Production Research "The Art of Flight"

The film I am doing my production research on is on debatably the best snowboard film ever made from a production standpoint. The film is called "The Art of Flight." The film was made by Brain Farm Digital Cinema in association with Red Bull Media House. Brain Farm is an Elite Turn-Key production house out of Jackson, Wyoming that specializes in aerial cinematography and action sport productions (http://brainfarmcinema.com/).

Brain Farm's President and CEO is good buddies with Travis Rice, who is probably the best back country snowboarder in the world. They teamed up to make this film. They had to pick a crew of professional snowboarders that would be patient with their tedious production tasks and who would get along with Travis Rice. My Focus on this research is basically what this crew had to go through to get all their equipment up on the mountain to film all these incredible shots that they got for this film. According to the behind the scenes it was really tough being a professional snowboarder who just wants to ride ride ride, to wait wait wait for the crew to get cameras set up and all the gear in place. But a few of the riders said that working with this crew is pretty much top of the line in the snowboarding world.

First I want to talk about equipment. The Art of Flight has bonus features where there is a whole section on the behind the scenes of this movie, and that is where I am getting most of my information from. As far as cameras go, almost 100% of the time they were filming with a Cineflex, which is an extremely expensive camera that most people use to stick underneath helicopters to get extraordinary aerial footage. They also have a Red One camera, two Varicams, and a phantom flex. Those are the big guns that they have, thats not to mention all the DSLR's that some of the crew usually had along to take photos and behind the scene videos. Other equipment they have is a great big jib arm that was probably at least 12 ft long. They would truck that up the mountain via snowmobile usually to get great shots. also they have a Ford F-250 Diesel truck in which they were able to trade the tire for snowtrack systems where they could drive the truck through the halfpipe and through other hardpacked snow. They also have one of those big 4-wheeler side-by-sides which they were also able to put snowtracks on. That's not even the cool part. They were able to mount the cineflex camera on an articulating arm on top of the truck and the side-by-side to get these super steady shots. Oh yeah and the truck is equipped with a 17" LCD monitor that is built in the dash of the truck, where the passenger can remotely run and operate the Cineflex camera all from the inside of the truck http://www.brainfarmcinema.com/cinema_truck.aspx).
Oh yeah, and you cant watch more than a minute of the film without seeing a shot that was filmed from a helicopter. There was a sequence filmed in Alaska where they had a bush plane and a helicopter to ferry the riders up the mountain, and a helicopter just to film out of. Talk about a budget. They also had access to a mini heli in which they mounted the phantom camera to.

Now that they have all of this fancy equipment, Brain Farm has to find a way to utilize all of this fancy stuff. According to the behind the scenes they would sometimes have 15 cameras with like 7 crew members to operate them. Its one thing to use this equipment in the studio or at warm temperatures for that matter, but to be outside in the snow halfway up a mountain takes some strong guys who have to know what they are doing. Its one thing just to keep yourself warm and energized out in the snow like that, but to also have to haul equipment and film these professional snowboarders is a completely different story. Some of the snowboarders joked that after they got one shot they were done for the season. They said that there was sooo much work into getting one shot that they didnt want to put in the work to get another one. Some of the crew said it was basically a logistical nightmare getting all this gear  up and down the mountain. But they all said in the end, the product was totally worth the work.

This research doesn't focus on just one specific part of production like on a feature length film, this is an overall look at a small crews production tasks. Curt Morgan, Owner and CEO of Brain Farm was the Director, the Editor, cameraman and DP for a lot of the shots that they got. The film has the look and feel of a major Hollywood production, actually it looks better than that. The shots that this crew was able to get was absolutely spectacular. Brain Farm actually made a snowboard film in 2008 titled "That's it That's All" that ESPN claimed as the most visually stunning action sports film ever  ( http://artofflightmovie .com/). Its funny because Curt Morgan and Travis Rice say in the behind the scenes that "That's it That's All" was more like an on-the-job training for "The Art of Flight." 

APP Review "Frameographer"

I chose Frameographer as my mobile application to review. Frameographer is an application that allows the user to shoot and export high definition timelapse videos using your mobile phone camera. The app is very useable, it has a really simple interface that makes it easy to use for just about anybody. As far as sustainability goes, this app only allows you to export the video in 720 HD. There are other apps that will export out at 1080p, which puts frameographer a bit behind in that regard. Some good things about this app is that you can lock the exposure by simply touching which part of the frames exposure you want to lock the exposure at right on your phones viewer. Here is a link to frameographers app store page, where you can see the interface and kinda get a feel for how the app works: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/frames-time-lapse-stop-motion/id503347879?mt=8

The app costs $2.99, and it is probably worth it for somebody who is into timelapse photography like myself. It is very handy incase you see that gorgeous sun setting and you dont have your dslr on you.

here is a link to my youtube page where I have posted a small compilation of timelapses I have taken with the app

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMJUPcP8Roc&context=C4555e13ADvjVQa1PpcFMKzeZwnGHeEK5e8FnKNAewBN1v82I02ug=

St George Hard news story

After trying to follow 2 ambulances to a scene this is the hardest news i could find to meet the deadline. 

I am embaraased to say that I saw a cop make a regular traffic stop and i caught it just in time as he was finishing up writing her ticket. Everything was shot on my iphone as fast as i could get out of my truck and shoot a couple of shots before he left. The photos were touched up in Iphoto. Please note that i will be on the lookout for more hard news to make up for this lack there of take.  

gas editorial photo

Portable Video camera convergence

Bell and Howell was one of the first companies to make a "portable video camera" back in the 1930's (http://www.bellhowell.com/). However, back then the definition of "portable video camera" was much different than  now. The camera weighed at least five pounds and was even bigger than what some cinema cameras are these days.

 Now the average portable video camera is no bigger than an Iphone and takes great 1080p video. GoPro pretty much runs the market on action sport cameras these days, but if they aren't careful they may lose their edge.

With the advancing technology of smartphone and tablet software, Action Sport Cameras are FINALLY beginning to integrate and use each other! The Iphone and the Android phones were released and we are just beginning to see the potential that they have. Just recently action sport cameras thought they were cool if they had a remote control that could start and stop the camera wirelessly. Then, GoPro came a long with a great idea and thought hmmmm maybe we can play off of these smartphones and use that as a remote control to stop and start the camera. GoPro is now in the process of releasing their WiFi backpack, and what i mean by "in the process" is the tantalizing update on their website that said it was going to be released in february, then it moved to March, and now it is moved to April. I think i actually know why they keep pushing back the date, well, at least i hope i do. You see, GoPro's WiFi Backpack enables the user to download an App on their Iphone, tablet, or computer and wirelessly pause or record their camera through their smart device. The user can also start and stop up to 50 GoPro cameras at once.  The other cool thing about the new convergence between GoPro camera and smartphone is live wireless video streaming. This means that wherever ones device can pick up WiFI, it can stream the video from the GoPro straight to the smart device and then to the web (http://gopro.com/hd-hero-accessories/wi-fi-bacpac-remote-combo/). When GoPro announced this feature it was huge! This would be the first consumer grade video camera that can be run via smartphone or device. Unfortunately, GoPro missed a couple easy upgrades that would make this new convergence even better.

Gobandit is another brand of action sport portable video camera that is working on smartphone convergence. But they looked at the obvious lack their of feature that most action sport cameras dont have, which is a freaking VIEWFINDER! Gobandit is playing off of GoPro's idea and making it even better by making an app for a smartphone that not only allows one to use the smartphone as a remote but it allows the user to use the nice little 3 point whatever inch by who the hell knows what awesome LCD screen that most people carry in their pocket (Cell Phone) and wirelessly use that third or fourth screen as a VIEWFINDER for the Gobandit camera (http://gobandit.com/iphone.html)!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank Joseph Smith or whoever that a camera company has finally figured out how to utilize this! If only now the DSLR cameras would make a cord that would go from the camera to an Ipod or Ipad so we could use that third or fourth screen as an external monitor. The app also allows the user to playback the video they recorded on their third or fourth screen!

This is why i think GoPro is putting off the release of their Wifi Backpack. I think they are trying to figure out how to make their camera use a smartphone or an Ipad as an external monitor or viewfinder, or so i hope. From my point of view this is the definition of the whole convergence idea. Making smartphones, computers, and cameras and whatnot all be able to communicate with each other! This is where our society is heading and man i cant wait for this to be mainstream. The main thing I am looking forward to is using my Ipad as an external monitor for my new Canon 5d mark III, that i am hopefully going to get haha. With all the other cool shit we can do, it only makes sense to be able to go through and make something like that happen. We just have to remember, that third and fourth screens are relatively new, and we havent even come close to finding their full potential.