Rory Hanrahan

I suggest using photo-quality paper (matte, not glossy), not just run-of-the-mill printer paper. I think you'll find the image will bleed less, remain sharper and will take more abuse.

I wouldn't consider my views "puritanical" at all, nor am I against experimentation. You may get your desired results by re-shooting a video projection on film, but the end result will be of a lower quality not just of the same material originated on film, but of the true HD original as well. I doubt it would be up to snuff as a traditional viewing experience, I think the "worst of both worlds" comment is on the ball, but go for it and see what happens? (As a side note, I almost commented directly after your topic-starter, but didn't want to be too negative. I'd like to thank Karl for pointing out the obvious.) Then again, I'm one of those assistants that you can cut out of the loop with video. Give that a shot, and let me know how your production day goes (To wit: a loader is just as necessary with a digital workflow as they are with film.) Also, just because you disagree with Karl, Scott F. and myself, doesn't mean we've added nothing to the conversation. We come from a different world apparently, where we spend a good portion of our time concerned with image quality. Let's see, what else? "movies are primarily visual and aesthetic"? hold on, let me write that down? I'm really not against your preferences, but if you're going to put out a mini-manifesto on the uselessness of film etc, sarcasm is the least of the responses you should be expecting. Best of luck, and be sure to post your results (of the video - to film - to video transfer, hopefully squeezed to a bloody pulp via YouTube :P ).

Hmmm, OK let's see: ? Film: waste of time & money? Uh, check. ? HD: waste of time and money? Um, OK, check. ? Mini-DV: Good origination format! *cough* Check. ? Downgrading 4k to Super8: worth trying? Hrrm, check? Well if that's the case, I'm going into real estate!

Cokin-style filters are what Adrian is referring to, but these generally fit inside a matte box like glass filters (although Cokin does sell a wonky clip-on holder used more for still lenses). These are neat, cheap solutions, but I wouldn't rely on them as high-end, optically pure filtration. Nick, since a matte box is something you consider out of the question, I think that the wratten gel filters are your best bet. I've never really encountered screw-on filters in the cine world, but maybe I've just been lucky? Appendix A: The Eclair ACL has a gel slot?! It has been a looong time since I last held one of these puppies! Appendix B: Yeah, Philly represent?

All I know is if somebody said THAT about ME? I'd have it printed up on business cards ASAP!

The thing is, as long as you know what you're job is worth, and know what it is to be a great AC, Op, Key Grip, Gaffer, whatever, then these inexperienced shooters shouldn't really get you down. Some are pains in the butt, and then some are very sincere and (1 out of 100?) talented. I can't begrudge anybody for taking that risk and trying to do work as a DP, but at the same time I've been burned by that experience enough that my BS detector works at max capacity and I rarely do jobs with young DPs unless they're friends, have some talent and appreciation for the crew or I just get a good feeling about the project, and know that I'll be creatively invested in it as well. At the end of the day, I'm an AC because I like being an AC; not just because I'm biding my time and crawling up the ladder. Just because there's a ton of HDV-capable jerks out there hamming it up and taking the glory while the crew -- who sometimes have more on-set time and appreciation for what goes into making a film -- do the legwork, doesn't mean we have to drink the Kool-Aid. Nor do we have to campaign against it. I have this old chestnut I like to breakout on turbulent film sets: If you want to wrangle cable on a feature you need 5 years experience, an IMDb page, 25 contacts and the ability to work for free. If you want to direct, just print up some business cards! So long as you know what people are really about and what they bring to the table, you'll be able to navigate the BS a lot better.

Well, the two lighting styles are at cross-purposes, but I suppose with some creative mojo (and very specific composition) it could work. Conisder this: VS-style lighting is very soft -- large sources are used to wrap light around the subjects in order to suggest soft, supple texture (yeah, getting close to purple writing here, but we are talking lingerie…). The models often have very distinct eye-lights, and use of softening filters like Classic Soft or Pro Mist is almost guaranteed. Horror lighting -- and I'm thinking of Friday The 13th-style slasher film stuff, something intended to illicit fear -- tends to be somewhat harsh: smaller, more specular sources, hard-cut slashes of light, pools of darkness… Mixing these could be tricky without proper planning, and some compromises are going to have to be made on both sides. A horror scene done in a glamour-shot style could work though; a lingerie commercial done in gritty horror-style probably less so… If I were shooting this, I'd use the best of both worlds: Go with the predominantly dark vistas, allow selective background to go black even, but be sure that your light sources are soft enough to suggest a velvety texture to emerge from that blackness. For her (EXT), I'd suggest a book-light as key, maybe with a harder edge to suggest direct moonlight. Also, outside of the car will she be lit by "car headlights"? To Die For comes to mind, but maybe a bit more stylized. For the main werewolf, try a harder key (the moonlight "edge" from before?), but soften the edges of the light slash with flags, etc. I'd also take another look at the old Björk video "Human Behavior", which is way more fantasy based, but kinda scary/surreal… There may be some inspiration there. I can't really give you specific lights/lenses/positions because A- I don't know what you have access to, and B- that takes all the fun out of it :P You've gotta make these choices, even if they are the wrong ones. Some other things you and Production should be thinking about: The most important part of a Vicky's spot? The girl. I'm sure you don't have access to a top modeling agency, but be sure to get somebody who is not just beautiful to the eye, but photographs well, has good skin, is well groomed, and (most importantly) is really open to being half-naked in front of a film crew, under hot lights for a whole night. Be sure to have a great make-up artist (someone who can cover up that blemish that pops up the morning of the shoot). Let your talent know that if she stays out drinking the night before, it will show! Have changes of wardrobe, a changing room or flats, and a place to warm up (its fall, and you'll be out in the woods overnight). I know all of this may seem like a bit much, but if you're going to have talent put themselves on the line for the shoot, be prepared to take care of them! And for God's sake: PLAN PLAN PLAN your set-ups, storyboard, and know how long it will take you between set-ups! The very last thing you want is this poor girl standing around set in her skimpy underwear while the crew picks their noses and tries to figure out what they're doing. That's just unprofessional ;) Best of luck, and Electricians: feel free to school this AC on the lighting advice I gave!

I don't know about local shops in Toronto, but most AC's I know get their gear online (or in-person if you're a left-coaster, I suppose) from FilmTools. I also recommend Kits & Expendables in NYC, though their web-site is not nearly as detailed as FT's. There are a few more local shops in the US that I know of, such as RayGun in NYC, but I think the two linked above are a great start.

Don't trust the top handle, its been known to break very easily with a fully loaded camera hanging from it. Always use two hands and cradle the bottom of the cam. If using ND, be sure to have a Hot Mirror (Infra-Red filter) in the matte box as well. The Red is (like all digi-cams) very sensitive to IR, and you may notice some magenta artifacts in the shadows when using heavy ND. Because of this factor, a 3-stage matte box will be your savior, and keep you from taping Hot Mirrors into the front of your matte box all day. You may want to use P-touch labels (or chart tape) to label the user buttons on the body and the EVF. Since there are so many options to set these to, the DP may forget what's what and start mashing buttons (my worst nightmare). Learn to "see" in RAW and False Color (an exposure index that looks like "Predator-vision"). It will help greatly in learning to expose for this cam. The joystick control on the back is very light-duty. Be nice to it. A friend/Red owner has a handful of model-airplane wheel parts to replace it every 2-3 shows (when the hotshot DP inevitably snaps it off). Be mindful of the "Drop" display (this refers to frames dropped during encoding/recording). If it says anything other than 0? that take effectively does not exist (Question: will the "Internal recording Error screen pop up every time this happens, as was my experience, or are these two independent alerts?) And most importantly: Make sure the camera mount is properly collimated with the lens set. Talk to your rental house / DI®T and make this a part of your checkout. Since changing "backfocus"/flange depth is not as quick as with HD-style lenses, you want to make sure this is set so you can trust your barrel marking and sleep like a baby.

I haphazardly shot a film about 4 years ago, called Journey to the Cesspool, with just a handful of friends both crewing and acting in it. The main "stage" was our Producer/Sound Mixer/Supporting Actor's dingy apartment. He kept his dog on a leash next to the Nagra -- on set was the only place he wouldn't bark! While filming a scene featuring comedic self-abuse, the main actor falls to the floor and hopelessly calls out for a medic? Of course the dog comes on over, into shot, and nudges at our buddy to make sure he is OK! Of the three takes we did, this is the one that made it into the final cut. The dog, of course, was credited as "Medic".

I would NOT take apart the mag, but send it back and swap it with a replacement. There's not a rental house on the planet that wants you pulling apart their mags. Even if it is a relatively simple service -- well, that's why you're paying them! You don't own the gear, you're just using it, and if you're not intimately familiar with servicing Arri mags... Well, don't. Production should have your back in swapping this out or sending the runner to the rental house to do it right. At the very least, talk to a house tech before going all gung ho on this.

Hi Jon, Thanks for posting here. I know Mike Johnston and Ken Kaleta have been eagerly anticipating your appearance at Rowan. Looking forward to seeing you there, and best of luck on the tour.

Great point that I forgot to add. I'm going to have to supply a strap-on shoulder pad before we go much further, otherwise our DP/Op (MJ Schirmer, another denizen of these boards) is going to have to file L&D for his shoulder. In all fairness, I think Red can take some industrial design notes from Arri, and that little rubber pad on the dovetail is precisely what I think can be improved. I estimate that our rig comes in at 30-35 lbs. The HDMI thing is tricky: our monitor looks great but its not the most robust of cables, especially with a lot of handheld work. I know that there are "locking" HDMI cables designed for pro use (with little teeth on each side that grab the port), though I'm not sure if they need a complimentary female end (the obvious answer of course is yes it would, but I haven't seen manufacturers adopt this locking system so I can't imagine that the one or two companies making the cable would anticipate an industry wide change?). The one thing that leads me away from widespread HDMI use is the cost and aforementioned fragility of the cable. Luckily for us most of the film we're doing takes place in the suburbs, so no 100' cable runs down a muddy hillside in the middle of the night? Matias, this thread in "General" says all there is to say in regards to the digital loader position. In short, if you don't have someone primarily dedicated to taking care of the "exposed neg" you must not have a lot invested in the day? I know I'm sorta spewing random info here today, but I'm one week into my first feature with the Red, so I'm learning a lot about this camera very quickly. I hope some of this helps.

The batteries do run out fast, though they also charge fast -- make sure you have more than enough, especially if you're running the EVF, LCD, RedDrive and a wireless focus, etc. By the way, the D-tap is on the battery mount, not the brick itself, so if you're planning on using the batteries for running a wireless director's monitor for instance, it will need a V-mount (rather than going D-tap to 4-pin) or another power solution. I'd suggest going with the 16GB CF cards, as the limitations of the 8GBs (~5 min @ 4K) mean that you may be reloading after each take (and the AD will positively love you for that?). If you run with a RedDrive, try to get 2, that way you can offload at choice times during the day without slowing down production (unfortunately due to time, we've occasionally been doing unverified dumps during the day, then verifying later when we have time -- never formatting the RedDrive if the info has not been verified). I'd also suggest never running the RedDrive all day without dumping footage, even though you have the drive space -- if there is a drive failure you've just lost a day of shooting. I highly recommend UltraLights (look for them at FilmTools) to replace Red's Israeli arms. Their arms are great for the LCD, but totally inadequate for the monster EVF. Plus, with the tinker-toyish (read: customizable) UltraLights you can make one hell of an extension eyepiece (one of the benefits of the Red's modular design). Also, get yourself a USB snake light. It can draw power from the camera's USB port and make an awesome lens light (though due to the length of your standard USB lamp, this may only reach to the dummy side). If you're running a video signal to Sound, talk to them about their input capabilities. Red only outputs via HDMI and HD-SDI, and in my experience most sound mixers use standard def monitors (they only need this for a frame reference). You may want to invest in a down-converter / breakout box or a monitor that can loop through and down-convert. If you're rolling with HDMI look into a repeater. I have very little experience with HDMI for pro applications (this is my first time doing that), but the signal falls apart after 35 feet or so, and being closely tethered to the monitor? sucks. If you don't get the breakout box for the side of the cam, definitely get backup adaptors for the mini Video out taps and the mini-XLR sound inputs.

In regards to aperture, you can input the stop by thirds (or your estimates for a "bump"), though you have to do the math before entering the aperture (for instance, you can't input 4 1/3, but you can input 4.5 -- remember, just because that f-stop isn't marked on the barrel doesn't mean its not there!). As far as distances go, decimals replace ft/inches (5.5 = 5'6"). Wish that either one worked, but if you input 5'6", for instance, you'll get the reading for 5' and the rest will be ignored. Hope this is improved in the future.

Just downloaded this, not a full review: At first glance this iSee4k isn't bad software. It certainly fills a large gap until pCine/Cam arrive later this summer (?). I like the Data Storage calc, great reference. I don't know how useful this is to anyone not using a Red (the DOF-calc offers lens formats as 16 / 35 and "RED", so hypothetically other AC's can utilize this), but will put this to use as I'm starting my first Red feature Monday. I'd like to compare its findings to other DOF charts, if only to sate my hyper-neurotic AC tendencies. Since its free I'd suggest any iPhone-wielding AC to have a look, if only to work out practical ideas for the future generation of this, or any other, DOF software for the device.

Mitch, Your statements are all put incredibly well. Its amazing that such a simple truth can be ignored by many productions under the excuse of budget constraints and "ease of use" (of course it all seems easy if you're not the one doing it?). Also, it stands to reason that if you're juggling fewer balls its more likely that they'll stay in the air longer. Thanks for that input, I'm sure many of us will be paraphrasing a lot of content from this thread to UPM's and Producers in the future. Now if they listen?

Ideally that role would be handled by a digital loader / data wrangler (I wouldn't be against an Asst. Editor coming in either, but the thought of having another dept. on-set usually blows Production's mind, even if the pay is the same?), but on a few P2 jobs I've done the 2nd will handle the data workflow. It shorthands the Camera Dept. sometimes, but can work out well in a studio setting, where company moves / moving gear takes far less time and energy.

I used the C-Motion a few months back (got it from Abel, as a sub-rental) and was pleasantly surprised. Good ergonomic design, strong signal transmission (in an area that had caused problems with another Remote FF). This is a real competitor in the RCU field, in my opinion. David, keep in mind that both Arri and Pana tend to have a systematic approach to their different bodies, so that if you are familiar with an Arri Studio, for instance, you won't be lost when facing a 535 or 416. Also, a lot of these manuals are available online, so hopefully you're already searching based on Brad and Andrew's posts.

Those Harrison totes are pretty great. I was lucky enough to find a "military surplus" -like version at I. Goldberg, an army/navy store in Philly. They're a little smaller than The Harrisons, but have 4 pockets inside and outside for all sorts of good stuff, and fully padded. $15 each. I buy a couple every time I'm over there, because ya just can't have enough storage space!

That's a "doctor" bag -- the zipper closes the bag from one end to the other, which reduces the space when closed. I have a similar bag from CE/Harrison, and while its great I have to make sure not to overload it or it just won't shut. In my opinion, these bags make great set bags (as in: what you need next to camera) as opposed to something larger, padded and more sturdy (like the portabrace or *shudder* cinebag) for all your breakables, like viewfinder extensions and liquor bottles.

Not bad Gus. I notice some minor things like over-saturation / banding in the heavy magenta clips, but not sure how much of that is due to compression. Regardless, nice work. I'm a big fan of the 3000 as well. I 2nd'ed one of the first (if not the first feature to use the cam (Bottleworld) back in the fall. The tech was so early that we couldn't utilize the AVC-I codec due to uncertainty as to when Apple would provide support for FCP. Lo and behold, as I drop the gear off at Abel, Mitch tells me that day Apple announces support! D'oh! Anyway, gorgeous piece of gear with great in-camera paint options. I'd be happy to shoot on this any day. Here's an article from Abel's site regarding the film.

Yo Annie! Been there. Too many times. Fun it ain't. So much time & effort (and carpal tunnel?) put into the process, only to discover later that the magazine's spool popped off for daylight loads? yeah. Your plight reminds me of getting stuck on the camera truck, hands in bag, and trying to bite at the walkie mic to respond to the urgent production call that inevitably happens when you can't deal with it. Hope Savannah is keeping you entertained!

That Magic Arm is sweet. Great wide mount for the monitor. Chris, another great thing about the Ultralights is that they were originally designed to mount lights etc to underwater rigs, so they're built for heavy punishment, water, "directors grabbing the monitor" (as the FilmTools site says? Yeah, we've all been there). Pricey, but couldn't recommend them enough.

S4's fit (just did a feature with this config), Master Primes are too fat.