Gregory Irwin

That’s the entire point Uli. There shouldn’t have been ANY live ammo on set and the gun should have NEVER been left unattended. We have several protocols in place to prevent this from ever happening. G

You’re right to a degree Phil, it’s common sense here. But sometimes lack of experience and the lack of aptitude for the position does away with common sense. There are two relevant union aspects here. 1. we are mourning the loss of one of our very own. She was a rising star in our guild with quite the story behind her. 2. if this movie had been staffed by experienced union members, the likelihood of this accident drops significantly since the union members who are handling the guns must go through training and certifications in order to have that job. In fact, we all are required to go through numerous safety certifications in order to be eligible to work on union jobs. G

It’s being reported that the loaded gun was placed on an open cart where the First AD, Dave Halls, picked it up without either checking with the amourer if it was ok to take it or checking if the gun was loaded or empty. If true, he needs to be thrown out of the DGA and prevented from working in our industry again for violating the basic protocols of gun safety on set that he is directly responsible for. Also, the amourer needs to be disciplined for leaving a loaded gun out in the open where Halls was able to retrieve it unsupervised. It should have been unloaded in a locked gun box til it was time to use with all parties aware of the gun’s status including the actor who shares this irresponsibility. I mean really! Who in their right mind would ever point a gun at someone and pull the trigger if you hadn’t confirmed whether the gun was empty or not?? My God! This is common sense! Alec Baldwin absolutely shares the responsibility of Halyna’s death. G

Yes 2 people were involved. The cinematographer is now dead! The director was injured! There is no excuse for this under any circumstances!!! I looked at IMDb and RUST seemed like a smaller size production that had people of limited experience in charge. But that is not the real issue. We work in a world of make believe. In reality, this is COMMON SENSE! It’s not even a movie issue. Simple common sense would have prevented this from ever happening. And to answer your question, this thankfully does not happen often. But when it does happen, the people involved need to be held responsible.

This is awful news. What the hell happened??? Who was in charge of the gun safety??? We have a system of checks and balances for guns on set to PREVENT anything like this from occurring! We need to know where the accountability lies with the First Assistant Director, the Prop Master and/or the Armorer. They are directly responsible for gun safety on set. And if the reports are true that Baldwin was the trigger man, what the fuck was he thinking? He could possibly be charged with involuntary manslaughter! I’m really upset and angry about this. Another senseless death on a movie set where everything should be make believe. Heads should roll!!! G

I actually agree with all you said Stephen! With one exception. I felt that Rami was a bit wasted for the talent that he is. I wanted to see more of him and his character. Ana was a total highlight! And of course, the regular supporting cast is rock solid. It was a couple of the other roles that I had issues with. G

I didn’t have any issues with the flares either. Cinematographers want Panavision anamorphic lenses for that exact blue streak flare. I felt the cinematography was serviceable for the story but I didn’t see anything that really made it stand out. Especially when placed along side SKYFALL. More than anything, I found the story confusing and I also questioned some of the casting choices. Just my thoughts… G

Amen Brother! I’m on a mandatory vaccination movie (as a condition for employment) and we still have to wear masks while at work because of the Return to Work Agreement with the Studios. It’s a pain! G

I am very proud to report that my union, The IATSE, has successfully negotiated a new contract with the AMPTP and has avoided a nationwide shutdown of motion pictures and television production in the USA. We were scheduled to stage a walkout strike on Monday, October 18th. This would have been a first in our 128 year history. It took our union president, Matthew Loeb, to set the strike deadline in order to alert the employers to take our bargaining positions seriously and bring substantial offers to the table in the past few days. Last night, the agreement was reached. This simply proves that our union continues to have the power and authority to influence the employers as they have conceded to our reasonable demands that for months they were rejecting. This is just the first step in changing the culture of our business thus making it a much better work environment for all film, television and video workers not only in the USA but eventually around the world. Excessive hours and little turnaround between shifts without breaks is not a sustainable way to work over many years. I applaud our leadership for improving these conditions. Now the membership will read the new contract and vote to either ratify it or reject it. I am convinced that we will overwhelmingly ratify the new contract. The following is just a few of the contractual improvements: Better living wage for the lesser paid crafts Annual cost of living wage increase An updated and more generous streaming contract Longer turnaround between shifts Weekend turnaround Increases in employer funded retirement and healthcare benefits Increased penalties for late or no meal breaks There are many more bullet points but I’ll end it here. G

Diopters are basically magnifying lenses of different strengths. That’s why they are round. The most common sizes are 138mm, 4.5”, 5” and 6” round. It really doesn’t matter if the diopter has a larger diameter than the taking lens. As long as the taking lens is centered on the diopter, it will work. You just don’t want it smaller than the lens due to coverage over the taking lens. G

I just wrapped BLACK ADAM for Warner Bros/DC Comics and it too had around a $300M budget. My camera equipment budget was well north of $100,000/week (just equipment rental, not including labor costs) and we were always having to make strategic decisions based on our budget limits. In the end, it’s always business management. G

I wanted to provide 2 photos of the 40x40 solids that we fly overhead for sunlight control. In these pictures, they are suspended by a 100 foot Champion Crane. G

It is interesting to note that Southern Cal has a different quality of light than most places. There the sky is white vs. for instance, the Georgia blue sky. The reflectivity is vastly different. But regardless of that, we rarely shoot in direct uncontrolled sunlight. Of course we use it as a backlight and that creates the formula for the open exposures that are more in shadow. You know the age old adage: shoot facing east in the morning and west in the afternoon. We also regularly fly 40’x40’ framed silks and blacks up high on condors to control the daylight - especially during the middle of the day when the light is too toppy to look any good. That will turn the hard sunlight into more of a soft ambient source while the big movie lights bang in there to create shape. That’s what makes the wider open stops possible with the same amount of ND. G

It depends on what kind of light and how bright it is outside. G

We shoot 1280 ISO with ND 1.2 or ND1.5. 24FPS/180 degree shutter. G

Any of these focus aids, whether it’s the Cine Tape, Light Ranger or the Cine RT Focus Bug, are simply focus references. The focus puller still has to do the work. The Cine Tape will only read what’s dominant in frame and usually in the foreground regardless of where focus should be played. The Light Ranger and the Cine RT are more sophisticated but are still limited and cannot make the focus choices that the story demands. For example, the Cine Tape may only read the back of the foreground head of a person rather than the person facing the camera in the classic “over the shoulder “ shot. The Cine RT cannot detect proper focus in a crowded frame such as an actor walking down a crowded New York sidewalk through a mass of pedestrians on a 400mm lens. What about an actor wearing a helmet with a visor in front of his face? What will these sensors read? Not the eyes. The Light Ranger would do better in these situations due to the graphic overlays on the digital focus monitor it employs but again, the focus puller still needs to pull focus and make the constant decisions of how and where to play focus as the story evolves in real time. The challenge is still there. Nothing is bullet proof. Finally, I want to comment about Tyler’s claim of shooting at deep stops like a T8 while outside. I can’t speak for everyone here but I will say that most shows that I’m aware of, regardless of shooting inside or outside, shoot mostly at wide open stops to achieve a shallow depth of field that is widely considered more aesthetic. I’m currently working with the Cooke Full Frame 1.8x Anamorphic lenses on a large format sensor and my exterior stop is around a T2.8. In the spherical world, I usually live around a T2. G

Even if scab camera people do take over the reins, there won’t be a director, a cinematographer, assistant directors, actors, post production staff or any other job that has agents and specific contractual commitments. Their guilds and locals are supporting the strike. It isn’t reasonable for the employers to staff across the board with non union labor and have to deal with contact disputes and law suites. The unions still have this power to shut down the industry. I just hope a contract will be agreed upon before any of this happens. G

Trust me. It’s true. No one will cross the picket line to work a camera. I also just learned that FedEx and UPS have stated that they will not cross any lines to deliver to the productions. Right now, the climate is right to negotiate a good contract. G

I believe as well that Americans have a dutiful and dedicated work ethic. But as for the unions not having power, we shall see that outcome very soon. Here is an excerpt from yesterday’s Variety: Some 60,000 IATSE members could end up walking off the job, most of whom are based in Los Angeles. A strike, if it comes, would lead to a nationwide shutdown of TV and film production, because three of the locals — 600, 700 and 800 — are “national” unions. Local 600, the largest of the locals, represents 9,600 camera operators and cinematographers in the U.S. If they walk out, no one would be able to hold a camera on a set in the U.S. The guild has also distributed a letter to the AMPTP with signatures including Checco Varese, James Laxton, Roger Deakins, Rodrigo Prieto and Emmanuel Chivo Lubezki. Additionally, a joint union statement on behalf of the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, International Union of Teamsters and Writers Guild of America East said, “On behalf of our hundreds of thousands of members working across film and television, we stand in solidarity with our I.A.T.S.E. brothers, sisters and kin. The basic quality of life and living wage rights they’re fighting for in their negotiations are the issues that impact all of us who work on sets and productions. We stand with the I.A.T.S.E.” G

I’m very proud of my union who represents my and about 160,000 others business interests in the motion picture industry, where the AMPTP (employers) are refusing to negotiate in good faith with the 13 Hollywood IATSE Locals and Guilds who work tirelessly to keep all of the product coming to fill theatrical, television and streaming platforms. It is extremely disappointing to know that our employers do not support safe work hours with proper rest periods between long shooting days and then wish to raise the qualifications for the pension and healthcare plans that will affect thousands of young workers who need to qualify for a retirement fund and healthcare for themselves and their families. They also proposed to eliminate all pension increases over the coming years. This is a business to us. This industry is how we provide for our families’ financial security. We all feel very fortunate to work in the craft of filmmaking that we love and have dedicated ourselves to. But in the end, this is also how we make our living and plan for our future. We ask for a good living wage, proper rest periods and benefits that we can rely on as we get older. This is not unreasonable. In fact, we know that we are on the correct side of this dispute because we have earned the support of solidarity from other key guilds in our business including The Directors Guild, The Writers Guild, The Screen Actors Guild and The Teamsters. Our hope is that this support from our brothers and sisters will force the AMPTP to return to the table and negotiate with us in good faith to an agreement that we can all accept. If that doesn’t happen soon, the IATSE will most likely stage a strike and walk off the job shutting down the entire industry. We shall soon know what’s to come in the coming days. Gregory Irwin Member of the International Cinematographers Guild, Local 600, IATSE

Gotcha about zone focus. As for the Goodfellas shot you referenced, my friend Larry McConkey was the steadicam operator. He did it brilliantly! But know that there was also a focus puller who did a magnificent job keeping the shot in focus by eye, a dolly grip guiding Larry through the maze and a sound boom man waving the mic overhead. If you watch carefully, you can see a couple of camera and boom shadows in the shot (just to show how hard they were working ☺️). They did great! G

Drifting focus issues are the exact reason why cinematographers hire people like me, called “Focus Pullers”, who specialize in keeping shots in focus. We pull focus manually via skill, judgment and experience. In motion pictures, we don’t use any form of auto focus because it takes away from the story telling objectivity that is required during the course of a shot to where and how focus is played on the subject. We may also elect to shift focus from foreground to background (or elsewhere in the frame) at a moment the story demands to continue to tell the story cinematically. Auto focus simply chooses to focus on what’s predominantly in the foreground and that may or may not be the correct choice. With the camera moving as well as the subject moving, it’s too difficult for the operator to frame and keep the subject in focus. Unlike television, sports camera operators who do both, they are primarily following focus on one subject from start to finish instead of playing multiple focus cues based on framing, the action or dialogue. G

Thanks so much for this info. This could be perfect! We’ll rent it first and test it to evaluate if it’s the desired effect the directors want. What’s even better is the location of this business since we will be in New York! G

Hey all… are there any places left in the USA that rents or sells tape driven video cameras such as the High 8 camera? Any suggestions are appreciated! G