Matt Workman

I have a Lee HMI and Visual Products after some heavy debugging (some adjustments) found out that my G&E HMI bulb flickers. They swapped it for an Osram and it worked flicker free. Something I wish someone told me before I bougth two G&E bulbs, ouch.

Looks great. Panny 35? Can you say what the budget was and how long your shoot is? I have read some of the blog but not all of it. How did you guys find your DP, Rachel Morrison? What made you guys choose 35mm over HD. (obviously quality) I guess, how did you get a financiers to go 35mm in this time of HD features. In the crew section they only have up to DP. No gaffer, grip, ac's? Looking forward to reading more.

Thanks Ethan. We are shooting in Albany, NY. The camera/lighting package is mine, so we aren't renting it. If this were a typical 21 day straight feature we would have had more options. Production did buy a lot of expendables (gels, stingers, some lights, etc.) I'm always down for a trip to LA :D . There are a few more updates in the journal and there are some scenes/teasers online. Although they aren't scenes that particularly show off the camera work. http://www.balletdiesel.com/Movies/Headshots_l.mpg http://www.balletdiesel.com/Movies/MJ_sing.mpg http://www.mattworkman.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17 Three more weeks a.k.a. 7 more days of shooting.

Magic Bullet 2.1 is great and Digital Film Suite 55mm etc. But I'd say learn real color correcting in FCP or Avid first. Use the waveform, rgb parade etc. Just messing with plug-ins is almost counter productive in the long run. "Film-look" to me means good lighting. Even a Hi-8 60i film looks great if it was light like it were film. I have footage to proove it. :P If you go DVX or XL2 you'll be fine if you light it well.

I know a director from the LAFS. She shot a few DV shorts, s16, and a 35mm short. You also get to crew on everyone elses shoots. She said it was a great program because it was one year. A four year program plus a 35/16 thesis film can put in debt quite a large amount. Regardless of any program, if you have talent, and want to work hard you'll get a lot out of it. After one day of on set work you can learn more than three point lighting, come on.

I have the M2 with a Nikon mount. This is definitely the most common choice because of the fmount is very easy to find lenses for and because Nikon glass is very good, for SLRs. If you want to own your kit, kind of the point of an M2, you should stay away from Zeiss sets. For that price you should stay away from DV/HDV. Although they sell the M2 w/ a PL mount (extra $500) in which case you need to rent cinema lenses you might as well rent a high end adapter like the Mini35 or MovieTube. I have a 15/28/55/135 and two zooms. All of which TOGETHER are less than one Zeiss super speed. The 28 and 55 are my most commonly used. If I had a f1.4 35mm I'd use that a lot too.

Ouch! <_< Keep us updated about the MovieTube/Mini35 demo, I would be very interested. What do you think the future of 35mm adapters are? They seem to be geared towards smaller 1/3 cameras, although I know there is the pro35. Are they an intermediate step to something like the Red where digital will natively have the DOF of a super35 camera? How long do you expect these adapters to be in use? Mostly with smaller independent projects I would imagine?

I agree. I can't even follow how many sub-forums this site has already. :P

At that level camera (no 2/3 chip) I haven't noticed a large difference. The HVX has a larger color space than the HDV/DV cameras also. I would choose the HVX/Mini35 with some Zeiss lenses with anti-glare coating. Also a mattebox with ND for controlling DOF and some grad filters for wide shots. White clothing ... in bright sunlight ... is that part of the treatment? That is pretty rough, are they dark skinned? I would underexpose at least a stop and bring it up in post. 720pN has a lot of room to tweak in post (4:2:2) especially for a SD DVD output. Please post the video when its done.

4x2 and 4x4 Kinos are really great location lights. I wish I owned some. After at least one HMI I would definitely buy a Diva light or something similar. You can switch between tungsten and daylight, so they are multipurpose. And they are very light and hang from ceilings or just work as great fill. Also having single Kino tubes to tape and tuck away in the set are very helpful for quick fixes. Man I really use that technique too much... :(

Was the DVX100 out when they shot 28 Days Later? I would agree that the DVX100a/b has a better look than the XL2. I have shot with both and the XL2 is a little cumbersome and I like the DVX lens over the XL2, even their manual version. The XL2 is marketed heavily for sports/events/weddings etc. I think Panasonic is doing a better job for the indie film market. Also the XL2+M2 is huge, almost as bad as the JVC. The M2 is a great tool but if I had the choice between a real grip/electric package and a lens adapter I would go with the grip/electric. I see a lot of M2 footage that is basically "not lit" and having shallow depth of field doesn't make up for that.

I'd be interested in seeing the results of these two techniques. I remember in the scene from Munich where they are sitting in a car that the "car lights" looked a little fake. But still really pretty. The 1ks sound like a good idea, Pars would be great for MS/CU shots.

I remember reading this in the beginning and feeling ignorant for not knowing what a quats was. :P (2) 800w and (1) 2kw are pretty small lights to work with for the effect you are going for. I remember a thread about using a 2.5k HMI being barely able to do this effect. Also are you ground floor? I did this sort of effect for on a second floor house and it took a lot of rigging.

Yeah cool video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R2S-7TpIcs&search=keane I like teh Keane.

I don't find this funhy in anyway.... :angry:

I am just starting to put together my reel. I have half a dozen music videos, some shorts and I am just finishing up a feature. Do most reels only have footage that makes it into the final cut? Can/Should I use footage from the feature that may not make it into the final cut? What is the standard on this issue?

When I was a camera trainee I messed up the DP's coffee. Not a good idea. Memorize what the DP, Operator, 1st, and anyone in your department likes in their coffee. Also labeling people waters/coffee and keeping track of their personal stuff is very helpful.

Hey Josh, That is a really nice reel. I also do VFX work and I think that the transitions are very appropriate. There are a lot of cheesy wipes/fades out there and I think yours are very sophisticated. I think that the idea of just a DP is fading. New DP's are going to have to understand post production, with DI, LUT, and the ever more prevalent VFX out there. Look at the Kodak Look Manager and LUT/Scene files for HD cameras. While I don't think that a DP needs to have a perfect command of shake or know how to actually do a DI color correct, I think that a DP that understands the WHOLE process will be better during the shooting. IMO. A DP that understands post well enough to do it, is a better DP. I vote for keeping the transitions.

I'm not really in a position to critique someones reel but... I like the EXT shots of the girls. Also some of rap videos have some cool shots. - I think the WS of the girls dancing outside in the backyard doesn't fit. - The BW shots with the edge effects are a little distracting. - The shot of the guy pointing a gun to his head (was lit well) but makes me want to stop watching. Otherwise looks great. Do you have a website?

Oh South-Asian music... I liked the overcrank effects with the water. The jumpcuts between the different actors was interesting also. - What lens did you shoot the crane stuff with? It looked somewhat distorted on the edges. - What was the budget for this video? How big was your crew? In my biased American opinion, a good amount of North Indian pop music is very cheesy. I do listen to a good amount of bhangra/punjab dance hip hop etc. This video seems to fit with the Bollywood aesthetic but I feel like with the crane you could have done more synchronized movements. Are you the director and DP?

My HMI's wouldn't strike if you pulled out the lens, most have a protection mechanism. Doesn't the lens focus the light more anyway?

Another problem I've head with this is controlling DOF. I was going for a really shallow DOF on my last shoot but the sun kept popping in and out of the clouds. I was heavingly ND'd and when the sun would go away it would be too dark. Then I'd have to drop some ND and re-adjust. The DOF kept changing. It went from blaring sun to overcast to downpour in about 45 minutes.

I'd shoot the whole thing green screen... :D I agree that shooting the wide shots with the light how you intend it makes sense. So for you, shoot the wide shots at high noon. Then do the closer shots later when you can pull out the big lights and frames to cheat. I've also seen 4x4 mirrors used to direct some hard light, but its a little tricky with moving subjects and the sun.

Heh, when I got my 1200w HMI fresnel I though I could pull off an effect like that. Not quite. <_< What is the industry standard fog machine? I would like to start experimenting with that effect. How do you know how many FC you need to overexpose? I hardly use the FC rating, but I'd like to know. Wouldn't a PAR be better suited for this effect over a Fresnel anyway?

I just saw an IMAX 3D film at the New England Aquarium, with my girlfriend. We saw a making of spot at the giftshop and it showed the crazy rig used to shoot these films. I believe its 65/70mm film and they have two cameras rigged together to get the 3D image. Its pretty amazing. Its a little weird though because the DOF makes things close to the camera out of focus, but in 3D they are right up in your face. Has anyone shot with these cameras? Better yet, does anyone have any pictures of the shoot?