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Mark Kenfield

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Everything posted by Mark Kenfield

  1. Mark Kenfield
    I wonder if that Photon Beard 80w fixture will be focusable at all? I'm not really sure if it can be given the nature of remote phosphor, but it sure would be handy.
  2. Mark Kenfield
    A couple of Kino (or Kino-esque) Flouros, two 2K Blondies, and two 650w Fresnels would be the starting point I'd recommend. Get some grip gear, and you can do a lot with a simple six light kit like that. And David makes a very good point about the sensitivity of newer cameras. I lit a short over the weekend primarily with a couple of remote phosphor panels, we were shooting on the Sony F5, and even with the camera rated 2/3 stop under (ISO1250), I was lighting a dinner table of six actors with a grand total of about 85w of power... pushed through two layers of diffusion. ...and the singles with just 45w of power - that's how ridiculously sensitive these new cameras are.
  3. Mark Kenfield
    I'd always tend to go until I feel I've got the take in the bag. That said, a lot of the directors I've worked with move on much too quickly for my tastes. Most takes, don't take all that much time to do - changing setups does. So moving on before you're sure you've 'got it' seem highly inefficient to me.
  4. Mark Kenfield
    Lovely natural result there Jared.
  5. Mark Kenfield
    It's a very interesting device, but the dual-focussing requirement would make it a bit of a nightmare on set I imagine.
  6. Mark Kenfield
    I short a short on this combo last year. They play nicely together for the most part, but I'd be wary of shooting the CP.2 Superspeeds wide-open for product photography. They resolve nicely, and contrast is good - but wide-open, CA can be noticeable around bright part of the frame - most of it goes away by T/2, but it's something to be aware of.
  7. Mark Kenfield
    I'd bring sheets of 216, 250 and 251 along and see what it needs. Powder to create more of a matte sheen on people's skin can go a long way for these things though.
  8. Mark Kenfield
    What are your clients (or potential clients) asking for? Red has so much buzz here in Australia that a LOT of producers who know nothing about cameras ask for them constantly. 4K and raw - gotta have those! (never mind that they haven't set budget aside for a 1st AC or lights!). You need to specifically target your local market. When I was making this decision for myself, it came down to the Red Scarlet or the Sony F3 (now F5) - in the end I opted for the Sony for it's superior highlight latitude and more pleasing skin tones, but part of me seriously regrets that decision for the work I could more easily have won thanks to the buzz about 'Red' and '4K'. Given that these cameras are all hugely capable of making great images, your focus should absolutely be on what your local producers want to shoot with - that's what will net you the most work. I don't know what market you're working in Michael, but if it's anything like a lot of the world - Red still probably has the superior hype in your local 'indie' industry. On that front I reckon Scarlet Dragon (forget the motion mount) is the most likely thing to help you get work - it's 'Red' it shoots '4K' and importantly - the Dragon sensor seems to address pretty much all of the MX sensor's relative shortcomings (noisy shadows, limited highlight latitude, iffy skin-tones at times) - so I think it'd offer you a LOT of advantages, with very few shortcomings. The F5(5) is a great camera, and packed full of fantastic features, but you probably stand a good chance of ending up like me - having to show people your showreel constantly to convince/educate them that the Sony's images are "actually really good". ("Baby Alexa" is a good term to bandy about when trying to convince people of a Sony CineAlta's worth).
  9. Mark Kenfield
    Taping or clipping an additional sheet of diff over part of the softbox can help cut down those specular reflections without affecting the rest of the light too much.
  10. Mark Kenfield
    Well I'll give you this much Michael - you picked the right camera to learn on (albeit the most expensive). The Alexa is the simplest camera on the market to operate and control, so you won't have the menu-diving learning curve to get past that you would with other cameras.
  11. Mark Kenfield
    Plenty, cheap as chips PAR cans do the jobs beautifully. But what you actually need for shafts of light is a haze machine - atmospherics on set to catch and refract the beams so that you can actually see them.
  12. Mark Kenfield
    As far as matching CP.2s goes, you're not going to get closer than the Zeiss ZE/ZF primes - they use the same glass and optical design. The CP.2s offer the benefit of Zeiss (reportedly) hand picking the very best (and most colour-consistent) glass elements produced for the two lens lines and putting them into the more expensive CP.2s (which is understandable and makes sense). The mechanics of the CP.2s compared to the ZE/ZFs are on another level entirely and offer precise and repeatable focus always and forever (the CP.2s single greatest feature). Another thing to consider is the 14-blade iris in the CP.2s, which is something a lot of people gloss over, but it gives you silky smooth and perfectly round bokeh at virtually every aperture - it's the one quality of the CP.2s that I'd actually rate over and above higher-end glass like the Ultra Primes or S4s, it really is a beautiful feature. So yes, there are differences between the two lens sets. But again, if you want to get something similar to the CP.2s the ZE/ZFs are quite simply (and obviously) the only way to go. And if you can't afford to stretch to the cine lenses, then you don't really have a choice anyway (other than to keep renting). The ZFs produce gorgeous images - I coveted them for stills photography work long before the original Compact Primes range were announced. They're a purchase I can't see anyone regretting. The 21mm and 85mm are my particular favourites. Lovely pieces of glass by any measure.
  13. Mark Kenfield
    Thanks Brian, those look handy. I've just stumbled across the Pelican Storm iM2975 and that looks to be a very neat fit for the two lights, so I think I'll give that a try.
  14. Mark Kenfield
    Well a recent one was Escape from New York, an old favourite of mine, which we watched the other night. And found for the first time, that lighting was distractingly unmotivated. Now that's very much a fantastical film, with very little grounding in any sort of reality, but my friend and I both noted that we found the lighting felt noticeably 'off'. Now this is the first time (out of at least half a dozen viewings) that I've had any issue with the film, so no doubt it's in part due to the growing sophistication of my own understanding of film lighting - but my friend, who has nothing to do with films beyond watching them, noticed it too (in fact he's the one who raised the point) - and that suggests to me that viewers are growing an increasingly sophisticated palette where lighting is concerned. And that's something to take note of. Because you're on seriously shaky ground if something as fundamental as lighting can take people out of your film.
  15. Mark Kenfield
    With modern films/TV shows certainly. It's all pretty well hidden these days (the soft nature of modern lighting seems to help that a lot), but go back to older films (and you don't need to go back further than the 80s) and you can find plenty of films where story isn't quite enough to keep the lighting from feeling 'off' to modern viewers. I've sat and watched films with several people who have noted as much. Viewers' sensibilities seem to have matured in-line with the technical sophistication of our lighting, so whilst I agree there's absolutely a minimum level of believability at which people simply don't care - our lighting still has to at least reach that level.
  16. Mark Kenfield
    The value of lighting 'motivation' obviously varies hugely from person to person. Personally, I find it really important to my work - as I think believable lighting is a key element in maintaining the suspension of disbelief with your audience. But I can't say that approach causes me any real grief - the very nature of our work lies in creating a heightened reality, so the challenge (and pleasure) I find in it, lies in creating beautiful lighting within the constraints of plausibly motivated sources.
  17. Mark Kenfield
    Hi guys, Looking to get rid of my massive, metal Arri 2k case (it's over 4' long and weighs almost 20kg by itself!) and replace it with a more streamlined Pelican case, and I was wondering if anyone had recommendation for case models? It'd need to hold the two Arri Blondies (with barndoors attached), 2x dichroic filters, and a couple of spare globes. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Cheers, Mark
  18. Mark Kenfield
    Cheers
  19. Mark Kenfield
    Terrific, thanks Stephen. I think I may have fallen head over heels for the 'Black Net 1' - but I can't find that specific filter listed anywhere on Tiffen's site. Is there a different name for it that I'm missing?
  20. Mark Kenfield
    Hmm... well if it's mostly day exteriors, the highlight latitude of Alexa goes a long way. Perhaps a couple of 8x8 and 12x12 frames with bounce and diff will be of more use for those. Lighting interiors with purely practical sources is fraught with problems though - the Alexa's sensitivity may allow you to get exposure, but I'd worry that the difficulties in creating appropriate looks with them would slow you down rather than speed you up. I'd always err on the side of a decent lighting package over a better camera - because it gives you more control. But you know your situation better than I do - go with whatever will get you the best results.
  21. Mark Kenfield
    I'd honestly suggest dropping the Alexa for a cheaper camera option and putting the money you save towards some lights and a person to set them. Horror as a genre is so utterly reliant on mood lighting that it's an area you really need control of IMO.
  22. Mark Kenfield
    Fascinating! I don't suppose the development of lighting technology has ever been as rapid and as exciting as it is at the moment. It's a great time to be making movies.
  23. Mark Kenfield
    You really need to look into the very, very latest of LED fixtures in order to get the good stuff - the newest Fresnels and Remote Phosphor panels remove the multi-source nature from LED fixtures (a BIG deal IMO) and the very best units now have colour quality to comfortably match (and in some instances exceed) that of fluorescents. Older LED standards like the 1x1s aren't even in the same ballpark now. I've moved from Kino Divas to Area48 remote phosphor panels for my softlights, and the LEDs win in virtually every way. Output is higher, spill is much more controllable, colour is superior, the fixtures are more robust, you can change colour temperature much quicker, and you can run them remotely via batteries.
  24. Mark Kenfield
    To be perfectly honest, I think a lot of the questions you're asking Michael suggest a lack of experience in these matters that will thoroughly get in the way of amortising the significant cost of purchasing an Alexa. If it's purely a passion thing and you're really that cashed up, then by all means go ahead. But I really think it would be wiser to start smaller.
  25. Mark Kenfield
    Having recently cut my first proper cinematography reel, and having seen a huge bump in the volume of work I've been getting thanks to it, I feel I can offer some advice on this front: - Where possible, I'd suggest cutting down little sequences of shots that show continuity of lighting and camera movement within a scene (i.e. cut in through your wide/mid/close-up/reverse in quick succession - assuming you can do so smoothly) it shows you can light and block a scene rather than just a single pretty shot. - Keep it between 2-3 minutes TOPS, you'll have to kill your darlings, and finding music to match is hard, but it needs to be short, sharp and able to hold people's attention. - If possible, cut the reel to your music, having the cadence of the edits sync in with the cadence of the music just makes a reel feel more polished and complete. - As much as possible contrast different looking scenes against each other, it looks like you have a broader range. - And I totally agree with Michael - don't let shots that were amazing technical achievements on set (and that you're therefore particularly proud of) creep into the reel just because you're proud of them. If they don't look great - leave them out. Hope that helps.
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