Frederico Beja

My advice: Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot and... humm... shoot. :) hehe You'll learn as you go, doing it, making mistakes, making the films better the next time. Also a really good way to learn: break down a scene. Pick a film that you like, a specific scene, an break it down. See what kind of shots the director did, and why do they work. Almost every shot has a meaning. Why the close-up here? Why the camera movement there? Match that with dialog, and you'll get a sense of what each shot means. The actor's movement (blocking), the subtext, how the director captured that. Do the same with lighting. For now, you don't need to know what kind of lights and gels they used, but pause the image and take a look at the frame. Where are the sources of lighting? What do they represent? Backlight separating him from the background.. humm, nice. hard light... looks like the sun, nice. See what I mean? And then try to replicate this in your own films! There are several films out there that each one of us could advise u on. I'd suggest a film school typical case study film: the graduate. Everything makes sense in this film :) Good luck, and most of all, have fun!! :D

Nice going, Freddie. LEDs are not good, but for cars work great! Also, u might wanna use kinos to increase the overall stop. Not the entire unit thou! I'd suggest take a couple of tubes out, without the crate, diffuse them, and tape them on the back, this will give a nice and soft backlight. Don't go over board thou, otherwise it will be a little fake, like sitcoms ;)

Is this the only scene you have on that location? It it is, you'll be more than fine with 250, or even 200. With the lights that you have, and being the room 6mx6m, this will be enough. And this way, you won't have any problems concerning film grain. Besides, 200 or 250 are more rich in color than 500... You're shooting 35, you have a huge latitude, so I wouldn't worry about not having enough lights. I agree with Serge, you'll be fine!

Hey montaser abou saada First of all, welcome to the forum :) Your questions are not silly at all. If this is your first time as a DP, I'd say you're already doing a good job by trying to learn different ways of doing the scene beforehand. This way you make sure u know what you are doing! I have to tell thou, that all depends on the look, mood and tone of the film... U might want something really hard and with lots of contrast, or u might want something softer, or even something totally washed out (if this is the case, and if you're using film, a bleach bypass could give u a certain look - I hope I'm not confusing you even more... Sorry if I am) Also, the blown out outside always depends on the amount of light you'll have inside, and the stop you will be using.. So, and if you have that kind of equipment, my first suggestion (but this is just how I like to work, other DPs might think differently), is to use your biggest light(s) as the key (in this case, the 4k HMI.) For several reasons: you u want the outside to look bright, u might as well start with a big light and scrim it down. it's easier than start with a small one, and then realize that's not enough, and you end up having to change the entire unit. Once again, I don't know the mood you're trying to set up, but I'd do it with the 4k HMI, , maybe running thru an opal diffusion. This will stop the light down, make it less hard, and spread it a little bit inside the room. If you feel the window is too blown out, you can always use ND gels to cover them. Don't forget that you're using tungsten stock, and the HMI reads as daylight, so you have to use a filter on the camera, which will bring you 2/3 of a stop down. Otherwise, the HMI will read really blue on the film. I'm a contrast lover, so I'd keep the shadows hard. But if you want detail on the room as you pan, and the stop ratio is too high, because you're in a studio, I'd just lit the all room evenly, from above, and silk it. Make sure you cover the entire silk with this light coming from the ceiling. This will make your ambiance brighter for a couple of stops, decreasing your ratio for the "sunlight", and making you not lose detail as you pan. Depending on the size of your light box, you could use it with the HMI, but I wouldn't. HMIs get really really hot, and plus, if your goal is to reflect the light, just use shinny boards... Once again, this is just what I would do, based on the descriptions and equipment you gave me. Other DPs will think in another way. Just go there, try it, take some stills, see what better suits you, and shoot whenever you fell ready! Hope that helps!! Good luck!

Hi! It is always good to have lots of references from other films when you chose your stock. But don't stick to what you see: many details were achieved during the telecine process, with color correction. So I'd suggest you research for more films that used those stocks (you can search for films on iMDB and check their technical data), and see what they have in common. Then you should decide if that's the look you want (contrast, saturation, sharpness, grain, etc). Also, visit Kodak WebSite and take a look at the charts and curves for those stocks (see how they react to light and different exposures). Have in mind that the 200T is more saturated than the 500T, so you'd need to compensate in color correction, ir order not to tell the difference (unless if that's what you want). Just another thing: If you're shooting in the city, are you shooting outdoors? If so, I'd recommend you to use a daylight stock also (something fast as the 50D), so you can work around the T4, T5.6 (try not to go above this, or your Depth of Field will be affected, and lenses always react better in lower stop numbers). Of course you can use the 200T and correct it with filters, but if you have lots of shots outdoors, why not get a Daylight stock? Less grainy, richer colors... Think about that :) Hope this is helpful :)

Hi Oron Thanks for your reply! Yeah, I know what you mean.. If I keep the Close-Ups and tight shots, I can work with what I have. My problem are the wide shots.. Should I consider use the 160T for the CU, and a faster film (250T) for the wide shots, and then work the color correction in telecine?

Hi I need some advice on this matter. I'm shooting an intense and very character driven film. I'm looking for a Hi Con and Hi saturation, with the sharpest image. Hard Candy could be a good example... After doing some research, I ended up falling in love with the Fuji Eterna Vivid 160T stock (pretty much all of the film takes place indoors). But now I have a problem... Although this stock has the mood I'm looking for, it requires lots of lighting.. And because this is a low budget film, I only have one 2k, three 1k, and some 750s and 500s... Plus, I'm using an Arri SR2 (16mm), with a zoom lens that only allows me to go as wide as a T2.8 The good thing is that I'm planning to get deep shadows vs hot lights (on faces), because of the nature of the film, with lots of long lenses and CU, so I could walk in some lights, but I still have a problem with a few wide shots I have. You thought things couldn't get any worse? Well... they can. I wanna shoot inside with day time looks, with light rays coming from windows (and I don't have HMIs...) Now what? Should I stick to this film stock (will I get enough from the lights I have), or should I consider the Eterna Vivid 250T? (this might work, but I'd really love to use 160T...) Oh, and renting more lights is out of the question, the budget is really tight... Let me know what you guys think, if you have any experience with the 160T let me know how you did your lighting! Thanks!