Frank Barrera

Yes, excerise, resting periods, general sleep hygiene and deep proper pre production are the only ways to mitigate the fatigue of being a DP / operator. But this situation is also a terrific reminder that these are in fact two separate jobs. Let's not forget this. Obviously, if there is no money in the budget for an operator then you are stuck. And sometimes being a DP/ operator is actually the right decision . I did a movie last year where the director really wanted me to also operate. She felt more comfortable working this way. And her style of filmaking lent itself to this. But that meant that I needed to hire a gaffer who I could really lean on. He needed to be glued to the monitor during takes. That was a condition of his employment. I also often asked one of the producers to keep an eye on the monitor. When you operate you can only operate. You can't be thinking about the responsibilities of the DP. You need to be thinking about operating. The problem is you can't really be 100% at both jobs. Both jobs will suffer. Sure, sometimes it's ok but it should be the exception and not the rule.

Thanks David. Annapurna is handling distribution and advertising and they are leaning heavy into web based outreach. For a rated PG romantic comedy with lots of dogs the reviews have been pretty good and the word of mouth has been great. So far so good. We'll see how this weekend ends up... And congratulations on your beautiful work on the TV show. Inspired as always sir. F

They are pulling up the opening by two days. It opens tomorrow. Tell a friend. thanks and Woof f

Hey folks, please check out the trailer for our feature Dog Days Its a family friendly rated PG romantic comedy that explores how dogs can positively influence their human counterparts. We had a great cast of both people and canines. And I can assure all and any concerned that these dogs were treated with the greatest care and love. It will have a wide release in the U.S. this August 10th, tell a friend. I can only assume there will be various foreign releases as well as the summer comes to a close. We used an Arri Alexa Mini at 3.2K 16x9 Pro Res 4444. We recorded in Log C and monitored in Rec 709. We shot spherical and framed for a 2.40 center extraction. We had a set of Cooke S4's and the Angenieux Optimo line of zooms. All of our camera gear came from VER/Cineverse here in Los Angeles where we shot the entire film. We only had two days of 35 on a stage. The rest was all on location. That was a challenge, to say the least. I have had the great honor, opportunity and luck to shoot some excellent smallish tv shows. I have also had great success with some low budget features that did extremely well in the festival circuit. But the concept of shooting a feature film that would see a wide theatrical release is something that I've been dreaming of and working towards for 25 years now. I'm looking forward to the next one... Tell everyone to go see this thing. thanks f

Please explain how this law would impinge on freedom? Because if I am not missing something no one should be allowed to point a camera under a woman's dress without their permission. Right?

David, Of course, you are correct. I meant full frame. I was just reminding Matt that the Sony 1.8 35mm lens in question will not render a wide angle field of view. Matt, I also have the Sony 20mm (which is about 35mm equivalent field of view in full frame). This might work for you. good luck f

Matt, I have that Sony 35mm lens. Its great but don't forget that it's designed for that APS-C sensor. So you will approximately get the same field of view as a 50mm lens when working in 35mm format. I use this lens for portraits and close ups. For a wide lens I wound up getting a good deal on eBay for the Zeiss Touit 12mm which winds up looking like the field of view of an 18mm. But again a shallow depth of field with a wide lens is only going to be apparent when focused on subjects very close to the lens. f

Richard, Looks beautiful. Good luck. f

Ok. So, we were able to get back into that location and look at the bulbs in the over head practicals. The culprit was an off the shelf household LED bulb. It was directly over our actors' heads. Lesson learned: LEDs cannot be trusted. But on low budget productions and in the real world its a challenge to avoid them. f

No other footage from yesterday has the flicker issue so we believe it had to be the over head practicals. I'd love to get back into that location and confirm that they were some old compact florescents or something but that location is long gone for us. Of course I have seen flicker live at video village when shooting TV's and computer screens etc. But this is the first time I've had flicker only in RGB parade and not visible to the eye. Obviously this has had to have happened before on other shoots but no one in post caught it or bothered to tell me about it. Thanks for the help fellas. Disaster averted. F

Phil, You are exactly who I was hoping would respond. I will run down all of these questions today. But I am hoping the "other light sources leaking" is the answer. We did have some practical lights on in shot. We were moving so fast that in addition to our lighting we turned a couple of the practicals on also and since we didn't see any flicker (which we weren't even looking for) we just went ahead. As soon as I get to set today I will take a look at those bulbs. Stay tuned and thank you very much. F

Hi. I am three weeks into a 4 week show and today our dailies colorist alerted us that we suddenly are experiencing a "pulsing" in the blue channel in footage we shot early this morning. Something akin to an out of sync HMI when shooting film. But we are not shooting film. We are shooting with two Sony F55s. The issue is with both cameras so we suspect the lights. Our lights are Arri Sky Panels, M8's, M18's and M40's. The "pulsing" can not be seen by the human eye during playback but can be seen in the RGB Parade. The footage is usable but there is a concern about potential red flags for QC. Our schedule is extremely tight. We have zero time to do any sort of testing of our lights. Does anyone have any insight and or experience with perhaps the Sky Panels resulting in blue channel problems? thanks f

Bruce, This looks great and very funny. I wish there were subtitles. Congratulations. But ya gotta tell the story (or some version of it ) about how you came to shoot in Russia. Seems like an extraordinary outcome. Do tell. Thanks f

I am not familiar with the kodak or fuji glasses.

The industry standard is the Alan Gordon Gaffer's Glass. https://www.alangordon.com/sales/our-products/blue-ring I've been using one for many years. As it says in the manufacture's disclosure, when viewing the sun's position, this is meant for cloud cover where the sun goes in and out. I have tried the reflection technique with sunglasses or a cell phone screen but this has little practical usage because the point of the exercise is to make an estimation of time as to when the clouds will clear or cover the sun so the production can resume. The reflection in any surface is too small to make an estimate. You need to look directly at the clouds/sun. Obviously this is done with an abundance of caution. I've been using and been around others using the Alan Gordon Glass for 25 years now and have not heard of a single incident of someone damaging their eyes. And in that time I have never seen anyone give a remotely accurate time estimate using the reflection technique. Good luck and be safe. F