Ed Nyankori

Ive got a cavision bellows that Im very happy with from cavision.com

Batman, Dont be afraid to use halogens or even household bulbs in cliplights or practicals. They have a lower colortemp (they are more orange) than your varibeams but thats ok for video b/c it tends to go so blue anyway. As mentioned above use a bounce for your subjects and augment your set with the cheap stuff. If you have access to blackwrap its great for controlling the light. If a prop is to be featured you can use one of your halogens to make it pop or to bring up your background where needed. Be careful when you see out the window that light is very blue and bright that can become troublesome. I never met a light I didnt like (though there are many I dont love).

Good point about the XL1/XL1s, make sure you look at the new Sony coming out in Feb. For the money the XL2 cost I think that Sony might "last" you longer. In terms of viability in the narrative fiction film world, it seems we are always chasing the camera du jour (Sonyvx1000, xl1,pd-150,dvx100,dvx100a) thats what 8 years and so many belles of the ball. If your just getting started then buy something that will position you to get the gig. Hey its better to get to shoot something b/c you've got the goods, than not shoot at all...Shoot - shoot -shoot http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...?showtopic=3349

fstop, You gotta do what you gotta do; I think you are just getting advice from people whom have had just about anything and everything go wrong and they just want to help you avoid failure. But as I said "You gotta....". I wish my student projects had car stunts; I think I had less balls than money to do them. Good luck

Rain:The convention is to back light the rain. For low budgets this isnt too practial b/c of the size lights and positioning required. I have side lit rain keeping it off the talent except for a pleasing backlight, also for close ups build a rig from pvc with holes cut in it to provide larger drops of rain. Bleach: As for three kings I believe it was done through a skip bleach process ( im sure to get flamed for that assumption). This can be done on video by overexposing. I shot a sequence on a dvx100 with that stratedgy and i liked the results although I would want the whole film to look like it.

Ive been exactly where you are with that camera, although mine in the dinosauric 100p. I have very found that this camera is very versitile and being someone who hates the idea of fixing it in post I have settled in on some scene file dogma. First off, the camera is factory set to have 4 (f1-f4) settings for 60i. Chuck'em set all but one to 24p and then play away. I like to set my m ped (master pedestal) to -8 or so. This crushes the blacks and pump the chroma up to +something. Its always easier to desaturate later. I pull the detail down a little if Im shooting multicam b/c its just to news like (video like). Otherwise I use a ultracon filter to negotiate lattitude when it a single cam. I failed to mention I hate the factory settings, I bought my camera and shot my first feature with it then had a secong unit DP come in and he tweeked it a little (see above) and I was ashamed of much of the work I had in the can. Play with it see what you like but if I can offer one more piece of advice: Slate the camera settings you use so you can compare the images after they have ben shot. It helps to better understand what each setting does.

Woody, Its sounds like you might be in my same boat or at least sea as that I dont have the money or experience to always get what I want but I do have some vision and like to take chances. I'd like to point you in the direction of the "Shaky cam" devised by Sam Rami for "Evil Dead". Its a 2x4 that has the camera mounted in the center and an operator at each end. Using this technique you can pass over foreground elements and really sell a POV on the cheap...Forgive me great masters of cinematography for budding in but Im suffering from post shoot - Ive got nothing on the horizon but slupping cable blues... ed nyankori

I have two power inverters one is a 65w deal that I purchased from BigLots, a wholesale discount store for $7, I should have bought a dozen of them as now they are not available at Biglots though I have seen them for $40 at the apple store. I also have a 300w inverter I bought from Radio Shack following a long shoot day when I forgot to charge the batteries for the followig day. Point is: I have used either of these to power a 13" tv as a monitor for my dvx100. We managed to have a monitor all day though we had to jump start my truck. Everyone concerned will thank you for the monitor even if its a crappy $100 tv.

One "trick" I have seen for lighting dark skinned people for video is to use a bit of chocolate gel in your fill and kickers. Given the limitations of video's lattitude the chocolate gel will offer more heat where you want it w/o creating harsh white highlights that would make your subject look "lit". Once again this is a trick so test it out before you sell it...