David Rakoczy

Go ahead and get your self a piece of Muslin.. it won't be anything like the China Silk.

How did you deduce that? The question was 'Who gets to decide who is in charge'. Slow down Ruairi...

Start wide .. you can shoot your wide shots first and as you move in adjust your Lighting (clean it up) as you move in to your close-ups. This also gives your crew a chance to begin wrapping what is not needed. Lighting an individual is relatively easy... I usually start with the environment... thinking about what will be behind the Talent when we get to their Close Up... then bring in a couple units for Talent. You can spend three hours lighting a space and then bring in a kino, China Ball or 2k thru a 4x4 diffusion and have that set in less that a minute.

The people with the Money.

Take a Director's Viewfinder, place two people and frame your shot, do the move, measure the right to left sides of frame. Skypans are super simple, fast and give an even spread.

Absolutely, esp. Advertising (Commercials).. Entertainment is the first to go on the consumer side and Advertising is the first to go one the Business side. By go I mean cut. What you see in the biz today is the same we see in our culture. The middle Class is being squeezed out.. Either you are doing the handful of real 'Quality' Big Budget Work or you are reduced to something much smaller than what you could pick up 10,15,20 years ago. Yes, these are generalizations but I believe they are for the most part true. Take Features. You are either doing the handful of Big Budget Features/ Series or something much smaller than what was available in the past when then there was a ton of 2 - 10 million dollar (US) Shows in production. I know, because four of them fell into my lap and that should tell you something. Now, there is a glut of Product. People want to experience the biggest most engaging thing they can experience next to real life ( e.g. Cameron) so there is more money pumped into one Show and fewer People are working. The Big Budget Rich get Richer and the Working Low Budget Middle Class are getting poorer. We are on the verge of a recession. Not good for Filmmaking.. whether it be via emulsion or 1s and 0s. On the bright side :rolleyes: there are people working as there have always been even during the toughest of times. Keep on your toes. Look for opportunity. Make it happen... adjust, even Change....

Lets just hope that Obama getting in (and not having a kennedy done on him) might just mean that we miss out on the recession and it all goes back to normal. -quote- The President has very little to do with the economy... we aren't voting in a King! The US has a three Branch Gov't and blame and our Countries progress or (lack of) should be spread evenly. This idea that Obama is gonna 'Change' or 'Fix' everything is very naive. Not surprising as most Liberals are 'idealists'. The things you CAN count on with Obama are a bigger more wasteful less effective Gov't... leaving less money in your pocket... and a resurgence of terrorist attacks on home soil.. Change You Can Count On! And now for something completely different "I love emulsion". :wub:

You are absolutely correct John. The amazing thing is that these New Generation Lens Implants actually Flex as human Lenses would. With the older generation Lenses you had to pick.. do you want Close Up or Distant Vision? .. or they would place one of each so one eye sae close and the other far and let the 'brain' work out the differences and lean towards one or the other depending on what you were focussing on. My lenses 'flex' and so I have 20/20 all the way.. 18" and onwards.. even at 6"... but at 18" is where the REALLY give you awesome close up magnification! I would go through the painless Procedure again this afternoon if I had to... it was WELL worth it! You can check the Acrysof RESTORE and REZOOM Lenses out at www.EmeraldEye.com

That is a new one on me... I don't think that is what you meant(?). Muslim is a fantastic way to Soften Light. Yes, it sucks a lot up and you need to go with larger units (usually) like 5k instead of a 2k.. or a 10k instead of a 5k etc..) but the Quality of Light you get through it is fantastic. Bleached (generally) does not alter the color temp.. Unbleached will be 'Warmer"... that is the difference. Unbleached will be warmer. Here is a very simple example.. your Wide Shot can be Hard Light and using thinner Diffusion such as Opal.. when you go in for a Medium Shot you could go to 216.. then use the Muslin when go in for the Close -Up... this is a very 'simple' demonstration. You can use it as a Bounce.. or punch Light through it. It is hard to beat a 4x4 or 6x6 Muslin close to Talent with even just a Mighty Mole punching through it.. the Muslin really 'wraps' Light... awesome for modeling Faces.

They used 30.0D or +4.0 in each eye .. then Lasiked ontop of that.

The original poster stated "Because our world is always overcast and the action takes us away from firelight and flashlights and basically any other light source, I am aiming to create kind of a base layer of ambient light in the vicinity of our scenes. I think that if I can do this it will afford me the time to work with a soft sidey key and backlights and still shoot relatively quickly". One Balloon (in my opinion) is quicker (shot for shot) and would give Naim the biggest bang for his buck... provided he has the bucks to begin with as Tom has brought up. Even with a Wendy Light (and I love them they are great.. you still need to come in and 'Key' and 'Fill' your Talent.. it is great for back and 3/4 Lighting for wide areas but does little for your immediate talent. One balloon can Light a huge area and Key your Talent.. sure you may want to beef them up a bit but basically that 'base' layer can be set.. the and contrast with harder Lights carving the BG. The original p;oster also said " think the director/producers are aware that this is going to be a costly way to go and they want to see a preliminary gear list to see if this kind of look will even be possible." so that led me to the Balloon... my first choice. Again, Tom makes the best point.. we can all dream.. what is the reality?

(don't know what the equates to on the 20/20 scale.) right now, don't know how much worse they'll get (i'm only 19). Andrew, I am not sure either but will endeavor to find out... I can tell you I could not make it past line three of an Eye Chart... also had Astigmatism in each eye. It really is a life changing Procedure. I used glasses all my life and at 44* was given (well, paid for) perfect vision and blown away by the results. I think about it every day. You have a long life ahead of you (God willing) and if at all possible get your eyes done. Seek out the BEST 'Opthamologist' in your area. Get Examined. They usually charge $200 for an All Out Thorough Exam.. if you choose to continue that $200 is applied the the Procedure. Find the BEST and don't be afraid. Maybe all you need is Lasik.. but if he says a Lens Exchange is recommended, don't worry.. it is absolutely Painless and the Light Show is Sensational. Get examined by the best Opthamologist you can find... find out who the 'Cataract Cowboy' is in your area.. the one who does a 'ton' of Cataract Procedures.. he is your guy/woman.

Wear your Sunglasses Phil.. I wear mine whenever going outside (esp. here in Florida B)). What I was discussing was 'seeing clearly' ... 'perfectly'... at all times... through your natural eyes, with sunglasses... and especially through a Camera. This has changed my life no doubt. It is amazing how much thought and effort you have to make to 'protect' your Vision for the kind of work environment you are in all day. You a dedicated person Phil!

I am concerned that hard background fill will look sourcey and not mesh with what's happening in the foreground... anyway, I will play with it in testings and figure it out... it will be quite out of focus anyway. so it's important for me to remember that that specific element isn't the most important thing! Thanks! Balloons aren't that expensive especially when you consider how fast you can move them.. they are real time savers! You only need one unless you are doing a HUGE set up... one should do and it gives of a very very nice soft quality of Light .. in a 360 degree spread.. which gives you a HUGE area to work in.. just move the camera and use the other (already lit) side. Your quote above is right on.. test it and see.. but it really isn't background 'hard fill'.. but hard (harder) modeling on the background trees etc.. carving them out and giving you something different than more soft moonlight that can make your overall image mushy and undefined. I believe you will find my suggestion to work well to give you that 'snap' in contrast you'll need being that everything will be the same color temp. If not, hey.. beauty is in the eye of the creator. Best of Luck! Enjoy the Show!

Here is something different. I have had pretty poor vision throughout my life, especially in my right eye. The eye I use to operate. Luckily for DPs there is more to having a 'good eye' than 20/20 vision. Anyway, I have always had to hire the (best) Focus Pullers I could find to ensure sharp images. They knew going in if they asked me if a take was sharp I could not really give them an opinion either way... so generally we would run one more for safety. Thankfully, I had very understanding Focus Pullers who worked (with) me on this through numerous shows including four Features for HBO and a Series for USA Network. I had a special Lens Adapter made for Panavision Viewing Systems and that was a real pain as anytime anyone needed to look through the lens it was a complete rebuild on my adapter unit to get it back in place so I could see. I began using ARRI exclusively because their Viewing System Diopter seemed to have more correction in it than Panavision but even when fully dialed to the left, the image was still not completely sharp. Operating while wearing my glasses did not work for me either as mashing my glasses against the chamois just dirtied them and was extremely uncomfortable... and did not really 'look' good on Set. A couple years ago I went to to see if I was a Lasik candidate as Lasik had come a long way and I felt much more confident in the procedure. Unfortunately, my poor vision was far beyond what Lasik could cure. I was really bummed! I was all set to throw my glasses on the ground and stomp on them and be done with them. Oh ya, Contacts were not possible as I could in no way man-handle my own eyeball to get them in or out without some sort of anesthesia :blink:. My Opthamologist said there was one last resort and really my only hope. A complete Lens Exchange! Yes, rip out my old misshapen Lenses and install new Synthetic ones. Whoa, I thought. Crap, that is really invasive and SCARY! I did my research and found that this procedure is performed something like 20 million times a year throughout the World on people who have Cataracts. My doc (Sam Poppell) told me that anyone who lives long enough will undergo this procedure as our bodies outlive our Lenses. So, he said, you can wait until you are much older and your Lenses begin to turn opaque, and your insurance will cover it, or we can get this done now but it will be out of your pocket ($10k US). Well, I penciled out how much this would cost over the remainder of my life as I was then 43 years old and I thought you know $10K spread out over the next 40 years (God willing) is WELL worth it to have perfect vision! So I did it. It was completely painless and I was awake for the entire Procedure. Well sedated but awake and aware of everything. I saw his little pipette enter my eye and crush my old Lens! At that point it turned into an amazing Pink Floyd Light Show as the eye he was seeing just saw raw color... it was the purist most amazing Color I could ever imagine seeing. The removal of the old Lens took about one minute. He then inserted a new Synthetic Lens through the little tiny hole he made to extract the old Lens. The new one inserted and popped open in place.. BAM.. DONE! It took him as long to exchange my human Lens for a Synthetic Lens as it does to swap from a 50mm prime to a Zoom! Some of my Crew have suggested that he just install PL Mounts that way I could use my own Lenses and save so money. Anyway, badda bing I am done and out of there with a patch over my eye. I went home and enjoyed the remaining effects of the intravenous cocktail they gave me. They next morning was the moment of truth and I was hesitant to pull off that patch. They will onyy work on one eye at a time so at this point they had only done my right eye. I pulled the patch.... and could see details in the World I could never see even with glasses! I almost cried! I was AMAZING!!!! The next week he did my other (left) eye.. BAM.. Painless.. got to see the Pink Floyd Light Show again and enjoy another intravenous cocktail! The Lens swap was done and I was SOOOOO glad I did it! A couple weeks later he tested me and my right eye was just a tad off from 20 so he did a quick Lasik on that eye (included in my price) completing my Visual transformation. Now I have 20/20.. can read the smallest print on the smallest medicine bottle.. see the details in every texture.. when reading a book I can see the grain in the page perfectly! Placing an item 18 inches from my eye is now like placing it under a microscope! I can not express how much of a change this has made in my life and ability to Light and Operate. I am so thankful I live during a time when this technology is available. Another bonus is that these new Lenses have built in UV Protection! What more can you ask for?! No longer am I reaching for my glasses the first thing in the morning and taking them off the last thing at night. I get up and GO! Also, I can now wear cool wrap around sunglasses as, with my old glasses prescription, that was not possible. I know many of you struggle with this same issue. If you can.. I there is any way.. do a Lens swap if you do not qualify for Lasik. It will dramatically change you life. I am posting my Docs website just as a reference if you have any questions about this EmeraldEye.com. I also shot (produced) a Spot for him and it is posted on my website Demo Reel. I am so thankful for having this procedure done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life is to short to stumble through it blindly... or with less than perfect Vision in our chosen trade.

This is called the quiet before the storm... get ready Will!

If nothing else you'll have an interesting nick-nack for your office. Nothing worse than waking up hungover with a ton of 'Order Confirmations' in your email in-box :blink:

I would recommend using a Balloon to get your base 'Set' ambient softlight. Then carve out some background trees with harder sources to create a sense of contrast. Being that everything will be pretty much the same color temp (moonlight)... using softlight on your immediate Set and hard or (harder) light on your background trees may get you that contrast 'snap' you need.

Glad to see there is someone as idiotic as myself... it really is comforting. Glad you had a laugh! :D

Ya know.. it is threads like this that really hurt Cinematography.com. They really do. You have one idiot singing songs against the President... not bothering to thank him that we have not been hit by a Terrorist Attack since 9/11.. who would have thought we wouldn't?... no one.. we were all waiting for round two.. which would have actually been round 8 or 11. There is another idiot telling you all to go F@#% yourselves... I have read other snide comments from other Euro idiots stating that Americans don't get subtle humor. This is all divisive.. of course these comments are meant to divide.. just like the Film vs Video topics. These are just meant as chum for the sharks to swim in and feast... (while we all know Film wins every time :-). I guess we are all very lucky to have such time on our hands that we can spend it like this and not scratching around for food... looking for a stolen daughter... taking our last breathes as we die from a curable illness. How lucky we are! Lucky and spoiled rotten! Back to CML.

Be VERY careful with NDs and (Filters) in general around Flames.. they can cause 'ghosting'. I recommend shooting 200T.. why shoot 500t at a 5.6 when you can shoot 200t at just under a 4? 200t looks so much better than 500 unles you relly like the Grain.. or the Stock is already purchased and you are stuck with it. Build a real fire and use the smoke.. it will add a naturalness to your shot. Backlit smoke looks great! I wouldn't go deeper then 1/2 CTB for your moonlight and use a combo of 1/2 and full CTO for your Fire-light. Remember it is contrast that will make your image snap... Have fun.. throw one on the Bar-B for me :-)

True indeed Robert. True indeed! And kudos to your Producer for making a Film... not a digi-feature. Roll'n Roll'n Roll'n.. keep those Cameras Roll'n... Emul-sion!!!

Tim, I stand corrected. I see you just need the transfer for off-line only... I get it :-) Shoot Film... Keep it Alive!

The Telecine is estimated way low. Any quality transfer will run $300 - 450 an hour. You should estimate approx. one hour per 400ft roll. Sure, your Colorist (may) be able to knock out 1 1/2 to 2 rolls per hour provided you have exceptionally exposed and controlled footage. This usually is not the case. I always budget for one hour per roll. Also you do not have DSR in there to fix any dirt that may appear on a take you want to use. As far as $4k being a 1/4 the cost of a RED.. huh? You can spend far more than that just on a Set of Lenses to use on that RED... owning a RED (Body) is not the same as owning a RED 'Package'.. I can buy a S16 Camera with little money... but by the time I have a usable Package I have spent a lot more. My Arri SR2 Super 16 Package cost me $42k..... and worth every penny!