Colin Rich

Hi, I just wanted to hear thoughts about this flick. I found it uncommonly good, but there were some aspects of the cinematography that frankly seemed like mistakes.

I noticed two shots that were quite soft, there were some blown highlights that didn't seem like they should be (and of course many that felt wanted), there was also a shot, yes one shot with incorrect aspect ratio, and even a shot where Damon's face had a blurry/pixel-y spot on it.

Could these phenomena be in the master or was it just the exhibition? If in the master, are they due to a buggy RED + fast production + a DP with other things on his plate?

Also, the shallow depth of field from the RED (I've only seen this and Girlfriend Experience) just looks strange in my opinion from what I've seen

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Hi. I'm sure if this has been discussed much before (couldn't do a search at the moment), but I'm wondering about traveling with a small amount of gear. Specifically, I'll have a DVX in a pelican case and was wondering if I'll have any trouble bringing it on-board (I really prefer to have it with me during the flight). I've read that sometimes batteries aren't allowed in the cabin because of risk of combustion (!?). I'd appreciate any insight to this, thanks.

No one has mentioned Godard's film "A Woman is a Woman" yet? P.T. Anderson rips off the lens flare and red/blue color palette (minus the introduction of green and gold) almost shamelessly but in a much more OCD way.

Interesting point, I forgot all about the flares in that film. I'll have to check it out again.

Are you shooting your short at 24p?

 

On film a 144 degree shutter is used filming NTSC at 24 fps.

Yes it is 24pN. I'll be trying again tomorrow, I'm sure it'll work thanks to everyone's advice.

Yup it was NTSC. Thanks!

I'm prepping for a short film to be shot with an HVX200a. In the movie there are many important shots that include standard def, 1990's-era televisions.

During a test shoot, I could not get the rolling horizontal bars to disappear from the tv, despite cycling through all the possible shutter speeds using the synchro scan function. I was viewing the image on the camera's fold out LCD screen.

Any advice on how to remove the flickering lines would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I read that Kodak discontinued its '18 stock, but released 5260, a new 500T Vision 2 stock. Has anybody used this new stock? Any idea why they replaced '18? Does anyone know if '60 will be available for 16mm?

Between Kodachrome, EXR, the Vision 1 family, and now '18, it seems like Kodak has been discontinuing a lot of stocks lately.

I seriously doubt Anderson and Elswitt used any CG or trick filters in the film. Anderson is quite the purist, denying Elswit DI correction for the climactic father/son scene in "There Will Be Blood." Elswitt stated that he "seriously screwed up the lighting levels between the windows and the interior," and thus scanned the scene in to brighten and properly colorize the window areas. Anderson never placed the "fixed" footage in, stating in reference to the minimal digital artifacts: "I could never do that to Daniel's performance."

Very interesting. I must admit I never noticed the windows being off, probably because DDL's performance IS so enticing!

Ah, I see. Thanks!

Soon I'll be shooting a short drama with an HVX-200a at 24pn/720p in the US. Many necessary shots have standard def, NTSC tv's in them. I'm wondering if I'll get flicker shooting at 24p. Would any flicker be negated if I shot at 30p? I think a camera test will be helpful, but I don't yet have access to the HVX.

Thanks for the link, David

What are the differences between CCD and CMOS? What would one need to know about shooting on one chip vs the other? Are there even major differences? Is one generally preferable compared to the other?

(Sorry if this topic has been discussed before, I did a search but didn't find any concise comparisons)

Thanks!

That's a great scene. There is no mirror. Vincent Cassel is on the reflection side of the 'mirror', the first person you see is a double.

Haha. The most simplistic solution is frequently the best one!

There's a scene in "La Haine" where the Vincent Cassel character is doing a Travis Bickle impersonation in front of a mirror. The camera starts out nearly directly behind him, and he is seemingly blocking where we would see the camera's reflection in the mirror. Then, he bends over for a moment and the camera dollies past him, staring (nearly) straight into the mirror, yet only Vinz's reflection is visible. It's a fairly wide lens, so I would think you *should* be able to see the camera.

Here's a crude link:

Any idea how this shot was done (and I believe there's a similar shot in "Jarhead," too)?

Thanks,

Colin

Could anyone tell us what the color temperature of a sunset is? Obviously it becomes warmer as the sun goes down, but does it go as warm as 3200K?

Thanks.

The films of Mr. Terry Gilliam

I see. Thanks a lot for the help!

I couldn't find this info on the Tiffen website. Any idea how much light these filters take up? Does the 1/4 black promist take up 1/4 of a stop? I'm assuming the stronger filters take up more light, is that right?

I like the black pro mist myself :P, and Classic softs are fantastic.

Adrian, would you happen to have any stills?

Thanks!

Why do you think higher contrast gives you a smoother gradation between colors/tones? It's the opposite, ain't it?

Sorry if I was confusing. The lighting scheme will be contrasty, typically a few stops between key side and fill, but I would also like the smoothness between levels of light and dark that you can get more easily from film than digital. (If I could I'd shoot S16)

I mainly use a 1/3 Promist, sometimes a half

Thanks for the tip!

That should say negative film stock in my above post.

Hi,

Soon I'll be shooting a moody student short about a war veteran with PTSD. I'll be using a Panasonic HVX-200 at 720p/24p. The lighting will be contrasty and cool. However, I don't feel the HVX produces the smooth gradation between tones and colors that a reversal film stock would. To get a smoother image, I was thinking of using a contrast filter.

Is this a good idea? What filter would you recommend? I'm thinking of trying a low-con filter or possibly a black-pro-mist (though that might be too much). Of course I'll be shooting some tests, but I'd appreciate your input nonetheless.

Thanks!

I'd suggest checking out creativecow.com and going through a few of their AE tutorials. The previous posts have already cued you in on what sorts of techniques you might need: masking, distortion, projecting, etc. Creative Cow has a huge amount of written and video tutorials, many of which are on AE. Just browse for the techniques you want and check it out!

Here is a link to a short film I made ("Badinage"), shot with a Canon Scoopic on Kodak stocks. It's not terribly cinematographically-ambitious, but I think some of you would enjoy the story, and the animation, which was drawn directly onto the work print.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Vision3 has a bit more latitude towards underexposure than Vision2, so 7219 may be your best bet. I've used 7219 and consistently got good exposures at 2-3 stops under.