Chayse Irvin ASC, CSC

I hope to test the HPX again. My rating may have been compromised by my lack of a brand new 18% gray card. I lit him with two 4 light FAY's through Muslin w/ Lee 736 (Wheat) gel. I prefer working with FAY's and Maxi's on some projects because you have more control over power distro in places you may not have any control, plus PAR bulbs are so efficient. I shot the test from +4 stops over key all the way down to -3 stops over key. Not totally sure what lens I used. It was an older zoom. Probably close to first generation 2/3rd HD zooms. I recorded AVC100. It was pretty nice... I was so happy that it was a P2 codec thats 10bit. But Panavision had this other device called Panasonic HPM110 Solid-State Recorder/Player which I thought was really cool. You can send it any HDSDI and record to AVC100 P2. So in a sense you could rent a cheaper camera like a HDX900 and record that compression codec, not sure how that would compare to actually recording HPX vs, but that would be an interesting test. I guess it would depend on if the HDSDI out were 720 or 1080 and the sensor itself? The camera had really nice high light detail, even at +4 stops key my assistances face didn't clip. I love tapeless workflows. I did a Varicam feature a year back where we recorded direct to disk via HDSDI to a mac tower recording 10bit uncompressed 720 59.98p and it looked shockingly better then DVCPRO HD tape... the problem being that uncompressed 720 takes up tons of hard drive space (more space then even 1080 24p because of the '59.98p' the 720 records). At the rate we were shooting some days we would have recorded 3 terabytes a day. The AVC100 isn't uncompressed, but its 10bit, which is a huge leap from DVCPRO HD, and can be managed with minimal hard drive space. But I find all this digital talk very depressing... I love film.

I rated one at 800 ISO a two weeks ago. Here is a test I shot. http://www.chayseirvin.com/video/HIEHPX3000TEST.mov

1. Conrad Hall 2. Roger Deakins 3. Robert Richardson 4. Emmanuel Lubeski 6. John Toll

No prob. I'll throw some dailies up when they start coming in. Our dailies are telecine to HDCAM SR and sent to disk and coming in at 1080 Pro Rez HQ so I'll be able to chop something up with some music after the shoot. I'm just working on getting a crew right now. I got my fantastic 1st AC Ariane Jonassen to commit and a sick Gaffer named Jesse Keay. Now I just need a Key Grip and Dolly grip. I'm a little worried because I don't know many and my lighting is really grip heavy, so I need someone good and oddly enough this is my first all dolly show (in the past i've done mostly handheld).

I'm starting a awesome short film two weeks from now. This is the second short I've shot with director Eric Maran whom is simply brilliant. We are planning on shooting 35mm Anamorphic right now however I've insisted on paying my crew to attract the best guys and girls (I've worked with) so that I can achieve what I am envisioning lighting and camera wise; so that may bump us down to S35mm because of stock and camera cost would need to be funneled into pay... but we will see what kind of deal we can pull at panavision. We also have a DI at EFilm in toronto worked out, which is a dream come true for me. I met colorist Chris Wallace (known for the DI on Pan's Labyrinth) while doing a feature there a few months ago and I'm hoping I can work with him on this project; but that may be a long shot. A few weeks ago I shot some stock tests using a Panavision GII and a Primo 40mm. The story is told through 'past' and 'present' and to differentiate the two timelines I've decided to shoot the 'Past' on 5217 with a 100% bleach bypass and at the time of the test I was going to shoot 5229 for its low contrast and wide range, however i've decided to shoot the 5217 without a bleach bypass for the 'present' instead. I tested the 5217 & 29 with our very talented, but a bit insane, art director (Lucus) against a window to understand what I can get away with as far as seeing out a window goes. The 29 performed amazingly well as you can see. I then lit Lucus against a ultra bounce backing and lit him in a way that was soft but high contrast... the contrast is higher then what I could get away with on a practical location but I did it so I could understand the extremes. I tested a few colors as well because I want to create colored reflections of light throughout the backgrounds of the past. In the middle of the video is also a diffusion test. I just wanted to test a quick theory about the reflective quality of skin and how different diffusions react. I shot that test on the new Vision3 5219. You can see how much sharper it is compared to the 29 in Lucus's hair. Lastly is a quick lens test to describe the different feeling of a 40mm to a 100mm for close ups. Its hard to judge without a detailed background, but you can still feel the difference without it. The selection of focal lengths from past to present are apart of the design of the film as well. The video below was captured to HDCAM SR and then ingested into Apple pro res in which I made this h264 stream. I did have the tests printed and screened before telecine and had the colorist match as close as possible to what I saw in the projection. Unfortunately there is something different in the colors, so they have been compromised as far as the stream goes. There is a odd green stain across the 5229 and 19 footage but that was not on the work print. I think the colorist was trying to balance a old correction with the mid tone in the ultra bounce, but the color continued into more of a high light area creating the color contrast. I use these tests as a onset reference via my iPod Touch. I've also created tiff's of each exposure and stored them on my iPod for quick reference. Granted they are presented in a different color space, but I used the technique on my last feature and found it extremely useful when avoiding second guessing. I also built the tiff's into my scene preparation notes so I can plan out exposure before hand and ensure the two different lighting styles that contrast past and present have continuity. Heh, I'm not the wisest man so it helps to have visual reminders around me at all times. http://www.chayseirvin.com/video/fragiletest480p.mov

Amazing Jayson! The 4th still is very inspiring for me. Were there any other issues when using the RED handheld?

Awesome!

Thanks Matt! It means I can work on films that are union which is most the shows in Vancouver. I think I can also work around canada and maybe the USA as a sister member. Its a pay hike too. Its not really a big deal, making good films is a big deal... this really means nothing but that I can make a better living if I can get work union shows. Thanks for the comment on the footy!

Not sure of the actual numbers outside of my dept. My camera, lighting, and grip came to a total 2.5k total (camera 1k, grip and lighting 1.5k) for 4 weeks which was an amazing deal for a full SR3 panavision package and a HMI package (1 x 4k par, 2 x 1.2k, 2 x 575w, 1 x 400w Joker and 1 x leko, then a bunch of grip gear) through William F. Whites, something David Moxness helped me get as he was a gaffer in toronto for years and knows them well. We had a lot of keen volunteers for most of the film. Most of our cost came from locations and the animals in the film. No anamorphic squeeze on the transfer.

Thanks Andrew. Hell ya we should meet up. Drop me a email when your in town. What's the project about?

Looks wicked david! I love the painterly style!

Thanks Jay!

This last monday I wrapped a low budget feature in Toronto. The budget was a 50k and some how I survived the experience. I've never been so challenged in my life. We did some extremely long days and battled many many obstacles throughout the shoot. My crew was about 4 people. I had a great first AC and I couldn't have done it without her. My Gaffer and Key grip were awesome! They stuck with me and had my back even on the hardest days. They were both inexperienced but after the first week they knew what I was going for, it was an honor working with both of them. Cinematographer David Moxness really came through for me on this project. The man is a true gentlemen. He gave me a home with is son in toronto and made my grip and lighting package happen for me on my no budget. The film was shot on S16mm with a Panavision SRIII Advanced. I shot the entire project on Fuji Eterna 500T. I used Old Zeiss Super Speed MK1 set and a 70's Angenieux 10-50mm Zoom. Unfortunately we could only afford a low budget SD telecine for everything... but I hope that if the film makes it to a festival we could do a decent DI. The story is about a young man with tourettes syndrome. He discovers a fictional cure for his syndrome and the story depicts his life after tourettes. The story has a spiritual twist. Director Ryan Ward whom also stars in the film was great. This was his first Feature. He was hard nose at times but really passionate. We both collaborated really well together. I have a great apreaciation for directors whom are inspired during production and collaborate for great ideas. The side effect is that its hard on the crew but I personally love it and enjoy pushing myself to the limit to capture something great. His unwillingness to compromise really pushed everyone to give it their best every day. I look forward to working with him again on something with a more money ;-). During the shoot I was accepted into IASTE 669, Vancouver's cinematographer union. I feel very blessed to be allowed in. Apparently I'm the youngest person in guild history to be givin membership and I'm hoping to really work hard to get out there and hopefully start shooting 2nd unit for some of the city's most gifted photographers. I think it would be a great opportunity to learn from great DP's. Here is a link to some footage i pulled from week 1 and week 2 Dailies of Son of the Sunshine. http://chayseirvin.com/video/sots1.mov

I hate to say it... but maybe try some acid? :unsure:

Deluxe/Rainmaker post also does it. Technicolor uses a Spirit, Deluxe a DSX Cintel.

Awesome. Thanks Max!

What about lenses like Zeiss T1.3 MKI Super Speed, MKII, and MKIII?

Wow. That is amazing. It would probably give a beam as sharp as a carbon arc. but that will depend on the reflector behind it.

I'm looking to expand my knowledge of lenses of the past and what they look like. Particularly the 70's and 80's.

I was wondering if anyone knew of some kind of online document that tells the lineage of lenses from the 70's till now?

Aye. Its better to scan right from the neg to DPX to avoid compression artifacts, banding, and aliasing. But they can still do it if pro rez is all you have. ProRez is a great codec. I do my reel in prorez and I'm really happy with the compression it does. The wmv was given to me by DFC.

http://www.movie-list.com/trailers.php?id=fall Saw this trailer moments ago and loved it. It premiered at Toronto film fest in 2006 and for some reason never released. Its having a limited release in May 2008 apparently. I love the production design and photography... and believe it or not... when I saw Tarsem Singh's "The Cell" in theaters I enjoyed it a lot. I'm stoked.

If your planning to print back to 35mm. They would take your Apple ProRez files and change them to a DPX sequence and apply it there, then color grade and print.

That scene was amazing. I wish it made it in the film in its entirety.

I looked into if further and its applied to the DPX sequence, which means if you do have a HDCAM SR workflow, after they ingest it as DPX, they then can apply the ESGR. I'm not sure of cost differences. They seem to be very accommodating to whatever your project maybe able to afford. Its a new technology and company (they have been doing film outs for many years but not DI's, they changed their named from Digital Film Group to Digital Film Central when they became a DI company this year), I think their priority is to get it out there and looking great rather then trying to squeeze out every penny they can. I have a quote from a project I did last year and it doesn't specifically say there is any extra cost from ESGR, but our quote was a package price with a discount.