CHE

Let me see if I have got this straight.... If I were to take an incident reading on my main subject and get a read-out of a 1.4 f-stop...what is this telling me? Is it telling me that given the lighting conditions, film speed, and frame rate, I have just found middle gray? If I were to expose for that f-stop, would I be exposing near the toe and basically killing all the shadows while creating a huge range for the highlights? Follow up...I keep the same film speed and frame rate but introduce a couple of 1Ks. I take an incident reading on my subject on now get a F-16. Am I now creating a huge range for the shadows and little to no room for the highlights? Finally, does middle gray have to fall in the middle of the characteristic curve and can it be located in nearer the toe or shoulder as mentioned above? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Thanks one and all. I will post pics of the good vs bad. The difference was incredible...almost has obvioius as day and night. Ok, thanks again and watch for the pics.

Hello All... I recently shot a short on Kodak Vision 500T. I had adequate light and was getting readings around 4-5.6. I also used a grey card at the head of each roll. Here is my question...the telecine came back looking simply horrible. There was grain all over the place and the colors were totally washed out. The lab claims that it was shot poorly. However, I have sent the film to a new lab and it came back looking really good. What happened at the first lab? I used PRO 8MM in California for the bad telecine. Any thoughts? I would like to understand what constitutes a bad transfer. Thanks.

David... Thank you very much for your detailed reply. I very much appreciate all of your expertise. Sincerely,

So... I am going to film a short on 16mm. Do I need to film a grey card at the head of each lighting set-up? I only ask because I have gotten seriously burned by not using one. Will it help that much if I do use one...and how often would you recommend that I film it? Thanks for all of your help.

Negative film allows for multiple high quality prints to be made ie, THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION. It is also more condusive for color correction. Finally, it allows for prints to be made, edited, synced, etc with no fear of damaging the original negative. After the film is ready...you can go back and cut up your negative (have a professional do this.) With reversel, one screw up and you can kiss your film goodbye. I know this was a brief overview...but I hope it helps.

SpikeyAnnie....thanks for the input. It is good to know that I am not the only one frustrated with the slasher/bloody/suicide/martial arts films. I like the idea about writing regualtions into the syllabus. In fact, for next semester...I think that I will have all student projects revolve around an online contest like the neighborhood day contest (neighborhoodday.org) or something from media liquid.com This would get them to focus on telling a visually compelling story without the use of guns and the like. On a side note...how do you like SCAD? I was thinking of applying to teach down there a while back...but family concerns kept me in ole' Michigan. CHE

Hello All...and thanks in advance for your help. I am a full time instructor at a community college teaching in its motion picture department. Like many film schools, my students are fairly short sided and only want to make BLOODY films about drug deals/suicides/shoot outs/etc. I am incredibly concerned about this and feel that students leaving the program will not have the necessary portfolio to A) get a real job or B) get into a four year school. Here is my question... Do you think it would be more beneficial to the students if they left the program with a packaged portfolio/demo reel or a 20 minute slasher flick? I personally believe that a polished portfolio is the answer. If that is the way to go, I envision that they will include work from thier 6 production classes including AVID editing, studio lighting, 16mm cinematography, and Film Production I, II, III. What do you industry guys think? Thank you very much. CHE