Alfeo Dixon

Oops, forgot about the polaroid error, nope, It was before the instamatic polaroids. I found an unlikely friend out of tracking down a photograph that is hanging in the guilds office. He shared many of these stories with me. I think everybody should find an old schooler, the endless stories... he also just happened to document the first feature that Garrett flew "his contraption" as my friend called it.

Try to send an email to a camera broker like Visual Products.

No foul Steve. Just to follow up. I will probably more harsh on the stills guys just because I was one... and believe me, I had to fight for almost every shot that was a great one. Especially when the DP stands opposite the camera of the first and to shoot with good framing that tells a story with out having grips, electrics, pa's, flags, stands in your shot or having a light killing you by hitting your front glass... is a feat in its own. I use to wake up the next morning feeling muscles I didn't know I had from contorting my self around, over, through, under or pass objects while on the move with a dolly and I pride myself of that. One of my favorite dolly grips Trip Pair would give me a ride in a heartbeat if I asked. He told me about his last show when the stills guy took it for granted and rode more than the operator damn near. I didn't ask one time for a ride... he would even ask me if I was sure. And last but not least... ACTORS! doing all that contorting and trying to hold still as possible to not be scene nor heard, we are targets for the ones that can not remember their lines. What makes up for it Clooney throwing looks to me because he's working the camera (me) for better shots... I totally freaked and asked him if I was in his eyeline (very bad thing) he said no your totally good. The result was an international deal with the ad company to run my shots. http://web.mac.com/alfeo1/Alfeo/Still_Phot...ebirties.html#3

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Too many inconsistencies all over the place. I'm not an owner, just the end user that has to deal with it. Pros don't throw gear around... they only throw it at assistants. ;)

WHOA! I'm insulted. I of my favorite sayings as a stills guy was "BUT I'M 600 DAMNIT!" especially when my cart got booted to the utility trailer with sound department. The still photographer was, is and always will be a VERY vital part in a production. Before the digital camera age, who do you think too all those continuity photos. Who do you think sells a film to the public, who is the person that took the great reference shots to any and everybody that wants to publish and article about a film, director an actor? Sure there may be a few prima donna ones out there, but you bet your ass that they are respected by the veterans in the industry. On "Stomp the Yard" the DP would always flick me a bird in jest, he also gave me a bump in exposure if I asked him to help me out. He called me a few months later asking if I had any photos without the middle finger... nope... he learned his lesson on that one. I've also had DP's reference my stills for color for the timing to the lab. The stills man is a member of the camera department and the nicer you are to them, you'll get some of the greatest work photos of your life. -Alfeo "Ex-Unit Photographer"

Sorry guys, too much wine before that post... I've been dealing with RED since #42. I've dealt with a lot of early headaches due to this. My last RED job was all hand held and steadicam. While we had plenty of RED's batteries, they kept shutting down the camera nearly every time my AC passed the camera to me in handheld. I'd say I lost about 10% of my day waiting on reboots. Not to mention the few times it just failed. Very modular yes, but alot of the design makes no sense for production... kinda like what Dalsa did. Our cameras have been evolving over decades and none of these new manufactures are seriously not getting it. Evolution of the tools is really for another thread, so I wont get into that now. It's a great camera, but a very young company. Seriously, my only problem with car mount was the RED owner being onset and questioning my rigging and not wanting to drive too fast... It's a perfect example of people asking me if the can look through my still camera D1x w/ f2.8's 28-70 & 70-200. Big f--kin' Camera and Glass and they would hold it with their finger tips like its fragile... GRAB THE THING... your not gonna break it by holding it, but you will if you drop it! Point being, we tolerate this these inefficient design flaws because its the latest greatest technology... bah humbug, it would not be tolerated if a film cameras mags kept jamming or loosing sync. Not to mention as an operator, we have to make it work no matter what the hell production of the boss throws our way...

also... 85mm still -> 49mm super 35 HTDV 1.78 100mm still -> 57mm super 35 HTDV 1.78 Hope this helps... can't wait for the iPhone version

pCam yeilded the following results by keeping the distance and vertical height consistent: Standard 35mm still photo 85mm -> 27mm 16mm full aperture 1.37 / 25mm 16mm HDTV 1.78 / 23mm super 16mm 1.85 & 41mm 35mm 1.85 Standard 35mm still photo 100mm -> 32mm 16mm full aperture 1.37 / 29mm 1.78 16mm HDTV / 27mm super 16mm 1.85 & 48mm 35mm 1.85 Hope this helps

As a Steadi Op, I've been the right "Tool" needed for one shot and felt guilty about a well plained production when I was called in at lunch, ate, built, shot and wrapped before the ice cream for desert melted. But, tooo many times have I been the dolly-pod because of the producers killing the dolly because they have steadicam for the day... not the right "tool." call me a "Toy" and get the fist!

Abuse?!? It's called production. RED should understand this term like real production camera manufactures do. We don't work in a vacuum or a nice R&D lab room.

No a Pola issue, looks more like a color balance issue. Are you using auto white? this could be part of the color shifting your getting, because at that time of day, the direct sunlight is alot warmer and your shadow areas are starting to go blue. Also because your severely over exposing your background and sky, your at the limits of where the camera is clipping at the shoulder of its range.

Hey umm DJ, David's idea of Dedo's is a great one. You could line up a about a 6 to 12 (2 to 4 on the 10x and 4 to 8 on 16x8) of the Dedo lights with barn doors about 6 to 8 feet out. Try some defusion on the inside of the barn doors so the light won't spill downwards. You may need to black wrap the instrument it's self for spillage. That should give you a nice even spread on the green fabrics. You may want to also make them meet in the corner, this would allow for more shooting possibilities. If you get too close to the wall and your angle is too steep, your light will fall off and not spread properly. Putting more overheads fixtures along the walls will also do the same and fall off too quickly to give a nice even key. Best of luck

If your buying filters... absolutely, if your renting then you must evaluate your needs and try to save where you can. Let's say your doing a zombie flick... lots of night work, then leave off the ND's and Pola until your scheduled for day work. That savings might just buy you a brownie with the PM or producer and then help down the road when you really need something special for a day or two.

NYC or LA are the production cities. The way it works in the Central Region is that your Residence can change, lets say I'm in Atlanta living and have NY as my production city. If I move to Detroit, that now becomes my Residence and I can no longer work in Atlanta as a local, because I am no longer a resident of Atlanta. As long as I still live in the Central Region, I keep my Production City of NYC to where I can still work as a local, because its my Production City. 18 months is also the period of changing residency so people don't start bouncing around from place to place as a migrant worker and that is why one can not leave NYC or LA and move to Baton Rouge. That's why there is the 18 month period before you can start to work back in NYC as a local for your Production City. No special exception, but you can work 60 miles from Residence or Production City without travel per diem and hotel.

Oops... The boys are correct, make that a 'eggcrate' not a grid. That's too many years of using honeycomb grids in still photo studio world slipping out.

I believe your speaking of a polarizer. Which is usually 2 1/3 Stop of light loss, which in a pinch could help to bring down your exposure, but will also ad two different effects, a polarized image cutting down on reflections and sometimes atmosphere OR a non-polarized image allowing those reflections to intensify. By rotation you can also achieve an effect somewhere in the middle of the two. Not a substitute for an ND filter. An ND's only job is to block out its precisely measured about of light, nothing more, nothing less. ND FILTER POLARIZER Polarizers work mostly with reflective objects, particularly moisture and shiny surfaces. When I referred to some atmosphere, that is what I was referring to, the reflective properties of moisture in the air. It can enhance foliage by taking the reflection off the leaves of trees, allow you to look into windows without refections at certain angles. Not much can be done for dust, smoke and other opaque objects in the air other than avoid back light when they are around.

Hi Blade, A couple of options would be reframe if the lighting is important and can not work otherwise, as an operator, yes we get our perfect frame set up and everyone works around it. But helping out the grips, electrics, set dressers and even actors with slight framing changes could save a few minutes and help make the day. Yes, we all want to make art, but making the day will bring you back. Use a larger flag, closer to the source, this will also make you edges a bit softer if they are being seen, it may also start to work light in places you didn't want it too. Try moving the source, if your trying to cut light off the wall about midway up the wall for example and the flag is not working until it drops into frame. Try to raise the source higher to keep the flag out of frame. You may also try putting a grid on the source, this will help direct it to the place you want it. Good luck, and hope these suggestions help. -Alfeo

That's a crock of sh!t (not a personal attach Adrian)... Ben if your a meter guy, then keep your meter out, It will make you a much better DP. DO your homework. By that, I mean go to the rental house and YES, put a scope up on a chart and find out where the camera your using falls with its sensor. But don't let a monitor dictate your skills while in the soup. Your meters will never fail you (unless the battery died or it's broken *grin*) The only thing you should adjust is the train of thought of exposing for the blacks and lighting for the highlights... reverse that and expose for the highlights and light for the blacks. But know your working ratio for that camera... where the highlights go out and where the blacks fall off. If you come from the still photography world, thing of any video SD/HD as if you where shooting transparency.

Hi Steven, Not knowing the particulars, one of the tags is photography which leads me to believe it is still photography time lapsed. With the amount of blur in the movement, the shutter speed would be less than 1/30th of a second. Shooting about a frame per second. Now translating that to a motion camera would be camera dependent. With film, you would need an intervalometer to match such a slow shutter speed. 180º shutter angle @ 24fps is the equivalent to 1/48th shutter speed (1/50th) on a SLR still camera, which will give a blur on most moving subjects. You can get the fps down to around 1fps or 2fps on most cameras, but your still restricted to the 180º shutter angle which dictates the 1/48th exposure time. That is due to the reflex mirror for the viewing optics. The intervalometer will keep the mirror open for the set time and also block the light from passing into the lens when the mirror is closed so that light doesn't leak around the mirror into the gate. This will allow for extended exposure time to the film. Whole different story with digital cameras... but the math is the same.

Very Nice Wolfgang... one thing he left out, once you color correct, then save down to the resolution you will be working with as an end result. Your editing system will thank you. RAW uncompressed once opened in photoshop will sometime double in size with is still WAY too much information than your ever going to deal with. I would shoot uncompressed RAW (D1x/D2/D3/D200/D300) on features as a stillsman and still had studio's like ABC asking for Jpegs, simply because they didn't want to spend too much time pushing these large amounts of pixels for something that would never see past a 5x7 in a magazine. Paul... Targa... Wow! That takes me back.

That pretty much summarizes it right there!

Most of my electrical knowledge has been to the lack of a gaffer and electrics on short films... that said, I've not run into a flicker problem using the put-puts from the rental houses with HMI's, but make sure your distro is correct as to most HMI's are not Edison plugs, but rather Bates. Getting close to the operating limits of the put-put will more than likely cause it to trip the breaker. They are also loud and at night its about 80% louder due to the lack of outdoor activity. We literally had to tent two in with sound blankets (leaving breathing space for air flow.) The best thing to do is call the rental house and ask them what units would work with HMI's, they will not be mad about you cutting cost buy looking elsewhere and if they do, then ask them to discount theirs so that you can afford it. Car head lights work great with 500 or 800 stocks from about 10 to 20 foot range, you'll be surprised. For some reason, the Par-can light bulbs remind me of auto lamps?!? The only thing about auto lights is that its hard as hell to direct them, not to mention the are aimed to our midsections. To focus a light, an electric can jump on a stand very quickly and its done, if you use auto headlights, move the actors, not the car...

Bidding is the actual process of estimating the cost of doing the job. A budget is set forth to the production company based on the treatment/script submitted. Pretty cut and dry...

The DP/Director relationship is a very important collaborative effort to understand each others ideas. Typically, once this is established and the trust is set forth, there is no hard line, if you (DP) have a creative idea on how the shot may drive the story, by all means standup and say something. The director should appreciate your suggestions about this. The same is to be said for the operator. I have been left along with the director to make the shot happen, while the DP dealt with lighting the set, but there are hard and clear lines for an operator to work within. Anything outside of moving the camera should go thru the DP to the director.

Yes, typically they are CLEAR, 1/4 ND, 1/16 ND, 1/64 ND