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/

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 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 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.

Saathi are one of The Railway Children’s partners in Mumbai. They provide day and night shelters for street children. One of their initiatives, that Railway Children funds, is a scheme to get children to leave their life on the streets and return back home. media4charity was asked to make a video that aided in a pitch to raise funds from a large sponsor to support this scheme

The films production:

Initially this film was scripted and was to be based around the first boy that appears in the video. However, while filming I learnt that a family was coming to pick up their son. I had to then make the decision to switch the film around and focus more on this boy.

Here is the story of that boy:

At the age of 12 his father died and he was pulled out of education so that he could earn money for the family. He could not handle this responsibility and ran away to Mumbai. Here he begged at the station and was picked up by an orphanage.

At the orphanage he was sexually abused by older children and ran away again to the station. At the age of 14 Saathi finally got involved with his case. After much effort and building up of trust he told Saathi his story and where he was from, he did not want to return home because of the shame he would face.

Saathi then became the middle person, coaxing him that being with his family was the best thing for him, he then agreed to return home and Saathi made contact with his family. What you see in the film is his mother, sister, uncle and grandfather coming to pick him up.

When he returns home Saathi will monitor his situation and ensure that he returns back into education. A happy ending to this story, but without the help of this scheme, many young children end up living on the streets and endure a life of malnutrition, poverty and abuse. Without proper guidance they are venerable and many become the victims of sexual abuse and resort drugs, glue sniffing and alcohol to hide their pain.

This is why early intervention from organisations like The Railway Children and Saathi is so important.