Eye on Entertainment Covers Opening of HD SLR Center of Excellence at The Lot

Online, May 12, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Dawna Lee Heising, David McNeil, John Cox and Gordon Michael of Eye on Entertainment on Time Warner Cable covered the premiere meeting of the HD SLR Center of Excellence at The Lot in West Hollywood, CA. The exhibition was presented by Hdi RAWworks together with Canon USA, Redrock Microsystems, LitePanels, Carl Zeiss USA and Port-Jib. The HD SLR Center of Excellence was created in 2010 by Neil Smith, CEO of Hdi RAWworks with the goal of aiding professional filmmakers and photographers to create compelling content using HD enabled DSLR cameras.

EOE interviewed Dr. Neil Smith about his extensive and multi-faceted career. He is a former business executive with technology companies, including Microsoft, and earned a doctorate at USC. While at USC, he also took film classes at the famed film school and developed documentaries on neuroscience and how the brain works. He discovered the untapped possibilities and importance of pre-production and post-production functions, and founded HDi RAWworks, which is headquartered at The Lot. See the interview at:
www.youtube.com/eyeonentertainment

The premier Center of Excellence workshop covered key aspects of camera use, production and post-production. The debut meeting took place on the old Warner Hollywood Studio Lot on Formosa Avenue in West Hollywood, California. Attendees were able to sign-up for membership in the HD SLR Center of Excellence for only ten dollars, obtain discounts from the vendors and network with other enthusiasts.

Tim Smith from Canon USA along with Canon USA Explorer of Light, Rodney Charters, ASC and Bob Primes, ASC presented workshops on lenses, lighting and shooting with the Canon range of HD enabled DSLRs. Jared Abrams, HD SLR guru and reporter on Cinema5D, was present to handle questions on practical production and shooting. Also in attendance was David Stay, a filmmaker who uses the HD SLR technology.

Redrock demonstrated their range of HD SLR rigs along with new gear previewed at NAB 2010; Zeiss USA presented their new range of Compact Primes CP.2 lenses designed especially for HD SLR filmmakers and LitePanels featured their extensive range of eco-friendly LED lighting systems designed for digital projects. LitePanels won a 2009 Primetime EMMY Engineering Award for their LED lighting products. Port-Jib demonstrated their Explorer JIB/Trolley System that is aimed squarely at the HD SLR market.

As well as the workshops, lighting stage and vendor booths, attendees were invited into the spectacular Hdi RAWworks color correction Fairbanks Theater where HD SLR content was projected from the Barco 2k DLP cinema projector onto a 20 foot screen. Examples of HD SLR projects were screened, along with the winning videos from the 2010 Can-Do International Film Festival and Competition. Rodney Charters, ASC and Bob Primes, ASC, presented examples of their extraordinary professional work and gave presentations in the studio demonstrating their on-set usage of HD SLR cameras.

The next meeting of the HD Center of Excellence will be in August 2010. For more information, see the Hdi RAWworks website www.hdirawworks.com or call Kalani on 323 850 3550. To schedule interviews with Neil Smith, CEO of Hdi RAWworks, contact [email protected]

See also the websites of the vendors for more information on HD SLR technology and digital filmmaking:
Canon USA - www.usa.canon.com
Redrock Micro Systems - www.redrockmicro.com
Litepanels - www.litepanels.com
Carl Zeiss USA - www.zeiss.com
Porta-jib - www.porta-jib.com
Cinema5D - www.cinema5d.com/news
Can-Do International Film Festival and Competition - www.can-dofilmfest.com