“RedHead” deadcat fuzzy roadkill windscreen. Works like a charm, a must have for your Zoom H1 to protect against the evil wind monster ! Clear access to side in/out jacks. Held in place with sturdy tubular elastic she’s not going anywhere…

Redhead Windscreens for your Zoom H1 hand held recorder.

The key is understanding the dynamic of the mix and utilizing it to the best of your ability. Look at the sound layers of one of the scenes in the film. “The sequence in one in which two characters sit at a cafe’ and the world around them begins to disintigrate”. I love their use of organic and non organic sounds, hope this vid excites you as much as it did me! Enjoy.

Review of the Zoom H4n by Carl Geers :

Zoom H4n

In this day and age audio gear is shrinking as fast as anything else but the price for quality is shrinking as well. Let’s take portable audio recorders for example. The spectrum ranges from bad to excellent and I’ve had the fortune and misfortune of owning both ends of the rainbow. Let me tell you my story.

It all started when I picked up a prosumer SD video recorder, mind you this wasn’t a cheap unit. It was what every indy film maker was using to get his chops down. I bumped into a problem with HISS. I thought it must be my mic, then it must be my cable, then it must be my technique… I was completely wrong. I stumbled on a site that discussed the deliberate inclusion of a “hiss-inducing” audio chip in my “pro-sumer” video camera. I was shocked and realized I’d have to get audio into my projects another way.

I spent huge chunks of my cash on pre-amps, matched mics, long cables, a digital mixer and then ultimately a laptop to use as the editing station. If you do the math I spent over $2500 on gear that, today, is easily replaced by a handheld audio recorder.

I jumped in early when I saw this really small unit that promised pro-quality sound. I spent 349.00 on it and until it started failing electronically I was impressed. But the failing was complete, the unit died less than a year after purchasing it. Granted the company replaced it but not before I picked up the Zoom H4N. The replacement unit now sits on the shelf, I’m reluctant to sell it because I can’t bear to have the same thing happen to someone else.

Now let’s move on, let the water run under the bridge along with the hiss of cheesy sound chips. The H4N is just short of achieving god like status in my kit. The minute I un-boxed it I knew I was in a brave new world of location audio. The heft of the unit is nice. Not too bulky and not a lightweight hunk of cheap plastic. The controls seem nicely placed, all except for the stamina mode switch (cleverly or clumsily hidden away under the battery cover for some strange reason), and easy to operate.

It records to SD cards and with the one that shipped with it, I’ve had absolutely zero problems. In the manual it states that some inferior cards might induce erratic behavior or noise, so do yourself a favor and don’t cheese out on a cheep chip. Battery life seems great and it isn’t built in so you won’t need to haul around an inverter or generator or 5 volt usb battery adapter to charge it up. Just throw in another set of AA batteries and your good to go.

It has a multitude of connections and two built in mics that do an awesome job on their own. Now let’s say you want to get fancy. You’ve got a lavelier, a shotgun and want to record stereo audio of the environment at the same time. NO PROBLEM. Plug your 1/4” or XLR balanced mics into the bottom of the unit. Set the recorder to 4 channel and you are set to go. The audio levels are easily adjusted and the files are recorded into a directory structure that, once you get used to, is easy to navigate.

I’ve even patched from the headphone/line out of the unit directly into the camera. It takes some fidgeting around but I actually got it to work. So not only am I recording to the camera but I’m also able to record 4 tracks on the unit that I can later synch up to the video and audio from the camera.

Talking about synching audio, I stumbled on a tip that I hear works fantastically. It’s a software program called Pluraleyes. I’m not sure if it’s available for the pc since I’m using Final Cut on a Mac. It works like a champ. I used to use a clapper board and dreaded doing multi-cam shoots because I would have to line everything up manually. Pluraleyes just seems to do it all for you in a very simplistic way.

So, you can tell I’m pretty happy with the H4N. In fact it’s hard to find a flaw with it but I’m just an inexperienced hack film maker so keep that in mind. I’ll list the pros and cons now and let you decide.

Pros:
• Small but not too small, light but not too light.
• Quality construction and fairly intuitive layout of controls.
• Great set of onboard mics.
• Fantastic connectability in regards to mics.
• Has phantom power. ( for powering external shotgun’s that require phantom power )
• Has so much cool stuff built in that you’ll be hard pressed to get bored with it.

Cons:
• Built in mics are in a precarious position for clumsy users.
• Would be nice to have a separate line out so you could use headphones to monitor while you patch it to your camera.
• Seems like it could be fragile if dropped, I’m not testing this on my own so just understand that I think it would take a beating if dropped even a few feet onto a hard surface.

Oh yah, one other con:
• The foam wind screen blows (literally, across the intersection if it slips off) and transmits wind noise very easily to the mics. It should come pre-packaged with a RedHead!

Shane Hurlbut ASC

Hope you all enjoy this beautiful little piece shot by ASC Shane Hurlbut. This is what it looks like when image and sound come together with a great little story.

The main character in this short is William Turner, a janitor whose life seems mundane on the surface but as it develops, many interesting layers are revealed. We shot his boring existence in the present day at 24fps utilizing the new Canon 5D firmware.

As William’s life unfolds from present day to the past, we shot with the Canon 5D at 30fps and pulled it in at 24fps to give it a slightly dreamy feel. The creamy Canon ‘L’ series glass delivered the period look that we were hoping to achieve.

Director: Po Chan
Cinematographer and Executive Producer: Shane Hurlbut, ASC
Producer: Greg Haggart
Editor: Vashi Nedomansky

Also there’s a nice behind the scenes on Canon’s site.

So as many of you may or may not know RED will be releasing a 2/3 digital cinema cam called “Scarlet”, in trolling the internets for movies that have also been shot on a 2/3rds sensor I came across Star Wars Episode 2 which eventually let me to this awesome series.. A YouTuber named Mike AKA “RedLetterMedia” put this amazing video review of attack of the clones together.. It’s a great commentary on film making as a whole and is funny as hell ! Enjoy it here or on his channel !
Love and Aloha, Kalani-
PS: part 1 was taken off YouTube for copyright reasons : (

The new Zoom H1 will be “little brother” to the popular Zoom H2 in a slimmer size. It has the same X Y mic configuration as the H2, H4n, and Q3 recorders which seem pretty promising.. Like the H2, the H1 will not have XLR inputs but could still be strategically used for DSLR filmmaking.. I’m guessing it will ring in at about $149 usd..
Hopefully Zoom will feature it at NAB here in a couple of weeks and we can get the full skinny on it as specs are hard to come by at this time.. I believe it’s powered by a single aaa battery !

What you are about to see is a TRAILER to a WEDDING VIDEO !

Kevin Shahinian at Pacific Pictures has been creating some of the most AMAZING “wedding video’s” I have ever seen ! This is it. This is what it looks like when all the tools are used to their highest degree.

I am so impressed with his teams work that it ACTUALLY MAKES ME WANT TO GET MARRIED just so I can hire them : )  Such inspiring work, well done guys !

PS: WATCH FULL SCREEN

Kevin had the following to say about the film :

There are so many ways to tell a story…

And so much a wedding symbolizes. So many questions it tends to raise: What is love? What is faith? It was our hope to explore these themes in a far more dramatically engaging way than we felt possible in a traditional documentary… Perhaps there is more within this story then meets the eye.

In the fall of 2009, Melissa & Samir embarked on an incredible journey to Udaipur, India, to fulfill a lifelong dream of having their wedding in the country of their ancestry. This transcendent place, affectionately called the “CITY OF LAKES,” located in the breathtaking region of Rajasthan, would be the setting for their extravagant, three-day marriage celebration, and the backdrop of our unprecedented film production – shot entirely on-location. We believe this to be the first ever live event/scripted concept production ‘hybrid’ film ever produced on this scale. It was shot entirely on DSLRs, the Canon 5D Mark2 and 7D.

It’s happening folks !, awwww yeah.. Ron Howard, Jim Carrey, Will Farrell, and the SNL greats in a short shot on Canon’s 7D ! Enjoy :

Behind the scenes

The Skit

More at FUNNY OR DIE

Ever since viewing Vincent Laforte’s “Reverie” I’ve been a big fan of the 5D2 and it’s capabilities.. Now finally, after more than a year, 5D2 users will be getting 24P ! Very exciting indeed. The following was from http://www.canonrumors.com , Enjoy ! As of MARCH 16th we will all have 24p.

London, 2nd March 2010 – Canon today pre-announces the release of a firmware update for the multiple award-winning EOS 5D Mark II. Originally announced in late 2009, the update adds 24* and 25 frames per second (fps) recording to the camera’s EOS MOVIE video function, and will be available as a free download from the middle of March.

Developed following feedback from photographers and cinematographers, Firmware 2.0.3 further enhances the EOS 5D Mark II’s excellent video performance. The addition of new frame rates expands the camera’s video potential, providing filmmakers with the ability to shoot 1080p Full HD footage at 24fps (actual 23.976fps) – the optimum frame rate for cinematic video. 25fps support at both 1920×1080 and 640×480 resolutions will allow users to film at the frame rate required for the PAL broadcast standard, while the new firmware will also change the 30fps option to the NTSC video standard of 29.97fps.

A new histogram display for shooting movies in manual exposure, shutter-priority (Tv) and aperture-priority (Av) have been added, and exposure modes will also be available in movie mode. Improved audio functionality will allow users to set sound record levels manually using a sound-level meter displayed on the LCD screen. The audio sampling frequency has also been increased from 44.1KHz to 48KHz, providing the optimum audio signal typically required for professional or broadcast material.

With its full frame CMOS sensor and compatibility with Canon’s wide range of premium lenses, the EOS 5D Mark II is already recognised for its outstanding HD video performance. Launched in September 2008, the camera immediately created a wide range of new possibilities for photographers and videographers, and the addition of new frame rates and manual audio levels extends those possibilities even further – allowing movie makers to shoot stunning movies to suit practically any creative purpose.

Extreme sports photographer Richard Walch was one of the first to be given the chance to use the newly updated EOS 5D Mark II to shoot the snowboarding movie “I Love My Friends”. Commenting on the EOS 5D Mark II’s video performance, Richard said: “The addition of the new frame rates opens up a whole new range of possibilities. If you’re a cinematographer, independent film maker or just enthusiastic about making your own movies, get out there and give it a try”.

Wow !, It seems the age of the indy filmmaker has finally arrived. Hot Rod Cameras will soon be offering a PL mount adapter for the Canon 7D so you can place real cinema glass in front of the Canon’s happy little HD sensor.. I smell RAW acquisition right around the corner..

Companies like RED will probably dominate in raw-land but with Canon stepping up their game and people like hot rod cameras delivering on killer accessories the HDDSLR market is surely going to florish.

Skip to 1:15 to see the PL mount in action on a Panasonic GH1, it will be the same for the Canon 7D & 5D2, near the end you will see the sweet compat Zeiss lenses that cover the 5D2’s full frame sensor.. Awww, damn it, I’m drooling on my keyboard again !

Looks like Mr. Bloom just got his hands on one too !

7D PL mount camera from Some Like It Shot on Vimeo.

The following is from hot rod cameras, enjoy : )

Those of you wanting to mod your 7D, you should be able to place your order on Hotrodcameras.com on Wednesday, February 17. You will also be able to purchase a brand new 7D-PL direct from Hot Rod Cameras. Turn around time for a camera as of today is less than 2-weeks.

In the next few days I’ll be posting more details of the mod, and next week I’ll also be posting details on the HRC Extended Warranty program. Obviously a custom mod to your camera voids the original factory warranty, so If you choose the HRC extended warranty, and your camera fails during normal use your Canon camera can be covered under warranty repair for up to 3-years. The original factory warranty is only 1-year.

You can add the purchase of the extended warranty any time up to the day we ship the modified camera to you. Warranty is optional, you can go without, the good news is that all service under the warranty program is handled by an authorized Canon DSLR service facility in either Los Angeles or the New York tri-state area. And if you do elect not to purchase the warranty, the same facilities can do the repair work at their normal hourly rate (which is $$$). It is not easy getting this kind of custom modification certified by an insurance provider, and I feel like it’s a wonderful validation of the quality of our work. This is an exclusive extended warranty program for cameras modified by Hot Rod Cameras only.

Oh, and good news for those of you who recently purchased a Canon 7D and would like to cover it with the same warranty after the custom mod, if you purchased it within the last 90-days (and it passes inspection before modification), you can also have your camera covered by the same extended warranty.

For those of you looking to have a 5Dmk2 modified (yep it can be done, and Zeiss compact primes cover the ENTIRE sensor!)

I start accepting orders for 5Dmk2-PL on March 1, and I’ll start taking orders for a 1Dmk4-PL around the end of March.

Prices vary for a 7D-PL (mod or new) depending on accessories and warranty. Mod prices starts at $2600, and a brand new 7D-PL Deluxe Kit starts at $4800.