I wrote the first script of this short propably 5min after Canon Germany called me to confirm they will send me a pre production unit of the new Canon C300. I wanted to get my hands on it since Nov 3rd and was glad they’d send me the camera right away. In fact, we were the first team in Europe working with this camera in the field after their presentation in Hollywood on Nov 3rd.

I called Nino Leitner who was on that “Pre-Pro-User”-List too because we wanted to shoot a short with him depending on who gets it first. So we continued our plans to shoot in Vienna, packed the gear, called friends and colleagues, got to Vienna and started shooting from Saturday to Sunday.
After 15-16 hours, we wrapped our shoot and were pretty happy how it turned out, even if it was WAY too short to get everything like we want it to be.

Our main goal was to test the camera in a “real” production environment. I love cameras that don’t stand in the way. A camera is great if it doesn’t force you to make compromises. If you want to be creative, you don’t want to think of camera flaws, quirks or even battery life. This cameras proved to be such an easy to use and yet powerful camera. We were impressed by the results we got out of it and are convinced to order one for our daily business depending on when it will be finally released

this was our schedule:
Wednesday: Canon called
Thursday: Pre-Production (script, actors, locations)
Friday: first test shots and further planning
Saturday / Sunday: shooting
Monday-Wednesday: Post-Production

I hope you will enjoy our little “test”-shortfilm
Here’s the camera review from Nino www.ninofilm.net

If you follow me on twitter, you propably noticed that I’m currently spamming your timeline with C300 posts. That’s propably because after working with it the past 4 days, I really got excited about the capabilities of this Camera.
I won’t go into technical details here as Nino Leitner is currently writing an extensive blog post with his thoughts, combined with mine to get you an idea on why we are that impressed with the Canon C300.

I was very lucky to get one of the first pre-production units in Europe (or propably the first) of the Canon C300 for testing and to write Canon Germany my thoughts. In fact, I wrote Canon on tuesday, they called on wednesday and sent the camera on thursday. So I only had about 3 days for planning a narrative short with the C300. I talked to Nino earlier and we said, no matter who gets it first, we will do a short film together with a small team because we didn’t want to shoot another test-video (we all did those videos a lot). I decided to get my team to Vienna/Austria and meet up with Nino’s team after some testing. (interviews, F3-1D-C300 comparisons)
I wrote a small script on thursday called 13:59 (in fact, the name of the short came up as we wrapped the our shoot on Sunday), searched with Nino for actors, searched for locations via Skype and then started our journey to Vienna.
We met up, setup all the gear (Arri Rig on C300, prototype too), talked about the script I finished the day before and started shooting. We didn’t have a manual so we basically started right away. This proofs how intuitive the C300 is to work with. Everything is just familiar and easy to reach. Just turn it on, get used to the preset buttons and start shooting.

Not only I was impressed by the C300, everyone on set (Nino Leiter – DoP, Alexander Boboschewsky – Steadicam Op/camera Operator) didn’t expect that Canon really nailed it this time. We all were shocked by the price and said “1080p at only 30fps, only 8-bit … for 20k? no thanks” but lets just assume they will drop the price…. then this is, hands down, the most logic step up from DSLRs you can think of right now.
Form factor, features, fixed moire, fixed rolling shutter, built in ND etc. this camera makes just so much sense. If only they would have added overkranking at 1080p and a chance to record 10bit. Besides that, this camera has so much in common. People really need to get it in their hands to understand why.

Like I said before, I won’t go into detail as Nino will write up a huge post to get you all the informations everyone asked lately.
At this point, I just want to thank the whole crew for helping out this weekend. We had way too much fun. Even if we would have loved to shoot way more with the C300 do finish the short (we dropped a lot of scenes…), I think it will turn out good. Not great, good.
As soon as it’s finished, we will post it on Vimeo, Youtube, Twitter and so on.
stay tuned!
after all, I’m impressed and convinced to order this camera. Hopefully at around 10.000 Euro. Canon? Your call!

this will be just a short update about the last project we have finished in August: Lokschuppen Indianer
We shot this piece in 2 days in Rosenheim (between Munich and Salzburg). If I have the time to, I will post more details in how we shot it and more details about the story.

here is the official description:
commercial / ad
client: KuKo Rosenheim / Lokschuppen
creatives:
Mario Feil – DoP
Max Meissner – 2nd operator
Martin Erd – producer
Andi Gschossmann – grip
Florian Widmann – grip
Marco Feil – post production / vfx
music/composer: Flo Starflinger, Michael Fenzl
Story/concept: Mario Feil, Martin Erd, Andi Gschossmann
Production: die-filmer.com

this is a trailer for europes largest exhibition for native north americans. Shot in June, post production in July, finish in August. thanks to our friends and family for all your help! Without you, we haven’t been able to put this together. thanks to Flo Starflinger and Michael Fenzl for the music score! composed and recorded in just 1 week.

SPECIAL thanks to Lara our main actress who did an awesome job at her very first main role.

tech specs: shot on DSLRs, jib shots with KesslerCrane KC8 + Revolution head, slides with KesslerCrane Cineslider and Pocket Dolly, SmallHD DP6 for monitoring

Ever heard of Zacuto? If you chose to buy a DSLR for video, you have definitely heard of them
They are known for excellent quality and excellent customer service. Most (or all) of their gear is pretty expensive at first glance. Well, you get what you pay for.

Zacuto has everything you need for stabilizing your camera, no matter if it’s an iPhone or the RED One. From small screws to big rigs, Zacuto has all the mounting solutions you can dream of.

The first gear I ordered from Zacuto was their baseplate and Z-Riser for my EX1-Letus Extreme 35mm combo. I’ve tried other rigs but this one has been the most stable one. It felt like 1 camera, instead of a camera with a 35mm adapter mounted to it.

Later in 2009 I ordered the Z-Finder for my new 5D and even though it wasn’t what I expected, I didn’t regret ordering it at all.

A few weeks ago I received a review unit of the Zacuto CROSSFIRE rig which consists of following parts:

DSLR Baseplate
Z-Focus
Different small parts like Zwifel, Z-Handle and grip. I also got the Z-Finder 2.5 for review (already had the “old” Z-Finder V2 with 3x magnification).

Z-Finder Pro (2.5x and 3x)
I think everyone has heard of the Z-Finder as it has been the first (and best) solution for stabilizing your camera without building a huge rig around it. For the last 1,5 years, I only used the Z-Finder with nothing else. No Crossfire, no other rig. I loved the small form factor of it.

Everyone recommends it for focusing too but personally I always felt that focusing is much easier when looking directly at the LCD screen. The resolution of the display is just too small. With 3x magnification you are starring at pixels whether you’re in focus or not. And you get distracted by hairs, fingerprints and dust on the screen.

But I still think the Z-Finder is necessary because:
1. It stabilizes your camera

2. especially in bright sunlight, you can judge exposure and colors properly.

Now that I have the Z-Finder 2.5, it’s much easier to judge focus because I don’t see every pixel. The 3x magnification felt like I was sitting in the first row of a movie theater. I found myself looking around for the red recording sign. The 2.5x magnification feels much more comfortable and the anti-fog is a must!  My old Z-Finder fogged up as soon as I put it up to my eye. This one didn’t fog up at all, even when it was hot and I started to sweat.

The new frames fit properly, even though you have to get different ones for different cameras (large DSLR bodys, battery grips etc). The sticky frame would be the all-around solution but mine fell off when I shot in cold conditions. Susan Rapp from Zacuto sent me a bunch of glue-frames for free (more on that later.)

If you are shooting a lot of outdoor stuff and can’t afford a huge rig, I’d recommend to a viewfinder. I’ve used different ones but I liked the Z-Finder the most. It feels unbreakable and if you really manage to break it, Zacuto will replace it.  If you’re interested in otherviewfinders, check out this huge blog post from Nino Leitner: http://ninofilm.net/blog/2010/07/01/dslr_viewfinder_review/

DSLR Baseplate:
Wow, this tiny thing is versatile! You can put a rods on the side, on the front, left or right.  It doesn’t matter if you use it for mounting your monitor or your mattebox: the DSLR Baseplate is simply the BASE of your rig. Even if you mount a Marshall 7” monitor, mattebox, followfocus, etc. on it, it’s still rock solid. I have had issues mounting bigger lenses like the Canon 70-200mm 2.8 on it because it gets very top-heavy.
The DSLR Baseplate has a quick-release mechanism for unmounting the camera or for adjusting it to align the camera on your follow focus or mattebox. If you have a DSLR with a larger body or battery grip, no problem: adjust the height of the plate without any additional rods or risers with 2 screws at the front of the DSLR Baseplate.

(easy way to offset the camera)

Rods, extensions, handles, other parts:

For completing the rig, you need different parts like handles and rod extensions. Those are the parts you mount on the DSLR Baseplate to built up the Crossfire rig. The Crossfire comes with a handle and a shoulder support called a gunstock. There is no shoulder pad. Just loosen the screws, stick the parts onto the DSLR Baseplate, adjust it to your needs and you are almost set. These parts are very solid. Even if a mattebox and a monitor are mounted, the rig won’t move a bit. Extension parts like the rods are pretty expensive. A pair of 7”rods costs about 52 Euros over here. If you want to extend the rig you would have to buy some of those parts. The rods that come with the Crossfire Rig are almost too short to mount a mattebox on.

Z-Focus:
I haven’t been able to compare the Z-Focus with other follow focuses side by side but I tried a few of them earlier (FreshDV and Jared Abrams did a huge review about all the smaller FFs.)

I liked the weight and the size of the Z-Focus very much.

What I didn’t like: if you loosen the screw at the bottom of the Z-Focus for demounting it, the focus barrel falls off. There is no screw for stopping the focus wheel, so you have to be careful when taking it it off.

It’s also quite expensive. The build quality is superb, no question, but you don’t have a lot of features.

I have a few other problems with the Z-Focus too:  It’s not vertically adjustable, has no hard stops (great feature for all the Canon lenses with short focus barrel) and it is impossible to mount it in between the rig’s rods. You have to mount the Z-Focus from the front, so if you a have larger rig with a mattebox, you can’t just mount it or demount it from the side.

Other follow focuses (Denz, Letus, Genus) have more features with similar build quality for less money.

I think, to be competitive, Zacuto has to come up with an update or maybe a price drop. The competition is huge at the moment!

Zip Gears:
You need these gears when you are working with Canon lenses. Otherwise it is impossible to focus with a follow focus.
A pack of 4 Zacuto Zip Gears costs about $265.
You need to cut the gears to fit the lens.

I think there are plenty of other solutions from RedRock or Jag35. If you already own some of those, you could still use them on your lenses.

The Zacuto Crossfire Rig:

Now to the main part – the rig itself! I’m not a huge fan of big rigs. I don’t like the fact that I built a big cage around my small DSLR just to mount literally anything I own on it. I always keep things as simple as possible. That’s why I loved working with the Crossfire rig. It’s light, stable and small. Tighten two screws and you’re set. It takes a little bit of adjusting to get the gunstock on your shoulder and the Z-Finder to your eye, but then you are ready to go. Run and gun… love it!

Other (less expensive) rigs tend to be much heavier or bigger. We tested one from Indiesystems and it felt like a HUGE camera on your shoulder. Plus, it wasn’t very stable compared to RedRock or Zacuto.
For the price, you get a lot of stuff from IndieSystems but in my opinion you’re better off saving some money and getting a proper one. You won’t buy a rig once a year.  You will use your camera rig for a LONG time until you get a new one.

I have been on a huge production for almost 2 weeks now (sports/fashion shoot.) I’ve gone from Italy to Switzerland and back to Germany. During the shoot I ordered additional parts from Zacuto for completing my rig.

I know Zacuto is expensive but like I said before, you get what you pay for!  I like Zacuto rigs for the following reasons:

- lightweight
- excellent build quality
- very stable

- almost unbreakable
- versatile/modular
- excellent customer service

If you start getting Zacuto products, you are set for future cameras. Even if the camera market or form factors of those cameras change, you can always use the same parts from Zacuto. You just add an extension here and there and you will h

ave a completely different rig for a different camera.

Regarding customer service: Zacuto is just excellent. I mentioned it a couple of times on Twitter and Facebook, but I cannot say it enough.  Zacuto takes care of their customers no matter what.  Whether it is a question regarding an order or a problem with one of their products, they’re there to help.

For example, my sticky frame for the 2nd generation Z-Finder fell off in cold conditions. I asked @Zacuto_Sue (Susan Rapp) on Twitter if I should use another glue for it and she sent me some glue frames within 2-3 days (from Chicago to Bavaria) for free. 3 weeks ago, I had problems with my Zamerican arm. One of the screws didn’t tighten properly. Elma from Zacuto sent me a UPS return label and I got a new Z-American arm as fast as they could ship it.

You won’t have a lot of problems if you buy from Zacuto due to their almost unbreakable materials, but if you have one, Zacuto will take care of it very fast.

(all behind the scenes photos taken by Korbi Seifert with Leica M8)

I always loved when someone at Myth Busters crashed or blew something up and they showed it in super slow motion. Why do we love seeing stuff in super slow motion? Because we are able to see things we wouldn’t see in normal life.

Cameras like the Phantom Gold / Flex or the Weisscam are capable of shooting up to 2570fps (Phantom Flex) at FullHD resolution. That’s over a hundred times more than our everyday workhorse like the Canon 5D.
Tom Guilmette (I met him at NAB 2011) made a fun video before he shot some sports stuff with it: www.vimeo.com

I know, after watching the video you’re asking: how much???
Well, at least 2500 Euros per DAY for renting it. If you got 2500 Euros for renting it, you still need someone to operate it. It’s basically a computer with the shape of a camera and a lens in front of it.
Same with the Weisscam.
No 2500 fps for most of us…
Plus: those cams are HUGE, so you won’t be able to just go skiing with it.

Now after NAB, the market is going to change somehow.
Companies like Fastec, Weisscam and Olympus are focusing more on the midrange framerates like 500 – 750fps which is more than enough for most of our needs.

The ones I’m very interested in are the Weisscam “T” (company from Munich) http://www.follow-the-t.com/ and the Fastec TS3 Cine.
More informations here:

Standard Features

System Design		Stand alone, battery powered, portable with multiple PC I/O ports
Sensor		CMOS sensor
Resolution		1280 x 1024 pixel Native
Light Sensitivity		3,200 ISO monochrome, 1,600 ISO color
Record Rate		500 fps at 1280 x 1024, 720 fps at 720p resolution, optional frame rates up to 20,000 at reduced resolutions
Shutter		Global electronic shutter from 2 µsec to 1 second
Memory		8GB buffer, Build in 128GB SSD (256GB SSD option)
Removable Storage		SDHC
Multi-Sequence Mode		1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 individual recording partitions
File Formats		BMP, TIFF Stack, Cinema DNG (RAW), JPG, AVI
Lens Mount		C-Mount or F-Mount (Nikon), optional PL mount
Built-in Monitor		Ultra bright, 178mm diag. (7”), WVGA LCD
Ports		USB(2), SD, GigE
PC Interface		PC or Mac compatible via Gigabit Ethernet or USB 2.0
Control Software		MAC, Windows or Linux OS compatible
Trigger		Contact Closure or TTL
Sync		External sync inputs via BNC
Video Out		HDMI Clean Feed 1080P (no overlays)
Construction		Machined Aluminum Housing
Power		Rechargeable removable Battery Pack – 3 hours, or 10-26 VDC external power supply
Power Consumption		7.5 W maximum
Operating Environment		0ºF to 104ºF
Size and Weight		8.97″ x 4.48″ x 3.50″ 3.96lbs
Built-In Storage		Solid State Drive (SSD) 128GB Standard, 256GB Optional

Standard Frame Rates and Resolutions

Frame Rate	Resolution		8 GB Buffer Capacity
Rate	H.	V.	Time (sec.)     Frames
125	1280	1024	52.4	6,558
250	1280	1024	26.2	6,558
506	1280	1024	13.0	6,558
720	1280	720	13.0	9,320
816	1024	768	13.4	10,935
1085	1024	576	13.4	14,539

I hope I will get my hands on one of those cameras as soon as possible! We will propably set up a pilot project in August/September and a camera that shoots 500fps and up would fit perfectly

keeping a blog up to date is very time consuming. Everyone who has started to post on a blog knows what I’m talking about.
I am currently working on a few bigger and smaller projects so there is almost no time to publish all the nice behind the scenes stuff we shot.

lets back up a few weeks…

the USA:
It was the first time we travelled there and we loved every minute of our 3 weeks trip.
Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas (NAB Show), Death Valley, Lone Pine, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Yosemite, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, Los Angeles…
4000km in 16 days!
We had a blast at NAB show! Thanks for Rob Imbs and Benjamin Eckstein (and of course Justin Carlson) for AllinFilm Poker tournament
I will propably write a longer post about our trip with a lot of footage but at the moment, I have to concentrate on my paid work which is:

1. cinema commercial for Maier Sports (Update: client approved it! Finished now)
2. GABOR shoes AG – trainee movies (Update: finished, except the making of which I will finish this week)
3. Sport2000 campaign => bad weather made it almost impossible to finish it during the weekend. We postponed the shooting until september. lets hope for better snow
4. Lokschuppen exhibition trailer => We will start shooting a trailer / commercial for this exhibition in 2 weeks (June 6-11th). Concept and Storyboard are not finished yet due to backlog of last weeks
5. We are currently planning a demo project for www.die-filmer.com in august or september. If you know someone in sports business (pro biker, kiter, whatever), let us know. We don’t have a concept yet, we only want to shoot awesome stuff

Hope to blog more the next weeks because there’s so much to blog about!
————
Mario

As I uploaded the Chiemgau Impressions video on Vimeo I got a lot of messages from people all over the globe. Some asked for the workflow of the timelapsing stuff, some just said “congrats, keep on the great work”. A few ones, that striked me the most, were like “Some day, I want to be able to create something like this” or “your videos have inspired me to consider a career as filmmaker”. And I am often asked how I got into filmmaking.

As some of you may know, I haven’t been a full time “filmmaker” until february 2011. It started almost 4years ago as I finished my apprenticeship at a clothing company. I always wanted to do something film related but it seemed kind of unreachable for me. I didn’t have the money to buy a huge shoulder camera.
I didn’t have the money to go to film school. And due to my main job, I didn’t have the time to learn it as an assistant somewhere in Salzburg or Munich.

So I started editing some of the clips my dad shot a few years ago using the world famous Windows Movie Maker (Woohooo!) while watching a whole lot of tutorials on the internet. I also used trial versions of Magix Video Deluxe and Premiere Elements. The finished video ended up as a christmas present for my parents and they loved it (of course they did).

short after that I registered my own business so that I could officially earn money with my hobby to be able to afford a bigger camera (in 2006: bigger = better!) and probably a Mac.

… No client work the first 6 months … So I sold my beloved Motorbike and bought a second hand Sony PD150 and a MacPro. Turnover the first year (!) around 250€; Expenses: 4000+ €.

I didn’t expect to get rich the first year, I simply wanted to shoot – edit – learn. Just for the fun of it.

The second year I got some paid jobs and a lot of no budget projects (perfect to collect footage for a showreel and make business connections). I even earned enough money to buy new harddrives, displays and a lot of MiniDV tapes.

2009 started with a lot of inquiries. I decided to sell my PD150 to buy a Sony EX1. Wow – High Def Video! Everything changed… Suddenly I became famous, had more money than I could possibly spend on gear, bought my own island and… Well ok, that didn’t happen, but my situation improved.

My day job changed as well as my hobby-filmmaking. I worked at the sales department for a sports/fashion company and was promoted to be customer service supervisor. At night I edited all the projects I shot at the weekend. I invested all of the money I earned in gear. really, all of it. New camera, tripod, backpack, cases, cards, batteries, etc. Oh, and of course I ordered the 5D and the 24-70mm 2.8.

2010 has been the most exciting year so far. I quit my job at the fashion/sports company to start another sales related job at Fossil Inc. I still wasn’t sure about freelancing as full time filmmaker. I loved working at Fossil, did a lot of smaller and bigger film-projects at weekends or at night and of course: bought more and more gear!

In September a friend of mine who started working at KME-Studios told me I should visit them to talk about a job. Due to the “DSLR revolution”, a lot of their clients asked if they could also film in addition to the photoshoots. They knew that it’s possible to combine the shoots but for quality reasons it makes more sense to split the productions. plus: to know how to shoot gorgeous still images doesn’t mean it’s easy to shoot moving pictures, too.

They asked me if I want to be the head of their new film unit starting 2011. Which meant, besides KME Studios (the photographers), a new unit/group/team of creatives called “Filmer” will be founded . And I’d be the person in charge.

A dream came true! I’m finally able to do what I love as main job. I have never ever expected something like this! I’m really happy how everything turned and am excited for what comes next.

So to all of you who asked for tips to get started in this field of work I’d say: Go out and shoot. Simply learning by doing. Show your work to family and friends, let them criticize your work, learn from the critique, practice, be patient and the rest comes (almost) automatically. Film school, a huge amount of equipment or big clients are not mandatory to start as a filmmaker. Patience, ambition and of course a good taste in movies is more than enough to start your own little business from scratch.

I would love to read how you got into filmmaking!

A lot of people love gear reviews since most of the equipment is not available at your local dealer (Wal Mart and so on…). I couldn’t test-drive 90% of the stuff I ordered last year (and that was a LOT of gear). I trusted all the helpful people on twitter and the reviews on different blogs and I wasn’t disappointed.

Now that I’ve worked on lots of jobs with my current gear, I wanted to write about it.
What did I learn?
What is really necessary?
Why do I need this?
etc.

First off, I’ll write about a nice rig Zacuto sent me: the Zacuto Cross Fire.
They noticed that I worked with some of their gear like the baseplate, monitor arms, Z-Finder and sent me one of their demo units. Thanks to Sara for letting me test some Zacuto products.

For the next 2 weeks I’m on a shoot in Italy. Most of the time ‘run and gun’. Perfect situation for testing.

Stay tuned. I’ll probably blog about Kessler cranes, sliders and motion control systems as well as Zeiss CP.2 lenses in May.

while doing my current backups, I found lots of footage from last year I didn’t use yet. Planned to use it as stock footage for filling gaps in some videos.

filmed between June and October.
actually, I finished it 4 months ago but never put it on vimeo. totally forgot it.

slides (real time and timelapse) were done with the Kesslercrane Cineslider (Oracle Controller, Electra drive)

Music by Nouvelle Vague – Killing Moon
enjoy
visit
mf-films.de
die-filmer.com

In 2010 a friend from school (we’ve been there 4-5 years ago) who volunteers for a fire department called me if I would shoot and edit a corporate film for their upcoming 150th anniversary.

The initial plan was to record some interviews, show the fire department etc.
We decided to show their work with a short story wrapped around.
Instead of setting a house on fire, we chose to capture a car crash. Most people out there don’t actually know that they rescue people out of crashed cars.

We had about 4 shooting days.
1 for the main part with the car crash (one of the warmest days in 2010…)
1 for interviews
1/2 for the intro and outro (the short story)
1 for additional stuff, sound recording and so on

It was fun to work with all you great guys! Our everyday life heroes.

Here are some technical details for all the filmmakers, editors, VFX guys:

We used the Sony EX1 for all the crane shots and some other shot from the main sequence.
Most stuff was filmed with either the Canon 5D or the 7D
- Canon 24-70mm f2.8 for the whole action sequence
- Nikon 50mm f1.2 for the Interview part

Logo Animation => my brother Marco who did all the 3D stuff
Compositing => dust removal, tracking, smoke etc. also thanks to Marco
Sound Design => Florian Gerger (eclipse studios) who did the main score and field recording stuff
Assistance => René Markovic and my brother David
Behind the scenes pictures => Korbi Seifert

And of course, thanks to all the great guys at the fire dept. Trostberg.

Here is the final video including interviews:

Making of / Behind the Scenes:

BTS Pictures by Korbi Seifert: