Robin R Probyn

Grain can be added in post .. how can only Skyfall look great but others crap.. unless we can have Roger Deakins shoot every single Alexa film.. sorry but I dont buy the .. it has no soul stuff.. and motion blur? .. 180 degree is 180 degree.. I would question the aesthetic ,s of anyone who shoots most their material at 45 degree shutter.. TBH.. If you are being taken out of the film.. its the script or acting or both thats doing it.. take a look at Tangerine..tell me what you think about motion blur and lack of soul..

JD.. your going to be able to rent yourself out as negative fill pretty soon.. :)..

That must be the cheapest sparks in the world :).. that isnt going to keep them in Rolex,s and prawn cocktails ..

Well there you go.. one mans meat is another mans poison .. I thought it looked great.. there was a good interview with the DP .. I think I saw it on this forum actually.. and it certainly wasn't a half hearted attempt at camera work.. the whole candle thing I thought was done very well.. even sticking with single wick sticks.. the main hero was the focus puller and the DP gave him credit by name.. I like the HH look.. we have seen all the dolly/crane,horse and robe shows a million times.. I think thats more PTI film making.. :) But each to their own.. just goes to show.. what ever you make it wont be to everyones taste.. just thought I had to defend it a bit.. Wish I had the link to the DP interview .. very interesting .. and you might have a better impression of the lighting/style .. or t least what they were aiming for.. Thanks

oh yes.. dont get me wrong.. he was definitely one of the pioneers .. he even invented the Wendy light .. which wouldn't have been used on a doc thats for sure ! .. sounds like he was a pretty unconventional guy all round.. and fantastic DP..

Pete To me it looks like a single soft source with a bounce fill.. or that fill is just coming off a wall .. nice and simple and looks good.. Basic principle.. the bigger the light source .. compared to the subject.. the softer the light.. 6x6 scrims through frames ..while ideal.. which need time.stands and weights and alot of room.. hardly ever going to work for doc,s shooting in peoples houses or offices.. for a shot/frame as in your pic.. your lucky as you can get a smaller light in close.. which will be as soft as a much larger light further away.. A trick I have found is buy an expandable round diffuser .. clip it onto a reflector holder.. just an arm and a stand.. (probably need one small weight to make it stable.. and then bang a light through it.. trying to light as much as the diffusion as possible and avoid a centre hot spot..the diffuser is now your light source .. move it in as close to edge of your widest frame.. I have found this to be the simplest,and smallest "kit" for a soft interview key light.. I use then Lite panel,s or a couple of Arri Locaster LED,s as source light.. also small,battery powered and dont get hot.. small and easy kit.. Lens wise I have a Canon CN7.. 17-120mm.. again small (for a 35mm zoom lens !).. and quite fast iris wise.. most interviews from 50-85mm .. your pics it look like fairly long lens.. which also helps to get your background out of focus.. primes will also work as well or better as they are usually faster..easy to achieve SDF.. but you,ll have to stop the interview if you want to change frame sizes.. alot of directors dont want to do that.. but the "doc" zooms are not cheap.. basically at the moment the canon CN7 17-120 or the fujinon Cabrio 19-90.. but really the only to go in my experience .. Good luck

Interesting..I think the "revolution" in the brit film industry of the 60,s was influenced by the smaller camera,s.. co axial mags etc..and also,or maybe because of it .. the documentary directors Ken Loach etc. and so their camera people getting to shoot feature films.. and that whole "realistic style" becoming a cinema style in itself.. same was happening in France.. Breathless .. Still now the ex doc DP,s Roger Deakins,Dick Pope ,Chris Menges ..Barry Ackroyd.. etc probably have a different "take " on lighting,use of hand held.. and generally seem to want to do their own operating.. than someone who has come up from commercials and big features.. the less is more school..

Phil I think it just depends on the budgets.. be it UK/US/Europe (oh yes UK is part of Europe !).. crews in NY without the budget are also cranking up the ISO or shooting silhouette .. and some cities are much more film friendly than others..

It was a tongue in cheek to the great critic :)... But since you mention it.. I loved the Connery bonds as a kid.. agree the Moore era a total right off.. all winks and sexual innuendo .. But I think the Craig era has been a real move up in all ways.. making Bond serious again.. back to the roots of a good spy thriller.. instead of pretty boy travel flick..

If only these idiots would have the sense to employ Tyler and his pocket cam.. to direct,shoot,cast,edit and post.. the Bond franchise would not be sinking into a box office and quality mire ..

Phil .. thanks for the detailed description .. I just wanted to make the point to the OP.. that any gnashing of teeth over rolling shutter is 99% of the time, a waste of effort.. as all films for the last 100yrs have had rolling shutter.. even flash banding now has pretty much been accepted by audiences .. we see a scene with photographers and we some some flashes on the screen.. thats all people need to see.. it was really only a problem with DSLR and Go,pro,s... From the F5 up.. (dont know about Fs7) its a non problem with fast read sensors.. you can wiggle those camera,s around and they are totally fine.. unless your work is specifically enhanced with a global shutter.. or some DP,s what to use an optical VF on a video camera.. because thats what they are used to.. Thanks

A mechanical shutter is also a rolling shutter.. in film or video.. the read out of "higher" end camera,s is so fast now that its very rarely a problem.. look at all the stuff shot with Alexa.. even an F5 its not a problem expect flashes going off..

I haven't seen the new one.. but Skyfall was a great movie.. Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins.. !!! thats hardly run of the mill journey man territory .. its a tad pretentious that the only films :"worthy " of the cappuccino arty set.. must be shot in s16 on a wind up bolex :).. Its only movies we are talking about here.. its entertainment .. I wouldn't waste my money on any of these super hero flicks.. because i dont find them interesting.. millions of others do obviously.. fine.. I,ll go see the The Big Short.. the new Borne.. Hateful eight .. its doesnt matter.. good films are still being made.. TV is better than its ever been..

We are ,as Napoleon pointed out .. a nation of shop keepers ..

Madge wasn't middle class though.. born above the shop.. she said herself the "posh accent " was consciously learnt at Oxford .. to fit into the social circles she wanted to hang with..

The Thatcher accent being particularly difficult in that it was a fake accent in the first place.. hurriedly learnt at Oxford to afford being a social outcast..

Meryl Streep does the best accents around.. totally convincing in Sophie,s choice .. and The Milk Snatcher too.. second must be Dan Day Lewis.. who many people thought was Irish.. after My Left Foot.. Re BBC Nat History Unit.. I shot for them last year.. and we used Sony F55,with Fujinon Cabrio zooms.. (wide and standard) although the actual wild life guys used all sorts of longer lenses.. the main camera,s were F55,s.. Slog 30p.. all mute .. no sound at all.. for the stuff I shot.. Im pretty sure Phil Rhodes is actually American.. I saw him once in an convertible Corvette driving down Santa Monica Blvd.. with a young Starlet .. who I wont name on a public forum ..

Its pretty well done though.. quite funny.. and good that someone is trying to show up these really awful immoral "reality" shows.. laying bare the lowest social strata of British society .. so a few others can feel better about their own sorry lot in life.. From the great doc,s of the 60,s .. films like Kes.. / Cathy Come Home to Benefits street.. .. its hard to optimistic about tv these days..

Chris Have a look at this,all shot 240 fps.. 4 x 4 Kino,s look to be fine at 240.. 1/250 1/500 / 1/100 all the way to 1/3000.. Your bigger problem might be the amount of light you,ll need at 240fps.. 10 times what you would need for 24 fps.. and narrower shutter more light.. I hope your subject is small !! http://nofilmschool.com/2012/07/shooting-slow-motion-fs700-examples

Harry.. the first example is a piss take mockumentary.. its purposely shot to look like the cheap crap EX3 UK reality shows about "poor" people, that is currently all the rage .. you would recognize the false accents straight away if you from the UK.. The second as Tyler says was shot mostly on an F5.. and is done in a much more stylish fashion.. making use of SDF etc.. like Tylers examples..

An unstamped re export carnet coming back will be alot more hassle than no carnet.. try getting your deposit back on that. :).. you could get a list stamped on the way out .. otherwise just tell them you went to a non carnet country .. you dont have to have a carnet returning from a non carnet country.. Ive never had a problem with it.. but always good to check I agree..

Ive shot in China many times.. Its not a Carnet country for film gear.. only exhibitions /trade shows.. but you have to pay a refundable 20% of the value of your gear,(it used to be 30%) .. the bummer is it has to be in Yuan.. they wont except foreign currency in case its fake and they wont know.. you go with an official to a bank in the airport and its deposited .. you are given a receipt and claim it back when you leave.. the bank is not open on a Sunday as I found out one time !! also if you are leaving china from a different airport I dont know how that would work.. There is no insurance in China.. so if you rent any gear.. it will come with a guy or two from the rental as assistants ,and to basically look after the gear.. often wont let you even carry it.. Ive never had gear confiscated .. but I wouldn't leave anything lying around or in a car.. So put the price of your gear down.. within reason.. I guess they have some idea of the price of stuff.. the problem is the crap exchange rate getting Yuan and then changing it back in your home country.. I took also an F5 and one PL zoom.. rented tripod and lights .. your fixer should be able to help with that.. if its a bigger production they might be able to come up with the yuan deposit too.. that will save you a lot of hassle.. otherwise its pretty easy.. and less hassle than a carnet ! I have known people to just chance it.. and a lot have got away with it.. but its a gamble .

Hi Phil Yeah sorry I didnt mean to say.. oh yes just buy a CN7 from loose change :) and for sure you need the work for it to get back the cost.. I put alot of effort into trying to avoid the purchase !.. also tried B4 1.6 crop adaptor in centre scan .. with the very nice Fujinon 4.5 ENG zoom I had.. but for a lot of jobs I couldn't turn up with that set up .. But I would recommend the CN7 over the Cabrio to anyone in that market.. I rented the Cabs a lot before the CN7 came out (thank you Canon!).. much easier to use focus/iris ring wise.. and the rather odd 19-90.. range of the Cabs ,not wide and not long enough..

Run and gun I think you need a zoom for sure.. no two ways about it.. and basically you have to shell out the folding green or go with stills lenses.. B4 ENG will never cut it.. I have the Canon CN7.. yes its heavy and thats the price you pay.. but its great for R & G.. the focus is only 180 degrees unlike the Cabrio..and the focus,zoom iris are better placed for hand held.. the next thing you have to buy is an easy rig to save your back !!

video starts with a car crash.. then a guy next to 2 graves.. .. as far as I could see..?