Two very different projects for DP Tim Orr at this year’s Sundance. See previous posting for his account of shooting still, composed frames for Mike White, using older Fuji stocks that provided the retro grain structure and contrast that the director was looking for in his gentle comedy.

Snow Angels was a very different story. Orr frequently collaborates with director David Green (Snow Angels is their best work he thinks). In that project–shot in a dark and frigid Nova Scotia February–Orr executed what he described as a kind of dance with the actors, trusted by his director to essentially edit with his camera. more

At New Frontier on Main, one of the earliest adopters of Sony XDCAM HD PDW-F350, Robin Berg of Berg Entertainment is sharing his footage, experience, and workflow using the camera in brutal weather (22ft. boats and 6ft.-7 ft. seas, etc.) for his new documentary Speargun Hunter. Berg, who is a prolific regular on the Outdoor Channel, shot worldwide with the F350 XDCAM HD and intercut with underwater footage shot on the Z1. (More on that in a minute, and it‘s interesting.)

Berg first saw the XDCAM HD at the behest of Outdoor Channel president Andy Dale. “From my standpoint, as someone who has to oversee all areas of production–pre production, field production, post–I realized instantly how powerful the workflow could be,” Berg recalls. “The price point is exceptional and the quality we were going to be able to deliver was remarkable.” more

In line with the journalists at the Egyptian for the official opening press conference–Robert Redford, Geoffrey Gilmore, director of the festival and Brett Morgan, director of the 2007 opening documentary film Chicago 10, various jurors, etc. are promised.

In the meantime, on the camera sighting front, outside the theater it‘s France 4 TV with a HDV camcorder–new technology for the station. Local Salt Lake City CBS affiliate KUTV is here with Panasonic DVCPRO, but looking at a corporate driven move to tapeless workflow this year; P2 perhaps, though XDCAM HD looks like a strong contender for that transition. Nothing specific on the record, but it struck me as significant to see a local station going tapeless as part of a wider corporate move and not at the end of a trickle down process. CNN on hand with the ever-reliable Digibeta, but of course CNN is also a leader in tapeless workflow, so technology there will no doubt continue to change.

Back in a few with the press conference and the opening of the New Frontiers center.