Making Ugly

June 23rd, 2011 | Cinematography | Comments Off

This is the Trailer for Making Ugly,  a Low Budget Thriller that I acted as cinematographer on. It is to be released this summer.

Making Ugly was shot on the Sony EX3 and was all handheld. Director Andrew Niblo and Producer Mara Adina and Dara Carroll

Her is its IMDB profile:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1909802/

RSA review

January 10th, 2011 | Editing | 0 Comments

THe RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) asked me to edit a short video to promote their 2010 activities. Here is the concept video for this production:

Sony PMW-F3 review

December 16th, 2010 | Cinematography, Review | 0 Comments

For those of us that are familiar with Sony’s EX range of cameras and using DOF adapters well now we have the camera that does it all, the Sony PMW-F3. And I must say what a beautful piece of kit this is.

The menu and buttons are pretty much the same as an EX1 and EX3, so no need to re learn a whole manual to set up your personal profiles for those specific jobs.

The technical bits:

Sensor: super 35mm

The F3 in HD records at 4:2:0 35mb/s and shoots the 24p/25p/30p and relative interlaced options.

At 720 50p and 60p and overcranks and undercranks in 720p from 1fps to 60fps.

However, you still wil require a Nano-Flash or Ki-Pro to get up to the 50mb/s  4:2:2 for Broadcast standards.

The camera has a PL mount with adapters being available for other mounts. Apparently Sony will be releasing a package with a 35, 50 and 85mm lens. But this will set you back £14,000

Apparently there is also a feature to sync two f3s together for 3D if that is your bag.

Here are some films shot on the F3:

Directed by Martin Scanlan and filmed by Steve Lawes

By Thomas Ozoux:

By Jason Wingrove

Because of the cost of this camera I can see it as being a Rental favourite for productions with a reasonable budget, Visual Impact are currently quoting £250 per day for camera and basic lens package.

Downfalls though: Still operates at 35mbs so you will still need nano flash etc to get up to that 50mbs. The viewfinder is of the poney tail variety (Hanging off the back), so an exteral monitor is required for shoulder mount. The balance and design is not really for handheld/shoulder so will require a seperate shoulder mount and even then the weight is really pushed forwards. It costs £10,000, without lenses.

I love the feel of this camera it has that solid Sony feel and surely will become the preference over the RED ONE if you work around the 35MBS by recording externally.

Also watch out for the Sony AVCHD NXCAM coming out next year. and the Panasonic AG-AF101 which is aimed at those with smaller budgets, these are aimed diectly at the DSLR users amongst us.

Making Ugly

November 23rd, 2010 | Cinematography, Film, Productions | 0 Comments

Making Ugly is an Independent Feature film from the northern film company Squarebox Yellow, filmed across Edinburgh and London.

I acted as Director of Photography on this feature film for the London Unit. Shooting on the Sony EX3 we filmed in and around some of East London’s most atmospheric locations.

http://makingugly.com/

Making Ugly is due for release in 2011.

Using the EX3 handheld it gave a great grittiness to the feel of the film.

The Hypnotist

November 23rd, 2010 | Cinematography, Productions | 0 Comments

The Hypnotist is a film that I was asked to shoot in the early stages of my cinematography career for writer/director John Crewe. It was shot on the Sony Z1 and extensively uses Glidecam for shots running through the forest.

The film has since been doing the festival circuits.