4k's Impact On Story Telling: Format Matters

This weekend marked the official release of The Dark Knight Rises, the last in the Christopher Nolan trilogy of Batman films.  My wife and I joined several of our friends for a road trip up to Seattle to watch the film on the largest IMAX screen still projecting film in the Northwest. By the end of the day we had covered almost 400 miles, seen the film on two screens, projected in two different formats on a journey that lasted almost 18 hours, and reinforced this storytelling truth to me: Format Matters.

Perspective On Part 02 of Zacuto's Revenge Of the Great Camera Shootout 2012

On the 15th of this month Zacuto released part two of their Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout 2012. In this second episode of their three part series they reveal the answers to the blind test that was conducted in part one. This test has raised a lot of discussion, debates, and heated arguments on the internet. As I participated in the event by running Red Epic - a camera with a very passionate following by its users, I thought I'd offer a little perspective on the test.

Resources For Filmmakers & Cinematographers

The internet has become a treasure trove of great resources available to everyone on just about any kind of topic. (Anyone up for Underwater Basket Weaving?) But part of the problem of this large body of information is trying to sort through it all to find the truly helpful and useful information. This is especially true with filmmaking and topics related around cinematography. This is why, over the years, I have been slowly gathering and organizing that information and I want to offer it to you.

Film Class 2012: Introduction To The Camera World

Over the past couple of months I have had several great conversations on twitter with fellow director of photography Corey Steib on a number of topics related to filmmaking. Having a conversation in 144 character bursts can be quite challenging as it doesn't allow for complex answers to many nuanced issues. We both felt limited by these constraints and we wanted to open it up ...

What You May Have Overlooked At NAB 2012

While we were all getting excited about the latest camera offerings at NAB there were a lot of other items that did not get the same hype or exposure but still caught my eye and are worth taking a look at. Some of these offerings are completely new, while others are not as new, but I had not heard about them until this NAB. So take a look at what you may have missed while walking the floor at NAB ...

The Camera Conundrum: What "K" is the Right "K" at NAB 2012

WOW! What a time to be alive! I can't think of a more exciting time to be alive and involved in the filmmaking world than now (Except maybe when it all began). It feels like everywhere you turn a new camera is popping up. It seemed like yesterday the Digital Bolex was announced, and now at NAB Canon has launched two new cameras and Blackmagic Design has surprised everyone and released a camera. It's hard to keep up with it all ... so I wanted to provide some perspective and help you to evaluate where things are at so that you can make the best choice for your situation as you ponder your next camera purchase. For those of you who just want to cut to the chase, here are the results: Canon is not the best, Sony is not the best, Red is not the best, Blackmagic Design is not the best...in fact no one camera meets everyones needs all the time. Different tools for different projects- but some of these cameras still leave me asking some significant questions if they are going to survive in the market place. For a more detailed analysis continue reading ...

Zacuto Shoot Out 2012: A Master Cinematographer's Experience

Back in February of this year Zacuto & Kessler asked me to join them for their Revenge 2012 camera shootout as the Red Epic Master Cinematographer. While I was honored to be a part of an event where I would be working alongside such greats as Bruce Logan, ASC, Rodney Charters, ASC, Nancy Schreiber, ASC, Michael Negrin, ASC & Curtis Clark, ASC, I accepted the offer with a bit of trepidation. After years of running various tests, and making those results public, I have become acutely aware that no matter how stringent a test is run, inevitably people are going to find fault, and there is no way to make everyone happy. Add to that the fact that critique from the Reduser community is even more stringent, and it is a recipe for some harsh criticism and open flaming of one's character. Even though I knew I was walking into dangerous ground by being the Red Epic Master Cinematographer, this was an opportunity I could not pass up.