Ergonomics on the FS100 are something to be simultaneously admired and hated. It doesn’t have the comfort of a prosumer camcorder or a DSLR… it’s somewhere in the middle. But, on a good note, the camera does strip down to a reasonably small size, allowing for some high tech weatherproofing

The ziplock bag worked a treat. Camera was absolutely dry despite the heavy snow. NICE.

The AVCHD codec held up surprisingly well in the conditions. Small snow particles moving quickly in front of a nest of twigs and dead branches might be disaster for some cameras, but the files look fine, even at 1080/60. Sadly, this online version doesn’t do the original files justice. Enjoy,

Colorado is 46th out of 50 states in terms of film incentives… Years ago, when film incentives weren’t an issue, many Oscar winning films were made here, influenced by many of the greatest filmmakers ever, including John Ford, the man that practically single-handed made “western” filmmaking (not that Colorado is limited to that however).

In the past 4 years, ZERO films have taken advantage of the abysmal 10% incentive. And this is in a time when the best digital motion picture cameras are readily available everywhere! Additionally, there’s an incredible “brain drain” in Denver. Aside from the $2 million a year we’re pumping into educating new filmmakers that move to LA/NY because there’s no work here, there’s a large list of individuals that are on the verge of closure despite their exceptional skills and talents.

I’ve had conversations with a few BIG places in town that are considering shutting their doors if the incentives don’t go through. That would be tragic not only for the lost jobs, but for the trickle-down impact on all filmmakers, big or small.This is a big freaking deal.

So on February 8th, filmmakers, content creators, media professionals and local businesses will stand together to show the legislators just how huge these incentives are for our industry.

Why this year, never before?

There’s a big jaded community that are convinced that the incentives “will never go through”. To them I say… I feel your pain. I’ve watched year after year go by and felt the disappointment. BUT.

This. Year. Is. Unique.

We have several cards on the table that have YET to be played.

• First and foremost, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper SUPPORTS Colorado Film incentives. Read this! When former Governor Bill Ritter put his mind to Green Business, it happened. Hickenlooper is putting his mind to film incentives.
• Second, our new Film Commissioner, Donald Zuckerman, has a big career of producing films in LA, NM, and beyond. He has an excellent plan with the incentives and methods to keep the money in Colorado. His background makes him the perfect man for the job. Long story short, we have an educated and forward-thinking leader.
• Third, out of all the places we can place money, this one builds infrastructure for jobs in Colorado. We have no industry. Imagine having SOME industry. We’re not going to be LA or NM overnight, obviously. But imagine instead of NO big films, we have 3 or 5, or 7 reasonably sized indie films. Suddenly… the brain drain slows… staying in Colorado makes sense… a community begins to develop… The trickle down effect is gigantic in the filmmaking world. One bigger film paves the way for many various others. In a world where distribution is being put into the hands of the public, this is an excellent position for Colorado to develop. Not only that, but films impact local businesses in every direction. Truck drivers, gas stations, dry cleaners, art supply stores, hair salons, hotels, restaurants… on and on.
• Fourth, Colorado is beautiful. Mountains, lakes, sand dunes, prairie, studios spaces, downtown, industrial… It’s all here. Look at what The Lord of the Rings trilogy did for New Zealand. Look at what Harry Potter (and many other films) do for tourism in London. Tourism has a chance to take a QUANTUM LEAP in Colorado by working with films to advertise the beauty here. Again, it’s not just dollars the films are spending here… trickle down effect. Standard accounting doesn’t show the immense impact that filmmaking has on more than just an immediate film. But make no mistake, the impact is gigantic.
• Lastly, you. You are a part of this opportunity. Bring the passion. Show Colorado the necessity for this film incentive. Let’s educate them to help them realize the many benefits! They’ll be glad when it happens. SHOW UP on February 8th at 7:30am on the steps of the Capitol. Bring all of your friends, relatives, co-workers… everyone.

And building up to February 8th,tell everyone! Look at what Egypt did through social media!

It’s happening this year.

Official details here: http://cfva.com/events/cinema-co

More information: coloradofilmincentives2012.com

The intent is to use the Sony FS100 to replace my beloved and often used Canon 5D camera system. The camera sports an S35 sensor, crazy low light capabilities, resolves more resolution and retains more sharpness than current DSLR video cameras. It also has 2 XLR audio inputs, which saves a bit of time on the editing/post side of things.

Not retiring the 5D yet, but it will become more of a “B” camera for now!

I’ve had the opportunity to work on some projects that have been very dear to me. Both the Save Our Youth piece and 180 Ministries videos are stepping stones in my career helping me decide which route to take.

My greatest hope is to honor the Lord in many new ways in 2012 and beyond, both in business and video production.

The guys over at Orion Entertainment did some awesome work pulling together this Ram Outdoorsman intro together. Check out the 65 second piece below.

The low light conditions made this shoot a bit of a challenge. I was never below ISO 1600 and often shooting at around F2, making keeping focus a trick. Additionally, the fluorescent light wasn’t conducive to beautiful skin-tones… but such is life! I had a great time shooting it and this video will help support the future ministries at Denver United alongside CMI.

Amongst the varied types of projects I work on, I have the pleasure of working with a diverse group of corporate clients on a regular basis. Each client has different takes on the type of content they prefer to use. Some relying heavily on photos and graphics, others are interested in shooting relevant b-roll, some want stock footage, some want staged material… the list goes on. But the cornerstone of most corporate videos is the interview. It is a simple, fast and (deceivingly) easy way to deliver information, add personality and emotion to a message, and engage an audience interested in your topic. The interview permeates many varieties of video, so it is absolutely critical for producers/videographers/filmmakers to master the it. I’ve spent the last 6 years shooting professional video content of all types, much of that interviews, and I’d like to spend the rest of this post sharing some of my best practices I’ve learned and discovered along the way.

There are a few necessary conditions for an interview to really take off.

1. They have to be comfortable

2. They have to be passionate

3. Sometimes surprise

4. They have to be honest

If these conditions are in place, we have the opportunity to capture some great stuff. So the interviewee is there in front of the lens… They’re now at the mercy of the questions. There are no hard and fast rules here. Sometimes the simplest yes or no question can lead to an intimate insight. Often, a well phrased and relevant question falls flat. If you have an infinite budget and time, it’s best to do a heck of a lot of research on your interviewee, the subject(s) they’re speaking to, the context they’re talking in, etc etc. It’s immensely helpful to meet beforehand. A phone conversation can do the trick, but I’ve learned that you can’t replace a casual face to face. My goals in these early meets tend to vary depending on how media-ready the interviewee is and the type of content we’re after. On a recent documentary project for a non-profit, much of the project centralized around the hardships that the interviewee had experienced. We spent 3 days getting to know each other before we shot the video. The emotion and vulnerability that was expressed in that interview is what really sells the story. Yet it wouldn’t have been emotionally possible without making the investment of time with the interviewee, building trust and ensuring that I was treating the hardships with the required attention.

In corporate videos, there often isn’t much time to establish a relationship with the interviewee. Instead of days or hours, some instances only allow for minutes before the camera begins to roll to develop a bit of repor. The attention has to shift to becoming acutely aware of who I’m speaking with and their role before stepping foot in the room. Seems like such an obvious point, but it’s surprising to see how many interviews I’m a part of (maybe just shooting, not organizing) that are missing this piece.

Occasionally, I’ve run into the situation where another interview needs to be taped (or captured…) last minute. No prep, no meets beforehand, just start rolling.

In the next blog post on this series, I will be discussing specific questions I try to ask for almost every interview.

Comments/questions?

The Canon C300. At first hated on by many in the online world, then the camera found a resurgence of positive press with blog/filmmaker superstars posting their positive impressions. Being in Denver means that the “new” camera demos here will always months later. In any case, I finally got to touch and hold the C300.

Ergonomics

a) Weight – The camera is surprisingly light. A nice handheld feel to it, much MUCH better for video than any DSLR setup. I was able to do some fairly smooth “jib” moves just by properly holding the camera, and warp stabilizer would easily take you the rest of the way.
b) LCD – The LCD rotates 270 degrees, up down, mirrors, it’s removable, it’s awesome all around. Bravo Canon.
c) 3D – For 3D setups, the handle, LCD, and side handle all come off. The camera gets quite small. (like the Epic!)
d) Buttons – Canon has done a pretty good job with buttons. AFter some familiarity, I’m sure it would be cake. The Alexa still is the king of simplicity.

e) Back LCD Much like the 5D and other DSLRs, the C300 has a LCD on the back that lights up. Nice to do quick status checks, see audio levels, etc.

f) Hot swapable Compact Flash Cards. Saves you cash on media, that’s a plus.
g) The XLRs that mount near the LCD screen on the top are… well, I would imagine you’d have to do some cable management. Not my favorite position for XLR.
h) The rotating arm on the side comes off. I thought it would be like my Sony EX1R… a nice quick release button and do a quick-action snap! Not so! You have to loosen the ring next to the handle, then the handle practically comes off, then you have to tighten again. Not exactly easy when you’re holding the handle to begin with. This could have been better designed.
i) Size. Size is a plus.

C300 next to 5Dmk2

Image

a) ND comes in 2, 4, or 6 stops and is controlled by pushing a + or – button. It’s electronic (EDIT: Electronically controlled, it’s still an Optical filter, thanks Gregory) which I guess is nice because apparently it won’t get stuck like a mechanical ND, though I haven’t had that issue on any of my cameras…

The compression of my cell phone took out some noise from a picture of the 3" screen. not a great representation

b) ISO – People are ranting and raving about the amazing 20,000 ISO on the camera. I don’t see it. I cranked the camera to 20,000 (using 6 stops of ND indoors lol) and it was crazy noise. Sure, it’s relatively amazing, but I wouldn’t shoot anything at 20,000. Maybe some filmmakers think the noise “looks like film”. To me, it looked like noise. However, that said, it did look VERY clean around ISO 4000/5000. That’s impressive. The camera is rated natively at 640 in regular mode and 850 in Canon’s log mode, so there’s lots of room to play there. We can replace our 2k’s with cell phones and shoot with the moon instead of the sun.
c) Speaking of log mode, Canon has an interesting “cinema lock” setting that locks you into 24p and canon’s log mode. I recently read on a blog that Sony’s S-log still retains more information, and for a $3000+ upgrade, it darn better! But there was a big noticeable difference when switching from “standard” to the “log” mode on Canon, and my suspicion is that the 50mbps 4:2:2 codec inside helps with highlight control.

50mm f1.2 and c300

d) DoF – There were several C300s at the demo, and one of them had the Canon 50mm F1.2. Needless to say, RIDICULOUS depth of field. It’s like shooting with a macro lens…except your subject is 8 feet away! Luckily, Canon has included several focus modes. Peaking, we’re all familiar. Magnification, we’re all familiar, and they also included a new mode that uses contrast in three squares that show a vectorscope at the bottom of the screen to determine focus. When the vectorscope is at it’s highest point, the image has the most contrast within the red square on the screen and you know you’ve found critical focus. Very cool. Apparently this is also on the XF305, but I haven’t shot with that camera so I wouldn’t know!
e) Manual mode only! One thing that’s too bad about the EF versions of these C300′s is they are ONLY manual mode. No auto anything (except xlr audio). No auto focus, no support for the IS, it’s almost like a dumb mount, updated: IS and lens metadata are supported along with control of the aperture on EF lenses.
f) 8 Bit out SDI. No need to beat a dead horse, but seriously!??! Really Canon?!? maybe it doesn’t matter. Or maybe it’s of critical importance to sales.

Price

The street price is still unknown. To me, this is where the camera will fall short. It has a great image, it’s fun to hold, great design etc etc, but I’m not ready to pay any more than $8000 for it. I still think an F3 shooting out 10bit 4:4:4 is the champ for price, even though the ergonomics of the F3 body are janky. It’s 8-bit out only which is FINE for most stuff… but I still feel a bit cheated somehow. And the fact that you have to choose between EF OR PL mount… I have both! Hate to plug the Epic here… but being able to switch mounts is a HUGE plus.

One thing is for sure, it’s not the Canon 5D Mark III I’ve been waiting for.

Be sure to watch for Philip Bloom’s mini shootout where he compares the C300 to FS100, F3 and others!

I just bought the “cinema” picture profile for $19 from http://www.cineplus.ch/

Wanted to hit the city and shoot something gritty after seeing what others had already done with the profile.

After a bit of brainstorming, the idea for an abstract movie trailer emerged and thus the camera test turned movie trailer was born.

Special thanks to friend and actor Heath Heine for helping a guy out with some camera tests…

2011 Reel

James owns a Red Epic package, a Sony EX1R, Canon DSLRs, and various other cameras and is familiar with many more.

To see a list of what James has been working on recently, click here.

2011 has been a busy year, tons of productions still in the works! It has been a pleasure working on all of them.

Everything in the reel above I shot and I produced, edited and directed most of them.
There are exceptions on the larger crew shoots, especially the narrative pieces where my only role was DP.
Some really really great stuff that doesn’t really fit into the “conventional” reel. I’ll make a second reel at the end of 2011 to showcase a different perspective on my work.

Thoughts, tips, advice, otherwise? Leave it in the comments below!

Music: Gold Panda, “Snow & Taxis”
Published by Wichita Songs Ltd / Domino Music Publishing Co.Ltd.
P&C 2010 Notown / Ghostly International
iamgoldpanda.com

Denver Video Production, James Drake Films 2011

Well it looks like we may have another DSLR coming that may be able to fill that role. Canon will likely announce a 5Dmk3 soon, but in the meantime, they announced the 1D X.

According to Canon Rumors, it looks like the camera has dual DIGIC V processors and Canon even mentions “Advanced video capabilities”.

Camera will arrive in March….

Here. We. Go.

More details to come as they become available (the real details)!

We grabbed cameras we had access to and took them out. We attempted to be as scientific as possible, but there are quirks. Lots of quirks. For example:

• The GoPro has no manual exposure. Or Focus. Or White Balance. Or a monitoring screen (sans lcd bacpac) It just…shoots. So…. it has almost nothing in common with the other cameras other than it shoots in 1080 (and at 30fps at that!) In all honesty, we just wanted to throw it in the test
• The EX1R does not have a removable lens
• The sensors are all different sizes
• Picture Profiles were wildly varied (and also N/A…GoPro…)

Canon 7D

Canon T2i

James Drake Films is proud to offer the Red Epic-M camera system. This camera is an unbeatable tool to craft and create your vision at the highest quality.

Simply put, the Epic captures 14 megapixel frames in raw format. Much like shooting your [favorite brand] DSLR, but in video form. And in high speed. The Epic can shoot 96 FPS at full 5K quality or a staggering 300 FPS at 2K quality.

It’s small and can be configured to lightweight setups, has 13.5 stops of latitude in regular shooting (up to 18 in HDR), and has the incredible REDCODE compression technology that makes shooting RAW video feasible. The Epic is the most advanced camera system in the world (in my opinion).

Better yet, Red Digital Cinema is famous for improving the functionality of their cameras over time. With their previous camera, the Red One, it took a while to mature but the camera now, with many free upgrades, is a workhorse around the globe on commercial, narrative, and documentary gigs. I’m excited to see what new developments come to the Epic over the next few months!

This camera looks REALLY good out of the box (with a touch of minor color correction for contrast). Red has developed “redcolor2″ and “redgamma2″ as a color/gamma combination that looks fantastic. Unlike the DSLR cameras (which I still love for other reasons), the Epic has UNREAL detail in the shadows and rolls off the highlights brilliantly. I can’t say enough about the image quality. A very famous Hollywood DP just recently said the Epic captured “the best images he’s ever shot”.

Just a few years ago, it would take a large crew and a ton of gear to achieve quality at this level. We can now go out and shoot the BEST of the best with a camera system that fits on the back of a sedan.

Let’s go shoot something brilliant. In the meantime, here’s a slow motion dog video (there’s a tradition of shooting your family with these Red cameras…):

The Red Epic camera is available for rent at 5kinsight.com