All-In Film

This definitely had to be the highlight of the whole trip for me.  This event was about two months in the making and I was excited and nervous to see it all come together.  I put the event together with two Twitter friends (now real life friends too!) Rob Imbs and Justin Carlson.  We didn’t meet in person until this trip and it was so great to meet them, and I could not have pulled off the event without them.  We had some awesome headliners at the show including Rodney Charters, Shane Hurlbut, Vincent Laforet and Kevin Shahinian.  Philip Bloom was the first to sign on but got very sick and sadly could not attend.  In addition we had close to 150 people play in the event.  Some I knew through Twitter, and it was awesome to meet everyone in person.  We held the event at the Hard Rock Poker Lounge which is probably the most beautiful poker room in Vegas.  Very swanky.  I found the whole event to be somewhat chaotic for me, in terms of getting everyone in, dealing with prizes and such, but from what I could tell everyone had an awesome time and we look forward to doing it next year.  I certainly did not play my best game of poker as my head was in another place, but I was seated with some good people and we had a lot of fun.  In addition we gave away about $18,000 in prizes, generously donated by over a dozen sponsors, and (the biggest highlight) we raised $7500 for the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund.  This was much more than I expected and I couldn’t be more thrilled.  I saw lots of people taking video and pictures at the event and I hope to see and post some of them as they appear online.  But thank you everyone who helped make the event a success.

Before the cards started flying

Rodney Charters and Vincent Laforet

The winning hand

All-In Film winner Tom Eberts

Meetups

The general theme of NAB for most people was making connections and meeting people, and this was one of the biggest highlights.  I started using Twitter about a year ago, and there were probably 50 people that I “know” on Twitter who were attending NAB.  Several of them I have gotten to know pretty well online.  So having the opportunity to meet up in person was phenomenal.  It’s definitely funny to go up to people or have people approach you and start chatting like you’ve known each other for years.  People asked about my wife’s pregnancy and other stuff that I share online, which I think is pretty cool.  I imagine that pre-Twitter (or other social media) the NAB Show would have been quite different in terms of meeting people.  It sort of makes it easier to connect when you already know quite a few of the names and details about the people.  On my last night there 7 of us went out to a great dinner at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grille and had an amazing meal (the coffee rubbed filet mignon was like a religious experience).  I already can’t wait to see you all again next year, but am glad we have formats like Twitter to keep in touch.

The Show

Oh yeah, there was the show as well.  The NAB Show is beyond huge.  I walked into one of the several rooms on the first day and it was cameras and gear as far as the eye can see.  Truly a techno-geeks heaven.  It took me 2 days just to see what I wanted to see and I still didn’t see everything.  By the end, everything was kind of a blur of cameras and toys and such.  The two biggest themes at the show were 3-D and DSLR video.  I really didn’t care that much about 3-D (as I have discussed here) but there were some interesting demos and setups.  I think 3-D is here to stay so I am sure I will be shooting it soon enough for some projects, but I really hate those darn glasses, and while certain shots are quite cool I find it still a little blurry and not nearly as sharp as 2-D.  I am not sure if that is my vision or the technology, but I would take some good 2-D most of the time over 3-D.

Panasonic's 3-D setup

DSLRs were reigning supreme and almost every booth featured some sort of accessory for the DSLR filmmaker.  Having started shooting with the Canon 7D late last year, I am excited to see the growth of this market and think that companies like Canon will have to (and have begun to) start addressing some of the weaknesses of the cameras when it comes to filmmaking.  I watched some presentations by Laforet, Hurlbut and Bruce Dorn at the Canon booth where they showed the creme de la creme of what these cameras can do.  I drooled over the new Zeiss Compact Primes specifically designed for Canon DSLRs.  These slick lenses will have a price tag out of the range of what I am looking to spend now, but I know my local rental houses will carry these, which will be great for certain projects.

Prototype Zeiss zoom for Canon DSLRs

Having the chance to get hands on with virtually every manufacturer’s gear was great for helping to make informed purchasing decisions.  I really want a new field monitor for both my EX-1 and 7D and checked out Marshall, Ikan and SmallHD.  I ultimately decided on the new SmallHD DP-SLR.  Great image, lots of features and includes HDMI and HD-SDI.  I also wanted to check out a second tripod.  Something smaller than my Sachtler DV8 which could also go lower and higher.  I found a good Manfrotto combo that fit the bill.  I spent some time looking at the new Litepanels offerings.  Seriously considering adding one their 1×1 panels to my kit.  Very cool product.  They have some more expensive lights that will compete with bigger HMI lights and run quite cool in temperature.  I just think the whole LED lighting technology is quite amazing and look forward to the day of never having to overheat my set or talent with hot lights.

My buddy Bill Parker checking out a Litepanel Ring Lite

Fujinon/RED setup. Lots of pretty girls posing at the show.

Joseph Stunzi working the crowded Zacuto booth

A disheveled self-portrait

Vegas

I love Vegas.  It is great for about 48 hours until the ringing of the slot machines starts to get to you.  I wanted to go around and do some shooting on the strip and in nearby Red Rock Canyon but really didn’t get a chance.  It was fun to hang out with new friends though at the poker and blackjack tables and some of the cool bars and restaurants and talk shop.  I am definitely planning to return to NAB next year and will hopefully be running the 2nd Annual All-In Film!

I have always been a little weary of whether I could even view 3-D properly.  You know those pictures that are supposed to pop out at you if you look at them the right way?  I have never achieved that effect, despite much time spent staring and concentrating.  Apparently my eyes (I think they call it binocular vision) just won’t produce that image.  And earlier 3-D technology was the same way for me, never really popping out the way people sitting next to me said it would.  But I knew that the technology had improved so I figured I’d check it out.

As far as I could tell the 3-D in Avatar DID work for me.  While I never felt that the characters were sitting in my lap or that I wanted to reach out to try to touch what I was seeing, I did see images emerging from the 2-D space.  I would say, though, that it took me about 10-15 minutes of the film to settle into “how” to view the film, and I felt myself getting a little headache at the beginning.  Long story short (as I don’t want to make this a review of Avatar), the 3-D was cool, but I left the theater feeling that it did not greatly enhance my viewing experience.  If felt a little gimmicky to me.

Now I don’t want to sound like some antiquated techno-phobe.  I am far from that.  I LOVE new technology in the video field, and I try to embrace and use new tools as early as possible.  I think, for the most part, advances in video imaging have really increased the viewing experience, as well as my enjoyment of producing these images.  I just feel that 3-D is one of those things that does NOT need to become the norm.  I know when HD came out, I looked at it as the holy grail, and a VERY expensive acquisition format, and now I have been producing at least 85% of my content in HD for the last few years, and shooting in some flavor of HD for about 5 years.  But I look at 3-D and hope this does not become as prevalent in the tv/movie world as HD.  Several tv networks are starting to build and roll out 3-D channels, and camera companies are starting to design 3-D rigs.  Panasonic has developed this 3-D camera at a relatively affordable $21K.

So why don’t I like this?  Well last night I turned on the Grammy Awards for a few minutes, just in time for the tribute to the late, great Michael Jackson.  Right before the song they said to put on your 3-D glasses, and a little icon reminder appeared in the lower corner.  Well, as it turns out, I don’t have a pair of 3-D glasses?  Do you?  So I sat and watched what I dubbed as “No-D” as a blurry Celine Dion and then many other famous singers came on the screen.  My nice HD plasma screen suddenly looked like crap.

Basically I don’t want to have to wear glasses to watch tv.  Many people already need some sort of corrective lenses, but they probably don’t want to have to put on additional glasses to view 3-D content.  Can they make 3-D TVs that don’t require glasses?  I don’t know.  But either way I am not sure I really need to feel THAT connected to my television.  I imagine some content would probably be neat in 3-D but I don’t think I need to feel like Al Roker is popping out of my television set.

While it would probably be interesting to shoot some 3-D footage for specific projects, I don’t think it needs to be the norm for all production.  I imagine the equipment and post-processing load would be greatly increased, and I have yet to experience all the merits of 3-D.  Will it become as ubiquitous as HD is now?  I don’t know, time will tell.

I would love to hear your comments though on this issue.