If you bring your KoAloha and take a picture at the screening submit your photo and story at koalohastory.com and we’ll send you a free copy of the DVD!

Tickets for DisOrient 2012 Now Online!

“My KoAloha Story” [Ticket] | Sunday, April 29 @ 5:15pm

I am very proud to announce My KoAloha Story will have it’s official World Premiere debut for a public audience at the Hawaii International Film Festval. Woo hoo!!

I and all of KoAloha are deeply grateful to HIFF and the judging committee this year for selecting our film to have it’s World Premiere screening in Hawaii. I would not have seen it any other way. It is really a dream come true and a blessing to bring this film first and foremost to where the story originates and that is in beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii and home of KoAloha Ukulele.

We are also so lucky to have not just one but THREE SCREENINGS!!! Let me repeat that!! THREE Screenings!!

This is very rare in the film festival world and all of us at KoAloha are extremely ecstatic and hope to bring as many ukulele and KoAloha family there. I really want to make sure we can pack the house at both screenings and send a message to the world that this film needs to be seen by everyone from the mainland and beyond. This film is not your run of the mill ukulele documentary. It is far from that. It is the story of the Okami family, the story of the individual lives they have touched through their ukulele and the power of KoAloha as a message of hope, love, and Ohana.

If you live on Oahu you have no excuse. This is your chance to see something special, share in a momentous occasion and to celebrate the life long work of KoAloha through this film.

So please do not delay! Purchase your tickets in advance by going to the HIFF website: My KoAloha Story Tickets!

Mahalo to KoAloha Ukulele, the Okami family, and all who contributed their stories, music, and time to this film. This film would not have been made with out the help of the entire KoAloha Ohana. I thank you so much for believing in this work.

Gary San Angel
Director

The KoAloha Ukulele Story is an animated documentary film short about Hawaii’s very own Renaissance man and inventor Alvin Okami and his amazing story about how he changed his plastics company into one of the worlds most admired and respected ukulele companies.

I was really inspired by people’s reactions to our little animated film and how it was an opportunity for people to share their own personal stories and experiences about how they found the ukulele and found a connection to the Okami and KoAloha family. Because of the amazingresponse we had from the first film I touched base with Alvin’s son Alan Okami about the possibility of putting together a Part 2 to the animated film which would tell the story of their family after the miniature ukulele was made.

The film project is called “My KoAloha Story” the idea being everyone has their own KoAloha Story, a story with heart, passion, and inspiration, a story that connects us to family.

For part of the films process, I worked with people around the country and even in Great Britain who wanted to share their KoAloha Story. I even arranged for my personal HD video camera to be sent out or had them film themselves with their own high quality camera. The process of crossing borders and building relationships with people who I had no contact with before except for their connection to KoAloha was rather quite powerful. Each person had a set of simple open questions to answer about their connection to KoAloha and their love of the ukulele. It was really that simple- Just tell your story. Sometimes we were even blessed to get a song or two on their KoAloha ukulele so much of the music from the interviews became the soundtrack to the film.

Part of this unique community style of filmmaking comes from years of working in the theater and building communities through this unique story telling process. I was fortunate enough to test it out with NYC based artist Taiyo Na using his beautiful song “Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)” and working with the Asian Arts Initiative community as the story gathers for the images to the song. I put the camera in the hands of the community and youth and they filmed their moms and grandmothers. It was really a moving experience. Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) premiered at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival and now has a home online at www.lovelytome.com where you can see the music video and documentary film as well as contribute your own photos to honor your mom.

I hope this gives you an idea of the simple and profound concept of putting the camera in the hands of the community and why I feel passionately about the work of the KoAloha Story Film Series. My KoAloha Story is not only the story of the Okami family but it is your story too, a community story that makes up the larger KoAloha Ohana. It reminds us to never forget our stories, to never forget where we came from “warts and all” because life at it’s most honest and vulnerable place of challenge and strife is where we see our true inner beauty, our humanity.

I have been very blessed to be sort of a conductor of this KoAloha Symphony of Stories. I have had the humble honor of making two documentary films about Papa KoAloha and the Okami family that I hope captures the heart of what KoAloha does best and that’s sending love out to the world with their beautiful instruments.

Papa KoAloha’s story was just the seed. And I hope that you can help me by continuing to be a part of this oral history project which does not end with the film but continues as a living archive online here at www.koalohastory.com.  Whether you are a novice ukulele player or master, or just a person with a story to tell, please share and be a part of this project. This is an opportunity to share your story and to celebrate a unique and inspirational ukulele company and to add your story to the KoAloha Ohana.

Many thanks for supporting KoAloha and the work of these films. I encourage you to sign up and be a subscriber. We will be celebrating the work of the KoAloha films by screening them through the KoAloha Story website and posting never before seen stories and short films. So stay tuned!

I hope that all these collective stories inspire you to share your KoAloha story at www.koalohastory.com or in your own communities.

Mucho Maholos to all! I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Gary San Angel
Director
The KoAloha Ukulele Story and My KoAloha Story

Please feel free to contact us below or better yet BE A SUBSCRIBER!

The actual music video only uses just a few seconds of the Yellow Rage segment so I thought I’d highlight some of the footage we got with the new indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB which was a key success in giving us the unique birds eye perspective on all our shots.

I’ve already mentioned it before but the indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB is the ideal compact jib on the go. I think the indiGO-JIB works so well in the music video format because its easy to setup and easy to operate and gives you a lot of creativity not to mention instant gratification. In fact, our youth from our Tech Apprenticeship program at the Asian Arts Initiative are really learning how to use it quite well. All the Yellow Rage footage we shot for the music video was in fact all set up and operated with the help of youth and young adults with little or no experience. Because of the fun we had using the indiGO-JIB we are planning on shooting one of Yellow Rage’s classic poems, “I’M A WOMAN NOT A FLAVA” later this summer.

Here are the three different versions of the Yellow Rage “I GOT MY” segment. Enjoy!

“I Got My”
Magnetic North / Taiyo Na / Jin

Cameo Segment: Yellow Rage, Asian Arts Initiative Community

Filmed by Youth from the Tech Apprenticeship Program at the Asian Arts Initiative

Cameo Segment Directed by Gary San Angel

Camera: Panasonic GH2 in ETC mode
Lens: Navitar 6mm f/1.4 c-mount
Rig: indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB

Yellow Rage Cameo – Magnetic North / Taiyo Na / Jin – Music Video Version 1

Yellow Rage Cameo – Magnetic North / Taiyo Na / Jin – Music Video Version 2

Yellow Rage Cameo – Magnetic North / Taiyo Na / Jin – Music Video Version 1&2

I’ve used a jib crane a few times and they give you spectacular looking shots but I personally don’t like using them because they are huge and bulky not to mention take some time to setup. The last one I used I couldn’t get the weights just right so the camera was always too top heavy. So when Tim told me he had created a portable jib arm perfect for smaller DSLR cameras that was easy to setup and light weight I was pretty intrigued.

The indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB when folded down is only 38” long and can easily be packed in a bag and taken from the streets to the wilderness. When fully extended and with the front camera/monitor plate attached you get a little over 8’ of reach and when placed on your fluid head and a 4’ set of sticks you’ll have your camera up 12′ in the air.

My total set up time took me fifteen minutes to get my camera and tripod balanced and working. One of the big reasons for this is that Tim did a terrific job in creating levels of adjustments on the telescopic arm and at the weight level end to get the jib arm balanced just the way you want it. Typically with a jib crane if you are slightly off alignment its because the floor or your sticks are not level. When this happens the adjustment to get it level is a pain.

With the indiGO-JIB its very easy to get the camera pivoted so its level because you can loosen two top and bottom knobs on the telescopic arm and hand torque the camera until its level and then screw it down. This allows one the flexibility to shoot the camera nose down or nose up. You have a degree and a half front and back movement allowing for quick level shooting and a lot of creative angled possibilities.

Balancing the camera with weights is pretty easy. You can purchase the 4 liter plastic containers that you can fill with water or dirt or use your own weights. Whatever weights you decide to use there are a number of adjustments on the jib arm that allow you to get the camera balanced just right.

I have done a lot of playing around with the indiGO-JIB both with the prototype model and the production model and the fine tune adjustments is simply a solid home run here.

The students from my class really just had a ball and were able to setup, balance and operate the indiGO-JIB quite well. We shot the Philadelphia Suns with a Panasonic GH2 and the Navitar 6mm f/1.4 c-mount lens using the GH2′s ETC mode. I’ve already posted about this lens and its wonderfully sharp and a nice pairing with the GH2 and indiGO-JIB. For some of the closeup shots of the Lion Dancers we used the Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 12.5-75mm f/1.8 c-mount zoom lens. It’s nice and sharp on the tele side but a tad soft on the wide end but still fun to use. The nice thing is that we switched lenses a lot and we easily balanced the rig by unlocking and sliding the weights to the right position in just a few seconds.

This is one jib that I know will be loved by students and pros alike and should be used as a teaching tool from small humble video classes to film schools everywhere because it’s portable, affordable, and easy to setup and you get some amazing results.

Philadelphia Suns Lion Dancers – Chinese New Years Dance

The Philadelphia Suns Lion Dancers perform a Chinese New Years Dance that is traditionally done during the Lunar New Year. The Suns Lion Dancers visit restaurants, businesses, homes, and special family functions in Chinatown to give good fortune and blessing for the coming year. Usually, you must provide an offering to the Lion with fruits or vegetable.

In the dance the Lion is offered food but then must spit it out because it can not consume any physical food just the spiritual sense. After the eating ritual, the Lion then sleeps and then fully awakens and ends the final dance by bowing and bringing good blessing to the home.

Main Lion Head and Lion Dance Instructor: Peter Louie

Rear of Lion: Kevin Leong

Camera: Panasonic GH2 in ETC mode

Lens: Navitar 6mm f/1.4 c-mount

Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 12.5-75mm f/1.8

Rig: indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB

Filmed by Youth from the Tech Apprenticeship Program at the Asian Arts Initiative

Crew: Han Lin, Jaime Tat, Jenny Tat, Ty Givens, Jonathan Bennet, Kaitlin Dugan, Steve Calvarese, Loc Ngyuen, Charles Ramirez

Most of my short films come out of making something out of nothing. This instance is no exception. This past weekend it had snowed in Philadelphia and I thought it would be a great opportunity to shoot a test with the Panasonic GH2 camera and indiSYSTEM Bulldog and BallGrip rig using a few of my legacy zoom lenses. I first set up my Schneider Variogon 18-90mm c-mount lens with GH2 and indiSYSTEM Bulldog rig. I tested everything indoors pulling focus with my Chrosziel follow focus and 80mm SNAP! Gear fitted snugly on the lens and felt pretty good to go but as soon as I stepped out the door it was a different story. I could barely see the GH2 LCD screen with the snow falling everywhere and white brightness all around and I had forgotten my variable ND filter so I was getting utter crap. The camera and rig were getting icy and wet and I was just about to call it quits when I remembered I brought Tim Ovel’s hacked GH13 with me in my bag as a backup. It had the Panasonic 14-140mm lens and I set the lens to autofocus and kept trudging onward. Since my gear was wet anyway I set the GH2 and Bulldog rig in the fresh heap of snow and took a few quick snow pics of the gear. I then gave the GH13 and Panasonic 14-140mm a quick spin on the Bulldog as I walked back through the falling snow. The 14-140mm lens in AF mode allowed me to press record with out worrying about looking at my snow filled LCD screen leaving me with at least some usable footage.

When the snow finally stopped I decided to go back out to give my legacy lenses one more try on the Bulldog rig. This time I wanted to shoot with the Angenieux 8-64mm c-mount lens which was the first legacy zoom lens that I purchased for the GH1. It’s not a perfect lens by any means and is riddled with some of the problems that many c-mount zooms have on the m4/3 system but I was thrilled by the character of the lens and the ability to see it in action with the new GH2 ETC mode. It really shines with it’s sharpness, contrast and color around the 20mm to 50mm focal range. The 8mm wide end has heavy vignetting and edge distortion and at 62mm, the longest reach of the lens, you’ll see a couple metal edges of the interior of the lens in your shot. Despite these issues, I was just thrilled to finally use this lens with the new GH2 Extended Tele Conversion mode. The GH2′s ETC is really bringing to life many of these smaller c-mount zoom lenses and primes because you can finally fill most of the frame of the sensor and record using the full resolution of the camera. Another nice feature of the Angenieux 8-64mm c-mount lens on the GH2 is that it gives the indiSYSTEM Bulldog that steadicam feel because the rig is so light weight. I’ll talk a little bit more about this lens in more detail in a separate post. You can pick out the Angenieux 8-64mm footage pretty easily. It’s all the Philly footage shot right after the snow storm.

Aloha Winter Notes

With the challenges of the snow and with footage that was varied and shot with different lenses I decided I would have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how I can put this all together. To help me in the process I decided to look over some test footage I shot with the GH2 over the holidays. I was in Southern California and spent some time with family in Oceanside, CA. Oceanside is a small beach town just on the outskirts of San Diego and home to an eclectic mix of of surfers, folks who love the beach and military personel who live and work near Camp Pendelton. There’s a beautiful pier at Oceanside and I did a few tests with the GH2 and Contax G 28mm lens using the indiSYSTEM Bulldog and BallGrip. Looking at this warm beach footage and the joy of seeing my nephew and his love for his “Aunty Gayle” as he dragged her around the beach pier just made me think of the Hawaiian song “Ku’u Lei ‘Awapuhi”. It is just the song that comes to mind that always makes me long for home especially during a Philadelphia snow fall. The song was written in 1951 for the remake of the movie “Bird of Paradise”. I thought it would be a perfect song to connect these two winter stories together. One of my favorite versions of this song is by Tia Carrere and Daniel Ho whom I admire greatly. Their version of “Ku’u Lei ‘Awapuhi” with Tia’s beautiful voice and Daniel’s wonderful counterpoint with ukulele is quite evocative and filled with a childlike innocense and spirit of longing and reminescense. Their newest collaboration `ikena won them both a Grammy for best Contemporary Hawaiian album.

Here are the words to this beautiful piece.

Ku`u Lei Awapuhi
- Words & music by Emily Kekahaloa Namau`u Taylor

E ku`u aloha e (e o)    I call, my beloved (answer)
`Auhea la `oe (e ia no au)   Where are you (Here I am)
A huli aku au ia `oe    Return to me

Auhea la `oe e ke aloha   Where are you, my love
‘Awapuhi pala o ka ua noe   Like the ginger, covered in the misty rain
A eia no me au     Here, I am with you
I ka poli o ke aloha    In love’s sweet embrace

E ku`u aloha e (e o)    I call, my beloved (answer)
`Auhea la `oe (e ia no au)   Where are you (Here I am)
A huli aku au ia `oe    Return to me

Aloha Winter
a gary san angel film test

Cameras:
Panasonic GH2
Panasonic GH13

Lenses:
Panasonic 14-140 f/4.0-5.8 lens
Contax G 28mm f/2.8 lens
Angenieux 8-64mm f/1.9 lens
Schneider Variogon 18-90mm f/2.0 lens

Rig:
indiSYSTEM Bulldog
indiSYSTEM BallGrip

Music:
Ku’u Lei ‘Awapuhi
Tia Carrere & Daniel Ho
Hawaiiana

Location:
University City, Philadelphia
Oceanside, CA

Please join me in celebrating this Mothers Day with the launch of LovelytoMe.com and sharing a digital picture of your “Mom”.

LovelytoMe.com is a living online community gallery inspired by the film Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) created by Taiyo Na and Gary San Angel with the Asian Arts Initiative and Chinatown community in Philadelphia.

You can upload a photo of your mom from anywhere around the world and connect the photo with Google Maps.

You can share a picture of your mom, grand mom, aunty, or that special someone who helped raise you and make you who you are today.

It can be a picture of your mom from an old scrapbook photo or a favorite pic with you and your mom.

Don’t have a picture of you with your mom. Draw stick figures!

Just be Creative!

Special Thanks to Taiyo Na for writing such a beautiful song and for sharing it with the world.

Very special thanks to Sean Brown for website and logo design help, Byron Bennet who created the PhotoSmash WordPress Photo Gallery plugin, and the Asian Arts Initiative Apprenticeship program for their work on the site.

Hope you can find time to honor your mom in some way today and everyday.

Share your mom photo here!

Happy Mothers Day!

Gary

The indiSYSTEM Bulldog is an evolution of some of the best elements from all the indiSYSTEM rail systems. It is a very compact system that weighs under 4 pounds. It is in a way a more versatile indiSYSTEM ULTRAcompact allowing the operator the flexibility of different shooting styles in one system. You can have the option to use the rig for shoulder mount work, then immediately mount it to your tripod, and then take it off again and adjust the rig to fit your own handheld shooting style. The Bulldog handheld has an improved miniMOUNT which is a “C” bracket with handle that allows for accessories to be mounted vertically or horizontally. The rear shoulder pad also has a spot to mount other accessories as well perfect for mounting a wireless receiver or battery pack. The shoulder pad cushion is also nice and thick and made to last. The rail system and connectors are carbon fiber and the grip handles are slimmed down. These improvements create a very light weight system that does not sacrifice strength and durability. The camera is mounted to a Giottos quick release mount which gives you a little horizontal movement for moving the camera to where you need it to be. This is an all-in-one DSLR handheld rig perfect for the GH2 or Canon 7D/5D.

The indiSYSTEM BallGrip does not look like much. In fact, I was confused at first by the design and spent many hours trying to figure it out but after talking to Tim and using it for a few days I must say this is where function far exceeds form. The indiSYSTEM BallGrip’s main purpose allows the operator the ability to pull focus when going handheld. The mount fits on the rails behind the camera and it is adjustable with two sized ball points that fit any size hand. This simple design is one of the most practical tools I have been needing for quite some time and I see its real world use being more than just for pulling focus but as a broader multifunctional tool allowing the operator to put it anywhere in their rails system to contour their handheld shooting style to best maximize security and comfortability when shooting handheld for long periods of time. The indiSYSTEM BallGrip design is unusual but quite simple and its application on the field is really amazing. I have already found a few different configurations combined with the indiSYSTEM Bulldog that enhances the stability of my handheld shooting style.

Here are just a few initial pictures of both the new indiSYSTEM Bulldog and BallGrip. I’ll be posting more pics and footage shortly. In Philadelphia we’ve been hit by an early taste of winter. Fortunately, I’ve been in Southern California during the holidays so I thought it would be nice to take the Bulldog out for a warm walk on the beach.

The indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB is practically a jib arm in a bag. It’s a portable jib arm that folds down to 38″ which is about the size of an average tripod and when fully extended you have a little over an 8′ height extension with the camera plate attached. Most jibs are out of the price range of the average indy filmmaker. They are traditionally bulky and heavy and a super pain to set up and transport.

The indiGO-JIB is quite the opposite. In fact, you can mount the jib arm on an inexpensive Manfrotto 503 fluid head.  You can balance out the your 10 pound camera in just a few minutes and counter weight your camera with either standard plate weights or purchase the 4 liter water containers that you can fill with water or dirt.

Imagine being able to take a jib with you to the wilderness and beyond. The sky’s the limit with the indiGO-JIB and for $349 it’s a jaw dropping incredible price. Simply put you can not be with out the indiGO-JIB on your next film. Seriously, this jib is designed so well with adjustments to give you the proper counterweight and the ability to get some creative shots that you would not be able to do with your average jib arm. I have a feeling this little guy will be snatched up by folks from the indy filmmaker on a tight budget to the heavy hitter industry DP.

I had a chance to use the indiGO-JIB for a high profile music video. The director asked me to not show the footage until the MV comes out in May so I thought I’d share some footage of our pre-shoot. I had a team of youth and young adults work with me on the shoot. They are a part of the Tech Apprenticeship program at the Asian Arts Initiative which I run every Sunday to train students in theater and film production work. They are a little green but they did a stellar job and it goes to show you don’t need to be an expert to use one.

The 8′ indiGO-JIB with my Gitzo sticks extends the arm to a reach of 12′. I needed to get even higher so I placed my sticks and jib on top of a few cafe tables which gave me an additional extension giving me a total height of 14.5′. What jib arm do you know that can easily be placed on top of a cafe table and still be rock steady?

We used the Panasonic GH2 in ETC mode with the Navitar 6mm f/1.4 c-mount lens. This is such an ideal combo on the indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB because it is so small and lightweight. In normal creative film mode the Navitar 6mm 1/2 c-mount lens is quite small and you get a very large peep hole effect when you look through your viewfinder but in ETC mode it fits the frame perfectly with only a little vignetting and a slight soft edge. Because this is a flat field lens you can get incredible sharpness when moving the jib from a very tight extreme close up on your subject to that of a very wide establishing shot.

I had forgotten to bring a field monitor so I merely stopped down to f/4 and used a ladder to check focus at 14.5′ high and then brought the jib arm down to 2′ off the ground and our subjects were in focus as we moved the jib from ground to ceiling. It’s an incredible lens on the GH2 and combined with the indiGO-JIB is perfect for doing music video work because it gives you incredible range. With the indiGO-JIB you have fluid movement and wonderful shots to discover as you use it from extreme close up to long shot.

I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to test out the prototype version of the indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB for a little over two months now and it has been nothing short of amazing. I know it will crack a smile from the big boys because is can do so much in this little frame. I’m sure we’ll see it being used on reality tv sets, narrative films and even more music videos. I mean why not? We’ve dreamed of doing these shots since we started watching movies.

Well here it is folks the democratization of the jib starts today. Damn it Tim! You did did again! Filmmaking is supposed to be expensive and unattainable. LOL! No really, kudos Tim Ovel for making another wall crumble.

Now people go out and make your dream films a reality!

Pre-Shoot test for Music Video

Filmed by Youth from the Tech Apprenticeship Program at the Asian Arts Initiative

Camera: Panasonic GH2 in ETC mode

Why Do We Suffer
Written and Performed by Steve Calvarese

Rig: indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB prototype
Lens: Navitar 6mm f/1.4 c-mount lens
Camera: Panasonic GH2 Extended Tele Conversion (ETC) Mode

This Winter I have been training a group of teens and young adults in both technical theater and filmmaking at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia. What makes the process unique is that I invite local artists in the community to perform in our classes. The tech team designs lights, works the camera and shoots a short live video for each participating artist. At the end of the day, the trainees get a real world tech experience and each artist gets a filmed version of their live performance.

For this session, I was fortunate to have Philly based Spoken Word artist Steve Calvarese perform a new monologue he was working on called “Why Do We Suffer”. In this piece Steve brings home some insight on the plight of the homeless. I wanted the camera to represent the POV of someone who is scared to look in the eye of a homeless person. For this shoot, I wanted to test out the new indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB which is a portable light weight jib arm perfect to use for a small DSLR camera.

I wanted to see if we could use the indiGO-JIB in more of a steadicam fashion which would allow me the ability to have quick lateral camera movement as well as varied low to high fluid camera angles perfect for what we needed to make Steve’s piece work.

I wanted to also pair the indiGO-JIB arm with the Panasonic GH2 and the Navitar 6mm f/1.4 c-mount lens in Extended Tele Conversion (ETC) Mode. The Navitar 6mm c-mount lens in ETC mode fills the frame with no vignetting and is a flat field lens so you have edge to edge sharpness from lanscape to macro. It is one of the smallest lenses I’ve used on the GH2 and one of the widest and sharpest. I’ll be posting a follow up post on both the indiSYSTEM indiGO-JIB and Navitar 6mm c-mount lens very soon. In the mean time, you can at least see a little bit of the jib arm and lens in action here.

Artists Notes:

“When writing “Why Do We Suffer”, I wanted to address the sociological phenomenon “invisible minority”. What the mass media projects as “experimental reality” leaves the viewer to question if these people exist. A lot of times, the answer is no. We ignore these people on our daily encounters. They are kept hidden because they are perceived as deviants in society. As a result, we become complacent with this being the new norm. I also wanted to gear away toward minority being strictly a race issue. In doing so, I break the story into three different parts: homelessness, being Muslim, and someone living in jail.

In the video, I embody a homeless person who is telling his/her story of how he/she is perceived as a bum. Because of this label, certain stereotypes are evoked. One of the more common ones is a person having a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia. Since this stigma is implanted into our minds, we keep our distances. I think partly because we are fearful of not knowing what might happen if we approach him/her. We then marginalize these people by blaming it on culture. As an artist and an individual who encounters homeless people almost everyday, I wanted to unmask this preexisting stereotype and others alike by telling a story about a person who is just like us. Regardless if the person is homeless, he/she has a story that needs to be told. I am hoping that our views will shift and that we see homelessness not as a disease, rather a lifestyle resulting from poverty.”– Steve Calvarese

Why Do We Suffer

Written and Performed by Steve Calvarese 

Part I

Can someone give me a sign please?
if they could mind read
and if the blind can see
then possibly, they’ll see
my Sharpie
isn’t dark enough to write
the words
What’s the meaning of life, uh?
trying to be heard
but they’re not bold enough to free me, from the hurt
my net worth,
a piece of cardboard
telling my thoughts from the core
of my stomach
I can barely stomach
these infinite minutes
counting like seconds
to breathe
out of poverty
just another target, trying to pass go but this isn’t monopoly
everyday of the week
I suffer from this weak
economy
please, before I finish
I want you to listen
for a small fraction of a second
a victim, from the world promises
falls in fractions, of my image
isn’t what the world sees
my hands, bleed
from praying,
saying the cause is public housing
minimum wage
traps us in chains
displacement, misplaces our names
from our face, facing
race and racist comments
for being homeless
like the cause for property value going down
I just close my eyes lids
I’m invisible, as it is
to begin with, the physical
we are out of it
another swallow of oxytocin, some klonopin
to ease their pain, but we are the ones who are sufferin’
it’s all a hustle isn’t it
musclin’ until life drags us in
under the system, wonderin’
if they’ll ever wake out of it
© 2010

It’s a short video, but all the messages recorded were found within a 30 yard range. What’s so important that the person just had to make their mark onto the cement and show it to the whole word? Spontaneous impulse? Pride? Love. Some were easier to decipher than others such as the greek letters, who I can only assume it was a student who expressing their pride as a member of a specific fraternity. The one at the end looks to be a heart with possibly initials on it in a similar fashion to the heart border and initials carved in the tree that we see in movies and books.

I’m thinking of going out into the city (Washington, DC) when I have time and try to record as many messages I can engraved into the sidewalk. If anyone is up to it, please try to do it within your city/town/neighborhood. See what you find. You might find something interesting.

Here’s a quick show down between Tim and one of his shop assemblers Tracy as they both demonstrate how easy it is to lock and tighten the ratchet handles on the indiSYSTEM Bulldog.

Each person hand tightens the center latch so that the carbon fiber rods don’t roll and then lock the other two handles in place. Pretty straight forward stuff. It takes very little torque. No allen wrench necessary just a little arm strength. Tim does a pretty good job but I think Tracy has got it down pat and may have the edge over Tim. A little compression force sure goes along way!

Speaking from experience, I can say that I too have left the purchase of a matte box for last simply because a good one costs more than my current DLSR and one of the cheap ones I had purchased during my 35mm adapter days fell a part just after a few shoots. And even after you purchase a good matte box, you still have to get standardized ND filters and rails to mount the matte box so there are additional costs that make it an expensive investment.

Could there be something in the middle ground that doesn’t cost a fortune, is light weight, and could give you solid results for the average pro or weekend warrior filmmaker?

Tim Ovel from indiSYSTEM is always trying to fill the gap and his new indiMATTEwide/slide is one of his newest creations that just may fit the bill if you are looking for an affordable wide angle matte box.

The indiMATTEwide/slide is a wide angle matte box and slider designed for the DSLR filmmaker in mind. What makes this matte box unique is that it can be used with rails or just screwed on to the front filter ring of your lens. The prototype that Tim sent me was surprisingly lightweight for such a wide matte box. Both the matte box and French Flag weighed in at just under a pound. The indiMATTEwide is 8 3/4 inches long and 5 1/2 inches wide and the top of the French Flag is 13 3/4 inches long and 5 1/2 inches wide. This matte box is nice and wide and a great match for many of my wide angle lenses including my beefy Canon J8x6B 6-48mm f/1.7 B4 zoom lens.

The wide/slide is made up of two main components, the indiMATTEwide which consists of the matte box and French Flag and the slider mount that allows you to mount the matte box to a set of rails.

Most manufacturers typically have a swing-out mount for your matte box and what Tim has done with the slider is found an inventive way to do without one. With the slider you can slide the mounted matte box forward and back making it pretty easy to change out lenses. The slider mechanism is about 4 1/4 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide so you have plenty of sliding room to swap out and change your lenses in just a few minutes.

The indiMATTEwide prototype has a nice matte powder coated texture on the interior of the matte box which will also be on the exterior of the production model as well. On the prototype version the textured look is only in the inside. Some may think for such a lightweight matte box it must be made out of cheap plastic but that is far from the truth. The indiMATTEwide/slide is made from ABS PC (Polycarbonate/Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) material. This is the same material used to build wheel covers, small tractor hoods, and non-professional safety helmets. I spent a month playing with the indiMATTEwide before even writing about it just to get a sense of its durability on my shoots. I find the indiMATTEwide akin to being the “Toughskins” of Matteboxes. I’ve thrown it out my second floor window, dropped it and threw it around set a few times and not a crack. In the shop, Tim had a 300 pound guy stand on the matte box and it did not crack or break.

On features, there were a few choices made on the wide/slide to keep the unit simple to use without much fuss.

The first thing I noticed is that the French Flag has four fixed positions. One position to store the French Flag and to cover the matte box from any dust getting into the lens. The other three positions for controling your light are horizontal, angled, and vertical.  The first matte box I owned had an adjustable spring based hinge on the French Flag and you could move it at any angle but it would not tighten enough and the flag would slowly tip into the field of view. From my initial testing I found the fixed positions very useful and worked really well if you have the wide-slide fixed to your DSLR lens without the use of the slider. You can set it and go and not have to worry about the flag slowly moving into your frame especially when doing handheld work.

Second, instead of standardized filter holders, the indiMATTEwide/slide has a back disc with step ring that fits on the front filter of your DSLR lens. The back disc piece attaches to the rear of the matte box with two spring loaded ball clamps. The ball clamps secure the disc nicely although I’m hoping that on the production model Tim will go for a flatter clamp because the ball clamp can get in a way of securing your lens to the matte box.

Since many DSLR filmmakers are using variable ND filters these days this feature works quite well. I have a 77mm variable Fader ND so Tim was able to get me a 77mm pass through back disc. In the production unit you will have a choice of three different filter sizes to fit your most commonly used lenses. Definitely standardized 4×4 filters are better to use but this solution allows you to use circular filters in front of your matte box keeping the weight down and allowing you to use the matte box without rails. Down the road, Tim has talked about being able to put a rotating filter holder but there may be vignetting with that option so it may not happen.

One important thing to consider is that any lens where you have a rotating front element you will need to use the slider mount and a set of rails. For obvious reasons you can not clamp the step ring as you pull focus with a rotating front element because the matte box will turn with your lens. I have been playing around a bit for a temporary solution and one way to do it is to fit the circular disc to the matte box but leave it free and unclamped that way you can still pull focus. To prevent rubbing from the matte box you’ll have to adjust the riser on the slider.

Another caveat is that if you are using zoom lenses like a Canon B4 lens in order to avoid any vignetting, I removed the back disc and filter and passed it through the matte box.

The front lens diameter of the Canon J8x6B B4 lens is approximately 85mm and I used some of my extra SNAP! Gear “squish” to line the inner opening of the matte box so that no light could penetrate through.

This solution worked fine for me and perhaps with an 82mm pass through and 82mm threaded variable ND filter this would be a non issue but my 77mm ND filter and 77mm back disc ring showed vignetting so doing this solved the problem.

Currently, the indiMATTEwide/slide will sell for $229 which will include the matte box, French Flag, and slider as well as three back discs each with a filter size of your choice. Tim is currently working on the side flags that can be clipped on and off the the matte box and will be sold separately. From my understanding it has the similar fixed 4-position mount as in the French Flag mount.

From my initial testing so far the indiMATTEwide/slide is a pretty simple, solid, no fuss matte box.

• It’s geared for the DSLR shooter on a budget who doesn’t want to compromise their shots but who also doesn’t need to have to worry about much either.
• The ability to put a light weight cine matte box on your camera lens with a fixed French Flag is quite useful for me since I’m running around so much I don’t want to worry about the possibility of the French Flag falling into frame.
• The back disc 77mm pass through and my variable ND filter simplifies the mattebox filter system and keeps the weight down for non rail use.
• The option of using the slider to mount the indiMATTEwide on a set of rails with out a swing-out mount is a good simple choice for ease and functionality.
• The ABS PC material is pretty strong stuff and it’s nice to know that I can have one piece of gear that I don’t have to baby and that can take a hit now and then.

Knowing Tim I’m sure they’ll be even more improvements and I’m looking forward to seeing the production version of the indiMATTEwide/slide after the snow thaws out here in Philadelphia.

I’ve posted a few examples here and it’s a wonderful surprise to be able to use this lens. It’s by no means as perfect as it was on the ol’ rangefinder camera that it was originally suited for but it sure is wonderful to use on my GH1 and tack sharp with beautiful contrast. For those who may still be on the fence, I put together a very simple no frills video to go over the steps of cutting the legs from the Contax G 28mm lens and a quick tip to make sure your Metabones adapter is nice and smooth. If you are super brave you can even do this on your Contax G 21mm lens as well. It’s well worth it if you take the risk!

No matter how prepared we think we may be when you go out on a shoot you inevitably wish you had brought that extra something often times it’s the right filter, a wider lens, or the right rig. In my line of work, as a documentary filmmaker I have to streamline big time and be creative with as very little as possible. What the indiSYSTEM Bulldog does for me is allow me that extra little something to give me a variety of shooting styles in one small light weight rig. I can shoot shouldermount, handheld, or put the rig on a sturdy monopod or tripod. The key here is flexibility and light weight compact durability and that’s a big plus with the indiSYSTEM Bulldog. I just don’t have the capacity to carry heavy gear with me. If I’m carrying more than my bike messenger bag and a small gear bag then that’s too much. I’m on the road and out in public and would rather be a fly on the wall out of sight and out of mind than be caught looking like a lost tourist.

Here’s an example of the compact nature of the indiSYSTEM Bulldog. Everything fits in a small  12″ x 10″ x  4″ gear bag with room to spare.

I can set up the complete rig or modify it depending on my shooting needs and it takes me about five minutes to put together. I can then pack everything back up in minutes and fit everything in my little bag. Obviously, you’ll have to find your own bag indiSYSTEM does not provide this with the Bulldog but it goes to show that the indiSYSTEM Bulldog is an essential part of your shoot and one rig that you won’t be leaving behind.

IndiSYSTEM BallGrip

Here are some pictures of how I use the indiSYSTEM BallGrip just so people can get their head around the idea of using this tool. The ball joint is a brilliant idea by Tim Ovel of indiSYSTEM and it really works to help you pull focus while doing handheld shots. This is an example of how one would hold it when using a follow focus.

I use two BallGrips when I want to configure the Bulldog into a Bulldog mini. With this variation I can have something that I can walk around with in a big city or crowd and that gives me the ability to pull focus and the ability to have an extra bit of support on a moving handheld shot.

Here is the setup that I used for a recent test shoot. Since I had pictures of the Bulldog in a warm sunny Southern California beach I thought it would be only appropriate to contrast it in the cold Philadelphia snow fall.

You’ll notice the Blue strap in the picture. That does not come with the Bulldog that is a camera strap that I attached to the BallGrip just as a precautionary measure. If you slip focus and let go of the indiSYSTEM BallGrip you’ll still be connected and will never drop the rig.

It’s important to note that the ideal for this setup to me would be a GH1/GH2 or similiar camera with a small body and a small prime lens or small zoom lens.  The best combo that I have tested so far for just point and shoot hand held work would be the indiSYSTEM Bulldog and BallGrip using the Panasonic GH2 and the Panasonic 20mm lens. For legacy lenses, I find the Contax G 28mm lens with Metabones adapter and SNAP! Gear terrific to use with my GH2 with this setup. I’m still testing with a number of c-mount lenses including the Schneider Variogon 18-90mm zoom pictured above with the GH2. It was a little front heavy and better suited locked to a monopod or tripod because in order to use the lens you have to engage the GH2′s extended tele conversion mode and with handheld camera shake it is a bit magnified. I did however have good success using the Bulldog with the very small Angenieux Zoom Type8x8B 8-64mm f/1.9 c-mount lens. It is probably one of the smallest c-mount zoom lenses and I got one to work on the micro 4/3 system. You can get more info about it here: Angenieux 8-64mm lens.

I put together a short piece using the indiSYSTEM Bulldog rig and indiSYSTEM BallGrip and the Panasonic GH2. It’s called Aloha Winter.

The footage is basic street scenes near my work in Center City Philadelphia. I wanted to basically test wide open at f/1.4 just to see the lens sharpness and light fall off as well as how well you can pull focus with this system.

I had a 52mm homemade B+W variable ND filter which I was able to use on the lens with a step up ring to help control my exposure.

For those who want to play with this Ektar II 25mm you’ll definitely need a 30mm step up ring for this lens

I literally tried several filters to find the right size and after several months and several returns later I lucked out and found out that 30mm is the filter size for this Ektar II 25mm lens. There’s no info. on the web at all on this so I had to figure this out on my own. I’ll soon post a listing of filters sizes for the c-mount lenses that I currently own to help those who want to try this similar setup with their own c-mount lenses.

I’m very pleased and surprised that you can even pull focus with this little lens. Once you set it up properly the SNAP! Gear and Collar is fairly secure and it really allows you far more control allowing you to achieve repeatable focus pulls.  One thing that I noticed is that it takes about one to two full rotations to actually go from close focus to infinity depending of course where your subject matter is so that’s something to consider when using this particular ektar lens. I’d also recommend that you tighten the camera down to whatever plate you are using in order to prevent the camera from moving and your SNAP! Gear from slipping from the follow focus gears.

In general, the Ektar II 25mm has a unique character to it. Sure it has your usual light fall off and c-mount vignetting but it does give you the old school feel. It’s corner sharpness is rather so so to me but for those who are looking to use this lens to invoke the nostaligic past that may not be so bad. Again, I was shooting everything completely wide open so that would change of course by stopping down.

I do want to do a few more tests with this lens just to see if the step ring and ND filter is creating that extra light fall off. For a first test I’m really impressed that this could even be a possibiloity. It’s not bad. And really, it’s so lowprofile and lightweight that it makes it fun to shoot. The fact that we have something like the SNAP! gear and collar to be able to do this fairly economicaly is also quite attractive. You can buy a 70mm SNAP gear and then have a number of SNAP! Collars depending on the lens you are using. I look forward to more c-mount movie makers in m4/3!

This is just a simple demo that I did very late at night so please forgive the uncleaned lens of the footage but I wanted to show folks how the SNAP! Gear and Collar fit on the lens and it’s use with a follow focus. Actual footage is currently being edited and will follow shortly.

Overall, pulling focus is very smooth with this system and here are a few key points to consider to use this with your lenses.

Key points for a successful SNAP! Gear and Collar setup:

1. The space between the SNAP! Collar and your lens should not be more than 7mm. Anything larger does not give you a secure fit. I’ve done a number of tests and it seems the ideal is to have 2-3mm of space but no larger than 7mm. Again, this space is pre-squish material.
2. C-mounts with focal rings at the front or middle of the lens work best. Though I have tested a Cine Nikkor 10mm where the focal ring is at the rear of the lens but you have to turn the gear at an angle in order to make it work. Surprisingly it still works well. I’ll be doing more testing to see if this technique works on other lenses where the focal ring is at the rear of the lens. Again, this is more for clearance of the gear and the camera.
3. Take the time to test out the “squish”. The best technique is to place “squish” between the lens and the collar first and then compress the SNAP! gear and collar together with the lens. There should not be any play with the lens, if there is some play then you may even need to place a tiny bit of “squish” between the collar and the actual SNAP! gear itself.
4. Once the SNAP! Gear and Collar is secured to the lens, rotate the SNAP! Gear back and forth making sure that the gear does not slip. You should be able to firmly spin that gear from close focus (MFD) to infinity and back again with no problem.
5. Make sure you choose lenses that have a smooth focus ring, you may need to find a lens repair guy to overhaul your lens and use a light grease on your focusing helicoid. Lenses with rough focus will force the gear to work harder and with the added torque the lens will unscrew itself from the mount.

I’ll be posting some sample footage later this week to show real world usage of the SNAP! Gear and Collar on c-mount lenses. It has been extremely fun to use and with the new Panasonic AG-AF100 micro 4/3 camera just around the corner I think the reality of using c-mount legacy lenses and these SNAP! Gear and Collars will be extraordinary and a must. The exciting thing is that we don’t need to wait for that camera we can use it now with the Panasonic GH1. The reality of a digital 16mm world using old school beautiful c-mount lenses is a dream come true.

For many c-mount lens users using the m4/3 system can be rewarding but a little challenging. The issues of the smaller image circle for m4/3 use and vignetting make it not ideal by many but there’s a lot to be said about the character of these lenses. I think they are still worthy of being used especially for still photography but also for movie making. One of the hurdles of using these lenses to make movies with a camera like the GH1 is that it is so difficult to pull focus because the lenses are small making it impossible for subtle focus changes. When you have a smaller c-mount lens on this camera any slight movement focusing your lens will show up on screen and effect your image in a very big way.

That’s why currently the main folks who use c-mount lenses with the m4/3 system are still photography folks because they can live with the focusing annoyances while still getting some pretty amazing images out of these little lenses. But most of these c-mount lenses were made to shoot moving images and I’m happy to say we may be breathing a bit of movie life into these old film lenses once again.

Tim Ovel from indiSYSTEM has come up with a pretty darn good solution for those who want to pull focus with a gear and a follow focus using cine c-mount lenses with his new SNAP! Gear Collar. The piece fits on the lens like a collar and is slipped on and secured to a 70mm SNAP! gear. It’s that simple. Once SNAP! gear snaps together, It’s not going anywhere. The magnets are super strong. I tested this several times by rotating the gear back and forth by hand pretty strongly and the gear stays on nice and strong.

Part of this solution came out of some tests that I was doing with the SNAP! gear. Over all, I’ve been pretty impressed with the SNAP! gears and I was brainstorming with Tim on how the SNAP! gear can be modified to accept smaller lenses. Ideally, it would be great to get some smaller SNAP! gear sizes from the 35mm to 50mm range but it would be fairly expensive so Tim came up with a few alternative solutions. In our first test, Tim sent me some very sturdy foam and I tried to cut out and create an insert between the 70mm gear and the lenses but it did not work. The foam did not have any center support and the lens would basically slip out from the gear whenever I pulled focus. Then Tim had a great idea of creating smaller diameter slips or collars that would essential fit snugly between a SNAP! 70mm gear and the lens being used. He created a few samples in the shop and sent a few out to me. I tried it and was really blown away. It securely slipped into the 70mm SNAP! and like a dog collar securely fit around the lens with a very snug secure fit. We had ourselves a winner!

The pictures in this post demonstrate the use of the collar with Kodak Cine Ektar lenses. Theses are older 16mm lenses that were made by Kodak and used on their Cine-Kodak Special II between 1948 and 1961. From talking to folks like Steve Serota and others who grew up with these lenses, the Cine Ektars were some of the best c-mount lenses made in the U.S. for 16mm film cameras. These lenses have more recently been growing in popularity with the m4/3 system because they are one of the best lenses to focus with for still camera use. Also, on the Ektar 25mm 1.4 and even smaller Ektar II 25mm 1.4 the focus ring is on the very front of the lens which is ideal for using the SNAP! collar.

Here’s some brief tips using the SNAP! Collar with the 70mm SNAP! Gear

1) Make sure you chose a collar that allows no more than 7mm of space between the collar and the lens you intend to use. To fill the gap between the lens and the collar Tim provides you with 5mm and 1mm “squish” which is like a spongy tape with sticky adhesive on one side. The squish fits on the inside collar to hold your lens in place. In my tests, a space between 7mm and smaller gives the best secure feel for your lens. You can place two strips of 5mm squish on top of each other but from my tests it’s much better if you don’t.

2) Place a 1mm strip of squish on the inside of the 70mm gear where the collar slips into the SNAP! gear if you find the collar more snug. When you snap the gear together the collar should feel a tiny bit larger and when you squish the gear together you’ll see the magnets engage and the squish will compress and tighten the collar and your lens.

3) This is all based on trail and error depending on your lens and the collar size. Always start placing the squish on the inside collar first and place the collar over the lens and see if it fits your lens properly then slip the collar into the 70mm gear. If it’s loose then put some 1mm squish on the inside of the 70mm gear. If it’s too tight you can trim the squish down with a fine pair of scissors.

4) When you have the SNAP! gear and collar on your c-mount lens before you place it on your camera make sure that you do the twist test. Turn the gear firmly back and forth to make sure the gear is aligned properly and is nice and snug and secure. You should do it fairly firm and fast holding the lens in your hand and rotating the gear. If it is secure then that gear will not move. It should not slip or move from your lens. If you do see a problem that then you need a little extra squish.

The ideal lenses to use are lenses that have a focus ring on the front of the lens because the SNAP! gear must clear the GH1 body but there are some lenses that will still work where the focal ring rests on the middle of the lens. So far the Kodak Cine Ektars are a great fit but some other lenses work very well too including the Computar 25mm f/1.3 and Yvar 75mm f/2.5 lens. One zoom lens that works perfectly that I was not expecting to work was the Angenieux Zoom Type L2 and Type L3 1:2.2/17-68. I wasn’t expecting this lens to work because the lens rotates far forward but the extra width of the SNAP! gear give enough room togo from MFT to infinity. Iit was made for this lens and works beautifully.

I’ll be posting footage and a demo soon. My computer was out of commission this weekend so I am a bit delayed but for now enjoy these pics. Trust me it works.

These are definitely exciting times to see these old lenses being used in this way. I think the indiSYSTEM SNAP! gear and collar can be exciting for filmmakers who want to use c-mounts and other small lenses and I think for still photographers may also think about using the SNAP! gear and collar by itself because it is far easier to focus with the larger wheel than off the lens. There’s a little more torque and you have much more control over focusing just using the gear as without a follow focus. It really works well and helps make focusing smooth and easy with these c-mount lenses for the very first time.

Tim Ovel and his team at indiSYSTEM have been hard at work again this time on their new SNAP! gear.

This new design is a very nice upgrade to their previous focus gear rings. What makes indiSYSTEM’s new design quite unique is that their focus gear is split in two halves and connected together with super strong magnets.What this allows is the ability to place the SNAP! gear ring on your lens and then remove it in a snap.

Snap! gears are sold in a set with five different gear sizes to cover most of your lenses:

70mm / 75mm / 80mm / 85mm / 90mm

At only $100 bucks for these set of five gears it’s a pretty sweet deal. And for those who need just one you can purchase the 70mm for $30 each.

Each set of SNAP! gears comes with “squish” as Tim likes to call it, or thin self-adhesive foam.

The squish looks like poly foam weather seal tape that you use for weather stripping your home. It rests between your lenses and the focus gear and does a good job of making up the difference if your lens diameter is a few mm smaller than the focus gear. In my case, I tested the 70mm with my Schneider 1:2/18-90 c-mount and the lens diameter was 65mm so I had to make up the difference by doubling the squish.

In my initial tests the adhesive just wasn’t strong enough so Tim is sending some thicker “squish” and I look forward to using it and seeing if it will show better results. In the mean time, I doubled up on the squish that was already sent to me and secured it using some gorilla glue and and now the SNAP! gear fits nice and snug on my lens with no play between the lens and the SNAP! gear.

Here are just a few initial impressions so far.

(+)

• You gotta love the “snap” the magnets make. They are surprisingly super strong.  Once you have the proper squish, you literally snap the gear on and your ready to go in seconds.
• One SNAP! gear can be used with your full set of lenses if they each share the same outside lens diameter.
• With magnets and squish, no need to worry about the stress of tightening up your gears with Allen wrenches and leaving marks on your lenses.
• I found the ½ inch wide gear great giving you plenty of grip using the MP’s indiFOCUS20.
• $100 for a set of five gears (70mm/75mm/80mm/85mm/90mm) is a great deal and covers most of your lenses.

(-)

• Don’t place your hard drive or SD cards near the magnets for obvious reasons.
• The current adhesive when placing squish on top of each other is not the strongest so you lose the stickiness on the adhesive and need to use something strong like gorilla glue to keep it together. (Will wait on the new “squish” adhesive hopefully that should solve it.)

(>)

• 70mm is the  smallest size gear so currently you need some hefty squish to make up the difference with smaller lenses. It would be nice to have smaller gear sizes especially for my Canon FDs and c-mount lenses but it sounds like 70m is currently the smallest gear size that indiSYSTEM is offering.

Here is an initial test with the SNAP! gear and indiRAILSpro MP using my GH1 and Schneider 1:2/18-90 c-mount lens.

The first test was doing a rack focus test with theatrical lighting after a poetry event at the Asian Arts Initiative. I’m shooting with a c-mount zoom so there is typically a smaller image circle and also some vignetting. The lens is still pretty sharp and has a lot of character and it pairs nicely with the SNAP! gear and indiFOCUS20.

The MP consists of a Velbon RUP-40 monopod with a Giottos MH-652 compact quick release assembly and MH-642 plate which mounts to a top mounting stabilizing bracket. The monopod can be quickly attached and removed with the Giottos quick release assembly which is an added plus for quick setup, break down, and storage. On the bracket you have the ability to adjust the monopod, camera, and shoulder pad length as desired. An additional Giottos MH-652/642 quick release plate is where your DSLR mounts and you can slide your camera along the bracket’s adjusting slot to set your camera and lens for proper follow focus use. Unfortunately, the slot was not long enough for me to use the GH1′s 14-140 stock lens with the MP’s follow focus. Tim will be sending me out a new bracket with a longer slot for me to test soon. In the meantime, I decided to test out another c-mount lens that I recently just got back from being overhauled, a Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 1:2/18-90 C-Mount zoom lens which I will talk about in detail later.

I wasn’t able to use the follow focus on the MP with the Schneider so instead I wanted to simply focus on the MP’s ability to be used as a DSLR stabilizer. Because the Schneider c-mount lens does not have a large enough image circle to fill the sensor, the GH1 must have digital 2x zoom engaged in order to get full use of the lens though out the zoom range and to fill the image sensor with out the “peep hole effect”. Doing this however, means that any slight camera movement in higher focal ranges will create a heck of a lot of camera shake.

And this is where the MP comes in. I wanted to use my Schneider c-mount lens but I was on vacation and didn’t want to drag an additional tripod with me. The MP was a perfect fit in this department because I could split up the MP with the Velbon monopod in my day bag weighting less than a pound and the stabilizing bracket (less than 2 pounds) in my camera bag.

Without the follow focus, you can be ready to go in 5 seconds, the MP’s combination of monopod and shoulder mount bracket allows for enough stabilization so I can get fairly steady shots with my Schneider lens even with the 2x zoom engaged on the GH1. If I didn’t have the MP, it would literally be camera shake city. Don’t get me wrong, this is no substitute for a good tripod for rock solid shots, you will always see some movement and sway but when using the Schneider lens at the lower focal ranges like 18-30 (which is doubled with the 2x zoom factor to 36-60) and by keeping that camera nice and steady you reduce camera shake and can capture some really nice steady footage. The big advantage with the MP is quick mobility combined with stability.

The footage I captured was nothing special, just a few shots of our day at the beach with friends. Two big challenges with shooting with the GH1, aside from the sand and wind whipping around, the GH1 camera mics are absolutely atrocious and unusable in windy situations. Number two, in bright outdoor beach type settings, it is literally impossible to get an accurate reading on focus and exposure with the flip out LCD. I didn’t have a hoodman on me so through out the footage you’ll see the exposure settings change that is not the camera it’s me trying to play with my Variable ND filter because I couldn’t see the screen.

Again, the GH1 audio was simply unusable being a windy day so the visuals are accompanied with a live version of Dar William’s song “The Ocean”. Here is a quick test of the indiRAILSpro MP (no follow focus) with the Schneider Variogon 1:2/18-90 in c-mount. The footage was captured at 720/60p and converted to 24p using NeoScene.

We’ve found it with the Metabones Contax G adapter and the indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear.

Today I’m using the Contax G 90mm f/2.8 and it is a verrry sharrrp lens!

I like to do my tests in Chinatown, Philadelphia because the community is so rich and diverse and I have a connection to the place and the people. Through the din and circling movement of people, its somehow always been a comfortable spot for me to take out my camera and just be a fly on the wall. Also, I get to compare my footage a lot easier when I’m in a familiar place. One of the great things about shooting near the Chinatown Arch in Philadelphia is that the arch and the various  neighborhood shop signage are really beautiful and I can assess the detail and sharpness of the Contax G 90mm lens really well.

Even in the H.264 codec and the safe GH13 settings of the Vimeo clip, you can see the crisp detail of the Chinatown Arch and all the signs. They just pop. I’m shooting completely wide open for most of the shots and there is edge to edge sharpness. There’s only a few shots where I stopped down a stop. Everything else is really wide open. Some people may not like this look because it’s so sharp but for the right narrative film or documentary I could see these lenses working really nicely.

This test footage was shot with a GH13 (MarekV settings from DVXUser) in 1080/24P mode. No native 24p on the hack. No tripod just the indisystem indiRAILSpro mp. I also used a homemade variable ND filter created with one B&W CPL filter and one B&W Linear filter.

I need a matte box for sure! You’ll see the lens flares just off left of center in a few shots. To be able to pull focus with these lenses with the Metabones adapter and SNAP! Gear combo is really fantastic. You have more control, it’s smooth and the distance between infinity and close focus is very small. It feels like I’m literally rotating the follow focus three quarters of the way through and I’m at infinity or at close focus already and I really like that a lot. I also love the compact nature of rangefinder lenses. They work perfectly with the GH1 making the camera very light weight which allows me to have more steady control with my MP.

I’ll be doing some more testing with this combination. So stay tuned.

It’s very exciting to be able to use these beautiful lenses in a film context and I hope other indy filmmakers will try this unique combination.

Enter the indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear with the Metabones Contax G adapter.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1. Metabones Contax G to m4/3 adapter
2. 75mm SNAP! Gear
3. SNAP! Collar (I used a 66.5mm diameter- should be smaller)
4. Follow focus
5. Camera Rig (Mine is indiSYSTEMpro MP with indiFOCUS 20 follow focus)

It has been something I’ve wanted to figure out since I saw Contax G glass over a year ago on the Panasonic G1 camera to be able to use sharp Contax G Zeiss glass and a mini follow focus system with your GH1. With the new Metabones adapter and indiSYSTEM SNAP! gears we are very close to being there. I’ve been talking with Tim Ovel from indiSYSTEM about this intriguing combination and sent him my GH1 and a different Contax G mount to show the possibility of this being a really cool possibility.

One of the challenges that Tim discovered was that the tiny gearing system of Contax G lenses can go bad. He tested my 35mm lens and it would constantly bind right in the middle of rotating the lens when placed on this particular mount. I thought it was a problem with the mount but when the Contax G mount was removed, he placed a small screwdriver into the slot of the lens to rotate the ring, and discovered a slight pause when turning the lens. This little pause was magnified and caused binding in the rotation of the lens when placed on the Contax G mount. I sent the lens to Stacy Reilly from Monument Camera, one of the most outstanding lens repair guys around. He has worked on c-mounts, m42 and FD lenses and restored them and got them new again. He cleared the gears and got the lens rotating smooth and with no binding. I believe its now my smoothest lens out of the bunch. So the first key here when using Contax G lenses for filmmaking purposes is make sure you find one with a smooth gearing system and no binding issues.

Here are the steps to getting your SNAP! Gears on the Metabones Adapter:

1. Secure your Contax G lens on the Metabones mount. (make sure you properly follow the instructions to lock the mount you do not want this lens to roll off.)
2. Take your SNAP! collar and place it around the middle of the Metabones focal ring. I used a 66.5mm diameter version but it does sometimes snap out of place. I believe it would be better if the collar were a smaller diameter that way it would flex and snap around the ring more tightly. The SNAP! Collar is flexible and my 66.5mm will open up to the larger 69mm diameter of the Metabones focal ring. I’m talking with Tim to test out smaller diameter SNAP! collars and will let you know a more ideal collar size.
3. Take your 75mm SNAP! Gear and snap it around the collar.
4. Spin the gear slowly and mold a path for the gear so that it does not touch the body of the camera. Use your fingers to edge up the SNAP! collar. The SNAP! Gear will be at a slight angle but that is fine. You will still be able to pull focus.
5. Once in gear is in place, spin the gear back and forth quickly and firmly to make sure it’s in place and secure.
6. Place your camera with Contax G lens and SNAP! gear on your rig, in this case I am using the indiSYSTEMpro MP which has a built in follow focus.
7. If you are using the MP make sure the follow focus comes close to the gear but not too close. You’ll see what I mean, if you put the gear to close to the follow focus you will not be able to pull focus as smoothly. If you get it just right the focus will be feel light and smooth with no binding.

With the Contax G Metabones Adapter and indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear combo this has been really jaw dropping for me to see this work so well. There were so many elements that could go wrong but they all worked together very nicely. The Metabones adapter focuses pretty smooth by hand by itself but when you place the SNAP! gear and follow focus you have absolute control. It’s amazing. There is a tiny bit of play but it is so very minor and something that I think can be figured out.

A few improvements I would like to see is if there is a way for the SNAP! Gear to be locked on the focal ring better. I think that would help make sure the gear will not move once set in place. Tim is in the process of sending me a few different collar sizes and I will make a few updates once I get the new collars.  What would also help from the Metabones guys is if they could make their focal ring mount an inch to an inch ad a quater wide this would allow the SNAP! gear clearance from the GH1 body and allow the SNAP! collar to line up evenly on the focal ring.

It’s pretty exciting times. The Contax G rangefinder line of lenses are well known for their esteemed sharpness and beauty in the photography world and I hope that other indy filmmakers will discover this nice combo using the Metabones adapter and SNAP! gears to bring Contax G to the filmmaking world.

Over the last year or so small company’s in China, Europe, and even the US have been trying to perfect the Contax G to m4/3 lens adapter. Some of the first solutions were not so great. Early versions had a focus gear on the side of the amount which allowed you to focus the lens. It was doable but a bit rough and not as easy to focus as it looked. The newer adapters now have gears that are a little bigger some with a larger focus gear on the side of the mount and others opting to create an actual focus ring around the mount giving you the ability to use the lens with a full sized focal ring. Despite these two different designs there were still issues of smoothness and results varied depending on different focal lengths used. The whole process of trying to find the right mount for these lenses was turning out to be a crap shoot and I was just about ready to give up on the system. But a few weeks ago, I was on getdpi forum, one of the best places to find great information on new mounts for the m4/3 system. One of their members had a good experience using the Metabones Contax G to m4/3 adapter. It seemed to have a much larger focal ring around the mount which was different from the other designs. I contacted one of the sellers of the mount on ebay who has a store called lasjas. He was extremely nice and responsive and said he would send four mounts to me from Hong Kong in four days which was great because everything usually takes about 10-14 days for other mounts I’ve purchased from China in the past.

When the Metabones mounts arrived I quickly put them on my Contax G lenses for some initial testing and here are some of my initial findings:

(+)

1. The machining is a huge plus its very well made. It’s heavy but I see that as a plus, giving the sturdiness for real world use out in the field.
2. I placed the Metabones Contax G on every lens I had (90mm/45mm/35mm/28mm) and each one I was surprised to see how smooth each lens rotated from infinity to close focus. No binding on any lenses!
3. The larger width on the focal ring is a definite plus. The ring and mount feel like a natural extension of the lens. It’s about 3/4 of an inch wide allowing you to grip and focus manually. There is a little bit of play depending on the lens used but it’s slight and workable and much easier and smoother to focus than the other adapters I have used.
4. Plays very well with indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gears- Pulling focus with follow focus and gears for filmmakers is now a reality!!!

(-)

1. Without instructions, It took me a few hours to figure out how the locking mechanism worked. There were no instructions in the box. I later e-mailed Lasjas and he sent me instructions. Word of advice, follow the instructions or you’ll be stuck for hours!
2. Once you get the mount in place you must apply some pressure to turn the mount to lock it into place.You have to place a little heft to get the lens locked into place.
3. The Contax G system is a difficult system to mount when you start off and this is a mount that takes time to take on and off. If you have a lot of lenses it’s best to get an adapter for each lens.
4. 28mm lens must have it’s legged chopped to use it. Chop off 5mm of the legs in order to fit the lens and mount on the GH1. I believe that this will hold true for the 21mm lens as well.

(>)

1. The mounts are not cheap. $129.90 for buy it now or you may be able to offer a lower price. To get one for each lens which is really a must can be a little costly.
2. Would be nice to get the focal ring a tiny bit wider, about an inch or ideally and an inch and a quarter that would be just right when using indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gears for those who want to use these lenses with a gear and follow focus.

So here’s the bad with c-mount zoom lenses:

• Image circle smaller than sensor
• Vignetting and smearing at the edges of the frame
• Resolution loss
• Wide focal lengths have very small image circles, nothing usable until 25mm- 35mm and higher focal lengths
• Depending on the lens, you may need to machine it to fit the c-mount adapter in order to achieve infinity focus

Alright that’s a lot of not so great reasons especially for those like myself who are filmmakers unless you have a stylistic piece you want that image circle to fill that entire sensor through out the zoom range.

So why waste the time.
Because I’m stubborn and I want to make it work anyway.
So I thought I’d test it out.

The first lens that I’ll be testing is the Angenieux Type L2/L3 1:2.2/17-68 c-mount zoom lens. It is not perfect by any means and has many of the problems that I pointed out that are the downsides with c-mount zooms but over all I was pleasantly surprised to see some really good results. The clip that is posted here are just straight up mundane doc style footage. Nothing fancy. Just cut and dry. So please excuse some of the shakiness and random footage or commentary by me at the end. I didn’t have my tripod and am still testing out my own variation of a Gorillapod and a Noga Arm called a Gorilla Noga.

The footage was shot in my stomping grounds Chinatown North and Chinatown proper in Philadelphia. I used no ND filters just the lens and shot only 1080/24p with a shutter of 50 and 720/30p with a shutter of 50 as well. All clips had pull down removed using compressor.

Obviously,when using the GH1 digital 2x setting, you are getting an image that is cropped with resolution loss but the results are better than expected. I think scaling up the image and cropping out the vignetting and the “Peep Hole Effect” in Final Cut Pro seems to help with a better image but I have to do a few more tests to be sure. I think despite the image resolution loss it would be very usable for HD presentations on your HD Flatscreen tv or local indy community film screening. For those who are still putting out SD material which we all still do, the footage will be very usable.

Here are a few pluses for using zoom lenses on a GH1:

• You can find c-mount zoom lenses that are faster, many can find at f/2.2, f/1.9 even f/1.2!!
• Many c-mount zoom lenses are smaller and lighter than the stock lens especially tv lenses
• You can focus much more easily with a small c-mount zoom than the stock lens
• Some are still super cheap!! You can find many c-mount zoom security lenses or tv lenses for $50-$100
• Despite the resolution loss you can still use the digital 2x and get some nice results or shoot wide with the peep hole circle showing and enlarge and crop in post and get better results.
• So you lose your wide shots with the digital 2x zoom, just step back farther when you are shooting!

It’s a mini tripod!! It’s a DV stabilizer!! It’s a mini steadicam!!

Just before the GH1 came out there were lots of folks exploring ways to stabilize the GH1. Because of it’s small size, many folks this summer looked at the Joby Gorillapod as a possible GH1 stabilizer.

Of course many GH1 users continue to tinker with their gear to create modified rigs with bastardized parts from our old 35mm adapter rigs that are sitting and collecting dust. Inspired by retroleum and folks at DVXUser forum, I started to tinker too. I bought a Joby Gorillapod SLR-Zoom (you can find them for $30-45 bucks) and I felt it was useful but it didn’t have the flexibility of use that I needed it for my work. I wanted to create a simple rig that could be put in a small camera bag and used for the documentary that I am working on about the Jook Songs Asian American performing group at Yale University.

It’s the 10 year anniversary of Jook Songs and we are putting together a little doc to commemorate the groups existence. What I’m currently doing is sending a GH1 in a small camera bag all around the country to members of Jook Songs past and present for a portion of our documentary called  “Video Check-Ins”. Each member will get the GH1 package and film a day in their life as well as  give reflections on the impact of the group on their lives today.

I wanted to put everything they needed in a small camera bag including a tripod, stabilizer, and steadicam. Ha! Of Course we all would to put all our gear in one small bag. At least I tried…

So I rummaged through my gear and found a heavy duty Noga arm that I wasn’t using and found a 3/8-16 and 1/4-20 Universal Converter kit that I purchased from filmtools.com. Then I attached the pieces together to a Joby Gorillapod SLR-Zoom Tripod and I put it all together and viola! The GORILLA NOGA!

This little guy folds down and pops into my GH1 camera bag. It’s super light weight, flexible, and gives you the ability to have a small tripod, a  camera stabilizer and a mini steadicam, all in one, all fitting in a little bag.

In fact, all the footage shot for my c-mount zoom Angenieux tests were used with the little GORILLA NOGA mainly as a mini tripod and GH1 stabilizer. Some footage was a little shaky but that’s at the higher focal ranges where having a tripod should be the norm. You can view a little bit of the Angenieux footage with the GORILLA NOGA abilities here on this blog.

One of the great things about using the GORILLA NOGA with the GH1 and Angenieux Type L2/L3 zoom lens is since the lens is so small it does not create a top heavy feel to the GH1 allowing the use of the GORILLA NOGA’s flexibility to create a counterweight to allow for  a pretty successful steadicam feel.

Here is a tutorial that I put together for the Jook Songs group who will be using the GORILLA NOGA and the GH1. You can just skip through my simplistic explanations on GH1 use.  I apologize in advance for my simplistic tutorial on the GH1′s use but I just needed to convey the use of the GH1 to users who may be technically challenged.

Last March, I gave a call to Wayne Hsu late one evening and said, “Hey, do you want to shoot a Music Video tonight?” Hey said, “Yeah, sure. You want to do it now?”

It was already 10pm at night and I said, “No, I’m thinking at about 1am in Chinatown in front of the arch.” It was a very chilly night but he enthusiastically agreed since it was just around the corner from where he lived. I was itching to do a few tests with some c-mount lenses a newer industrial lens, a Computar 25mm f/1.3 and an older Kodak Cine Ektar 25mm f/1.4. I wanted to compare these lenses and see how well they work with just street lights and the light of the traffic driving by at night.

The concept was simple. I had Wayne sit on top of my Subaru Forester and we parked far enough so that he would be elevated above the traffic and we could see the Chinatown Arch in the distance. One of the challenges is that in order to shoot him I needed a rig that I could hold steadily on the back bumber of the car. A tripod would not do since the bumber was about six inches wide. To make this work I used the indiSYSTEM indiRAILSpro MP which is part monopod, part camera rig, and part follow focus. It fit very nicely with me standing on the back bumper of the car.

Rather than do a MV where we were syncing to the studio recording of the song I wanted to keep the real elements alive on the streets of Chinatown and just show the beauty and simplicity of his playing. I wanted Wayne Hsu to play live acoustic. Wayne is so good playing live. And in the “LIVE” I wanted to keep the environment a part of the piece so whatever happens in the moment happens. If we have a truck barreling down the road or loud late night pedestrian traffic so be it.

The results were very beautiful. This year the Chinatown Arch dawned new lights .So from the distance as Wayne played, the Arch was brilliantly lit as a a backdrop to his playing. Both c-mount lenses really gave this piece character. The Cine Ektar 25mm was a touch sharper and had this unusual crescent shaped lens flare from the street lamp right above. The Computar  25mm lens being the faster lens was able to do very well in street lighting soft and low contrast working very well on the evening city streets. One stupid mistake I made was that I taped the lav to Wayne’s shirt and you could hear the rustle of the shirt brushing up against the mic. It’s less noticeable as the song progresses but it is very pronounced at the beginning of the song. Next time proper,  lav clip or vampire clip is a must. Other than that issue, we are really happy by the way the footage turned out.

Please visit Wayne Hsu’s site.  His new album will be coming out very soon:

waynehsu.com

Filming Details:

Panasonic GH1

Computar 25mm f/1.3 lens

indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear

indiRAILSpro MP

Kodak Cine Ektar 25mm f/1.4

Sound Devices 552 Mixer/Recorder

Sanken COS-11x

Nothing is Right

Wayne Hsu

WorldPop

Director: Gary San Angel

Assistant Director: Serena Perrone

Camera Operator: Rocky Kev

When I asked Wayne to do an adhoc music video at 1am in the morning in the middle of March I didn’t think he would say yes at first but I’m really glad he did. What we attempted to do was a live street recording with two contrasting pieces. “Nothing is Right” being more upbeat would be  the more polished MV. The limited b-roll I had by went to “Nothing is Right”. So “You Said” became really a documentation of a live street performance. For both of these two songs I really wanted to stay away form the polish of the studio recorded version. I just wanted to show some of the rough edges. Some of which was unfortunately a little more rough in the audio. My Sanken COS-11x which I had taped to Wayne’s shirt was not a good idea and we encountered a lot of handling noise. That’s one of the elements that I’ll learn from for the next time around.

I stuck with c-mount lenses on this shoot to experiment and see the kind of character they give to the natural street light. I’d say the Computar 25mm f/1.3 is a lens that really lends itself to the nightlife and low light street scenes. The Kodak Ektar 25mm f/1.4 also has that retro character with nice contrast and sharpness and interesting lens flares which we decided to just keep and use because it was halo-like and had a cool effect. Because most of the shots were static we only used the SNAP! Gear for b-roll and the opening shot. But it’s been really great to be able to pull focus with such small lenses using this gear. The SNAP! Gear and SNAP! Collar help in that regard giving the possibility of pulling focus on c-mount lenses. The combo of c-mount and SNAP! Gear is really so amazingly light weight it’s a blast to shoot with.

Please visit Wayne Hsu’s site. His new album will be coming out very soon:

waynehsu.com

You Said

Wayne Hsu

WorldPop

Director: Gary San Angel

Assistant Director: Serena Perrone

Camera Operator: Rocky Kev

Filming Details:

Panasonic GH1

Computar 25mm f/1.3 lens

indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear

indiRAILSpro MP

Panasonic GH1

Kodak Cine Ektar 25mm f/1.4

Sound Devices 552 Mixer/Recorder

Sanken COS-11x

The film is dedicated to my “Auntie Lina” Marcelina Doma who came to the Philippines in the late 60s and was a telephone operator for White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles. Her home was the touch point for many of my family who came to the U.S. and we would affectionately call her small apartment in East Los Angeles “Auntie Lina’s Place”. She helped raise me and did not have any children of her own. Her children were all her family who she helped take care of so that they could all have better lives and her many stuffed animals that she collected over the years.

She was also a fanatic documentarian and had her super 8 camera around with her documenting all our family gatherings and daily events. In a small way, that has rubbed off on me and the work I do documenting everyday stories and peoples lives comes from seeing her filming all of us.

When I first heard “Over the Valley” for the first time I thought of Auntie Lina and the animated story for this MV is a metaphor for her life and dedicated to her memory. Both Rocky Kev and I who collaborated to create the piece wanted to create something simple and touching that brings elements of childhood memories and reflections of our loved ones past. Today August 12, 2010 marks the anniversary of her passing and I know that she would have loved this animated film.

Her spirit will always be with us.

We are truly honored to have been selected from the many fine pieces that were submitted to this contest. Again for both of us, the beauty is in the simple fact that we created it and are able to share it to others who I hope will also be touched by its message. I’d like to give a special shout out and thank you to my sister Jenny San Angel (pictured above with me and my Auntie Lina). She introduced me to Pink Martini and their amazing music and sent me the link to participate in this contest.

Please enjoy “Over the Valley” by Pink Martini

Pink Martini is a 12-member “little orchestra” based in Portland, Oregon whose work I’ve been following since they first began in the mid 90s. I first listened to their music on KCRW in Santa Monica, CA while I was driving in traffic as is often the case in L.A. and then later saw them live in small venues in New York when I moved to the East Coast. I have seen them a number of times live and each time has always been unique and amazing. Their albums are always on my iTunes playlist for the days when you need that extra pick me up. Over the years I have been so impressed with their ability to deepen their craft and to explore their own special mark that has made them who they are. They are a group that is classical and contemporary, cinematic and very intimate, historical and experimental, and one of the few groups that cross cultures and language in a manner that honors and celebrates the world we live in.

Their music has always been a huge inspiration to me and has been profoundly influential to my own connection to my own family. I can remember when my sister and I would play Pink Martini’s first album Sympathique for our Filipino family celebrations. We would often have impromptu dancing after our huge Filipino meal of pancit noodles and lumpia spring rolls.

My Uncle Buddy and Uncle Chic who were dance instructors in the Philippines would put on their best dressed dance shoes and suits. They looked like they were part of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack. Then they would request for a CD player and put in a really bad 80s Karaoke sounding ballroom dance CD. Both my sister and I hated when they played that CD. They would play it for Thanksgiving and then for X-mas and all our family gatherings. This one time my sister ejected the 80s ballroom dance CD and put in Pink Martini’s Sympathique. She rolled Track 1 Amado Mio. The catchy dreamy Latin beat started to play and China Forbes and her beautiful voice pierced the din of the party conversations and within minutes our whole clan literally jumped out of their seat and started dancing.

“Who is this CD?,” my Uncle Buddy would say in a thick Filipino accent still dancing, “Pink Martini? Who is this Pink Martini? I like this Pink Martini! Play that fast one again. I like that one!” And he would swing my Aunty around and show off his cha cha and tango steps and everyone would hold their plate full of pancit noodles and laugh.

Pink Martini closed the gap connecting our generations and brought our family closer. That is their music to me it is a celebration of life and a reminder that we are all connected in some small way to each other.

3 for Pink Martini are 3 music videos in a short film style format created for the Pink Martini Music Video Contest that honor my personal connection to their music as it relates to family and community and the themes of love and loss.

Animation artist Rocky Kev from the KoAloha Ukulele Story teamed up with me once more to create something that is out of the box and very personal exploring our connections to Où Est Ma Tête?, Ohayoo Ohio (Hello Ohio), and Over the Valley from their new album Splendor in the Grass.

We did something unique with this process since we were able to present more than one music video. We each created a music video in our own disciplines on our own and then collaborated on one final music video together (Over the Valley). I hope the films can explore the multiple layers of Pink Martini in a manner that you have not seen before and hopefully captures the spirit of what Pink Martini’s musical message has always represented to me.

I’ll end with one final personal story related to why these music videos have special meaning to me. After Sympathique, the group did not put out another album for several years and I thought perhaps they disbanded. I was randomly searching for new music to catch at the new World Cafe Live! music venue in Philadelphia. World Cafe Live! was just finding it’s voice as a venue and at the time it was a strange cross between a House of Blues venue and a dinner theater. I saw Pink Martini was listed as performing for one night only. It would be their first and only show in Philadelphia. I went online and immediately purchased tickets thinking the show would be sold out but it surprisingly was not. The front row “dinner theater” style tables were totally open and available so I bought a whole table and called up my Philadelphia music loving friends and I said you have to see this group. Just like my Uncle, they had no idea who they were but went along for the ride just to humor me. At the beginning of the concert, I could hear the clatter of silverware on plates and I could tell looking at the bands reactions it was like, “Are we playing at a wedding?” But over the course of the evening, Pink Martini worked their magic and one by one people began to pop out of their chairs and started dancing. Old people. Young people. I never saw anything like it.

At the end of the show, I remember talking to an older couple who drove to every Pink Martini show on the east coast and they were on their way to catch the next show in D.C the next day. They were like teenagers again. I told my friend who sat next to me, “You know, this is really something. I mean look at all those young people and old people dancing to the same music. I’ve never been to a concert like this before. Somebody should do a film about this group and the people who follow their music.”

So he says, “You should do it! Ask them!” As we waited after the show outside the venue I tried to rehearse what I’d say in my head but after a few minutes I immediately got cold feet and walked away. In a very strange and special way, this music video contest has given me a chance to do something I’ve always wanted to do for a very long time and that is to create a film about a group that continues to inspire and bring people together across generations and across all boundaries.

To Thomas M Lauderdale, China Forbes, and the talented core artists of Pink Martini I raise a martini glass to you and say, “Salud!”

I hope these films are a small personal thank you for the music you’ve given me.
With every good wish,

Gary San Angel
Director

Pink Martini – Ohayoo Ohio (Hello Ohio)

Pink Martini – Où Est Ma Tête? (Featuring Wherever There is Water Parade)

Pink Martini – Over the Valley

Pink Martini is a 12-member “little orchestra” based in Portland, Oregon whose work I’ve been following since they first began in the mid 90s. I first listened to their music on KCRW in Santa Monica, CA while I was driving in traffic as is often the case in L.A. and then later saw them live in small venues in New York when I moved to the East Coast. I have seen them a number of times live and each time has always been unique and amazing. Their albums are always on my iTunes playlist for the days when you need that extra pick me up. Over the years I have been so impressed with their ability to deepen their craft and to explore their own special mark that has made them who they are. They are a group that is classical and contemporary, cinematic and very intimate, historical and experimental, and one of the few groups that cross cultures and language in a manner that honors and celebrates the world we live in.

Their music has always been a huge inspiration to me and has been profoundly influential to my own connection to my own family. I can remember when my sister and I would play Pink Martini’s first album Sympathique for our Filipino family celebrations. We would often have impromptu dancing after our huge Filipino meal of pancit noodles and lumpia spring rolls.

My Uncle Buddy and Uncle Chic who were dance instructors in the Philippines would put on their best dressed dance shoes and suits. They looked like they were part of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack. Then they would request for a CD player and put in a really bad 80s Karaoke sounding ballroom dance CD. Both my sister and I hated when they played that CD. They would play it for Thanksgiving and then for X-mas and all our family gatherings. This one time my sister ejected the 80s ballroom dance CD and put in Pink Martini’s Sympathique. She rolled Track 1 Amado Mio. The catchy dreamy Latin beat started to play and China Forbes and her beautiful voice pierced the din of the party conversations and within minutes our whole clan literally jumped out of their seat and started dancing.

“Who is this CD?,” my Uncle Buddy would say in a thick Filipino accent still dancing, “Pink Martini? Who is this Pink Martini? I like this Pink Martini! Play that fast one again. I like that one!” And he would swing my Aunty around and show off his cha cha and tango steps and everyone would hold their plate full of pancit noodles and laugh.

Pink Martini closed the gap connecting our generations and brought our family closer. That is their music to me it is a celebration of life and a reminder that we are all connected in some small way to each other.

3 for Pink Martini are 3 music videos in a short film style format created for the Pink Martini Music Video Contest that honor my personal connection to their music as it relates to family and community and the themes of love and loss.

Animation artist Rocky Kev from the KoAloha Ukulele Story teamed up with me once more to create something that is out of the box and very personal exploring our connections to Où Est Ma Tête?, Ohayoo Ohio (Hello Ohio), and Over the Valley from their new album Splendor in the Grass.

We did something unique with this process since we were able to present more than one music video. We each created a music video in our own disciplines on our own and then collaborated on one final music video together (Over the Valley). I hope the films can explore the multiple layers of Pink Martini in a manner that you have not seen before and hopefully captures the spirit of what Pink Martini’s musical message has always represented to me.

I’ll end with one final personal story related to why these music videos have special meaning to me. After Sympathique, the group did not put out another album for several years and I thought perhaps they disbanded. I was randomly searching for new music to catch at the new World Cafe Live! music venue in Philadelphia. World Cafe Live! was just finding it’s voice as a venue and at the time it was a strange cross between a House of Blues venue and a dinner theater. I saw Pink Martini was listed as performing for one night only. It would be their first and only show in Philadelphia. I went online and immediately purchased tickets thinking the show would be sold out but it surprisingly was not. The front row “dinner theater” style tables were totally open and available so I bought a whole table and called up my Philadelphia music loving friends and I said you have to see this group. Just like my Uncle, they had no idea who they were but went along for the ride just to humor me. At the beginning of the concert, I could hear the clatter of silverware on plates and I could tell looking at the bands reactions it was like, “Are we playing at a wedding?” But over the course of the evening, Pink Martini worked their magic and one by one people began to pop out of their chairs and started dancing. Old people. Young people. I never saw anything like it.

At the end of the show, I remember talking to an older couple who drove to every Pink Martini show on the east coast and they were on their way to catch the next show in D.C the next day. They were like teenagers again. I told my friend who sat next to me, “You know, this is really something. I mean look at all those young people and old people dancing to the same music. I’ve never been to a concert like this before. Somebody should do a film about this group and the people who follow their music.”

So he says, “You should do it! Ask them!” As we waited after the show outside the venue I tried to rehearse what I’d say in my head but after a few minutes I immediately got cold feet and walked away. In a very strange and special way, this music video contest has given me a chance to do something I’ve always wanted to do for a very long time and that is to create a film about a group that continues to inspire and bring people together across generations and across all boundaries.

To Thomas M Lauderdale, China Forbes, and the talented core artists of Pink Martini I raise a martini glass to you and say, “Salud!”

I hope these films are a small personal thank you for the music you’ve given me.
With every good wish,

Gary San Angel
Director

Pink Martini – Ohayoo Ohio (Hello Ohio)

Pink Martini is a 12-member “little orchestra” based in Portland, Oregon whose work I’ve been following since they first began in the mid 90s. I first listened to their music on KCRW in Santa Monica, CA while I was driving in traffic as is often the case in L.A. and then later saw them live in small venues in New York when I moved to the East Coast. I have seen them a number of times live and each time has always been unique and amazing. Their albums are always on my iTunes playlist for the days when you need that extra pick me up. Over the years I have been so impressed with their ability to deepen their craft and to explore their own special mark that has made them who they are. They are a group that is classical and contemporary, cinematic and very intimate, historical and experimental, and one of the few groups that cross cultures and language in a manner that honors and celebrates the world we live in.

Their music has always been a huge inspiration to me and has been profoundly influential to my own connection to my own family. I can remember when my sister and I would play Pink Martini’s first album Sympathique for our Filipino family celebrations. We would often have impromptu dancing after our huge Filipino meal of pancit noodles and lumpia spring rolls.

My Uncle Buddy and Uncle Chic who were dance instructors in the Philippines would put on their best dressed dance shoes and suits. They looked like they were part of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack. Then they would request for a CD player and put in a really bad 80s Karaoke sounding ballroom dance CD. Both my sister and I hated when they played that CD. They would play it for Thanksgiving and then for X-mas and all our family gatherings. This one time my sister ejected the 80s ballroom dance CD and put in Pink Martini’s Sympathique. She rolled Track 1 Amado Mio. The catchy dreamy Latin beat started to play and China Forbes and her beautiful voice pierced the din of the party conversations and within minutes our whole clan literally jumped out of their seat and started dancing.

“Who is this CD?,” my Uncle Buddy would say in a thick Filipino accent still dancing, “Pink Martini? Who is this Pink Martini? I like this Pink Martini! Play that fast one again. I like that one!” And he would swing my Aunty around and show off his cha cha and tango steps and everyone would hold their plate full of pancit noodles and laugh.

Pink Martini closed the gap connecting our generations and brought our family closer. That is their music to me it is a celebration of life and a reminder that we are all connected in some small way to each other.

3 for Pink Martini are 3 music videos in a short film style format created for the Pink Martini Music Video Contest that honor my personal connection to their music as it relates to family and community and the themes of love and loss.

Animation artist Rocky Kev from the KoAloha Ukulele Story teamed up with me once more to create something that is out of the box and very personal exploring our connections to Où Est Ma Tête?, Ohayoo Ohio (Hello Ohio), and Over the Valley from their new album Splendor in the Grass.

We did something unique with this process since we were able to present more than one music video. We each created a music video in our own disciplines on our own and then collaborated on one final music video together (Over the Valley). I hope the films can explore the multiple layers of Pink Martini in a manner that you have not seen before and hopefully captures the spirit of what Pink Martini’s musical message has always represented to me.

I’ll end with one final personal story related to why these music videos have special meaning to me. After Sympathique, the group did not put out another album for several years and I thought perhaps they disbanded. I was randomly searching for new music to catch at the new World Cafe Live! music venue in Philadelphia. World Cafe Live! was just finding it’s voice as a venue and at the time it was a strange cross between a House of Blues venue and a dinner theater. I saw Pink Martini was listed as performing for one night only. It would be their first and only show in Philadelphia. I went online and immediately purchased tickets thinking the show would be sold out but it surprisingly was not. The front row “dinner theater” style tables were totally open and available so I bought a whole table and called up my Philadelphia music loving friends and I said you have to see this group. Just like my Uncle, they had no idea who they were but went along for the ride just to humor me. At the beginning of the concert, I could hear the clatter of silverware on plates and I could tell looking at the bands reactions it was like, “Are we playing at a wedding?” But over the course of the evening, Pink Martini worked their magic and one by one people began to pop out of their chairs and started dancing. Old people. Young people. I never saw anything like it.

At the end of the show, I remember talking to an older couple who drove to every Pink Martini show on the east coast and they were on their way to catch the next show in D.C the next day. They were like teenagers again. I told my friend who sat next to me, “You know, this is really something. I mean look at all those young people and old people dancing to the same music. I’ve never been to a concert like this before. Somebody should do a film about this group and the people who follow their music.”

So he says, “You should do it! Ask them!” As we waited after the show outside the venue I tried to rehearse what I’d say in my head but after a few minutes I immediately got cold feet and walked away. In a very strange and special way, this music video contest has given me a chance to do something I’ve always wanted to do for a very long time and that is to create a film about a group that continues to inspire and bring people together across generations and across all boundaries.

To Thomas M Lauderdale, China Forbes, and the talented core artists of Pink Martini I raise a martini glass to you and say, “Salud!”

I hope these films are a small personal thank you for the music you’ve given me.
With every good wish,

Gary San Angel
Director

Pink Martini – Où Est Ma Tête? (Featuring Wherever There is Water Parade)

I’m still doing some more testing with c-mount lenses on the GH1 using indiSYSTEM’s SNAP! Gear and Collar this time with a Computar 25mm f/1.3 lens. This is a fairly fast lens and a very small lens. Because this was a night time shoot I thought this lens would be good to bring out of the bag. I also wanted to add something interesting to the mix on this shoot by adding a Raynox HD-5050PRO-LE .5x wide angle converter to the Computar 25mm lens which would make the focal length of the Computar 25mm lens a 12.5mm lens with the addition of the .5x Raynox converter. Now in order to know what focal length that would be equivalent to on a Full Frame camera we would multiply 12.5mm by 2x and we would have an equivalent field of view of a 25mm lens.

A few folks have been exploring wide angle converters simply because one of the challenges with this format is finding a good fast wide angle lens. I looked around and saw the Raynox wide angle converter which interested me because of its low image distortion as well as being very small and light weight. And with the rear thread size of the Raynox being only 37mm, I could easily attach it to the front of many of my c-mount lenses including my fast Computar 25mm f/1.3 lens. Using a 40.5mm to 37mm step down ring, I was able to attach the HD-5050PRO-LE to the front of my Computar 25mm lens with the combined weight of the lens and adapter being less than my Canon FD 50mm lens.

The Computar 25mm f/1.3 is an industrial lens that is rather fast and is one of the few c-mount 25mm lenses that I’ve tested that almost fills the image sensor of the GH1. Many m4/3 still photography users have picked up this lens and have had really good results but I wanted to use it in a film context and see how well it does in an evening shoot and I thought the “Wherever There is Water” Parade would be perfect to test and see how all these combination works together.

I was really astonished by how well the Raynox wide angle converter worked with the Computar 25mm c-mount lens. There was really minimal distortion and light lose and compared to other wide angle adapters that I have tried before including a Century wide angle adapter, the 5050PRO-LE can really trick your eye to think that you are shooting without a converter. Upon close inspection, I can see the light fall off and softer focus around the edges but it is much less pronounced than what I’ve used with other wide angle adapters and this is really quite exciting to see. I’d like to shoot with this same setup in the day just to see how well the Raynox adapter works with the Computar lens. One down side is that the wide angle lens does flare a lot and you can see that in the test footage where the street lamp light shines into the lens. It’s a cool effect but it is something to be aware about.

The indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear and Collar worked quite nicely allowing me to pull focus much better than with my Ektar II 25mm lens that I had tested previously. There’s a shorter distance that you have to go from close focus to infinity and that gives you greater control. I am continually blown away by the ability to pull focus with small c-mounts lenses. There’s a freedom in a way that I find so much fun. Just a few years ago, I was shooting with my back breaking my HVX or EX1 rig with 35mm adapter. And this is night and day to be able to scale down your setup and achieve similar results.

Overall, this was a fun unexpected test to see some real nice results with this combination of fast prime c-mount lens, wide angle adapter, and follow focus system in an all in one run and gun setup.

Many thanks to George Ferrandi, Fleisher Art Memorial and the Philly community for sharing their beautiful creations. Hope this captures just a small taste of this wonderful community celebration.

Featuring music by PINK MARTINI – Ou Est Ma Tete? from their new album Splendor in the Grass. (My favorite band!)

For more information on the “Wherever There is Water” Parade please visit:

fleisher.org/exhibitions/water.php

If you liked the music please buy Pink Martini’s new album:

pinkmartini.com/

This was shot with the Panasonic GH1 1080/24P and a Computar 25mm f/1.3 c-mount lens with Raynox HD 5050PRO-LE Wide Angle Adapter.

The indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear and Collar was also used to test pulling focus with this smaller c-mount lens.

Most of my footage was just quick tests pulling focus with the gear and seeing how well you could rack focus. Overall I was really pleased with the performance of the SNAP! gear with the indiFOCUS20. With the right amount of squish in place between the lens and gears I was able to pull focus very solidly and with the MP and GH1 it looked like I was just shooting stills in Times Square.

When I got home I was initially just going to cut the footage as quick tests showing the smooth focus of this combo but when I looked at some of my opening shots I realized I starting filming at Pennsylvania Station and a light bulb went off in my head.

Whenever I think of Pennsylvania Station I think of Mosaic aka Glenn Suravech who is an amazing artist, producer based in Los Angeles. Mosaic released his ambitious debut album in 2007 entitled “Through the Eyes of A Woman” collaborating with independent  artists and musicians from across the nation. One of my favorite tracks is his song Pennsylvania Station which my amazing sister Jenny San Angel who is also a singer/musician in her own right is also featured.

So I thought hmm..

Maybe I can use some of this test footage to make a music video for Pennsylvania Station.

Because I was literally just shooting what I saw that either grabbed me visually I was not focusing on any particular shots I was really just focusing on the SNAP! gears usability factor. I was not thinking end result at all so this really was kind of a challenging prospect.

But I decided to go for it and sat with the song for a while to listen to the lyrics and to find the heart and emotion of the song. For a few weeks I would play random images with the song in the background to see what relationships I could find to tie in the right image to the music. There was an Asian bike messenger who was sort of contemplative and calm among the fast flowing walking New Yorkers and tourists of Times Square. I sort of focused on him from far away and shot a quick sequence of him preparing to get on his bike and then riding off into the crowd. When I found that section and played it with the first verse of the song I knew that we could make something from what was meant to be just a simple test.

I tried a number of variations and combinations of footage literally squeezing every bit of good footage I had to make this work. The last scene of Times Square was shot with the very common peephole effect you get from using c-mount zoom lenses. From a technical aspect it’s generally frowned upon because you want to use a lens to cover the full frame of the sensor. In this case, I liked it and left the imperfections. I wanted to use what was a visual flaw and make it work. It still had the right feel and moment.

When I finished I sent it to my sister Jenny and to Glenn as a little surprise. I knew that if they liked it we could post it as a music video online and if they didn’t it would be just some nice test footage. When I got their e-mails that they loved it I was really floored simply because I never thought the outcome of the footage would be a music video for Pennsylvania Station.

In Glenn Suravech’s e-mail to me he shared a little bit about the background and meaning behind his creation:

“When I was putting this song together for Jenny back in 2006, I imagined her standing and walking amid a ocean of people (just as you depicted in this video). While most of your shots were overground in Times Square, the setting for Pennsylvania Station is underground in the subway stop located beneath Madison Square Garden. There is a huge lighted corridor there where people seem to walk expressionless past rows of store fronts. Your video captures all of that in the song except that it’s overground, outside.”

I’m proud to put together a visual interpretation that complements this beautiful song and to use Times Square as it’s backdrop. I went for simplicity and rawness allowing the imperfections to come through. The visual imperfections of me trying to focus from one scene to the next as well as the human ones, the images of real moments of people passing each other by, walking uptown alone, a city worker collecting garbage, a bike messenger on his way to his next destination or just friends and loved ones in a group going “uphill” though the “ocean of people”. These are moments that we don’t see because we are so busy going to our own destinations. In this piece, we can take a moment to see where they may be going and see our own connections to these random travelers.

Many, many thanks to Glenn Suravech and Jenny San Angel for allowing me to put this little piece together.

Pennsylvania Station

Written and Produced by: Mosaic

Lead vocal: Jenny San Angel

Lead guitar: Shin Kawasaki

Acoustic guitar, bass and keyboard: Mosaic

Drums: Harvi Kato

Special Thanks:

Gary San Angel– for your love, support and inspiration.

Tim Ovel, indiSYSTEM – www.indifocus.com

David Lin

© 2007 Mosaic Sound Recordings

www.glennsuravech.com

www.jennysanangel.com

www.componentgeek.com

To commemorate this Thanksgiving weekend. I thought it would be appropriate to send this beautiful music video out to the world called “Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)” by New York based artist Taiyo Na from his debut album Love is Growth. I completed the final cut of the music video version of the piece on Thanksgiving day and thought it would be nice to share my reflections and process as it relates to working with communities. I’ll also be sharing some of the technical aspects of the process and a few reviews of some Studio 4 Production and Wondlan gear that helped us greatly with the production of the piece. I thought I’d first start off by sharing some of my reflections on how this piece was created.

Loc Nguyen’s Mom and Brother at their home in Northeast Philadelphia

Last April of 2009 for the grand opening of the Asian Arts Initiative we had a number of amazing artists bless the new space with their artistry and community spirit. Taiyo Na was one of those amazing artists. When he got on stage with just his voice and guitar he moved me to tears with his song Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) from his debut album Love is Growth. For weeks after I had an idea of trying to do a community arts project that would combine both documentary and music video elements together with this beautiful song and to set it in Philadelphia’s Chinatown and Love Park.

Mary Seng & Barney Seng holding an old photo of their mom at Love Park

We were fortunate enough to have Taiyo perform again for the Asian Arts Initiative banquet and fundraiser later that month and I mustered up a bit of courage and asked Taiyo if he had anyone put visuals to this song. He tried but it didn’t pan out at the time so I talked to Taiyo about the possibility of creating something special and Philly based for this song and that it would be shot using the Panasonic GH1. I told Taiyo as soon as that little camera comes in we’ll shoot it. A few months passed as I waited ever so patiently for the GH1 to arrive. It wouldn’t come until mid summer so everything was on a holding pattern. As we waited, I was concurrently working on another project with David Lin, an artist and director friend of mine from Los Angeles. We were in the process of collecting stories for a short documentary on Jook Songs , an Asian American writing and performing troupe at Yale University that David began over ten years ago. Because of time and funding issues, I had the idea of passing around the GH1 camera to members of the group around the country and filming a day in their lives. I wanted to test this concept out locally here in Philly and thought it would be great to have community members from the Asian Arts Initiative film their mothers and grandmothers for the Lovely to Me music video. I wanted to just put the camera in the hands of the community, allow each person to film the everyday moments of their moms from washing dishes, to doing laundry, to cooking traditional foods, working a local mom and pop restaurant or shop in Chinatown or just sitting, resting and being.

Lai Har Cheung with camera captures her grandma Lau Fong in Chinatown’s On Lok House

I approached David with the idea of being a producer on Lovely to Me because of the community element that is both shared with the Jook Songs documentary that we were working on and he was all for sharing his resources to create this new piece. With our GH1 and gear in place, I approached Taiyo again at the end of the summer in order to deepen the concept of the piece.

Eric Law captures his mom Wai Man Ip in front of their store, Chinese Culture and Arts Inc. in Philly Chinatown

I wanted to bring that feeling for me growing up looking at old 8mm film footage of my family when they first came to Los Angeles from the Philippines. It was that faded slightly dirty look with those tints of green and deeper saturated blues and red that I remember from those old pictures and film reels that captured a distinct memory of family and our own immigrant stories.

Here are some of the pictures I used for the inspiration for the look and feel of the film:

My Uncle Meng, Auntie Lina, & Auntie Welma (1970s)

Me and My Dad (Isagani) & Mom (Fe) with my Auntie Lina who helped raise me

You know some things are just meant to be.

I wanted to find an old camera to use for the piece so I went on craigslist and found a Cine-Kodak Magazine 16 camera for sale on a listing out in Orange County, CA.

Taiyo Na with Cine-Kodak Magazine 16 prop camera still works!

I called up the owner who said it was his father’s old camera and he had held on to the camera in it’s original box for a few years after his father passed away. His father was a camera collector and loved photography and filmmaking. He sold many of his old lenses and gear but this was one of his fathers last pieces from his camera collection. Though he was hesitant at first to do a cross country sale, he loved the idea of the project and sold me the camera because it would be used in this film and go back to the East Coast where his dad was originally from. The idea of passing the camera from one person to the next, is the idea of passing on our individual histories in order to create a collective story, this is a touch point of the piece and why Taiyo at the end passes the camera to the next generation. This idea for the film was inspired by this cross country craigslist sale.

Manong Al Robles with elder manong from Curtis Choy’s Manilatown Is In the Heart

Another subtle but important aspect of the film is that it honors the people who came before us. I thought it would be an interesting twist to have Taiyo open the sequence of the film as a sort of homage to Al Robles with this old Kodak camera. Al was a gifted Filipino American community poet and community activist based in the Bay area who was instrumental in the political fight against the city of San Francisco to stop the demolition of the I-Hotel.

Manong Al Robles back in the day

He loved to hear stories of the “Old Country” and honored the Filipino elders (manongs) in much of his life and work. Definitely Curtis Choy’s old footage of Al at the I-Hotel from “Manilatown Is In the Heart” is such a huge inspiration for the look of this piece. I thought it would be a nice tribute to pay homage to Al Robles by having Taiyo as a kind of community filmmaker who carries his camera in his guitar case. And begins, the community story telling process with the opening of his guitar and filming through the lens of his camera.

Aleyamma Mathew holds a picture of her father Mathew Varughese & mother Annamma Mathew

In our conversations about how to deepen and push the concept of this piece Taiyo expressed to me that it was important that the piece begin in Chinatown and start from a personal Asian American experience but that by the end of the music video it should be a song for everybody. That upon ending in Love Park that this personal immigrant mother tribute not just be for Asians but for all peoples.

Kaitlin S Dugan with her mom Lynne T. Dugan at Love Park

And this is where the Asian Arts Initiative comes in. A call was made for people to come to Philly’s Love Park, to bring your mother, grandma, or person who raised you. If not in person, you could bring an old photo of your mom or even a picture of your mom in a cherished picture frame.

Asian Arts Initiative community members at Love Park

So many people came out. Just filming each person standing in front of the Love Park sign with their old photo of their mom or with their mom in person was so moving, simple, and real.

Jes Vu holding a picture of her mother Hao Vu Le

Taiyo Na holding a picture of his mom on his birthday

There was one moment at Love Park that I knew was going to be an ending moment for the film. One of the Asian Arts Initiative’s youth, Kaitlin Dugan was holding her mother so lovingly. Unrehearsed and in the moment she closes her eyes and hugs her mom deeply and says, “I love you mom.” In the film we don’t hear her say it. It is just the way they held each other in that moment that said it all to me. It was beautiful.

I think this was not just a music video it was a community coming together to reflect, share, and pay tribute to all our mothers. In a way, Taiyo’s song brought a community of people together to create a living breathing piece of art. It gave us all an excuse to have permission to break away from the everyday routine of our lives and to take a deeper moment to remember where we all came from. Our mothers. To bring different folks together, asian, black, young, old, mixed heritage, buddhist, muslim, and everything in between, to share both our love and our struggle is rare and a powerful act of courage and hope. I hope this film captures a Philadelphia that is here and now, growing, loving and always ever changing.

Asian Arts Initiative community members wrapping up the Love Park shoot with a group pic.

This was a community arts endeavor that I nor Taiyo could not have done with out the support of the Asian Arts Initiative and the Chinatown community. I am so grateful to them and could not have done it with out them. Please take the time after you see the piece to look at the credits below and see that so many people were involved in making this piece possible and then make a contribution to support the Asian Arts Initiative and the local businesses in Philly’s Chinatown.

Loc Nguyen’s Grandma picking tomatoes in her Northeast Philadelphia garden

And lastly, I hope that everyone who sees this piece can appreciate and reflect on our own mothers, grandmothers, aunts, or that special someone who raised you. I hope that you share this with your closest friends and people who you have disconnected with over time. I think it is my hope that this song and this film can touch people’s lives in the same way that this song first touched me.

“Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)”

Artist: Taiyo Na

Album: Love Is Growth

Label: Issilah Productions

Director: Gary San Angel

Additional Credits:

Featuring the Asian Arts Initiative and the larger Philadelphia Community.

Additional Vocals: Vudoo

Violins: Jason Kao Hwang

Electric Bass: Mas Yamagata

Additional Instrumentation: Taiyo Na

Producer: David Lin

Co-Producer: Asian Arts Initiative, Gary San Angel

Chinatown & Love Park, Philadelphia

First Assistant Director: Jeff “Slope” Cylkowski

Second Assistant Director: Eric Law

Camera Operators: Kaitlin S. Dugan, Loc Nguyen

Mom & Grandma Everyday Life Movie Clips

Camera Operator – Mom / Grandma

Victoria Chau – Anna Hang

Lai Har Cheung – Lau Fong

Lo Eric Law – Wai Man Ip

Loc Nguyen – Loc’s Mom – Loc’s Grandma

Linda Saroeun – Linda’s Mom

Love Park Community Participants

Aditi Vilayphonh & Catzie Vilayphonh

Aleyamma Mathew & Annamma Mathew and Mathew Varughese

Asdy Wan & Viola Kung

Andrea Pien

Barney Seng & Mary Seng & Sangvuth Ly

Betty Nguyen & Tina Huong Nguyen

Charles Ramirez & Cornelia K. Ramirez

Cheryl Tse

Chon Phoeuk & La Phoeuk

Eric Law

Gary San Angel & Fe San Angel

Gayle Isa & Hazel Isa

Jes Vu & Hao Vu Le

Jordan Coates & Inja Coates

Kaitlin S Dugan & Lynne T. Dugan

Keiko Kubo

Lai Har Cheung & Yuk Kan Lo

Lauren Harris & Nya Harris & Cathy Harris & Mildred Carter

Linda Saroeun & Linda’s Mom

Loc Nguyen

Michael Lu

Myong Pok McCloud & Vanessa McCloud & Victor McCloud & Michelle Myers & Myong Pok Myers

Husayn al-Jamil & Sham-e-Ali al-Jamil & Juhi Nayeem

Sovansuny Uy

Ratha Chea & Sarin Sek

Taiyo Na & Taiyo’s Mom

Toni Dang & Can La

Chinatown, Philadelphia

Chinese Culture and Arts Inc.

Wai Man Ip

QT Vietnamese Sandwich

Karen Tha & Mai Phan

Annie Tran & Trieu Le

Philly Chinatown Murals

“Furious Style” by Jeff Cylkowski

1219 Vine St. at Asian Arts Initiative

“History of Chinatown” by Arturo Ho, Giz, N. Phung, H. Tran

10th and Winter St.

“Colors of Light” by Josh Sarantitis

12th and Vine Street

Caterer

QT Vietnamese Sandwich

Special Thanks

Tim Ovel, Studio 4 Productions

Frederic Cheung, Wondlan

Steve Serota, Classic Camera Workshop

Asian Arts Initiative

Chinese Culture and Arts Inc.

Eric Law & Wai Man Ip

QT Vietnamese Sandwich

Karen Thai & Annie Tran

Gayle Isa

Toni Dang

Randy Hecht

Lai Har Cheung

DVXUser

Yellow Rage

© 2009 Taiyo Na & Gary San Angel
www.taiyona.com

www.componentgeek.com

www.asianartsinitiative.org

A large part of the film was shot using the IndiRAILSpro MP made by Tim Ovel and Studio 4 Productions to help out guys like me who need stabilization for their smaller DSLR cameras but who are constantly on the move. The MP is ideal for run and gun, wedding, and documentary work because you can set up your shot quickly and be on the move in an instant. Instead of a tripod and a separate follow focus rail system, the MP has a monopod which rests under a long J- shaped support system. On the rear side of the support system is pad that rests on your shoulder. In the middle, there is a sliding camera mount made from a Giottos MH-652 compact quick release assembly and MH-642 plate where your camera sits and an additional Giottos quick release mount located under the support system to attach to the monopod. To finish it off they added a follow focus on the front of the rig so you can run and gun with your DSLR and your prime lenses in manual focus while having the ability to rack focus fairly smoothly.

In most larger rigs the shoulder support and the follow focus are separate attachments but Tim and his crew created a lightweight one piece alternative. The follow focus on the MP is the Indifocus 20. It’s a little larger than my Chrosziel AC-206-50S follow focus and a lot cheaper in price of course. The Indifocus 20 is fixed to the front of the MP with a sliding plate that loosens and locks into place with a quick release mechanism to allow you to change out your lenses fairly quickly. The quick release levers are not only placed on the follow focus mounting plate but also on the sliding camera mounting plate. This is a great feature that was just added so you can adjust your camera and the follow focus at the same time with little hassle and with the ability to do immediate fine tuning in a pinch. When your camera and lens is not in the right spot you can tighten up the follow focus plate and camera mount with just a few turns of the lever and be ready to start shooting quickly.

It was imperative to use the MP in order to draw as little attention as possible and to set up our shots and move in and out very quickly. In Chinatown and Love Park, this was a necessity because the streets and sidewalks constantly have moving traffic from cars and people walking just about anywhere. With the MP, folks would turn slightly and walk around us, it’s a leaner setup and perfect to retain that honest realistic setting of our Chinatown and Philly neighborhood surroundings. I already had my Zacuto zip gears on my Canon FD prime lenses and they worked very nice and smooth with the MP follow focus. There was a little bit of play compared to using to the Chrosziel but overall the setup with the MP and GH1 and Canon primes were very lightweight and was a wonderful surprise to use. I’m so used to using not only the HVX or EX1 but also the added weight of a 35mm adapter rig. This was really like a dream come true to be so streamlined. The MP’s follow focus also includes one adjustable gear to place on your lens. It’s made of plastic and is usable but I found that even when you tightened down the gear the plastic tended to slowly slip especially when using a larger lenses. I had a hard time fitting the gear on my Schneider 1:2/18-90 C-Mount zoom which is a larger lens.

Putting the gear on the smaller Canon FD lenses seem to work but I needed reliability and consistency and it was nowhere near the solidness of Zacuto gears. There is some light adhesive tape that is like a cushioned version of double stick tape that does help secure the gear to the lens but it is cumbersome to put it on the lens and helps a little but not a whole lot.

My recommendation would be to wait and see if Tim Ovel comes up with better gears or go with some alternative manufactures. On the shoot, I found the MP’s strengths to be the following:

(+)

The use of manual lenses both zoom and primes is a major plus. Not having to drag along a heavy rig and follow focus system is perfect for those who want to use their DSLR in a variety of settings, on the streets of a big city, the wilderness somewhere, covering concerts, sports the sky is the limit. I used my Schneider 1:2/18-90 on the follow focus and MP and it worked very nicely. No need to worry about a gear ring because the Schneider lens has a built in gear ring on the focusing ring itself. This was a nice find. The quick release type locks to loosen and tighten the follow focus, monopod, and camera mounting plate are very well designed and well built. I also appreciate that the sliding plates are grooved into the bracket so that when the mount slides it will not move from side to side. This is really important and something that was added just recently so it shows that these guys are constantly tweaking and making things better. Based on a suggestion I had, the groove that the camera mount slides on has been increased so that the camera can be moved closer to the follow focus when using smaller cameras like the GH1 are used and that often use smaller prime lenses. I had no problems with my Canon FD primes and though I have not tried it yet popped on Kodak cine ektar lenses and they can reach the follow focus quite nicely.

(-)

The MP can never replace the stability of a tripod and a good fluid head. It definitely is not meant to do that. Even with a steady hand, you will get shaky footage especially when shooting with higher focal lengths. With the MP being a one piece unit it is a challenge to figure out how to store it and travel with. It’s hard to find a bag that will accomodate the L-Shaped bracket. I’d rather not have to take that off every time. The Giottos camera mounting plate to the camera needs to be a stronger and a tighter fit. One of the problems that occurs is that the camera would loosen and move side to side over the course of a shoot from the pressure and use of the follow focus. I think if there is some way to lock the position of your camera to the mounting plate with out having it move from side to side that would be ideal.

(>)

I would love to have the ability to have a swivel tilt monopod head. This can be easily added and found online but it would be nice to have it with the package right off the bat. Although I like the MP’s follow focus, I would love the option of putting my Chrosziel follow focus. I kind of figured out a way to do it but it meant adding an additional component and a set of rails. It would be nice to have a simple cushioned slip cover and strap to protect the follow focus and that can hold the monopod and L-bracket. It would be great for traveling and storage. Currently, I have to strap it to the outside of my tripod bag. One thing that has been nice is seeing that you can also put the mp on a tripod if you need to have that extra bit of sturdiness and smoothness. It would be nice to get an additional Giottos quick release mount so that you can quickly switch from monopod to tripod.

Overall, the IndiRAILSpro MP was a great asset for us on our shoot of our music video and I constantly use it for event shoots were I can’t bring a tripod. I know that Tim and his crew are constantly re-tweaking their gear all the time so I’m hoping that with some of these improvements the MP will be a solid go to tool for the always on the go filmmaker.

Here is an outtake from the film/music video of Taiyo Na’s Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother). These are different shots that we were exploring for the opening sequence. The footage was shot with the Panasonic GH1 and Canon FD Prime lenses using the IndiRAILSpro MP from Studio4 Productions.

As the market has shifted with the advent of the DSLR there has been a growing need to have a slider that will be more compact and work well with smaller DSLR cameras.

Enter the indiSLIDERmini Deluxe.

At just over $100 for the mini version and $169 for the Deluxe it’s really a no brainer. The indiSLIDER is a must have in any kit.

The Deluxe has rubber mounted table legs for use on a fat surface. It also comes with a pistol grip ball socket head with a quick-release plate that allows

Right off the bat, the material of the slider is very lightweight and extra durable. When I talked to Tim Ovel from indiSYSTEM on the phone about the unit he said you could throw it around in the mud and toss it in your dishwasher and it would hold up with out a sweat. I don’t have a dishwasher to try that test but I believe he and his team have tried this at home and stand behind the durability of their mini slider and for good reason.

One of the biggest pluses with using the inidiSLIDERmini is that you can toss the slider in with your tripod bag and drag it around with you where ever you go. Gone are the days where you stop and think, should I take my slider, nah.. it’s too heavy. There are no excuses anymore because it’ll always be there in your bag no matter what.

We used the indiSLIDERmini Deluxe on our shoot for Taiyo Na’s Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother). Because of the need to be stealthy and not to draw too much attention it was really a treat to set up, roll and run around town with out a sweat.

When we got to Love Park we used both the larger indiSLIDER and the indiSLIDERmini. As you can see, pairing the mini with the GH1 was really a nice fit compared to the larger pro version which has the added weight and setup time.

Perfect for the new DSLRs like the GH1 and Canon 7D and T2i.

It’s small and compact can fit where ever you go.
The Deluxe pistol grip is a nice feature and allows for steady and smooth control.
Very lightweight (compared to the heavy duty pro version, I take this where ever I go).
Durable if needed you can get this dirty and throw it in your dishwasher!

Couple things I would hope that Tim could solve in my tests with the indiSLIDERmini to make it even better:

There is a little looseness with my unit so as you push-in and stop there is a slight tilt back. During the shoot to counter that issue I merely used one hand on the grip head and and other head on the base of the carriage and that seemed to smooth the shot out. Later, I also unscrewed the carriage and put just a little bit of felt between the carriage and the rail so that the carriage was situated more firmly with out the chance of tilting forward or back because of the camera weight and head.

Though it may not fit in my camera bag, I would love to have a longer version. I think 24″ is nice when you are shooting close but having 36″ would be even to do some more creative moves. I don’t know how that would effect the weight and the possible tilt factor but with a solid tripod locked down it may not be much of a problem to have that extra bit of length.

One thing I noticed is that when you use wide lenses like a 14mm or 24mm you can see the rails in your frame as you move along the track. One possible solution is on the deluxe version to have the pistol grip have the ability to rotate away from the track so as not to see the track in the frame on a wide shot. Currently, when you place the pistol grip in a horizontal position (camera is now vertical) you can move the camera so it’s not seeing the track. Only thing is that your image is vertical and you would need a small ball head to connect to the quick release plate of the pistol grip and to the camera in order to move your camera back into a horizontal position. The other possibility would be to use a noga arm to get the camera higher. I’ll have to try that and see if that provides an alternative solution.

Overall, theses are really minor inconveniences on the wish list and for the price you pay for a mini slider it’s really a non issue to me. I’ve been able to resolve and make my own fixes as mentioned here.

Here is a one sample of the indiSLIDERmini Deluxe in action from Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother). Though the use of the slider here is more subtle in terms of movement what it allowed us to do more importantly is frame our shot without having to move the tripod around since the slider rail allowed us quick flexibility to move our camera to frame up our shots quickly and with little adjustment. So crazy cool slider moves are not in these samples, it’s more subtle.

This outtake from Taiyo Na’s Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) was shot in front of the famous Chinatown Arch in Philadelphia and a few shots in front of the “History of Chinatown” mural on 10th and Winter St. created by Arturo Ho, Giz, N. Phung, and H. Tran. Again, this clip shows a subtle example of the use of the indiSLIDERmini with the Panasonic GH1 and stock 14-140mm lens. I needed subtle movement here because the final version would inter cut with the community footage which is what I wanted folks to think about as they watched the piece.

As the market has shifted with the advent of the DSLR there has been a growing need to have a slider that will be more compact and work well with smaller DSLR cameras.

Enter the indiSLIDERmini Deluxe.

At just over $100 for the mini version and $169 for the Deluxe it’s really a no brainer. The indiSLIDER is a must have in any kit.

The Deluxe has rubber mounted table legs for use on a fat surface. It also comes with a pistol grip ball socket head with a quick-release plate that allows

Right off the bat, the material of the slider is very lightweight and extra durable. When I talked to Tim Ovel from indiSYSTEM on the phone about the unit he said you could throw it around in the mud and toss it in your dishwasher and it would hold up with out a sweat. I don’t have a dishwasher to try that test but I believe he and his team have tried this at home and stand behind the durability of their mini slider and for good reason.

One of the biggest pluses with using the inidiSLIDERmini is that you can toss the slider in with your tripod bag and drag it around with you where ever you go. Gone are the days where you stop and think, should I take my slider, nah.. it’s too heavy. There are no excuses anymore because it’ll always be there in your bag no matter what.

We used the indiSLIDERmini Deluxe on our shoot for Taiyo Na’s Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother). Because of the need to be stealthy and not to draw too much attention it was really a treat to set up, roll and run around town with out a sweat.

When we got to Love Park we used both the larger indiSLIDER and the indiSLIDERmini. As you can see, pairing the mini with the GH1 was really a nice fit compared to the larger pro version which has the added weight and setup time.

Perfect for the new DSLRs like the GH1 and Canon 7D and T2i.

It’s small and compact can fit where ever you go.
The Deluxe pistol grip is a nice feature and allows for steady and smooth control.
Very lightweight (compared to the heavy duty pro version, I take this where ever I go).
Durable if needed you can get this dirty and throw it in your dishwasher!

Couple things I would hope that Tim could solve in my tests with the indiSLIDERmini to make it even better:

There is a little looseness with my unit so as you push-in and stop there is a slight tilt back. During the shoot to counter that issue I merely used one hand on the grip head and and other head on the base of the carriage and that seemed to smooth the shot out. Later, I also unscrewed the carriage and put just a little bit of felt between the carriage and the rail so that the carriage was situated more firmly with out the chance of tilting forward or back because of the camera weight and head.

Though it may not fit in my camera bag, I would love to have a longer version. I think 24″ is nice when you are shooting close but having 36″ would be even to do some more creative moves. I don’t know how that would effect the weight and the possible tilt factor but with a solid tripod locked down it may not be much of a problem to have that extra bit of length.

One thing I noticed is that when you use wide lenses like a 14mm or 24mm you can see the rails in your frame as you move along the track. One possible solution is on the deluxe version to have the pistol grip have the ability to rotate away from the track so as not to see the track in the frame on a wide shot. Currently, when you place the pistol grip in a horizontal position (camera is now vertical) you can move the camera so it’s not seeing the track. Only thing is that your image is vertical and you would need a small ball head to connect to the quick release plate of the pistol grip and to the camera in order to move your camera back into a horizontal position. The other possibility would be to use a noga arm to get the camera higher. I’ll have to try that and see if that provides an alternative solution.

Overall, theses are really minor inconveniences on the wish list and for the price you pay for a mini slider it’s really a non issue to me. I’ve been able to resolve and make my own fixes as mentioned here.

Here is a one sample of the indiSLIDERmini Deluxe in action from Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother). Though the use of the slider here is more subtle in terms of movement what it allowed us to do more importantly is frame our shot without having to move the tripod around since the slider rail allowed us quick flexibility to move our camera to frame up our shots quickly and with little adjustment. So crazy cool slider moves are not in these samples, it’s more subtle.

This outtake from Taiyo Na’s Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) was shot in front of the famous Chinatown Arch in Philadelphia and a few shots in front of the “History of Chinatown” mural on 10th and Winter St. created by Arturo Ho, Giz, N. Phung, and H. Tran. Again, this clip shows a subtle example of the use of the indiSLIDERmini with the Panasonic GH1 and stock 14-140mm lens. I needed subtle movement here because the final version would inter cut with the community footage which is what I wanted folks to think about as they watched the piece.

Here is another outtake from the film/music video of Taiyo Na’s Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother). This is one of the initial cuts with Taiyo Na at the Asian Arts Initaitive’s Furious Style Mural created by Jeff Cylkowski and his team of youth artists.

The footage was shot with the Panasonic GH1 and Canon FD Prime lenses as well as the stock 14-140mm lens with one camera using the indiSLIDERmini Deluxe. The vertical shots are using the mini slider and the approach again was more for subtle shifts to focus on the story and the song. One thing you’ll notice is that all the vertical shots are using the pistol grip on the Deluxe in order to make vertical framing possible and giving us the ability to slide along a secured track. Because of the steep vertical tilt we were using to get some of the shots it was nice to have the light weight GH1 to ride up and down the slider and for the most part we could do the shifts with a lot of control.

This was one of the first cuts to build the final piece. Most of these shots didn’t make it in the original version because we felt we wanted to let the moms tell the story. However in coming back to this version,  I thought it was really nice to see Taiyo solo with just his guitar so I decided to post this to share the process of creation. This is the Furious Style version named after Jeff Cylkowski’s beautiful mural.

Steve used to run a camera shop near Chinatown, Philadelphia on between 9th and Arch Street called Camera Care. When cameras starting going digital he had to sell his shop and later retired from the business. But he never left. Instead, Steve ran his camera shop from his home largely focusing on repairs and calling his online shop the Classic Camera Workshop.

I only knew him just this past year but he was one of the few guys around who had the history, know how, and love of old cameras and lenses. He had the gift of restoring and bringing them back to life.

Though I only knew him for a short time from my own need to get some old c-mount lenses repaired, I definitely felt a connection to his love and passion for classic cameras and lenses and learned a lot from him. His knowledge in the field and his persistence to tackle any problem was really amazing and he had a gift for doing what he loved to do.

Steve never charged you hourly for his services. He was one of the few camera repair guys who gave one price and stuck by it. No matter how long it took he’d get it done and repair that lens with all the tools he knew in his trade. He took a hell of a long time with your lenses though because he got them to his strict standards of perfection. Most would wait and give nudging e-mails or phone calls but then months later when you least expect it you’d be rewarded with an amazing lens that was overhauled and restored with care.

He never did get paid for what he truly deserved. He just loved doing it. He had the unique history to know how to work on so many cameras and lenses before digital came into being. Ironically, his knowledge is needed now when most people are investing to have old lenses repaired and restored to be used with DSLR cameras.

I never met him in person. Never even saw a picture of him or any pictures that he took until after he passed away. I only talked to him by phone and through e-mail. Camera lenses is why I came to him but through the process of repair and restoration he shared his life, his love of cars, taking care of his wife and mother-in-law, and his love for his son who recently just got married.

When his wife Barbara called me and told me he had passed and that she had my camera and lenses to return, my heart sank. I wanted to pay my respects in person. I drove out to his beautiful home just outside of Philadelphia and met his wife and she shared a picture of when they first got married and her own stories too, the good memories as well as the times of struggle, his health challenges and how the life of a camera repair guy was always a struggle but it’s what he loved to do.

Before I left their home, she took me down to the basement where he did all his repair work. It was as if he never left. Piles of old cameras on the floor, his beat down chair bent and slightly swiveled waiting for his return and a few tools and hardware strewed on his desk as if Steve was right in the middle of a repair.

It was truly a mess but I could see some semblance of structure. There were scribbled tags in plastic bins identifying someone’s lenses or camera body. Some bins were in the middle of repair and he needed a part or two while others were not touched at all. All were just waiting to be fixed. He was the camera doctor and this was really his labor of love.  In all it’s chaos it was his sanctuary. His home.

In all this organized clutter of old cameras and lenses this is what he loved to do. Being able to restore a bad lens and get it back up and running to its full potential was something that he took pride in especially the ones that were impossible to repair. I remember he repaired an old cine Nikkor 10mm c-mount lens that was impossible to repair. I told him if you can’t do it just let it go. He stayed up all night and gives me a proud call on the phone 8:30am the next day explaining how he could not sleep and was able to get the helicoids unfrozen. That was the kind of dedication he had to his craft.

His wife jokingly said to me, “Steve knew how to repair cameras but he could never take a good picture.” And that was not far from the truth.

When I picked up my plastic bin containing my last set of lenses from him, I imagined him telling a long story of why he was delayed with my lenses saying he was at the hospital and had meant to send them to me sooner. He would then say, “I didn’t forget about you. I got your lenses and camera right here.” And there I was holding the last of the lenses repaired by his hands. In the bin was also my GH1 camera which he used to test out all my lenses. When I turned on the camera, I saw his test pictures that he took shooting his shop and backyard using my c-mount lenses. Most pictures were really bad but it was a nice gift. They were little snap shot memories documenting a brief moment of his day to day repairs.

One was the nicest pictures was this test from his backyard using what I think was the Cine Nikkor 10mm c-mount lens.

On my way back home I decided to take a last minute stop where his shop used to be near the Chinatown Arch in Philadelphia, one of the beautiful landmarks of Philly. It was cold that night and no one was around except the few cars that passed by. I looked up and noticed there were new lights on the arch. It looked beautiful. It was a classic camera moment. I took out the plastic bin and I pulled out one of Steve’s lenses and placed it on my camera and looking through the viewfinder said, “Here’s to you Steve.” And I started shooting.

These shots were taken with a Yvar 75mm f/2.8 c-mount lens restored by his gifted hands.

Though he could not take very good pictures, he sure knew how to restore classic cameras and lenses. These pics prove his worth in gold. He was a humble master allowing his art and spirit to live on through the people who he touched and through the lenses that he restored.

Every time I use any of his lenses I’ll always think of Steve Serota.

I will be creating special shorts with each of the lenses that he has restored for me.

For those who have had their lenses repaired by Steve, I invite you to send me your stories, pictures or films. I will add it to this post.

And for those who may still be anxiously waiting for your lenses and camera. His family asks for your patience at this time and are in the process of contacting all his clients.

Please feel free to contact them at Steve’s e-mail at repair@camera-care.com

My Story of the Angenieux 8-64mm c-mount lens:

The Angenieux Zoom Type8x8B 8-64mm f/1.9 c-mount lens was the first legacy zoom lens I purchased for the m4/3 system. I was pretty green at the time and when I initially got the lens I popped this lens on my GH1 and I saw the image was a tiny fuzzy circle as big as the size of a quarter. I was pretty disappointed but did not want to give up so I gave the lens to Steve Serota from Classic Camera Workshop to see what he could do with it. He spent close to a year cleaning up the lens. He just loved that little lens and said he was surprised at how sharp it was and how he finally got it working nicely with his 16mm camera. When I got the lens back I thought this would be it. I thought I’d  have a nice clear image but when I popped it back on my GH1 camera I still saw the quarter size image only this time it was sharp only on the telephoto end not on the wide end. At 8mm I still saw an image that was out of focus and still could not get the lens to infinity focus. With the results only a shade better then before the lens was repaired the Angenieux 8-64mm was useless to me. I still kept it though because it was the last zoom lens Steve Serota repaired for me before he passed away.

This past summer I was about ready to sell the lens but I heard the GH2 was announced with the extended tele conversion (ETC) feature that allowed the ability for small lenses like this to be used in the full HD resolution of the camera. I wanted to give this lens one more shot. I knew I would need to find someone to get this little lens machined so that it can achieve infinity focus on a standard c-mount to m4/3 adapter. I knew that the best legacy mount m4/3 manufacturers were in China so I sent an e-mail to “R.J.” also known as ebay seller jinfinance to try to see if he would be open to machining my lens to fit his c-mount adapter. R.J. is one of the more well known legacy mount makers in China and is best known for his reliable C-mount to m4/3 adapter and Canon FD to m4/3 adapter.

I sent pictures of the lens to R.J. and he told me that he could not guarantee it would work because there could be a possibility that the lens would fall apart. I decided to just go for it anyway and sent the lens to him in China. I thought if it falls apart then it was meant to fall apart and if it works then it would be pretty unbelievable and make for a good story to tell. After a two month waiting period I got the lens back before X-mas just in time to test with my new GH2.

R.J. had done it. He had machined a significant portion of the rear of the lens. I popped the lens on the RJ c-mount adapter and on to the camera and engaged the ETC of the GH2 and took a deep breathe. I set the lens on 8mm and saw the the quarter size image had almost filled the screen. It was not the sharpness that Steve Serota was excited about but the picture on the wide end was in focus and had that soft Angenieux quality that was very pleasing to me. Then I brought the lens to the telephoto side and that’s where the sharpness of the lens really shined. It was all worth it. It really was a huge journey to get the Angenieux 8-64mm c-mount to work on the micro 4/3 system. There are a number of flaws that I have found out as I’ve played with the lens a bit more but I feel the journey was worthwhile and the lens will serve its purpose. The big pluses for me is that this lens is a very tiny fast zoom so you can carry it around with your small GH2 and images become sharper as you go up the focal range.

Here are two sample stills at 64mm.

One thing to note is because the image circle is very small at 8mm there is vignetting and edge distortion when using the GH2′s ETC mode.

You can definitely work around these problems or make the issues work as a part of the character to your film. The Angenieux 8-64 lens despite all it’s problems represents to me why I do what I do. The idea of collecting legacy lenses is also the idea of keeping the story alive and passing on what was once old and worthless and making it new again. In a small way, this journey is hopefully honoring the previous owners who may have used this lens on their own films and also honoring the guys like Steve Serota who repaired it.

The Angenieux 8-64mm lens was first used in my test film footage for the indiSYSTEM Bulldog and indiSYSTEM BallGrip in a piece called Aloha Winter.

If you’d like to try this with your own Angenieux 8-64mm lens it will take a few hurdles, some patience and a few key pieces of knowledge:

(+)

1. Send the lens to R.J. (ebay seller: jinfinance) in China. It cost me about $60 to machine the lens.
2. R.J.’s c-mount adapter works well but the best mount to get you infinity focus with this lens on the wide end is with the “Hawk’s Factory Made in Taiwan” adapter from Hawk Peng or ebay seller hawks_factory. I have only tested the old version which works great. The new version I will be testing shortly.
3. This is a very small c-mount zoom and works best wide open and sharp near the mid to higher focal ranges (20-50mm).

(-)

1. GH2 ETC mode in creative movie mode is the best way to get the lens working but this mode cuts off some of the sharpness and on the wide end you will still see vignetting and edge distortion especially when stopped down.
2. Since this is a legacy lens there is no optical lens stabilization so in the GH2 ETC mode it’s best to lock your camera down on a monopod or tripod any bit of camera shake will be magnified greatly in this mode.
3. Because of the design of the lens at the farthest focal length (64mm), you will unfortunately see two metal elements from the interior of the lens on the edge of the frame of your shot especially when stopped down. Unfortunatey, I do not think it is possible to remove these metal elements from the interior of the lens.

Special Note:

When using the GH2 ETC mode for still pictures you will have to make sure you set the camera quality to capture only JPEG and not RAW stills and also set the picture quality to 1920×1080 16:9. Creative Movie Mode gives a larger picture than when shooting in any still mode with the ETC engaged.

The first is called, “We Will Be Missing You” written and performed by Spoken Word artist Steve Calvarese.

Steve Calvarese is an emerging artist based in Philadelphia who has really been growing and developing his craft. With the help of Michelle Myers, who is one half of the famed Yellow Rage yellowrage.com,  Calvarese has been sharing his take on the Spoken Word form integrating personal, community, and social issues.

Calvarese says “We Will be Missing You” tells a story about gun violence in the city of Philadelphia. At the same time, the story is grounded on the belief that understanding is key, thus it opens our minds to multiple perspectives.

This footage was taken using the Panasonic GH1 with a Schneider 1:2/18-90 C-Mount zoom using the indiRAILSpro MP and a new indiSNAP gear.

Sound was captured with a Sound Devices 552 Mixer/Recorder and Sennheiser SK2000 wireless system with a Sanken COS-11D lavalier.

This version of We Will Be Missing You is set at the Christa Lewis Memorial Tot Lot in Russo Park Philadelphia.

This piece is dedicated to Steve Serota who used to run Camera Care in Philadelphia and later his online repair shop Classic Camera Workshop. This Schneider 1:2/18-90 C-Mount Lens was overhauled and repaired by his hands. Whenever I shoot with this lens, Steve Serota will always be remembered. His work was amazing and brought back to life every lens I brought him. He was a storyteller, a perfectionist, a great family guy, and he loved his work and was passionate about classic cameras and lenses. He will be missed.

Here are the words to the Spoken Word piece.

We Will be Missing You

Written and Performed by Steve Calvarese

Dedicated to all of those who died by gun violence

What weighs on his conscience

is greater than the weight

he carries on his waist

but the problems he faced

being raised in a broken home but no one can relate

so he alienates

himself from everyone else

away from the fake

those who create hate

cuz he’s seen as a Monster

which generates

his hate he has for them

no friends, accept for his gloc

forget about crying out for help

he’ll let his gun be louder than his mouth

R.I.P. carved into every bullet

finger itchin’ on the trigger waitin’ to pull it

so he can express his meaning of “Resting in Peace”

his piece

is always kept off safety

before the victim died. Mama was praying for his safety

before you go out make sure you walk the street safely

before he knew it cold metal was against his skin

he wanted to show him how cold the world really is

one shot left his frame frozen in time

where he hangs is in his home, a 8×10, a picture frame

the only memory his mom have left to keep herself alive

is his smile so everyday she don’t think about suicide

and dreams

dreams to remember about her baby boy

the only person she has left in this world is her baby boy

now that he gone away to a better place

she will no longer see the smile on his face

every night when she goes to lay herself to sleep

she prays

so she can listen to her son speak

sayin’ I’m still alive inside

when your heart beats

no more cryin’ out

you’re baby boy is here now

smile down

and watchin’ out

soon we’ll be together but for now

you got to remain strong

no matter how deep you feel pain

I know it’s hard to adjust and make that change

when the only thing you have left in your pockets is hope

hopin’ for better days

hopin’ that kids like me don’t gotta die today

she tires to be the voice about gun violence that needs to be heard

but no one wants to hear her

lying to ourselves when we know it happens too often

how many kids we gotta see dead layin’ in coffins

how many bodies gotta drop

being outlined in white chalk

we just chalk it up and talk

like it’s the new verb

but stuck in the pretense

because we are preoccupied by other things

what we need to do

instead of throwing shoes

we need to throw our guns on the wire

first we must be alive

say like Kanye “Through the Wire”

open our eyes

and not retire

the issue

I know we’re all tired

But I don’t want to tell another friend

“I miss you”

Tim Ovel and his team at indiSYSTEM have been hard at work again this time on their new SNAP! gear.

This new design is a very nice upgrade to their previous focus gear rings. What makes indiSYSTEM’s new design quite unique is that their focus gear is split in two halves and connected together with super strong magnets.What this allows is the ability to place the SNAP! gear ring on your lens and then remove it in a snap.

Snap! gears are sold in a set with five different gear sizes to cover most of your lenses:

70mm / 75mm / 80mm / 85mm / 90mm

At only $100 bucks for these set of five gears it’s a pretty sweet deal. And for those who need just one you can purchase the 70mm for $30 each.

Each set of SNAP! gears comes with “squish” as Tim likes to call it, or thin self-adhesive foam.

The squish looks like poly foam weather seal tape that you use for weather stripping your home. It rests between your lenses and the focus gear and does a good job of making up the difference if your lens diameter is a few mm smaller than the focus gear. In my case, I tested the 70mm with my Schneider 1:2/18-90 c-mount and the lens diameter was 65mm so I had to make up the difference by doubling the squish.

In my initial tests the adhesive just wasn’t strong enough so Tim is sending some thicker “squish” and I look forward to using it and seeing if it will show better results. In the mean time, I doubled up on the squish that was already sent to me and secured it using some gorilla glue and and now the SNAP! gear fits nice and snug on my lens with no play between the lens and the SNAP! gear.

Here are just a few initial impressions so far.

(+)

• You gotta love the “snap” the magnets make. They are surprisingly super strong.  Once you have the proper squish, you literally snap the gear on and your ready to go in seconds.
• One SNAP! gear can be used with your full set of lenses if they each share the same outside lens diameter.
• With magnets and squish, no need to worry about the stress of tightening up your gears with Allen wrenches and leaving marks on your lenses.
• I found the ½ inch wide gear great giving you plenty of grip using the MP’s indiFOCUS20.
• $100 for a set of five gears (70mm/75mm/80mm/85mm/90mm) is a great deal and covers most of your lenses.

(-)

• Don’t place your hard drive or SD cards near the magnets for obvious reasons.
• The current adhesive when placing squish on top of each other is not the strongest so you lose the stickiness on the adhesive and need to use something strong like gorilla glue to keep it together. (Will wait on the new “squish” adhesive hopefully that should solve it.)

(>)

• 70mm is the  smallest size gear so currently you need some hefty squish to make up the difference with smaller lenses. It would be nice to have smaller gear sizes especially for my Canon FDs and c-mount lenses but it sounds like 70m is currently the smallest gear size that indiSYSTEM is offering.

• Here are some of my initial tests with the SNAP! gear and indiRAILSpro MP using my GH1 and Schneider 1:2/18-90 c-mount lens.

Here is film test with Steve Calvarese who is an emerging spoken word artist based in Philadelphia. Steve has been sharing his take on the Spoken Word art form integrating personal, community, and social issues in his poetry.

Our first test was on Cottman Ave. an extremely busy street in his neighborhood in the Northeast right off the 95 highway. Steve performed his piece “We Will be Missing You” which tells a story about gun violence in the city of Philadelphia. Steve says that the story is grounded on the belief that understanding is key, thus it opens our minds to multiple perspectives.

During this shoot the SNAP! gear and MP set up really worked nicely with my Schneider zoom lens.

There was very little back lash and I was able to focus and rack focus pretty smoothly. Over all, I’m very happy with the results. The SNAP gear is definitely a winner in my book with a great price and flexibility.

The film was shot using the GH1 and a Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 1:2/18-90mm c-mount lens with no tripod only the indiSYSTEM indiRAILSpro MP and a SNAP! Gear on the lens. Had some issues with the sharpness of the lens because the lens was not screwed on tight enough which is one of the down sides of using screw mount lenses since there is no locking mechanism to lock the lens down to the mount. I also had to use the GH1′s digital zoom in order to avoid some of the vignetting and smaller image circle so there is issue of image degradation. I can’t wait to test out the Schneider Variogon lens with the new GH2 tele extender feature which is in 1:1 mode so theoretically with this new feature we should yield some very nice results.

Open
Abierto

Featuring: Mero Cocinero Karimi
Directed by Gary San Angel
Producer: David Lin

Filmed with:
Panasonic GH1
Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 1:2/18-90mm lens
indiSYSTEM indiRAILSpro MP
indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear

Sound Devices 552
Sennheiser SK2000
Sanken COS11-X

This year I hope to highlight work that is going on right now that does what I like to call that COMPONENTGEEK thing. Or simply work that inspires and shows the power of using technology to connect and build community. To start us off right this year is an inspiring music video collaboration spearheaded by Los Angeles based music artist Dawen.

My sister Jenny San Angel who is a super talented musician (I’m biased being her brother of course!) has collaborated a few times with Dawen at Tuesday Night Project and I’ve admired his work from afar for his amazing soulful baritone voice with sweet falsetto range and his ability to create tunes that hark back to old school soul R&B with the complexity and fine counterpoint of jazz.  His lyrics are thoughtful at times humours and always inspiring bringing his personal journey that honors and pushes forward the experience of being Asian in America.

I was flat out knocked out by the simplicity and power of this music video collaboration of Macy Gray’s “Beauty in the World” involving 16 artists from Los Angeles to New York that was created just over a six month period. What makes Dawen an inspiration is his gift of collaboration always connecting with artists and using music to uplift and inspire.The MV begins at the Goldstar Rehabilitation Center in Santa Monica, CA where a group of artists have spent the day giving back and bringing music and a smile to the seniors at the center. We are slowly introduced to artists from all over the country as they add their own part to the song via flipcams and ending with a special surprise. What I love about this piece is that using inexpensive flipcams, a Canon 5D, and some simple professional recording gear they were able to use technology to create art that transcends borders.

Congratulations to Dawen and his creative team of collaborators for truly bringing beauty in the world. I  know you made Macy Gray proud!

I hope that folks can be inspired by this piece and find more possibilities to use technology to create inspiring art.

Beauty in the World — Macy Gray

Inspired by Macy’s song, a bunch of us joined together for a day of community service and music!

Produced by George Wang

Edited by Dawen

Featuring:

Dawen

Connie Lim

Mista Cookie Jar

Ava Flava

Michelle Martinez

Tommy C

Jane Lui

Sam Geunjin Kang

DanakaDan (afterschoolspecial)

Chris Pham (Seriously)

Nathan Park (Seriously)

Megan Lee

Alfa

Clara C

Paul Dateh

and Macy Gray!

Crew:

Avery Ota

Don Le

Henry Chan

Juan Vazquez

Kane Diep

Nate Fu

Paolo Ongkeko

Special Thanks:

The Goldstar Rehabilitation & Nursing Center

CJ Pizarro

FUSION3FILMS

Daniel Cho, Chris Shon, & ECHOforward

Grace Su

Mark Arbitrario

George Shaw

Ryan Suda

Macy Gray

It was a sweltering hot humid day in Philadelphia, not the kind of day to be shooting outside not unless you want to be dripping wet with sweat. Because of the heat factor, I was forced to do my first tests indoors at a local community arts center called the Asian Arts Initiative. I’m the Technical Director and work part time with adults and youth teaching theater and video programs.

Today, they had a youth lounge where youth have open space to focus on their craft. I was fortunate enough to be able to sit in on the youth B-Boy (Break dancers) crew, The Dreamers as they honed their b-boy skills and I thought this would also be a perfect opportunity to see the Pegasus II in action with the GH1.

For this preliminary test, I wanted to use the lowest common denominator and set the GH1 on its (iA) auto settings using the stock 14-140 lens because I knew the camera and Pegasus II would be in the hands of other youth who have never used a steadicam or a camera like the GH1. In that way, we could test if put in the hands of a complete novice is the Pegasus II and GH1 easy to use and can you still get some decent footage even when using default automatic settings? All the footage was shot at 1080/24P AVCHD with pull down removed via NeoScene.

It was important for me to just keep things raw including the audio in order to see what’s working well and what’s not.

Here are my initial observations of the Pegasus II with the GH1:

(+) Plus Side

Over all I have to say the Pegasus II and the GH1 make a nice pair. To shoot a B-boy crew you have to be able to move the camera at different levels and move out of the way if necessary. And you have to be unobtrusive. If you had a large rig then I think they would feel the pressure of feeling like they had to be “on” and perform well and in most cases what usually happens is that they are not as relaxed and won’t do as good of a job.

For the small size of the Pegasus II and the GH1 there were only a couple times when the guys looked at the camera with the awareness of “oh, I’m being filmed!” but for the most part The Dreamers could be themselves. I think this is a key factor in doing documentary work and the low profile attributes of the GH1 and Pegasus II help in that regard. In fact, since the Pegasus II can easily breakdown and is compact I threw it into my messenger bag rather than using the case provided. It’s always a big plus for me to not have to worry about lugging around another piece of gear that may potentially get lost.

Overall, the nice thing I noticed was that it did not feel heavy and you were able to shoot for longer periods of time with out getting tired. It still takes some getting used to and there’s still weight on it so you will get tired. But I think for the hour and a half that I shot, it was very nice to know that at the end of the day my unfit body didn’t feel strained in any way from the shoot.

The quality of the Pegasus II is very good. When I looked at the gear it reminded me of the kind of quality and machine work that I received with my previous Letus gear. It seems that little by little the Chinese manufactures are getting better at creating quality products. Even the gimbal system was a nice surprise. It was one of the functions of the unit that in pictures gave me a little pause because the design looked like it was made with a threaded bolt going into a metal joint but in use, at least with the GH1, it seemed to work surprisingly well.

(>) Challenges

Using any kind of video stabilizer definitely needs some getting used to and this is no exception.

Partly do to this was Wondlan’s first units to have English instructions, the translations still need to be worked on to so I had to follow the visual cues from the DVD that was provided. It did take me a little longer than I had expected to get started but hopefully I can provide a few tips for those who do pick up the Pegasus II when using the GH1.

I’m still working on optimizing the balance of the GH1 unit and it seems to me that when using the Pegasus II you are constantly adjusting and optimizing the balance of the camera depending on what you are shooting. And in my case, where we were shooting a group of dancers that were dancing low to the ground, I needed to use the front and back adjusting knob many times to move the position of the GH1 to get better ground coverage. But the front-back locking lever which releases the plate is awkwardly placed just below where the GH1 sits and the left-right fine adjusting knobs get in the way of unlocking and locking the plate.

Making right to left adjustments is easy on the fly but getting that front and back adjustment on the fly, you have to stop shooting. I think Wondlan can easily resolve this by changing the position of the right and left adjusting levers and making the front-back adjusting knob and locking knobs bigger and more durable so that you don’t have to stop shooting to make a front to back plate adjustment.

Also, it may be just my unit, but if you don’t loosen the front to back locking wrench all the way then it’s a little tricky to slide the plate into place. I actually don’t mind this too much because it’s a nice safety precaution. There were a few times where I was making a front to back adjustment and released the locking mechanism too far so the plate just tipped far forward and in that moment I thought, “There goes my new GH1 camera!!!” But the locking lever saved me because it has to be released almost completely out before the plate can slide freely.

As you all probably know using a stabilizer, you are reduced to not touching the lens, if you do then you will notice camera shake big time, making your footage a little buoyant looking like you were a ship lost at sea. The Pegasis II gimbal system is rather sensitive probably because the GH1 is a pretty small camera. You have to use your other hand to guide the camera ever so slightly so that your movements don’t send the camera pointing to the wrong direction. Placing a hand on the GH1 fold out viewfinder actually helps in that regard as well as obviously not creating any fast jerky movements.

(?) Keep it or Sell it

From my initial first tests with the GH1 the Pegasus II is definitely a keeper. I’ve used a steadicam and with a steadicam you have much more control and ability to finesse your shot but you literally have to be rigged up which takes time not to mention it can get heavy after a while. Obviously, there’s a huge price difference and if you want true steadicam footage then get a real steadicam or merlin but for roughly about a little over $300 when you add shipping costs from China you have a really great low profile, stick in your small backpack, “mini steadicam”.

As a documentary filmmaker, this is a great tool for stealthy situations and for those narrative movies where you are shooting in public spaces it doesn’t draw too much attention. And for event shooting well it’s one thing you can throw and fit in your tripod bag and may be a nice option if you don’t like the monopod and like to be roaming about.

Again, these are initial tests I’ll be doing a few more tests with the unit but all in all its a pretty impressive piece of gear especially for the price. Thanks for looking and hope this information is giving folks some options and things to consider when shooting with new DSLRs like the GH1.

Notes on 1080/24P AVCHD-

So some of you may have seen the earlier versions of this footage. It looked like crap! Lot’s of macroblocking and compression issues. After hours of testing with the Cineform (422) MOV container I noticed that FCP was seeing the clips as having a framerate of 59.94 as if the pulldown was never removed. So instead, I used the Prores MOV container and FCP sees the clips as 23.98 and the footage is so much cleaner. Seeing the H.264 footage even compressed looks clean. I’m still trying to figure out what the problem is with the Cineform (422) MOV container footage but for those who are using the GH1 and filming dancers with lots of movement I think despite the file size the quality of the Prores MOV container is much better.

I have not found the ideal balance of the weights of the Pegasus II system yet but I am getting close. My feeling over all is that if you are shooting and doing simple to moderate tracking movements you should be able to capture some real nice results using the Pegasus II. As I stated in my previous post, practice and a little anticipation will help capture more intricate movements but overall you will get the bobbing head of the camera effect as it tries to move back into position from a quick move. Unless you are able to use your free hand to guide the camera, running or even fast walking does not seem like a reality with this unit as you can see from the clip. Still though, with the new weights it is much more fluid and has a significant amount of control.

As with any piece of gear, my feeling is that there are some limitations using the Pegasus II. You just have to work within these limitations in order to get consistent results. Also, something that I think all GH1 users have to deal with is using the stock lens and autofocus when using a video stabilizer. As you can see from the clip, the auto focus kicks in and out especially in low light situations or fast movement.

This first set of clips was part B of the initial test of the Pegasus II DV Stabilizer which includes some tracking shots and skater footage.

You’ll notice in the footage that the The Pegasus II unit was not weighted down enough so it does sway side to side or up and down a bit and unfortunately because of this problem the skater footage was really bad so what I have attached on the tail end of this footage are just the usable shots.

All this footage was shot at the Asian Arts Initiative, a community arts center in Philadelphia and the youth are participating in the Youth Lounge where students can come on a Tuesday or Thursday to hang out and develop their own skills in their own discipline or to learn something new.

The footage was shot at 1080/24P and for days I was having tremendous problems getting NeoScene to transcode the footage on a MAC using the Cineform (422) MOV quicktime container. I’ve figured out some possible workarounds. For now, I’d say when you use the cineform container always set it to best and don’t work from a preset there seems to be a bug where sometimes the clips transcode without changing the framerate to 23.98.

This is test shoot #2 using the Pegasus II with the GH1.

As I said, I had to shoot some B-roll and document “Furious Style!,” a youth-centered exhibition led by NYC based artist Jeff Cylkowski at the Asian Arts Initiative.

Kaitin Dugan, who is one of my students in our Tech Apprenticeship program guides us on a tour of the artwork and theater space in this clip. You’ll see some artwork, very enthusiastic youth who love to be on camera and Jeff the artist and instructor as he talks a little bit about the work.

These clips are all raw. Again, this is just for the purposes of showing the Pegasus II at work in a typical event type shoot. The audio was recorded from the camera. It sucks. Actually, when the subject is close to the camera and there is no competing noise it’s usable but when we went into the gallery space with the crowd and DJ music playing, the voice gets lost.

At least for those who are looking at using the GH1 as a documentary type camera or event camera you can see what is usable camera audio and what is clearly not.

Also, I Ieft the clip long so you can shuttle threw it and see the Pegasus II and it’s use over a period of time. Walking though a crowd, walking up stairs, it did pretty well.

There were a few spots with a fast turn or so that gravity made the camera sway but for the most part the extra weight helped. I still think I can get some better settings and tweak the weights a little more.

For the most part the Pegasus II will sway from right to left or up and down if the movement is sudden or jerky. As long as it’s not that, the Pegasus II was was much better and the camera was able to move to where I needed it to go. The nice thing I noticed this time around is that I could move and track Kaitlin’s movement as she walked though the gallery and the crowd with out having to use my other hand to turn the camera.

There is definitely a way where if you work with the gimbal long enough you can counter balance and move the handle to the right place before the camera head starts to turn or sway. Practice and anticipation is the name of the game here.

I think on the second shoot with the Pegasus II I’m still pretty happy with the results especially with the price point. Sure a steadicam has a lot more control, steadyness, and flexibility. There’s no question. If you really need a steadicam shot that requires you to be doing sudden changes and moves this unit will take time to learn in order to achieve that level of precision. If you need a steadicam type unit that is compact and can give you some great stability with out a lot of fatigue I think this unit delivers that.

Personally, I’m glad to be able to have some test shoots with the unit before doing a real shoot. I think the Pegasus II does need practice so that you can create your own workarounds for shots that may require the operator to move quickly.

So after my first test with the GH1 I realized that there was a lot of sway and I needed to correctly balance the camera with the appropriate amount of weights on the Pegasus II.

Now with the Pegasus II optimized with the appropriate weights and with me practicing with the unit for like an hour a day for a week, I decided to give it another go and see if it would be possible to do use the Pegasus II on the GH1 for skate footage. I had done a previous test with some brisk walking and jumping the night before and there was still some sway to the footage so I adjusted my weights again and this is the new results so far.

Jeff Cylkowski, visual artist in residence at the Asian Arts Initiative, was kind enough to let me film him doing a couple skate board runs this past week one very hot and humid Philly evening as the sun was coming down. The first tracking shot of Jeff heading toward the sun, I was following him with a slight jog. The camera did have a little dip here and there but overall much much better than the first skater footage that I posted earlier. The second tracking shot of Jeff was just an all out let’s just see what happens if I run with the Pegasus II and GH1 on the street along side of him. I honestly was not expecting much but when reviewing the tape I was really shocked at how well the Pegasus II did with the new weight system and me being more comfortable with the unit. Again, I was doing my best to balance the camera and run and keep up with Jeff all at the same time. I think if we had a few more tries we may have been able to get a good solid take but it was so hot out there we had to call it. Only downside was that the AF on the camera could not track Jeff. He was moving pretty fast and so the AF clearly loses focus especially toward the end of the run.

Overall, the Pegasus II really has a lot going for it and even with its limitations is a pretty great tool to have in your arsenal. Already for me its so necessary to shoot with the Pegasus II because any camera shake is just magnified on the GH1 so even a little sway here and there from the Pegasus II is so much better than shooting hand held.

If you look at the second run, you’ll see my shadow and reflection in the store windows. I’m pretty much running! It’s crazy!

New Environmental Art from Taiwan

Sponsored by

Council for Cultural Affairs, Taiwan

Taipei Cultural Center of TECO, New York

Presented in Partnership by

The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education

and Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia

Recently, I met two very talented installation artists named Chao-chang Lee and Ping-yu Pan who both create art in environmental settings in Taiwan. These two very humble and amazing artists were invited to the U.S. to create installation works at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education for the “Going Green New Environmental Art from Taiwan” Exhibition which has works at the Schuylkill Center and also the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia. I thought this would be a great opportunity to test my new Metabones Contax G SNAP! Gear setup so I volunteered to document some of the performances they were both having at their installations. Because we would be out in the woods, I decided to really be low profile so I took only my indiRAILSpro MP which has a built-in follow focus and monopod. I also brought just two lenses, my Contax G 90mm and 28mm lenses. Because I was afraid the 28mm was not going to give me the full coverage I needed I also decided to be adventurous and I attached a Raynox HD-6600PRO55 .66 wide angle adapter to the 28mm making the lens approximately an 18mm lens.

One of the great things about using Contax G glass is that they are very sharp lenses and one of the challenges is that they are also very sharp lenses.

So with the GH1 this can be a problem. The screen is just not good enough to find critical focus especially in some outdoor environments like a wooded setting. Since I started to notice that I was having trouble with critical focus, I decided to play it safe and I opened up to f/4 through f/8 in order to get more depth of field in the hopes of covering myself and getting more in focus than out of focus shots. In many cases, the documentation shows some of the challenges when you have such sharp lenses. You’ll see a few out of focus shots here and there so its always a learning process. Having said that when the exposure and focus was on these lenses really do now how to shine.

Most of the shots I’ve seen with Contax G glass have been from still photographers so seeing moving images with Contax G glass is really wonderful and very exciting. I was also just floored at how well the Raynox HD-6600PRO55 wide angle adapter did. I basically had the adapter on the 28mm lens most of the time and it was still fairly sharp with a little vignetting and softening on the corners. I’ve used the Raynox on a few different lenses and the vignetting and softness is much more pronounced on my other lenses. I’d say using the Raynox wide angle adapter on Contax G glass produces some very good usable footage. Overall, I really see a lot of potential for Contax G glass especially in narrative filmmaking where you have much more control over your shots. I still want to see if I can get more comfortable and use them in more of a documentary run and gun style setting but for the second time at using these lenses I think this was not a bad effort.

I’d like to thank Chao-chang Lee and Ping-yu Pan for the opportunity to meet them and to film their work.

Here is one of the pieces:

Chao-chang Lee’s installation, “Everything is Buddha” uses found natural materials near the grounds of the Schuylkill Center to create a large earth drawing of a seated Buddha figure.

This film captures Chao-chang Lee’s live interactive performance where visitors are invited to place their own natural objects as offerings in his installation.

For more information on the exhibition please visit:

schuylkillcenter.org

asianartsinitiative.org

Filming details:

Panasonic GH13

Contax G 28mm f/2.8

w/Raynox HD-6600PRO55 .66 wide angle adapter

Contax G 90mm f/2 lens

Metabones Contax G adapter and indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear

New Environmental Art from Taiwan

Sponsored by

Council for Cultural Affairs, Taiwan

Taipei Cultural Center of TECO, New York

Presented in Partnership by

The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education

and Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia

Recently, I met two very talented installation artists named Chao-chang Lee and Ping-yu Pan who both create art in environmental settings in Taiwan. These two very humble and amazing artists were invited to the U.S. to create installation works at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education for the “Going Green New Environmental Art from Taiwan” Exhibition which has works at the Schuylkill Center and also the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia. I thought this would be a great opportunity to test my new Metabones Contax G SNAP! Gear setup so I volunteered to document some of the performances they were both having at their installations. Because we would be out in the woods, I decided to really be low profile so I took only my indiRAILSpro MP which has a built-in follow focus and monopod. I also brought just two lenses, my Contax G 90mm and 28mm lenses. Because I was afraid the 28mm was not going to give me the full coverage I needed I also decided to be adventurous and I attached a Raynox HD-6600PRO55 .66 wide angle adapter to the 28mm making the lens approximately an 18mm lens.

One of the great things about using Contax G glass is that they are very sharp lenses and one of the challenges is that they are also very sharp lenses.

So with the GH1 this can be a problem. The screen is just not good enough to find critical focus especially in some outdoor environments like a wooded setting. Since I started to notice that I was having trouble with critical focus, I decided to play it safe and I opened up to f/4 through f/8 in order to get more depth of field in the hopes of covering myself and getting more in focus than out of focus shots. In many cases, the documentation shows some of the challenges when you have such sharp lenses. You’ll see a few out of focus shots here and there so its always a learning process. Having said that when the exposure and focus was on these lenses really do now how to shine.

Most of the shots I’ve seen with Contax G glass have been from still photographers so seeing moving images with Contax G glass is really wonderful and very exciting. I was also just floored at how well the Raynox HD-6600PRO55 wide angle adapter did. I basically had the adapter on the 28mm lens most of the time and it was still fairly sharp with a little vignetting and softening on the corners. I’ve used the Raynox on a few different lenses and the vignetting and softness is much more pronounced on my other lenses. I’d say using the Raynox wide angle adapter on Contax G glass produces some very good usable footage. Overall, I really see a lot of potential for Contax G glass especially in narrative filmmaking where you have much more control over your shots. I still want to see if I can get more comfortable and use them in more of a documentary run and gun style setting but for the second time at using these lenses I think this was not a bad effort.

I’d like to thank Chao-chang Lee and Ping-yu Pan for the opportunity to meet them and to film their work.

Here is one of the pieces:

Ping-yu Pan’s installation, “Ark for Plants” is made up of fallen branches and pine cones tied with natural twine in the shape of an ark. Her boat-shaped sculpture is designed as a deer fence to protect a young native dogwood tree.The film clips capture Ping-yu Pan’s live performance at the installation where visitors are invited to cast a handful of soil into the place where the tree is planted.

For more information on the exhibition please visit:

schuylkillcenter.org

asianartsinitiative.org

Filming details:

Panasonic GH13

Contax G 28mm f/2.8

w/Raynox HD-6600PRO55 .66 wide angle adapter

Contax G 90mm f/2 lens

Metabones Contax G adapter and indiSYSTEM SNAP! Gear

Years ago, I used to do a lot of physical theater and abstract movement when my body was agile and I was physically fit so it was nice to bring some of those sensibilities with me in this shoot. Joseph Santarromana, a well known California based installation and video artist, once told me that he would tell his students when filming dance to move with the camera and to have that camera be an extension of your body. When filming Makoto, I found myself taking Joe’s advice and really dancing with Makoto and feeling out his emotional journey in each piece. Each time Makoto performed it was different and unique. We never scripted or talked about the shots we just sort of rode the moment. Each take is sort of a living memory of that experience and it will never be performed in that way again and I think that is why I wanted to post the process to show not only the technical use of the Pegasus II and GH1 but also how we as filmmakers must throw out the technical aspects and limitations and just allow for that organic process of collaboration between subject and viewer to naturally unfold. Obviously in doing these types of shoots, you got to practice and learn the plusses and minuses of your gear so that when it comes to that real take it’s already in your body and not your head.

In the documentation of dance, usually, dancers and choreographers want to see the whole movement and space and prefer a much wider shot. I find that most filmmakers, including myself, like that tighter look to see the emotion and facial expression as well as to capture strong intimate movement. So in many respects, the clips in this test capture more of a tighter feel and what I was also feeling in the moment as the viewer of the piece. If I were recording the work for Makoto to view and study, I would definitely have gone for wider shots. But since we also had the Pegasus II to test out it was my goal to see how we can use it well and push it to see what it could do.

Clearly Makoto’s influences as a B-Boy, break dancer are present especially in “Elemental Dance” where he merges B-Boy elements with everyday pedestrian-like body movements as well as organic abstraction.

Here is a version that mixes segments from Take 1 and Take 2.

One of the challenges of course was that each take was a little different and “Elemental Dance” had very specific movements that were coordinated with the beat of the sound track so it was tricky to keep the continuity. Overall, it’s interesting how each take and even this mix takes the piece to a different place. In looking at the footage, you’ll notice that it does sway and bounce a little definitely much less than when I first started shooting. The nice thing is when you have someone like Makoto who really pulls you in, the slight sways and bounces are not going to be noticeable to the everyday viewer. To us DPs and gear heads that’s the first thing our eye goes to. Everyone else was pretty drawn into watching Makoto’s intensity and movement. Overall, it’s really nice to see how the Pegasus II can be used for many types of shooting situations and it is definitely a go to piece of gear not just for the “steadicam” look but also for just everyday stabilization with the GH1.

If and when Wondlan creates a Pegasus III geared for the DSLR market here are a few things that I hope they could integrate for the future.

Wondlan Pegasus III Wish List:

• I definitely would want to be able to turn the handle from a vertical position to a completely horizontal position. Currently, you can only turn the gimbal handle half way between a vertical and horizontal position. In order to get lower body movement or a subject that is low to the ground you need to physically bend down pretty low to the ground which is really difficult to do. Also, when you place the handle in that slightly horizonal position the handle completely rests on the gimbal system frame and not the spring and you lose it’s steadicam abilities.

• I wish there was a way to adjust the tension of the gimbal in terms of it’s side to side and up and down movement. If there was some king of tension screw that you could tighten or loosen it would help with the use of the Pegasus II in different shooting scenarios. If you need to move a round a bit, a feature like this would help keep the camera head from drifting to the right or the left all the time.

• As I said in an earlier review, I think the unit needs to be slightly modified to work with DSLRs, possibly having a longer plate to set the balance as well as a little bit of a space cushion between the plate and the camera. Currently, the stock lens sits pretty darn close to the plate. One user on DVXuser forum used metal washers from Home Depot to give a little cushion between the camera and the plate.

• I’ve used a little chopstick to wedge between the plate if I need to move the camera or if I need to just stabilize the shot better. It would be nice to have a very tiny grip handle that we could connect to the back of the plate in case you need that extra bit of guidance. I find that touching the camera creates a little more camera shake.

• The front to back locking knob sits right above the left-right fine adjusting knob and one of these knobs needs to move to a different spot. Currently, I have to move the left-right adjusting knob all the way to the left before I can loosen the front to back locking knob before mounting the unit and it’s a little bit of a pain.