Nikon’s new D800 will be put through its paces soon enough (we hope), but until then we’ve got some moderately compressed videos to pixel peep. I find it curious that these official company videos always seem more compressed than they ought to be – as if to entice more speculation – but that’s a topic for another post. In any case, this music video, directed by Morten Rygaard and produced by Peter Brodin at Nikon Nordic, gives us a small taste of D800 quality: (more…)

Are you ready to add Adobe software to your stack of monthly power, cable, and water bills? Announced in October, Adobe is offering an alternative to their typical software upgrade cycle — instead of buying their forthcoming CS6 suite, you can sign up for Creative Cloud, launching “first half of 2012,” for $49.99 a month. This will get you access to the forthcoming CS6 apps, their new Touch apps, and 20GB of cloud storage. They’re also killing their old upgrade policy — partially. (more…)

I’ve read several interviews with Hollywood directors who, when asked about directing actors, responded with something like “casting is 90% of the job.” While I agree that casting is extremely important and certainly makes the director’s job easier, I must quibble with their percentage estimate. This 90% claim is either a cop-out answer or these directors aren’t fully doing their jobs. Even the best actors still need skillful guidance with their roles. We’ve all seen great actors deliver bad performances occasionally. In most of these cases, it’s not entirely the actor’s fault. Much of the blame can be assigned to bad writing, sub par directing – or both. (more…)

Everyone wants to write and direct, but the reality is it doesn’t happen immediately. Coming out of NYU’s Graduate Film Program, I was surrounded by talented filmmakers, but, while you’re writing scripts and trying to do what you love, you have student loans to repay, rent that’s due, and health insurance would be nice. Quite simply put, you need a job – preferably with benefits. In order to pay my bills and still be active in the film community, I found my niche working as a production manager and line producer. I cannot express how important it is to work on a film set and what better way to continue growing as a filmmaker than by helping others produce and make their own films. (more…)