Alberto Larios-Saavedra

Does anybody know what's the industry standard TRT for a "30" second commercial in the U.S? I can't remember if it's 29 seconds or 29 seconds and 15 frames.

I know this is probably not the forum to ask, but I don't remember my username for one of the forums for post-production.

Thanks,

I'm wondering if anybody on this forum has used the Elmo TRV-16H Film to Video transfer and what kind of results they obtained (as compared to a professional telecine transfer).

Thx.

I'm sure this is a pretty dumb question, but I've never done this, so here I go. What kind of procedure/software would I need to send/receive video files via email. What kind of issues regarding compression would I face.

I need to send a video file that's as uncompressed as possible.

Thanks.

Thanks for your reply, David.

 

Another brainstorming suggestion: If a workshop's emphasis were on lighting or "seeing" then perhaps issues of format (film/video, HD/SD) might be less significant?

Yes, your idea is about "seeing" -- and eating lunch; a good combination!

 

OK, that's one "workshop": L.A. museum & lunch with Mr. Mullen in Nov./Dec. I'm in.  :)

 

Additional ideas, cities, and "topics" anyone?

 

All the best,

 

- Peter DeCrescenzo

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I think it's a pretty good idea Peter. I would be willing to drive to Socal (I'm in Central California myself). One way to do it perhaps, would be to ask members on this forum what their main topics would be (I know there would be many, but try to narrow them down), and cover those on the workshop, videotape the workshop and post the video here.

Just my 2 cents.

Does anyone know of legal restrictions regarding the use of footage recorded off TV, if the footage is taken from a single common feed and broadcast live over all three cable news networks at once(CNN, MSNBC, and Fox)?  Specifically, this involves live Q & A with the President.  Your advice would be most appreciated.

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TV news organizations use each other's video with the proper credit displayed on the screen when the video is broacast; also one of the rules is to use the video within "regularly scheduled" programming (i.e. news show), otherwise you need to ask permission. Like Richard said, it is best to find out if the video is indeed from a pool feed and buy it, otherwise you might run into some trouble.

Good luck,

Anyone ever heard of this place?  I'm going to be working with some people who go there, just wondered where and what it is?

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Do you know what city/state it's in?

"The millions of people like me across Canada who feel exactly as I do will no longer be silenced by words commonly used by the left to describe any one on the right who dares disagree with them.

Change is coming, get used to it.

R, "

Very well said!! Now let's get them Panzers rolling out there on the streets of any canadian city with immigrant populations and wipe them out!

Hail Reichard!!!! (Right hand salute)

I think several people in this wonderful space are tired of this guy who somehow manages to twist just about every darn topic to bitch about how much his country stinks (according to him). I've tried to ignore him for sometime, but he replies to every posting with a smart ass reply or a fascist one. Please stop it.

Your stock will be good for a little while yet.  High speed stock ages faster than medium speed - but we are talking several months before age fog starts to be a nuisance.  There is also latent image fade - but that is fairly insignificant, and actually reduces over time (so the image loses a little density in the first few hours after exposure, then takes twice as long, (and twice as long again etc) to lose any more.

 

Keep the stock at a steady temperature, the cooler the better, and away from direct sunlight (which will heat it and cool it each day) and you should have a good few weeks safe.

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Thanks Mr. Case.

Cheers,

I have a question regarding film processing (Mr. Pytlak's or Mr. Case's advice would be very helpful). I have half-way shot two rolls of 16mm for some tests. The thing is that for a lot of reasons I haven't been able to finish the tests, and the film rolls are still in the magazines, they still have quite a few feet on them. I don't want take them out (unless I have to), so my question is, how long can I keep this film in the magazines which are stored at room temperature? What am I risking by not developing them asap? They have been in that condition for about 10 days now.

I hope I was clear enough.

Thanks,

I am currently deciding which 16mm camera I should purchase.  I don't have much money, so that eliminates a lot of choices. I have about five hundred for the camera itself. As of right now I'm down to a Krasnogorsk-3 and a Canon Scoopic. I know they both have a lot of drawbacks. Right now the only question is which one has more drawbacks. Are there any posibilities I have other than renting?

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Why not try a Bolex H16 (I saw one for sale in the L.A. Craigslist for $300). I know it's a risk, but you may be willing to give it a shot.

Good luck,

If you skip bleach the IP, you would usually expose the negative normally.  Leaving silver in the IP would mostly affect the shadow densities in the final prints.

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Thank you for your prompt response, as always.

Cheers,

Regarding this issue, if I want to do Skip Bleach to the IP, when filming, should I underexpose the image by 1 full stop? I've heard you are supposed to when skip-bleaching the negative. Or should I expose normally since I wouldn't be skip-bleaching the negative? I've never done it and I might do some tests.

Thanks,

It?s probably too close for the unit to strike, as John said.

 

Those figures only exist on paper as they are not accounting for line loss and temperature, which in cases cutting it as close as this one is will be a factor.

 

For example, a 4k on a 6500 watt generator is so close that it will only work with tip top condition generators.

 

Obviously house power is more stable than a "put-put" but you are cutting real close.

 

Can you use a washing machine or other 30amp socket?

 

Or just rent a small generator.

Kevin Zanit

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On the same topic (kind of) would I be able to run a couple of 2k's and 2 650w lights on house power? Obviously I would run them on separate circuits (I checked the house breaker box and they all indicate to be 20amps, the washer/dryer one is 30amps).

Thanks,

Dear Dirk:

 

Thanks for your insights.  I will test the CP30 (sounds like Star Wars) for the project I'm prepping.  I am curious to hear if anyone from Kodak has something to say...

TSM:  I am glad that you liked those films, thanks.

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Hola Rodrigo, no sabes la enorme y agradable sorpresa que nos das al participar en este foro (al menos para los que admiramos tu arte).

I've been trying to get information regarding the whole photographic and lighting process for "Amores Perros" and haven't been able to (I've done some searching on the web but no luck, and in the ASC archives I don't see anything). Do you know where I might be able to find it?

That film marked a new high (and inspiration) for Mexican and Latin American filmmaking. By the way, are you doing anything with Iñárritu anytime soon?

I liked your work in "Alexander" too (the infrared stuff was gutsy).

Saludos,

Hey Alberto,

 

If you're going to rent from Uhaul, consider renting a box truck, too. Roll the gennie into the back of the box. Point the opened back away from the shoot. Hang blankets or other sound deadening stuff on the inner walls (carpet scraps do wonders) to cut resonance off the walls and scraps laid on the roof. You can put a simple box fan at the end to circulate air. It's easy to move that rig around but it means shooting near enough to dirt roads and the like. Local power washing companies put a putt-putt pump in a van and carpet scrap the inside so they can work at night and not miff sleepers.

 

Just a thought,

Paul

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Thanks Paul, that's a pretty good suggestion.

Alberto

I've had great luck with small generators and small Tungstun lights.  A couple of 650's a couple of 300 watt lights.  3000 Watt Generator.  They are noisy but if you get a 300'  of extension cords and put a sheet of plywood near the set side of the generator.  You should be fine.

 

Also you may be able to find a woodsy location that has power. A friends cabin in the mountains for example.  Then you will have enough power and a place to stay warm and dry.

 

Bob

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Hello Bob, I was reading through the archives and found this posting of yours. I might have to shoot at a location where I may need a generator (non-synch of course, it's one of those from U-Haul). Let's say if I run three or four lights with it (no to go over its wattage), will I have any flicker problems? They're all tungsten lights, no HMI's. Also, would it matter what size lights they are? I plan on running 2 2k's, a 500w, and a 650w on a 7000w Honda generator. The reason I ask it's because some time ago, (I think in this website) I read that you need a synch generator to run lights, and I cannot recall if it only applied to HMI's. I couldn't find that thread.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Alberto

Will you be telling the INS upon your arrival in the USA, that you are there to:

 

"install some stuff for a company based  in London.."

 

...If you're going to LA to baby sit kids or run a leaf blower, no problem.  Any thing else, watch it.

 

Richard

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What's all this bigotry and immigrant-bashing in a Cinematography forum?

Do you even know a gardener or a nanny? Are you suggesting that they have the easy life in the U.S? You have no $%*! idea. Believe me, I'm all for legal immigration, but to imply that these people get a free ticket into the U.S. and are not persecuted is just plain ignorant. I'm not sure if you are American or Canadian (it doesn't show in your profile), but it is evident that your observations are very simplistic and completely unfounded.

I believe in the importance of planning, whether that means shot lists or storyboards, as long as everyone recognizes that these are jumping off points and not carved in stone...

 

...However, I have noticed a tendency that pre-planned dialogue sequences tend to be more interesting visually than what you come up with on the day where you tend to revert to obvious standardized coverage out of fear that you won't cover the scene properly, whereas on paper like with storyboarding, you have TIME to consider and reject various approaches, perhaps finding some unconventional angle on the scene.

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A few years back, I went to see an exhibit of Picasso's paintings where they also exhibited sketches that eventually led to paintings. I was amazed at the amount of "planning or storyboarding" if you might, that Picasso did before he started painting on the canvas. Some of those sketches were even done on napkins! The paintings themselves were only slightly different from the sketches.

I guess it just goes on to show that visualizing and planning can be creative and money-saving tools.

I have shot some 16mm film and got a one-light workprint, but I see that the labs also offer a "Best Light" workprint. Could somebody explain what's the difference between a "one-light" print and a "best light" print? I did a search here but didn't find any answers.

Thanks,

Alberto

You ever see Shrek 2? At the dining party scene. Just a joke really.

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Oh, I see. I didn't watch the movie.

Hey David, have you seen "Downfall" and "As in Heaven? If so what do you think?

Ahh all you needed was a pet donkey sitting at the table saying "MM Mexican food maa favourite!"

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What is that supposed to mean?

The mathematically correct answer is infinitely many sevens.  So, use as many sevens as you want, just replace the last one with an eight.  As a practical matter, though, the difference between 1.78 and 1.778 is a fraction over two pixels in 1920 x 1080 HD, not enough to worry about.  The long standing practical tradition is to express aspect ratios to two decimal places. 

 

So, it's more correct to say 1.78, but not worth jumping all over somebody who uses 1.77.  There's a bigger discrepancy in scope.  A lot of people still talk about 2.35:1, although very early on it was discovered that that aperture would put visible edges of negative splices on the screen.  The height of the aperture was reduced to hide the splices, which changed the ratio to 2.39:1.  Some people also say 2.40, but if you read the standards and do the math, it's really 2.39.

-- J.S.

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Thanks John. That answers my question.

Al

Come on, this is grade school math!  Divide 16 by 9 and you get 1.7777777 (don't know how many more sevens...)  That is usually rounded up to 1.78 but you could say 1.77 too.

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I know that you can round it up to 1.78, but I asked the question because I didn't know if it made a difference to go either way, besides there's no consistency when people refer to the term and I was a little confused, that's all.

I've read in the past that the frame size for the 19x9 aspect ratio is 1.77:1; however, today I was browsing trough the 8th edition of the A.C. manual and read that the frame size is 1.78:1 (page 19). Which one is correct?

Thanks,

Al

 

 

But to acknowledge this crime for what it really is, is to acknowledge that Muslim extremism in the world, is really a terrible, murderous cancer on civilization, and not just "them getting their just revenge on the much-deserving west", which has been the rhetoric we've all been hearing since 9/11/01 as an excuse for their actions.

It's a bit tough to use that excuse now.

What has the Netherlands done to piss off these people?

 

 

I think the one using the 9/11 rhetoric as an excuse to bring terror and death to over 100,000 thousand people in the Middle East is this other right-wing Christian fanatic who occupies the White House. I have yet to hear the "conservative" crowd to express outrage at so many innocent lives lost, which leads me to question the term, conservative of what? Not human values for sure.

As one South American writer would put it, "When you have one side fighting and claiming God to be on their side, and with the other claiming that Ala is on theirs, we all in the middle will lose."

Sad but true.

 

Al