The Big Gear Geek-Out

It’s been a couple months since I got the Canon XL-H1, and I’m starting to get it dialed in the way I want it. Last week I mounted a Marshall V-R70P-HDA 7″ HD monitor to the rod plate on a Noga arm that puts the monitor way out to the left of the lens, perfect for hand-held work. I can support the arm with my left hand while still able to reach the zoom and focus rings. I bought a beefier arm than I needed so I would be able to do just that. It really makes it a lot easier to “fly” the camera around.

The one drawback to my setup is the weight. The H1 is heavy to begin with, but when you tack on the Anton Bauer battery, the monitor, and the Noga arm, the rig is a self-contained workout. It’s okay, though, because I’m used to dealing with heavy gear and my size also helps in managing the mass of equipment.

I was able to try the new configuration out for the first time on Tuesday, when I shot some b-roll footage on the set of a music video being filmed at a club Downtown. The video was being shot on 35mm by a crew from Lazlo Rain. It was nice to see a Moviecam rig in action. Film is still very much alive!

I also recently added the hard mount kit to my Redrock Micro M2 lens adapter, which is very nice. Calibration is much easier, and it’s now almost impossible for the adapter to slip focus do to pressure on the rod supports. I think I’m going to switch my lens mount from Canon FL to Canon EOS, though, because the old FL glass that I have isn’t really cutting it. I already have a bunch of really nice Canon EF glass, covering the range from 17/4 to 300/2.8, so it’s senseless not to use it for cinema work. I will also be able to make use of the magnificent 85/1.2 and 50/1.2 lenses owned by my apprentice, Eva, which will be very nice.

Okay, enough babble, it’s time to go shoot something!

Protected: Philadelphia Wizard World Convention

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Marie Antoinette Sucks

I wouldn’t call this a “review,” per se, but more of a desperate attempt at escape. My girlfriend has rented Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst, whom I usually like.

This film sucks. Don’t see it. If it comes walking toward you, lay down and play dead. If it comes ringing at your door, open up only to punch it in the face. If you accidentally see it in the aisle at your local Blockbuster, walk briskly away and never, never, walk in that aisle again, for fear of its taint.

It’s still playing on my TV, yet I felt the need to leave its sphere of influence to write about how bad it is. That’s how bad it is.

Why is it so bad? It isn’t even worthy of a paragraph, so I will allow it only bullets:

• It’s horribly boring. I can’t remember the last time I saw a film that dragged on this long without accomplishing much of anything.

• The melding of modern music with a classical setting idea just doesn’t work. Granted, they chose good songs to include in the film, but it just doesn’t make any sense or lend anything useful to the story. I think they did it just to attract the MySpace generation.

• The film is set in France, but everyone has a British accent. You only know they’re supposed to be French because they use words like “Mademoiselle” and “Dauphin”. Marie, a supposed Austrian, sounds like she’s shopping for handbags in Beverly Hills. Dunst didn’t even attempt an authentic accent, but in her defense, maybe she wasn’t allowed to.

• She also does not get nude, but in her defense, maybe she wanted to, but wasn’t allowed.

• I will say that it is very nicely shot, but if I’m going to give them credit for that, I might as well go put some pearls on a pig.

Oh, wait, it just ended, and now I see why I’m having to write this…. The wrong Coppolla is behind it.

A Thanksgiving Prayer from William S. Burroughs

This is a little belated, but I just came across it on Glumberg.com. Any Burroughs fans, and all Americans, should give it a look.

I love that voice.

Review: One Night With The King

Venda and I just returned from seeing One Night With The King. Do yourselves a favor and give this one a big, fat miss.

We were searching for a film to watch tonight, and after deciding that our respective moods didn’t synch up for Flags of Our Fathers or The Prestige, we noticed One Night With The King, sitting waaay down at the bottom of the listing for Northwoods cinema, all alone.

Neither of us had ever heard of it, which was strange. Usually, one of us has heard at least a mention of any given film being shown in theaters.

It is a screen adaptation of the biblical story of Hadassah (Esther, Queen of Persia, wife of Xerxes). The trailer made it look like an amazing movie. It seemed to have all the makings of a great epic film and the cast even featured classic favorites such as Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, and John Rhys-Davies.

We were fooled.

This film could have been so much more than it was. I place the blame for its miserable failure squarely on the shoulders of its director, Michael O. Sajbel.

According to IMDB, Sajbel’s experience goes all the way back to the 1970’s, but mostly in cameraman/director of photography/photographic consultant roles.  He’s directed several films, none of which I’ve seen, but I can say that if his performance behind the scenes of One Night echoes any of his other directorial works, then I don’t feel the need to see any of them.

Even the first few scenes are hard to sit through. The acting is stiff; I felt like I was watching a bad screen adaptation of a cheesy novel. In addition, the flow of the first third of the movie was as choppy and hard to follow as it could be.

Once I finally realized that I wasn’t going to get the epic film that I had been expecting, the movie got a little better. It seemed that more things gelled in the second half, and it was actually somewhat bearable, but not so much so that I didn’t feel like asking for my money back.

I do have to say that the film is shot well. It’s also obvious that there was somewhat of a significant budget available to play with. There was a lot of really nice CG and matte work, and the costuming could not have been cheap.
Sajbels’ experience as a DP shows, and the visuals are really the only reason why I didn’t walk out in the first fifteen minutes. In my opinion, Sajbel needs to stay out of the director’s chair and concentrate on keeping the loupe up to his eye instead.

Steer clear of this one.

Venda needs your help!

Please, everyone hit this link or the one below and give Venda a 5-star rating for her video entry into the Miss Horrorfest contest at YouTube! This is a time-sensitive vote, so please hurry! Voting must be done today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKGy3GMq-9Q

NPS Principle Photography

The first day of shooting went reasonably well, save the fact that most of that footage will have to be reshot, for a few reasons. I won’t get into why, but it won’t be much of a problem. The second time around will be much smoother.

On a brighter note, the second day of shooting, in the LAN center, went very well. I’ve been playing with the footage all day, and I’m impressed with what I’m seeing. In fact, my machine is rendering the color graded scene in the background, while I write this entry.

Many people on this crew have not worked together before, but we are gelling more with each other every day. By the end of the week we will be veterans.

Tomorrow is a light day. We will be shooting the cooking scenes with “Scurvy,” played by Hale Shepherd, whom some of you will recognize from “Doodle’s Last Dance.” Hale is a great guy, and always fun to work with. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

More to come.

Redemption for Redrock Micro

Recently I stated that Redrock Micro could bite me. I would like to take this opportunity to retract that statement.

I was in a panic because the M2 kit that I ordered for use on Ninja Pirate Supermodels had not shipped as of the end of the week prior to the start of production, and it was a holiday weekend coming up. I fired off a few frenzied e-mails, since Redrock Micro does not have a publicly-listed phone number, and by Tuesday, I was absolutely livid. I needed my gear by Friday at the latest.

I finally heard back from Brian at Redrock Micro, and after hearing about my situation, he contacted the Redrock Micro fullfillment dept. to see how quickly they could get my order out.

As it turned out, a woman at Redrock Micro actually drove 80 miles to get a part that was missing from my order, just so they could get it out that very day. Now that is customer service! I received my order the very next morning. You can’t beat that shit with a stick.

I told them that not only am I going to plaster their names all over the credits, but they had also made a loyal Redrock Micro customer for life. I don’t making such a statement based solely on their stellar customer service, but I don’t have to, because their gear also kicks a fair amount of ass.

My M2 unit is awesome. Once I got it fitted and calibrated to the Sony Z1U, I was very pleased. There was, however, a slight vibration that got worse as the first day of shooting progressed. I made a call to Brian again, and he replied with instructions on how to adjust the motor mounts of the unit to reduce vibration.

I pulled it apart and made the fix, and that made it better, but there was still something causing some vibration. I removed the ground glass element from the motor spindle and readjusted it to its center of mass on the axle, and that fixed the problem. Now it spins as smooth as glass. The picture quality of their new Cinescreen™ is fantastic, and with my fast 1.4 and 1.2 Canon lenses, the footage I’m getting off the camera rocks, even in low light. I can’t wait to see how it looks after I send it through post.