Tim O'Connor

Hi Dave, what other movies? I could ask around.

That is so funny; the party scene in Valley Girl is full of kids/characters clinging to the late 70s look as more conservative high school kids do stick with tried and true styles, which sets up even more the contrast between them and the punky N. Cage character.

If you want to evoke the 80s by having your film look in some way like an 80s movie, consider basic light levels. We're getting used to scenes shot now regularly at ASAs that weren't possible in the 80s. Lighting has changed because of that and even lots of night and low-light (for the times) scenes back then might seem more obviously lighted when viewed now. When 5293 and 5294 came out, they were used a lot and movies started to look different in many ways.

I'm working out my schedule but was thinking of taking some kind of road trip this summer. Depending on timing, I could bring some lights with me and give you a hand for a couple of days.

What's the project, Adrian, can you say? Anything fun?

Is this restored version going to be traveling? I would love to see it!

I think that with those lights, you'll be happy to get good eye lighting and some more facial lighting with them, maybe a hair light at some point. I wouldn't bounce them off of the ceiling, like Freya says, with CTB you won't have much left even going directly. A Chinese lantern be nice too but you'll probably have to get it fairly close to see a difference, though it might work simply as a reflection glinting in somebody's eyes.

You'll be pleased when you find out how much light you can get from an HMI compared to the same wattage in a tungsten unit. Something like a 1200w par can be great for a situation such as this; it puts out a ton of light, you can bounce it or diffuse it and you can plug it into the wall (just give yourself a 20A circuit.) Rental houses can help you become familiar with a light and its set-up; it's okay to be the DP and say hey, just never shot with such and such a light before, would you please run through it with me. You can learn more as you use them so don't get overwhelmed with the different kinds. Do keep in mind that you can get flicker if you shoot at certain speeds. If you're going to overcrank, do some research about shooting different speeds with HMIs.

If by smoother you would like to even out the movement of the bike, which is exaggerated a bit with the time-lapse, because there is more time between movement of the handlebars, then you would have to stabilize the handlebars. One way would be to put the bike on a trailer/sled/dolly of some kind that you could push. That could get the shot if you just want to get the shot for part of a narrative. Otherwise, you'd have to pick really straight paths and do an amazing job of riding upright with no leaning or swaying.

Do you have to shoot 160T? What if you put an 85 on the camera and worked with the daylight? If you have to CTB some of your tungsten lights, they'll be cut a lot but if you're getting a good base exposure with the natural light, then maybe your tungsten lights would be primarily for small important areas, cleaning up faces, etc. and that would be enough?

Yeah, and why Freya uses words like Love and emoticons. Pres. Don't Yell at Freya Society

I haven't got to see it but got a kick out of how he has been into production for a while and owns his own camera and gear and edits with FCP on a MacBookPro. That seems pretty cool to me and is a big change from the way that the business used to work. It's like the shift in the music industry in the past couple of decades in which many bands have all the equipment to record and distribute their albums with no record company involved. There used to be one or two bands that could do that but what they had were usually million dollar studios in their mansions or vacation homes.

I think that part of the issue is that to get what you want, a much larger source is required. The brightness might be okay and the Source Four does produce sharp well defined beam that helps make sharp rays but the area that you want to cover is more than that light can do satisfactorily. A big 10K Fresnel might be really nice but that takes more budget; how flexible are you on adjusting the look to get more rays? If you are, what about seeing if you could get your hands on a bunch of par cans or 2K Fresnels and see how that looks for you?

Who do you find funny that you would like to see in a show like this?

Why?

I never get to see this show but Louie C.K. seems to be a cool guy and this article has some interesting information about how they shoot the show, and his involvement with that.

On some network tv shows, I see 1/3" chip cameras in the background of some shots but it seems that most of the coverage is with 2/3" cameras, or is it? Are there any cameras that are the favorites of reality show producers/crews, and are acceptable to networks?

As they say, Don't mess with Texas!

Does anybody know, or what would you guess, would be that make-up situation in this case?

Would you or anyone discuss more what differences you find are made by air density? I've heard people mention the difference between beautiful California sunshine and often-grey London or Vancouver skies but not as much commenting on atmospheres.

Part of the expense of frames is the shipping charges. You can buy 3/8" mild rolled steel pretty inexpensively and heat it with a torch to bend it into a standard shape and size, then make just one weld at the handle.Rosebrand.com sells all the fabrics for nets/flags/diffusion. I've made a bunch that way pretty affordably, including hiring somebody to do the sewing.

You may have heard it called a polecat as well.

I seem to always use the longer ones, maybe because they're useful for wider rooms where a stand would be in the shot but with a shorter span, maybe it's more likely in a narrower room, like a kitchen or something where you could use a smaller unit and fit it next to an actor, on a baby plate on top of a refrigerator or something close by.

It's an old 4:3 and the boxing match was both letterboxed and pillared, making it a smaller 4:3 within a larger 4:3 which felt strange to watch.

Looks like you have a good kit to get started. If you can't afford a high-hat, something like this works pretty nicely, for about $20.00! camera pod and opens up lots of new shots. It's great for a DSLR. You could build a nice skate-wheel dolly pretty inexpensively. Start assembling a good tool kit, multi-meter, screw gun, circuit checker, scissor clips, things that might come with the crew and trucks for DPs at higher levels but are pretty handy for everybody else, definitely things that I like to have.