George Ebersole

For future reference (since the shot is done and over with), faking rain used to be one of the most difficult things. It's hard to get thread thin rain drops to register on film. So you need extra big drops, which is why Mullen's suggestion is the best one. Water hoses with thumbs over the nozzles is the best solution. I say thumbs because using a premade nozzle will make drops that are too fine. You need those big blobby drops for it to really look cool.

"Just do it!" I wish I had years ago. It's this year or never. I will succeed.

The colors don't seem to be very rich either.

I also like and admire the film, but it always seemed to be a little "all over the place" with every version I've seen.

I have to admit I found the movie a little cliche. We've seen the classic hero/heroine returns to do-good theme before, so the basic premise seemed like a retread in that regard. That being said I actually liked the characters. I thought the Queen of Hearts was the best character in the film; an arrogant self-centered witch (though it took a while to get used to the "big head" thing). The big-battle at the end seemed pretty formulaic, but I guess the audience was expecting a big brawl at the end. As an exploration of Caroll's work, yeah, the film doesn't do a whole lot there. It's your standard fantasy actioner. Did anybody else feel that Depp's part in this film was over sold? I mean, the Hatter's important, but it's not like he's the main focus of the whole film or anything.

I had my car worked on yesterday, so I took in a matinee at the theatre up the street. Meh... it was an interesting film. I thought it was visually rich. I also saw it in standard 2D, but noticed how the 3D effect might have been used. I'm still not convinced that 3D, as the technology stands now, is the way of the future.

All you people are pros? None of you wants to shoot your own stuff on the side as either a career move or a purely artistic venture? Come on, now.

I normally don't say anything when debates get this heated, but you guys are kind of out there. Stay competitive, and get what you can. One of the reasons I didn't become a DP was I didn't want spend my time lugging around an Ikegami or SONY Betacam at weddings or shooting corporate videos. In retrospect that was probably a bad move, but, based on this thread and others, I wonder if I wouldn't be in the same boat as I am now. In short, would I be competing with other cameramen and/or DPs on an international market? I wonder.

I have, but I don't dwell on it too much. What if some older classic TV series had been shot on HD? Time Tunnel? The Man from Uncle? Mission Impossible? What about even older stuff? The Bowery Boys? Laurel and Hardy? Meh, it's an interesting exercise, I guess. Here's a few with a common theme; "Kingdom of Heaven" "Dragonslayer" "Excalibur"

It's one of the reasons I avoided tech training in film school. I knew enough about the kind of shots I wanted in the films I wanted to produce, but sitting on a dolly with my right eye glued to the eyepiece, for me at least, was a distraction when I really needed to be watching the action unfold. I responded similarly to another post about buying your own equipment. To me it's an open secret that if you start buying your own gear for convenience, say a couple of sandbags or a light or c-stand or two, then you're headed down the road away from you may believe you want to do. In the end you wind up being a crew member for the rest of your life, and, if you're lucky, own a few grip trucks to keep you in the game as you hope, wait and pray for your "Big break". I'm an old guy compared to all the young guns here, and I really don't want to direct, but I think it's probably the best avenue for what I want to create.

Well, never-mind then. *International Relations 101 Hat OFF* *EDIT* the thrust of my original post is that countries squabble. Groups of people argue and fight with other groups of people. To keep those tensions down cool heads try to work out agreements between the conflicting parties. For the media freelancer it means that his wages, on an international market, are dictated by whatever producer feels he can get the most for his dollars. And if that means shooting in Vietnam or Thailand, as opposed to some local area, then the freelancer either needs to travel there, or find another gig or line of work entirely. You can't really blame unions too much, though I think their wage demands are a significant part of the problem. The simple fact is people want money, and get as much as they can.

No other responses?

Well, it's like my "3rd World" instructor says; money can walk across borders. People can't. That's just the way things are.

Hi David; My quick history, I used to stage manage starting back in 1987, and worked on various stuff up through the mid 90s, at which point I threw in the towel. Right now I've had just about had it working retail, and am really longing to get back in the game, even if it's only doing small stuff. I know SF isn't LA, but there used to be a real thriving indy community here in the Bay Area, and I was wondering if it was still around or not. I signed up for a professional meetup group through meetup.com, but I never hear from them. I'll check out the 680 thing.

Interesting. Years back (I know, that phrase is getting old with me) a few DPs had their own camera packages. Whether for prestige, as a hobby, or they felt they honestly needed to own a BLIII, I have no idea. I didn't think that was the case today, but with all the raves I hear about the RED and the Si2K, I figured some of you guys would splurge big bucks for one "just to have". The other thing I'm hearing (other than the Arri comment) is that you guys prefer to use digital still cameras as a cheap alternative for your second unit stuff, is that right?

If you had a choice of digital camera packages to own, say an RED, or Arri digital, SI2k or whatnot, which would you prefer? What attracts you to that camera and why do you prefer it over the competition?

I hope I don't get my tires slashed (or worse), but I was on a Kawaski shoot one time with a Teamster crew. Not a big deal. They knew their stuff, they were professional, addressed the director and producers as "Sir", but they weren't the fastest crew I'd ever seen work. Again, not a big deal because they knew the equipment and their jobs. But, the thing that got me was this; a half hour "softball" break. Yes, that's right. The crew got a half hour mid morning break to play softball out in the back alley behind the studio where I was working. That was above and beyond the craft services and all the other amenities those people got. Me, at the time I was barely making min-wage as a substitute stage manager, but was just as well educated in apple boxes, scrims, lights, dolly and dolly track as any of those people. Best I could do was shrug my shoulders. Even so I'm not anti-union. The unions were created to respond to a real need for labor reform. But I wonder what would happen if everyone, above and below the line people, all took a giant pay cut.

I posted this in the general forum, but figured I should post here. Are there any of you people who are not only DPs professionally, but also film makers as well? That is you shoot and edit your end product, and get together with other film makers? Is there anything like that here?

I haven't read all of the replies, and don't intend to as it seems to be on the verge of political-flames. The article, to me, only brings up one valid issue; cost. One of the biggest clients for San Francisco production used to be Japanese corporations. What this guy in the article was b----ing about being in Thailand was what the Japanese were saying about production costs in Japan. And, of all places, they came to San Francisco to shoot? ... one of the MOST expensive cities in the US? That's saying a lot for Japan's media industry. In short, it's not an isolated problem. Germany, the UK, and the Scandinavian countries all have the same problem. It's why you don't see big films coming out of any of those countries without lots of other companies flipping the bill for a giant co-production. I don't want to get too geeky about this, but, the cost of everything has to come down. The dollar needs more buying power, and the only way to allow that to happen is to let the financial markets do their thing. So, when the dollar is strong, you won't have to hire union labor, but competent freelancers, then rent your gear and shoot.

Wait for it to hit the bargain bin at Walmart.

I worked for an "art house" film director last year, and scoured the net for every film school and film festival of relevance so he could do a grand tour of them. During my research it seemed like every "film school" was using high end Canon or SONY prosumer video gear. I'm sure a few school have 16mm gear, but I wonder how much use it gets. Other than USC or UCLA, what other schools have a Panavision Elaine? (since this is a Panavision thread)

Wow, I am out of the loop. Prices have gone way up. Thanks for the link.

I know this is a stupid green-horn question, but where do you rent an SI camera package? I went to what I thought was their website, but they only had sample files, specs and their home office address listed there. Do you have to know somebody to get your hands on one of these babies?

Totally forgot about refitting the lens mounts. Maybe it's just me, but when I used to see rushes I always felt that Panavision stuff looked "less artistic" than stuff shot with BLIIIs or IVs. *EDIT* in case you can't tell I've been out of the loop for a while.

Keith Walters; good points all, but I don't get the whole Arri's biggest customers is/was Panavision. Do you mean lenses?