Tim O'Connor

I just watched "The Caine Mutiny" (1954, Technicolor.) There is a lot of soundstage work, some location work and some apparently real World War Two footage. I was struck by how clean the audio is and how I accepted it as I followed the story even though the audio is hardly realistic. For example, in the ext. scenes aboard the ship, under the dialogue there is the musical score, which is annoying at times as it seems to be a bit too intrusive in that old-fashioned way, but hardly any realistic background noise, e.g. the wind, the sounds of the waves, engines, etc.., except maybe for plot points. In some of the other exterior practical location scenes, there are shots that are not too wide but wide enough that they would have been tricky to mike and the dialogue sounds great but there isn't a lot of ambient noise. It seems that a lot of this dialogue must have been done in post but it certainly doesn't look it. Also this movie is in Technicolor and there is a credit for a Technicolor consultant but on the DVD I watched, from a video store, it seems that often all of the flesh tones are virtually the same extra bright and with a lot of orange in them. (I watched other programs right after this on the same t.v. and those colors looked right.) There's an interesting shot with about three minutes left in the movie. It's a shot of a street with traffic moving along and in the background are several parked trucks. They look as if they are a black and white background matte of some kind. I replayed the shot several times and concluded that they are real trucks that are grey but that look jumped out at me in a Technicolor movie.

Thanks. This looks like an inexpensive option and I could make many flags and nets for half the price of their industry counterparts bought from a grip company. Maybe not as slick looking but they (usually) won't be in the movie. How do you attach to the grip head? Do you make a handle and grab it between the flat surfaces of the grip head or do you use something other than flat bar so that there is a round stem (like ordinarily) that slides into one of the holes in the grip head?

Yes, $$$ I've put a large white frame up high at night and lighted it so that people's eyes catch it when they look up a bit but nothing like what you describe which sounds pretty cool. That might put a nice glint in people's eyes without the reflection of the large white shape. Thanks.

Certainly there are times when we can't get to scout a location properly, or see it at night when it's for a day shoot or whatever but I'm curious if you have a location that you are able to conveniently check out thoroughly, perhaps swinging by at different times of the day, do you still find the sunpath tracking software helpful? I haven't used it so I'm wondering how much of a difference it makes to your planning. Thanks.

I like it too, although I was surprised that it was different from what I thought it would be based on seeing the trailer a long time ago. In fact the trailer is on the DVD. It presents Bill D-FENS as an ordinary guy who's simply trying to get home. I think that must have been done to sell tickets because instead of a regular guy who snaps one day at society's craziness; he's a guy with a history of freaking out and looking like he wants to kill people who finally goes on his spree, granted with a little provocation but not enough for what he does and for his familial homicidal plans, which I think is very different from what was advertised. I do think that they warmed up many scenes, perhaps with both filters and in post, but also maybe they shot some of the key scenes in bright sunlight when it was in fact really hot. It has that authentic look. There are some great performances, especially from Michael Douglas.

I just watched "Falling Down" (yes, it's been out for 15 years or so) and it struck me as one of the rare films that looks like the weather is really hot. Often films have the heat as a factor in the plot, people going nuts and so forth, but they don't always look believeably hot. There is a consistent warm tone to many of the shots in this film and that certainly helps. Does anybody know anything about how this film was shot/colored? Thanks.

That's great stuff. What are those flying lights right after the opening shot of the clouds moving?

I was hung up on the same question. I pondered...but I am so glad that I bought the HVX-200! It's great and no HDV nonsense. Also, it's 4:2:2 color sampling is superior to many HDV cameras. You shoot and light right and you'll be happy. With the bigger P2 cards coming out, and the ability to delete takes you know you won't use, and no capturing time, you'll do great with the stock lens and occasionally if you want get an adaptor for a particular project.

Kevin is exactly right. From pg. 12 of Barry W Green's book "The HVX Book": "The first question many new HVX owners ask is 'What's that click?'" He describes exactly what you describe and says "This is completely normal, there's nothing wrong with the camera. What you're hearing is an element of the optical image stabilizing (OIS) system. When the camera is powered on, the OIS system is energized, and the rattle disappears. This is one of the most frequently asked HVX questions..." This book, and his DVDs on the camera and P2 workflow, are extremely good and helpful!

Hmm, thanks!

I'm sorry that I can't put my hands on Barry Green's very good book all about this camera but I believe that on page 1 he answers "What's that clicking sound" and it is indeed normal, although I'm spacing on exactly what he said. I hope that reassures you somewhat; I'll see if I can dig up the answer.

Where those adaptors for the lights you showed in a picture once? I think that they were par cans from a theater? How are they balance wise on stands? I have some old theater lights but haven't put them up stands.

Thanks Robert, that's good advice. It's counterproductive to make something that looks low rent to producers AND could be bought for less money in the style they're accustomed to seeing on sets. I do have some good resources, welding gear, tools, though, so I may see what I can do for gear to use at least for some occasions. I will keep exploring all the homemade gear that makes sense, although I may not always use it. Some things would be great to own but on certain jobs it is going to make more sense to rent them than show up with my homemade stuff. For some other projects however, saving on the rentals of things which I haven't yet been able to buy, but of which I have some version, may be the way to go. Xavier, thanks for that terrific link.

How do you feel that anamorporphic format would be for a courtroom drama in which a good portion of the film is planned as long (45 to 90 second) shots in which the actors move around and the camera actually does move a good bit, although mostly simply dollying laterally as one or the other lawyers crosses while talking ?

Thanks. 29.97 "almost never done...PAL/SECAM" seems so obvious now that you say it. I haven't shot any film for episodic t.v. shows but I think I got the idea from some music video guys who wanted to do that (quite a while back though.) So, would you say "Law and Order", "E.R." and other big shows are all likely 3 perf.?

I was wondering when say an episodic television show that shoots in 35mm. but knows that it never, ever, is going to have a film print to be projected, does that affect shooting and editing? For example, do shows ever shoot at 29.97 to make some things easier or, in NLEs, is editing done differently than if an negative cut list had to be made? I imagine that there might be some lighting changes due to the differences between watching a televison and watching a film projected in a darkened room but for t.v. or sure to be straight to video that do shoot in 35mm., do you know of any technical differences in shooting and editing? Thanks.

Thanks guys for all the info.. Tony, what is "the behind camera eye light for a crowd theory" ? Off-topic (on my own thread!) but somewhat related, I made out well last week when I needed a big scrim/net for one side of a practical location while shooting a student film by unrolling some black screening material that I had bought cheaply and hanging it from a cellar pipe. (The black may have irrelevant in this case; the screen was simply acting as a scrim because of the lack of grip equipment. Actually however, it was easier to maneuver in tight quarters than a large net might have been and ironically, due to the black color I think, I heard some whispering that the D.P. was using "some special Hollywood" stuff.)

Yeah, that's where my thinking has been going too. Thanks!

I did a bunch of searches and couldn't find anything except homemade nets for lenses. I've been using some found materials lately, such as for different types of window screens (in the American sense) and would like to make some 18" x 24" frames and maybe bigger. Today I hung some black screen from a pipe in a house (low budget shoot, didn't even have a flag kit or a half-scrim for the light) and once positioned it completely kept the actress closer to the light from being too bright while allowing the farther actor to be sufficiently lighted. What kind of metal could I buy that I could shape, or maybe have welded, to which I could then attach my "nets" and thus be able to use them with grip stands? Thanks.

How many cars are involved? An old low budget trick if you aren't going to get a permit and "buy" the meters is to get a bunch of friends and wait till everybody leaves for the day and park your cars there overnight, then move them for the shot, throw some cones up or sawhorses or double park and get the shot fast. However, if it's a busy street, that may be dangerous and you're likely to be shut down quickly. Also, this is effective if the location is not terribly far away as all your car owners wil need rides. Plus they'll want to know that their cars will be there when they return. The best bet is to get a permit and a detail or else grab the spaces and do it really fast. Have you scouted the location on different days? Is it always blocked? What about Sundays? That's an expensive day to shoot with a paid crew but if it's you and your friends then maybe that's a good day.

Thanks guys, I'm going to check those suggestions out! Have to wait for the rental house though; they're gone for the weekend.

I'm shooting my planned Sundance feature entry August 15-31 in and around Canton, Stoughton and Boston, Massachusetts. Need additional crew. Good opportunity particularly for film students to perhaps move up a notch and receive some compensation. Days are 10 hours call to wrapped/no allnighters/overnighters. If interested, please contact me at info@newenglandfilmstudio.com and put "TPL" crew in subject of e-mail. Thanks. Also, experienced grip/electrics who aren't booked those days and would like to be called if we find that we need more help on a given day please send info. too.

That's excellent!

I like that ability to hide the big white frame reflection. I wonder why silk is so important. There must be some material that can diffuse well, maybe not quite as softly but without cutting so much light.