Video Contest News Picks Gravity for Top 25!

Looks like Beardy at Video Contest News still doesn't quite grasp the gravitas of our commercial, but it still made his Top 25!

Suck it Beardy:)

The Colorist - Coming Soon!

I will be launching a new site devoted entirely to the art and science of Color Grading for television and feature films. The Colorist will feature in depth HD training for Apple Color, DaVinci Resolve, Assimilate Scratch, Autodesk Smoke and RedCine-X.

Coming first quarter of 2012! Stay tuned for updates!

Gravity and the Girl Website!

Our new website for our Doritos commercial "Gravity", is now live at gravityandthegirl.wordpress.com! Check it out for all things "Gravity"!

Pug Attack Sound Designer Likes Gravity!

I got a nice email from Patrick Knipe, the sound designer on last year's million dollar winning spot, "Pug Attack". He was cool enough to wish me luck and said, "Your commercial is really good, great job, it had me laughing". Thanks Patrick!

Video Contest News Says Gravity is Top Twenty!

Beardy over at Video Contest News was nice enough to review "Gravity".

Here is what he said, "This one is a really strong submission. The effects and photography are great and it was very well cast and acted and good call on having your actress wear those shorts. Right now I’d say your spot is one of the 20 best I’ve seen so far."

Thanks Beardy! Keep up the great work you are doing for the video contest community.

Fifth Graders Love Gravity!

Here is an email we recieved from a fifth grade teacher in San Diego.

"So, I showed the "new" Doritos spec to all 3 grps. today...they are completely entranced, and if you, Lauren and Luis ever wanted to boost your ego/day, you could come to speak to all my classes. They are all completely into this commercial (Look at the way she's standing! Notice how she sighs...and Luis, that impish grin--they can all relate!) If my students could vote, you all would WIN in a heartbeat. Thanks, as always, for keeping us updated. I know Doritos sales are soaring in Southcrest." - Terry

Those are some smart kids, I still have no idea what impish means:) Thanks Terry!

Doritos® - Gravity - 15,000 Hits & Still Climbing!

We now have over 15,000 views of "Gravity" on Vimeo! Which is a great honor, since Vimeo is the place for video professionals to share their work. Thanks guys!

Doritos® - Gravity - Rock Climbing/ Bouldering Reviews - Part 4

Just like the voices in Kevin Costner's head, "If you build it, they will come", my voices said, "If you film it, they will watch." And they have, and they continue to do so in great numbers. "Gravity" continues to be a big hit with climbers the world over and is now featured on the The Northeast Climbing Magazine, climberism.com, as well as the russian version of Facebook, vkontakte.ru.

Gravity is also featured on the blog for touchstoneclimbing.com, where they compare our commercial against a spot from Citibank and Sector Watches. Here is what they said, "Doritos has their own view on rock climbing. This one may be the most accurate of the three. I've certainly had this happen a few times, but my belayer is usually reaching for a piece of pie."

It's a great compliment to have our commercial compared to professionally produced spots. I think Touchstone Climbing thought ours was a real commercial. Shhhh, don't tell them, just let them enjoy it:)

Doritos® - Gravity Alternate Ending - Crash the Super Bowl 2012

This is the alternate ending version of "Gravity". This one is for all of you who were worried about what happens to the girl. Now you know:) Hope you like it as much as the original version. Cheers!

Click here to see the original version on Vimeo.

A commercial for Doritos.

Three friends experience the highs and lows of rock climbing.

Starring: Luis Galindo, Thomas Meaney and Lauren Johnson
Written, Directed, Edited, Composited and Graded by: Michael Eggert
Assistant Director: Laurie Shishino
Sound Design by: Marty Vites
Key Grip: Albert Salazar
Rigger: Patrick Meaney
Music by: Gioachino Rossini - Overture to "Barber of Seville"

Shot on location at Stoney Point.

Shot on a two hacked Panasonic GH1's at ISO 100, 23.976 fps, with a Vivitar 17mm f3.5, Canon FD 20mm f2.8, Canon FL 35mm f2.5, Canon FL 55mm f1.2, Rainbow Imaging FL/FD Adapter and LightCraft Workshop Fader ND.

Sansdisk Extreme Class 10 SDHC Card.

Rode Video Mic Pro.

Tascam DR-07.

Edited in Final Cut Pro.

Sound Designed and Mixed in Garage Band.

Composited in After Effects.

Color Graded in Color.

Check out the original version on the Dortos "Crash The Superbowl" website

Check it out on YouTube.

Please leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Follow me on Twitter.

Check out my free HD tutorials on iTunes and at pixelphile.tv

Doritos® - Gravity - Rock Climbing/ Bouldering Reviews - Part 3

It now looks like "Gravity" has made it all the way to the Netherlands and Slovenia! We are now featured on the Slovenian site Gore-ljudje.net, where they said "Pazljivo izberite soplezalca", which loosely translates to "Carefully select the climber." And we are on the Dutch site sloper.climbing.nl where they entitled "Gravity" as "Flaw filmpje" which might mean "Light movie", at this point I can't really be sure anymore:)

Proost!

Doritos® - Gravity - 5 Stars!

Our Doritos commercial "Gravity", has a five star rating over on rockclimbing.com!

Thanks guys!

Doritos® - Gravity - 10,000 Hits & Climbing!

Thanks everybody for helping making "Gravity" such a success! We just passed over 10,000 views on Vimeo!

For those of you who have wondered what happens to the girl after the climber lands on her? That question will be answered soon in our forthcoming alternate ending version of "Gravity".

Spoiler Alert! The girl is doing just fine:)

Doritos® - Gravity - Rock Climbing/ Bouldering Reviews - Part 2

It looks like our Doritos commercial "Gravity", is a worldwide hit amongst rock climbers and bouldering aficionados. I had no idea when I shot this spot, that so many people would like it. I guess since there is very little dialog, it makes for a perfect international commercial, which anybody can understand and enjoy.

Above, you can see that we are featured on Germany's "Berg Leben" website, which translates to "Moutain Life". "Gravity" is a featured video of the week. Vielen Dank meine Freunde!

It looks like Jerry Lewis is not the only American who is big in France. We are featured on French Photographer Rogier van Rijn's blog, as well as Kairn.com, a French adventurers site. Here is what Kairn said, "Voici la dernière pub pour les chips Doritos. Attention à bien choisir vos assureurs!", which translates to "Here is the latest ad for Doritos chips. Make sure you choose your insurance!" Merci beaucoup d'amis!

And finally, our comrades in Russia at mountain.ru have been nice enough to help promote our capitalist ways. They called our commercial "Сила притяжения". which I think translates to "Attractive Power". They must have been talking about Lauren. Sorry Luis and Thomas:)

More reviews to come! Stay tuned!

Doritos® - Gravity - Rock Climbing/ Bouldering Reviews - Part 1

Well, it's been about a week since I finished and submitted my entry "Gravity", to this year's Doritos "Crash The Superbowl" contest. Some of the reviews and comments are starting to trickle in, so I thought I would share some of them with you.

Above, you can see that we are featured on the Rock Climbing UK magazine with an article entitled, "Why you should always pay attention when belaying...". They kinda took the commercial a little too literally, expecting it to be a video on proper climbing etiquette, rather that just a spot to bring a few laughs. I thought the British were suppose to have a sense of humor? Maybe they are still mad at us for stealing "The Office" from them:)

We are also featured on rockclimbing.com, supertopo.com and mountainproject.com. While most of the climbers really enjoyed it, a few took the time to point out our improper use of safety equipment. We know we took a few liberties regarding proper climbing procedure, but otherwise we wouldn't have had a punchline, and what fun would that be?

Here are some of their comments.

Wow! Nice to see an ad that 'knows what it is doing' with the ropes! - tooth

That chick has a HAWT ASS. Good production values, too. - toadgas

Well done! Thats a great commercial! - Prezwoodz

FABULOUS! Seems to fit the genre perfectly! YAY! - eKat

Fun way to start the week! Great job & thank you! - Fritz

Since there are so many commercials, there should be a law that each has to be funny. This would definitely pass the test. Very funny. Nice work. - Patrick Oliver

Superb! - Dos XX

FANTASTIC! I love it! - Ihateplastic

Haha that's awesome! Just sent it to everyone at the climbing shop I work at! - Curt Hokanson

More reviews to come! Stay tuned!

Doritos® - Gravity - Crash the Super Bowl 2012

A commercial for Doritos.

Three friends experience the highs and lows of rock climbing.

Starring: Luis Galindo, Thomas Meaney and Lauren Johnson
Written, Directed, Edited, Composited and Graded by: Michael Eggert
Assistant Director: Laurie Shishino
Sound Design by: Marty Vites
Key Grip: Albert Salazar
Rigger: Patrick Meaney
Music by: Gioachino Rossini - Overture to "Barber of Seville"

Shot on location at Stoney Point.

Shot on a two hacked Panasonic GH1's at ISO 100, 23.976 fps, with a Vivitar 17mm f3.5, Canon FD 20mm f2.8, Canon FL 35mm f2.5, Canon FL 55mm f1.2, Rainbow Imaging FL/FD Adapter and LightCraft Workshop Fader ND.

Sansdisk Extreme Class 10 SDHC Card.

Rode Video Mic Pro.

Tascam DR-07.

Edited in Final Cut Pro.

Sound Designed and Mixed in Garage Band.

Composited in After Effects.

Color Graded in Color.

Check it out on the Dortos "Crash The Superbowl" website.

Check it out on YouTube.

Follow me on Twitter.

Please leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Data Rescue 3

Recently, I had a catastrophic hard drive failure on one of my archive drives. Almost 750 gigabytes of data was inaccessible since the hard drive failed to mount. I tried the built-in OSX disk utility, but it didn't recognize any problems. Then I tried "Disk Warrior" and it wasn't able to do a rebuild because of a mounting problem. Finally, as a last resort I tried Data Rescue 3, and miraculously it was able to find all the files on the hard drive.

After a rather lengthy process of recovering the missing files to another hard drive, and then copying them back to the original freshly reformatted drive, I am back to were I was before the failure.

If your hard drive crashes, remain calm, and try Data Rescue 3.

It saved my bacon:)

Pros: Finds and Recovers your Missing Files.

Cons: A Little Expensive (But Worth It).

List Price: $99.00

Life's a Beach - Margaritaville Cargo

We felt like kicking it old school, standard definition style with this commercial for Margaritaville Cargo Mixed Drink Makers. I haven't done anything at standard definition for years, and now I know why:) Once again, staring the usual suspects.

Not everyone can live by the beach, but anyone can have an instant party with the Margaritaville Cargo Mixed Drink Maker.

Starring: Thomas Meaney, Marty Vites and Sean Goodman
Written, Directed and Edited by: Michael Eggert
Original Song by: Marty Vites & Thomas Meaney

Special thanks to Michael Sattin of The Resonant Heads for letting us borrow your cool red guitar strap. You can get your own at Couch Guitar Straps.

Shot on location in Santa Monica, Ca.

MJPEG HD, 1280x720, Smooth Mode -2 -2 0 0, Conformed to 640x480 SD.

Shot on three hacked Panasonic GH1's at varying ISO's, 60 fps, 1/60th, with Canon FL 35mm f2.5, Canon FL 55mm f1.2, Canon FL 85mm f1.8 and Rainbow Imaging FL/FD Adapters.

Benro C-298M8 Carbon HVC Flexpod.

Sansdisk Extreme Class 10 SDHC Card.

Rode Video Mic Pro.

Edited in Final Cut Pro.

Composited in After Effects.

One Last Thing

Steve Jobs

1955-2011

Seat Frame/ End Tag - Retrospective

A seat frame, sometimes refereed to as an end tag or end slate, is when at the end of a commercial the clients logo or product appears prominently for about three to five seconds. I decided to put together a little retrospective of some of my favorite seat frames that I have done over the past year.

You might notice that my go to actor, Thomas Meaney, is featured in a lot of these spots. He's a great guy, super easy to work with, and always willing to go that extra mile to make the shot great. All you talent scouts take notice, and scoop this guy up before somebody else does.

So here they are, in no particular order, my seat frames.

Blended - Amazon Wireless

If you are like me, sometimes you get so frustrated with your cell phone, that you want to cause it physical harm. For this Amazon Wireless spot, I decided to torture a poor old Blackberry with a kitchen blender. The results? One crazy cell phone concoction. Drink it in:)

Written, Directed and Edited by: Michael Eggert
Original Score by: Marty Vites
Voice Over by: Thomas Meaney

Special thanks to Laurie for letting me "borrow" her cell phone:)

Shot on a hacked Panasonic GH1 at ISO 100, 23.976 fps, with a Canon FL 55mm f1.2, Rainbow Imaging FL/FD Adapter and Fader ND.

Benro C-298M8 Carbon HVC Flexpod.

Sansdisk Extreme Class 10 SDHC Card.

Shot on location in Woodland Hills, Ca.

Edited in Final Cut Pro.

Composited in After Effects.

Tangent Devices Element

Debuting at IBC 2011 in Amsterdam, the new Tanget Devices Element control surface, is a gorgeous device aimed squarely at the ever growing lower cost color grading market. Formed from solid laser cut aluminum, the Element looks like a great alternative to the venerable JL Cooper Eclipse.

Featuring OLED alphanumeric displays and magnetic snapping for aligning up to four modules. Expected to sell for around $3,500.00 for the fully loaded 4 panel version.

Hack The Planet

Recently, I came to the realization that I am a Hacker. Not to be confused with the stereotypical Russian hacker, who with some cool cryptic name, hacks away in a basement in Moscow, endlessly fueled by a steady stream of Stolichnaya and Malboro Lights. I like to think I am more of a "Freedom Hacker". Hacking gadgets and computers not for nefarious reasons, but rather for advancing the quality of life and artistic pursuits. I have no idea how to hack into a Swiss bank account, but what it comes to hacking a camera or a computer, I am good to go.

Over the past couple of years I have hacked a variety of devices. My first hacking experience was hacking Dell Mini 9 net-book's into fully functional OSX Macintoshes. After that, I built a Hackintosh super computer, that was faster and far cheaper than anything that was being offered by Apple. Then I hacked my Panasonic GH1 cameras, to fully unlock their amazing potential that was originally hindered by the manufacturer. I even went so far as to take an iPod Nano and turn it into an iWatch. And most recently, I hacked (rooted) my EVO 4G, to turn it into a free wifi hotspot.

To quote my boy Crash Override, "Hack The Planet!!!"

Klipsch Image S4 In-Ear Headphones

Way back in 2007, I did a little review of my then favorite in-ear headphones, the Etymotic ER•6i. These were awesome headphones and served me well for three years. About 6 months ago, they finally gave up the ghost and went to that great big stereo in the sky.

This time I decided to go with Klipsch and their Image S4 headphones. I am really enjoying these little guys. They are a lot more comfortable than my old Etymotics. Keeping them in for extended periods of time is no problem due to their light weight and ergonomic design.

Sonically they are great. They provide a rich full spectrum sound, that lets you hear all the smaller details in the music. They have a somewhat analog style sound profile. The complete opposite of the digital and brittle quality of some lesser quality headphones. The bass response is very warm, full and fat. Great for old school 70's classic rock.

Even though I really loved my old ER•6i's, I think I am going to love these new S4's even more.

But, as it is with new loves, only time will tell:)

Pros: Comfortable, Great Sounding, Warm Bass.

Cons: Limited Sizes of Ear Tips.

List Price: $79.00

DaVinci Resolve on Smaller Screens

DaVinci Resolve is designed to work on monitors running at 1920x1080 or 1920x1200. For this reason I highly recommend the 24 inch Dell 2407 WFP/2408 WFP series. These are professional quality workhorse monitors. In terms of price versus performance, these monitors are hard to beat.

For those of you who are trying to run Resolve on a smaller monitor, such as a 15-inch MacBook Pro, which has a resolution of 1440x900, you have probably found out that the Resolve interface does not fit on a smaller screen. This causes the interface to become cropped and pretty much makes it impossible to use.

Luckily, there is a workaround, even though it is not officially supported by Black Magic Design.

Go to Applications - Utilities - Terminal

After launching the Terminal, type this:

defaults write -g AppleDisplayScaleFactor 0.75

Hit return.

Then launch Resolve. You will now see that the interface has been resized.

To return your screen back to normal, type this:

defaults write -g AppleDisplayScaleFactor 1

Hit return.

There you go. Now you can run Resolve on any size monitor, just change the amount of the "ScaleFactor" to fit.

Happy Resolving:)

RAID Hard Drive Tests

Recently, I spent the better part of three days reformatting, tweaking and testing my main Hackintosh Mac Pro Tower. It is now the foundation for my new Davinci Resolve/Smoke Suite.

I have a redonkulous amount of hard drives connected to this system. Fifteen to be exact, but who's counting?:) Yet the most important drives to me are the ones that make up my RAID array. If you are going to be doing any serious video work, especially HD or larger, you will want to setup and run a RAID as your primary video playback and capture drive.

I always go with Western Digital's Caviar Black hard drives when building my own systems. These 7200 RPM drives are absolute screamers and offer great performance and reliability at a decent price point.

For my current rig I decided to stripe together three 1TB Caviar Blacks. Since this is a budget build, I am going with a software RAID rather than a RAID card based solution. I have been very happy with the internal software RAID that OSX provides. Super simple to set up and works like a charm.

I decided to do some hard drive speed tests to see what kind of performance I can expect from these drives.

The first speed test was of a single Caviar Black. This one drive produced some very respectable numbers. It peaked out at about 105 MB/s for both disk read and write speeds.

The second speed test was of two Caviar Blacks stripped together in RAID O by using the disk utility. This 2 disk array maxed out at about 208 MB/s for both disk read and write speeds.

The third speed test was of three Caviar Blacks stripped together in RAID O by using the disk utility. This 3 disk array topped out at a smoking 312 MB/s for both disk read and write speeds.

I could have gone for a 4 disk array, but felt that 300MB/s was more than adequate for my current needs. Keep in mind, that these tests are best case scenario. In the the real world as the the drives fill up and start to fragment, performance will take a hit and these numbers will plummet. As long as I can maintain a sustained rate of over 200MB/s for the long term, I will be pretty happy.

So, if you are like Maverick and "feel the need for speed", you better get yourself a RAID.

Santa Monica College Media Technology Campus

Back in September of 2010, I posted an article about the upcoming additions to the AET campus.

It looks like Clive Wilkinson Architects have been busy, as the above rendering shows. The 79,000 square foot "Santa Monica College Media Technology Campus", as it is now called, is a marvel of modern design.

Having the broadcast and digital media classes in one central location will help foster creativity and promote interdepartmental networking.

I love how the new studios for the all mighty KCRW are will soon be on Stewart Street for all the world to see. There is also going to be a new cafe and courtyard on campus. If we just add a hotel, we would never have to leave:)

Poptent Promo - Shot on GH1 (GH13,GH17)

Poptent Final Composite

MJPEG HD 1280x720 YCC 4:2:2 30fps 85mm @ f4.0 1/60 Sec. 400 ISO

MJPEG HD 1280x720 YCC 4:2:2 30fps 20mm @ f4.0 1/60 Sec. 400 ISO

I recently shot some green screen footage using two hacked GH1's (GH13, GH17) with my young and talented Promo Pathway students. I thought this would be a great opportunity to try out the new MJPEG HD 1280x720 YCC 4:2:2 settings. The fact that these little cameras can shoot 4:2:2 without the need of an HDMI capture card, is rather mind blowing.

I am very happy with the results, even though it did require some serious garbage matting and rotoscoping. Unfortunately, as with most chromakeying, it is never just a one click proposition.

GH13 & GH17 using Pixelphile NTSC Indy Filmmaker Settings.

MJPEG HD
1280x720 YCC 4:2:2
30fps
1/60 Sec.
400 ISO
Smooth Mode
-2 Contrast
-2 Sharpness
0 Saturation
0 Noise Reduction

Canon FD S.S.C. 20mm f2.8 @ f4.0, Canon FL 85mm f1.8 @ f4.0

Sansdisk Extreme Class 10 SDHC Card.

Rode Video Mic Pro.

Edited in Final Cut Pro.

Composited in After Effects.

GH1 - How to Hack Guide (GH13, GH17)

GH1 - How to Hack - Part 1 - PTool Settings



GH1 - How to Hack - Part 2 - Firmware Install & Camera Settings

Vitaliy Kiselev, has done the impossible. He has made all Panasonic Lumix GH1 cameras, "Hackable". This enables end users to dramatically increase the data rate and performance of these pint size cameras.

What was once a handicapped camera, due to it's laughable compression schemes, is now a professional grade camera, shooting images that rival cameras costing up to 10 times more.

I currently have 2 of these "Hacked" GH1's, now referred to as GH13 and GH17 by Vitaliy. I have never felt the need to jump ship and go with the more popular, and more expensive, Canon 5D Mark II. I am quite happy with the amazing quality and ease of use that these little monsters provide.

For those of you who want to hack your GH1, but are a little worried about "bricking" your unit, I have put together these step by step videos to help take the stress out of the process.

I have also come up with my own custom settings that I think offer the best quality and reliability for the independent filmmaker.

Pixelphile NTSC Indy Filmmaker Settings

• Based on settings from LPowell & Vitaliy
• Native 24p AVCHD 1920x1080 for Film Look
• AVCHD 1280x720 60fps for Slow Motion
• YCC 4:2:2 MJPEG 1280x720 for Green Screen
• Third Party Battery Support
• Class 10 SD (SanDisk Extreme 30MB/s Recommended)
• Manual Focus Lenses Recommended
• You can download my "F" settings and GH1 firmware patch below:

Pixelphile Indy Filmmaker "F" Settings for PTool v3.56d.

Pixelphile Indy Filmmaker Firmware Patch GH1__136.

* Keep in mind that you are messing with the firmware of your camera, and that there is a possibility of ruining your camera if you make a mistake. Please do not attempt this hack if you are not comfortable with this situation. Hack at your own risk. Pixelphile is not liable for any damage that may be caused by failed hacking.

AVCHD FHD 1920x1080 23.976fps 55mm @ f2.0 1/50 Sec. 100 ISO



AVCHD SH 1280x720 23.976fps 55mm @ f2.0 1/125 Sec. 100 ISO



MJPEG HD 1280x720 YCC 4:2:2 30fps 55mm @ f2.0 1/60 Sec. 100 ISO

* In camera playback is disabled with these settings.



MJPEG HD 1280x720 YCC 4:2:2 30fps 85mm @ f4.0 1/60 Sec. 400 ISO

* In camera playback is disabled with these settings.

Recommended Film Mode Settings for Increased Dynamic Range:

Smooth

-2 Contrast
-2 Sharpness
0 Saturation
0 Noise Reduction

Nostalgic

-2 Contrast
-2 Sharpness
0 Saturation
0 Noise Reduction

Recommended Shutter Speeds for AVCHD & Motion JPEG:

AVCHD - FHD 1920x1080 - 23.976fps - 1/50 sec. (Film Look)
AVCHD - SH 1280x720 - 59.94fps - 1/125 sec. (Slow Motion)
MJPEG - HD 1280x720 - 30fps - 1/60 sec. (Green Screen)

Here are the other links that are mentioned in the how to video:

DVX User GH1/GH2 Forums.

Vitaliy Kiselev's Personal View Hacking Site.

Latest Version PTool Software.

Panasonic GH1 Original GH__132 Firmware.

LPowell 100Mbps Max Latitude Patch V2.

Blackout Powell Native 24p Patch V2.

WineBottler to run windows apps on Mac OSX.

Media Inspector File Analyzer.

Best of Luck, and Happy Hacking!

Final Cut Pro X - Epic Fail!

Apple has decided to forget about us professional editors, teachers, students and filmmakers, and rather focus on soccer moms and stay at home dads. Final Cut Pro X in no longer for industry professionals, and should have been called iMovie Pro.

The guys over at Adobe and Avid must be doing cartwheels down their halls, since they know that Apple has just killed the best editing program known to man. Nice job, Steve Jobs...thanks for negating 10 years of Final Cut Pro experience.

Here is what has been completely removed or drastically changed.

• Chapter Markers
• Limited Export Settings
• No Export for Hi-Res JPGs
• No Support for EDL
• No XML Import
• No OMF export
• No Native Support for Red Raw files
• No Multicam
• Inability to Open Projects Saved From Previous FCP Versions
• No Capture from Tape or Output to Tape
• Limited Options for Arranging Your Workspace
• No Native Support for Third Party Plugins
• Limited External Monitoring

Conan does a great job showing it's weaknesses, and gives a good laugh. Unfortunately, editors around the world see no humor in what Apple has done, as they have completely abandoned all of us who have fought to make Final Cut Pro the de facto standard.

Is it to late to go back to editing on Steenbeck?

BIg Rock - Ambit Energy

Two guys discuss the benefits of independent energy whilst rock climbing.

I had so much fun shooting with Thomas and Sean on "Nice Shorts", I thought it would be great to reunite them for an epic rock climbing adventure. We did get hassled by a park ranger about something called a "permit". What is this mythical piece of paper that you speak of?

Starring: Thomas Meaney and Sean Goodman
Written, Directed and Edited by: Michael Eggert
Original Score by: Marty Vites
Voice Over by: Kevin Thomas

Shot on location at Stoney Point.

Shot on a hacked Panasonic GH1 at ISO 100, 23.976 fps, with a Canon FL 55mm f1.2, Canon FD 20mm f2.8, Rainbow Imaging FL/FD Adapter and Fader ND.

Carry Speed V Shoulder Support.

Sansdisk Extreme Class 10 SDHC Card.

Rode Video Mic Pro.

Edited in Final Cut Pro.

Color Graded in After Effects.

2012 VW Beetle Fender Speaker System

Okay, I did not see this one coming. The newly redesigned 2012 Volkswagen Beetle will feature a 9 speaker, 400 watt system, designed by Fender Guitars.

If they offered it in tweed with and oxblood grill like a '59 Bassman, then you would have something:)

Nice Shorts Before & After

Here is a before and after comparison of the quick color grade I did for "Nice Shorts". I was going for a 70's style, cop show kinda look. A little bit like how the "Rockford Files" or "Charlie's Angels" appears in the back of my mind. They probably look nothing like this, but this is how I like to think of them.

I always try and shoot as flat as I can, by turning down the contrast and sharpen settings inside the camera. This helps increase the dynamic range, and provides a little more latitude while grading.

Nice Shorts - Dell Computers

An IT pro talks about how Dell's Mobile Solutions have helped make his job more enjoyable.

Starring: Thomas Meaney and Sean Goodman

Special Guests: OP as the brown shorts, Screamer as the white van.

Concept by: Michael Eggert

Written by: Thomas Meaney and Sean Goodman

Camera: Michael Eggert and Sean Goodman

Sound: Sean Goodman and Thomas Meaney

Directed and Edited by: Michael Eggert

Special Thanks: Laurie Shishino

Shot on location in Malibu and Santa Monica.

Shot on a hacked Panasonic GH1 at ISO 100, 23.976 fps, with a Canon FL 55 f1.2, Kiron 28mm f2.0, Rainbow Imaging FL/FD Adapter and Fader ND.

Manfrotto 561B Monopod.

Sansdisk Extreme Class 10 SDHC Card.

Audio recorded on a Tascam DR-07.

Rode Video Mic and Video Mic Pro.

Edited in Final Cut Pro.

Soundtrack from Garage Band.

Color Graded in After Effects.

Weekend Safari - Animal Crackers

A commercial for Stauffers Animal Crackers.

A man and his dog enjoy a little weekend safari at home.

I have always thought that my dog Aslan looks like a lion, hence the name, Aslan. So when I got the chance to make a little Animal Crackers commercial in my backyard, I couldn't resist.

Featuring the great Thomas Meaney as the lion tamer, and Aslan as himself. Aslan was a shelter dog who was red listed and was scheduled to be put down. Now he thinks he's a lion.

Starring: Thomas Meaney, Aslan

Concept by: Michael Eggert
Directed and Edited by: Michael Eggert
Music by: Michael Eggert - "Afrika"

Groomer: Laurie Shishino

Dog Wrangler: Marty Vites

Shot on a hacked Panasonic GH1 at ISO 100, 23.976 fps, with a Canon FL 55 f1.2, Kiron 28mm f2.0, Canon FL 85mm f1.8, Vivitar 2X Tele Converter, Rainbow Imaging FL/FD Adapter and Fader ND.

Benro C-298M8 Carbon HVC Flexpod.

Carry Speed V Finder

Sansdisk Extreme Class 10 SDHC Card.

Edited in Final Cut Pro.

Composited in After Effects.

Theme music composed in Garage Band.

Find out more about shelter animals and services at Shelter Animal Advocacy Fund Los Angeles.

Knights Templar Before & After

Recently I spent six hours filming during one of the rainiest days in Los Angeles's history. The cast and crew were awesome and did an amazing job. Here is a little secret, if you want to film without a permit, do it during a torrential downpour. The police will most likely leave you alone since the don't want to get out of their car:)

Here is a look at the original blue screen plate, and a quick and dirty comp of what the final shot might look like.

iWatch - LunaTik

What happens when you combine a 6th generation iPod nano, with a LunaTik watch band? An iWatch of course. Until Steve Jobs and Apple finally wise up and decide to make their own watches, we will have to create our own.

Scott Wilson and his TikTok and LunaTik watch kits were the most succesfully funded projects in KickStarter history.

You can buy your own at lunatik.

Carry Speed V-Shoulder Support

Tim over at Carry Speed sent me some pictures of their upcoming V-Shoulder Support rigs. Looks like they are going to be priced just right for the ever expanding DSLR universe. Tim assures me that these rigs will be very light and strong, being that they are primarily composed of carbon fiber. These rigs should be available for purchase later this month.

Carry Speed LVF-32 V Finder Review

One of the most difficult things about shooting with a DSLR is trying to achieve critical focus in bright daylight. The LCD screens on the back of the camera are notorious for washing out and becoming useless under the glare of the sun.

To combat this problem, pro shooters and amateurs alike, have turned to accessory LCD viewfinders. One of the first, and arguably still the best, is the Zacuto Z Finder. The Z Finder brought critical focus to thousands of shooters. The only downside to the Z Finder, is it's high sticker price, which is typical of Zacuto's professional level products. If you can afford a Z Finder, I highly recommend it.

For those of us with smaller wallets, there is the LCDVF, which is a cheaper alternative to the higher end Z Finder. The LCDVF design has become extremely popular and has been knocked off by countless companies.

Carry Speed is one of those companies, but with a big difference. Their version, known as the V Finder, features a couple of improvements. It has a larger eyepiece the cups the eye and keeps out any external light. More importantly, their LCD frame is thicker and heavier than the competitors, and features notched grooves that provide a much stronger connection.

Carry Speed V Finder Specs:

4:3 or 3:2 Aspect Ratio

2.5 X Magnification

2 Metal Frames

Neck Strap

Microfiber Cleaning Cloth

Pros: Notched Frame, Large Eyepiece, Less Expensive.

Cons: No Diopter, No Anti-Fog.

List Price: $59.99

Sonomax V4

Canada's Sonomax has an ingenious new line of custom fit in ear monitors. The neat trick is that the end user is the one who sets up the custom fitting. This is done by injecting silicone into a balloon placed inside their ears. After just four minutes, they are left with a uniquely formed set of ear monitors that are to be worn by just one person.

Sonomax custom IEMs should be available across North American retailers this spring, for $199 (dynamic driver) and $299 (dual armature).

So if you like to stick things in your ears, then you should love these.

Misa Kitara

If Tron could have played guitar, this is what it he would have played. The Kitara multi-touch guitar from Misa Digital would look great next to your Light Cycle.

Specs

8-inch multi-touch display
MIDI out
Audio out (1.25”)
Headphone out (3.5mm)
Onboard multi-voice audio synthesizer with assignable effects blocks
100+ digital sounds
6 pre-loaded effects
24 frets; 144 notes
Linux operating system

I think I will hold on to my Stratocaster a little longer just to be safe:)

Griffin Stompbox

The iPad can do many things, but now it can be a four switch pedalboard. Griffin Technology is soon to release Stompbox, a pedal controller for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

Studio-quality 4-channel effects pedalboard for use with guitar, bass, and other musical instruments.

1/4" jack accommodates plugs from variable inputs like volume, expression, or wah-wah pedals.

Brings true pedalboard experience to iPad; interfaces with the iShred LIVE app to switch between effects, start and stop practice tracks or metronome, and more.

Heavy-duty dock connector cable links StompBox to iPad or other compatible iOS device.

Nice, now what to do with all of my old pedals?

3 Wise Men - DeKuyper Pucker Schnapps Commercial

A commercial for Pucker Schnapps.

Three bearded wise men, share interesting facts of life.

Starring: Michael Kopelow
Concept by: Michael Eggert & Michael Kopelow
Written by: Michael Kopelow
Directed and Edited by: Michael Eggert
Music by: Marty Vites - "The Pentagon"

Shot on a hacked Panasonic GH1 at ISO 100, 23.976 fps, with a Canon FL 55 f1.2, Canon FL 35mm f2.5, Kiron 28mm f2.0, Rainbow Imaging FL/FD Adapter and Fader ND.

717AH Fluid Head, Benro C-298M8 Carbon HVC Flexpod.

Sansdisk Extreme Class 10 SDHC Card.

Audio recorded with a Rode Video Mic and a Tascam DR-07.

Edited in Final Cut Pro.

Composited in After Effects.

Find out more about Michael Kopelow.

Red Epic Stolen - $100,000.00 Reward

Here is one reason not to be rich. Mark L. Pederson, CTO of OffHollywood, had his RED EPIC stolen from his French chalet while he and his family were sleeping. Oops. EPIC #0006, was the first RED EPIC to be delivered to a paying customer. Mark payed the princely sum of $58,000.00 for the privilege of being the first guy with the new RED.

Here's a list of all that was stolen.

EPIC camera body #00006
EPIC side-handle
EPIC Redmote
5" TOUCHSCREEN LCD for EPIC
Angenieux Optimo 15-40mm
50mm RED Pro Prime - this lens is from the first set shipped - the lens is marked as T1.9 - with engraved text that reads "tested at T1.8"
Prototype of Schneider clip on circular ND filter holder ring w/ND
2 x 128 G SSD (filled with EPIC footage)
REDSTATION REDMAG 1.8"
500G GDrive mini - filled with a back up of EPIC footage)
RED Quick Plate
2 x RED Brick batteries
LCD lemo cable
Lemo adapter power cable
Black Oakley bag

Jim Jannard, founder of Oakley and the top dog at RED, has offered a $100,000.00 reward.

Same thing happened to me, except it was an apartment in Van Nuys, and the camera was a Fisher Price PXL-2000:)