Jon Rosenbloom

I've figured out a lot of things in my time, but I've never understood why toppers work. By topper I mean, if I set up a key light, like an 8'x8' muslin, it looks nice on the subject, but it's horrible on the back wall. Then, if I put a 12' teaser in front so that the top, or most, of the key light is blocked from hitting the wall but still hitting the subject, it looks great. Of course, this is standard practice, but somehow I've never been able to nail down a concrete reason for why it works. My guess is, it's simple geometry, in that the key is at a good angle for the subject, but as you get farther from the key, it just becomes a bland frontal light for the back wall, so it's best to get rid of it. ...Or, is it just one of things, like "everything looks better backlit."?

You don't feel the urge to "get creative?"

The producer should do a spreadsheet comparing the cost of the operator's funeral versus the cost of a process trailer.

That's a terrific video.

True, true. On Indy IV, "they" (I guess it was us, but I didn't have anything to do with it) had a motorcycle tow rig that allows the bike to bank on the turn. Maybe Matt should give second unit Key Grip Alex Klabukov a call about that rig. If you do settle for a straight tow, don't forget to let the air out of the tires!

Yes, if you are really disciplined about the way you use them, they're great. AND, they provide quick, easy, cheap light on those low-budget jobs a lot of us shoot at the start (!) of our careers. But, when I'm on a big movie with 11 other grips, and 10 electricians (and a 40' truck filled with lights), and we spend 10 minutes dithering with a china ball to get it to look like a baby through a chimera ... It just drives me crazy. and yes, 3/4CTO is brilliant!

Does the bike have to turn? How wide is the shot? Since the camera is leading the bike, how about you rent a tow-dolly at the local u-haul and build from there?

Sounds like a good plan. You'll figure out the rest when you see it. Although, if you want "gritty," maybe you'll stick with some of the green fluorescent bulbs that are in the practical fixtures.

How many times do I have to say it?? China balls are for beer gardens and student films! They're easy to plug in, but they're tough to control. But, if you're determined to use them, you can get BCA bulbs, which are blue ECA's, 250w at about 4800k. They last a good long while. Also, make sure to bring a lot of duvateen, or - if you have the prep time - paint one half of some of the china balls black.

but why is it a TV show can shoot 10 pages in a day, and a big feature can barely manage 1 3/8???

impossible to say ... but I've always found things average out to about 1/2 hour per shot.

You don't get paid for the photography, you get paid for shouldering a lot of responsibility and putting up with a lot of aggravation, so why not ask for $2500/ wk? In the realm of DP pay, that's pretty low (about 1/3 the full budget rate for a non-superstar), but you're not giving it away. Good luck!

Those sound stages would be pretty dark without any lights.

There will be plenty of inhumanity in whatever job she gets ...

You know ... you're in 600, it's kind of busy now, all sorts of jobs are starting in NY. If you stick w/ your career and are halfway decent (what ever that means), you'll come to a point where you look back and just chalk it up to experience. It's one 13 hour day's pay on a majors job.

HMI's are expensive, but Kino's are expensive too. In practical terms, moving, powering, focusing, gelling and flagging a "wall" of kino's will probably take a lot more effort than doing the same for one HMI.

Was that totally mystifying? I thought it's pretty funny.

hmmm ... :)

You mean you're looking for a place where your next production can buy speedrail. It's an expendable, after all ... (The fittings are another story.)

I wonder about judging SD transfer by the ski film footage only because bright snow is really challenging to shoot in an format. Also, what machine was that transferred on? If you were on an older machine with an old tube and the night guy did it unsupervised, I can see why you'd get disappointing results. We went through the exact same discussion on "Mister Material," (student film, tight budget) trying to figure out all the permutations of post formats and costs and it really sucked a lot of energy out of the project. We shot over a couple of weekends and I went down to Technicolor, and they were kind enough to put me in a room with a colorist and we looked at the footage on the Spirit in SD and I was very happy to go that route. More later ...

I would go to the Arri website for your ground glass. Also, HD transfer is nice, but I don't think you should go all out for it. My one s16mm to HD experience was not 100 percent great. (You can see the results in the first section of my reel. Follow the link below.) On one hand, the one 2K digital festival screening of that film looked great, but on smaller screens, the HD really sees the grain. If you can get a Spirit transfer to digi-beta you'll get a very clean transfer, and relieve some of the budget pressure. Good luck!

Hi Matti, I think you meant bead-board, not beaver board. Bead board is a bounce - the same as the styrofoam board Paul recommends. A beaver-board is a 1/8 apple box with a 750 or 2K nail on plate screwed on it. The name has a somewhat ribald derivation. Aren't you going to use your hmi for fill? I really like silver lame, but it can get harsh. You can just turn it to its white side, or you can clip a piece of muslin to the back. Good luck!

Well shot, w/ good use of locations. The woman is rather shiny from time to time, and that sort of breaks the mood.

Got to start somewhere, and a rental house is as good a place as any. The first difference between unskilled and skilled is the ability to identify equipment. Once you know what - for example - a half-double scrim is, you are way more useful than someone who doesn't know what this or that is. At that point, you can at least bring a piece of gear to set without the DP, or Gaffer or Key Grip taking as much time describing it as he would take to just go get it himself.

That's a serious dose of awful. As an experienced lift operator, I have to say how often one takes it for granted that you're just going to fly that arm in the air. You get the arm going and then think, "hmm, better check for wires." If a lift hits a power line, or gets close enough to higher voltage lines, it conducts the current; so, terrible as it sounds, you can't even try to move it without first shutting down the power in the lines first.