Raymond O'Neil

Hi, basically here is the set-up. 1. Actor will be lying down on a flat surface, camera (suspended from a crane) will come down very slowly from above until extreme close up of the actor. This first shot will be done outdoors. 2. Next shot: actor's face will be slowly covered by water. Basically he is sinking slowly into water. As soon as his face disappears under water he "comes to senses" and starts pulling his face out of the water. At one point I'd like the transition to happen before his final emergence from water 3. Next scene: he basically wakes up on a third location. Again, I'd like to keep extreme close-up and then finally pull out to medium close-up to show that he is not in the same location as the first one - third location will be in-doors. Middle location acting as a transition. Ideally, I'd like to have all three scenes to be merged in a way that it leaves the impression of being one continuous shot without cuts/transitions. Basically: camera comes down to extreme close up, then suddenly he starts sinking, then he begins to emerge from water and his final emergence is on a different location. Is it possible to accomplish? Thanks a lot in advance

Thank you all.

Hi, I am looking to buy a microphone to be used in the field costing upto $300. I am looking for something to produce rich, full, round, pleaseing sound. Does anyone have a recommendation? Should I use supercardoid or hypercardoid mics? Thanks

Thanks Darrin. I think I will do that. I came to similar conclusion as well..

no one?

Hi, I need to shoot a direct car light at night (I am using HD100U camcorder) and am wondering what filter should I use? ( I have a matte-box that uses 4X4 filters). Reason being that in general when one shoots car lights they tend to "blow-up" into star-shapes, they blur images, etc. I need the car lights to be vere "calm", diffused, so they are contained in their car light frames. Are the filters best way to go? There are glasss filters and other types of filters (rasin, etc), which ones are better/should I use for this particular purpose? Someone suggested using dulling spray, how valid is that? I've been mostly shooting without filter, so as to have more latitiude in post-production, but I came to conclusion that filters produce better looking images, so I am thinking to use them more. I am wondering if someone can recommend a good overall books (or maybe several books) that would guide me through the filters, types, usage, etc. Thanks a lot.

Art is not sports

Hi Morgan, thank you for your reply. I have the tungsten lights and diffusers, camp lights on batteries. Its not about having or not having ingenuity. I am shooting a serious film, not onanistic video. I can't have an amaeutirsh mistakes on the set. The fact that I don't have $10000000 to hire world class DP doesn't mean that I should just go ahead and shoot. I never studied lighting professionally, but I want to produce professional looking images, so between my running around casting, working with the composer, writing the script, working with actors, looking for money, working on a side, job and god knows what I'd love to have some professional help that would make my life easier. I don't think its too much to ask for, is it? :) especially that I can find some finances to compensate for the professional knowledge. I don't have room for error. I am spending lots of money to rent the limo, bring in actors, etc so I will only have so much time to get things right and done. On the other hand, once I see how its done actually, trust me I'll learn it like it was breast-fed to me with mother's milk. In any case, I appreciate your suggestions very much. Thank you for taking time to write.

Hi David, I am shooting most of the film, as well as directing it. I don't have an aspiration of becoming a DP, although I am learning lots in the process and have great desire to learn even more, but for right now don't have time or money to go to a three-year school :)

We are shooting a black&white low budget independent feature. Equipment: HDV24P. Scene: Night shoot, moving car, interior. Most of the film is being shot with available lights, except the car episode where we'd like to cooperate with an experienced Director of Photography/Gaffer. This is one of the most important scenes in the film and we'd like to work with a seasoned DP/Gaffer who has extensive lighting and night filming experience, (experience in lighting a moving car is a huge +). Shooting will require 6-7 hour (at most) commitment in the evening. It could probably require less time, depending on the arrangement between us. DP/gaffer's role can range from actually being on the set and hands-on involvement (preferred) to consulting. This is a no/low budget film, but we'll certainly try to compensate for work performed. We are approximately 50% through with production and this episode is the only one so far that requires lighting, but there could be more episodes that would require DP/gaffer involvement depending on our mutual interest. Please send your information via email. liber8films@gmail.com Thank you for your interest.

Hey Tim, thanks. I used JVC HD100U camera. The setting are Paolo Ciccone's True Color V3 (there is a thread on this forum somewhere with the settings, or you can go here http://www.paolociccone.com/Paolo's%20Site.html I didn't use any filters. I am shooting a black and white film so I will have to discard the color. I shot in color to retain maximum data for post manipulation.

Hi Tim, luckily I escaped the "long hand" of the "justcie"... :) It was quite easy actually... But I just woke up. We came back around 5 Am in the morning and I had to work in the morning. Yesterday, I went to the subway around midnight to shoot my episode. I was alone with one actor and a friend who was helping me with transporting camera and a tripod... yes a tripod which I used for about 15 minutes! We took #1 train from 125th Street toward uptown until the last stop in the Bronx. I didn't wait for the train to become empty and started shooting. No one paid any attention (you gotta lova NY). Then we took the same train toward downtown and thus made loops up and down for about 5 hours... There were no cops to be seen anywhere, either on platforms or in trains. I was shooting pretty openly. I managed to shoot almost everything I needed (about 80%) and I am planning to go back sometime next week to get the finishing details. I used Paolo Ciccone's True Color V3 settings for my camera and shot with available light (no bounce board, etc). F2 stop. There were some nice color exposures and light plays, but I have to discard color anyway... here is the link to the screen grabs from RAW footage. Again, I want to thank everyone on this forum for their advice and support. It was enormously helpful. http://server6.theimagehosting.com/album.php?album=16716

Guys, I am planning to shoot the night of the Labor Day - Monday. My rationale was that not too many people will go out on the last day of the Holiday weekend; plus its Monday anyway - not a busy night in general. I am keeping as low of a profile as possible. It will be only me, the actor and a crew member who will be simply present in the subway car and will act as a passenger. So in reality, cops would only notice my actor and myself. I am planning to use the #1 train (uptown direction) as it goes thru Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood. We will be either in the very first or last car of the train. From my experience there are seldom any people there especially late at night (around midnight). I won't use any additional lights, only available lights. Per your suggestion I will adjust the frame rates. Its a B&W film, but I am planning to use Paolo Ciccone's recipe (True Color V3) for keeping as much information on the tape as possible for post-production purposes. I will post the production stills later if anyone is interested. Again, thanks a lot for your advices and good wishes. I appreciate it very much.

Hi John, I used film permits for my previous episodes... that was until I went broke and couldn't afford it anymore... of course NYC film permit is free for general city shoots, but what you have to pay for is the insurance. If you don't have insurance you will not get a permit. Insurance for general street shooting is ranges from $200-500 per day for my type of no-budget shoots. As for the subway - forget it. They require minimum 2 milion in insurance and there is long wait from subway authorities to get the permit. Shortly, its a lot of hassle. I also have a valid student ID that I can show to the police and my actor has a dimplomatic immunity (he is a dimplomat), so if they want to arraign us as terrorism suspects I'd say go ahead - there is no justice any longer :)

Thank you for your advices! I will keep them in mind. I am planning to shoot on #1 train (red line) the night of Labor Day... I figured this would be the realtively quiet time since people wouldn't normally go out that night (I hope). I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Hi friends, I appreciate your invaluable advice and input enormously. I feel like I've seen the light at the end of the tunnel. There was no way for me to go back to the location and shoot the scenes again. I feel enormous relief that something is possible now. I am copying down all the replies and will take it all to the colorist when we go to post. Thank again. Rati P.S. If anyone else has a different opinion I am ready to listen.

Born again man ! :) Thanks

Hi, could someone breakdown the best settings to use on HD100U to make color correction/grading specialist more latitude when handling the footage? In other words, are there any general settings (blacks stretch/normal/crash, master blacks, gammas, etc) that would give allow HD100 to retain most information on tape so it could be better manipulate in post? I know its always the best to keep the DB to 0 :) 1. Right now I am shooting black&white, but could also shoot color in the future 2. I don't know whether its going to be film-to-DVD or film-out Thank you.

Hi, I will be shooting a scene in New York subway this labor day weekend and I am wondering if there is anything technical lighting wise I should be aware of (I know about the cops:)) ) Camera: JVC HD100U HDV Camcorder Guerilla. I will not have my own light. In any case, I am shooting the whole with available light. I'd like the footage to be with contrast, but not gritty. Ideally, consistent with the attached image. I am planning to do most of th shooting inside the train car, so I am thinking about the interior car lights, etc. Do they flicker, etc? I'd realy appreciate your feedback. Thank you

Thank you everyone for your advice! You are absolutely right - they were shot in different days... and I think I inadvertently messed some of the controls on my camera (iris was fine, I checked it). But the issue is that I forgot to mention that these both scenes are from one episode and happen one and the same day in the film. That is the reason I am so worried, becasue I'd like to intercut them somehow. I know in the very end I might have an option to take the second row images (which have more contrast) and make them lighter ? But the look and contrast ration I was going for is the one that second row photos have (darker, more contrasty). Hi Alex, I just saw this actually. This is quite nice man. What did you do? It actually gives me hope that this footage can be saved. Thanks a lot. This brings up another question: I plan to do color coorection/grading with a professional guy. Would he use photoshop as well? I presume, he would use Da Vinci or something similar? Am I correct? Maybe those software have similar and I hope more capabilities to play around than Photoshop? Tim, thanks for your reply. This is my first film and I don't have editing, grading, color correction experience as of yet. I feel a lot better than something can be done. This actually brings up lots of creative opprtunities, as most of the obstacles do.

Very nice work Stephen. I also checked out your web-site. I'd like to know someone like you in New York

Yeah, I think I killed my whole episode... :( :( :(

Pardon, for ignorance... whats a clip mode? And how do I find out if there is still information?

Which ones do you mean Tim? Both of the groups? Second row might fall under that category but the first one as well? I'm not that afraid of underexposure, since as far as I know its always better to underxpose on video than to overexpose, and vice-versa for film.

I have to shoot an upcoming episode here in NYC in couple of weeks and I am thinking about hiring a DP for consultation and maybe hands-on involvement. I am wondering if it makes sense to do this. I would like to hire an experienced DP as this episode is very important in the film. I am not sure if a proposition to work on one episode would offend an experienced DP? My problem of course is financial, otherwise I would not think twice about hiring a DP for the whole film. Most of the film I shot myself and I am not too dissatisfied with the results, albeit a professional DP would make a world's difference, especially someone who knows how to operate JVC HD100U camera. I am pretty much confused by all the film to DVD and film-out options, so I am just shooting intuitively as it suits the condition of teh day and as a scene requires, etc. Well, sorry for digression, so back to the main question. What do you guys think? Also, what is the best way to look for a DP? Post to classifieds in this forum? Craigslist? Thanks much