Bob Silga Leads Apple Color Workshop at PhotoCine Expo

The Post Production Training Hall at the PhotoCine Expo is excited to announce the addition of Bob Silga. Bob is a professional colorist with 30 years experience who teaches color correction at Columbia College and DePaul University. Bob’s career spans both commecial and film projects, and he was the Director of Training for Silicon Color’s FinalTouch software. After Apple purchased Silicon Color, Bob was hired to be the lead QA for Apple’s Color application where he was instrumental in helping design the application and created all of the Color FX Room signature looks. Bob recently created Scone Looks™ (a collection of presets) for Apple Color.

Sony Alpha – The Rumors of my Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

It looks like the rumor mill among mirror-less camera fans is that Sony will be ditching the Alpha DSLR line in favor of their new NEX system. On first glance, this makes sense to me. I’ve never figured out Sony’s late to the game DSLR plan. They launched a new line of DSLR’s without video capability right as the market for HDSLR’s took off. Maybe the timing was bad luck but to launch a pro-sumer camera against entrenched giants like Canon and Nikon, was ballsey to say the least and probably shows a lack of understanding about the prosumer market. Photographers invest in a system and getting them to break away from that investment in lenses and accessories is a tough sell. I know since I went through this painful process switching from Nikon to Canon during the digital changeover.

Motion Magazine Concepts

At last year’s Collision Conference in Hollywood, I presented a demonstration showing how to make a simple motion magazine cover with Canon 5D files and Adobe Photoshop’s Animation timeline:

Motion Mag Cover Concept from Michael Britt on Vimeo.

At the same conference, Alexx Henry gave a very inspirational look at how futuristic movies portray motion

Pro DSLR Video Tips From David Harry Stewart at PopPhoto

PopPhoto.com has a great interview with photographer filmmaker David Harry Stewart where he shares his pro DSLR video tips.

The article is an interesting read and there are a couple of things that really stand out to me. Chronologically, the first is the mention of an editing book from Walter Murch which I ordered from Amazon before even finished reading the article. I’ve been trying to wade through the list of technical and artistic filmmaking books without a filter and it’s a big help to know that someone from the stills background like myself recommends this book.

Journey’s of a Hybrid – Hard Part about working with DSLRs

Gail Mooney is two months into her self funded documentary project that has taken her and her daughter around the globe. She’s been posting frequent updates and tips for photographer filmmakers about everything from which airports to avoid to what gear to take with you. Her latest update questions the HDSLR only approach to unscripted documentary work:

After two solid months of intensive shooting a documentary – shooting both stills and video with two DSLR cameras, the Canon 5D Mark II and 7D, I can honestly say working with these hybrids is not easy. And it certainly isn’t fast, especially if you are working in a small crew as we are.

Read the rest of her article for the details and be sure to follow her exploits on PCN.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: WEEK 6 – SWEAT, SOHO and GOING LIVE

The insane rollercoaster that is Ladies and Gentlemen is coming to a close and man it has been a crazy ass ride. It looks great, then it looks ass, then half the crew don’t show up, then there’s no food and we can’t get to set because London’s transport system devolves to the dark ages at weekend. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say ‘We’re just going to get $%&ed and there’s nothing we can do about it, then suddenly you’re shooting something astonishing and it all makes sense again.

This weekend, more than any other, we were under hideous time pressure, which meant seriously compromising the quality of what we were shooting in order to just get it in the can

When we’re good we’re very good and when we’re bad we’re awful. Awful in terms of the whole production, things just not going the way we expect them to  and being helpless to stop it. This weekend, more than any other,

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WEEK 6 DAILIES

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN – WEEK 6 DAILIES from Robin Schmidt on Vimeo.

Week 6 dailies from Disclosure Productions (disclosureproductions.co.uk/) forthcoming one hour drama pilot ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’. Shot on the Canon 5D using L series primes supplied by Canon. Directed by Robin Schmidt (elskid), Produced by Robert Lucas, Jo Defendi and Linda Taimre, written by Robert Lucas. Full blog writeups can be found on photocinenews.com, more info about canon DSLR filmmaking on the el skid blog: elskid.com/blog

Music: Bloc Party – ‘On’

Follow the story of Robin Schmidt’s British TV pilot shot with Canon 5D MKII as he blogs about it for PhotoCineNews here.

Scottevest Unofficial Contest Challenge

Scottevest makes clothing designed to hold all of your high tech gadgets, including iPads and photo gear. I have a hoodie from them and wear it all winter long for walking the dog and if I am out shooting. I find their clothing is less nerdy than the usual photo vests and dare I say, verges on being geek sheik. Check out the video before we get into the ad spot challenge:

How Not To Make a Short Film

We’re excited that Roberta Munroe is confirmed as a speaker for PhotoCine Expo. The focus of our HDSLR filmmaking expo is as much about creating great content as it is about the mechanics of filmmaking using these cameras and attachments and Roberta is a great addition. Here’s a little background from her website:

Roberta Munroe is the author of How Not To Make A Short Film: Secrets From A Sundance Programmer — described as the “bible” for short filmmakers. Roberta packed this “bible” with insider tips gleaned from 5 years programming short films at Sundance, interviewing successful short filmmakers worldwide and sharing the horrors and the brilliance of her own award winning short filmmaking career.

Shane Hurlbut’s HDSLR Bootcamp

Here’s an opportunity you don’t get very often. A talented and successful filmmaker with summer blockbuster DP experience teaching an intensive hands on workshop for intermediate HDSLR shooters. Shane has really embraced HDSLR filmmaking, driven more by being able to stretch his creative reach than his budget. As he showed at last year’s Collision Conference, his kit consists of 12 HDSLRs rigged up for various scenarios and ready to go.

Shane is a very enthusiastic speaker and you can catch him giving lectures at schools and filmmaking events around the world (he’ll be the Saturday Keynote Speaker at our upcoming HDSLR filmmaking expo). But what you don’t get in seminars is real world, hands on field experience with Shane and his team as instructors and mentors. From the HDSLR Bootcamp website, this two day bootcamp covers: