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goro toshima

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Posts posted by goro toshima

  1. Ah, special effects...What would Tsuburaya Eiji do? I think he'd make sure a lot of the dust is right in front of the lens, to give the illusion of volume. He did that with snow a lot. The finer dust would go in the front, and in the back you'd have something like this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otfgg34hUu0

     

    With orange dye added to the liquid.

     

    It just has to look like Cheetos, it doesn't have to be Cheetos. But anyway, just a quick idea.

    thanks, sam...great advice. and that blower looks really useful for the purpose....

  2. hi all,

     

    i'm shooting a spot where we need to create a cloud of cheetos dust...idea is that a group of guys watch tv, eating cheetos. and they make a mess. scene ends with a huge cloud of cheeto dust

    that fills room and falls to ground.

     

    been trying to figure out ways to best make this happen...and have been thinking of obvious so far:

    grounding up A LOT of cheetos and renting a couple big fans and blowing into room. but not sure if this is the best strategy...or maybe dumping from above with fans blowing?

     

    does anybody have any experience and suggestions?

     

    it would be greatly appreciated.

     

    best.

    goro

  3. hi all,

     

    wanted to solicit any advice on this dilemma...

     

    from dec-feb, i shot a documentary for an established prod. company. the contract stipulated

    that i'd be paid in thirds. but, i deferred my first payment until 2015, because of tax reasons.

    after two months of shooting (and paying for expenses out of pocket--including a fair amount

    of travel), the project got shelved...

     

    i sent invoice for the two months, charging for service/expenses...and now, i haven't heard back

    after multiple emails.

     

    has anybody else experienced this? what have you done in this situation? i'd prefer not to

    get lawyers involved...but, it seems like that might be the next logical step.

     

    thanks for any advice.

  4. I don't have a lot of time... but if you use google maps, and go to the 'street' level, I think most of Downtown LA would be covered and allow you to see some amount of 'waht the view would be' in the area.

     

    For example, here is a 'street' view of 'downtown' from the 7th street Bridge.

     

    https://www.google.com/maps/@34.038486,-118.2279444,3a,75y,314.53h,82.76t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1soe9XaOeikmgLBoh1IBpVSQ!2e0!6m1!1e1

     

    These days you can do a lot of public location scouting via google maps.

    thanks so much john...very helpful.

  5.  

    What are you looking for... From looking at a map the Elysian Valley area is somewhat distant from Downtown, which I think of as being ringed by the freeways, I-5 on the East, I-10 on the South, S-110 (How did that ever get renamed 110 from 11... but I digress...) on the West, and US 101 on the North.

     

    There are many many films that use the Los Angeles River bed, and the 6th and 7th Street bridges.

     

    And of course... there is the every popular problem that LA does require film permits and if one looks like one is 'pro' filming... one may have a visit from some form of law enforcement to make sure that permits have been issued.

    thanks john...i'm looking for downtown skyline shots. thanks for the bridge suggestion...do i need to know anything more specific about the bridge, in terms of location? or is it pretty obvious once i'm there, at the bridge?--not familiar with that location. thanks again.

  6. thanks phil...i do have the lockport to minimize strain on the hdmi. but i'm still having issues.

    i've heard from several people that this is just a quirk of the camera. so far, i've always been

    able to get camera/monitor back to working order after shut-down. but it's a lot of

    trial/error.

  7. hi all,

    i'm using mark iii with external monitor (ikan D5) and am having issuess.
    basically, it's very wonky.

    usually, everything will work fine upon starting up intially.
    but if monitor turns off, and i turn monitor back on, i get no image...or if i go into
    menu, when i come back out, there is no image--somehow it loses HDMI connection.

    and then, i have to go through whole rigamarole to get image back--turn off monitor/camera,
    unplug hdmi, turn monitor/camera on, then plug in HDMI--and then i'll get image.
    but sometimes that won't work...so i'll have to do all that, take out batt, and then start up again.

    is this a 5D issue? or is it just my camera/hdmi connection?

    thanks.

    goro

  8. I suppose what to shoot will depend on what your documentary is about. Having just spend 2 days doing this in a car through WEHO on a 5DMKIII I can say that I really enjoy the interplay of light during night driving and how wonderful traffic and lights can look when thrown way out of focus-- especially on the 24mm and 135mm L series lenses I was tending towards.

    I also like the drive Northbound on 110 to Pasadena through the tunnels.

    thanks adrian...the film is basically about food and LA. and the stretch of pico from central LA to the westside is a good example of the diversity of LA as seen through the different food options. so basically, we're doing daytime shooting and are trying to show the storefronts. i'm thinking about rigging car, doing one long take, and perhaps in post ask editor to use twixor to highlight certain areas...but i'd love to figure out other interesting options.

  9. hi all,

     

    i'm planning on shooting some driving shots of Pico Blvd--b-roll for a documentary in which

    LA (and Pico blvd, in particular) is a 'character'.

     

    i'd like to do something interesting, outside of the basic driving b-roll shot.

     

    can anybody think of any examples for other movies where a driving b-roll shot

    was done in an interesting way?

     

    thanks for any suggestions.

     

    goro

  10. hi all,

     

    this may be more of a grip topic...

     

    but i'm shooting a CU of iphone outdoors, 4-7 pm.

     

    does anybody have experience on best way to shoot this/advice....

     

    flags/any special tricks (i.e. maybe spray for phone to avoid glare) / etc?

     

    thanks very much.

    goro

  11. It's a blue backdrop with an unceremonious light blasting a hot spot behind the subject. It must be fairly close because of the rapid falloff. The lighting on all of the "talent" isn't great as it's fairly flat with little backlight rimming them. But, every lighting example is a choice. Maybe this is what the Director of this project asked for.

     

    thanks for all the replies...i appreciate it.

     

    brian, what exactly is an 'unceremonious light'...and where do you think the light is placed?

    thanks a lot.

  12. He doesn't have any kind of kicker on him. It looks to me like they sat him in his house, which has blue curtains. They put a small light on the wall to create that gradient behind the plant. They pulled the curtain shut so it's a backlit block of color. Then I think they just have a kino or a tungsten unit with a chimera pretty much beside camera and a foot or 2 above his head.

     

    That said, it's a pretty boring interview setup, IMO. One can do much better, even with small kit and little time.

     

     

     

    oppps....wrong link...yeah, that int. set up is pretty boring.

     

    if you click on link, but look to the right of the video screen, you will see a bunch of other clip stills. some have a studio lit blue background...these are actually what i am asking about. (sorry i can't seem to get the link for these videos).

     

    thanks.

  13. hi all,

     

    i'm shooting a doc. on the sony z1 camera...

     

    i'm using the black pro mist filter on a lot of the shooting. i know that i should be careful on wide shots outdoors. but, i was wondering if there are any other issues i should be concerned about, especially considering that there is a strong possiblity of blowing up final project to film.

     

    should i be concerned that black speckles may show up once blown up?

    do you guys reccommend that i use filter very judiciously? or is it fairly safe to use in most situations?

     

    thanks a lot in advance for any advice.

     

    goro

  14. hi all,

     

    does anybody have any thoughts about shooting in all scan vs. not all scan mode (in the Z1)?

     

    from what i've read, it seems like a safer bet to shoot in all scan all the time. this way the composition of the final product will be closer to that which you see in the LCD screen.

     

    if not, it seems like the lcd screen is showing a very conservative/narrower shot than what is actually being recorded. and once you screen on tv, you'll end up w. extraneous stuff on sides of screen that you did not think you were recording.

     

    or am i wrong about this?

     

    thanks in advance for any ideas.

     

    goro

  15. I agree. I read his diary of the Astronaut Farmer yesterday and it was more informative and interesting that almost all of the cinematography books I have read. Thanks David.

     

     

    where did you read that diary?

    has david written any other books about cinematography?

     

    thanks.

     

    goro

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