The Revolution Evolves… again.

From my first post on the Red and SI-2K to our own purchase of the Canon 7D of the DSLR craze, Sony beats Panasonic and Canon to market releasing the first large sensor Prosumer Camcorder.   We’ve been clamoring for it since Canon, Panasonic, and Nikon added HD video to their DSLR’s and have been making do with ergonomics, but this and Panasonic’s upcoming AG-AF100 are going to change the independent and low budget film market forever… well eventually.

Unfortunately Sony is taking baby steps with this system.  They were last to roll out HD video in a still camera, and still haven’t in their Alpha series DSLR’s.  It seems we’re in for a progressive evolution in the NEX series camcorders as well.  While it has an APS sized sensor and can take Sony E and A mount lenses (A Mount lenses require an adapter) in a true camcorder body, with viewfinder and built-in audio, they hobbled the system with no XLR audio inputs and 59.94 1080i video.  Non progressive?  No 24 fps?   That’s a huge turnoff for filmmakers.  You came so close Sony.  With Panasonic offering those features, plus HDSDI with an incredibly adaptable Micro 4/3rds mount, I think they’re going to capture most of that business when they release the AF100 at the end of the year.

What’s really exciting though, missing features or not, they are listening to the consumers and bringing these cameras to market, which will only spawn more innovation and competition to the benefit of filmmakers.

These camcorders should force Canon to put up or shut up and update their HD Camcorder line with APS and Full Frame Sensored camcorders as well.  But Canon, if you’re listening please learn from your competitors and make sure you offer professional audio features, HDSDI, 24P, and a robust codec like your new 50Mbps 4:2:2 codec featured in the XF camcorder line.   Or better yet a true Red Killer using the open Adobe CinemaDNG Raw video standard.  A fella can dream right?

Related posts:

1. Don’t Wait
2. New Kid on the Digital Cinema Block
3. The Revolution Continues…

Completed astonishingly, in under two years, King Kong 360 3-D officially opens today. A unique collaboration between Peter Jackson and Universal Creative, the attraction transports you to Skull Island for a showdown between Kong and a V-Rex who’d like to make you dinner.

Stories and Reviews about the attraction:

• LA Times
• USA Today
• Hero Complex
• Yahoo! News
• FearNet
• Theme Park Insider

I spent most of the last two years developing, tweaking, and perfecting the immersive 3-D projection system for the attraction, that includes 16 2K resolution projectors, unique lensing, and 2 custom compound curve screens that stand 40′ tall and 187′ long.

The first challenge was deploying a 3-D film to guests riding in a linear tram.  This meant that most guests will be watching the film from an off axis position, a big no-no for most stereoscopic systems.  Not only that, in order to have image 360 degrees around the guests meant having screens opposing each other, which opens up issues of light contamination from one screen to the other, or cross-talk as it’s commonly referred to.

To solve these issues, I first mocked the system up, in Howard Hughes Spruce Goose hangar in Playa Vista.  Working with 3-D consultant Peter Anderson, and Electrosonic Systems , we fine tuned screen shape, texture, and gain to come up with a system that played to the guests off-axis viewing position, while mitigating the cross-talk.   The system was also used by Peter Jackson, Weta, and the Universal Creative team to view dailies and 3-D tests which due to the size and complexity of the system,  couldn’t be viewed any other way.

King Kong Mock-up System

Once complete we rebuilt the screens from scratch and moved the system to the show for integration.  In the last few weeks as we approached the finish line, Peter Jackson, Matt Aitken and the team at Weta outdid themselves creating an amazingly beautiful stereoscopic  short film that makes the experience. The original sound designer, Brent Burge and mixers Mike Hedges, and Peter Lehman mixed the 22 channel final audio in the space, which really made it come alive.

Now with all the technical challenges behind us, the attraction is open to the public, and the response has been tremendous.  Standing in the back of the space as guests cheer, scream, and applaud really is the projects best reward.  Eliciting that visceral, emotional response from the audience is what it’s all about, whether I’m making a film or an attraction.

To learn more about the project, I have embedded some behind the scenes videos provided by Universal, or you can watch them at the official website.

Related posts:

1. King Kong 360 3D
2. Simpsons Wins 2008 THEA Award For Outstanding Achievment – Attraction
3. The Simpsons™ Ride

Case in point, the following shot from the PSA featuring a child on his dad’s shoulders. Click on any of the pictures to see it in full 720P resolution.

Not a bad composition, but if I had the time and the crew, I would have loved to have put a reflector in there to brighten up the kid’s and his dad’s face.  I’d also like to get rid of that hand in the bottom left that’s taking the direct sun and becoming a focal point.  While I’m at it, I might have put a sky filter on to enhance the sky which over-exposed a bit.

So, should we let the fact that we didn’t have that time and crew in the moment ruin this shot?  Absolutely not.  Instead we  begin the  post color grading process.  Some people (including myself) call this color correction, but I think that grading is more appropriate as we’re doing a lot more than simply correcting the color.  For those wondering I shot on a Canon EOS 7D using Stu Maschwitz’s picture profile settings from my previous testing.   This flattens the image out giving you more highlight and shadow detail to work with when grading, which came in very helpful here.

I should also mention that I transcoded the original 7D quicktime file to Cineform files.  As I mentioned in my previous post the native Quicktimes are very compressed and have limited color information.  Cineform does a great job at preserving the original image characteristics while converting to a 10 bit 4:2:2 color space which makes it more robust for color grading.

I graded in Adobe After Effects, with Magic Bullet Looks because it works in 32 bit color space and allows me a lot of control.  You can also color correct in your NLE, or dedicated color correction program.   I will be making reference to tools in After Effects, but the principles will be the same no matter what tool you use. When you start to grade a shot you should remember to do things in the order that you would have done them if you shot for the look in camera.  First compose, then light, then add filtration, then apply the look or color timing.  The DV Rebel’s Guide has a whole section dedicated to this and why, I highly recommend you check it out.

So let’s start by doing what I wish I had done on site,  and add a virtual reflector to  brighten up the kids face.  I used Magic Bullet Looks (MBL from here on out)  Spot Exposure tool for this, but you can also use After Effects built in Exposure effect and feathered mask.  Mask  his face with a soft  feather and increase the exposure until it looks correct to you and the kid takes on the focal point of the shot.  Here is my result.

Not bad, but now Dad seems out of place.  Let’s bring his exposure up as well, without taking primary focus off the kid.

Better.  Now let’s deal with that bright hand drawing our attention off screen left.  I approached this the same as their faces, only using a virtual flag to decrease exposure on the hand.  While I’m at it, I also take the exposure down on the kids arm.

Much better. Now that I’ve re-lit the scene, let’s think about that sky.  Since this is a PSA that’s hoping to make you feel good we want a nice clear blue sky instead of the grayish overexposed sky we have here.  Again I  used MBL’s gradient filter to add a blue gradient over the top right corner of the sky.  This makes the sky blue without affecting the rest of the image.  You can also use a blue solid in After Effects with a feathered mask and transfer modes to create similar effect.

Now that I’m happy with the relighting and filtration it’s time to color time the shot to give it  it’s overall look.  As this is a PSA where we wanted to instill hope, I wanted to go for a warm look, so I gave the shot a warm, golden color cast and added a curves effect with a film-like “s” shape for contrast.

This gives it a warm, magic hour feeling.  Also notice how the look altered the blue of the sky, but in a way that’s natural to the rest of the shot.  If I added the blue after the look, it wouldn’t have taken on the golden cast, and would feel disconnected from the rest of the world the shot took place in.

Lastly, I shoot with a picture profile in the 7D that turns the sharpness all the way down.  I do this because out of the box the 7D (and most DSLRs and video cameras) over sharpen the images they shoot.  I don’t like giving my camera that much control. I like to turn that sharpening off or in this case down as much as possible so I can precisely dial in the right amount of sharpening for every shot.  For this particular shot I used After Effects “unsharp mask” filter.

But wait a minute, that looks terrible!  All the artifacts from the original heavily compressed quicktime are accentuated!   (If you can’t tell, click on the image to see the full rez version.) That’s what I said the first time I applied some post sharpening. While Cineform does an excellent job dealing with the color space, it doesn’t do any noise reduction or deartifacting. But don’t be disheartened. Simply go back to your source file and add some noise reduction as the first effect in the chain, or the first layer if you’re using adjustment layers. I used the noise reduction filter that came with Magic Bullet Steady and it did an excellent job. Other choices are Neat Video, or DE:Noise.  If you don’t want to buy a plug-in you can also try After Effects built in Reduce Grain or Median filters, but I couldn’t get the footage as clean as with the plugin, your mileage may vary.

Ah, that’s much better.  And to see the results in a much more dramatic comparison, watch the grading progression video below.

Related posts:

1. The Revolution Evolves
2. Walk MS PSA 2
3. Walk MS – MS Does Not Have Me

This was only reinforced after reading the excellent DV Rebel’s Guide by Stu Maschwitz.   Some people disagree with Stu and I and think you need to lock your look in camera as this will not only save you post production time, but when you bake in the color it’s embedded in the camera before it’s compressed to file (or tape), meaning less potential noise in the image.

That’s all fine and good, until you’re editing, and you realize you need the emotional push of a scene to change or it needs a little boost.  Now if you want it to be cool rather than warm, or even worse less contrasty, you may not have fluidity to make that change, and your efforts to have less noise may now be yielding more noise as you push and pull the colors and contrast levels.

This is one of the reason’s why people still love shooting film, or using the RAW files from the Red One, or in their DSLR stills.  By working with the RAW sensor data, these formats give you the opportunity to change your mind, and process the image to your liking much like traditional film negatives.

In my previous camera the Canon XL2, I researched forums like DVinfo.net,  and was able to cull most of the users preferences for creating a flat look.  I tried them all and shot tests and mixed up different variables and ended up with my recipe of parameters to get my flat digital negative, and it served me well. That said, it wasn’t always rosy, there were moments during post on Mercy where I wish we had baked in a little more red to that “digital negative”,  to help make the skirt and mask pop as much as Tony wanted.  I had to push it pretty hard in post, and that resulted in some noise and artifacting, one of the drawbacks and concessions of shooting digitally to a compressed 8-bit medium like DV.  That also taught me the lesson to shot flat, but with a look in mind, and to always shoot tests to achieve that look before shooting as you may find you want to tweak your flat profile to achieve it.

So when it came time to set up my new  Canon EOS 7D,  I wanted to create a new baseline digital negative profile.  However I was concerned, because it records to an even more highly compressed, 8-bit, 4:2:0 color space format, and I didn’t want my color corrections falling apart. It didn’t take long to learn that I wasn’t the only one with concerns, or trying to find that flat digital negative.  In fact, I found that there are lots of custom profiles out there for creating a flat look, including one from Stu himself. (His settings were actually for the 5D but they work just as well on the 7D.)  I also found just as many arguments against this due to the codec in the camera breaking down and causing noise and color artifacts in the footage, as I had already feared.   As with everything in life, your mileage may vary so as I did before with my XL2, I downloaded all the presets, read the forum posts, and then shot some tests using each of the profiles to see for myself.

For my tests  my Wife art directed some of her antique Kokeshi dolls on a tray with some fruit and vase in the background, giving me a nice interesting and colorful still life to shoot.  I setup the 7D on a tripod with the canon plastic fantastic f1.8 50mm lens. (I know I should upgrade the lens, but I already owned it, as it was just fine for stills. One step at a time, people!)  I shot indoors with a soft mid morning natural light coming into the room, and a little fill bounce.  Set the aperture to F1.8 for some bokeh.  Set the camera to the built in neutral setting for exposure. Set video to 1080/24p,  shutter to 1/50, and ISO to 640.

TIP: I set exposure by rolling 2 seconds and then playing it back to see the histogram, in camera.  Adjusting until I got it right.  Man, do I miss zebra stripes.

Above is the image, with and After Effects levels effect showing the histogram in 32-bit mode.  This is the original untranscoded file, and you can see the “gaps” in the histogram showing the lack of color information from the 4:2:0 sampling.  My exposure technique obviously still needs work.  I’ve had the camera a week so I’ll cut myself some slack. I didn’t clip the blacks, and the whites are right there on the hairy edge with a little highlight clipping.   This profile does what it says and gives you a neutral image, but with Canon’s built-in contrasty gamma curve.

I used a laptop tethered to the camera so I could upload the many picture styles quickly.  Then without changing the aperture, iso, or shutter I cycled through each of the following camera settings and rolled 5 seconds of video for each one.

The standard profile obviously is much more contrasty and saturated.  You can see I lost some latitude in the exposure as the highlights clip. (The tall thin line on the right).

Stu’s settings, the only one that uses the in camera controls only.:

It  looks pretty good.  It achieved our goal of added latitude by pulling in the exposure to optimum levels, and flattened out the contrast without squashing the midtone details.   I tried a few aggressive Magic Bullet Looks (hereafter referred to as MBL) presets, and it held up well (see the bottom of the post for an example).

The Genesis Panalog WIP 4, is definitely still a work in progress.  It doesn’t look like a panalog file to me, it crushed some of the blacks, but rolled off the highlights OK, and seemed to over saturate the color. When I attempted the same MBL presets as I tried on Stu’s settings it did not hold up well, showing artifacts and banding in the saturated colors.

The Marvel Cine 1.2 picture style, was designed to emulate the Cine-Gamma curve of Sony EX1. Much like Stu’s settings it flattened the contrast without losing midtone details but didn’t really gain as much in latitude based on the levels results.  It held up OK, using the MBL presets, and  I obviously didn’t shoot with real skin tones for this test, but I did notice in some others that skin tones would get orange.

Superflat was designed by a Neil Stubbings on Cinem5D, and it gave me similar results to Marvel Cine, but it featured more strange color shift, and the same color artifacting issues that Panalog suffered.  In fact Neil has since posted that he’s stopped using his own profile and now uses Sharpness all the way down, contrast, all the way down, saturation down 2 clicks.  Exactly Stu’s settings above.

ExtraFlat by Eugenia is a modification of the above Superflat, and really seemed to be a winner giving apparent additional latitude, and an even flatter less contrasty look than Stu’s settings, without the color shift.   It also seems to hold up under aggressive color correction from the MBL  presets.  However, I really had to play with the correction a lot more, and push the effects alot further to achieve the same results with ExtraFlat as with Stu’s settings. Additionally I saw that ExtraFlat doesn’t pull the sharpness down all the way which I would modify if I were to use it.  I find it’s better to dial that sharpness in later in a more controlled post environment.

Overall I am leaning towards Stu’s settings because they held up so well and the ExtraFlat had to be pushed much further than I’d like which could create more potential for noise.

I’ve also found that I can achieve even better results by transcoding the native camera .mov files to Cineform files.  When transcoding to Cineform, the codec conversion interpolates the color space to a 4:2:2 10-bit file, that’s not only more robust to color correct, but easier to edit.

Since I started this test, some more very smart and experienced DSLR shooters have done some additional testing. Most significantly, the folks over at Zacuto did the The Great Camera Shootout comparing several DSLR’s versus 35mm film.  The results may surprise you, but what I found interesting was this quote from Phillip Bloom as to how they set up the cameras

For those who are interested I discussed at length with Tim Smith of Canon about the best picture profiles for the cameras. We settled on in camera settings, many will argue that we should have gone “superflat”, and I am sure it would have been great but in the end what we went for was sharpness all the way down, Contrast all the way down and Saturation down two notches. The reason we turn sharpness all the way down is simply the camera is too sharp and it also accentuates the flaws of the camera. It’s very easy to bring back a little bit of sharpness in post. That is my recommendation. With the flat PP I was able to get about 2 stops more latitude in these cameras.

From Philip Bloom’s Blog

Wait a minute… those are Stu’s settings…  I’m starting to see a trend here.

Then Shane Hurlbut blogged his feelings on color correcting DSLR footage, adding the concept of adjusting the white balance of your camera to remove any inherent bias, then using a very slightly modified custom gamma curve to create a RAW file.

I’ll have to give that a try next.   For now I’ll stick with Stu’s settings.   Below is an example of the shot with the MBL Blockbuster Preset, showing how it holds up to an aggressive look.  Mouse over to compare it to the straight camera look.

Happy shooting.

Related posts:

1. The Revolution Evolves
2. Grading Uncontrolled Lighting
3. Putting my money where my mouth is

I’ve been bad, and neglected to blog about the new Universal Project that stole me away from the Transformers.  At least temporarily.  I’ve been working for the last year and half on the replacement attraction for King Kong.  The original sadly burned down in a backlot fire in the summer of 2008.  We’ve been extraordinarily busy developing the new show to open this summer.

I first didn’t blog about it because, well you know, it’s all a big secret.  Then they announced it, and then the press began, but by then I was far too busy working on it to blog about it.  In fact I only have time today because I’ve worked myself sick, and was sent home to nurse my cold so they can overwork me some more.

The attraction is a collaboration between Universal Creative, the department I work in at Universal Studios, and Peter Jackson who is directing the film with his company Weta Digital creating the 3D animation.  The project break’s new ground with a never done before immersive 3D projection system that I helped design with  3D savant and cinematographer Peter Anderson, and the talented crew from Electrosonic systems.  It may in fact be the largest 3D projection system ever conceived.  We’ve spent the last year in the same Sound Stage that James Cameron pioneered Avatar on in Playa Vista getting the projection system configuration and screens just right.  It hasn’t been easy, but breaking new ground never is, which is why I’m happy when I see press like this, after someone views our mock-up system:

Now, what we saw was rough, but incredibly impressive. If you were to look directly ahead at the direction the tram was moving in, the environment around you feels completely genuine. That’s not to say the effect wasn’t terrific when you looked at it dead-on. I’m just talking about the peripheral effect of the attraction’s 360 layout.

-Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor – Shock Till You Drop

If they found that impressive, I can only imagine the satisfying reactions we’ll get for the real thing.  You can read more about the attraction via some fresh articles from a group who visited our mockup yesterday, including Mr. Rotten quoted above:

• Shock Gets an Early Look at King Kong 360 3D!
• Dread Central Tours the Upcoming King Kong 360 3D Ride
• LA Times

For more info you can signe up for email updates here, and you can enjoy the teaser trailer below:

Related posts:

1. King Kong 360 3D Opens!
2. Simpsons Wins 2008 THEA Award For Outstanding Achievment – Attraction
3. More Than Meets The Eye

Meet the new addition to the Not Afraid! family, the Canon 7D DSLR.  I first mentioned these hybrid HD video/still camera’s in my post Don’t Wait, where I espoused the virtue of shooting with what you’ve got and can afford, and not waiting for the next amazing camera or firmware that may or may not ever see the light of day. (Yes I’m hinting about Scarlet.)  As the old saying goes a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t upgrade when the timing is right.

Up until now, for our smaller or personal projects Not Afraid! has been relying on the venerable Canon XL2 which has never let us down.  It’s an amazing standard definition camera, that creates excellent results and continues to hold it’s value pretty well, which is what actually helped make the decision to switch to the 7D ironically.  You see for what I sold my XL2 for, I was able to step up to a High-Definition 7D with money left over to buy Zoom H4n or a Tascam DR100 (Jury’s still out on that purchase), and no longer needed to fiddle with my clunky old LetusXL depth of field adapter (which I also sold), to get that film look.

I also had the luxury of knowing I didn’t have a serious project booked to shoot until after I finish work on Universal’s new King Kong 360 3D attraction, giving me plenty of time to learn, play, and test the camera before shooting the next Not Afraid! short film,  The Specimen.  (More details on that soon.)

Many of you who have been following the video DSLR movement may be asking, “Why buy the 7D, when the new Rebel T2i has come out for half the price, with all the video features of the 7D?”  Others may also be thinking, “Why not the 5D Mark II, getting the benefit of a full frame sensor now that the new firmware has been released adding 24P?”

The reasoning came down to the fact that the 7D hits the sweet spot for me in price, ergonomics, and functionality.  While the 5D has the full frame sensor and the new 24P features, it’s missing 60P for slow motion, that dedicated video button, and costs nearly a $1000 more.  In addition I already own a Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens APS-c only lens, which I can’t use with the 5D.  So in addition to the up front cost of the camera, I’d also have to invest in new lenses.   While the Rebel T2i is about $900 less than the 7D, and has an APS-c sensor compatible with my existing lenses,  it’s made of plastic, lacks the quick control wheel and other ergonomics of the 7D, making you have to dive through menus to get to all the controls. That time lost can be a deal-breaker on a set. There’s also early reports show the T2i overheating more quickly than the 7D, not to mention that it’s still not available in a body only configuration yet.  Finally, I got a screaming deal on the 7D by buying it refurbished from Adorama camera halving the cost differential with the T2i. A no brainer.

I’ve had the 7D for about a week now. The imagery from the camera looks great, and I’m enjoying the flexibility of lens choices and the sensitivity to light that I couldn’t get with the light sucking 35mm Depth of Field adapter. I plan on continuing to blog about my experiences getting to know the cameras tricks, quirks, and issues, as well as examining the required accessories like the audio recorders I mention above.  I shot some tests over the weekend trying out different methodologies for getting a flat or Raw look out the camera that gives me the most latitude in post for color correction.  I’ll be posting those theories and results in a subsequent post in the next few days, but so far so good.

Related posts:

1. The Revolution Evolves
2. Don’t Wait
3. New Kid on the Digital Cinema Block

The Doritos Crash the Superbowl contest posted the finalists for voting.  Unfortunately our Delicious Destiny entry didn’t make the cut. The 6 that did are pretty good. Most look professionally shot, and are all pretty funny.

Check them out here and Vote for your favorites.  I wish them all the best of luck.

Related posts:

1. Delicious Destiny
2. 64 Year Anniversary of Buchenwald
3. Mercy Wins – Breakout Action Star of the Year!

It’s been quite a while since I’ve written about what I’ve been calling the “Film Revolution;” the advent of cheap digital film-making tools that are democratizing the art by allowing stunning film work at an affordable price point.

I’ve talked about the RED, SI-2K, and others, but have never written about what have become the true revolutionary cameras to hit the market. Video enabled Digital SLR’s. In the last year Canon, Nikon, and Panasonic have all released new Digital SLR hybrid still cameras capable of shooting varying flavors of High Definition video giving no budget filmmakers that sexy 35mm depth of field (most at the heralded 24 frames per second) without the need for cumbersome, light-eating, depth of field adapters, or tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. For the first time ever, full-frame 35mm digital hi-def imaging was delivered to the masses and for a price point under $3,000. Truly revolutionary.

In the capable hands of cinematographers who know how to push these small devices to their limits, some stunning short films, documentaries, commercials, and what I like to call, visual poems have been created.  See an example below.

Sea from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

That said these cameras are far from perfect. Putting video capabilities into what is primarily a still camera has its inevitable shortcomings including form factor, audio capabilities, aliasing, and rolling shutter artifacts. Pixel peepers and technicians will tell you that while these cameras produce so-called “Full HD” files their actual resolving power is more like SD video. If that sort of stuff interests you, you can read all about it here, and probably at lot of other blogs, forums, and websites. But that’s not that important to me, or most filmmakers. Stu Maschwitz summed it up so perfectly in his blog post when the 5D MkII came out, that I’m just going quote him directly:

Let’s get something straight. The video from the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D MkII is not of good quality. It’s over compressed, over-processed, over-sharpened, and lacks professional control. It skews and shears and shuts off in the middle of a take. It sucks.
So why are we so excited by it?
Because the video from these DSLRs stimulates us emotionally. It’s contrasty, with sexy depth of field. It looks like cinema, if you don’t look to close. Guess who doesn’t look too close. Everyone.

- Stu Maschwitz – ProLost.com

That’s the appeal of these affordable digital cinema devices and the reason you need to get off your ass and go shoot something. That’s right; I’m finally getting around to the title of this post. Don’t Wait!

These cameras prove that technology is changing at a rapid pace, and has enabled filmmakers a freedom never offered before.  Has this given rise to the film revolution I’ve been prognosticating? Yes and no. While some filmmakers have embraced these tools and made wonderful films big and small, this ever changing technology has also given filmmakers excuses to procrastinate. I’ve been guilty of it myself.

I meet and discuss projects with lots of up and coming filmmakers who say things like, “I’d like to shoot my epic, but I only have a standard def camera and can’t afford to HD. I’ll wait until they’re more affordable.” Or worse, the snob effect,” I have to shoot it on film.” Or “I like those HDSLR’s but I’m waiting for that firmware upgrade that enables (fill in the blank here).” Or a myriad of other excuses for not going out and making your film. I don’t care if you shoot your film on an iPhone. If your script is ready, go shoot it. Shoot it now with whatever camera you have available. You’ve got a Canon 7D? Great! My old standby Canon XL2? Perfect. An old Sony VX100? Fine, just go shoot it.

Ayz Waraich has proven that you can make a beautiful, emotional film with a ton of heart on a cheap HD consumer camera with hardly any manual controls. Don’t believe me? Watch “White Red Panic” embedded below and prepare to be blown away.

If that’s not proof enough, I submit that if well told, your film may not even need to look that good. Take a look at the Award Winning film “Once.” It’s a great film but the cinematography is mediocre at best, mostly shot with flat available light on prosumer video cameras. Sure it’s a bit shocking at first, but then you get sucked in by the story and characters. Years before that Edward Burns won the Sundance Grand Jury prize with “The Brothers McMullen“.  Another poorly shot film that transcends its imagery, with heart, character, and emotion.

So with the end of the year upon us, I’d like to ask all aspiring filmmakers to make a New Years resolution to stop worrying about the technology, and for God’s sake don’t wait.  By the time that feature or camera you’ve been waiting for comes around, you’ll likely be waiting for the next breakthrough. In the meantime you’ve got nothing to show for it. So shoot now with what you’ve got. It’ll force you to use your creativity to deliver a film that goes beyond the technology and touches your audience; which is what it’s all about.

End of Rant.

Related posts:

1. The Revolution Evolves
2. Changes in Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes
3. Putting my money where my mouth is

Check out Not Afraid!’s entry into the Doritos Crash the Superbowl Contest, Delicious Destiny.

Spicy Nacho Chips, “Zen” and “Reluctant” discuss their lives, purpose, and destiny.

I didn’t learn of this contest until a week before the deadline, so this entire spot was put together from conception to completion in less than a week, and turned out to be the last project I shot on my Canon XL2 before going HD.

Written, Shot, Cut, and Directed by Paul Cuoco
Creative Consultant: Jeff Loach
Voice Talent:
Zen: Michael Musa
Reluctant: Steve D’Arcangelo

Related posts:

1. Not Crashing This Year
2. Doritos – Delicious Destiny
3. Mercy Receives 3 AOFF Nominations!

In addition to it’s new look, we’ve also updated the official website www.glazed.notafraid.com and created a Facebook Fan Page to help spread the word and hopefully enlist some new fans.  So please become a fan and share it with your friends.

Enjoy.

Related posts:

1. Glazed
2. Inheritance Now on DVD
3. 64 Year Anniversary of Buchenwald