Calgary company gets .. Mini35?

[Keith Loh]

It's not mentioned here and my webfu is a bit weak today. But does this company have the Mini35?

And does that rate national coverage in Canada, these days? :)

http://www.cbc.ca/artsCanada/stories/camera080703

Company hopes camera will jump-start film industry
Last Updated 2003-07-08 00:00:00.0

John Spittal, The Arts Report

CALGARY - An independent production company in Calgary hopes their purchase of a rare digital camera will jump-start the province's film-industry.

Scorched Pictures is looking to share the state-of-the-art mini digital video camera - that comes complete with a traditional 35 millimetre lens - with other independent filmmakers.

The camera will enable small independent film producers to shoot in the big screen format without the prohibitive costs.

Producers can rent the $40,000 camera for about $800 a day - a lot less than leasing a top of the line film camera.

There are only two of these cameras currently in use in Canada.

Dwayne Martin, of Earth to Sky Pictures, said it will be an excellent training tool for those wanting to produce full-fledged feature films.

Craig Van Horne, owner of the camera, says it will complement film editing, which has become as easy as a click of a mouse.

"You could shoot all day long, take the hard disk off. Go to a coffee shop and start editing on your laptop."

Van Horne says it isn't his intention to make a lot of money from leasing his new camera.

He said payment will come in the form of a big boost in independent film production in the Calgary area.

For more arts news, listen to The Arts Report weekdays at 7:12 a.m., 8:12 a.m. and 5:55 p.m. on CBC Radio Two.

[Kris Zimbelman]

I would like some additional information, thanks in advance.

[Colin Bell]

Yes as stated above it's true! Scorched Pictures a Calgary firm has acquired a Mini 35 Digital based on the XL1s platform. Outfitted with all the toys (mattebox, follow focus, filters, and even a Firestore direct to disk recorder!!) this camera package is ready to roll.

More info can be found at www.scorchedice.com or

by contacting Colin at 403-510-8606

[Keith Loh]

Thanks for dropping in, Colin. Lots of XL1S people here including Canadians.

[Dylan Couper]

Whats the rental cost on that bad boy Colin?

[Bryan Beasleigh]

The rental cost was discussed in the article in the first post. ($800)

FYI
Kingsway Motion Picture in Toronto is the other Canadian Dealer. They are a dealer for ZGC and also carry Optex lenses. Kingsway are very reasonable in their pricing.

They are hard to get a hold of but when you do, service and price is very competitive. I bought my optex WA adapter for my VX2000 from them.

http://www.kingswaycanada.com

[Colin Bell]

Scorched Pictures rents the ENTIRE PACKAGE for $800.00 per day. This is a one day rate and multi day rental receive a discount based on how many days you require.

To compare the prices you must remember that we include EVERYTHING!

KINGSWAY: $350.00 per day adapter only.

SCORCHED PICTURES: $800.00 for complete package.

Canon XL1S
P+S Adapter
2 Lenses
Rod System
Matte Box
Filters
Follow Focus
7" LCD Color Monitor
B/W Viewfinder
XLR Adapter for XL1
Anton Bauer Proformer Battery System
Sennheiser ME66/K6 Shotgun mic with wired boom pole
2 Mounts (Arri PL, Nikon)
Sachtler DV-8/2D Tripod
AND
THE FIRESTORE HARDDISK RECORD UNIT WITH A FIREWWIRE 60GB DIRVE!!


The entire package is protected by a custom shipping case that can be shipped via courier or air.

Compare an XL1S Rental (Approx $200.00 per day)
plus the adapter $350.00
if you add all the other components of our package for only $250.00 we feel that our price is extremely competitive.

Colin Bell
Production Manager
Scorched Pictures
403.510.8606

[Bryan Beasleigh]

Colin
Kingsway is 2000 miles away. All I did was mention them as another Canadian dealer. I was very happy with my dealings there.

[Colin Bell]

Kingsway is a good company. We just want everyone to know that we offer a complete package for $800.00 not just the adapter. It's good to have a couple of Mini 35 rigs in Canada because many shoots require multiple camera setups.

cheers,


Colin Bell

[Bryan Beasleigh]

How much was the package? I didn't catch that the first 3 times.

[Duane Martin]

Just to clear up some points here.

The name is spelt "Duane".

I do not believe the quote attributed to me is accurate because I have always felt the Mini35 rig that Scorched Pictures has would be an excellant tool for any filmmaker. I did not mean to imply in any way that it was only suitable for training.

In fact, I made a serious pitch to Earth to Sky Pictures, before I ceased working with them, to shoot their next film using the Mini35. It was a hard sell because there was not a DOP of sufficient calibre (at the time, that we knew of, who was Canadian) who was familiar with the system. My partners had only worked with film. And the director didn't want to believe in it.

Until someone does make a film on this camera system and gets it into significant release the dinosaurs of the industry will not consider it. Well, actually, it would probably take ten films. So, get out there and be the one.

Oh, and I believe he said it was $800 for the whole package. Fourth time lucky!

[Craig Van Horne]

For those who are not aware, please take note that Colin Bell no longer works with Scorched Pictures.

My apologies to Duane on the miss-spelling, I believe we took that whole thing directly off the CBC website. Duanes comments were also more indepth and vast than what was used by the reporter in the interview, those specific comments were simply chosen for the report and could easily be taken out of context without the rest of the full interview.

We recently provided the camera system for a short feature film in Edmonton, the images turned out wonderful and I solved a whole bunch of little issues the experienced filmmakers who worked on the project made comment on and expressed as areas which could stand for some improvment.

I've posted production photos and frame grabs from the short feature shot in Edmonton on the website www.scorchedice.com The film is entitled "A Gun, A Cigar, and A Bottle of Scotch", written and directed by Ben Babchishin of Hired Gun Productions. I feel the story is strong, was well told and am eagerly anticipating it's release near the end of November.

Please take note as well that shortly I will be replacing the aging XL1s with the Panasonic DVX100 24p camera which also offers higher resolution chips, along with cine gamma....

I am also currently working on a digital production workshop for the first week in December which we will be showing 3 camera setups all equiped with P+S adapters and cine lenses, ranging from the mini35 to high definition.

There will be experts from P+S, Cooke Optics and Panasonic to answer any and all questions. More information on the event can be found on our website as well. The event is also being sponsored by the Alberta Film Commission and AMPIA, I expect information on the event will be found on thier respective websites shortly as well.

thanks Craig Van Horne, Owner Scorched Pictures