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Joseph Zizzo

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Everything posted by Joseph Zizzo

  1. Hello all -- Does anyone have any insight on how to get an in-camera off-sync shutter streak effect on a contemporary digital camera, i.e. Alexa? A là this well-know spot by Frank Budgen: the double image shift effects are pretty cool too, no? thanks...
  2. i just had the opportunity to see "the master" projected on film. it was so powerful i went back again the next night and saw it again... powerful race car indeed! even though "the master" was originated on 65mm, primarily, the first time i saw it, it was projected digitally. by comparison, the film projection was like a magic potion... that said, does the average movie goer notice the difference, or care...? sadly, probably not.
  3. i think your idea of bouncing light from outside the car is the way to go... but the bounce should be big, 12'x12' (3x3m), so that you achieve the low contrast you are looking for. you don't want to feel the source, you want the light to feel totally ambient, like it's just there. for that reason, you should stay away from putting a kino in the car, i think you will feel the source too much for the vibe you are going for. of course you can always try it to see what it looks like, then turn it off if you don't like it. anyway, put one12' bounce on either side of camera, and make sure the light is evenly spread over the whole bounce, no hot spots. then play with the levels until you have the level of contrast you like. you could then put some diffusion on the windows that are out of frame, just to smooth the light out even more, if you think that's what you need. you can then add in an edge light, and/or one of many possible moving lights to suggest movement, if you desire. there are tons of gags you can do with poor man's process, but the trick is to pick only one or two that really work, and do those.... you don't want too many bells and whistles or you will lose the organic feel. alternatively, there are very thin led's - 1/4" (6mm) or so - that you can easily tape to the ceiling of the car, but i don't know if you have access to them where you are. they were first used in the film, "collateral", which if you haven't seen it, has a lot of night car interiors, and it may be a good reference for you. you can buy them on amazon (and lots of other places i'm sure) if that is an option for you: http://www.amazon.com/Electroluminescent-panel-backling-sheet-inverter/dp/B006YGG292 good luck and have fun!
  4. other topics have touched on this subject, but i wanted to raise two very specific issues about flicker using AC power at 60 Hz, and using tungsten lighting with the phantom flex. has anyone seen tungsten flicker at frame rates around 200fps? if so, what size lights and in what circumstances? also, has anyone successfully shot a scene - with no flicker - that includes existing sodium vapor/metal halide, which be impossible to avoid in backgrounds? at what frame rates? thanks, joe
  5. does anyone know who has these in LA? thanks.
  6. ok, so ARRIRAW just represents a lot more data to deal with then... which sheds some light on why so many series record to tape. thanks.
  7. thanks, guys... phil, if you don't mind elaborating a bit, what is the difference between posting red footage - which i, perhaps mistakenly, thought to be uncompressed data - and posting ARRIRAW data? i understand you're saying the latter is slower... but red footage used to take a day to transcode as well... now it can be done on set as we shoot. ids red data just that much more compressed? thanks.
  8. ok, so i understand that the workflow has not been really worked out yet for ARRIRAW, and that handing over tapes at the end of a job is easier... but i remember this being the case when the red was new, no one wanted to use it for a commercial because the raw, file-based workflow was not understood, and everyone saw it as a problem. now the red is, in my world at least, the go-to digital format when film has been abandoned... and everyone understands the workflow, data is backed up on set as we shoot, it's no longer a problem... so, if ARRIRAW is a superior format when compared to shooting s-log to hdcam (and certainly when compared to the red), in terms of resolution, dynamic range and color rendering - i mean, arri went to the trouble of developing it for a reason, i'm sure - would any of you think that it is just a matter of time before people adapt to the work flow issues, as happened with the red, or are there larger problems than that? in other words, is it worth pursuing raw workflow for short jobs, or am i just going to end up looking like some obsessed perfectionist on a mission!? thanks.
  9. Joseph Zizzo

    D21 workflow

    what's the best way to go for short jobs, like a commercial or music vid, in terms of a workflow when shooting with the D21? shooting on tape seems a bit stone age to me, since i've been working with the red quite a bit the last year and a half. but are there advantages to tape? there must be, since a number of tv series are done that way, so i've discovered... thanks in advance.
  10. what kind of project? feature, short, commercial...?
  11. ok don't everyone talk at once...! so we ended up with a 5k lumens projector, just by virtue of the rental house the prod designer went to, and it was just about right after some half CTS and minusgreen were added... for all it's virtues, that RED is a light-sucker, to be sure. just thought you'd like to know!! joe
  12. i'm doing a scene with a guy doing a presentation with a slide projector, shooting on the red... which i like to rate no higher than 250 ASA. do any of you now if a 3000 lumens lcd slide projector will be sufficiently bright, 8-10' from the screen in a conference room scene, shooting at f2 - 2.8. the image on screen should be the brightest thing in the room, balanced against a subdued daylight, 2 stops under or so, with the drapes closed. i have only used big massive projectors, 10k lumens and up, for lighting effects, so it seems like a 3k lumens projector 10' away should suffice, but i'd like to be sure. my real challenge is, i can't seem to find find a concise way to convert lumens to f-stop/footcandles. i know 1 footcandle = 1 lumen /sq foot, but what is the next step in converting the lumens rating of an LCD projector to footcandles, so as then to derive an f-stop? i'm obviously no math whiz, but a simple explanation may be all i need. thanks in advance... joe
  13. sorry! make that PLUSGREEN if you use flouros! not minusgreen...
  14. ari - those bulbs are green, though, no? jean paul - you can use eca's and ebw's... they don't quite get you full daylight, they're maybe 4000-4500ºK. this distributor claims 4800ºK, maybe right out of the box it is: http://www.filmtools.com/ebw500wattge.html you should consider gelling your windows... cto if you use the eca/ebw photofloods, minusgreen if you use compact flouros.
  15. do diopters behave the same way when used on anamorphic lenses as they do on spherical? what about doublers? thanks.
  16. He also replied to this one: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0403397/board/nest/112683233 But now the board is full of Bale fans, trolls and such. So I doubt he'd be making any more replies. Hurlbut's response about the look of the film was more interesting than anything else about this incident!
  17. nice look, there... it really takes a bit of imagination these days to get interesting looks on music videos with the budgets they have lately, doesn't it!? i was wondering how you got those vertical streaks, like the out-of-sync shutter thing with a film camera? thanks, and again, nice work.
  18. from an aesthetic/philosophical standpoint, my view at this point is that HD is kind of like that person we all know whose home is perfect and spotless and neat all the time. we kind of don't know how they do it, but it is a little too perfect, and not lived-in at all, and kind of artificial. for me, that is HD. Film is more like the way most of the rest of us live: spotless and perfect under the right circumstances, kind of imperfect and a little unpredictable under others. but natural-feeling in most circumstances. from a technical standpoint, the HD formats gobble up light. you almost never have enough. this especially a nuisance when shooting urban night exteriors. a good 500 asa film, like 5229, can see so much on city street, with only minimal augmentation necessary. you can really underexpose it, so effectively you are working at 800 or 1000asa, without increasing grain much, and that's without pushing the film in the lab. most HD formats say they are equivalent to 320 asa, but i have not found that to be the case. they are most happy at 250, without boosting the gain, which then will make your blacks break up in a decidedly unpleasing, electronic, noisy kind of way. underexpose film, and you get these nice soft black/grays in the shadows and beautiful falloff in the mids. HD really doesn't like tungsten light, or any light other than daylight, for that matter. shoot under uncorrected flourescents with film, and you get this nice, subtle, greenish tone - very natural looking, and totally adjustable in telecine/DI. with HD, it looks like the set was painted lime green, and it's very difficult to adjust in post without all sorts of unintended consequences. this aspect of HD makes skintones a problem - it's hard to get people's faces to look natural under many lighting situations - which is kind of a bummer. many others on this forum have attested to that fact, if you want to do a little search. you have to keep giving HD light, but then you can't let the highlights get too hot! for example, on a big wide bright daytime cityscape, HD looks amazing if you shoot it with the sun at your back, front-lit. but if you go for a back-lit look, the shadows get too deep, and the highlights off the metal and glass - and skin, if there are people in the shot - are too bright. there is no way to expose wherein the highlights don't clip or the shadows don't go too dark. so far i have not found a way around this. that being said, the digital formats are advancing in leaps and bounds, and i'm sure that's all we'll be shooting in 5-10 years. i just can't wait for HD to be as versatile as film! :rolleyes:
  19. hi all, what are the movies with your favorite moon-lit wilderness night scenes? what are your favorite movies with good day-for-night work? thanks in advance...
  20. very interesting.... thanks, guys, i'll keep you posted.
  21. possible with the red? thanks, joe
  22. does anyone know of a kind of makeup/body paint that would be more or less unobtrusive, but that then glows when light shines on it? thanks, joe
  23. frank! yes, of course, who could forget a shoot with sheep indoors!? you did a great job, thanks. you may know, a few of those spots won emmys... joe
  24. daniel, if you have been gripping in new york for a few years now, as you said in your first post, then you probably know some people who have gotten in since you started working, no? those guys and girls are usually the best source for all of this information, because they've recently done it. and, they are the ones who will stand up for you at the meeting before the vote. if i were you i'd go through my palm (or whatever) database and make a few calls. i would bet you know someone who is in. if not, ask around on set. someone will know someone, guaranteed. the other thing you can do, if you are keying, or if you can influence the key you are working for, is to hire a union grip who is willing to work non-union. then you have the whole job to become acquainted, and pick his/her brain. you can also get answers to some of these questions (although i don't think they're going to tell you what's on the test!) at the hall, 326 west 48th street. but whatever they say, do it their way! that's the best way to get in. it's a really old-school organization, much moreso than 600, so follow their established guidelines. i know walter said one guy sued and was admitted, but i'll bet he didn't make many friends in the process! and we all know how important those are in this business... and keep trying. its not impossible, imho anyone who really want to get in, gets in, eventually. good luck!
  25. yes, walter, you are quite right. passing the test means only that your name will be put on the list of potential candidates to be voted in (or not) at a general membership meeting. if enough people in the union know you, you will probably get voted in. if not.... well, you get 3 chances to get voted in before you have to take the test over. as a member of local 600, and a former member of 52, the only important piece of advice i have is this: don't let your membership in 52 lapse before you get into 600! if you are still a member of 52 when you are inducted into 600, the amount you paid to local 52 as an initiation fee will be deducted frrom the initiation fee for local 600. if you let your membership in 52 lapse before you get into 600, you will end having to pay the full amount to both locals. alas, i learned this the hard way! good luck.
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