From the beginning to the end, Zombieland is a funny and adventurous trip that doesn’t take itself seriously, which is why it’s so great. If you’re looking for another scary zombie horror movie, this movie is definitely not for you, because it’s freakin’ hilarious! No scary bits in it at all, which is what I was expecting from the trailer anyway.

The Blu-Ray is packed with extra features, including Deleted Scenes, Commentary (with Woody Harrelson & Jesse Eisenburg, First Time Director Ruben Fleischer, Writers Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick), Behind the scenes featurette “In Search of Zombieland”, another featurette “Zombieland is Your Land”, Visual Effects Progression Scenes, and Theatrical Promo Trailers. I’m sure those features are also on the DVD version, but because the Blu-Ray is special, it also has “Byond the Graveyard” Behind-the-Scenes Picture-in-Picture track, and something that I’m sure is totally awesome (but I haven’t experienced yet, because my current Blu-Ray player doesn’t have BD-Live connectivity), is movieIQ, which is a BD-Live feature that connects you to access real-time information on the cast, music, trivia, and more while watching the movie!

I’m going to say that this movie tops my 2009 best list, simply because it’s so fun to watch. Yes, it’s completely ridiculous, but that’s what I love about it. I sat down expecting to like this film, but came out absolutely loving it. Definitely worth the money, and I had to own the Blu-Ray as soon as it came out.

Well, the Zombieland Blu-Ray (and DVD) is now out in stores, and I suggest you at least rent it if you haven’t seen it yet, or want to laugh some more if you’ve seen it already.

So, I did a little research online, asked some friends, and tried to figure out what we were going to do. I realize that our industry, RVs, isn’t the most popular online (meaning I’m not expecting to get millions of views for a RV financing information video) but we get quite a bit of traffic, so decided to give it a try.

I personally own an Aiptek A-HD+ 1080p Pocket Camcorder already, so I tried filming some segments with it. The problem I had was, even in a “quiet” small room with the computers off, I was getting tons of static noise in the video. I realized that I needed a camcorder with an external mic jack that worked well.

I didn’t want to spend a fortune, since I have know idea how to produce a video, so this would be a trial run. So, after a couple of hours searching various forums and shops online, I found that most people preferred the Kodak Zi8 1080p Pocket Camcorder, because it produces excellent quality 1080p video (h.264 with a mov wrapper) AND has a built in external mic jack. The mic jack is only mono, but for the videos we’re planning, that’s fine. What’s even better is it’s under $200 (at least when I bought it, it was)…great! Oh…there’s even an HDMI jack on the camera, AND an HDMI cable is included in the box!

I ordered one from Amazon, and was able to find a remote (yes, it even supports a wireless remote control!) on the Kodak site (sort of weird that was the ONLY place I could buy one online…at least that I could find), and an Audio-Technica ATR-35S Lavalier Mic on Amazon.

I played with the camcorder after charging it for a couple of hours and I have to say, the video looks incredible on our Sony Bravia 46″ LCD HDTV. I shot at all the resolutions (1080p 30fps, 720p 60fps, 720 30fps, and WVGA 848×480 30fps) and I think I like the 1080p quality the best.

The only downside to shooting in HD, I think, is my computer isn’t quite powerful enough to preview the playback at full speed while editing. Good thing is, I can still listen to the audio in real time, so cuts aren’t that hard to make. I have decided, after posting several HD videos on YouTube, to post dvd quality (720×480 or so) videos to youtube, because they load much faster than HD.