65 mm film tidbits

65mm film is also known as 70mm. 65mm is generally used for sweeping landscape dramas.Here are some examples of 65mm film.

Here is one of the cameras that shoot 65mm film.

70mm Cinerama releases were projected with special optics onto a deeply-curved screen in an attempt to mimic the effect of the original 3-strip cinerama process.
  HI FI Stereo 70(also known as Triarama and Stereovision 70) was a 3-D process.(1) Two anamorphic images,one for each eye,were captured side by side on 65mm film.(1) Aspecial lens on a 70mm projector added polarization and merged the two images on the screen.(1) A similar Soviet system known as Stereo 70 did not employ anamorphics,resulting in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1.[2]
This is a few tidbits on 65mm and hope this gives some insight.

This review is on Glide tracks Mobislyder. It's the worlds first portable camera slider for iphones. It gives you the opportunity to create fluid moving videos. The mobislyder was developed by the world's no.1 camera slider company, Glidetrack. It comes with the mobislyder ,articulated mount, mobile device mount, 1/4" standard mount, adhesive ball mount, and 1/4" ball mount. I found this slider to be very sturdy, lightweight, and easy to carry. It makes a great addition to my film gear. Here are several stills while i was testing the mobislyder out.

mobislyder

mobislyder with device attachment and iphone 4s

mobislyder with iphone 4s catching some on-screen action.

here is the video of the mobislyder review.
http://vimeo.com/54261692

checkout glidetrack at www.glidetrack.com

film reviews and covenfilm tidbits

The first film i wanna talk about is The perks of being a wallflower.

Release date -October 12,2012. Plot- based on the novel written by Stephen Chbosky. This is about a 15 year old Charlie ( Logan Lerman) , an endearing and naive outsider, coping with  his first love (Emma Watson), the suicide of his best friend, and his mental illness while struggling to find a group of people with whom he belongs. The int overt freshman is taken under the wing of two seniors, Sam and Patrick, who welcome him to the real world. I loved this film very much. The roles were strong with a tight storyline.

Covenfilm Tidbits- When Patrick holds up his report card, the name at the top says " Patrick nothing". In the book " the perks of a wallflower" Patrick was called nothing because he was always called Patty and one day he said "listen, you either call me Patrick or call me nothing", so his nickname was became nothing.

 Though not explicitly shown on screen or mentioned, the film is set during the 1991-1992 school year. Just as it was in the book. Music,technology, and clothing styles all reference this as well.

The "tunnel song" which is "heroes" by David Bowie, was covered for the "Godzilla" soundtrack by none other than the wallflowers.

The perks of a wallflower was shot in Pittsburgh,Pa.

The next film is Chasing Mavericks.

Release DATE- October 26,2012
Plot- The inspirational true story of real life surfing phenom Jay Moriarity. When 15 year Jay discovers that the mythic mavericks surf break, one of the biggest waves on earth, is not only real, but exists just miles from his Santa Cruz home, he enlists the help of local legend Frosty Hesson to train him to survive it. As Jay and Frosty embark on their quest to accomplish the impossible, they form a unique friendship that transforms both their lives, and their quest to tame mavericks becomes about far more than surfing.I really liked this film. It had a strong storyline and some amazing shots.

Covenfilm Tidbits- 6 red epics were lost while shooting the mavericks surf footage.

My next film Seeking a friend for the end of the world.

Release date- June 22,2012
This film was very strong, as it showed a man going through day to day life struggles, plus the end of the world was going to happen in four weeks. I really thought the ending was cinematic and very well done.It was Steve Carell's best performance.

Covenfilm Tidbit- the movie was shot on Arri Alexa's and edited on Advid software. makeup was by Mac.

pico dolly and canon 40mm pancake lens

I recently did a review on the pico dolly and canon 40mm pancake lens. I did some video on the pico dolly and several stills for the 40mm lens.the ef 40mm f/2.8 stm lens took some really nice close stills,as well as farther away stills. The thing i noticed during video ,was it was alittle noisy. Its manageable ,so no worries.here is a few stills i took.

This is the original.seems to be vibrant and show some nice detail, I am putting up the same shot of the roses,but touched up.

I added some more contrast, to make some of the roses pop! Over all i think the 40 is a good addition to your family of glass. Now here is the video, i took of the pico dolly with 40mm glass. The pico dolly seems to be smooth ,unless the terrain is rough. There was alittle bump in the video, due to rougher terrain. The dolly has some option with a p&c variable friction arm arm and shark clip, for the iphone. You can add several options to work with your dslr or iphone. It allows you to make some cinematic movments right from your desktop. The pico dolly allows you to make some high quality and unique tracking movements from any smooth surface. Adjusting the two axles allows for side to side tracking,push or pull dolly shots and even 360 movements.Made of high quality metals, fluid roller bearings, smooth wheels, and a base plate has three  1/4 20" female threads.  The 40mm caught some close footage, however was really hard to focus while running the dolly.Other than that, I thought it was great.

http://youtu.be/cifTEl-LzHo

http://youtu.be/slytwf1S8bM

I'll get more footage with several other lenses and shoot more 40mm on some film shoots. I hope this gives you some what of an idea about the two products. I hope you enjoy this review and please comment.

the rental movie

I recently screened the rental movie brought to you by three roses entertainment. Directed by Todd Johnson. the film starts out with Devlin Chido played by mike Campell stalking a girl name Becky. eventually he eats her soul. soon after four woman Lily- Katherine Browning, Pam- Leah Verrril, Lori-Ashley Love, Biannca- Tiffany Walker move in .The girls think Devlin is kinda creepy and one night find out his name Chido means soul eater. They also find out he gets his strength from eating the souls of  evil woman. that the death of the innocence renders him powerless.  light temporarily blinds him. will the woman survive this ordeal or get their souls eaten? the film was shot on the red which is a great camera, but horrible in low light. which means the scenes need to be well lit. i found some of the scenes weren't lit well making it look very flat and grainy.The resolution shouldve been popping out. Other than that the makeup looked good,acting was good and overall a very nice film to watch. i give it 6 out of ten stars.checkout out the rental at www.facebook.com/the rental movie. I dont want to give to much away since it would be a spoiler. i do reccomend checking this film out. It's defintely worth watching!

asunder

I'm back to give my new review.still onset of drive-in massacre,trying to stay caught up with my blog.The newest review is a film called asunder by Plastic Age Production. This film is a dark psychological thriller written and directed by Travis Legge. Asunder tells what happens when different choices are made about infidelity and their consequences. I won't go into alot of detail so there is no spoiler alert! cast includes josh- lewis l. harris, melanie- lou cifer, will- tim stotz,co-worker- anthony kurtz,bartender- toni pilgreen, mj- aley kreinz. Shot on a af-100 and is done well.It has some nice visual touches. I give it 7 out of 10 stars. def check it out at  www.aegisstudios.com

Taxidermy

Taxidermy is a short film by plastic age productions I recently screened. The film starts Out with the two main characters andy played by Matthew rolling and Josie played by Tina Renee grace, having an argument. Andy leaves the overwhelmed and lost Josie. Andy drives off and calls the girl he is seeing. Only to find out she has someone at her house, and no real interest in Andy. Andy with his tail tucked between his legs, goes back to Josie. Andy begs for forgiveness and all seems well in the world. Time passes and Andy goes home one day after work to see a fine dinner,loyal and happy girlfriend. Followed by dessert. Josie says she has one big final surprise for Andy. Josie takes Andy into the bathroom and Andy goes to the shower. Behind the curtains is Beth played by Jolene Aldus lying dead in the bathtub. Josie tells Andy that he can have Beth who is stuffed now and have her without fear of Andy leaving. Taxidermy has a nice twist at the end. It is a well done short, that's straight to the point. Taxidermy was shot on a hmc-150, directed and cinematography by Travis Legge. I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Confliction

I recently viewed confliction brought to you by Flopitworks. The film starts out with a cool animated logo that gives a film/street art vibe. Right after it hits hard with raw run and gun style shooting. You see the victim on a rooftop tied down and in panic mode, played by Aimee Louisanne. Soon after it's the confrontation with the suspect played by JJ Condon who is handcuffed and being interrogated by the lead detective played by Jordane Christie. The acting was spot on as the two went back in forth in a cat and mouse game trying to figure out each others moves. Throughout the ordeal the two have past issues brought up telling why they are how they are now.  Finally the detective figures out where the girl is. Taken to the rooftop the detective finds the girl just in time. After the detective starts to have the killer taken in only to find out- is there more victims? To find out check out Confliction when it's  released. With some beautiful locations and great shots, this film is well worth watching! Overall the the team at Flopitworks did a wonderful job.  To check these guy's out go to their website www.flopitworks.com and on twitter @flopitworks @shawn-lights
Overall i give it 8 out of ten stars!

         

our days are numbered

Our days are numbered was the first short i did back in 2010 as a director .Our days are numbered starts out with you seeing a surveillance camera recording what seems to be a farm.  It's recording a dirt road where you see a truck coming up the road. The truck seems to have broken down near the house.  Three people are in the truck.  Andy,ken,and casy.  Andy and ken are brothers.  Casy is ken's girlfriend . Andy and the other two get out of the truck . Andy starts explaining what's going on with the outbreak and where they are going.

Andy and the other two decide to keep moving and that's when things start to spiral out of control . Zombies,slo mo bullets, and lots of blood. The short is about nine minutes in all with a cloverfield feel to it .I tried to put in as much action as possible in this short. I used a jvc hd 100 camera  for filming.

These are some of the screen grabs from the film. Overall i thik it came out good. I see things i think could be better now, but for my first it wasn't bad. I  have the trailer up so check it out. For copies go to www.wix.com/condemnedproductions/coven , and also subscribe to my youtube at condemnedproduction and rate the trailer.

I give it 7 out of ten starts.

back to the movies interview

i had the pleasure of interviewing a young film fanatic, and so far has accomplished alot.
covenfilm:what made you decide to get into helping people in the film industry?
sean evans:i've always been a big fan of movies ever since i was a child. i feel as thou they've been along with me on a journey through life. i mean i'm only 20 now but through sad times,happy times,joyful times i can always think of a film that either helped towards that feeling or helped a certain situation out. big budget films don't really need much marketing as they market themselves, low budget films are unknown to the majority of the public and they need the most help.this is where i come in,spreading the word,creating videos,marketing trailers and just trying my best to help these guys out.once i'd worked on a lower budget films,i helped with higher budget flicks.they pretty much market themselves but it helped me to get interviews from cast and crew.which all went towards my movie oriented pages both on twitter and youtube. covenfilm: who all have you helped promote their films?
sean evans: i've helped many films so it would take awhile to name the majority.the ones that come to mind are chris witherspoon's film rage,joe raffia's six degrees of hell,ad lanes invasion of the not quite dead and most recently the superb no saints for sinners starring good friend rick crawford.
covenfilm: what is your goal for the future?
sean evans: my goal is to market more low budget films but also more high profile films too as that way there could be a possibility of my marketing being accepted to a film or production company.that would be my main goal,to somehow work in the industry and provide my marketing skills and abilities live on set or live during a production. also to get my youtube and twitter pages as popular as possible.without supporters and fans ,my page and all the effort would be for nothing,and i can't thank each and every person who has supported me thus far.
covenfilm: are you expanding from youtube and twitter?
sean evans:at the moment no. my twitter page has over 10,000 followers,my youtube has around 2,000 subscribers. i dont feel that they are big enough numbers for me to expand.if views and subscribers increase greatly over the next year or 2 then there is an idea i had of making a website for marketing services to the industry,but that's a hope and a prayer away.for now i'm doing it purely because its what i love to do and its in a industry i love and one im passionate about.
covenfilm: where can people find your stuff?
sean evans:my youtube is http//www.youtube.com/user/backtothemoviespage?feature=mhee
my twitter page-https://twitter.com#!/bck2themovies
covenfilm: thanks for the interview sean.
sean evans: thank you
Go checkout his stuff and checkout mine. follow both of us and hope you enjoy.

like crazy

                                                              Like Crazy(2011)
genre-drama,romance
the movie starts off when anna and jacob meet at a la university. anna one day leaves jacob a note on his car winshield under the wiperblade. the note confesses how she feels for jacob.jacob feels the same and the two began spending all there time together.the two fall in love. as the film progresses, you find out jacob has a talent of making furniture. also anna is a writer and jacob finds out the chair she uses is uncomfortable. jacob makes her a chair that anna loves.as the semester comes to an end and the two graduate. anna is suppose to go back to the uk as her visa will expire. anna decides to stay and spend the summer with jacob. when ann goes back to the uk she loses her visa due to the fact she violated her rights to keep her visa. the two are sperated and call eachother at first. then jacob goes to visit and the two talk about getting married so anna can go back to the us.jacob goes back to the states. both anna and jacob meet other peopkle and begin life without eachother for a period. jacob goes back and the two get married. one day jacob and anna get into a fight over jacob still texting the other girl sam. jacob decides to leave and the two go on with their lives and see the people they met while away.anna calls jacob and tells him she finally got her green card and wants to come back with jacob. jacob picks her up from the airport and the ending of the movie is really depressing and sad. it takes the two back to jacobs aprtment . the two are in the shower holding eachother and kissing. jacob and anna both stop and look at eachother. the two realize that with everything that happened they fell out of love. jacob gets out of the shower and walks away as anna looks at him. this is how the movie ends. in my opinion tis show the ignorance of people and what they take for granted.the cast is great in this and really pull their weight. anna is played by felicity jones,jacob is played by anton yelchin and sam by jennifer lawerence.director drake dremus did a great job with ben york jones script. he had a great vision for telling this story. director of photography john guleserian had some great shots but at times the camera seemed alittle shaky.they shot this film on the 7d and it looks really good. like crazy was an official selection in sundance 2011. it was sold to paramount for four million dollars. overall i give it 10 of 10 stars.

iphone gear

when the iphone 4 came out,it shot 720p,and 1080p for the iphones. alot of film makers played around with the filming capabilities of it. so interest came into play for making gear for the iphone.one of the first things i got for my iphone was the owle bubo rig. it comes with a small mic,wide angle lens for the price of 180 bucks. the bubo gives some extra stability with the grips at the bottom. it makes the iphone bigger and alittle more to hold onto. you can also get the 35mm adapter to use 35mm glass.which is a nice option.i upgraded to a bigger mic and a rota light.

the rota light comes with various gels as well. this really helps out alot. the iphone does okay in low light but not really the best.color grading seems to do well so far.its a fun camera to have for behind the scenes or a backup if your in tight spaces.i have only shot two films with it. both shorts. one is what they dont know,that was shot last year in jersey at a convention.the other is silent hotel i did for a homage film competition for silent house. im adding the trailer for what they dont know. you can take a look and check it out. i was pleased with how it came out.

i used a app called 8mm to get that old grungy look and added a filter to it. there are alot of festivals that have added a phone category now. here are some of the apps i use
8mm
cinecam
slopro.
for sending files to my computer, i use big transfer files.i hope you all enjoy this and it gives some of you some ideas for your iphone. here are some of the links to the gear.
www.getbubo.com
www.rotolight.com
for the iphone shooting capabilities i give it 5 out 10 stars.

downtown shoot

I recently went downtown to catch some street art from a show that was here in april. there were some amazing murals on my journey in downtown richmond. street art is contemporary srtwork placed unsanctioned in public spaces.street art is considered  different than graffitti in that it primary uses stencils,stickers,wheatpastes and posters as a media instead of just spray paint.street art and graffitti came on the scene big in the 1980's but exploded in the early 2000's primarily due to the growing popularity of banksy.

this is just a few stills i got. this is not a review on films,but as a artist and photographer. i figured i'd expand my reviews to other media's of art.

the ticket

the ticket was a very touching film. directed by po chan.shot by shane hurlbut. the ticket was shot on a canon 1dc dslr 4k, using a 24mm cinema prime.the ticket starts out in a hospital with vince sitting on the floor. emma comes out of a room and the two began to talk about the time.vince says they have time.the film takes them outside,only to have vince figure out they have no car anymore.vince and emma began to run. taking them to a clothing store. they try on the clothes they want. both know they cant afford them so vince and emma run out of the store.later they get to the boardwalk, which is an amazing scene. vince and emma go to the ferris wheel. the old man says theres no more rides tonight. vince convinces the man to let them ride, by telling him it's emma's birthday. the old man says you have ten minutes. while up at the top of the ferris wheel, vince asks emma to marry him. she says its to late for that.this takes vince back to the floor of the hospital. a doctor walks out of the room telling him she didnt make it, vince gets up and starts crying only to see the ticket he bought on the ground.(tidbit)- the lighting used was natural light available.and was shaped.the hospital scene- they were able to use all the available lights that were in the ceiling.which were 4' cool white flo's.pho and shane went for a sterile.anti septic feel.hurlbut baked in the look with natural picture style with color temp set at 2700 degrees.it gave a starting point with this cold,minty green feel. they wanted the halls as cold and representtative of death.the score was amazing caled those kisses by the fisherman three.this film had a strong storyline,amazing actors and was well shot. i give it 8 out of 10 stars. to checkout more work on shane- www,hurlbutvisuals.com

covenfilm tidbits

silent house claimed to be 88 minutes of continous footage.not really! silent house is one of the bigger films this year shot on a dslr.in fact it was shot on a canon 5d mark 2 with a redrock micro rig and small hd monitor.the primary lens used was a creamy zeiss cp2 28mm prime backed up by a 21mm prime. most of the movie was shot in shallow depth of field. now back to the continous 88 minutes of horrifying footage, a canon 5d has a 12 minute file record limit. so to hide the transition points.they moved in front of objects or whip panned to hide the edit.some of the scenes had several takes. so there is a covenfilm tidbit. thanks redrock micro and a shoutout to lucia from small hd.

remembering

remembering is a dark drama. iwrote this last year in about thirty minutes. i had the flow going on this one and it went from start to finish. this short film is very close to my heart.remembering tells the story about a man named jeremy.jeremy is down and out on life.with no trust and love anymore,jeremy really doesnt care if he lives anymore. jeremy decides to take a walk in the park and think about things. a mysterious woman name jane sits down by him and starts talking about life.will jeremy find a new love for life. we filmed this in two days. we used dslr cameras with a dolly,tripod,and a glidecam for the walk scenes. seth delacruz(director of photography) did an amazing job. remembering won best short at blueridge bloodfest. it was selected for nhc and blood on the beach this year,followed by a q&a after.i love this film alot.i give it 8 of 10 stars.

                            

the notebook

   the notebook came out in 2004. it was based on the novel written by nicholes starks. the movie starts out in a retirement home, where a old couple are sitting down in a room. the man is reading a story to the woman about a couple of young lovers ( allie hamiltone,and noah calhoun). the young couple meet one evening at a carnival, after spending time together,one night noah has dinner with allie's family. they dissaprove of noah's unwealthy family,and move allie away.allie waits for noah to write  her for several years, allie eventually meets  and gets engaged to a young soldier. allie  who still loves noah,goes back to visit noah's 200 year old house. he restored it for her. they both still have feelings for eachother.allie also finds out that noah wrote her everyday for a year.allie now has to choose between noah and lon. allie's mom meets with allie, and gives her the letters.the movie ends with everyone finding out the old man and woman are noah and allie. the beautiful ending is noah and allie both die together holding hands. to me this is a amazing ending to a very strong script.showing that there is true love. the acting is amazing,the film is shot well. they used panavisions to shoot on which was a very good choice to use. it gave the film a soft look but made it very real.director nick cassavetes did an amazing job on this film.the film was shot in south carolina.the college of charleston was used as the backdrop for allie's college.boone hall plantation was used for the scenes of the hamilton's house. the house that noah would rebuild in the movie is located at martins point plantation on widmalaw island. the film makers had considered finding a dilapidated house to film which could be renovated as the narrative progressed. but they soon settled on using a beautiful house they could make look run down for the film's earlier scenes.the nursing home scenes were shot at rice hope(black river)plantation. the house was rumored to be a kit house ordered from sears roebuck company but is not.ryan gosling prepared for the role by living in charleston for a few months prior to filming.he spent his mornings rwoing on the ashley river and his afternoons making furniture. so i wanted to share a few tidbits on the film. this is one of my favorite films of all times. i give it 10 of 10 stars.                                  

the walking dead

the walking dead started out as a comic book seriescreated by robert kirkman,tony moore,and charlie adland.it was turned into a tv series which premiered october 31,2010.the story starts out when sheriff deputy rick grimes wakes up after being in a coma.rick finds the world has been infested by zombies(walkers).rick tries to find his family.wife-lori grime,and son carl grimes. the story brings a group together trying to survive through this ordeal.the walking dead was nominated for several awards,including best tv series drama at the 68th golden globe awards. also the writers guild of america award.when the team got together to figure out what camera to shoot the pilot and series. they tested 35mm,16mm,the red one,and panavision genesis cameras. the team decided to go with the super 16 look using three arriflex 416 cameras. the arriflex 416 is one of the smaller handhelds from arri.david tattersull (dp) who shot the pilot and david boyd(dp) who shot the rest to date manipulated color temp with tungsten balance film stock(kodak visions 500t 7219 to help with the super 16 look. also on board for special efx is greg nicotero,efx coordinator darrel pritchett,and visual effects were done by sam nicholson,and jason spelling. while the cinematographer is amazing,and the efx are on point. the series to me seems to draw on at times,but seems to brings highpoints to make it worth while.i give it 7 out 10 stars.