ALEXA, By Arri

Arri's new ALEXA line of digital cinematography cameras.

The camera marketplace is getting real crowded these days.  Arri just introduced three new digital cinematography cameras at IBC 2009.  Dubbed ALEXA by the company (and BLUE by some other industry insiders — as opposed to RED, I suppose) these bad boys are the successors to the late model D-21′s that have been out for a few years.

ALEXA comes in three flavors:  A-EV, A-EV Plus, and A-OV-Plus.  Think of that arrangement as options for a car.  A-EV is the base model, while A-OV-Plus is the tricked out version of the ALEXA.

New upgrades include a totally new 3.5k, 35mm sized CMOS sensor that allows the use of PL mount lenses, and allows frame rates of 1 to 60 frames a second.  Also new for 2010, “HD On-board recording”,  ARRIRAW on-board recording ( for the A-EV-Plus, and A-OV-Plus), a F- LCOS 16:9 electronic viewfinder, or for you film purists, an Optical viewfinder (exclusively for the A-OV-Plus — they really need to give these camera better names), and an integrated wireless remote control, perfect for those jib/car mount jobs.

Output is designed for HD and 2k resolutions — Arri believing that 4k resolutions are better left to film for the time being.

Also…there’s a place for  your shoulder to go when you shoot hand-held.  Thank you, ARRI.  Down with flat-bottom cameras!

Anyways, Film and Digital Times has got a nice article on these new cameras.

Click Here to go to Film and Digital Times’ article.

Click Here to go to download Arri’s ALEXA PDF.

Click Here to go

Reel Hawaii Update

Tim Ryan’s got some updates on his blog — news on the local indie production, Knots, some Predators news, and Tia Carrera as Rell Sun.

Click Here to go to Tim Ryan’s Reel Hawaii.

Stillmotion/Aria Studios

I remember when my cousin got married, way back in 1986.  The still photographer shot with the (then) state of the art Nikon F3, and the videographer was shooting with a Saticon tube camera on one shoulder, and a 3/4 inch briefcase recorder, slung over the other one — 100 w SunGun blasting off the top of it.

The pictures turned out nice, but the video turned out like crap.

Not so with the creative folks from the Canadian based Stillmotion Photo+Cinema, and the local wedding creatives at Aria Studios.

Thanks to people like them, wedding videos have come a long, long way.   It’s not something that many of us on the commercial/docu/film side of the business might be aware of, but believe me, these guys have pushed the genre into new territory.

This one comes to us from Stillmotion, off of a pre-production Canon 7D.  Color me impressed.

Next up, a sample from the talented crew at Aria…

Awesome stuff.  And it’s not just the tech, it’s not just that these DSLR’s have a unique look, it’s the storytelling. It’s the pacing, and transitions, the editing, the camera movement — it really is cinematic in nature.  Bottom line is, this is good film-making.

Bravo.

Click Here to go to Stillmotion Photo+Cinema.

Click Here to go to Aria Studios.

Blockbuster vs. Netflix/Redbox

Yahoo!Finance has got an interesting article on Blockbuster video, and the trouble they’ve been going through, with increased and varied competition, plus the economy.  The money guys at Blockbuster expected to close about 400 stores this year — but this was recently revised to somewhere up to 900 stores.  They’re estimating that 18% of their brick and mortar establishments are not profitable, and they want to cut losses.

It’s going to be interesting to see what the former king of video rental is going to do now that they’re behind the curve.  Netflix has got the mail-rental market pretty sewn up, and is continuing to grow it’s streaming video service, while  Redbox is making a niche for itself in a supermarket near you.  Your move, Blockbuster.

Click Here to go to Yahoo!Finance.

Level 26

Does the name Anthony Zuiker sound familiar?  If you don’t recognize the name, you’ll probably recognize his tv show:  CSI:Crime Scene Investigation.  He’s the guy who created it.   CSI been a huge hit for CBS, and now Mr. Zuiker has brought his writing talents to the world of print.   But, just as there’s a story twist in every episode of CSI, there’s a twist in this one as well.

Mr. Zuiker’s new book  is called Level 26.  But it’s not just a novel.  It’s a Digi-Novel.  What’s a Digi-Novel?  I’ll let Mr.Broadcast Voice explain…

So it’s part novel, part movie, and something the promo doesn’t tell you, it’s part social networking.  The project website, Level26.com isn’t just meant to be a platform for the movie clips, it’s also intended to be home base for fans of the book — a place where people can get together, and post about the project, or find the latest news from the creators.

All in all, a pretty interesting concept.  There’s a blog post  on Level26.com about how Mr Zuiker came to the idea of mixing traditional written media, and combining it with social networking, and the power of the internet.

I was curious, and so I picked up a copy of the book at Barnes and Nobles.  I’ve read through a couple of the chapters, and if you like your fiction fast and greusome, then maybe this novel is for you.  As for the whole “digi-novel” experience — if you’ve played video games recently, you’re pretty familiar with what are called “cut scenes”…those cinematic interludes between levels.

That’s what the “cyber-bridge” episodes kind of feel like.  Specifically like the cut-scenes in the RTS series Command and Conquer.  They’re short, and a little cheesy, in my opinion…but I’ve only gone through the first two, so maybe it gets scarier and better.  Overall, I think it’s great that someone is trying something different.  Don’t know if it will prove to be successful, though.

Slash and Burn

I didn’t want to post this news until it became official, but since it’s out in the open now…for those of you who may not be aware, the culling has really begun over at the new KHNL/KGMB.

As I understand it, only two anchors made the cut.  Stephanie Lum and Mari-Ela David will be continuing on with News 8.  Minna Sugimoto is the only reporter to make the cut.    All other anchors, reporters, and the majority of the photography staff (save two) will be laid off.  How many people that is, I’m not sure, but it’s most likely close to twenty, or twenty-five. Don’t quote me on that, though.

On the KGMB side, so far only one news photog has been laid off.  More cuts will surely follow this week.

Good luck to those newly unemployed.  More news below.

Click Here to go to The Honolulu Advertiser.

The Fate of the Film Office/Plan B

Hawaii State Capitol

For those of you who might have missed it, there was a hearing this morning at the State Capitol, about the possible effects of the elimination of the State Film Office, as well as a number of other CBED (Community Based Economic Development) programs.

It was standing room only, as a group of local film and video professionals crowded into the meeting room on the second floor of the State Capitol building, many of them there to testify on behalf of The State Film Office, and it’s Commissioner, Donne Dawson.

Reel Hawaii:Lychee Thieves

Tim Ryan’s been busy.  Another update on Lychee Thieves on his blog.

Click Here to go to Tim Ryan’s Reel Hawaii.

Canon 7D

You’re looking at the newest camera in Canon’s DSLR line up:  The Canon 7D.  As I understand it, it’s basically the sucessor to the very popular Canon 5d Mk.2, and is, for the most part, a new camera, from the ground up.   You can check out the specs here.

The thing that interests me, and most likely will also interest you, isn’t it’s still picture capabilities — it’s the movie capture mode.  Or, mode(s), as it stands.  Because this new DSLR can capture moving pictures in a variety of frame rates, including 24/25/30 (23.978, 25, & 29.97) frames at 1080p, and 50(59.94) frames at 720p/480p, something the old Mk.2 wasn’t capable of.  You’ve also got full manual exposure control, another little thing the old Mk.2 didn’t come with (but was later added on via Firmware patch.)

Price point?  $1699 for the body, $1899 with lens…what lens no one knows for sure.  There’s some speculation that it will come with an update to the old 18mm-85mm/3.5 lens, but that remains to be seen.

The big thing for me (aside from the pretty decent price), is the addition of the various frame rates.  Big plus in my book.  30p does not look like 24p, and when you want a specific look, it’s hard to compromise.  Downside is the damn CMOS chip.  I know why it’s there, it’s cheaper, more energy efficient, etc…but the rolling shutter thing kills me.  A lot of people seem to feel that it’s not bad, but trust me, if you were to try and film-out something with rolling shutter artifacts, it would look like ass on a big screen.

Want to find out more?

Click Here to go to Gizmodo’s Review.