Matthew Bennett

The ultimate HD bang for buck is probably the Andromeda system. www.reel-stream.com. It's a modded DVX100 that outputs 1540x984 frames at 4:4:4 It's under 6K for the whole camera system. Then you buy a cheap mac laptop and cheap harddrives to write raw data to. For frame size and data quality, I think that it's definitely tops if not up there on the list.

Don't do the "Canadian Thing" and make a movie about two lesbians discussing life on an Indian reserve while smoking pot in their wheel chairs.

 

R,

Ha! That Indian res wheelchair weed will get you everytime.. especially if you're a crippled lesbian, you're twice as vulnerable. I had no idea people were making shorts like this, Rich, do tell! This comment made me laugh for a good ten minutes...

Thar be beasts in thar!!!

Looks like a frightening night at the movies. I think with horror trailers the sound mix has to be completely a produced piece of 'music' unto itself to really let the fear fly.. The only shot that seemed out of place was the girl spinning around (wearing bikini) , everything else seemed to add up to a story about two strangers trapped in a strange prison/dungeon with beasts, wolves and mutant doctors going to work on them! (Sounds like a fun place to live/work) I couldn't figure out how the bikini girl would piece into the story or atmosphere.

Hey, if you're in Toronto they maybe we should trade screeners for some pre-emptory comments. Here's a link to two trailers for my soon-to be finished feature:

Trailer 1A:

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uploads/43...ler_1a_480p.mov

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uploads/43..._Trailer_1a.mp4

Trailer 1B:

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uploads/43..._h264_large.mov

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uploads/43...er_1b_small.mp4

Sorry, not trying to derail the thread.

Can't wait to see the film, Richard. Location looks very cool too.

My favourite cinematography of the year was in 'The Bothersome Man'.

I just watched the trailer for this, didn't understand a word of course, but it looked fantastic. Good pick, Max! Very tight, well-planned coloring from what I saw.. the shot in the basement with a ceiling made of light bulbs reminds me of a photograph by Vancouver artist Jeff Wall..similiar setup and probably a similiar use as a metaphor...

More non-hollywood choices, please!

The strange thing about film is that you can have a degraded, confusing, unlit and uncomposed image and it's still 'valid' somehow.

But if you have anything less than a 100 percent clear, professional audio track the audience will never forgive you!

Meaning, as long as all the other factors of film storytelling are alive and well, you can actually not worry too much about the pixel area or 'quality' of your camera. But don't screw up the audio! They are many many many more ear people than there are eye people.

I'm sure the scholars on this site will give you a waay better response later, but for now..

A LUT is short for a Look Up Table. In regards to creating images, a Look up Table is used (mostly) to create a linear image from a logarythmic source, ie a TIFF file (linear) from a RAW source (camera RAW).

You would use a LUT to interpret a RAW camera image into a linear form, making an exposure in the process.

I use LUT's in my Andromeda workflow, an upgrade to the DVX100 video camera which allows it to record RAW ccd data. When rendering out the RAW data into a quicktime or a series of stills for editing, I apply a LUT and it grades the image, ie renders it out in a certain coloring and with certain grayscale parameters. Kind of like making a print in photography, I guess.

This is not a simple explanantion and I'm sorry, but if you search for LUT's on this site:: www.reel-stream.com, in the forum, the moderator Juan P. has written many many great and simple explanations of LUTs and why and where you use them as well as the process and theaory behind them.

Wow! I saw this last night, violent, beautiful and interesting film..

So many great color compositions, a constant pleasure to look at. It was shot in Philidelphia? It seemed like something a Manga artist would imagine not the 'gritty ol' united states.

I really felt the visuals lifted the violence out of the gutter.. I was trying to figure out what motivated such intensity... then I settled on the fact that Helen Mirren's character was dying and had sort of re-discovered life so maybe it was all her perception coloring the film (just my interpretation)

This is great work.. something to aspire to on all creative fronts.

Really great, the mood and the editing was really continuous. It made me imagine the stories from all the films the clips were from. I can find no fault in it!

So the question is, how can I minimize the depth of field in order to get a most filmic look?

What camera?

With the DVX100A you have to open up the f stop as much as possible and put a lot of BG distance behind your subject. Also, you can shoot macro which gives you very nice shallow DOF, but of course only allows you to shoot extreme closeups.

Also there are the huge variety of 35mm lens adapters to choose from...

Blair Witch Project (with better cinematography, sound, script, acting, story, location etcetera)

Whats left??What a strange way to compare your film.. it's like this film ... only completely different!

re: project

Don't kill the crew, I feel bad for them already, nobody likes to die from radiation.

So, when they get to the ghost town are there mutants there? (that would be cool!)

Here's a draft version of a trailer for a film I'm working on using the Andromeda modification for the DVX100A.

I say draft because I haven't recorded all the voices I need to properly tell the story in trailer version....plus the 480p image is up-rezzed from an SD source, not the ideal method for full sharpness and color.

That said, here it is. The story regards a young typography designer who finds himself neighbor to a couple of bomb-building French mercenaries during a hot summer.

quicktime 7 in h.264

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uploads/43...ler_1a_480p.mov

quicktime 6 in mp4

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uploads/43..._Trailer_1a.mp4

More about the Andromeda modification can be found at www.reel-stream.com

Thank you for all your intelligent reponses!

I guess the answer lies in design, line and contrast taking over as the dominant pictorial force.

Cinematographers,

What would you do if all your shots had to have infinite DOF? Every area in every shot completely in focus..

Would anyone look forward to this challenge? Is it possible to tell a long-form visual story without DOF??

What do think, anyone?

I see the CN tower... ahh, home

Great stuff by the way... a wonderful edit, which you dont see often in demo reels, it made me want to see all the movies those clips were from and also imagine the native sound for each clip.. nice work, very evocative.

Dude lets get together and talk shop sometimes, I really want to see all the extended versions of these clips!