Andrew Staniland
Actor/Videographer
Love the creative spirit and great work taking on a challenge. After watching the Kickstarter pitch though, these guys REALLY need to work on their pitching skills. They talk about "Enthusiasm....Passion", but where is it?? Don't get me wrong, not everyone is good at this and it's probably the last thing they want to do, but reading from a teleprompter, virtually like robots, looks like it's THE LAST THING THEY WANT TO DO.
Production values aside, would I choose to fund a project by someone who doesn't care enough to express something personal or passionate about what they're doing? That's a big N.O.
It's too bad the Sony FS5 is almost double the price of this camera. Way nicer image. Way better sensor.(same as the FS7)
Do the work. Be humble. Work with and learn from people who are better than you. Whether you believe in"talent" or not, 80-90% of accomplishing anything is WORK. Talent is irrelevant.
Making do with "less" is one of the major factors....if you call making 3 films for about $250 million "less". Each of the Hobbit films cost more to make than all three LOTR. I call it the "Lucas" syndrome. The first Star Wars film, cheesy though it could be, had a lot of heart in it because they did a LOT with less than they would like. They innovated, as did Peter Jackson's SFX company WETA Digital. Having to work with less forces you to be more creative. As soon as you have a ton of dough behind your production, your choices become less and less limited and you start to focus more on visuals than script....Style over Substance. Look at PJ's "King Kong"....not one, but 3...count'em 3 T-Rex's AND a stampede of brontosauruses being chased by veloci-raptors....and...And....AND! Two words PJ: GROW UP!
Ahhh.....convenience. Why would I pay $50 for this when I could buy an intervalometer for $10-$15? Better yet, if you're a Canon guy/gal, as I am, Magic Lantern has a built-in intervalometer in their firmware for FREE. Fortunately for PICO, the worst sin in the western world is INCONVENIENCE. Good luck with it all the same!
As far as that interview with Deakins:
Couldn't they have found someone more qualified to interview someone of Deakins' calibre? This guy Coen has no idea what he's doing... is out of his depth and, quite frankly sounds like a total wanker. If you want to interview someone as skilled as Roger Deakins, don't waste his time by HIRING A WANKER!!