Kevin Riley

Try posting at www.nzcine.com if you need more help

You can see a picture of one here http://homepage.mac.com/kevinrita/CineStuff/PhotoAlbum8.html Sorry it should be here: http://homepage.mac.com/kevinrita/CineStuff/PhotoAlbum8.htmlMedusa

My rental company is in New Zealand and we have made them up for both rental's and sales locally. You can see a picture of one here http://homepage.mac.com/kevinrita/CineStuff/PhotoAlbum8.html The real trick with them is that the top row of mirrors are slightly proud of the bottom row so a light source will hit all of them without shading the top row. We stock mirrors of all sizes in yokes down here in NZ and I'm sure thats true in the US.they may not know it by the name "Medusa" as I'm pretty sure that phrase was used by a local DOP shooting Hercules and Xena for the first time. If anyone tries to make one be aware of the weight involved and make sure the mirrors are glued to a backing as well as being held in place by a frame. Therefore if the mirror breaks then individual shards cannot fall down.

Fog is fun, play around while you have it. It sometimes helps to have plate shots of fog shot infront of a black background. fog should be side lit for translucency, front lit for opacity. Also some fog can effect color temperature or be very revealing of a lamps color. test with the specific machine and fog. Defined Shafts of light can hard to achieve when using HMI or Tungsten units direct. Pointing those same light sources at mirrors and using the reflected beam gives a much harder edge to the Shaft of light. Use a larger mirror than you need and mask off the desired area of reflection with cinefoil directly on to the mirror surface. I have 4 foot and 2 foot mirrors in yokes designed to go straight into lighting stands or grid clamps. Another favourite tool is a "Medusa Mirror" which is a large yoke with 6 small mirrors mounted on there own little ball joint mounts. By pointing one lamp unit straight up into this rig you get 6 shafts that can be splayed out in any pattern to produce "fingers of light".

The DP works for the Director make no doubt about it. The Director has chosen to work with you because they believe you can translate the artistic vision on paper into an artistic vision on screen through the use of a technical processes. The basis for the directors trust in a DP is often one of communication. The Director feels you understand his vision, they believe you will lead them through the technical maze and communicate with all the technical departments so that the end result on screen is worthy of all your teams efforts but especially the end result should reflect the original vision of the Director. I'll let someone else answer your DI question.

It's a point of reference. A starting point, as most light meters are calibrated to read "mid tone grey". Try using a spot meter reading the same light source hitting a black then white then grey surface. The end result is 3 different readings for the same amount of light. So which one do use to set your exposure? If the light meter is calibrated to read grey as your exposure value then pointing it at a deep red velvet curtain will tell you how dark that object will appear in a scene exposed for grey. If you get used to working on this Black to White linear line with your spot light meter you can really speed up your lighting process. The next step is color separation - but that's another story. My advice is master the grey card first.

It's all in the prep - If the Director can appreciate that the time spent together with the DOP in prep will result in more shooting time on the set then I'm half way done. I do not care if you have never worked as a team ever before. It's really important that in front of the shooting crew you have come to a point that you can communicate in a form of shorthand. You already know he hates short looking room and he knows that scene 14 is the one you want to spend your most time lighting.

If you cannot weld then aluminum flat bar is good to work with. You can hand rivet it and it's easy to bend. Large empty frames made this way and your favorite textiles with elastic sewn over the corners will give you many options. Leave 1/2 the frame open with the net filling the other half or fill the top 1/2 with sail cloth. Breaks down for damage free transport.

To pop the reds and intensify the green's while not affecting skin tones too much use an "Enhancing Filter" on the camera. Test first with a make up assistant if possible. If your lighting is consistent in style throughout the scene most people will not question it unless the direction and quality of light are really taking over the story by being totally outrageous. An example of this for a scene in a tree may be hard light coming from below the actors.

Of course I'd take correction gels but could cut the list down by doubling some densities. Hopefully this would allow me to take my favorite standby gel CID to tungsten #237. I do not use it as a correction gel but more for effect. It's a great modern street light look in backlights. Hard to describe in words and looks scary on the swatch but try it in context - I've hooked up many of my customers with this one.

2) Lenses: I have shot some footage recently on a canon 7-63mm zoom lens which I was relatively happy with. I guess I'd consider spending a little more and try shooting on a set of primes but last time I was relying on the mattebox that came with the zoom to hold filters etc so I don't know what I'd do otherwise. I think that the zoom would allow me to keep a big more pace up with organising shots and so forth so I guess I'm trying to work out how much benefit I'd get from a prime set. It's all in the "pre production". If you have the location, a viewfinder, and can rough out an agreed storyboard with the director in pre production then stick with the primes. I am assuming you are the DOP by the way. Yes you will save time with the zoom but you will forfeit image quality and more importantly the commitment to lens choice and placement is the first step in building the foundations of a decently shot scene. You say you were "relatively happy" with the 7-63mm. That does not sound enough to base a decision on what you are shooting your feature on. If the cost of the Matte box hire is stopping you from using primes then give up something else in the budget not your preferred glass.

Lots of good advice on exposure here so I'll only add - lock of that tripod head nice and solid and protect the lens from cross wind. Frame slightly ahead of where you want the moon to be in frame (it moves faster than you think) and either use a remote on/off or give yourself plenty of waste footage after you have last touched the camera.

Using a 2kw Blonde and removing the barndoors I've made a very nice spacelight fixture. I based it on a flared cone rather than a tube as a simple way to get from the small diameter of the barndoor holders out to the larger diameter at the end to maximise the spread of the light available. The bottom skirt was a simple "shower cap" design so I could have hard down light if required. As it is seperate from the white skirt it made sense to sew a black skirt as an alternative. Therefore many possibilities from one cheap source.