Premium Member Adam Frisch FSF Posted March 21, 2009 Premium Member Share Posted March 21, 2009 Last Friday I went to the BSC's BSCine show held at the George Lucas stage at Elstree Studios in North London. 1. Vantage Film and their new Hawk anamorphic V-Lite 1.3x squeezed anamorphics were the highlight. Not only does it afford you the ability to shoot anamorphic on 16mm - which has been practically useless with 2x squeezed anamorphics - but it also allows you to shoot a 2.40:1 scope frame onto a 3-perf neg. Or on a Red or any other 16:9 chipped camera. This is great stuff and I hope all the rental houses stock up on them real soon. The test footage off a HD TV shot on 3-perf looked amazing. Super sharp, but still with that anamorphic organic feel and bokeh. I played around with it on a 416 as well and it felt very user friendly. Image obviosuly slightly squeezed in the VF, but at just 1.3x it's not bad at all and one gets used to it real quick. 2. Rosco showed their new thin LED lite panels. Not a new idea this, but very user friendly. The panels are about 5mm thick and come in various sizes. They do not bend and feel sturdy. Perfect for car interiors or any tight space - I'll be bringing them next time for sure. Thank god we can now get away from the dreaded MiniFlo-taped-to-the-dashboard look that has given the world a not only overexposed knuckles and steering wheels, but a ghoulishly lit actor. 3. Ice Film showed off the new Aaton Penelope. I didn't get to play with it as these two elderly gentlemen where hogging the rep and all the space around it with their incessant questions. But it looked good. I liked the big LCD menu on the side - all the info seemed very clear and easy to understand. Loved the blue eloxated aluminium mag locks. 4. C-Motion showed off their new auto focus system and their top of the range remote follow focus. Extremely impressive stuff. Not only could the invisible laser follow focus be operated from anywhere, but the remote FF unit was great. It has a monitor that not only shows the video assist, but all the scales, what lens, what serial number, what DOF etc - anything you want. You can configure it to show all or nothing on the same portable LCD. Not only that, it records the video assist as you press run onto a SD cards with all the relevant lens data. This is invaluable on more technical shoots when a post guy needs to match stuff later. Or just on any shoot - the right way is that video should be recorded when you press RUN on the camera, not when the runner/PA/video assist guy does it (or forgets). 5. Rosco also showed off their new Polarizing gel on rolls. Quite cool - you stick it on, let's say, windows in an office where you're shooting and by turning the polarizing filter on your camera lens, you can completely control the ambiance on the outside without affecting the inside. This is very useful when you're shooting on locations with big windows everywhere. Lastly, I did also buy Alex Thompson, BSC's book of anecdotes which is a great and funny read with tons of stories from behind the scenes. They had it at the BSC stand and I think you can order it from them. And of course the food was, as expected, awful in the cafeteria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Satsuki Murashige Posted March 21, 2009 Premium Member Share Posted March 21, 2009 Very cool Adam. What focal lengths do the 1.3x V-Lites come in? I imagine they're shorter than the normal 2x to be more useful with Super 16 and 3-perf but with Super 35 coverage for Red, Genesis, etc. I'd love to try them with a 3 perf Penelope someday. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Thomas Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 The polarizing gels sound like fun. Cool stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serge Teulon Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 (edited) My friend and I were also nosing around the flap panels. The box set is £1,200....which I though was not bad. And you can drill holes into them! I was disappointed that the ikonoskop wasn't there. Awful food..... Edited March 24, 2009 by Serge Teulon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stephen Murphy Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Loved the 2 x Hawks myself. looking forward to trying them out on a proper shoot sometime. Loved the Louma 2 as well - a lot nicer then the Technocrane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Carrington Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 (edited) You forgot to mention the free beer! Which unfortunately I didn't get to sample as I had to drive off to a pre-light :( but I was assured by my gaffer friend that it was very good! Anna Carrington Cinematographer London UK Edited April 7, 2009 by Anna Carrington Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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