Interviewees reminisce on how Stanley Kubrick acquired the Mitchell BNC cameras and used them, in conjunction with NASA Zeiss lenses, to film “Barry Lyndon” using natural light.
Kubrick used three NASA-built 50mm f0.7 aperture lens so he could shoot literally by candlelight. f0.7! That’s two full stops faster than any lens you can get today.
via Barry Lyndon: Use of the Mitchell BNC Camera and Zeiss Lenses – YouTube.
Yes, please!
A perfect little picture, showcasing a man’s work and life, often intertwined. Discussing this movie with people around NYC, everyone has their Bill story, often with a cutting of showing their inclusion in the Weekend Styles section (or, more often than naught, lamenting that they were next to someone who was in the Style section).
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Amazing access, large in scope, but doesn’t begin to answer the question which keeps popping up throughout the film: What is the future of the Times. It was as if by just showing the process, how honest and hardworking the professional journalists are that the question was to be answered. A great snapshot in time, with good cinematography but with a lack of focus.
Director Errol Morris has been thinking about truth, and its many facetted face, for a long time. His most notorious recent work is an exhaustive investigation about Roger Fenton’s photographs of the Crimean War, specifically which of a few different photos were taken first, and if any of the canon balls were moved (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 & Additional Resources) and the Case of the Inappropriate Alarm Clock on forgery by Walker Evans and Arthur Rothstein of the Farm Security Administration.
Today he released a short film about the infamous The Umbrella Man at Dealy Plaza, where President Kennedy was assassinated.
For years, I’ve wanted to make a movie about the John F. Kennedy assassination. Not because I thought I could prove that it was a conspiracy, or that I could prove it was a lone gunman, but because I believe that by looking at the assassination, we can learn a lot about the nature of investigation and evidence. Why, after 48 years, are people still quarreling and quibbling about this case? What is it about this case that has led not to a solution, but to the endless proliferation of possible solutions?
Take time to watch the short film, it has an interesting explanation. Oh, and I’ve been to Dallas, and ran out to stand on the “X” where the President was shot. It was a very strange place, especially if you look back to the book depository (above).
Elmo, a photo by plemeljr on Flickr.
Opening October 21st is Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey about Kevin Clash, who dreamed of working with his idol, master puppeteer Jim Henson. I met Kevin, very briefly, at the STS-135 Tweetup when he and Elmo talked with Astronauts Mike Massimino and Doug Wheelock. I showed him photos of Elmo and the astronauts and he was so excited that I was putting them online right away – Kevin’s childlike grace was inspiring.
I for one want to see this film, hopefully when I get back to the States. The trailer is below.