Bob Hayes

An easy, inexpensive, and controllable light is a book light. Take a 4x8 foam core score it down the width and fold it so you have 2 4x4 sides that open like a book. Open the ?book? so it is 455 degrees and bounce your light into the open fold. The sides act as cutters. Clip it to a stand or put it on a table if you need to get some height. Tape diffusion between the open sides and trap the bounced light inside to make it super soft.

I?m shooting a project on Varicam HD. Some of it takes place at night around a large Bonfire. Any ideas about how to expose and light it? I?m concerned about the fire blowing out or the lights that light the background not being bright enough. Bob

I am currious also. I do know the 100A has auto focus. It is a liitle slow.

OOOps! I meant barn doors not back doors.

I have been tempted to build my own Kino?s. Higher quality electronic ballasts are available at stores that specialize in fluorescence. Back doors can be made with black corrugated plastic. Once they are all built you are going to have to put em on a c-stand. Which brings me back to the need to buy c-stands.

It sounds like you are on the right track and asking the right questions. Bouncing light into foam core is an easy way to create soft light. It is tough to cut large sources without 4x4 flags and c-stands. As I have mentioned before you can make most of your grip/electric gear from stuff you find at a hardware store but there is no substitute for a couple of good c-stands. You might look into buying a couple of used ones. Bob

When you say "play it backwards" it sounds like you are filming the actual ball of the sun going below the horizon. If that is the case there is a difference. The sun does not drop straight down but continues it?s arc from left to right. A sunrise arcs up and right. The difference between the two are quite apparent. So you need to flip the image AND reverse it!

Carlos: That is a great use of layering! Bob

Here are some sites for building or buying skateboard dollies. I bought my skate board dolly from http://www.modernstudio.com/pages/1/index.html for $500. It has 4 wheels per bracket on each corner. Most people use the style that has 2. It is lighter and cheaper. 4 is heavier and much smoother. You can build your own and here is the site. http://www.solutioneers.net/cinema/projects.html

I built a skateboard style dolly and get an enormous amount of use and production value. I shot a feature in the Caribbean and used it a my only dolly. If you see yourself moving the camera a highly recommend this investment. I works on PVC pipe. But I usually use it on regular dolly track.

I'm still looking for a good Adobe Premiere forum. The official forum isn't too user friendly.

I've done this ghost effect with a regular piece of glass. You just need to pump up the light level.

Usually I just draw the lighting plans by hand. But when I do use the computer program I use Paint shop pro. I like this program because I can draw with it, add vector graphics, and I can also import and manipulate photos

I haven?t seen the film but as mentioned if you position your camera so it is just out of frame and have the actor look at the camera instead of his own reflection it is possible to achieve the shot you described with out much effort.

Hey if people are entertained by a film and want to see it multiple times it deserves to make huge somes of cash. I think the real question is if you are going to spend $200 million on a film do you want to risk it by hiring a DP who will shot it on the cheap. Or do you hire the absolutely best cinematographer you can find for your project. There is a reason these top DP?s make high salaries.

Wet downs can really help during the day also. Sometimes there is an area in your frame that is too bright for the scene. Like a sunlit sidewalk. If you wet the area it may darken and not even look wet. It?s a great trick.

Dear Mr. Lucas I saw ?Star Wars, Episode One?. Do you think it deserved to make $920 million. Bob

It is hard to beat the flexibility of a Steadicam. But here are the differences. As I see them. 1. STEADICAM. Positives: Allows you to move the camera without taking the time to lay track. Does a great job following unpredictable action . If actors miss marks or change blocking the Steadicam can correct. It can move over varied terrain like upstairs for example. It?s a great tool for inexperienced directors who are unsure of their ability to block a scene. Dollies require a mastery of blocking. Negatives: The compositions tend to be more freeform and less precise. If you are into that perfectly composed frame Steadicam has a hard time getting it. Steadicam shots tend to float a little which can be distracting. Because wide lenses tend to work better on Steadicam you often end up with shots, especially overs, which are wider then you want. 2. JIB Positives: One thing a jib does better then any other camera platform is go from high to low. A jib even a short Lousmandy style jib can go from touching the floor to 8? off the ground. A Steadicam in ?Low Mode? goes from the floor to 3? off the ground. A Dolly with an off set and a weaver goes from floor to 5?. A jib on a dolly can go from floor to 11?. A Jib on a dolly can copy many of the Steadicam style shots. It?s just harder. Because the operator doesn?t carry any weight jibs work great for long durations shots. Like concerts. Negatives: Jibs have the same ?floating? frame problems. They are time consuming to set up and require lots of room. They are forced to move in an arc which is almost always the opposite curve then you want. 3. DOLLY Positives: Dollies offer very precise repeatable moves. They are very steady particularly on long lenses. Because a dolly grip moves the operator and camera the operator can concentrate totally on composition. With a ?Dance floor?, a smooth floor where the dolly can move anywhere, a Dolly can do most of what a Steadicam can do. Negatives. It takes time to lay dolly track or dance floor. Specific rehearsals are required to get cast, operator, dolly grip, and assistant camera in sync.

I have faced this same problem many times. Shooting at the right time of day can be very helpful. I would recommend a time when the buildings outside the window are back lit. Therefore less bright. That might also give you a nice backlight in the room. As strange as this may sound I have often lit this situation with a large HMI bounce of a white card on the floor. When I say large I mean a 2.5 or 4k HMI. This looked soft and natural. NDing the windows is too time consuming and no mater how carefully it is done the wrinkles will look terrible. Also if you ND the windows and the light changes during the day you are doomed. Smaller HMI are to hard and make the scene look lit. Higher sources often reflect into the windows.

"West Wing" uses nets on almost every shot. Or at least they did last year. Look for the diffused star pattern around bright lights.

That?s a very professional rig. I don?t personally trust suction cups but with a small camera they are probably OK. With regards to not having a monitor. There are lots of very cheap battery powered monitors that take RCA video in available. I bought mine at radio shack for about $200 dollars. When I shoot video I put a 12? very thin video cable on the camera and give it to the director. I also use it for car shots. Also what was were the wheels you had the car on? How did you use them on your shoot?

In the film ?Treasure of the Sierra Madre? or heroes work hard to get their gold out of the mountains. And do so very successfully. Like many independent film makers they think their job is done only to find out the hardest part is getting the gold from the mountain to the buyers.

I started shooting during a period when we all hated zooms. They reeked of bad television. We always tried to dolly. Now I am starting to get into zooms again. A slow zoom during a long dialog scene can add intensity with out drawing attention to it?s self. Sometimes it can bring you into the mind of the character better then a dolly in.

How to apply a net to the rear element of a lens. Note. It really takes two people. 1. Place the lens on a flat surface with the rear element facing up. Make sure it is clean! 2. Take a small amount of snot tape and roll it into a thin sting. 3. Wrap the snot tape around the rear element of the lens. Most video lenses have a rear element that protrudes. I like to use two sided scotch tape. 4. Using your fingers evenly stretch the net. The more your stretch it the less of a diffused effect you will have. Some nets stretch more then others. 5. Line up the net over the rear elements. Most nets have an obvious pattern to the weave. Like a screen. I like to set the weave so it goes diagonally through the frame rather then horizontally. This creates angled highlights. 6. Carefully move the net down onto the lens. The second person now pushes the edges down and sticks it to the snot tape. 7. Cut off the excess net. 8. Blow away all excess fibers from the net. I always fear they will end up in the camera. 9. Check to make sure the net has no runs across the frame. 10. Sometimes I?ll actually place a small rubber band around the whole set up. If it is going to be on for a while. I worry that a stretched net might start to pull up. That said there is a small deice called an ?I-Ring? that slides onto the rear element and holds your nets securely in place. I own six of them and they are a great way to quickly put nets on multiple cameras. At $25 they are not cheap and they only fit about 75% of the lenses. If there is a lens I use often that the I-Ring doesn?t fit I?ll try to find thin plastic tubes that fit the rear element and don?t screw up the camera. Some 35mm still film canisters fit nicely. For some reason I like the slide on slide off method for video shoots. On film shoots I usually just let the AC solve the problem and they usually use snot tape.

The film you are referring to is called ?Shock Waves?. It?s one of those rare low budget films that is moody and spooky and scary with out really trying. I have to agree with you regarding the lack of creative spark in this generation of film makers. I know it is there and smoldering. In the 70?s new lightweight cameras and the Neo Realism of European film makers sent out the signal that you don?t need to be a big studio to make films. The success of ?Easy Rider? created a movement that reinvented cinema. I thought the success of ?Blair Witch? and the inexpensive Digital medium would have the same effect. It doesn?t seem like it has, yet. There may be some great films out there and I?m just not looking in the right place.