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In a recent print article for Film & Video (magazine web site), the authors wrote that producers and directors are using iPods to carry digital dailies between sites and VIPs. They did not mention how they viewed the video, however (I'd assume they were using the iPod as a high bandwidth sneakernet).

I did a little searching on the net and found another article that states the iPod was used for digital dailies during production of LOTR.

This upgrade in iPod capabilities seems like a logic step, perhaps even originating from a few Hollywood users....

My personal advice is waiting on buying the gear until you are ready for the field work. Couple of reasons:

1) Gear is expensive.
2) It may take longer than 6 months before you can get everything in order to shoot you're short film.
3) Depending on the script, locations, etc...the gear you've purchases may not suit the shoot. Maybe you will want a different look that a different camera, lens or format will provide etc...

You can always rent the equipment from a rental house. Their all over the place and they will ship the gear to you too.

A great resource (free too) for understanding more about producing a film is the Film and Video magazine. They run articles about peoples experiences making all types of "movies" including shorts.

Good luck! Its a lot of fun. A lot of work. Make no mistake about it. But it's enjoyable, IMO.

Well the thing is that the article description is a bit misleading and it's comparing two slightly different things. ILM used the Unreal engine to do storyboarding for Spielberg's AI couple of years ago. The system would allow Spielberg to decide shots, say where to place the camera and actors, any camera movements etc. (this was mostly for the Rouge City seqeunce). It was just a crude system to help the director plan the shot.

It's not much differrent than say now using CAD programs to design sets instead of going to a big board or easel. CAD designing of sets and props can give more flexibility and options to the filmmakers. Just the same, game engines are just a way to improve on typical storyboarding which is stil being done quite a bit, along with video animatics or stuff like ding animatics in Maya or XSI.

Here is the article:

ILM Creates Artificial Cities for Artificial Intelligence

1280x1024 on a movie sized screen! I've seen it on several occasions, and let me tell you, the pixels are huge. It's ugly. If you've seen digital projection, you're not "lucky".

The resolution of digital projection must be improved if it is to be taken seriously. 1280x1024 doesn't cut it. There are rumors that TI might finally inch their way up to full HDTV resolution (1920x1080) by the time Ep. II premeires, but even that isn't good enough.

Movie special effects are always done at at least 2K resolution, sometimes 4K. There was an article linked from here not too long ago which quoted some people who were working on FX for LOTR that some of their shots were done at 4K resolution. What good is that if movies are going to be projected at a puny resolution of 1280x1024?

Fortunately, there are more technologies on the horizon besides DLP. JVC's D-ILA is already at 2K resolution, and may reach 4K before too long. Sony is working on laser projection which should also be able to reach 4K.

The bottom line is -- don't be in a hurry! They should take the time to do things right, and make sure theaters are not stuck with equipment that is obsolete overnight. It's a good thing that there are currently only 20 digital screens in the US. The technology needs more time to mature first!

It's funny that you mention it. The Unreal engine was used by ILM to create a pre viz tool for Spielberg during the production of AI. Basicly it allowed Speilberg to have a 3D storyboarding tool. Read about it here:

-Mr. Fusion

"Basically, because modern sound equipment can handle so much more in the way of dynamics, we were able to get away with a lot more than we had before. With things like the explosion scenes at the end of Holy Grail, we could make them much more powerful...From the moment the first new music came up we realized we had something much better. Terry kept referencing back to the original and saying, 'I can't remember doing that!' We would bring it up and he'd say, 'Maybe we did do it like that."

The article also mentions the re-release of Jabberwocky on DVD with a remastered 5.1 soundtrack, as well as the programs the dude used for remastering.

-Mr. Fusion

"Basically, because modern sound equipment can handle so much more in the way of dynamics, we were able to get away with a lot more than we had before. With things like the explosion scenes at the end of Holy Grail, we could make them much more powerful...From the moment the first new music came up we realized we had something much better. Terry kept referencing back to the original and saying, 'I can't remember doing that!' We would bring it up and he'd say, 'Maybe we did do it like that."

The article also mentions the re-release of Jabberwocky on DVD with a remastered 5.1 soundtrack, as well as the programs the dude used for remastering.

-Mr. Fusion