Adrian Sierkowski

I've shot the 500T before and never really was concerned with the grain. All the vision 2 stuff is nice to work with and generally, it'd be easier, IMHO to go with 500T to get exposure than 200T. Further, from what I've heard, though I've never done this myself, if you overexpose the 500T a bit and bring it down in post it'll help get rid of some graininess as well as saturate colors a bit. As I've said, I've not yet done this myself, but from reading 'round I often see people rating the 500T at 400 or 320. 200T is a great stock, butt when you're going to be dealing with a low-light situation, the 500 is probably a better choice to work faster and easier (after all, the last thing you'd want to be saddled with would be a law office with one 15A breaker!)

I'd recommend kino flos. You can pop the tubes out and try to stage them throughout the stand. They're low power and very low heat ant give off a good soft light to begin with, though wrapping them in diffusion might help as well. Again, i'm no expery, but that would be my first inclination.

I'm in no way an expert but from what I have experienced, perhaps the best way to get clean dialogue would be Lavs. Try to hide them on the actors, and use the wireless variety so they can more around without wires sticking out from them, if possible. Elsewise, get yourself a good shotgun mic and try your best to stage the boom op facing away from any streets etc to try to record better sound.

The Optars, which are very nice lenses, are avalible only through opptar Illumina, from Mr Mirond or Mr Edwards as far as I know. They're both great people. As for the lenses, I have a set of them for S16mm and I personally love them. I'm no expert, but, well as they say, I may not know art, but i know what i like.

True that the prosumer HDs would've given more image, but it seems, from the post before yours, that Lynch chose is aesthetically. But i'm not (nor would I want to be) in his mind, so I can't tell you exactly why he'd've chosen a format over b.

I have to agree that I wasn't overly impressed. I did like one shot, though; where they're up against the bright white light-wall and the almost silhouetted. The light just has a nice wrap 'round their faces, I feel.

From my own limited experience, often the best thing to buy are lights. They never really go out of style no matter what camera you're shooting on. Personally, I like smaller Fresnels, so I picked up an Arri Combo Kit and a few Mole Richardson 2ks. I got them pretty cheap, all in all, (the moles used from a studio and the arris on sale from B/H) and rented them out when people asked, not for too much $$, but overtime, it added up and I probably paid them off in about a year. Can't say the same for my SR3, but I didn't really buy that to make a profit from it; I bought it just to have it and I got lucky to get a large sum of cash so I could afford it! I've only rented that out once, for $500/day with myself and all my goodies included. Also, invest in some grip equipment; little riggings you can take with you on multiple shoots. You never know when you'll need that extra clamp or apple box!

That's awesome, I'll have to look into them.

I would think you would be mostly in the clear. I mean, I know here in Philadelphia we can shoot wherever and whomever happens to be in the background of a shot so long as they aren't the focus of the shot. Furthermore, if you're just sticking it up on your little website, and if cameras were allowed there anyway, then I'd further think you're alright. Now, i may be legally wrong, but it has been my experience that the likelihood of My X or Mrs y happening upon your video at the exact moment in it where they happen to be walking past is rather rare. But, then again, I'm not legal expert, just speaking from experience (or rather the lack of experience of ever being sued because someone walked through a frame)

I'm not sure if this is the proper way or not, but as there is not 500T consumer or pro still film that I am aware of, when testing out the '18 stock I normally shoot a few rolls of Kodak Elite Chrome 400, which is a daylight balanced color slide film. It'll have less latitude than a negative stock, and it'll be orange under tungsten light, but it'll give you an idea of exposure, and of course, having less latitude than your actual stock, will err on the side of safety. The best test would be a few feet of the actual negative shot on the location as a test, if you have that ability.

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.