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Canon Xha1 et chrome35 HD (mon kit mini35)

Premier test de ma nouvelle caméra avec le kit mini35 que je fabrique.

Archives : Originally posted May 31st, 2007

It's all so surreal. Four years ago, I watched a short film called 'Marla', made by a team of Belgians (who, at that time, called themselves "Another State of Mind") on a shoe-string budget. Using a homemade rig involving a GL2 and an old SLR Nikon they bought off eBay for cheap, they created a "mini35" (MiniDV meets 35mm film) look that was very impressive and different. I was an instant fan.

Fast forward to last night - driving in the rented mini van with Amanda down the 405, on our way to pick up Olivier (co-founder of ASOM) and Jeff from LAX.

We were late - because I didn't finish installing the rack on the van's roof soon enough - and not to mention traffic was backed up on a Tuesday night at 6:30. Add to this I only wrote on the back of my hand the flight number, and not the actual airline... yea, we were having issues.

First we park the van, run into terminal 2 looking at US Airlines and Delta - Amanda is on the phone with her sister trying to look up the airline, I'm at the baggage claim begging some guy to punch it in on his computer. They've been on the ground for 30 minutes. We find out it's in terminal 6 - which just happens to be about as far away from 2 as possible.

We run back to the parked van, go through the long exit line, do a loop to the other side, miss the parking structure for 6, drive another 400 feet to garage 7. Get out, race to terminal 6, realize that international flights get dumped off at 7. Turn back around, race to 7, at this point it's been 45 minutes since their flight has landed. The pick-up area is packed, I don't actually know what Olivier or Jeff look like... we forgot to make a "Black Sheep" sign.

I'm basically looking for two people who look like they are looking for people looking for them. When a tall guy to my left casually asked me, with a bit of a grin on his face, "are you looking for someone?". It was perfect.

And luckily, they had just picked up their bags moments before, so we didn't look like total assholes.

Happy New Year, everyone. Okay, I’m back in L.A., home sweat home, it took me a little longer than I expected, thanks to Delta’s computers crashing on Christmas – causing thousands and thousands of people’s flights to be delayed for 2 – 3 days, but that’s another story for another time…

First two things; the brand-spanking-new completely-reworked ‘budget outline’, and a sneak peak at the mini35 kit * that will be used for proj:pedal. The budget outline of course can be found under ‘the production’ drop-menu to the left, please take a look, compare and contrast – Olivier did some research and dug-up some really, really great deals that helped the budget get a lot more bang for it’s buck.Also, if you’re interested in learning more about the original design of the mini35 kit by A.S.O.M.; you can click on the ‘dig deeper’ drop-menu and download the “Just Facts …” PDF under the “recommended” category.

I just received an email from ‘Aquatix International‘ – I had asked them the other day if they could build a custom water-tight housing for the Sony HDR-FX1 [which would actually have to be around 16 inches long. The camcorder only measures 14", but I wanted room for the wide angle] but unfortunately, despite their “custom video housing“, they said they were unable to design a housing of that size. It seems every time I post a new ‘budget outline’, the next day it needs to be reworked. It’s a never-ending battle.

I just realized while writing the last paragraph that some of you might be asking, “I though the budget outline said proj:pedal was going to have a home-made housing designed & made, why the change of mind“?

Well, that still may be the case, depending on what the budget allows and how much financial support the film pulls in by May. The plan is to buy a housing for under $400 – $500, so if any of you out there happen to know someone or somewhere that sells 16″ long casings for that price – it would be greatly appreciated. The only problem with a homemade housing is that it would be a “prototype” and the fear if there was one tiny mistake or flaw in it’s design – it could destroy a $4,000 HD camcorder. Needless to say, that can not happen.

As far as everyday ‘rainy’ situations, a homemade casing would work just fine, you’d never know the difference with the end result. But if you look at pg.8 of the storyboards [under 'the production'] you’ll notice that one of the shots I hope to get involves the DP, Olivier, jumping off the edge of a small cliff with of course, the camera in his hand. This made Olivier very nervous… understandably. I guess if we get the money for a professional housing, that shot will find it’s way into the film, and if we don’t then we’ll just have to stick to safer [less creative] shots.