John Brawley

I don't think David's saying that at all. Even if you don't do any lighting, you still need to know WHERE to point the camera. You have to cover a scene in a way that is sympathetic to the story. Which lens ? How are you going to move the camera. What are you using to move the camera ? There is so much more to lighting than the units with power cables running from them. Available lighting is just as demanding as lighting with fixtures. For starters it's variable and you have to deal with it changing. You still need to try and stage the action to best take advantage of what's naturally there. And it takes a great eye and as much skill to be able to use available light to CRAFT it to do what you want. Flags, bounce, negative fill etc. Karl you seem to have the idea that cinematographic skill is somehow equated with using lights ?? Lighting with the sun is the most challenging lighting you can do. jb

In australia there are rules. Basically it depends on the age. newborns are only allowed to work for 2 hours a day i think. By the time you'r 5 it's 4 hours. And at 10 it's 6 hours. Twin's are often used too, so if one baby is sooking, then they can swap it out for one that's happier. Oh and various state rules often require a chaperone that's done a police check and the production also often needs a permit to specifically employ minors. jb

At the last AFM, a horror film I worked on (well close it's more of a supernatural thriller) got great attention and is in final negotiation for a limited theatrical release. I do know that the bottom has totally fallen out of the MG's the distributors are prepared to put up. We had major barriers in the us, being essentially considered a *foreign* film because of the Australian accents... The film also sold into other territories in europe very quickly. jb

Hello to all my friends in the UK ! As well as the US premiere Lake Mungo will be premiering (UK) at the Barbican film festival on the 17th of March. The film was only finished last year, although I shot the film in late 2005/2006 on just about every format you can imagine. 35mm, Super 16mm, Super 8, all the way though the video formats HD and SD and a couple of mobile phones. Hopefully some of you pommies can get along ! You can watch the trailers here. and a UK review http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?film_id=16203 Thanks ! jb

Cheers mate.... It will be soon and I'll be sure to let you know when it does !!! jb

Thanks Gus ! jb

At night or during the day ??? Mate eeven between takes you'll notice the white flash as the exposure changes in ramp down and up and when you park the film ? Believe me light leaks around the back of shutters. jb

double post

Actually no that IS the point I was making. if the film is moving and there's a very slight amount of activation of the grains then it will affect the overall sharpness. This is what JPB at Aaton was arguing. Remeber the shutter isn't light proof. That's why you get flash frames. Depending on ambient light, most cameras can't shoot more than 5 seoncds a frame without a capping shutter. I only know from the end results that it's a remarkably sharp image (lenses aside) Have you found that Hunter ?? jb

It's so sad that you think this. Where do you think innovation comes from ? I love making mistakes. It's when the most exciting things happen, and the best lessons are learnt. It's even sadder that everyone is talking about the camera/s that it was shot on, or the fact that it was a mainly digitally originated. How about giving credit to the DOP who actually won this award and made these choices ? Anthony Dod Mantle won the award, not the camera. His body of work stands out, and it's fresh. Why is it that all the most militant naysayers' of slumdog haven't actually SEEN it !?! jb

That's cause it *is* odd !!! There's no way you can soften in the same way a classic soft does optically for example. What about simple ND grads ? If the sky is blown out in a shot, no metadata is going to save you. You're still screwed without a grad ! Back to the OP, a 1/8 would be pretty *light* in feel. It depends of course on the focal length as well. What about using some atmosphere in front of the lens ? (hazer's for example) jb

Hi All. Just a short broadcasting of the news that Lake Mungo will have it's north American premiere at SXSW on the ominous date of Friday the 13th of March. Lucky it's a supernatural thriller ! SXSW is held in Austin Texas. The film was only finished last year, although I shot the film in late 2005/2006 on just about every format you can imagine. 35mm, Super 16mm, Super 8, all the way though the video formats HD and SD and a couple of mobile phones. I'm afraid I can't make it, but I'd love to hear from anybody who gets along to the screening. You can watch the trailers here. Thanks ! jb

Well Karl I rush to add, that's only in my experience, but Im sure other's will think differently. I think Super 16 gets a bad rap, but shot well it's actually a fantastic format. Wrestler anyone ?? jb

Hope you don't mind me jumping on this David. The more modern 16 cameras have lateral (side to side) film support IN THE GATE. Although many obsess about registration pins, these are not as important as many think for image steadiness. Many of the steadier 16mm cameras don't actually even have registration pins. Arri's later camera designs addressed their reputations for image instability and it's even possible to get lateral support fitted to your older arri's. As a general rule, the Arri SR ADVANCE (not the regular SR3) and the 416 are the best. Most Aaton's have the lateral film support. It's not very practical, but the Aaton a-minima is the steadiest and sharpest camera I've ever tested. Every time I've used it, telecine operator's and colourists comment on how sharp the images are. I had the chance to ask JPB from Aaton about this and he told me it was an accidental byproduct of their distant eye viewfinder. This feature was built into the camera so you didn't have to keep your eye on the viewfinder to stop light leaking back through the viewfinder optics. He had to totally redesign the gate and shutter area to allow a second shutter that works out of phase to the regular shutter. Now when you look at the area between the shutter and gate, you'll notice it 's quite peculiar. There's almost no room, and a very severe cone shape funneling into the gate. This has the effect of reducing stray light bouncing around the shutter area during pulldown. JPB says this almost eliminates very slight base fogging during pulldown. It's a bit of an impractical camera for many reasons, but it's definitely sharp !!!! jb

Although Super 16 has a bad rep, it depends on how you shoot it. Historically, a lot of Super 16 hasn't always been very steady, which is primary importance to a VFX artist. This was due to design of both cameras and older telecines. These days, with the right cameras and a 2k Arri scan then you should be in at least as good a shape as with HD. Super 16 of course gives you much better colour space to work with, and although it's not done as much these days, it can be very effective to do two passes in the grade, one for FG and one for BG which you use to generate the matte. So, stick to steadier modern cameras (most of the Aaton's and the later Arri's, the SR3 ADVANCE and the 416) and get a modern transfer then you'll can get great results. Unfortunately, many skimp in these areas. Lots of people think of Super 16 as a cheap option, and then go cheap all the way. For high speed the problem will be that there are different flange depth tolences for the film with the most common high speed cameras, the HS SR's. Do you need to shoot faster than 75 FPS ? this spot was done several years ago, shot Super 16 (probably 7217) and lots of 75FPS and 50 FPS slow mo. The pollen in this spot at the end was composited (shot 7205) jb

John i think this is a bit simplistic. It's a British company (and director) telling an Indian story. jb

Why shoot on RED if you're only shooting 2k ? You'd be much better off shooting on a 2/3 HD format wouldn't you ? RED @2K looks about the same as 720P and you've thrown away the 35mm DOF look so why punish yourself with one of the most unfriendly observational doco cameras around ? Is this RED solely because you or the production own a RED ?? Yes you can use Super 16 lenses in 2k Mode. Do some tests though. Im pretty sure you'll be disappointed in the picture quality, especially if you shoot out against a good HD camera, not to mention the more practical elements which you already seem aware of. I couldn't imagine anything worse than having a RED on my shoulder all day. I recently used the element technica hand held rig, and although it was very good, it's still unwieldily. And it doesn't suit doco style operation if you're pulling your own focus for example. The camera still sits to high on the shoulder for my liking. *edit. Actually i just remembered i shot a TV comedy pilot over 4 days that was all handheld. It wasn't easy and I was handing off to the grips and focus puller whenever I could. I tried an easy rig for a day and although that helps a little with the endurance, you're still *carrying* all that weight in some way or another. Plus i didn't like the *whippiness* it created in my hand held moves. Maybe that improves with practice, but i ditched it after trying it for a day. jb

You may be right, but as far as I know, the only system that actively images the sprockets for image stabilisation is the Vialta. The spirit does analyse the picture for image stability but this is fed in to the transport system. This is going to be the biggest drawback to using one of these DIY rigs. That and the fact most stills cameras are only good for 50000-100000 cycles. (just over 30 hours @ 24fps) jb

I think you mean the Sony Vialta ??? JB

RED shouldn't be a problem shooting in a car. I've done several films shooting in cars using the RED RAID with no dropped frames. Maybe you had a different set up ? Or have you just heard it's a problem ?? RED is in fact a PITA when shooting in a car hand held because the thing is so awkward and sits so high on the shoulder. You only really have a few angles you can actually use depending on how reckless you want to be and the size of the car. I'd consider the car mount again if I was you. jb

Don't think it's going to work ! You need to mark up the ground glass not the viewfinder. It will just be out of focus.... You have an XTR plus ? Im afraid it's not that easy to remove the ground glass from what i remember. jb

The only problem is that the labs are now mothballing their optical and grading gear. Probably to offset the costs and force their clients into their new DI suites. As far as I know there's nowhere in Australia you can get a traditional optical film finish. Sad. jb

Do you mean state or country ? There are 7 states and two territories in Australia. Most of them have some form of film production and development regime, along with the federal system. jb

I have always cleaned lenses the way I was trained by a very experinced lens technition that used to work at the company i used to work at. He was Canon trained, and zeiss / Angenieux as well. He said in the field the best thing was your breath. He hated all the cleaning products as they leave a small residue behind. The trick is to use a tissue like a kim wipe, wipe in one direction in circles from the center to the outside and do it once only and then throw the tissue away. The worsth thing you can do it to use the same bit of tissue (with the grit you've picked up) and then do it again !! In the workshop, I used to watch him pinch a tissue between needle point tweezers (!!) to clean the surfaces in the same manner. A ball of tissue, in circles, middle to outside and one pass before throwing the tissue. He used pure alcohol as cleaning fluid. You need to be careful of this as it will sometimes dissolve plastics, and paint (that may be on the outer mounting rings. jb

I own a Diva. They are great in terms of output. I believe the tube is brighter than the 4 bank regular tube. yes they do change colour when dimmed, going a pretty nasty magenta. but most lights change colour when dimmed. So brighter lamp than the 4 bank. Great for what they are. I'd go the Diva. jb