Joshua Reis

Hi, I posted my first Cinematography reel a few days ago. I am curious to hear what people like or dislike. I've cut commercials, and music vidoes, but I'm sure many people will agree that cutting ones own reel is probably the toughest thing to edit. I've been building my DP portfolio for about a year now. Since graduating from college two and a half years ago, I've been working as a motion graphics designer, which is reflected in my work. I was a Fine Art major with an emphasis in large format photography and motion design. Its been tough getting into the Dp business, but I enjoy every momment of it. So here it is... (TRT: 2 minutes) http://joshuareis.com/quicktime/Quicktimes_JR_REEL.html Regards,

Also, remember that you can cheat the majority of your inserts by using a warming filter, slighty underexposing, and by putting CTO on some of your fresnels. May be tough on a bright sunny day, but could work on an overcast day. If you experiment I'm sure you find ways to make it work. best of luck.

Actualy, its possible to add streaking (simulate camera phasing) digitaly in post after your transfer. I just finished a rock video where we added a fair amount of streakign digitaly and the effect is convincing. http://joshuareis.com/quicktime/Quicktimes...r_Amundsen.html Regards, Josh

The commercial looks amazing Adam. Actualy, you have a very impressive body of work. I'd figured I'd add to this thread. I recently shot a Super 16 rock music video where streaking (camera phasing) was added digitaly in post. We chose to do the streaking in post so that the intensity could be variable and is essentialy keyframed by the waveform of the music in some parts. Most of the phasing is near the end, during the rain in the performance. Digital is digital, and in some ways not as wondferful and as organic as in camera streaking. http://joshuareis.com/quicktime/Quicktimes...r_Amundsen.html Regards

Yes, Schneider makes a filter kit that works with the Davinci Renaissance and Spirit 2k plus gate. The lit includes promist, black pro-mist, streaking filters, etc.

Everyone has great pointers. I have two Arri M cameras with the 200 foot mags. Its great becuase i can purchase affordable short ends instead of being stuck with using daylight loads. I have used daylight loads within the 200 ft mags though. The 400 ft mag is a bit difficult to operate, as a result I sold mine. Again, the 200 foot mags are very compact and easy to deal with. Otherwise, it is nearly identical in functionality and use to the Arri S.

If the dubbs from Digi to DVCAM (DV) were made via SDI, then the copies should be prestine and look nearly identical to the masters. As david suggested, if the dubbs show considerable loss in quality, then they were probably cloned using an analog output (most likely composite). In that case, you have to wonder about the audio levels andquality as well.

I have a pair of these monitors. The resolution and color representation is good. The image can be calibrated with the blue gun mode so you have an accurate idea of what you are getting. Matched with a lens hood, they are very useable in a bright exterior. The only drawback that I have with them is that the unit is a bit bulky (thick). Its not as slim as a Transvideo or other pro units out there, but the price is right.

Hi, the Sony DSR 1500 will playback DVCPRO25 only. No Sony deck will playback DVCPRO 50 recorded material. It sure would be nice though. However, panasonic VTRs tend to be more affordable than Sony equipment.

The DVCPRO HD workflow should be fairly straight forward in FCP. I think a VTR, the AJ-HD1200A can be rented around $400-$600 per day. its a bit pricey, but being able to edit in 720P and have somethign that you can dubb to HDCAM for festivals is a nice bonus. obviously you wouldn't want this to be more master since you would want to eventauly coem from a 1080P source. If the rental of the VTR is too costly, then DVCAM (vs. beta SP) would be the way to go. Also consider doing anamorphic dailies since you are shooting Super 16 (1.66-1.85) which will give you a nice source for making a widescreen DVD for festivals.

Its certainly possible, but one you easily build a Final Cut / Premiere workstation, use a low cost SATA / Firewire Raid and purchase one of those Blackmagic / Kona SDI capture cards and edit uncompressed SD material. Its certainly possible to build your own editing system and renting a Digital betacam J-30SDI goes for only $150-$200 per day. So renting a Digi deck is very affordable these days. In telecine, one could have Digi / DVCAM clones and edit offline using the DVCAM material. Later, you could go to a Post House and online using the Digi tapes since the timecode on the clones match. This is another low cost alternative. So even if you couldn't find a place to telecine directly to Hard drive, there are other low cost tape workflow alternatives. Its always nice going to tape knowign that you always have a backup and that you needn't worry about archiving the footage.

Was the scene shot mostly color corrected in camera via filtration or in telecine? If the telecine operator had to pump up the blue channel for correction, that could defintely be a cause for seeing a dramatic increase in grain/noise in only blue. I've seen this before on uncorrected 5218 footage which favors reds and earth tones. I'd be curious to see what the footage looked like on a Spirit 2k.

While in film school I shot a lot with my XL1. Meanwhile I shot a lot of 35mm still photography and this is where I learned to interpret my light meter reading and properly expose film. I experimeted shooting color charts, bracketing my exposures, and later looking at the negatives on a light box to better understand exposure latitude. Overtime, you will become more comfortable and why its sometimes best to rate a film at a different ASA than the manufactures recommened rating. I recommend using a fully manual camera such as the Pentax K1000. There are some places that will load motion picture film into still photography cans. Best of all, this is a ll affordable. By the time I shot my first 35mm music video, I was very confident in setting a proper T stop. Best of all, it is very affordable and anyone who has a manual camera and light meter can do this. Next, you can experiemnt with different filters. Best regards and luck! Joshua

To go from 16 to 35mm the best choice is to go for an optical blow-up or a 2k Digital Intermediate? Obviously, the DI gives you more color correction flexibility, but this all depends on cost factors. For 16mm, A spirit 2k transfer to HDCAM SR or D5 are more than adaquate. Most HD television shows such as Ghost Whisper (3 perf 35mm) are transfered to HDCAM, then onlined via tape to tape to D5. Again, your post budget and delivery requirements are huge factors in determinign what your options are.

Spec agre good to know, but obviously..the bottom line is the final result. Nothing beats doing one of your own tests. Best of luck.

If you are in Los Angeles, I highly recommend Reel Good. They always offer competative pricing on 35mm/16mm on both Fuji and Kodak stocks. (323) 876-5427 7811 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90046 USA

David gave you a great response. I agree, if you decide to go with a tape to tape for the final grade, use D5 or HDCAM SR as the intermediate tape formate. HDCAM is way too lossy and compressed to go through twice. However, you should be able to get your final grade right off the negative using the image bank in the telecine (Spirit) to match scenes and shots. This will obviously give you technicaly the highest quality results. Best of Luck

Would this also work on an Arri M since it is very similar to an Arri S? Regards

Digital betacam has become the standard for standard def transfers when it comes to quality. It offers 10 bit 4:2:2 color space versus DVCAM 8 bit, 4:1:1 color space. There is D1

HDCAM Color Sampling = 3:1:1, Bandwidth = 143 Mb/s, Compression 7.1:1, Precision = 8 bit, 1440x1080 HDCAM SR (two modes) Color Sampling = 4:2:2, Bandwidth = 440 Mb/s, Compression 2.7:1, Precision = 10 bit, 1920x1080 Color Sampling = 4:4:4, Bandwidth = 880 Mb/s, Compression 4.2:1, Precision = 10 bit, 1920x1080 D5 (two modes) Color Sampling = 4:2:2, Bandwidth = 250 Mb/s, Compression 4:1, Precision = 8 bit, 1440x1080 Color Sampling = 4:2:2, Bandwidth = 250 Mb/s, Compression 5:1, Precision = 10 bit, 1440x1080 DVCPRO100 (1080) Color Sampling = 4:2:2, Bandwidth = 100 Mb/s, Compression 6.7:1, Precision = 8 bit, 1280x1080 (720) Color Sampling = 4:2:2, Bandwidth = 100 Mb/s, Compression 6.7:1, Precision = 8 bit, 960x720 HDV (1080) Color Sampling = 4:2:0, Bandwidth = 25 Mb/s, Compression 22.5:1, Precision = 8 bit, 1440x1080 (720) Color Sampling = 4:2:0, Bandwidth = 25 Mb/s, Compression 22.5:1, Precision = 8 bit, 1280x720

If you are framing for 4:3 (1.33 TV), there is no difference in graineyness and resolution between standard and Super 16. When framing for 1.85, standard 16mm, 26% of the exposed area is wasted/cropped (.404x.218) giving Super 16 46% more exposed negative (.488x.263). The advantage of shooting Super 16 vs. Standard 16mm for widescreen acquisition is tremendous for blow-ups to 35mm or HD transfers. For letterboxed NTSC projects, the difference will noticeable, but subtle. Anton Wilson's. "Cinema Workshop, A.S.C. Holding Corp. 1983. has a great chapter comparing the two formats. The most economic way to test would be to shoot both formats side by side and do a comparison in telecine.

Deciding between captuing via firewire (for DVCPRO50) or SDI (10bit Uncompressed) is really more of a workflow question. If you will be jumping right into heavy color correction in a 10bit sequence, can playback uncompressed 10bit media from a RAID or such,and can easily accomodate the eaxtra space - then SDI would be the way to go. Yes, capturing via firewire is a bit for bit copy of what the camera records,and thus there is no loss,while SDI does require a conversion. However, I did some tests a year ago where the hardware in the VTR did a better job of converting the material to uncompressed as compared to using software quicktime conversion (having quicktime convert DVCPRO50 to uncompressed). However, I'm sure software conversion has improved since then.Again, its more of a workflow issue. There are cards now that you can use with final cut that will allow you to edit in DVCPRO/ DVCPRO50 while giving a realtime SDI output for monitoring or recording to lets say DigitalBetcam.Back in the day, if you wanted output to a monitor while editing DV/DVCPRO50,you needed a deck with 1394 to loopthrough. Now, thats not the case. Regards.

In addition to creating a medium grey,I also like to set the display to a full white, this will allow you to make two measurements and have two points of reference to judge your exposure. Also,remember to color balance the monitor.For example, if you are shooting with tungten film,set the computer systems white point to 3400 Kelvin (or warmest possible). This will make the monitor look warm to your eye, but properly balanced for film.

It may be best to transfer to a cheaper format such as DVCAM or Betacam SP for an offline edit. Then once your edit is locked, export and EDL and go back for selects and retransfer to Digital Betacam (Anamorphic if 1.66 or 1.78). If you have a high shooting ratio, this may be more economic and allow you to spend more time tweaking the shots that are in the final edit. Again, it all depends on your budget and how much you would like to tweak the images in the final transfer.

Hi, are you requesting a 2k scan so that you can do a film out to 35mm? What is your final deliverable? Is this project 16mm (4:3) or Super 16 (1.66-1.78?) A 2k scan is uneccessary if you are just planning on mastering to HD such as D5 or HDCAM SR. As far as color as how much you can push and pull an image in post has nothing to do with resolution (ie NTSC, HD, 2k, 4k), but is directly a result of bit depth and compression (Digibeta -10bit, HDCAM 8bit, HDCAM SR - 10bit, Cineon - 30bit etc.). When color grading on a computer, be aware that computer CRT monitors and LCD computer screens should not be used for final color grading. All your equipment should be calibrated to LUTs. My answers here at best brief, so be sure to research and if possible perform a complete workflow test on a few short clips from scan to film out. Best of luck.