alexschwindt.blog

"act of valor" - the first hollywood dslr movie

Today's a huge day for DSLR filmmaking. For the first time ever a major Hollywood blockbuster shot almost entirely on a DSLR is getting a wide release. (see the trailer after the jump) Three years ago a group of visionary cinematographers instinctively grasped how disruptive, these new tools would become, and they immediately set out to pioneer what has now become a revolution.

One of the guys on the very forefront of this whole movement was Shane Hurlbut, a widely-acclaimed cinematographer on movies like Terminator: Salvation and We Are Marshall. Rather than seeing DSLRs as a tool for budget filmmaking, Hurlbut immediate understood that the small form factor of these cameras would allow him to create imagery that would have be impossible otherwise.

Enter Act Of Valor...

"blue like jazz" movie trailer

One of my all-time favorite books from one of my all-time favorite authors is "Blue Like Jazz", and over the past several years it's author Donald Miller and Steve Taylor have been working to create a movie based on the source. Yesterday the official trailer for the film was released and I thought you might get a kick out of seeing it. (after the jump)

What's interesting about this project to those of us who are into indie filmmaking is that this movie was funded using a Kickstarter campaign. While the filmmakers originally had a goal of raising $125,000, passionate fans of the book ended up contributing $345,000, setting a Kickstarter record. If this reminds of us anything it should remind us that story truly is king.

Check out the trailer here...

check out the PressPausePlay documentary - free

After posting last week about the upcoming "Side By Side" documentary I got some traffic about another great documentary on the future of digital media entitled "PressPausePlay." After screening at SXSW and the Seattle International Film Festival the makers of this extraordinary documentary have taken the extraordinary step of posting it up for world to see, all for free.

One of the great things about this documentary is that while it has a lot to say it also asks some really important questions, questions like 'what truely makes someone and artist?' and 'how can true artists break through the digital cacophony?' What's even better is that while wrestling with some big issues PressPausePlay ultimately maintains a hopeful vision of the future.

Check out the entire documentary after the jump...

documentary on the future of digital filmmaking

Yesterday Eastman Kodak announced that they are filing for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection. I can't imagine a more profound illustration of the way digital imagery has reshaped the photography and filmmaking. While for some this may appear to be the end of an era, to many of us it's the beginning of an amazing new chapter.

Enter Side By Side, a new documentary from Company Films exploring the turbulent transition from celuloid-based filmmaking to digital. As if the subject isn't compelling enough, check out who they've interviewed for the project (trailer)...

new Avengers film shot with iPhone 4?

So last weekend the internets blew up about scenes from the upcoming "Avengers" movie being shot on the iPhone 4. Even better, said shots actually appeared in the recently released trailer (after the jump). Apple fanboys leaping for joy.

Unfortunately, cinematographer Seamus McGarvey sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to clear up the misunderstanding.  Turns out a reporter from the Irish Film and Televsion Network got the quote wrong.  McGarvey did indeed use a low-budget camera for shots in the movie, but the camera he was referring to was the Canon 5D Mark II. Which is cool in in own right, but hardly newsworthy - Avengers predecessors Iron Man II and Captain America also featured imagery shot with the 5D.

What's cool, however is that McGarvey really did have something cool to say about low-budget, no-budget cameras like the iPhone 4...

film school in a box

As I've been in the process of learning and teaching filmmaking over the past several years one of the most important things I've discovered is that, if you're willing to seek out the information, you can learn an awful lot about filmmaking without going to film school.  I'm not bashing film schools here at all, but for many of us it's simply not an option, for a myriad of reasons.  Fortunately, it's possible to find much of what you need if you know where to look. 

This is not an empty promise or boast.  I went to school and eventually finished my degree in music.  Not a day of formalized training in filmmaking.  Ever.  Yet for the past three years I've been able to hold down a fulltime job as a filmmaker, while also picking up steady independant contract work.  And it's all possible because I continually go to the right sources to up my game as a visual artist. 

Check out this video to see what I'm talking about...

amazon hits homerun with kindle fire

This morning Amazon announced a new kindle called "Fire."  What does this have to do with filmmaking?  A lot, actually.  In reality, the Fire is actually a tablet computer, and it's priced at less than $200.  Game-change.

This is a full-fledged touchscreen computing device capable of running Android apps as well as viewing fullscreen video at a higher quality than the current iPad.  Those of us currently use the iPad in our day-in, day-out filmmaking workflows will immediately grasp the value of a device like this, espeically at this price point. Imagine being able to...

beyond high def: 4K video

A couple of weeks ago JVC introduced a 4K video camera at the IBC show in Amsterdam.  Now there's nothing particularly noteworthy about 4K itself - Red One's been producing 4K cameras for a while now, and a number of major Hollywood productions have been shot with this camera (including The Social Network and District 9).  What really remarkable about the camera is who it's designed for. 

Up until the coupleof years 4K has usually been restricted to the very highest of high-end productions.  At this point, it's almost impossible to view 4K video without specialize equipment, and with good reason.  4K has almost 4 times the amount of image information as 1080P HD.  Processing imagery of that quality takes some serious power. 

Yet here's JVC introducing a 4K camera aimed squarely at independant/documentary filmmakers.  How 'aimed', you ask?  The camera's expected to retail for less than $6,000 when it's released early next year.  That puts the ability to create 4K footage squarely into the hands of most working filmmakers. 

So how does this affect you and me? 

FCP X update: too little, too late

As most of you will know, I've been a long-time Final Cut Pro advocate.  Right up until about the end of June.  That was the beginning of The Debacle known as FCP X.  Initially I was cautiously optimistic about it's future, and since that time I've done my best to see the bright side of what FCP X had to offer. 

But in the interviening time between then and now I have moved on. (I promise I'm going to get into this more in the coming weeks - for now let me just say that I'm falling harder for a new editing suite every day)

Yesterday, Apple finally released their promised "major update", and I dutifuly set about downloading it and giving it a spin.  Results?

you can do it: filmmaking and beginners

Statistics show that many of people who make their way to this blog are trying to figure out filmmaking and equipment, and I'm glad to be a resource for people who are on the same creative journey I'm on.  The danger, however, is that we can get hung up on these tools, thinking that unless we have thousands of dollars in cameras, lenses, computers, software and gear we shouldn't even try.  So I just want to take a moment and say this up front:

You Can Do It!  You Can Make A film!  This Week!

Let's get this straight right now - a film is a series rapidly-progressing images that tells a story, provides an insight, or conveys a perspective.  If you have a desire to do that then you should go for it!  Get started today!

If you're an absolute beginner here are some steps to get started -