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It only took a year of living in LA to understand why the industry is headed in this direction: nepotism. And not so much literal nepotism... but more-so the broader idea of "who you know-ism". Your only chance of landing a job in Hollywood is through a "connection"... ESPECIALLY in the business/executive roles that make the financial decisions. It's all very simply. The people in charge are the kids (and friends of kids) of the last generation who only learned THE BARE MINIMUM requirements to take over these positions. Now that there are so many other options for entertainment... and the system has to be reworked to adapt... nobody has any clue as what to do. Basically, these people have learned how to do a "job"... not how to "make films". The couldn't innovate if they tried. But, hey, it's not all the execs faults... there is a such thing as "workers greed" as well... and it also runs rampant through Hollywood. Let's say for a minute, that somehow a producer or executive DOES have a genuinely good business idea... can he/she execute it? Nope. Not really. The unions are still going to demand the picture be made to union standards... i.e. hiring 8 people for a 1 person job. Why do the unions do this? Well, obviously, the more jobs they can keep around... the more pockets they can take union dues from. And the longer it takes to make a film... the more they can justify taking. Unions benefit from throwing wrenches into the machine, and then demanding you hire "thier workers" to pull it out... for you know, oh, about 100x the labor value. This is why the execs are taught it's better practice to kill films... then to green-light them. It's a circle of destruction from both ends.   It's top-to-bottom corruption... and the ones who are getting screwed are the audience, the next generation of creatives who might actually be able to make better material for 90% less $, and the industry/art form itself. The film execs want million dollar salaries for having nothing but their arbitrary titles they earned for networking/sleeping their way to the top... and the union workers want $1000/hr for jobs, that more often than not, don't need to exist. Things have to adapt. They're basically using the same film-making model since the last overhaul in the 70's. Innovation needs to happen. We have the technology and capability to make films for about 80% less money and require 80% less labor... better start putting it to practice soon.

Spielberg recently said he felt the multiplex cinema filmmaking industry was heading for implosion, where someone making a $250m popcorn movie forgets to add a compelling reason for an audience to see it. A string of massively costly flops follow, bringing the system to its knees. The soft opening of Lone Ranger (a western with Johnny Depp by the makers of Pirates of the Caribbean) points to Spielberg being right on the money... [url=http://www.eoshd.com/content/10747/signs-of-spielbergs-predicted-crash-and-burn-as-lone-ranger-bombs]Read the full article here[/url]

In a few weeks we should know whether the Black Magic Design Pocket Camera arrives on time or not, that would be a much smaller investment and a good upgrade in image quality with raw/prores shooting.

Spielberg, Lucas and Soderberg are all whinging about the state of the industry because things aren't going their way so much as they used to. I'm sorry but is anyone surprised red tails couldn't find distribution or that Lincoln had difficulty finding it? These guys want to make passion projects with big budgets and full theatrical marketing campaigns.   hot tip, if you want to make a period piece with a niche audience how bout trimming your budget down to <30 million, yes Lincoln was a commercial success in the end, but what exec wouldn't be adverse to plunging 60 million plus into marketing a period film for theatrical release.   There is no crash coming at disney, this is a company that makes 30 billion, yes BILLION a year on merchandising alone. 250 million is literally nothing, sure they won't make a lone ranger 2, but it's not going to cause some cinema apocalypse. It's a hit and miss game, but as you can see if you have a library of "hits" they will generate ridiculous money on the back end for years to come.   I know we all want to see less of these sort of films and more original, exciting storytelling. But predicting the fall of the popcorn film industry based of one flop is wishful thinking.

Another famous voice to add to the argument that TV now has the upper hand.   http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE94R0HF20130528?irpc=932

Camera bodies come and go very quickly, lenses are forever. If your not making any money off your camera, i'd use a hacked gh2 over a 5d, the camera body costs 600 bucks or so and the image quality when hacked is ridiculous, it won't hold you back and you won't have to jump through hoops processing raw data etc. You'll be grateful you spent $3500 (spend it on lenses and accessories instead!) less in 12 months time when some other camera is the hot thing.   In a blind test, Francis ford coppola actually picked gh2 footage as his favourite footage over red epic, arri alexia and other pro cameras, some of which cost as much as 75k.   http://www.43rumors.com/zacuto-shootout-francis-ford-coppola-votes-for-the-gh2-and-beats-arri-and-sony/   Good luck!

Here is also a cheap version. I don't know if it's any good.   http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Axis-Camera-Gimbal-W-servos-Gyro-handle-gimbal-Stabilized-Mount-for-Movie-/141009954495   US $655.80  

Here is the SLR Magic 11mm F1.4. Covers!  

Dumb with no electronics whatsoever.

I made this video yesterday with a Sony RX100 to see if I could approximate the look of a MoVI or Steadicam when tracking a walking subject.  Active image stabilization enabled; no rig at all.   https://vimeo.com/63511215