Update: Video updated (2-3 scenes are different, different color grading on the solo performance).

Official music video for Scraping for Change‘s “Shadows” track, from their “Breaking the Silence” EP. Download the video here.

This was my first project where there was a budget, since we clocked 4 hours of studio time (plus 3 hours of more shooting the day before for the storyline part).

Three different color grading styles were used in the video (modified bleach bypass for the solo performance, Hollywood teal for the storyline, modified pastel style for the band performance).

Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II, at 30p (slow-motioned to 24p, story part) and 24p (performances). Lenses used: Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, Canon EF 35mm f/2, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye, Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM.

Update: Lots of pictures from the shoot.

What a beautiful device Sprint announced today: the HTC EVO running Android 2.1. It comes with a 4.3″ screen, front facing camera, 720p video recording, HDMI-out, among other stuff. A very modern device for sure.

However, there are TWO things that bother me, things that are inter-related, in this otherwise perfect device.

1. Only 1 GB of internal memory.

2. What about a 2-year support of major new Android version upgrades (instead of just bug fixes on the existing version)?

See, if Sprint/HTC don’t want to give me a guarantee of 2 years of major Android version upgrades, this is a deal breaker for me. I will not touch a smartphone that stays behind in software. These are not the days of the “feature phones” where “what you bought, is what you get”. I need to be able to stay current with OS versions, so I can run the latest third party apps.

And let’s say that HTC/Sprint will offer me that 2 year major software support.

How in the God’s name are they going to successfully upgrade the ever-growing Android package with only 1 GB of internal memory? After 2 years of usage, that memory will be almost full (even if there’s an 8 GB microSD coming with the device, the internal memory is still going to be full of crap in there in most common scenarios). Can Sprint/HTC assure me that there’s at least *another* *hidden* partition of 512 MB or 1 GB where it can download its latest special Android version, unzip, and install?

Because honestly, I don’t see this happening! I find it HIGHLY unlikely that on a phone that only shows to the user 1 GB of internal memory, to have another hidden 1 GB partition “for major upgrades”. Super, fucking, unlikely. Android grows fast!

And besides, 1 GB of internal memory for user usage? What is this? 2005? My music is already 55 GB, and I can’t fit it in any microSD card. And having two microSD cards is out of the question. And let’s not forget that this phone shoots 720p video, which requires more bitrate, and therefore higher file-sizes. Sprint should have gone with 64 GB of internal memory, even at the expense of making the device a bit thicker.

God fucking damn it. A near-perfect device, ruined by fucking stupidity of short-sightness.