Unfortunately, the Dare to Pass team was unable to go to Comic-Con this year, like we did last year. My wife and I were able to attend, and I was fortunate to moderate the CBS “Teching Out on TV” panel with Pauley Perrette from NCIS, Barrett Foa from NCIS: LA, and Kristen Vangsness from Criminal Minds.

I thought I’d let my wife, Gory Girl, provide the wrap up of our experience at:

Comic Con 2010

This year there was a ton of things to see and do but so little time. I'm going to give you the best and worst of the convention this year. 

I arrived on Thursday to the Hotel Se in San Diego. It was a hotel that was chosen by the network and being that we decided to go late we were happy just to have a room or so we thought... 

It turned out that the hotel used the pool as a party place every night till 2am, so we were running on 2 days of no sleep! This is not a hotel I would recommend AT ALL. The management is a bit crap and the service in the restaurant was God-awful. 

Friday at the convention I got an early start looking at all the booths and buying up exclusive Comic Con stuff for my friends in Vegas. Luckily some of them had done a bit of research, so I was armed with booth numbers and the items names all ready for me in an email. This made it really easy to navigate through the large crowds. 

There were some really fun costumes this year and some....not so good! 'The Walking Dead' booth was by far my favorite with windows that replayed Zombies outside them, you could take pictures of yourself in the setting too. It also looks to be the hit of the year for AMC and it's defiantly going on my Tivo. 

The Tron bike was on display, and it was hard to keep the crowd moving past the damn thing - but once I got close I could see why! I am excited to see this childhood favorite revamped for another generations of kids.

There were plenty of cool things to see at the Sideshow Collectables booth and I always take a slow walk trough there along with the Lucas Arts booth. There was plenty of signing at all the booths this year and it seemed to be well organized as usual.

Saturday was the longest day, but the main reason I went. It was for the panels in Hall H, and if you know Comic Con you know that you have to line up for those at least 6 or 7 hours prior... if not the night before, to have any chance of getting in. I had an assistant do it for me, and I barely made it in the hall being one of the last people before they closed the line. I did manage to get a fantastic seat close to the front so I was all settled in for 10 solid hours of movie previews and panels.

You can read the rest of this article at GoryGirl.com.

Meanwhile, we’re on our way to locking picture on Dark Prophecy. I really can’t wait to show you guys what we put together. So excited for October 14th. We’re going to have surprises galore leading up to the launch. Stay tuned!

Author's Note: I was neither the director nor the director of photography on this project. As an employee of Dare to Pass, I've had the fortunate opportunity to have Anthony E. Zuiker as my boss and be a part of the Dark Prophecy project since the beginning. In addition to currently serving as the editor, I was also able to operate the second camera on 95% of the shoot as well as play a part in bringing the production to fruition.

That said, what is laid out below is my impression of working with the Canon 5D on this shoot in particular, both its ups and downs (though there were relatively few downs) and how it impacted what was a very packed production schedule. Enjoy!

When I first started working for Dare to Pass, the first Digi-novel, Level 26: Dark Origins, had already been released. For the previous cyber-bridges, they shot on the RED, which delivered some really amazing looking footage but handicapped them somewhat by the amount of lighting required.

I'm a huge fan of the RED camera and have used it to great success on a number of projects (even without the new MX sensor, which has much greater latitude and much better low-light performance) but I recognize that you do need to provide lighting and treat it more like film. In fact, I see the RED more of a less-expensive 35mm replacement than a wondercam that can shoot in no light and get an image. It's not that. You have a lot of latitude in post shooting 4k RAW but you still need to give the image something to capture and to do so requires light, and in some cases, a lot of it. So, it's no wonder they had to bring in a lot of lights and for those unfamiliar with film sets, a lot of lights means a lot of time setting them up.

We knew that Anthony was looking to go in a different direction on this one. We also knew that we had some budget concerns, cutting it nearly in half from Dark Origins. The result: a shorter shooting schedule, five days instead of ten, less money to pay to rent cameras and less money to spend on lights. They wanted to spend more time shooting and less time lighting, which is the dream of any director.

So, we came up with the idea of shooting this project on the Canon 5D. Having used it before on other projects, I was very aware of its low-light capability and amazingly shallow depth of field. By going with the 5Ds we could probably shoot on two cameras, doubling the amount of footage we'd be able to capture, while staying at a relatively low budget (camera department wise). Also, because of it's low-light capability, we would require less lights, which means less lighting time, which means more time shooting, which = happy boss.

Now, that doesn't mean you don't have to light. Of course you do. It just means you can bring in a china ball instead of a 1k, you can use source lighting like lamps and candles and so on, instead of a ring of lights around the set, it means you can shoot on a rooftop in downtown LA, at night, and use a single Kino tube. Lighting is just as much of a tool as set design, camera framing and focus, and the best thing you can do, is use light to sculpt your image. You just don't need a generator to do it.

So, I suggested that we bring in Will Eubank, a director of photography I know very well, who recently shot the Angels and Airwaves "Hallucinations" music video on the 5D, which you can see HERE. I knew he had the know how and experience to see the 5D through this project.

The other cool thing about Will is that he had, in his possession, a set of one-of-a-kind cine mounts for the 5D, letting him use cine lenses, rather than the more typical photography lenses. Typically, on the 5D you have to use photography lenses, but using cine-lenses gives you even more of a cinematic look and a really shallow depth-of-field. With Will on board we briefly discussed shooting the 7D vs. 5D vs. 1D. We ultimately settled on the 5D for several reasons, the main one being the full size sensor (as opposed to the smaller sensors on the 7D and 1D) as well the more video friendly aspect of the 5D.

In the process of doing my own research on the 5D, as I've never used the camera on something of this scale, I came upon Phillip Bloom, his great website, his Twitter account, as well as one of his specific posts about using the 5D on George Lucas' new film Red Tails. You can read that post HERE.

I was mainly concerned about the camera's "production-friendliness" or lack thereof. I knew that we'd be going out to a director's monitor for both cameras and had heard rumors about losing the on-camera monitor when you did so. That was confirmed in Bloom's post:

"The major issue we had with the Canons was the monitoring issue. These cameras are still cameras first and foremost and that causes many issues, one of the biggest is they all use a mini HDMI as it primary video out, which also causes the camera LCD to shut off. We experimented with using powered HDMI splitters to feed both the Marshall monitors for my focus puller and myself but also for video village. This was not very successful at all for our purposes.

For a small crew using the excellent Jag35 splitter we used would have been fine but we had to go a different more pro route. So what we ended up doing was using a Blackmagic HDMI to HD-SDI convertor. This required different monitors as our Marshalls were HDMI only but it did mean it slipped into the video village feed so much easier than before. This I have to say is essential in any serious production. Dump the HDMI and go HD-SDI, HDMI is a not a pro connection systems and suffers because of it. It just is not robust enough.

The big issue we had with the 5DmkII (the 7D and 1DmkiV were unaffected) was that when you hit record then the image drops from 1080i to 480p making using the monitor for focus a major issue and also caused about a 7 second black image for the director in video village. Not great. The new firmware for the 5DmkII has not rectified this issue." (PhillipBloom.net)

Since we would definitely be going out to director's monitors we would now have to get on-boards in order to have an image while Will and I operated.

We decided that this would have to be more than us holding the stock cameras. Alan Gordon Enterprises provided us with a pretty decent handheld rig that included 7" Marshall on-board monitors; Red Rock Eyespy shoulder rigs with follow focus, and HDMI splitters going out to HDMI monitors. You can see several pictures of the rig below.

It was an incredibly awkward rig to operate. Very, very front heavy. Because we preferred to not attach the monitor via the camera shoe, we had to use arms to mount it. Only problem was that they were only so long, so the monitor ended up being a little too close to our faces, which strained our necks a bit and could get rather uncomfortable on long takes.

We also suffered the same problems Bloom did with regard to the down-rezzing when rolling. When going out to a monitor of any kind, the image is automatically downsized to 480p. For Anthony, this didn't make a huge difference, since the image he was seeing on the monitors was never final. But it did hurt Will and I with focus (though, I admit, Will has much more experience pulling his own focus than I do) but after a day we got use to finding it in the monitor and it wasn't really a problem anymore.

Though we had a Bartek (wireless focus system) with us and camera assistants, Will and I did almost all of our own focus pulling. And, we rarely, if ever set marks. We certainly never set focus marks, if anything it was for the actors. It helped that the nature of the project, and the shooting style employed, allowed for buzzing focus and handheld movement. It suited the look of the film, so we were never worried about it being perfect. Funny enough, about halfway through filming my monitor only worked in black and white, which actually made it easier to find the focus while shooting.

One of the other issues was that the monitor relay system we worked off of was HDMI. Unfortunately, HDMI can only carry an unpowered signal 25 ft. before it needs to be boosted. Thus, our monitors could only be, at most, 20 feet away from us (to allow for the cables being tied to the rig and monitor stands, as well as the length taken up by the cable running from us, to the floor and then up to the monitor). Fortunately, our sets were fairly small, so we were able to work around it or, in the case of very wide shots, Anthony would check out the image on our on-boards before rolling.

The better solution to this is to go with Bloom's method of using HD-SDI. But HDMI was what Alan Gordon had, so it's what we used.

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits we got from shooting on the Canon 5D was speed. By the end of our six-day shoot we had done 387 setups. We were almost never waiting on cameras or lighting. (Of course, that had a lot to do with some pre-rigging, not to mention the fact that we were shooting on pre-lit stages.) Regardless, once lighting was set, we were solid, aside from bringing in a bounce or adjusting a small light.

The majority of lighting was accomplished from sources, usually built into the sets. The sixth day, however, we shot on Willows Stages in East LA, which pretty much had zero built-in lighting. The day before shooting we had our crew in there pre-rigging and setting up lights. Ironically, in a number of cases, they had brought in too much light and it had to be scaled back.

At one point, while shooting only A camera, I grabbed an HVX to shoot some behind the scenes footage. The image was pretty much unusable because it was so dark. We had Alex Minkin, a very talented photographer, on set shooting additional behind the scenes stills. Since he was on the 5D as well, I had him shoot as much behind the scenes video as he could. At one point he came to me and said that he needed to go get a faster lens, since the f/2.8 he was using wasn't giving him enough light, even though on our cameras with the Panavision lenses the image was more than bright enough! Insane!

For a rooftop scene in the middle of the night, we employed a single Kino tube, china ball and bounce. In one instance, I was shooting b-roll of our lead actor, Dan Buran, moving through this dungeon-like area. The set was incredibly dark but I managed to get away with it using only one Kino tube that was an existing light source in the basement, a practical flashlight and a bounce board.

Our lenses opened up to a 1.6 (for the 75mm and 100mm) and a 1 (for the 50mm, which we used for almost the entire shoot). We shot wide open the entire time.  Our shutter speed, which was often adjusted depending on the lighting, was often set between 60 and 125. Our ISO lived anywhere from 100 (for the outdoor stuff in Venice) to 2500 (for some of the much darker scenes). Having seen the footage as it's being process into FCP, I can tell you I see almost no noise.

Now, obviously one of the things we kept in mind throughout the shoot was the destination for the material. More than likely, it will live in no bigger form than the iPad. Knowing that, it can greatly affect the settings you decide to use and certainly allows you to get away with a lot more than you could if this were being shown on a big screen.

This camera, to me, feels like such a bigger revolution for the web-series, no-budget short film crowd. While I know people have shot features on it, it's not the most production friendly camera. But it delivers stunning images, without the need for massive amounts of lighting, for very little money. The image really does look amazing. You get a lot of bang for your buck when it's you with a camera shooting in downtown LA at night. But it does have a few issues when you start stepping into a more professional production setting. (Hopefully, realizing the impact this camera is having, Canon will address the monitor issue in their next firmware update.)

Ultimately, this camera was the perfect solution for this project. I do not believe that the Canon 5D is a RED-killer. Like all of these cameras, they are merely tools towards serving your needs as a filmmaker. Shooting a no-budget that takes place mostly at night? The Canon 5D might be perfect. Shooting a budgeted short that (you hope) will be shown in theatres? The RED MX might be a better choice. Shooting a Hollywood film for 100 million? Probably shooting on 35mm.

All of them will look good. And ultimately, this is all for us, the filmmakers. The audience probably won’t even notice. Because it doesn't matter what you're shooting on, it matters what story you're telling and how well you tell it.

Let me know what you think.

Be sure to check out Dark Prophecy: A Level 26 Thriller Featuring Steve Dark available on October 14th, 2010. In the meantime, stay tuned for more on the editing process as well as a trailer and photos.

Level 26ers,

A few weeks ago, Justine Bateman, one of the lovely stars of Dark Prophecy pointed us towards the YouTube channel for Mark Watson, aka soldierknowsbest, a vblogger who often reviews and highlights content dealing with tech, computers, software, hardware, Apple products, etc.

I thought it would be great to get his thoughts on this new piece of technology, the Digi-novel, so I sent him a load of books and the Level 26 app. He took a look at it and posted the video above.

Meanwhile, we’re still deep into editing. We’ve completed a second rough cut of the film and will (hopefully) be locking picture at the end of July. Then it’s off to color correction, sound mix and score. I can’t wait for you guys to see it! I really think you’re going to enjoy the book and the cyber-bridges.

Due to the editing, we’re still trying to gather and edit materials for you to see. We’ll most likely be debuting the trailer in August but we will start releasing new images soon and for those who have already pre-ordered the book and sent your confirmation to insidelevel26@gmail.com, you’ll be the first ones to see the new images, most likely a few days ahead of time.

If you haven’t pre-ordered the book, you can do so at the following retailers:

Amazon
Borders
Barnes and Noble

As always, leave your thoughts.

Enjoy!

Zuiker

Level 26ers,

You may or may not know it but Dark Prophecy: A Level 26 Thriller Featuring Steve Dark, the second book in the series, is now available for pre-order! The book will be released on October 14, 2010 but you can guarantee your copy now.

We’re telling you this now because we have a mission for you, the community. As you know, Dark Origins was a bestseller and you guys played a big part of that. We sold nearly 4,000 books through this site alone!

Now, to become a bestseller we need to sell 15,000 books during the first week. Pre-orders count towards that so long as the books are shipped during the first week of release. This is where you come in. One of the ways you, our loyal community, can help us is to pre-order your copy of Dark Prophecy today and start spreading the word. This is our mission!

The important thing is that you pre-order the book and NOT wait until it’s released because the first 500 people that pre-order the book and send us an email to prove it, will receive a special gift. Forward your order receipt to insidelevel26@gmail.com.

Here’s where to get the book:

Pre-order at Amazon.com!
Pre-order at Barnes and Noble!
Pre-order at Borders!

Go forth and tell everyone you know!

Zuiker

Hey Level 26ers,

A very happy 4th of July to all of your celebrating this weekend! Enjoy the long weekend and be safe out there.

Meanwhile, what better way to celebrate than by pre-ordering Dark Prophecy: A Level 26 Thriller Featuring Steve Dark? By doing so and sending your confirmation email to insidelevel26@gmail.com, you’ll receive exclusive access to behind-the-scenes photos and videos before they are officially released here on Level26.com.

Here’s where to get the book if you don’t have it already:

Pre-order at Amazon.com!

Pre-order at Barnes and Noble!

Pre-order at Borders!

Keep an eye on your mailbox in the next couple weeks as we begin rolling out the exclusive content for Dark Prophecy!

Zuiker

Level 26ers,

Though it’s still four months away, the Level 26 team has gone full throttle into prepping for the Dark Prophecy release on October 14th.

We’re days away from completing the rough cut for the hour long cyber-bridges. We’re reading final drafts of the book. We’re finalizing promotional materials. We’re seeing covers, pictures, artwork, video segments and more.

Part of this work for Dark Prophecy will involve updating the site, both for your enjoyment as a user and to make it more Dark Prophecy centric. Since you, the community, have been a part of this from the beginning, I want to get your feedback on what you’d like to see changed, updated, or brought back for Level26.com 2.0.

I can’t promise everything we’ll incorporated but we’re committed to making this the best experience it can be.

Let me know what you think.

And above, as a thank you, enjoy another official picture of Steve Dark from the Dark Prophecy shoot.

Zuiker

We are in the midst of editing the Dark Prophecy cyber-bridges and the footage is coming together very nicely. We’re going to have something really special with these bridges for all of you Level 26ers out there.

We’re going to be releasing a ton of new content over the next couple weeks for all you Level26ers, as well as updating the website to reflect the new book.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to pre-order your copy of Dark Prophecy today because for everyone that pre-orders the book and sends in their confirmation to insidelevel26@gmail.com they will receive exclusive access to the Dark Prophecy trailer, prior to its official release, as well as access to exclusive behind-the-scenes photos and videos before they are officially released here on Level26.com.

And don’t worry, if you’ve already ordered the book and sent in your pre-order, you’re on the list!

Here’s where to get the book if you don’t have it already:

Pre-order at Amazon.com!

Pre-order at Barnes and Noble!

Pre-order at Borders!

We will be posting weekly from here on out so keep for more exclusive content from Dark Prophecy!

Zuiker