Simon Bjork

Not deiced at the moment. We've been looking at them and they do seem really nice.

We're designing a big light rig with LEP lights that would be used for a feature film. Actors (and crew members) would work under the rig every day, 8 hours a day, for say 25 days. HMIs would be used as well. No tungsten. Green-screen studio. Would you reccomend this? Is there any danger (radiation) when working under it for such a long time? The LEPs would be used instead of space lights.

I share the opinion that the 2K scanning is to be used for a 2K-workflow, not to deliver a better image than say a 1080 scan (or maybe, even a 720 scan). I feel that the problem with everybody offering HD-scanning of Super8 is the actual files. I would take a PAL scan over a 2K scan any day of the week if it had a better codec. To be able to use the scans in a professional workflow, we need to get 10-bit LOG DPX (as it is the standard for 16 and 35mm). Intresting about the 16-bit linear for positive - it makes sense not to go with LOG. But what we can not accecpt is any of codecs that clip white point above 1.0. And that involves the usual ProRes files, DV-codecs and so on. I'm unsure of ProRes 4444, can it contain any overbright inofrmation? I doubt it. If we get this, I would be happy with any resolution, as I feel that it would give be a better looking shot in the end anyway.

Green screens, can't live with them, can't live without them. People have problems with green screens every day. We hear from the compositors about green spill, too dark, too bright, wrong color of green, uneven screen and so on. All I ever hear about green screen is a compromise. Should have done this better, should have done that better. But we never do. I thought we should collect our experiences in one post, so it would be easy to share problems and get good ideas. Color From tests we have done, it's clear that we pull the best key from a green-screen that's lit with Kino-Flos' and green tubes. The colour-range of the green becomes very narrow, and it's easy for i.e. Keylight to find a good key, especially in trouble areas like hair. Tungsten doesn't give a good key at all, at least not with the RED-camera. The screen is no longer green, it's got reds and blues in it aswell. To avoid this you'd have to filter the camera or the lights with a blue filter to get it to around 5000K, with gives a pretty good key. Problem is you loose a stop or so in exposure. HMI seem to give a good key as well, not as good as green tubes, but still good. Problem is that it's expensive. Set-up From my experience we seem to get the best screen when we hang Kini-Flos in a truss, pointing down to the screen. About eight or so i a row to get the entire 15 meter wide screen. From that you can get about 5.6 at 320 ASA. It's not completely even, but I think it would be possible to adjust them in another angle or attach a 1-bank or 2-bank under them in another angle. Any other ideas that has worked really well? We have been using a couple of HMIs with Chimeras as well, but compared to the kinos, it hasn't gotten the screen very even. I guess 5.6 at the screen would be okey, even with a blue filter and even if your doing say 50fps. On a lens that is 2.2 or so, you could still have your screen one stop over as people seem to like. Is that even true from your experience? Floor Say we get the screen lit in a good way. Often people require to see the floor aswell. Here is were the problem starts. One thing the compositing programs likes is a screen lit with green tubes. One this the compositing programs doesn't like is to have two different types of green. Sure, it's no problem to pull two keys, one for the floor and one for the screen, but it is a problem with the fading area in between. So from what I have seen and heard, it might not be a good idea to use green tubes at the screen and say spacelights for the floor, as they produce different types of green. So what are our options then? I'm basing everything of that you're using your ambient light for the scene to light the floor, I mean, how would you do it in any other way? Light everything with spacelights, screen and floor. Problem is that you need a lot of spacelights to fill a studio, it takes a lot of power, and you'd have to use a blue filter to get a better key (at least with RED-camera, resulting in that you loose a stop, resulting that you need even more space lights). And do spacelights even look good? Light everything with flourecents in the cealing, hundreds of them to produce a really soft light, for the ambience and for the floor. But will it give me a good enough exposue? Bounce some big HMIs in a silk to get and even light for the floor. Bounce with really big Tungsten to get an even light for the floor. Use FinnLights. This really seem to be the the hardest part... Floor I don't know. And it's frustrating. Is there any other types of lights you have used that seem to produce a good result? Both for the screen and for the floor. Can it really be this hard? (this is a repost from the lighting forum, I felt like it belonged here more. Maybe delete the other one?)

Green screens, can't live with them, can't live without them. People have problems with green screens every day. We hear from the compositors about green spill, too dark, too bright, wrong color of green, uneven screen and so on. All I ever hear about green screen is a compromise. Should have done this better, should have done that better. But we never do. I thought we should collect our experiences in one post, so it would be easy to share problems and get good ideas. Color From tests we have done, it's clear that we pull the best key from a green-screen that's lit with Kino-Flos' and green tubes. The colour-range of the green becomes very narrow, and it's easy for i.e. Keylight to find a good key, especially in trouble areas like hair. Tungsten doesn't give a good key at all, at least not with the RED-camera. The screen is no longer green, it's got reds and blues in it aswell. To avoid this you'd have to filter the camera or the lights with a blue filter to get it to around 5000K, with gives a pretty good key. Problem is you loose a stop or so in exposure. HMI seem to give a good key as well, not as good as green tubes, but still good. Problem is that it's expensive. Set-up From my experience we seem to get the best screen when we hang Kini-Flos in a truss, pointing down to the screen. About eight or so i a row to get the entire 15 meter wide screen. From that you can get about 5.6 at 320 ASA. It's not completely even, but I think it would be possible to adjust them in another angle or attach a 1-bank or 2-bank under them in another angle. Any other ideas that has worked really well? We have been using a couple of HMIs with Chimeras as well, but compared to the kinos, it hasn't gotten the screen very even. I guess 5.6 at the screen would be okey, even with a blue filter and even if your doing say 50fps. On a lens that is 2.2 or so, you could still have your screen one stop over as people seem to like. Is that even true from your experience? Floor Say we get the screen lit in a good way. Often people require to see the floor aswell. Here is were the problem starts. One thing the compositing programs likes is a screen lit with green tubes. One this the compositing programs doesn't like is to have two different types of green. Sure, it's no problem to pull two keys, one for the floor and one for the screen, but it is a problem with the fading area in between. So from what I have seen and heard, it might not be a good idea to use green tubes at the screen and say spacelights for the floor, as they produce different types of green. So what are our options then? I'm basing everything of that you're using your ambient light for the scene to light the floor, I mean, how would you do it in any other way? Light everything with spacelights, screen and floor. Problem is that you need a lot of spacelights to fill a studio, it takes a lot of power, and you'd have to use a blue filter to get a better key (at least with RED-camera, resulting in that you loose a stop, resulting that you need even more space lights). And do spacelights even look good? Light everything with flourecents in the cealing, hundreds of them to produce a really soft light, for the ambience and for the floor. But will it give me a good enough exposue? Bounce some big HMIs in a silk to get and even light for the floor. Bounce with really big Tungsten to get an even light for the floor. Use FinnLights. This really seem to be the the hardest part... Conclusion I don't know. And it's frustrating. Is there any other types of lights you have used that seem to produce a good result? Both for the screen and for the floor. Can it really be this hard? (I know there are other posts about this, but it seemed like a good idea to write this in a new post. Please feel free to move it if it belongs somewhere else)

I see this all the time, but it feels like it's not good for the lights. What is your opinion, can I just turn on or off a lamp with unplugging the cable, or do I have to turn the on/off button? Is there a difference between HMI, Tungsten, Kino-Flos etc?

I would really want to know more about this. Are there any plans of translating the report to english? If not, maybe someone can break it down real short?

Thank you for your help! I think we'll go with 500W or 800W bulbs in the spacelights as they seem to be working for a longer period than the 1000W. Do you think we'll need a white silk under them or just go with the normal skirts?

Hi, I work at a newly build green-screen studio. Everything is working very nice, exept for one thing - the lighting. The idea is to have a permenent lighting setup, both for the green-screen, and for the ambient light over the actors. Then we fill in with other lights on stands. The studio is 25x13 meters in area, and the height is 10 meters. One of the long walls and one of the short walls is painted green. (the rest is doors and black walls.) Our main shooting area will be against the green short. That area will be around 10x8 meters. This is were we want our ambient light to hit. The area is about 6 meters away from the green-screen. As we see it, we have several different routes to go: GREEN-SCREEN: - Kino-flos' with green chroma bulbs, mounted in the roof, lighting up the screen only. We use green kino-flos' with green bulbs on stands at the moment as they seems to be pulling a very good key. The problem is to get enough of light over the entire screen. I guess it's gonna be brither at the top, and not enough at the screen bottom. We did a quick test and barley got a t/2.0 at the bottom, and if we wanna do high speed that's not going to be enough. With this option spill is going to be a big problem as well. - Space lights, flagged of as much as possible, hitting the screen only. 6x500 tungsten bulbs in each lamp? Problem is that it's probably gonna spill at the actors. -Big tungsten our HMI hanging in the roof, shooting through silk to make it kind of a soft box. Opinions? We could have several of them in different sizes. Problem is to get the same amount of brightness for the entire screen. AMBIENT (every option is haning in a 10x8m rig, that you can vairy in height.) - Space lights. 500W bulbs? 800W? How many of them would be neded to get a nice ambient light, say exterior day for our 10x8 meter area? Hang a big silk under them? I heard a gaffer saying that they are a little to spotted, even with the skirts on. I guess if we only have enough distance to the screen, we should be able to flag them from hitting the screen pretty well. - A lot of Kino-flos in the roof, pointing down, lighting up the area. Through a silk maybe? - A lot of color-balanced flourecents, basicly building lamps. We're thinking about having something like 100x85W bulbs placed in the area, shooting throug a silk. Good or bad? So, I need you help deciding withc way to go. Me personally is leaning towards green kino-flos' in the roof and space lights for the ambient. But I'm unsure. Do you have any other ideas? Please let me know. And another thing, we kind of need to decide yesterday as we have some pretty big shoots coming up. Thank you for your help, best regards, Simon (sory for the spelling, I'm in a hurry)

Hi all, I'm just putting together some stuff for an upcoming shoot, and I have a bit of a problem. I have a 12K tungsten, and I wanna get it about 5-6 meters up in the air, and as the usual stands are only about 4 meter, I can't use those. (I want to use a stand, not a lift.) Any idesas? Thank you!

Thank you for all replys! The stabilization was ON! I cannot believe it. Luckily it was just some tests, but still, now I don't know if I can get an decent image with this setup. The only option is probably to do another test. It is shot with small Sony HVR-A1 in 1080i. Do you think I would get better results with the HVX-200 in 50 frames? Will that smooth out the (assumed) bumps? Cheers

Hello, I encounterd some problems on a test shoot a few days ago. I was set to film some stock footage from an small airplane. I simply attaced the camera to the middle of the wing, using tejp and some soft materials to keep it as steady as possible. I was shooting with a small HDV-kamera. It all seemed to go fine, until I actually looked at the footage on a larger screen. The problem is that most part of the footage is very jittery, but to me it doesn't feel that it's the camere shaking. It seems like it's some other problem, such as very hard wind directly into the lens or something. What do you think? Does anyone have any experience in filming from a small airplane? The problem was mostly when flying very high, and as you see in the last part of the clip, the jitter isn't as visible when flying low. Any help is very much appriciated. Link to footage: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v16173321kSPQWpA8

Michael, did you find time to watch the film? Cheers

Thank you all for the positive feedback. It's always nice to hear. But what about things you didn't like? It's important to know so you know what to improve on next time. The "fast motion" in some scenes for example (due to camera problems) - did it distract you from the story? Michael, nice to hear from you again! I've been terrible busy the last three months so I haven't found time for the interviews. But I will! Hopefully in april. They should be read by everyone intrested in Super8 filmmaking. I'll e-mail you when I know what to do with them. Hope you enjoy the film :)

Thank you Bengt for the kind words. It's funny that you mention the editing. The thing is, we lost a lot of material due to camera problems and had to cut around several scenes. What is missing is scenes with the the general, different camera angels in several scenes, and some action footage from the train station shoot-out. The ending was different in the screenplay, but due to weater and time we had to make this ending. I kind of like it, it's very cheesy, but I think it fits the genre of the film. The original ending had the boy and the girl ride away on a motorcycle in the sunset. By the way, some of you might remember me from e-mail interviews for a Super8 dissertation. This film is part of the reserch for that. Cheers!