Keep NYC Rebel-friendly

From the picturenewyork.org press release:

NEW YORK CITY: Picture New York WITHOUT pictures of New York. In one of the most photographed cities in the world, photographers and filmmakers, both professional and amateur, would be shut down by proposed regulations making it illegal for them to film or tape in NYC without a permit and a million dollars of insurance.

The proposed regulations would affect much of the small scale filming and photography in the city. In addition to artists, those making Industrials, fashion, wedding and architectural photographs could need a permit. The regulations would require a permit for 5 people with one tripod who shoot for 10 minutes or more in one place. (And this would include set up and break down!). A film school graduate with a camcorder, four friends and a dream could have to pay comparable insurance fees with HBO to shoot in New York City. Even parents making home movies in public parks could fall under the new rules.

Full press release

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Trapped in a closet

...with actress Colleen Foy, DPing a short for director Eric Escobar using the Redrock Micro prototype rig. My first gig as a DP for someone else, and the first test of this rig in the field.

That's my Nikor 50mm f1.4 on the M2, and what you can't see is the Ikan V8000HD HD LCD monitor mounted to the rig on a Noga arm.

More images and words soon.

¡Colorista Fiesta!

Dave Basulto of Filmmaking Central has a new article on mastering his latest feature film, Fiesta Grand. He followed the DV Rebel's Guide methodology to the letter and is delighted with the results.

Color correction can make or break a movie. It’s as important as having good sound. Having the right color can set the moods you are trying to convey to your viewers. Golden tones can help make things more cheerful. Bleach bypass made Saving Private Ryan look extremely authentic. My movie, Fiesta Grand, had a nice look in its raw format but I really wanted it to make an impression. But how do you color correct? This was something I fooled around with but never got too involved on prior films. Luckily we are in an age where powerful tools are at our disposal. No longer does the independent filmmaker have to dream about using the DaVinci. Let the rebellion begin!

For those who don't yet have The Guide, or for readers who haven't yet tried out the DV Rebel Tools, this is a great overview of how they help automate the process of mastering in After Effects.

(And for the record, there's nothing about the correction I did on Lola from A sus órdenes that I could not have done with the DV Rebel Tools and/or Colorista in After Effects.)

Coloring the Fiesta on Digital Media Net

Today's Color Before/After

Someone commented on my last post, asking if I'd had any time to play with Apple's Color.

I have—in fact I devoured it rather ferociously the minute I got it installed. And it turns out everything I wrote about it after NAB holds true. It is both awesomely powerful and infuriatingly quirky. I'll expand on that in a future post, but in the meantime here's a before/after example, using a shot from Eric Escobar's short film A sus órdenes.