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Two months ago Sony announced a new AVCHD High Definition hybrid Handycam Camcorder with interchangeable lenses. The new camcorder will use the same APS HD CMOS sensor “Exmor” that the NEX3 and NEX5 digital cameras will have, effectively making it a video version of these two cameras. It will take both E-mount lenses developed for the NEX3 and NEX5 and A-mount interchangeable lenses from the existing ”α” DSLR camera lineup with an optional mount adaptor. It also has stereo microphones and full manual control for video. In addition it takes 14 megapixel still pictures of up to 7 fps.

Compare the picture of an early mock-up with the most recent picture showing what looks like the final design. Sony starts selling the HD Camcorder in September at around US$2000.

If you are wondering who this camera is for Crunchgear is asking the same question. Read the comments too, as they are more interesting than the written article.

Despite the dodgy sound quality, here is a Cinema 5D interview worth listening to with Vincent Laforet about the gear he uses on his commercial shoots and some sound advice he has for still photographers who want to move into shooting video.

This year has seen some amazing camera gear coming onto the market. At the top end we have had the Epic from RED with their 5K wonder that will fit into the hand and capture still frames on the run, and recently from ARRI, the ALEXA digital film camera. The entry-level price point for these cameras is US$45,000 for the ARRI and US$30,000 for the Epic without lenses.

Unless you are shooting a feature film destined for a theatrical release you won’t need the incredible image quality that these cameras will give you.

Most people in the film community have been saying that HD DSLR cameras are a game changer and by all accounts that seems to be the case with many cinematographers including them in their arsenal of camera gear.

At the other end of the camera spectrum is small consumer point-and-shoot HD cameras. All these cameras have one thing in common; you need to connect to a computer to edit the footage.

Well, that is about to change. Say hello to the Apple iPhone 4 with HD video at full 720p. Weighing in at a mere 4.8 ounces with a starting price of around US$199, this little gem may just change the movie landscape once again, not the big screen perhaps, but the small screen. Okay, I know it doesn’t have interchangeable lenses or a shallow depth of field, but what it does have is the ability to shoot and edit with the iMovie app, on the go, without a computer and in your hand, and… it’s always in your pocket!

If you are shooting a short film on a very, very low budget and you intend to distribute it on the Internet, then it maybe the answer for you, with amazing quality for a 5mpx camera phone (think larger pixel pitch verses the number of pixels). Check out this comparison with the Canon 7D and make up your own mind.

http://www.vimeo.com/12925855

To be fare, this is not a proper camera test and should not be taken as such, nonetheless, it is an interesting comparison.

In case you missed this: Here is an overview, presented by Vincent Laforet, of his trip to the Cine Gear Expo 2010 in LA, which took place earlier this month. It includes some cool gear for all types of shooters.

As every filmmaker knows one is always up against the clock. There never seems to be enough time to get the shots you want in one day. Changing from one set-up to another takes time, especially if you have a large crew, lighting and a lot of camera equipment to move around such as a dolly and tracks. This is where HD DSLR cameras come into their very own. Their form factor and ease of use, as well as low light capabilities, brings greater flexibility and speed into everyday filming situations, especially when you are shooting on difficult locations and places where you may have little control of the space around you. Also, their comparative low cost enables the filmmaker to shoot multiple cameras at one time, very useful if one is shooting, for example, a complex action scene, which could be difficult to repeat.

One cinematographer who has embraced HD DSLR cameras with both arms is Shane Hurlbut, ASC. He has shot many feature films such as Terminator Salvation starring Christian Bale and Swing Vote starring Kevin Costner, and he is using these cameras, which he says is a “game changer”, in many of the TV Commercials, Music Videos and Short Films that he shoots.

Here is an example of shooting in real time – shooting it as it happens with no re-takes! Read this dv article about Shane Hurlbut and what he has to say about shooting this training commercial for the elite US Navy Seals.

Everyone is talking about still/motion convergence, so I thought I would mention one still photographer who stands out and has successfully made the transition.

Greg Williams started his career as a photojournalist working in the world’s trouble spots such as Burma, Chechnya and Sierra Leone. Later, when he realised that working in war zones might get him killed he began shooting photo-essays, documenting social issues for magazines such as The Sunday Times Magazine and Time. He now says photojournalism still informs what he does, whether he’s shooting on set or in the studio.

In 1997 Williams’ career took a new direction when he persuaded the Sunday Times Magazine to let him shoot a photo-essay on the great British film revival. Over the next three years, and after visiting the sets of over 80 films, the project evolved into his first book, Greg Williams On Set.

More on-set work followed, and now Williams is well established as an on-set ‘special photographer’ as well as a celebrity portraitist. He has shot portraits of stars such as Catherine Zeta Jones, Brad Pitt, Daniel Craig, Colin Farrell, Cate Blanchett and John Travolta for magazines including Vanity Fair, Premiere, Esquire and Italian Vogue. ‘In my portraits I now use the same lighting found on film sets, and recreate compositions from my reportage. I also encourage actors to perform rather than just pose. In that way the portraits and reportage have started to converge as one style.’ Williams says.

Williams has also shot posters for some of the world’s biggest movies including Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. He tries to avoid digital trickery, preferring to shoot against real backgrounds and use in camera special effects than add these elements in post. ‘I like the photos to retain a realistic look where the brief allows,’ he says.

His background in photojournalism also influences his lighting style and he prefers to use natural light if possible, adding lights only when he needs to build and shape his subjects.

Shooting on big movie sets has led to big fashion and advertising assignments such as Dunhill, Tommy Hilfiger and Lacoste, where he uses large crews. ‘You need to have good people and you need to prepare. A big shoot takes days of preparation and it’s not unusual to have 60 people on a set by the time you have clients, publicists, agents, stylists, hair and make-up artists, props, special effects and all their assistants. It’s huge and the pressure would be terrifying if you had a minute to think about it, but luckily you don’t.’

Never one to stand still and always wanting to push the envelope, Greg Williams is embracing the still/movie convergence with a format he dubs the “moto”. Filming a subject in a static pose and then getting them to move. He has already done this for the last Bond film, Quantum of Solace, where he brought Daniel Craig to life on an electronic poster using a RED camera and recently the first ever moving cover magazine for Esquire, especially for the iPad.

We all know you can’t pull stills from video, but Williams says, with the RED’s high resolution RAW footage, you can use stills from it as double-page spreads. He also says his moto images are set up like stills so there’s no real difference. Not surprisingly, he was the first photographer to use the camera this way, shooting a story for Italian Vogue.

He’s now experimenting with the Epic camera (a prototype was used to shoot several shots in his short below), the latest offering from RED, which delivers a whopping 5K, yes that’s 5000×5000 pixel images, and which Williams got involved with during its development.

What next for this talented photographer who is always looking for new challenges? Well, he says, his ambition now is to make a full length feature film.

Take a look at this narrative short he shot and ask yourself, has he got what it takes?

http://www.vimeo.com/12067022

‘Tell-Tale’ a short film by Greg Williams

If you’re a camera gear freak then you will know all about Cine Gear Expo 2010 in Los Angles. This is where a lot of behind the camera Hollywood professionals hang out. For anyone living in LA or who were able to jet in, this was the chance to meet some of the working professionals who shoot for the big screen, network and get hands on experience with some of the coolest gear around for HD DSLR’s. But don’t rush to get there now…the wrap party was on the 6th. June.

Worry not if you missed it because Cinema 5D was there and they did a great job of covering the event and showing what the movie industry is doing with HD DSLR’s and all the support gear.

For those about to join the HD DSLR revolution and are wondering what is coming next in the way of cameras, I have singled out this interview with Tim Smith from Canon cameras who talks about a new codec they are developing for up-and-coming cameras and how HD DSLR’s are now on the camera equipment list of most major movies.

Tim Smith from Canon USA speaks to Cinema 5D

I recently visited Shanghai where I saw the Chinese premiere of ‘Ten Thousand Waves,’ at ShanghART Gallery, a film by UK video artist Isaac Julien. It is a nine-screen installation shot on 35mm film and transferred to HD with 9.2 surround sound and filmed in Guangxi Province and Shanghai by top Chinese cinematographer Zhao Xiashi. It stars actresses Maggie Cheung (In the Mood for Love – Wong Kar-Wai) and Zhao Tao (Dada – Zhang Yuan).

I mention this because more filmmakers/artists, outside mainstream Hollywood, are exploring different ways to present their narrative pieces to increasing visually sophisticated audiences. The film ran for about 50 minutes and during that time different images appeared on different screens, but not all at once. It was hard sitting in one place, as you could not see all the screens, so I moved around and amongst them to see as many images as possible. My eyes were constantly flitting from screen to screen trying to take in all the rich images, as I was hungry not to miss any. It was an exhilarating experience, visually exciting with each screen shouting for your attention before the images changed or moved to different screens. If you find yourself in London anytime between October and January 2011, go to the Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre and see it, you won’t be disappointed.

Issac Julien is a British video artist known for his provocative works that explore gay and black identity. Born in London’s East End he studied at Central St. Martins College of Arts and burst into the mainstream with 1989’s ‘Looking for Langston,’ a moody black and white drama loosely based on the life of gay jazz poet Langston Hughes during the Harlem Renaissance. Nominated for the Turner Prize in 2001, he has produced everything from installations to documentaries and dance shows and continues to challenge preconceived notions of how we consume film and art.

“All my work has involved an element of documentary actuality, combined with reconstruction and fictional elaboration.” Julien says.

His most recent work has focused on China with ‘Ten Thousand Waves,’ prompted by the drowning of Fujianese cockleshell pickers in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire in 2004.

The film took three years and a Chinese cast and crew of 100 to make, and mixes documentary, fiction and poetry in three narratives, jumping between past and present, rural and urban, real and imagined, to give the viewer a dynamic visual experience on nine screens of China’s cultural journey to the present day.



Maggie Cheung in Isaac Julien’s ‘Ten Thousand Waves’

What do you get when you bring together an Oscar nominated film director and award–winning painter? You get a multi-media installation that centers itself around a narrative painting.

Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann and painter Vincent Fantauzzo, both friends, collaborated on ‘The Creek, 1977,’ which was created especially for the recent ART HK 10 fair held in Hong Kong. The work comprises of a large Caravaggio-style painting hanging in a blackened chapel-like setting of a young man apparently being rescued from a car that has gone over a bridge. By engaging the audience in much the same way as a scene in a film does, the two artists are inviting their audience to ask, is this the beginning or the end of the story and the all important question, what happens next?

“A lot of classical art was narrative…you have to get a lot of stories in a single frame,” Luhrmann says.

The painting was created in much the same way as making a film, with storyboards and casting well-known actors to appear in the image, which also featured Luhmann and Fantauzzo.

Narrative paintings have influenced filmmakers since the early days of cinema. Way before film, paintings depicted scenes from classical history, mostly religious and historical, that invited the viewer to engage with the painting and wonder at the story unfolding within the frame.

Usually, the title of a picture is the only indication of what the story is about, by inviting the viewer to imagine the situation; the painter hoped they would get the full story for themselves.

The principles that the painters employed to depict a scene were picked up by film directors and played a part in influencing the approach to staging and composition of early cinema.

For example, the diagonal layout of action in ‘The Creek, 1977’ creates dynamic and strong composition and depth, which guides our visual search, allowing us to discover a great variety of postures and facial views as the scene reveals itself.

Luhmann and Fantauzzo used pockets of light as well as a sound track of ambient sound and voices in their installation to guide viewers through the scene and add emphasis to the most important parts of the picture.

When you shoot with Canon HD DSLR’S you will no doubt spend a lot of time in post editing your masterpiece and trying to get that cinematic look. Fortunately, there are plug-ins on the market, such as Magic Bullet Colorista, that will give you that ‘film look.’ However, there is another way to get your movie looking like a Hollywood blockbuster and that is by using picture profiles. Not the ready-made ones out of the camera, but custom picture profiles. I came across this amusing tutorial, with good video examples, on how to add custom picture profiles which give you much more flexibility than you would normally have by increasing the dynamic range of the Canon 5D Mkll/7D.

I prefer to shoot clean in order to avoid too much processing in post, but when it comes to shooting video on HD DSLR cameras, you are going to do a lot of tweaking in post to get the look you want, as the footage that comes out of these cameras is highly compressed.

If you want that ‘film look,’ you must shoot flat. Custom picture styles show you how to do this and produce very flat, high dynamic range footage, which will allow you to get more detail in the shadows without blowing-out the highlights and produce the colour you want.