If you haven’t heard, and follow this story, the movie was picked up at Sundance by Fox Searchlight Pictures a couple of days ago. I hope that the press coverage, with the images we did, helped this project along to get recognized by the right people.

I even got my first NY Post reprint (interesting how this lines up with Fox Searchlight), if that pushed, it i’m extremely pleased with the outcome.

So congratulations to Gavin, the producers and the whole crew, and especially the actors, who barely had time to hold for a minute for stills (thanks).

You all probably worked as hard as i ever seen somebody, sleep deprived, but always cordial and nice.

It’s official: Gavin Wiesen’s directorial debut made it in.

My first movie that i shot stills and portraits during the whole shoot.

With such a fantastic cast and crew we can only hope it makes it big next year, so stay tuned and come to Utah. But please don’t break a leg, as i did for our friend Steven Sebring and his doc about Patti Smith in 2008 (which worked by the way, but i still suffer today, so don’t don’t).

See you out West…

And while getting serious about the moving image it becomes clear that sound needs to become it’s own item.

Not only does it alow to mix the image seperate from ther sound track, the sound quality is so much better, due to much less and better compression on the audio recorders.
It really is a different Element, that needs serious consideration and equipment.
And with the input from my shoot as stiil photographer on the set of “Homework” i got a serious headstart into this not so new field (My dad was a sound engineer and is a huge Jazz collector, so i kind of grew up behind a mixing board).

Again a nice amount amount of reseach was helpfull (and online resources can point very much in the right direction, but real world feedback is still the best, so thank you, Pro-Sound New York).

I rented the Zoom h4n and the Sennheiser M66/K6, both great units, form them for a test. While i liked the mic, even that it was on the dry side (Think Zeiss lenses) i wasn’t in love with the recorder. The XLR plugs don’t have a secure lock and after researching a bit i came across the Tascam DR-100 which a lot of people like better.
I wanted to up the quality and got a Marantz PMD-661, upgraded by the Oade brothers with better components. That is twice the price of the others but the sound is fantastic.
We also got Rode NTG-2 mics for boom (to the PMD) and on camera with a XLR to
stereo plug. The reason for Rode, great reviews, “cheap” and Phantom and AA power.

We also got the Rode Stereo video mic for room sound, that i personally hate, the base level of the noise is too high (hissing, think grain). Also, forget the build in mics of the Canons, Marantz PMD or any other handheld recorder for anything but emergency backup. The noise of actually just holding the unit actually gets recorded, so put it on a stand and just turn it on if you have to.

Oh, another necessary thing is to get is a nice set of headphones, Sony MDR 7506 seems the standard on movie sets, and that’s what we use now.

Our whole kit, PMD-661 ($650), 2 Rode NTG-2 ($250 each), 1 Rode SVM ($250), 1 Sony headphones ($95) and a couple of cables, rechargeable AA batteries and SD cards (probably $150), total $1645 for audio (Lav mics, to pin on, we rent as needed).

Getting just a small recorder, like the Tascam DR-100 ($300) and Rode NTG-2 with headphones gets you in the door for around $750 (cables, SD and batteries).

As for top of the crop recorders there’s Sound Devices, but that’s a very different category.

If you’re in NY, talk to Pro Sound or Abel Cine, both great outfits with very deep knowledge, a movie background and equipment to demo and rent.

As for shooting, the best option is obviously to work with a pro sound guy, but in a pinch (and a doc we’re working on right now) we do it ourselves with great results, but it needs to be monitored all the time, juts like the camera…

After doing research online and reading all the reviews I could get my hands on, testing equipment from Fotocare and Able cinema we got around to put a nice and small system together for better camera handling while shooting moving images with the Canon 5D.

What I do find interesting is that the Movie Directors of Photography keep the cameras and accessories small, with prime lenses and very little other equipment, maybe a loupe, maybe a small LCD.

But the still photographers try to add everything possible to the unit, large Matt boxes, a separate audio recorder with shotgun mics and huge shoulder rigs in addition to the loupe and monitor.

The last resulting in the most comical contraption that’s unwieldy and takes up huge amount of space to transport, rig and move around. Kind of defying the purpose of the small unit with incredible image quality.
The solution that I prefer is a simple Redrock rig with two handles upfront and a simple gun stock, while the camera gets a Zacuto loupe mounted on the small LCD.
I could see adding a 7″ Marshall LCD at some point, especially when shooting from a tripod.
But I really like the feeling of the handheld shooting, conveying and more engaging with an immediate point of view.

A great addition to the still image, i can see this mixing well on the iPad and web editions of stories all the while keeping the feel and perspective very close.

Emma Roberts and Freddie Highmore on the Poster for the new movie Homework

This just in, during my month on the set i got some great photographs. And the shot of Emma Roberts and Freddie Highmore along with a NYC scape made it to become the poster (or One Sheet in movie land dialect).

Now we just need national and international distribution for which the film will be showcased in Cannes, France this week.

Wasn’t there something like this not too long ago. Radio survived and that’s a good thing.

Now video is again at it, and the photo world seems to discover a new calling. Only, isn’t there something like a Director of Photography (who are great photographers themselves) on every film set. Nobody is waiting for the still photographers to come and reinvent the wheel. The DP’s are taking the small DSLRS and shoot footage previously unable or only obtainable with very difficult rigging. Maybe that’s the convergence of technologies. And it will be interesting finally and really incorporating editorial photography with video, at least to an extend…

My prediction: Still photography will come out of this even stronger than before. It’s hard to hang a movie or video on the wall, and moving images will enhance and add to the still portfolio in any publication (once we all have an iPad).

People will go back to actually capturing a moment rather than spending days reviewing, developing and editing RAW RED footage… In the end it’s all about the efficient method to get to the final product.

The Hampton film festival, what a surprise. I have to go there more often. Besides the panel yesterday, I’m again very impressed with a movie.

“Learning from Light”, which photographer wouldn’t want to see this, is a documentary on the great architect I.M. Pei and the construction of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar.

Besides the introduction to his creative process and research, the difficulties of the construction itself, it was a fantastic revelation of one of the greatest minds of our time. And I loved his devotion and observation of light, it’s quality; the appreciation of the singularity of sunlight and the usage of simplistic shapes, along with his humor and Great Spirit.

Mr. Pei himself being present for this world premiere topped all of this. What a treat on a Sunday morning…

Now if I could watch this in HD. Somebody has to pick this up for distribution.

And I would really like to photograph him…

Our great friend Alysse Bezahler was part of a panel of Movie and TV producers at the Hampton Film festival today, discussing the efforts of making movie productions more environmentally friendly.

And I really think there’s a lot that still photo productions can learn. From exclusive digital communication and file exchange in the production phase to renting Hybrid’s, renting equipment so it can be reused, using low power lighting solutions. To cutting down is disposable everything from foam core to foam cups, water bottles etc., and asking suppliers for “greener” and recycled products in general.

More ideas are here:

http://www.pgagreen.org

I’m happy that we implemented already a great deal of these ideas, from preproduction mostly done online; to the actual digital shoot, which requires less equipment, no chemicals and smaller crews; to digital file delivery versus the trusty world wide courier system.

And nice side effect was that productions also saved money implementing these changes, something that entirely makes sense.