A quaint little mistake, quite harmless: FLIM instead of FILM. Subtle, yet evocative of an age when sheep herders and boom operators discussed mountain winds and ambient noise pickup. Or maybe not. Here’s something for everyone (that wants to make flims): Celtx– free scriptwriting/media pre-production software for Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Following up from my earlier post on 35mm DOF adapters, here’s the way I’ve built mine. Note that this is revision four, which uses much better materials, including a Thorlabs 2″ lens tube (my earlier designs were crudely made out of cardboard, file dividers and lots of electrical tape!) This design borrows heavily from Richard Mellor’s. Although the DOF adapter is considerable in length; it’s not heavy. I’ve never had any problems using it on my camera; a consumer Panasonic NV-GS3001/4″ 3 CCD with a 37mm thread.

The US vs. John LennonPeace now.

Digital video is great, but not so great when you compare it to actual film. Perhaps the most interesting attribute of actual 16mm and 35mm film cameras (and some high-end digital video cameras) such as those from Arri and Panavision is the shallow depth of field (DOF.) Shallow DOF basically means there is less distance infocus between the subject and the area in front and behind the subject, allowing for selective focusing.

Salar Abdohwrites a prescient piece on Iranian cinemafor Words Without Borders. Some gems include: …being Iranian today means, among other things, being associated with what the President of the United States has called the Axis of Evil. Evil suggests barbarity. So each time an Iranian film wins an award, each time a reviewer calls Iranian cinema “vibrant” and Iranian society “intellectually vital,” one feels vindicated. “We are not barbarians!” is that cry across continents that forces others to listen and take note.