Nick Bennett

Yeh Glenn, the dolly was just a simple ladder dolly, I've been told that it may be able to be stabilised although looking back at the edit you can see some big speed variations in the tracking shots. Regards Nick

Thanks Adam, I wanted to use some light on the car interior but the shot was sprung on me at the last minute and I'd had to fly all the kit out to Spain for the 2 day shoot. I think that with hindsight the stock would have allowed me to open up a touch on that shot but my extensively video background was shouting no!, I guess it will come with experience. Regards Nick

Just completed my first 35mm commercial, I usualy shoot video so it was interesting to work on film. The commercial was shot for our showreel as both myself and the director had wanted for sometime to shoot a car ad. Hope you like it http://www.hdcrew.co.uk/bmw

Thanks for the reply Stephen, coming from a mainly television background I'm relatively inexperienced using film and it would provide a bit more confidence if I'm able to previz to a certain extent. Given that I plan to shoot on 50D at 25 fps and my DSLR's ISO rating only goes down 100 what would be the correct shutter speed to use on the DSLR?

I've done a search about this but I can't seem to guage opinion as to if using a light meter with a DSLR is an accurate enough way to evaluate what the negative will look like, I understand that the contrast range won't be as great and I've read that the ISO ratings may be unreliable on digital cameras but has anyone had good results using this technique?

Kyle, nice compositions, really liked the shot through the hands of the girl walking past the beach huts. It looks as though you're using som kind of 35mm adapter, what is it?

The shot is a slow track into a table in a black studio to reveal various props that are on the table top like a gun, plate of spagetti, wine glasses etc. I'm limited to using the overhead studio lighting so its going to be quite top heavy, I thought of using a space light or lantern to illuminate the table area and snooting some of the fresnels and picking out some of the props and rim lighting the chair backs. I'd be grateful for any suggestions or thoughts on this?

Yes, I also have a Chimera for one of my 650's and it does offer the flexibilty of changing over to barn doors etc, however if you mainly use soft light then you are dragging around the extra weight of the fixture. Chimera can be erected fairly quickly but the Rifa is even quicker and is very light (it opens like an umbrella with the lamp already inside) so it can used with light weight stand. My preference has changed to the Rifa mainly due to the nature of the stuff that I'm shooting, lots of European flights so they keep the excess luggage down. If you go for one of the larger Wattage models it will also give you scope use CTB and still get a respectable output for interview situations etc.

Check out Lowels Rifa-lite, very quick to set-up and very light weight if you have to travel. I have a couple of KinoFlo 2ft 4-banks and Arri Fresnel 650W's and 300w's etc but when I have to fly or work on my own I use the Rifa's and sometimes with Dedolight or two. It's a simple but effective bit of design.

Do you really think these accessories are expensive? I've just bought an F900R and the Red prices look pretty good value if they turn out to be as well made. I also happen to have a Red reservation but for me the jury is still out until I get my hands on a working version, if that ever happens!

If you're looking for a cheap lightweight dolly, this might be OK, it can be problem sourcing a ladder on location. It can be attached to a tripod 100mm bowl at one or both ends but I usually rest it on a big pelicase. It costs £350.00 from a guy in Nottingham, UK. Nick

Are you saying this is always the case for all productions because I know many operators that can pull focus on 35mm when shooting sport for example, at long focal lengths. The film Goal was being shot at the world cup final last year on 35mm and I know that a few of the operators were focusing. Just because you don't do it doesn't mean that it can't be done.

Thanks all. Nick

Thanks for the reply, bounce tab would be the floating ceiling in a studio situation that I would bounce light from to light the top of the car. I was really wondering how this 'ceiling' could be achieved on location without a large construction job? Thanks Nick

Was this a stupid question or something?

I'm going to be working on a car shoot for my reel, I've shot cars in studios/infinity cycs etc but I've never lit a car on location (underground car park in this case) My question is what equipment would you use to create a bounce tab for the cars light, would it be some kind of large silk perhaps? Nick

Don't know if the ATA Carnet applies travelling from the states but make sure your kit is all accounted for as you don't want to get stung for import duty on the return home. Nick

I'm going with the doc feature 'Crossing The Line' VMS/BBC about a US soldier that defected to North Korea. Looking forward to it! Nick

It's a 2/3" CCD so I would be sure that it will be a B4 lens mount. How realistic is the P2 workflow? I shot some 3D steadicam for Coca Cola at the World Cup with 2 HVX200's and we had problems with the amount of storage P2 offered and the time that footage took to download. Anyone have experience of using P2 more frequently? I was about to buy a HDX900 to satisfy my corporate clients, is it worth the wait? Nick

Yeah I can understand this thinking but this assumes that all the people reserving Red cameras are at the lower end of the camera market, I'm sure that like myself there are plenty of very experienced lighting cameramen who already own expensive high end HD kit and lenses that believe that at the suggested body price of $17,500.00 + Import duties and VAT in UK that this has got to be worth a punt.

Hi, the PD170 doesn't have progressive scanning CCD's so the 'film style' look is derived from a rough de-interlace, not a pleasing look (jaggies) on the PD but you can just about get away with it on the Z1 in HDV mode because of the extra res when shooting in HD. Nick

I've been booked to shoot a 3D film of the World Cup (HD video), anyone here shot in 3D? problems to look out for etc? Cheers Nick Bennett

You don't always need to get permission for many countries but it can help greatly if you contact their embassy in the UK before you travel just to get information on filming in that country, you will be able to find out if you need a work visa etc. Also try the foreign office website as this has useful information regarding security and saftey of particular countries and regions. Make sure you're fully insured before you go, personal and equipment, many high street policies are very resrictive of destination and will not cover you if you're on business (you should be able to get cover on a single production basis from a media specialised underwriter) In my experience it always pays to hire a local fixer, he or she will probably know where to film and where to avoid (you may need access to cash to facilitate shooting and keeping you equipment safe in some countries!)

Having travelled extensively to film documentaries often in hard to access countries like North Korea where there are few oportunities to hire local facilities the best advice I can offer is when possible travel with the camera body as cabin baggage, invest in peli cases for the other equipment (I have custom made hard foam inserts made for lenses, batteries etc) and if you're travelling to countries that use the ATA carnet system then get one or altenatively use a duplicate list for customs purposes. And don't forget your passport! Nick Bennett, DP www.astateofmind.co.uk

I was probably not clear enough with the description of the lens that I used but the suffix 'IS' stands for image stabilising, although I used a much older Canon where the IS function was an integral part of the lens rather than an attachment. Nick