Ed Nyankori

I'd recommend getting two 2ft four bank kino flos with both 3200k and 5600k tubes. They are relatively easy to use, safe and don't draw much current. They provide a soft but directional light that you can control fairly easily. Use the 5600k tubes if your set has sunlight coming into it. Use 3200k if you are mixing light from table lamps, Xmas lights , etc. you can even choose to mix them. Good luck.

Correction 2k and under use Edison or 20amp bates plugs. Some stages use a twist lock.

what kind of connectors do all these cables have? Under 2k Edison connector. 2k - 5k use 60amp bates 10k and maxi brutes use 100amp bates 6k, 12k, 18k and 20k use 220v bates (100amp) and you should order them with camlock to 220v bates adapters (commonly known as snake bites) And banded cable, does that mean its 5 single cables banded together? Yes it's #2 cable rated at 190amps The 2/0, 4/0 cables are laid seperately? Yes and are laid side by side. Rated for 300 amp and 400 amp respectively

Ive come seeking the same feedback. I dayplayed gaffer on a very successful XL H1 feature and am looking at the Canon XH-A1 to replace my DVX100p thats acting abit screwy. To address the original question: I think the Canon HDV platform is pretty good despite the HDV compression. In the here and now the HVX200 delivers the most robust footage and has a familiar 24p look. The Canon 24f look is better than sony's and the file size of HDV makes the work flow of HD easier on my aging G4 laptop (the file size of Panasonics HD50 bogs down the old girl). Im starting to think that Canon is having a hardtime selling this model.

I have no idea where in the world you are or what the market is like there. But if I had $700 to spend on a short Id seek out an aspiring DP who already has the camera and some lighting gear. It seems in Atlanta that there is a DVX100 in every closet and in smaller markets in the southeast people are so inspired/passionate/curious/bored to drive hundreds of miles to work on short films. Perhaps the DP will offers the equipment and services very cheap for the purpose of getting experience and you can spend your money on your production design, props,food,etc. Good Luck.

I often wear polarizing sunglasses while shooting outdoors and even with cheap ones the effect seems greater with my sunglasses than my tiffen series 9 circular polarizer. Until recently I thought that a linear polarizer was just a polarizer w/o rotating capacity. Having overcome that misconception I was wondering if I will see a greater effect on highlights and sky-glare with a linear polarizer. I realize that any effect will differ based on the optics of the camera Im using , which is usually dv/hdv, but I would appreciate any thoughts on this issue including observations about tiffen's "water white" line. Edward Nyankori Gaffer/DP Atlanta,GA

A few years ago I shot a civil war reenactment in Savannah. I had a couple of night exteriors and only a 1200w hmi and a lowel kit. The scene was really large maybe half a football field but the location provided me with an advantage: the old fort had earthen mounds as bunkers. I was able to get the lightfixture relatively high (20' above the set) and used wide lens. This gave just enough stop and provided a nice moonlit ambience. The campfire provided the key light and i blocked the closeup to use the 1200 as a backlight. If I had 2 1200's Id put one high and behind the bridge the other lower heavily diffused closer to the camera (yes im ingoring the five camera situation) and test the fire light ahead of time to know what to expect. Y'all have a good shoot, now!

Ive got one, I've never used it. But if I ever have to shoot handheld for hours Ill dust it off. It does relieve alot of the weight shooting handheld but....its kind of impractical.

http://www.lowel.com/dp/dp_b.html#info here's a link to a lowel photometric chart for a dp light. http://www.replacementlightbulbs.com/lampbtl.html here's a link to photmetric data for a bulb. http://www.stlltd.com/rentals/photometrics/s4_photo.htm here's a link for ETC Source Four Leko photometrics. Note how much a difference the lens has on the light output.

There's so much more to the light than the wattage. In this era of emerging technology wattage is becoming less and less relevant. Consider the emergence of fluorescent and LED lighting. Wattage really isnt the best measure of how much light each will provide. Other factors like the lamps housing and/or lens also greatly affects how a light performs. The conventions in early to mid 20th century lighting were based off the dominance of mole-richardson light fixtures. The assumptions based on the effects of reflectors, fresnel light loss, etc allowed the artist/technican to better predict the effects of 1000w, 5k, etc. Now more than ever the PHOTOMETRICS of a bulb and/or fixture is important to understand. The photometrics of almost evbery fixture is available from the manufacturer. This will help you to understand all aspects of a lighting fixture.

I want to use some super8 footage in a low music video amongst other projects. But it will only be effective if transferred to HDV. Im not sure what to expect from the transfer but I know I dont want to upres from DV and want to examine the useablility of super8 as an effect for some other projects. Cost is always an issue so if anyone knows what cost to expect per 50ft cartridge to hdv, id appreciate it. Thanks!

Id black out the windows and keep my back to them all day; shooting down the length of the room using the wooden doors and adjacent rooms to provide framing elements.

Im going to get a little philosophical here. Go with what you know! You got the gig on your own merits right; so why would you want to start experimenting when your director wants to go quickly. Certainly the big lights through a 12x12 would make for a nice look but they require alot to move around and may not be necessay for your material. If you're not feeling it, who will?

I think we all need to use an inverter from time to time. If only to charge batteries run a laptop etc. So definitely a good investment. As far as lighting your interior Ill offer my own low budget solution. I use(d) 12" fluorescent cabinet fixtures designed to go under kitchen cabinets. The ones I bought from homedepot gang together in as many as three fixtures. I used two covered in black paper tape to conceal the housing and tucked one into each sun visor. I believe I added some diffusion to knock down the level and hide the 'lighting effect'. We experimented with using a third to up light the subjects using some amber gel to match the dash lights but I thought it was abit much. We shot it both ways so ill be interested to see which one makes the cut. In the past Ive shot parked in a garage with black or green backgrounds (id recomend black). You can use a light on a stand to simulate passing lights and pen lights behind the car to simulate headights in the distance. I think the usual mistakes in lighting car interiors, especially mistakes directors force you into, lies with unrealistic expectations from the light level inside a car. I often feel if it doesnt look consistent with the exposures Ive been offering outside the car then directors want "more" and "even". Despite the fact we know its dark in a car. Oh well. Some of my favorite car shots rely on the audio track driving the dialog and montages of the car, the road and the driver. Instead of the mouth and faces.

Id agree with the painting solution 100% but I wanted to offer some practical solutions. It sounds like you are doing some freebie shorts and you want them to look their best but painting them might be a problem. If you cant paint them hide them. The first thing I do when I see a set with white walls is start looking for artwork to cover them; Ive even taken the rugs off the floor and nailed them to the wall or framing a scene around interesting window treatments. Embrace your enviroment: light through the windows using the window frames as breakups to create something interesting in your background. set dressing - palm plants and other plants can also save the day.