austin smoak

Hi All- I've recently been asked to look at a script for a film that takes place in Maine in Winter- all in the snow. I've been meeting with the director about shooting it and seem to pretty much have the job. the question now becomes- what do we shoot on. Obviously, my first choice would be film. Especially considering a majority of the film takes place outside- at night- in the snow. I'll definitely need the latitude. And so much time in the cold suggest that I'll need the durability of a film camera. However, I have a feeling the film will be fairly low budget- and am looking at the possibility of shooting HD- specifically (and I realize it would be difficult) with something like the Canon D5. That way maybe the money production would save on renting the camera I could devote to lighting it up. What I need to know is- what are your opinions on shooting HD in the snow? Should I totally abandon the idea of HD and convince these guys to shoot Super 16 if they can't afford 35 mm? Or- if the HD is worth a shot- does anyone have tips for shooting in the white, white snow? Thanks Austin

I'm about to start work on a feature in May. Originally, the producers and I made the decision to shoot with the HVX, however, recently we have been offered an HPX-500 for part of the shoot. Has anyone ever mixed footage from the HVX and HPX? Have any insight on how noticeable it is? Any help anyone can give would be appreciated. Thanks

I'm scheduled to shoot some promo material for a company on the Canadian Border this summer and one of the things they want me to capture is the Northern Lights. Unfortunately, their budget is very small so the camera will have to be one of the lower end HD or DV cameras. I've been looking at the Canon XH-A1, XL-2 and the Sony HVR-A1U. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for which one I should buy or if any of these can even expose for the Northern Lights. Also, if anyone has any tips on shooting, I'm open. Thanks