Chris B. Cornell

Hey, I am a gaffer located in San Diego... check out my website and reel

Just through together a quick reel. I have a lot more of a variety of footage... the trouble is tracking it down and ingesting it....

Thoughts and suggestions?

LINK

Thanks,

Chris B. Cornell

Host it somewhere else.... too much BS and waiting and porno advertisements, plus the file is huge... 325 megs...

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Most of the things on the reel I was the gaffer, but it is something to separate me from the crowd. Notes taken. I think that some of the softness is due to the fact that these are all DVD rips, and then compressed to flash. Keep the criticism coming... it is much appreciated....

anybody... I know one of you 58 guys (or gals) that viewed it must have some opinion....

Hey guys, I just recut my reel to just over a minute. Nice, quick and dirty. Comments and constructive criticism are sought. Thanks in advance. Website: www.chrisbcornell.com

as the title says give me your feedback. I know the site is basic but I am not trying to get hired as a web designer... thanks in advance... chrisbcornell.com

There is a school of thought, from the old Cinema Verite days, that documentaries shouldn't be lit at all. Of course, it depends on the type of documentary, but honestly, the point is usually to capture the reality of the situation, not relight things to look pretty.

But you would agree that the camera exposes an "unlit" scene differently than the eye will see it. My question is: should one go through measures to light the scene not to "look pretty," but to preserve the "reality" of the scene. For example, gelling windows to see outside, or perhaps replacing replacing globes in the existing practicals in order to get at least some level of exposure, if required.

Try to work on some indy or student films. They will generally take no-experience PA's. Stay there long enough to figure out how the set works and how the ebb and flow of daily work load goes. Then leave and never come back, a job on a film set takes too much time. Sign up for some film classes at the local city college and use that as access to cameras and lights. Have fun

Watch the DVD commentary for El Mariachi, by Robert Rodriguez; he shot some of his interior scenes with nothing more than a single, humble hardware-store clamp-light. I personally think he should have used at least two, one for the background.

 

In fact, his next movie, in my opinion, with a lot more money, looked terrible! Way overdone!

well, I am no expert DP, but IMHO, neither movie really looked that good at all. Interesting shot composition but not really interesting lighting

Never underestimate the use of practicals in your scene. Not every item in the room must be lit to see the room. Use small lights to define areas of the room. You would be surprised how good little things like china balls, white christmas lights in trees or behind frosted window (if done right looks like a city skyline). Pick clever backgrounds and interesting locations; don't shoot in an apartment with white walls. Maybe try checking out some Renaissance paintings to get the idea of painting with light. For Example: Caravaggio's Sacrifice of Issac

The only advantage I've found with bleached muslin is that it tends to sag less on a frame -- it can be pulled tighter so you don't see wrinkles and folds when you hit it with a light.

How is the price on ultra-bounce? I know bleached muslin can be had on the cheap.

Is it not feasible to do a long power run? Power cable is a relatively low cost for rental, and a nice 3 phase genny will allow you to increase voltage to compensate for the line loss on your long power run.

Good questions.

 

The dimmer type's waveform (SCR versus Variac, etc) shouldn't be the core issue. The RMS (root mean square) power of the dimmer's output, not the waveform's shape, is what determines filament temperature and therefore color temperature.

 

Most modern dimmer packs use a modified square law ratio dimmer law between the percentage of dim on the controller versus what actually goes out to the lamp. The exact ratio of controller percent dim output versus RMS power output could be and probably is a variable from manufacturer to manufacture. To be certain about what's actually going out to the lamp for a given pack's dimmer law it would be simple to take a look at the actual voltage with a true RMS voltmeter like a Fluke 87 and build a table.

Wow, great info. It is nice to see a DP who really seems to know the ins and outs of the technology at use. I have worked for some gaffers and DPs that use a color meter a lot, and I have worked for others that seem to do it all by eye. As far as HMI vs. tungsten; tungsten seems to have more favorable quality's. There is no noisy ballast, magnetic ballasts usually don't allow for variable frame rate shooting, electronic ballasts are generally not user serviceable, the HMI globes tend to not always hot strike. There are various other technical arguments over the two, and I have heard that many DPs prefer tungsten because the light has a "warmer" more favorable quality, and does not flicker, I am not experienced enough to really make this call myself however, if anyone else wants to chime in....

IMHO, you are not going to compete with the sun unless you have 12k+ HMIs. The cheap(er) solution might be reflectors or mirrors, perhaps through a large source like a 12' or 20' silk. use the Fresnel's inside and gel them. 1k's and 2k's will probably not look much like the sun in any sort of wide shot (unless it is nighttime and the windows are small enough. The cost to buy lights is a lot of money... in the thousands of dollars to start and will probably cost you in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a decent lighting and grip package. All this lighting will require a large power source, like a 600 AMP 3 Phase generator. If you live anywhere close to LA you could get the required lights and grip gear for 2500 all day, less if you do some hustling. All this stuff will probably require a somewhat experienced G&E crew of at least four. Production value (to a certain extent)=money.

The sprinklers wouldn't have gone off since there wasn't any heat being produced.

 

But you can always smother the "alarm sniffers" with saran wrap or something.

NO! This is illegal and this is a sure-fire way to piss off the owner of a location, cost you tens of thousands in fines and endanger the lives of everyone in the location. As he said, most auto sprinklers detect heat, so just watch where you set your lights. Be safe.