Clark Nikolai

In Canada, at one time, electronics from Asia (mostly Japan in those days), had Canadian tariffs applied (to protect Canadian electronics manufacturing, yes we once had that). This meant many people travelled to the US to buy electronics. Shopping malls opened up close to the Canadian border to sell to them. At some point in the 1980s that changed and then the price was about the same.

I wonder that too but so far it seems to be over ten years without having needed to pay again. Apple makes their money off hardware so the software helps sell the hardware. (You could say too that about BM in a way.) The iOS version of Final Cut is a subscription. I don't know how that's doing. There are so many other NLEs for iOS out there that are a one time payment kind of thing that it's competing against, (including their own iMovie for iOS).

Yeah, I've been watching this for a long time, since at least the 1980s. That anyone who is educated is wrong and just observing things from your immediate surroundings is enough to know the whole world. I remember in the '80s visiting some farmer friends here in Canada, they were setting up a barn and had the walls in backwards which would cause it to collapse later. When this was pointed out by their son (who had travelled the world) one of them went on a rant about "the left wing professors who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground." In 2016, when Trump was campaigning, here in Vancouver there were three Americans from California on a visit. One was originally from Texas whose grandparents were Mexican. He was pro-Trump and went on about how dumb and dirty the Mexicans are and how we're lucky in Canada how we don't put up with any of that (He wasn't aware that Canada is full of Mexicans but anyway...). One other was also pro-Trump and was proud that he only had a Grade 3 education so was a real person and not brainwashed by the leftist whoevers in the education system. Somehow that made him smarter than someone with a degree. The third person was suspicious of Trump and didn't know what to think of his two friends cult-like admiration of him and the MAGA movement. It seems to be a thing with right wing parties now. A technique where when campaigning they promise a better life but when in power they do things so that systemic problems are not solved. If you think about it, when times are good people vote liberal, when times are bad people vote conservative. This means that it would go against their own longevity for conservative parties to improve things.

I'm glad I watched it yesterday before it got pulled. It's good though that they're doing this. It shows they care about quality. I hadn't noticed anything odd in the footage but then I was watching in 480p at the time. They say now that they'll redo the video and put it up.

It looks like a cool project. The images seem pretty nice. It's nice to see Cinema DNG still being used in new products.

It was great in so many ways. I watched it on VHS in the late '80s with a friend who had read all the books and knew the plot. I didn't so I had no idea what was going on but still loved it anyway. The sets and outfits were all very cool. I heard that Lynch was forced to have it edited too short for the story to fit it in to a movie time. It would have been great if instead of remaking it, they took the original footage and made a Netflix series, giving the scenes more time to breathe and maybe putting back any scenes or parts of scenes that had originally been cut for time. I have a friend who shortly after the film was out was in LA and went to a movie prop and costume sale. There were for sale the Freman outfits from Dune. He kicks himself now for not buying one.

It's really nice. It's a nice interest that maybe doesn't get much exposure on film. I think you combined the different types of cameras very well. There are film festivals that focus on nature and the environment. (Search FilmFreeway.) I think this could be perfect for these types of festivals. One thing they all want is a transcription and/or closed captions so be ready with that.

Yep. We've been their neighbour for a few centuries and know their tendencies (expansionism, etc.) We were fine for over a hundred years before we had a free trade agreement so we could do that again I suppose. I think it's okay for a country to protect its own industries, I just don't like the territory expansionism part. Like why can't they just buy minerals from Greenland? Why do they need to own it? I think Canada will be in this world longer than Trump will.

When I read that bit it seemed interesting but then thought about for myself what it would mean. I don't have time for my own projects as it is so introducing more seems like I wouldn't have the time for (even though the idea is exciting.) But one thing I can do is write a bit about the challenges I'm having right now in my own projects. That would be kind of interesting to others I think.

I just checked eBay. Yes, you can get an original Arri Alexa for less than CAN$5000 including the viewfinder. We live in the golden age of cameras, Kids. Go make your movie!

So true. I assistant edited on a feature shot with a 2K Alexa and they (for some reason) recorded to ProResHQ. I found the files to be some of the nicest, easiest footage to prepare for the editor. The show had a colour grader at the end but before that point, one of my tasks was to colour grade test reels and rough edits and it was so easy and fast to do as the image that it had, even in ProRes was amazing. The image is really nice and easy and quick to make it look good in post. This has budget advantages. Another thing the DOP told me he liked about the Alexa is that the viewfinder shows you beyond the recorded image. This way you could anticipate, say, an actor about to enter the frame. This was something he had missed from the film days. Film cameras' viewfinders would show more of the image than you're getting and would have a frame guide to show you what you would get but you could see more on the sides than that. He also said the menu on the side panel was fast and easy to navigate. Another time saving on set.

What I'd like to see is something the size (or smaller) of the Minolta DiMAGE X. I had one in 2003 or so and it was great! It would fit in your pocket, had internal zoom too. It was 84 x 72 x 20mm. https://www.dpreview.com/articles/8470280799/throwback-thursday-minolta-dimage-x So, if a company made something that small in that form factor but updated the specs; more zoom range, higher megapixel sensor, maybe stabilization, microSD card slot, etc. I'd be into it.

It's rare for an entire movie to be shot at a high frame rate, most of a movie would be at 24fps with the occasional slo-mo shot so this would work out fine then.

Yep. While I'm glad I have a phone on me when a picture is needed to be taken but it's not a good experience. The advantages of a phone camera are: -You usually have it on you. (Best camera is the one you have with you. That old saying.) -You can email them to someone right from the camera (or post to social media or whatever.) without having to copy to your computer first. -The screen is big compared to a compact camera. -Stablization can be very good. That's about it though. There are many problems with taking photos with a phone. (Except for some recent high end models) zooms aren't good. It's hard to see the controls in bright sun. The iOS camera app's text size for the settings (like time and flash) are super tiny (and hidden away) so hard to see when out in the sun. A real camera would have a larger button or dial for this that you can feel and see easily. Part of the reason the stability appears to be so good is that the phone takes a bunch of images then combines them, helped by the gyroscopic data, to create a picture. It looks pretty good for an easy snap shot and is good enough for most things but it's not "real" in the sense that the shutter opened on a sensor/piece of film for a moment of time and captured that. The desire for authenticity isn't new but tends to come from demographics that are surrounded by fakeness.

I've seen it though. I was working on a TV show and was about to delete my copy of the footage as I was finished with that episode and got a call from the producer. Both his copies of the footage went poof! The main copy and the backup copy drives both got corrupted somehow. He freaked out but fortunately I and the editor had copies of the footage.