Tristan Noelle

Daniel Pearl is on the DVD commentary for the film, it's very informative. He said his biggest lights were a Nine-light and a 10K, which he used for the night sequences. IDK if he gelled them blue for the night effect or whether that was in the printing, though.

One reason the FS7 is better than the URSA Mini. 1. The client/producer wants to use the FS7. I've been on sets with the FS7 more times than I can count this year. It is the go to camera for basic, work-a-day content. Interviews, docu-style/reality, event coverage, promo videos, web shows, comedy sketches, industrials and educationals, etc. At this point it's what producers know and trust and often own, despite it's quirks. Is the URSA mini pro a better camera? Probably. Do I bother spending my time convincing a client it is when they've used the FS7 before and know the workflow and results? Nope. Do I refuse to use the FS7 if they provide it for the shoot? Again, nope. You just figure out how to make it work for you and shoot it, unless you can afford not to work, of course. That's why it makes sense to me this fellow would trade down to an FS7 from an Ursa Mini if they want to be a WORKING operator or DP. I've had issues with the FS7; it's not perfect. I shot a feature on one last year. It was the director's camera. Our previous feature was on a 5DMk3 so this was a step up. I shot SLog3 and, despite my research, misjudged the waveform and underexposed some key scenes. My reference monitor was too small to judge noise. It was an early firmware before Sony added internal noise reduction. I did some post NR and managed to salvage the scenes and the director was happy with the image in the end. I learned a valuable lesson. My recent work on the FS7 has been great.

In my opinion, the snow is doing a lot of heavy lifting for these frames. Its the brightest object in the frame and exposed pretty dimly, so for anything to not be silhouetted it would have to be white as well. It gives the trees and figures something to stand out from. The atmosphere in the background helps with seperation as well. If you lit that scene that way without snow, you wouldnt have as much contrast, things would tend to blend together. Backlit haze would help a lot with seperation. But I think to achieve comprable contrast without snow unless have to be brighter and more directional, giving trees an edge with the light, etc. Just a thought, I could be wrong. If you check out the ASC Instagram this week Jo Willems posted some of the day for night forest work from Hunger Games: Catchin Fire, which has a similar vibe to these scenes, sans snow. Might be worth looking at. Tristan

Storaro shot Cafe Society digitally on the Sony F65 in 2:1 because he prefers that aspect ratio. He proposed it for film, not because it would save film stock (although it would compared to 4perf), but because he preferred that aspect ratio. It was always primarily an artistic choice. My point is that 2:1 is a completely viable aesthetic choice the filmmakers made. It’s not without merit or precedence. Tristan

Indeed, what sort of clown would even propose shooting in a 2:1 aspect ratio!? Unthinkable.

In the US these are commonly called apple boxes.

Im not much of a dolly grip but Ive worked under some good ones. In my experience the smoothness of the track is is a function of how much time there is to set it. But but with enough time and good track on a fairly stable surface (not sand) and with few curves you should get it very stable. Try to use an apple box (1/2,1/4, pancake, etc.) under the actual joints when you can if you need to elevate them, not just cribbing or a wedge. Also, what kind of surface are you on? If the surface underneath the joint is uneven or loose it can settle when the weight of the dolly hits it, so often a wedge or two under the apple box is necessary. When you use the level, put weight on the track to spot issues. Sometimes a sandbag or two at the joints (if the channel wheels can go over them) is a good idea to help the track settle in and not shift. Tristan

I dont believe you need anything special to power the DJI Focus aside from a powered P-Tap port. I havent used it, mind you. But the manual says the motor is powered via P-Tap . It mentions the specifically the one on a ronin but most batteries used in film, V-mount or Anton Bauer, will have a P-tap outlet (sometimes called D-Tap) on them to power accessories, or more likely the plate/pinch they mount on will have it, and will be proper voltage. I often end up using a wireless FF (usually a Bartech) on my A7s2/Rokinon rig, but I have to rent or borrow proper V-mount/AB batteries for it to work. I own a LanParte V-mount pinch for those setups. If going on a gimbal you might want to use P-tap extension cable so the power cable has slack to let the camera move and pan.

I own a kit. Theyre a mixed bag. Although technically better than nothing, after extended use they fall apart pretty quickly and need diy maintenance. You cant use them like you would Arris or Moles. The fittings that lock the tilt of the lamp are prone to stripping. You cant really have a chimera on them because its so front weighted. Ive had to tap the stripped holes and replace the locking knob on several lights. You need to be gentle with them. Ive had the light stand risers strip as well. Youll have to buy scrims separately, and the included speed ring awkwardly clamps on the outside of the heads and falls apart eventually. The chimera grid is meerly cosmetic. The built in dimmers arent fused so any short in the lamp like a bulb blowing will burn it out so you need to re-wire it to bypass the dimmer. And Ive had a 150w short several times because the wires get pinched by the spot and flood mechanism. Also, Ive replaced the plugs on them because the ground pin falls off. At the time I bought them, I couldnt afford the real thing and they do produce usuable light. But theyre not an investment like most lighting gear would be. Thats my experience with them, hope it was informative. Tristan

If you mean what I think you mean, setting the pivot point of your pan at the optical center or nodal point of the lens is mostly only useful for FX work, like practical mattes and miniatures. Or in stills for shooting 360 for plates, etc. Setting the pivot at the nodal point removes parallax so objects close to the lens do not appear to move relative to objects far away, which is important for forced perspective or glass mattes where you need close objects to appear the same distance as background objects from the camera. Beyond that, Im not aware of a reason to do it for everyday applications. Id be curious to find out if there is any. Its rather difficult without special equipment becuase theres so much weigt behind the lens that balancing the camera on the tripod becomes difficult. In virtual applications its often desirable to set the pivot point to where a theoretical sensor would be, introducing parallax intentionally to make it feel more cinematic. That is what Roger Deakins suggested to the makers of WALL-E when he was brought in to consult. Hope this was close to what you were looking for. Tristan

I agree with Manu, I saw it last night on the Dolby Screen in Burbank and it felt very contrasty, rich blacks. Especially the shots in Wallaces sactum. One of Deakins darker films. The varied contast felt contextual. Some scenes with heavy atmosphere, like the Las Vegas sequences, will naturally have lifted blacks because thats simply the look of the scene. I think the original did that too. You wont get super rich blacks when you fill a room with haze, backlight it, and flare an older lens. Anyway, I appreciated Rogers take on it, he did his own thing as he always does. It seems to me every production in LA is madly scrambling for vintage anamorphics, larger formats, etc. to get artistic results. And he achieved great results with clean Master Primes and an Alexa and surperb lighting. (Granted the huge, brilliantly designed sets and army of vfx artists had just as big impact on the visuals). As for the film itself, I feel that the problems it did have were similar to the issues the original had, which is in the writing. Also missed Vangelis score.

I found a section in the book 'Film Technology in Post Production' by Dominic Case to be helpful when I was looking in to technical info on traditional printer light color correction. I could probably scan that section and send it to you if you like. It may be a tad off topic but perhaps looking in to a film like 'Reflections in a Golden Eye' that had a very extreme grade done on the prints would be useful to you. Or even 'The Crow' I recall was shot with a sepia or suede filter and had all those warm tones removed in the grade to create a colder desaturated. Looking at the outliers and all that. Tristan

If I recall correctly, the North Africa sections of Valkyrie (2008) were 5201 pull processed 2 stops. Newton Thomas Sigel felt it rendered a more subdued contrast than he would have otherwise got, and less saturation. He also shot those sequences through a Gold FX filter. Theres an episode of the American Cinematographer Podcast about it, which is where I'm getting this info from. I believe he may have talked about it when he curated the ASC's Instagram account recently.

feardotcom (2002) Yeah, I'll admit it's a very dumb horror movie. But it looks incredible; excellent photography by Christian Sebaldt and production design (every character seems to live in a giant, Gothic loft in New York). Despite the "creepy little girl" trope, it also features some clumsy Web 1.0 browsing, a sprinkling of Jeffery Combs, early internet technobabble, etc.

http://www.theasc.com/site/blog/web-exclusives/logan-last-action-hero/ Cool, a 358 degree shutter was part of the equation. Thanks for the excellent article, Phil.

I only noticed the "video-y" look in the shots that the blur VFX ramped on to or out of, i.e. started normal and became seizure-y or vice versa (although I could have just missed the others). I assumed they used a slow shutter (close to 360 degree) in those shots to capture the smearing effect they would later enhance. That's what it looked like to me, although I could see it being an artifact of HFR capture as well, as having less sharpness and detail for an eventual VFX shot doesn't make too much sense. I assume if they did shoot HFR, they'd simply blend frames and add the correct motion blur artifacts for 24p with twixtor or something similar (Douglas Trumbull had a demo of that awhile ago), but sometimes more subtle effects get overlooked on these big productions so it's not outside the realm of possibility. I'm interested to find out. Tristan

I rent the Mole LED tweenie and baby models on occasion (from Wooden Nickel in LA) and although relatively inexpensive (to rent) and cool running, they have their quirks. It may be because the particular lights the rental house carries are early or first generation models that have seen a lot of hard use; the newer units may be in better shape and more refined. In the field I often find myself adding plus or minus green to them, depending on the particular lamp. I ran one next to a Dedo 400 HMI recently and the color was a bit greener and a little warmer to my eye. And for whatever reason when you dim them at the head you get a flicker or pulsing effect, rendering that function fairly pointless, so I usually just scrim them. I've seen better results from the Junior and Senior models, but those were released later and possibly with better quality LEDs etc. The Baby/Tweenie types are well built and handy though and I do use them, just be prepared to deal with the above issues. Hope this helps. Tristan

Thanks Michael and Gene for addressing my question, which wasn't about fans at all... I have had tax issues with LA business office I try to responsibly report my income, so thanks for the heads up.

Due to a stroke of good luck, I may be able to purchase a camera by the end of the year. Right now I'm looking at a RED Scarlet-W package. The idea is to be an owner/operator and shoot personal spec projects. Admittedly I'm pretty ignorant on this topic of actually financing one. Does anyone have any experience with RED's (and others) leasing process, and does it mean you don't technically own the camera? Or pros and cons for other routes like a bank loan, a retailer, etc.? If you could relate your experience and any advice I'd appreciate it. Thanks. Tristan

As an addendum to this topic, here's the short I shot that this post was in reference to. Locations proved agreeable so we had AC power everywhere, didn't need battery powered hard lights. It was a 2 night shoot, only myself as camera and lighting. Sony A7s + Shogun w/ a Canon 28-70 f/2.8 in a Fig Rig and some Rokinon Cine DS primes for the last scene. The director and I agreed that because of budget and time limitations, we would embrace an intentionally cheap aesthetic featuring handheld wide angles, garish colors, noise etc. (think early Peter Jackson or Evil Dead). It was very quick and dirty but we had fun. And about that 80s blue moonlight... https://youtu.be/d20HzXocBWo Tristan

Thanks for the information David, Phil and everyone else. A little more info: I'll be shooting A7s at 3200iso, supplementing available/location light, but leaving it quite dark. It'll be outside several different suburban houses with practical Halloween lights and decorations. I'd like to be able to put a moonlight branch pattern on a house, people, etc. leaving it a stop or so under, or add a hard kick to actors. But I won't be back lighting a whole yard or street. I'm interested in batteries mostly because we'll be moving a lot and I'll only have one swing grip helping me. Also we end up in an alley without easy access to power. It does occur to me that if I'm setting up a C-stand with a branch and placing it in front of a light, running a stinger for said light is probably not what slows us down. Tristan

I've got a pretty run and gun narrative night exterior shoot coming up and while I'll probably be using some battery equipped Lightpanel Astras, I wanted to field some ideas on hard, single point source battery options. Something at about the output of a 200w HMI or greater. Ideally an option I can source from a rental house, not have to track down car batteries and inverters on my own time (unless it comes to that). Does such a thing exist? Thanks in advance, Tristan

No problem, Macks. I grew up in the 80s/90s, (I'm 33) but was a little too old for Pokemon. I was very aware of it and it's place in pop culture, but had no interest in it; was for kids, etc. It was kinda like Twilight for me: juvenile and ubiquitous, so most of my enjoyment of it comes from mocking or subverting it, which is why I think I liked your exercise and gave it a chance. I imagine that fans of the original show/toys/etc. would like it though. Nostalgia is very big business at the moment; new spins on the old familiar. "Mystery Science Theater 3000" was also a very formative part of my youth. Commentary and satire of media can be more interesting as the media itself. I'm a big fan of RedLetterMedia and their epic reviews, etc. That's probably a little too much info, hope it helps. Tristan

Well I thought it was funny.