Director, Stu Maschwitz, founder of legendary VFX shop, The Orphanage, creator of the Magic Bullet software suite and author of the DV Rebel’s Guide, spoke on a panel this morning at NAB entitled, Independent Filmmaking — A Million Dollar Look on a Thousand Dollar Budget: 2009 Edition. He was joined by Rodney Charters, director of photographty on Fox’s, 24 and Charles Papert of Instant Films.

Recently, Stu directed a short film, more of a camera test as he describes it, with a Canon 5D Mark II HD camera. I thought it would be fun to show you what someone with some talent can do with this amazing new camera. Take a look and be sure to check out Stu’s new blog, ProLost.

Canon’s original 5D Mark II Microsite

More excellent resources from Canon

Digital technology is radically changing filmmaking and by extension all media. The future of movies, music, games, social communication is being created as we speak. This Friday and Saturday October 17th and 18th, you are invited to participate in helping to shape what this future might look like.

The team behind the event includes: Ken Goldberg, artist and director of the Berkeley Center for New Media, Boston Globe and Variety columnist Scott Kirsner whose new book”Inventing the Movies” is a must read for anyone interesting in the history and future of the medium, Tiffany Shlain, Filmmaker and Director of “The Tribe”, multi-festival award winner and the #1 downloaded short film at iTunes and Filmmaker and “Cultural Hacker” Lance Weiler, who Wired magazine named “One of twenty-five people helping to re-invent entertainment and change the face of Hollywood.”

The Conversation promises to be an eye opening and fascinating event. Get an idea of what the future has in store for you by registering to attend The Conversation today.

As a follow up to our series of interviews with John Leonetti, ASC about his experiences shooting one of the first feature films with the RED Digital Cinema Camera, here is a clip from the soon to be released film, “Hybrid“. The film was produced by Oliver Hengst and Elizabeth Wang-Lee, directed by Eric Valette with cinematography by John Leonetti, ASC. Hybrid was also the first feature film in Canada to be shot with the RED.

Thanks to Jakob Boersch at Stallion Media, LLC for helping us get this clip online.

Link to Interview with John Leonetti, ASC Part I
Link to Interview with John Leonetti, ASC Part II
Link to Interview with John Leonetti, ASC Part III

Adam Wilt Reviews the Panasonic AG-HPX170P 1/3”, 3CCD P2 Camcorder

The first review on the net of the successor to Panasonic’s hugely popular HVX-200. Adam gives his usual in-depth analysis of what is expected to be one of this year’s “next big things” in digital cinematography. This article will be of particular interest to indie-filmmakers, production houses and cinematographers…(more)

Richard Recco/QC Central

Cineon/DPX Pro for Final Cut Studio 2 3.0.3

This is a professional set of QuickTime components to read and write Cineon or DPX images. Features include:- Full Integration with Final Cut Pro 6 and Compressor 3
- Solid playback with FCP 6. (If system meets recommended requirements.)
- Sequence Presets for Cineon or DPX based projects
- 32-bit float pixel support during import and export. (more)

IFSS/International Film School, Sydney

Dual-System Sound Sync Options

One particular production workflow that can be a sticking point for many projects is working in post with dual-system sound requiring synchronization.

Dual-System (aka Double-System) sound is simply that where the audio has been recorded separately from the picture, to a physically separate recording device and medium. The main unit used in the school for dual-system is the Marantz solid-state field recorder. This records 2 channel audio to compact flash memory cards in standard 48k 16bit…. (more)

Merinews – India

Video editing: The visual cut

VIDEO EDITING has become an inseparable part of today’s media and entertainment industry and hence the increased demand for video editors. The secret behind making art aesthetically appealing lies in the techniques of editing… (more)

“The overall goal is for The Conversation to be a real exchange of ideas — a gathering of people working on the edge and thinking about the future.”

Scott Kirsner over at Cinematech and several other leading web thinkers want you to be a part of “The Conversation”. Future Forward Events is organizing the 2-day gathering at Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive Theater October 17th and 18th. The focus of the confab is new creative and business opportunities arising out of the democratization of digital media tools and technologies. Participation from attendees is welcome and encouraged, and there will be an opportunity to present your own work during the Saturday workshop session.

More from “The Conversation” website:

New software is making incredible things possible in visual effects and animation, and also democratizing those fields. Web sites offer to help finance film projects, or share ad revenue with video-makers. Marketing and release strategies are shifting by the minute. High-end high-def cameras are plummeting in price. The connection with the audience is changing. Established ways of doing things just don’t seem to be working anymore, while new opportunities are emerging.

I think this will be an exciting and mind opening event for all attending. We will update you as speakers and workshops are added in the coming months.  Stop by The Conversation Web site for more details on speakers and places to stay in and around the event area.

Here is the second part of my interview with Joe Fordham, director of the new short “The Glitch” and his cinematographer Tom Gleason. Here Joe tells us how he met his composer Laurent Watteau, who lives and works in Paris, online through the message boards at Film Score Monthly.com. I also ask Joe how he plans to get his film in front of an audience and any advice he might have for those thinking of making their own indie film.

Today we present Part I of our first Independent Profile of “The Glitch”, a short film directed by Joe Fordham. This is Joe’s first venture into HD, but he didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. Joe started making Super 8 films in his native Britain at a very young age. He ultimately became part of an award winning amateur filmmaking group known as Dangerous Visions. A short while later, he found himself working in London’s Soho filmmaking district, where he produced an eight-minute short entitled Board Game, which went on to win a BBC TV Showreel86 award. From there he was hired to write and direct Dogplant for Channel Four TV London.

After moving to Los Angeles Joe spent the next few years “breaking-in” to film production, again, this time the Hollywood film industry. He eventually landed work creating visual effects, creature effects and in post production on films such as Terminator 2, Men in Black, Virus and the Species series. Several years of all nighters were enough to convince Joe to pursue a writing career, and for the last six years he has been covering the international visual effects scene as a journalist and associate editor at Cinefex magazine.

Joining us is Joe’s cinematographer on The Glitch, Tom Gleason. Tom has been accumulating dramatic narrative DP credits for the last several years but he also has an extensive resume that demonstrates the breadth of his experience. This includes work as a visual effects model maker, where he built the 60’ version of the Titanic, (the one that breaks in half), one of the most impressive and widely published shots of the film. He’s also been a VFX DP, operator and 1st AC on films such as Beetlejuice. The Passion of the Christ and Mr & Mrs. Smith.

The Glitch – Official Site
Method
Laurent Watteau, Composer
CineWidgets
WithoutaBox.com
FilmScoreMonthly.com