Now Canon is leaking info on the HD recording capability of their 5D. You need to check this out!

Keep in mind - this is raw footage (not RAW) from both Canon XH A1 camcorder - and a few clips for the Canon EOS 5D MKII - you’ll see that the two are toe to toe (not really) on bright scenes… but in low light - NO COMPARISON… so I’m not sure of how Canon feels about my trashing their top of the line XH A1 camcorder… but common sense leads me to state the following: if the Canon still camera team and the video team have come together to produce the Canon EOS 5D MKII - the next HD camcorder they come out with - may just floor us all…

GO HERE

I work in the film industry, as a set lighting technician. When I’m not schlepping cable or burning my fingers I’m one of those seemingly ubiquitous independent filmmakers (when I can find some sucker nice person to give me enough money), but until I sell something the big movies pay the bills. I like my job - it’s never the same thing two days in a row, and its always interesting, even on the days it’s not easy.

Yes, I did go to college. A good one. Yes, I am wasting my education. Although I shouldn’t be okay with this, somehow it doesn’t bother me. Now. Wait until I turn 40 and that mid-life crisis really gets some momentum and then we’ll see.

I’m female, I live in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, with a cat who tolerates my presence as long as I keep the food bowl full, and in my spare time I conjugate irregular French verbs, work in my garden, and roam the city taking photos of abandoned couches, which can be seen on the Abandoned Couches blog. I also write the occasional article for LAist and some of those paper publications.

My knees went to shit a few years back and I can’t run anymore, but I do like to ride my bicycle and swim. Not at the same time, though.

Peggy Archer is a nom de plume, and I’ll thank you to keep any guesses at the real name to yourselves.

Members of the media who are seeking clarification about some of those weird job titles are welcome (and encouraged) to contact me and ask any questions. Please contact me. If you use the phrase “all the gaffers” one more time I’m going find the cutest puppy I can and kick it. Repeatedly. Do you want that on your conscience? I didn’t think so.

The Cinema Buying Group LLC, which represents 643 small-theater owners in the U.S. and Canada with some 8,000 screens, said it planned to add 3D equipment at about 1,000 of its screens. That will allow more independent theaters to run 3D versions of coming movies that are generating buzz, such as “G Force” from Walt Disney Co., about a commando force of small animals, and “Monsters vs. Aliens” from DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., about monsters battling interlopers from outer space.

The deal is with RealD Corp., a Beverly Hills, Calif., company that licenses 3D technology to theaters. Other companies, such as Dolby Laboratories Inc., offer their own 3D systems, but RealD has a sizable lead in the market.

Campbell 16 locally has already made the transition to the RealD system as shown by this recent story on KOLR10 TV.

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is considering kicking all wireless microphones from the 700 MHz spectrum. Turns out, many of the wireless microphones are illegally operating in the spectrum in the first place.

According to an article last month at Ars Technica, the issue will likely come to a head soon after the Digital TV transition occurs in February 2009.

Low-power auxiliary stations, including bases for wireless microphones, will be prohibited from broadcasting in the 700MHz band on TV channels 52 through 69. The FCC yesterday voted to propose the ban in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order.

Check out your existing equipment and be aware of the possible changes if you’re shopping for new gear.

Last year, more than 600 feature films — mostly independent movies not produced at a major studio — were released theatrically in the U.S., up from 466 in 2002, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. That’s an average of 2.6 more movies every weekend that are battling for the public’s attention.

But those figures are just for the films that make it to the silver screen. Many more films, such as “Boyfriend,” with big-name actors or directors never make it to theaters. More than 3,600 feature films were submitted for consideration at Sundance Film Festival this year, and while many of those are tiny digital flicks that never have a chance of commercial release, the number is up from about 2,000 feature submissions just five years ago.

Academy Award nominee, 1999
Written and Directed by Mark Osborne
Hat tip to Matt Dentler.

Currently on a break from the documentary that he and the True/False Film Festival’s David Wilson have been making in Missouri this summer, Schnack enlisted Wilson and “Branson” collaborator Nate Truesdell to help him here in Denver. He is producing the film with partner Shirley Moyers, the Denver Film Society’s Britta Erickson, Jenny Chikes, and Truesdell.

Pictured above are Left to right: Nate Truesdell, Julia Reichert, AJ Schnack, Jennifer Poitras, Laura Poitras, Steven Bognar, Paul Taylor and David Wilson. Photo by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE

The Eyedeal Woman short film competition is open to filmmakers of all ages and any gender. Film interpretation of an “ideal woman” can be narrative, documentary, animation or experimental. Films must be five (5) minutes or less and submitted in the form of either VHS or DVD. Submissions will be accepted until October 1st.

Submission form

The competition is being held as part of the Citizen Jane Film Festival held October 17-19.

Analog Meets Its Match in Red Digital Cinema’s Ultrahigh-Res Camera
By Michael Behar Email 08.18.08

It’s more than that: His team of engineers and scientists have created the first digital movie camera that matches the detail and richness of analog film. The Red One records motion in a whopping 4,096 lines of horizontal resolution—”4K” in filmmaker lingo—and 2,304 of vertical. For comparison, hi-def digital movies like Sin City and the Star Wars prequels top out at 1,920 by 1,080, just like your HDTV. (There’s also a slightly higher-resolution option called 2K that reaches 2,048 lines by 1,080.) Film doesn’t have pixels, but the industry-standard 35-millimeter stock has a visual resolution roughly equivalent to 4K. And that’s what makes the Red so exciting: It delivers all the dazzle of analog, but it’s easier to use and cheaper—by orders of magnitude—than a film camera. In other words, Jannard’s creation threatens to make 35-mm movie film obsolete.

3. 129,600 - the number of video frames in a 90 minute movie
6. 25MB - space occupied by 1 second of HD video