Alex Lindblom

Well it's a dark comedy wrapped in a murder mystery, and I have to say I had a pretty good time. Goggins is really entertaining in this one, in a solid ensemble cast. Saw it in digital, one interesting thing that popped out straight away was that the scan was not stabilized so there was clear gate wave, which I actually liked. Now if I a dip my toes in this film digital thing. If you compare “The hateful 8” to it it's great ancestor “And then there were none” and the recent 3h BBC adaption which I assume was shot on Alexa but I'm not sure. The nature of these stories lies in the mystery “who did it” and “why”, you are never really emotional invested in the characters, it's more of an intellectual exercise. That being said The Hateful 8 had me laughing, and smiling all the way trough, and I could go along with the ride even when I felt he was pandering a bit. "And then there were none", has another tone for sure, and it's a solid adaption, but the thing with digital, and I don't know why, it's just lets you observe what's going on but never includes you in it, it just leaves you cold, I don't know how to better explain it. Mad Max Fury Road, is the achievement of the year, the spectacle is lost on no one. And yet you are just there observing, you don't care who lives or die, and to me, even with all it's action it felt longer then The Hateful 8. I find that really interesting since The hateful 8 is basically a stage play, and Mad Max Fury Road is pure cinema, no other art from can do what Fury Road does. And yet it's The Hateful 8 and Goggins when he gets that pistol, and realizes that the tables are turning, that gets my vote...

There is no cropping from 2.66 since Techniscope never used the soundtrack area like modern super35 because there would be no way to show it, and involve even more re-engineering of the cameras. As you know Techniscope is 2-perf instead of 4-perf. Now all projection was 4-perf either flat with a wide aspect ratio of 1.85 (or in some cases 1.66 in Europe) or 2.35 in scope(anamorphic lens with 2*squeezed print). And since that, anything wider then 1.85 used the scope lens for projection, the 2-perf negative had to be squeezed and blown up, to go from the 2-perf height to the standard 4-perf height, to be projected as a normal scope film.

Yes it's a really a fine looking film. Shows that celluloid still holds that special magic, that's sorely lacking, from most modern productions. There is a good interview over at http://www.theasc.com/site/podcasts/the-grandmaster-philippe-le-sourd-afc/ Great podcast series highly recommended.

Thank you for your input guys. I had my eye on Xe over at kitmondo but it seems to be gone now, it scans 8perf at 36.86mm – 24.58mm. Now Rob the Xena seems very interesting to me the modularity of it, is there any reason why I couldn’t just put a C500 in it? It seems very clear that the cmos train just gone keep rolling, just look at NAB this year, we are gone get better and better cameras for cheaper and cheaper prices. To me this seems like a no brainier, we should have the option to use these cameras as scanner heads. I mean a used Sony F65's goes for 25K now it's crazy, I'll think you'll be hard pressed to find a better sensor than that. But for people who don't like bayer, Red have monochrome Epics and Dragons. There will be a camera out there whatever your wallet or taste.

Thanks for the info Perry. Two follow up question if I may. It doesn't do vista vision, and it's only 2K right? Do lasergraphic have any update path for it 4K, 8perf and son on? And a more general question, I have read the old Cintel manuals, and as I understand it, flying spot machines can basically scan any pref or format size. (There is a certain warmth to Cintel scans that I really like.) Now with modern chip and line scanners, my question is can you build a machine that scans the whole with of 35mm, the whole frame sprockets and all, and is length independent at least 1-16 perfs. I have not come across any machine that does this but maybe I haven't looked hard enough. I know that the bigfoot scanner do 65mm but it's slow and getting long in the tooth.

Oops my link fell away for used film scanners here we go -- visualsystemsonline.com

Perry let me quote you “the scan is not a good place to try to do things on the cheap “ but that's the whole point of this -- it should be, and thanks to BMD it will be. CanoScan 9000F Mark II is canon's top of line stills scanner it cots 199.99 dollar, and that will get your picture scanned to your computer, and there are a lot more still film scanners out there in the world used by completely normally people without any special training everyday, that are able to make perfectly good scans, and has been for years. There is no difference in color grading for a still or a moving picture except for matching, I mean hell when I grade in AE the picture doesn’t move, so there is no difference. Millions of people tweak digital pictures every day, this is not rocket sciences people, if you want to learn it doesn’t take long. And at the end of the day we are talking about art here so it's all subjective in the end, no matter how you slice it. Now for people who prefer film like me, the single biggest stumbling block, to shooting film has been the scanning, which makes absolutely no sense since it a none issue in the stills world. You have always been able to budget for rental costs and processing. But when it comes to something simple as scanning, it's suddenly a black hole, no prices no thing. (Well expect Robert who actually has list prices, thank you very much.) And when you finally get hold of them trough some dark art search wizardry the prices are out of whack. That lead me to my research on used film scanners a very good site for used prices. Perry by the way I saw you had a scanstaion what's the price on those? Well of to see Manu, so could be even cranker when I come back : )

Well first of this is truly great news, almost a miracle. The web has been pretty wide spread since 1995 and now in 2014 we finally get a Telecine/Scanner manufacturer that actually lists it's price on the front page – that's at least, worth a small hallelujah. Now, Matthew I totally agree with you, if I remember correctly I brought up many similar points. When the news broke about BMD acquiring Cintel. Post houses attitudes, have been relay poor especially in Europe, as long as I can remember. But now the wait is finally over. I can actually make a budget item for scanning, without being forced to jump through hopes, like some kind of domesticated animal. 30k that's it. No hassle no fuss, no more wasting time. Film is finally liberated. So a good day indeed : )

Just search for "arri price list 2006 pdf" it lists the Sr3 adv for 41.900 euro. This is a topic that's driving me crazy in this biz. Manufactures refusing to have easy accessible price lists. When the Alexa came out it seemed to be a change in attitude with quiet a few complete PDF price list floating around out there, but now with the Alexa XT – NOTHING. Just have a price list on your site for F-sake, and stop waiting everyone’s time. And don't get me started on film scanner manufacturers it's just plain ridicules.

Good Link thanks.

Hi Freya well this is basically true for every post house in Europe, I have spent several hours going through them all. Yes the old market is definitely dying I mean who in their right mind would go through all this hassle to shot film with all the great affordable alternatives available. And we also have a new generation which actually seem to prefer the digital look, which is beyond me, but that's another question all together. Phil I agree that a renascence is unlikely, but I think, that they at least can build a stronghold, if we get affordable scanning everywhere. I have a 2009 Arri Price List where Arriscan is listed for 330.000 euro and if you want 16mm gate ad 27.500 and Kodak Ice (scratch removal) ad another 40.000 euro, so of course there is no low budget/aspiring market for that. But I also think there are a lot of young people out there that has been inspired by Nolan's Batman trilogy, that would nothing more then shoot film if they just could get their hands on it for relatively affordable price. All that said, I have a feeling that maybe it's little too little too late, the Alexa is getting rally close, and when Fringe changed from film to Alexa last season, I really did care it was close enough, and when I don't care film is going to have a though time... And yet the Great Deakins shot "In Time" on it and it doesn't look bad but it doesn't look quite right either. Is the difference enough to warrant the price of film? I don't know but if I'm on the fence who absolutely love the look of film, then I'm afraid that the days of film starts to look like their last, at least in mainstream TV and Cinema.

This has to be the best news ever. The whole telecine market has bothered me for years. Both manufactures and actual post houses not listing their price but always the -- request quote BS, wasting everybody's time, I can't stand it. And pushing for tape transfers when we should have had the hard drive option long ago. Even if the scanner is not going to be super cheap, we will at least have list prices, finally. Thank God or perhaps Grant Petty for that ;) The cost of shooting/developing film is not that big considering the cost for a whole production, and you have always been able to find these prices, so you can actually budget for it. So for us who still prefer film, this is surely a day to be celebrated.

Sad news indeed. One of the great in my opinion big fan of his work with Clint.

Thank you both for the info.

Did some more digging and found a manual it says: 1 edition (revised 1) and it's printed in Japan 1994. 12. 13. I guess that stands for December 1994, maybe we are a bit closer to an actual date.

Anybody knows When Sony BVW-600 Betacm sp was introduced? I have searched but I just can't seem to find it. Thanks. Alex

I'm in the middle of pre-production for an upcoming feature film shooting in August 2011. I'm still looking to fill 8 English speaking parts, they are... 3 Female about 18-25 years 1 Female about 33-45 years 2 Male about 18-25 years 1 Male about 33-40 years 1 Male about 45-55 years It's an assemble cast, so every part is a significant one, all speaking rolls. Independent film -- but all rolls are paid positions. If somebody is wondering it's a "safe film" AKA no nudity. But yes the language is definitely rated R : ) The film is an action comedy, it's a 2-3 week schedule in the beginning of August 2011. Shooting takes place in Europe. That's the boilerplate. Man, sounds so dry and formal doesn't it, when film is supposed to be anything but... Well if you got any pointers where I should look, or maybe know somebody, that would be interested, then don't be a stranger and write me a line, okay. There may also be an opening for a DOP position, but I'll keep you posted about that one as well. Regards Alex

Phil "the beacon o truth" Rhodes. Yes sometimes he just wakes up on the wrong side of the bed but more often then not, it's the right side. Look I'm one of Phil biggest fans on this site because he tells it like it is, and still he tries and preserver in a business that is clearly hopeless in Europe, these are just plain and simple facts, they may not be nice to hear, but they are still true. I have this naive hope that things might be slightly better in France , the business side that is, it would be nice if somebody from France would like to weigh in on this (In a new thread so we don't highjack this one.) And yes there are a lot of great cinematographers from the UK.

Great write up as always David thank you. Some additional questions if you have time, I'm always interested in the practicalities so... 1. Lenses, primes or zooms? Most used/favorite focal length and T stop of course. 2.Shooting days per episode, and how many hours per day? And can you remember how many setups you got per day? Keep up the good work and keep posting David. Best Alex

Thank you Gregory, great answers.

Hi Gregory great to see you working on the show. I've been a pretty big fan since Fringe shifted focus from "monster of the week" to a more serialized format which I really like. Now over to the questions. 1. Shooting days -- How many first and second unit days per episode, and how many hours per day? 2. Cameras -- How many cameras are usually in use on any given setup. And how many setups per day are you able to pull off. 3. Lenses -- Primes? Zooms? Focal lengths? 4. Stocks? 5. Workflow -- How is the show posted? Is everything scanned to 4:4:4 HDCAM-SR, and taken form there or is it something else? 6. And of course last but not least, how is to work with the great cow : ) Looking forward to seeing your episodes. Best -- Alex

It's available on both Google video and vimeo, the vimeo quality seem better so Amblin here you go.

The Wrestler There is a thread about it on this site already, see if you can dig it up, I linked to a Kodak article about it.

All this bickering is useless and non productive, it doesn’t add anything to the art of filmmaking or cinematography. There seems to be a clear divide here between the fanboys and the rest of the community, and all this -- mine is bigger then yours, makes no sense for grown men that are supposedly artists or at least skilful craftsmen. I have been here for a long time and been reading reduser from day one, the information has been invaluable to me, everything from Technicolor dye transfers to 10 bit RGB files. I have great respect for Jim as an entrepreneur his Oakley story is very inspiring, at least for me who is also interested in business. I also like what they are doing with the Red, it makes everybody else raise their game, so competition increases and prices drops. I don’t think anybody will argue with the price/ performance of the Red, it’s just wonderful. Digital is now thanks to the price/performance/easy of use/SAG AFTRA rules, a real alternative to film and it’s up to each production to choose what’s most suited for their needs, it’s as simple as that. Now what’s been disturbing, is what I feel has been a pretty recent turn in tone in the reduser community: Treads closed, people banned, and everybody that’s just have a simple question being called old and useless, and now it has crept in to this thread as well. I can’t remember this sort of behaviour on these forums before but I can be wrong, but it really needs to stop, this is a community for people who love cinema, who want’s to share there passion and knowledge about the subject, analog or digital it doesn’t matter. I’m humbled every time I login here and see all these great cinematographers, that are willing to share there time and experience in an increasing hostile environment, we don’t want this to turn in to another debacle like the Roger Deakins site. Now as a finally note how would it be if Jim and the Red team, would put out an affordable film scanner, you could include Dan Hudgins in your team, and bring down the currently ridiculously over priced scanners that are out there, now if you do that you have my deposit on Monday...

Sorry forgot... Alien Trespass -- not really a wide realse, but could be intresting for the very heavy and "new" degrain process it went through I think arri bought it and call it Relativity