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

from Darroch Greer

I‘ve been speaking with several prominent documentary filmmakers over the past several days (see earlier blogs on Jessica Yu and Lynn Hershman Leeson, with more to come) and the interesting thing about them is they all have elements of fictional narrative in their films. Protagonist and Strange Culture both employ actors. They use sets and props and animation. They are a far cry from the Maysles Brothers‘ Grey Gardens, Ken and Ric Burns‘ The Civil War, or Steve James‘ Hoop Dreams. They are about as far from a Michael Moore film as Gone with the Wind. more

Four Sheets to the Wind - David Michael Mauer Podcast (To Download: Right Click, Save Target As)

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Educational workshops, podcasts from Avid filmmakers and advice on the art of editing for aspiring storytellers on the agenda

Avid Technology, Inc. announced that a wide variety of creative storytellers who used Avid systems will take center stage at this year‘s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah from January 18-28. Avid tools were used in nearly every category of competition this year, including Short Films, Dramatic Competition and World Cinema - and several of this year‘s entries were shot, edited and/or output to HD. For those who can not attend the festival, Avid will provide updates as well as host a number of podcasts and blogs on its newly-launched independent film Webpage at: www.avid.com/indie. more

Listen in on an exclusive interview with On the Road With Judas Director J.J. Lask as he talks about the labors of making his Sundance Drama Competition film. Millimeter contributor Darroch Greer asks the questions.

To listen to the podcast interview click here.

(To download: Right Click, Save As)

Check out our entire Sundance Podcast Archive.

Independent filmmaker Jacob Rosenberg is sharing his wealth of experience with Premiere Pro in the Adobe/HP hands on session at New Frontier on Main. Under Rosenberg’s tutalage, participants are getting a chance to test drive Adobe Creative Suite 2/Production Studio on HP xw4400 Workstations. He’ll no doubt cover new Production Suite features you might have heard of such as Cliff Notes and Dynamic Link–and if he doesn’t you can ask him about it after. more

Here’s more of today’s technical workshop lineup at New Frontier, where you can also check your email in peace, see the Online Shorts film festival, enjoy the DJ, and see some great video installations. Oh and drink free coffee.

1pm Kevin Baillie, Visual Effects/CG supe at The Orphanage will lead a session on effects for Superman Returns

2pm Scott Anderson, Visual Effects Supe at The Orphanage will lead a session on digital workflow for Superman Returns

3:00 Flash Professional 8; hands on session

3:00 Filmmaker Jacob Rosenberg teaches about using Adobe and Cineform to do Hollywood style workflows and DI on indie films

4:00 Adobe Soundbooth; hands on session

5:00 Interactive Flash for Filmmakers

If you want to get hands-on at Sundance, Shu Lea Cheang’s Mobiopera at New Frontier is for you. Here’s the description: Mobile phone users at the festival will jointly script and shoot a narrative soap-travaganza as they wait in line and move about Park City. If your phone can shoot you are invited to co-script and shoot soapisodes for a collective narrative. Involves daily live casting and culminates in a MobiSlam VJ/DJ Party. Check in at www.mobiopera.mobi.

In related news, the Sundance Institute has announced a pilot project in collaboration with the GSM Association to create short films for viewing on mobile phones. The Sundance Film Festival Global Short Film Project commissioned six festival alumni to create five short films, crafted exclulsively for mobile phone distribution. Filmmakers include Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Justin Lin, Maria Maggenti, Cory McAbee, and Jody Hill. 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.

Listen in on an exclusive interview with Little Miss Sunshine Directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton talk about creating the award-winning film, and the importance of the Sundance Film Festival to it’s success. Millimeter contributor Darroch Greer asks the questions.

To listen to the podcast interview click here.

(To download: Right Click, Save As)

Live Blogging Starts Thursday, January 18

Welcome to the second annual Sundance blog from the editors of Digital Content Producer and Millimeter, brought to you by HP. We‘re on our way to Utah to cover the annual film festival, which serves as a celebration of independent filmmaking and as a gathering of the tribes for directors, cinematographers, editors, and actors.

In the blog we‘ll be posting information about the latest happenings, information on people using the latest technology, as well as interviews with filmmakers at Sundance. We start with a Sundance Preview podcast series on the making of Black Snake Moan, as Senior Editor Michael Goldman talks with Director Craig Brewer, Editor Billy Fox, and Fotokem’s Walter Vopatto.

Check back often, as we‘ll be updating multiple times a day starting January 18. Have a great Sundance if you‘re attending, and if not, this is your source for realtime coverage of the show.

Scroll down for some pre-show podcasts and press releases.