Hurlblog - the Blog for Shane Hurlbut, ASC

When my Elite team and I set out on this mission to trail blaze this new technology we were prepping all of our 15 HDSLR cameras out of Panavision/Hollywood.  I always felt that it was the premiere camera house.  Small, intimate, great service, incredible staff and a feeling of them always having your back.  Smash cut to 15 months later and a new design is afoot.

I circled the wagons and asked all my DP friends and Elite Team members if you could design a camera rental house of the future, what would it be like.  They mentioned all the things that I had stated about Panavision /Hollywood but together we had to think more outside the box.  Embracing this new HDSLR platform can only breed this thought process.  So we came up with a very forward thinking rental/prep environment that caters to the trailblazer, the tester, the filmmaker, the artist, the tech wizard and the fabricator.

Imagine a metal and aluminum fabricator on staff, with a lens projector, and collimator at your finger tips, a client contact and prep staff to cater to you personally, along with a vast array of support gear to aid in your creation.  To top it all off they provide a full DI color correction bay and screening room.

Screening Room For Viewing Footage on 20 ft. screen

You can now test with your Canon 5D, 7D or 1D, with PL or Canon mounts and immediately download your media, project it on a 20 foot screen with a 2K Christie video projector and a full color correction system to assist in bringing your images to life. You have an arsenal of lenses to choose from. Cooke’s, Zeiss, and Angenieux to name just a few and on the still lens front Zeiss ZE primes, Canon L-series lenses and Nikon AI glass.

Shoot Tests and View on a 2K Christie Projector

Now we ‘re talking. This is the wave of the future and Hurlbut Visuals along with Alternative Rentals are creating this forward thinking prep floor.  Shoot, test, create, inspire, learn, and think out of the box.

Jim Jacks, the Vice President of Alternative Rentals states, “Alternative Rentals came together five years ago, born from the idea that a boutique facility could be created on the West Side that gave attention to a specialized focus on Digital Cinema and the cinematographers who wanted a place that understood their needs.

The chance to start a company with a clean slate (from the ground up) enabled us to pay strict attention to every detail along the way. We are proud of the relaxed, yet professional atmosphere here, and just as much of the mad scientists behind it! We embrace cutting edge technology and take nothing “out of the box”. We test it, study it,  modify & manipulate it so that it does what our clients ask of it. We love what we do, and we are always prepared to evolve with the ever-changing visual and technological landscapes.”  Creating a system was our first priority, once we accomplished that, turning this compact HDSLR camera of inspiration into a movie making machine was simple.

Forward Thinking Prep Floor for the HDSLR Revolution

Snack Shack

Save Time: Lunch Is Provided

I want to thank Alternative Rentals for believing in this technology and giving it the props needed to continue to ride this wave that will eventually change the way we make movies.  The Hurlbut Visuals Indie and Pro Packages will become available May 1st for rental at Alternative Rentals.