Where does one begin to hide when the enemy is living inside? How do you secure things? What does it take to defend your family and loved ones, animals and livelihoods from the menace within?
An airborne, highly contagious biological weapon developed and spread via a network of shadow operatives and laboratories; scientists, engaged and manipulated by rogue military agents, dangerous research kept secret by Governments, compounding systemic risks, and States petrified of losing control of their citizens, economies, finances, and markets.
A Natural Regressive Approach Against Humanity…
Pathological Deception … A natural regressive approach against humanity… Zooming in on the use of Bio-Weapons after 9/11.
James With has developed an original concept piece that is based upon extensive research that delves deep into the convoluted and interwoven webs of cyber warfare, darkness and evil that interconnect countries, Governments, States secrets, rogue agents, military personnel, scientists and viral pathogens, manipulated to create terrifying weapons of mass destruction that have been unleashed on humanity.
The treatment is designed as a television series, and would work equally as effectively as a feature length motion picture.
Production partners are being sourced to produce the project in association with writer and producer James With and TRI-US Entertainment.
Expressions of interest can be made to Stark Networks, which is handling negotiations, contracting and private client investment for the project.
“Partnering With the World to Create Entertainment”
Rambo actor and film producer James With has been battling the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, as well as a few rodents and gutter dwellers, spewing bile and misleading information about him and his film projects.
Filming “All the Tired Horses’ aka “Dead Parrots Down” Under Behind-the-scenes
One such project is “All the Tired Horses” which fell foul Down Under in Australia; it’s worth reading the backstory and on-going efforts on why this project is still seeking funding due to poultry-like, inept legal actions. Despite prevailing and winning the battle in court, basically ending a long-running lead up to trial, the project unfortunately lost valuable production funding, that was essentially wasted by the court and its unscrupulous appointed liquidator, who refused to acknowledge claims submitted by the producers and crew members.
With a newly revised screenplay titled “Dead Parrots Down Under” and careful assessment on how to splice early film footage that was shot on location in Australia a decade ago, with newly developed scenes designed to be shot in an Asian film studio and close backlot areas, the producers are keen to secure a modest investment from a private investor to combine with support from post-production facilities.
Despite the setbacks, the experienced team are determined to create film magic. Director of Photography Steve Rice and James With have continued their collaboration over the years, which started with their meeting in Perth, Western Australia for “All the Tired Horses“. Writer Robert Hart worked as a senior technician on “All the Tired Horses” and has collaborated in the writing processes for “I Belong to the Shadows” and “Once Man’s Leica“, both projects in development.
There’s an old saying that goes ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink’, an adage and throwback to why the project has been delayed, and yet is still in production.
TRI-US Entertainment welcomes interest and is open for co-production companies willing to support its feature film slate of projects. Film budgets are all carefully scrutinised, ranging from peanuts to pistachios and anyone who trades in either of these commodities will get the point.
Stark Networks PFO is handling contracting and investment advisory for all TRI-US Entertainment projects.
Producers work on projects that vary in size and scope. Great Films are made with great crews, equipment and tools to make great films, and one of my all time favourites is Goodfellas, a classic Hollywood film directed by and using a screenplay written by Martin Scorsese.
Presently, I’m working on a number of feature film projects of varying size and scope, and the team members are spread across the globe. Assessment and due diligence takes time; there’s an old saying that goes something like “what you don’t do properly in development, you have to pay for during pre-production, and what you don’t do properly in pre-production, you have to pay for in production, and what you don’t do properly in production, you have to pay for in post-production.” and everything costs time + money.
Planning is vitally important, and it is with respect that this wonderfully written blog article by Stephen Stanford is reproduced in this blog.
No matter what kind of content you’re producing, there are cinematic hallmarks that everybody wants to see. Our new Production Primer series will cover the fundamentals of these techniques and show you what your team needs to consider when writing, planning, and shooting them.
The tracking shot or “oner” is perhaps the most iconic and captivating of all cinematic techniques. Generally speaking, it refers graceful, uninterrupted single-take shots where the camera follows the subject throughout either an extended portion or the entirety of a scene. Tracking shots are a showcase opportunity for the entire production team to demonstrate their technical expertise, but come with a price: they require extensive planning and rehearsal to execute properly. If all goes according to plan, however, the effect is mesmerizing (and you’ve successfully added a cinematic flourish to your project that captures the imagination and sticks to the memory). If you’re thinking about attempting a tracking shot in your next project, here are a few things to consider for each phase of production.
WRITING
One of the most celebrated tracking shots of all time is the famous Copacabana Sequence from Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. The dazzling, impeccably staged journey of Henry Hill and his date from across the street, down the stairs, winding through the service corridors and kitchen, and finally out onto the floor of the iconic nightclub became an instant classic of American cinema. Every cue is fits together so flawlessly that it’s easy for one to assume that the some serious technical rigor was applied during the writing process. Surprisingly, this doesn’t appear to be the case. Here’s how the Copacabana Sequence appeared on the page in a revised draft of Nicholas Pileggi & Martin Scorsese’s 1989 script. Compare it to the end result.
As you can see, on paper this sequence is written like an unformatted montage. Virtually all of the asides and interactions that Henry has during his entrance are conspicuously absent, as are any specific shots or camera directions. According to Director of Photography Michael Ballhaus, Scorsese had fleshed out the entire sequence in his head, and the entire thing was blocked, rehearsed, and shot in less than a day. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t Martin Scorsese.
The more preparation and thought you put into the writing of the big scene, the greater footing your director and camera department will have when your team arrives at the planning phase. The Copacabana excerpt is a great example of how you should start: the telegraphic action suggests uninterrupted movement and the physical geography of the scene is explicated without being too specific. Moreover, the truncated and condensed formatting prevents the sequence from disrupting the flow of the script. If it were written exactly as it was shot, the sequence would have taken up multiple pages as opposed to roughly one half. In Celtx, however, there’s a novel solution that allows you to have it both ways.
If there’s a scene in your script that you think would make for the perfect tracking shot, Celtx allows you to develop it in detail outside of the script but within the same project. By adding an additional A/V Script to your project specifically for your tracking shot, you can create an in-depth, tailored shooting script describing every action point in your sequence. It also has multiple output formats, one for your actors to work on their cues, and another for your camera department to start mapping out the shot plan. Here’s what the Copacabana sequence looks like when written in A/V format:
PLANNING
A stabilization system is essential to executing a tracking shot. There are two standard options: a dolly, or a steadicam. A dolly is a heavy, wheeled multi-operator camera platform designed to move along the horizontal axis, either on tracks or on an appropriately smooth surface. A steadicam utilizes a mechanical system of gimbals and counterweights to allow a single operator to smoothly move and manipulate a camera with considerable deftness and speed. Where a dolly offers extremely stable and precise shots, steadicams allow for much greater mobility and a dreamy ‘floating’ effect. Both systems are fairly expensive and require skilled operators, although various ‘lighter’ or DIY solutions do exist. When choosing your stabilization system, two factors are key: the location in which you’ll be shooting, and the kind of action you need the camera to capture. For example, in the Copacabana sequence, the camera was required to closely follow the subjects up and down stairs, down narrow hallways, around sharp corners, and through crowds of background actors with several sidesteps and sudden stops. In this case, the steadicam was the ideal solution.
When you have a suitable location secured, take a walkthrough with your team and make note of obstacles, staging areas, and wiggle room for maneuvering crew and setting up equipment. Determine which stabilization system would best fit your needs, and then perform the initial blocking of your sequence and determine the best positions for each action point to take place. Celtx provides a useful tool for this stage in the form of the Shot Blocker. You can use the Shot Blocker to sketch out your location and specify where you want your action points to happen while plotting the path of the camera. You can also use it to set positions for equipment, props, set dressing, and extras using a built-in clipart library. Here’s what a shot plan for the Copacabana sequence might look like:
SHOOTING
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Have your director move through your existing shot plan with your actors and let them get a feel for the space. Talk to them, and be open to improvisation. Long tracking sequences are akin to live theater, and its very easy for them to be overcome by a sense of staginess. Giving your actors a chance to explore, ad lib, and make mistakes can provide additional material that will imbue your sequence with a greater sense of reality.
You might also consider doing this initial blocking pass in reverse, starting at your last action point and working backwards. Ensuring that your actors know exactly where they need to end up is crucial to getting the perfect take, and starting your rehearsal from the final blocking position makes it easier for your actors to judge both distance and timings throughout the rest of the sequence: the finishing point is far more important than the starting point.
Your next rehearsal run should include any background actors, as well as dry runs for any background action that may be scripted to occur. It’d be best to include your camera team on this run as well – safety is paramount, and any background action with the potential to affect the camera needs to be heavily drilled.
Depending on the length of your shot (and if your schedule can accommodate it), you might want to consider blocking an entire day for setup and rehearsals. Either way, something is bound to deviate from your plan. Multiple takes are a given (it almost never goes right on the first try), but remember to be conscientious of the physical limitations of your cast and crew. If you push them too hard, you might start to undo the progress you’ve made in rehearsal.
In conclusion, be deliberate in your writing, thoughtful and thorough in your planning, and ready to drill when the shoot day arrives. To take advantage of the tools described in this primer, head over to Celtx and set up your team with a free trial. You’ll find that it makes keeping everyone informed and engaged during both the pre-production process and on set that much easier.
Well, after reading the article by Stephen Follows copied in its entirety below, I’m certainly not in agreement and have been prompted to provide my own views on this historic and groundbreaking referendum held on 23rd June 2016 in the UK now commonly called the “Brexit” vote.
Britain is well-prepared and will triumph gloriously as the panic subsides. I am most probably going to be critiqued on my statements here and wildly criticised for being contrarian or called worse? Let me start by stating that the film industry generally and globally is going through a dynamic disruptive metamorphosis; changes are inevitable as strong growth in media continues, and as new business relationships are consummated in a rapidly changing economic landscape. The models have changed. Funding productions and distributing content is no longer utilising film funding mechanics that were developed and put in place decades ago, and before the Internet changed everything.
Countries and their governments throughout the world are adopting film incentives processes building on local strengths as they have researched and found how important attracting filmmaking in their jurisdictions is to other industry sectors within their borders. Film incentives emanated from Hollywood and were initiated by “Runaway Production“. In the late 1990’s Hollywood film industry guilds, backed by US studios and media companies retained a company that produced the Monitor Report to conduct an investigation into phenomenon. The global success of production incentives and the migration of feature film production from the U.S.A. to the world spurred further in-depth research and data collection.
The outcome of the Brexit vote in the UK has rippled rapidly through the financial services industry, banks and global markets and will continue for some time yet; all are experiencing very high levels of volatility and this has sent shock waves around the world.
Record drops in Pound Sterling currency trading
The British Pound has plummeted to record lows with the media networks harping on in sound bites, excited sensationalism about trading drops not seen in 45 years of market analytics et al. Well, what most people seemingly don’t realise or understand about
film industry dynamics is that the film necessarily thrives during times of uncertainty. This can be seen throughout history, across countries and around the world. Do some deep research into what I am writing here and you will likely be surprised to find correlations that support my words! The British film industry has evolved and will continue to capture global market shares in the media industry, and I see this time as stimulating greater growth, as opposed to what the pundits and commentators are bleating along with those who see things differently.
Here’s some background worth reciting to put current views in context. “The UK was not a signatory to the Treaty of Rome which created the EEC in 1957. The country subsequently applied to join the organization in 1963 and again in 1967, but both applications were vetoed by the then President of France, Charles de Gaulle, ostensibly because “a number of aspects of Britain’s economy, from working practices to agriculture had made Britain incompatible with Europe and that Britain harbored a “deep-seated hostility” to any pan-European project. Once de Gaulle had relinquished the French presidency, the UK made a third application for membership, which was successful. On 1 January 1973 the United Kingdom joined the EEC, then often referred to in the UK as the “Common Market”. This was done under the Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath. The opposition Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson, contested the October 1974 general election with a commitment to renegotiate Britain’s terms of membership of the EEC and then hold a referendum on whether to remain in the EEC on the new terms.”
A scene from “Barry Lyndon” 1975, directed by Stanley Kubrick
Now more than four decades on in 2016 the people of the UK have voted and the majority have chosen to leave the fold.
The EU and EEA (formerly known as EEC) have been weighed, measured and left wanting.
British “Brexit” Referendum Final Results
The globalists, corporate interests, banks and politicians that are are all screaming and moaning at the top of their lungs that the UK has absconded are behaving like chicks hatching out of cracked and spoiled boiled eggs. Many of those who have been gambling on this huge European casino economy are locked into the Euro currency; Britain is not.
In retrospect keeping the British Pound was a very smart move and whilst obviously it will be spinning fast and furiously on the roulette wheel of global currency markets for a while, the wheel will begin to slow and when it settles, the strength and growth prospects inherent in the British economy will begin to shine. Now that the UK has left the table, after having been previously drawn to the allure of bright lights and European delights at a time in British history when things looked a damn sight more appealing across the channel than the dire conditions in England that occurred in the aftermath of World War II.
Britain was enticed down the old golden gilt garden path and as things became boggy and more recently progressively stagnant a modern economic quagmire of dissent and distrust emerged and flowed in the under currents of populations and opinions. The British people have decided to take their remaining chips, cash in at the borders and leave the building. If you’ve ever been into a casino, you will have noticed that they like to keep the light constant, day and night, to trick people and punters into staying on and gambling for longer; the EU bureaucratic empire operates as aqueously within its vast corridors of power, ever flowing, ever changing and most haven’t even noticed where the leakages are occurring.
Brexit The Movie is a full length British documentary film that provides some very interesting factual details, and well worth watching more than once.
Evidence suggests that the trends of US and EU companies pursuing strategic partnerships in Asia is increasing in 2016.
Fiscal imbalances and floundering interest rates
Such trends are not exclusive to strategic decisions being made by corporations in the entertainment, media, and Hollywood talent agencies. The British Film Institute research provides great insights into how UK Film industry has been positioning for a more dynamic growth into new markets. A renewed focus on private equity and Family Office funding coupled with recent increased volatility in financial markets has spurred a swathe of mergers and acquisitions activity across the divide between East and West. Britain stands to benefit in this changing dynamic global shift we are in the midst of witnessing.
OTT and Streaming revenues growth accelerators
Activity and accelerated knowledge growth amongst Asian countries in the OTT and Premium OTT services sectors is driving increased competition for market share in four principle market angles:
Market enablers: the underlying market conditions for premium OTT offerings (e.g. population, broadband, devices, penetration, payment gateways)
OTT building blocks: the assets, capabilities, technologies and services required to develop and launch subscription OTT offerings (e.g. government regulation, censorship, languages, cultural specialties)
Consumer demand: awareness, interest, willingness to pay, serviceability to pay, payment options
The competitive environment between OTT services, pay-tv offerings (Netflix, iflix, et al)
Britain is poised strategically and the smart money and smart ideas are disruptive. I see Brexit as a smart move, contrary to the inference by general mass media reports that most of the voters were low income classes lacking in understanding. Smart companies are banking on future technologies that will change the way we do business around the world. Furthermore, Britain can now create new relationships more efficiently and operate without needing EU approvals, that are more complex and time consuming to get approved across the channel. Providing scalability as well as flexibility to explore expansion opportunities and build business relationships in ASEAN and India at an exciting time when these Asian regions are experiencing extraordinary changes is an opportunity for the taking.
The British Film Industry stands to benefit immensely as it is well supported within the country by the BFI coupled with educational programmes such as Into Film and these can quickly and easily become interesting areas of growth for British film professionals showing their wares to countries with less established film industry mechanisms. Growth in the global media industry is vibrant and expanding. As Asia creates new forums, established British technology and experience in teaching and learning programs can be exported and provide assistance and services for Startups in countries experiencing strong growth. Focusing on new business avenues and matching these efficiently with cost effectively implementation of entertainment and media growth strategies is the key to sustainability; remaining adaptable to future changes is vital for survival.
Innovations and Cultural Specifics
Innovations in technology and rapid growth utilising enterprise software to enhance business efficiency coupled to growing mobile penetration is prevalent across ASEAN.
Mobile Communications Demographics in South East Asia
With large populations utilizing high-speed data services and ever-increasing access to mobile communications coupled with the proliferation of marketing and advertising censorship controls are the subject of Governments and populations wishing to monitor and filter content delivered over the Internet.
India’s super angel investors are predominantly focused on the media technology and innovation spaces and are keenly interested in developing strategic partnerships with growth stories that focus on expansion in Asia.
The UK film industry is not only going to benefit from what I see as being relatively short-term weakness in the British Pound currency, Britain will thrive as the English people build upon their long history and experiences of seeking out and discovering new lands, building and expanding. With Brexit Britain has begun a new era of British conquest but not of conquer; this time the prospects are for the country to prosper on new relationships with new partners, rather than empire building as it was during the days of the East India Company “formed to pursue trade with the East Indies but ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and Qing China.” The company rose to account for half of the world’s trade, particularly in basic commodities including cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, saltpetre, tea and opium. The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. This time Britain will be bringing AI, nano-technology and British Startups Technology to the world.
Thank you for taking the time to read my conjecture and opinions here. I look forward with positivism and optimism as the world begins to dance rather than march to a new tune.
The full article by Stephen Follows is reprinted here for ease and efficiency with respect to views expressed by many film industry heavyweights and further juxtaposition.
How will Brexit affect the UK film industry?
Last Thursday, 52% of the UK population voted for the UK to leave the European Union (EU). I am going to avoid the political side of this conversation as it’s been covered well elsewhere. I will also avoid sharing my own opinion on the matter as there are no shortage of people shouting off on one side or another.However, I thought I can add to the conversation by looking at the numbers for how the British and European film industries interact and how Brexit will affect the UK film industry.
How will Brexit affect the UK film industry?
It’s worth noting that a large part of the whole Brexit debate was taken up with discussing unknowns. Neither side has a magic crystal ball and so it’s impossible to say for certain exactly what will happen in a post-EU UK. However, some outcomes are almost automatic, in that if the UK stops paying into the EU then it can expect to stop receiving money out of the EU. So, here is a rundown of the negative effects of Brexit to the UK film industry…
An end to MEDIA / Creative Europe funding (certain). Between 2007-13, the MEDIA scheme provided over €100 million towards various aspects of the UK film industry. The loss of this money is the biggest, clearest effect of Brexit and so I’ve addressed it in the section below.
In the short-term, British / European co-productions will be harder (very likely). Official co-productions allow international film producers to work together to create a film which can gain state protections and tax benefits from multiple countries at the same time. In the immediate future, co-productions between British and European countries will become harder, due to the fall in the value of the Pound and the growing uncertainty.
In the long-term, British / European co-productions may need new legislation(unclear). Official co-productions are only possible between countries which have signed a treaty defining co-production rules. The UK currently has active treaties with Australia, Canada, China, India, Israel, Jamaica, Morocco, New Zealand, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, South Africa and the EU. The EU treaty is called the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production and was signed in October 1992 in Strasbourg. This European treaty is not exclusively for just EU members as it refers to its signatories as “member States and the other States Parties to the European Cultural Convention”. The UK signed the original treaty as a member of the EU so conceivably it would need to sign up again as a “European non-member State”. Interestingly, the UK already has a separate co-production agreement with France, signed in 1994, so British / French co-productions may not be affected by Brexit in the same way co-productions with other EU member states are.
British content will be much less attractive to European broadcasters (almost certain). Some European countries have quotas on the amount of European content their exhibitors and broadcasters must show. For example, the majority (i.e. minimum of 51%) of French entertainment broadcast transmission time must be taken up with programs of European origin. Not only did this increase demand for native UK films and television shows but it also made UK / US co-productions more attractive. For example, ‘The Night Manager’ was a £30 million co-production between the BBC and AMC, which also qualified as an EU production. In a post-Brexit world, it is very unlikely that such products will be classed as ‘European’ and will therefore lose a large part of their value to European countries with such quotas.
Increased complexities for international cast and crew (possible but unclear). One of the features of a unified Europe is the free movement of people, goods and services. New visa requirements and work permits could affect both British people filming in Europe and European people filming in the UK. That said, the issue is a little more complicated than just ‘in or out’ of the EU. This passport and border controls are covered not by the EU but instead by the Schengen Agreement, and only 22 of the EU’s 28 member states are currently signed up (also, the UK and Ireland have certain opt-outs), In addition, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are members of the Schengen Area but not of the EU. The basics of the free movement of people and services is also not simply an EU issue, but was instead established in the Treaty of Rome. So it’s not clear what would happen post-Brexit as new agreements will need to be reached in order to keep the free movement protections the film industry has enjoyed until now.
Fewer UK films will be distributed in Europe (certain). EU funding has supported the export of UK film to Europe to a massive degree. In fact, between 2007-13, almost €45 million was spent to bring UK films to European cinema audiences. Details of which films were supported follow in the next section.
Fewer international films will be distributed in the UK (certain, although the extent is unknown). Between 2007-13, UK-based businesses received over €20 million in EU funding to support the release of European films in the UK. In addition, if Brexit continues to cause a weak Pound then it becomes more expensive for UK distributors to acquire new content. However, this will affect all UK distributors equally, so may only reduce the amount UK distributors can pay upfront (known as the Minumum Guarantee, or MG) rather than prevent distribution entirely.
UK independent cinemas will lose income. (certain, although the extent is unknown). 56 UK independent cinemas receive funding from the EU as part of the Europa Cinema scheme, which supports cinemas which commit an average of 67% of their programming to European films. Between 2007-13, this averaged out to over €103,000 per cinema.
The negative effect of uncertainty (very likely). The film industry is highly fickle and responds negatively towards uncertainty. This is partly due to the large amounts of money at stake and the desire to reduce risks wherever possible. Right now no-one is sure what effect Brexit will have on the UK film industry, and so it may seem a safer bet to wait this period of change out before investing in UK film productions.
Loss of influence on European rules affecting UK content (certain but effects unknown). By leaving the EU, the UK will forfeit its right to influence EU policy towards film and television content. This will most acutely be felt in the discussions around the proposed Single Digital Market, which aims to force distributors to treat the EU as one territory, rather than distributing films country-by-country as happens today.
Despite these negative effects, Brexit could be positive for the UK film industry in the following ways…
It becomes cheaper to shoot in the UK (uncertain). If the Pound continues to lose value (as it has since the Brexit voted was announced) then the UK becomes ever-cheaper for foreign productions to set up shop in the UK. This will have the biggest effect on Hollywood studios, who spend vast sums of money and whose green-screen epics can be shot almost anywhere in the world. Between 2006-15, UK / USA studios films spent £7.7 billion in the UK, accounting for 68% of the money spent on UK films.
The UK is free to change its tax rules (certain). The current Film Tax Relief (FTR) scheme is very generous and offers producers a refund worth around a fifth of the money they spend on UK films in the UK. As a member of the EU, the UK is bound by rules on State Aid and does not have a free hand to change government incentives and subsidies without EU approval. When the FTR first came in, it gave points for various elements being British, such as the cast, crew, languages used, etc. However, EU rules have forced the UK to widen the criteria to favour all Europeans equally. This means that it is now possible to have a film that qualifies as fully “Brtish” with an all-Italian crew, based on a Spanish story, told in German. Leaving the EU will remove these restrictions on UK film tax policy. This freedom will mostly benefit the unseen civil servants who draw up the actual tax laws, but this increased flexibility means that in theory our film incentives can be changed more often and be better tailored to the needs of the UK film industry.
Avoid proposed new European rules on release patterns (certain freedom from a possible event). As discussed above, the Single Digital Market could mean that films need to be released in Europe as one territory all at once. It’s not certain how the new rules will eventually be written, but if we’re out of the EU then we’re certainly not going to be part of it. This will still affect British films exported to Europe but not films released in the UK.
The UK can spend that saved money directly on UK film (extremely unclear). In theory, the UK can use the money saved by not paying into the EU to directly replace the money and support that was lost by the lack of MEDIA funding. It remains unclear if the government wishes to do this.
How much has the MEDIA budget benefitted the UK film industry?
MEDIA currently provides money to the UK film sector for training, development, co-productions, festivals and theatrical distribution. Over a seven year period (2007-13), the EU provided over €100,000,000 towards various aspects of UK film industry. This breaks down as follows…
€44,561,008 – Awards to European distributors to release UK films
€10,478,771 – Investment in UK TV broadcasting
€8,898,821 – Distribution of European films in the UK
€7,830,252 – Development – UK Slate funding
€6,939,604 – Development – UK Single projects
€5,810,965 – UK cinemas part of the Europa network
€4,910,314 – UK-based training
€2,975,703 – UK VoD platforms
€2,775,444 – UK-based film courses and schools
€2,013,688 – Development – UK Interactive works
€890,530 – Grants to UK sales agents who represent non-UK European films
€85,0718 – UK pilot release programs
€695,500 – European Day-and-Date pilots
€539,766 – i2i Audiovisual (plugging finance gaps in UK / European co-productions)
€100,171,084 – Total
As mentioned above, UK films have received a huge amount of EU funding for their releases around Europe. These include…
The Iron Lady – €1,531,922 – 31 European territories
Slumdog Millionaire – €1,339,104 – 24 European territories
Quartet – €1,339,009 – 23 European territories
Looking For Eric – €1,297,031 – 26 European territories
Tamara Drewe – €1,239,843 – 22 European territories
The King’s Speech – €1,025,717 – 26 European territories
The Last Legion – €1,025,551 – 3 European territories
The Duchess – €954,012 – 19 European territories
Shame – €951,814 – 27 European territories
Another Year – €914,330 – 21 European territories
I Give It a Year – €892,867 – 29 European territories
Streetdance 3D – €891,644 – 17 European territories
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – €882,124 – 27 European territories
The Secret of Moonacre – €814,964 – 5 European territories
Song for Marion – €787,987 – 15 European territories
Happy-Go-Lucky – €750,173 – 24 European territories
Hysteria – €748,066 – 25 European territories
Fish Tank – €737,813 – 29 European territories
Nowhere Boy – €708,871 – 8 European territories
The Angels’ Share – €699,286 – 27 European territories
A further €25,028,880 awarded to other UK films
Finally, it’s worth mentioning some of the European films that have reached UK cinema audiences in part because of EU funding. These include A Prophet, The Great Beauty, Gomorrah, I Am Love, Persepolis, Love is All You Need, The Class, Amour, Potiche, Waltz with Bashir, Heartbreaker, Of Gods and Men, Blue is the Warmest Colour, Pina, Two Days In Paris, The Counterfeiters, The White Ribbon, Melancholia, Antichrist and Molière.
What is the UK film industry’s opinion on Brexit?
It’s fair to say that the vast majority of people working in the UK film industry are firmly against the UK leaving the EU. UK arts pressure group the Creative Industries Federation say that 96% of its members supported the Remain campaign and 84% said that EU membership was important to the future of their organisation. A poll by Media Business Insight found that 66% of people working in the UK film industry felt that Brexit would have a negative impact on the sector. A further 18.5% were uncertain on the outcome of Brexit, with only 11.5% believing that Brexit would be positive for the UK’s film industry.
So why are so many UK film professionals against Brexit? This could be for a number of reasons…
Political values. The film industry is traditional a fairly liberal-minded industry and the liberal cause is largely pro-EU.
Age. The film industry has much lower age profile than the UK population, and polls have shown how the majority of those under 50 supported Remain while a majority of those over 50 supported Leave.
Fear of uncertainty. The UK film industry is in a period of stable growth, thanks in large part to a stable government approach to film incentives. Uncertainties in the future could scare off investors and studios from making investments in UK films.
The majority of predictable outcomes to the UK film industry are negative. The list at the top of this article shows how the vast majority of expected Brexit outcomes are negative for UK film.
Here is a summary of press coverage on the issue…
Screen Daily says that the UK film and TV sectors are in “limbo” and that “the two sectors had recently expressed strong sentiment in favour of remaining in the European Union, which is the major trade partner of the UK and which provides millions of pounds in subsidies to the UK market as well as a number of frameworks for coproduction. That structure is now in serious doubt“.
Variety collected views from a number of major voices in UK film, summing them up by saying “British voters’ stunning decision to turn their backs on the European Union has left many of the country’s leading TV and film players reeling“.
The Guardian summed up the situation by saying that there would be “less cash, fewer movies” and also that “we could witness a 70s-style British film meltdown”.
The Hollywood Reporter led with “U.K. Producers Oppose Brexit”, pointing out that “James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, veteran David Puttnam, Matthew Vaughn, The King’s Speech producer Iain Canning, Slumdog Millionaire’s Christian Colson and Aardman Animations are among those who outlined their reasons for why staying in the EU is the right call for those who want “to support our current, thriving creative industries.”“.
Broadcast magazine noted that shares in ITV dropped 19% within a day of the vote being announced, and the Sky share price also fell 8%. Further drops were felt by eOne and Vivendi.
The Verge discussed the possible effect of Brexit on ‘Game of Thrones’, saying “US productions might feel the effect, too. Much of HBO’s Game of Thrones is filmed in Northern Ireland, for instance, partly supported by the European Regional Development Fund. HBO, however, says it doesn’t anticipate any financial impact on GoT, since the network took no money from the ERDF for the last few seasons, according to Entertainment Weekly“.
And the Radio Times pointed out one aspect of Brexit too many experts have overlooked by noting “The shock Brexit result will have massive ramifications – not least the fact that we may see less of beautiful French actress Clémence Poésy on TV“.
A number of top UK film voices have shared their views and I could fill an entire article with them. However, for the sake of brevity, here are five which seem to sum up the mood…
Harvey Weinsteinsaid “I’m shocked… These guys who voted, voted out of fear. It’s a huge mistake… It could be very costly in the movie and TV industry in terms of content branding. European branding is very important. It’s a big deal for these young British filmmakers”.
Michael Ryan, Chairman of the Independent Film & Television Alliance, said “The decision to exit the European Union is a major blow to the UK film and TV industry. Producing films and television programs is a very expensive and very risky business and certainty about the rules affecting the business is a must. This decision has just blown up our foundation — as of today, we no longer know how our relationships with co-producers, financiers and distributors will work, whether new taxes will be dropped on our activities in the rest of Europe or how production financing is going to be raised without any input from European funding agencies. The UK creative sector has been a strong and vibrant contributor to the economy — this is likely to be devastating for us”.
Danny Perkins, head of Studiocanal UKsaid “Short term it’s bad news for the currency and terrible news for film acquisitions, which are normally done in dollars or euros. UK companies will suffer in the short term“.
Rebecca O’Brien of Sixteen Filmssaid “It has blown us out of the water. We are very dependent on our relations with Europe. All of our films for the last 20 or 25 years have been co-productions with Europe. It (Brexit) doesn’t mean they will stop immediately but it means that trade, and access and all those things are much more difficult. It just means we have to re-invent the wheel again“.
Jeremy Thomas of the Recorded Picture Companyquoted Charles Bukowski by saying that “the problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence“. Mr Thomas added “For the film industry, it is a disaster“.
So what now?
So many of the effects of Brexit are unknown. Right now, the only thing that has happened is that a non-binding referendum was marginally won by the pro-Brexit movement. There’s no doubt that the majority of the UK film industry hopes that Brexit doesn’t happen. Failing that, the film industry is likely to seek the following outcomes from the government…
An agreement to classify UK content as “European” in relation to production and distribution quotas. This is a harder task than the co-production deal, although it should be noted that Switzerland has already achieved this for their content.
Replacement funding be provided for current MEDIA-funded activities. A major claim of the Leave campaign was that the UK would save £350 million a week by leaving the EU. It turns out that once you take into account the UK’s rebate the real saving is far lower, but even taking that into account, the money saved by leaving the EU could be used to replace the funding currently provided by MEDIA.
Action to be taken swiftly and confidently. A protracted and messy exit will create a large amount of uncertainty and stifle investment in UK film.
Epilogue
Sorry if you were expecting to be able to read my final article in my series on film locations today. I have had a number of people ask me about how Brexit will affect the film industry so I bumped the film locations article to next week. Stay tuned…
#Thailand’s government has approved a #Film #Production #rebate for international #productions that spend at least $1.5m in the Kingdom. Thailand has finally secured government approval for production incentives in the form of a 15-20% cash rebate on qualifying local spend.
Expected to kick in from January 2017, the incentive offers a 15% rebate on international productions that spend at least $1.5m in the country, with a yet-to-be determined upper limit to prevent a single big-budget production from emptying the pot. An additional 3% is available for films that use key Thai cast or crew when shooting in the country and a further 2% for films that have particular value in promoting Thailand.
Discussions for Thailand to introduce a film production incentive have been heard for over two decades and local film industry professionals see this as a great positive for the film industry in Thailand and ASEAN as a whole. With the more business opportunities and activities focused on trading partnership across the AEC, Thailand’s production hub status will be further strengthened by the implementation of this vital entertainment industry support at a time when Asian appetites for entrepreneurship, fintech, startup technology and OTT are heating up.
When one compares jurisdictions the Thailand film production industry incentives set to take effect in 2017 will weigh in heavily on other countries offering similar production incentives to attract filmmakers, not only in ASEAN, but also throughout the world. This is largely because the costs of production are significantly lower in Thailand than other countries and with rebates being offered in the range of 15%-20% being available, Thailand will rank high on the list of destinations for producers.
EP Financial Solutions
The development of movie production incentives stems from the perceived economic benefits of filmmaking and television production in the US. In 2010 revenues from television production in the US were estimated at $30.8 billion[1] while revenues from movie and video production in the US were estimated at $29.7 billion in the same year.[2]
As the TV and film industries around the world grew through the 1990s, so did concern over runaway productions, TV shows and films that are intended for a US audience but are filmed in other countries in order to reduce production costs. The issue of runaway productions gained further traction after Canada adopted a movie production incentive program in 1997.
In the 21st century Asia has emerged as a leading growth area for film financing with Asia, China and India increasingly being used by Hollywood producers and major studios as a necessary part of their global strategies.
Building on new trends and timing with markets
Evidence suggests that the trends of US and EU companies pursuing strategic partnerships in Asia is increasing in 2016. Such trends are not exclusive to strategic decisions being made by corporations in the entertainment, media, and Hollywood talent agencies. A renewed focus on private equity and Family Office funding coupled with recent increased volatility in financial markets has spurred a swathe of mergers and acquisitions activity across the divide between East and West.
Innovations and Cultural Specifics
Innovations in technology and rapid growth in the utilisation of enterprise software to enhance business efficiency are coupled to growing mobile penetration prevalent across ASEAN. With large populations utilising high-speed data services and ever-increasing access to mobile communications, the proliferation of marketing and advertising censorship controls under scrutiny, Governments and populations wishing to monitor and filter content delivered over the Internet are all key indicators to watch.
India’s super angel investors are predominantly focused on the media technology and innovation spaces and are keenly interested in developing strategic partnerships with growth stories that focus on expansion in Asia.
For more information on filming in Thailand information is available from the Thailand Film Office.
Telephone: + 66 2612 4149 +66 2219 4010 Ext. 634 or 463
Email: film@thailandfilmoffice.org URL: Thailandfilmoffice.org
About the author: James With
First published on Monday, 16th May 2016
“Dogs howl in the alley, crazy women scream…” ~ Pete Townsend
Darkness will always be fractured by light… The dawn rooster cocks sideways and crows before sunrise and spews. Have you noticed that parrots come in all shapes and sizes? Similar to lawyers they make excruciating squawking noises often leaving trails of crumby scraps whilst waddling blithely across rusty bars and polished floor boards. Parrots never really seem to care when and where they leave a trial, dropping excrement hither and thither. Guess what else is peculiar and similar between parrots and lawyers? A simple check of the Wikipedia page for “Parrot” gives further insights.
Quite titillating really, fancy fed, a feigned meek squint and chortling at the thought of it all… conjures images of Monty Python‘s Dead Parrot hanging upside down with London Bridge as a theatrical backdrop… sketchy … the meaning of life… always look on the bright side of life… now there’s a great symbolic reunion highlighting 50 years of creative brilliance.
Monty Python’s Dead Parrot rests in a London park to celebrate the reunion of the team after 50 years.
Monty Python’s Dead Parrot rests in a London park to celebrate the reunion of the team after 50 years.
Monty Python’s Dead Parrot rests in a London park to celebrate the reunion of the team after 50 years.
Monty Python’s Dead Parrot rests in a London park to celebrate the reunion of the team after 50 years.
Monty Python’s Dead Parrot rests in a London park to celebrate the reunion of the team after 50 years.
Mmm… gets one thinking creatively, right? And, there in lies the rub to spontaneously launch into banging out another blog article whilst listening to an old LP recording of Pete Townsend‘s solo album “All the Best Coyboys have Chinese Eyes” on my Technics Direct Drive Automatic Player System rotating at 33 1/3 rpm … there’s a timeless quality inherent in the vinyl… there’s an eternal raw beauty in The Who too … Who Are You?
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Flames impassioned in a moments anger… love conquers… without question … “There have always been times like these. The multi-coloured spheres clash and collide, the triangle expands and explodes: eventually there is nothing.” … times gift of perfect humility.
I am very excited the producers of “All the Tired Horses” aka “Dead Parrots Down Under” have decided to produce a new multi-episode season in the Explore TV series following on from season one produced in 2009. Rumour has it that there’ll be multiple seasons and episodes covering the many trials and tribulations incurred by cast and crews in Australia, India and Thailand and around the world.
Filming “All the Tired Horses’ aka “Dead Parrots Down” Under Behind-the-scenes
Filming “All the Tired Horses’ aka “Dead Parrots Down” Under Behind-the-scenes
Filming “All the Tired Horses’ aka “Dead Parrots Down” Under Behind-the-scenes
Filming “All the Tired Horses’ aka “Dead Parrots Down” Under Behind-the-scenes
Filming “All the Tired Horses’ aka “Dead Parrots Down” Under Behind-the-scenes
Excited chatter in social media circles have variously described this as an “epic battle”, a former marine writes “In the face of adversity, with brick walls put in the way….., through strength, determination and perseverance – truth and justice shone through in the end.” and another says “James, We are with you on this. You have won already!” Wow, wow, wow! The support from friends, fans and others providing encouragement has been humbling and I get all emotional… it makes me strive to greater perfection in my craft and to create ever lasting films that excite and ignite imaginations, insight intrigue and inform with interest driven by telling content.
ATTH “All the Tired Horses” aka DPDU “Dead Parrots Down Under” Press Release 8th January 2016
Somebody saved me … it happened again… I thank you my friend… all I know about staying alive… all I know I’ve been making it! Pete Townsend, you’re a genius and I thank you my friend. I never could queue to collect my lunch while I was pursuing the truth … and as they say the truth will set you free.
Experience is priceless and helping people, advising, and learning more provides me with a burning desire to produce more … I was just 34 years old … I was wondering why everyone I met seemed like they were in a haze… it’s sympathy not tears people need when they’re the front page news… and I know when she thinks of me … recriminations fester… and it’s she who has to beg.
Filming “All the Tired Horses’ aka “Dead Parrots Down Under” Gus, a warrior, battle hardened and ready.
Dawn beckons and the lights begin to fade as a new day begins in the City of Angels… I love the smell of toast in the morning… it helps to wash the smell of parrot shit away…
Francis Ford Copolla’s “Apocalypse Now” Movie starring Marlon Brando Motion Picture Sound Recording Album cover; a parrot shitting on Marlon’s shaved scalp.
China and India are rapidly evolving and there are big moves afoot in media and entertainment across the divide. Having lived and worked throughout Asia, China and India for most of my life I feel that the winds of change are upon use, usefulness and us, of course … the sails are unfurled and filling smoothly… Ah, a vast frontier of possibilities beckons me hearties!
#ATTH #DPDU A snapshot of script setting and dialogue from “Dead Parrots Down Under” original screenplay by James With
Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. Most parrots exhibit little or no sexual dimorphism. They form the most variably sized bird order in terms of length… but enough about parrots for now…
Bait your hooks, keep the music playing, wait with baited breathe and be prepared for the journey ahead…
“I Am What I Am” by Gloria Gaynor
I am what I am
I am my own special creation
So come take a look
Give me the hook or the ovation
It’s my world that I want to have a little pride in
My world and it’s not a place I have to hide in
Life’s not worth a dam
Till you can say, hey world, I am what I am
I am what I am
I don’t want praise, I don’t want pity
I bang my own drum
Some think it’s noise, I think it’s pretty
And so what if I love each feather and each bangle
Why not try to see things from a different angle
Your life is a sham
Till you can shout out loud, I am what I am
I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses
I deal my own deck
Sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces
There’s one life and there’s no return and no deposit
One life so it’s time to open up your closet
Life’s not worth a dam
Till you can say, hey world, I am what I am
I am James With … ~ WITH LOVE ~ … I am James Wearing-Smith V … I am James W. Gunn … I am a man walking this Great Earth and I am making my way in this great world …
Alternative Investment Finance for Film and Entertainment Projects
There’s no need to rely on scarce and periodic Government grants and/or applying and waiting an indeterminate time for State film commissions to assess and possibly if you’re in luck approving your project in order to funds these days. The opportunities and scope for securing money, services and marketing resources are immense. Film and Entertainment Financing has a huge new arena to tap into; crowdfunding is exploding and now that the SEC in the United States of America has passed regulations for equity crowdfunding the playing field just got a whole lot wider.
Inglourious Bar Studs
“Inglourious Bar Studs” (http://www.sittinganddrinking.com) is the first film project that I am financing partially from crowdfunding and it’s been a great learning experience. There’s a lot to know and the alternative finance sphere is not a spectre to be shunned. I have created an online paper called The INglourious News Daily that provides everyone with a wide selection of relevant source materials and articles to widen your horizons. You can get a variety of cutting edge insights and stay up to date on the emerging and evolving funding sources available today.
According to Raghavendra Rau, the Research Director of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and the Sir Evelyn de Rothschild Professor of Finance at the Cambridge Judge Business School: “The Asia Pacific region includes many of the most populous and fastest growing developing countries in the world – China, India and Indonesia and many more. The rapid uptake of mobile technologies and the permeation of social media is enabling these countries to leapfrog traditional banking infrastructure, which suggests that the potential growth of innovative alternative finance markets in the Asia-Pacific may be higher than other regions.”
Alternative finance encompasses innovative financial instruments and distributive channels that have emerged outside of the traditional financial system. The alternative finance industry is experiencing rapid growth in the Asia-Pacific region. The University of Cambridge, Tsinghua University & the University of Sydney have joined forces to launch the 2015 Asia-Pacific Alternative Finance Benchmarking Survey supported by KPMG, CME Group Foundation, the ACCA and 20 leading industry and academic research partners. The study will assess the activities of equity- and reward-based crowdfunding, peer-to-peer consumer and business lending (i.e. Marketplace Lending) and invoice trading, which are directly connecting lenders to borrowers, raising venture capital for start-ups, funding the creative industries and creating new ways for individuals and institutions to control how and to whom money is distributed, lent and invested.
Inglourious Bar Studs
University of Sydney Business School Dean and Professor Greg Whitwell said: “An interesting trend in alternative finance in Australia and emerging East Asian countries is the emergence of social-cause based alternative financing activities. There is also an urgent policy need to study the Asia Pacific alternative finance industry, which is unregulated in most jurisdictions. Many countries in the Asia-Pacific such as Australia are debating regulations, yet they are doing so in the absence of reliable data on the scale and type of such financing activities.’
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at Cambridge Judge Business School, the Tsinghua University, Graduate School of Shenzhen and the University of Sydney Business School are jointly launching the 2015 Asia-Pacific Alternative Finance Benchmarking Survey. This survey will be the first-ever comprehensive study of crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending and other forms of alternative finance across the Asia-Pacific region – including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Australia and New Zealand.
I’m sure we can all remember a movie that left us with a feeling of sorrow or sadness. Tear Jerker’s stick in our mind even more than movies that makes us laugh or sit in awe. Sadness is perhaps the most sticky of and remaining of emotional states. So it is with great pleasure we bring you the first exclusive peek at the movie being made to take being SAD to another level. #SADtheMovie is here and it is here to stay. Since it burst onto the social scene less than 3 months ago it has picked up an avalanche of follows and fans. It seems being SAD is quite popular.
We are all waiting to come to grips with exactly what S.A.D the movie is all about. S.A.D meaning ‘Sitting and Drinking’ What we can see is it seems to be about just about everything! How is that possible? We don’t know either. It is a movie that throws up many questions but very few answers except for the fact that you feel compelled to find out the answers by watching the movie.
Written by Actor and director James With and produced by James With, Stevie Eagle E, Al Caudullo and Nick Barnes this is a movie aimed at people power. SAD the movie is heading to crowdfundingmeaning it will have in truth hundreds of producers from around the world. The movie is being shot in Thailand and is already making more fuss on the social scene than big budget Thai Movies. Why is that? It’s simple really. Whatever it is about it is interesting and compelling and not many movies are that these days. Yes they are exciting, big expensive, but very few films are truly interesting and compelling when you are trying to market them. This one for some reason, is.
The film soundtrack also boast rising stars Stephan Dante and Joanna Shegera on the Soundtrack. The past credits of the Actors, directors and participants range from Blockbusters like ‘Independence Day‘ and ‘Rambo’ to award winning films and oscar participation. Great credentials indeed.
Like thousands of others we shall be keeping a firm gaze on #SADtheMovie hoping to gleen some Idea of what this motley group of characters will be, or do. We really want to know like everyone else. I mean they look like a bunch of ex killers, psychos and drug addicts in the poster. Until then we invite you to take an exclusive look at the conceptual trailer above and you try to figure out what the hell is going on here.
This article first published on 21st September 2015 on AlCaudullo.com … and the Samsung NX1 is only one of the cameras that the S.A.D Movie Team is using to capture footage for the film we thought Al Caudullo’s article would provide some interesting insights for all who are technically motivated and excited by new technology. We will bring you more insights about the equipment and structure of our project soon… and we hope you enjoy …
The Samsung NX1 Bible
First published on al.caudullo 21st September 2015
When I think of my first SLR, the Pentax Spotmatic F and my second, the Nikon F, these were iconic cameras. They broke new ground set a new standard for their time. As I progressed through this review, holding Samsung’s flagship NX1 mirrorless camera, my gut says it will be joining the list soon. While Samsung sells tons of cameras all around the world, they have never offered a professional camera. The NX1 has been greeted with a great deal of skepticism from many quarters. But all the elements are right there. Breakthrough tech combined with a solid build and a vision for the future. Mirrorless cameras have been declared the future and DSLR’s, the past. This camera reinforces that. And the potential is there for even more. When this camera was in development Samsung actually tested the sensor at 6K RAW @ 240fps. Maybe we’ll see that resolution in the next generation.
Key Features
A list of key features is quite impressive.
28 megapixel APS-C BSI CMOS sensor 23.5 x 15.7 mm
Internal 4K @ 24fps, 4K UHD @ 30fps & 1080p @ up to 60fps (120 fps in 1080)
30.7 MP Actual, 28.2 MP Effective
Advanced Hybrid Autofocus system utilizing 205 phase and 209 contrast-detection autofocus points
ISO range of100-25,600 native with the ability to increase to 51,200
76.6mm (3.0″) Super AMOLED w/Touch Screen with a resolution of 1036k dots
Dynamic Range of 10-12 stops
Video Format – H.265 recording system (first of it’s kind)
Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 – 4K output via HDMI
Still formats-SRW RAW, JPEG, MPO (yes, it can shoot 3D)
Fast continuous still shooting up to 15fps @ 28MP
Built In Intervalometer to create 6.5K time-lapse videos
Android OS with both Android and iOS app controllability
WiFi and Bluetooth sharing
Incredibly fast DRIMe V image processing engine
Ultra high 1/8000-second shutter speed
Professional Bit-rate of 80Mbit/s in 4K and 40Mbit/s in Full HD
Intelligent Auto Shooting Modes, Baseball, Jump Shot, Trap Shot
USB 2.0 or 3.0 connection or charging
Measures 139x102x66mm (5.47×4.02×2.6″)
Pros and Cons
Pros:
H.265 codec
USB Battery charge
Good solid grip and excellent balance
NFC, WiFi & Bluetooth
WiFi can send pictures but only one at a time
Good app integration, especially like remote viewfinder and Android Bluetooth shutter
Price
Nice button layout
Separate Video and stills buttons next to each other
Super AMOLED screen with essentially no lag
excellent ISO range
At fast shutter speeds, high speed action@30fps can be cleaner than some cameras at 60fps
Scene modes work very well
Gamma DR
The NX1 can output 4K 4:2:2 8-bit video over HDMI for capture on an external recorder.
Can do rack focus shots using touch screen
28.2 MP backside illuminated sensor
Hybrid AF system with phase-detect points covering 90% of frame
153 cross-type AF points with industry-leading frame coverage
Mostly effective subject tracking
High quality 4K video performance
4K 4:2:2 8-bit video out
Outstanding dynamic range and low light image quality
15 fps burst shooting
Cons:
H.265 Codec
Screen size
Few problems with autofocus with any kind of bright lights behind subject
Needs custom settings that hold frame rate as well as other settings
Needs 60fps recording in 4K UHD
Desperately needs 10-bit or even 12-bit color sampling
HDMI output limit too many features. You have to unplug to get to them
Flash “shadows” 16-50mm lens, must zoom to eliminate it.
no cover for the EVF screen
Mini HDMI is still glitchy when connected to external Atomos Shogun
Movie Converter software is poorly built with no advanced features and many basic features missing. Definitely a stop-gap software. no batch settings If you have 50 files to convert, you must go through them one at a time to select the conversion settings (unless you want the default settings). Finally, the conversion process is slow enough to have a significant impact on workflow unless you have a really fast computer.
Let’s discuss the build of the camera.
Samsung chose to make The NX1 using die-cast magnesium alloy for the body. The result is a light but an extremely sturdy frame. The overall size of the camera body equates to a medium-sized DSLR.
The hand grip gets away from the trend of smaller and instead delivers a true grip that feels extremely comfortable in my hand. It’s snug to the base of my thumb and doesn’t tire out my hand like many other smaller grip cameras. This is important when you shoot all day long.
The ergonomics get an A+.
The body is splash resistant and combined with the “S” Series lenses you a fully sealed water resistant system in case you are exposing the camera to the harsher elements.
At 610grams, the weight is less than a Canon 5D Mark III(950grams) or the Sony A7RII (625grams) but slightly more than the Panasonic GH4 (569grams).
Physical Layout of Controls
The layout of the controls is both familiar and unique. As I hold it my fingers deftly fall and find controls right where I expect them to be. A beautiful, natural, intuitive design. The top dials are right where you expect them to be. The mode control dial features a useful locking button to avoid mistakenly changing settings. The left-hand dial offers ISO, AutoFocus, metering and white balance. The lower part of the dial handles drive operation, single shot, normal continuous, self-timer and bracketing. Harkening back to classic cameras, the top-mounted LCD supplies you with almost every setting in one view. One feature that I love is the placement of a separate stills and video record buttons. They are situated right next to each other, allowing you to just slide your thumb over to activate either function. One caveat is that The video record button is recessed a little too much for me. I’d prefer a slight bump to make it easier to feel as I slide my thumb over. The main reason behind this request is the closeness of the exposure compensation button which I have on more than one occasion pressed thinking I was activating record. No harm done as the exposure compensation control is a combination of pressing that button and turning one of the thumbwheel controls. However, several video recording opportunities were delayed due to the inadvertent push of the wrong control.
Stills and Video Formats
Since the NX1 captures 6480×4320 stills at a 3:2 aspect ratio and 3840×2160 for 4K UHD which is a 16:9 ratio. For framing video, the customizable backside menu dial has a default set to change the image to display the proper aspect ratio when you press the right arrow on the dial.
However when you utilize the autofocus by executing a half press of the still shutter, the display snaps back to the 6480×4320 – 3:2 aspect ratio.
When you press the video record, the screen snaps to the 16:9 ratio video format from the 3:2 stills formatting. It doesn’t hurt anything but for framing purposes it can drive you a little buggy.
On the positive side switching back and forth between stills and video is super simple.
Super AMOLED w/Touch Screen
The Super AMOLED w/Touch Screen is really just that, super. I have never seen a better looking, brighter or cleaner image on a screen. I am not a fan of the sliding tilt, however. I’d like to see swing out and twist.
This is one of the few things that I don’t love about the camera. It is something that you can get used to. That said, the touch screen is marvelous and even the play feature with the ability to pinch to zoom, swipe, and tap. Something that we are all used from our smartphones and tablets.
Even without the limited movement of the screen, you can, however, still do selfies by using the Smartphone App connection.
One immensely useful tool is the tap to focus in live view mode. I have been able to do a smooth rack focus just by tapping the screen.
The companion 1024×768 OLED viewfinder is outstanding and can be set in the menu for color or black and white for more critical focus situations.
I found the focus system to fast and accurate about 85-90% of the times. But I have only tested it with the two best high-end lenses that Samsung makes.
A general observation about the interconnectivity of the device between iOs and Android is that, not surprisingly, Android is a much smoother, easier setup and operation.
Sensor and Processor
The Samsung NX1 comes with a 28 megapixel APS-C BSI CMOS sensor 23.5 x 15.7 mm with image processing by the DRIMe V image processing engine.
Wow, that sounds impressive, and it is. Memorize it and use it at the next party you go to and you will be the “Grand Nerd of the Night”.
But what does it really mean to your shooting experience? Why is it such a big deal?
Let’s pull it apart and see how it relates.
The BSI or BackSide Illuminated CMOS image sensor uses a novel approach to the layout of the electronics for the sensor. Traditional CMOS sensors have the electronics on the front of the chip with microlenses, then the real workhorses, the photosites that actually record the light behind them. By placing the electronics behind the sensor, Samsung has been able to add more photosites to the same size sensor area, thus enabling more precious light to reach the photosites. More light means less amplification is needed which in turn means less noise in your picture and cleaner, crisper images.
This same tech is the reason that smartphones today are producing better images. It was, in fact, originally used in astronomy sensors for complex telescopes. Till then, no one had made a BSI CMOS this big. Sony has since upped the game by introducing a 42.4MP image sensor on the a7RII.
To give you a comparison, Samsung’s NX30 has a traditional CMOS configuration. The same sensor size yields a 20.8 MP image. So you can see by adding the BSI CMOS Samsung was able to increase the amount of pixels on the sensor to 28.2MP. That’s 8 million more pixels spread across the same size sensor.
Another result of the additional light is the additional sensitivity for better low light performance giving the camera a native resolution range of ISO 100-25,600. Which can be electronically stretched to a whopping 51,200.
The DRIMe V (pronounced DREAM) image processing engine (a quad-core chip) is really the brains of the operation. that Samsung describes as It takes all the information gathered by the sensor electronics and creates the image. Sounds simple, but it’s not, especially when you realize that the NX1 can shoot at a blistering 15fps for 90 images (with the 1.40 firmware upgrade) in Superfine JPEG or 25 images in SRW RAW. That’s a mind-blowing 700 million pixels of information being spewed out at 15fps. Add to the mix the 14-bit sampling of raw images and 12-bit in continuous shooting application. To look at it in another way, shooting 4K UHD video at 30fps means that you are capturing thirty – 8MP images every second. With continuous shooting the engine is handling fifteen – 28MP images every second. Quite a processing feat indeed.
One more item that will bring home the inherent value of this camera. The NikonD4S shoots 16MP at 11fps and costs almost 3 1/2 times the Samsung NX1.
The processing engine also handles the autofocus duties. With 205 phase and 209 contrast-detection autofocus points the camera is lightning fast focus. These points are built into the surface of the sensor.
If you aren’t familiar with how these two focus systems work, allow me to give you a quick primer.
Advanced Hybrid Autofocus System
Phase Detection Autofocus compares two complimentary images of the selected subject. Simply put if they don’t line up, then they are not in focus. The difference in the distance between the two images tell the camera how much to refocus, either nearer or further.
Contrast-detection autofocus measures the subject contrast ratio. If the ratio increases, then the camera knows it’s going the right way. If it decreases, it reverses course and goes back. While all of this trial and error measuring happens very quickly, nevertheless, you will see a slight blurring, sometimes referred to as breathing, before the focus snaps into place.
Why then, do cameras have both? Because Contract Autofocus works better on faces and Phase Detection Autofocus tunes in moving objects faster. Hence the hybrid combination.
By spreading the autofocus detection points across the entire surface of the sensor with a denser package towards the center versus the edges produces the most efficient results.
That once again takes us back to that wonderfully lightning fast DRIMe V image processing engine which creates the fastest and most accurate autofocusing system that I have seen on any camera.
That is not to say that you don’t run into issues. This is where understanding the limitations of any machine versus the human brain comes into play. In certain conditions, the autofocus does lose the plot, but these are mostly extreme circumstances where, for instance, an extremely bright back light directly next to your subject. That’s where you use your processing engine, your brain, and either move the subject or switch to manual focus.
You have three autofocus settings to choose from, Single AF (SAF), Continuous AF (CAF) and Active AF (AAF).
SAF is designed for shooting still subjects. A half-press of the shutter adjusts the focus in the boxed focus area. When in focus the box has a green outline.
CAF is the workhorse position. This is designed to continually adjust the focus. You can resize or move the focus box using the touchscreen or the command dial.
AAF will flip between SAF and CAF as needed. So if the subject is far away but moving towards the camera, it would start with SAF and as the image gets closer and bigger it would switch automatically to CAF. Manual assisted focusing either enlarges the picture by 5x or 8x.
My personal choice is to use CAF for video and SAF for stills.
In video, the speed of the processor is the reason that you can record 4K to the internal SDHC cards. Because it is processing the image information so fast, then utilizing the H.265 codec to capture the video files in a compressed format that still retains the original image quality. In fact, H.265 can be as much as 1/2 the file size of H.264. Plus it aids the SDHC cards by not requiring them to capture so much data. Meaning that you don’t need the incredible speed need in the cards as you do for cameras like the RED that have to capture to extremely high-speed SSD drives.
Autofocus modes consist of Selection AF, whereby touching the screen you decide on a focus point. Whereas Zone AF will set the autofocus to adjust within a zone area that you preset. This works well with camera movement.
Multi AF displays a green rectangle in places where focus is set correctly. The photo is divided into two or more areas, and the camera obtains focus points of each area. This mode is recommended for taking landscape photos.
Face Detection AF is designed for group photo settings.
Self-Portrait AF It can be difficult to check whether your face is in focus when you are taking a self-portrait. When this function is on, the camera beeps faster when your face is in focus and located at the center of the composition.
I must say that the last two Face Detection and Self-Portrait are definitely solely consumer based. And with the heft of this camera it is certainly not designed for selfies.
That said, the Selection AF, Zone AF and less so the Multi AF are definitely helpful for pros as well as consumers.
These modes combine with the Focus Assist Modes for the greatest efficiency outside of good old fashion manual focus.
Touch AF
AF Point
Tracking AF
One Touch Shot
I have found that Selection AF combined with Touch AF is my most used AF mode combo.
The NX1 captures both 4K DCI (4096 x 2160) @24p and UHD (3840 x 2160)@23.98p, 24p, 25p/30p plus Full HD (1920×1080) @ variable to 120fps, 60p/50p, 25p/30p, 23.98p, 1280×720 , 640×480 Resolution (though I’m not sure why anyone would use the last few).
H.265 Codec
H.265, the heir apparent to H.264 was developed as the “HEVC” (High Efficiency Video Coding) format by both the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and the Video Coding Experts Group(VCEG).
How H.265 works is similar to H.264 in that it uses “image blocks”. It “sees” the image frames and scans for the areas that change and those that don’t. What H.265 does differently is it adjusts the size of the “blocks” to match what is happening on the screen. So the static area gets bigger “blocks” while the changing areas get smaller “blocks” which are easier to rapidly change as the image does.
I’ve kept the explanation somewhat simplified and there are other factors that contribute to the quality improvements. If I went into everything that goes into H.265, this article would be more like a very thick book.
The result is that the image quality is substantially improved while the file size is drastically reduced. The process does require substantially more processing power. Again where the DRIMe V image processing engine comes into play.
You’ll notice later that I list the H.265 codec as both a “Pro” and a “Con”. There is good reason for both.
As a “Pro”, it is a pretty sure bet that H.265 will be the next de facto codec for camera recording, just as H.264 was before it. It will certainly not disappear in the face of Google’s VP-9 codec. Even Google doesn’t believe that it will as they also support H.265 playback on Chrome.
Samsung has taken a bold step in being the first to feature this codec. Although in all honesty, the NX1 forums have more than their share of moaners and groaners cajoling Samsung to offer both H.264 and H.265 codecs in the camera. These neophytes don’t realize the added complexity nor the pointlessness of offering both. You either lead the charge or sit on the fence. Samsung has decided to take a picture of the fence as it surges forward.
As a “Con” it is a short term one. At this point, there is no NLE on the market that can edit the codec. In fact, until recently it was hard to find a player that worked properly. Samsung supplies both a player and a converter for the H.265 codec. The NLE situation will be resolving itself as well as software companies are already working on ways to edit this tightly compressed codec.
If you don’t care for Samsung’s Conversion solution there are several others out there and some are free.
here is a list and brief description.
Footage Studio 4K – Acrovid.com
This is not a free one, but it packs a ton of features into an introductory price of $129.
You can convert into multiple formats including ProRes, DNxHD, MJPEG, MP4 (H.264), plus more and even resample and upscale to 10-bit in the process. Noise reduction, Frame rate change, overcranking and undercranking plus a whole lot more.
Convert to Multiple formats including ProRes 4444, HQ, LT, 422, DNxHD, H.264 MPEG4, VP9 and a whole lot more. Add LUTs, Cut/Trim videos, Control Adjustments, Crop, Split videos, Overlays, Batch Outputs and the list goes on. Upscale/downscale to HD, 4K, 6K, 8K at 8-bit or 10-bit. It even has a RAW editor to create video files from an image sequence, supporting stills in TIFF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, Cinema DNG and DPX. Available in three versions $226 / $340 / $910
This Free converter is quite a deal and was born out the frustration with the Samsung Converter. It basically utilizes FFmpeg source code in a GUI application. It is basic but very quick at converting to H.264, H.265. ProRes Proxy, LT, SQ and HQ codecs. Your choice of downscaling to 1080p or converting to 4K. No bells and whistles here, just simple and efficient.
True 6.5K Video in TimeLapse
This is a marvelous little extra treat. The Samsung NX1 has a built in intervalometer for doing time lapse and it will even process the image files into a 4K video file. My advice, don’t do it.
Leave the image sequence as is. When you import it into your NLE (Pro Tip: adjust in Lightroom first) you will then have a glorious 3:2 ratio 6.5K video to play with. Zoom in to 60% and it will fill the screen with a decision to crop at the top or bottom. The 6.5K resolution means you can zoom as much as you like with little or no effect on the image quality.
Or leave it at 100% and create a Hyper-Lapse by keyframing your pan and scan moves. Either way enjoy and take advantage of the extra resolution.
(links to samples on our site)
HDMI Output
Why only 8-bit 4:2:2 Samsung? With all the 10-bit proffered by other manufacturers and the need for 10-bit color sampling for 4K I can only hope that we will see it in a firmware upgrade.
The weakest point on all the modern breed of mirrorless cameras is the mini HDMI port. The port may be mini but the physical weight of the cables certainly is not. I have seen far too may issues when using these tiny ports when connecting to external HDMI devices like the Atomos Shogun. The best solution is an HDMI saver. Most that I saw on the market were heavy and cumbersome. The answer for me was in designing and 3D printing my own. It is practically weightless and works perfectly to reduce the strain from the HDMI cable and save you from needless repairs and the loss of time with your camera. (http://bit.ly/1EyfnYg)
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range describes the ratio between the minimum and maximum useable light captured by the camera.
This is one of the most misunderstood and misused buzzword out there. It is akin to the wildly extravagant claims of contrast ratio for TV’s. There are a million different ways to measure it, all of which can be slanted in one direction or the next. Add to that the fact that the new BT2020 standard, which will show how that immense dynamic range will perform, has not made it to market yet.
Test conditions make a huge difference as well. What type of lighting? Studio? Outdoor Daytime? Outdoor Nighttime? ISO Setting? How much digital noise is there in the image? How much is acceptable?
There are no real established standards at this time.
While Samsung NX1 does not have a raw or LOG setting for video, it does have GammaDR and Smart Range+. While both of these work together to increase the range available, it won’t be complete until Samsung offers a true flat profile.
For our purposes, let’s discuss this with more practical applications.
As an example, you are shooting at sunset. You have the sun visible in the shot and you have a darkened area that goes all the way to a deep black. The True Dynamic Range would be measured between the highest degree of white that isn’t blowing out and the most visible detail in the blackest area.
In my subjective testing, I have found that the NX1 is almost as good as a full frame sensor. Depending upon the lighting and the exposure, aim for proper exposure of the highlights as the Samsung really holds the details in the shadows much better. So the trick is to slightly underexpose on the highlights and correct and expand in post.
There are several parameters to bear in mind during testing.
It is a given that the higher the ISO, the more digital noise is introduced into the image. Settings of 100 to 800 ISO were used for testing. I pushed beyond all the way up to 51,200, but it just got silly testing for any kind of true pro quality at those settings. For me, they are there for those images you just HAVE to get and don’t care how fuzzy it looks.
Shutter speed plays a factor in the testing. Lower shutter speeds are great for gathering more light for shadow areas whereas higher shutter speeds, in general, they can save you in the highlights.
And not to get you more confused but, Exposure compensation is another one of those, “tricks of the trade”. I found that depending upon lighting conditions, that adjusting the EV by +4EV can result in a much better image than increasing or decreasing shutter and ISO.
The final factor is the lens. Each lens is designed to have a “sweet spot”. This is the optimum f-stop setting for any particular lens. Manufacturers don’t want to talk about this because the misconception would be that the lens is somehow “less” at any other setting. That is NOT true. It is widely accepted that there is a “native” ISO for every camera. Well, the same goes for lenses.
Without testing, there is no definitive way to know, but in most cases a “middle-of-the-road” approach is safe.
Keeping those parameters in mind I have found that, at it’s best the Samsung affords a solid 12 1/2 stops of Dynamic Range. At it’s worst, you will bottom out at 10 – 11 stops. These were all shot with a 100 ISO setting. The results will drop steadily with any ISO over 800.
One final thought about dynamic range. Many talk about it like it’s the Holy Grail. And it is wonderful when you are shooting on a camera that has it built in. But if not, the truth is that proper exposure can result in just as good or better results. True profiles to increase dynamic range are wonderful, but unfortunately, the trend lately has been to create these pseudo LUTs or profiles or even de-LUT’s (whatever that snake oil is) in post.
But reader, let me tell you, if you are not applying this to the camera as it records then all you are doing is adjusting the color correction to create a flatter video image and then color correcting it again. It’s pseudo-science, snake oil, my friends, now you see it, now you don’t. If you buy it, then I’ve got some dry swamp land to sell you!
Menu
This is the one place where I think there is a need for improvement, page numbers on the menu. There are none. You go to any book, there are page numbers. When you look something up in the index, there are page numbers. It is a simple but extremely effective way to find the item that you are looking for. It slows you down to look for the exact item you want to change. It’s unbelievable to me that with the technological advances of this machine that the menu doesn’t have page numbers. Ok, enough of my rant. Samsung please give us page numbers. that’s all I’ll say on that.
The menu operation is smooth and easy with either touchscreen or dial control.
Shooting Modes
Samsung Smart Shot, Picture Wizard, and Smart Filters are both a bow to the consumer side of the prosumer users.
Picture Wizard gives you the option to pre-adjust your image with built in looks. You can also create and save your own look with Custom Settings.
Built in choices include:
Standard
Classic which applies a black and white effect
Vivid with highly saturated colors
Portrait creates natural skin tones.
Landscape emphasizes the forest greenery
Retro gives you a brown sepia tone
Cool adds accent to the cool blues
Calm is described by Samsung as creating a calm scene effect.
Clicking the up arrow on the control dial will allow you to customize each one of these if you like.
Scrolling over to Custom 1, 2 or 3 allows for complete customization of the look.
Smart Filters
The Smart Filter options are
Vignetting Applies the retro-looking colors, high contrast, and strong vignette effect of Lomo cameras.
Miniature (H) Applies a tilt-shift effect to make the subject appear in miniature. The top and bottom of the photo will be blurred.
Miniature (V) Applies a tilt-shift effect to make the subject appear in miniature. The left and right of the photo will be blurred.
Watercolor Applies a watercolor painting effect.
Red Desaturate all colors but red.
Green Desaturate all colors but green.
Samsung Auto Shot
Beauty Face Capture a portrait with options to hide facial imperfections.
Landscape Capture still-life scenes and landscapes.
Action Freeze Capture subjects moving at high speed.
Rich Tones Capture a photo with vibrant colors HDR.
Panorama Capture a wide panoramic scene in a single photo.
Waterfall Capture scenes with waterfalls.
Multi Exposure Capture multiple photos and overlap them to create one photo.
Samsung Auto Shot Capture action photos, such as someone hitting a baseball, a jumpshot, or when the subject passes a preset point.
Silhouette Capture subjects as dark shapes against a light background.
Sunset Capture scenes at sunset, with natural-looking reds and yellows.
Personally, while I did test these and they all worked fine. I keep the setting in the “off” position, preferring to shoot in SRW RAW mode and adjust in Lightroom and Photoshop. Please keep in mind that if you are shooting in RAW only, the Smart Filters setting will be grayed out in the menu along with the choice of Photo Size.
i-Function
With one button on the lens and two dials on the body you can set the aperture, shutter sped, ISO, Exposure Value, and White Balance and Intelli-Zoom (if the lens is so equipped). This is a fantastic feature for “run and gun” shooters eliminating having to go to the menu to make these adjustments.
I like it because you can make all of these adjustments after enabling the i-Function with just using the two command dials at the top and back of the camera. Customization of the features are available through the menu under “iFn Customizing”.
Interconnectivity
The trio of NFC, WiFi and Bluetooth make the NX1 the top of its class in wireless camera connectivity. Dual Band communication features a choice of 2.4GHz or 5GHz transmission. This is especially helpful if there is an overload of 2.4GHz devices in the area.
Utilizing the Bluetooth you can have the time set automatically and add GPS coordinates to your image file. One caveat is that the Bluetooth only works on Android and not the iOS version. Overall I would say that the Android experience is smoother than the iOS app, which is to be expected considering you are linking to Samsung smartphones. Which is too bad because I really like the Bluetooth shutter feature on the Android version.
Both do offer smartphone camera control and remote viewfinder control. With Remote Viewfinder, you can set the file size for stills or video, change picture modes, drive settings, AF settings, white balance and decide on either VGA or QVGA streaming. There is very little lag in operation, but if the camera goes dark then you can lose the connection and have to re-establish.
While you can directly post to your Facebook or Instagram accounts, you can transfer between the camera and smart device easily with the application.
The i-Launcher software system is built into the Samsung NX1 Camera. Once you plug your camera into your Mac or PC the i-Launcher or i-Launcher Web allows you to update the firmware of the camera or the lens, or download the User Manual. It also allows you to
download and install Samsung Movie Converter, Samsung DNG Converter, PC Auto Backup, Power Media Player, and the SDK reference program.
No more CD with software that gets lost when you need to install again. Everything your need to work with your camera including the H.265 converter software is there.
In addition, there is a licensed copy of Adobe Lightroom for you. Be sure to update the software as soon as you install it as the version supplied does not support Samsung’s SRW RAW file format.
Lenses
Adding any of the Premium “S” Series lenses, like the 50-150mm F2.8 S ED OIS Lens at 915grams or the 16-50mm F2-2.8 S ED OIS Zoom Lens at 621 grams add some beef to your hand. But it feels good. Traditionally, as long as the camera is well balanced a little more weight lends itself to better stability in your shots. Plus these lenses have optical stabilization built in.
For my testing, I have been provided with these two lenses and I can truthfully say they have served me for 95% of my shooting. I would have liked a true wide angle to test like the 10mm F3.5 Fisheye lens for testing, but perhaps at a later date I can get my hands on one.
The 16-50mm F2-2.8 S ED OIS Zoom Lens offers an 82.6 degree angle of view at 16mm, equal to a 24mm lens to a 31.4 degree angle of view, the same as a 75mm lens in a 35mm system.
The 50-150mm F2.8 S ED OIS Zoom Lens picks up from there nicely offering an 31.4 degree angle of view at 50mm, equal to a 75mm lens and tapers off to a 10.7 degree angle of view at 150mm, the same as a 231mm lens in a 35mm system.
The availability of a range of lenses which was an early criticism of the system is rapidly expanding. Samsung now offers 28 lens choices, including primes, with more on the way.
Rokinon, Samyang, Bower, Lensbaby & Rising are all offering a steadily increasing selection of Samsung NX mount lenses.
In addition Fotasy and FotodioX both have economically priced adapters to use either Canon EF or Nikon lenses. Although using these adapters send you to manual only adjustments. No word yet from Metabones about a powered adapter, although I am sure as the camera grows in popularity, we will see an offering from them.
These two lenses represent the high end of the lenses offered by Samsung. What sets them apart is the overall combination of features.
The 16-50mm F2-2.8 S ED OIS Zoom Lens has 18 elements in 12 groups. The lens includes three aspherical, two ED, and two XHR lenses. The aspherical elements control the softness often seen at the edges of other lenses. These elements balance the distribution of light more effectively creating a much smoother distribution of light across the image.
The ED or Extra-low Dispersion performs a similar equalling out of the color, preventing fringing on the edges and keeping a smooth dispersion of the color wavelengths across the surface of the lens. this gives you superior sharpness and color correction by diminishing chromatic aberration.
The Xtreme High Refractive (XHR) lenses makes for more efficient and uniform distribution of light and keeps the lens more compact and lightweight than other lenses.
These features combine with the lens-shift OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and the Ultra-Precise Stepping Motor (UPSM) to produce true professional quality image results even in the most adverse conditions. The additional bonus is that these lenses are truly dust and splash proof.
An interesting difference in the 50-150mm F2.8 S ED OIS Lens is the SHS or Samsung Hyper Shield Coating on the lens. It incorporates Anti-Fingerprint, Anti-Fog and Anti-Splash characteristics to the lens versus convention coating.
In addition, the lens has a custom focus range limiter that can be adjusted to a specific distance area of focus. This in turn allows for extremely fast autofocus. In testing this feature, I found it especially useful in distance shots in outdoor nature situations. The 6-axis Optical Image Stabilization performs excellently to keep the image in the viewfinder stable for framing.
My testing with both lenses revealed a well designed and executed lens system. There was a great deal of thought that went into this pair of optic tools. Clean, clear crisp images with fast accurate focusing, weather proofing with a strong feel and responsive action in your hands. I especially appreciated the little things like both lenses having a filter ring size of 72mm, making it easy to switch any filters or even interchange lens caps as you alternate between cameras.
The Bokeh is the term for the ascetics of the out of focus areas of the image. The origin of the word comes from the Japanese word ボケ味, the “blur quality”. The best cinematic lens offers Bokeh described with terms like smooth or creamy or harsh. They enhance your images by enhancing your subject against a pleasing intentionally blurred background. In my opinion, I would describe the Bokeh as creamy and rates highly in comparison to almost any professional lens on the market. Both the 50-150mm F2.8 S ED OIS Lens and the 16-50mm F2-2.8 S ED OIS Zoom Lens use nine rounded aperture blades, so the Bokeh for both areas matched set.
Another example of team minded design.
Newest Firmware Upgrade
While working on the completion of this review, the eighth (8th) Firmware Upgrade and sixth (6th) Lens Firmware Upgrade was released by Samsung, Version 1.40.
Samsung has continued to follow an aggressive stream of upgrades with a combination of fixing issues and adding or improving additional features. Honestly, I can’t remember another camera manufacturer who has been this committed to improving it’s product.
Some of the listed changes are obvious, some not so much. In testing these add-ons four stand out as being major.
First, the increased continuous maximum shot counts. Adding 20 is a testament to the power of the DRIMe V image processing engine. And while adding another 5 shots in the continuous burst of 15fps may not sound like a lot, it most certainly is when you realize that each SRW RAW is 47.6MP.
Adding DIS (Digital Image Stabilization) is, in my opinion, the most important of the group. It is a boon to handheld shooters. There is a slight crop applied to the image which is a necessary and acceptable trade off for the visibly improved image quality.
Critically focused shots are an absolute must for 4K shooting and Focus peaking is your best friend. One of the major bugs before this update was that the focus peaking would have to be reinitialized. Now it can be Key-mapped to a custom button in the menu. I choose the down arrow of the command dial.
Lastly, the improved autofocus during zooming is a very noticeable improvement. While it is restricted for only 6 lenses, these do constitute the real workhorse lenses in the Samsung arsenal. In video, I usually don’t zoom unless it’s a sports event that I am shooting with one camera. In the past in those cases I was stuck with a sometimes nasty “breathing” of the focus until it settled. It didn’t take very long, but it was, nonetheless, unacceptable for professional video. That issue has been eradicated totally with this upgrade.
One major thing to remember with installing a firmware upgrade is that it does a reset of the choices in your settings. If you change a lot it would be worthwhile to make a text file or take pics of each menu page for easy resetting after.
The movie, penned and co-directed by Dimitris Logothetis and John Stockwell is more than an action packed martial arts fest. It is a UFC, MMA fan dream with such notables as George St.Pierre, Gina Carano, Cain Velasquez, Fabricio Werdum and more. The reboot costars Alain Moussi, a rising Canadian actor/stuntman with kicking and splits abilities that surpass Van Damme himself. The female lead is Sara Malakul Lane, an up and coming successful Thai model and actress who elevates the original female lead to Lui a tough Thai Policewoman and love interest to Kurt Sloan. Ted Field, of Riddick, Last Samurai and Three Men and a Baby produces.
Having just received the Samsung NX1, at the time, to review this seemed like the ideal real-world testing ground. What better way to find the capabilities of the camera than to use it on a Hollywood movie set.
My video weapons of choice included the Samsung NX1 with the 16-50mm F 2-2.8 S ED OIS and the 50-150mm F 2.8 S OIS lens. This pair offered the flexibility for both wide angle masters as well as tight portrait shots. In addition, I used the Atomos Shogun, but I will talk about that in a separate review.
The concept was to shoot both 6.5k stills and 4K video, from which high quality stills could be easily pulled from the NLE timeline.
Both Director of Photography, Mateo Londono and the Director, Dimitris Logothetis took notice of the quality of the shots and the camera. They both commented that the Samsung NX1 produced cinema quality shots that could be paired with the Red Epic being used by the production.
Having lived and breathed with this camera for 14 days of shooting everything from night scenes to high action martial arts fights to press conferences it is safe to say that I am fully indoctrinated to the nuances of the camera.
Conclusion
The NX1 manages to achieve something no one else has been able to do at this level, create a camera that delivers both professional quality stills alongside spectacular Pro video.
As a still camera, the amazing 90 JPEG @ 1/8000th-second continuous image burst at 15fps surpasses cameras three times the price. With that kind of latitude the need for neutral density filters disappears.
The SRW RAW files contain a spectacular amount of image data that can easily and creatively adjusted in Lightroom and Photoshop. But never fear, if you straight from the camera stills, the NX1 delivers them quite well. This is where the built-in creativity of the Smart Shot, Picture Wizard and Smart Filters comes into play nicely. And the built-in wiFi means that you are a connection away from emailing anyone a picture straight out of the camera.
The video performance of this camera is flat out stunning. Having tested it in low light on a night shoot of a Hollywood movie to the overpowering brightness of shooting a sunset, the camera has constantly outperformed expectations.
There is a huge fixation lately about RAW and flat S-LOG which is overinflated and misleading. While it is true that the NX1 does not offer a super flat image, a properly exposed shot can be adjusted in post to do everything that a flat profile can offer. Indeed one that same Hollywood movie set of Kickboxer Vengeance the consensus was that the Samsung NX1 could be used side by side with the Red Epic footage in post production. You simply can’t expect better than that for a sub $2000 camera.
I highly advise avoiding this strange concept that seems to be brewing for those who sell these NLE based LUTS and De-LUTS. In my opinion, if you don’t apply it in the camera, then you are doing nothing to add the dynamic range or quality of the image. In fact, you are basically color correcting to achieve a flat image only to color correct a second time to reach the “look” that you want. It’s like flying from New York to New Jersey by first flying to LA. Sure you can do it. But the question is, WHY?
While the NX1 allows for custom controlling of the Luminance Levels and Master Black Levels these as not designed to expand the dynamic range but rather as a way to match to other cameras in given shooting environments. The base settings in combination with the Gamma DR setting grants you the widest latitude in true dynamic range.
I found it very easy to use the Touch AF for set up of focus during those hectic points in shooting behind the scenes on a stunt-filled action movie like Kickboxer Vengeance. In fact, I was even able to pull off rack focus using the Touch AF and the AF Responsiveness adjustment in the menu. The results were as smooth as using the lens control but without needing a second person focus puller.
When I had the time the 1280×70 viewfinder was sharp and spectacular with the manual focus switch on the lens barrel easy to access.
There are however a few hurdles for Samsung’s wizards in engineering to overcome to achieve full professional parity. 10-bit 4:2:2 color sampling and 4k 60p frame rates among them. Enabling 10-bit 4:2:2 instead of 8-bit4:2:2 from the HDMI port would be a welcome first step. That would grant us the ability to use the Atomos Shogun to its fullest potential in external video recording.
Audio has always been a weak link in all mirrorless cameras, but the newest firmware upgrade has taken the first step by improving the external audio capture. But still more needs to be done.
H.265 is a definite long term advantage allowing you to record twice as much as H.264 while still maintain the same professional quality standards. An added bonus is that you don’t need the excessive fast SDHC cards that can cause long term overheating issues and failure.
If you are serious about capturing stills or video, my advice is that this is THE camera to get. There is no other camera in this price range that delivers the bang for the buck that the Samsung NX1 Camera does.
Thank you for your interest and remember to use these hashtags in your social media.
#BeingSADneverFeltSoGOOD!
#SADtheMOVIE
#SADMOVIE2015
#SADsupporter
#SADandPROUD
The S.A.D Movie Team will be launching a crowdfunding campaign soon and by using the hashtags listed here in your own social media posts your chances of being selected for SADsurprises increases radically… Want to be a SADwinner? Because you’ll then be experiencing that special feeling … #BeingSADneverFeltSoGOOD!
Last Thursday, 52% of the UK population voted for the UK to leave the European Union (EU). I am going to avoid the political side of this conversation as it’s been covered well elsewhere. I will also avoid sharing my own opinion on the matter as there are no shortage of people shouting off on one side or another.However, I thought I can add to the conversation by looking at the numbers for how the British and European film industries interact and how Brexit will affect the UK film industry.
An end to MEDIA / Creative Europe funding (certain). Between 2007-13, the MEDIA scheme provided over €100 million towards various aspects of the UK film industry. The loss of this money is the biggest, clearest effect of Brexit and so I’ve addressed it in the section below.
Fewer international films will be distributed in the UK (certain, although the extent is unknown). Between 2007-13, UK-based businesses received over €20 million in EU funding to support the release of European films in the UK. In addition, if Brexit continues to cause a weak Pound then it becomes more expensive for UK distributors to acquire new content. However, this will affect all UK distributors equally, so may only reduce the amount UK distributors can pay upfront (known as the Minumum Guarantee, or MG) rather than prevent distribution entirely.
It becomes cheaper to shoot in the UK (uncertain). If the Pound continues to lose value (as it has since the Brexit voted was announced) then the UK becomes ever-cheaper for foreign productions to set up shop in the UK. This will have the biggest effect on Hollywood studios, who spend vast sums of money and whose green-screen epics can be shot almost anywhere in the world. Between 2006-15, UK / USA studios films spent £7.7 billion in the UK, accounting for 68% of the money spent on UK films.
€44,561,008 – Awards to European distributors to release UK films
The Iron Lady – €1,531,922 – 31 European territories
Screen Daily
Harvey Weinstein 
So many of the effects of Brexit are unknown. Right now, the only thing that has happened is that a non-binding referendum was marginally won by the pro-Brexit movement. There’s no doubt that the majority of the UK film industry hopes that Brexit doesn’t happen. Failing that, the film industry is likely to seek the following outcomes from the government…
jameswith 