J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR

I learned that concept really well when I first started using china balls. They provide great soft light that doesn't cast a shadow when close to a person but move it farther back and "Hey where'd that shadow come from?" I only use a china ball for fill when I can sneak it in close otherwise I jump to a 4x frame.

That's the card I use all the time John. It's stood up to some heavy use too. Being squeezed in grip heads and dropped and such, it's pretty durable and resists bending which is very important.

They're from a feature I shot at the first of January called "Main Street." That title is probably going to change. Quite frankly I thought the cinematography turned out pretty good for what the budget was.

Not to argue with Adam but grey cards are good for speeding things up in telecine, however they're certainly not necessary. If the colorist has a good eye for middle grey you can move really fast. When my colorist sees a chip chart it's like 'bam' she's done in 2 seconds.

Wow, now that's a basic question. It stands for 10 Kilowatts which is equivalent to 10,000 watts. In the film industry tungsten units are... Tenor- 10K or a 10,000 watt light Senior- 5K or a 5,000 watt light Junior- 2K or a 2,000 watt light Baby- 1K or a 1,000 watt light

I heard it was his face pasted on a new body so maybe that means the whole thing was faked. Being the film snob that I am I was pissed when I first heard about it but I actualy think it's kinda cool now.

No immigration laws may have been broken but the Civil Rights and equal opportunity laws have most certianly been broken. I would wager you could sue them for just posting that ad.

Actually over the last year this seems to have become more important than it probably should be. Like people who have 310 area codes yet have never worked in or for anyone in LA. I actually had a producer say something like 'We really liked your reel but couldn't find you on IMDB.' SO WHAT! I'm not on there because Jim Crows like you keep me off.

Speaking just about what is actually in my home. Not trying to make it look a certain way. I have installed those blue temp 60w "daylight" bulbs in most of my lamps and ceiling fixtures. Some have compact flos which are pretty "white." I have some flo units in my camera room that are all lamped with Chroma 50's and I've got some Kino 32's on standby if I need to shoot a test on tungsten or something. Then I have a china ball hung in the living room as well as one in my editing room, both lamped with 100w "daylight" bulbs on dimmers. I like a "whiter/cleaner" looking light. I also have those cool windows that you open with a crank and they're big. They let a lot of sunlight in. This house was built in the early 40's to house military famillies close to what was then a SAC base. Carswell AFB in Fort Worth.

The Mercury Vapor effect cut very well. I think I'll have them put a few points of blue in though. One of the advantages of a small camera like the DVX is that we were able to shoot tests easily during the scout of the alley location. It looked fairly normal as far as Mercury Vapor goes so I just went with a standard gel pack. You just have to add or remove 1/4 green or blue to get a match to the specific location. I went with a hard light style just because I felt the movie needed what I was calling a "rimmed and kicked" realism. Some of our interior locations and wardrobe were done in very pastel tones that would just bounce the soft light back. The overall effect of that was very flat looking. This movie was about teenage prostitution so it needed some depth. I used a lot of backlights and rims usually bounced off foam core for night and day interior and direct on night exterior. This also had the effect of contrasting with some material we shot in 60i where the lead character was taping his thoughts alone in a bedroom. That's really the only time you see a really soft side light without any kind of edge.

Well, considering what it costs and what people go through to make a movie $7.50 is actually the steal of a lifetime. However, that is negated somewhat when you run into scratched up dirty prints. So I say the best quality vs. cost movie I have seen is the one that screens at one of the newer cineplexes on the first few nights of release. The cheapest films (besides free industry things) are the ones I went to with my student ID. For a few years I never paid more that $4. BTW, for that past few months I've been going over to this new (to this area) independent theater that's close to my house. It's called Star Theater or something I think it's part of a small chain. It only has 7 screens and I talked to the Manager/head projectionist and he actually new his stuff! :o So far I haven't seen any problems and the prices are always $5.50 for Adults. Only drawback is the main screen while large isn't as big as those megatron cine chains.

What makes you think it'll go for $1,000-2,000? It has a reserve price and that hasn't been met yet.

In response to the "Shooting in the dark" thread in First Time Filmmakers I wanted to post some examples. I thought it would be better to put them under lighting. This is for the less experienced readers. Feel free to add comments to help them out. As stated in that thread one of the keys to making it look like night is to have many dark areas in the frame. Areas that are lit need not be underexposed, they could be at normal or even over. In the first example the characters are having dialog in a car parked in an alley. The alley location was lit with Mercury Vapor practicals. We went with those lights on the alley exterior do to budget restrictions and we liked the gritty look. This car interior scene was shot at another location where it was quiet and because we could only shoot in the alley for one night. I used a combination of gels to match the look of the Mercury Vapor's on the Key light. I used a back light to rim her hair and another one at high angle and close to the car. This second backlight I refer to as a "dirt light" because it's intended to catch in the dirt on the windows of cars or houses or whatever. In this case it also backlit the smoke from the cigarette as well as edge the fur and hand. The lighting plot; In the next example two characters are dialoging in a car parked in a driveway. This is a more normal shot with the backlights opposite each other and fill provided by a warmed up tweenie through a silk. This was to mimick some practical china balls that were strung over the driveway and visible in the wide shot. The lighting plot; With both of these setups the light is used to edge and sculpt the scene not to fill it in. Shot on the DVX-100A 24p with -5 detail and -5 master ped.

It's sad to say Phil is right. I've been learning more about immigration because of the documentary I've been shooting about a Korean sculptor. He managed to get a 3 month work visa and he went right up to the last two days. He went to see the INS in Oklahoma City about an extension and the guy told him he better be out of the country in two days or he would be arrested, deported and charged a few thousand dollars for it. The next day he showed up at the INS office again except this time he had a lawyer in tow and photographs of the sculptures he had completed on commisions. After looking at the work the INS granted him permanent resident status that day! No filmmaker or abstract painter is going to get that privilage. Makes you feel like you're waisting your time making films really. Nothing like a mamoth life-like sculpture for that "Holy poop" wow factor to make it possible to stay in the country as well as get your whole family admitted. Here's a small pic of one;

Well 15 minutes is all you'll need to fail then. People here are trying to give you the benefit of their experience. What's wrong with making a short? What's wrong with honing your craft? So what if you have ideas you got to get out of your head. I've sat on ideas for years now. They're still as valuable as they were when I thought of them. I don't want to fu** them up by not giving them the best possible treatment so I'll wait until the time is right.

I would recommend that you shoot a series of less than 15 minute shorts to learn what it takes to make a film. This also gives you the opportunity to be shown and hopefully critiqued in festivals. Don't be a festival junkie though, concentrate on making a technically solid piece and improving your craft.

The biggest argument I find against Ultra16 is the fact that with modern stocks and telecine technology the gap between 16 and Super16 has closed a bit. I don't think it's necessary to be as big a negative space hound as to shun 16 for Ultra16.

I haven't been able to track down how much over it was. We were using more than one K-3 to speed things up and I think the AC forgot to close down after we switched bodies. I would say it was probably around four stops over exposed. One stop over really shouldn't produce noise like that. In general I find 7218 to look like 250 speed film grain-wise, which is exactly what Kodak says in their literature.

Actually what you should do is pick up a copy of a bigginers filmmaking book like "Cinematography" by Kris Malkiewicz. A usual light meter for begginers is a Sekonic L-398 Studio Deluxe. It can be had for between $50 and $150.

I used one for a POV shot once and did not use a filter. The shot was out of focus. I did take note that there was a clear glass filter as well as an 85 in the case. The clear glass filter struck me as odd but I didn't have time to think about it on a quick coverage shot. So I can't say for sure or not either, it'd be nice to know.

So in the first third of the film are you generaly going to be lighting interiors to a daylight balance without the 85? Or will you shoot under tungsten then time blue to match the exterior daylight scenes? A combination of both? Also what is the plan for dalies, are you going to get any prints or just video? How will you communicate to the lab that you want "half" of the blue timed out of the prints? I assume you're using your test numbers as a baseline. Seems like it would help to simplify things if you lit everything with daylight color temp.

Are you talking about one like this? Exposure Meters: Spectra Professional (working condition) or the SPECTRA COMBI-500, though this one isn't working. Just keep an eye out daily and you'll get one.

Hi Dave, Just curious how in-depth your testing was? Did you just shoot the standard "china girl" style test or did you try and mimic some of the lighting you plan to use in the film such as in the last act when you'll have lights in the shot?

Those are for sale on ebay all the time. J. King Sargeant-at-Arms H.L.M.A.S.

Any Pentax 6X7 users out there? I've got two viewfinder's for sale cheap. I've got the Rigid Magnifying Hood w/case and the Folding Focusing Hood. Both are in 10+ condition. PM or email me for details.