The four Filmweavers were together again last weekend on the special occasion of Ethan's wedding.  Along with spending some great time celebrating we also had a chance to put our latest piece of equipment through some paces.

Canon's Digital Rebel T2i is the latest addition to the still young video dSLR market.  These cameras are designed at heart to take still photos, and thus do have a few limitations during video capture when compared to your average prosumer camcorder.  However, the benefits of the dSLR cams can often outweigh the limitations if used correctly.

The biggest advantage is the ability to attach 35mm lenses to the camera which produces that shallow depth of field "film look" that everyone is after.  Up until now it was necessary to attach a 35mm adapter on the front of a camcorder to achieve this look (which is what we used while shooting "The Penny").  Another thing that has really stood out to me in my limited work with the camera so far is it's amazing low light capabilities.  Ethan's wedding took place in a VERY dim sanctuary which would have been impossible to shoot with a normal camcorder.  The T2i on the other hand was not only able to capture it, but with an acceptably low level of noise as well.  As a bonus the camera takes really nice still images as well (including the shot of the FW guys above).

You can look for some more in depth reviews and thoughts over the coming weeks and months as I'm able use the camera more.  For now I can say that the T2i has met and exceeded my expectations up to this point.  If you're willing to work around the camera's limitations nothing else at this price point ($800 body only) comes close to shooting footage this good.

Here's the first official poster for "The Penny"!  It's quite similar to design #4 but with a few small adjustments.  Also, as you may have noticed the title has remained "The Penny".  After quite a bit of thought and time working on alternate title ideas, we've decided to stick with the original title.  While some of the other ideas weren't bad, we still feel that "The Penny" best represents the film.  It's just got a ring to it!

Post-production on the film continues to push towards completion as well.  Jurgen is working on the very final piece of the score which is exciting.  Nate and I finished up our last ADR recording a couple weekends ago with Dan Bell, Mario Andre and Amy Levenhagen.  With the score getting wrapped up Nate will now be able to work on a final sound mix for the project.  On the visual side of things, Ethan's effects work continues along with Micah's color grading as well.

Filmmaking is often a slow process and many people don't realize how long it can take to create a film from start to finish (although if you've been following this blog for awhile you're getting a bit of an idea!).  After all that work and time it's exciting to finally be coming down the homestretch.  We hope you're looking forward to seeing the finished product as much as we are!

Three of our crew sped down to Indiana for a 2 day commercial shoot for Newborn Lifeline. It is a pro-life, pro-adoption oriented piece. Even though we could have sworn we promised ourselves we would never shoot outside in the winter again (since shooting The Penny last year in sub zero temperatures) The film included a final scene outdoors, so we had to break our promise. Yup it was cold, but everyone survived, and managed to keep a pretty good attitude!

Also, due to a number of extras not showing up we really needed some help and the Sampleys from www.take7films.com came up from Louisville to save the day. Big thank you for that guys!

This short commercial will be airing on national television in the near future, so keep an eye out!