Awesome C300 short by Ron Howard and daughter Bryce Dallas Howard produced as part of Canon's Imagin8ion project. Watch it now though as it's only online until the 19th December.

When You Find Me – Awesome Canon C300 Short Film | Paul Joy (http://www.pauljoy.com/2011/12/when-you-find-me/)

Rec'd via email from Canon USA:

"We're excited to announce the online premiere of when you find me, the short film inspired by Project Imagin8ion. Available at Imagination's Channel - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/imagination) from 12PM EST on Friday 12/16 until 9AM EST on Monday 12/19, this represents the culmination of an exciting and innovative campaign that produced the first Hollywood film to be inspired by photos from the masses.

Launched in May, Project Imagin8ion invited photographers to submit their most imaginative photos in the eight categories of character, setting, time, mood, goal, relationship, obstacle and the unknown to help inspire a short film to be produced by Hollywood icon and 2-time Academy Award winner Ron Howard. In a little over 3 weeks we received a staggering 96,362 photos. The community voted to narrow down the semifinalists and Ron Howard picked the winner in each category then got to work with the film's director, his daughter Bryce Dallas Howard, and screenwriter Dane Charbeneau to bring the story to life. The result was when you find me, a story of two sisters whose childhood bond is tested by a tragedy they are too young to understand. Alternating between past and present, when you find me is an emotional fable of two people coping with loss in very different ways, and what it takes to find peace within yourself and reconciliation with the ones you love.

"In addition to celebrating consumers' creativity, Project Imagin8ion also showcases Canon's leadership in imaging. The film was shot exclusively with Canon cameras and lenses, much of it on the newly introduced Cinema EOS C300 camera and Cinema EOS lenses. The EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera and EF lenses were also used in production, and a dream-like stop-motion animation sequence was recorded with the EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR camera.

"The film had its worldwide premiere at a private red-carpet event in New York City on November 15. Additional screenings are planned for 2012 at film festivals (including the prestigious Sundance Film Festival), in the hometowns of all eight winners, and at other still-to-be determined locations. This weekend is the only opportunity audiences will have to view the film online until the in-theater distribution program concludes, so I encourage you to watch at www.youtube.com/imagination (http://www.youtube.com/imagination)."

Paul Joy's blog (above) also has a behind the scenes piece produced by Canon.

Watched it this evening in the living room on our HDTV and thought it not only
looked fabulous, it was also the single best Cinema EOS piece yet in terms of
story. For anyone claiming to be underwhelmed by the storylines of any or all of
the four L.A. demos from Nov. 3rd, you should really check this one out. Sure it
looks great, but what I really love about this piece is the script, and the way it's
directed and acted out. Ron Howard oversaw the production, and the development
of this little film out of eight selected photos (almost 100,000 were submitted) is
remarkable in terms of how cohesive it is.

Nice BTS video, too -- it was a treat to see my friend Tim Smith of Canon USA
in several shots (hi Tim!). Congrats to Bryce Howard and her crew and her dad
on a job well done. I hope those of you who are interested in the C300 will take
the time to see it before it's removed from YouTube tomorrow (Monday) morning.

Dear Friends,

Wow! That was very impressive on many levels.

I was completely engrossed in this short film.

Yep, excellent in every way.

I couldn't agree more with Chris. I've watched it a few times now hoping to evaluate the images and always find myself at the end of the short having totally forgotten about the imagery :)

Just wow! A loved it. This is THE film that should have been screened at Hollywood on November 3rd.

Dang! Missed it. It says "this video is private."

This was a "sneak peek" for a limited time only on YouTube (I really
wish they had worked a deal to show it on Vimeo). The film is about
to head to various festivals and screenings around the country. At
some point I'm sure they'll put it back online.

Did you see the credits on the thing..... There were more electricians than Carter had pills.

I don't think this film really does to the C300 a lot of favors. Seems to be an awful lot of noise in the shadows and low light shots. Is anybody else seeing that ? It doesn't look like compression noise to me.

Seems to be an awful lot of noise in the shadows and low light shots. Is anybody else seeing that ?

I watched the 1080p version on my large plasma and, on an aesthetic level, loved the imagery of this piece. In the scene right near the beginning, where the couple sit up in bed, I was marvelling at how well the camera captured the image in this unlit room (which, from memory, had the curtains mostly drawn). Yes, I noticed noise in the shot. But, to me, it totally fit in with the "look" and "feel" of the shot. It would probably be no more distracting than film grain to an actual audience, in my opinion.

That particular shot actually impressed me concerning the camera, in terms of the possibilities which this opens up, and made me marvel at how far the humble "video camera" has come in the past 10 years or so. I guess it's just crept up on me, but it totally hit me while watching this scene.

I wouldn't say "unlit", it's not that usual for film lighting.

The impression I get is that the C300 noise is more random in nature than video noise, closer to film grain in its effect. Of course, the camera needs to be tested to find out how the noise levels vary with various ISO settings and some people are going to be more sensitive to it than others.

Looking at this film, it gives the lower budget dramas another good camera option, although the producers shouldn't think you don't need lights, because in the end the lighting is the bit that makes all the difference..

I've been shooting the 5D in those situations, and it seemed a lot less noisy. I also just got a Sony VG 20 that has a pretty tight grain pattern in low light, and that is why I was a bit surprised by several of the low light shots.

Haven't seen the sneak peek, but I wonder what the budget was for the making of the 30 minute piece?

I've been shooting the 5D in those situations, and it seemed a lot less noisy. I also just got a Sony VG 20 that has a pretty tight grain pattern in low light, and that is why I was a bit surprised by several of the low light shots.

Hard to tell sometimes how low the actual light levels are, depending on the scene, you can get the same effect using lighting with 100 ASA film. It's quite possible they pushed things to see how far they could go, for example the 20,000 ISO used in one of the shorts .

Personally, I'd tend to hold final judgement until seeing the straight out of the camera footage and testing at various sensitivity settings and picture profiles. Although, the impression I get is that Canon is going for a less video look with the C300.

... shouldn't think you don't need lights, because in the end the lighting is the bit that makes all the difference..

You've articulated it perfectly, Brian. Currently, my greatest source of professional pleasure in shooting (footage or stills) is "writing with light". Off the top of my head, I think the origin of the word "photography" comes from the Greek 'photos' = light and 'graphein' = write (although my memory could be faulty on this!).

I remember when I got the EX1R about 2 years ago and a corporate video client client saw how good my test footage (unlit) looked. He immediately said, "No more need to use lights!" He had to endure a long lecture for making that comment and I get your point about producers suddenly thinking they can save time and money by eliminating lighting because of the marvellous advances with video cameras.

What I was pondering while watching that bedroom scene was just how much effect you might be able to make with much more subtle light sources. I remember working some years ago on an indie feature with a DP who had rigged a marvellous little hand-held portable light (with its own battery). It was perfect for using when running around doing unobtrusive pick-up shots. However, the camera at the time (720p on 1/3 inch chips) made quite a bit of that pick-up footage unusable - the gain made it way too noisy/grainy.

With a camera like the C300, that shouldn't be a problem and I'm wondering how much more impact a more intimate and subtle lighting set-up might be able to achieve than what I have been used to. That's all.

The change to HD reduced the amount of gain you could apply, plus the cameras became less sensitive compared to the last generation SD cameras.

It's always surprising how much light you actaully need for subtle lighting. Sometimes it can amount to a 12K HMI coming through a diffusion frame outside the window, but inside a small room at the main subject it's f2.8 at 500 ISO and light just nicely drops off in the rest rest of the room.

It looks as though they've decided to leave it online for the time being as the YouTube video is public again.

When You Find Me – Canon C300 Short Film | Paul Joy (http://www.pauljoy.com/2011/12/when-you-find-me/)

Wonderful film.
Hopefully they will let us see it at higher quality.
They were brave making a script that required a good performance from a very young actor.

It looks as though they've decided to leave it online for the time being as the YouTube video is public again.

When You Find Me – Canon C300 Short Film | Paul Joy (http://www.pauljoy.com/2011/12/when-you-find-me/)

How is everyone watching this? I'm still getting a "this video is private" when I click on the video.

Looks like they changed their minds again.