Tony Brown

It's Filmworks Dubai: Tel: +971 4 362 5626 Anthony Smythe mobile: +971 50 455 9161 www.filmwks.com

Personally I never wire money, once bitten.....

Not the best place in the world.... massive building site full of ex pats telling you how wonderful it is. (PM me for list of 'interesting' places). Personally I dont get the place at all, Hotels are resort type air con palaces each the same as the next, locations are difficult beacuase if it isn't man made its scruffy and waiting for something man made to be dumped onto it. Cars all have speed warning beepers set t0 70mph and they seem to all insist on driving between 68 - 72 so the thing is constantly beeping....sounds a stupid thing to mention but you wait....... Gear and crew I've encountered are ok though. Mostly South Africans, a few Germans..... I worked with a local Producer / PM / DoP (its that sort of place) called Anthony..... something(sorry Anthony - I'm rubbish with information retention). Nice guy, I'll find his det6ails for you when I get home

A DC generator....

I've seen this lots of times. Any unit under 2k run from AC flickers, its a question of degree. Most times you'll never notice it, especially in the days of projection, but when telecine came in it suddenly became noticed. People tried to nail it down to the most incredible things, even the plastic take up belts on Mitchell magazines were blamed for a long time. AC fluctuates, its the nature of the beast, but on larger units £2k+ there is enough thermal retention to maintain light output from wave to wave. I was 1st AC on a shoot doing high speed stuff on a treadmill, 4 x Dinos through silks were used and the flicker @120fps was amazing - so even the bigger units can suffer. We reshot from a DC power source. It not uncommon, surprised if experienced people have not encountered it.....

Who is this production company that does your 'list' for you? A couple of Kino's when dealing with a 2 stop loss? Not too smart are they......

I've bought 12x12 lame's silks etc there for about £220 - not that bad....

Thank you

Any idea who shot that old spot?

Really? I thought A Stars maxed out around 10,000 feet? Blades must have been massive

You can also use the iris for interiors. You get used to a certain light level on the various lookthroughs, play with the iris before you next read a scene. You'll be amazed how consistent you can be.

I strongly suggest they find the time & money to test. Its the professional thing to do to avoid a reshoot

http://www.cirrolite.com/ are the agents for Matthews. Not seen Lowell lights for 20 years. Call AFM

If inserted vertically yes. Like the original panchro diffusers, I've been trying to find 2 point stars for several years......

Streak filters have been around for while - originally as two point stars, but they do give an anamorphic type flare which the poster said he didn't want

Not seen the 300mm yet, I think they get released in July. Surprised they bothered, the Canon is so cheap and the market is saturated with them...... No idea on the zoom front, don't use them much.

Because the 18-100 and the 17-102 are so much more useful....... and the T1.4's are harsh and the flare quality is way inferior to the Cooke T2s IMO They both came as a package with an Arri3 package I bought with a couple of partners.

20mm - 100mm Cooke (never use it), Zeiss T1.4 18mm/25mm/35mm/50mm/85mm (never used) Cooke S4 65mm (Love it), Canon 300mm T2.8 (best lens ever constructed) and a 14mm Zeiss T2.1 (ish - rarely used) The lenses that I USE however are 18 - 135 Cooke S4 135 Moy Leitz Macro 150 - 450 Hawk 200mm Canon T1.8 300/600 Canon T2.8 If using a remote head Angenieux 17 - 102mm zoom Beauty work (depending on subject) Cooke Mk 1 25 - 250mm zoom

As it was when I decided to buy one...... bloody things are everywhere now............ :blink:

Thank you very much. Many contributory factors go into what you see..... I am a cog in the machine. DoP's who maintain total control from start to finish are either genius or not very busy :lol: The Director I work mainly with is a very very good Photographer, so ideas and execution are so much easier when there are no wavelength issues. Also so important is consistency of TK. Although I rarely shoot in the UK, I never have one lights done, process only. Rushes are transferred 'best light' in London by people who know the work inside out, fine grade is then done by (IMO) one of the best TK operators I've ever worked with who has a great relationship with the director who supervises all the work. Its all about having a consistent relationship with people, outside of that comfort zone and I too, cringe when I see things on TV....... I control in camera as much as possible, but it depends on the project how far you can go. I'll often steer the look a certain direction, but if there is any sense of nervousness then you are duty bound to make it retrievable... I'd also say that everything is not always cast in stone in commercials, thats dependent on the skill of the director. Shots can be apparently specific, yet when it comes to the moment can be extremely flexible, it comes down to bottle (nerve) and the trust that an Agency, but more usually the client, has in a Director and the team. Clients almost invariably side with a Director against an agency, how the Director works this advantage is the key and to a large degree a big factor in his talent rating. IMHO

Just shows how subjective it is.... I bought a Cooke 65mm :rolleyes:

Spielberg used to also..... Its really dull though to follow storyboards, I hate turning up for work knowing exactly what we will be doing.....

...and the first thing you get told is " forget the storyboard......"

Huh? Never had one of them....... As was said, precision drivers really are that good......

Just what is it you require of them? Get them to do some best lights along the way and decide who grasps your intentions the best before you go to fine grade