Ben Brahem Ziryab

It all depends on your budget and your need. First thing that goes though my mind is the Panasonic HD prosumer camcorders. I have used the DVX100 for almost a year and it's a really neat camcorder for most film students. The DVX100 cost only about $2000 at the moment...You may also consider the newer HD version, HVX200 which goes for about $3400. Other suggestions would be the Canon XL2 (SD) / Canon XLh1 (HD)...the JVC HD-100U, 200U or maybe 250U if you can afford. If you are on a really tight budget, get the Canon XL1...it's sold for almost no money these days and it's a fine piece of camcorder considered the price. That was the digital prosumer camcorder market as it looks right now. You may also want to shot on film, but then you would have to spend much more.

Well it might work, but the most important things is really if you know how to actually light a night scene. Personally, I would never do something like that. And if it's improvised, how can you be sure that it will actually work for you? One thing you should also consider is weather the lighting you are using is enough for exposing the 16mm film. Which film stock do you use? Film speed? I would suggest you to bring at least one or two 2.5k HMI lights with you, among with one large or two small kinoflows and dedolights are always wonderful tools for creating fill, when lighting up a human face. Also bring stands, colorgels, gribs, dimmers, some kind of light reflector and one flag with you. You are still able to use all the things that you listed, but combine them with artificial light for better result and quantity.

Have you considered the RED ONE 4K Digital Cinema camera? You may also take a look at the Phantom HD and Phantom 65. Both great cameras but get the RED ONE if you need something more lightweight and pretty easy to mount. Forget the Canon 5D Mk II. The quality is nowhere near good enough for 35mm prints and I am not even sure there is an XLR input for recording sound.

Well, I kind of agree. I like when the lightning changes as the movie moves into the horror and get's more frightening. And indeed many horror movies tends to begin with a naturalistic approach in terms of the color and quality of the light. As the horror is getting closer, the color of the light get's cooler and the quality, more direct and hard.

Thanks.

Hey folks I just had one of the biggest chocks in my life this afternoon. Did you actually realize that our own moderator for this forum, M. David Mullen is the DP of Jennifer's Body's? The cinematography on the film was really top-notch. The main thing in my mind when I leaving the cinema was actually the cinematography, but I didn't realize, until recently, that M. David Mullen was the cinematographer of the film. He did some amazing things before, specially with "Nortfolk" and "Manure"...I also recalling myself buying "The Astronaut Farmer on dvd, just because I knew M. David Mullen had worked on it. But I don't believe he worked on such big mainstream movies before... Must be a privilege to work with Megan Fox too... Anyway, What did you guys think of M. David Mullen's job on "Jennifer's Body"?

Hi folks What do you guys think of Academy Award Winning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle ? I personally think he is a great DP, specially when it comes to Digital Cinematography. If anyone has seen his last work at Lars Von Trier's "Antichrist", you will really get what I mean. He shot the entire film with the RED ONE camera, combined with extreme highspeed footage shot on the Phantom HD camera. On the big screen it looked gorgeous and very close to 35mm. In case you wonder who he is, he is the guy who photographed 28 Days Later, The Last King of Scotland and Slumdog Millionaire. He frequently works with danish film directors like Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. And for all of your who admires his work, don't forget to join his new Facebook fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anthony-Dod-Mantle/71235425539

Try to do a search on ebay. There is plenty of people selling 8mm stock, there.

HMI is just a type of light. HMI is a beautiful high-quality light which has a colour temperature of 5600 kelvin and therefore produces a natural daylight temperature. What you are describing is the outcome power of the light. K stands for thousands, so 1K is equal to 1000 Watt. An 1,2K light produces therefore more lighting power than an 1K. HMI is a very common standard in lightning, and you can use for whatever you want. Specially if you want to put colour gels in front of the lightning, HMI would be more suitable for the job than for example Redheads.

Hey guys Have any of you noticed the 2K print on the new "Star Trek" movie? I don't undestand. Why would a big hollywoodproduction with a budget of $150,000,000 make a 2K print of such a movie. If it comes to me, the movie really needs to go 4K. The movie is running at almost every theatre around the world. As this is a big Sci-Fi movie , I think the extra resolution, would definitely give the movie the extra touch. Specially at the biggest cinema screens. What do you think?

It's true. As far as my information goes, "Angels and Demons" was shot on 35mm and digitalized completely with DI. Although they did use the RED ONE camera when shooting on green screen.

Hi Guys As you probably know, this years Academy Awards nominations has been announced for a couple of weeks ago (http://www.imdb.com/features/rto/2009/oscars) The five nominees for "Best Cinematography" are: Changeling (2008): Tom Stern The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Claudio Miranda The Dark Knight (2008): Wally Pfister The Reader (2008): Roger Deakins, Chris Menges Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Anthony Dod Mantle In desperation of trying to see all the movies, before the show goes off, I have tried to give my own opinion on who will win this prestigious award will go to. Without any doubt, they are all great nominees although, I think Wally Pfister has a great chance with "The Dark Knight". Also Anthony Dod Mantle's work on Slumdog Millionaires is defently worth winning an oscar. It's rare thing to see Anthony Dod Mantle not working on the digital media, but on 35mm instead. I think it's pity because I am pretty sure that Roger Deakins will have to be watching, somebody else getting getting statue, as he did the last 6 times he went to the oscars. Maybe he should have been nominated for Revolutionary Road instead...then he might had a better chance. Anyway, who do you think, this years Cinematography oscar award will go to?

RED ONE or Phantom 65 Both excellent 4K Digital Film Camera's. But which one of them, produces the best image quality? I am not fully aware of the order price, but I know Phantom 65 cost about 3000$ pr. day to rent, which is way more expensive than RED ONE. Of course, this discussion will probably not be ideal in 2010 when RED lances there 28K RED EPIC camera.

I know it's been discussed several times before, but anyway, here it comes again. Panavision vs. Arriflex Which of these two film camera manufacturers do you prefere the most? and what do you think are the advantage/disadvantage at both camera systems? It have always been a question to wonder about. Personaly I prefer an setup of Arriflex Cameras with Carl Zeiss Lenses. I don't know anything about Panavision cameras though.

Hi guys! Just want to tell you that the brilliant cinematographer Wally Pfister (The Prestige, Momento, The Dark Knight) has now his own fan page on facebook. link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wally-Pfiste...776234479?ref=s Anyone using facebook and whome is admiring this DP's amazing work, should defently join the fan page ;) NB: Wally Pfister might have an personal facebook profile. I am trying to contact him, in order to get him as the admin of the fan page. I hope he wants to join, so he can write to the fans :)

My top 5 cinematographers are: 1. Roger Deakins 2. Emmanuel Lubezki 3. Janusz Kaminski 4. Robert Richardson 5. Vittorio Storaro Just love Roger Deakins use of light and choice of lenses. Also they way he moves the camera and composite his shots are just beautiful done. Of course, Roger Deakins is a person which is constantly improving his skills though experience, and his earley movies wasen't really beautifully photographed, but he gained his experience fast and has produced some stunning results over the last couple of years. Both Emmanuel Lubezki and Janusz Kaminski is for me, one of the masters in camera movement. They know how to make a choice of a visual style for telling the story in the best form, and they put the visual style perfectly thoughout the entire movie. Vittorio Storaro is often considered as one of the biggest cinematographers thoughout the movie history, and this is defently noticable in his use of lightning, colors, composition and of course his incredible knowledge about the art of cinematography. If I had the chance to put a couple of extra cinematographers on my list, I would choose Dean Semler, Dion Beebe, César Charlone, Anthony Dod Mantle, Wally Pfister and Ron Fricke.

Yes, but when saying an "high budget" shortfilm, I was refering to a youth shortfilm production. Considered what the budget is on other independent youth shortfilm productions, this is has a more serious budget. Unfortently, cinelenses are very expensive to rent in Denmark, and the rental house will not allow renting the expensive cinelenses to everyone, but only to professional cinematographers. Okay, thank you. I knew my zoom lenses was for no use when it comes to moving images. I will try to get some Primes then. Maybe I will have some used one's, because they are a bit expensive. I AM aware of the problems using still lenses over cine lenses, but cine lenses are too expensive to rent and buy. Also still lenses are ok though for independent shortfilm use. No, I don't undestand New York "sense of humor", and whatever you are trying to say, it's making me laugh. Hmm...okay. Thank you. Again, I will get some prime lenses with a good range of f-stop, so I will be able to use it for different angles and type of shots.

Hi Guys, I am new to the forum. I am a promising young filmmaker. Right now, I am studying in college preparatory high school, but I am hoping to become an big DP after filmschool and university. At April, next year, I am going to shot an high-budget shortfilm for my filmworkshop called "Station Next", which is BTW placed in Filmbyen, Copenhagen. Same place as Lars Von Trier's company Zentropa (which I assume you know). Anyway, For the film we will be renting equipment from our local dealers, such as 35mm adaptor, steadicam and shoulder mounts. The 35mm adaptor will very likely going to use an Nikon mount. It would also be possible to get a P+S TECHNIK 35mm ADAPTOR with PL mount, but Zeiss or Arri lenses are too expensive to rent and we can't afford that on our budget. So, What Nikon lenses do you prefere, I go out and buy? I have already an Nikkor 18-55mm VR (f/3.5-4.5) and an Nikkor Telephoto 70-300mm (f/4-5.6). NB: It would also be nice to buy lenses, that I later can use for still photography at movie sets with my Nikon D80 camera. Thanks in advance Gazoo