Jonathan Bowerbank

To prevent having to measure during production, it's probably a good idea to do focus tests during prep. Measure out with the tape, set the focus on the lens and see if they match up. This is mainly to find out how accurate your lens is. But as always, you should zoom in and get your critical focus for every shot you do.

Yeah, but too bad it's only in lowres on YouTube :P

I loved the Howard Dean reference, good stuff :) Was "Advantix" really a flop? I rather enjoyed it, it's easier than peering through negatives to figure out what ones you wanted to have developed.

I've always been a huge fan of Superman I & II, and in my teenage years I discovered the story behind how II was stripped from Donner's hands. So when I heard about this new Donner Cut, I was naturally excited as I figured perhaps the director's fantastic vision of the Superman character was finally going to be resolved. Well, I was disappointed. In my opinion, the new Donner Cut is just as exciting as watching the "Deleted Scenes" extras on a DVD. I loved some of the "new" scenes, such as the first one at the Daily Planet, the different look of the encounter on the moon and the scene with Brando at the fortress of solitude (despite the cheap effects). The entire movie was clunky to me, partially because I was used to seeing certain scenes another way, or perhaps some scenes were shorter in this cut, so the transitions seemed VERY abrupt. And honestly, I hated the ending...I'd seen it before and it just didn't seem nearly as motivated as previously done. I much prefer the original ending to Superman II with the mind erasing kiss he gives Lois. And David, I agree, the Eiffel tower scene from the original was definitely a great Lester scene. I'm glad some of the Fortress of Solitude scenes he shot were cut, that was always really weird. But the result is a very anti-climactic standoff between Superman and Zod. It just left me wanting to watch the Lester version even more.

He really should have shot that rooftop night scene differently...talk about noise!

I suppose silhouette can also be someone's shadow cast onto a wall or something as well...in the classic sense of the word.

Thanks to Netflix, winter break, DVD's received for Christmas and working less hours at my day job, I managed to watch 9 movies between Christmas and New Years. Superman Returns Devil Wears Prada Junebug Cronos Pan's Labyrinth Beauty and the Beast ('46) Pursuit of Happyness Memoirs of a Geisha Goya in Bordeaux This is a rare occurence. I probably average about 3 a week though.

Utah's only assets are its mountains and other wild areas. I would go there more often for the experience, but unfortunately I have family there...ha ha!

I like using 216 diffusion on a tungsten fresnel. Have a go and see if you like it.

I think it's safe to say Spielberg will be shooting film. Lucas may push for it, but Spielberg's love affair with actual film is pretty strong.

There's the ol' term "Shoot from the hip". Take the camera off your shoulder and shoot from some alternate angles, besides the ones we all see in handheld home movies. I'm not a big fan of films and TV shows that try to shoot what has mistakenly been dubbed "documentary style", but some out there do a good job of it. Just be sure you actually compose your shots when going handheld, that way the entire film doesn't look like "Oh, I just BARELY got that shot!"

Aussie football seems like a much more worthwhile practice in slow mo :) Especially if you're lucky enough to catch someone losing a tooth or perhaps getting a massive headwound.

No, long

For a good contrast in different shutter angles. Look at the action sequences of "Gladiator", which were shot with an acute shutter angle. Then, watch some of the action sequences in "Apocalypto" which were shot with the shutter completely open at 360 degrees.

Hey Bhavin, Have you looked into any of the local film communities or non profits? A quick google search took me to this organization: http://www.pghfilmmakers.org/ They seem to have a good selection of production workshops and courses that perhaps could give you an advantage if you plan on applying for grad school. Not to mention organizations such as this are great for networking and finding work in the area.

btw, since you plan on warming up the entire image itself, you may want to consider doing it in post. So, as always, you'll have the color correct original to fall back on if your use of the filter proves disastrous.

I really loved this film. And what was also impressive was that there were lines around the block to see a foreign film for once! I'm glad the film got an applause at the end from the audience, it really is a great story from a very imaginative director. Guillermo Navarro, the DP, I think doesn't get enough attention. I've been a big fan of his ever since he shot "Desperado". All his other collaborations with Guillermo Del Toro are sites to see as well. In "Pan's Labyrinth" I loved his use of cyan for a lot of the night scenes. There was quite a bit of day for night too that I think most people didn't notice because it was so convincing. I highly recommend this film though. It's a dark fairytale...emphasis on DARK (both in lighting & storyline)

Great list David. I'm glad to see Prestige and Fountain made the cut. Easily two of my fav films of the year.

Answers to all 3 questions can be found at San Francisco's very own Monaco website: http://www.monacosf.com I've been told Monaco does standard def. telecine straight to hard drive now, that's your best option. Editing digitally for a possible "film out" will require timecode settings for all your telecined footage that corresponds with your film negative.

Could tape up some thick black plastic onto the windows to "flag" them, I suppose. HMI's are used during the day all the time, just don't assume that the color temperature is going to be the exact same as the daylight outside, daylight's color temp can vary. A focused beam from a maglite could probably work for ya, but more commonly people use xenon flashlights. However, using a tungsten flashlight in contrast to your daylight sources could make for some good color temp. contrast.

Cheers for the advice Bryan. Who knows, perhaps since I'm a "student" and if I bring in enough footage and business for'em, they'll just throw in the supervised transfer ;) Not crossing my fingers though, ha ha

Hey David, you wouldn't happen to remember what specific scenes were shot on Fuji stock, would you?

Exactly :) However, I believe the limit this semester is either 15 or 18, and it's already full. So tough luck for anyone else who wants to sign up :( I suppose you could contact John Carlson and ask him if it's OK to sit in for the first couple classes to see if any spots open up, you never know. If you wanna get in it next semester, be sure to register as soon as the first day of registration to secure your spot! That sounds fantastic Jaan! I look forward to having all my footage transferred through them!

Of course I would prefer to supervise it, but I don't know if I'll be able to afford it :/ The colorist there is pretty good though, so I may just get a best light transfer, timed to the 18% gray card. We'll see, I'm just now starting production, so, baby steps ;) I'll be taking a course at Monaco this semester, by the way. It's the "Film Finishing & Post Production" course taught by Carlson, I'm REALLY excited about it after it was unfortunately cancelled last semester. Supposedly, this is the exact same course they offer at Academy of Art, only it'll cost me less than $100 :)

There's the problem right there, probably. Was it regular Beta or DigiBeta? Either way, you're probably going to have some generation loss, hence the loss in quality. If you're going to the same production house for another telecine, you should find out if they output onto any other formats. MiniDV, DVCAM, etc.