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It’s one of those situations where I go into knowing very little about the product they have or what the final product will be.  But I kinda like that.

I find that when I go into something with a clear vision of exactly what I want, the final product always suffers a bit. Just gotta let go and let it happen.

I have a pinched nerve in my neck that occasionally flares up and renders my left arm useless so I’m hoping that doesn’t rear it’s ugly head.  Seeing a surgeon the day after I get back.  Hmmm, I wonder if I can still shoot with my shoulder rig with a neck brace on?

Alright, no more typing.  I’ll post a link or something when I have the video shot.

Any requests for cheese, now is the time.

Anyone that talks to me on twitter knows that I have been thinking about-well- obsessing about which camera rig to buy.  I was looking at Redrock Micros Captain Stubling but decided against that because I like to shoot with an LCDVF attached to my 5d mark II shoulder style.  Then I considered the Redrock Eye Spy Bundle…. before significantly raised their prices. Thanks for the warning, redrock micro!

That left me to look at Zacuto. Now I love Zacuto’s people (they are really great and friendly on twitter) but their prices don’t sit well with me.  Indisystems was a contender but I had heard some iffy things about their service.

Suffice it to say, I have yet to see a rig that would fit my needs. They all were limited to one way of shooting and VERY expensive. You could easily spend more than your camera was worth on a rig, but at the end of the day, it’s there to keep your camera stable and lesson the jitter.

So finally… after MUCH debate and the (somewhat ringing) endorsement of Jason Wingrove I went ahead and got the Gini Rig from ebay (model is DSL-17…seller name is gini.1989).

Gini Rigs are more or less Zacuto knock offs.  I don’t mean that in a bad way though it may sound like it.  They are quality pieces of gear but they are also dead ringers style wise to the zacuto look.  I hear he is working on establishing his own look.

And here are some pictures of my first attempts at configurations.

I have since found a better configuration and will post about that later.

It’s only the first day I have had this but I am really impressed with it so far.  I love how versatile it is.  I really think I could make 100 different configurations with this quickly and easily for any style of shooting. Stubling, sure. Eyespy, no problem.  Tactical shooter, yup.

And it was 350 dollars.  Not cheap by sane people standards, but cheap by rig configuration standards.

If you have any questions or want to see other configurations let me know in the comments.

Now here’s a cool development. Vincent Laforet (the guy that shot the amazing and super-dslr-selling shorts Reverie and Nocturne) is hosting a 3 day seminar next weekend to teach all aspects of DSLR filmmaking. It’s a very interesting concept- offer a course for free if you watch it live, or charge for the download files after the fact.

I assume one of the main reasons he is doing this is to combat the rampant priacy that goes on in the online learning industry. But his atruism is not in question and I urge anyone serious about this stuff to sign up now. I would guess bandwidth might be a concern.

http://creativelive.com/courses/vince_laforet/

I applaud Vincent for doing this and have already signed up to attend. It will be my first attempt at learning live and streaming and am interested to see how this all works out. Will post some things I’ve learned when it’s over. Exciting times.

I know 3D is still controversial and still very much love it or hate it, and while I don’t plan on buying a 3D TV and glasses anytime soon, it is growing on me when its done right.

I recently saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D and thought it was terrible and gave me a headache.

Pixar’s UP gave me a headache as well.

How To Train Your Dragon was done right.

Now lets talk visuals. Wow. Gorgeous. The credits list Roger Deakins (personal hero of mine) as a consultant and I’m not surprised. He is one of the best DPs in the business and has shot most of the Coen brothers movies among many others. Its great to see animation studios tapping into the huge wealth of knowledge that’s out there and combining the two worlds. Deakins worked on wall-e as well and I see this as a trend that is only going to continue. There’s amazing scenery and some really breathtaking aerial chases that are just thrilling to watch.

The characters were very well designed, with the minor exception of the lead character and his girlfriend. Something about them didn’t mesh with the rest of the world for me, and it wasn’t just because they were the skinny one’s of the group. It also bothered me a little that everyone had accents except the younger vikings. Generation difference perhaps?

Now for the story….the most important part. It’s not earth changing by any means. It is pretty cut and dry hero’s journey stuff. In fact, it is pretty similar to kung fu panda, not surprising since it was made by the same team. Here it is in a nutshell:

In a town full of big burly vikings there’s one little scrawny viking that is also the son of the biggest baddest viking leader in the land. The viking village is regularly attacked by dragons and all the vikings fight them. Except of course for our hero Hiccup. He’s kind of the running joke of the village. Then he accidentally shoots down the hardest to kill dragon and befriends it. Uh huh. He soon learns that dragons are friendly and are only attacking the village because the village attacked them first. Yeah. And with his new found knowledge of the dragons psyche he becomes an expert dragon wrangler and impresses the entire village with his new skills.

It all results in a big climax that i won’t ruin, suffice it to say it’s exactly what you think.

But you know what? In the same way that I didn’t care that Avatar had a broad storyline, I don’t care that this did either. The bottom line is, by the end of the movie you do care about the characters and you do care about the outcome.

See it. In 3D. Please.