Timo Haapasaari

How do you use these filters and which type you use? I bought this Tiffen b&w filter mainly to observe the clouds, but I'm interested in using it for contrast viewing as well. There just isn't so many people that do it anymore, so nobody has ever been able to explain me the basic techniques. For example if I take the yellow tone in consideration, does it make any sense to use the b&w filter when shooting on color?

>>"You never want them to be able to pinpoint what is wrong." -Good point. To not being too obvious, and still give the effect - subconsciously. Even though that must be one of the hardest things to create in cinema, that´s just the thing we´re trying to do. >>"..you should start by taking a good look at yourself and see what scares YOU." -A very good point also. Anyway, thanks for many of you for the tips!!

Yes, we have discussed and watched alot of films and other reference material. The thing is that David Lynch is a master of uneasy feeling and he really knows how to take the audience. We´re no masters. Merely students and beginners. We can´t go and try to copy Lynch or Polanski or Hitchcock. It would be a disaster. All we can do is think hard, collect some examples and listen to good (or any) advices. Couple of things we are probably going to use: - Extremely slow camera movement - Light will bounce from the orange metro benches up to the face - ´ugly´ compositions (to not take the rules of golden mean and space for the wiev so seriously) And of course the sound plays a big role in this project. But if you have any experiences of building suspension and fear, and would like to share some, please!

Yes, well.. I can set the exposure myself and I don´t think we´re going to use any red velvet (punainen sametti), but I just thought if you people had any experiences of this kind. Or any kind. Apparently I was wrong..

I´m shooting a short film soon. It´s located in the subway and the genre is horror/psychological thriller (the director likes David Lynch alot). We´ve been looking for visual ways to give an uneasy feeling for the audience. Do you have any good experiences or tips to share?

A very useful concept is the mired shift. Mathematically, this is defined as 1000 * (1000/T2 - 1000/T1) where T1 is the color temperature you have and T2 is the color temperature you desire (for example the color temperature of your film). The mired shift is sometimes called the light balance (LB) index of the filter, and it is listed in the table above. There are two great things about the LB index for a filter: 1. It doesn't depend on the color temperature, and 2. It is additive. The first point means that an 80A (LB -131) filter will not only change light with a photographic color temperature of 3200K to 5500K, but also for example 2256K to 3200K - also a shift with a mired of -131. The second point means that you can obtain a LB index that is not in the table by combining filters (i.e. placing more than one filter before the lens). Suppose as an example that you need to convert 11,000K (a clear bright day) to 5500K. Using the formula above you know you need a LB index of 91 mired, so you might use a 85C with a 81 filter (+81+9 = +90 mired).

Filter--Exp.increase----Conversion----mired shift 81---------1/3--------3300K to 3200K-------+9 81A-------1/3--------3400K to 3200K-------+18 81B-------1/3--------3500K to 3200K-------+27 81C-------1/3--------3600K to 3200K-------+35 81D-------1/3--------3700K to 3200K-------+42 81EF------1/3--------3850K to 3200K-------+53 As you can see, these filters are designed with type B tungsten balanced films in mind. However, they are not limited to this.

The scene in Road to Perdition where mr. Roonie and his gang get shot in the rain is already a classic! Damn!

So what´s the difference and/or history between 2.35 and 2.40(2.39)? Some sources talk about 2.33:1. I´ve noticed that in the AC magazine, when they talk about anamorphic it´s 2.40, otherwise 2.35. In the American Cinematographer Manual though it says that the 2.35 hasn´t existed for a long time! I´m a bit confused here..