Some of the world’s leading manufacturers of camera systems, lenses, lighting equipment, workflow technology and other film and television production gear will be on hand when Sim Digital, PS Production Services and Bling Digital, hosts the Sim Technology Showcase on January 30 at Sim’s Toronto headquarters.
Fujifilm is conducting a Zero Percent Financing program on purchases of its Premier PL ZK series of Cabrio lenses. Beginning today through March 31, any new purchases of a Fujifilm Premier PL19-90mm Cabrio (ZK4.7x19), PL 85-300mm Cabrio (ZK3.5x85B) or PL 14-35mm Cabrio wide-angle zoom (ZK2.5x14) will be eligible for the company’s Zero Percent Financing for 24-month program. The program is currently open to U.S. and Canadian customers only.
The industry doesn’t do as many pilots as in years past, which is a shame, because they can be a valuable format for testing not just story ideas and actors but new technology. In my role covering new cinema technology for the Digital Cinema Society I am often offered gear to test and evaluate, everything from new lighting units and cameras to various digital cinema recorders. Since I need to keep busy earning my living as a director of photography, I honestly don’t have time to run scientific tests, so I prefer instead to use the gear in real world productions I’m hired to work on. You could call me a technology test pilot. I get a better sense of how these tools perform where the rubber hits the road, and it’s a good way to help out the productions I’m working on, pulling in items they might not otherwise be able to afford. The perfect opportunity to put many of these items through their paces came up recently when I was asked to shoot a feature length pilot for a new action/adventure show aimed at young adults entitled, Tribe of the Wild.
Filmmaker Matt Ogens latest effort is a feature length documentary called Meet the Hitlers. When he selects the right for any of his projects his first thought, though, is how best to tell the story is wants to convey. “It all comes down to telling great stories,” said Ogens. “There are different types of stories, and the nature of the story itself may change how I capture it on film. To decide on that, I collaborate with a director of photography and ask what type of camera he or she thinks is best for each project from a creative perspective, but sometimes the reality of a budget may also dictate what cameras are available to me. We will discuss the look I want for the story and then the DP and I will choose the camera.”
Re-creating the past can be challenging for filmmakers, especially when tasked to duplicate the look of a particular time in history for a period movie. Add a tight budget, cramped locations, and underwater photography, and you have the situation James Chressanthis, ASC, faced as cinematographer for the movie The Watsons Go to Birmingham. Based on the novel by Christopher Paul Curtis, the film depicts a fictional family’s 1963 road trip intersecting with an actual terrorist bombing during the civil-rights era.
A new video from the optical devices division of Fujifilm North America Corporation describes the proper way to remove and mount the digital servo drive unit for Fujinon PL lenses. The company also announced a new zoom lens, the PL 14-35mm.
Thales Angénieux will demo its Optimo DP Series 25-250mm 10x zoom lens at the Band Pro One World Open House at Band Pro’s Burbank headquarters on Thursday, December 12.
Amazing in Motion is a set of projects by Lexus that explore the complexity of motion. The second installation of the brand series, Swarm is a spirited story featuring custom-designed small aircraft known as quadrotors that roam through various locations in Vancouver, Canada at night.
Schneider Optics has announced a $2500 Rebate on a new set of six Cine Xenar III lenses purchased from November 1 through the end of February 2014.
Panavision has introduced a new line of Primo lenses, the Primo V series, specifically designed to work with today’s high-resolution 35mm digital cameras.
