Adrian Sierkowski

I'm fond of the chocolate gels, or sometimes I'll throw on just 1/8 CTO for a bit of warmth. If you're going for a color correction later, though; a lot of this can become moot.

Not 100% sure if this is the right forum, but Try it here anyway: I have to rig a woman to hang, dead, by her wrists from the ceiling of a warehouse (20 ft ceiling tops) maybe 2 or 3 feet above the ground. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for this type of shot. She's being suspended by a chain/rope which I figured Id attach to something which she can hold onto and just dangle from; but any advice would be useful.

Overall I agree with the above . Also I think the night is way too blue, but that's my personal choice and the day might be too amber/gold/yellow. Also, the moonlight should be, IMHO coming from a higher elevation so as not to throw a shadow on the wall.

I can vouch that the RR does eat somewhere between 2 and 2.5 stops depending on a lot of factors (seems to me differing HVXs have differing sensitivities to light.) I' put the HVX @320 without the rr if we're talking asas. In a pinch, for lights, I'd look into an Arri 1K open face kit. It's not too expensive, as lights go, and pretty versatile and durable. You should be ok on power too as I think europe is 230V @13A breakers for most interiors? I might be slightly off. Just remember, Watts=Volts*Amps (so Amps=Volts/Watts). Don't overload a breaker, and make sure you know where they are when you shoot. Also, but a pair of Hot Hands gloves, or something similar if you're working with lights. Your finger prints will thank you.

A country whose name I can't Pronounce in Western Africa is the graveyard. http://crazytopics.blogspot.com/2007/02/la...-graveyard.html Bangladesh is a disassembly place http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_janfeb_...oftheline1.html

I second the SLR the Nikon FM10 runs for around $250 with a lens. It's a new camera, though completely manual. BHphoto has them. If you mean a camera in terms of video; i'd say no. It's really hard to justify the expense of buying a camera unless you're sure you can make your money back. Of course, I'm a hypocrite for that as I just bought and Arri SR3 just because I wanted to have my own cam. It's one of those things where if you can afford it, go for it but it's not necessary. Also, in a video world, it's not the best idea to buy a video camera (too often a new one obsoletes yours before you've shot with it enough.) Shy away from DSLRs. They may teach you the same things, but they can make you lazy and cavalier with your shots. A lot more thought goes into framing, IMHO, when you're paying say $6 for the roll of film $10 for the contact sheet, and are limited to 36 shots! (as opposed to the hundreds you can cram on a memory card). And the reward, I think, is more satisfying, when you're looking at your contact sheet, without any image manipulation and think; wow-- I shot THAT! my 2 cents Also, for books; look into The American Cinematographers Manual The Filmaker's Handbook Cinematography co written by David Mullen ASC (who posts here) Film Lighting by Malkwowitz (spelling? he also wrote cinematography) and a few theory books, i.e. A Cinema of Lonliness Film Art (standard text book for a lot of film theory classes I'm told) Cinema of the Outsiders (indie film history and such) Rebel without a Crew (i have heard good things about this one, yet never read it)

When I shoot the HVX, I normally rate is @ 250 on my meter, though I've heard it rates 320. Then I light by eye and the monitor. I only use the meter for determining illumination before I have the camera up, or when I need a spot reading or something. Generally, with video, you can set exposure without a meter. (Hell, even with film I often find myself "guessing" the right stop before I get a meter reading) As for scene file stuff, check out DVX user. Thats where, IIRC, I went to get a brief overview of using them.

Ahh Centralia. I remember the night I wound up there. . . Seriously, though, it's an awesome location. If you want really run down places in Europe, I would look into some of the old soviet bloc, I"m sure they have a bunch of non producing factories. There is also the mid-west US, not all of it mind you, but places like Montana where I hear the population is decreasing. There should be a lot of tracks of just empty land, formerly inhabited. Friend of mine and I had a notion for a post apocalyptic world wherein we'd not show any city-scape-- just rebuild what would best be Neanderthal land. . .with some leftover very destroyed modern things around. Great reference films for this, btw, would be the Mad Max Trilogy.

As I recall the 18 is a newer stock so it supposedly has less grain than the expression '29. Also, it's designed to cut in with other vision 2 line stocks. the 29 is lower in contrast so i have heard that it digs deeper into the shadows for night shooting. Personally, the 18 is a safe choice for most things. It's a nice stock, strong, not too grainy.

Not to mention that you can always try to sell your stills on their own, if they are particularly beautiful. I know here in Philadelphia, we have an open artist forum on 3 downtown streets every 1st Friday of the month. People just pop out and show at galleries, or position themselves along the thoroughfares, selling their works. I haven't myself partaken, but I have some photographers friend who can turn in a few hundred dollars from just sitting outside with some stills for a night. Not a bad thing, all in all. I've only ever sold 3 prints; myself. And that was just last week

Dave, thanks for the tip, I will definitively be on the lookout for what you mentioned.

nothing too telephoto, but probably something from around a 35~70mm just for some wiggle room in composing when moving in and out isn't possible. I like the discipline of primes, normally have my 50mm and a 135 Nikons but figured a zoom could be pretty useful. I'm just saddened that most of the ones I find on BH are F3.5/4s when i'd really like a 2.8 for that ambient light shooting which I often do. What other brands, besides the nikons/ziess would be best do you think?

I miss the old Nikon E Series F1.8 personally. I picked up a F1.4 50mm and it just doesn't feel the same to me :( Any lines on a good manual focus zoom?

I was thinking of the 50mm F1.2. According to BH they have them as new imported: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/3697..._f_1_2_AIS.html

I'm all for Nikon glass and cameras, but for a purely aesthetic reason (i like the shutter sound or a Nikon more), and yes, you can get some pretty fast aperture lenses for under $50 (i'm thinking a used e series 50mm F1.8) or go all out for one of their many newer F1.2 lenses.

I have seen the PL mount SLR for about $900, I think. It's @ the DoP Shop here and I was beaten to giving out the link

I think it depends a lot on how much you make from shooting. I most definitely do not make enough therefrom, so I have a normal, and very understanding day job as well.

Definitally a great shot. When it comes to the digital v film SLR range, I think that it is most definitely a matter of what you're shooting and when. I use both, often (Nikon D2, FM10, F4s, and a Leica M7). If I'm doing something where I'll be shooting a lot of still, i.e. a friend wants head shots or whatever, or a wedding (or anything else where I don't get comped the price of film), I'll pick up the digital. If, on the other hand, I'm shooting for me, and learning more about shooting, I opt for film. If anything, a Manual SLR will teach you discipline like nothing else IMHO. Especially because it costs so much for film and processing (though BH sells Fuji for around $2.19/roll). I learned on the FM10 and I'm so glad that when I did learn it was a time before digital stills . Also, the F6 is surely overkill.

If you ask such questions and worry about making a living on cinematography; perhaps it isn't the right job for you. check out this discussion, on an older thread, it'll give you a good idea of what it's like. It's a lifestyle, more so, IMHO, than a career.

Just wondering if this item is still around.

Much better. AFAIK the GL2 is not an HD camera at all; just a mini dv. The HVX records DVCPROHD on something called a "P2" card which simply gets plugged into a PCMI (i think?) slot on a laptop and can be imported into FCP without having to digitize the tapes. Also you can shoot miniDV or HDV on standard cassettes. For $5g about, it's a nice camera, though the P2s are expensive they are, of course, re-usable and do save you time on the whole log and capture frontier. See if you can find a local dealer and go try it out! Or even look to a rental house and see if they'll let you either rent it for a day or just take it to the packing lot and get a feel for the camera.

Amen to that Brian.

My deepest and most sincere condolences to you and your family.

Another camera you might want to look into would be an Eclair ACL. I shot on one, once, and liked it and thusly have heard mostly good things about them. I know Visual Products offers conversions and work on them (and they're nice guys. They sent me a package of mints and a little card with a shoulder brace i bought; nice gesture.) Check 'em out, http://www.visualproducts.com/. Of course, I have to admit, I wish I had the extra money to spring for a good old Bolex. Sounds like a machine gun on a WW2 tank, but such a wonderful camera.

I'm also going to chime in here and suggest picking up a kinda cheap film SLR, such as the Nikon FM10 (i've owned 3 of these cameras in my time.) Go out buy some film; color neg, color slide, b/w, in different ASAs (ISOs) and go out and shoot! Not only can you begin to learn composition but you'll see how color temperature effects a negative, how much information a negative can hold etc and you'll get a good idea how different film stocks differ. It's not going to be a direct approximation to cinematography, but it's a good sound building block, IMHO, and allows you to make mistakes without spending too much money (figure $10 for a roll of film and another $10 for processing; just shoot a roll a week!). Over time you can even start buying new lenses (I'm a sucker for the Nikon E Series F1.8 50MM), used from places like BH and learn how the focal lengths effect such things as DoF, etc. (Also a lot of people are using prime adapters on DV/HD prosumer cameras now, generally in a Nikon or a Cannon mount, so you'll also be amassing a set of lenses you can take with you on such shoots!) Just my 2 cents.