Red Dawn Comes to the Motor City

The Red Dawn Remake is being filmed right here in Detroit...thanks to the 40% tax credit, Michigan is really starting to attract real Hollywood productions. They are shooting right outside my door for the next 3 days. This remake of the Patrick Swayze film (who just lost this past week) is cast with 5 new young hot Hollywood actors. Chris Hemsworth stars as a returning Iraq War Marine who gets into the thick of the action, with Josh Peck starring as his athlete little brother, and Adrianne Palicki as the love interest Isabel Lucas, who was in this year’s mega hit “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” will star as Erica (the Lea Thompson role), a high school head cheerleader and girlfriend of Peck’s character, who is locked up in an internment camp after the invasion.The other leads are Josh Hutcherson, Connor Cruise (Tom's adopted son) and Edwin Hodge. Hutcherson will play Robert (the C. Thomas Howell role), the group’s tech geek. Cruise is Daryl, the son of the town mayor and Robert’s best friend, while Hodge will play Danny, described as “the coolest kid in school” and star wide receiver who helps establish the resistance against the invaders — the Chinese and Russians this time around. Jeffrey Dean Morgan also will star. Although not a household name, I think Morgan is one of the best leading men in Hollywood today.....this guy has it all. I think he is going to be very very big in a very short time....you heard it here first and I don't like to brag, but when I see it....I am very rarely wrong. Former “Bourne” director Dan Bradley will direct from a script by Jeremy Passmore and Carl Ellsworth. Stay tuned for some on the set video. I will be out with my new Ipod Nano Spy video cam tomorrow.
Jarvy.....

Gone But Not Forgotten / A true American Icon Willy Deville

American Music has suffered a great loss and most don't even know it. Willy DeVille passed away on August 6th....on his website was this message:

"It is with heavy hearts that we let you know that Willy passed away peacefully last night, August 6, 2009. His music and spirit will always be with us."

Why is it that the great American Rock Performers are always recognized in Europe, but not in their homeland. It's not just rock, all the great American Jazz players went to live in Europe just to make a living. Thom Jurek wrote about him after his death, "Willy DeVille is America's loss even if America doesn’t know it yet. The reason is simple: Like the very best rock and roll writers and performers in our history, he’s one of the very few who got it right; he understood what made a three-minute song great, and why it mattered—because it mattered to him.

About my comment at the beginning of this post...."The American public doesn't even know they suffered this loss....Willy just recently made a comment about his legacy, where he told an interviewer, "I have a theory. I know that I'll sell much more records when I'm dead. It isn't very pleasant, but I have to get used to this idea.

Prolific... wouldn't you say?

R.I.P. Willy Deville

"What is Cineblax" Revisited

If you review the first post of this blog, you will find an amazing little trailer shot with a DVX100 and no depth of field adapters. Here is another great example of DYI film making and the heart of why "Cineblax" was establishished. This movie was also shot on a DVX100 by 2 brothers.
From DYI Footage:
"Shiro's Head" is an absolutely remarkable achievement with the DVX100. This DIY movie was produced, written and directed by brothers Don and Kel Muna. It was shot on location on the island of Guam USA in the Pacific.http://vimeo.com/2114783

The depth of field looks unbelievable for a first-generation DVX100. FIRST GENERATION! It's not even a DVX100A! According to an email from the Muna Bros., there were no 35 adapters used. They used the stock DVX lens and for a couple of shots used a homemade wide-angle lens. They shot the feature length movie for - get this - $6,000 (and that was mostly for living expenses). They made all of their big production equipment DIY-style. The homemade dolly track and fig rig were made from PVC pipes. The homemade camera jib was made out of aluminum tubing. Just brilliant.

According to the "Shiro's Head" official website, they've been officially selected by the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival as well as the 1st Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival and has had multiple sold-out shows in Guam and in Hawaii.

It's an amazing feat that was pulled off a la "Robert Rodriguez" style using just the resources they had, travelling thousands of miles on space-available flights to shoot on location, borrowing props, vehicles and establishements for the look of a big-budget production. All characters in "Shiro's Head" are non-actors and were casted "off the streets". After more research, I discovered that this was actually Guam's first ever feature-length film made strictly by their indigenous islanders.
It's a new age for the Indie Fim Maker and Cineblax is here to say "The Game is Changing". Look out old boys Hollywood Network!

Pro Video In the Palm of Your Hand

The GY-HM100 comes equipped with an integrated high-definition Fujinon 10:1 lens that allows for manual and automatic control of focus and aperture. The lens features three aspherical elements and a new Electronic Beam Coating that greatly reduces degradation caused by reflection off the lens surfaces. A flip-in cover is integrated into the lens hood, eliminating the need for an external cap. With the addition of JVC’s patented Focus Assist, achieving precise focus is fast and easy. The macro mode and user-adjustable depth of field supplement the wide array of manual controls available. From the The Luminous Landscape
A cool film blog...the praise is quite good.......

The JVC GY HM100 is currently the smallest and lightest "semi-pro" quality camcorder avalable. It is selling for about US $3,500. Announced in January, 2009 the HM100 became available in most markets in May. Hardly bigger than the larger consumer camcorders with built-in hard drives, it weighs just over 3lbs. From a size perspective, it needs to be noted that the carry-handle with attached shotgun mike and mixing panel is completely removable (as will be discussed shortly), making the HM100 a very low profile camera. Early reports are that this camera is quickly becoming appealing to pros needing the smallest and least conspicuous camera possible for discreet location work and for use as a "B" cam.

But, in addition to that constituency I believe that JVC has targeted the HM 100 at users who are relative newcomers to video making, yet who want near-broadcast-quality images combined with ease of use at an affordable price.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Features and Foibles

Of particular note is that this is the first video camera to shoot directly to Apple's QuickTime movie format (.MOV). JVC has licensed the format from Apple and has also licensed the Sony XDCAM EX codec from Sony. Thus, shooting XDCAM EX wrapped in a .MOV envelope, all one needs to do is drag files off the card directly onto the Final Cut time line. No transcoding, no rendering, no format conversion. This is a first, and JVC is to be loudly applauded for it.

Parenthetically, JVC used to be part of the Panasonic family of companies, but separated to become completely independent last year. This type of cross-licensing activity clearly shows that JVC intends on now marching to the beat of its own drummer rather than that of its previous corporate parent.

If you are not a Mac user editing with Final Cut Pro (that doesn't make you a bad person) then you can choose to shoot to the MP4 codec for editing on any Mac or Windows PC with other non-linear editing software, such as Adobe Premiere or Sony's Vegas. These editing packages will see the JVC's files as XDCAM EX, just as if they'd come from a Sony EX1 or EX3 camera. How cool is that!?
If you have the CAKE for this little baby, BUY IT!
Jarvy'

Murphy-Goode has ROBBED Martin Sargent

I recently came across a web cast called "This Week In Fun" A weekly show on Leo Laporte's TWIT Network. For some weird reason I have become addicted to this TWIF show....I think its just that the 2 crazy kids (well not really kids) Martin Sargent and Sara Lane are what the best of what Internet TV could be. They are loose and down to earth and never take themselves seriously. And the show is.....well...FUN. They both have a long resume of Internet Savvy Jobs, but Martin has basically been there since the beginning, working and hosting on TechTV, G4, USA Network, and Comedy Central. Most recently, he hosted Internet Superstar and Web Drifter for Revision3. Anyway Martin likes to talk about being unemployed and he recently came across in what in his words was "The Dream Job". It is a job at Murphy-Goode Winery as what they call a Social Media Wiz. Well let me just say that if that is what they are really looking for, there is no better candidate than Martin Sargent.
So here is what happened......Martin made an amazing video submission
and there were hundreds and hundreds of more votes posted for him than the next nearest competitor. But when these winery geniuses posted their top 50 candidates, guess what?? Martin was no where to be found. Murphy Goode says the #1 spot isn't GOODE enough to make the top 50 (see this Digg Link)
I guess Martin is just a little "TOO CUTTING EDGE"
PLEASE BOYCOTT MURPHY GOODE WINES......
Jarvy
I MADE THIS POSTER FOR MARTIN

Is Eminem Really That Good of an Actor?

Do you believe it? Is Eminem really that good of an actor? Did you see the same 8 Mile as I did? In all fairness, he wasn't really all that bad in his semi-auto graphical movie....butt (pardon the pun) then again he was playing basically himself, wasn't he? I will say..... I did laugh out loud at the TV and that's pretty rare these days. Especially while watching the MTV movie awards. It has.....well MTV overall has disintegrated into such a piece shit (a 13 year wet dream....The Hills, come on what the ***** is that), that its hard to beleive that this was a TV channel that changed the face of rock and roll. Anyway....below is piece from The Huffington Post with Em's denial.

NEW YORK — Eminem says he knew full well what he was about to face at the MTV Movie Awards _ including Sacha Baron Cohen's bare butt.

Enimem told the Web site RapRadar.com that the much-talked about stunt was all rehearsed, right down to Eminem's mock disgust. Says the rapper: "I'm thrilled that we pulled this off better than we rehearsed it."

Eminem says when he left the show, he went back to his hotel and laughed for three hours, including as he watched the playback.

The rapper calls himself a "big fan" of Baron Cohen, who he said approached him about the gag while he was in Europe.

At Sunday's live show, the comedian descended from the ceiling on a wire in a fake mishap that ended with his bare hindquarters in Eminem's face.

Will the GH1 change DV Film Making?

one of my favorite DV film makers has tested the GH1 and as always his results are quite remarkable. This camera is pretty amazing, especially considering it's size. It is what they call a 3/4's size 35mm DSLR. The 2 other cameras which are providing the competition in this HD video / DSLR category are the Nikon D90 and the Cannon 5D MarkII. Both more expensive and neither have audio recording built in. The GH1 has a stereo mic right in the camera and a completely silent zoom lens, so you do not hear any mechanical sounds when zooming. It also comes in 3 colors the ever present BLACK, RED, and GOLD. When you consider that only 10 years ago, the most expensive video production cameras still looked like video (look at a soap opera from 1999) it is pretty amazing that you can shoot in HD color with DOF and Audio with a camera that fits in the palm of your hand.

American Star / The Next Great American Rock Movie?

American Star is a screenplay about a rock and roll dream that comes true. The problem is the screenwriter's dream of making the ultimate Rock and Roll Movie is a dream that is not coming true. Getting the right people to even know your screenplay exists, is nearly impossible. I have read 1000 websites about screenwriting and how to get your script into the right hands and have had absolutely zero success. Why is it so difficult to get someone in the industry to read your screenplay? I know the answer to that question of course...but with the internet, you would think there would be a better way to solicit your screenplay. Maybe someone can help me with finding the solution. I really believe that my movie could be the Great American Rock and Roll Movie. I just need the right person to understand what it is, I am trying to do. Any comments would be appreciated. The screenplay can be read at Celtx
Jarvy / May 15, 2009