Over the last couple of winters I've been slowly working away at a long form documentary film, documenting the effect that snowfall and the subsequent avalanches have on the mountain eco system. I've never worked on or been involved in any kind of nature production, except my own personal films, but ever since I first picked up a film camera and started shooting skiing and snowboarding, my fascination with this subject has grown more each year.

This winter was a big snow year and ideally I would have liked have filmed more sequences than I did. But anyway I still managed to shoot some material for the film and hopefully, given good conditions next winter, might be able to complete the film in 2010. I've made a short teaser from some of this winters shots, which I've posted on Exposureroom.

Shooting naturally triggered avalanches is not the easiest thing in the world to do, you need to be in the right place at the right time obviously, but having quick reactions and gear that will react as fast is probably equally important. The last couple of winters shooting for this project have really been a testing ground for me and I'm now realizing that I may need to go back to my 16mm shooting days. I've shot most of the material so far with my FX1, which is a notoriously slow starting camera, even by other tape based systems. I think any digital based system isn't ideal in a situation where the camera has to stay in standby, in the cold for hours on end and then suddenly drop into instant record. So I'm considering the switch back to Super 16, purely for shooting these sequences next year, conditions allowing. Most film cameras that I've used don't suffer from poor start up times, they either run or they don't! I had been thinking of using the upcoming Scarlet, to complete the project, but as start up on the current Red One is a bit of an issue, I will just have to wait and see how this develops. In the meantime I'm keeping my eye on S16 prices, quite a few people seem to be offloading film gear at the moment, so it could be time to scoop a bargain.

Ade

With the switch to this new site I am taking down the Scratchtapes pages, as I simply don't have the time to update what is effectively 2 blog installs or run an e-commerce site. The Scratchtapes clips will still be available to order via a dedicated page on this site, along with downloads of the free low resolution versions. 

Some of the Scratchtapes clips as well as some newer HD versions are now on Revostock and Pond5. This means the clips are available individually, rather than as a disc collection. 

So, to continue with my ongoing search for the perfect back packable camera solution, I've been following closely the release of the Panasonic DMC GH1 hybrid VDSLR.. an SLR that also happens to be a Hi-Def video camera. I was expecting to like this camera, as it would allow me to use my existing still lenses and therefore be a very light weight and compact set up. I wasn't expecting though, the image quality to be as sharp and detailed is it looks.

The compression was a real concern, and still is, but it does like this is going to be a very versatile little camera, especially when weight or difficulty in using larger cameras is concerned. British freelancer Phil Bloom has been one of the first people to really demo the camera for use in video production. He has written a nice piece on it's use in this context as well as created a couple of edited clips, to show the cameras potential. The slow mo shots from Kauai are particularly nice. http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/05/02/kauai-sunset-lumix-gh1-slow-motion/

The camera has created quite a buzz already, though it remains to be seen how it will be adopted by the indie film community and low budget shooters. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this camera and testing it out in the near future. Cheers Ade

Saturday was the carnival day here in our local village Mont-Saxonnex. The weather was clear but cold! I shot some footage and here is a little clip from the day, which I've uploaded to my smugmug account to try the video hosting out.

Ade