MedSpring Commercial

Actors: Blair Benson & Jason Martorino
Producer: Toronto Picture Company
Director: Aveek Mansur
Audio: Alex Poutiainen
Makeup: Amy Liz
PA: Grace Bogaert, Anna Davis & Alex Poutiainen,

Simple Mobile – Zombies Love Simple

Commercial for Simple Mobile! How to negotiate with zombies!!

Actors: Noemi Salamon, Allan Michael Brunet, Sarina Paris, Nicole Rodin and Vaida Simonavicius.
Producer: Toronto Picture Company
Director: Aveek Mansur
Audio: Alex Poutiainen
Makeup: Amy Liz
Crew: Jonathan Duder (Mr. Indispensable)

Simple Mobile – Weather Report

Commercial for Simple Mobile! Accents are Canadian. I didn’t always remember that Americans say [mobil] and not [mobaail].

Actors: Allan Michael Brunet, Blair Benson
Producer: Toronto Picture Company
Director: Aveek Mansur
Audio: Alex Poutiainen
Makeup: Amy Liz
PA: Anna Davis, Jonathan Duder, Grace Bogaert, Jason Martorino

Sony NEX-FS700 review

I lied. This is not exactly a review by me as I’ve yet to touch the product. But here are some highlights

For Slow Motion lovers
- FPS: 1 to 960
Did you read that??? 1 to 960 fps. Continuous shooting is possible at 60fps at 1080P. You can shoot in bursts for playbacks of up to 80 seconds from 120fps to 480fps at 1080P. For higher fps than that the resolution is lower.

For Canon DSLR users
Mounts are available so you can use your existing Canon lenses on this brilliant, brilliant camera. Mounts are also available for Nikkor lens owners

Auto iris and focus available. Check out the video below if you want to know what I mean. It’s going to blow you away. The only problem for Canon DSLR users is that this is an option available only for Sony Alpha lenses.

Image sensor: 4k super 35
Available for preorder from B&H at around $8K
Unbelievable.
How badly do I want this camera???? I’m prepared to sell all my DSLR gear.

Enjoy the video. It’s absolutely brilliant.

4 Days with the Sony NEX-FS700 from Andrew Young on Vimeo.

Back to the Garden Review

I recently had the privilege of watching the documentary Back to the Garden, Flower Power Comes Full Circle. Having given the trailer a cursory look, I thought it must be some sort of 60s hippie documentary. Once you start watching you realize you’re watching 1988, in Washington State.

Kevin Tomlinson videotaped a community of hippies in 1988 and after almost 20 years went back to see what they were up to. The most beautiful and powerful thing to witness was how happy all these people were. They were living off the grid in the truest sense. They had been growing their vegetables and their chickens and had raised their children in the meantime, who seem to have grown up as confident and loving adults.

As you watch the documentary, you become aware of a ceaseless and awestruck smile that has taken over your face. You cannot believe such people exist. There is no youtube, there is no iPhone, only blueberries and pink banana squashes and acres of open space and agro-forestry and permaculture and recently introduced solar panels. People live without paying rent, feel the earth by walking barefeet and raise children using cloth diapers. It’s about a place that beckons the soul. As you watch, you have a strong urge to shut off your computer, to sell your belongings and plan a ride. You want to leave the world you know, so you can become one with the earth.

I may sound a little melodramatic, but it’s only because you still haven’t watched the film. By the end of the documentary, the director himself abandons his life in the suburbs, and decides to live off the grid with his wife.

This truly is an exceptional little documentary about a community of beautiful souls that gives you hope for mankind. The documentary will be airing on PBS stations nationwide in the beginning of April, 2012. Catch it you must.

Back to the Garden

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PressPausePlay – Review

I got to see this film recently. This is a documentary that every aspiring filmmaker should watch. Instead of buying books about “secrets” on how to become a successful filmmaker and fundraiser, this is the little hour long wake up call that people should watch before they embark on the filmmaking journey.

Let’s be realistic for a moment; for people who want to be filmmakers, this documentary won’t stop them from trying. But I think it will provide them with a healthy dose of reality and inform them about the difficulties of breaking through in an age where we find ourselves inundated by new content, and sometimes find it difficult to sift through the “global masturbation” to the good stuff.

The documentary features artists from all over the world, some of them better known than others, but it drills in the idea that this is the age in which anybody can buy a camera and become a filmmaker, or that anybody with a computer can become a composer. But is the product art? Is the product worth anything at all? On the other hand could Martin Scorsese have been a successful artist, if he were competing with the filmmakers of today? What does it really take to be a successful artist today?

I’m not sure that it answers all the questions of the struggling artist in the digital age. But if you are an artist or aspire to be one, follow the link and watch the film. If nothing at all, it will give you some perspective. Otherwise send it to any aspiring artist you know.

PressPausePlay

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Note to Self: Critics are bullies

I haven’t seen the new Mark Wahlberg film Contraband yet. But I came across a review this morning that starts like this:

Mark Wahlberg isn’t blessed with a wide range of acting talent, but he’s very good at beating people and looking sincere about it.

“Wow,” I thought to myself. “What makes people so cruel?” This guy must think he’s so funny. He’s like the bully who hits the new kid and everybody laughs and he hits him again and everybody laughs again. I’m not implying that Wahlberg is by any means a new kid. And although I’m of small stature, I’ve never been bullied myself. This is not personal. I’m just making a point. I have always hated bullies. And this guy is sitting behind a pen thinking he’s so clever at having wiped out Wahlberg’s talent in one sentence. It feels like bullying, at some level.

Maybe he’s right, maybe he’s not. I happen to like Wahlberg as a personality. I didn’t know him as a musician and actually first came across him in the movie Three Kings. I thought he was good in it. He was awesome in Boogie Nights, I Heart Huckabees and The Fighter. It’s not like he’s a terrible actor.

This critic goes on to trash Contraband, and maybe he’s right (I haven’t seen the movie yet). But the tone is so bloody smug, I began to wonder if he was writing for my benefit, or to satisfy his own narcissism. His critique itself was so ordinary so banal, searching for that cliched quip at every stop; I learned absolutely nothing from it.

He ends his brilliant piece with:
Contraband isn’t fat, exactly – no special-effects explosions, no expensive car chase – but it’s unremarkable. It’s very good at it, however.

OOOOOOhh!!! Zinger!!

This guy definitely doesn’t get paid for originality. God only knows what he gets paid for.

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CowboyStudio Shoulder Support Pad for Video Camcorder Camera DV / DC – Review

My apologies if you’re getting this mail a second time. Something happened to the database, and all activity for Novemeber 22, 2011 was lost. I think it was Cowboy studio hacking my account for this negative review below.

As of this writing, this thing costs only about 24 bucks on Amazon.com. Fight the urge to buy this thing. It’s a complete waste, of money and space. I have absolutely no idea why it has 4 stars on Amazon. It should be rated negative 5.

Yeah, it feels cheap, but that’s not why I rate it low. It’s just that any footage you take with it will be useless. Every movement in your body will be translated into the footage. Your footage will be absolutely terrible. Some people may say, that I need practice. I hope they’re happy with their purchase.

Stay the hell away from this piece of junk. Buy your crew some extra pop.

ps. I was thinking of selling it on craigslist for 10 bucks. Then I thought better of myself and decided that I didn’t want to create a new sucker. I’m going to enjoy breaking this damn thing.

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Dell Commercial

Commercial for the Dell xps z.

Music: By Kevin MacLeod

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Occupy Wall Street

Tent Sign

I spent the most of the last three days at Occupy Wall Street at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan. It was awesome. I loved being there. Even when I wasn’t talking to anybody, doing nothing more than standing around, with my arm resting on top of my camera on the tripod, I liked just being there. There was something in the ether there that refused to judge me. And I liked how it made me feel.

I did shoot some video, but I can’t put it up yet as I don’t have any editing software on my laptop. Also, the audio is going to be pretty bad as I used on camera audio.

But I just wanted to write about being in Zuccotti Park. The people there are from everywhere and of every color, and I don’t mean by race. These people are just of a different individual, independent color. And when you’re with them, it feels like it’s possible to discover your personal color as well. It was crazy and liberating at the same time. I’ll post some videos on it soon.

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