Mark Sasahara

I don't know about those lenses, but I recently got my XL2 package and much to my dismay, found that the Canon 16x manual lens breathes really badly when you rack focus. The 20x auto lens does not. I'm getting the Cinetech gears for the 20x so I can use their FF rig.

Not sure how much you, as a user can winterize the camera. Consult your rental house, or Arri. The lubricants that keep the movement smooth will have to be cleaned out and replaced with lighter oils/greases. I'm not a tech, so I don't know what else specifically for the BL-1. Is it being rented, or is it someone's personal rig? If it's a rental, it may be easier, just tell them what you'll be doing and they can have their tech winterize it. A heater barney is good. Keep the other mags, lenses, etc warm as well. Keep yourself warm too. Be careful of static build up which can cause lovely lightning bolts in the film. When bringing the camera inside, put all caps and covers on and wrap the whole camera in a trash bag. Mags too. The bags make sure that they will not get condensation on them. Be sure the bags are air tight-no holes. Take the gear out of their cases and bag them, so they will warm up quicker. You don't want to speed up the warming process. Using a hair dryer can cause the cement in the lense to delaminate. It may be possible to leave some gear in their cases, but I'm not sure.

If you can get an older flash like a vivtar 283, stick it on manual and the flash duration should be about 1/200th sec. around there. Which ever flash you end up using, put it on manual at full power. That should be a slow enough pop. The 283 is still being made, a great flash, sturdy and cheap too. I still have a few and they're great. I used to drop them a lot and no problem. Not so with the newer SB-26, 28, etc. Heh, you could do a cheesy effect like Hitchcock did in Rear Window. Same situation, Jimmy Stewart blasts Raymond Burr- I think it was, with flashbulbs. For the flash effect, they had one frame be totally white(red? I forget) and then an interesting effect where they had a sort of fade back to the normal scene. I don't think you can get away with that now.

I can't say that people have a real process. You just kind of do it. You keep contrast and what's important in mind. I must be a wuss, tho' 'cuz I still use my meter. you learn what your lights do and how much power they have and as the other foks have said, it's experience. That's the great thing about video, you can see the results right there. Just be aware that film has more lattitude than video and a few other things. RIT PPHL Class of '85 Do they still have the Photo Illustration program?

Also, be sure to leave a few feet of blank film at the head and tail of the roll. This way, when the film is spliced together for processing, you won't loose any critical scenes.

It's used primarily to prevent blindness from Tachyon particles. B)

There are a couple of studios here, Silvercup and Kaufman Astoria Studios where film and TV production occurs every day. Near Kaufman is the American Museum of the Moving Image, plus a big multi screen theater. They don't give tours, but you can witness all of the production trailers and lots of 3/0 cable runs all over the place, if there's a shoot going. I was visiting a friend when they were doing the remake of the Stepford Wives. Didn't see Nicole :~( . Weird to see all these good looking women who looked alike. http://www.kaufmanastoria.com/ If you go up to around 207th street-waaaay uptown Manhattan, you can often see "Law & Order SVO" being shot. Look for the Haddad's Trailers and the red Panavision trailers. They're also in Brooklyn a lot. Get the Lonely Planet Guide to New York City, maybe the New York and New Jersey ones too. Philadelphia is not that far away. Maybe two or three hours by train. The PATH train goes to New Jersey, a quick ride. Hoboken is actually quite nice. http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/product_detai...=City%20Guides& and the Not For Tourists guide to Manhattan. Very useful locating ATMs, restaurant, hospitals, restaurants, cafes. www.notfortourists.com also this is a good place to find stuff http://newyork.citysearch.com/?where=11222...ink=topbar_home Yahoo also started yahoo local. Not sure what that is I assume it's a sort of internet city guide. Haven't seen it, but the ads are all ovr the place. Hope this helps. It's been kinda warm, but windy. Getting colder, esp @ night. Bring your winter gear. An' a course ya gotta go to B&H Camera!!. Times Square is fun at night. No more hookers :~(. Go to www.mta.com for more info on the subway. I hardly ever use my car. She stays in the garage. FunPass or somesuch like John said.

A good friend of mine, Chris Webb, does beautiful stop motion on his Bolex. It's an EBM, all tricked out with intervalometer, speed control, etc.

Heh, watch me end up buying the stupid thing.

Not sure, I haven't used either one. My feeling is that you are better off spending your money on renting a Cine Alta, or Varicam. Unless you are making some serious money and are shooting every day, a good HD camera is going to be very expensive. I could be wrong, but the new 1/3" inch HD cams are kind of like saying you have fine grain super 8 film. Even ASA 50 looks a bit grainy. What kind of shoting will you be doing?

I got worried there for a moment. I can't see people getting too worked up about this. I'm not a fan of Sony's smaller sausage cam's form factor. I couldn't tell, is it 4:2:2 sampling or 4:1:1?

I find the matte box and french flag to be very useful and use them almost all the time. For some filters I use, like the Black Pro Mist, the french flag and side wings are a must to prevent the filter from flaring. I like the french flag, also known as an eyebrow, since it helps keep the flare from overhead illumination down. It also acts as a kind of fold down lens cap, between takes, when moving the camera, etc. When shooting in foul weather, the eyebrow can help keep water and snow off the lens. Having a matte box with rotating stages is also nice for polarizers and graduated filters. As with anything, it's best to do some research, check out books and Google matte boxes. Note that there are several ways to spell it.

As far as I know, the fourth layer helps mitigate green from fluorescent lights. So if you are shooting in mixed light with various types of fluoroscent lamps the fourth layer helps to bring the image closer to neutral. Works nicely for the still stuff I've seen.

Eggcrates are basically a square or rectangular grid that is a few inches deep that fits in front of the light. This in effect creates columns and rows of of tubes, that fit in front, to channel the light, rather than have it spread all over the place. if you go to the Mole Richardson website, you will see what the eggcrates for the soft lights look like when you click on the spec sheets, they have pix of all the accessories. Still photographers use "grids" which are similar, though they're sometimes plastic, which melts. And that's bad. If you are using smaller (less hot) lights, or fluoros, you can use the eggcrates that are used for overhead fluorescent fixtures. Typically 2'x2' or 2'x4'. They are stocked by places like Home Depot and retailers who cater to electricians and janitors. They're usally silver, don't know if painting them black makes a diference, or not. I have also used black foamcor to create an eggcrate for a large 3'x6' gridcloth frame I hung off a wall spreader. The foamcor was about 6" or 8" wide and was notched every 12". I had three pieces going across and six going vertically. They were notched so that they interlocked, but taped here and there to prevent them from unlocking.

Exposure meter -properly calibrated and accurate? Exposure? Was the lens properly set? Some zoom lenses have a variable max aperture, that is reduced at the tele end. Filters? Were they compensated for? Sometimes a half, to a full stop of over exposure is helpful. You can always print down a beefy neg. Over exposure helps reduce grain a bit and helps color saturation. What stocks did you use? In 16mm try and use the finest grain films you can get a way with. How was the film processed? Normal? Push? Was the transfer supervised? Although more expensive, it is always worth it to supervise the transfer, otherwise you are at the mercy of the lab. Sorry if I'm sounding pedantic, but there are a lot of factors that go into the "right" exposure and a lot of things that can go wrong. It does sound like you may have under exposed some parts, but you should look at the negs, if you've got them and see what they look like. Go to the lab and talk with them, maybe they can load up the film and go over it with you. Keep us posted.

I love wall spreaders and polecats/autopoles. Furniture clamps too. As mentioned, use cribbing to protect the surface finish. be sure that the rubber end caps don't leave a mark on the wall! You can safety them by aircraft wire into the ceiling, or walls. Unfortunately you can't always do this. Often above the drop ceiling are nice metal beams that you can clamp onto. Better stocked hardware stores have various types of beam clamps that bolt onto I beams above drop ceiling. sometimes you can get away with drilling into the ceiling above. Be aware that the I beam surfaces are sloped-safety, safety safety. Industrial lighting and plumbing stores have these type of things, also Fastenal, my new toy store. They have locations all over, plus online. You can safety off of the I beam clamps or hang lights from them. The Light Bridge is the thing that hangs lights above the drop ceiling I have used stained wood 2x4's and 3/4 round wooden hand railing disguised as wooden accents, bedposts, etc. to help safety wall spreaders and polecats when I couldn't drill into walls/ceilings. Like others have said, you don't want to overload them, but the Art Department, Gaffer and Grips are your allies. On smaller jobs, I end up doing it myself with various members of the afore mentioned departments. Hiding units around various areas of the set works. If bouncing off the ceiling, you can make duvetyne teasers to channel the light and block off areas, or hide to lights and spreaders. The teasers can sometimes work to hide the rest of the ceiling and actually be set dressing, depending on the context of the set. I have used Kino Flos as practicals that double as keylights. They're in shot, but they look like practicals. Sometimes this requires a bit of tape magic to make a convincing flushmount that is really just tape. I haven't tried it, but if it's a wide shot, you could use an ND grad to make the lights appear darker and not attract as much attention. Then cut to mediums or close ups. But not sure how the steadycam op feels about that. Use your imagination, but be safe and watch out for heat sensors and sprinkler systems and other various wires up there.

23, 24, 25, 29.97, 50Hz, 60Hz...it comes from separate countries creating separate standards way back when, oh well. I would love it if there were a universal format. I think the Klingons might have a hard time giving up their TV standrd though. We'd have to fight 'em. Not sure how we'd go about getting the governments, broadcasters and manufactureres to all agree. Is HD TV a world wide standard? The ensuing competition often comes down to money and marketing and the superior format doen't always win, i.e. VHS vs. Betamax. It would make life easier on everyone if there was an accepted Universal TV standard frame rate, but maybe the manufacturers would be less happy because it might mean less money. I wouldn't mind switching to PAL, we'd get a little bit better resolution here in the U.S. It's all about harmony...

Greg Irwins aren't made, they're born!

You're both wrong. Art is my father :lol: ! Reaching the pinnacle of success, is not a factor of being a good artist. They are independent of each other. There are plenty of mediocre artists out there who are successful. Both John and Michael are right. For every artist, there is a different approach, ideal, aesthetic, etc. None better, just different. Our experiences can't help but inform our art. It also depends on how you define success, money, recognition, awards, women, power, owning your own Arricam? Achieving the pinnacle of success often means sacrifice. What are you willing to scarifice? But again, that's no guarantee that you will actually succeed. Many, and I Pray it doesn't happen to me, are only recognized after their death. We're in "show Business". Business. Most of the time, it's about money. Rarely are we able to create art. Most often it's a compromise between what the DP wants, what the Director wants and what the Producers are willing to pay for. I consider myself a craftsman. I don't think I've made any art yet, but I'm getting there.

DANG! If that stupid hellicopter wasn't in my blindspot, I'd have my licsence now. I have to wait another year before I can test again. F@*!?<~

If the Director agrees, would the Producers and 1st AD let us? It's a difficult question that inevitably runs into: "how much?" and "how long?". I'd rather get it right, in the camera, but 2.4 would require almost every shot to be recomposed for 4:3. I've been able letterbox sometimes. Most times it's a center extraction, but I know before hand so I "respect the pumpkin". I've argued about formats a time or two.