Finally saw "Borat" last night on DVD. Funny movie for sure, but I also think it's a tad too mean spirited for my taste. Now, some of you who know me might think this an odd statement coming from my smartass mouth, but I did find some of the situations hard to watch (knowing the people he was interviewing weren't in on the joke). I much prefer mockumentaries like "This Is Spinal Tap" or even my film "Hit" where the main characters make fun of themselves - NOT other people.

But, all-in-all it was a very funny movie.

One really interesting thing to me as a filmmaker was the fact that the "film" was shot on HD video using the Panasonic Varicam. The HD was then transferred to film and I thought it looked great (we shot "Killing Down" on the Varicam). You could really see the difference when they'd cut to some of their "B" camera angles that were shot on smaller, consumer grade interlaced cameras and also when they showed the actual news cast footage that was also shot on interlaced video.

Panasonic didn't really promote the fact that the movie was shot on their camera I think partly due to the controversy surrounding it. Again, I thought it looked great and no one would know it didn't originate on film.

Check it out if you haven't seen it - and the DVD extras are good too - A LOT of deleted scenes that didn't make the final cut of the film.

-Blake

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