Flip Mino HD: We tested basically every pocket camcorder in existence, and this was one of the best. It shoots 720p HD and is easy enough for your grandma to use. If you’re buying a gift for someone looking to experiment on a budget or simply shoot vacation videos, this is a great little cam. $AU298 [Flip]

Clapboard: No, I’m serious. Though this might just look like a cheesy prom prop (and that’s what it is), little has changed about the most recognised icon of the film industry. And for filmmakers, it’s still extremely handy in tracking good takes, and syncing sound, if needed. The novelty ones are cheap (and many are probably more for show); but splurge on a fancy dry erase version if you really love the recipient. $US2 to $US30 [Prom Wishes ; B&H]

Vintage Hollywood Photographs from Life Magazine: Vintage posters are neat, but I’d contend that these Life prints feel a tad more heart-felt. From Kubrick working on 2001 to Marilyn Monroe doing her thing, there are many gems to be found in Life’s archives. About $US100 [2001 Series; More Life Photos]

Iron Man Arc Reactor: Most people’s latent super powers are still off in hiding, but you never know when a nemesis will rip out your power core, forcing you to crawl across your home for a spare. Don’t look at the Iron Man Arc Reactor as a superfluous purchase; see it as an investment your loved one’s health. $US150 [Museum Replicas]

Sony UWP-V1 Wireless Lavalier Mic: During my tenure in broadcast and commercial production, I found a good, wireless lavalier mic to be the most versatile tool in my bag. It can be hidden anywhere on a body/prop, and the pickup frequencies are surprisingly decent for foleying. Sony’s entry level mic, the UWP-V1, should serve any young filmmaker well. $US485 [B&H]

Kodak Five-Day Cinematography Workshop: Few of us will ever have the chance to shoot on real 35mm film. But Kodak’s boot camp will teach you the basics of 35mm cinematography and give you a chance to burn some 35mm stock while experts hold your hand. The tuition is by no means a non-factor, but come on, it’s pretty much the coolest fantasy camp without Michael Jordan or spaceships. The workshop is only offered in LA… $US2000 [Kodak]

DON’T BUY Back to the Future 2 Hat: I know, it’s neat you can buy this hat. But it looked dumb on Marty McFly and it will look even worse on whoever you give it to. [Amazon]

4K Red One Camera: Yes, the body itself starts at nor far under $US20,000 — without lenses, mounts, CF modules or pretty much anything you’ll need to use it. Yes, this camera is just as hard to shoot with as any full-fledged film camera (if not even harder). But it’s also the cheapest 4K camera you can acquire, and for the price of one extended 35mm camera rental, you’ll have a system that’s “free to use” again and again. Just make sure to gift those cinematography classes first. From $US17,500 [Red]

Don’t forget to recommend your own favourite gift ideas for movie buffs in the comments.

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favourite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We’ll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

A few months back, I wrote about Turbo, a USC graduate thesis shot for under $US100K on a Red One camera that used some well-designed effects to capture one potential future of gaming. Now it’s online for free.

My favourite guilty pleasure moments? The opening fight scene (the best one, IMHO) and a moment when the protagonist’s head goes through a crane game.

Don’t get me wrong, Turbo manages to cram all of Hollywood’s cheesiest motifs into one 20-minute flick. But everything from the visual effects to the cinematography to the fight choreography look pretty freaking good for such a low budget action short. And hey, the plot is still better than any Mortal Kombat and/or Street Fighter movie yet produced.

And if you really dig it, Wonder Woman screenwriter Brent Strickland is shopping around a feature-length screenplay now. [Turbo]

Magazines are going down the crapper as a medium, but the crew at Alexx Henry photography envisions a world where OLED and eInk screens put motion into mags and makes them cutting-edge.

Is this what the future of publishing looks like? Well, I’d be pretty surprised if these techs became anywhere close to disposable anytime soon. Instead, we’ll be seeing things like the Apple Tablet and Microsoft Courier coming along to load up stuff like this. But despite the packaging differences, the finished product loaded on these next-gen displays could be pretty similar to this. And it looks pretty badass. [Living Art Media]

It’s technologically interesting since, with both the 3K and the 5K Red cameras, they’re able to take video and strategically take out frames to use as stills. This makes it a lot easier on the photographer since he doesn’t need to know, intuitively, when the best few seconds are to snap a stream of shots — he can just point the thing and tell Kate to be sexy.

It’s too bad for Kate though, because in order to crown a new Sexiest Woman Alive next year, Esquire will have to have her put down. [Esquire]

We’ll have to wait another month for another teaser as they pull the slow reveal. Still, not a bad way to show off the Epic’s Mysterium-X sensor. [Esquire]

We’ve seen the Red One blur the line between DSLRs and HD cameras with Esquire’s video-still Megan Fox cover, but this video shows how a photography studio that shoots movie posters has used it to blend photography and video even more.

And here’s one of the finished products:

[Alexx Henry]

Captured on the 4K RedOne (that’s a frame resolution of 4096×2304, or 9.4 megapixels), the video-sourced cover image is thought to be a first in the magazine industry, challenging traditional SLR photography and the distinctions of photo vs video.

In other good news, there’s a pile of leftover Megan Fox footage that’s up at Esquire now. But in one of humanity’s great travesties, the clips have been downrezzed for web streaming. [Esquire]

If the fusion of video cameras and dSLRs hadn’t blurred enough before, Esquire shot their June issue cover of Megan Fox in video—a purported first in the magazine world.

Rather than click and endless series of stills, photographer Greg Williams shot the cover with the 4K Red ONE video camera. Fox essentially acted out a scene for 10 minutes, the best moment of which will appear on the June 2009 cover. (Not to be wasteful of Megan Fox footage, the video will also be uploaded to Esquire’s site, of course.)

It’s fascinating that as digital cameras evolve, so will the roles of photographers, models and publications. I can’t see traditional photography ever dying, but whether photos will always be captured in photographs is another question. [Esquire]

Norwegian news outfit NRKbeta conducted this little showdown at the film studio the Jar, with the first two scenes shot with controlled lighting. Here, the Red One is way more detailed, with a superior dynamic range compared to the 5D Mark II (which is plagued some nasty washouts in the second scene). That said, the super-saturated (if unrealistic) colour from the 5D looks way more delicious and it still has less noise than Red in the first scene.

Outside, at night, however, it’s completely the 5D’s game (which we kinda already knew). You can barely see anything with the Red ONE footage, but the video from the 5D Mark II looks fantastic.

Not bad for a $US2700 camera up against a $US17,500 one. NRK stresses that this whole setup is an informal, non-scientific showdown, but it’s close enough for me. [NRK Beta, NRK Beta]

As a production, Sanctuary has taken a lot of risks—they were also the first TV show to go almost completely green-screened, depending on rendered backgrounds for many of their shots. Oddly enough, this technique allowed the RED to really shine.

The crew gushes over the RED One, speaking mostly about its ease of use and versatility, and hinting that its reasonable price allowed the cameramen to spend a bit more on cinema-grade lenses. The most important ability of the RED, as far as Sanctuary is concerned, is resolution. With digital chopping an manipulation the name of the game, it’s vital that individual components of the video can be cut and integrated into a composite scene without losing clarity, something which the One’s massive 4k sensor makes possible.

It’s also interesting to note how using a camera like this changes the production dynamics of a show; reviewing and editing footage occurs almost instantly, rather than hours later as in a traditional film production. So interesting is the production scheme, in fact, that it’s the most interesting thing about this entire show. Oh well! [Dvice]