Daniel Porto

Ignore the bottom half I forgot to un-attach the original lower quality image. My apologies DANIEL PORTO

Hello Everyone! I have some screen-grabs below from a short film titled 'Why Inspector Charlie Smith Drinks Early' which was shot on the HVX-202. We are currently half-way into production and it is a comedy/murder-mystery. I would like your feedback based on the selected frames you see below. Tell me what you dislike, tell me what you loath. Basically anything you think I can improve on. (Please note that all screen-grabs below were taken directly from the camera and no color correcting or image manipulation has been applied) Thank-you in advance! DANIEL PORTO

On Alien Resurrection they actually hired someone who specialized speciacally in underwater photography because it is completely different to being on land. Anyway, on the special edition DVD is there is feature which describes how they accomplished the underwater seqeunce. Perhaps you could watch this feature and personally contact this man and ask him how he got into the business.

Thank-you once again David!

Depends if the moon is out or not. You can still use shadows and don't necessarily need to use fill light (I prefer contrast at night.... and at all times) but obviously these shadows shouldn't be too hard and too bright like Steve said otherwise you might loose a sense of realism (but of course up to personal opinion). I remember David Mullen once saying something along the lines of that it is not by how much you light but how much you underexpose.

Do most features shoot Academy aperture? Or does it not matter if you shoot Super 35? (as in DI it can be shrunk down in post to accommodate for sound?? or perhaps there is some other way of shrinking the recorded image size using the traditional way?? ---- With the economy crisis at the moment a lot of commercials are starting to shoot Super 35 to save costs (at our rental house). I suspect that in future if digital takes over like everyone thinks, film will still stay alive and will mostly be shot 3-perf or even 2-perf. But obviously this would usually only apply to those productions which don't have ridiculously high budgets.

David I swear you should get paid for all the recommendations you give to people to buy this book! But it deserves every single one of them

The only thing I disliked about the Public Enemies trailer were the long shutters, not the fact that it was shot on digital. However it is because of digital that most of these long shutters are possible

The only thing that stands out to me in terms of using near projection for realism is that the light that is on his face is not shining on the wall.

Positive criticism: There was one shot that I thought was a little bit too wide. Also I felt that at times the operating could have been better for example when he stands up to leave the camera tilts up to accommodate this (you did you but after around 5 seconds of him standing up and this drew too much attention to the camera where it could have been hidden). I am all for crossing the line but usually only for brief moments of a scene and if the story really deserves it. But even then I will still try to disguise this but using medium-close ups so then the effect works on an unconscious level.

David Fincher and Darius Khondji

I never knew that there was a cinematographer named RED...

Hey Dude, Don't know you well but get better soon! Ill be waiting for all those informative posts! DANIEL PORTO

Well it depends if you are a performance driven director or camera driven director or BOTH. David Fincher: Is BOTH and yes he does work behind a monitor but it doesn't mean he is restricted by it. He is a masterful director and will do whatever is necessary to get the right performance, and sometimes that might mean yelling from behind the monitor or getting close and personal with the actor. Steven Soderbergh: Is BOTH bur does not work behind a monitor because he operates the camera himself (most times) and says this is the best way to work as he is the closet person to the actors and is able to give feedback efficiently and effectively. What do you think about those who DOP and Direct as a combined role?

Someone who will play the part differently then Heath

The gaps between glass on the lens aren't air tight and using such a high pressure does have the potential to blow into the glass

So did you get the dailies? If so, how did it go??? Pictures?? THANKS

When I was born I had a light meter strapped around my neck Doctors didn't know what to do

Perhaps the amount of attention paid in the forums correlates to how much it really matters???

Could perhaps Walter or anyone for that manner step in a give a technical reason why this is the case? THANKS!!

I remember David Fincher saying once that a camera operator told him to check the composition of shots with your right eye, and to check the focus of shots with your left eye (it could be the other way around). He said it has something to do with the right and left side of the brain if I am remembering correctly. Is this true?

You know that happened to me the first time I ever operated a 35mm camera (shutter at 150) I could see every individual frame and I couldn't concentrate. But then the second time it was all in my fluid movement and its as if my mind found a way to stop this from happening

I thought that the shutter angle was 180. But I must be wrong

Some people squint their eyes also and I suppose that has to do with giving the brain and slightly different impression of the surroundings. Possibly just zooming in on the wide angle lens we have to concentrate on a particular object. Interesting

Defiantly, I considered that removing the time in which the frame occurs but I thought I would leave it considering I only want answers from those that have seen the full movie in the first place (because they are fully involved in the story and in suspense of if mills is going to john doe, and thus more likely to miss the flash frame.) When did you first notice it?