Gregory Irwin

Hi there! Since I worked on BAD BOYS 2 and made this shot, I can give you some insight on how we did this. First and foremost, we had the budget to make this shot. It involved alot of visual effects. We built the house as a rigged set, on stage that could accomodate our circle dolly track that went around the wall we magically pass through. Via VFX, the window and wall we pass through were replaced by CGI. We operated the shot remotely on a libra head and pulled focus remotely on a Preston from another room. We also did the same shot with Mark Wahlberg on PAIN & GAIN. I'm sure that there are simpler ways to achieve a similar effect but you'll have to figure out what you can afford and adjust your strategy to accomodate the limitations. Good luck! Greg

I agree with Brian, Weber. It is impossible for you to make these career decisions at this time. Film school is much like a military boot camp. It's survival! My experience in film school, during my freshman year was I don't remember even touching any equipment! It was studying, reading and getting a general understanding of the structure of our industry. There is so much to learn that I had no social life. It was a 1000% commitment to maintain the grades just to stay in film school. That's how much competition you will be facing. Your focus needs to be on your passion for the craft of filmmaking and not how much money you could make. You may not really know what craft you want to do till your junior year. And in reality, it doesn't get any easier when you actually work in the industry. There is actually more competition and stress and you are managing a self employed business. But I'm happy to report that it is all doable. It just depends on YOU! Just out of curiosity, what school are you considering? Greg

God bless them! Greg

Actually, not at all. The jobs that I do are high profile and high stakes. They pay me well to give them the best I can do. If that means working off of the Preston, then so be it. In reality, I'm not far from the camera. I'm still close to it. But since I wear bi-focal glasses, it's much easier for me to face the action and hold the handset in a position where all I need to do is shift my eyes without moving my head. I have no loss of reaction time that I believe I would have if I had to keep turning to look back and forth from the subject to the lens. It's a system that works successfully for me. I don't recommend it for everyone. G

I completely agree. G

The funny part is that I haven't touched a manual follow focus in years. I live on a Preston FIZ full time. That allows me to position myself, free from the camera and choose my own vantage point. I'm not sure if I'd be any good on a follow focus after all of this time! G

I recently did a pilot where Panavision gave a 80% discount. You can't lose if you don't play. Can't hurt to ask! G

Ha! Who would ever suggest that????!! :)

All of this talk of "glow in the dark" this and that sounds over the top and complicated. Keep it stupid/simple. Put a simple low light source such as a battery operated, goose neck flash light and shield the light spill with a piece of black tape. Aim it at your lens or disk and do your job. These are easily obtainable at hardware and electronic stores. Having mentioned the disk on the follow focus, I have always believed that using that disk for marks is a big mistake. First: there is at times, way too much sloppy play in the gearing mechanism. That could cause one to be off of the actual lens mark. Second: it causes the focus puller to look at too many different places (ie. the subject, the lens marks and the disk) thus moving one's head too much costing lost reaction time. I believe that by placing your head at the film plane and looking straight down the center line of the lens, one can see the subject and the lens engravings with a simple shift of the eyes. In other words, if you need to make focus marks, make them on the focus ring of the lens with a simple tic mark of a grease pencil or even cut out tape arrows. This is much more efficient. But everyone has their style and way of working. You have to figure out what works for you. Still, keep it stupid/simple. G

Guy, you have made an excellent analysis of the principles of exposure. You are right on! I don't think the younger members of our craft truly study "the curve" anymore and relate it to balancing the light. That's ashame. Great post Guy. G

I go through John Clark Insurance Brokers in Los Angeles. Only due to a very long term relationship with them. But there are others like Taylor & Taylor Insurance who specialize in our field. Any of them should offer the WRC feature. It's an option that should always be available as far as I know. G

I've owned my camera equipment rental company, Latitude 33 Motion Picture Services, LLC, for about 25 years now. In that time it has substantially grown with the amount of gear we own. I don't know what I pay for insurance annually, but I believe that it's important to pay for worldwide replacement cost. It's more expensive but if you lost everything at once you would most likely be out of the camera gear business. Without this feature, you will only receive the depreciation value of the affected gear. Thus it will cost you additionally to replace it after the insurance. Since I have gear spread out all over the place at any given time, this feature gives me additional peace of mind. Of course, the production insures the gear first and foremost before any of my company's insurance would kick in. They are required to provide a certificate of insurance made to L33 MPS prior to any gear being delivered. Hope this helps. G

Going today, Friday.

If you want to be a DP, be a DP. Working at a rental house can be good but it costs you time from achieving your ultimate goal. Just do it! G

I honestly didn't know it still existed. G

Wow. And I thought the idea was to welcome a new member. Suddenly, pre-production broke out! I also agree with Freya (as usual). I had the pleasure of meeting Garreth on GODZILLA and it is quite obvious why he has become successful with oppotunities: He is a gentleman who respects everyone involved with the process. Maybe a lesson here?

In reality, ithe IMAX camera is bigger, heavier and denser.

What a great cinematographer and a great man. He will be missed.

We made an entirely new viewing system for the IMAX MSM camera to make the eyepiece position much more friendly for hand held. It was also much brighter and sharper than the original. We then machined a "Panavised" mount on the bottom of the camera body to accept Panavision style handles that allowed the camera to be balanced on Hoyte's shoulder. Finally, I had made extra long cables that allowed all power and Preston requirements to be led aft to a specially built backpack that our dolly grip wore while guiding Hoyte during a shot. All in all, it worked brilliantly. G

I'm going to take that as a compliment! Thanks Phil. Consider it was hand held with a 78 pound IMAX camera as well! G

Enjoy... I sure did... http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zSWdZVtXT7E

This time, Hoyta van Hoytema nailed it. By drama, I'm referring to the narrative story. When the big action starts, Chris goes BIG with the format, IMAX, thus lighting up that big IMAX screen.

Prisoners was Digi as far as I know but not 16:9 (1.78:1). 16:9 is what the current HDTV format is. Not to be confused with the theatrical formats of 1.85:1 or 2.40:1. It's all a creative choice.

It's quite simple really. Chris drove the idea of mixing the formats for dramatic purposes. The drama was photographed in Panavision 4 perf anamorphic that is 2.40:1 and the action scenes are photographed in IMAX 65mm, 15 perf that is actually 1.43:1 aspect ratio. No 16:9 involved. That is mainly a digital format. Chris is all film. You will see it again in his upcoming picture "INTERSTELLAR" this fall. G

Haha! I have a few of those in my family as well. But all kidding aside, I was out of town last year with work from January through September! The dog growled at me when I walked back in my door!! So, there was NO time for family or friends except those of my camera team. G