David Michael Conley

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for a Gaffer for a music video I'm shooting May 15th - 16th. It is a local band from Los Angeles and it is very low budget. I believe the pay is $100/day, which I know is very low... I do wish I could offer more, but I am not in charge of the budget, which is all coming from the director's pocket. Both the 15th and 16th will be night shoots as this video will involve zombies in a forest at night. We will have some decent lights despite the tiny budget due to a very nice hookup from a friendly best boy.

If you are interested please send me a resume and let me know a bit about yourself. We have a pretty well laid plan for the video, but I would love to find someone who is creative and can take the reins when needed. I believe in collaboration for sure.

Thank you!

Cheers,

David

This sounds great. I'll send you an email!

Thanks for the response John! I have never hear of Keslo Camera. I will check that out.

I guess the local user group would be a good place to start for sure. Kappa is the one that has the Red Bootcamp, right?

I appreciate it. Thanks again!

There's Keslow Camera:

 

http://www.keslowcamera.com/

 

Or you could check out the local User Group. They're having a meeting at Kappa on 3-28:

 

http://www.kappastudios.com/?page_id=19

 

There are a lot of Red owners in the group who rent their cameras, and possibly come along as DITs/Data Wranglers.

 

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

Hey everyone,

I am shooting a feature in Los Angeles at the end of May and I am looking for the best places to rent the Red One. I have never rented the Red and the prices seem to vary quite a bit. Obviously I am trying to strike a balance between a reasonable price with a house that is good to work with. I was hoping that someone here might be able to give me some guidance on this. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Also if anyone has a package that they rent I would like to check that out as well. Thanks!

I assume that people don't take a reel seriously that has been posted on youtube or googlevideo. At least Vimeo would be decent quality, but having your own website is probably the best way to go in the end.

You don't want to to overexpose your greenscreen! One stop under should be okay; at key is often better for video. What matters most is the saturation of the green not the luminance, and you get the best color saturation/least noise between about 40-55 IRE.

That makes sense that the saturation would be the main focus. I will try exposing it right on and see where I am. I am not sure where I had heard about overexposing by one stop. Thanks Michael!

http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...ite=light+meter

Is this link broken or does the topic still exist? I am shooting a green screen with an F900 tomorrow. I have lit some green screen, but this is a bigger show and I just wanted double check that what I was thinking was correct. I should be lighting the GS one stop under for video? I spoke to a post special FX guy who gave me that info. Is that correct? I always thought it was one stop over, but maybe that is just for film. Maybe I am wrong all around. If anyone is on the boards now, I would love some advice. Thanks!

Hello,

I am shooting a S16mm short on June 7 and 8 and I am looking for a camera package to rent. The show has a budget, but not a huge one, so we are trying to find some good deals on a full package including a set of Zeiss Superspeed primes. We are pricing rental houses as well, but I know that a lot of the people here have some really great equipment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi there,

 

I've just put together a showreel and I'm looking for a bit of feedback.

 

 

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...ideoID=33605825

 

it's on myspace so is a bit compressed.

 

A mixture of 16mm, hdcam and hdv.

 

I'm a 2nd ac so this work is only really for getting more experience/enjoyment but it would still be great to have a bit of feedback.

 

thanks.

Hey Grant,

Overall not bad at all, but I would take a look at everything you have and make sure only your best stuff is in there. Maybe take some of the shots from later in the reel and bring them forward. There are a lot of really great shots. The shot of the broken glass with the girl behind is beautiful, the lady with the teacup, and many others are great. Make sure that they are seen.

Also, maybe try to crop everything to the same aspect ratio so it doesn't go from 16:9 to 4:3.

I dig the music, what song is that?

Hi! I took a look at your resume that you attached, another way to go about it if you want department specific jobs is to group your credits according to the dept. For example, on mine I have two different sections, credits as a 1st AC starting with the most recent on, and then another header with 2nd AC credits under it the same way. It helps when people look at it to see how often, and in what capacity your working in each department. Then when I'm submitting for a specfic position, it also makes it easier to just cut and paste the credits as a 1st or a 2nd, and when I'm looking for a 2nd or a loader and production hands me a resume it makes it alot easier to see who has what experience and how much. Hope this helps and good luck!

Hey Michele,

There is a lot of good advice on this board already so I will keep it brief. You should probably take off anything that is not related to the field you want to work in. First thing I would do is lose the Subway and Coldstone entries. Overall it looks pretty scattered. You have enough credits in most areas to have separate resumes for each. At least keep all of the camera credits together and then your PA and intern or any other credits on another resume. Try to make it seem like the job you are applying for is all you do. That's what I try to do at least.

I know how tough it is to only work as a DP, or only work in the camera department. I also take PA and editing jobs to pay the rent. I don't think there is anything wrong with it. You need to stay working in the industry if you are going to accomplish your goals.

Great stuff for sure Joshua! There are so many good shots in there. The 1800 commercial looks amazing and the stuff with the drugs toward the end is so well done. It made me feel gross when I saw it. Overall I would agree with what Tom said. I felt like when the song kicked up I really loved what was happening with the pictures, but it came late. I agree that some of the later images should be brought to the front. Also if you could shorten it and make the climax happen around 3 min or so it would probably work out really well.

In any case, it looks awesome. Good work man.

Michael Nash gave you great advice. Study the lighting of the period that you would like to mimic. Also take a look at the camera work. Is it hand held? is the camera always moving? Is there zooming? I think the lighting style and the type of camera operating/framing will be more influential than choosing just a film stock. In a spirit 2k telecine session, a good colorist can dial in the look of an older and aged film-stock. Also, if you have the opportunity and can afford to I would suggest filming and transferring a test or two to see what gives you the most desirable results with the resources at hand. Best of luck.

 

Joshua

Thanks Joshua! There are a few films I am studying right now and the director is going to give me a few that he had in mind when he wrote the screenplay, so that should help quite a bit. This being my first period piece, I had made it much more complicated in my mind than it is. I had forgotten that the foundations are the same as any other film and my methods of arriving at the final idea for the look and feel should be exactly the same.

I am definitely learning a great deal about 1960's cinema, which is an era that I suppose I had neglected.

Unfortunately there isn't much of a budget, but I am talking to the producer to see about getting some funding for at least one day to do some camera tests. I have my fingers crossed.

Thanks again!

I think you're much better of finding examples of the look you want to create, and then break those down into their technical components of color, grain, texture, and so on. Simply shooting an "old stock" is rather a shot in the dark: while it may look interesting, it may not be at all what you were hoping for.

 

Color correction in the digital realm is pretty easy these days, and you can evoke the feel of many different eras with digital control. It just depends on how keen an eye you have for image quality and how well you can use the tools.

Thanks for the advice, I think you are right. I guess I got sort of caught up with the idea of achieving an older look in camera, that I had disregarded the other tools available. I know you can achieve some amazing things with color correction. I have a handle on basic color correction for sure, but I am no master. It is definitely going to take some experimenting to get the right look. I will post some clips when I get them.

Thanks again!

Hello,

This is my first time posting on Cinematography.com, but I am hoping to get some guidance.

I am shooting a short period piece next month and I would love for it to have the look of something that was shot in 1968. I think the best way to do that would be in camera with the right stock, but I am having a hard time finding what types of stocks were used back then. I am sure most or all are no longer in production, but I would like to find something close. I know that in Buffalo 66 Lance Acord used an old reversal stock that they used to shoot football games with, but they worked out a deal with Kodak to make another run of that stock. I don't think I have that kind of clout.

Does anyone know where I may be able to find older stocks in the Los Angeles Area? Maybe some company that has a freezer full of really old stuff that has been preserved. I am sure it is a stretch and probably dangerous. haha.

Also, I am shooting on an Arri SR2 with Zeiss super speed primes. I am wondering if the primes are a good choice because they may be too clear, so maybe a zoom might be better for the look. There are currently no zooms in the plan.

Unfortunately this is a low budget project, so there will be no test days to really figure this stuff out. Just have to go with the gut, so I figured it would be a good call to get multiple guts in on it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!