Bob Hayes

Also shiny boards reflected into 6x6 silks can create soft and powerful sources. A hard shinny board in a patch of direct sunlight can be as strong as a 4k hmi.

On large soft sources egg crates are a great way to control excess light.

1. When lifting sand bags of a c-stand keep one hand on the c-stand to keep it from falling as the lifted sand bag grips the leg. 2. When walking around a small set or house close one of the legs to avoid bumping into walls or people. 3. The cord is some times placed under the legs not to prevent tripping but to prevent the light from falling over if the cord is snagged. When it goes under the leg the stand is dragged not pulled over. 4. With regards to protecting floors crutch tips work great. I also take carpet samples and cut them into 4? Squares. They are small easy to carry and I just throw them under the legs like a black jack dealer dealing cards. I keep 9 in my kit so I can handle three lights. It really makes clients and home owners comfortable when they see them come out. They are much easier to manage the large sections of carpet or lay out board. Also you an put them under heavy furniture carpet side down and use them as a floor slider.

I am a huge fan of Hi Lite and use it on a regular basis. It is a soft vinyl like material so it is quiet in the wind. It is water proof so it is a great rain cover and because it is soft it quiets the rain. The best part it is it?s light diffusing quality. It diffuses harsh sunlight with out reducing the stop as much as other materials. When using Hi Lite your cast doesn?t look like they are standing in the shade of a building when covered. I often use it with a quarter grid to cut the light intensity down.

The first assistant Cameraman is a key collaboration. With a good ac I can weather any storm.

Assuming that your cameras are the lighter type DV or 16mm I?d start building your rig with Maffers, Cadallini?s, C-Stand Arms and Magic arms. You want to triangulate your support so look for three separate and different pick points. Often I will rig the camera using two points with shot c-stand arms and Maffers. Then I will add the third point to the handle of the camera.

Scam warning. I recently bid on a Jimmy Jib on e-bay. I lost the auction but then a received an e-mail saying the other bidder had dropped out and asking if I wanted to purchase the item. It looked pretty official. Lots of e-may security info all over it. There was something wrong with the syntax of the letter so I looked further. The ?seller? wasn?t the original seller but Incamaz@aol.com DO NOT E-MAIL THIS GUY!!!!! I did further research and found this to be fraudulent. E-Bay is trying to correct this type of criminal activity but keep your eyes open. Because he is targeting film folks please beware. Here is further info on the scam. http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?thr...d=1174080358728

One of your biggest challenges is getting enough light on your subject. It takes a huge amount of light I?ve shot water in a bowl that quickly started steaming. One great tool is the Dedo Cool. It is a high intensity dedo with an amazing cooling system that keeps the heat from being directed at the subject. You may find yourself lighting with 10 Ks, a narrow beam ?Fire Starter? pars. You may also want a dimmer on you lights so you can maintain cooler environment. Here is Innovision?s Dedo Cool site. http://www.innovisionoptics.com/prod/dedocool.shtml

Your problem isn?t the rain tower but drenching the stage. Maybe save the effect shot and cheat it outside.

The weather is gorgeous. Scattered clouds. We go from 69 in the morning to 80 mid day. The water is turquoise water

I'm looking for a DIT with VariCam experience color matching and shading cameras.

Your slr camera is a great spot meter. Set the ASA and you?re there. The cheapest light meter is to buy a roll of still film with the speed of your motion picture film. Then look at the little paper that comes inside the still box. There are little pictures of a bright sun, a cloudy day, etc with the proper F-Stop. It will get you close.

I went to the Gary Graver memorial ceremony today at the Egyptian. It was a wonderful moving ceremony. Most of the members of this board don?t even know who Gary was. But for me, a young first assistant cameraman in the late seventies, Gary was an icon. Gary was a guy who loved to shoot and shot 100?s of feature films. He shot the entire range of films. He shot for Orson Wells and he shot for Ed Wood. He had a great eye which was often underutilized in the low budget films he shot. But, he always had a smile on his face and a love of film and film makers. He will be much missed. http://www.garygraver.com/

There is a magic and a big studio feel to scenes shot on a gear head. A fluid head always feels sort of like a tennis racket and it creates a style where you sort of whack away at shots. The gear head, once mastered, feels like you just will the composition and it happens. It is smoother and more ethereal. Enjoy!

I think your plan is pretty good. Make sure you get solid stands, not the smallest Lowell stands which aren?t sturdy enough. And I would add an extra stand and a French flags so you can get rid of lens flare and perhaps flag the background. I find the Umbrella works well as a key light but I use it to bounce rather then light through it. And Omni light may work better for your back ground but isn?t as compact as a Tota. You may want to go with 1 Omni, 1 Tota, and 1 Pro. And don?t forget the gel frames.

I?ve been shooting motorcycle footage off of an insert car. The footage looks great but the tighter coverage had too much vibration. Is anyone using image stabizers on insert cars? Does this sound like a good way to go?

When writing on these forums you might consider writing your posts in a word program and running a spell check before posting. This will catch many of your errors.

If you look at the crossing guard?s feet you will see that although she is stationary with feet planted she has moved one line away from us. There are two different takes here. Also, it looks to me like the body may have been positioned in the road before the car comes through and the car just missed the propositioned body. The odd thing is the cut to the second frame is as the car has almost exited. You can see the moment of the cut if you look at the ?target? held by the crossing guard. It jumps to the left. But much later then I would have thought it would have happened. The reporter being hit, which is only three frames, may in fact be a frame grab of the original reporter blurred and bent.

I agree with David. The camera is locked off with the reporter. As soon as the kids leave the shot the crossing guard freezes. Then the reporter leaves and the dummy is placed in his place. The camera is unlocked but held steady the car comes into frame and hits the dummy. The trick is that the car is rotoscoped into the shot until it hits the dummy. Then the dummy shot takes over completely. The switch is hidden by slight camera shake on the hit. The crossing guard is hidden behind the car so we don?t see any change there.

There is no consistent DP?s day. But based on my career and a 14 hour day I would say I spend 2 hours shooting union television work, 1 hour shooting independent features, 2 hours working out of the country in some exotic and cool location, 4 hours depressed wondering why I am not working more or on better jobs, 2 hours networking and looking for work, 2 hours taking classes or watching films, and 1 hour recovering from working.

There is a drop of water that crosses in front of the reporter so I doubt if he was green screened. The frame right before the contact shows the car, the reporter, and the crossing guard all in the frame together. The crossing guard and the background don't jumo until the hit. It is very well done.

There is a similar hit in the movie ?Snatch?. Because it is on DVD and there are multiple angles it is easier to step frame through the gag. It usually involves switching to a dummy. I am usually pretty good at figuring this stuff out but I am at a loss here. Poor resolution an the inability to step frame makes it tough to solve.

I think I?d be inclined to do it mainly with smoke and light. Put a bunch of orange lights on dimmers inside the house get some smoke rolling and back light the smoke with the lights. The glowing smoke may look much more realistic. Place your real fire sources in a few very limited locations.

Congrats on completing a full length feature. A lot of people talk about it and few succeed. The next step is to cut yourself a better trailer. I thought the end part was stronger then the beginning. The trailer is way to long and shows way too much and most of it is bad. A good trailer is so important because people will rent your film based on one and a half minutes of footage. That?s just 40 shots. I?m not saying learning to make good trailers will make you a good film maker but it will get your films seen. Because your trailer gives us so much info about your film I get a pretty good idea it sucks. The actors seem like they are winging it with out strong direction. The camera work and lighting are sloppy and uninteresting. The action is really poorly choreographed and shot. From a grind house gore element you aren?t there. The grind house gang will put up with a lot but you?ve got to deliver the goods. There are lots of opportunities today with new cameras and editing systems to become a film maker. It is as easy as picking up a basket ball and shooting hoops. But that said just because you can throw a ball through a hoop doesn?t mean your going to play in the NBA. You got to be talented and you got to work at it. Just because you are the best player at your park doesn?t get you there. Only a handful go on to play at a college level. And, only a handful of those go on to play at the pro level. So work on your fundamentals and realize you will eventually go up against some pretty good players.

Here is a trick. Take a digital photo of a lighting diagram you like from American Cinematographer. Load it into your drawing program and then cut and past it. It won't be a vector so you will need to resize, rotate, or flip to make it fit.