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

There is not one type of gaffer for every kind of job. So: Is it union or non-union? What type of production (web, tv, short etc) What's the over all budget or range of pay? Start there.

Reggie's post was about mentorship. I don't see how any one can argue with the concept that if you're looking for mentorship with a focus on feature production that you should seek it anywhere besides NY or LA. Since I have been in LA I have had the enormous luck and pleasure to spend quality time in conversation with some very experienced and accomplished cinematographers, camera operators, gaffers, key grips and 1st ACs who live here. I have even worked along side some of them. Here. As a side note, I am in no way implying that when one gets to LA that the studio doors are going to swing wide open and great success will follow. Far from it. The fact is that if you live here your chances of being a successful DP shooting features is extremely low. If you live somewhere between L.A. and NY your chances almost disappear. Is this a controversial idea?

Everyone's path is different. I can only speak of my own. I was in NY for 15 years after graduating from film school. During that time I learned the basics, had some great experiences and met many wonderful people. I moved to LA 6 years ago and my experience here has overshadowed my time in NY. Being surrounded by people who actually make features for a living has been critical for my education and career advancement. I wish I had moved out here straight out of film school 20 years ago but for personal reasons I was unable. So, I feel like I am playing a bit of catch up but thats ok. The point is that you need to get to NY or LA. You need to surround yourself with people who are doing what you want to be doing. And when you make it out here I'll buy you a cup of coffee. f

Satsuki, Hi. The name of the film is A Bread Factory. The director, Patrick Wang, and I have made a couple of features together. These are not highly commercial films but they are beautiful and surprising. Unfortunately, our U.S. distribution path has been slow and complicated. But the French love us. Our last film premiered at Cannes 2015. And A Bread Factory already has a French distribution deal set up. So, if your in France in 2018 look for us. Otherwise, we will wait and see about future U.S. Its a dynamic business this. f

Ok, so the results are in. As we thought, shooting the LCD monitor was not a problem at all in terms of flicker. We were shooting 7219 so we had to color correct in post to decrease the blue to achieve proper white. For exposure we had a few seconds of 18% grey put at the head of the video clip meant for playback and I took a reflective reading at 500ASA then opened up a half stop from there. Shooting the screen was a success. Also when we shot our actor walking through the projected image of the LCD projector there was also no flicker. The color was heavy in the magenta but as the projected material was experimental in nature we didn't mind the odd colors. But yes, some testing would have been good to control the color. Over all we rolled the dice and didn't lose. thanks all f

Thanks for the responses fellows. Here's the situation: The projector will be used as a practical element in a few movie theater scenes. i.e.: the scenes take place in a movie theater while a movie is being projected in a standard way. Think of Cinema Paradiso as a general visual reference. Our projector is an LCD. Its the NEC PA571W 720P. I will be rating the film (7219) anywhere from 400 to 800 ASA depending upon what seems right for these scenes. I spoke with a digital rear screen projectionist who I've worked with in the past and he feels that we should be ok regarding flicker. I am sort of less concerned about color and or contrast as the film being projected is an experimental film so there is wiggle room in terms of faithfulness in representing the original content. The big challenge for our very small budget is that I can only shoot a test on the first day of production which does not give us enough turn around time before we are scheduled to see the projector on set. The turn around time for "dailies" is 3 days. Insane but true. We are in upstate NY. The film gets driven down to NYC then shipped to Color Lab in Maryland to be processed. Then shipped back to NYC for scanning then back up to us. 3 loooooong days. Kodak is allegedly opening up a new lab in NY but they most likely will not be up and running in time for us. I was able to shoot a quick test of our hero laptop (Macbook Pro w/ Retina display from 2015). We are a single stock show. 7219 so we'll see how the color temp renders itself. And yes flicker would be bad. I will see that today, i hope. We start shooting April 1st. Yes, I know. Fool's Day and all. Thanks for any more thoughts f

Hi all, I am prepping a S16mm feature where we will be photographing some laptop computers and also some images projected by a digital projector. We do plan on shooting some tests with the hero computers and projectors with an Aaton XTR Prod. But- Just wondering if there's anything else we can do besides simply adjusting to a 144 degree shutter. Any thoughts? Thanks Frank

THIS ITEM HAS BEEN SOLD Thanks f

This camera is in very good condition with some minor cosmetic wear. Shutter count is 16,555. Ser #2371208857 -Purchase full kit or a la carte- Body - $425 (Includes two Canon batteries, one 32GB CF Card, Canon charger, Canon remote cable, USB to mini B cable, Shoulder strap, Manual, Slik HS-705E tripod, Tamrac camera back pack. Canon EF 35MM f/2.0 - $225 Canon EF 50MM f/1.8 USM - $200 Canon EF 100MM f/2.8 USM - $300 Thanks Contact: Frank Barrera 1969frankb@gmail.com

Charles, Good morning. What up? I don't really have an answer to your question. I just wanted to say hi. Um, but after a cursory search on the interwebs it looks like a purchase of a custom mirror is the best way. There are lots of mirror shops in town. The straight up mirror rentals all seems to be for weddings and events and they all have large decorative frames which probably doesn't help you. Maybe a 4x4 mirror board from G&E that has been disassembled could work? Could the G&E house provide one? They have to repair and replace those things periodically so they must have a source.... Anyway, good luck and see you never. f