Red’s Jarred Land announced today on reduser.net that they’ve started shipping their Red-built 16Gb compact flash (CF) cards.

Deanan from Red points out that these are the fastest CF cards on the planet. They allow for approximately 8 minutes of 4K 16:9 (4096 x 2304 pixels) “footage” to be shot. It’s like having a full 35mm film mag (pre-developed!) in a size a little bigger than a postage stamp! And they can be offloaded (to a RAID drive) in about 2.5 minutes. Very cool. I’ll be ordering two this week.

Dov S-S Simens is brining his 2-day film school to Hong Kong (Univ. of Hong Kong, Wang Gungwu Theatre) on July 26-27.

Well worthwhile, if you’re interested in making movies–from story/script to “nuts and bolts” and how distribution and financing works. Dov pierces the mystery of how films get made. And how you can make one. I went 3 years ago to his course in Hong Kong. And I bought his book, which has much of the same content. One key takeaway I took to heart: (to paraphrase) “Don’t make a short. Shorts are for kids. Nobody buys shorts.”

So I went and stretched my 17-minute short into a 72-minute feature (with mixed results!)…

Here’s the info:

Check out this good and thoughtful post by Mr. Vix on his experience doing post-production and editing of Red footage from the Blind Generation music video shot on my Red #1304.

Redmodz has posted some pix of a mount to protect the 300 Gb Red Raid drive (”scary” RAID 0) from errors recording due to vibration (e.g., if you’re in a helicopter, etc.):

This mount is “coming soon” from Element Technica, according to redmodz. I’ve never had recording problems due to vibration, but it is a possibility, and this looks like a good mount. I’ve also read that sudden loud noises (e.g., from trains, heaving machinery, rock music, drums, etc.) can cause recording interuptions to the Red Raid drive. Someone mentioned a simple elegant solution: wrap the drive in a strip of terrycloth, remove the two side slot bars, then wedge the terrycloth-wrapped drive back into the cage. They said they’ve never had a recording problem when Red Raid’s been swaddled thusly.

Anne Thomson of Variety today has a good blog post on credit drying up and financing terms getting tougher for studios and moguls in Hollywood.

No problem, let them make Batman 17 for a billion dollars–funded by Deutsche Bank and venture capitalists. I’ll watch and be entertained–but I don’t want my movie viewing constrained to blockbuster Hollywood sequels.

The rest of us need to figure out ways to market and distribute our tapeless/filmless high-def excellent arthouse indie films (shot on Red, or other digital cinema cameras) financed for under US$1m–straight to the TV/computer or projector in your living room (or arthouse coffee shop theater).

That’s why I’m going to Berkeley to

According to the call:

join us for a two-day conversation — definitely not a conference — about the future of cinema, video, games, and telling stories with new media.

We’re interested in where all of this new technology is taking us… how it’s changing the business of making film and video… as well as the art forms.

It’s organized in part by Scott Kirsner, who’s thoughtful posts on his CinemaTech blog shed light on just these types of issues. All sorts of interesting speakers, including Mike Curtis (hdforindies), Alex Lindsey (Pixel Corps and This Week In Media podcast, Reed Hastings (Founder & CEO, Netflix), M dot Strange (Animator and Filmmaker), etc. etc.

Check out “The Conversation” if you’re interested in how new good movies will be marketed and distributed. The times, they are a ‘changin…

Jason Calacanis, who rose to fame on his blog (and blog company) has stopped blogging. He’s now sending out an e-mail missive to a select few. As he explains it in his first missive:

Comments on blogs inevitably implode, and we all accept it> under the belief that “open is better!” Open is not better. Running a> blog is like letting a virtuoso play for 90 minutes are Carnegie Hall,> and then seconds after their performance you run to the back Alley and> grab the most inebriated homeless person drag them on stage and ask> them what they think of the performance they overheard in the Alley.> They then take a piss on the stage and say “F-you” to the people who> just had a wonderful experience for 90 or 92 minutes. That’s openness> for you¿ my how far we’ve come! We’ve put the wisdom of the deranged> on the same level as the wisdom of the wise.>> You and I now have a direct relationship, and I’m cutting the mailing> list off today so it stays at 1,000 folks. I’ll add selectively to> the list, but for now I’m more interested in a deep relationship with> the few of you have chosen to make a commitment with me. Perhaps some> of you will become deep, considered colleagues and friends¿something> that doesn’t happen for me in the blogosphere any more.>> Much of my inspiration for doing this comes from what I’ve seen with> John Brockman’s Edge.org email newsletter.

I hear ya, Jason. Blog readers sure can be pissy. But I’m not sure the answer is knee-jerk flight into the arms of philosophies like those of Edge.org (whose newsletter I do subscribe to)–which has, to me, a whiff elitism + futurism: MENSA mixed with Marinetti (with fast computers substituted for fast cars): implicitly, that a small group of very smart people hold the answers for a better world.

Heaven help us if the future of the planet is in the hands of smug cocktail-sipping Davos or TED attendees.

Write an influential book. Compose and record an amazing song. Make a perception-changing deep movie. Paint a painting. Write a program that makes life easier. Design a device that’s a joy to use and solves everyday problems. These things, indeed, can’t be done by committee on blogs (although Web 2.0 collaboration tools may help in a few of these endeavors). But once you’ve done one of these, don’t turn your back on the “unwashed masses”. And if you haven’t done one of these and you just blog, well then, you have even less reason to lock yourself in a room with a bunch of elitists…

Redmodz has posted a sneak preview of the what looks to be an excellent handheld rig for the Red One camera, from Element Technica. Very sweet. Will be part of my “Kanda River Productions” package

An indie film director from Indonesia just asked me about training courses for Red in Asia.

Here’s what I know about and passed on to her (in addition, of course to reduser.net). I’ve only tried #1 below, but it seems #2 and #3 are good and worthwhile, from what I’ve read and heard:

1. Best free Red training are these podcasts from fxguide

2. Best relatively inexpensive online Red training:
At fxphd.com, site for online training in Visual FX, with courses on Red. Courses seem to be very practical and hands-on, in high-def Quicktime. I’m going to subscribe myself (as soon as I find a free minute!)
RED101: Introduction to RED Workflow I

SCR201: Scratch and Grading RED

DOP301 - On Set Day and Night with RED One

3. Best (and only, AFAIK) film school teaching Red in Asia:
International Academy of Film and Television (IAFT), in Cebu Philippines is offering a Red course, in conjuction with BigFoot Entertainment (of LA and Hong Kong) and BigFoot Studios in Cebu.

If anybody knows of other resources in Asia, please post them here in a comment.

Rock on! I got a pair of this design, “The Creep” by Caveman, in Size 10. A very pleasant and smooth online shopping experience. History being made. Get your pair today, of what will no doubt become collector’s items. Or submit your own design to be voted on by the masses. (For more on Ryz, the edgy community-sourced Web 2.0 footwear brand, community and e-commerce site, read my previous posts here and here.)

I’ve been meaning to do this ever since I got a Blackberry and started my own business 15 months ago. And now that I’ve done it, it feels great. And I highly recommend you do it too: Unsubscribe from all the CRM/Loyalty programs who you opted in to receive emails from.

Here’s my story:

I, like you, hate spam. But I used to appreciate receiving infrequent informative emails from some of my favorite retailers and vendors: e.g., Apple, Amazon, HMV, TimeOut, Matrox, NAB, CNet, ZDNet, Watson’s Wine Cellar, etc. An informative monthly update or cross-sell or sale announcement email to my Outlook client at home was something I’d read. But that was before I got my Blackberry for my own business. Now every day, every 5 minutes (until yesterday) my Blackberry would vibrate with a new email. And, like Pavlov’s dog, I had to check it. Because it might be from a client or potential client. But 95% of the time I’d check my Blackberry, it was a Loyalty/CRM Program marketing email–which I’d never read.

Now, mind you, I design and help build CRM/Loyalty programs for big brands. Communication via email is supposed to be a key part of these programs.

But the consumer in me got fed up. Here’s what he told the CRM/Loyalty consultant in me:

Yo, merchants: stop sending me increasingly frequent (what used to be monthly is now often daily), indicating increasingly desperate, emails. National Association of Broadcasters: I’m talking about you here. And if I do opt in to receive communications, can you please make sure they’re relevant? Apple, I love you and your products. But your “New Music Tuesday” iTunes store is a tease and a waste of my time–as you (in conjunction with the record companies) still haven’t figured out a way for me in Hong Kong to buy a single album or movie off the iTunes store. If you want to communicate with me, embrace Web 2.0, and syndicate your content, i.e., put all that content you’re currently emailing me on a corporate blog with an RSS feed I can subscribe to. Then, in my leisure and if I have time and if your headline catches my eye, I’ll read your marketing material. I don’t want you to push marketing to me. I want to pull it when appropriate. And don’t SMS me, especially without my consent. I’m too busy.

So yesterday I spent an hour unsubscribing from vendor and news mailing lists. And my life is saner and quieter already. Today, if my Blackberry vibrates, it’s been pretty much from a human being I know, who wants to communicate me (or plain up spam).

To mix metaphors: Try it. You’ll like it. And I know I’m not the only one…

This whole issue is about to only get much bigger, with millions of consumers newly empowered with push email to the 3G iPhone in their pockets. The daily two dozen opted-in marketing emails received and generally ignored in a pc Inbox are now intolerably vibrating their thigh (or purse) all day. So merchants need to get Web 2.0 savvy quick–or they’ll see a sudden and inexplicable downward spike in opt-in rates for marketing email.