TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY HOSTS THE ZACUTO GREAT CAMERA SHOOTOUT

WATCH THE VIDEO:


Zacuto Shoot-out at Tribeca Flashpoint Academy from HOWARD TULLMAN on Vimeo.

DPs’ camera mastery proven in Zacuto’s 2012 shootout

By Mike Morgan Apr 19, 2012

Zacuto Camera Rentals’ Emmy winning web doc, “The Great Camera Shootout” is back with a revolutionary new twist.

“The Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout 2012,” coproduced with Kessler Cranes and directed by Zacuto’s Steve Weiss, aims to prove that the camera – from leading edge camera systems used to shoot Hollywood blockbusters to Everyman’s iPhone — doesn’t matter.

Rather, it’s the DP’s mastery of his camera and the overall artistic ability to light that makes for beautiful images.

How the test turned out will be revealed in the June 15 premiere of “The Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout 2012” at Zacuto.com

“‘Revenge’ is unlike any other camera test I’ve ever been involved with,” says Zacuto producer, Scott Lynch. “The tools available to us are all capable of creating great looking images, but only if you know how to use them.

Zacuto’s Steve Weiss directed the shootout

“The big challenge for us was creating a test that would bring out the real world differences between these cameras.”

Bruce Logan ACS (“Tron”) administered the test. He created the original Baselight for the set – a man walks through a full dynamic range of lighting, including an exterior window – and a specialist DP/DIT was brought to Chicago to assist with each camera.

Shot last February at Tribeca Flashpoint Academy and graded at Filmworker’s Club, this year’s shootout features side-by-side camera systems:

Sony F65, demonstrated by Sony representatives; ARRI Alexa, DP Rodney Charters, ASC; RED Epic Ryan Walters; Sony FS100, Den Lennie and Mick Jones; Sony F3 w/slog, Nancy Schreiber, ASC; Canon C300, Polly Morgan; Canon 7D with Technicolor settings, Michael Negrin, ASC and Panasonic GH2 (hacked and non-hacked), Jonny Zeller and Colt Seman.

Strict rules for camera testing

Since the test’s purpose was to discover how cinematographers creatively solve the limitations of their camera, “We had to create the most level playing field possible and I think the test we devised did just that. It created a series of three shots with myriad challenges for each and every camera,” Logan says.

“Each camera was put through exactly the same tests, was shot at a T Stop, and approved by the camera DPs and the manufacturers when participating. All of the cameras used 4k rated zoom lenses to compensate for sensor size,” Logan continues.

“The DPs were then given the opportunity to relight the set under strict perimeters to get the very best out of their cameras. The data from every camera was ‘imported’ into Baselight at native resolutions and color corrected to look as closely as possible to the original set.

“The resultant TIFF files were then resized on the Baselight and the resulting TIFF sequence was used to produce a 2K DCP package in jpeg 2000. I am excited to view the results of this very fair test,” Logan says.

Two sets of tests were devised. In the empirical tests, designed to show differences in various cameras’ abilities to capture images, each of the cameras was used to shoot an identical scene with identical lighting on a stage set. The camera output was then graded to match a standard look.

In the subjective tests, to show how the cinematographers can take advantage of camera’s strength and weaknesses for creative effect, lighting was used to compensate for the specific dynamics of the individual cameras.

The output was then put through a full, creative color grading process by Filmworkers Club Jimmy Cardenas, with additional grading by colorist Brian “Crash” Carlucci, using a state-of-the-art Baselight EIGHT color grading system.

To assure the tests were fair, notes Filmworkers’ technical director, Todd Freese, “We made sure our pipeline was scientifically perfect and that we were able to handle the output of each camera natively, without transcoding.

“This was not just a test of the cameras, it was also a test of our Baselight. Working with all these different cameras pushed our system to the limits, and it performed beautifully.”

From a colorist’s point-of-view, it was insightful to compare cameras costing in the high five figures with others costing just a few thousand dollars.

“It was interesting to see how each camera reacted to the empirical lighting,” said Cardenas. “You don’t have the same dynamic range in some of the lower end cameras. Getting some of that footage to match the standard look of a high-end camera was a challenge.”

Zacuto will hold 35 theatrical screenings in Hollywood, New York, Chicago, Nashville, Europe and Japan. Register here for screenings.

 

TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY FEATURED IN FIRST BUSINESS VIDEO ON THE APP ECONOMY

TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY WELCOMES ANNA ANTHROPY

TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY CEO HOWARD A. TULLMAN SPEAKING AT E.G. CONFERENCE AT FIELD MUSEUM

The Entertainment Gathering — a meet-up of innovators in art, music, media, science, technology, education and entertainment — will host its first high-def simulcast at the Field Museum with dozens of local presentations and discussions.

“EG is focused on the inspirational spark that gets creative people up in the morning and marks a return to a more direct and intimate connection between thinkers and doers,” said EG Director Michael Hawley, a pioneer of digital systems at “Star Wars” filmmaker Lucasfilm Ltd. He also is a former technology innovator at the MIT’s Media Lab and winner of the 2002 Van Cliburn international piano competition. His 6-foot-tall photography book on the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan — the largest book ever published — is on exhibit at the Field Museum.

The gathering in Monterey, Calif., will be simulcast at the Field Museum’s James Simpson Theatre from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday; 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. The conference is called EG6 to recognize the sixth yearly event.

Tickets are free to Field Museum members. For non-members, tickets cost $29 for adults, $20 for children ages 3-11 and $24 for seniors and students who show ID. Tickets allow access to the entire museum, including the EG conference and refreshments.

Hawley aims for EG6 attendees to be inspired, entertained, enlightened and transformed by hearing from people who’ve made startling differences in the world, whether it’s opera singer Charity Sunshine Tillemann-Dick returning to the stage after a double lung transplant or Roz Savage, an author, environmentalist and the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

“The conference has geniuses from every field, and it’s jaw-dropping to see the incredibly beautiful things that people do,” Hawley said. “In this day and age, it’s refreshing.”

The event in California will feature a sit-down discussion with former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, as well as appearances by “Mythbusters” TV star Adam Savage and speculative fiction writer Neal Stephenson.

Those attending the Field Museum simulcast will get to hear from a total of 56 presenters and talk with innovators during simulcast breaks, including restaurateur-turned-marathoner-turned-mountain climber Gabe Viti; businessman Nate Shapiro, founder of SF Investments Inc. and a board member of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews; and author Kevin Coval, artistic director of Young Chicago Authors and co-founder of “Louder than a Bomb: The Chicago Teen Poetry Festival.” The Bucket Boys, a duo who bang on pots, pans and trash cans to create hip-hop and funky dance beats, will perform.

Other local presenters include Howard Tullman, serial entrepreneur and president and CEO of Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy in the Loop; Field Museum conservator JP Brown, who runs a “Serious Legos” site for Legos designers who incorporate robotics into their creations, and Steve Schapiro, a documentary photographer who has published books about the 1960s civil rights era and iconic figures such as Muhammad Ali, Andy Warhol, Martin Luther King Jr., and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Viti recalled working 18-hour days as a chef at his Highwood restaurant, Gabriel’s, and taking off only four Saturday nights in 11 years. He changed his life after reading the book, “Into Thin Air,” about the death of eight climbers on Mount Everest and has since raised money for charitable causes while doing Ironman competitions and climbing Mount Everest and the Seven Summits — the highest peaks on each continent.

“I didn’t realize I’d be so taken by the climbing and the mountains,” said Viti, who is celebrating his 49th birthday this summer by climbing Mt. Kilamanjaro.

For his 51st birthday in 2014, Viti is training to swim the English Channel.

The Chicago Sun-Times is the local event’s media sponsor.

For more details, go to eg.fieldmuseum.org.