Sundance Film Festival

Peter Richardson: he’s here with his documentary Clearcut, an official Sundance Spectrum selection. Drives the Panasonic DVX100 and 100A…and a Saab. What about the new HVX200? (DVCPRO HD in a $6K handheld camcorder, records to P2 media, part DVX100, part Varicam, part new technology…shoots variable frame rate, interestingly enough in a very different way than the Varicam does…more on that eventually). Already ordered one,” Peter responds. Also has his eye on the new Sanyo HD1 palmcorder, the world‘s smallest HD camera introduced earlier this month at CES (records 720p to SD cards). (More on the HD1.)

In post, Peter‘s on Avid Xpress Pro (“loves the media management tools and organizational stuff”). Promised us a picture of his bin, which sounds spectacular. Let‘s see if he comes through…

Filmmaker Peter Richardson

Walking down Main Street to find some coffee we bump right into his collaborator, cinematographer Michael Brown. Getting out of the snow at Java Cow we all settle down in front of a plasma showing ski footage (moving pictures are everywhere) and dig into Clearcut‘s production stories. My favorite thing first: Peter says he had the movie about 2/3 done when he had an internal harddrive crash (G4, if you must know). Auto backup hadn‘t been happening (possible pilot error), his last manual backup was a month old. Crushing defeat type thing. Peter took a couple of weeks off (as you would). When he came back, he saw the film with new eyes and new commitment he says. He not only rebuilt the last third but went back to the completed work and had a rethink for the better. Made a better film. So it begs the question: can a catastrophic hard drive crash actually get you into Sundance? How‘s that for the power of technology?

More Peter and Michael in a bit…gotta find my fellow reporters and do some logistics. Meantime check them out at www.clearcutmovie.com. If you’re here, screenings start tomorrow at noon at the Egyptian.