Bobby Shore

go open eye on a fresnel unit... that'll give you some nice, hard shadows. Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

Hi, Anyone have any info on an easyrig that can handle the weight of a 35mm camera in or around Vancouver? Thanks. Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

Hey Rolfe, I shot the same deal with 5218 (I posted earlier with more detail), and my shooting stop was a 2.8 and a bump on cooke s4's... sounds like 5.6/8 split might be a bit heavy on the barrel unless you'll be doing a lot of your own augmentation with hot lights. Also, I still don't really get how adjusting the shutter angle would highlight the smoke definition... do you know something I don't? Thanks man, good luck. Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

Adjusting the ISO on your meter is simply an easier way to work the calculation into your light readings as opposed to leaving the rating at 200, taking your readings, then calculating in your head the stop compensation of the filter. Did you mean ND.6 though (you mentioned 2 stops)? An ND.4 would mean a stop and a third of light loss. If you're shooting 200T and using an ND.6, then you would adjust your ISO to 50 to work the compensation into your readings (assuming you wanted to rate the 200T at 200 in the first place). If you're using ND's, I imagine you're shooting outside... any 85 correction, or are you planning on letting the scene play cold? Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

yeah man, I've gone through writer of light... really interesting book. It is a pretty cerebral approach to the craft though. There's a great interview with Storraro in an AC from 2002, I think. Talks about Apocalypse Now and The Conformist. Really amazing read. Check it out. Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

Arri Ultra Primes... no doubt. Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

I have a friend in montreal who'll convert bolex to ultra 16... not really the most popular format, but it'll shoot in between the perfs giving you an almost scope aspect ratio. Messed up, right? Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

there's a good article in AC about the film The Kid Stays in the Picture, and the use of photo mapping. Not sure about the issue, but I'm sure you can track it down in the archives. Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

yeah man, I have to agree with Keith... I just finished timing a feature using Color, and I have nothing but great things to say about it. For my experience, it was just as good as sitting in on a tape to tape in a da vinci (as long as you have a good timer working with you). Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

Keep an eye out for the spinner switch for the ground glass.... it's usually recommended to turn it off in between set ups to save battery, and I've been on a couple shoots (one I was DP'ing), where the switch wasn't hit before the camera rolled. It can be pretty nasty looking at an image off a ground glass without the movement. Hope that helped. Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

what up homeboy, which brand are the clairmont anamorphics. I shot a commercial a couple years ago with these really nice Todd AO anamorphics that I got from clairmont...they were probably 40 years old, had a really nice soft look to the glass, flared with a nice white veil, and, I swear, most of them opened to a 2 (and I had one that was 1.4)... I shot them all at 4 for night work and 5.6 for day work. They definitely have a look to them. they breath like crazy though on the short end. would be curious to see an anamorphic like that shot at 1.4. Anyways, hope that helps in some way ot another. Good luck man. Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

Hey Catherine, You should get a LCD projector to avoid any possible flicker with your film camera, and it should be something that can project at least 2000 - 3000 lumens. The great thing about shooting your background plates on video is that you can tweak them and time them to suit your needs exactly for your plate work (even though film plates can't be beat). I did this last year, shooting a super 16 short, it was a driving sequence at night in the rain. I shot background plates with a PD 150 (like they do, or at least use to, in the TV show 24), shooting them both in focus and out of focus (I enmded up using only the out of focus plate work) What I found helped a lot was understanding the angle and focal length I would use for each shot during principal photography, so you can roughly match the same angle of view/circle of confusion (again, roughly), that you would attain if the background were actually real. After the footage was shot, I took it into final cut, timed it to my liking and made a loop of each angle I would be shooting in the car that would run for 10-15 minutes (so I we wouldn't have to rewind the appropriate angle between takes). As for the screen, I had a 14 wide by 10 high rear projection screen that was placed about 15 - 20 feet from the car. I was on the inside shooting out towards the driver from the backseat, so I was seeing partially out the windshield and partially out the drivers side window. The wider value was on a 16 mm lens, I believe. Either way, the screen was just big enough at the distance it was placed to fill the field of view. My main reference for this scene was the driving sequence in fight club, the one with the big car crash in the rain at night. The int. car work was done on stage with 70 mm rear projection plates (I think, it says in the commentary), but it's great to study the way Jeff Cronenweth combined interactive lighting, color temp mix, etc., all smoothly integrated with good plate work for the scene. Anyways, hope that helped. Good luck. Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

1st: your grey card is your means of communication to the lab/timer, etc., so you need to know how to use it or manipulate it to achieve your look. For example, if you shoot your grey card in direct sunlight, your direct sunlight becomes your white reference. That refernce will, of course, change throughout the course of the day as the color temp. of the sun light does. However, if you want to have some warmth to your day ext., you could choose to shoot your grey card in the shade (ambient daylight, cooler color temp.) so the timer will time out the blue bias in the grey (by adding points of red and yellow), and add warmth to the overall image. The angle of the light hitting the grey card, then, has nothing to do with the angle of light you choose to shoot your scene in, it's based on your interpretation of what you want to be determined "white light" in the scene itself (or lack thereof). 2nd: Exposure. You answered your own question. Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

I shot a film (35mm) using red road flares a few years ago. I was able to test it before hand, and to my taste, I liked underexposing the key provided by the flare on the actors face by a stop or stop and a half (depending on how close or far the actor held it, it varied).... I found it helped the flare from overexposing too much (although it was over, you could still see red color detail in the flare itself). The fall off was pretty rapid though (anything outside of a 5-7 foot radius around the flare wasn't able to hold any real detail), so if you're interested in seeing any of the surroundings, you might want to augment with some more light. I bounced an open face 2 K gelled with primary red into 4 by beadboard (it read 2 - 3 stops under for the BG), and matched really well. By the way, stock was 5218. Good luck... Bobby Shore DP LA/Montreal

hi, You definitely want to check the amperage of the circuit as well, which will give you a better idea of how strong a load it can handle. Chances are it'll be a 15 or 20 amp circuit, so yeah, you'll be fine with 2 650's. General rule of thumb: 1000 watts of power requires 10 amps on the circuit (it's actually 8.3 amps, but it's always safer to round up). Hope that helped. Bobby Shore DP LA Montreal

Don;t know if he used the same technique on requiem, but a very similar effect was achieved in Pi by Matty by strapping a drill to the camera (not sure if it was the camera itself or the pan handle of the head), and randomly squeezing the trigger whenever the desired effect was needed. There;s a commentary track by matty on Pi where he talks about the technique, among other interesting things. Also, I know some of the vibra cam effect was achieved digitally in Requiem (i.e. marlon wayans screaming in his prison cell)... hope that helps. Bobby Shore LA/Montreal

wow man, great looking stuff... especially liked just for you. Was the old style effect fully achieved in post, or was there any specific in camera effects, or special processing you used? Also, loved The Club. Was that a practical location? It looked like you had some intelligent lights going on, how was your experience working with them? Great look, great lighting, loved the overcranked footage. What kind of lighting unit were you using for the mirror ball? Great looking work man. Bobby Shore LA/Montreal

Hi, I;ll be shooting a short film that has two distinct looks to it: a softer, lower con pastel aesthetic at the begining, and a harder edged, more contrasty, and saturated look (i.e. reversal), for the end. I;m definitely interested in trying the new vivid 160 for the second look, however, for the softer, lower con scenes, I feel a different stock is appropriate. I want to stick to fuji, so I;m wondering if anyone has any opinions on the grain structure of the 160 vs the eterna 250D (the short is all day ext.) I;d like the lower con stuff to be finer grained, but Fuji doesn;t offer it;s eterna line below EI 250. I;m thinking about pushing the 160 a stop and pulling the 250 a stop. We;re finishing digital, so I;ll obviously be able to tweak it in post (spirit 2K transfer to digibeta), but when it comes to film grain, you can;t really recreate the feeling you get from the emulsion itself. If anyone has seen tests of the 160 vs. the eterna stocks, particularly the 250 D, and has any advice, opinions, etc., that;d be great. By the way, I;m shooting super 16. Thanks. Bobby Shore LA/Montreal

probably not exactly the answer you're looking for, but have you tried shift and tilt lenses? you won't exactly get shallower depth of field, but by fu**ing with the plane of focus and the position of your characters in the frame, you may be able to create an equally claustrophobic feeling... just an idea. Bobby LA/Mtl.

I think you're on the right track with the bounce lighting... this works especially well with dark hair (which you'll notice is generally used in those slo-mo hair blowing in the wind close-up's like in the youtube link you provided)... a big soft source will basically reflect in dark shiny hair (the same way you light cars, with giant bounce sources to provide modeling through reflectivity)... you'll notice that shiny, silver quality in the hair when the angle of incidence matches exactly the angle of reflection, so to maximize this, you generally want to have the bounce source as close to the lens axis as possible... also, you might want to try a highly reflective bounce source (like a 12 by lamé)...however, this can fosuc the light onto the subject, so make sure if you're ising a more refelctive bounce surface, you diffuse the light hitting it... hope some of this helps. Bobby Shore LA/Montreal

The two books are actually pretty different, but both really worth checking out. Reflections is a good mix of the DP's artistic approach towards shooting specific projects and the technical aspects behind achieving the lighting and the look. New Cinematographers tends to focus more on the DP as an artist, and recounts their takes on the numerous projects they have worked on. The two are both worth the price.

yeah man, a 4K HMI will draw roughly 40 amps of power (8.3 amps per 1000 watts), so you should be fine with a 5000 watt generator (I'm assuming that's what you meant by a 5kVa generator)... you'll definitely want to be careful about your voltage though... check it very carefully as HMI's tend to flicker or pulse when hooked up to smaller generators (whose voltage tends to fluctuate). Hope this helps. Good Luck. Bobby Shore Director of Photography Los Angeles / Montreal

hey mitch, thanks for reply... can you tell me how it will help in post to shoot 1080 on both cameras? it looks like I'll be able to shoot the entire feature on the HDX, which will be nice. The reason I wanted to shoot 720P was for the movement, how will that differ in shooting 1080? Thanks alot man. Bobby Shore LA/Montreal DP