Scott Weatherford

great advice, guys. hearing the stories from guys like dan collins and tom jensen makes me so eager to get more work! ive been acing for a few years now, started in o5 in austin, an came back to dallas after some health problems kept me out of work for about a year. then another year gaining my strength and some contacts here, and trying to get back a bit of confidence as well. ive had 3 ac gigs on low bugd shows since october, and have appreciated being back on set (even tho 2 of them were shot on a 7d and 5d... uck.) when i was in school i got pigeon-holed as an ac as well, since i sort of started doing it before any classmates. as an undergrad, i found myself 1sting on almost 75% of all the grad student pre-thesis and thesis shorts. and they all rented the same bl3 (or was it a bl4...) from this house in dallas. so i got to know the camera dept guys pretty well. since school ive been calling them every few months for 4 years now to see if they needed hired help, or if they had a new piece of gear i could come play with. well, tomorrow, i finally have a chance to go work for them officially, even tho its in hte g&e department. but i still want to do it bc my knowledge of that world SHOULD be more advanced than what it is currently. plus, i imagine ill be sneaking over to the camera dept here and there to see whats up, knock wood that is. ever since i interned on a show with a 1st from la who worked at woodland hills panavision (i think thats the name of the location, woodland hills, yes?), i have wanted to work at a panavision house. his knowledge and comfort levels with a pana gear was astounding, a master at work. ive also had an increasing desire, recently, to go work for a lens company, cooke or zeiss or someone, and really learn all the ins and outs of their lenses, see how their made and the decisions behind new products, etc etc. or at kodak or canon or arri. ah to dream.

i interned on a show that connie hall jr dped, and he had a whole series of nets he threw in front of the lens... is the aesthetic of having it behind the lens that much better than the front to justify going through snot taping or etc etc?

so, im gonna be 1sting on a new show starting in like 10 days, and most likely gonna be working with the varicam w the pro35 dof adaptor and ultra primes (OR... cant believe im typing this... a 5D... shudder). ive recently 1sted on a... ugh... 7D, and most recently 2nded on the red, but before those two gigs i hadnt ac'ed in about 2 years (some health problems). luckily ive gotten some cobwebs out on those last two shows, and i may actually be 2nding for like the first week on this new one, but, having been at least 2 years since ive worked w the varicam, i wanted to ask about anything i should look out for w this camera... and then w this particular rig, too, w the pro35. its been ages since ive had to set back focus, which will come back to me quickly. shouldnt have any probs pulling either. but i just wanted to see if there was anything anyone wanted to share w someone like me who's basically starting over. thanks!

and a less costly solution than Pancro is Nail Polish.. works pretty well, saves a few bucks. Of course, if youre not buying the stuff, why not go for the Pancro, eh?

So ive been trying to find a samcine DoF calc. for a short im 1sting in January (my first time 1sting on 35mm). Ive used the samcine, the kelly weel, and the Palm Pilots before, and i def like the samcine the best. But several places online have been out of stock on those things for a while now. Panavision had a link to them, for about 200 bucks, but it seemed like every other place (filmtools, etc.) was implying that theyve stopped making them or something. Anyone know about this? I know the Kelly wheels are cheaper, but, whatev. Ive got printed DoF 'graphs' but those are for primes and for 16mm; i dont have them for 35mm. Does anyone have anything like that? just a cheap, paper graph, you know. thanks mates

Right, the viewfinder issue makes sense, and metering hasnt proven an issue yet (ive metered my strobes in various situations and have gotten correct exposure for my camera tests). My question was more about syncing and if theres any way to get around the irregularity of the strobe and shutter. I was told by someone that if i keep the strobe rate low, then it would work better, but what about higher speeds, 40fps, 70 fps? Seems like if the shutter is moving faster, i can have the strobe going a bit faster as well. the problem with my camera test was when the flash goes off when the shutter is only half in or out, when its covering half of the gate, and you get that chopped look where only the top or bottom of the frame is exposed.... THATS what im trying to get around, and i dont know if theres a way. thanks

Im shooting a music video next week and i really would like to do some lighting with strobes and high speed simultaneously. Ive read some things about Unilux and other systems, but as far as my gear is concerned, im shooting on an old Arri 16 SR capable of approx 80fps, and just an old strobe light with variable speeds, although the speeds are not denoted on the actual strobe light. I did a camera test and the footage didnt come out that great, but considering i just winged it i knew it wouldnt be good. Does anyone have any good suggestions about how to light with strobes for 16mm 24fps and higher? im not married to the idea but it will provide a very appealing aspect to the video. I fear that i dont have the proper tools and gear of high enough quality to acheive this! Help!

So we were shooting studio mode with about 3 babies and a few 650s, which were all gelled with a Red Lee party gel (cant remember which one exactly, but thats superfluous). A friend of mine came in and told the 1st and me (i was 2nding) that's he's read about how scenes with all red light, or at least the majority of light being red (approx 400 nm., right?) will throw off your focus, because, im assuming, of just something to do with the characteristics of that wavelength being solo... how it travels or reflects. Anyone heard about this? Is this just for red or for any other colours (keep in mind we're talking ALL of the light being ONE colour ONLY)? how do prop and wardrobe colours effect this, especially black and white? i though this was pretty interesting schtuff... lemme know what you think.

I just saw a music video for the band Keane called 'is it any wonder?' and was quite impressed... i highly suggest you all to see it. Basically, the camera is rigged to what is probably some robotic dolly, on a track thats constructed like a roller coaster! The band is playing within the scaffolding rig holding the dolly track, and the camera zooms around them while they play. I thought it was an incredibly original concept and very well executed. Does anyone have any info on how it was executed exactly? im assuming all of it, the dolly and camera movements, were remote controlled via servos, but im very interested to know exactly how it was done. ... too bad there werent any loop-de-loops, though

Im currently on my second feature length show as a camera P.A. and while i am confident in what i know for my experience thus far, there is still so much more to know. I come in every morning and watch the 1st build the camera, and while i know alot of the parts needed to get everything fully operational, i dont know ALL the names of all these small parts, all the cables like ZLP's with Lemo heads (?) and just everything on the camera. Is there a source out there (besides the Panavision school) that i can tap to beef up my knowledge of these minute yet important parts? Thanks in advance, camera gods.