Alan Duckworth

I downloaded VLC media player and it played an .mxf file just fine all on its own, no special plug-in needed.

Marco, there may be something here that helps: http://article.filesatoz.com/free-mxf-player-for-windows.html I am curious myself to see if this works, best of luck,

Another article - this one headlined "3D TV autopsy" : http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/3d-tv-autopsy-did-it-finally-die-or-was-it-never-alive-to-begin-with/

Lake Monster update: he [she? it?] might have missed the audition for "Pacific Rim", but got a gig as the Guest Star on the premiere of the Canadian version of "Amazing Race" last night - http://www.ctv.ca/TheAmazingRaceCanada.aspx?vp=136320

From The Hollywood Reporter: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/glasses-free-3d-tech-makers-583895

Keith Walters wrote: "If you use a CD or DVD disc as a 45 degree mirror it will act as a crude diffraction grating allowing you to see a light source broken up into a "rainbow" spectrum". Not that I doubted it would, but this really works! I now have an awesome tool to demonstrate "discontinuous spectrum" to disbelieving students. Thanks.

In the US, Super Lube is an on-the-shelf item at your neighbourhood Ace Hardware. The other hardware store chains may also carry it, but Ace is the only place that I have actually seen it.

Filmed in Kelowna BC in 2011 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935188/ , I believe that will answer your question!

Much of our desert has been irrigated and turned into orchards and vineyards, but what remains really is "sagebrush and cactus", and looks like the idealized "Old West". Some of the exteriors for a recent Western - "Gunless" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1376195/?ref_=sr_1 - were shot down at the South end of the Valley.

Sorry Keith, but we do - I live in it. For the geographically curious http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okanagan_Valley To stay on topic, it is also a popular movie location - IMDb lists 61 productions just for the city of Kelowna alone. We are about a 5 hour drive from Hollywood North - so if any of you are shooting in Vancouver and want to dry out........... As to "Pacific Rim" - we have a real, live actual Lake Monster http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1337524/ - so they could have filmed it here and saved all that CGI.

Our local Art Gallery currently has an exhibit of 3D black & white anaglyph photos. The photos are re-stagings of Edward Curtis images using toys instead of people.

Inspired by Richard's post, I think I found the future - from September 2012 [so already waaay out-of-date], an interesting study from Ericsson http://www.telecomlead.com/latest-news/67-percent-use-tablets-smartphones-or-laptops-for-tv-viewing-ericsson-study/

I remember seeing the first of the 3D TV demos at the Consumer Electronics Show some years ago, and thinking to myself "nobody is going to wear these stupid glasses in their living room". And....you need a pair of glasses for every person who might drop by. Without compelling content, it was a losing concept from the get-go - but obviously the industry had other ideas. If....big if....they can get the "glasses-less" video display technology to look good, maybe there is a fighting chance - again assuming content. I have been impressed, no - wrong word - surprised, at the tablet-sized 3D glasses-less display demos that I have seen. Is that the future???

Part of the Super 8 design package was "idiot-proofing", hence the drop-in cartridge load system, and also the ability of the film cartridge itself to set the ISO through an ingenious combination of cut-outs on the cartridge and feelers inside the camera body. The problem with this system is that not all cameras were equipped to use all films. Any individual model of camera only had the necessary feelers for the film speeds it was designed to work with. The "XL" in the Kodak XL 362 name indicates that this is a camera optimised for eXisting Light [notice the capital letters] - ie shooting indoors without movie lights. The intended film choice for this camera would have been High-Speed Ektachrome Reversal rated at 160 ASA. Now the good news - the cut-outs for film speed on 7266 carts match those on the old Ektachrome 160 carts, so the speed should be set accurately. The bad news? XL model cameras have a 230 degree shutter which lets in lots of light, so you will find yourself running into over-exposure issues in bright light. There are workarounds for that [ND filters], but you should probably make sure your camera is working before investing in ND filters to fit. It will be cheaper to simply buy another non-XL Super 8 for outdoors in bright conditions. Clean the battery terminals, and check for a second smaller battery hatch [button cell size] for the exposure meter. This model may or may not have a second dedicated exposure meter cell - someone else may be more familiar with this model. I checked Super 8 database, but it is inconclusive on that. Here is the link - http://www.super8data.com/database/cameras_list/cameras_kodak/kodak_xl362.htm Good Luck with your new camera.

The readability of the font is also a player here - a very legible font such as Arial [aka Helvetica] can be smaller - therefore more lines/words per title than any fancy font eg "ClownHats" [i just made that name up - I don't think it is real]. To me an overlooked issue is the duration of the intertitle - it should stay on the screen for twice the time it actually takes to read - remember the viewer is seeing it for the first and probably only time. And, leave suficient safe area so the text doesn't bump against the edge of the frame when projected/viewed.

I don't know about the rest of the movie, but that scene certainly has "Based On A True Story" written all over it. When people of social acquaintance find out what I do professionally, they often ask for help with their digital camera. As I start diving into the menu, this "OMG" look of realization comes over their face and then they quickly ask for their camera back.

Thank You, Keith - it is true that you can learn something new every day. And, just ask anyone involved in high performance audio what you can still do with vacuum tubes.

First off, I was sloppy when I referred to "glorious NTSC" - I was trying to make a slur against "Never Twice the Same Color", forgetting that it was also a b&w standard, oops. But I have strong memories of watching TV in Britain in the late 60's early 70's [pre-1972] and some of the content - of US origin - was not filling the screen, but the other shows were. And I clearly recall the transition from 405 lines to 625 - my Dad was not pleased at having to spend money to upgrade! And, I learned something today - I had always assumed that the US broadcast system was originally 405 lines also, and transitioned to 525 sometime in the 60's.

@ Heikki: Thanks for providing that link - it gives me a little more faith in the potential future of camera stock than I had an hour ago!

But, according to this http://rochesterhomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=394722 Kodak is discontinuing production of acetate stock. There is a statement in there about buying it from other manufacturers....??? Since acetate is camera stock, this doesn't sound good.

The print edition of this month's American Cinematographer has an article. Reader's Digest version: Canon 5D Mark II with L series lenses [35, 50 and 85 primes, 70-200 zoom], shot in colour in the camera and converted to B&W in post. On set they used 5.6 inch TV Logic LCD monitors with the chroma turned down to help judge the B&W look.

The first colour TV demo that I saw looked awful - the resolution was visibly less, and the colours had significant bleeding. But it was in colour. And, IIRC, when they would show US-produced colour content it had to be letterboxed, because the British TV sets could handle up to 625 lines, but the US content was mostly only 405 lines, or was the colour stuff 525 lines by the late 60's? I recall the image area being much smaller than the screen. Not only were the new colour TVs more expensive to buy, I believe that you also had to pay a higher licence fee to watch colour broadcasts - the Brits on this Forum know what I am talking about! The concept of paying premium fees to watch "premium" programming goes back further than the cable companies.

I grew up in Britain, and faithfully watched all of the original Star Trek series in black & white. It may well have been broadcast in colour, but at that time nobody that I knew owned a colour TV set. I was amazed to watch it in syndication in the Seventies - in glorious NTSC! I had no idea that it had been originated in colour.

While it may not be fair to judge the technical merits of a movie simply by watching an internet trailer, I do agree that the keyword here is "blah". The flat look may well be deliberate creative intent, but surely the beauty of black and white is in the dynamic range. To me, this movie brings to mind 1966's "Georgy Girl", check out the stills on IMDb - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060453/?ref_=sr_1 - and you will see much more "snap".

A red darkroom safelight [correctly known as a 1A filter] is for use only with lith film, used mostly in graphic arts applications. Most B&W papers require a 0C [amber coloured] filter, colour photo papers require either a number 10 or number 13 filter [basically "brown"] - none of these are safe for use with camera film. Practice loading in total darkness, because that is real-life. It is however something of a movie convention that they always seem to show darkrooms illuminated by red light - I guess it looks more dramatic than a dull, boring amber glow. And, speaking of drama, the only time I ever seem to see a darkroom protrayed in a movie or TV show is in a serial killer's basement.......