During the recent weeks, we worked with Matthias Boosch on a guerrilla litterateur film project for gonzo verlag (which also resides in Mainz) which got released today. Locations were chosen right before filming and we just “walked and filmed” where we want to.

Notice: We were asked to stop filming near the Kraftwerk Mainz-Wiesbaden. I asked their PR department if that was correct, and they said, theres a “panoramic license” for everyone to film those buildings. So the security company who was working for them was doing wrong. Anyhow. We managed to work around this.

From the filmmaking aspect, i learned some lessons, especially those that you need always have dual audio recordings. During the second half of the video, the external solution was not working right, e.g. overamplified for some reason. I might look into “portable wireless” solutions as some other filmmakers are doing this. Sennheiser seems to have affordable solutions, also for the external mics.

In this solution, i also used the 5DtoRGB Batch Utility overnight to transform the video into ProRes4.2.2 and then afterwards to cut it in FinalCutProX. Export went smooth (within an hour) and everything is fine.

Another issue, which i need to identify where that comes from, is that during each of the 12minute shoots, the scene became darker. Not sure if that is an issue with my 5DMK2 or FinalCutPro or somewhere else. At least it is annoying.

So, enjoy watching (it is in german), but you gonna like it

We now have two igus sliders for use ( and rental), one will be the “superpig” controllable, with two motor drives and timelapse function etc. etc. etc. I think it will be “uberslider” because of the amount of features packed into the arduino ( a programmable device with add-on board). But more about this in a later post. I’ve built another high quality, low price slider using the igus slider, some aluminum parts from thailand and a german anodizing company.

The first photo shows the parts as they arrived from Thailand, second one shows them (one week later) black anodized. It was really worth it, as the aluminum is now protected (and it looks great in matte black). So now we got a fully functional slider – kind of – as i need to adjust some parts, the rubber band and some spacers before it’s fully usable. Also i might have damaged one of the bearings, so it’s not as liquid as it could be.

So in about one week timeframe, the slider is fully finished and ready for use. I’ll do some demo shoots later this week if i find some more time. If you’re interested in the sources of the individual items, i will (one all finished) compile a parts list and source distributors.

You might want to question what a beer workshop has to do with filming. The answer is clear: self brewed beer. by fitza. As you might know fitza is a media designer and audio technician for lots of films and working at the FH Mainz. He also rents dslr equipment besides me in Mainz. This is the ideal chance to try out some of my new toys like the gopro hero and the slider (still not the motorized one, but nevertheless …)

If you want to know more about fitza’s beer brewing wait for the trailer / documentary or visit microbier.com

Update: alexboerger uploaded the first “blooper” video from the homebrewing workshop, as we had to throw away the first brew because the temperature sensors we had were faulty and caused only 30 degress rather than the around 70 degreees celsius needed:

Also i found some time on sunday to do a rough edit of the documentary.