Anna Baltl

Hi, I am looking for an Arriscope 50mm Lens for an art project. Has anyone used Arriscopes in the last years and is able to help me out with contacts of any sorts? Location is not an issue. We are through with the obvious Arri group contacts and bigger european rental houses. Any hints would be great, Anna

hey, I would love to hear if anyone has experience with recording sound and shooting with the moviecam SL. We are planing to use the SL for a short film with interior scenes/dialog, however director and dop agreed that they would not be that picky with sound ... i am still not sure if that is a good idea. any experiences... could we get away with it? thanks!

Hey Patrick, I would think that the NAC Rental would be able to do that or provide you with the right contacts. Sice they are the authorized arri rental in Tokyo and are close with arri media. http://filmdigital.nacinc.jp/ hope it will work out best from vienna anna

ill be there all week. would be nice to meet some new faces ... if anyone is up for a beer shoot me a message.

ive just been ac´ing on a coupple of music videos using a letus and canon photo lenses. the mount of the adapter can be changed easily and the photo lenses came from ebay for about 30euros a piece. i was using a heden/fox remote focus without problems on crane and steady cam. so thats the ultra-supa-extra low budget version. and for the stuff we were shooting the optical quality was just right.

haha! well he was having this talk with the audience ... funny as hell. he was the running gag for the rest of the 7 days festival. he had a lot of good stories to tell and managed to hit at the girls in the front row at the same time ... thats pro!

Winners of Plus Camerimage 2007 Announced: Main Competition Golden Frog - Grand Prix: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Cinematographer: Janusz Kamiński Silver Frog: Across the Universe Cinematographer: Bruno Delbonnel Bronze Frog: I?m not There Cinematographer: Edward Lachman Student Film Competition Golden Tadpole - Laszlo Kovacs Award: Beyond the Horizon Cinematographer: Tomasz Woźniczka Receiving also Award From the Association of Polish Filmmakers Silver Tadpole: My Father is Sleeping Cinematographer: Raphael Beinder Bronze Tadpole: Father Cinematographer: Michał Sobociński Special Award for Best Picture Technique in Student Film Competition. Founded by Panavision Film: Milan Cinematographer: Felix Novo de Oliveira Polish Film Competition Best Polish Film: Tricks Cinematographer: Adam Bajerski Nokia Mobile Movie Competition Jury Award: Angela Święc Audience Award: James Kambeitz Osram Award ?Light for Art" For: La Varsovienne Cinematographer: Weronika Bilska Personally my second fave would have been "Control" by Anton Corbijn but im not brett ratner (jury president)

his appearence shocked me quite a bit at this years camerimage he was talking to students opening with a sentence like: "film schools are only good for your sexlife, but how would i know? i never went!" and he got huge minus points from me for making really poor and sexist comments about how every whore likes her job but in the end it doesent change anything about the fact that some of his films actually got me into cinematography in the first place. and once the people came over his rockstarish appearence and got him talking it was really refreshing to hear about his truly instinct driven work and how he preceives what he sees. i remember that the meeting was videotaped and i think that it will appear at some point on the internet.

the making of http://redcamservice.eu/vids/hbstrkmkof.html actually a surprisingly nice one ... i like the fight scenes where electricians and grips wrestle 8 stairflights with tonns of equipment in their hands (my body remembered that show particularly well)

my two zloty (right out of warsaw where im waiting for the camerimage to begin) times seem to be changing a lot ... wherever ive worked (japan, uk, austria) i saw more and more girls in the lower ranks of camera departments, its just a question of time untill they will grow up to go wherever they want to. i remember, when i was about 10 years old i was very clear about my future and distinctively told someone that i want to become a documentary camera person for one particular nature show on austrian/german tv and this guy whoever it was told me straight to my face that women cant become camera men. and i also remeber my mother yelling at this guy and using many words that i hadent even heard up untill then. (because they came out of the political conzept of feminism, of course) anyways thanks to my mum i guess, i find myself well beyond these struggles. i would absolutely say that socialisation is a huge limitation for some girls, but i also see that its also something girls and guys can grow out of, ive seen that happen to many of my friends especially in filmmaking. personally i just love my job. ive jut started acing after coming the ranks from being a trainee in japan. you could probably catch me taking way too much pride in my job, and talking you boared about this and that shoot with this and that camera. i regularly do that to the guys i work with. as far as work and lifting goes, i agree very much with annie. no one can make me believe that carrying heavy cases is more or less fun for anyone, it just isnt fun at all, but nessecary. also very true i find is that it is just time to approach the whole women/men discussion from different point of views. its obvious that there are differences. and life wouldent be half the fun if wed all be the same. and therefore the most important thing is (im almost tempted to go capitals on this scentence) the most important thing is that we work together. because out of the combination of male and female qualities the most interessting things are created. be it in the camera department or in evolution. if nature proves so much then it definetly proves that. from my experience people get jobs because of what they know, and get hired again if they were good at it. be it man woman or warhorse. and aswell im sure that the forementioned three also feel insecure when first learning the job and having to prove the first few times that they can do it. it just becomes easier over the time and eventually you forget how it even felt. aw and the so often mentioned role models... i accidentally stumbled across a pa'ing job for an independent short, so i found myself on a set knowing exactly nothing about filmmaking but as soon as i had figured out who was doing what (took me almost 2 days) i was very much drawn to what i used do call "the magic department" guess what that is... so the two guys making up the department alex and alex who seamed like the impersonated mc guyvers to me became my role models and are untill today, especially when it comes to creative missuse of equipment.

ill be there from the first day to the last! (overly excited about it) would be nice to meet up ...

aw dont be shy! we should get drunk, ah i mean we should get together what about wednesday next week?

hi there, just back from living and assisting in japan, with a short stopover in Vienna i find myself in England and quite like it here. The past 6 months i spent with japanese music videos and commercials, working only in the japanese system. Im really interested in learning more about crew structures and the way to work around here. basically clueless id just like to sit and chat over a beer .. in exchange ill be happy to share some stories from japan/china/austria if interested. ill attach my cv, id be happy about comments on that one if anyone wants to take their time, anna CV_Anna_Baltl_160907_2.doc

with the pro 35 it also depends a lot on the lenses used, i really like the look it creates together with the master primes a lot. it seemes to me very suitable for filming human skin, because it makes it look very realistic as opposed to somewhat crisper lenses. anyways... i would admit that the picture gets slightly softened. but i guess that is the price you have to pay for the depht of field. its no problem with the variable frame rates just dont forget to adjust the speed of the pro35 every time you change the frame rate. for that its the easiest to stop the lense down till about 5.6 and double ckeck on a monitor if possible. a 9" (eg. btlh900) monitor mounted on the camera handle makes working with that combination really comfortable ...

we use this combination a lot and never (!) without an LH900 http://www.expandore.com/product/Panasonic...tor/BTLH900.htm monitor on board mounted to the handle of the camera with some short photogrip extention that is really fast to take of and easy to adjust. using a magic arm only if really necesary because it takes a long while to adjust it right. the LH900 can displyay sd and hd and if you wire it up with the base it can also display previews. if you set the peaking to max its really easy and reliable to eye focus. and yes the backfocus is a pain if the camera gets to hot one can never be careful enouh with that though all that i found that it is quite a reliable combination and the pictures are ok too. have fun with it!

has anyone found a manual in either english or german for the d20? actually it is hard to believe that this incredibly simple menu supplies all you need but still id like to see if there is more behind that. unlike so many cameras of the digital kind the d20 is just such a robust beauty. i would not trade it in for all the varicams and cine altas on the whole island of japan, that is not even a comparison. and not either for one of those red's that still no one seems to have seen yet.

can the d20 display colorbars? we are currently shooting with two and had to bring a third camera along just for the color bars because none us 6 assistants could figure out how to set the camera to display color bars. could this be the case? i would be very happy about any comments.

havent seen canned air on any industry set in japan yet. everyone seems to be using blowers (or are they called bellows?), probably because of the general enviromentally concious attitude. seems to work just fine. any one using these good olds?

absolutely agree on this one. so dont hesitate to ask and get started some where, anywhere. i dont know about the situation in the states but in europe there are plenty of student and independent shoots on film that usually take any help they can get. for what i saw this is a good chance to get to work with often highly skilled people (of course you can have bad luck too). thats where i got started as a PA (i was 20 back then) on my first day on the set i did not even know what a DoP actually was but soon found out that i wanted to be nowhere else but near all the miraculous equipment and the people who knew what to do with it. after gaining experience in the lighting dept and occational hands on dolly and crane, various experiences in other departments i am a trainee to camera now. even without kissing ass i found an AC who is willing to pass his knowledge on to me. he says that that is what years back gave him the chance to learn the craft he enjoys so much and he sees it as his duty to pass this on to the next generation and as mine to do so when i am there where he is now. as far as buying a camera goes... starting out as an ac, even in training, is expensive enough. there are all kinds of tools and books you will want to have and need at some point. and learning how to load one particular camera is a matter of a rather short time compared to the matter of learning how to use light. plus chances that you are gonna be using a camera (at work) that you can afford now are pretty low. instead i would suggest to get familiar with a good old analog SLR and a light meter. for what i think, coming to understand about light takes at least as long as learning about the technical aspects of film making. i like to collect so called "light sketches" meaning whenever i find a situation in daily life that has beautiful light i take a picture and make sure that i understand where it came from and why i like it so much. (of course its hard to find time to consequently do this). having to add that my roots in photography are leading me to cinematography. and one last thing, get foot on a set as soon as possible, there it will really show wheather this is what you want to be your life like or not. and last thing number two, get as many different experiences as possible meaning differet departments, shows, rental houses ... this will not only help you to get there where you want but also give you a wider understanding of what film making means. all the above is just one of the many different approaches to learning about cinematography make sure you find the right one for yourself. my two yen good luck with it! anna

thanx a lot for advice, i am now owning a beautiful set of silverish shining adapter plugs, waiting to be used on my next job. well i actually am living my dream here in japan, combining my two passions but it can be really tough too. its my second day straight that im working on my japanese film-vocabulary sheet and is the the 60tiest time that i cant remember the word for shutter angle. wich leads me to think that life is as tough as you make it for yourself. haha. best from the island anna

hi, i ve just started out as a camera trainee in tokyo, and though almost everything is completely different from what ive experienced back in europe we do still use mostly arri, in my case the 535b and the 435 to begin with. my senpai sent me to buy bnc adapter plugs cause every ac here carries a set for themselves. so i wanted to know which would be the most common ones to use? what i would have bought: bnc to cinch bnc/bnc male coupler bnc/bnc female coupler are there any other ones often used that i dont know of? any other adapter plugs that i should have? would be great if anyone could help me out on that one thanks anna

unfortunately what you can see online is not the final edit its just pieces but in the download section there are quite a few samples if youre wanna see how other people deal with the subject. (all of them produced before i joined the company) for example "the salinger" clip and the "black light orchestra" one show completely different styles

hi chad im doing camera and editing for a japanese music tv show, we produce weekly features on artists showing their live performances shot with usually three cameras. www.musictide.com if you find the "click" arrow you can watch a short preview. just some general blurbs from the last 4 months doing this: good sound is really important, make sure that youve got the best quality possible, that will change the overall result a lot. if you can, get familiar with the location. find out as much about it and if you get the chance to find the guy doing the stage light, talk to him what he has going on because sometimes these stagelights are just unpredictable and make it really hard to produce usefull images. and you dont want it all screwed up just because of a stupid strobo effect going on half the night. we usually bing some very basic lights to the shoots and use it most of the time for effects but sometimes they become lifesavers. make sure that the cameras are operating with the exact same settings, especially the gain can screw up a lot it just does not look right to combine snowfall with sunshine. wb of course too. an "idiot check" with everyone there right before the show is highly recommended. with that many cameras you could think of assingning one to a particular style e.g. shilouettes, it is useful to a certain extent to devide the fields, meaning that you give some people a certain area to move in but because of the solos and different things going on on stage (from my experience) it is better not to assign people to particular point of views or framing. however what i notice with our show is that our camera people often try to catch too much because there is a lot going on on stage and so they keep their angle too wide and editing it becomes pure pain. the solos are definetly the most difficult part. im sure you know this having shot concerts yourself. it seems mearly impossible to catch a solo right from the start, and if so you usually have "all eyes" on the one playing. as for the editing it is visually very difficult to combine tripod shots with handheld ... for myself i prefer handheld only. generally think as much about the editing before even planing the shoot. you want to show people something and not just have radio on tv ... that i think is the hardest part. an hour can be so long. hope that is of any use anna

hi morgan, ive been thinking about moving to honkong a lot. not long ago i changed my mind because from all ends i hear that hk has passed the peak meaning all the money and spirit gone. it also effectively shows in numbers and quality of films lately produced there. but i havent seen it myself so this is only second hand information and i would be happy if anyone told me otherwise. as for china, bejing seems to be on the rise. i considered that too but i just dont see my self living in china. though a friend living there told me that it is absolutely not nessesary to speak any chinese to make a living. i have been given some contacts from a smaller multi-media production company and would be happy to pass them on. but i dont actually think that this is what youre looking for, right? currently i am working in tokyo as a tv camera woman and editor, slowly making my way back into film. just moved here after finishing my photography studies in vienna. well, so what i wanted to ask is if you have considered moving to japan? Looking at the latest industy productions, japan is just about to become a very fashionable location for foreign productions (Babel, Tokyo Drift, Heroes .. and some more beeing produced currently e.g. Jumper). there is a lack of capable locals especially when it comes to film, i know that because ive been offered jobs way over my head. generally speaking i see the good old rolls and meters returning into the overall digitalized domestic production. i am expecting a new spring for japanese cinema (that may or may not be just wishfull thinking). the only thing is that i dont actually know how hard it would be to live and work here with out any understanding of the language.

missused crew to an abusive extent ... it was the humor that kept us sane for the first 2 days (10 day shoot) this is not really topic related ...but somehow it is because it perfectly shows what will happen if you violentely miss-use crewmembers. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/151/3733390...48284a5.jpg?v=0 53 calls to wake the gaffer ... that shows how much motivation there was to work. the good old times!