DavidSloan

Thanks dude, that's exactly what I figured. I just tried it at home with a scoop light, worked like a charm. :D D.S

Hey guys: I was wondering if anyone can tip me on how to create a rain shadow effect, on walls. I have a shoot coming up in Dec where the director wants a scene of a couple sleeping in bed, with the rain shadow over them, on the wall. I'm sure this is simple cinematography 101 stuff but I've never done it before. Thanks, a lot! D.S :ph34r:

Okay. I just kinda hate when people say: "did you see that handheld work, that was amazing cinematography." Cinematography is lighting...camera movement is something else.

Sven Nykvist did a really strange TV flicker effect in The Sacrifice. It's a steady and constant bluish flicker, and it doesn't look like a TV flicker at all, but it's somehow the best TV flicker I've ever seen.

By cinematography are you talking about lighting? It sounds to me like you're talking about the staging of the shot which is more of a director's realm. The Grammar of Film is a good book. Also, Sculpting In Time, by Andre Tarkovsky. For films try The Sacrifice by Andre Tarkovsky, Cries and Whispers by Ingmar Bergman, and Soy Cuba (the name of the director escapes me).

Is this a question?

You can get beautiful glowing highlights on exteriors if the actor is backlit by the sun. I just shot a short on vision 2 250D and we had some CU with actors backlit by the sun, with soft bounce card fill...the footage came back with some brilliant warm highlights. Gorgeous stuff.

Thanks F-Stop...that kicker did look sweet as hell! Don't know if I can sit through a movie like that, though. :( I agree the Leonetti brothers are pretty good...even Mortal Combat looked good *ducks!* :lol:

I never suggested that Pauline At the Beach is similar to Before Sunset...please read my post again-I said it's one of MY favorite films. Before Sunset does, however, draw heavily from Eric Rohmer's style, in general. The walk and talks, pseudo intellectual banter, plotlessness, and the omnipresent male/female sexual dynamic is pure Rohmer. Linklater has a history of being influenced by French directors starting with Slacker which basically took the concept of Bresson's L'argent, and instead of money used conversation. I see some formal connection between My Dinner with Andre, and I'm positive Linklater studied Malle. Another film that comes to mind is Man on the Train.

I suggest to you the films of Eric Rohmer. Before Sunset is heavily influenced by his style of long takes and seemingly banal dialogue. Pauline At the Beach is one of my favorite films, ever. It also happens to be shot by Nestor Almendros, in his ultra realistic style. Let me know what you think, if you see it. http://imdb.com/title/tt0086087/ Ciao :)

You guys can afford technocrane and steadycam but only have 2 1.2k HMIs? Regarding exteriors I say nay..lol I hate them, they are a royal pain in the ass. Choose your location wisely and as John said, know where the sun is going to be at any given moment. I once did a video shoot where I tracked the sun for 2 days, until I was absolutely certain that I could predict where it's direction was going to be at any given hour, and the shoot ended up cutting perfectly. What I find much more annoying is clouds passing by...waiting for them to pass for what feels like eternity, is very frustrating.

I saw the film, but I'm not sure they used 2 cameras...I think it was just a typical over the shoulder setup, i.e., they shoot the scene over one actors shoulder, then the other, and edit it together. As for the walking scenes, it was a steadycam not a truck. You can find plenty of info on the steadycam if you google it. Hope this helps :)

Don't get discouraged, mate. I just meant that it might be tougher to get soft backgrounds. Perhaps you can try to shoot towards foliage or something like that. You can always control your foreground using nets, silks, muslins, etc..but the background is upto G-d.

How about shooting in an area which is already shaded by a tree or a building? I think soft focus back grounds would also help (DV cam :( ), as well as minimal framing of the sky, i.e., keep the frames tight on the actors. That's all I can think of, for now. Good luck, m8.

Holy Fresnel, Batman! Do you think anyone would notice this looks completely hokey, and unmotivated? :P

Jean-Yves Escoffier...as in the man who shot Gummo! sweet! :D

@David: The top pic with the woman...is that the kirk light? I'm trying to find a kirk light picture reference. Thanks.

Has anyone seen Soderberg's Solaris? There are some strange eye lights in that film.

@my4t: I think your question should be directed towards directors not cinematographers. It is the directors who design the story with shots, etc...the DP does contribute, but usually his contibution is to actualize the directors vision. As a DP we think more about telling the story with light. Just my 2 cents but I believe your question is a directing question, as directors are the ones who contemplate the angle relative to the characters state of mind, at least the good directors, do.

It's true, Hou does move it a bit in MM, relative to his past work; but in general his style is static. Check out Songs From the Secong Floor by Roy Andersson. Imo one of the best films in the past decade. Very funny, yet tragic and poetic at the same time. The camera only moves 1 time the entire film.

If memory serves me correctly there is some PMP stuff in Marathon Man. Check it out.

Other filmmakers that almost never, or never move the camera are: Hou Hsiao Hsien, Ozu, and Roy Andersson.

I guess for me personally, I never started lighting actors first because it just intuitively didn't make sense to me to start with something relatively small and then work around it. :unsure: I see the actor as being a part of that room, almost like another prop that I have to light, and eventually I get to it. I guess everyone has their own approach. Of course this does not mean that I skim on the actors! When it's time for the closeup I'll take my time to model, like the next guy :D At the end of the day, though, it's always the situation, script, and space that tell you how to light.

I have not seen Krull, but Crash is one of my favorite films...I thought the cinematography was significant in adding to the sterility and absurdity of the fetishistic yearnings of those characters. And the book's good too :D

Personally, I use the Sekonic L-558 C...that would be the ILM/RLM combo. I'm very happy with it and it suits me well. I also carry the classic Spectra meter, on me. In case something goes wrong with my L-558 C. I find it convenient, and reliable. I do recomend it.