Andrew Koch

Is this a short or a feature? If it is a short, I would say Super 16mm would be a great affordable option. I don't know about the costs where you live, but here in Los Angeles, I have found that often the cost of renting a professional digital camera package can exceed the cost of 16mm. (And I am including camera rental, film, processing and transfer). With professional video, the cameras are usually more expensive to rent and the lenses are often more to rent.

I agree about shooting stills. An extremely important skill that a cinematographer needs is control over exposure. Get a 35mm SLR film camera, NOT a digital SLR (you can get them on ebay for a couple hundred bucks with a lens). Get a light meter. I use the Spectra Pro IVa for incident readings and the Minolta Spot Meter F for spot readings. These can be a bit expensive if you are starting out, but will last you forever. If you want something cheaper, I would suggest the Sekonic Studio Deluxe II. It is old and completely analogue, but this is good because it will help get you in the mindset of reading footcandles and translating them to f stops. With your SLR camera and your lightmeter by some Black and White reversal film, AKA "slide film." This stuff has very little latitude, making it much more difficult to shoot than negative. You will have very little room for error. Slight overexposure or underexposure will be very noticeable. This makes for a great learning experience because you will be able to learn from your mistakes. When you get these developed, have the lab make slides. Then view them on a slide projector. If you can nail your exposures with slide film, you will have a much easier time exposing color negative film which is much more forgiving. In one post, I read that some of what James wrote went over your head. That can happen when you are first starting out. This is why it is important to ask as many questions as you can to help clarify everything that is confusing. Everything I have mentioned in this post is stuff you will need to know, so if any of it does not make sense, please ask about it.

If you are concerned about matching, you will need to do some tests. A color temp meter will not be much help because fluorescents technically don't have a color temperature. The green spike can fool the meter. I think David is right, just turn off the fluorescents and save yourself the headache.

Pasadena is a very nice city, but in my opinion it is a bit too far from the action. It is also pretty expensive. When you get here, you will probably start out by working on a lot of low budget independent shows. These are filmed all over the place and there is no single area that will place you near all of them. You will sometimes have to do a bit of a commute. That said, there are certain areas that are closer than others. Price is also an issue. Convenient places that are nice to live in will cost. Los Feliz and Echo Park areas are fairly close to Hollywood and Downtown. Los Feliz is pretty expensive, although I do know some who have found semi-reasonable priced apartments. Echo park has some nice areas and some not so nice areas, so make sure you check out the area. I live in Burbank which right next to Warner Bros. and Universal Studios. I like living here because it is close to Hollywood and not too far from Downtown. It is not the most happening town and rent is totally killing me right now, but I still like it a lot. Of course you could live in Hollywood, but I personally am not the biggest fan of that area. It is very busy and some parts of it are kind of creepy at night (I apologize to all of my friends who live in Hollywood, I must sound like such a snob right now). Glendale is near Burbank, but is a little cheaper. Hope this helps. I have only lived in Southern California for 6 years, so those of you out there that know more about this please chime in.

I will attempt to answer your follow up question but Please answer the question I asked you before "WHAT COUNTRY ARE YOU IN?" If you are in a country that uses a different system than the United States, some of my information will not be accurate for your system. If you are in the states, which city and state? Please answer these questions so I can see how relevant my info is for you. Another question I have for you, Are you using a generator or mains power such as from a stage? Here is my answers to your questions: What do you mean by "for single phase, 208V for 3 phase"? Let me clarify the wording. I think my use of parentheses was misleading, I meant to say you have 240 Volts (V) when using a single phase system and you have 208V when you are working with a 3 phase system. I will attempt to explain phases, but I'll try to keep it simple. There are two main ways to configure an AC (alternating current) power source (such as a generator). The 2 ways are single phase and 3 phase. Some generators are one or the other or both (can be changed with a switch, but power must be off when switching). If a power source is single phase, there are four separate lines coming out of the source. One line is the ground, the next is the neutral, and the remaining 2 are your hot legs which are your "phases." The connectors for these lines on the generator and your cable are color coded. Green is your ground, white is your neutral, red is a hot leg and blue is a hot leg. You run the matching cables from there to your distribution boxes. The power coming from the generator is 240V, but the neutral splits the voltage between the two hot legs making them each pull half which is of course 120V. So, the voltage between the red and neutral is 120V and the voltage between the blue and neutral is 120V. The voltage between the red and blue without the neutral is 240V. On a 120V Distro box, each outlet will have the ground, neutral, and one of the hot legs. If you are using a 240V light such as a 12K, you will need a 240V outlet (whether it is available on the box or made with a snakebite using the other side of a passthrough box. The latter method is not nearly as safe because you have no breaker protection, so I would recommend getting a box that has some 240V outlets.) This is one outlet, but it has no neutral. It just has the ground and your 2 hot legs. The term single phase can be a bit confusing since there are 2 hot legs. In a three phase system. You have your ground, your neutral, and three hot legs. The color coding is the same with the addition of the 3rd hot leg being black. In this system 208V comes out of the generator. The neutral splits the voltage. The voltage between the neutral and each hot leg is still 120V, but the voltage between each hot legs (Red and Blue, Red and Black, Blue and Black) is 208V. If you have a box with 208V outlets each outlet will be one of these combinations: Red and Blue, Red and Black, Blue and Black. 12Ks also run off of 208V. The ballasts and handle the difference in voltage and take care of it. This is not the case with tungsten lights. A 20K tungsten light has several different types of globes that can go in the unit. They have 208V globes, 220V Globes, 240V globes. Don't use a 208V globe with single phase because the 240V will overvolt possibly making the globe explode. IF you use a 240V globe with three phase (208V from the power), you will get weaker output and reduced color temperature. IF you want to learn this stuff, pick up a copy of Set Lighting Technicians Handbook by Harry C. Box. This book explains it better than I ever could. Then get as much practice as you can. It sounds like you are fairly new at dealing with power distribution. Be very careful and do not start plugging things in without checking with someone who knows what they are doing. If the Gaffer is experienced with this stuff and knows how to do it safely, let he/she be in charge of this. If the gaffer is the only one on set with this type of experience, only let this person be in charge. No one should do anything electrical without talking to the Gaffer first (normally this distribution stuff would be handled by the best boy electric) It is important to learn this stuff, but learn to do it right and safe because if you are shooting this thing, you may not have time to double check that you are doing everything safely. I don't mean to scare you but make sure everyone on your electrical crew has a healthy respect for electricity (because improperly hooking things up can be harmful if not fatal). You said the crew is inexperienced. This is understandable since they are not being paid, but using larger lights like this, especially raised high up in the air, you really should have some crew who knows how to safely work with this stuff. It is going to be very difficult for the gaffer and key grip to work effectively and safely with an inexperienced crew. This also increases the likelihood of equipment breaking. What is the reason for the production not paying for the crew. Is this a student film? If not, you should explain to production that they really should pay for a more experienced crew. One thing I would recommend is to have all of the electrics at least read the electricity and distribution chapters of the Harry Box book (I swear, I don't work for the publisher). Then have them go to the rental house and ask if they could show them how to hook up a generator and do basic cable runs. If you are a student in Los Angeles, send me an email with your name and I can give you some resources for places that teach this stuff for free. Best of luck

If your gaffer is experienced, then none of these things should be a concern of yours as a DP because all of the things you mentioned are the responsibility of the Gaffer and Best Boy. If your key grip is experienced, then all of the rigging should be taken care of as well. Try not to get too bogged down in micromanaging these things. I used to be like that and all it did was distract me from the story and annoy my crew. However, if you are working with an inexperienced crew, or an understaffed crew, then I could see why you would need to get involved. Fist thing, what country are you shooting in? Please let us know because the voltage is different depending on the country. I live in Los Angeles so I will answer your questions about power as they relate to the US. If you are in Europe or any other country that uses 240 as standard voltage, let us know so someone on here can answer for you. In the US, your 1.2K, 2.5K, and 4K will run off of 120V. 1.2K Uses a stinger, 2.5K and 4K use a 60Amp Bates cable. 6Ks are sometimes 120 Volts, but usually 240V (for single phase, 208V for 3 phase). The 12K will run off of 240V. You should have at least 2 people to mount the 12K on a stand, 3 is better. These use 240V 100Amp Bates cable and draw power from 2 legs. Make sure your crew knows how to work with these lights. Never stand in front of them when they are coming on. On the bigger lights, I would not recommend gelling the lights directly. Put the gel on a 4x4 frame so you can give the gel some distance from the light. If you are using narrow lenses, you will probably need to put a 4x4 frame of heatshield in front of the light, which would be behind the gel. If you are using a 12K Par, I would use the heatshield even on the wider lenses if you have it, Don't use any of these lights without a lens or you will melt the gel almost immediately. Crank Stands like the crank-o-vator are pretty good and can go pretty high. I like the American Road Runner stand for the big lights sometimes. American Grip's website says the Roadrunner 220 has a maximum height of 11'3." Make sure you have the stand safetied if you go at full height. Don't forget to get enough ladders so your electricians can operate them. And make sure they are tall enough so they are not standing on the top 2 steps (Dangerous and illegal). Obviously if you need to go really high and have the budget and crew with the experience, then you would want to use something like a condor. Best of luck

Depending on how strong your overheard lights are and there position you could possibly fill the actors in with a bead board, bouncing the overheard lights into their faces. I don't think the lite panels would be completely out of the question indoors, but they will not be effective on a day exterior.

I think it is wonderful that you are taking such an interest in the lighting as a director. That said be careful not to overstep your boundaries as a director because the lighting is the cinematographer's responsibility (And the specifics of the lighting is the Gaffer's responsibility). Theoretically, in terms or creating a look, it would be better to work with the cinematographer and describe the look as you described it here "upbeat" "colors that pop" etc... I say "theoretically" because you are having trouble getting a hold of the DP and are having to start thinking about this stuff yourself. That's unfortunate. I would try to at least do a phone conversation with the DP about this stuff as soon as possible to keep him in the loop, but if you can't I totally understand why you would need to do some of this pre production planning yourself. For fill light, you are better off using a bounce board than a lite panel because you are bouncing a strong source (the sun). A small bounce board is good for closeups, but you will need to use much larger frames for wider shots (such as 12 x12 muslin, ultra bounce, grifflon, etc). The lite panels seam to be bright enough on interiors, but they can't compete with the sun. by colors popping, I'm assuming you want a highly saturated image (please clarify because I once operated on a show where the director would want the digital image to be so overexposed that it clipped. I thought it looked horrible, but the director said "I love how the image pops." Good times :) In my opinion, one of the greatest sources of saturation is the art department. Sets and wardrobe that are made with highly saturated colors will greatly help you get that image. It helps to use complementary colors (Ex: Having a man in a yellow suit against a blue background) Unless you want the entire movie to be highly saturated, you can have the previous scene and the following scene be less saturated. This contrast of saturation from scene to scene will make the scene in the middle seem more saturated. Chimeras are great for soft light, but usually extend out fairly far out and this could be difficult if you are in extremely cramped quarters. You may want to consider bouncing the light off a bead board. If you don't have much space to cut the light with solids, you could use a piece of showcard. Bounce a light into it. Cut off the side spill by bending the card until it cuts what you need. and then use a piece of paper tape to hold the card in this folded position. A really great gaffer showed me this trick and it definitely can help when you are on a budget and in a pinch.

If you do decide to go to film school in LA check out all of them. Visit them and talk to the students, and not just the ones giving you the tours. This way you will help you get a sense of each type of program and what type of students they attract (by "types", I mean industry, independent, experimental, documentary, animation, etc.). Are you applying for undergrad or grad? Most undergrad programs are 4 year programs, but I think Brookes is 3 years. Someone from Brookes, please correct me if I'm wrong. Most Grad programs are 3 years like USC, UCLA, Loyola, Chapman (where I went). AFI is a two year program. And then there are the one year programs. There are only two that I know of. There is New York Film Academy and LA Filmschool. I went to filmschool and found it very valuable, the best education I ever got and still get is from working on larger sets as a crew member. It's a great way to learn how the "big kids" do it. If you want to be a director, you should try to work on some professional sets as a PA or work on films a grip, electric, camera assistant, etc... This will help you learn how professional sets are supposed to be run (and sometimes not supposed to be run). Then when you get your big break, you will have a better idea about how to run your set. You will also most likely work better with your crew because you will understand where they are coming from. This way you will understand when the cinematographer says he/she needs more time to light the entire city block for example. As a producer you will understand that when you wrap shooting, the electrics and grips still have possibly hours of loading up and will give them the necessary time to finish.

35mm, as I'm sure you already know costs more in raw stock and processing than 16mm, but a major advantage is that you can make a contact print with 35mm for release. There is no need to do an optical blowup or costly DI. Nailing your exposure becomes more critical, but hey, cinematographers have been able to do it without DIs for over a hundred years. This is why it is important for you to hire a skilled cinematographer and have he/she decide what camera would be best for your shoot. I would also recommend that you rent the camera instead of buying an old one that will be more likely to break down on set. If you have a problem with a bought camera on set that can't be solved by the ACs, who do you call to fix it? Do you call yourself? A feature is a huge investment of time and money as I'm sure you already know. Why risk the efforts of yourself and the hard work of your cast and crew by shooting on a camera that may not be as reliable? As far as an Arri S 16mm camera. That camera is a coffee grinder. You will not be able to sound with it and it does not come with a crystal sync motor. The Arri SR is a sync sound camera, but some of them can be a bit noisy. The Arri IIC 35mm is also not a sync sound camera because it is also very loud, same goes for the Arri 35III. The BL's are sync sound. If you do decide to buy a camera, make sure you get it checked out and serviced if necessary before the shoot. Another reason to rent is so you can get all the necessary accessories and proper lenses. You will get a better deal from a rental house on things such as a follow focus, filters, lenses, if you rent the camera from them as well. The only reason I could see you wanting to buy a camera is if there are no rental houses in your area. Where are you located?

I'm just curious, what city are you shooting in? What kind of budget is this production? Are they union or non-union? From what you have told us, especially about using your car as a towing device, it does not sound like a very legitimate production. Since you said you like watching the crew work, I'm assuming you took this job as an opportunity to learn, but why work on a crappy shoot and get abused if you're not learning anything? If you are simply doing it because you need the money, that's one thing, but understand that even at the lowest end of the totem poll, you still have rights.

I agree, frame grabs would be great. Another problem is the contrast could have been set way too high. Are your whites clipping and your blacks excessively crushed. This "crunchy" look could also be from bad lighting. Avid has some plugins that can do virtual diffusion. I believe 55mm is the company that makes them. They are certainly no substitute for on set filtration, but might be of some use to you. I believe the same filter pack is available for FCP as well and also for After Effects. If the contrast is excessively high on the images, it will be tough to make improvements, but it's worth a try. What type of Gamma settings were used in the camera? This can result in more newslike footage when set a certain way. Once again, you need to change your screen name to your first name, a space, and then your last name. This is a requirement and I don't want you to get banned.

Go to "my controls" and change your screen name to your first and last name as this is a requirement of this forum. Since you are new to this forum and are working with consumer electronics, I would suggest posting in the students and first time filmmakers section. I am not saying this to be a snob, I am saying this because you will probably get more helpful advice in that section because members will get a better idea of where you are coming from. They will already be aware that you are dealing with a very small budget and can work with that and won't suggest shooting on 65mm. (Sorry, very cheesy example)

What do you mean by "crunchy?" Are you referring to the motion, or are you referring to the lighting, contrast? Also, go to "My Controls" and change your screen name to your first name and last name separated by a space as this is a requirement of this forum.

For people in the camera department (including operator, DP, camera assistants) The union is Local 600. To get into Local 600 you need 30 Union days or 100 non-union days. Since you are on a tight budget, I'll assume you are a non-union show. These need to be 100 PAID days. I believe the pay has to be at least minimum wage, which is $112 for 12 hours (8 dollars for the first 8 hours, time and a half for the remaining 4) A letter from the producer, copy of the checks written, call sheets, etc.. This is what LOCAL 600 told me. If there are any union guys out there, please correct me if I'm wrong The electrics can only get into the union (this one is Local 728) with 30 days of UNION work. So whether you pay them or not, you will not be directly helping them get in the union unless your show flips and becomes union. This same requirement applies for the grip union (Local 80) Most of us crew people know that deferred pay means we ain't getting a dime, however I wouldn't object to getting a paycheck if a movie makes some money. Even if you decide to do deferred payment for the crew, put it in writing and have everyone sign deal memos. And if you do become fortunate enough to make money on the film, follow through and pay everyone back. (as I'm sure you would) One last thing go into "my controls" and change your screen name to your first and last name as this is a requirement of this forum

Could you be a little more specific about your shoot? Are you the cinematographer, the director, etc... In my opinion, the need for storyboards depends on the situation. If you are shooting a basic dialogue scene between two people and you know how you are going to cover it, a simple shot list should suffice. Then on set you can be creative and mix it up as long as you keep on schedule. I think stick figures are okay if the shot is not incredibly complicated. If you are going to be doing a lot of effects work and greenscreen, then you should probably consider more detailed storyboards. When I am shooting something for a director, I will make my own storyboards for myself whether the director decides to have them done or not. I don't even necessarily use them. It's just a way for me to think through several possibilities. This allows me and the director to be more flexible on the set, because I have already thought things through. I think storyboards are helpful as long as we don't try to always copy them exactly on the set. Some directors feel that they have to frame the shot EXACTLY like the drawing. This is often unrealistic. Things will happen on set that will necessitate changes to a shot. Or maybe something different just feels right at the moment. Trying to stick to the drawings can be quite stifling at times like this. I once worked with a director who had very specific storyboards. The problem was the whole film was handheld and the actors rarely hit their marks. I had to veer away from the pictures sometimes on the spur of the moment to keep the actor from completely leaving the frame which really frustrated the director because so much work had been put into the drawings. Some who are new to storyboard drawing create images that are physically impossible to photograph because the perspective is off or objects are drawn larger or smaller than they would actually appear. This is fine as long as the filmmakers acknowledge this and are willing to be flexible.

My incident meter is a Spectra Pro IVa My spot is a Minolta Spotmeter F (They don't make this one anymore, so I got it off of ebay) There are quite of few threads that cover this topic. I would suggest doing a search on "favorite lightmeter" or "best lightmeter" or "lightmeter preference"

I guess I was giving outdated information. Sorry for that and thanks for clarifying.

This is not necessarily true. SAG has an agreement called "SAG EXPERIMENTAL." I believe it covers productions that are less than 100K (number could be different). With this agreement, all of the things that you would have to pay for cay be deferred. Regardless, mileage and meals should be payed for by any production regardless of whether it is union or not. This is simply common sense and the right thing to do. I don't know what the rules are for mileage where you are, but in LA production is supposed to compensate you if shooting is outside the 30 mile radius of the city. But if your actors are working for free, or for very low pay, they are probably being generous and I think it is only fair to compensate them for gas even if they are relatively close. If you have actors that you want to work with that are members of SAG, then you need to fill out the necessary paperwork with SAG to become SAG signatory. Otherwise, you would be working with the SAG actors in secret without SAG's permission and the actors can get in big trouble with their union. That is unfair to ask of your actors. Filing the paperwork only takes about a week and it doesn't cost you anything, so why not do it?

I am a bit confused by the wording in this paragraph. Does "tungsten interiors" refer to tungsten filmstock? What do you mean by daylight "material?" Why would you want to use daylight lamps (daylight kinos, hmi's, etc..)? Even with the half CTO, the lights would be still fairly cool (definitely cooler than tungsten lights). Unless by "daylight material" you mean an 85 filter on the camera. Then, maybe the lights might be slightly warm. I would suggest using tungsten lamps with the warming gel of your choice (CTO, CTS, Amber, etc..). Please clarify what you mean by "tungsten interiors" and "daylight material" and I'll try to see if I can give you some useful information

I tried to open the links and neither of them would open. Also go to "my controls" and change your username. It is supposed to be your first and last name separated by a space. This might be your name, but without a space, it is confusing.

Marciano, please go to "My Controls" and change your username to your first AND last name. This is a requirement of the forum and Kevin just pointed this out to another poster on this thread. 2nd, I also work as an electrician and I know that it can be tough finding work and it is important to get your name out there. However, this thread is about someone designing their own lighting truck, not about hiring. It is important to stick with the topics, otherwise the forum will become too hard to find information (for example, you wouldn't want to see camera loading questions in the gripping section, etc...) Your post would probably be more appropriate in the JOBS, RESUMES, and REELS section of this forum.

Thats pretty darn specific. Do you have a large budget where you can pay the actress a good chunk of change? If not, I would try to be pretty flexible with the criteria. First priority should be her acting ability, because if you are able to find a blonde young woman who happens to also streak her hair, who also happens to bass, who is also a child actor, now you will have narrowed down that pool of talent to much less choices and have to hope that one of them can act. But if you are a larger show with a good casting director in a city with lots of available talent, then I guess it can be done. My advice would be to have the actress learn to at least fake play the instrument and dub her playing with someone else. At least have her learn to move her hands to the beat of the song and the proper stance. Decide whether she picks the bass or uses the walking finger technique, or slap bass, etc...

I was on a feature where the director always remembered to call cut, but he would drag it out. "Cuuuuuutt." Almost like he was trying to make a belching sound with the word. Very strange. And of course there are several shoots where a director would always want to YELL "action" and "cut" even if we are in the tiniest room with the actors 5 feet away and all essential crew nearby. Although I'm sure it is less annoying for me than the actors.

In terms of accurately finding the ASA, a waveform monitor and an 18% Greycard are very useful. There are several threads on this forum for this procedure. Make sure you have a good field monitor that is properly calibrated. This makes judging exposure much easier as well. I find the viewfinder pretty unreliable, especially outdoors. If you don't have a waveform, the zebras work ok. I did a quick test with a waveform and a chip chart to see how the zebra percentages correlate to IRE. I found that they were fairly close, but I could be wrong since the test was pretty rushed. If you can, test it for yourself.