Tim Pipher

Thanks very much, David. Here's a follow up question:

If the money were right and he liked the project, would an experienced DP with a history of big time union features be likely to consider a non-union feature?

Thanks again,

Tim

What about an average professional feature?

Hello Stephen. I wonder what your opinion is of the pictures posted at Reduser.net?

Thanks,

Tim

"Not only were they extremely personal insults, they were racist and defamatory, not only against David, but also against the ASC. I've seen people sued for less."

It would've been valuable in a way to see that post. If I knew what it said and who said it, I'd know to never listen to or respect that poster again. In other words, it would expose the poster as an arse.

Honorary Digital Director: AlfRED Hitchcock

Hello Jason. Can your camera output to a switcher and record to a deck such as HDCAM SR?

Also, must the signal be output raw? In my case, it will be running through an Orad virtual studio system where the backgrounds will already have their true colors. I'm not sure how that would work if the background colors were basically final and the foregrounds were raw.

Thanks!

The fact that Jim Jannard is doing a little gloating and having a little fun is a good sign if you're considering making an investment in his camera. After all, I don't think we'd be hearing from him if he was about to be humiliated at NAB by unveiling a camera that doesn't do what he said it will do.

As a former stock broker, if I were analyzing a stock, I'd be reading between the lines, using a little arbitrage, and figure his stock is about to take a big upswing.

"If you need something else directly out of the camera (your workflow doesn't give you a chance to convert, etc.), you can always hook up the appropriate deck up the HD-SDI taps and record to that."

Is that correct? Could you put three Reds into a studio configuration, run them through an HD switcher, and record to a Sony SRW 5500 HDCAM SR deck?

Thanks David.

 

"As anyone who writes for television could tell you, churning out twelve decent feature-length scripts per year won't be easy, but beyond that, unless you have an alternating key people for each feature (two sets of DP, AD, director, etc.) then how are you going to prep for each feature if you're going to shoot one a month?"

 

We won't come out of the gate at the 12 feature per year pace. I do think the scripts are out there -- good ones too -- that talented writers looking for a break will be grateful to have turned into movies. We'll have lots of time to prepare for feature one, and months again until feature number two. I'm hoping, though, that we'll require less and less time beatween productions as we figure out what works and what doesn't, and develop and refine a formula for getting faster. As things go along, if we do get up to the 12 feature hyper-speed, if we need alternating key people we'll get them.

 

"Are these two-week prep / three-week shoot features? You can't make decent features without pre-production".

 

We'll have lots of prep time initially, and hope we'll need less of it as time goes on. We aim to shoot the interior scenes in only four days. In your opinion, with lots of practice and blocking with amateur actors before the pros hit town, would that be an insurmountable challenge?

 

"Not to mention if you are going to composite live, then the prep work has to happen for the efx people after the script has been delivered and the storyboards done, etc. Efx projects need even more prep work than non-efx projects".

 

I agree, usually, except we're going to try to construct our first virtual sets using RealViz, where if a scene takes place in an office, we'll go to a real office and take photos, then have the program stitch them together for our virtual set. We'll then mix in, for example, a real desk and chairs onto the stage. Or, 3D rooms are available for purchase at Turbosquid.com. The good news is that these sets and props will be reusable on future productions, saving us time on subsequent features.

 

"And what's the advantage of churning out so many features per year?"

 

I'm not usually lucky enough to hit a home run -- I'm hoping to gain cost savings through volume, and just make a few bucks on each one. Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to gear things down a little -- I'd love that. But the way I see it, I'm making, by my standards, an enormous investment in gear and real estate, and I've got to use it all the time. I can't afford to sit back and hope that others will want to rent my facility, gear, or services -- but I'd love to be wrong.

 

"You should read the new Cinefex article on "300" - they had a good rule: anything an actor touches or walks on has to be built for real. This means that despite virtual sets, you will still need a certain level of art direction, not only for 3D design, but to build floors, doors, dress furniture. Nothing worse than having to deal with green floors and set pieces when it comes time to composite due to all the green reflections, etc. Plus everyone looks like they are floating in a weird space and not physically interacting with it".

 

That's true, but when we build a door, for example, we'll be able to use it again and again, saving us time and money on the next shoot and the shoots after that. I have to believe there are economies to be gained by using the same techniques and crew in consistant projects.

 

 

"I think you're mistaken to think that composite-heavy virtual movies will actually be faster to shoot than using locations and sets -- it just depends on which is the most efficient method for that particular scene. And to figure that out, you need sufficient prep to plan every scene in the movie. To do that, you generally need a month of prep to go through a script, minimum, if you want to break it down shot by shot. And that doesn't include creating CGI in advance, or shooting plates".

 

I'm definitely attempting to bend the rules. But my theory is that the beautiful shot we discover in our prep for production "A" can be duplicated and used in productions B, C & D. Same with the CGI and plates -- we'll eventually have a nice inventory built up that will start to save us time.

 

"So I suspect you'll be lucky if you pull off six features a year, and even that would be impressive".

 

You got that right. But six won't be bad (you were generous to say six -- you could've said one and I couldn't really argue).

 

 

"Just note that I just came off a seven-month job shooting 12 one-hour episodes for HBO's "Big Love" so I have a sense of how fast you are thinking of working"

 

Great show, by the way -- looking forward to the new season. I really appreciate you taking the time to give me your thoughts and I value them very much. I realize nobody has done what I'm going to attempt, and probably with good reason, but something's pulling me to do it. Any further insights will be carefully considered, and greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks for everyone's posts so far!

Thanks guys.

"For your job listing it might help to describe the kind of projects and looks you're going for, and not just the technical needs. Any DP who takes a full-time gig (and possibly relocating) is going to want to know what kind of stuff he's going to be shooting for the next several years..."

I'm setting up a studio -- almost a factory -- to continuously pump out features. After we've got our assembly line optimally tuned, we hope to produce one feature per month with good stories (not necessarily fancy) and recognizible actors.

Much of our production will be in our green screen cyclorama, using multiple cameras (3), and using an Orad system to insert the 3D sets live, rather than the traditional way of inserting them in post. We'll have, of course, the virtual locations made up in advance and will assemble, over time, a large "virtual back lot".

With this technique and the time economies of having the same crew refine the process over and over, and locations that can change with the flip of a switch, I believe we'll be able to complete principal photography in a much shorter time than traditional methods, allowing us to more easily acquire recognizible actors at an affordable price than we otherwise could. We also offer the actors a little vacation at the beach for a few days after their work -- we hope to build a steady troupe of actors who will make themselves available to us.

For the comfort of our cast and crew, we've also purchased two beautiful motorhomes for our on-location shoots.

Needless to say, especially until our "movie factory" is working successfully and smoothly, we'll take any commercial work that comes our way.

Very soon I'll be hiring an in-house DP to lead up the production charge in a new movie studio almost completed in a beautiful little coastal city in Florida (Vero Beach). I'll be paying good money -- $8,000 to $10,000 per month (with no state income tax) -- and will expect him to have proven talent, skills and results shooting with Sony F900r's (or regular F900's) and Thomson Grass Valley Vipers, and recording to Sony SRW 5500 HDCAM SR decks.

Green screen and Ultimatte experience will also be necessary because a great deal of production will take place in our High Def. 3D Orad virtual studio system/cyclorama.

My main priority will be finding a DP who's dynamite with the cameras -- somebody who makes beautiful pictures. I assume I can expect the person to be an expert, or close to it, in lighting too. And surely a person who's very experienced and talented with the cameras will have had good experience in greenscreen/ultimatte work, correct?

But will I be expecting too much to hope that this person will also have experience/skills in a virtual studio system such as Orad, Brainstorm, or VisRT? What about this person being a good audio person too -- can I expect that? Or how about experience with 3D Studio Max or Maya -- is it likely that a person with the previous qualifications will have a knowledge of either of those?

Finally, although this person likely wouldn't be directly editing on our final cut pro system, it would be nice if he had some knowledge of it so he could help our editors with suggestions/ideas.

It would be hoping/asking for too much to find a person with skills in all of those areas, correct? If so, which of those skills should I reasonably expect an in-house DP to have?

Also, will my location be an advantage (beautiful little seaside city out of the rat race) or a hinderance (out of the production loop and 90 minutes from Orlando, 2 hrs. from Miami) in my recruiting efforts?

Finally, what are your suggestions as to where I should post or advertise this position?

Thanks!

I'm purchasing three cameras for my green screen studio -- two will be F900r's. I would like one of my cameras to be 4:4:4 and figured a Sony would be my best bet to match up with the F900r's. However, I don't believe the Sony F23 will be an option for 6 months or more.

Does anyone have an opinion as to whether I can get a Viper to match up closely with the F900r's in a three camera configuration? I'll be using an HD switcher and recording to a Sony SRW 5500.

Thanks for any comments!

Thanks Tracy and Mitch!

I agree. I have both Fuji and Canon lenses. The Fujinon are just a bit softer than the Canon. With your greenscreen work the sharper image might be better for you. The Fujinon also have tendency to look even softer when the extender is flipped in. Speaking of which, the Canon 4.7 is a great lens, but if you are having to do longer zoom shots with the extender on, you will definitely notice the difference in the clarity through the extender. You may want to consider at least having one lens that is longer for the times you need to shoot with a compressed perspective or drop the depth of field. I don't think you will necessarily need the longer lens for your green screen work, but it might be helpful working with other set ups.

 

Just my thoughts,

Tracy Eakes

Hello again. Construction will be complete soon on my new studio in Vero Beach, Florida. It's almost time to order our equipment.

Our sound stage consists of a 40 ft. X 40 ft. area, almost all of which is a green screen cyclorama (40 ft. across the back wall and 20 ft. up two side walls. We'll be recording to a Sony SRW 5500 HDCAM SR deck, using two F900R's and one 4:4:4 camera (an F23 if they're ready). We'll be employing an Orad HD 3D virtual studio system.

My initial plan was to use new Canon 11 X 4.7 zoom lenses on all three cameras.

However, a used dealer says he could get me a great deal on 3 "barely used" lenses -- a Canon 18 X 7.6, a Canon 21 X 7.5, and a Fujinon 13 X 4.5.

My question is whether I should save some considerable money and go with three different used lenses, or should all my lenses be the identical for the good of our three camera shoots?

We plan to do features and misc. TV shows, mostly inside the studio but also on location.

I'd appreciate thoughts on any of our tentative equipment choices, especially the lenses.

Thanks!

Actually, there's a big difference between recording HDCAM (in camera, or externally) and recording HDCAM SR.

 

The HD-SDI signal coming out of the F900R is 1920x1080 10-bit uncompressed 4:2:2 (SMPTE 292M) at around 1.45 Gbits/sec; when recorded to an outboard HDCAM SR as 4:2:2 it's very modestly compressed down to around 440 Mbits/sec.

 

The HDCAM format recorded on-board the camera or in an outboard deck is downsampled to 1440x1080 using non-square pixels, subsampled in 8-Bit 3:1:1 color space and then DCT compressed down to 144 Mbits/sec.

 

So basically, the difference is:

 

1920x1080 10-bit 4:2:2 440 Mbits/sec with HDCAM SR

 

or

 

1440 x 1080 8-bit 3:1:1 144 Mbits/sec with HDCAM.

 

J

Thanks John!

Tim

I am in the process of building an HD studio facility in Vero Beach, Florida. We'll be making extensive use of an Orad HD virtual studio system (capable of 4:4:2 but not 4:4:4 production).

My cameras will be Sony F900r's.

I'll be recording from the F900's into an external deck. I had planned on an SRW 5500 HDCAM SR deck.

However, I'd save considerable money by instead purchasing an HDCAM deck like the new Sony D1800. Since the F900's can't shoot 4:4:4 anyway, am I correct that recording from an F900 into a 4:4:2 HDCAM deck will result in identical picture quality to the HDCAM SR deck, even for film out projects?

I know movies shot on F900's are often recorded externally to the HDCAM SR format (like Prarie Home Companion). But wouldn't they be just as well off (and save money) by recording to an HDCAM external deck?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!