Visual Edge Helps Stephen Colbert Tackle The Migrant Worker Issue

Back in August Bruce traveled to a farm in upstate New York to work with Stephen Colbert and the fabulous team at The Colbert Report as Stephen continued his series called Stephen Colbert's Fallback Position.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Fallback Position - Migrant Worker - Zoe Lofgren
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

We shot with the HDX900s and also took with us the Panasonic HVX200 for a third camera wide shot during the interview with Rep. Zoe Lofgren.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Fallback Position - Migrant Worker Pt. 2
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

The result from this particular piece was that Stephen was called to be a special witness before Congress today. Bruce and Gonzalo are covering it live, again with HDX900s, for a piece that will air in the near future on The Colbert Report.



Here are some behind the scenes photos from the shoot on the farm:

Teradek Cube: Monitoring over WiFi

It's fun living in the future.



The Cube is made by a company called Teradek and, as the title of this post says, it allows for wireless monitoring of audio and video from any camera with an HD-SDI out to a laptop, iPhone or iPad via WiFi.  There is an HDMI version as well but we picked up the HD-SDI version as we're more excited about the possibilities of using the Cube with the majority of our HD cameras.

The biggest question when setting up a new piece of production gear is always, "how easy is this to do on set?"  As with any piece of gear it's something you SHOULDN'T be setting up or playing with for the first time on location.  However, it's pretty easy to do and doesn't require a member of the Geek Squad or a 12 year old Japanese schoolgirl.  The Cube itself is a piece of cake, power it up, feed it video over HD-SDI, connect the antenna and you're done.  Now you need to set up your laptop and, conveniently, there's a video to help you:



You will need to download some freeware called VLC, which you'll use to view the video stream.  Once you have that downloaded and installed there's another video to watch that will show you how the final steps to watch the video coming from your camera:



That's it. Seriously.

We've tested the Cube on our cameras here at Visual Edge and can tell you that it works flawlessly on the Sony F900R CineAlta, the XDCAM F800, the HDW-730 and the EX3 as well as Panasonic's Varicam, HDX900 and HPX2000 in all resolutions and at all frame rates.

There is a slight delay in the feed to a laptop, which we've timed as right around 0.5 seconds.  The delay to an iPhone was more fluid and less workable, timing out at  somewhere between 4 -13 seconds.  The good folks at Teradek are aware of this and are working on resolving the issue, which is rooted in Apple's devices.

The possibilities are quite staggering.  Producer can't make the interview due to a last minute flight cancellation?  Stream the feed straight to them and they can see what you're shooting over the internet.  Marketing companies can stream events out live to an audience or a news organization can get footage to the studio and on the air without a truck.  Record the stream onto your laptop and the producer can walk with high quality video files to review on the train home and prep for the edit.  Or, at it's most basic level, have the producer sitting comfortably with their laptop open watching what you shoot while you wander around grabbing shots.

I may well be in love.  Give us a call to give it a test drive and you may well be, too.

Newly designed website for Visual Edge Productions

www.visualedge.tv

Yes, you should be clicking on the link above. We've overhauled the site and added some new features. There are operating manuals for all the cameras online, ready for download. Our Video page features some of the work we've been doing and our Tips & Tricks page is back with, well, you get the idea.

So, what will become of this site? We're going to keep it updated but our main online focus will be over at the new www.visualedge.tv.

That was a hint, by the way. Get clicking!

Multiple Monitors with the 5DMkII

One of the big issues with DSLRs is monitoring and the 5DMkII is especially awkward. Not only do you have to deal with HDMI, which can be a pain to split, you also have to deal with the signal dropping to 480p when you hit record. We bought the AJA HA5 thinking that we’d be able to send HD-SDI to our Panasonic HD-LCD monitors only to find that the device can’t handle 480p and, after talking to AJA at NAB, it doesn’t sound like this is an issue that can be resolved via a firmware update. That leaves the unit from BlackMagic as the only option.

Until yesterday. Ladies and gentlemen, the HDFury2:

The HDFury2 takes the HDMI ouput from the Canon 5DMkII and converts it, while keeping all the high def goodness, to a component HD signal. That can then be split out, using T-Adapters available at Radioshack, and the signal can then be sent to 2 monitors, one for the DP and one for the client/director. The HDFury2 comes with a power supply but I diodn’t have any issues at all not powering the unit — instead, it took power over the HDMI connection. That might drain your batteries, though, so make sure you have spares or a charging station.

The HDFury2 works with both the 5DMkII and the 7D so it should work with the 1DMkIV although I don’t have access to one to test that out. Another nice feature of the HDFury2 is the ability to monitor audio, either analog or digital optical — there’s a multi-port on the bottom of the unit that allows for either a 3.5mm jack to be plugged in or a Toslink cable. Finally, the unit can be switched between RGB or YUV, so you’ve got all the options you could ever want.

Is this is solution to monitoring? Probably not. One thing I learned at NAB is that there are a TON of manufacturers working on DSLR solutions to there will probably be something bigger, better and more ready for the field in the future. But for $200? I haven’t seen anything else like it.

You can buy the HDFury2 from Curt Palme. The version we bought was the GREEN kit, although we actually don’t need the 5 BNC cable that comes with it as the regular RGB cable it comes with is all we’re using. You’ll then need some T-Adapters and RCA:BNC adapters. All in, you should be dropping about $220 for the ability to monitor the video from your Canon DSLR to two professional monitors.

Chris Cardno

Production Manager

Behind the Scenes: 5D MkII shoot

On Wednesday, April 7, Bruce and Chris headed out on a shoot for a client to capture footage of three statues in Washington, DC. The client had requested the Canon 5DMkII as the camera for the project and we shot in 24p, taking advantage of the recent firmware update from Canon. We took a decent number of lenses with us and a new toy, picked up the client at Union Station in DC and then headed out to start the day.

The problem most people are aware of with the 5D is it’s inability to deliver an HD signal via it’s HDMI output when recording begins. As such, we chose to simply take the standard def output from the camera and fed that into a Panasonic BT-LH900 HD monitor — the Hoodman was an absolute must have with the sun beating down on us! The monitor also allowed our client to see what we were shooting and offer input so that they got exactly what they wanted.

We were also playing with a new toy — the 3′ Shot Shifter from Bright Devices. It’s a slider dolly that utilizes your tripod as the base and then your fluid head screws into the bowl adapter on top. Regular light stands are then used as support under the ends, allowing for a smooth move all the way through. Quite bluntly, this was THE tool for the job. It allowed us to get moves on the statues we were shooting without the time and hassle of setting up dolly and track and also gave us a much smaller footprint which, in downtown DC, is absolutely key. And although we were using it with a DSLR, the Shot Shifter is rated for larger cameras so can be used with a Varicam, CineAlta, or any 2/3″ system. Brilliant. There’s also a 22″ version for interviews, allowing the operator to perform subtle moves with the interview subject, and the mondo 5′ version.

Here’s the complete list of the gear that we used on the shoot:

• Canon 5DMkII DSLR – we love this camera.
• Canon L-series 50mm 1.2 – beautiful, beautiful lens.
• Canon L-series 16-35mm 2.8 – a fantastic wide lens.
• Nikon 85mm 1.4 – one of our cine-modified primes from RP Lenses.
• Nikon 135mm 2.0 – again, cine-modified from RP Lenses.
• Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 – we borrowed this lens for the shoot and we’re still dreaming about it, just gorgeous.
• Zacuto Z-Finder, follow focus, DSLR plate, Z-American arm and lens gears – there isn’t anyone making better quality accessories out there at this time and the Z-Finder is essential. Again: ESSENTIAL.
• Chrosziel 5×5 mattebox with the Zacuto flexible donut – shooting in the sun with a fast lens and camera made it imperative for ND filters in front of the glass, along with the requisite Polarizer.
• LightCraft Fader ND – screws right on the front of the 50mm lens and allows for very easy adjustments to the amount of ND filtration you need.

The shoot was a success, the client left happy and we sent them a hard drive with all the raw footage via FedEx the next day, after we brought it back to Visual Edge and made a back up copy.

The emergence of DSLR film-making has really been a stunning development in this industry and we’re thrilled to be a part of it. For more information feel free to give us a call at 301/530-8210 or email us at info@visualedge.tv

New Colbert Report film

Back in December, right after Christmas, Bruce and Michael flew out to Utah to shoot a segment for the Colbert Report -- Stephen challenging Olympic speedskater Shani Davis to a race. After he got some basic training on, well, how to speedskate:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Skate Expectations - Speedskating Team Training - Tucker Fredricks
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

Part two airs tonight on Comedy Central at 11:30pm.

New ESPN film - Terrell Suggs: Unmasked

Well, after the beatdown put on the New England Patriots yesterday I suppose I should throw up a piece we shot for ESPN a couple of months ago:

Terrell Suggs Unmasked from Chris Cardno on Vimeo.

The piece was shot with two Panasonic Varicams, with one outfitted with the Letus Ultimate and B4 Relay Lens. WE also had with us our Matthews Doorway Dolly and Long Valley Seven jib. The background was painstakingly built by Bruce by cutting out the squares from large piece of foamcore and then attaching sheets of Opal. Finally, we had a flicker generator and a smoke machine for effect.

Big thanks to ESPN for having us be part of a really fun shoot and thanks also to the folks at the Baltimore Ravens for being so generous with their time, especially Terrell Suggs who was a blast to work with.

Justice Department video

Embedded below (original page here) is a video that Bruce shot for the Department of Justice:

The interviews were shot with the Panasonic HPX2000, Letus Ultimate with B4 Relay lens and our Nikon primes. Much of the b-roll was shot using our Fujinon 13x4.5. We shot AVC-Intra 100 in 1080/30, transferred to a Lacie Rugged drive on location and handed the footage off to the client. They actually cut a few spots out of the two days of shooting:

Hope you enjoyed the pieces -- if you're interested in renting any of the gear mentioned please do click on over to www.visualedge.tv.

Chris Cardno

Production Manager

Visual Edge Productions

A Community Expanded

Back in the first quarter of 2009 I was on record as calling Twitter "the most egotistical thing ever invented." 140 characters to spew forth whatever was on your mind? No chance, I thought, this is a fad and a particularly stupid one at that. At a New Year's Eve party I said to someone that I thought Twitter was the biggest game-changer of the year and an invaluable resource. So, yeah, I've reversed my position somewhat.

Quite bluntly, if you're not on Twitter you're playing catch-up and in an industry whose tools are becoming computers with lenses that's a disastrous place to be. Twitter has become a breaking news feed with the added bonus of commentary from people active in the field: the contextualization of the information elevates it.

However, there is another aspect to Twitter that might be overlooked. The sharing of information, expertise and experience is something that I've never really experienced before in this industry. Don't get me wrong, I've learned a lot from others but the free-flowing information on Twitter and the willingness to share has blown me away. Twitter appears to have attracted a group of people who not only enjoy their work but are excited by the possibilities of the tools they have and that excitement spills over.

Paranoia and competitiveness has always been a part of the film/video industry, be it over clients, techniques or even equipment. There is a small pool of people that are up for every job and considering that rates are always negotiable (must be nice to be a plumber and know that the rate is the rate -- apart from that whole clogged toilet thing...) I know that everyone has lost a job because someone came in $50 under your quote or agreed to a 12-hour day with no OT. With production budgets getting slashed loyalty from your clients is a luxury these days and I've talked to many people who don't really have regular clients any more, it's a revolving door of jobs. Which makes the people who discuss, evaluate and share information on Twitter all the more remarkable. They're discussing the tricks of the trade, the same tricks that get them paid, keep a roof over their heads and have earned them the reputations they have. AT NO COST!

Now, I'm not going to be naive, Twitter is a powerful marketing tool and I'm sure that many of the people active on Twitter have, at the very least, received a phone call from an interested potential client. However, the sense of community that is being engendered is heartening. In a given day I know what people are up to in Bavaria, Buffalo, England, New Zealand, Toronto, Boston, Washington, DC... I know what cameras they used, what accessories they had with them, what worked, what didn't, what they wished they'd had on set in addition to what the temperature was and if they got a meal break. And if I'm intrigued by something mentioned? Send a message, get an answer -- build a relationship.

While the value of Twitter has surprised me what has been a bigger thrill has been a newfound sense of enthusiasm for the industry of which I'm a part. It's easy to get jaded dealing with rookie producers, cheap production companies and renters who don't know that there's more than one camera with '900' in it's name. Hearing from people from around the world who still think this business is cool (which is what we all thought working in film and TV was when we were young) is invigorating and, bluntly, it's made me better at my job.

So, without further ado, some shout-outs to the folks out there on Twitter that make it a fun place to be:

www.twitter.com/philipbloom Not sure if you need an introduction to Mr. Bloom, he's become something of a web celebrity in addition to being a fine DP. Answers questions, reviews gear, hangs out with the folks from LucasFilm occasionally...oh, and he's English, which immediately gives him a leg up on everyone else.

www.twitter.com/tomguilmette As of this writing Tom is off on a mountain somewhere doing something epic with timelapse. Or he might be mountain biking. Difficult to tell with him but he's probably cold either way. Tom gives great insights into different types of production and, like Philip, is happy to share tips and techniques.

www.twitter.com/rodneykiwi Yes, he's the DP for 24 and I'm a 24 nerd but his feed is not just a look behind the show for fans. Instead, Rodney Charters seems to be as big a geek about new production toys as we all are even though he gets to play with the BIG toys on a daily basis. Great to follow.

www.twitter.com/timescapes Tom Lowe put a video on Vimeo that has literally stopped everyone that I've shown it to in their tracks:

Timescapes Timelapse: Mountain Light from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.

Now, click through to watch that in HD and then follow Tom on Twitter.

www.twitter.com/vincentlaforet Vincent Laforet has won a Pulitzer Prize for photography. That should be a good enough reason to follow him but he's also the chap who really made people sit up and pay attention to the possibilities of DSLRs for film-making.

www.twitter.com/tylerginter That would be 1st Lt. Tyler Ginter, 55th Combat Camera, US Army. This is a man who tested out a 1DMkIV while he was preparing to jump out of an airplane.

This is a really small sampling, obviously, but it's a good place to start for those in film & video. The fun of Twitter is following the conversations and then following the people who are discussing what you enjoy. Pretty soon, there's a community of people in your feed and, as I said at the beginning, it's a community that's expanding. Hopefully you'll find it as valuable as I do.

Chris Cardno

Production Manager

Visual Edge Productions

www.twitter.com/VisualEdgeChris

Working with Stephen Colbert again

We usually have fun with the team from the Colbert Report when they come to town. This shoot was no exception. However, in a first for us, Stephen decided that some action sports would be a good idea in the halls of power:
As always, thanks to the production team in New York and Stephen.

But they told me size didn't matter!!!

Is that title professional? Nope, but it's making me chuckle every time I look at it so it's staying.

A few weeks back I wrote a mini-column in a newsletter in which I said that "the ever-shifting technology landscape is going to create a much larger, louder and bitter debate" than the one that occurred at the onset of HD cameras between the film devotees and those who were in the video world. This wasn't difficult to predict, but the speed and volume has been surprising (although maybe it shouldn't be in this world of Twitter, online forums and 24/7 in-your-palm web access.)

Here's a really quick timeline of the past couple of weeks:

Nikon finally announces their new still camera, the D3s, which many had hoped would offer the video functionality of the Canon 5dMkII if not radically improve upon it. It doesn't. Grumblings around the web point out that it's not full frame and doesn't shoot 1080p. It's just a really good stills camera with video capabilities. The horror... This is the first real sense of how petty the arguments are going to become, in my opinion.

Jim Jannard announces that there will be a RED announcement. Reaction not dissimilar to the Beatles landing at JFK occurs. Suggesting that RED is now reacting to Nikon and Canon would not go down well, I'm quite sure.

In a surprise email, Sony says that they will have a BIG announcement on October 20th. The web starts to buzz -- could the giant be stepping into the large sensor video camera world? Could they be adapting their Alpha line for the EX cameras?

The anniversary of the Canon EOS line is October 20th, so people wait to see what they will announce. After the success of the aforementioned 5dMkII there are high hopes.

At the stroke of midnight Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Vincent Laforet posts a film on his site that he shot with the new Canon 1dMkIV. Nocturne (which has since been pulled at the request of...Canon...gotta love those multi-nationals and their bureaucracy...) highlights the insane low-light capabilities of the camera. However, grumblings around the web (yep, again) point out that it's not full frame and costs $4,000. Which is less than the HVX200 costs, but still...

After a day of leaks Sony officially announce...a revised EX1! And a big 2/3" EX3! Reaction is somewhere between pleased and complete and utter apathy.

We're now all waiting for October 30 so we know when RED is going to jump in. Or say they are going to jump in. Or will announce that they plan to jump in at some point but, you know, everything changes...

And that's really where we are: everything is changing. The emergence of V-DSLRs should force the traditional camera powerhouses to stop looking at different ways to repackage what has been done before and start looking at introducing technologies that have never been considered for video. Processing power is only increasing, storage capabilities are no longer a concern and the days of standard definition and heavily compressed codecs are going to go the way of dial-up and cassette tapes. Over the course of the next year we're not going to be talking about 1/3" or 1/2" or 2/3" cameras: we're going to have to learn all new terminology. Thankfully, a very nice chap named Tyler created a web page with some very handy explanations of all the different options that we have to look forward to. The downside of having all these options suddenly opening up to us is that there is going to be some of the loud and bitter debate that I originally mentioned in this post: snide comments regarding sensor sizes, aliasing, compression artifacts and rolling shutters are going to be quite commonplace.

But, given the choice, I'd rather be part of a loud conversation than sitting in silence. This is going to be exciting.

Chris Cardno
Visual Edge

Upcoming national commercial

Gonzalo Accame has spent the past few days (with one small break to shoot for CNBC) working on three commercials for the Knights of Columbus that will air during NBC's opening week NFL games on September 10 & 13.
Visual Edge was given the assignment just this past Friday, August 21 -- the spots were submitted for final approval just a couple of hours ago. Gonzo was working with the team at Lumen Catechetical Consultant comprised of John Capobianco, John Landers and Mary Beth Newkumet on creating the spots. Gonzo shot all the original footage with Captain Fuentes on the Panasonic HDX900 and the spots have been edited at our facility in Kensington, MD on Final Cut Pro by Ines Perez and Gonzo.
The ads are meant to evoke a response from the viewers, inspiring them to become involved, or have a greater participation, in charitable service. Featured in the ads are retired New York Fire Department Captain and current Knight of Columbus Al Fuentes -- Captain Fuentes was one of the NYFD responders on September 11, 2001 and was buried in the collapse of the World Trade Center's North Tower. He was rescued from the rubble two hours later and spent weeks in a coma, recovering from numerous near fatal injuries.

HPX2000 and the Letus DoF System

Panasonic HPX2000 with the Letus Ultimate and 2/3" B4 Comact Relay Lens from Chris Cardno on Vimeo.

Here's a link for those of you with mobile devices to watch the above footage.

This is a short film to show the image difference between when using a depth of field system with a 2/3" HD camera. The footage above was shot with a Panasonic HPX2000 P2 camcorder in DVCProHD record mode and shooting at 720/24p. We used the Letus Ultimate and B4 compact relay lens with our Nikon prime lenses and we're comparing that to a Fujinon 16x6.3 HD ENG lens.

No scene files were loaded into the HPX2000 and no color correction has been done. This is the raw footage from the camera transferred to Final Cut Pro, edited and output to a H.264 Quicktime file which was then uploaded and encoded on Vimeo -- to see the file in HD please click on the link in the video window.

For more information please go to www.visualedge.tv.

LIVE BLOG!

Bruce and I are at Camp Fretterd in Maryland today. We've got the HVX200 tricked out with the Letus Ultimate, our Nikon primes, some HMIs, a fogger and, as you can see to the left, our pick of some other cool toys.

I'm going to be updating this throughout the day so check back in when you can -- I'll try and keep it interesting with pics and details from the set.

Here's who we have on the crew. Bruce Liffiton is shooting, David Girard's working the audio, Joey Walker is our Grip today, TelePrompTer is from Telescript DC, make-up is provided by Andrea Hines and our PA is Caroline Devereaux.

We're shooting 720/24PN with the HVX200 and currently have the Nikon 50mm on the Letus Ultimate. The viewfinder and LCD on the camera leave something to be desired, so we're using a Zacuto Zamerican arm and Zicromount III to use a Panasonic 8.4" monitor instead. The DoF system makes this a necessity. We've got the Joker 800W HMI, two 1x1 Litepanels and two KinoFlo Divas burning and a fog machine is making us all feel that we need glow sticks and some rave music.

***UPDATE***

We're currently doing the prompted portion of our shoot, then we're moving on to a two camera interview with SFC Dotson. As I said, we're shooting with the HVX200 so I'm going to be downloading the footage from the P2 cards as the crew sets up for the next shot. We've got the Duel Adapter, our MacBookPro, two Lacie Rugged drives attached by Firewire 400 and 800. I'm using Shotput for the offload and transfer of the P2 cards and the P2CMS for playback and verification.

***UPDATE***

We've switched to the Nikon 85mm, moved the lights accordingly and now we're just choking on the fog that's filling the room. And there are people who don't think this business is all about the glamor...

***UPDATE***

Important lesson learned: always have a can of compressed air with you. After switching set-ups to our 2-camera interview Bruce noticed that the image suddenly had some artifacts in it. A quick playback check confirmed that they hadn't been there during the morning's shoot so they'd somehow been introduced while we moved the cameras and set up the second HVX200. We prepped the Letus for surgery...only to realize that our compressed air was sitting 50 miles away in Bethesda.

Bummer.

Joey, our Grip and now our BFF, ducked out of the room and came back 2 minutes later with the can of air pictured above. A few minutes later (actually, the rest of the crew just took a lunch break while we cleaned and re-rigged the system) and we are good to go.

***UPDATE***

Bruce should have said no to the burritos that were on offer for lunch...

Sorry, boss... :-)

***UPDATE***

We have twin Letus' (Letuses? Leti? Answers on a postcard to Visual Edge...) working for the interview section of the shoot today. Our Ultimate, with the Zacuto rigging and follow focus, is in the foreground and we have a Letus Extreme with the Letus rigging working on the second HVX200 in the background. Both cameras have 85mm lenses on them. The plan was to only have one of the cameras with a DoF system on it and the cutaway camera would just be shooting "as is." The difference in the image was shocking. Just...shocking. So we pulled out the second Letus. And now everyone's happy.

***UPDATE***

Time to download our first card, baby!

***UPDATE***

Two cards down and everything is going smoothly. We've completed the interview, grabbed a couple of jib shots and now we're on to the tabletop shots. Yes, we've broken out the lazy Susan...

***UPDATE***

By the way...

Best. Load-in. Ever.

Season of change

It's a beautiful 80 degrees here in the nation's capital, with low humidity, blue skies and a gentle breeze out of the NNW at 8mph. There's the smell of fresh cut grass in the air and tonight we'll be dipping down into the 60s for another wonderfully cool evening.

While I'm enjoying this right now, every fiber of my being is screaming that we're going to get absolutely mullered in August with days in the 100s and humidity so thick you could cut it with a spoon.

Oddly enough, that's rather what it's like in the freelance world. (You like that segue? I have a million of them...) Even when you're busy and the week is booked up you're always looking ahead to the next week, the next month and worrying about where the jobs are going to come from. This is the main reason I'm an office wonk, the uncertainty would drive me crazy which would make my family so nuts they'd be, well, gone. However, it's becoming very apparent that the entire industry is suffering from uncertainty at this time and for once it can't solely be blamed on the economy. Or, for you readers in the UK, the credit crunch. That's called international appeal, thankyouverymuch.

This next section will make more sense if you quietly hum some John Williams music while you read it...

FORMAT WARS
IS THERE ANY HOPE?

It is a period of confusion and frustration. No longer content to shoot everything in BetaSP (mercifully) producers and production companies now ask for a multitude of cameras, formats and media. From tape to tapeless, HD to SD, 720 to 1080, the landscape has changed and while the images are now much improved the resulting bafflement has brought some to the bitter edge.

Rebel companies such as RED and Canon (hold up a second...) have struck blows against the Global Empires of Sony and Panasonic by introducing cameras that offer versatility and radically improved image quality. In response, Sony have introduced their XDCAM PDW-F800 while Panasonic have cut the price of their top of the line camcorder, the HPX3700, in half. However, this has done little to settle the growing unrest.

With cameras evolving into computers with lenses and data capture and management becoming the primary concern the people in the field find themselves looking for answers, searching for a magic box that will give them flexibility and reliability for generations to come...

Here's where I'd like to offer up some good solid answers for those of you that made it through that remarkably cheesy Star Wars riff. And I can't do it. There isn't a droid on the way with secret plans for a camera that will give us everything we want, nor is there a recorder out there that will turn all the cameras we already have into next generation acquisition devices. As I said, cameras are becoming computers with lenses and the problem with that is the sheer rate of advancement. Moore's Law begins to come into play at this point -- technology advancing exponentially every two years -- and that presents a new problem as we're not talking about Netbooks here: cameras are many times more expensive than the average computer. The idea of a new camera technology offering better image resolution, improved formats and codecs and faster and more reliable data acquisition and transfer being unleashed every two years is enough to make one shiver. After all, we've all had a phone call from a client who wants the newest piece of gear on their project and the cameras we have just won't cut it. If that's the future then we're going to need the manufacturers to offer trade in/up programs and that has about as much chance of happening as I have growing wings.

So, what to do right now? If we aren't going to win the technology race (let's be honest, most of us aren't going to be able to even get to the semi-finals given the cost of the gear...) then we need to concentrate on what should ALWAYS be the fundamental concern: the image. It doesn't matter if you have the best camera, the newest compression codec and the largest memory cards, if your image looks like it belongs on America's Funniest Home Videos then you're not long for this business. Freelancers and production companies generate work based on the quality of the work produced and if you can make a BVW-D600 the equivalent of DaVinci's brush then you are going to be working for a long time. People were making beautiful moving images before ProRes and 10-bit color and as we move forward the focus should be on working with the people who can deliver quality. My 6-year old daughter can operate the DVR, my iPod Touch and my digital camera -- just because she's technologically adept doesn't mean she has the slightest clue about composition, framing and lighting. So go ahead, give us 200MBpS date rates, wow us with RAW files and 40" sensors (slight exaggeration.) I'm hopeful that steady experience and skill will, like the tortoise, end up the winner versus technology's hare.

Chris Cardno
Visual Edge Productions

OMG!!! Jonas Brothers!!!!

So, Bruce is shooting in DC this week, accompanied by Michael Coleman, Todd Burger and David Accame -- they're working for three days on a piece for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. After yesterday at the White House they crew is on Capitol Hill today. It's not normally this kind of a mob scene:
But that's what happens when the dreamy Nick Jonas is in town and is lending his name to a very good cause:
Good on the kid for helping bring some attention to a disease that afflicts 15,000 new kids every year. For more information, go to www.jdrf.org. Thanks as always to Michael for the iPhone pics from location.

Chris Cardno
Visual Edge Productions

Shooting...shooting.

Welcome to Indiana! Now get off my lawn...

Bruce and Michael were in 'The Crossroads of America' this week, using the Panasonic HPX2000 with a variety of goodies -- Bruce had the portable jib with him, the Letus Ultimate and B4 Relay Lens with the Nikon prime lenses and, well...this isn't a usual part of the kit:
There's a reason why I spend so much time making sure the website is up to date, keeping active on Twitter and learning all about the latest production gizmos: Bruce looks too damned comfortable holding a gun:
The shoot was a corporate piece on muzzle loading guns. As an Englishman I have no idea what that means, which probably explains why we have no claim on the US these days. We're more of a truncheon and sarcasm based society. Not so much with the BFGs...

Chris Cardno
Visual Edge Productions

Hands up if this has happened to you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY

Busy day yesterday

For those of you who are following us on Twitter (if not, why not? Follow us here) you would have seen the image below posted yesterday:
Bruce was working at the National Spelling Bee for the past four days, shooting coverage of the kids going out and doing activities and also was with Erin Andrews during the prime time broadcast last night.

While Bruce was learning how to spell 'omphaloskepsis' (which is the contemplation of one's navel as part of a mystical exercise, don't you know...) Gonzo was over at NIH with a pair of HDX900s finishing up a multi-day shoot.
The lad in the flat cap behind our favorite Peruvian is Don Aros, local DC gaffer and curry aficionado. We had the HDX900 tricked out with the Letus Ultimate and B4 relay lens, our Nikon prime lenses modified by RP Lenses, and a lots of fun Zacuto toys.
The shoot went well, although I was disappointed to learn that I would have to be on camera for some of the shoot. Worse, the client wanted some footage of someone getting a shot. I'd post pictures or footage but I'd hidden the Flip camera by that point to make sure my astounding acting abilities never see the light of day. Having said that, when confronted with a needle the look of pure panic and green tint on my face rivals the best work DeNiro, Pacino and Brando have ever done. COMBINED.

Chris Cardno
Visual Edge Productions

RED...

I feel that the Jaws theme music should be playing with a title like that. Still, on with the update!

Last week we worked on a project with producer Dave Ogden of Metamedia Inc. The shoot was distinguished by it being our first time working with the RED One camera.

The RED package is owned by Nate Clapp of Nomad Productions in DC and Nate came out for the shoot as well. For those of you not keeping up with all these fun cameras and formats, the RED is a camera that gives you 35mm depth of field and records at 4K resolution. What does this mean? It makes purdy pictures real good.
The package is not what you'd call inconsequential -- Nate had to take the unit apart to make it comfortable for the hanfheld work that Dave was looking to do and even stripped down the weight is still north of 30lbs. As Bruce said after the shoot was done: "It's like...a yacht. There's always another piece to get, something else to add on."

Still, the shoot was a success and the experience was worthwhile. Is it a camera for all projects? No, it's a lot of image and a workflow for those with the correct resources. However, it does give you the best image possible in a digital world before you get into the motion picture Sony and Panasonic cameras. Here's an example of how the image stands up: