The Spirit The Book

If there's one author whose work fills more of my shelves than Frank Miller, it's Mark Cotta Vaz. He's been writing for Cinefex since I've been reading it, and is responsible for such must-haves as Industrial Light & Magic: Into the Digital Realm, The Art of The Incredibles, and The Invisible Art: The Legends of Movie Matte Painting.

He takes the time to understand the unique aspects of a film's production, and The Spirit: The Movie Visual Companion is no exception. I feel privileged to have our work represented so faithfully and thoughtfully. If you want a window into both my day job and the creative mind of Frank Miller, along with some actual information on the filmmaking process and tons of gorgeous pictures, this is the book for you—although you may want to unwrap it Christmas morning after seeing the movie!

Creating The Spirit's Central City

Or see it bigger here.

Atn. Canon Japan

Canon EOS 5D Mark IIのビデオモードはフィルムメーカー達にとってとても素晴らしいものです。だが、次の二つの変更でさらにそれは完璧なものとなるでしょう。

• オプションで24フレーム／秒への対応（24fpsは映画の基準コマ速度）
• シャッター、絞り、ISOのマニュアルコントロール

これらの機能がファームウェアアップデートによって5D Mark IIに実装されることを切に願っています。もし不可能な場合、次のビデオモード付き一眼レフカメラに実装することを何卒ご検討下さい。 

よろしくお願いします！

In English:

The video mode on the Canon EOS 5D Mark II is very exciting to filmmakers. It would be perfect with only two changes:

• an option for 24 frames per second, the frame rate of film
• manual control of shutter, aperture, and ISO

I hope that you might be able to add these features in a firmware update to the 5D Mark II. If not, please consider them for your next video-enabled DSLR.

Thanks!

How freaking cool is that? Thanks to Saru for the translation.

Adobe Can Has Science

Dan Goldman is an old friend of mine from ILM. He now works for Adobe's top-secret God Dammit Put This In A Product Now division.

Its no Cartoon effect, but it's got promise.

Oh Canon...

How can you, on the same page, say both this (italics mine):

…This sensor size difference means that for any given combination of aperture value, subject distance and angle of view, images from the EOS 5D Mark II are going to have much shallower depth of field than images from a conventional HD device… This difference in the look of movies created by the EOS 5D Mark II is part of the reason why we believe it will be embraced by creative professionals.

…and this:

In addition to the adjustable settings listed above, the following settings are made automatically by the camera and cannot be adjusted by the user:

• ISO speed
• Shutter speed (from 1/30 to 1/125)
• Aperture

Yep, if there’s one thing creative professional embrace, it’s an utter lack of control.

Please Canon, the camera is released, it’s a huge hit. Get to work on a firmware update to add 24p and manual exposure control.