'Miracles' wins AFI Award for Cinematography

Miracle In The Storm won the AFI Award for 'Best Cinematography in a Documentary' on Friday 10th December in Melbourne. It is my first AFI Award after four nominations. Beneath Hill 60 won the 'Best Young Actor' Award for 16 year old Harrison Gilbertson for his acclaimed performance as Tiffen.

GOLD AWARDS received at the NSW ACS Awards

I was happy to pick up two GOLD AWARDS at the NSW ACS Awards evening held last Saturday. Beneath Hill 60 picked up Gold in the Features Cinema category, and Miracle in the Storm also received Gold in the Dramatised Documentary category. As Gold winners, both these entries will go forward to the ACS National Awards held in May.

AFI Nominations for Beneath Hill 60 & Miracles

The Australian Film Institute Awards for 2010 will be held in Melbourne on 10-11th December. Beneath Hill 60 has been nominated for 12 AFI Awards, including 'Best Film', 'Best Director' for Jeremy Hartley Sims, and 'Best Cinematography' for Toby Oliver ACS.

I also received an additional AFI Nomination for 'Best Cinematography in a Documentary' for Miracle in the Storm (shoot pictured right).

'Mei Mei' in post production

The China - Australia co-production feature Mei Mei, directed by Pauline Chan (Traps) is currently in post in Sydney after wrapping the 5 week shoot in Sydney and China recently. The movie was shot by me on the upgraded RED One MX camera which proved to have quite significant and very welcome improvements in image quality over the original M chip RED One that I had used shooting 'The Combination' in 2008. The colour science has been overhauled and basically produces a more faithful rendition of colours, especially the all important skintones. The new MX chip is also cleaner with much less noise at higher ISO's, effectively increasing the usable sensitivity in the real world, and the camera can be comfortably rated at a standard 800 ISO. This was particularly helpful shooting the climatic night scenes at some Parramatta Road car yards where I was able to utilise existing practical floodlighting on background yards and the street to give effective depth. I rated the camera at 320, 500 or 800 ISO depending on the lighting conditions and I am looking to be at the DI grade at Frame Set and Match by December. Some shots including a interior car traveling sequence and some timelapse were shot on the Canon 7D.

'Miracles' on ABC TV...

I was the DOP on the first episode, 'Miracle in the Storm'

Beneath Hill 60 - successful Premiere Night and reviews

The film premiered last night at Sydney's Event Cinemas in George St to a huge and enthusiastic crowd, along with many of the films cast and crew putting an appearance on the red carpet. Also out is the 4 star review from the Sydney Morning Herald's Paul Byrnes, and the Urban Cinefile review.

Beneath Hill 60 opens in cinemas across Australia on April 15.

'Quantum' film potential to replace CMOS image sensors

Click here for article: http://www.eetimes.com/news/design/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224000253
Very interesting.
The original link was on the CML forum.

Beneath Hill 60 In Cinemas from April 15

Beneath Hill 60 will be released in multiplexes all around the country the week before Anzac Day. Tune into Channel Nine's 60 Minutes program on Sunday night  28th March for a story with Ray Martin on the making of the film.

Next month's issue of iF Magazine (April) will feature an article about the movie.

Where Do We Go Now? Avatar and Beyond...

Good article by John Bailey, ASC on the AC site

where-do-we-go-now-“avatar”-and-beyond

The Grade is done...

Just finished the DI and video HD grade for Beneath Hill 60 with the nice people at Cutting Edge in Sydney, especially the talented colourist Adrian Hauser. The DI was completed on their Baselight Four system at 'Super 2K' resolution - scan super 35mm neg at 4K on the Spirit Datacine, then conform and grade at 2K for filmout. Adrian pulled a few tricks out of his sleeve to make some of the darker scenes look better but overall he says it was not a difficult grade compared to some - basically because we originated on film as opposed to digital, making his job a little easier.

It does look fantastic, as do the impressive VFX shots also done by the Cutting Edge team. Here's hoping plenty of people get a chance to see the movie in cinemas.

Beneath Hill 60 - talking about choosing film

Cane Toads review from Sundance

Beneath Hill 60 Trailer is here...

'Dazzling' Review on Dark Horizons for Cane Toads 3D

Cane Toads The Conquest 3D (2010) - review excerpts

“Technically his film is a dazzling achievement, in some ways more so than "Avatar"...A visually masterful film... [The] cinematographers create a visual landscape to tell [the] story of the cane toads, and the vast Australian landscape with all its harsh contradictions is as much a character in this movie as the toads and laconic people we meet.” - Paul Fischer, Dark Horizons

Click here for full review

Beneath Hill 60 Trailer launches on Australia Day

From the desk of Bill Leimbach, Producer:

PARAMOUNT are pleased to confirm that the BENEATH HILL 60 trailer will launch exclusively on the Nine Network’s Today Show and on ninemsn on Tuesday, January 26 – Australia Day.

Panasonic goes 3D....

Thanks in part to the release of the technological marvel that is Avatar, the tech hype machine is firmly charging into 3D... see link to Engadget article about upcoming Panasonic gear and more...

ARRI's new digital cameras mid 2010

The successor to the Arri D-21, the ALEXA, (apparently not it's real name)  is a compact new camera with 800+ ASA sensitivity and is now up on Arri's website. Looks very interesting, and will cost from 50K Euros with on-board recording and choice or optical or electronic viewfinder depending on the model, which seemingly puts it within range of higher-end RED Epic territory.

RED Scarlet a just few months away...

Highly anticipated new mini RED, the 3K Scarlet, now in the flesh with Ted from RED showing off a pre-prod mock up camera at Engadget - http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/09/red-scarlet-and-bomb-evf-surprise-hands-on along with the bomb-evf mini viewfinder. Looks very compact which is great... although this one has the 2/3" chip with the mini prime lens.