Rolfe Klement

I did a job with Gary Szabo at Red once where he noticed during a slight zoom there was a very, very slight color change in the greens and he keyframed the correction in - I saw it after about 5 reruns on a 24" pro monitor - but he noticed straight up. That was the worship moment for me... Having said that I have never had a TK session when the source format was video - but from playing around with CC on Video Programs and even on Discreet high end stuff (FFI) I can see the pigskin -silk problem or as a producer said to me once "You can't polish sh-t" :) no offence to video my 2 cents in defence of £900/h TK Rolfe

if you go to Otto Nemenz on Vine - they always have pretty good deals . They have always been good to me thanks Rolfe

I heard about a commerical set where they ran the Video Assist to multiple sources - with timecode and roll info. One of the sources was a little computer where they had an editor who ran the edl from the VA which could be another way of doing it - but means previs needs to be 100% thanks Rolfe

I will give it a go thanks Rolfe

Oh my saw the heated debate about the guy on the car holding onto a rope at 50mph - see link above - Rolfe

I should have mentioned I want to shoot with standard spherical lenses. Remember this is for broadcast only not filmout. So academy gate, 35mm, standard lens, 2.40 ground glass - am I going to get weirdness in TK - like black vertical edges - then we have to TK zoom in ... then we loose the framing from the groundglass. So a 720 x 576 4.3 or 16.9 Letterbox 2.40 My main concern is the framing during shooting. Maybe use a forced top line marker shot for each roll then reference it in TK Very unorthodox - I know thanks Rolfe

For a Project destined for PAL or HD is it possible to get an anamorphic frame (2.40) from a 35 gate not a S35 gate ? I want to use my 2C and I have a 2.40 ground glass - and someone wants to create the anamorphic frame look for a MV. My minor worry is what happens in TK. The reason being when I have been in TK and looking at footage shot on my 2C - when we move Left there is a definate space of unexposed film - which makes me think the 2C shoots 35 and not S35 - but I have heard different things So 2 questions really - who is 100% sure of the gate on 2C (I have measured them with a calipers and it is just shy of S35 And can we get a higher quality transfer by framing with a 2.40 ground glass and using which gate in TK - when shooting 35mm thanks Rolfe

Cost :D Single light is usually done by a junior or assistant TK op and all they do is "what ever they consider a safe grade" usually based on a waveform monitor output. They might be good they might be bad - but you will not be there to see until it is finished. The company directive is to be safe - so no artistic FX - no bleach bypass look etc - no crunched blacks nor steel blue looks. It is good for EDLs. It is the cheapest way to get film onto tape and do the edit. It is bad for FX shots In a best light you might be able to get into the TK suite and arrange cost | hour - once again it depends on the Op - some are good some not. I once graded something at Fotokem LA at 2am on a Tues Morning - and it was fantastic and cheap. The Op will try do a good grade but is limited by his | her experience and time available The third and most expensive is to go to the top guys like Dave Hussey at Company3 | Jean-Clement Soret at MPC etc (there are more I have missed off)and get the best - where they take it to the next level of true art and cost :) at about £900 per hour - the rate card quote but you shuld be able to a slight reduction by negotiating with the Post house producers Not sure if this is a technical enough answer and is based on my experience of it. In my experience being honest with the producers at the post houses will often get you a fair to good deal. Plan exactly what you need before you call them. Realising or deciding you need to do a NTSC > PAL conversion at 4am - will cost you dearly - I know! thanks Rolfe

depending on your budget ,with the sun behind the person looking at camera - use an uncorrected HMI into a 6x6 frame - with appropriate diffusion on the frame Or hold a big mirror on stands and bounce the sunlight into the 6x6 frame The HMI is easier to adjust with the moving sun Don't forget to adjust for wides and Close ups You will not have much time for a low sun horizon shot (sun in shot) - so make sure your talent are out of makeup way before they need to be thanks Rolfe

Loading the mags is pretty easy - I would say get someone to show you with a dummy roll - a couple of times then do it in the light with a dummy roll. Then it takes about 4 goes to do it in the changing bag | Tent. Learning how to load the mag is useful becasue it is very similar if not identical mags used on many Arri cameras (not nearly as complex as Aaton) Loading the mag into the camera is easy and pretty standard Don't jam the film roll in the top when you load into a 2B or 2C Making sure you get the pull down claw at the right film tension - someone needs to show you a couple of times - but pay attention to it cause it causes issues at high speeds if you get it wrong Keeping the area clean while in sand etc can be an issue so keep some compressed air around but don't go to hard or turn the can from the upright cause it can cause minor condensation issues Having to fix loose doors is easy (rattling door while closed) - and can be done while loading - just bend the door catch back over a small 1 or 2mm fulcrum hope this makes sense and helps thanks Rolfe

The Blain Brown book on nuderwater lighting is quite good. I have seen very very detailed stuff years ago on the web about this style of lighting Underwater dance but I cannot remeber where it was, or if it was about Howard. But from what I remember it is about shining loads of very hard flat light into the top of the pool straight down. Maybe even Xenons. For the budget I would keep any lights out of the water. thanks Rolfe

Here is an example of a spec ad from Chris Milk (of RSA?) Chris Milk website thanks Rolfe

If quality is your driving issue. I would go for Spirit. I have had issues with 7218 and 7217 on ITK's. I did a transfer of cloudy skies once on Millenium of 7218 and it was so bad that we had to go to Spirit and the difference between them was amazing, and the money wasted by going from ITK to Spirit was substancial - so... Call any London post house (Soho Images etc) and ask to speak to a colourist and ask about the differences in scanning S16 on ITK and Spirit. Tell them you want to scan 7218 on a ITK and it is scenes of clouds and overcast skies hear the panic :) much better to go to Spirit But if you are only scanning 35mm 5218 and 5217 - then I have not had issues on ITK But stuff tends to look a little better with the "better" CCD scanner (Spirit) If you are buying an actual machine then I would be very careful about hardware support issues you pay for what you get... thanks Rolfe

Possibly the comment was made around how video does not handle highlight information as well as film (unless your video camera has a cine gamma curve function - and even then...) This might come from an old very vague rule of thumb which would be to underexpose for video - so you don't lose video detail in the highlights and to overexpose for film so you have at least something on the negative. Basically it comes down to the dynamic range of the camera (video has less and film has more {film can "see" into highlights better - but only in TK or with other adjustments}) So if you have clouds or sun and all else is equal you will have less dynamic range in the cloud shot (not much but less) because it is overcast and video possibly might be better able to handle it - but never as good as film note - this would only work if you had the budget for post (either video>video or film>video telecine or some other adjustment) thanks Rolfe

I would use nets - for the CU and ECU shots - check the ASC "Van Helsing" article in the magazine for some examples of the village shots For beauty try and soften the light a little. For shooting in snow I recommend using loads of flags to create negative fill. Almost like a black shower curtain around the talent - you biggest problem is too much light from all over with no direction Bright light is one of the reasons actors wear sunglasses all the time :) I was very impressed on a high speed photosonics shoot (not mine) where the actor almost caught fire it was so bright - but managed to keep his eyes open. You can see this problem especially in the theatre - the actor has almost no pupil. Another thing to distract you from enjoying a movie Off the point - I heard actors are sometimes rehired because they make sitting to standing focus pulls easy (a kind of sit in the edge and push up as opposed to rocking around in the depth field) and actors who can make it look relaxed looking right into a huge HMI from 4m away thanks R

Thanks for the reference page of filter comparison images It is really useful Rolfe

glass always holds its value better :) thanks Rolfe

for anyone thinking about it http://www.arri.com/entry/235sixpack.htm thanks Rolfe

Does anyone have some decent examples of stuff shot with and without Black Promist and Ultra Cons Basically I am trying to decide on which filters to buy - I am more interested in beauty shots than in halation FX. I have heard the combination of an ultra con and a low black pro mist is very often used in beauty shots thanks Rolfe

I have the 608C - the big differences are Zoom viewfinder display of shutter speeds and aperture along with exposure compensation information Eyepiece diopter adjustment Separate incident and reflected mode exposure compensation settings Filter Factor compensation setting using the ISO2 function Up to 9 separate readings can now be averaged, vs. 3 for the L-508. The LCD display the number of readings taken. The averaged reading is displayed both on the LCD and in the viewfinder. Settable 1/2 or 1/3rd stop readings to match a specific camera's adaptabilities Flash triggering via optional built-in radio transmitter CR-123A lithium battery replaces AA cell of L-508 for more info check out http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/...ml#Improvements hope it helps thanks Rolfe

I think the primary reason all lens rental companies do ont have the focus pin pulled out it the inherent financial dangerous exposure and the minor issue of confusion when focus marking lenses. I own some Zeiss lenses with the rear focus pin pulled out and they are great but the problem is if someone doesn't know what they are doing they can damage the lens - or have it fall apart - and mark a focus incorrectly...considering how many students rent kit it can quickly increase insurance premiums for rental companies The advantages of cine lenses are still huge over stills lenses IMHO - try and mark a 100mm still lens for a 70 to 90 ft rack - or look how much breathing a still prime does on a focus rack - but that is why a cine lens is at least 10x more than a still or do a 35mm optical blow up from a still lens and project it - I once shoot something with a 100mm Nikon still and it was really shocking next to a Zeiss UP Pulling out the focus pin is not a huge job if you have a good relation with the rental company - Otto Nemenz pulled one out for me in about 20 min last year I also used the Century diopters but things (zoom and 3 diopters) get really heavy and with extension tubes we started to get focus inside the lens hood For the cost and weight of a PS technic and zooms etc - it might be a better production pitch to do it on S16 - with an Aaton my 2 cents thanks Rolfe

It is an expensive and difficult thing to do from my brief look into it once for a project. I was going to go in with a motion camera - then snap with stills around and work back out to the motion camera - but getting electronic sync and the same lenses and etc etc - wound up being a big headache. Having said that since it is no longer flavour of the month, companies who provide it might be cheaper than they used to be - I think it was about £15k a day for the UK time slice kit thanks Rolfe

I just shot something at the Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa and there was not much reflection - maybe they use some special glass or polymer thanks Rolfe

One producer I worked with once said "every film day starts out like "Barry Lyndon" and ends in a rushed mess. How late in the day it turns to a mess it a measure of how good and experienced you are" So I use the 608C and it is expensive but when you are shooting for a 1 stop push at weird frame rates with non standard shutter and an 85 on - you press one button and it gives you the ability to relax - and also view on the screen exactly what you are exposing for (although how it displays push and pull info takes getting used to) and it does all the 508C does but with some additional stuff as well At the other end of the equation you can figure it all out before (shutter, filters, fps etc) and adjust the ISO rating on the cheapest, simplest meter - but be aware when the director suddenly falls in love with slo-mo (as they do :rolleyes: ) then you need to change everything again but always keep spare batteries and at least 2 meters - cause there is nothing worse than having the meter battery die thanks R

I would go with the handgrip motor in the left hand - and the body of a 2 and 3C is desgined with to be held (near the lens) with the right hand - and it is really easy to use - in fact I hold the camera in my right hand only and use my left to pull focus (for my own stuff) thanks R