Cory Lonas

And here I am thinking about how daunting of a task it is to to get into the local 52 here in NY. I should really just move to Louisiana. I wish there was a trade course here in NY like the one you posted(especially for free!). If I want to even think about the union I have to spend 500 dollars in training courses before I can even hand my resume into the union office.

Never underestimate the power and flexibility of a $10 piece of styrofoam or a 5 dollar paper lantern... theres a reason they are used on almost any production regardless of budget.

I think aside from the obvious loss of jobs if we lose film as a medium, is what happens to digital copies of works? hard drives have a much shorter lifespan than celluloid film. What happens to our data when it becomes obsolete in the next 10-15 years? We may gain film industry jobs in the management and updating of data to try to preserve it in order to live out its copyright lifetime. We have definitely seen new jobs come into the picture with digital Cinema. DIT's, Media Managers, Visualization specialists. I think digital is just another tool in the cinematographers toolbox. The industry will find a way to tell the story, and the money men will find a way to keep a good story around to reach its full profit potential. I don't think film is done yet. I think digital has raised the bar for film makers to be innovative but film is not a dinosaur yet.

rosco #3152 urban vapor filter... worked pretty well on a shoot I did. I would stay away from sodium lamps completely. they can wreak havoc with flicker, and if you have an old bulb it will shut off and turn back on sporadically. although if your end goal is monochromatic then it may be much easier to either filter your lens or alter the color balance in post.

Not very well versed in projectors but make sure you get a lot of Solids, Floppies, and foam core to kill any kind of spill on that back wall. you will find that once you start adding light to your subject (aside from the projector) any spill on your projection surface will wash out your image(unless you have one of these bad boys http://www.projectorhireuk.com/barcoreality6500.html, which require an electrical tie in) Here is something a colleague of mine shot as you can see the projection in the background is very dim. They used a sea of foam core to stop light leaks and used very low wattage HMIs so they could get some exposure from the projection. I would say go for the brightest projector you can get without blowing your budget(or a couple fuses). If you go for a bigger projector you can always reduce the brightness of the output, but it will be much harder get more light out of a smaller projector.

But in all seriousness those 3 questions are really hard to answer!

So. Film. Are we entering a new era? should we expect a resurgence of Celluloid?

Second on the NILA. we have one at the shop(NILA SL) it only draws 500 watts and could easily run off a good power inverter, or even a 1k generator.

wow just looked at the date of this thread. sorry if im a bit late to the party... out of curiosity what did you end up using?

you could hang the skypan and hang a mirror directly next to it at a 45deg to project it downwards. I know Briese makes a 5k tungsten umbrella that might do the job. they make a downlight similar to a skypan but with a bulb designed to operate vertically but im not sure if they make a 5k version.

if you are worrie about finding the circuit breakers in a room you can buy this tool http://www.bing.com/shopping/circuit-breaker-finder-with-analog-receiver/p/321BA1DB1BFDB8CD5011?q=circuit+breaker+finder&lpq=circuit%20breaker%20finder&FORM=HURE plug one end in the socket and run the other over the breakers at the box and it will beep when you hover over the corresponding breaker. in conjunction with flipping breakers and labeling the box this should paint a very good picture of your power limitations in any given space. I also vouch for Guys converted generators. My company has 2 that have served us incredibly well. Being able to run a 6k par off its own dedicated generator far off in the distance without burying 500 feet of line is a real time saver. Guy I have some production photos of your gennies in action if you would like them.

sorry for the repost but hopefully more people read the general discussion forum. I am currently prepping to shoot in upstate NY for a short which has some scenes that are being shot as Day for Night. It will be my first time lighting something like this and was wondering if anyone had some tips and tricks about what works best and what to avoid? Production is on a tight budget but I will be able to score some smaller HMIs (m-18/ Joker 1600) as well as some LED panenls and couple new NILA LED lights on the cheap. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I did this once by using a Diva Light and a an electronic dimmer. Most Flourescent fixtures will flicker when you decrease the input voltage if you don't want to risk messing with a Kino flo you could always go buy some CFLs or standard Flouro fixtures from home depot and run them through a a variac dimmer to try to find the sweet spot with the voltage where it flickers inconsistantly.

Hi everyone. It has been a while since I have been on this forum. I am currently prepping to shoot in upstate NY for a short which has some scenes that are being shot as Day for Night. It will be my first time lighting something like this and was wondering if anyone had some tips and tricks about what works best and what to avoid? Production is on a tight budget but I will be able to score some smaller HMIs (m-18/ Joker 1600) as well as some LED panenls and couple new NILA LED lights on the cheap. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

2 films I worked on in the past 2 years made it into Sundance this year!! aside from being super psyched and impressed I want to know how important it is to have on my resume I was only a minor player in both movies as they were some of my first but I want to look like Im working on some quality productions.

I found a free GOF anscomatic super 8 camera and a bell and howell projector the other day on craigslist, I want to get out there and shoot some test footage and get rolling with it.. what do you recommend in terms of film stock, and where should I buy it? Ive only been seeing it for about 20 bucks per roll.. how much time with that get me? where is the best place to get it developed?

where and when is this happening? I am new to the city and new to the film world. I would love to sit in and absorb as much knowledge about the pro world as possible.

so my internship has given me an excellent opportunity to use their 35-mm Konvas camera with a set of lenses and an anamorphic adapter and viewfinder. I found some film ends on ebay for about 20 bucks per 200 foot film end... I have never worked with motion picture film cameras before.. I want to break the barrier. What should I shoot with the camera and what precautions should I take with using the camera. I have a great view of manhattan from my rooftop. How much will it cost me to develop the film, and how much is reasonable to shell out for a film to video transfer?

yeah I play drums too ... but I definitely wouldn't want to put my set in the line of fire... but drums are pretty resilient when it comes to abuse.. as for sparking effects.. Im sure you don't need much in terms of "pyrotechnics"... Im sure a couple sparklers, smoke bombs and fireworks would work pretty well...Also the majority of the general public has no idea what a marshall full stack is supposed to look like... if you slap the logo on it most people probably won't know the difference...

buy prop guitar amps for half the price of real ones... or rent from a rehearsal studio... also you can find a drum set cheaper than 270 bucks... you could probably find some empty marshall head cabinets for under 100 bucks each and fabricate a fake faceplate...

unfortunately without any schooling in film I don't really have the clout to ask for much more when they could just as easily get someone who is willing to work for less than food and travel... I wish it was simpler, and everyone was paid for their fair amount of work, but this is what unions are for... unfortunately, little experience=no admittance into the union... it will be a while before I can make a living solely on being an AC or DP. but for now ill wait tables at night and pull focus during the day.

at this point I'm just happy to be handling the equipment...Since I don't have any formal training or any real experience in it I don't mind working for travel money and dinner...

I got an intern job for a boxing documentary... we were shooting on JVC HD200 cameras with lens adapters. When we arrived at the gym I was informed that I was promoted from intern/3rd AC to 1st AC... and I had never pulled focus in a situation like that(or at all while anything was rolling)... no monitor(only the camera LCD), no follow focus... and we are ringside dodging punches from heavyweight boxers getting slammed up against the ropes... all in all it was a lot of fun.. and I hope I get to be 1st again ...

would a spectra camera yield the same type of results? I have a spectra and 2 one-step Polaroid's... I know they sell high quality film for about the same price as the normal stuff...

Yesterday we wrapped on our 48 Hour Film "In The Cards" it was a hell of a journey. if you havent heard of it(I didnt until I was asked to join the team) Its a film festival in which you have to write shoot and edit a 3-7 minute film in a 48 hour time frame... a lot of fun and I got a lot of great experience. the DP I worked with was a helpful in answering my questions without hesitation and givinh me all the information I would need to know for the shoot.... overall Im real tired and Im gonna go back to sleep for a while...