Tom Hepburn

Hi Andres, I'm not sure if there is enough support here in the US at this point. I only know of one. I'm not aware of any in Europe. Good luck, Tom

Hi Thomas, I would say that's pretty close to hopeless. A blurred edge would be partially the moving object/person and partially the background, the green in this case. I think you'd be fine in getting what you want if you get a good key and blur in post. Certainly you'll have much more flexibility. Good luck, Tom

I'm familiar with: http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/ Some really great traditional animators as well as great story tellers (see story section) hang out there. T

Thanks Justin. I was six months too late in my joining the board. Now let us slowly, quietly, and painlessly let this post slide off of page one and beyond the scope of current posts, and into the obscurity of a feeble back up drive somewhere in the corner of someone’s basement far, far away. Until some other unsuspecting, semi new, non searching pedestrian walks on to "film term" Blvd while high speed traffic approaches, is cautioned, "Watch Out!" Until then, let us never speak of this anonymous post again :D

I didn't know that. I had never seen one and didn't think of doing a search. Feel free to pass this up if it's been discussed. Appreciate you opinions though David. Tom

Hello, I was just wondering what people thought of the use of the term "film" and how it is used today. For example is it acceptable in your eyes to say "A Film by Blah Blah" when it is in fact a Video or Digital Video? Or a different example, although to a lesser degree as they are just being interviewed and not creating a film or video, is when someone says, "well, I want to look at the film first." Part of me thinks that if it isn't really film, why call it that. I have shot years of Video as well, but only ever called it "video." Or is the term "film" acceptable to use today when describing any sequence of images? I'm having a slow day, but was curious what others thought :) Tom

Oh well. I'll have to make do with what I have. Thanks for the info though. Tom

Thanks all, "A 50mm lens is a 50mm lens, no matter if it is a Kinetal, Speed Panchro, Zeiss, Nikon, Whatever. It doesn't matter whether it is on a 16mm or 35mm camera, it is still a 50mm lens." Hi Tim, Yes I did check that out the other day when trying out the Nikon lenses. I understand that with a 35mm lens you are getting more of the middle of the lens, but as you say the focal length is the same. Here is a post with a small movie showing the lens mount and adapter: http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?sh...c=34374&hl= Thanks again. Tom Jason, I'll be in touch about that beer. Boris, I sent you a picture of the ACL

Here you go Sean. There has been some sawing and sanding. I did get nervous sanding plastic without ventilation. Anyway, as I said it's all functional. side front close Tom

Hi Jack, I came here with the same intentions and about the same background as yourself. I too would not advise doing a 35 mm dry run. I'm sure you would learn from it, but it would be very costly. Here are a few books that I found very helpful: Independent Filmaking (Lenny Lipton). although outdated in a lot of ways, It was helpful. Cinematography by Kris Malkiewicz and M. David Mullen (who ever that guy is :) ) Film Lighting by Kris Malkiewicz as David mentioned. Kodak also has a Student Handbook CD ROM series. some of which are titled "What is Cinematography" "Lighting for Film" and some others. I would check with the Kodak Rep in your area (or the closest one you can find.) I also find myself analyzing movies more these days. Mainly observing the light. AND this forum has been extremely valuable, extremely! In my experience, because of the cost of film, one thing it demands as opposed to video, is much more planning, understanding of the medium and methodical organization. Hope this helps and good luck. Tom

Hey Danial, Do you have a rod system on your camera? I bought a Lindahl matte box (Ebay) and 4 little pieces of hardware with thumbscrews and with the rod system, it cost me about $35. Works perfectly. Let me know if you'd like me to post a picture. Tom

Thanks Saul, I've borrowed the lenses for my new C mount to Nikon. I had to go with what I could afford. One limitation is that in 35mm there doesn't seem to be many lenses under 28mm, or very few. Boris, thanks as well. I do have to say that I find very little to none in the way of lenses for CA (Cameflex) mounts. Perhaps I'm searching on Ebay with the wrong words, but I've tried, under cameras and photo, and find nothing but a manual. Could you also confirm if you know: is an Arri B mount the same thing as an Arri bayonet mount? I also have searched Ebay with those terms with very little returns. None with Arri Bayonet and only a few for Arri B Thanks as always. Have a warm day. It's -25 here. But then again that's with the wind chill :lol: Tom

One good thing about a Flash movie is that it operates on both a PC and a Mac in a variety of browsers as long as the user has the flash plugin. Generally speaking many PC users watch their content with Windows Media Player, while mac users use Quicktime. I like using Quicktime, but that's going to leave a lot of PC users out. T

Hi Maxim, I'm not sure there is any magic setting for across the board encoding. Obviously, there are going to be compromises in quality vs. filesize. As you know you have three variables, frame rate, data rate, and key frame interval. For audio you also have data rate. In my experience in some pieces frame rate is going to be top priority, in others maybe it's the audio data rate is, a music video for example. Some sound you may be able to use mono setting to save file size. Don't be afraid to use the a number in the key frame interval. For me it's basically been trial and error, test and test. I would save templates as you go along or make notes of the variables which will make it easier to compare. Hope that helps, Tom

I would try Bernie O'Doherty Super 16 Inc. Tom

Hi Sean, In regard to Motion Graphics (some might call animating), the first thing I would do is download a trial version of a motion graphics package, AfterEffects for example and go through the basic tutorials. Learn details about keyframing and keyframe interpolation, working with alpha channels, layers. Search the web for basic tutorials. Video Co-Pilot is a good one, but not knowing what your experience is, some of those may be too much too soon. Also, many if not all non linear editing (NLE) software has some form of keyframe ability. So if you have access to a NLE that might be a good place to start as well. Like learning film for example, observe what other people are doing and think about the ways they may have achieved a certain look. I would also agree with the previous suggestions about networking no matter what area you're interested in. Tom

Yes, very nice looking footage and a nice way of presenting it. What's the speed limit out there, you better slow it down there buddy ;) T

"EXCELLENT looking footage! Very nice. One question about your workflow to circumvent codec issues: Do you get the transfer back from the lab as a series of stills, or are you doing that conversion yourself after the transfer is completed?" Thanks Craig, I appreciate it. "I'm doing a S16->HD transfer shortly and your workflow would be perfect for my situation. I assume you must be having the lab do the frame sequence export, but I haven't seen that as an export format yet at the places I've been looking into. Cheers." No, single frames/stills was not an option when transferred. The whole process was quite a pain and soap opera. You can read it here if you're really board: can't see all footage In short, I was forced to convert my footage to stills because I could only see a small portion of the footage when I imported it. Never did figure out why. I'd have to go back and check, but I believe I used Virtualdub to convert the original .avi As a side note, it seems more and more of a challenge to get HD transfers put on a PC formatted hard drive. I have more footage on the way that will need to be converted to stills on my G4...ouch! Hope it can hold up. All the best, Tom

I know what you're saying Paul. I have in the past also tried to emulate some of the characteristics of film on video. I've even used plugins designed to look like film......I'm so ashamed :( I was trying to save money in my case, by not shooting real film while hoping to obtain some of the quality. I think that says something about the quality of film that many shooting video strive to get that look. I have never even come close (as you would expect). Very slightly off topic as I'm talking about 16mm film, I just shot a little short, with Tri X(7222) but I ran out as my kids could not get it in 4 takes or less!!! Anyway, all I had in the fridge was Plus x. So I shot 10 seconds of Tri X on foamcore with the flattest lighting I could get in hopes of getting a shot with just grain on white. If the cuts that go from TriX to PlusX are too jarring because of the different grain structure, I'm going to try and use a blending mode to overlay the grain. I'll post some still if I need to resort to that. Tom

Hey Boris, Sounds like a great site. I've got an ACL II s/n #2947. Not sure what date that would make it. I'll send some pictures along in the next few days. Tom

Thanks as always Mr. Saul. An adapter has been purchased. I'll be borrowing a few Nikon lenses to get a feel for them. Unfortunately PL would stand for Profit Loss at the moment :D Tom

I'm wondering if some of you have any advice on expanding my setup in regard to lenses? Here is some information on my camera and mount: Super 16 converted Eclair ACL camera, stainless steel Arriflex bayonet mount, in addition to standard Éclair and C mount (flange depth 17.52mm) Obviously, my experience is very limited along these lines. It seems like the Arriflex bayonet mount and the Eclair Cameflex mount have very little available in terms of lenses that can be directly mounted (correct me if I'm wrong). Since that seems to be the case, what should I be looking for in terms of adapters that would give me the most flexibility both in terms of lens choice and lens price? PL adapater, NikonF, Canon FD? Me confused... Thanks, Tom

I would ask: When was it serviced, by whom, and is there a receipt?. Who did the conversion to Super 16? Is there documentation? When was the last time it was used? Can you see some footage or stills? What a the available frame rates? If you're in Amsterdam you may want to make sure it will run at 25 fps. I would also, check into the cost of shipping there on my own (given the wieght). I'm not sure if there is a tax specific to your country, but that will add to the cost. I wouldn't get too excited about the filters, closeup "filters" or the film short ends, just make sure the camera itself works well. However, having done the same thing, I would send it to a camera tech and have it checked out and make sure it's ready to go. I wish I would have done it that way, as I spent unnecessary money on finding out that my camera needed a tuneup. I would start there. Good luck, Tom

I was just going to add that with spam, spam protection, white lists, black lists, email filters, etc., email isn't a 100% dependable form of communication. T

Hello, Well I can tell you how I would recreate it? The only thing I would shoot are stills. They seem to be using the same stills for each shot and animating their position and transparency. Or it could be done with a long dissolve. Then I would use an animation with varying color values and put it (or more than one) over the top of the animated stills and use an overlay or some other type of blending mode available in many NLE systems. Tom