From "The Guardian", when the astonishing new technology is put to good use!

In all the terrible news which overwhelms us every day, once in a while an article comes along which reminds us that all our new technology is not wasted, not just a toy.

The drone operators who halted Russian convoy headed for Kyiv

One week into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia massed a 40-mile mechanised column in order to mount an overwhelming attack on Kyiv from the north.

But the convoy of armoured vehicles and supply trucks ground to a halt within days, and the offensive failed, in significant part because of a series of night ambushes carried out by a team of 30 Ukrainian special forces and drone operators on quad bikes, according to a Ukrainian commander.

You can read the whole article here:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/28/the-drone-operators-who-halted-the-russian-armoured-vehicles-heading-for-kyiv

pt

"Sophie's Test" from Tom and Lesley

My friend Tom sent me this yesterday. 

It is a very short piece he made at home with his wife Lesley and Sophie, a student who has been staying with them but who will depart later this week. 

Tom and I have been trying out all sorts of GIZMOS since we first started mucking around with film about 60 years ago.

This "test" was both for Tom's new gizmo ( a sort of gyro steadicam called?) while I have my version of the same thing built into my GoPro... it's just image stabilisation folks... these new fangled gizmos just make my clumsy  handheld camera look like they're shot on steadicam rather than the fumblings of a drunken geriatric.

So Tom has also made it a test for Sophie. I don't know if it was intended as a screentest or a piece for entry into the wide world of cinema... or maybe just a little bit of fun for a quiet day!

SOPHIE'S TEST from Tom Cowan on Vimeo.

Tom has sent me the following:

 About 'Sophie's Test:  

Just a continuation of 'mucking around' as you say. I wanted to make a movie about my house. And Sophie is staying with us. She's a law student from Germany although she's French. She made me think of French films of 50 years ago. It's a homage to Anna Karina who I filmed in Leningrad 47 years ago. The film stock I used at the time was Russian, but Colorfilm laboratory here in Sydney returned the pictures to me black. 

Tragic.

I also wanted to try the new hand-held stabilizer. The test combines those elements. The stabilizer is a Neewer. It costs $75 and can produce an interesting gliding feel.

Tom.