A. Whitehouse

Wow, Ive used short ends and recans many many times and never seen or heard of this happening. They would have had to have rewound the film back onto a core before selling it to you. Ive never heard of this happening and makes me wary of the short ends I have in my fridge (not that it'll stop me from using them). Sad story.

Rich, I think that it is seriously incredible that you managed to do this. Very pioneering stuff, in the historical sense. That theres an image at all is amazing. Where did you telecine this? Were chunks flying off it?Nice job. I guess now you have to develop your own backing and print stock.

Yes, I'm sure you're right about this. I didn't see your post Adam, don't feel ignored. The two scenes I can think of off the top of my head are the scene at the Helicopter between the Pilot and the "Hero" and the scene in the long row of buildings with the sniper at one end which they have to make their way down. They stuck out to me, both day for night. I'm sure theres others but it was mostly S16, the vast majority. "She got me" had a lot of S16 as well. Seems like Mathew Libatique keeps coming up, he's worked with a group of great directors. "March of the Penguins" was also S16. I like all these films but definetly check out "Tigerland" I think its quite underrated and was there something mentioned somewhere about it being R16?

Hey Andy, I saw an English film at a festival this year and you seem to be clued up on local productions. Do you know much about "From London to Brighton". I was quite impressed with parts of it but no one seems to have seen it.

Well by a lot I meant a lot more than I thought from what Id read. In "28 weeks later" I can think of whole key scenes which were on S35. Chunks of the film, something which jumped out at me. Yeah the F900 was for the Night Vision shots but isn't it fair to call this a mix format film? I just watched the "Three Extremes: 2" and they looked like they were all shot on S16, one was shot by Chris Doyle. I saw a French horror film last year called "Sheitan" which was a pretty good example of what can be done on a lower budget S16 film. Even had Vincent Cassel in it. I think it was also shot with the A-minima. Generally I find the Kodak magazine is a good resource for looking at whats being shot on S16, with Kodak at least. Thousands of shorts of course as well, some are blown up to 35 in a variety of ways. Good way to see what your options are.

I like "Tigerland" and "The Last King of Scotland". Having watched "28 weeks later" a lot of it wasn't in s16. From what I remember of the AC article theres some F900 and S35 mixed in there and you can see it switch around on screen. Funnily enough its the night stuff which looks cleaner and the day stuff which is grainier, seems counterintuitive. It really holds up on the big screen. Quite a few documentaries recently seem to have shot portions in S16 which must be a bit of a privilege.

Sounds like you want the look of a cheap video camera, they have all the qualities your after. And zero grain. Looking forward to seeing V3 in S16mm, especially the 200T which was always a favorite in the V2, 7217.

Oh sorry, I was cross referencing without actually posting a link. http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/30/eye-fi-...nally-shipping/ these things and future iterations into compact flash, micro sd etc. Similar intern roles turn up down here from time to time on some of the big american productions as they pass through. Good opportunity to work with the image and dop directly, much better access than working as a loader in some ways, but then I guess a loader isn't really there to learn (and is being paid). Yeah Ive always thought it was a great tool. The best aspect being its ability to help communicate ideas as words are so often lacking. It almost seems like a standard bit of kit these days but I hadn't seen or thought of having a printer on set aswell. Have you had a look at speedgrade? I must admit I haven't heard of that Adobe software, Ill have a look on their website. Sounds very streamlined and practical. Impressed. I wonder if some sort of split could be developed with a piggy backed stills camera which compensated for the light loss and effect of the groundglass. Not that cameras aren't heavy enough already. Thanks for the info.

Hi John, No offense intended,"Cheater Meters" are what some dps jokingly call DSLRs in Melbourne; affectionately. Looks like a good system. There's something far more tangible about having prints rather than dealing with the back of the camera. I guess the only problem being that you might have to break for the photo paper. With one of those new wifi sd cards you could send shots directly to the printer and spare the intern. Short looks good by the way.

Hi John, Ive worked with lots of people that are fond of "cheater meters" but I haven't seen this kodak dye printer. Is it like a little portable digital stills printer with some sort of plug in for the kodak look up system? Do you run them through a laptop first? A little off topic but how do you find time on set for this type of thing? Sasha

There's an episode of Lost in Space where they encounter the Forbidden Planet Robot on board a Prison space station. From memory the two robots wrestle but I could be imagining that...

Alexander, but everyone calls me Sasha. Yeah should be a good summer, I'm a Kiwi in Melbourne so I can expect more middling finishes from the team. After last summers whupping of Aus I expect they'll come out swinging and clean the floor with New Zealand. Off the top of my head the two shorts which you might benefit from seeing are probably "Crossbow" and "End of Town". They might be available out your way but the other way to get them would be to get hold of them through the Melbourne Film Festival, where they both screened. There are many more and it might be best to target Directors and DPs who work in that style. Look for anything shot by Greg Fraiser (have a look at the Cannes winning "Cracker bag") and while I don't know if hes shot any shorts I'm fond of commercials shot by a guy called Bob Humphries; he works in a similar style. These are just what comes to mind, there are many, many more. Australian cinema had a cinematic identity in the 70s and 80s but as private investment collapsed (the end of 10ba) and film makers became reliant on state funding agencies there was a shift towards Australian naturalism which neither the Australian public or an international audience were that interested in. Whatever happened to genre film making in Australia? I like some of the new stuff I see but mostly it comes off as well intentioned, well made, well performed and directed, television. It just kind of falls flat on the big screen. In search of an identity perhaps but there might not be an audience left to watch it. Just saw Jesse James last night, wouldn't it be great if he came back to Melbourne to make a film again... Sorry about my off-topic rambling; I'm just a punk kid from NZ who loves older Australian films.

I don't think you get the benefit of the extra 2 stops or the shadow detail until they release the firmware upgrade. Should be sometime next year, but its there; honest...

Hi Steven (not the NZ Cricket captain I guess?), If you're in Perth then you should have access to some of the contemporary Australian shorts that are floating around out there. The shots and short DOF which your essay is about is a fixture of modern Australian short films. There should be lots of resources for you to draw from, its a national obsession. I'm in Melbourne.

Sorry Tenolian, I don't think you are correct about the aspirations of film makers outside the US. I don't know if you're in the states but this is a very American-centric view. I'm not trying to be vitriolic here but the market and numbers of film makers outside the US is larger than those inside it. I'm an American over seas and I think that most board members here would react to these statements.

I don't know of a single one which wont accept a submission on DVD, certainly given the two options dvd is a better choice. I assume you don't mean screening formats?

I don't think thats correct. Ive got a lot of friends who have commented on the look of something only to be told that they had spotted it was shot on digital. On TV and in cinema. The shift in seasons and between pilot and series on battlestar people could clearly sense a change. Watching 28 weeks later the other night my friend commented on how different each bit looked (as they changed formats). Audiences are smarter than we think, even if they don't realize it.

Its also doing a run at the Astor with the Sony projector for those Melbournites interested. Ill see some of you there no doubt.

I t should work fine, although it might be slightly louder than normal. Don't engage the arm.

Hi Evan, I'm just wondering how the film was transferred to D-Beta and whether either sets of footage were graded in their natural state (ie was the RED graded from the redcode files, was the film graded from the neg?) In my opinion this is were some of the distinct advantages and disadvantages of either format might come into play. How was the filmed footage transferred, was it best light, one light, etc.? I must admit I would be very surprised to hear that the RED has superior latitude to film and this goes against a lot of what Ive seen and read but then I haven't seen anything with my own eyes yet in a good environment so who knows. Were your colorist and dp friend grading the D-Beta (as in tape to tape)? My experience would suggest that most commercial projects are graded in telecine rather than a flat transfer to D-Beta with a tape to tape but I'm sure that lots of different pipelines are utilized out there and its certainly a luxury which every project doesn't have. Especially outside of commercial work in long form. Look forward to seeing it in action, I might get a chance this week.

Its a turn of phrase Dan. Nothing looks cool unless its in focus, no argument here.

Id just like to put a vote in for David Boyd and the other DPs (Lyod Ahern, Joseph Gallagher, and others) for their work on "Deadwood". I think it was great and really well shot. The seasons really changed from episode to episode, the compositions looked as if someone new was at bat each time. Very exciting. I was also surprised to see Walter Hill had directed Deadwood. He's discussed quite a bit in " Every Frame a Rembrandt '. Also, while this isn't a drama, I think the BBC show "Top Gear" is very well shot and the camera people deserve full credit for consistently making every sports car look very sexy. The have watched a lot of Tony Scott films judging by their use of grads.

No worries, yeah I think I worded it awkwardly initially. Its an awesome looking piece of gear, that screen isn't the remote monitor, I'm not sure they've released it yet. Its quite heavy but I'd put up with it just to be the coolest focus puller on the block. Any possible feature I could think of when talking to the rep they'd implemented or were planning too. Quite impressed.

It was sonic and had a viewfinder aswell. Not to be contrary but it was one of the most useful bits of kit Ive seen for awhile. Why wouldn't you want a remote camera controller/remote focus/remote monitor? Better than trying to continually reach around an operator. Expensive piece of kit granted, but its the concorde of remote focus. Look them up on google, I was certainly impressed.

I saw a great piece of equipment that you guys might be familiar with from C-motion at a demo earlier this year. It was a remote Focus/Lens adjustment/camera controller and laser range finder which could be hooked directly into the focus pulling function of the unit. It had an ability to offset the distance in relation to your position and everything. They were even working on have remote monitors at the top of the unit for the assistant. Oh the luxury, but for 60K I guess you get what you pay for. It seems like a pretty good investment for the right person or career AC since many of the functions could be upgraded at a software level for newer cameras as they hit the market. Do many ACs own Remote focus units?