Cinevate is running a DSLR contest between now and January 14th, 2010. To enter, just creatively recreate a scene from a popular movie in one minute or less and upload. Three winners will be chosen in the following categories: Cinematography, Sweat Equity, Humour. Each will win a brand spankin new DSLR rig dubbed “Uno” and worth $680 USD. If you aren’t sure how to approach the contest, take a look at Cinevate’s sample entry, embedded below.

DSLR Contest - Cinevate’s Uno DSLR from Cinevate on Vimeo.

DV’s got a review of the Convergent Design nanoFlash. Haven’t seen a ton of reviews on this little device (maybe because it’s so pricey). Check it out.

Red Digital Cinema has released some footage shot on the new Mysterium-X sensor (housed in a Red One body). It’s a short clip of a lobster from a 4.5K source, downrezzed to a 2K ProRes LT mov, reportedly shot on an (as yet) unknown lens at 800 ISO, T8, 1/48th, with daylight-balanced lighting, and untouched in post. The hive mind is pleased.

As an aside, I wish I could use the phrase “snappy the lobster” in more blog posts. :-)

Following the premiere episode of Kenn Bell’s MacMediaTech podcast, I once again joined several other filmmakers in Episode 2 to discuss three topics…in this case, Workflow, Movies & HD DSLRs. Guests for this podcast included myself Matt Jeppsen, Chris Gearhart, Kevin Vanhook, and of course host Kenn Bell.

We all take turns talking about our varied post-production workflow requirements and processes, dish a few opinions on some of 2009’s movies, and dig into DSLRs for HD video acquisition. In addition, Chris spent some time talking about how Red’s new Epic and Scarlet announcements will affect his Red rental and upgrade strategy (Chris runs LakeView Productions, operating and renting several Red packages in the Chicago area). You can subscribe to the podcast directly here.

Some months ago, Stu Maschwitz, David Nelson, and Vincent LaForet, and a small group of DV Rebels shot a proof-of-concept short film on a pre-production Canon 1DMKIV DSLR. Shortly following it’s release online, it was pulled (presumably at the request of Canon). Well, apparently Canon is ready to show it off again, as Nocturne is now back online. Vincent’s blog has details and watch links. There’s also a short behind the scenes clip.

Over at PVC I’ve posted a little blog post entitled Everything is Amazing (and Nobody is Happy). Read it, and this holiday season remember to give thanks for all the awesome filmmaking tools we have access to.

Frequent Reduser contributor Sanjin Jukic has posted a quick and dirty Red One vs Canon 7D comparison video that shows how each handles a chart that brings out moiré artifacts. If you aren’t sure what moiré is, or are still figuring out how to work around those issues when shooting HD with DSLRs, take a look at this video.

R1vs7D 02 Moire-test from Sanjin Jukic on Vimeo.

Over at Reduser, Jim Jannard has posted a few framegrabs from the in-development Mysterium-X S35 sensor for EPIC, which will essentially replace the Red One Mysterium sensor. It is presumably the same sensor tech that will go into an S35 Scarlet body. He’s posted frame grabs from 500, 1000, and 4000 ISO. From my eye (on a still image, mind you) the 1000 ISO framegrab looks very clean.

It’s Friday…not like you were going to get anything done today, right? Great, then watch this little bit of meme-y goodness.

*sigh*
Maybe someday I’ll get that magic enhance button…

Several weeks ago, military mixed-media documentarian Tyler Ginter posted a video clip shot partially with the Canon 1D Mark IV camera. The clip was shot using available light in a very low-light environment (note that parts of the clip are also shot with the 5D MKII, using an infrared rig). It’s a good example of the stellar high-sensitivity potential of the new MK4 camera. Settings and other notes available here in this blog post by Tyler.

Night Combat Equipment Airborne Jump from Tyler Ginter on Vimeo.

And here’s another one that was posted just in the last few days, entitled Singapore Night Drive. Notes on camera settings and light limitations can be found here.

1DmkIV - Singapore night drive from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

Via @TylerGinter and @DSLRinformer

Experienced editor Scott Simmons shares his tips for “edit suite etiquette” and the list is fantastic. From OS/software suggestions to things as simple as clean up your desk, he nails it. Great post.

The LA Times is reporting that Paramount plans to launch a new filmmaking division that concentrates on so-called “micro-budget” features, that is, films budgeted at less than $100,000 USD.

“The as-yet-unnamed division plans to finance as many as 20 “micro-budget” movies annually starting in 2010, according to people familiar with the studio’s plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because the formal announcement has not been made. A current Paramount executive will run the business, but the selection has not yet been revealed publicly. Funds for the movies — no more than $2 million total annually — will be part of Paramount’s existing production budget. The division does not plan to acquire completed movies at film festivals and markets.”

What’s interesting is that apparently not all of these 20 projects will be released in theaters…apparently some will serve as sort of a proof-of-concept for a director or new talent, and some may be re-made later with a larger budget. Others may merit theatrical release. To me, it sounds less like a movie division, and more of a development greenhouse for new talent and ideas. We shall see how it all plays out…

Ripple Training’s Steve Martin has written an AWESOME tutorial that thoroughly delves into Final Cut Pro’s new slow motion and speed ramping toolset. With FCP7 there are a number of changes to the interface, as well as new features, and Steve lays everything out in detail. It’s a great way to get caught up on this new toolset that can save you editing time and deliver better results. This one is definitely worthy of bookmarking and revisiting as you learn how to use these improved features.

Freelance Switch has some good tips on scheduling regular rate increases, and how to communicate that with your faithful clients.

30 Seconds to Mars new music video is out for the track “Kings and Queens.” It was apparently shot with an interesting mashup of video cameras. As many as eight Canon 7D DSLRs were used to capture HD video of the performance and other primary sequences. A Red One camera was (only) used to capture certain sequences at 48fps and 100fps. And finally, the Phantom camera was used for a select few slow-motion shots (which will be obvious upon viewing the video).

Thirty Seconds To Mars - Kings + Queens - HD

30 Seconds to Mars | MySpace Music Videos

A unique mix of technologies in this video. What’s most interesting to me is that I am beginning to see the look of the Canon DSLR’s in footage…the bicycle riding shots in this footage appear to exhibit a bit of jello on some closeups, and have that DSLR look to them (almost as if they are largely ungraded). But what surprised me was the band performance shots; I would have guessed the Red was used for those shots, but they were apparently all captured on 7D. I say that not because I assume the 7D isn’t capable of that footage, I just figured that if they had a Red rental, the 1st unit would have used it in that sequence. There is a thread over at Cinema5D started by the 2nd unit director, that’d be a good place for any further discussion on this video and the tech used to tell the story.