Tony Brown

Precisely. Also look out for out of focus highlights taking on the shape of the matte. I hate mattes. Completely unnecessary 98% of the time with good lenses.

Rubbish. Sorry but you're missing the point of ND's. Its not to control exposure, its to control Depth of field, can you do that in post? No GOLDEN rule. Do it in camera every time. You may not be in control of the post, so at least if you've conveyed your intentions in camera you have some chance of it being realised in the final image. Your job, the reason you are being paid, is to present an image, a mood, as closely as you possibly can on the neg to the brief. You are not likely to attempt something that you have not discussed with the director. Its not your place to decide to throw a scene Storm Blue without consultation. Make people aware of your opinion / intentions. Post is for tweaking..... And with respect " the ability to correct extreme exposure differences during telecine" if you're that far out, get another job or get a new AC

I was lucky enough to work with Sven and he impressed me greatly with his extreme simplicity. But I never 'got' Bergmans work. I tried, I watched it because I thought I should get it, but I never did If he played, he lost.

Mitchell Diffs - a pet subject of mine. There are two types. The old original Mitchell diffs were superb (anyone remember the 'sliding diffs'? What I'd give to get one of those... The etchings on the glass were not uniform, they looked like cheesecloth covered in acid had been stretch over the glass. The recent ones (probably last 25 years) are a uniform pattern and are dreadful. I have no idea why, but they are very brutal and they spread the highlights a very nasty way. I've looked for an old set (actually I've only wanted the A&B for years). I know of a set of 3x3 at a London Rental house (in leather pouches) and have used those .... until I find them I'll stick with a light black net

[quote name='JD Hartman' post='185669' date='Jul 30 2007, 03:34 PM']If I'm gaffer on a film shoot, I'd have my meter and I wouldn't be peering over the directors shoulder, looking at the monitor.[/quote] You certainly wouldn't JD, you'd most likely get fired.... Monitors are cheap, why use just one? Seriously though what do you use your meter for? I work with an American gaffer when working there, lovely man, but drives me nuts with his metering. He's only trying to be helpful, but I have to keep asking him not to check my readings with his meter. He has little idea what the factors for a #8 Yellow and a tobacco are and whether I'm applying these factors from shot to shot, how much I choose to under or over expose the key, etc... I really dont need somebody keep telling how much light is falling here there and everywhere. The 1st AC hears him calling "got 5.6 by the pillar" and starts asking me why I'm shooting at 11....... Fair enough if you're off pre lighting and a backing needs to be x stops up or down on the key, how I'm rating the stock etc, but on a live set I find it extremely unnecessary. 90% is done by eye anyway... I dont think I've ever seen an English Gaffer openly carrying a meter around.... not to say some don't, but I've never seen it. Maybe they've heard my opinion The beauty of all working to a different system I guess

So put in a 'special Hollywood' invoice for it..... You can back off a bigger unit (say a T12 or a 6k) maybe 20' behind camera thru a 12x12 1/4 black silk. Its reduced enough not to fill the set but the source is still intense enough to pick up in peoples eyes...... not convinced but I'll take a look sometime. For the moment black silks are emperors clothes to me...

Make sure the driver for your DVD burner is the latest and you could try the old uninstall / reinstall trick with Premiere The forums on the Adobe site are extremely useful. You'll find far more people burning dics on a forum like http://forum.doom9.org/index.php its full of people who love sorting problems

I'm sorry JD, I couldn't disagree more. If you're judging film on monitors then shame on you. Judge film by eye..... judge it thru a viewfinder. Monitors are for Directors and agencies

Guess its a Euro / American thing..... :rolleyes:

This is irrelevant I'm sure but I could never get DVD-R's to work. Switch to DVD+R's and had a 100% success rate

Black skin is an absolute joy to work with - I love it. So much nicer to reproduce than pastey white Caucasian skin. If the skin is very black you should consider adding a little CTO aa it absorbs red light and appears blue I tend to bounce off of a gold/silver lame for light brown skin, I switch to gold if its very black. I'm jealous, enjoy it.

English Gaffers never carry meters. Quite right too, annoys me intensely. Fair enough if they're off doing an advanced pre light and you need a certain level, but otherwise its intrusive. Its not necessary. Should the grip wander around with a viewfinder and lay track marks? No. I also dislike people taking stills on set :) Seriously. Winds me up big time

I currently use Tungsten stocks in daylight with Tungsten units. I'm sick of HMI's Looks fantastic, go for it.

What? 1) I've never shot a feature as a DoP, Not likely to get the chance either 2) I've never paid them a cent For some reason I have an itsy bitsy entry (my kids used to love when they were young and gullible!).....

Big source, deep (doubled up) eggcrates

Mine just appeared but I doubt I grabbed their attention as an AC lol

Spot on.

Seconded

Interesting. I bought a 1/4 black silk 12x12 a few years ago thinking it would be really useful as an overhead. Its hideous. Its just like an ND3. I've yet to try the behind camera eye light for a crowd theory..... Overheads are always a problem. White nets DO diffuse and are very useful but still let that horrible hard noon sunlight through. I prefer to use a solid lack as high as possible (20') so that ambient skylight leaks in but the direct is kept off, then bounce the sun in from a lower angle. Great when there's no wind.

Had a great 'off' with a maintenance guy there..... refused to accept my registration test showed a fault, wouldn't even view it, as he said he could hear when a camera wasn't right. Then he relented and ran the neg on a Moviola Twat. :rolleyes:

search - Panama, Oscar

Any RC shop will help you

Can help if you're shooting Pilot side AND you know and trust the pilot. Otherwise I'd rather he just concentrate on where he's going. Monitors can be very dangerous if the Pilot isn't film savvy Be very cautious letting Pilots have monitors, "a little bit of knowledge ......." applies here

.....check price before you rent - I got stung 500 Euros a day apparently for a set of 2 (I kid you not). I was furious. They quoted me 50,000 Euros to buy a set (of 2) justifying it by saying they were optical attachments not filters. Whatever. I had a lot of time for Vantage before that........ I'll be a little more careful in future.

Passed away on July 6th whilst in New York Legend.