My Mom got an iPad for her birthday back in November and this Christmas eve was the first time I really got a chance to spend hours with the device and really give it a once over. I was eager to try the keyboard for longer writing tasks (like this post) and see what else I could accomplish.

Then it dawned on me that this slick screen was also designed for watching movies. I decided to try out Scott Pilgrim vs. The World because I had it on the brain after it became one of the candidates on the CBC Radio 3 Rock n’ Roll Movie Club. Scott Pilgrim was too perfect a choice for my iPad test since it’s a hybrid of film, comic, rock and roll, and video game aesthetics, while the iPad is leading the charge in new media platforms that appifies all of those previously distinct forms of media.

Hammer time.

I’m not one to cuddle a laptop in bed to watch a movie because I’ve found it too bulky to be comfortable (I only had this option in China). But the slim profile of the iPad suddenly made cuddling up to a movie very appealing. Curiously, the iPad replicated the proximity of the awesome comic book and gave me the freedom to lie in various positions as though I were reading a book. I was surprised how I could comfortably hold the iPad up with two hands while resting my arms on the bed for the first hour of the movie. Then I contorted my body in all sorts of positions and used either a hand or a pillow to prop the iPad up (I should note that my Mom doesn’t have a case).

While some people have complained about the bezel on the iPad, I found it to be ideal when gripping the device and not obstructing the screen. Overall, the experience was incredible and I feel like we’re going to see an interesting change as cinema gains the proximal relationship of a book. I know the iPhone goes there too, but I still don’t find myself watching much video on it, especially if a bigger screen is around.

Since screen grabs are an important part of my film studies work I was pleasantly surprised that I could save a still by pressing the home and lock button. However, scrubbing through the movie to find the right frame was pretty challenging since I kept nudging the scrubber when I was trying to let go. Considering that this isn’t even an option in the Apple DVD player or QuickTime (Thanks VLC!) I’m happy that Apple didn’t cripple this feature in the Video app and consider it a win. Next up for my weekend of iPad tests is the VLC app and how it handles multi-language .mkv files like Mamoru Hosoda’s Summer Wars. And also the Vevo app since I haven’t had a chance to watch Kanye West’s Runaway video.

Zombies looooove the Red Cross

I spent a good chunk of last weekend on the set of a short zombie movie called Hell of a Wedding as the stills photographer and backup boom mic operator. The filming went well and it was really fun hanging out with a pack of zombies for hours on end. I was amazed at the skills of the makeup artists who did an incredible job of bloodying up the actors and kept them looking like they were freshly rotting.

zombies raid the craft table

As a photographer, it was a great opportunity to photograph a lot of people in makeup and all the actors were great models. There’s something about the zombie makeup that makes the most mundane things expressive or at least contradictory and each person brought something different and awesome.

There's an app for that

I posted all of the original photos to my flickr account and separated out the ones that I processed. Which meant that I didn’t have time to process any photos from the actual wedding I photographed for Melissa Gobby and Richard Perron back on August 15th. It’s so like zombies to get in the way. Hell of a Wedding was written and directed by George Somerwill with Knesha Yu on camera and produced by Liz Cairns.