Shane Bartlett

They used 5254 stock, with a Tiffen #3 low contrast filter. Everything was pushed one stop in processing. Lenses were fast, a lot of the exteriors on a 1.2 and the famous candlelit scene with a 0.7. Lighting was made to look as natural as possible, with a lot of reflectors, maxi brutes and lowells (with umbrellas for fill), often shot through windows to mimic sunlight. The windows were sometimes covered in a plastic tracing material, or tracing paper. Makeup played a large part in the way flesh looked and photographed.

In the American Cinematographer web archives there is an article about this. A similar effect was done in Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, which is also mentioned.

That move from the skier to the snowboarder--nice catch. However, I would trim a few frames off the end of that shot. There is something awkward about it, either a jerk in camera movement or something about the way the snowboarder moves. It all looked a little dark to me, but consistently so. I suspect that my aging monitor is the culprit. . . .

I use a variety of Sennheiser mics (shotguns, mostly) at school with my DVX100B, and the sound quality is of course much better. More selective. As you know, the DVX onboard mics pick up a fairly wide spread, which is great if all you want is ambience (but even that will be dirty, usually beyond the point of usefulness). Some people like to use a shotgun on one channel, and the onboard mic for the other. Personally, I prefer to plug the shotgun into both XLR ports via a splitter (we call them pigtails). To my ear, the discrepancy in sound quality between a good mic and the onboards is too large to match. These Sennheiser mics price anywhere from $250 to several thousand dollars. Like everything else, it depends on your budget and the type of sound you want to capture. Although I pay a lot of attention to sound, I am really not a sound guy, so I'm sure someone else can give you more precise guidance in selecting a sound kit.

I see this all the time (putting diffusion on a light 10 or 15 feet away) and have, predictably, never seen much in the way of results. I have asked, but unfortunately I've always been told that doing so softens the source. My thoughts were that perhaps the diffusion acts as a sort of heat-shield for another gel (such as CTB), that it acts as a very weak scrim, and/or that the white diffusion somewhat shifts color balance. Any truth to these thoughts?

From what I understand, yes. I believe the M2 only threads into the 72mm filter mount.

The syncro scan function is for shooting computer monitors, etc, and allows you to fine-adjust the shutter. I've found that if you adjust the syncro scan into the neighborhood of the monitor's refresh rate, you will get a flicker-free image. Of course, once you've set the syncro scan, the entire clip will be shot using that shutter speed. When you're finished, you will have to change the syncro scan again. --Shane

I am only a student, but my first real project was a short documentary shot with the dvx100a. While it turned out fairly well, I had my share of problems. Sound. Get a decent sound kit (and someone to monitor and run it if possible). I've found that the mic attachment works well for interviews, but it is difficult to pay attention to framing/exposure/focus AND monitor the sound while in the field. In my experience the DVX100B (which I now use) occasionally picks up signal noise from any nearby towers. You definitely want to notice sound problems before you hit the editing room. My doc experience was completely live--no time to ask people to repeat things, and I often had to start recording while still adjusting white balance, exposure, focus. I had good sound for these moments, but image was less than satisfying at the beginning of these clips. If your conditions will be the same, I recommend that you shoot enough B-roll type footage to lay under your audio. Last--watch the recrod button. It is very easy to unknowingly press it and start recording. If you're not careful, you'll end up pressing it again--placing the camera in standby when you think you're actually recording. Not fun. Hope it goes well. --Shane