Scorsese on Hitchcock

A great little short film/mockumentary/advertainment piece by the Martin Scorsese in perfect Hitchcockian style. It's called "The Key to Reserva" and features a unique new way to "preserve" film featuring a"lost" Hitchcock project. It's a lot a fun. Enjoy.

Freixnet :: The Key to Reservea

via HD For Indies

Red In the Wild

Red has begun shipping. The first 25 production units, are now out in the wild., and stirring up a frenzy.

If you're looking for footage or image captures you can as always check out Reduser.net for the latest images, info, gripes, and praise.

Also check out FX Guides unboxing, and subsequent notes and image captures with unit production unit #22.

And FreshDV has links to many others, which I link to instead of repeating their work. As I've already discussed, cameras like this will change the production paradigm forever.

The Revolution Continues...

Speaking of RED, and more importantly the idea of getting high quality, high resolution image acquisition gear at a modest budget, enter Stu Maschwitz, film-maker, technologist, and author of the DV Rebel’s Guide who has taken this concept to the next level.

That rig on his shoulder (photo courtesy of Stu’s blog Prolost), is capable of recording full 1080p resolution images with 35mm film depth of field at the true progressive film cadence of 24 frames per second (fps) and can be put together for roughly ~$4,000. Yep $4K give or take a few hundred dollars worth of accessories. That’s not a type-o.

The system is what may be the perfect Digital Video Rebel camera rig, for those who want high quality HD images but still can’t afford a RED or Silicon Imaging Rig with all the accoutrements.

What you see here is a Canon HV20 HDV camera. A consumer HDV camera that has an impressive 1920x1080 CMOS sensor capable of recording progressive scan images at 24 frames per second (24P). Street price ~$1000. However as a consumer camera the lens and level of image and exposure control is pretty lax. Enter the Red Rock Micro M2 35mm adapter. Street price around $550 for the adapter, $2500 tricked out with rails and what not. This adapter attaches to the front of the camera and creates a new 35mm sized imaging plane that the HV20 focuses on. Once set, you can use traditional 35mm SLR lenses (Stu is using a Nikor 50mm f1.4 lens here) to enhance the optics and regain the image controls not available on the HV20. So now you’ve got high quality 35mm lens optics with the depth of field that goes with it being sent to the HV20 image sensor and then out digitally to disk or tape. Essentially the same concept as the RED or Silicon 2K, and only maxed out at HD resolution and without variable frame rates. But still, pair it up on Red Rocks’s prototype shoulder rig and follow focus like this:

Or create your own with a Spiderbrace, or DV Multirig, and some rails, and you’ve got yourself one pretty damn nice HD film-making rig. If you hook it all up on set via HDMI to a Mac or PC with a $250 Blackmagic Intensity card you can even record uncompressed HD just like the big boys. Cineform’s even announced support to record directly to their format (via HDMI) just like the Silicon 2K.

Sure there are limitations. [EDIT, Stu defines the nitty gritty of those limitations after the shoot here.]

You still have fairly lousy shutter control on the camera, and unless you shoot tethered to a computer you are recording to HDV which is highly compressed, but still capable of getting stellar results, and a quick YouTube search will bring up a number of examples. I’ll update this post with Stu’s footage if/when he posts it. [EDIT: No footage but stills are here:]

For more information on the Canon HV20, and to ask real world questions check out the forums at:

http://www.hv20.com

http://canoncinema.com/

DVinfo.net
http://rebelsguide.com/forum/

Also, I mentioned earlier Stu’s book the DV Rebels Guide. I will be reviewing it soon, as well as the Spiderbrace, and VideoCopilot’s Riot Gear. So please subscribe to read about it as soon as those posts hit.

PJ and the Mysterium Chip Affair

Red 23 has posted a PDF article about Peter Jackson using the RED camera's to shoot the NAB short, Crossing the Line.

Check it out the article here. Watch the footage here.

Moby Gets It

Artist and composer, Moby, best known for his house music, but no stranger to film and tv production (see his credits here) is getting in on the Indi-film action by offering free music for use indi productions.

this portion of moby.com, 'film music', is for independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short.

the music is free as long as it's being used in a non-commercial or non-profit film, video, or short.if you want to use it in a commercial film or short then you can apply for an easy license, with any money that's generated being given to the humane society.

So free music for your not-for-profits, and charitable licensing for the for-profits. All in all not a a bad deal. Check it out at: http://www.mobygratis.com/

And thanks to FreshDV for pointing me in the right direction.

It Cannot Happen Again

Inheritance, for those of you who don’t know is my short film chronicling the liberation of the Buchenwald, Germany concentration camp. It prominently features photos taken by my grandfather, Anthony Cuoco during the liberation of the camp, as well as a heart-wrenching performance by the late Harrison Young, a wonderfully haunting score composed by John Swihart, and beautiful cinematography by my frequent collaborator Doug Delaney.

The film itself was a labor of love that haunted my thoughts and dreams for months prior, during, and after production. It has had a long life as short films go, and on May 31st, just a few days after Memorial Day, it won its first award for best drama at the 4th Annual Universal Studios Hollywood Team Member Film Festival. This festival is open only to employees of Universal Studios, which is where I currently spend my days developing themed attractions. With a stellar panel of film and television professionals judging the films that included Ron Meyer, it was quite an honor to receive.

As much as it was an honor, however, that’s not why I’ve finally gotten back to blog. What’s compelled me to write is the reaction that I’ve received from the film. I’ve gotten accolades for the film in the past, the ubiquitous congratulations from friends and family. My wife tells me how it’s her favorite of all my films. I’ve shaken hands with people at film festivals, and been written to by folks around the globe from making it available on-line here and on YouTube, but this time it’s different. When it last screened at VIFFI, it played well and hushed the audience before sustained applause, but after we left the festival, the experience was over. With this screening, it again hushed the audience and drew two rounds of applause, but since it was screened for employees, the people I work with, the experience has continued for me in ways it hasn’t in the past. Other employees whom I have never met congratulate me on the elevator, in the halls, or at commissary. People have pulled me aside with tears in their eyes telling me what a profound effect the film has had on them. I’ve received e-mails requesting copies of the film on DVD. People have shared the online links with friends and family, and the messages still come days later. This has overwhelmed me, for the simple fact the heart and soul of the film, was to show these images to the world so it cannot be forgotten. That was the legacy of the film, and it is finally being realized. It may have had this effect all along, but that was never shared with me until now. I feel the films audience has grown exponentially thanks to this festival, and I am thankful to Karen Fung and Christiane Sentianin at Universal for putting it on.

That said, the film can still reach even more people, but it needs help. I’ve always wanted this film to reach as large an audience as possible and with the internet the audience is unlimited. Please visit these links and watch the film. Tell others about it. E-mail your friends, your families. Let it be known that the holocaust was real, that it cannot be forgotten, and cannot happen again.

Sincerely,

Paul Cuoco
30K feet over the Gulf of Mexico, 7:15 PST - 6/5/07

Not Afraid! Spring 2007 Reel

Not Afraid!'s new demo reel is now online. You'll see some exclusive footage here from our next short film currently in post-production (more on that soon). You'll also see some examples of motion graphics we've produced for other indie filmmakers, animated series, and businesses as well as examples from some of our theme park work. You can watch the You Tube link here or see a much higher quality version at www.notafraid.com.

The “Film” Revolution

The internet is always abuzz with hype on the latest and greatest video cameras and software innovations. If it wasn’t for paying work you’d see me blogging daily on bleeding edge digital video technology. As it is, I have to earn a living and so I leave the news gathering for the most part to the excellent blogs, DV Guru and HD for Indies. Subscribe to their RSS feeds and you’ll get more digital video news than you can handle.

One of their favorite topics of late is the RED camera. Considered the Holy Grail of independent digital video cameras, the RED sports some impressive specs not the least of which is 4K+ resolution at up to 60 progressive fps (The frame rate goes up to 120 fps as you lower resolution in the camera head).

To put that in perspective, its sensor is almost the same resolution and size as the lauded Panavision Genesis used to shoot Superman Returns. However what makes RED truly impressive is that it outputs full 4K resolution files, while Genesis downgrades everything to 10-bit log 1080p. While 10 bit log 444 1080p is no slouch (in fact I’d be happy to shoot a feature with the Genesis), it’s only about a ¼ of the potential resolution of it’s sensor and what RED can output as RAW files. Oh and did I mention that the RED sells for only $17,500 and can use almost any standard Super 35mm or 16mm film lens while maintaining the same depth of field characteristics…?

Now that you’re all drooling lets face facts that RED still hasn’t been released, and their website only gives an ambiguous “early 2007” date. That’s not stopping them from releasing some footage and images on their website, or organizing the first public screening of their footage, which takes place next week in Santa Monica. If this camera lives up to what it boasts, it’s going to make things very interesting in the coming months.

Another camera bursting onto the indie film scene is Silicon Imaging’s SI-2K camera. This camera is 2K resolution (slightly better than HD) and captures direct to disk at 24 fps at its highest resolution and up to 72 fps at 720p HD using Cineform’s proprietary RAW 10-bit intermediate wavelet codec. This necessitates the need to edit with Adobe Premiere Pro which has been the red-headed step child of NLE’s for years, but has matured of late and really isn’t a bad system.

UPDATE 11/9/06: I have learned that this camera can also record RAW Uncompressed 12-bit content that can be exported to DPX or DNG frame sequences. These can be wrapped in QT and used in Final Cut Pro or other editing systems.

One thing that Silicon Imaging’s camera has over the RED camera is that it currently exists. The film Spoon was shot with this camera, and the workflow, trials, and tribulations are detailed on the Indie Film Live blog. I also had the opportunity to see this camera up close and personal last week at HD Expo. After cursing myself for forgetting my digital camera to snap some pics, I examined the camera head and it’s remarkably small size and high image quality. They had the camera head only version on display which requires a laptop or other PC connected via gigabit Ethernet to record, but also have an integrated solution. They have images and WMV-HD files you can view on their website to see for your self. At packages starting at around $12,000 they’ll be giving RED a run for their money.

Now how does all this relate to the title of the blog entry and more importantly to you? Well simple, these tools are going to change the landscape of independent film production forever.

With the introduction of cameras at this resolution at these prices, and ever quicker and more powerful non linear editing desktop computers, it’s going to be easier than ever to make a feature film on a modest budget that looks like a Hollywood blockbuster. At 4k and 2k resolutions with the ability to use standard cine style film lens, we’re talking Hollywood caliber camera equipment finally within the grasp of the grassroots filmmaker. It’s a democratization of film production where for a percentage of the cost of a Hollywood feature film, you can get a RED or Silicon Imaging camera, couple it with a PC or Mac with your favorite NLE software and make a 4K or 2K resolution movie ready to distribute for film-out, digital projection, HD-DVD (or Blu-Ray whichever wins the format war), or standard DVD and you’ll never have had to even look at a Hollywood Studio. This technology coupled with an independently financed production model will turn Hollywood on its ear. These tools bringing the costs down enables storytellers not to need a big studio to finance their story. No studio means no studio notes. No studio notes means filmmakers will be able to try quirkier, weirder, more experimental methods of storytelling. It’ll be a film revolution fought in the trenches by independent filmmakers, and the viewing public will reap the benefits of new and interesting storytelling.

Now, I’m not saying a camera alone makes all the difference. You’ll still need a group of talented collaborators to work with, and a fantastic script to guide you. And sure, the accessibility of the technology and the proliferation of cheaply produced films will likely produce a whole lot of stinkers… but there will be those diamonds in the rough from trailblazing, innovative filmmakers who might have never gotten the opportunity to make a film without this technology. They will change the landscape of film as we know it.

Are you ready for the revolution?

[EDIT - HD For Indies just posted a head to head in depth comparison of the cameras and workflow. A must read. Check it out.]