Greg Johnson

Looks like you learned everything from the tutorials on videocopilot.net. You probably should use original stuff for your reel. - Greg

Well one of the last states at least. Yeah a few years ago I showed up to shoot a DVD feature for some Disney film called "High School - The Musical". Once we started shooting Kenny Ortega and the kids dancing I was like, "this is the lamest thing EVER! What is Disney thinking?" Then a few months later it was all the rage. They shot them all at East High,.. the same school name as in the movie. It's just up the street. The 2nd one was shot in Southern Utah for the most part, but the other two were all shot here in SLC from what I've seen. But then who really cares right? 10 years ago we had 3 or 4 network shows being filmed here, and many movies, like Dumb and Dumber. Anyway, tons of movies have parts shot here, especially the Salt Flats,.. like on Pirates 3. I'll shut up now, I need to go to the store and get some delicious 3.2% beer.

We embrace the gay culture here, I mean this is where all 3 High School Musicals were shot,.. ha ha. Just kidding. But seriously, SLC has a huge gay community, and a huge gay pride week, with gay pride parade. I have a lot of Gay friends. Salt Lake is very tolerant. But yeah, I didn't mean to start a political debate, sorry. Thanks for being chill about our differences. - Greg

I like Salt Lake because I can carry a firearm, and own guns. I'd sure miss them if I moved back to Cali. Oh and I'd miss my family. Salt Lake is getting more like ("like" mind you) LA every year, more crime, gangs, violent crimes, car chases, traffic jams, people, and yes film,.. ha ha. - G

Chris is right, there's not a lot unless you want to work in Mollywood. I can't convince the wife to move to L.A. so I'm stuck trying to find work here. There is work though, and it's actually picking up a little bit with the new legislation for tax incentive to bring productions back to Utah. There's a ton of freebie work, but it'd be impossible to be a carrier DP. I'd register on the Utah film commission, I've got a few gigs from there. But as for DP gigs there's not a lot, and you'll have to fight me for them,.. ha ha. Shoot me a message when you get here, it's always good to meet new people. - Greg

I re-built an entire feature in After Effects from the .DPX scans from each shot because the online from LA wasn't frame accurate. We had the old NTSC 29.97 master from FCP to compare to the online HD CAM SR (that the director didn't like because 20% of the shots were a frame or two off.) So my friend went shot by shot and analyzed them A-B in FCP to see if they were frame on. If they weren't then he noted the Reel, and shot number then in what direction and how many frames the shot was off. So I'd then import the conformed 2K .DPX reel (with the errors) in After Effects as the base layer, and then pull the scans for each shot that needed to be fixed into the project, and replace the errant shots. At first I thought glue tools would be the best option, but it required a render conversion, and the director was adamant about no generation loss or renders in order to keep all the log data and whatever meta-data there possibly was. The project took a few months for the two of us to do, but it was simple to create a basic LUT adjustment layer, and nest the sequence to render out as a 1080P to view the reel with sound to check for errors. (The sound was done at Skywalker Sound, so the director had to make sure everything was in sync, frame by stinking frame.) Once we finished we rendered out a new conformed .DPX reel and FedEx'd each reel on a drive back to Post Logic in LA to be color corrected in there DI suite. We also did quite a bit of simple composting and effect work while we were in there to save money by doing it ourselves. A lot of those shots we FTP'd to Post Logic's baselight server overnight if we needed to do quick fixes. Everything went pretty well considering all that could have gone wrong. They created a master print, and a D-Cinema master. I was so proud to finally see the bugger in theaters, the audience had no idea the entire film had gone through little ol' After Effects. I don't know if that was the answer you were looking for, but that was my experience with .DPX sequences on a limited budget. - Greg

Like in the Aviator, you need to add clouds for perspective. I think it looks fine, I'd also add the sound a lot earlier, unless there's a scripted reason to surprise the audience. Hope that helps! (I want to see the final show!) - G

Great work as usual Cole! - Greg

I forgot to mention your titles. I meant to say what Jon just did. Just stick with a still title card, it's all you need. - Greg

Hey Jed, What you're describing is called day for night. It's a technique that was used over 20 years ago when film stocks couldn't really handle low light, and technology, locations, budgets couldn't afford the use of large lights and power demands. You'll see this technique used in the old Jame Bond movies, or one I remember is Where The Red Fern Grows. I think Nate was being a little elitist and isn't giving you the full story. He is right that the correct way is to actually shoot at night, but this will require lights, power, and technique. On major motion pictures they have massive generators that are the size of trucks, and 20k lights as big as you that are put up on cranes. Since you're 13 I assume you don't have an awesome camera, film lights, or much technique. So you're probably stuck with some halogen work lights and whatever you can find in your parents garage. (I've been there btw) So given your circumstances I think day for night is a great idea. I think it's cool you're reading up on it and asking questions. The trick is to shoot low-contrast, meaning shoot on a cloudy day, or even better at dusk / dawn when the sun isn't out. Be sure to not over-expose anything. Then in post you boost your whites and crush the blacks. If you want to add a little blue and sell it as the moon that's fine too. Here is a pretty cool tutorial on some tricks: http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial.html?id=1 The benefit of shooting at night, if you have the budget for lights is that your continuity stays the same. You don't have to worry about the sun moving over the course of the day and changing shadows. You don't have to worry about the sun going behind clouds and messing with your exposure, or reflectors. Anyway good luck, be sure to go out and try it a few times before you get everyone together to shoot so you know what you're doing. - Greg

Jason, Some great stuff! My favorite shot is through the confessional booth (I assume) of the the priest walking,.. it's amazing! Your last 3rd is great. You're first 2/3 is hit and miss. Some shot's look epic and cinematic while others look like video. If you're demonstrating versatility then I think your reel is great, but if you're going for cinema I think you should chop out a 1/3 of your reel and keep just your best work. Shoot for 2 minutes and keep only the awesome stuff. Stuff like the vet, light rail, and ocean seem like stock footage. I love all the religious stuff except the rack focus from the glasses, it looks like a lens adapter. Cool stuff though, you told me to be harsh so I hope it's cool that I was! You rock! - Greg

Hey Chris, On first glance I noticed lot of tight shots, I was left wanting to see more wide shots, like your opening shot. It seems to me like a lot of the shots need to be color corrected. The shots with cigarettes are too long! The one where the guy gets shot from behind is SUPER jarring. Every time I see it, on your last reel too, I think the actor bumps into the camera and it takes me out of the shot. Then the shot of the guy lighting up in the alley is too long and too contrived I think. It reminds me of the smoking man be revealed on every other episode of the x-files. The shot with the man looking at the gun while that lamp is in the foreground bugs me, I don't know what it means or what the relevance is. But that's my opinion, I might just be stupid. All in all though it's really good. I just focused on critiques, sorry. I think the reel is the perfect length, I know it's really hard to whiddle it down to a short runtime. The music still works, it's the perfect song for a reel. Good luck with the new reel! - G

Remember in daylight you rarely see a muzzle flash on most firearms. Usually you just see a burst of air and smoke. Blanks have more power, so that's why your more likely to see a flash. Then the another problem is when people put in muzzle flashes they do a HUGE flash, but it doesn't light up the room at all,... kinda funny if you think about it.

Thank you for all your kind words Walter, they mean a lot! Satsuki, the reason the door is blown out is because I wanted TONS of moon light spilling in from out side. The poem reads: "The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below". So yeah, I pushed it to the max, almost to a horror movie, ha ha. That shot may have been too much though, you're right. Thanks for the critique! Dory, All the night shots were shot in the authentic dark cold winter night, ha ha. The worst part is I didn't tell my gaffer there were any out-door shots, so he trudged through the 3 foot deep snow in new-balances, and a hoody. Michael, the boys shot ends on that frame, the camera actually has a 45 degree circular dolly track and starts high angle at the foot of the older boy's bed and curves around to end low by the younger boy. To the lighting at the start has a hard side light, and then ends flat. That room was so cramped, and time so short (4 hours with the kids for the whole shoot) that I couldn't get any back light in there. Thanks for the critique though, next time I'll pay more attention. I really hope to finish my current project so I can upload some video. The 4k resolution is nuts. The original res is 4096 x 2048, these web stills are 1024x512, so they're 1/4 size. I'm really excited about this project, and about honing my skill so thank you all again for your comments! KEEP EM' COMING! - Greg

Yeah, all the sleeping shots are a dolly shot left to right with cool transitions. In the beging of the shot you see a window above the blinds that doesn't have shutters, that's where the shaft of light from the moon comes from. Sure it's not 100% practical, I was going for a little magic, and style. I did use a 4' 4bank kino with gel to fill in the foot of the beds, maybe I should have turned a few banks off. I can fix it in the DI though, there's tons of give. Thanks everyone for your feedback!