I saw 犬式 (inushiki) back in 2004 in Shibuya (in Tokyo), when they were just known as “Doggystyle”. Amazing live show, polished performance, and danceable ska, Reggea, funk original music with funny lyrics in Japanese and some English.
A friend from Tokyo was in town last week and gave me a copy of their latest album, 意識の新大陸FLRESH. Which is in heavy rotation on both my iPod and Sonos. Pick up the album, if you have a chance.
Or give them a listen at their MySpace page. Unfortunately, it seems the group broke up just after they released this album late last year.
So my new Panasonic Leica D Summilux 25mm F1.4 ASPH lens (and Four-Thirds to Micro Four-Thirds lens mount adaptor) came in the mail from Japan yesterday. I popped them both on my GH1 and ran around the house for a half hour snapping madly away. Wow. Wow. Wow. Now I get why 1.4 lenses are so fun. This lens is amazing at 1.4.
Low light stuff (forgive the poor framing; I was excited):
And shallow depth of field for selective focus for storytelling:
Focusing (even “manual”) makes a lot of whirring noise, so this could be a problem shooting movies… But will work on this and report back.
A friend of a friend brought my svelte new Panny GH1 back from Tokyo last Monday. But I had such a crazy week I didn’t have much time to play ’til this weekend. It’s well-built and wonderfully small. Here’s mine with the included 14-140mm lens, next to a U.S. $10 bill and a Hong Kong $2 coin.
I’d been struggling through the Japanese manual (with 7-grade Japanese reading abililty and my dictionary). But then realized this little camera is packed with a dizzying array of nifty and complicated auto AND manual features. And lots of new concepts (like face recogniztion of individual people + a whole matrix of options for focusing: manual focusing, assisted focusing and auto-focusing, etc.)
I took some quick videos, to see how easy it was to get into true 24p and edit in FinalCut Pro at 1920×1080. Here are my quick learnings so far:
The AVCHD video files are a real pain to work with.
While the GH1’s sensor (which is almost as big as the Red One sensor) captures 24p, a pull-down (or push-up?) is added, to make a 29.97 interlaced file.
Do NOT copy the file directories off your SD card or manipulate them in any way. This messes things up. (The video files plus other essential meta-data files in nested folers are all in a folder called PRIVATE)
Easiest way I’ve found to process the files and get them to my target of 1920×1080 ProRes422 HQ for editing in FCP is
Open FCP and “Log and Transfer”.
Insert your GH1 SD card in a card reader.
“Log and Transfer” will recognize the files.
Pull them into FinalCut (i.e. transcode) them, to 1920×1080 ProRes422 HQ.
Don’t edit with these. They’re nasty interlaced files.
Take these files and de-interlace them in Apple Compressor. Very important: use “Frame Control” -> “Deinterlace” -> “Reverse Telecine”. Do NOT use any of the other settings under “Deinterlace” (e.g., “Fast”, “Better”, or “Best”) as you will be degrading your movie image.
This is just my quick and dirty guess in an hour of a workflow that seemed to work. Happy to hear from others on better (and quicker!) options. Don’t have any footage worth posting yet. Maybe soon.
For now, however, here are some very rough and dirty stills from my GH1 using the out-of the box 14-140mm lens, shot mostly just in Ai mode, out my office window (out-of-camera unmanipulated .jpgs):
I’m explaining to people on a pretty regular basis that the RED is kind of like 2 cameras in one – one camera for low contrast, low DR photography where you can rate from 250 ASA on down as long as you don’t overexpose, and use the Raw View mode in the camera to check the levels, and have really nice imagery – learning to use the histogram on the right side (the right 3rd of the of the histogram scale) for low con imagery can be your best friend…
… and one camera for high contrast, high DR challenging photography where you have a huge range from under to over, and you can expose at 400 ASA or higher, and as long as you don’t clip the highlights, you will be amazed at how much range you have in the mids and shadows to work with… This camera is way more sensitive that people give it credit for under the proper high contrast shooting conditions… Using the histogram from 2/3’s full on down for high DR photography can be your best friend.
The biggest mistake I see people make is letting things blow out because they are worried about the shadows, those shadows can hold clean and gorgeous like crazy – I see it all the time on properly exposed high DR imagery.
If you use REDspace for your overall exposure setting, and use RAW View for checking highlights as you work and check exposures you will have effectively done what MacGregor describes in his Rec709 at 640ASA testing. REDspace for all types of photography can be your best friend, when used in tandem with checking highlight exposure in RAW.
The RED ONE has various “sweet spots” for exposure depending on the various contrast conditions, color temperature of light being used and a number of other creative factors – that’s one of the reasons it’s such a nice tool to work with. The more testing and experimentation a DP has time to do, the more they learn about how far the can push and pull the images to create the look and feel they want – the joy of RAW cinematography.
My good friend and fellow indie director/producer Jen Thym shot a web series on a Red in Hong Kong last winter and is in post-production editing now. Jen’s an ex-banker, ex-lawyer, comic book artist, gamer, writer and all-around Renaissance woman. Her hot new self-edited trailer went live tonight:
In addition to YouTube, Jen’s building friends, fans and followers for Lumina on Facebook and the influential local fan site, AliveNotDead. I did an email interview with Jen last week, where she gets into the details of how she’s executing on the same urge I have: produce excellent content with high production values, cut out the middlemen/friction/delays, and distribute straight to the “long tail” of my audience, thinly distributed across the globe. Go, Jen go!
1. DC: Tell us about Lumina. What’s it about and what format is it?
JT: LUMINA is a fantasy web series written and directed by me, and starring JuJu and Michael Chan. It’s about a young Hong Kong woman who meets and falls in love with a mysterious man that she sees in her mirror. And like any good fairy tale, he is not what he seems. Although the story is ostensibly about a parallel fantasy realm, it’s also an allegory for the murky field of online relationships.
The first season of LUMINA will be 8 to 10 webisodes, each being about 5 minutes. The webisodes will be free to view on YouTube, and will feature a great soundtrack including music from the indie collective, the Enigmatic Army. If fans like it (and we’re hoping they will, everyone has poured so much love into this project), then we will have a higher resolution format with extras on DVD for sale at the conclusion of the series.
2. DC: Tell us about the production? How did you cast and shoot it?
JT: I met model and actress JuJu when I first started looking into the filming world in July of 2008. She was a friend of a gaming friend, and we clicked from the start. I pitched the LUMINA project to her at our first meeting, and she stayed attached to the project through its various incarnations and extreme story revisions. I have never met someone so cheerful and hardworking as JuJu, and I’m really honored to have her on the series.
To find the rest of our cast, we held open auditions in Hong Kong and we met a lot of lovely people during that process. Sometimes an actor would walk in and he or she would just be the character, like Michael Chan was Ryder Lee – he just had something magical about him, like he walked off the pages of a manga. Vince Matthew Chung, winner of the Amazing Race Asia 3 and all around funny CB Fresh guy, made an instantly likeable, sweet and adorable Teddy. Other times, we liked an actor so much that we modified the character to fit the actor. Emilie Guillot was a great example of that – she just walked in and blew us away. I originally envisioned Laetitia as an older Asian woman, but after meeting Emilie, that changed. And I’m glad it did.
As for crew, most were friends or friends of friends, and we formed a tight knit group. I met my producer Sommer Nguyen at an HK networking event called SpeakUp! a few weeks before we started preproduction. If you’re going to spend 18 hours a day with someone, it better be with someone you get along with!
We then had about six weeks of preproduction, and at the end of November 2008, we went headfirst into two weeks of almost nonstop filming. Shortly before the shoot started, our fantastic DP team, XiaoSu Han and Andreas Thalhammer, bought a RED One camera and that got the whole cast and crew excited because it brought the production up to a whole new level. I loved what Xax and Andy could do with an HVX with an adaptor & lenses, so it was going to be just awesome what they could do with a RED! And everyone needed that excitement to get them through the gruelling schedule, but it was worth every minute of it. We shot all over Hong Kong, and we also looked for the stranger corners, the bits of Hong Kong that you don’t always see in Hollywood films.
It’s also amazing how many reflections there are once you start looking for them.
3. DC: Why did you choose a web series for your directorial debut, rather than a short or a feature?
JT: When I got serious about making films, I researched the typical entry process for new filmmakers. Most sites recommended making a short film and entering it into a variety of film festivals. I started meeting people who had done that, and some had even gotten awards for their short films, but almost no one had anything readily available for me to see. A few had demoreels online, but those were usually poorly compressed or such tiny snippets that you couldn’t really get a feel for what the actual film was about. It made me think about this process and whether there were any good alternatives available.
I felt that a web series would be a good and more modern foray into the entertainment industry. It’s still about connecting with an audience, and about getting your name out there to the public; on top of that, the end product is tailormade for web viewing and will be there as long as the site is up. I am also a long time fan of a gamer web series called The Guild and I thought, why not try something along those lines?
4. DC: As you wrote it (and as you edit it now) what do you see as differences in how you make a feature versus a web series?
JT: The main difference for me is the relative complexity of the storytelling that is available to you. In a typical 90 minute feature film intended for the cinema, you only have once chance to tell the story, and if the audience didn’t understand a critical scene that occurs early on, you’ve lost them for the rest of the time they’re sitting there. Now, compare that to a comic: you can get wilder and more complicated stories, because the reader can go, “hey, what just happened?” and reread the page or even flip back a few pages, to reread something that happened earlier. A TV series is somewhere in between the two mediums; I think very complex shows like 24 and Lost are, however, best viewed on DVD, because you get the episodes back to back and you can pause and rewind at will. Web series also fall into that in-between category, but we’ve upped the ante a bit – each 5 minute webisode has to be captivating on its own as well as help tell the overall story!
5. DC: When do we get to see it?
JT: The trailer for LUMINA will be out by the end of the month. I’m hoping to have the series ready by summer 2009.
6. DC: What’s your business/distribution model?
JT: The magic question! With the internet, it’s a bit chicken and egg. People are used to finding free entertainment on the web, so it’s hard to charge for an internet view unless you are already very well known; and even then, you’re still likely to find pirated versions of you out there competing with you.
On LUMINA, we’re going with the fan supported business model, which basically goes like this: Viewing is free. If you like us and want to support us, please spread the word about us and, if you’re feeling really generous, buy our mechandise. Webcomics have succeeded on this model with varying degrees of success – Penny Arcade probably being the most famous of these – and they even have a themed convention called PAX now, next year I’m sure they’re going to host a panel on the moon or something! On the music side, Nine Inch Nails did something similar by giving away Ghosts for free, and then selling limited editions of the CD, concert tickets, and so forth.
7. DC: How would define success for this project?
JT: If people enjoy watching LUMINA, then it’s already a success in my eyes. If people like us enough to help us get a season two of LUMINA made, then that’s even better! Everyone involved in the project really loves filmmaking, and being able to make a living from doing what you love would be the best outcome any of us could ask for.
8. DC: What were your inspirations, both for the content (story/style) and form (web series)?
JT: I loved the humor and geeky charm of the web series The Guild, as well as the snarky gamer humor in webcomics like Applegeeks, Megatokyo and Penny Arcade. I like the complex and layered story arcs in 24, Lost, Heroes and Prison Break.
Form wise, we were venturing into new territory, a dramatic fantasy web series on an indie budget – we have to make that part up as we go.
9. DC: Where can be people find out more about Lumina? and sign up to get the latest news?
JT: We have a dedicated website – www.luminaseries.com, and the series, as well as many of the actors in the series, have individual pages on a great entertainment site called AlivenotDead: www.alivenotdead.com/luminaseries. Or you can click here for our RSS feed.
10. DC: Next project?
JT: I’ve got an action film in the works! And I’m very excited by the idea of 3D films – though it would be even more awesome to have the accompanying holodecks to play them of course.
I’ve only had time to browse through an advance copy, but it looks great. Here’s from an email Scott sent me on it:
Just wanted to send a quick note about a new book I have coming out this month, Fans, Friends & Followers, which is all about how creative people can build audiences online (and also create sustainable business models.) I also wanted to see if I could nudge you toward contributing to the overall knowledge-base on this topic, with a bit of a blog challenge… see below.
Among the people I interviewed for the book are videobloggers Ze Frank and Steve Garfield; documentary filmmakers Robert Greenwald (featured in the NY Times this week), Sandi DuBowski, and Curt Ellis; Timo Vuorensola of the crowdsourced sci-fi film Star Wreck and M dot Strange of We Are the Strange; singer-songwriters Jill Sobule and Jonathan Coulton, novelists Brunonia Barry and Lisa Genova; the creators of Homestar Runner & Red vs. Blue; and YouTube star Michael Buckley, who got a development deal with HBO last year.
One thing I’m trying to encourage bloggers to do is to either list a few of the artists they think are doing a great job cultivating fan bases online; mention a tool they think is particularly effective at audience-building; or give a quick overview of a strategy or business model that can help support creative work in the digital realm. If it’s tagged “fans friends followers,” I’ll be easily able to collect them in one place.
So it took me a while, but I came up with a great Hong Kong local example of online content doing a great job of cultivating a fan base online: writer/producer/director Jen Thym’s exciting new Lumina web series, which is in post-production now. Check out my interview with Jen in my next post…
[UPDATE, 20 April, 8am: added some thoughts on post-production as P.S. at the end of this post]
OK, so this is admittedly subjective but here are three about-to-be-released things that will create a lot of buzz at NAB–which I’m likely to buy for my budding boutique indie feature film studio here in Hong Kong:
Red is going to show at NAB several of their new Pro Prime lenses (RPP), on a lens projector, at a Red User event at the Rio Hotel during NAB on 22 April. Jim Jannard has posted an FAQ on these lenses and more detailed specs and comparison charts will be up soon on www.red.com. Punchline (my words): these T1.8 lenses will be as good as (if not better than) Cooke S4s or Arri Master Primes; but a set of 5 prime lenses at just under US$20K will cost about as much as a single prime lens from one of those two sets. Moreover, Red’s primes will be totally optimized for the Red sensor in both the current Red One and new Red S35 Scarlet and Epic. I’ve seen many hours of stunning footage shot by a couple of the top cinematographers in the world using Reds with Panavision lenses (more on this in the coming months). My layman’s conclusion: cameras are just boxes to capture the image; what glass you put on front is more than half the equation. So Red’s RPP lenses finish the democratization of shooting cinema. The RPPs are in production and start shipping next week to Red owners who ordered them back last year. Red is currently sending out emails to other Red owners giving us first dibs on placing orders. We have one week to respond. I haven’t received my email yet.There are 3 other noteworthy sets of prime lenses coming out, which I find less compelling than the RPP offering. Here’s my quick summary of each:
New Zeiss Compact Cine Primes: US$40K for set of 7 very small & light lenses containing the same glass as Zeiss best-of-breed SLR lenses, but totally rehoused into cine-style lenses. But they start at T2.1, so not as good as the other primes in low light.
IB/E German-made Rebel Primes: They seem to me to just underperform the RPPs in all aspects: cost 10% more, are T1.9 (not T1.8), and are not optimized for Red’s sensors (and have a cludgy industrial design, e.g., when you change focus the front of the lenses move forward/backward, which doesn’t happen on RPPs).
The first time I saw a gearhead in action was when I watched Goddard’s Contempt which is about the making of movies. Here is Contempt’s real cinematographer, Raoul Coutard, playing a cinematographer in the movie, smoothly panning and tilting by spinning the wheels of a gear-head while being pushed on a dolly (around 2:30 in the Criterion DVD):
And I said “aha”, so that’s how they get those smooth shots. I want one. Then I found out you you’d have to pay around US$200/day to rent and to buy is such a big ticket item that no one seems to list the price (but I’m guessing US$20K+). Now comes the Gearnex Gearhead, optimized for Red and for under US$4k. Sweet!
And finally, the little camera I’m most interested in, in the near future is the Panasonic GH-1. Smaller than a small DSLR, has a sensor almost as big as the Red One and shoots 24P, for approx. US$1,500, including the cine-friendly 14-140mm zoom lens coming out 24 April in Japan.
Unlike the Canon 5D Mark II, it shoots 24p (or 25p) and has auto-focusing lens in video mode–which has been made ultra silent so there’s no motor whirr (although if the 5DII is enabled to shoot RAW soon, that’d give it a significant advangate). Since the GH-1 camera is the new smaller Four-Thirds standard (i.e., the now unnecessary mirror in DSLRs has been removed, allowing for a smaller body), it takes beautiful lenses, like Leica Ms via this Novoflex Leica M to Four Thirds adapter (US$270). If you’re not feeling rich enough for the US3,500 Leica Normal 50mm f/1.4 Summilux M then you could try the apparently very good Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 M-Mount Lens which is analagous to a 20mm lens on 35mm SLR camera–nice shallow depth of field in very low light, albeit hard to focus and manual focus only.
Now all you need is a Fig Rig and tiny gyroscope and you’re making filmic movies anywhere in the world without anyone realizing what you’re doing (or you could attract the cops’ attention with one of these conspicous albeit clever RedRock DSLR rigs). Check out Rodney Charters brilliant analysis at approx. 26:00 – 33:00 on this Red Centre #29 Podcast. I know, I know, Red’s fixed lens Scarlet is coming too–but it’s bigger and more expensive than the GH1 won’t be here for 6+ months, so I may get a GH1. My roadmap (assuming the underlying business model) is to trade in my Red for an Epic X S35, and get a Scarlet S35 (for a B cam), for indie features.
And here’s the the NAB “Ted Tracker” (aka list of places where Red’s main public face, Ted Schilowitz, will be speaking and doing demos.)
P.S. If it seems I’ve forgotten about post-production, I haven’t. It’s just that I haven’t heard about anything “new and very cool” mentionable. My Red post-production strategy is: don’t chase Moore’s Law. I had a 2-hour demo of the gorgeous high-horsepower Moore’s Law-chasing Baselight at Filmmart: for US$300,000 or so, you better hire 2-3 full-time salespeople to keep it busy. My strategy is to figure out fast and efficient workflows using normal high-end Mac Pros with reasonably priced hardware accessories (e.g., Kona3 card) and powerful inexpensive software tools (FinalCut, Color, AfterEffects, Cineform, etc.). I’m awaiting the FinalCut Studio 3 with Quicktime X–but seems that the full benefit of all this (or even the release) won’t happen until Snow Leopard is released in autumn. I also really want an affordable color correcting surface that works with Color, i.e. must work over Ethernet (sorry Tangent Wave: we’ve been waiting for you for years, you’re still not released, and you’re only USB, i.e. won’t work with Color). Adobe: show me robust, proven workflows working with R3Ds natively (you’re not there yet), then I’ll start seeing if it’s worth my while moving from my very effective current elegant workflow: using RedRushes to create 1920×1080 ProRes 422 HQ files from my 4K 16:9 R3Ds–which I edit in FCP–either as off-line (for a feature to be finished in LA; conformed with Scratch and graded in Pablo) or for everything else, online. Cineform: please quit evolving your strategy biweekly and reboot your built-up-over time web site so that I have a clear picture of your roadmap and value proposition (i.e., why I should buy your plug-in, rather than use ProRes, etc. etc.). I’m a big fan and old friend, but don’t have time to mess with lots of buggy betas.
P.P.S. I won’t be at NAB this year–instead listening to music in the desert…
