Jesse Rosato

I couldn't agree more with this. The single most groundbreaking movie of all time.

Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents here. I dowloaded the Frame Forge demo, and I've been pretty impressed. I'm working on a project right now with a very hands-on EP (he's funding the film with his own cash), so I can show him the FrameForge boards and he can understand where going with the look of the movie. It does take some time to put these things together, but once you have all your pieces in place, it's really easy to play with your angles and framing. I'd say it's definitely more a director's tool than a DoP's, just because there are no real lighting controls on the program. -Jesse

Erik, Well, I'm not nearly as qualified as a lot of the folks you'll find here, but I can venture a guess. I would say that they used the strong light from the window with a little bit of fill (probably bounced) from just off of camera right. That's my guess anyways.

You guys are, excuse the french, f-ing awesome. I would never dream of showing up on set being anything less than overly prepared, but you guys made some great suggestions for accomplishing that. I think that lying about age is probably less than a good idea, but I will shoot for an older look, grow a beard, get some glasses, put on a crappy old baseball hat that says: "director" and do my best Spielberg. (Just kiddin about the baseball hat and Spielberg thing.) Thanks again for all the advice. -Jesse

Thanks everyone. Still weighing my options here. I'll be sure to let you all know how it works out.

I don't know how many of you out there are of the younger demographic, in this case let's say under 25, but I am one such person. Now, I will be directing an independent feature (my second) with principal photography beginning in a couple of months. I am a little bit worried about being taken seriously on set by a cast and crew that will be both more experienced and older than myself. While I would never lie about my experiences, I am considering stretching my age a bit. Make myself out to be in my late twenties as opposed to my early twenties. This issue is one that really has me worried. I've even started growing a beard to try and make myself look a little older. I don't know if anyone has any experience in a similar situation, but is this a good idea, or one doomed for failure? I'm particularly worried about a somewhat cameo appearance by an older name actor who has worked with some of the great directors of our time. Does age make a difference in your experience? Am I worrying about nothing? -Jesse Rosato

Thanks everyone. As always, extremely helpful.

This topic caught my eye because we're looking to do something similar with our upcoming project. The link in that last post makes it seem like we'd be stupid not to shoot with that camera, but what is the image quality like vs. the Sony 900? For an eventual 35mm print, will the Panasonic camera give us enough image quality, or would it be worth, what it seems would be quite a bit of extra money in post, to shoot with the Sony? This may have all been covered before, if so, sorry.

Wow, that's some absolutely beautiful footage. Where was that shot? I saw the German on the signs, and some of areas looked a lot like the KuDamm in Berlin, am I way off? Anyhow, any experience with how these images look in say a 35mm transfer? Just wondering.

I feel like I understand what a flag does, i.e. help prevent spill light from leaking into unwanted areas. But, is there a specific style or shape for flags? Is this a "build it at home" type thing? I hope this isn't as stupid of a questions as its sounding like right now.

Thanks to you all, once again. David, I definitely plan to have such a weekend. Kevin, I definitely plan to spend said weekend with my lighting designer, and seeing if our two halves can form one semi-whole DP. If not, it looks like it might be time to bring one on board. Thanks again for your hospitality and invaluable advice.

Old topic, old movie, but I just watched it, so I thought I'd chime in. I think that the dialogue was absolutely overly dramatic, but then, it was delivered by characters facing situations far more dramatic than those we normally encounter. If they were using such melodramatic speeches to discuss their recent breakup with their girlfriend or something, then yeah, it would be stupid. But I think it works in this story. - Jesse Rosato

Thanks to everyone for your responses. A few things... (I'll go last to first.) I'm not quite sure that I follow you Phil. Secondly, when I mentioned spending a ton of dough on 35mm equipment, I wasn't trying to say that HD is a lot cheaper than film. I've found that I could get 35mm equip. for a little bit cheaper than HD. What I was getting at though is that if we were to rent 35mm equip., we'd probably end up spending more money learning the equipment than with HD. Thirdly, Elhanan, DIT is a position I'm not familiar with. Director of Information Technology maybe? Fourthly, David, I don't anticipate taking two days to play with an HD camera and then running out and shooting Road to Perdition without years of previous experience as DoP. I see that in my original post I did a poor job of explaining this. My lighting designer will be taking DoP credits, I'm mainly going to be running camera op (which I prefer to do anyways.) Do you think I'll be able to get a feel for the controls, menu set-ups, etc. in a couple of days? Again thank you guys very much for your help, anymore advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone! I'm brand new here and to the HD world. I'm still very much wet-behind-the-ears in terms of cinematography. My limited experience in the field is from working with DV (Canon XL-1). My involvement in motion picture production this far has been mostly limited to writing and directing. With that all said, some questions. 1. I have been tapped to direct a feature length film for a fellow with some dinero to throw around who wants to get into exec. producing as a hobby (I know, I thought he was crazy at first too, but it turns out he's just a successful young man with some intriguing stories to tell). Originally, we were discussing shooting DV with a very small number of scenes (5 or so) possibly shot on 35. (For effect, not just because.) After watching "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" and listening to Rodriguez' love songs to HD, I thought, "Hey, maybe HD would be great for this project, rather than spending a ton of dough on 35 equipment that I don't have any experience with." Then I found this site and I'm worried that I may have jumped the gun in pitching HD, particularly because I apparently made a good pitch and the financier is now hyped about it and is looking to shoot the whole thing in HD. I will be working with an experienced lighting designer, but it looks like the camera end of the photography equation may be falling into my hands. As someone with a lot of experience with the XL-1 and other mini-DV cameras, would it be completely unreasonable to assume that I could get a decent handle on something like the CineAlta Sony HDW-900 with a couple of days worth of playtime? 2. While we have some money, it is a limited amount. I'm getting a little worried about what HD might cost us in post. I have access to a G5 with the Dual 2Ghz processors and Final Cut HD. What kind of costs should I be factoring in to this equation? I'm sure what we will be outputting to is a question, and one that I don't necessarily have an answer to just yet. We want to get the film into one of the bigger festivals. I know it's early in the process to be talking festivals, but it seems like it will affect the output medium, so what output medium would best serve such a purpose? I know this is long, but hopefully it's not too convuluted. Thank you very much for your time. I have been wowed by the caliber of artists that take the time to post on this forum and I am a little bit honored just to be in your "presence", so to speak. Anyways, enough ass-kissing, thanks for any help you can offer. - Jesse Rosato