Jack Anderson

About 15 years ago, I bought a harness for handheld camerawork from JibJobs, a grip supply house. It is basically a modified weight belt with a Sam Browne cross-the-chest strap and a shoulder pad. It is beautifully built, it works great for handheld; I still have it and use it. I'm teaching cinematography now, and I'd like to get this harness for my students, but JibJobs is no longer making it. Does anyone know if someone makes this kind of rig, or if there's a used one for sale anywhere? Thanks for your help. Jack Anderson camjax@gmail.com

I'm a DP and I teach; cinematography at Cal State Long Beach. One of my students asked me about ASA (ISO) numbers. Do the specific numbers relate to anything--do they rfer to any specific scientific formulation--or are they just arbitrarily chosen so that they relate to stops? Jack Anderson

The filter ring was either scraped or covered with ancient masking tape. In any event, it was impossible to tell who made it or what degree of diffusion it provided. In talking about it, he only talked about Joe Walker and showed the haystack sequence from It Happened One Night. Jack

I have twice seen a beautiful diffusion made in the 20s, 30s, or 40s. What I have seen are small round filters (around 55mm) meant to attach directly to a lens. The filter is reminiscent of a Fresnel lens, in that it has a number of concentric rings, about 3/8" apart. I just saw an example at an Academy seminar. The filter was displayed by the ASC's archivist, and it was part of the collection of Joseph Walker, ASC (It Happened One Night, and many more). This filter provides and extremely subtle and beautiful softening of faces without extremeflaring and without very much sense of defocusing. I would like to get a filter like this, preferably in a modern format (preferably 4" X 5"). I have used a filter that Schneider (B+W) makes, and it's very nice. But it is less subtle than the old ones. Does anyone know where this kind of filter can be obtained or where it can be made?

By far the best book on camera assisting is David Elkins's "The Camera Assistant's Manual." Dave was a great assistant (he's now an operator and DP), he knows all the routines and pitfalls, he writes clearly, and he updates the book regularly (a new edition is coming out in Jan 2005). For information about lighting, Blain Brown's "Motion Picture and Video Lighting" is clearly written and starts from a very basic level, proceeding to the point where the reader will have a good book knowledge of most lighting practices. "Reflections" by Benjamin Bergery is great. It's not comprehensive, but the examples it gives are from great cinematographers, completely explained and diagrammed to facilitate your reproducing them. "Painting with Light" by John Alton is fun but it's 50-60 years out of date, so it's best as general inspirationand a historic overview. Lighting for TV and Film by Gerald Millerson is great as a reference--lots of tables--more for the pro than anyone trying to learn from scratch.

Thanks Kevin. Glad to hear it worked. Jack

I will be shooting a film in super-16 on Eastman Double-X stock. I plan to use a mixture of tungsten and HMI lights. Does anyone know whether HMIs should be treated as daylight and require an ISO of 250? In a mixed light situation, is it safer to meter 200 or 250? Or should I meter each light source separately depending on its color temperature? Thanks. Jack Anderson jax@surfcity.net