Tony Brown

Then you deserved any problems you had though its a shame your decision impacts other people. Part of your responsibility as a DoP is to make calls that are in the best interest of the production Live and learn.

Well I'd dispute the shadows theory ..... exposure is relative and slow stocks have more latitude, and what detail in 'shadows' are you expecting in a desert? Sand? Vincent - why was there 'no choice' of film stock? The producer cannot have been that much of an idiot surely. B)

IMDB lists the kit simply as 'Arri cameras and lenses', can anyone be more specific as to what lenses created those circular flares ?

Ok....I'll ask....why?

Try to get Dominic or Jamie to do your stuff at 1000 Volt in Istanbul

Thats definately X Ray. Blue spots sounds like static, which Fuji used to be notorious for, though not heard of it being a problem for years.

I keep hearing this yet find its the weakest aspect of digital acquisition. Collateral was some of the worst, most 'plastic' night photography I've ever seen, continued in Miami Vice Its getting there though. I thought some of the wide shots in Public Enemies had a lovely detailed character that when applied to CU's was horrendous.

I think I'd agree with Mr Smith

Be careful with Mitchell diffusers. There were two types (they latterly became Panchro diffs) The early diffs had an irregular pattern etched into the surface of the glass, not unlike a mutton cloth fabric type pattern. The later ones were a very regular diamond etch The early ones were wonderful, they are very rare, I've been trying to find a set for 20 years. Movietech in London have a set of 3x3 which I have used but I would kill for a set ( or even just the A & B ) of larger ones The diamond etch are very ordinary Then of course there were Mitchell sliding diffusers, literally a long variable diffuser that you slid through the matte box until the desired amount of diffusion was achieved. We had them at Panavision in London around 1976.....

Hi Sergio Yes it was a long time ago and my opinion has since changed a little. I find myself these days searching out these lenses, particularly to help offset the abruptness of many HD systems I doubt Bill is still around, not heard his name mentioned for years. There was due to be a reunion of some sort this summer just gone but I dont think it went ahead.

I'm still looking for this book.... if anyone has a copy to sell?

Fair enough Christine but being "over your head" is not fair on the production. thats not lucky, its selfish and foolish. Why are you not gaining experience as a 2nd or a loader. Better still, when not at school offer to go out on shoots and help out to get some floor experience.

Weren't late as well were you? Why are you listing yourself as a Camera Operater if you're actually a very inexperienced loader? Astonishing that you weren't sure how to handle the stock, so you opened it. Didn't it occur to you that that might not be super smart?

What camera are you using? I sometimes use a 1/8th white pro mist, but I'm never happy with them. Filters for beauty work are a very interesting and frustrating area. Everyone has an opinion but without seeing the girl and her skin in detail its an impossible question to answer. The way I light I rarely need to soften the image. You could try to buy some 7 denier Dior Superfine (discontinued sadly) or a 7 denier Fogal is good but you should go look at them in a store, some have a sheen which is not good (they flare) c My favourite diffusion for woman is either the net or the old style Panchro diffs. VERY rare. The filters they made since the 70's have not been as nice (also made under the Mitchell name for a while). I tend to avoid the filters and use sympathetic lenses, far more important. the 75mm on the Cooke 10-1 is a nice place to shoot. Your producer clearly has no idea what he's talking about.

Well more like a small flag (heard them called fingers?) small solid about 2 or 3 feet long and can vary in length from an inch to 4 inches..... bigger than that I'd call it a flag. You can also use small nets/scims for this, depends on how hard the light source is and how close you can get the scrim to the subject without it coming into shot. Most people like to let the eyes come through but I like to flag the eyes slightly and draw attention to the mouth.....depends on subject and what you want to imply obviously I used to assist a director called Lester Bookbinder @ RSA London. Best beauty man I ever worked with. genius. Vincenzo - INSIST on a good stand in, not some spotty production assistant who looks nothing like your subject- will make a world of difference

Depends on the script. How much can you control the direction of her face? Two things you've mentioned leap out though Kino's for beauty? I'd avoid them like the plague. Tungsten stock & tungsten light - avoid Kino / HMI / LED for beauty Camera below her eyeline. I'd go the other way. If you're below her eyeline you'll both exagerate her chin if she has an already oval face and you'll lower her eyelids. She'll look stoned Dont use anything by Zeiss, I'd recommend Cooke Speed Panchros or a Mk1 Cooke 10-1, great on skin (but T4) If you think she has an oval shaped face (dont judge that from stills, lenses do wierd things) then use the hardest source you can but keep the fresnel as large as possible, a 5k or 2k bulb mounted in a 10k housing (dont try and do this on the day, the bulb wont be centred) most rental houses will have these ready to go. If you go though the silk it will be very difficult to shape the light. Keep it hardish and you can charlie bar her forehead and chin, bring out her lips or her eyes. You can scrim the unit back if its too much and walk a light 4x4 diff between the light and subject to get the right amount of softness IF she needs it. She doesn't look like she does to me. Make her key plus one stop and dump the diffusion on camera, drop the background at least a stop for her close ups to make her pop a little. She may have quite a high forehead so dont be afraid to get involved in hair discussions up to a point. Have your say If they want her to look amazing then they have to limit her movement. She cant look amazing everywhere, she can llok great, but not amazing. Its physics, not magic. Finally the most important tool. A very good make up artist.....THATS magic. Good luck

Film school students are working as 1st AC's and underwater operators? What happened to learning the craft? What happened to being a 2nd AC / Loader? Is this a $$$ issue?

Thats the one, its a very handy graphical demonstration of the suns path for explaining the scheduling requirements from our point of view, you can show some production people a SunPath chart til the cows come home, sometimes they just dont get it. Actually if you said 'milking time' and 'cows come home' to some of the people I've worked with recently they'd probably understand :)

Top fella, cheers Stephen.

.....or was it Google Maps...? :(

Thanks but the one I'm referring to had to be imported.

Somebody posted a piece of software that would overlay the path of the sun onto google earth. I cant find it.......help?

Just an update, sunpath now works with vista.....just as W7 is about to appear :o)

Thanks Saul - personally I'd use a grayscale for that - someone once told me if they cant get white right you're in the wrong place. I really cant ever remember seeing a colour chart on a film set......

LOL