The Banksy

The Banksy. Taken in the lower 9th ward of New Orleans, it gives a pessimistic and dark perception of the world. I only have one take of this digitally and none on film, (a photographers worst realization), however I believe it makes it quite special. Considering it's location and significance, it remains one of, if not, my favorite picture that I took on the documentary. Funny how out of all the countries I've been to, this one in America is my favorite.

If anyone (well let's be honest at this point, both of you) reading this blog has been to New Orleans recently, you will find what seems to be a completely rebuilt city. Hurricane Katrina was 5 years ago. Plenty of time for a city to fix it's Superdome and win a Superbowl. Plenty of time to rebuild a city and economy that could attain it's former state. Mostly true. Except for the lower 9th ward. Shells of homes still torn apart with spray painted body count numbers still circled on doors gave me a few chills. It appeared to be a suburb which used to be like many others across the country.

A city can win a Superbowl yet still cannot rebuild all the damage that was done? I viewed the superbowl in Istanbul, Turkey. I saw the Saints win and how much it meant to the fans and city of New Orleans. Making a statement that they have hope and success climbing back from the natural disaster. Yet homes still abandoned and torn apart?

Not all the homes were abandoned obviously. Some had rebuilt and moved back in but not nearly enough for an entire block or for many to even have neighbors on both sides. I wonder if this is by choice by the city or the lack of industry that hinders this lack of re-development. It's an eerie experience to see such a shattered region of a city still reminded by the horrible natural disaster just 5 years ago.

Haitus is over

It is has been a little over a month now since my last post about the illustrious Arri Alexa. An incredible camera however we never really have it in house. It's been rented a few times however mostly spends it life in NY at, where else, Arri NY. Hmmm, can't quite figure that one out but hey, seems to be shooting some great footage. You've probably seen the world cup Alexa commercial/short film. Google it. It's there. Trust me.

Updates about the Alexa (as cool as it is), is not the reason for my latest post. I have decided to put forth a resurgence of effort towards posting and keeping this tech blob/personal blog going. I will try to do daily, well, weekly, attempts to post some of my favorite pictures taken from "No Lands Too Foreign". Post upon the documentary is steadily making progress among the 125 hours or so of raw footage. It shall be exciting once the promo is up!

So it has arrived

It has finally come to our door steps. The Arri Alexa. It is an Arri built RED Epic competitor. The RED One MX sensor boasts 2 more stops of latitude than the previous RED One. This pushes it's dynamic range to 11 usable stops of latitude. Maybe a small amount more but it gets a bit noisy in my opinion if you push the footage too far. Regardless, the Alexa is boasting 14 stops of lattitude under ideal case scenarios. We're not getting to film latitude here. Now it's not an exact science from a DN Range chart but hey, the proof is in the footage. In which case we really can't fully use the camera due to the fact the firmware does not support the sxs cards that are INSTALLED on the camera. You can only record to an HDcam or Cinedeck at this point. So you can spend an additional 400 for an HDcam recording deck or more for a Cinedeck mostly dedicated the SI-2K system, or just wait. I think I'll just wait for them to update the firmware to support SxS. No one wants to be tethered by a BnC cable. The camera is heavier than expected but it lives up to the Arri built tanks of the film era.

The Red Epic is supposed to resolution wise have more however it's dynamic range and noises in the blacks is what I'm most concerned about. Another fact to remember is that the EPIC may or may not exist at this point. Some sources say it's unusable due to bugs and others say it's incredible which will be a jump in cinema technology. Either way, I just want to see how they physically compare side by side.

For more information:

http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/freshdv/story/epic_vs_alexa_dynamic_range/

Here is some DN Range charts in a test shoot from the link above.

http://provideocoalition.com/images/uploads/red_alexa_dr_charts.jpg

Location: HD Camera Rentals

New Hope

My repleacement ae-1 program. The last one was stolen in Peru right before Machi Picchu. I set my bag down inside a travel agency and I turned around only to find my bag, a broken headlamp, and my Ae-1 program with a 28mm f2.8 gone.
Unfortunately the criminals will get nothing in value for it so both parties involved lost I say.
Regardless, what dissapoints me the most is, well, the roll. I can't replace that.
Although I got a really nice deal on a limited edition model. The black does not change the quality of the picture although it is a nice upgrade.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:So Pasadena

Bon voyage to sticks!

I have just successfully pawned off the sticks to a local camera shop. The Matthews m-25 tripod is a good video tripod. It could easily hold an Ex-3 or comprable video camera. Unfortunatley just the 7d proved to be a bit too light as pans became a bit jerky.

Mixed with the fact that our style of filmmaking is run and gun all the time, setting up sticks is not an option nor is carrying them around with me at all times feasible.

The only tripod based equipment I have is my gorilla pod for dslr's which I highly recommend.

It's nice to shed some weight and make some cash so we can get back to te states!


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tech Blog: Dane-Elec Card Review

The Dane -Elec proline udma 300x cards are a good alternative to the expensive Kingston rated brands if you are willing to accept their shortcomings. You get what you pay for. Each Dane-Elec card was $60 rather than $300 a piece for a 16 gb card.

First and foremost is that they only allow for 10min takes which is a few minutes shorter than the Kingston brands cards. Who knows why fat32 was used as the hd format with a maximum of 4gb a file... For most narrative filmmaking puposes, this is not that big of a deal. Keep in mind within 7-10 seconds, recording can continue once the buffer clears in the camera.

Secondly, buffer freezes and stoppage of recording happens fairly frequently. Mostly at the beginning and end of each card. The little meter icon will show up and become full at which time the screen freezes and stops recording. This can be quite frustrating especially if you're in a very important moment that can't be done again or when in the middle of a take and your talent is in a very emotional scene where having unnecessary takes is detrimental to the production.

As far as the high speed photography goes, I am allowed 15 8fps shots. I'm unsure how many you get with other cards but it's quite adequate especially compared to the 5dM2's fps rate.

Overall with the budget I have been working with on No Lands Too Foreign, it is a great cheap alternative to buying expensive cf cards.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Mini bus in Thailand

Tech Blog-The Reality of our Filming Style

It has come to my attention within the last month or so the perception of how we must appear to the people we interact with. As the film school mentality begins to fade from my mind while on this project, we embarked on a journey that has us doing many decisions very un-Hollywood. Everything we have done thus far is real and un-staged. It is merely our journey through our eyes. It is not a presentation of a city but a small percentage of what a city has to offer to 2 young travelers.

Along with this, is our equipment and how we are perceived. With this HDSLR revolution so many are talking about, not only is it incredibly affordable to get an HD quality pictures, but portability becomes incredibly easy since it is a DSLR that happens to shoot video. These facts have been well stated for however what does this mean for the reality of the content itself?

We run around with a small camera as two young recently graduated students and people perceive us as if we are making a home video. Our subjects act more natural and are more inclined to be real. This is exactly what we want. The locals have seen a DSLR before for the most part yet they haven't seen an EX-3 or an F-900. Even if they have, the connotations that those cameras bring is the label of "professional" or most importantly "really expensive". Thus giving those who use the camera and the entourage with them as a big time production. They are less inclined to be real and more apprehensive to being on camera. Having a boom operator/mixer, camera operator, AC, producer, director and whoever else is on the team gives the impression of something completely different. More people crowd around to see what the bustle is rather than two kids with a camera shooting stuff around their hometown.

This revolution everyone is ranting and raving about is very much a point that will change the flow of where the industry will go on the independent level however not just with the technical side of things but also on the content side of things and the perception/psychological way production is perceived. For us, the reality of what we are doing and the people we meet is the most important thing. It seems like we hit the perfect time for the HDSLR revolution and this project.