Easy as shooting fish in a barrel

Cinemarr, Randall Dark Shoot HD Commercial for Ripley’s Aquarium

Cinemarr Entertainment tapped the services of HD pioneer Randall Dark for Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies first high definition commercial.The 30 second spot, a mixture of live action and animation, was shot in 1080i with the Sony HDCam and Canon HD zoom lens and will be onlined and offlined at Cinemarr Entertainment in Sevierville, Tennessee. TripAdvisor.com recently named Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies the number one aquarium in the United States.

“Because of that,” says Cinemarr founder S. Shane Marr, who also directed, “there is nationwide focus on this aquarium. We are very pleased that Cinemarr was chosen to shoot the new commercial for Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies and to do so in HD.”

The clarity produced by HD technology was ideal for shooting both the live action sequences and background plates, which will later have digital cartoon fish added. Dark says, “Capturing the incredible images presented no problems for my HD camera. It was as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.”
 
Shooting at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies offered ample opportunities for beautiful images, but also posed some challenges.

“In order to keep the fish comfortable and safe, only minimal lighting is permitted in the aquarium during a shoot. The resulting lower light situations could have meant a potential problem getting the best images if we had shot film.” says Marr. “Also, the project had an overall abbreviated time frame to be on air in time for spring vacation planning. Shooting in HD helped us on both these fronts by producing beautiful lower light images and turning the project around quickly.”

After meeting and becoming friends in 2004, this was the second opportunity Marr and Dark have had to work with one another.

The overnight production, with a cast of 40, featured extensive shooting inside the aquarium’s 345-foot long underwater tunnel and the new Lethal Weapons exhibit, which showcases deadly sea creatures.

Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies is located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, one of three resort towns in the Great Smoky Mountains which receive approximately 13,000,000 visitors annually.

from Digital Cinema Report

Dark Shoots RED for Dolby Demo

By Marc Loftus
mloftus@postmagazine.com

LOS ANGELES - Filmmaker Randall Dark (www.randalldark.net) has spent the past two weeks shooting footage for an upcoming Dolby Labs presentation. When Post caught up with Dark, he was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, shooting a timelapse sequence, and had already spent several days in both Dallas and Miami, shooting footage for the project. He was also planning a trip to Toronto to round out production.

According to Dolby's Gaven Wang, the presentation will be shown at tradeshows and will highlight the company's new HDR video technology. For the Miami and Wyoming shoots, Dark worked with DP and Red camera owner Ken Michael, who will also handle the post for his segments of the project.

Dark says the project is due to the client on November 10th. Michael shot his segments using a Nikon adapter and lenses. Shooting in 4K, Michael captured footage to a rugged 320GB drive. At the end of each day, footage is transferred to a 4TB drive that Dark recently purchased. Michael will be editing the project in Final Cut Pro and will transcode the r3d files to the ProRes codec.

The Dolby presentation marks the first time Dark - who considers himself format agnostic - has worked with the Red camera. Dark will remain the owner of the unused footage and will add it to his own high definition footage collection.

See the article in Post Magazine

RED: On location

Wyoming beauty shot

Wyoming captured with the RED

Seeing Red

NEWS RELEASE

Randall P. Dark is presently shooting with the RED camera for Dark Red Images.  The footage will be used for creating short demonstration pieces and adding to his already extensive High Definition Library.

Over the next 3 weeks he will crisscross the country shooting in the following locations: 

 - Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas
 - Miami, Florida
 - Jackson Hole, Wyoming
 - Grand Teton National Park
 - Toronto, Canada

For more information about the Red footage or Dark Red Images, contact Randall P. Dark.

www.randalldark.net

Reminiscing About the Future of Post Production

October 15-16, 2008 in New York City

A panel of post production industry leaders and visionaries will attempt to define, explain and recount why we may be done with the ever evolving and changing pathway of cutting edge post production technology. Discover if the changes were inspired by the needs of a creative mind or driven by engineering geeks in a back room. And most importantly, "Are we there yet."

MODERATOR:
Randall Dark, Director/Producer, Randall Dark Productions

SPEAKERS:
Joe Beirne, EVP Technology, Postworks
Ken McGorry, Senior Contributing Editor, Post Magazine
Jim Mathers, Filmmaker/Cinematographer, President, Digital Cinema Society

Dark to speak at exclusive HD event

Randall P. Dark has been tapped to be a keynote speaker the 6th Annual High Definition Summit, July 16 & 17 in Hollywood, CA. Dark will be speaking at the dinner on the 16th, and will address the development of high definition over the span of his career, and give tips and insights on how better to produce and shoot in HD. He'll also discuss some of the challenges content creators run up against and solutions he's developed to address them.

Additional keynote speakers include Randy Freer (President, FOX Sports Network,) Edward Lammi (EVP, TV Production, Sony Pictures Television,) and Melinda Witmer (EVP & CPO, Time-Warner Cable.)

The High Definition Summit is hosted by Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and Broadcast Engineering magazines. It is a networking event designed to explore key issues - with detailed case studies, high-level keynotes and in-depth analysis.

The private summit will focus on the latest developments, efficiencies and opportunities in origination, production/post production and distribution of high definition programming, and what's ahead for this exciting, expanding business.

click picture to enlarge

Are we there yet?

October 15-16, 2008 in New York City

Randall Dark will moderate a panel of post production industry leaders and visionaries at HD World Conference and Exposition this October in NYC. Dark will lead the panel in an attempt to define, explain and recount why we may be done with the ever evolving and changing pathway of cutting edge post production technology. Attendees will discover if the changes were inspired by the needs of a creative mind or driven by engineering geeks in a back room. And more importantly, "Are we there yet?"

More information on the HD World Conference is available here.