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Cinematography of 'American Horror Story: Asylum' Uses Classic Tools to Terrify in 35mm

10.31.12 @ 9:31PM Tags : 35mm, ahsfx, americanhorrorstory, cinematography, super35, television, tv

If you didn’t watch last year’s premiere of FX networks’ American Horror Story, you missed out on some seriously daring television. There was sex (and scandal), there were scares (and some blood-splatter), and there were spirits — though which characters were truly flesh-and-blood and which were a bit more ghostly didn’t become clear until much later  – all in the context of an addicting melodrama. The series (created by Nip/Tuck and Glee masterminds Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk) recently began its second season with some cast-members returning (to play different roles), but the setting has been moved to a darkly-imagined Massachusetts mental institution. One vital piece of the puzzle that is AHS is its look, which is being achieved on 35mm film — especially notable when FX’s own Sons of Anarchy and Justified, for instance, have opted for Alexa and EPIC respectively. Courtesy American Cinematographer, here’s a look at the shooting style of this aggressively original program — and just in time for the show’s Halloween episode premiere! More »

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Canon's Historic Hollywood Announcement is the Canon Cinema EOS C300

11.3.11 @ 6:21PM Tags : c300, cameras, canon, canonc300, cinemaeos, nov3, super35

We’ve all been wondering what Canon’s video division has been up to since their 5D Mark II HDSLR unwittingly ushered in a low-cost, large sensor video revolution. The answer three years in the making: the Canon Cinema EOS C300. There are two cameras, the C300 and C300PL, which are identical except for the PL lens mount on the latter. Via DV Info, here are the official specs: More »

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If 'Ali vs Frazier' of the Camera World is November 3, RED's 2/3'' SCARLET is Dead

10.14.11 @ 2:58PM Tags : 4k, cameras, canon, epic-s, nov3, red, scarlet, super35

As you already know, Canon is releasing a motion picture camera on November 3rd. Not one to let Canon steal their thunder, RED countered by scheduling their SCARLET announcement for the same day. In order to make such a bold move, I assumed RED had some advance insider knowledge of Canon’s plans, but RED’s head honcho Jim Jannard claims RED has “no idea what Canon is going to announce.” He also called the day “Ali vs. Frasier” [sic]. And he’s confident enough to say, “My bet is that after our November 3rd announcement… we will never, ever, be out of back-order. Ever. Really. Never… ever.” This kind of confidence does not come from announcing a camera with a sensor several times smaller than the competition’s. More »

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What's Coming from Canon on November 3? A Roundup of Super35 Rumors

10.9.11 @ 5:59PM Tags : cameras, canon, nov3, red, scarlet, sony, sony3, super35

Since Canon’s original announcement of something “historic” coming on November 3rd, there hasn’t been any hard and fast information about what kind of history they’ll be making. But rumors have been flying about a Super 35 4K camcorder, and as someone with an upcoming feature to shoot I’ve certainly been curious about what Canon has planned. RED will release SCARLET on the same day, and it’s very likely that many upcoming independent features over the next few years are going to be shot on one of these new cameras (in addition to existing RED cameras and the Sony F3). Again, no one knows for sure, but what seems likely? More »

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Canon Announces PL-Mount Cinema Zoom Lenses - Large-Sensor Camcorder to Follow?

04.8.11 @ 2:47PM Tags : cameras, canon, lenses, nab, nab2011, plmount, super35

In a surprise move, Canon has announced two new zoom lenses with the cinema-standard PL mount (note the green rings!). The lenses are 14.5-60mm T2.6 and 30-300mm T2.9-3.7, rated up to 4K resolution, and cover a 27.5mm image circle (plenty large for Super35-sized sensors, but not large enough for, say the RED EPIC’s 33mm sensor). Considering Canon does not make a camera that natively accepts PL lenses, it would certainly make sense that their video division would also debut a large-sensor PL-mount camcorder to go along with these new lenses. Right? More »