Nikon D5000 short film shot by Ellen Kuras ASC

[killacam]

I just got a copy of Videography magazine in the mail (which by the way is a great great magazine for video and DSLR stuff), and there was a little blurb about a short film shot by Ellen Kuras on the D5000- she was the DP for a lot of great films like Unzipped, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (as well as many other Gondry films), Coffee and Cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch and a bunch of Spike Lee films. anyway I followed the link in the mag to see the short here:
http://www.ashtonsdslr.com/screening_room_landing.aspx

it's called "as far as you can see". really nice stuff- I just wish you could view it in high def. by the way, great move on the new forum! I feel like there is great stuff being shot on the "other" DSLRs.

[Matthew Bennett]

Ellen's video was well-shot but poor Harris Savides (the guy is a genius with 35mm) didn't fair so well... looked like an amateur bus test to me...

Thanks for posting!

[Rakesh Jacob]

Savides (the guy is a genius with 35mm) didn't fair so well... looked like an amateur bus test to me...


LOL yeah, no one at Nikon's marketing dept had the balls to say "um... so Harris... what else ya got? Oh by the way we got you this tripod, if you feel like shooting something else."

[Adam J McKay]

I agree, Savides video was pretty rough...really brings out the weaknesses of the cameras. I really like Ellen's video. I got a chance to meet her recently along with Fred Elmes and Charlie Kauffman at an even at VIFF. I wish I would talked about the VDSLR revolution...

[Zim]

I liked his video? Maybe it is just my mood tonight!!

[Nitsuj]

I didn't think either of them were bad. They both have different moods. Savides had a lot of images of travel that went along with the poem. I gathered it was about somebody who travels a lot and is lonely. Not sure why that would get a negative response unless it was about pixel peeping. Also the music was very good and the narrator had a great voice for the part.

[Rakesh Jacob]

Because the purpose of those pieces is to sell cameras, and if a PRO like Savides makes THAT, I don't see conusmers wanting to buy it. I get it from an artistic stand point but given it's purpose, it's a fail in my opinion, and it's just my opinion and I could be VERY wrong.

[commanderspike]

I am biassed here because I loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind and I have no idea who the other guy is and watching his video doesn't make me wanna find out :) But Ellen's is well shot and has a nice atmosphere about it, even if the voice over kinda grates on me.

I reckon you could have given the camera to anyone on DVXuser and we'd have done a better job ;-)

Michel Gondry's music videos are pretty amazing, have you seen the ones he did for Daft Punk? Very inventive.

[Rakesh Jacob]

Michel Gondry is f-ing brilliant, Eternal Sunshine is one of my favs. Any one who is not that familiar with his work should netflix "The Work of Director Michel Gondry"
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Work_of_Director_Michel_Gondry/60032190?trkid=1660

[dadoboy]

If you're into Michel Gondry, catch the trio of shorts called "Tokyo"... great stuff by all three directors in that one!

[Nitsuj]

Don't forget Chris Cunningham
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Work_of_Director_Chris_Cunningham/60032176?trkid=504326

and Spike Jonze
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Work_of_Director_Spike_Jonze/60032191?trkid=504326

[David G. Smith]

I liked both videos, but actually kinda favored the one by Harris Savides. Not so much for the images, but just the way it was put together. I liked the jazzesque score and the almost existential, detached images. I think that it has a very "Beat" vibe. Of course, I am in that kinda mood, right now, just having finished listening to Miles' "kinda Blue" and "On the Road" is on my desk as the next book I am going to read. Just finishing a collection of Bukowski prose.

The Ellen Kuras video just hit me as kinda sappy. It looked great, but, as noted, I guess I am in different mood.

I really haven't been thinking much about these HD-DSLRs, until recently, but am really becoming more and more intrigued. After almost 15 years of the "DV revolution", these cameras, with their large sensors, great lens choices, outstanding low light performance and 24 P, just may be, if not a a new revolution, a "DV revolution" reboot. While Digital Video has revolutionized television and the way it is produced, maybe these types of cameras will, finally, revolutionized cinematic story telling. We'll have to just wait and see.

[Nitsuj]

I'm with ya on that David G. Smith

[killacam]

oh yeah by the way here's a link to the videography website: http://www.videography.com/article/87554

and here in digital magazine form:
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newbay/vdy_200909/

I guess all the articles are free, which is nice. I think my subscription was free as well so I don't feel as dumb. there's a featured article on "rejouer" the feature length film ilya friedman is working on.

[Rakesh Jacob]

Don't forget Chris Cunningham
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Work_of_Director_Chris_Cunningham/60032176?trkid=504326

and Spike Jonze
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Work_of_Director_Spike_Jonze/60032191?trkid=504326

Those are GREAT too! Chris Cunningham is one of my all time favorite music video directors

[bwwd]

wow what a theories,just another random tests.She put better one.

[Matty_g]

I have no idea who the other guy is and watching his video doesn't make me wanna find out :)


I hope this is sarcasm because of the smiley but I'm really not sure.

[artforme]

Well it was unfair of Nikon to give these people an assignment with out a script.

Cinematographers are not known for making pretty pictures for no reason. They almost always have a script for motivation. Without a script, they are without motivation.

Just hop on a train and press record, collect $200.

[Ron Rodenmeyer]

Both are nice, but I think the Kuras piece is quite cloying. The tone and approach remind me of a thousand feel-good television commercials. Stunning visuals, though. The Savides piece is much more evocative and shows a radically different look that can be attained with the camera. The takeaway is these hybrid cameras are extremely versatile.

[stip]

Savides' piece looks like a typical first semester film student short :)

[David G. Smith]

Savides' piece looks like a typical first semester film student short :)

You know, some of the best films I have ever seen where made by first semester film students. I went to a screening of student films at Hollins University a while back. The class was taught by this guy:
http://www.handcrankedfilm.com/jake/jake_pages/jake.html
and the films were definitely "Art for art sake" little opus', but I was blown away by some of the creativity and outstanding images that these kids were able to produce. I was kind of sad knowing that the most of these students, if they stick with filmmaking, may have just had their best filmmaking experiences, before being thrown into the world of "Gotta make my car payment" filmmaking and having to worry about flagging off a fill light to not show the CEO's double chin in a talking heads industrial shoot, or being yelled at for glare on the pepperoni in a pizza chain commercial shoot.
So, comparing the Savides piece to a student film, is not necessarily a bad thing.

The Kuras piece was outstanding, but just seem to me to be what a world class cinematographer, with a Sunday off with her daughter/niece/friend's child/central casting cute child call back winner could make and that she took great care to keep the glare off of the pepperoni.

[stip]

So, comparing the Savides piece to a student film, is not necessarily a bad thing.

You are right, I just happen to have studied design, not film, so I probably was thinking about me and my former colleagues rather than about filmstudents.

I didn't intend to say that it's bad anyway, I just think his piece is no more than a nice camera-testfootage-clip...but I don't think he considers it as being anything special himself.