Patrick Cooper

Nic Cupac, a grip in the camera crew of the Indiana Jones 5 production, has died on location in Morocco. Apparently, he was found dead in his hotel room. https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/upcoming-movies/indiana-jones-5-crew-member-found-dead-on-location/news-story/621061f64797f3d302b93cd3cc4e809d

A really horrible ordeal. According to one report, Halyna Hutchins said that she couldn't feel her legs after the shooting. So clearly, she was conscious for some time after being shot.

The armorer and assistant director on the Rust production had both demonstrated unsafe work practices on previous films. Hannah Gutierrez fired a gun close to Nicholas Cage without any prior warning. Not surprisingly, the sound gave him a real shock. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/27/entertainment/armorer-rust-set/index.html And Dave Halls the AD had previously been fired on another film over gun safety issues. A crew member was injured in that incident. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-59055138 So with those two fools being recruited in addition to the fast paced shooting schedule and the availability of live rounds for 'off hours' target practise, all the elements were there for a potentially tragic outcome. it was like an accident waiting to happen.

This article explains more. https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/prop-gun-used-by-alec-baldwin-was-used-by-crew-for-fun/news-story/ce9ced9ac9612921f2f67691dd43805c I'm sure this is going to haunt Alec Baldwin for the rest of his life.

It's been confirmed that members of the cast and crew were using a gun for target practise after hours. Hence the live rounds on set. Apparently, there were three guns on standby when the fatal accident occurred. And one of those guns was still loaded with live rounds (from the target practise.) The assistant director grabbed that particular gun (thinking it was 'cold') and handed it to Baldwin. And yea I know that blanks can be dangerous in certain circumstances. There was an actor who died from a shooting involving blanks on the set of an Australian music video a few years ago. But I don't think there's any doubt that real bullets were used in this latest accident on the Rust production. After all, the projectile passed right through the cinematographer (Halyna Hutchin) and then hit the director (Joel Souza) who was standing behind her.

I was wondering if there were many magazines around these days that accept submissions of short stories for payment? I know that during the 1970s, Stephen King submitted many short stories to adult mens magazines. Though I don't know if this is a thing anymore. The industry is somewhat different these days. I do have an interest in writing suspense and horror etc so I guess I would need to target publications that favour those kinds of themes.

Some disturbing news coming from Western Australia at the moment. A four year old girl has gone missing from a family's tent at a remote wilderness area by the coast. Apparently, the mother confirmed the girl was still inside the tent at 1:30am (when she was asking for a glass of water.) Though at 6.00am (when they woke up) they discovered that she was gone along with her sleeping bag. A massive search of the area was conducted by police and volunteers and no trace of the girl or the sleeping bag were found. She's been missing for about a week now and police are suspecting she may have been abducted. The WA premiere is offering $1 million to anyone with information about the missing girl. There were other people camping around the same area at the time of the disappearance who were questioned by police and they saw nothing unusual. It's like she vanished. https://www.news.com.au/national/western-australia/cleo-smiths-mum-ellie-makes-a-desperate-new-social-media-plea-for-missing-daughter/news-story/e75f0fa7c3811981e2dd9d158a881172 Edit: Something recent has come up. A car was spotted around 3:00am headed towards Carnarvon (where the family were camping. )

It sounds like there was another related accident on set prior to the fatal shooting. Earlier in the week, two rounds were accidentally fired by Alec Baldwin's stunt double from a gun that was thought to be 'cold' - in other words no live ammo was supposed to be in that weapon at the time. The state of gun safety on that set was obviously shocking.

Not really. The focal length doesn't really change. A 100mm lens will remain a 100mm lens regardless if it's mounted to a 70mm camera, 35mm camera or 16mm camera. What does change is the angle of view of the lens. Though I would agree that a 50mm lens (intended for a 35mm camera) would be considered a telephoto lens when mounted on a 16mm camera. And as to the original question, the film format has no bearing on what f stop or t stop you use. Just use your light meter like normal.

I had a really strong urge to get into large format quite a while ago but never took the plunge. I do admit there is amazing image quality with 4 x 5. I had the impression that field cameras were a lot more expensive than studio cameras? Yea there is great versatility with view cameras with the ability to attach MF backs etc. Though if I was shooting specifically MF film, I think I'd prefer a camera that was more compact - especially if I was travelling interstate or overseas.

So I haven't shot medium format film for a long time. In the past, I used a Yashica D TLR with Yashinon lenses and a Koni Omega Rapid. They were both obtained very cheaply and allowed me to get into medium format on a very small budget. Both cameras have produced some nice images but they do have their limitations. I had a large print of a landscape image produced by the Koni Omega that won Second Prize in a 2008 art exhibition and also sold at the same exhibition. That same image also won a competition in a photography magazine. Though I admit that I have sort of a love / hate relationship with this camera. I have had reliability issues with it which has led to some very frustrating experiences. I am on the lookout for an MF camera that will offer me more versatility and is also reliable as well. I think Ive decided on an SLR. I would really like to make use of the 6 x 7cm format to have that edge with image quality (especially when doing enlargements.) The two obvious choices for SLRs with that particular film size would be the Pentax 67 and the Mamiya RB67. Unfortunately, the prices are still insanely high on the used market. So I may have to consider something else. What other options would there be? I could consider 6 x 6cm. To be honest, I'm not very keen on 6 x 4.5cm because of that smaller frame size. Then again, when you crop 6 x 6cm to a rectangle, you'd end up with something very close to 6 x 4.5cm so maybe I'm being a bit silly. Even so, 6 x 4.5cm would be very low down in my preferences. Apart from the single lens reflex design, some of the other features I would like are a selection of good quality optics (interchangeable lenses), mirror lock up and a B or T setting with a mechanical shutter. I would also like a wide angle lens which has roughly the equivalent field of view as a 24mm in 35mm format. So for 6 x 7cm, that would be about 45mm and for 6 x 6cm, it would be about 40mm. I have looked at the Bronica SLR cameras. Though a lot of them appear to have electronically controlled shutters. I would be happier with a mechanical shutter because I would be doing lots of long exposures and it would be nice to do so without batteries. I don't suppose there would be any Bronica models that would have a mechanical shutter in addition to mirror lock up? I haven't really looked at Hasselblad because I would imagine they would still be crazily expensive. Regardless, I do realise that with whatever camera system I get, a MF wide angle lens with the equivalent fov of a 24mm is going to be fairly pricey.

Today, in my family's kitchen, I discovered a large glass bowl tucked away in a cupboard which has a nice curvey shape. Very deep too. It looks roughly about 50cm in diameter or close to that. I think this thing has potential.

You do see satellite dishes on the occasional roof here in Australian suburbs. Though I don't think Ive ever seen one in thrift stores or garage sales. The only scond hand ones Ive seen have been on eBay. Yea those solar cookers are really tempting. And I see some of them are reasonably priced. Though the only possible downside with them is that I notice the focal point is often outside of the dish. And obviously with sound recording, it would be preferable to have the focal point inside the dish to protect against wind noise and other extraneous sounds. Though I guess that's always a risk with adapting any item for this kind of application. There's always the chance that the focal point could be outside of the dish. I'm not sure of the maths involved for working out the focal point for any random curved object. I guess it's a combination of the diameter and the depth.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. There is a youtube videos which shows someone testing their cardboard parabolic dish. The guy did a comparison test with and without the dish (recording audio of white noise.) And there was a very noticeable boost in amplification with the cardboard dish vs without. I'm not sure about the presence of low frequencies with that kind of sound source. Though yea harder material would be even better, I would imagine. The fibreglass suggestion sounds like a good one. Ive actually never worked with this stuff before. Is it straight forward to apply? Yea I would need a mold of some kind. There was another guy on youtube who used a mound of rocks and then layed cement over that and shaped it.Probably overkill. I wonder if I could use clay instead though that would probably require a huge amount of clay. The yoga exercise ball is also a good idea.

I'm thinking of getting hold of a parabolic dish for recording the sounds of nature outdoors like bird calls. Though instead of purchasing a commercially made one, I'd like to go the low budget DIY route and obtain a cheap house old item that has the same basic shape and convert that. I thought locating such an item would be quite easy but I'm having a hard time finding something suitable. Ive spent ages looking on eBay and although Ive found a number of items on there that have the shape of a parabolic dish, they are all very small. The largest one I found was a lid for a kitchen pot but it was only 40cm in diameter. Ive also considered trash can lids but they tend to be cone shaped rather than curved. Any suggestions for other items to look out for that would do the job? I am in Australia by the way so there might be some things here available here that could be suitable. Ive also looked at second hand satellite dishes on eBay but a lot of them are not very deep and in some cases, almost flat. Plus many are sold interstate and are 'pick-up only' with regards to payment transactions. If all else fails, I could try making a parabolic dish out of thick cardboard though obviously, that wouldn't be as good as one made of stiffer / harder material. I would probably use an omnidirectional microphone with it.

Thanks for the recommendation for the Rode Smartlav+. Judging from a youtube video I watched, it looks like it performs well outdoors amidst background noise. So should be even better in a parabolic dish. Ive also seen some other attractive options that are cheaper than the Rode. Yea I know a tablet is going to be awkward at times. Though it will be used for fairly basic stuff (mostly nature sounds.) Though with regards to bird calls, I'm just hoping that the feathered animal would remain singing for a decent duration. I could visualise that a fair amount of time would be spent fiddling with the recording app (adjusting levels etc) before I actually start recording.

By the way, Ive also been intrigued with the idea of using a microphone with XLR attachment and connecting it to a tablet or similar device with an XLR to 3.5mm adapter. Though do some of these kinds of mics have additional power requirements or something like that? I thought I recall reading about that. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Great suggestion. I didn't consider that. I think it's something like a micro usb or something like that - I wonder how common omni mics are with that kind of usb. I guess usb adapters are available but they don't always seem to work for me.

I'm considering using a Samsung Tab 3 for recording audio of bird calls out in the wilderness. I just hope I can get hold of a good app that allows manual adjustment of levels and recording to formats like Flac or WAV etc. I plan to make a parabolic dish (or adapt something already existing that has the basic shape and size) and use an omni-directional microphone with it. I would also like to use headphones to help monitor the sound. Though here's my dilemma. There is only one 3.5mm jack on this tablet. Is there some way that I could connect headphones and microphone simultaneously? I admit I don't know much about audio and what kind of options are available. I don't suppose there would be something like a splitter cable that would allow two different devices to be connected?

Oh yea I realise I'm overdue for a new computer. When the budget allows, I would like to get a new and reasonably powerful pc one day.

And Ive just hit a hurdle with Davinci Resolve. Apparently, the version I downloaded is 64bit and my computer uses a 32bit system so they're incompatible. I could only see one version for Windows so I guess that's all there is. Don't ask me why I'm using an ancient 32bit system. Someone who claims to be a computer expert installed it on my pc (even though I told him beforehand that I was planning to edit HD video.) At the time, I didn't realise that 32bit systems are limited to 4GB of RAM. Another family member has a laptop which uses 64bit. I could ask her if it's okay to install Resolve on her machine.

Actually, I do have another query about Davinci Resolve's export options. From what Ive noticed in tutorial videos, I can't see any way of selecting progressive or interlaced. I would prefer progressive video with my exports. How would you know for sure that the video is being exported as progressive?

Ah good to know and that makes things convenient. I thought I recall someone mentioning on another forum about manually selecting a high bitrate when using ProRes (unless I'm mistaken.)

Thank you for that linked article. I note that the bitrate for 4096 x 1260 at 24p for ProRes 422 is 503 mb/s. If I was exporting Panasonic G7 4096 x 1260 24p footage with the ProRes 422 codec in Resolve, would I set the bitrate to 503 mb/s or some other amount?

Tyler yes, good points. Jordan, I have a Pansonic G7 rather than a GH7. I'm not even aware that they came out with a GH7 in the GH line. Though yes, it has a bitrate of 100mbps. All stock videos submitted to the online agencies are trimmed and exported with NLE software and many of the clips have some colour grading applied. I will likely be using Davinci Resolve to export my next bunch of clips. I haven't used this particular software before (I'm currently going through tutorial videos) so I'm not 100% sure on what choices of codecs it has. Though from memory, I think it may offer PhotoJpeg. I don't know if ProRes has been added or not. Though I'm still not sure how much I should increase the bitrate with ProRes or PhotoJpeg when exporting my videos. Would it be recommended to double or triple the bitrate in my source footage or use some other formula for working it out?