Panasonic announced that its new AJ-CX4000, a 4K/HDR shoulder-mount camcorder with B4 lens mount and interchangeable lens, will be available at the end of December at a suggested list price of $25,000. Ideal for nature films and documentaries, the AJ-CX4000 follows the handheld AG-CX350 to expand the CX Series of 4K camcorders.
Red Digital Cinema has named Alan Piper managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Piper, a veteran in the industry with previous experience at Red, will oversee operations, sales, marketing, services, and customer relationships in the region, while expanding the company’s interface with post-production facilities. He will be based in the Red offices at Pinewood Studios and will manage the launch of Red’s new storefront facility in Soho early next year.
Arri announced today that it will begin shipping Alexa Mini LF cameras with final production software starting September 18. Owners of pre-production cameras can download the updated software and install it on their cameras.
The Long Walk is the third feature film by director Mattie Do (Chanthaly, Dearest Sister), who was raised in Los Angeles but relocated to Laos to become the country’s first, and only, female filmmaker. In an interview in Women and Hollywood, Do described her genre-bending film as “an unconventional time-travel thriller set in a forgotten rural village in Laos, about the ethos of a man, plagued by regret and loneliness, and his downward spiral into becoming a serial killer. He also has a very complicit ghostly friend.” Cinematographer Matthew Macar shot the low-budget feature over 32 days in Vientiane, Laos with very little prep time.
The goal of the filmmakers behind the Showtime series On Becoming a God in Central Florida was to create a softer look to tell the 1992 story of Krystal Stubbs (Kirsten Dunst), a minimum-wage water park employee who lies, schemes and cons her way up the ranks of Founders American Merchandise (FAM) — the cultish, flag waving, multi-billion dollar pyramid scheme that drove her family to ruin.
The production of the feature film Brittany Runs a Marathon presented several challenges. The directorial debut of Paul Downs Colaizzo, the film was shot by cinematographer Séamus Tierney, who came to the project late. That was just one of the reasons he was grateful to have the Panavision family of services to back him up, including camera support and Light Iron post-production.
Yesterday, the new British musical comedy directed by Danny Boyle, which was released last month following its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival, used as many as twelve cameras for some scenes. This presented some serious workflow challenges. To address them, cinematographer Christopher Ross BSC, who had previously worked with Boyle on the TV series Trust was joined by Mission digital imaging technician Thomas Patrick who had worked with him for the first time on Trust in 2017.
Jordan Levy, veteran commercial director of photography, shot FCA U.S.’s new The Summer of Jeep campaign starring Jeremy Renner, with Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses. The campaign was directed by Levy’s friend and long-time collaborator Jeff Tomsic, with whom he has worked for a decade. It began airing in the States on July 10.
In Dopesick Nation, recovering addicts Frankie and Allie take on the heroin epidemic by working to save as many addicts as they can. The series, which premiered on Viceland last year, takes place in southern Florida and also tries to expose the corruption and exploitation that takes place in the rehab industry.
Part Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, part Goonies on skateboards, director Lije Sarki’s Concrete Kids tells the story of two nine-year-old boys from Venice, California who, for a contest, set off on a mission to cross Los Angeles on skateboards at night to reach the Staples Center by morning. Now streaming on Amazon Prime, the low-budget feature from The Orchard was shot by cinematographer Daron Keet with Panasonic VariCam LTs in available light mainly at night.
