The Hobbit: An Unexpectd Journey

The first installment of the Hobbit trilogy will be in theaters on December 14^th, 2012. Peter Jackson, Writer, Director and Producer of the Hobbit films, has already become a huge success with the well-known Trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit Trilogy is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings and follows the tale of Bilbo Baggins and his journey through Middle Earth.

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who is caught up in a quest to help thirteen dwarfs reclaim their lost kingdom. The big problem with this is this kingdom is guarded by a notorious dragon named Smaug. Gandalf the wizard helps this small team of adventurers on their journey. They come across Orcs, Goblins, Trolls and many other creatures that try to stop them along the way. Bilbo discovers the ring of power in Gollum’s cave and steals it from him and barely escapes with his life.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy grossed over 3 billion dollars and was wildly successful. New Line Cinema had no problem investing in Peter Jackson again and expect to make an even greater profit. New Line, along with MGM and WingNut Films, have given the Hobbit Films a 270,000,000 dollar budget. At first, the Hobbit was going to be made into two films, but not too long ago it was decided that the story was too long and it would be better to make it into a trilogy. I think that this is a smart business decision for a couple of reasons. First of all, by making the Hobbit into three films, the studios will be releasing one more film that will most likely be a huge blockbuster and be more than worth while. The second reason why I think that the Hobbit should be released in three parts is the story itself if very long and has lots of details. If the studios had decided to make two films instead of three, they would have had to choose what parts of the story to leave out of the two films. I look forward to seeing the three Hobbit films over the next few years starting with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Sources:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/

http://the-hobbit-movie.com/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/

Here is a quick look at my latest project.

Helicopter ride at D-Day

This was my first time in a helicopter and it was awesome! I can't wait to get in another one. This was shot on a GoPro HD Hero at Oklahoma D-Day 2012.

48 Hour Film Project

I have been researching local organizations and businesses that are involved in the film industry and I found one that stood out to me. The 48 Film Project is a unique competition that has been going on all around the world since 2001. Filmmakers get together for one crazy, fast-paced weekend. Each team of filmmakers have just 48 hours to write, shoot and edit a short film. Each group will be given a list of things that they need to have in their film; a character, a prop, one line of dialogue and a genre. Besides these guidelines, the rest of the short film is up to the team to decide what to do.

The 48 Hour Film Project’s mission is “to advance filmmaking and promote filmmakers.” This event is a great way for filmmakers everywhere to come together, share their ideas and make some great movies in a short period of time. Having such a short period of time to make a film is a great way to encourage creativity and teamwork.

Eleven years ago Mark Ruppert came up with the idea to make a short film in 48 hours. Ruppert was able to get other filmmakers to take part in this experiment and their projects were successful. Now this competition has taken place in over 400 cities around the world. There have been 278,000 filmmakers who have participated in these competitions over the years.

Events like the 48 Hour Film Project are very beneficial to filmmakers everywhere. They are forced to think outside the box and use their creativity and communication skills to create something that normally is not done in just 48 hours time. Many filmmakers spend do much time talking and arguing about making films and very little time actually making films. I have never taken part in the 48 Hour Film Project which just took place last month but if I am not working during the next 48 Hour Film Project, I want to get my crew together and give it a shot.

CEO Story

This is a short video about me that I made for a class project.

JJ Abrams: The Mystery Box

I recently watched this TED talks video by JJ Abrams: TheMystery Box.  Abrams is a well-known producer, writer and director who has worked on many hit movies and television shows.  In this presentation, Abrams inspires his audience to be creative with whatever they have. He talks about his grandfather and how he used to encourage him to try different things. He would help Abrams take things apart and learn how they worked. One of the things that Abrams became intrigued with was boxes. He was interested and still is interested in how they are made and constructed. Abram’s grandfather bought him a Super 8 camera when he was ten years old because he wanted to create films. Abrams was inspired and encouraged to create things and use his imagination from a very young age.

Abrams got a mystery box from a magic store a long time ago. To this day he has never opened it. So why not open it, and use what is inside? To Abrams, the mystery box is like his grandfather, it represents hope, potential and infinite possibilities. It is the mystery and the unknown that makes it so intriguing. We are drawn to a good mystery and this can be used in films and television. Abrams uses mystery in many of his movies and television shows like, Super 8, Cloverfield and Lost. Sometimes not knowing something can be more fun than knowing. An example of this is style of filmmaking is seen in the television show, Lost. We don’t really know what the island is, but that is part of what makes it an exciting and compelling show. Abrams encourages his audience to use their creativity because with the advances in technology, we have the ability to create just about anything that we can imagine. It no longer takes an entire movie studio to make a good film, anyone with a good story and the passion to see it through can do it.

Blackmagic Cinema Camera

Will the Blackmagic Cinema Camera take the place of HDSLR’s?

In THIS article, Marco Solorio from OneRiver Media, discusses a new product, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. This camera has a very different look to it, in comparison with most HDSLR’s. Solorio talks about the possibility of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera taking the place of HDSLR’s. The Blackmagic Cinema Camera retails for $2,995 and this includes the camera body, DaVinci Resolve grading software, UltraScope used through the use of Thunderbolt, and you get the Blackmagic Design’s media Express software which allows you to preform live capture of the RAW footage. This bundle of extras do not come with any DSLR on the market that I know of. Another cool feature is the five-inch touchscreen on the back of the camera. This screen has many useful features, one of which is the ability to enter metadata onto each clip. The Blackmagic can also accept most lenses that are made for Cannon 5D’s and 7D’s with an EF mount. This is a great idea because there is already a wide variety of these lenses out on the market, so people who own older DSLR’s and have these lenses and are ready to upgrade their camera, will be able to keep their lenses to use with the Blackmagic.

The Blackmagic camera has many benefits compared to DSLR cameras, which are in the same price range. The Blackmagic has a 13-stop, 2.5K sensor resolution and has the ability to be recorded at 12-bit RAW, internally or externally. You can also record in other formats such as, 10-bit ProRes or DNxHD at the full 1080 HD size. This camera has qualities and functions that only higher end cameras have. The Cannon C500 is the next, cheapest camera that outputs a live, uncompressed, RAW output that is higher than 1080 HD and is higher than 8-bit, but this camera costs around 30,000 dollars.

One of the areas where DSLR’s have an advantage over the Blackmagic, is its sensor size. It has a much smaller sensor in comparison with the Cannon 5D Mark 2 and 3.  IF you have a larger sensor, you will gain to things. The first thing is a greater sensitivity to light, and this will also give you a lower amount of noise at higher ISO values. The second benefit in having a larger sensor is that it will give you a narrower depth of field. There are other ways to get a narrow depth of field with a smaller sensor size, it just takes a little more work.

The Blackmagic Cinema Camera is a very new camera with great functions and qualities, and also has its drawbacks. It has many features that are only offered on higher end cameras, and has a new innovative design. I believe that this camera will become a very popular, cheaper alternative to other cameras on the market.