Joe Baron

I attended York for one year, found it depressing, then switched to Concordia where I completed my BFA in film production 3 years later. My experience at Concordia, which apparently has a pretty good reputation in the field, was underwhelming and forgettable. I found that most of the professors were either struggling/failed filmmakers themselves, or non-academics or both. They never knew how to fill a 3 or 4 hour class with informative and engaging insight into filmmaking and were often hard to take seriously as a result of their own lack of creative accomplishments. On the plus side, the students were fantastic. My peers were smart, phenomenally talented and ambitious, and I'm happy to say that I'm still working with several of them regularly on various projects years after graduating. So there's always that. Oh, and the equipment isn't bad and as far as I know, they have new studios and resources in this swanky new building that has gone up since I left. So that's Concordia. A good friend of mine when to Ryerson and felt more or less the same way. Underwhelmed. Like Concordia though, he has made some valuable contacts among peers (you don't make industry contacts in Canadian schools) and is pretty much at the same place as myself at this point. I hope that helps.

That's good advice, thanks! I was wondering about the filter and whether I might want to add an additional one. I wish I could test it first to see how warm it is with an 85. I guess I'll just bring one with me and decide then.

I'm shooting exterior footage on Super8 out in the snow this week for a friend. I'm not sure what camera or stock I'll be shooting on (I'll likely find out that day), but I know that there's a built in reflected light meter, and that we'll be using reversal colour film. Also, I'll have a gray card. Any tips/suggestions on how to get a proper exposure? In the light? In the shade? I just want to be sure that nothing's too over or underexposed (namely the snow), and sadly I won't have the time to shoot any tests. Thanks for the help!

Great, thanks!

You might be thinking of a soft focus lens (which I'm pretty sure if commonly used in wedding photography). If that's the case then I'm looking for something else. Thanks though.

Hello? Anyone? Maybe I posted this in the wrong section... Or maybe no one's up to the challenge! Ha!

Quick question: I worked on a film a few years ago that a friend of mine (whom I can't get in touch with) DPed. There were a number of shots in the film where he played with the focus by holding a piece of glass (I suppose a lens of some sort) in front of the camera's lens. When he moved it around, it would alter the focal range in an unnatural way, often creating focal differences on the same focal plane. Does anyone know the name/technique that he was using? Is there an actual lens that can achieve this effect (other than a split-field lens)? Thanks!

It's a church singles night - single people mingle and shmooze in a church basement. For the most part, I'll be framing things medium/close, but I'd like to get one or two wider shots to establish the space. Thanks so far for all the comments, I appreciate the help. I haven't shot much in a while and I've never been terribly comfortable shooting in large indoor locations, so any help is quite welcome.

They do. Any suggestions? Is it common to light such a scene with a series of smaller lights (flagged and diffused, I suppose) or maybe a few kinos?

The room is pretty bare as is, although it's not a bad idea to dress it with a few practicals to motivate some side lighting. I've also considered changing a few of the existing bulbs as you mentionned, although they're quite sparse so that alone probably wouldn't be enough. I suppose a combination of the two might work.

I'm shooting in a fairly large room in a church basement (let's say 30' x 60') and the ceiling is only about 10' high. The director wants the scene to have a somewhat warm and welcoming feel, which pretty much rules out the existing cold, flat fluorescent lighting. I'm not sure whether to light it mainly from above with a bunch of smaller controlled lights (like china balls, I suppose) or to attack it from the side with more powerful soft lights as far back as possible to cut down the fall off. I'd like to set it up in such a way that I can shoot at least 180 degrees without changing setups. Any suggestions? What other options might I have? Thanks. btw, it'll be on 16mm with a 320T stock if that makes any difference.