Chris Keth

I think they're great picks, though I haven't been able to see "A Very Long Engagement" yet.

Bingo, if you don't have the money to pay a real stuntman to figure it out and do it for you, write it some other way.

Bingo, if you want flash and a bang you just load the pistol with a small charge (20-25 grains) of black powder and a loading wad or wad of patches. You still have to be very careful because there will be fire and the wad will be a projectile, but it would only sting. A little bundle of patches would be the better option since they open up and spread when fired so will be safer. I've done this before and it looks very realistic because it essentially is, only without the lead. Still, I MUST STRESS (couldn't let you skip this part of my message :P ): talk to an arms expert. I'm telling you this from the point of view of a black powder shooter and hunter who is in film school. There may be a better, safer way to do it.

The advise on practicing is very good advice. I shoot quite a bit of handheld for my job at sporting events and it wakes up muscles you don't know exist. I'm getting pretty decent at it now, though. I get really shaky and tired after about 40 minutes straight though. I actually disagree about the Bourne Supremacy. I liked the handheld work a lot since they kept it pretty constant. It made the film feel urgent and paranoid but, of course, to each his own.

What is one exactly? I presume it's a wall of lights, essentially, but is it a big bank of kinos or...?

Then I need to meet you sometime :-D But let me be serious, a little. Don't blame the format, blame the people using it. HD is just HD, it'll never be anything more or less. It can be used well or it can be used poorly, just like any other medium from 65mm film to drawing pencils.

What mattebox is it that you use, Phil? I've been looking here and there for one I can put on the front of a lens and it seemed that the choices are limited. Maybe I was just looking in the wrong places...?

Yeah, I don't know how it'll be to try and remake a classic.

Where can you get an entire bolex for about that? I want one. I think you're mistakes, even cheap bolexes that are decent are a couple hundred, generally. It's a cheap camera but not that cheap.

I like a lot of his films, they all have a very cool look to them. He's not afraid to do crazy things and I think that makes him unique. A lot of people tend to do things that are "safe" and I think it hurts their work. Burton does things that are very out of the box as far as big budget hollywood has been going the last several years. I think my favorite of his is Big Fish. I just love that story.

Any photography shop should have those things for cleaning.

If it'd fit you could timelapse some ice melting.

According to the american cinematographer's manual, that bolex has a 135 degree shutter and from another table in the same book it'd expose for 1/64th of a second at 24fps and 1/47th of a second at 18fps.

It's really not the equipment that will win you awards for the film. It's the story and how well you and your crew serve the story and enhance it.

Usual exposure time for 24 fps is 1/48th of a second, and the others would be 1/16th second deviations in the appropriate directions. I'll try to look tomorrow and see if I can find definate shutter speeds for you.

Shooting on 2s is very common to do when animating, I don't see why it shouldn't work fine here.

That's what I was going to suggest. You could shoot footage of people moving behind where the band will be with no band as a base for the composite. Then shoot footage of the band in front of a green screen placed the depth you will want them in the finished scene. Then also shoot people moving in front of where the band will be in depth, in front of a green screen. Then it can be composited together so there'll be time lapse of people behind and in front of the band. Pretty cool stuff B)

It'll run about 24 fps, no guarantee as to how accurate it is, certainly not sync accurate but probably close enough for some good MOS shooting.

It's a pretty good tripod, our equipment cage just got a few. The one I had had no liquid in the head's bubble level, but I'm sure that was a fluke and it's being fixed as we speak, probably.

Very cool way to go, Leon. My hat off to you for that one. B)

It's probably not cheaper but a good sennheiser can't really be beat. Something like a Sennheiser 416T is a great mic.

I've sent things to Cinelab in Fall River, Mass a couple times and been pleased. I have some 7218 there now, actually, so I'll tell you how it comes out :)

On the same website, watch the time lapse trailer. It's pretty awesome and, I assume, all done with a bolex.

That's a much better idea for the background. Another important tip for lighting B&W is to have as close to the full range of tones as you can. Try and have a pure white reference and a pure black reference in your frames. That way everything 9in between is put into proper perspective and it won't appear muddy.

I think ultimately, production hires the DP. Usually, however, I would assume that the director has a great deal of influence.