July 7th, 2009
by Carlos in Film
1. REDCODE vs 35mm Film
I’m sure everyone has had this argument with someone they know or work with. I’ve had this discussion/argument with a cinematographer who has both shot on film and on RED and still prefers 35mm over RED despite the long waiting period and higher costs of production. Maybe it’s an age/generation difference. Here are some facts that I have read regarding RED footage and 35mm film and how each is handled. I highly recommend checking out Paul Wheeler’s High Definition Cinematography Book, it’s a great read!
35mm Film Camera
RED Digital Camera
RED & 35mm Cameras
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June 28th, 2009
by Carlos in Film, Video
JVC GY-HM100 Handheld
Last week, my friend Phil Goetz from Texas Media Systems invited me to a JVC: Solid Solutions seminar hosted by Scott A. Burch, a JVC district sales manager from the great state of Texas. Scott introduced us to the JVC GY-HM100 and its older brother the JVC GY-HM700 back in May. This time, he hosted a full breakdown of what these cameras can do with SDHC and SxS workflows. Check out my previous blog review of these two cameras here:
The JVC GY-HM100 & JVC GY-HM700
I want to take the time to go over a few more things that I both love and hate about these new cameras. First, I will give some love to the JVC GY-HM100 on its size and flexibility. Mounting this little guy on a Steadicam is easy. And the best part of this is it’s a full 1080p camera that only weighs 3lbs. Can you say smooth and simple?
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June 17th, 2009
by Carlos in Film, Video
This month, I wanted to take the time and talk about a small problem I encountered last year while filming our feature film Hands of God. As you have read from our blog, we used the JVC GY-110U HD camera with the Redrock 35mm Adapter and Nikon Lenses for our shoot. During the production, the JVC camera’s CCD sensors would occasionally overheat and cause small white pixels to appear in our shots. Here are some examples below of some of the issues that occurred:
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May 22nd, 2009
by Carlos in Film, Video
My friend Neal Barenblat and I decided to rent one and climb a mountain. We rented a Varizoom Steadicam Navigator from Omega Broadcast here in Austin, TX and drove out to Enchanted Rock. We mounted Neal’s DVX100B onto the Steadicam and climbed the 800 ft. mountain, all while documenting our experience on my Canon XL2. Worst Idea Ever? Maybe. Check out some of the photos below:
Neal & the Steadicam
Steadicam? No sweat!
Ready for Adventure!
Neal was up first. We took out the Steadicam and assembled it. Since we had only taken a small crash course on how to use a Steadicam, we were about to find out if we could climb Enchanted Rock and keep the camera steady. Neal decided to do the uphill climb and I would do the down hill climb.
Check out the short video below:
May 20th, 2009
by Octavio in Web
Our latest web site comes from a new player in El Paso’s real estate market. Mendez Burk Realty is a team of bilingual and multicultural professionals servicing the El Paso, TX area’s real estate needs in the residential, commercial and rental sector. A few of the website’s highlights include its integration with the El Paso MLS real estate listings, as well as its quick Spanish/English translation for Mendez Burk Realty’s local clientele.
www.mendezburk.com
Mendez Burk Realty website
May 8th, 2009
by Carlos in Film
El Paso Filmmakers Diana Cordova, Benny Ontiveros, John Castaneda, and myself all collaborated together to bring you our first documentary. Every Thursday night at a local Taco Cabana in El Paso Texas, Manuel Nunez and friends put on a cross dressing drag queen show titled “Samantha’s Travesti Show”. Through the use of comedy and entertainment, Samantha, Viviana, & Zayda break the borders of transsexual identity and acceptance.
Click on the image below to view the documentary:
Breaking Borders
May 6th, 2009
by Carlos in Film, Video
My friend Phil Geotz from Texas Media Systems invited me to a small filmmaker get together where I met fellow Austin filmmakers Matt Iha and Rod Cole. We all got to speak with Scott A. Burch, one of the JVC district sales managers from Texas. Scott recently returned from NAB 2009 and provided us with some hands on experience with the JVC GY-HM100 and its older brother the GY-HM700. Allow me to post some fun facts about this camera.
JVC GY-HM100 with Mic
JVC GY-HM100 without Mic
Matt Iha & HM100
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April 13th, 2009
by Carlos in Film, Video
Spencer Pharr will be producing and directing a new upcoming short titled “Sawed-Off” during the first week of May and asked me to sign on to the project as their editor. Spencer gave me some RED footage to play with in order to understand and choose a workflow for his film. This will be my first post-production gig dealing with the RED workflow. I’ve been reading up on a lot of workflow types with RED and I think I found one that I am happy with. Since I have a Dual 2.8Ghz Quad-Core MacPro with 8GB of RAM, I’ll be going with the following workflow Read the rest of this entry »
April 6th, 2009
by Carlos in Video
Neal Barenblat, E.J. Enriquez, and I began production for part one of Texas Burning’s new intro. Tony Curtona, the executive producer of Texas Burning, booked Patricia Vonne and Sam Baker to give the opening introduction for the broadcast. Tony decided to go with the Green Screen approach since we have more control in a studio space and wouldn’t have to deal with any of the outdoor elements. We rented our lighting equipment and green screen from Omega Broadcast and shot in their studio back lot. E.J. brought his HVX200 for the shoot since you need that good ol’ DVCProHD 4:2:2 codec for green screen work. Everything went smoothly.
Green Screen Setup
E.J. & his HVX200
Setting up the shot
Patricia Vonne & Sam Baker
Lights, Camera, & Action!
Rehearsing their lines
April 5th, 2009
by Carlos in Film
My friends John Handem and Galen Carter-Jeffrey invited me this morning to the set of a new film shooting in Austin, TX titled “El Coyote”, currently being directed by Jay Galvan, produced by Steven Lane, and the Assistant Director is Jolyn Janis of Digital Defacto. The Director of Photography is Austin’s very own Michael Morlan of Austin Film Tools. Charles Nwachukwu, was also running around the set as well.
RED Camera 01
RED Camera 02
100mm Carl Zeiss Lens
