Way back when in the mid-90s a film called "The Brother's McMullen" hit it big with audiences and critics alike at the Sundance film festival. I personally liked the film too. It also was one of the films along with "Clerks" that told me (and many others) that I could be a filmmaker. Not because of the storytellling or content mind you, because of the budget. $25k for "The Brother's McMullen" (and $28k for "Clerks").

Cut 15 years ahead to today and what is Ed Burns doing? He's releasing a new $25k movie. I guess there hasn't been any inflation since 1995.

If you don't know who Edward Burns is he's probably best known (to mainstream commercial viewers) for his roles in "Saving Private Ryan", "15 Minutes" (opposite Robert Dinero), or from his appearances on "Entourage". He's really created a nice career staying in the indie world, but also being relevant in the Hollywood system (mainly as an actor). And to those who follow indie film, you probably know he's directed a handful of really nice movies over the past decade (along with acting in them) and is continuing that trend today.

His latest film is called "Nice Guy Johnny" and to be honest, while I am interesting in seeing the film, I'm more interested in how he's financing and distributing it.

ALL filmakers (that's film, TV, web, whatever) should check out this very interesting interview with him on his latest film and on how he is trying to reshape (indie) distribution...

http://motionlifemediablog.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/interview-with-ed-burns/

Interestingly, a lot of what he's talking about is being done in one form or another (and with varying degress of success) in the web series world right now.

-Blake

Nice blurb on Jake Johnson at TIFF 2010 this year being named #6 in their "Top 10 New Faces". Jake co-stars in the film "Ceremony" with Uma Thurman, and is probably best known for his starring role in "Paper Heart" last year with Michael Cera and crew.

http://www.ioncinema.com/news/id/5565/tiff-2010-top-10-new-faces-6-jake-m-johnson

Of course he's best known to me for his great work in my new indie feature "Spilt Milk". You can watch the trailer here, and join the FB page here, if you're interested in seeing more.

Oh, and there's also a mention in the blurb of a certain filmmaker and a certain upcoming film... hmmm, I wonder who it could be? :)

-Blake

I'm really looking forward to shooting with this new ARRI ALEXA camera...

The first feature film to have been shot with ALEXA cameras is Anonymous, an Elizabethan thriller with a controversial take on the true authorship of writings attributed to William Shakespeare. Set amidst London's shadowy theatrical and royal circles around the turn of the 17th century, the film features a strong cast of British stage actors and is directed by Roland Emmerich, best known for more explosive Hollywood action movies such as The Day After Tomorrow and 2012. Emmerich worked with cinematographer Anna Foerster on the project, with whom he has collaborated since Independence Day in 1996.

Direct link to story and full interview with the DP:
http://www.arri.com/news.html?article=529&cHash=c3f3388628

-Blake

I've been talking a lot about the new teaser for my upcoming sci-fi series CONTINUUM recently, but I wanted to remind folks that my other series EXPOSED is playing right now on TheWB.com.

Here's a pretty cool graphic I found too on TheWB's Facebook page...



















Please check out the show if you haven't already:
http://www.thewb.com/shows/exposed

Thanks!
Blake

Today the new DVD is being released for my friends Matthew Tompkins and Julio Cedillo's film "The Fragility of Seconds", or in Spanish - and the way it's being marketed - "La Fraglidad De Los Segundos".

Here's a descripton from Netflix:

In a matter of moments, the lives of three strangers collide, forcing each to decide how badly they want to live: a con man (Chuck Huber) just released from prison, an FBI agent (Matthew Stephen Tompkins) suffering from professional burnout and a brother (Julio César Cedillo) bent on rescuing his sister. Matthew Tompkins and Julio Cedillo direct this gripping drama based on real-life crimes in Juárez, Mexico.

And here's a link to Netflix to rent the film:
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/La_Fragilidad_de_los_Segundos/70139070?strackid=17278943ef9ef4f0_0_srl&strkid=1740138424_0_0&lnkctr=srchrd-sr&trkid=222336

And a link to Amazon to buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/Fragilidad-Los-Segundos-Matthew-Tomkin/dp/B003G7168Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1279635774&sr=8-1

I'm very happy for these guys and the release. This was a true passion project funded through blood, sweat and tears (no joke).

It's a great indie film that you should definitely check out!

-Blake

Yeah, so this is a weird one... The DP for my feature film "Killing Down" (Alan Lefebvre) was in a Walmart the other day and snapped this picture:













That is obviously a shot of "The Marine", an action flick that came out around the same time as "Killing Down". If you've never seen the DVD artwork (U.S. version) for my movie then this wouldn't mean a whole lot, but if you have then like me you probably did a doubletake.

Here's a side-by-side comparison:

















So as you can see they look A LOT ALIKE. We brought this to the attention of our US distributor and they said "we use the same graphic designers as the studios". So I guess that means they copy each other? Seems odd to me.

My guess is either the same guy did the work, or it was a blatant rip-off. Since "Killing Down" didn't hit DVD shelves in the U.S. until January 2008 (and "The Marine" was in late 2006 or early 2007), I'd say my DVD artwork is the derivative one here. Luckily the movies aren't exactly the same! :)

Oh, and just for the record, here's the artwork WE DID ORIGINALLY (and what is still being used overseas, unless someone has copied the "Die Hard" DVD cover...). :)
























-Blake

If you follow the DSLR news you likely know that the recent BIG NEWS was that the season finale of the FOX network show "House" was shot on the Canon 5D. This really is incredible when you think about it.... I mean, a network show can shoot on pretty much ANYTHING they want, including 35mm film - although that is becoming a rarity.

Anyway, as usual, DP Philip Bloom has done a great job of following this and actually scored an interview with the Executive Producer/Director of the show.

Here's a link to his blog with info on the shoot, and also a link to the audio from the interview. Well worth checking out...

http://philipbloom.co.uk/2010/04/19/in-depth-interview-with-executive-producer-and-director-of-house-season-finale-shot-on-canon-5dmkii/

-Blake

I personally own a Canon XH-A1 HDV camera and have been very happy with it over the last 3 years. We actually shot two of my web series, PINK and EXPOSED on it with a Letus DOF adapter. So when I heard about the release of the next generation of this camera I was intrigued.

The new version is called the XF300 (and XF305). They are tapeless cameras, which was expected, but what I was surprised about was they will shoot in the 4:2:2 color space at 50Mbps and onto standard (cost-effective) CF cards. Unlike the Panasonic HVX and the Sony EX series, Canon has chosen to go with the ubiquitous recording media, which I am very happy to hear. The Sony SxS cards and Panasonic's P2 cards are great, but they're also very expensive (yeah, still) costing upwards of $1000 or more depending on size (some smaller capacity cards are cheaper).

The Canon actually uses the same kind of cards my Canon 7D DSLR camera uses, which is pretty cool (and pretty interesting...). I wonder if Canon will "blend" this line of cameras with it's DSLR cameras in the future? This new XF300 uses 1/3" CMOS chips now (three of them instead of the one used in the DSLR), so why not give it one big one like the 7D or the 5D? Talk about a great camera! But I digress...

The new Canon XF cameras will be on display at NAB next week and available to buy in June. I'm not quite ready to get a new camera this summer, but come this fall I'll likely be an owner of one of these (btw, not to use instead of the 7D - which I love - but to use on corporate and commercial jobs that require more of an ENG or "run and gun" style of shooting).

Read more about the camera here...
http://www.studiodaily.com/blog/?p=2998

-Blake

ARRI's new ALEXA camera looks really great. It's affordable (within reason, especially for rental houses - but some owner/operators), it has 13 stops of lattitude and uses 35mm lenses...

Here's a link to two videos about the camera. The first one is a demo/preview of the actual prototype (that will be unveiled at NAB soon). And the second one is an interview with the main ARRI guy responsible for the design, etc.

http://www.thefilmbook.com/top/techne/arri-alexa-prototype.php

I keep saying this, and it's very true - it's a GREAT time to be a filmmaker.

-Blake

Been very busy shooting new series "Continuum" this past week, and we have about one more week to go. This above graphic shows a raw production still and then the same still color corrected. We set the Canon 7D up to have a "flat" look for great latitude during color grading and this side by side comparison shows that (click on image to see larger view).

I'll be posting more tech info about the HDSLR production and post process soon. But right now back to work on the show. :)

-Blake

Kim's new role as Hope on "The Bold & The Beautiful" is getting a lot of great press including this new feature from her hometown paper in Fort Worth, Texas...

Read Star-Telegram Article

Definitely an inspiring story for those actors Out There trying to make it! :)

Btw, some very cool PINK news is coming soon too...