Author Archives: sean

Trying out the new Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K

Posted by sean

I’ve been a huge fan of Blackmagic Design cameras since I purchased the original Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera over a decade ago. They’re a company that knows how to make an incredibly powerful and versatile cinema camera at an affordable price for an indie filmmaker like myself, and using their cameras to make my short films look more filmic by adapting vintage lenses to them and using all sorts of color grading methods has been a real pleasure. Recently I was able to demo Blackmagic’s first full frame camera for Fotodiox, showing off some of Fotodiox’s L-mount adapters in the process. Here’s my full demo video:

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I was really impressed by the quality of the BMCC6K’s image, and I loved the full frame open gate look. It felt a bit like shooting in IMAX. Like all cinema cameras, there are some limitations. It’s not the easiest camera to hand hold without a stabilized lens, and it works much better on a tripod, but I’ve been meaning to shoot in a more locked down style anyway :)

Here’s a demo video I shot with the Cinema 6K and a 14mm Rokinon lens.

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As much as I love this camera, I’m still pretty happy with my Pocket 4k and Sony A7S II, although I may consider using one in the future. It was a great experience shooting with it for a week!

Sean’s Top Nine for 2023

Posted by sean

Here are my top nine most liked photos on Instagram for 2023. They’re fairly representative of my year, from shooting lots of photos with my various Holga cameras to experimenting with Polaroid film and some new point and shoots to collecting rare cameras and celebrating our first wedding anniversary! It’s interesting that some of my most low-contrast, funky color film photos got the most love. I get it guys, you like that retro film look :) Thanks for all the support this year! – Sean

Check out my Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/seanandersonmedia/

31 Scary Movie Mini Reviews 2023 – Part 2

Posted by sean

Every year in October I try to watch and write about a scary movie for each day of the month. Here are my last 16 Scary Movie Mini Reviews for October 2023. Enjoy!

Scary Movie Mini Review #16: One Cut of The Dead (2017) Directed by Shin’ichirō Ueda

Here’s a fun one from Japan: filmmakers making a low budget zombie movie run into real zombies? This movie requires zero spoilers to fully enjoy so I won’t give you any. But if you don’t mind some splattery zombie gore, it’s a fun ride. That’s it. That’s all I can say. Watch it, it’s awesome! (I should watch more zero spoilers movies because writing the reviews for them is so easy.)

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31 Scary Movie Mini Reviews 2023 – Part 1

Posted by sean

Last year I reviewed 31 scary movies, one for each day of October. This October I’m doing it again! Today is halfway through October, so here are the first 15.

Scary Movie Mini Review #1: Kiss of the Vampire (1963) Directed by Don Sharp

This lesser Hammer Horror film has a garish poster that promises “giant devil bats summoned from the caves of hell to destroy the lust of the vampires!” Not surprisingly, the bats are normal sized cheesy rubber puppets on fishing line. Despite that, this movie has a unique tone to it, something surprisingly magical and haunting that’s abandoned in the goofy and rushed climax. 

A newlywed couple are on their way by motor car to their honeymoon. They break down somewhere in the German mountains near a castle, and of course there’s a menacing man watching them from a castle window. They end up at a strangely empty inn and are invited to sup with the wealthy doctor and his children who live in the castle. Unsurprisingly the doctor and his children are vampires, but they’re a different type, more satanic personality cultists than undead blood suckers. The young wife is slowly lured into this cult’s clutches, and the husband and local Van Helsing wannabe must save her. All this is rote cliché, but what stands out as unique is the slow, menacing pace and tone, the texture of long gray rainy days and gloomy moonlit nights. These vampires remind me more of the secret society in Eyes Wide Shut than the Draculas in countless vampire flicks, and their menace is more in the way they corrupt your soul than your blood. It’s a pity that the ridiculous rubber bats flap in at the end and ruin everything.

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31 Scary Movie Mini Reviews – Part 2

Posted by sean

This October, to celebrate Halloween, I’m writing 31 mini reviews of scary movies. Here are the final 16:

Scary Movie Mini Review #16: The Midnight Hour (1985)
Directed by Jack Bender

This 80s made-for-TV movie is a bit of everything: part Stephen King small town horror, part creature feature, part teen comedy, part… musical? Seeing LeVar Burton dance the Get Dead dance has to be seen to be believed. An ancient curse comes back to haunt a small New England town. Our teen heroes accidentally trigger this curse then have to resolve it on Halloween night, all while throwing a wild Halloween house party and dealing with an increasing hoard of zombies, vampires and ghosts. This is all way more fun than scary, think a Halloween version of  the original Jumanji, and the 80s styles and zany makeup and costumes alone make it worth sitting through some of the more boring sections. The gravestones are made of flimsy wood, the wolf man looks more like a thin guy in an ape suit, the filmmakers can’t decide if the movie is set in the 80s or 50s—a good chunk of the movie is just pretending to be American Graffiti—but it’s still a lot of fun to watch and an endearing Halloween treat.

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