Toolbox

TOHO Studios, the legendary Tokyo production house responsible for the original Godzilla and its current remake, as well as Seven Samurai, directed by Akira Kurosawa, has purchased the new Tiffen Steadicam M-1 camera stabilizer for its feature projects.

Senior cameraman Kosuke Yamada has been looking at the M-1 since its launch, and was further excited about bringing a rig to Japan after he completed the six-day SOA (Steadicam Operators Association) Classic workshop in the US with Jerry Holway and Steadicam’s inventor Garrett Brown. Assisting him on the language front during the workshop was Tiffen/Steadicam’s US sales manager Dan Ikeda, one of Tiffen’s senior workshop instructors.

Yamada’s experience as a cinematographer was gained well before the SOA workshop, with a 13 year camera assistant’s path at TOHO Studios leading four years ago to the top job as TOHO’s cinematographer.

As to why he chose the M-1, Yamads said, “The first reason was its stability. When I used the M-1 for the first time at the SOA workshop, I felt a firm sense of stability that I had never felt before. No matter how much lighter cameras become, the quality of the image largely depends on its stability in use. The M-1 can accommodate various shooting styles and equipment, and I think this is perhaps the biggest strength of it, but also very important is the ease with which you can achieve dynamic balance and smoothness of the gimbal. A further reason was the modular design.  Unlike the USA, it is difficult for us to customize our rigs here in Japan as we often do not have enough information or equipment,  but with the M-1, we can upgrade it later if it is necessary.”

TOHO’s M-1 stabiliszr is the first to be delivered to an Asia-based customer, beating Taiwan by a day. A recent showing of the M1 at Beijing BIRTV broadcast exhibition has already resulted in more systems going to Chinese broadcasters and filmmakers.

All Tiffen M-1 systems in Asia have been ordered with the Fawcett Exovest. The supportive exoskeleton design of Exovest frees the chest from constraint by providing support on the hip and shoulder. The industry’s benchmark ISO-Elastic G70X arm completes the package, making M-1 the most advanced stabiliser in feature production.

The Steadicam M1 system was supplied by Tiffen’s Japanese distributor, Gin-ichi Corp, who boast Steadicam factory support training, offering local time-zone support to TOHO and broadcasters like NHK, CX Fuji and TV Asahi who have purchased Steadicam Archer 2, Zephyr and Shadow stabilizers over the last two years.

RED Digital Cinema unveiled the latest addition to its line of professional cameras, RED RAVEN. Weighing in at only 3.5 pounds, RED RAVEN is RED’s lightest and most compact camera, making it the ultimate choice for a range of applications including documentaries, online content creation, indie filmmaking, and use with drones or gimbals. With pricing that starts at $5,950 for the camera BRAIN only, and complete packages under $10,000, RED RAVEN reflects RED’s ongoing commitment to the belief that cinema-quality creative tools should not be in the hands of a few—they should be available to all professional shooters.

RED RAVEN is equipped with a 4K RED DRAGON sensor, and is capable of recording REDCODE RAW (R3D) in 4K at up to 120 fps and in 2K at up to 240 fps. RED RAVEN also offers incredible dynamic range, RED’s renowned color science, and is capable of recording REDCODE RAW and Apple ProRes simultaneously—ensuring shooters get the best image quality possible in any format.

“RED RAVEN is a new category in our lineup,” said Jarred Land, president of Red Digital Cinema. “It’s a younger, hungrier, more ‘spirited’ member of the RED family with a bit of a chip on its shoulder, ready to take on the entire sub-$10k market with images that users will be incredibly proud of.”

RED RAVEN will begin shipping in February 2016, and deposits will be accepted beginning today. Customers will be given a choice of purchasing the BRAIN only and building a kit that best fits their needs, or choosing a complete package. The RED RAVEN Base I/O Package offers everything content creators need to take their productions to the next level of image quality and professionalism, while the RED RAVEN JETPACK Package is specifically designed for use with handheld gimbals, drones, jibs and cranes.

4 RED RAVEN BRAIN ONLY - $5,950 ($500 deposit) – ships February 2016

4 RED RAVEN JETPACK PACKAGE - $9,750 ($1,000 deposit) – ships February 2016
o   Includes a RED RAVEN BRAIN, JETPACK, Battery Belt Clip, RED MINI-MAG 120GB, 4.7” LCD, AC Power Adaptor, and DSMC2 Outrigger Handle.

4 RED RAVEN I/O PACKAGE - $9,950 ($1,000 deposit) – ships March 2016
o   Includes a RED RAVEN BRAIN, Base I/O V-Lock Expander, RED MINI-MAG 120GB, 4.7” LCD, AC Power Adaptor, and DSMC2 Outrigger Handle.

Telestream, a provider of digital video tools and workflow solutions, announced the successful deployment of a Vantage media processing and intelligent workflow automation platform at Fox International Channel (FIC) Europe & Africa’s new production and distribution centre in Hammersmith, London.

Designed and installed by Telestream’s UK channel partner, Boxer Systems, this innovative file-based workflow meets numerous content processing, transcoding and transformation needs from linear broadcasts to web publishing of video clips and VOD material conversion. “Today broadcasters must be able to supply many different pipelines with content--from OTT to VOD, linear, web and multi-platform deliveries. To do this effectively, we need to rely on a robust and flexible infrastructure and this is exactly what Telestream Vantage gives us,” said Maurizio Raffaeli, director, broadcast operations & IT, Italy at Fox International Channels.

A major requirement of the Vantage platform at Fox International Channel Europe & Africa is to create DPP-compliant file-based content for delivery by FIC to UK broadcasters. When FIC started the design of its new London production center, an important consideration was the new Digital Production Partnership (DPP) initiative, which its UK client broadcasters were preparing to adopt. During an intensive two-month testing period with Sky UK, DPP files created using Vantage proved to be technically advanced and reliable.

“From its flexibility, extensive format capabilities, scalability and third party workflow interoperability, Vantage has proved to be an elegant and sophisticated platform for our growing operations,” explained Mauro Panella, executive director–head of broadcast operations, IT & facilities, Italy, Germany & UK at Fox International Channels. “Another key factor was the high quality support that we receive from Boxer Systems. They helped us at every stage from initial architecture design through to deployment, and as soon as the workflow was installed and operational they trained our staff to a very high standard.”

In selecting Telestream, Fox International Channels Europe & Africa is building on a relationship that started in 2008 and already sees Vantage employed in their Italian and Spanish production centers. In order to complete pre-installation evaluation and testing, Boxer engineers remotely constructed the Vantage workflow at FIC Italy’s production center while the new Hammersmith facility was still under construction.

FIC reports that the new file-based workflow was successfully migrated to London and became operational this spring. The workflow integrates Telestream’s Vantage Transcode Pro Connect and Analysis options running on standard Windows Servers alongside a Dalet media asset management (MAM) system. “We’re pleased with the seamless integration of Vantage alongside the Dalet MAM system where our operators can create, test and implement a new encoding workflow on the Vantage user interface including calling up assets from the Dalet MAM,” added Raffaeli.

Schneider-Kreuznach adds a choice of Sony E-mount to its growing line of 4K Xenon FF-Prime high-resolution digital cinematography lenses. These professional optics are currently offered in 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, and 100mm focal lengths with 18mm and 135mm coming in 2016.

Made in Germany, and purpose-built for digital cinematography, they are designed for 4K and beyond resolution, and cover a full-frame sensor (36mm x 24mm). All the lenses offer 300-degree barrel rotation, uniform size and weight for quick lens changes, and a 14-blade iris that delivers outstanding bokeh. Each lens is color-matched for consistency and all feature 95mm front threads.

Interchangeable mounts allow Xenon FF-Primes to work with Canon EF, Nikon F, PL, and now Sony E-mount cameras. Sony E-mounts are available separately for those who already own Xenon FF-Primes.