Never thought I would want to do another one of these insane 48 hour films competitions but I have this little problem where I tend to say “Yes” to just about every oportunity that comes a knocken.  Director Tommaso Cardile from Milano Italy has decided to wrangle a crew from LA and NY to meet up and compete in the in Las Vegas (of all places) 48 hour film competition.  I just got here, and so far so good.  We have DP (yours truley) we are shooting on a EX1 with Letus Extreme 35mm adaptor (thanks to Daniel Dacian) and a set of my Zeiss ZF master primes…I am doing some test now and I really like what I am seeing.  I decided to not shoot on RED this go around due loss of time in Post production and time is the name of the game.  With the EX1 I can shoot native 1080 and Tomasso can cut native and we deliver online in 1080…wonderful.  Locations…check.  We rented pretty impressive penthouse looking condo that over looks the strip, and for cheap too! We are waiting now on the talent to come in from LA and in about 30 minutes we are heading to the 48 HQ to pick up our assignment.  I probably wont have any time to blog along the way but I will share our results as of this sunday we will have a completed film.  Over and out.

Spoke with Viktor Björk, the managing director from Ikonoskop today in regards to the status of their new creation, the a-cam dII. Viktor sounded quite positive about the progress and has reported over 28 people working tightly around the clock to meet the new deadlines, now slated for April.  I have witnessed a variety of different technological developments over the years and usually they tend to suffer the most time in the home stretch dealing with all the countless final details, one of which they are working out now is power management. For my guerrilla film making purposes, I need this rig to boot within seconds. Viktor continued to report an overwhelming amount of pre-orders since the announcement at IBC last September and If you order one today you are looking at a June/July delivery. This all sounds too familiar. (read: RED launch) Good luck wrapping things up Ikonoskop. Hit the jump for the latest specs and images on the Ikonoskop a-cam dII.  UPDATE: the 1st deliver of this camera series Zero is in question at the moment although reports on the IKONOSKOP forum suggest February.  I will update soon.  Read more

Some of my film school comrades, The Dandy Dwarves, produced this spot directed by Mike Goubeaux for the Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” commercial competition. They made it to the top 5 and the voting begins. Tomorrow, during the Super Bowl the winning spot will be revealed at the game for millions to admire. They did a stand up job and I think they have a solid chance at winning, what do you think? Best of luck fellows.

On a quest for a smaller hand held rig that was capable of producing the kind of phenomenal images that I have been accustom to seeing from RED, I stumbled on these guys. A couple of swedish filmmakers founded a company called ikonoskop and recently announced their latest creation at IBC. The A-cam dii carries a 16mm sized 2/3 CCD sensor (from Kodak) that is can crank out 1920 x 1080 uncompressed RAW DNG files up to 60 frames per second with an interchangeable mount all packed into this uniquely designed hand held unit…this could be exactly what I am looking for.

The Si-2k from silicon imaging looks appealing as well but after following Anthony Dod Mantle and Danny Boyle’s workflow on Slumdog Millionaire it seams to be too complex for my resources available. They used the tools they had available at the time to the best of there ability and it certainly paid off but I need a rig that operates out of the box with a workflow I can manage without being tethered to a laptop packed in 45 pounds of dry ice a day! Lots more to follow.

• http://www.ikonoskop.com/dii/
• (Ikonoskop website and info)
  
• http://www.macvideo.tv/camera-technology/features/index.cfm?articleid=104645
• (video Interview with Ikonoskop a-cam debut at IBC)
  
• http://freshdv.dreamhosters.com/audio/interview/freshdv_ikonoskop_acamdii_interview.mp3
• (podcast spot light with Daniel Jonsäter, co founder of Ikonoskop)
• http://www.retrothing.com/2008/09/ikonoskop-a-cam.html
• (Retor Thing tech article)

Gotham Guerrilla was fortunate enough to be invited to a press screening of Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull, a week before the actual release. This will mark our 1st and hopefully not last of many sneak peaks to come. I would like to thank our affiliates, Joy Hog, for this special invite. Now I need to get off my phone before it gets seized and destroyed as the fine print says on the back of my ticket. Review coming tonight.

Amazing what you can do with potatoes really, I recently learned if I chop them up into little wedges, boil until soft and fry them in a pan, add some seasoning and you got home fried potatoes! I just hope my wife does not get sick of them yet cause there are only so many things I can do with a potato…good thing she is from Havana Cuba and knows how to be resourceful.

Speaking of, you really figure out what your not missing in life when you can’t afford it…like television (the home seams much more peaceful without it) paper towels (wasteful, a rag works just as well) and I am learning to take my espresso without sugar…soon there wont be espresso.

As a freelance filmmaker I always book my gigs at least one month in advance as a cushion in case I fall to hard times. Fortunately the recession does not effect this industry too hard but it really depends what part your working in, cause IMO just about all my commercial clients are extremely financially tight these days. May has arrived and my big May job which involved traveling to direct a commercial in Costa Rica for an Ad agency (whom I will not name)…was delayed until August, maybe for good? This was not the Agency’s fault, their client can’t pony up the budget either…wow, thanks Bush. Now I am left scrambling for day jobs I had originally cleared for Costa Rica.

On a good note, the wire went into RED DIGITAL CINEMA today for our new RED ONE, I have tapped every resource dry and I am officially more broke then I have ever been in my life…so cheers to RED ONE #1781 coming home, may she prosper and bring me back to the surface. This has been a humbling experience no doubt, but the truth is…being a starving artist in New York city is not glamorous or romantic as the cliche goes. I got to run, there is a boiled egg with my name on it.

Tonight is your last chance to catch the final short film showcase in the BE FILM Underground festival. I am too tired to deal with the Tribeca Film Festival….ok so I am too broke but thats not the point. My sister came into town this week and it just happens to be that a contact of hers is the founder of this underground film gathering, formerly known as The Tribeca Underground until the the name was requested to be changed, hmmm? Considering one of the worlds big showcases, TFF, happens to be running at the same time, this short film underground showcase still managed to fill the house. After attending the opening night at the HBO screening room I can now see why.

This was without a doubt one of the more interesting short film festival screenings I have ever attended, with contributions from 17 difference countries helping each film stand out on its own. Expect to see everything from narratives, docs to experimental and now even Specs and Virals…at last, a home for that misc thing you produced other then your reel. Industry professionals will judge your films and they did not cut corners here either from what I could tell…lets put it this way, I met with Bill Plympton only to find out he was the judge of the animation category, not bad at all. The festival producers and directors have a certain unique vision, handpicking shorts from all over the world in efforts to promote emerging independent filmmakers once a year here in Manhattan.

I would like to thank Laurence Asseraf, founder and director of Be Film the Underground Film Festival, for her invitation and I highly recommend submitting or attending this showcase, either way your going to enjoy it. If you read this before 7 o’clock then come on over to park and 59th to catch the final showcase.

Mark Pederson of Offhollywood Studios shared an interesting article from Filmmaker Magazine on two of their features. If you do not know much about RED digital cinema or Offhollywoods work then click here…http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/spring2008/redcamera.php, either way its a good read.

Thanks Mark.

It’s earth day people, and for the 1st time this year we are going celebrate a little different and turn off the tube. The fine folks at Joy Hog will tell you, its official…National Tv-Turnoff week. I really like this idea, not only are you saving precious energy and therefor the world but this could be a great opportunity to think about the screenplay of yours that is collecting dust…well I know mine is.

Set a new goal this week, gather up your notes and try knock out a few pages. Side note…this is a 1st post from an iPhone so I hope it works.

April 20th 2008 is the official launch of The Gotham Guerrilla and I would like take this opportunity to welcome aboard two new members of the Gotham Guerrilla staff starting with our new editor and Author Ann Haskell. Ann is a professional writer, has an incredible sense of humor and affection towards furry little dogs.

Next I would like to welcome aboard our resident illustrator John Mitchell. JohnJohn has a background in film and animation and currently makes his bread and butter via threadless, he is the man responsible for the illustration titled “PushIt” pictured above.

We are very excited about what is to follow so look forward to some industry professionals we have lined up to contribute. The ball is rolling here and doors are officially open so I would like to wrap this by welcoming you to the Gotham Guerrilla.