Here are some opportunities to learn about DI at Sundance

2pm today, Film Center

444 RGB HD/DI

Renowned, Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor and emerging director Rob Legato walks you through cost-effective DI for the high end combining Sony HDCAM SR and desktop tools.

4pm today, Monday, Wed, and Fri, Film Center:

HD for Indies. Desktop DI workflow for both film and web deliverables. Session taught by filmmakers who have done it.

Today 2pm:

HP/Adobe hands on Sessions featuring Adobe products. Film Center Workshop area

Test drive the Adobe products on the HP platform. This is definitely hands on.

Also at 4pm join the session in workshop area. Talk to successful Adobe filmmakers.

Either way, make sure to get a first look at Adobe’s brand, brand new Production Studio product, which unites new releases of After Effects, Encord DVD, Audition, and a very professional reworking of Premiere Pro into a common interface, facilitated by some slick new file management tools. This product is worth a look for several reasons: first this is a serious rework on Premiere Pro and it must be seen, second if you are into media management and file organization and your workflow demands a lot of sharing among programs, you need to see the way this new file hand-off works. It’s hard to explain, but easy to understand when you see it.

Ask about it.

Jacob:

It was a year ago that Cynthia and I met and Dust to Glory was but a spec and still a workflow doubt on the radar. Anyhoo, before we talk about the new film Lbs. that I am post/DI supervising, I wanted to chime in about the new Sony signage down here in the digital center. There is a sign for XDCAM HD! And my curiousity is at an all time high. If Sony comes out with a Blu-Ray based Optical Camera that records HDCAM flavor 1440×1080p (23.98) to disk, then the game is over as far as which camera to look for. Umm, I can buy media in the store and get 1 expensive drive to read it… sounds like a great way to go. So… what are the specs sony? What details can Cynthia get out of them. I can’t wait for the future.

jacob

Sony’s Wayne Zuchowski clarifies:

The Sony XDCAM HD system does indeed record native 24p (1440×1080p) to optical disc, but it’s the Professional Optical Disc, not the consumer Blu-Ray. The pro disc is denser, comes in a rugged pro cartridge and will not be available at your local computer store. It’s easy to confuse Blu-Ray which was hot this month at CES with the professional media associated with the XDCAM systems.

Cynthia here: Yes, we are not going to overnight from decades of tape straight to commodity discs and cards. This after all still early days of a revolution. The bottom line is at this point in the history of digital filmmaking you really have to understand your own needs in imaging, media, costs, mastering, archiving…etc. There are a lot of volatile moving parts in any of these equations, so think accordingly.

If you’re here at Sundance come by the Film Center and you can see the debut of XDCAM HD.

Worth mentioning that the Film Center is one of the most comfortable and classy places to hang. Mies Van de Rohr furniture, great lighting (Sundance director of digital initiates Ian Calderon has a background in theater and dance production and it shows). Plus you can watch the online film festival down here and see the gear….

Panasonic DVX100 operated by Nick Mariani for Park City Television for the Sundance Channel and the Live@Sundance feature on the Sundance website. Read more on the DVX100 here.

Haskell Wexler is here with a particular sense of purpose. His film Who Needs Sleep? is in the Spectrum program after seven years in the making.

First screening is Sunday 8:30pm at the library. Wexler got the idea for the film on a very bad day when assistant cameraman Brent Hershman feel asleep at the wheel, crashed his car and died after a 19-hour workday. Hershman was just one of a legion of crew members who Wexler says are pushed into the danger zone by the film industry sweatshop. In addition to the film he‘s started a non-profit organization www.12on12off.org and joined with some 5000 film professionals to set sane and sustainable labor practices.

Wexler‘s passion for this particular cause extends to his conviction that cameras are tools of political participation. He‘s equally articulate about the give and take he experiences when he shoots film or video (he shot Who Needs Sleep? on a Sony PD150). more

Oscar nomininate filmmaker and author Steven Ascher (The Filmmakers Handbook) is in the Film Center doing research for the 3rd edition of his well-known text. He and his wife Jeanne Jordan are here with their film in the documentary competition–So Much So Fast–first screening is Sunday at the Prospector 11:30.

Shot on DVCAM (the DSR500 and a PD150 for the tight spots)–”the DSR is a beautiful camera,” Ascher says, “people have asked if we shot on film. But it’s heavy.” Apparently people on location also asked what TV Ascher was from…. hence the (much) less conspicous PD150 where needed. Edited by co-director Jeanne on Final Cut Pro “4-something”.

In one of those odd juxtapositions that always seem to happen, Steven, Jeanne and I have had kind of a parallel path with the subject of his film–the cliffhanger drama of living with ALS. It touched their family about the same time it touched mine. This led to their film about Stephen Heywood and his brother Jamie who, like all siblings living with ALS are carving out a fierce path between passion and acquiescence. …just as my own sister does every day, with the sometimes messy participation of her siblings.

From cnet news: Tech plays supporting role at Sundance festival.

Let’s start here, since I believe the only actual piece of film equipment in the Film Center is a gorgeous Panaflex GII. Sharing space with this icon is the Panavision Genesis–with it’s Sony CineAlta HD SR 444 recorder (tape). This is a serious rig for serious (budgeted) 35mm films. This week is a great chance to see it if you’re around in Park City–Film Center is at 333 Main in the basement.

Things to know: If you want to shoot to SR 444 tape untethered, this is the way to do it. Panavision’s Ric Halpern who runs the education/new filmmaker program reminds me of the flap with disc arrays and insurance companies–perhaps solved by now. But for their part, Panavision wanted the Genesis to fit as much as possible into the familiar workflow and business realities of 35mm studio filmmaking. So tape, for the moment is tried and tested (and understood by acuaries). Just one factor in the matrix of choosing your format…

Who’s using it: Dean Semler for Mel Gibson, Jim Orr for Rocco Devilliers.

FYI. The Oregon Film and Video Office is hosting a Chocolate Buffet Wed., Jan 25 at noon on Main Street to announce three new initiatives–production, labor, and vendor rebates. Oregon is a no sales tax state, and the parks–including the Oregon coastal ones–are available to filmmakers free of charge (comes with a free Ranger).

If you want to come to the buffet, rsvp to Kayla at 310 600 0607 and she’ll tell you where the chocolate will be!