C2D Reviews @c2dreviews-blog - Tumblr Blog

Coachella 2017

The wife and I are again pitching Golden Voice to fund another one of our large scale art projects. This time we would be doing a major departure from our previous work with 2013′s “Power Station”, 2015′s “The Corporate Headquarters” and this summer’s NYC installation for The Panorama Festival. I’m not sure how we will ever top “The Corporate Headquarters” considering that piece received more press than I’ve ever received for anything I’ve ever worked on before. But we are up to the challenge. We should know if we get approval for our project in a month or so.

Oklahoma Earthquakes

I have recently been commissioned by the National Sierra Club to shoot a small documentary short series on Waste Water Disposal Wells and their ties to the Oklahoma Earthquakes. On average, and prior to 2009, Oklahoma used to experience about 2 earthquakes a year. Now they get at least 2 a day. I spent some time speaking with a variety of people throughout the state and it is truly horrifying what the Oil and Gas industry has done to the rural parts of Oklahoma. Recently Oklahoma was hit by a 5.8 earthquake that damaged and destroyed homes. People’s lives are being destroyed by a large industry that has a complete stronghold on their state. To say the least, it has been a humbling experience shooting this subject. I’ve been shooting solo, with no crew but myself. Setup has been a total bitch (and so much work) but I’ve been getting some incredible stuff. I’ve been shooting with the Red Epic Dragon and my set of vintage Leica lenses. Content should be released soon.

Modern Studios

Having come from Oklahoma, one of the things I love about Los Angeles is the ability to get ANYTHING here. If I want Korean bar-b-que, I probably have over 100 choices at my disposal. If I need a high torque servo motor that spins at precisely 3 RPM and I need it today, I can get it. That makes the idea of living anywhere but LA, a difficult thing to comprehend. Although I yearn for the tall grass prairies of Oklahoma or the vast, open wilderness of Alaska, when it comes to endless supplies, diverse food and specialized tools, Los Angeles is the best there is. A lot of large scale artists and fabricators have finally discovered this secret about Los Angeles and are now flocking here in armies.

I currently drive a 2015 Forester. A 4x4 frame only fits in my car if it is placed at an angle. I love my car a lot, but I foolishly didn’t consider this when I bought it. I have a litany of 4x4 flags, cutters, scrims, and diffusion that awkwardly slides into my vehicle and takes up a lot of space. Once I found this out, I thought about trading the Forester or selling it. It’s big enough of a problem to effect me when I take on smaller jobs. Then last week I found Modern Studio Equipment in North Hollywood. Modern Studio Equipment manufactures and sells grip and rigging equipment. It his high quality stuff and they do it for CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP. And in addition to this, they will make you any size of frame you want, for free. That’s right, no charge for custom fabrication and no limits on quantity! This is amazing. I had them make me a pile of custom, 3′x 3.5′ flags for $35 a pop. They slide into my car perfectly now. In fact, I wasn’t sure which type of diffusion I wanted to get for my road kit and they went ahead and made me a variety of them anyway, so I could just pick which one I liked. My first experience with Modern Studio Equipment has been amazing and they have more than likely earned a lifelong customer. I cannot recommend them highly enough. http://modernstudio.com

#modernstudioequipment

INPUT/OUTPUT:

This is a fantastic bit of absurdist filmmaking by Terri Timely.

ALEXA STUDIO: Shooting with an Arri Alexa Studio on a soundstage at Hollywood Rentals. The Arri Alexa Studio has an optical viewfinder and rotating mirror shutter which captures motion exactly the way a film camera used to. This is Deakin’s camera of choice because he prefers optical viewfinders.

My Review Blog Begins...

For the past 10-15 years, I have been addicted to cinematography/filmmaking websites and blogs. There is a slippery slope between focusing solely on equipment acquisition to actually utilizing your equipment and creating great content (I am a proponent of the latter). I believe there is a healthy balance that must be achieved between the two. You must remain relevant and up to date with current technologies without spending so much time researching and acquiring equipment that you forget to actually get out there and create things. I’ll step up and admit it, I am definitely a gear head. I LOVE THE TOOLS OF CINEMA. And that isn’t ever going to go away. I love reading about new technologies and I always learn a lot about various pieces equipment with every shoot I go on. To start this blog off right, I have decided to list some of my favorite film/video production websites that I tend to frequent the most. Here are a list of the sites I frequent the most: http://nofilmschool.com My favorite website for indie filmmakers. If you had to choose one to read, this is it. It mixes theory with gear reviews, production tips with tutorials, and exclusive interviews with new product announcements. It’s almost too addictive. http://www.newsshooter.com My favorite gear website for documentary and run-n-gun equipment reviews. They always have extensive coverage on the latest products. These guys have their ear to the rail and always seem to know about new technologies the second they are announced. http://www.deakinsonline.com/forum2 The greatest cinematographer that ever lived has a forum? Yep. And he answers questions. This is like if you were a musical composer and you had access to Mozart just to pick his brain. I can’t believe Roger has this forum because the man must be insanely busy. It really speaks to the kind of man he is. He is one of the most generous, humble and brilliant artists living on the planet Earth.

http://www.eoshd.com Andrew Reid’s site for DSLR filmmakers. The reason I keep coming back to Andrew is because he’s not afraid to bash equipment manufacturers for getting lazy or crippling products. He can be ruthless with his reviews and critiques and I love that. He’s been cracking the whip at Canon for the past year and I wish more reviewers would take the stance that he has with some of the big players in the market. http://philipbloom.net This is Philip Bloom’s wonderful site. He got started in the online review game pretty early and his site really took off. He isn’t as active on his blog like he used to be, so I frequent it a bit less now, but his real world camera reviews are still the best in the business. I am a huge, huge fan of his camera reviews. He spends a lot of time and energy making his reviews and it shows. They are entertaining and extremely informative. He rarely ever resorts to charts and scientific test and instead shows how the camera performs in practical situations. http://cheesycam.com The MacGyver Filmmaker’s site. Fantastic site for low budget filmmakers that need to make all of they equipment out of tin foil and garbage ties. Seriously, this site is relentless in its pursuit to make a 5 million dollar movie on a budget of 3 bucks using nothing but scotch tape and crayons. https://www.cinema5d.com Great equipment reviews. And they often post camera and lens tests. http://www.4kshooters.net Another great equipment review site. http://www.indietips.com A great site that combines indie movie tips with tutorials and equipment reviews. This site has some amazing content and I look forward to exploring it more. I just found out about this one.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

C2D Reviews