I supervised the shoot and was lead Flame op on InterSport, a world cup ad for Indonesia featuring Fernando Torres. This is why it’s been so quiet here over the last few weeks.

Directed by Patrick Jean from OneMoreProductions. Very very cool.

Stunning timelapse video of New York. All the tilt-shift/depth of field effects were created in post using Frischluft Lenscare, a plug-in I must have.

Just finished this last week. The sumos were shot on blue/green screens on location. Enjoy!

It was 1984 and I was 14 when Tron came out. I absolutely loved the film and I think I probably watched it over a hundred times. I was surprised when I felt a little bit excited about the sequel after watching the VFX concept trailer.

It’s released at the end of 2010 and with most of the original cast appearing. From the trailer it appears that Jeff Bridge’s character, Flynn, is perhaps now a baddie! Oh yes: Light cycles, frisbees of death, Master Control Program, glow suits. And it’ll be in 3D.

The Droste Effect is a technique whereby an image is rendered recursively to create a mind-bending (or brain-hurting) result. If you look at MC Escher‘s famous works you’ll see how a master artist uses this technique.

Now let’s have some fun. Download and install Adobe’s Pixel Blender Photoshop plugin, then get the Droste Effect Filter and start warping!

The effect is a lot more effective when it’s in motion. Take a look at OneInThree‘s fantastic video for Wild Beasts. I have to stress that the video was done mathematically by OneInThree themselves and not using the Adobe plugin. Enjoy!

This month’s Esquire cover features the lovely Megan Fox. What’s unique about the photo is the camera used to take it: the Red ONE.

Greg Williams, the photographer, in his own words:

“It allowed her to act,” Williams says. “She could run scenes without being reminded by the sound of a shutter every four seconds that I was taking a picture. As in still photography, a lot of it is capturing unexpected moments. This takes that one step further.”

Is this crossover the start of something new? Will photographers be encouraged to use new digital cameras like Red? Isn’t it exciting when new technology crosses over old barriers, when these tools are used beyond what their creators intended?

There’s more on the Esquire site including a live cover photograph!

Philips have just launched their new 21:9 Home Cinema screen. What’s 21:9? To paraphrase Nigel Tufnel, it’s 5 more than 16:9. It’s a super-wide cinema-home-scope Ambilight screen. And let me save you the trouble: you’ll want one.

To celebrate and demonstrate the new product, Philips hired Adam Berg to film an amazing ultra-super-slick timeslice loop called Carousel. Looking at it with my compositor’s eye, all I could think was, “WOW!” Philips have a nice behind-the-scenes microsite with the director, DOP and VFX supervisor chatting about the project.

Enjoy!

It’s a big, BIG day for RED. The new cameras are just spectacular and game-changing. Infinitely modular, extremely adaptable, always upgradable.

I was going to write about the announcements in as much detail a I can, but Dorkman has already done that. His post captures the excitement and the disbelief. I mean, a 28K film camera? Huh? I thought 6K was the upper reaches!

Happy REDmas.

Ports on the Epic 5K camera?

Scarlet/DSMC buttons? We’ll find out in 3 days!