Nick Centera

Hey, I was curious if the output when bouncing a light changes drastically when using different lamp sizes. For example, if I bounce a 1k into an Ultra Bounce versus a 2k, or even a 1k versus a much larger unit, will the result be a brighter reflection or is there a max amount of reflection that will be released off the bounce? Thanks, Nick

Hey, i spelled it wrong, its a matthpole from mattews. It is essentially a heavy duty extension pole that you can put up in a room to hang lights or equip off of.

Hey, I was looking at the maxi mattpoles and just curious which length extension pole people tend to use more? I do not have the budget for both the 8'-14' and the 4.5'-8', but I am curious if you find yourself using one over the other. Thank you Nick

Thanks for that response! So when you are shooting in a high contrast location, like the desert, do you have to worry about the bright background creating a glare over your subject? I had taken some stills inside my house metering for the object against a window during the day. When I got the film back, the background had overexposed the entire image. How do you compensate for this? Through testing I assume, but any way you can know that you should not let a certain background be too many stops over because it may blow out the rest of the image? Like any rule on that? Thank you Nick

Hey I was curious in how about you go about metering for a proper exposure when you have a bright background and a subject that is darker then the background. If the subject was a face and I metered off the face, would there be potential that the background would be so washed out that it over expose the face? My example is the wedding scene from Kill Bill II. Thanks for your help Nick

Hey, what you are asking is pretty broad. It is hard for anyone to give advice without some more info about what happens in the scene, like scene description and mood. That said, for the day time, if there are windows in the room, which I feel I can assume there are, then just use the sunlight coming in from the window. If you would like it to be soft, you could find some thin white curtains to go in front. As for the night scene, if you want to be able to move around freely without seeing equip on the ground then you have a limited amount of ways you can light the scene. Again, I have to assume things since there was not a great deal of info provided. This is probably a location and not on a stage so you could put lights outside simulating moonlight or a streetlight...but if you are on a 2nd story or above and have no budget this could be a problem. Another solution would be to have numerous practical lamps around the set and put larger wattage bulbs in them, say 150-300watt (check what the max is in the sockets). If you do this, the light will be quite natural and most likely soft because of the shades, etc. Hope this helps. Nick

Hey, it may be crazy but you could find a still photography strobe with a slave (photo sensor) on it. Although, I do not know if the spark from the lighter would be bright enough to trigger it, you could just dim it way down and diffuse it. That or fire it from the back from the test button. It would be quick but it may match the time length of the lighter. Hope it works out! Nick

Hey, that is a difficult set up but I do not recommend using the battery method. That is pretty bad for the battery and can become dangerous, which obviously is not good to have on set. Something I thought you could do is have a low wattage bulb right off camera on a dimmer, when the flint is struck bring up the dimmer slightly then back down. You could put a piece of tape on the dimmer so that it does not get over a certain level of luminance. That will be important especially because you will have to do it quick. Also, you could use one of the LEDs that go on a key chain with the button on it, if the light is to harsh, just bounce it right off camera. Hope it helps. Nick

Hey, I think it is really just the same idea. That is why it is so important to frame your shots accordingly. If the scene takes place at night, the contrasting light against dark is obviously a bit easier to achieve. A lot has to do with costume and set design, hence why films are a collaboration, we cannot do it all ourselves. So basically to answer your question in my mind without any knowledge of how big of a movement, try to get to a location before hand to see the area you are working with (is it light or dark) then adjust costumes accordingly, then frame and light so as to accentuate the contrast. Hope it helps. Nick

"Difference between 2 perf vs 3 perf vs 4 perf. I know about saving space on the negative." I am currently working on a 2perf show. I do not have as much knowledge as others on this site but I have been researching a lot for it. When you move from 4perf to 2perf, your aspect ratio changes. Obviously 4perf leaves the most room and when you get to 2perf you are in a 2.4 ratio (someone correct me if I am wrong). Many people have concerns shooting 2perf because if something comes into frame you do not have room above or below the frame lines like in 3perf and especially 4perf. When you get to post and telecine, not every house does 2perf. I know Fotokem in Burbank does, but I am sure there are many around the country that do. As long as they can take the 2perf then most of the telecine part is the same. Since I will be finishing digitally, I cannot speak for how the output would be for distribution. Exposing is just the same as you would the normal perf size. When I watched projections at kodak, 4perf had the least amount of grain, but I am not sure the look you are going for, etc. As for links, you can usually just search the the perf size and get some info. But honestly, I do not think you have to change your entire workflow to handle 2perf or 3perf. Hope it helps. Nick

Since you are a professional actor, you should have a pretty good idea of how this takes place. When you move from a master in to do coverage you make sure that the actors movements and lighting is consistent. This is usually why there is a script supervisor on set. They make sure that all the lines are covered with the different coverage. That for example if an actor picks up a glass with their right hand that they use that same hand in the following shots. It is all about continuity. Hope this helps. Nick

Hey, I recently aquired a panchromatic viewing filter (one that kodak would give out to people). I saw that there are different types for b&w, color, and ISO. I have two questions. 1. On my filter there are two numbers that appear like this, 90/50. What does that mean? 2. If my filter is for b&w can I still use it to check contrast when shooting on color? Thank you for your time. Nick

Hey, I am going to be shooting an outdoor, on location, night scene. I will be shooting on 35 tungsten and was wanting to use HMI's to help with gaining most of the moonlight and also for the higher output of light. I do not want the scene to be completely blue so I was thinking of putting a slight CTO, maybe a 1/4 to help reduce the blue. I have read that it is pretty inefficient to CTO HMI's but I am not someone who likes to "fix it in post." Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you Nick

Hey, I just had a question on what the usual steps are for when going into post with film? I have shot 16mm and gone through a standard def. telecine, we ended up editing with this footage and this was basically our final footage. I am asking what is the usual route for getting into post with film, say 35mm here. Would I be able to go through a hi-def telecine scan and have a pretty good image to use as the final image? Nick

Hey, I was wondering on the majority of slow-motion camera work, what is the most common thing to do for light loss? I know there is shutter speed changes in camera as well as aperture compensation. But if you do a shutter change in camera will that affect the look of the image? Is the common thing to bring in more light to compensate? ( although that could be hard for exterior say). Thank you Nick

So could you say that depending on your distance to the explosion, the fire could be over or under exposed? Like, the further away the less chance to overexpose (but obviously harder to light evenly if its a night scene) and vice versa.

Hey, so I was wondering how you would go about exposing for fire? Not really campfires or anything constant like that, but more like explosions or quick bursts where you can not just light it up to get a meter reading? I am assuming the answer would be tests, but if any other words please let me know. Thank you Nick

So is there a big difference between the green on a store bought flo compared to more "industrial" mercury vapor lamps you encounter outdoors?

Alright cool. So are mercury vapor lamps usually practicals in a scene? I seemed to notice them a lot in no country for old men a lot as just an example. Kinos are great, are their kelvins true? I've heard they have a very slight green to them.

Hey, I was wondering what are the usual lamps that have more of a green balance to them? Obviously flos have the green, but what other lamps unless they are all flo based. I have seen some street lamps that are green, which are those? Also, can you really trust the kelvin reading on store bought flos? If it is 2900k, will it still have some green it as well as being warm? Thank you! Nick

Hey we actually did, the 7D. I wanted 16mm but the budget wouldn't allow it. Can you explain what you mean above? And also, yes I was trying to get an exposure on the sea. I recall in A Single Man the sea having a very nice moon reflection on it. Nick

Hey, I was shooting a short recently at the ocean and really wanted to get a reflection of the moon on the water. I was wondering what is the way to go about doing this? And also getting a decent exposure from it. I have heard of using an HMI balloon on a boat but how would you go about hiding that if it were a wide frame? Let me know what you think. Nick

Hey, I have been looking into shooting 2perf 35 and have heard plenty of the positive information about it. But I would like to know what the negatives are? I would not be doing a DI if I did do it, just telecine. I am in the LA area so if anyone knows of a lab that works with 2 perf also, please let me know. Thank you

Hey, honestly I think its on preference. What I am used to is saying just mark because the sound guys will say the take letter and number before hand. I would talk to the sound department and the scripty and see what they like the most. As for the first shot of a scene, it starts with just a number, for example, sc.12 then as you start coverage it moves on to sc.12A etc.