Nigel Smith

Can anyone tell me the properties of this particular diffusion filter, compared to spun or standard diffusion? Thanks on advance nigel

Thanks for the tips Stephen. The college has been using Deluxe 142, since Chrysalis/Todd AO/Ascent Media/Soho Images and iLab went out of business. Glad to hear of some alternatives :) Nigel

I disagree. Prime Suspect, London's Burning and Spooks are just a few examples of TV drama shot on S16mm. And some of it looked great :-p

Hi My name is Nigel Smith and I'm the technical supervisor for the MA Filmmaking course at Goldsmiths. Students shoot their first films on S16mm and normally use our Arri SR2 camera kit. However our SR2 [1/2] camera body is old and worn out. So I am looking for a S16mm SR2/3 to hire or lease for a period of 7 weeks, from 16 January until 10 March. This period covers several workshops, both with myself and cinematographer Witold Stok, 2 test shoots in the studio, and 4 one day on-campus supervised shoots. Total footage will be 4,000FT. Specifically we will a camera body with 3 or more batteries and charger, two magazines, and video tap. We have Zeiss and Canon lenses, RB support system, Arri matte box & FF, and SD video monitor. If you can help in any way, or know of someone who can, please get in touch. Thank you Nigel

I came across this today on the Digital Bolex webpage, which got me thinking: "For instance, a 25mm in S16 has a very similar field of view as a 50mm in S35. Even though they have a similar field of view they do have a different look. The look difference between S35mm and S16mm: S16 gives you roughly twice the depth of field for any particular field of view and has none of the critical focus issues. Along with this greater depth of field you also get greater spatial distortion, meaning things in the background look further away from the things in the foreground. So basically, when you are shooting S16 compared to shooting S35 you are trading the illusion of depth created by an in focus / out of focus relationship, for the illusion of depth created by the size and shape difference of foreground and background." I have always considered a S35mm 50mm lens pretty much identical to a S16mm 25mm lens when shooting S16. Is it true that it's distortion of perspective would be different? Thanks for any opinions or advice Nigel

Hi I don't know what has shifted, but the view in the viewfinder of my SR2 is now crooked - you have to tilt your head about 15 degrees clockwise to see the image straight. The camera has a t bar and B&W Sony video tap fitted. Rotating the t bar slightly only moves the image in the video tap. Any ideas on how to correct the viewfinder image would be appreciated. BTW, the camera had a S16 Daemon conversion many years ago.

The 1:1 HD was in this case 8 bit - I phoned to check as it is a different Avid import option for 10 bit - 1:1x. We are finishing to Digibeta as the only affordable option for festival screenings. We screen the finished films at BAFTA every year for example, and can't afford to hire HDCAM decks for mastering and then again every time we screen the films. BAFTA's screening theatre, almost all festivals and many other cinemas [eg Curzon chain] have Digibeta decks installed. To be honest the films look great at BAFTA, so long as you are not inthe front 4 rows, but then that's true of most cinemas for me! One more point - TBH I feel that RED 2K makes excellent SD, but slightly soft HD. I wish we could afford DCP, but I think it is too expensive still at the moment. I do however make a DNxHD185x digital file for archiving - so that rich students can pay to have this put on to HDCAM or DCP'ed. Thanks for the comments :)

Hi A post house recently did a grade on a project I am involved with, shot on Red One MX at 2K 16:9 25fps. The project will be finished at 1080/25P, and then downconverted onto Digibeta. The graded footage came back as uncompressed HD, rather than DNxHD185x as requested. Do you think we have lost anything getting an 8 bit rather than 10 bit file of the master? 1024 - 256 seems like a big step down, but I was assured that the difference wouldn't be noticeable on Digibeta. Any opinions or advice appreciated - I'm still learning about post workflows. Nigel

Well it's already happening in London with neg processing. Deluxe has done a deal with Technicolour that involves shutting their lab in Soho [soho Film Lab, was Soho Images]. So now all neg goes to Technicolour at Pinewood for processing, then comes back to Soho for TK. iLab has been taken over by Reliance Mediaworks, whose website still offers film processing in Soho, but they don't respond to enquiries. So it appears that Pinewood studio are the only lab serving central London now?

Aranovsky. "Requiem for a Dream" [dvd extra]

You want the mic as close as possible to the talent, and a room that is acoustically as dead as possible. A room with maximum soft furnishings and minimum large hard surfaces. You can add room tone and you can add reverb, but you can't take it away.

I strongly agree with both points. I look after a Red One MX and had been waiting 2 years to buy the Scarlet that was advertised. Very disappointed that it turned out to be Epic Lite, rather than all you need to shoot for under £10,000.

Hi I have some students about to shoot in a public indoor swimming pool in London. In my experience pool rooms are very warm and humid nowadays, and I'm worrying about the humidity. Does anyone have any experience of this and/or advice? Thanks in advance...

See earlier thread for other opinions: http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=26873&st=0

Added in the important word you forgot in your post ;) The AC article specifically states "For wider shots we could just use her dance double". It also talks about how to do a "Texas switch" with Natalie and her double. I don't see any dishonest information there.