Ira Ratner

Hi, Kev. You're asking all of the right questions, which is one of the reasons you should REALLY look into the camera into you're using: The auto iris thing is a bitch--it's not a good thing. With the cost of film and processing, the absolute MINIMUM you want to do is take a meter reading and know what aperture you'll be shooting at, and to be able to adjust your F stops manually. It's just too easy for your meter to be fooled by backlight situations, but the above advice about zooming in for your reading and then zooming out is great advice. But does you camera allow you to manually adjust your aperture? Or is it only auto iris? One more thing though: I would consider long and hard about shooting the main footage in B&W and the dream in color. I may be totally wrong on this, but since it's always done the other way, are you sure it's not going to throw people off? Like, it seems to me that it would be just too weird and not have your intended effect. Again, I may be totally wrong. I'm only commenting on my first instinct about this.

For 64 indoor, you're gonna need light, and a lot of it. It ain't fast enough.

I don't know anything about that camera, but if you have an internal filter, I wouldn't screw with it at the beginning. Removing it is not really going to make your camera any faster, MAYBE 1/2 a stop. Plus, it might be integral to how the lens focuses. Does that camera have a light meter and lens apertures that you can adjust? Or does it just have a setting for the ASA film you're using, and there's no way to read or adjust anything? We'll get into the ND and 85 filters later, but first things first.

If this is technically going to be a problem for you, I would suggest just thinking about another way to emote the same action/tension. I bet you can come up with a much better way than just spinning the camera 360 around the scene. That's a style you're just copying, and I KNOW you can do better.

James, you got some memory! WOW! Nick, it's real easy and cheap to do from PVC. And if you're doing video as opposed to film (me), you'll have no problems quickly ironing out any bugs. The main thing is the connections, where you want the dolly to seamlessly ride over them.

Ahhhh--but of course he did: He simply used the third person as a way to appear not to. Come on--if it walks like a duck and talks like duck, it's a duck. There are nice ways to say something and mean, nasty, bitter ways. I'll leave it to the judges to decide which category that post falls under. You know, we all go off the deep end now and then, we get angry and say things we regret. (But I'm sure you'll claim you never posted anything you regret.) But in the posts we all do, when you take the sum of them (the attitude, not the technical content), they add up to a pretty good profile of what kind of person that is. Calling someone an idiot on their very first post reveals a hell of a lot.

Of course. You are not paying a guy to INTERVIEW for future work. You can simply say, "I know you might not be aware of this, but you committed a major infraction that's not really acceptable in the industry. I'm sorry that I have to let you go, but perhaps you'll learn from this experience." If you try and TALK to the guy about it--HE'S gonna get pissed, and YOU'RE the one who owns full rights to that emotion in this situation.

You know, I should have added that the DP work looked fine to my amateur eyes. It was more of a matter of the content you had to work with.

That's my spin on it too. You tried to take a formula that's been done a hundred times before, which is okay if the execution is good, but it just wasn't much fun. Also, a drunk sleeping on the table? A spirits company/client wouldn't buy that concept in a million years. (And no, you can't make the rationalization that he was drinking something else.) Distilled spirits clients are looking for concepts that separate and distinguish them, which this spot just doesn't.

I have the Peleng but haven't played with it yet. Also, there's free de-fishing software out there that flattens still images, so I wonder if there's a way to do this with video in post if you DON'T want the distortion.

I'm chiming in as a total ignoramous not knowing the real business, but for future prospects/projects, shouldn't you want them to know what you were able to accomplish with so many dollars, whether you actually spent those dollars or or not?

When any of you guys have to come to South Florida to shoot, I'll help you deal with the heat. Of course, if you're shooting near South Beach, the hardest part is keeping your eye on the viewfinder and not the topless girls on the beach.

Calling someone an idiot isn't impolite? In italics, no less?

Point well taken. It's not mainly an age thing when it comes to posting. But I do beg to differ that grammar and spelling hasn't gone drastically downhill in the last 40 years, your 3 or 4 friends not withstanding. Heck, you should see some of the notes I get from my kids' TEACHERS!

What about tonight? I forgot again.

Phil, it's a losing battle--but I think you could have worded your suggestion a little differently. Not only has proper grammar and spelling almost become a thing of the past, but this is simply how all of the "youngsters" write these days. (Thank God my boys don't.) Maria, here's the deal: It takes no more effort to type "you" than "u." (Well, technically it does, but is anyone THAT lazy?) Also, periods, commas, dashes and paragraph breaks are wonderful things--and they're totally FREE! They're your FRIENDS, so take advantage of them, which is what friends are for. Finally, I don't think that sort of writing necessarily says you're an idiot, because many people will assume you know the correct way to write. (But then again, many won't.) Instead, it shows something worse: It shows that you don't care enough about what you're writing to put the proper effort into it, and it shows you don't care if it's difficult for the reader to read, which is inconsiderate. That stuff is fine for instant messaging with your friends, but it's a really bad habit to get into.

Dave--do you know what I'm going to be doing because film is just too expensive to mess around with? Mind you--I'm a total amateur myself, but I have a background in 35mm still work: I'm going to get into the habit of using a digital camera with manual mode to confirm my readings. My K3 has internal metering, and I got a good deal on an old Minolta analog spot meter on eBay (50 bucks). So I'm going to take my readings using both, set the digital camera, take a shot, and see what I got. Granted, I don't expect a 100% match-up between the various meterings, especially since the spot is so sensitive to its 1-degree reading, but I at least want to know I'm in the ballpark before pulling the film trigger.

DANG! WHY DIDN''T I LOOK LAST NIGHT!? That picture from Greece shows some interesting details.

A few weeks ago, maybe a bit more, we had the harvest moon. I just caught it by accident early in the morning, but isn't that when the moon's supposed to be the biggest and brightest--which is why the farmers would use that night to harvest? And damn-I forgot to look last night.

The last thing your film should usually be in snow is overexposed. It's more likely to be UNDEREXPOSED: The bright white fools the meter into a smaller aperture because of all of that light that it thinks it sees. Something is screwy here. If it was overexposed, it means if you were compensating, you were compensating too much, or something else is wrong. This is where a spot meter is invaluable.

Another newbie submission here: I decided to do a short (music track) with a working title of "Garbage." It's basically about all of the waste and garbage the average American is responsible for, and I was inspired to do this by looking at all of the garbage that MY family brings out to the curb twice a week. It's totally ridiculous. Since I have to put my gear through its paces anyway, I didn't want to just do throwaway footage, but instead, something where each shot would eventually mean something when put together. There's a huge landfill near me, and I can get some interesting shots of the mounds and the trucks going up and down and in and out of the landfill. I'll plant myself across from a trash receptacle somewhere, and get quick clips of people making their contributions. And I'll look for interesting garbage piles in front of people's homes and shoot those. If it's garbage, I'll grab a few seconds of it. Using titles and music, I may be able to make something interesting out of it. My only question mark is the soundtrack--serious, or lighthearted and goofy?

MAN did you inspire me to start shooting already! My wife left today for Venezuela for 5 days to visit family, so I'm taking vacation days to play Mr. Mom to the boys. And a lot of that time is going to spent getting all of my K3 gear in order. But I can't believe you just held the thing for most of it--especially that low view on the beach!

When I used to do 35mm still work, I think I always used an 85mm or 100mm for the most flattering facial lines. Would this focal range also apply for 16mm cine, regardless of the difference in angle of view, or do the rules change?

HOLY poop! I LOVED IT! AND SUPER 8! AND HOW THE HECK DID YOU FOLLOW HIM FOR CERTAIN SHOTS? A CAR MOUNT? Sorry for the all caps, but I thought it was that good.

And Patrick, I think I see a Bolex in my future.