Anjulie's Vlog is da bomb

via anjuliemusic.com

Anjulie's a fantastic singer that caught my attention with her soulful ballads, high quality production and tightly arranged vocals. Check out her song's "Boom" and "Rain" to get a good idea of why she's hot right now. She's of Indian heritage and grew up in Canada. You'll find her hanging out on the East Coast a lot when she's not touring.

The best part about her website is the periodically updated Vlog which is even better than a blog because we get to see and hear her, and not just read a tweet or post. Oh Anjulie... *sigh*

3D is our future

OK, so every day we hear about how television and films are all going 3D.  It's exciting and daunting all at the same time.  Yet another technology I have to learn!  What really excites me is the different ways we can go with 3D and all the new applications we can create.  Take a look at this example of an interactive 3D object:

It's cool how you can look at the cube from different angles, giving you the sense of 3D without glasses or other optical gadgets. 

This kind of physical device illustrates how people really want to interact with 3D.  It has to be easy to carrying around, like a portable TV screen and be effortless to use.  Check out www.cubee.ca for more info.

Making Art with Samrat and Peter

I was shooting a music video earlier this week with actor/musician Samrat Chakrabarti (http://samratchakrabarti.com) and cinematographer Peter Holland (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2375476/).   It was Peter's first time using the Canon 5D for a video shoot and he was intrigued.  He would have liked to have some more features of a traditional video camera but really appreciated the shallow depth of field and sensitivity of the sensor.  We were able to shoot with available light at night and got great images.

The process for making this video has been interesting.  Samrat and I have been creating as we go along...writing a storyline and modifying it...molding it to have meaning...shooting scenes to match our ideas, utilizing whatever resources are at our disposal.  Thanks to the talented Shikha Jain (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3506172/) who agreed to be cast last minute, we were able to give our project a well rounded look and a depth to the storyline.

I feel the best use of my time is to create images and I'm never happier than when I'm filming. 

House of Branching Love

I just watched "The House of Branching Love," a Finnish film, yesterday at the Method Independent Film Festival.  My friend, Anna Easteden, played "Nina" and has been nominated for the Stockholm Krystal Award for Best Supporting Actress.  Anna was absolutely wonderful and so was the film.  It's an adult comedy about a couple who are divorcing but still living in the same house.  Watch it if you get a chance!

1st Canon 5D/7D Boot Camp a big success

I had a blast with the participants in the Canon DSLR workshop on March 27th.  The workshop was run by The Association of Film and Video Producers and took place at a stage in Santa Monica run by GreenScreenLA.com.  It was a 5 hour, hands-on traning with an actress (the talented Anna Easteden of annaeasteden.com.) 

Everyone loved the boot camp and came away with a lot of good information.  It was great to see the ideas churning in the heads of the participants as they learned a new tip or trick.  I can't wait until the next one on April 10th.  Sign up here: www.theassociation.tv/canonbootcamp

 

From Canon DSLR Boot Camp 3/27/10