Aapo Lettinen

we had almost exactly the same kind of conversation this Spring on a Finnish facebook group for video professionals and almost exactly the same arguments tban in this thread My main argument was that if a movie does not bring you reasonable salary either by sales or by funding and if this is not quite reasonably quaranteed, then you do it as a hobby and maybe for reel material sometimes if the end product is really good. Nobody does features purely for reel material though, theres too much work and not enough bang for the buck. We have terms "ammattielokuva" (professional movie) and "ammattimainen elokuva" (professional-like movie) in Finnish language. The "ammattimainen elokuva" means that the filmmakers are trying to make the movie like pro:s would do but nobody gots paid. In a professional movie you, well, get paid decently. The funny thing is, most indie guys don't know what the difference is between the terms. "Ammattimainen elokuva"s are also something some of the pro:s do on spare time mostly purely for fun and maybe to try different department jobs every now and then

indie filmmakers usually also promise the crew members a share of the profits IF the film ever gets any revenue. Of course this does not usually be in the contracts so IF it's gonna be the next Blair Witch kind of success they DEFINITELY won't give anything to the crew members because they don't have to :/ and if they get money from the previous project they will definitely hire higher end crew for the next one and most likely won't include most of the crew members from the previous projects. the imdb credits may surely be nice thing if the movie is a success but that's still for a shoestring budget non-commercial work and not for a production which is made for wide cinema release FROM THE START, not just for festivals and Vimeo... Of course you can do a huge pile of low budget indie films and maybe eventually end up in pro productions. But it takes really long time to do so, and you still have to know very successful producers to back you up and get you funding and distribution. You also have to work in professional sets some time to get to the routine and find important contacts. Nobody wants to hire a person they don't know, no matter how experienced or educated. ------------ The main problem with passion projects is usually that nobody wants to fund them because they most likely won't get enough audience to be commercial successes. it is usually too risky to back up a project which the filmmakers truly make for themselves and not for the audience to watch :blink: ------------ I'm quite happy I don't have time anymore to shoot any indie features, saves me thousands of euros per year, have more time to do real paid work and don't have to risk my own health because of those shoestring films (pros usually care about safety quite a bit more than indie guys, nobody wants to for example shoot towards the camera and operator with real gun and bullets "because blanks are expensive", they use proper safety harnesses and not something made out of leftover ropes and cargo straps... they don't do pyrotechnics with a can of gas without insurance and permissions. heck, they even have sandbags for the light stands so they don't fall over you! :lol: )

it is very important to distinguish people who do low to no budget stuff exclusively and people who do them occasionally but also work a lot in professional films and can thus really end up in a position where they can later get you hired in a decent production with real pay

the sad truth is, if a person is not already a working professional or a film student who really have guts and passion to advance in the industry and has already done many paid film jobs successfully, it is VERY unlike you will get ANY kind of film work through them on a 10-20 year time scale. I know lots of passionate indie guys in Finland and none of them have any possibility to advance to the professional world unless they have been in film school already and done quite a lot of professional gigs. And if they don't do professional jobs, know the right people and have possibilities to get funding from commercial sources they will never gonna have money to pay decently to anybody working for them. For example one of them always thinks that the no-budget indie feature he is doing at the time will gonna be the next Blair Witch kind of success. He is very good to talk people into his projects but honestly I don't think he is EVER gonna wind up in pro world because he really just wants to write, direct and produce his own movies without compromises. I suggested he to do some very good screenplays and offer them to real production companies who have possibility to get real funding and distribution for the films but he is maybe scared of that they won't let him direct his scripts or does not like the idea that the production company gets its own share of the revenue. No experienced producers = no funding = no pay = no resume. ever <_< and as said, if he would REALLY like to advance towards pro world via training (film school, internships etc) or other kind of paid work which helps you to get to the industry (commercials, docs, certain types of TV work, etc.) it would take at least 10-20 years for him to get to a position where he could direct his own movies AND get everyone paid decently. this also means he don't have resume or contacts to recommend anyone for a job. You really should check the backgrounds of the people involved in indie projects and if there is at least couple of them who really work a lot in paid film jobs and have possibility to recommend you for real jobs it might be worth it to work couple of days for free to get new contacts which could end up getting more paid work after a while. If they are nobodies working on a passion project they will never gonna wind up in a position where they could recommend you for a job and without decent budget the film is extremely likely gonna be bad resume so it's definitely not worth it at all. (unless you like to do indie films as a hobby. quite irritating hobby which can even get you killed or destroy you professional career by ruining your resume if you choose carelessly or just have bad luck :ph34r: )

with F3 you could invest to a external recorder which also serves as a monitor, for example Atomos. I think the biggest disadvantages with F3 are slow-mo options and occasional moire. The intermediate mount system is very VERY handy, it is easy to change in seconds between for example PL and Nikon mounts so if you are using lots of different lenses it is a huge advantage :)

as far as I know they have completely different color science so you really should shoot some tests to find a somewhat matching settings (the F3 color science is based on the Sony EX camera line and FS7 is more towards F5/55/65 line)

Sounds completely unprofessional. You never yell to people about these things in front of the whole crew and actors! If there is a serious problem with the setup you will discuss about it with the HODs and 1st ad on the side as calmly as possible to keep good atmosphere on set.If they have not given you possibility to pre plan the shoot with the hods and actors then it is completely their fault, especially the dop:s who should have pre planned the shots with you beforehand when you would have had time to discuss if the plans are working or not

I shoot almost always standard 16 for small documentaries but it is mainly because I can then have much more lens and camera choices than otherwise. I mainly shoot F64D for 16mm however, sometimes 7207 when practical. the 16:9 crop shows quite a lot of grain so for me it is easiest to stick with EI 64 mainly and shoot any low light footage either with video cameras or on 35mm.

I think one could blimp a Konvas quite efficiently but its shape is a little difficult in this regard and the lenses are physically quite small. I'm planning on building a blimp out of a cube shaped Pelican case someday later, will see how it goes :P will look like very weird at least, I think it will work at least with my Pentacon Six adapter and old Jena lenses which have larger barrel than oct18 Lomos :lol: Nowadays you could maybe attach a remote focus INSIDE the blimp so you don't have to build focus mechanics to the blimp :)

yep, Lomo OCT-19 primes definitely. If one has Konvas 2m camera or OCT19 adapter for their digital camera they are pretty good lenses. most of them can also be converted to PL but it depends on the exact model how easy or difficult/expensive the conversion will be. You can use most of them with adapters with at least EF, E-mount and M4/3 cameras in their current configuration so I would consider that option first if you camera(s) support short flange mounts (EF/E/M43

the easiest way is to take out the lens so you can see the gate. the K3 pressure plate has those silvery metal stripes so it's pretty clear if you have any film left or not. as others said, you can usually hear when the film end runs through the gate and the camera sound also changes when it is running without film

you can also consider Aaton 35-3, it is more advanced than a BL, better for handheld and much cheaper than Moviecam. It is quite a bit louder though and the mags are more difficult to load

loading a Konvas is not difficult when you get used to it. you just have to be very precise when adjusting the loops (1 perf accuracy is enough :lol: ) and have to test the exact loading position for your camera movement. For my cameras the loading position is quite good when you can see the mirror shutter corner touching the upper corner of the gate when looking from the back of the camera. If the magazine does not attach it means that your magazine drive gear on the camera side is in wrong position, then you have to rotate the inching knob 1 revolution and try again

the Konvas fuses are cheap if you don't have to buy the original ones, I picked some affordable Russian military fuses from eBay very cheaply although they are not exactly the same model but at least same amps. Konvas can indeed be quite difficult at first and the cam and mags need to be in perfect condition in which they never are when you by them from eBay. that means, you have to either be able to service them by yourself or send them to a technician, for example Olex, for servicing. For sound work I would recommend almost any other camera. Konvases are VERY loud cams and the mags, especially the 120m ones, may also make screeching sound when filming if they are not in perfect condition. Of course, if you build a blimp for them, something like Arri 2c style, then you could shoot quite good sync sound although the steadiness is nowhere near the movie cams

One very usual problem is also that the recording may stop if the camera loses hdmi connection. So, lost connection = lost take. This happens at least with canon 5d mark2, 5d mark3, panasonic gh3, panasonic gh4 and with all kinds of monitors so it is not camera specific and happens all the time. I'm planning to use a hdmi to sdi converter directly fed to sdi-hdmi converter with hdmi cameras to be able to break the hdmi link between camera and monitor so I can save some takes and don't have to swith camera and monitor on and off in specific order. The monitor on, then camera on -rule also works with gh cameras btw so it's a good rule to remember

do you have all the accessories needed for filming, other than the camera body and lenses? (tripod with decent fluid head, normal and wireless follow focus, matte box, filters, monitors, camera cart, etc...) if you will rent more stuff than just the lenses you will probably get a VERY good rental deal for the camera body, maybe get it even free of charge

I suspect that just like in most of the other western countries, you'd need permissions from the music publisher and the composer or the companies representing them. I don't believe that would be free but it does not necessarily cost that much if they like you and your film :)

I've been told that generally anything which is similar age or newer than Mickey Mouse is and will be always copyrighted in Western countries. That's obviously because Disney company does not want Mickey to go public domain and therefore makes sure the copyright laws will be updated accordingly. Of course there is other companies and entities also but Disney is maybe the biggest one and therefore very influential in this regard. I've understood that in U.S. the music copyrights are usually very dispersed and permissions may be therefore very difficult to get. Here in Scandinavia we have copyright organisations which the copyright holders give rights to represent them and you will make the arrangements with these organisations and don't usually need to deal with the copyright holders directly. If you are using Finnish or Swedish music for example for a Finnish short film it is usually enough to deal with 2 organisations to get the permissions (you will get them for a nominal fee for most uses), you don't need to deal with for example 20 different copyright holders separately to get the permission and pay separately to each one of them

I'm taping the under (mirror shutter) side usually so I can get sharper markings. it can be a bit difficult if the mirror shutter is very close to the GG (for example Konvas 1M), you may not be able to mark the frame bottom (gg other end too close to the shutter/gate corner, tape does not fit to the tiny space available)

I got my scanner project working today, still lots of things to figure out but... Maybe the roughest and coolest scanner ever ;) And yes, I can transfer 35mm film in 4K. somewhat B) http://aapolettinen.blogspot.fi/2015/05/making-film-scanner-out-of-konvas-camera.html

I would not call them "adjustable stocks" if changing the sensor in the field is not a simple one minute procedure. As far as I know these cameras are never intended for changing the sensors back and forth every day, you just update it to a newer one when a better sensor arrives. ------- As for the pal vs ntsc max speeds, why not just conform them to the desired end fps, you won't sync audio anyways when shooting high speed? If it's a flicker problem you can eliminate it by changing shutter speed

donating free work and donating equipment are two different things. You should always charge for the equipment. (unless they give you Executive Producer credit for saving maybe thousands of dollars of their money and you are OK for that). The sad truth is, most indie producers and directors seem to be mostly interested about the equipment you could bring to the production and not really about your creativity and skills. Even if you haven't shot anything in your entire life you could easily get the job because you can bring them Red camera for free. I think this is very degrading and insulting for a creative person who should always be hired because of their skills only. I, for example, could not get almost any indie dp free "work" because I only own GH4 and 16mm and 35mm cameras. Most of the indie guys here want to shoot at least with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera because it has "Cinema" in its name so it MUST make the production shine :lol: Renting lighting gear, camera equipment or using real film is also no-no because it would cost them something. If I would pay all the lighting gear they maybe would allow me to bring it to the set, who knows :P Luckily I don't have time to shoot their productions anymore because of real work so I don't have to worry about these thing anymore and toss 10k to an URSA package only to get allowed to the set for free :D

it does not cost anything if you don't want to add poster or other additional. I don't know if production photos cost something. I have made a few imdb entries for short films I've been involved with, the main deal is that it takes quite a few hours to enter the info because the imdb is absolutely horrible in this regard, very time consuming to make changes because the pages are so old and difficult to use. Some people have even added their home videos to there, not even "short films" quality wise :P

I still can't understand why it's so difficult for the manufacturers to add a cinema lock to their EF mounts so you could actually use it for cine use without supporting from the lens side? there's a really good reason why all the current true cine mounts are breech lock NOT bayonet: with breech lock you can tighten the play out, with bayonet you, well, can't. (without adding the darn tightening "cinema lock" additional ring which must not be that expensive to manufacture. Are they using off-the-shelf Chinese bulk parts for the cameras or what could be the problem? :blink: )

this is what I got custom made for me in an optical company: It's just some scratch-less 2.9mm thick window glass cut to 4x4 dimensions and the edges ground so they won't cut your fingers :) If you expect your flats to get scratches this is a way more cheaper way than buying real optical flats, although you could maybe spot small differences in glaring and transmission maybe. I use these for for example vaseline effects so I don't need to smear my Promist filters :)