Tony Brown

Best image I have, sorry. It looks plastic? 

Hi John, Sorry for the delayed response I've been having problems logging in

The job never happened which I was a little relieved about as the idea was pretty weak and I had premonitions of underwhelmed faces on set.

However.... I did get as far as sourcing a helmet from Extreme Facilities in London but it really could only accommodate an EZCam without becoming too cumbersome for the artists especially as we had kids in the script. 

Think I dodged a bullet there.....though anything would be welcome at the moment!

Have a shoot coming up which is 1st person PoV with the actors hands in foreground, mixing pizza dough, removing things from oven etc so camera needs to be mounted approx chin height, central and as close to the Actor as possible. The shoot will be in Eastern Europe and my crews ability unknown so I may have to obtain something and take with me.

Camera will be Sony Venice using the extension system so the mount needs to be fairly robust.

Any thoughts appreciated

Panasonic Plasma, 5 years old 1080p.

I absolutely detest LCD, not keen on 4k and as for 3D....Pfffft.

Still got an old 36" Sony tube job somewhere, best skintones ever......

Maybe I'll covert to OLED when this one dies as I do like my Small HD DP7 for shooting, but I hope its a while yet before that happens

300mm Canon T2.8 gives flares like those of you can live with a source close to or on the frame.

Great lens

Years and years and years ago...... it was trendy to project images, generally out of focus nonsense, onto peoples faces in close ups, or onto walls behind them, with 16mm (which tended to avoid shutter sync issues rather than 35mm) projectors. Time has moved on so can anyone advise the type of spec projector I should be testing for doing something similar in 2015. LCD? Reasonable Lumens? etc etc. Dont need anything too punchy, I can drop the levels and get the projector in close, just need to feed the image from a laptop..........

Thank you

He's a Gaffer who occasionally operates.

 

 

I also had astigmatism corrected. I think its 10 years since I had it done, never a problem and I still say its the best decision I ever made.

Is Dougie Slocombe still with us? He must be 100 this year. I remember he had cataracts in the early 80's.What a nice man he was to work for.

easy on stills but you'll fry person with enough hotlights. I briefly spoke to Unilux about the strobe thing a while back. they have a unit they developed for rollercoater pics they thought they might be able to adapt. In the end I got a bit bored trying to work out something you could more easily do in post.

If you PM me your email I'll forward you the info they gave me...

A great English Gaffer called Roy Rodhouse once said of the F.A. Cup "be easier to win the ******* thing than light it."

Its all down to taste really, but never under estimate the real estate of white bounce you'll need if you go the 'white' route. A white tent can be useful and light through the fabric. They are usually quite shoddy when you get close up as people are usually drunk with either euphoria alcohol or both when they handle it, so the white route tends to smooth the imperfections out and give it a bit of star status

When I shot the F.A.Cup it came with a security guard who was paranoid about us going too close to it (there are actually 3 copies of the cup so not sure why they get so precious. Good job he didn't see the dulling spray we loaded it up with. Dulling spray really spreads the highlights nicely by the way if you cant go the white route, probably your best bet......

I agree, but Cameron and Scorsese seemed to think it would suit anything.

Then, clearly, they are wrong :)

Its pants and the sooner it fades away the better IMHO, or keep it in a funfair sideshow booth where it belongs next to the Hall of Mirrors. And take all the noisy, smelly food that only seems to exist in the cinema seat directly behind mine too please.

That feels better..... B)

Ordered, thanks Matt, I'll give it a try.

i interned on a show that connie hall jr dped, and he had a whole series of nets he threw in front of the lens... is the aesthetic of having it behind the lens that much better than the front to justify going through snot taping or etc etc?

I'll go on the front if its just a CU of a woman who needs some kindness on a longer focal length but try to be EXTREMELY discreet when putting it on. There is an etiquette with nets ......

Yes many reasons to keep them on the back, consistent look, safer on wide angles, less flare and they dont get forgotten. The gel slides on Cooke zooms were handy and the rear rings for the old 25-250's would also fir 300 Canons.

When I worked for a rental company in London we had a Japanese crew return a Panaflex kit .....they'd netted the gel slides LOL. They reshot the following week :)

Snot tape works for my gauzes but not for stocking.

The rings look interesting but would restrict the choice of lens

@ Matt.....would you 'brand' your rubber cement suggestion please. (Its sounds like UHU which doesn't work but......) It maybe something I haven't tried. UHU doesn't work.

Another way to get the right diffusion is to lessen the tension but remove some of the 'threads' from the stocking. Sadly I no longer have the eyesight nor the patience for that.

Thanks David, unfortunately tape wont hold the sort of tension I'm after, I'd also be very concerned about it coming away in heat/cold.

Appreciate any other suggestions.....

I spend (too) many years as a 1st AC in a time when it was de rigueur to stick 7 denier Dior to the back of lenses. The practice then was to use clear nail varnish and to clean it off at the end of the day with acetate. Apart from the fact it trashed the anti reflective surfaces surrounding the rear element it took 15 minutes to net each lens and at least as long to take them off. People tried Black Tack, snot tape, UHU, elastic bands, super glue (I kid you not) usually with disastrous consequences, mainly that these alternatives never held the net tightly enough.

I want to use nets / gauze on an upcoming project. Does anyone have a less destructive method than nail varnish for fitting nets to the backs of lenses please.

many thanks

Christ, I'd never heard of Arri Crew.....

Its important to speak to diary services face to face as well as judging their phone manner. Remember you are interviewing them, not vice versa, you are the client.

You'll also get a very different perspective on their services speaking to production people rather than fellow camera crew. They are ones picking up the phone after all, they soon get bored ringing a service who put them on hold or have a list of obvious favourites.

I'll recommend Sue and Pam at Exec. 01753 646677

You can't find any decent fish and chips in the UK either, it's all cod. Yuck. I only eat halibut.

 

R,

I love Halibut.... if many more of our east Europeans cousins come here it'll be all Carp and Cabbage shops in my manor

This is like saying you hate Pepsi because they use celebrity endorsements, you won't eat at McDonald's because you hate clowns, or you won't use by an iphone because of all the hype behind it. None of that matters.

 

If you like the taste of Pepsi, drink it. If you like the images Red produces, shoot it.

 

You mean principles? I'd say they are a persons most admirable characteristic. You may not agree with them (though funnily enough I dislike celebrity endorsements, clowns AND iphones) but you cannot knock somebody for having them.

What is a person with no principles?

Hey all,

 

I'm working on learning to be a Digital Loader/2nd AC,

Am I being a Luddite thinking they are completely separate grades? I'm sick to death of seeing 1st AC's trying to organise a shoot single handedly whilst the 'Digital Loader' stares at his Mac Book Pro. Either you wrangle data or you're a 2nd AC.....no?

Hey does anybody know where i can get the Panchromatic viewing filter from i have seen it on the vinten website,

 

 

need it from a uk store if possible :)

 

Ollie

Carey @ The London Filter Company.

+44(0)207 735 1900

info@thelondonfiltercompany.com

I shot in and around Hanoi 10/11 years ago on a commercial for Cisco Systems. Wonderful place, wonderful people. Probably my favourite ever location. However all the kit was brought in from Salon Films in Hong Kong and local labour was enthusiastic but didn't have a clue. Luckily we had A/C's and AD from UK so were well organised. Can't help on rates, it was a US production

But whatever the money, do it. You'll never forget the experience.

Food is awful :)

And yeah the soft and diffused glamorous look is something we associate with heavy Pro-Mist filtration.

The classic diffusion for women was and still is, nets, of varying density and colour, there have been fashionable trends down the years, Mitchell diffs, Soft FX, Softars....but it always comes back to a good selection of nets.

Lighting a woman for beauty in any fixed position is really not difficult. If its the primary consideration then you need to communicate early on that her movement will be restricted else optimum result will suffer. The more movement allowed (and obviously restriction is more often than not impractical) the more the optimum is diminished as the target area needs to be widened.

Does anybody shoot characters in soft focus anymore? I recently learned that cinematographers such as robert burks shot women in soft focus becuase it was supposed to make women more attractive.

I can speak with some years of research on this behind me......You're confusing lenses with beer.....

I am not sure whether they are fast enough for your needs. They are although extremely sharp from corner-to-corner (over T4) and very reliable lenses. Great focus rotation and distance as well. You may also consider the cheaper Master Primes (great lenses, but a little softer at edges. Also the Back-focus performs a tad better with the Ultra Primes).

 

As Brian mentions, they are very expensive and not something you want to buy in four different focal length, without testing them first.

Totally disagree with that, I'd take Master Primes every time over Ultra's. Also Master Primes are FAR more expensive than Ultras. I've had many different problems with Ultra Primes but they are a good solid second hand buy. I personally prefer Cookes for rental but the UP's will give better bang per buck

You'll need something wider that 24mm and also fill the gap between 24 & 50

But with RED I would go for something older and less sharp at the expense of speed, Baltars, Cooke S3, even Kowa, much easier on the eye....oh, and an AC who knows what he's doing otherwise you will end up firing yourself (that I'd like to see)

Best solution as others said, rent.