DavidSloan

This question is just inherently ignorant, and frankly stupid. How can anyone ever tell what a screenplay will do? This takes us back to Dances with Wolves...a film no one wanted to touch that ended up earning a fortune, and winning the oscars! And this story is echoed all through the history of cinema...man writes script, studios reject script, man makes film independently, man makes millions of dollars and wins oscars. Have you heard of a little film called The Passion of the Christ? Yeah you're only insulting people in a roundabout way. I love David Mullin's work, I honestly think he's going to be considered a giant...but he's got a good 20 years on a lot of us, here. A lot of us here are in our early 20s and are just getting out of film school and feeling our way in the "real world." I have no doubt that I will DP a "bonafide Hollywood feature" in the future. All I've shot so far are shorts but I just got my first "pro gig" to shoot a music video for a name artist. For someone who hates Hollywood as much as you do you certainly seem to use it as a measure for success. Just because it didn't work out for you doesn't means some of us aren't headed for great things. Sorry, but you just sound like a bitter loser, to me.

Well the other night I was contemplating whether to see this or Hotel Rwanda...I ended up choosing Hotel Rwanda because the topic interests me much more. I'll go see this this film eventually...thanks for the reviews, guys. :)

Is it just me, or does it look like they're actually toasting with urine in this pic! :o

I just went on the Efilm website and looked at their filmography, and lo and behold they did both American Wedding and Intolerable cruelty! This is too funny. It just casually occured to me, seeing both those films in proximity, that they look exactly the same, and guess what...they were done by the same company. :D I'll give them credit, other stuff they did looks very good like 8 Mile but the "look" of the aforementioned films is disturbing. I remember watching American Wedding with a friend who is a grip and has limited knowledge about cinematography, and he kept saying to me: "this film looks too friggin wierd, people's skin tones have the color of urine, I hate it!" lol :lol:

Here is a site that is dedicated to art cinema DVD releases: http://www.mastersofcinema.org/

I think that music video look is definitely finding its way into big Hollywood features and green is a very common color in contemporary music videos. I just saw this rap music video last night with 50 cent and The Game, directed by non other then Mr.Hype Williams. Green, amongst other colors, was a big theme in the video. Why not? try something else for a change...I never liked blue anyway. I think the green/blue combo really works well...even Cyan is interesting. You can sell any color as night, it's not the color its all in the lighting and the amount of fill.

Complete nonsense, Frank. Kevin Costner has proven to be a very talented and banakble actor. Remember a little film called Dances with Wolves? It had a production budget of $22 million...it has since earned close to a half a billion dollars. This is a film that he both directed and starred in! I perfectly understand that this isn't an industry that guarantees a living...those who are paying the bills working in cinema are very privledged, indeed. And while I do agree that connections are essential to working in this business that doesn't mean that Spielberg is going to let his son direct a $50 milion dollar movie because he's his son. Most directors, DPs, and producers in Hollywood are outsiders. As a matter of fact the entire Hollywood system was built by Eastern European Jewish immigrants that came to Hollywood from Brooklyn! Out of curiousity, how old are you?

Care to elaborate, mate?

The last American Pie film had the same look. Was that film also done at EFilm? I'm guessing EFilm isn't known for being subtle.

Does anyone know what was done on Intolerable Cruelty? That film looked very odd.

Yup...I remember that. Streep was initially horrified by McGarvey's lighting of her CUs, and told him "Please don't light me like this, again!" He and his crew came up with something called a "Streep light" which consists of a 4 by trace frame together with 216, with a piece of poly, with it's sides blackened and a 5k bounced into the poly. That's all in the New Cinematographers book.

How does one light an entire set with 1 set up of hard light and make everyone look good!?!? :blink: As far as the taboo goes, I'm not interested in it...I just don't like watching a film and being distracted by hard lights with obvious directions..."oooh they have a hard kicker right there." Also, the problem with hard light is that the actors have little to no freedom of movement. As much as I thought McGarvey overlit the hell out of The Hours, he gave his actors a lot of freedom to move and their faces were always lit beautifully and naturally.

7 Samurai It's only $30 on Amazon...and it's free shipping, too. You can even get it on the used section for $11.99. Criterion DVDs usually come with the best extras, and have the most meticulous DVD remasters on the market. When Criterion puts out a DVD you can be sure painstaking work has been put to make it the absolute best viewing experience possible...short of a print, of course. Personally, I love Criterion, especially since they've decided to release all the Bresson films. It's about time! :)

Sorry I don't have any examples of my work to show you guys. I'm in the works of compiling a reel, I promise to post it asap. This is just an example I found online of what I think is a very flattering and classic way to light a face...something that I would aim for. Alure

LMAO! I'd love to meet someone in the U.S that can turn down a job like Harry Potter!!!

G-d that is so true. I LOVE Fuji, dearly; but one does have to admit that a lot of the choices we make are based on our quirky personalities just as much as practicality and faithfulness to the script.

I have to rent Midnight Express. I haven't seen that in years. As for Mr. Seresin's work, I think Birdy was magnificent. I haven't had a chance to see Harry Potter...it's not something I see myself watching, good cinematography or not. But maybe I'll see it someday. Thanks for the heads up.

Yup..you're right. People do look into the camera quite a bit. I was thinking about narrative features. The only thing I've seen from Elliot Davis was Thirteen, which I thought was extraordinary. Perhaps some of the color temperature schemes were a bit annoying but overall his work was amazing. I'm off to IMDB to see what else he shot, and then it's off to the video store. :)

So I just finished watching The Hours, lensed by Seamus McGarvey BSC. I really LOVE what he did with the faces, in this movie. Lot's of soft modelling, and very glamourous, gentle lighting. But I had a big problem with the way he lights sets...this guy OVERLIGHTS like crazy (lots of double shadows!). Every single corner of the frame had a light on it...it was really frustrating after a while. He's a total wuss when it comes to interiors. What do you guys think about this film, and his lighting?

Set Lighting Technician's Handbook : Film Lighting Equipment, Practice, and Electrical Distribution by Harry C. Box

NYU, or Columbia.

You have to get some PA gigs and observe the DP at work...there really isn't such a thing as an internship in cinematography.

Merry X-mas to all...may we all be DPing a $50 mill feature by next year! :D

That's not gonna take you very far. Korg Triton is considered THE keyboard to have. As far as music editing software: Steinberg Cubase VST Score, is top notch.

If anyone knows where I can get this book for a reasonable price, PLEASE let me know. I've been dying to read this book for a few years, now!