Marc Singer's HVX marines documentary blog
 

http://www.marcsinger.info/main.html

Marc Singer's started a blog about his new documentary. His prior film "Dark Days" won three awards at Sundance and the Independent Spirit award. In Dark Days he lived among the homeless for years in an underground Amtrak tunnel, telling their story.

This time he's imbedded in a Marines Force Recon squad (Force Recon being the elite of the elite).

I bring it up here in this forum because he's using an HVX for all this stuff, taking it into the most challenging of conditions. He started out on one of the other cameras because it was available, but it wasn't getting the job done so when the HVX was released he switched to the HVX. He's putting it through the paces, it's taken a bullet hit, he's filmed some 60p overcranked slow-motion shots of concussion grenades where the blast was so strong that the paint peeled off the walls and the footage shows the shock wave rolling towards the camera... He started corresponding with me to ask questions about settings and such, and I asked him what he was working on and when he told me, I was blown away. And jealous -- I mean, this guy's living large. He's about a month away from deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. I asked him if he wasn't a bit concerned about heading into the heart of a civil war, and he said "hey, the hotter the better -- and besides, considering the guys I'm going with, I'm not concerned at all -- they're the best of the best." Hardcore.

Anyway, Marc's a great guy and has shared a lot of his experiences on DVXUser, and now he's running a blog specifically about his experiences with the Force Recon unit and the making of the film. Marc hasn't shared any footage yet, but he says it's incredible.

Barry's always keeping us in the loop and on the hottest coolest TIP
 

Barry,


Thanks for including this. Marc was a super cool guy to chat with online. So great to be able to follow his process and have him be so open about his camera.. workflow and opinions. Was a real confidence boost to see that he chose the HVX and is so happy with the results. His first film is also so damn good that it makes you listen to what he has to say and where he thinks digital filmmaking will go from here.

Barry you are kind of like our elite speical ops for digital filmmaking. HIP HIP HORAY FOR BAAAARRRAAAYYY.

Wow...

The HVX. All that, and bulletproof, too!

:-)

Thanks for the heads-up on the blog, Barry.

I'd guess that a little splashing from a fishing show ain't gonna hurt the HVX too much, then? Looking forward to the upgrade later this year. Sure would like to do it right away but I'm going to wait and see what shakes out while I put together the resources for the camera and the support systems.

Was nice meeting you at NAB this week! Had a whole lot more questions but the lights were going out.

Splashing salt water is not good for any camera, so obviously you should get a rain cape or a splash bag if you're taking it on a fishing trip. And I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say: show us some footage when you've got some! A Hawaii fishing show should look fantastic!

Barry...

Yep, I have a Petrol rain cover for my PD170, a PortaBrace cover for my PDX10. With the covers pulled tight around the matte box the only thing the spray ever hits is the Polarizer. Also have an underwater housing for diving and when things get really wet.

Salt water has got to be the worst environment for anything made of metal. "Corrosion Block" helps protect metal parts. "DeOxyIt" and "PreservIt" for electronic connectors works wonders and keeps contacts clean.

If I have time I'll post some standard-definition material on the site. Right now the only material we have online is a promo for the show.

http://www.hawaiigoesfishing.com/hgf_promo.html

We also have some cooking demos taken under some very marginal conditions. Still learning how to put lights in the right places in working kitchens.

With HD a lot of that will have to change in a substantial way.

Barry,
Thanks for the heads up. It sounds like an amazing project.

I saw his film at Sundance and it was very enlightening and riveting. I was fortunate enough to be in a special workshop where he discussed the making of the film, then we had a little one-on-one discussion outside while he had a smoke. Great guy.

Really looking forward to his new film.

Cheers,
D