Final Cut User

Looks like Roger Deakins snagged himself two well deserved nominations this year - for The Assassination of Jesse James and No Country for Old Men. I didn’t get a chance to see Assassination in it’s limited release, but recently saw No Country and it was amazing.

The Full List

Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC
No Country for Old Men

Robert Elswit, ASC
There Will Be Blood

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Janusz Kaminski, ASC
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly


Seamus McGarvey, BSC
Atonement

I have to say that Cloverfield is hands down one of the worst films I’ve ever seen.  I won’t use the hyperbole of saying that its the worst, but it’s definitely down there.  

The film is a classic example of excellent marketing that shares little or no information about the film, but just enough to encourage large ticket sales.  

The film is dizzying, irritating and unbearable.  I had a migraine halfway through.  Handheld action taken way to far.  No still frames or images to focus on, which help take attention from mid quality CG - tricking the viewer into potentially thinking that it looks better than it does.  

Cloverfield is a rip off of the Blair Witch, but with Aliens.  The Marketing ploy is the same, the structure is similar and even the ending and final shot of the film is the same as Blair Witch.    

Now that I’ve finished bitching.  The technical stuff. The film was shot with a the Viper, the F23 and the HVX.  Director of Photography, Michael Bonvillian said that they would use the HVX whenever possible, when the shots weren’t needed for compositing.   Makes sense as the other cameras are difficult to whip around like that.  

This month’s ICG has an article on filming.   The link is on the mainpage. I’d post direct, but the php is preventing it.

Here’s a few more stills from the short I recently shot, called “Arrows”.We got to test Redrock’s Micro X among other things for the film. Nice. A lot of people are going to be really happy when it hits the streets.

On set, but I had to share. A film I worked on this time last year called Frozen River, just won the grand jury prize at Sundance!!!

I’m actually out in LA now working with a handful of the crew, including:

Reed Morano - Director of Photography
Matt Walker - Gaffer
Waris Supanpong - AC
Rusty Bennett - Swing

We are all really excited about the award. Back to work!!

Check out the latest short that I shot for Michael Fisher. The film was actually shot a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve been busy in LA and haven’t had a chance to post it here.

Take a look and leave your thoughts.

It was shot on an HVX with some beta stuff from Redrock. I can’t share now, but I’ll be sure to let out all the details when the time comes.

Watch it Here.

Blogging from my iPhone, so I’ll be brief.
Some cool new stuff

MacBook Air - Ultra thin portable laptop. Really thin, like iPod thin.
Apple TV 2
iTunes movie rentals
New iPhone software update - allows more customization and enables a “GPS” feature with google maps
Time Capsule - wireless storage device for backups via time machine. 500gb and 1TB models.

Barry Green posted a lengthy first impression of the EX 1 on dvxuser, check it out.

I haven’t gotten to play with it myself yet, but I have seen footage from several associates. I have to say, Im very impressed with the resolution, but when the camera is moving it looks horrible. There is so much banding happening in the compression. If you need to shoot fast action just forget it.

Barry points out a lot of the camera’s strong points here, as well as its growing list of weaknesses. It’s biggest strong points being it’s jump in resolution, sharp lcd and colored peaking feature. There is a lot of hype surrounding this camera, as far as I can tell its all unsubstantiated marketing. Don’t go trading in your HVXs yet.

More info on the EX1

Digital Producer Review Part 1
Digital Producer Review Part 2
Fresh DV Final Cut Workflow
Fresh DV Resolution Charts
Fresh DV Rolling Shutter Issues
Fresh DV Hands on Gamma
Fresh DV Hands On Picture Profiles

I’m out in LA for a month working on a Reality series called “Don’t Sweat It”. I’m anticipating a lot of down time the next couple of weeks, in between working and enjoying the sun - so hopefully that means more blogging.

In mean time, check out this A.C.E Blog(American Cinema Editors). Lots of great posts from editors on workflows and experiences editing various films.

Well I got my wish, sort of, before mac world. Apple updated its towers today and its laptop line. Not as revolutionary as I might have liked, but new processors to start!

hmmm….I’m guessing
- new processors
- blu-ray support
- new laptop/hybrid machine
- DVD Studio Pro 5 - maybe not at macworld, but soon after
- maybe a sneak peak at iphone v2

wishing —- for new Mac Towers