robert duke

you dont look too far off, but I think it is more your placement of lights. there is a back light not present in your tests and too much fill as compared to the underworld scene. the back light you have seems to come from in front of the passenger side when it should have come from the rear passenger side/driver side, making it more of a rim edge than a true backlight. everything seems to come from the front of the car in your shot. look at the frame where you can seem the stripe down the actors face in underworld ( tc1:03). also your actors makeup was to glossy. the underworld makeup was flat.

$106 a roll is a pretty good price a roll for full CTB. CTB= color temperature correction Blue. According to rosco it will convert 3200' kelvin to 5500' kelvin. it will reduce the output of your lights by 1.5 stops. so this will balance 3200' lights with daylight, depending on the colortemp of daylight which changes through the day. but mostly yes. now dont expect that you will be able to use those 1ks as a back light in full sun. In fact you may not even notice their output on a sunny day depending on their placement. If you order it get a swatchbook too. flip through it and check out all the data that is there.

As a equipment owner and rental owner my advice is DONT DO IT unless you already have a solid client base. Esp. if you have a dealer in town. Why rent from you if they can rent from the dealer? Also dont buy the cheapest, people always want the best and will not pay for a second rate piece of gear. Look for the names you see on set. those are the ones to own. I can't tell you how hard it is as a small rental company to get going. I have been renting gear for seven years. I got past the dreaded 5 year mark. I am always at the edge of selling it all off, but some how I keep going. I paid cash for everything and dont owe any thing nor lease anything. I am constantly getting passed over because I dont have an individual piece of gear. I have dolly's etc. lighting etc. rigging etc. I can tell you if you are really set on it make sure you already have clients. I would not have made it this far if I had not already been gaffing and gripping, for several years before investing on this stuff. I also had a small pool of competition and a large group of producers who liked me. If you have clients, look at matthews, modern studio, premier studio equipment and do a lot of research before commiting to a purchase. also look at a lease option. Also if you can't afford the best dolly, look at other rental equipment options. Sliders, monitors, dimmers, etc. dont buy second rate and dont rent it for second rates. remember to add in costs to maintain and store gear.

Chapman has a crane and head that can operate in both worlds. Check em out online.

2 head refers to two 1000w lamps independently controlled. Use a real menace arm kit with the rope support. Don't use a 20x frame ear. balance the menace arm closely so the crankstand doesn't bind. The space light is a pretty easy rig. you might want to run two stingers to it for independent control.

This is known in stills as a daylight studio. There aren't too many around. There is one here in north alabama. I dread shooting there. The space is nice, but the windows suck. Everytime I shoot there I have to black out the windows so I can control the light. There is No continuity for motion pictures. this is great for still guys bad for motion guys. http://www.gasphoto.net/studio/ check out the studio I have contended with. you are right to be concerned. It is all the bad things of shooting outdoors with the pleasures of shooting inside.

How much money does he have? I think as a ultra low budget this is a bad Idea. it isnt easy for even big productions to do this. what he is talking about is a lot of money. generators cable 18ks etc... appease him and do a 20x20 black overhead and shoot against a dark background.

Bounces are great just balance between the largest you can afford to move around. you could luck out and get a calm day but usually the wind comes and goes.

If you are dockside shooting can be difficult. If you are on the ocean gripping can be down right dangerous and crazy. If you are dockside think more in the 4x and 6x sizes unless you are on a cruise ship. space is incredibly limited and most docks are actually floating, making them unstable. if you are out in the ocean think no bigger than a 4x. I spent all last summer out in the ocean on a series of fishing boats for a shark movie. we had boats ranging from 20-80ft. even the enourmous 80fter was tight dealing with waves and gear. dont bother with sandbags lash stands down. unless you have a huge crew stay away from large frames. slders are a huge asset for dollying on boats. they are light and easy to move. think about a bazooka too. even docked there is no such thing as standing still. my favorite quote from last summer was " hey the boat keeps moving. can you do something?" There is no amount of gripping that will keep a boat still in the ocean, lake , nor river without taking it out of the water. Keep things small. the 800 is a great light, the tube is effective. make sure the genset will handle it. Also take some fresh ginger along for seasickness. dont be surprised when the DP hurls. looking through the eye piece is difficult on the water.

It is like comparing a Caddy to a toyota. They both get the job done. but the chimera boxes are much beefier and heat resistant. the quality of the photoflex is good but not as good as Chimera. I own a couple of the photoflex boxes and like them but would love to have been able to buy Chimera. The biggest problem I have found is Size options and heat resistance. Oh and the bag they pack into is kinda cheap and cheezy.

the ballast pop is the magnetic switch fliiping. the Hum sounds like it could be an igniter. Check all the connections and try it again. If this is a new purchase off ebay verify with the seller that it was working. you might also try to rent a ballast and try a different ballast. try cleaning the connections with an eraser. If it still doesnt work contact LTM

either way the electrons will flow. AC- alternating Current

It is probably operator error. Pushing a dolly smoothly is an art. small cameras and small dollies are actually harder to get smoothmotion with than heavier dollies and cameras. It is all about momentum. the more inertia the dolly has the smoother it will ride, so long as the wheels are not getting flat spots. Try rocking the dolly slowly back and forth to get rid of the flat spots. cheap dolly wheels and even expensive ones can develop a flat spot from weight sitting still while setting up a shot or actors getting into character. rocking out the wheels helps prevent flat spots. in pushing the dolly you have to exert even smooth force constantly. I push with my finger tips to help dampen my steps. I dont grasp the push handle firmly, so as to help isolate my own movements. there are hundreds of tricks. Check out the dolly blog.

The Typical crash housing is made from 1/2 inch aluminum, with 1/4" lexan in front of the lens. you could cheaply make one from 1/8- 1/4 inch aluminum for different cameras and uses. they just bolt together and the camera just bolts to the housing. the housing usually has multiple holes that are tapped for rigging. Any machine shop can make you one. it doesnt have to be air tight nor water tight. just sturdy.

Dont use a mombo combo for this it is too heavy for the stand. Try to rent a manlift work platform ( single man lift) 25-30ft. or material lift like used for ground supporting rocknroll truss. use guy wires to stabilize it outdoors. you can pre focus the light from the ground and the raise the platform from the ground. Scaffold is your next best solution if a condor is out of the question. It looks like you might be able to get a condor on the concrete and arm over to the bleachers.

Once you are lit turn off the lights. once the model is in place slowly begin turning on the lights using dimmers. distract the model with small talk. once the lights get up to full she should be adjusted to them. the key is slow and steady. this doesnt always work, but can be a useful trick in sticky situations.

Read a book about the Zone system for exposure. Understanding the zone system will help you understand how to let the window blowout and not created a bad flare. Either reducing the light coming into the window and/ or raising the level of the interior to closer to the exterior level will help with this issue.

Jon, watch it again, the actor is about a foot off the ground which is caused by the lazy susan's size. they same effect was used in " confessions of a dangerous mind." using a crane would be a waste as it is easily achieved with a revolve, it also would bring a up down flex into the picture that is not apparent in the video. Lazy suzans are low tech. they are cheap to rent and quick to assemble. they come in all sizes from 1ft- 20ft and above. They have been used on stage for centuries. One was used at woodstock to set up bands backstage while another band played. The actor stands on the furniture dolly with a handrail. the furniture dolly is connected to the camera dolly using speed rail. The speed rail is braced to counter act flexing caused by momentum. you could used 12" box truss but that requires two legs of truss and is awkward to connect back to the dolly. you can used speed rail truss fittings to help strengthen the speed rail pipe or use steel pipe instead of the aluminum pipe. the Furniture dolly is an extension of the dolly to give space between actor and lens. Darryl's idea would work having the actor stand on the dolly's front board and the camera offset, but that limits your lens and shot. Using the expensive tricaster wheels makes the furniture dolly create less resistance to immediate directional change,and the dolly grip happier. There are several ways to do this many which will work. you could use a crane but you would have to get a large chapman in order for the actor, camera and operator to be able to ride. everything is possible its just how much are you willing to spend to get the shot.

Using speed rail attach a furniture dolly to the camera dolly at the appropriate length and give the actor a brace to either sit on or lean against. you see the actor in the commercial respond to the movement, he is leaning against a handrail for support. use a good furniture dolly with good swivel casters, the tri wheel casters are great for this, they respond to alternating movement better than regular swivel casters. the commercial used a lazy susan, you could get a extra large lazy susan from Show Rig and actually dolly on it. be sure to cross brace the dolly attachment. Good luck

Dont weld it. Either tap and bolt it together or buy a large aluminum angle iron.

1. They shouldn't. 2. think Princess and the pea. some guys will some guys won't. I personally feel that you would not notice the change for a short move, esp. on hospital and kitchen floors.

I worked with a guy ( his name left me long ago) who had us build a 6x6 with chicken wire and zip tie kino tubes in crazy shapes around the center. He treated it like a ringlight and shot through it . It gave a crazy architecture to the eye. I always wanted to do this again.

I have the MDG fogger and it kicks a*** for filling a space quickly, the haze hangs super long too. Check out MDG foggers and hazers. Check the MSds sheets on the cracked oil foggers for exposure levels.

Having shot in the rain multiple times and even shot in fake rain while it was really raining ( "I want that rain from American beauty"), there are several things you can do. 1 get a large GFI Shockblock for the Generator. 2 get some swamp boxes ( I like using half milkcrates with rubber matting as a topper) to cover all distro boxes and get them off the ground. 3 put all cam and bates connections on apples and give them a visqueen cover. 4 make some rain hats out of Celotex 5 make some 2x3 open frames. I often just use what gel is on a frame instead of making ones with visqueen. 6 buy some storm socks. the best $30 I ever spent. that and a good rain suit. 7 keep a couple towels in your car for the end of the day with dry socks. 8 tungsten lights under 2k are OK uncovered unless it gets really nasty. Their heat dries them out faster than the rain. 9 BE SMART. 10 Cheap pop up tents are not designed for rain. rent the good ones.

Modern Studio makes them and rents them. As per their catalog it is called a 4x4 mirror board comp. w/ foam core holders. Call modern.818.764.8574 if you are not in LA call all the local rental companies.