First peek at RED camera

Cinematographer James Mathers reviews the RED camera for Studio Daily.

Ken Burns likes these documentaries

Dave Gilson interviews Ken Burns in Mother Jones magazine.

"I watch as many documentaries as I can," says Ken Burns, whose seven-part, 14-hour World War II epic The War starts on pbs September 23. "We are really in the golden age of documentaries right now." Some of his recommendations of classic films and filmmakers worth seeking out:

1 Robert Flaherty's groundbreaking Arctic silent Nanook of the North (1922)

2 John Grierson's Night Mail (1936): "A beautiful film that followed the mail from Edinburgh, Scotland, to London, England. Just an amazing black-and-white film."

3 Frederick Wiseman and John Marshall's Titicut Follies (1967): "Still one of the best cinema vérité films of all time."

4 Albert and David Maysles' rockumentary Gimme Shelter (1970)

5 Errol Morris, director of The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War: "I loved Errol Morris from the very beginning. I think he's one of our great filmmakers."

6 Jeff Blitz's Spellbound (2002): "Amazing film about a spelling bee— who thought you could be at the edge of your seat worrying about that?"

7 Michael Moore: "You'd obviously want to study Michael Moore to understand how propaganda works."

Ken Burns Interview

Dave Gilson interviews Ken Burns in Mother Jones magazine. Burns talks about his style:

"My style has eight elements: four oral and four visual. The visual would be the interviews, the footage, the live cinematography, and the still photographs. The oral dimensions are the third-person narration—"the voice of God"—the first-person chorus of voices, assorted readers, and then a complicated sound effects track to complement authentic music. Each one of my films engages these in varying degrees, so they seem to be radically different, you know? To those who say they're the same, I have to remind them of the diversity and the authenticity of the style."

Eizo monitor for HD video

Eizo Flexscreen: A good monitor for HD post production and for editing still photographs.

The colors are excellent, and the resolution is high enough to allow "pixel for pixel" mapping of the HD signal. The price is very good when compared to other HD monitors on the market.

As with all monitors, it should be calibrated regularly -- every 4-8 months for home use, once every month for professional use.

Tor: Anonymity online

From the Tor site:

Tor: anonymity online

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Tor is a software project that helps you defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security. Tor protects you by encrypting your communications and bouncing them around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the Internet's TCP protocol.

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world use Tor for a wide variety of reasons: journalists and bloggers, human rights workers, law enforcement officers, soldiers, corporations, citizens of repressive regimes, and just ordinary citizens. See the overview page for a more detailed explanation of what Tor does, why this diversity of users is important, and how Tor works.

Digital Cinema Society

The Digital Cinema Society is the "go to" place for news on the latest developments in the world of high-end digital cinema.

Contributors are mostly working cinematographers in the motion picture industry.

DCS is a good source for no-nonsense camera evaluations and technical tips. Membership highly recommended.

Annual Membership Dues: $30 US

Membership Benefits include:

•A monthly eNewsletter covering the latest developments in Digital Cinema technology and techniques.
•DCS networking events, seminars and educational classes.
•Streaming web access to DCS activities.
•Access to the Digital Cinema Society’s on-line Q&A forum, classifieds, job boards, and a database of members’ resumes and services.
•Screenings, including new major digital releases and members’ own digitally created content.
•Discounts and special offers on products, trade publications, industry events and professional services.

Digital Cinema Solutions -- the documentary

Digital Cinema Solutions, a documentary about all aspects of digital cinema is available for $5 shipping and handling, here.

The documentary was produced and directed by cinematographer James Mathers, founder of the Digital Cinema Society.