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Orbit 4 Section Carbon Fiber Monopod (Equipment Review)

Posted by on Dec 8, 2016 in Equipment, Featured, Reviews, Reviews (Equipment) | 0 comments

Orbit 4 Section Carbon Fiber Monopod

Manufacturer:  3Pod/Adorama
Website:  Adorama.com
Description:  Stabilize your shooting on the go without the bulk of a tripod
Purchase/Rent: Purchase
Pricing:
Orbit 4 Carbon Fiber Monopod: $99.95;
Q3 Fluid Tripod head : $99.95
(Kits with other heads: $120-$180)
Expected Release: Available Now
Review Issue: #124 (6/16)
Update Issue: #130 (12/16)
Reviewed By: Jeremy T. Hanke
Final Score: 10 (out of 10)

If you ask any filmmaker what things they hate about tripods, they’ll tell you essentially the same things: they’re too heavy, they’re extremely awkward to carry, they’re hard to set up, and they’re hard to get level.  Still, at the end of the day, they’re the only way to create a locked down shot without using a cinesaddle (or putting your camera on a flat surface and praying that it doesn’t fall or get knocked off).

Now, the monopod, on the other hand, is easy to set up, but, up until now, has been relegated to still photographers, due to the fact that it’s essentially little more than a walking cane with a camera mount on the top, making it essentially useless without a person there to actively stabilize it. read more

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Smile Again, Jenny Lee (Straight Shooter Review)

Posted by on Aug 19, 2016 in Feature Length, Featured, Narrative, Reviews, Straight Shooter Reviews, Straight Shooter Reviews (Feature Narrative) | 0 comments

In 2013, Carlo Caldana released an independent novel called, Smile Again, Jenny Lee, about a world renowned tennis player with a personality like Tonya Harding, who got her leg messed up like Nancy Kerrigan. (Only in this tale, she actually was knocked out of her sport for good.)

Two years later, in a feat of moxy that’s truly impressive, Carlo Caldana translated his novel into a script, directed the film, and cast himself as the colead alongside Monique Hafen who played the titular Jenny Lee.

The tale of the film revolves around Jenny’s attempt to find her place in the world after losing her spot in tennis. Low on funds and about to be cut off by her wealthy mother (Linda DeMetrick), she agrees to help a lawyer named Charles Landale (Carlo Caldana) track down her absentee father, hoping that he will float her some cash. However, when the mystery of her father’s disappearance grows more ominous, she and Landale will have to keep their wits about them to unravel the mystery.

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Origins of MicroFilmmaker Magazine: The Existential Case of the Virtual Kevin Project (Editorial/Article)

Posted by on Aug 5, 2016 in Articles, Behind-the-Scenes, CrossMedia Snapshots, Editorials, Featured, MicroFilmmaking, Retrospectives | 0 comments

For me to ever have created MicroFilmmaker Magazine in 2005, two key elements had to occur in my life. The first was that, in 2003, I make a narrative first film called Commissioned, which revolved around the world of commissioned computer sales, that broke all the cardinal rules of Indie filmmaking and suffered because of it. (The audio ended up being so bad that the film couldn’t be salvaged, even after a year of redubbing, due to the fact that two actors never returned to loop their work.)

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Rigoberta Menchu: Daughter of the Maya (Straight Shooter Review)

Posted by on Jul 22, 2016 in Documentary, Feature Length, Featured, Reviews, Straight Shooter Reviews, Straight Shooter Reviews (Feature Documentary) | 0 comments

I grew up believing the Mayan Indians were a long lost civilization, like the lost tribe of the Maori. I knew about their amazing science and their calendar, but, at some time in my childhood, had come to believe that they’d been slaughtered by the Aztecs and no longer existed.

As often happens with Dawn Engle’s films through PeaceJam, I learned a lot about both people groups and people that changed my perception through this film—not the least of which being that the Mayan Indians still exist as the indigenous people of Guatemala (as well as a number of other Latin American countries), despite genocidal attempts of a 36 year civil war.

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