Stuart McCammon

www.creativecommons.com has bunches of PD music you can use with no issues)

Only in Boddywood)

It is a terrible movie, with some really interesting chiaruscuro shots in the catacombs and a few nice shots inside the opera house. Basically unwatchable if you are interested in the story tho) I should add that I just watched Bedtime for Bonzo with my daughter, and it was a really well-shot movie - probably a good subject for a class on film techniques - very solidly shot, with a good mixture of exterior locations matched with well-lit interior sets and some nice dolly shots that reinforce the story and even a little rear projection. Not genius by any means, but very well done.

If you are going to include Hunchback, then we also have the mention the original Lon Chaney version of Phantom of the Opera - I swear if I ever find myself in the catacombs under the Paris Opera House I will walk arounds with one hand raised) Seriously, some neat setups in that old chestnut from 1925 -

The Third Man, more genius per frame that can really be addressed outside of a book -

Perhaps I should have asked the question in a more detailed way, but being well aware of Ansel Adam's approach and techniques, and assuming similar awareness among many who read this board, I meant to imply a cinematographer who has a similar approach to Adams. Actually, even though I am a fan of Adam's epic pictures, I really meant his approach to photography, rather than a subset of his work. Thanks for the recommendations, David) Right with you on that one) Another great recommendation, thanks man!

While I am partial to and in awe of many cinematographers (Seale, Zielinski, Wexler, Deschanel, etc.), but am really interested in what y'all think - is there an Ansel Adams of the cinema, and is he or she alive today?

My personal favorites: "Hubbell" - another term for a cube tap, after the company that used to manufacture them "Dad be up da butt, Bob" - a term that means the same as snafu, taken from an old story that supposedly happened on the Newlywed Show "Teeny Weeny, Inky Dink, Itsy Bitsy and a thousand other terms" - for some reason grips are really interested in dreaming up names for the smallest light on the set And the story from the Newlywed Show: A bunch of couples were asked the strangest place they had ever made whoopie, and the answers were along the lines of "In the kitchen while Mom & Dad were home," until one guy answered, "Dad be up da butt, Bob." Supposedly Bob Barker laughed so much he couldn't recover, and the term passed into infamy.

Flourescent light is naturally green - to get a green look on all of your footage, just use Fuji stock lol)

Well-put David)

Indeedy, and those of us with PCs also get limited functionality in Quicktime - /boggle

Have you checked into needing to swap the ballasts on the neons so they won't strobe? FYI

Given the zillions of well-lit, diffused, coiffed ads there are, give me any Budweiser ad ever produced and I will be ecstatically happy, thank you very much) The best, though, has to be the Budweiser ad with the chick from Meatloaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" video.

Nicest actor in the world = Katherine Helmond. I have never seen another actor go out of their way to make a connection with everyone on the set, from the P.A. to the D.P. - I also got yelled at by Pearl Bailey, the "Ambassador of Love" - turns out "gal" used to be a derogatory term for black domestics in the South - I had no idea until that moment -

In "Rebel without a Crew" and the 10 minute film schoo on the El Mariachi DVD, Robert Rodriguez discusses sound and what he had to do with it at length, might want to re-read it and watch the DVD. He also shows exactly how he shot El Mariachi, some interesting techniques)

Kircules and ozzball, Read Robert Rodriguez's book, "Rebel Without A Crew." Rent the DVD of El Mariachi and watch the Ten Minute Film School. Think about your project - are you really going to have an actor or actors talking for one minute without any kind of cuts? How much do you really need synched at one time? If your answers are needing anywhere more than a few seconds of sound synched at one time, you might want to rethink how you are going to shoot your project and/or the equipment you are going to use, because using non-synch gear to shoot a minute of dialogue sounds either mind-numbingly frustrating or unintentionally funny, depending on your perspective)

If you want to use the footage to show to someone, I would do an actual registration test with a chart. You should be able to do all five in one cart)

Might want to check out the Canon ZR 500 - $299.99 or cheaper, Firewire, MiniDV, decent lens and features. I think I saw one online for $180 not too long ago.

That seems like the most workable solution)

OK, so shoot a wide shot outdoors close to a fence, with 50D film and lots of light, and put a bunch of things on the fence with varying levels of relief, color and detail, and include one thing that spins and has lines on it that will allow you to measure any registration problems. Get a light meter reading, then grab one shot from each camera ramping from speed to speed, process and check for exposure, sharpness and registration problems - voila!

Alex, It would be most helpful to first determine a use for this information. Are you planning to write a shooting guide for each camera? Or do you want to simply determine what functionality each camera has for your personal projects? Or is this targeted toward some other use of the information? Next, make a list of each camera with features, lenses, etc. and find points of commonality and unique features of each. You may find that you wish to explore the strengths of each camera rather than compare them. If your intent os to compare, I would shoot 50D film at a high F stop to remove variables caused by graininess of stock and get the most information from each frame. I would use one shot with lots of contrast and shadows (like a forest and lake in the bottom half of the frame with a clear sky above, maybe use an ND filter if it is cloudy), an outdoor long lens shot with objects throughout the depth of field, an indoor shot wide open in a busy environment so you can also compare focus and color across a short depth of field, one with bright colors and one that is shades of one color. It would be more interesting if you had a goal, like shooting for one of those one cartridge festivals using the strongest features of five different cameras. Do they even let you do that? lol) Stu

I think this guy is on to something, I mean, why even use cameras or film? We have all heard the phrase, "Truth is stranger than fiction," and people have events in their ordinary lives that are just as dramatic as anything in a film. This kind of fresh outlook could really change the world)

Who would you go to for that? Please enlighten me)

Short question with a big answer - perhaps the most sensible thing would be to test your theory and shoot some natural light and see if you think it looks like the natural light you see on the screen. If you can get good results using natural light, you may just revolutionize the film industry)

To simulate lightning, we would put a big light (like an arc or 12k HMI) outside a window with metal shutters on the front of it, and then open and close the shutters quickly. Shutter noise should not be an issue because of the storm sounds you will add in post. So, a suggestion for a low-budget way to do this would be to get together the most powerful light you have and put it in front of an inexpensive shutter from Home Depot (would have to fit the shutter right up to the light and/or mask so no light leaks between light and shutter). Painting the shutter black would be recommended. Return the shutter after you are through with it) Pastafazoola!