and Apocalypse Now is without peer, and long-lasting collaborations with directors Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Ford Coppola and Warren Beatty have been recognized with three Oscars for Best Cinematography (Apocalypse Now (1979), Reds (1981) and The Last Emperor (1987)). Storaro’s latest film is Caravaggio, screening this week as part of Lincoln Center’s series “Open Roads: New […]
by Jamie Stuart on Nov 14, 2011 -
Reaction To The Canon C300 And Red-Scarlet-X: Part Two
In my previous blog post I interviewed several directors of photography who are shooting material for web and television to get their reactions to the recent Canon and RED announcements. You might sum up their reactions as, “We wanted to like the Canon, but it’s too expensive!” To complete the picture, I talked to a couple of people who have worked on a number of indie films, and have worked extensively with cameras like the RED and Arri Alexa. Finishing Artist and VFX Supervisor Dermot Shane is based in Vancouver and routinely works with material from REDs, and Arri’s (both […]
by Michael Murie on Nov 14, 2011 -
Reaction To The Canon C300 And Red Scarlet-X: Part One
The dust is still settling from the recent announcements from Canon and RED, and many of us are trying to figure out what it all means: is the Canon too expensive? The Scarlet too complicated? Will they have a big impact, or are these cameras outside the reach of most indie filmmakers? Ultimately, we won’t know their impact until these cameras start shipping in quantity, but I asked some DP/Editors to share their initial reactions to the cameras. Max Esposito is a DSLR shooter who is looking to upgrade from the Canon 5D Mark II, but says he doesn’t think […]
by Michael Murie on Nov 8, 2011
