Camera Test #102: GBC-CTC-5X + Flesh Tones
Since the basic details of the GBC CTC-5X video camera are covered in Camera Test #102, I’ll keep things a bit more brisk that in the prior Camera Test blog. If the facts start reading a wee bit dry, just skip down to the end where the YouTube + Vimeo links are located. Now then. From what I’ve managed to find in print and picture online, GBC was a U.S. company specializing in industrial-level video cameras during the late sixties […]
A Short-Short Film: “The Magic Beta Case”
The production of this short-short film was purely spontaneous: I wanted some extra tie-in between my reviews of the 2013 doc Rewind This! about VHS collecting and the history of home video, and my watching a Betamax tape of the 1987 film No Man’s Land – not the critically acclaimed 2001 Bosnian war film, but the 1987 Charlie Sheen-D.B. Sweeney suspense flick about Porsche stealers. The idea also stemmed from me preferring to make a demo video done in the antiquated […]
“So for now, don’t give up your VCR”
Back in 1992, Buffalo’s WGRZ aired a piece on the return of the laserdisc which had won a small war against rival disc format CED, but lost out to VHS and Betamax because of the latter’s recording capabilities. With material sourced from Consumers Reports, the news piece goes through laserdisc’s pros & cons, but suggests it may not be the new big thing. History proved them right – it didn’t exceed tape because of an inability to record and […]
Camera Test #101: The Sharp QC-54 (1985)
I thought the best way to start the New Year is with a video, if not one that reflects the kind of material that’ll be appearing on this site in 2014. I’ve previously posted short tests of various trippy effects-styled videos, but one type I’m keen on adding – for now, at irregular intervals – deals with test runs of vintage cameras. You can find assorted test videos on YouTube easily, but in many cases they’re zoom-happy, out of […]
Editor’s Pick: Robert J. Sawyer on Paying the Price
Interesting chat between author Robert J. Sawyer and TVO’s Steve Paiken regarding the lack / virtual reduction of remuneration for authors, and the peculiar expectation of media streams where artists should be pleased to perform gratis. (Thanks to Herr Kelp for the alert.) – MRH
The Cosmos… by Shanks FX
Proof that the Cosmos wasn’t created by a religious force or a cataclysmic kaboom. We’re indebted to milk, as explained in this brilliant vignette on lo-fi techniques to create 2001 beauties.
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