Stuart Brereton

I’m not suggesting that it was easy. Focus pulling is a hard job, even on apparently easy setups. I’m saying that I think the challenges on 1917 were probably less to do with actual focus, and more with logistics and coordination.

There's also a whole paragraph on the sign up page that mentions this being a real names forum. Very much agree. Bringing a soft source more frontal will help a lot more than lens diffusion. It's not always appropriate, but I'd much rather do that than soften the image too much

Thankfully, Albion (or whatever his real name is) was here to point that out...

The blue in your stills is slightly biased towards purple, so yeah 1/4 or 1/2 minus green could be a good look.

That's a soft, cold, toplight, and it's underexposed by about 1.5 - 2 stops. The candle flames look white, rather than yellow, so the camera (or film stock) is probably balanced for 3200k, and the overhead source is daylight balanced. There are countless fixtures you could use for this. I'd probably go with something like a Litemat 4 through a frame of diffusion like LEE 251, and then skirt the fixture and the frame to cut spill off the walls.

I wouldn't stake your career on that. I know plenty of directors who will go again for even a slight buzz on a move.

When I first moved to LA, I worked quite a few jobs with a 1st AC called Tony Magaletta. He was kind of old school, and insisted on measuring every distance with his tape. Younger ACs used to make fun of him for it, preferring to wing it off the monitor. The difference between them was that his first take would be near perfect, and theirs would be virtually unusable.

1917 was extremely impressive technically, but I don’t know that the focus puller had an especially hard time of it. It was all shot on a fairly wide lens (40mm FF, 28mm equivalent s35mm) and I believe Deakins likes to shoot day exteriors at quite a deep stop. Of course, long takes and a constantly moving camera require a lot of concentration from an focus puller, but I think pulling focus on something like Joker would be more challenging. Full disclosure: I hated focus pulling, and couldn’t get out of it fast enough...

I don't know, David, I shoot with Super Speeds a lot, and while they're definitely not as sharp at f2 as they are at f4 (like most lenses), I wouldn't call them soft by any means. They do, however, start to lose contrast very quickly if you open up past f2, and the blacks get very milky. It's really only that stop between f1.3 and f2 that is noticeable.

I've never thought of Super speeds being soft, unless you mean the low contrast look that you get when they're wide open. You don't say whether you want to rent or buy, or what mount you need, so starting at the expensive end, in PL, the Zeiss Supreme Radiance lenses are specifically designed to mimic some of qualities of the Super speeds, having T* coatings and blue flares. If you're looking for something cheaper, and non PL, then the Zeiss Contax stills lenses are a good bet, as Joel says. They share a lot of the same design as the Supers, and are also T* coated. Other than that, just about any 35mm stills lens can be converted to either EF or Sony E mount, and increasingly, LPL mount.

You missed my point entirely, but whatever.

I enjoy shooting film too, Stephen. I hope it continues to be available, and it probably will be, as long as it stays profitable. However, I don't think you can assign responsibility for the continued use of film to a few big name directors and DPs. It's not their job to try to influence market forces, and they are often beholden to the demands of producers, just as everyone else is. To use the Vinyl/CD analogy, Vinyl isn't still available because of the actions of big name artists, it's because of grassroots support from independent artists, record stores and DJs. If you want to film to endure, then the best thing you can do is keep using it.

I don't move in the exalted circles that Roger Deakins et. al do, but I know enough about them to say that you are misunderstanding how it works. Big name DPs are courted, wined & dined, given access to prototype cameras, given input into R&D, and all kinds of flattery, but they are not paid.

Exercise. Push weights, do crossfit, whatever floats your boat. Avoid alcohol on a school night. Be conscious of your diet. Set food can be great but can also be really bad. Lastly, and you'll amazed at the difference this makes, have a pair of comfortable sneakers that you can change into at the end of the day before you drive home.

Thanks Phil. no need for 6K, but he already owns the camera

So, I'm putting together a Pocket 6k package for a friend who is planning to shoot a low budget movie with it. Since there is a chance I'll be the one shooting it for him, I want to get it to a usable state for either tripod or handheld use. He already has the camera, and lenses are taken care of. He also has some sort of Tilta cage for it. I'm looking for recommendations for all the other stuff. Matteboxes, Viewfinders, AC monitors, batteries, handheld rigs, etc etc. What are your favorite rigs? Also looking for any tech tips from users of this camera. Any known gotchas? Glitches? Insanely annoying quirks? Thanks all.

I think Ari has said that it may have been reframed a little in post. It’s also possible that the sequence is comprised of multiple takes. Whip pans are an excellent place to hide cuts, after all.

Even in the highest gear, I think you would struggle to pan a geared head that fast. An Arrihead takes 9.5 turns of the wheel in 3rd gear to pan 180°. That’s a lot do in just over a second.

I find the key with kind of pans that Ari is doing there is to lower the drag in the head so that it is not fighting you when you whip across, but it’s not so low that you can’t stop the move smoothly. If you take too much out, the head will slop around all over the place when you try to stop the pan. A little trial and error will help you arrive at the right setting. Body posture is also crucial. You’re basically pivoting between two points that you can’t see until they appear in your viewfinder. You need to have a fixed point of reference. I like to plant my feet so that I can twist from one end of the pan to the other without moving them.You can see Ari doing the same thing in the video. Note that he’s also using the matte box bars as a second pan handle. This helps you keep the camera movement exactly tied to your body movement. Then it’s just a case of practicing the move until you start to get used to the position your body needs to be in for both frames. Lastly, you need to not think about it, just kind of feel it. I find if I try to consciously analyze the move, I’ll get it wrong.

I think by the time you're far enough involved to be having a scheduling discussion, you probably know people well enough to express an opinion on issues outside of your immediate responsibility. I've certainly had plenty of discussions with directors regarding dialogue and plotting once I've got to know them (and once I'm sure they didn't also write the script...)

Generally, I'd say keep your comments to yourself. If you have reservations about the script, but it has other selling points to you, like a director you want to work with, or a genre you're interested in, or you feel that they are aware of the problems and working to solve them, then fine. If not, don't take the job. Very few people are receptive to unsolicited criticism, particularly from a crew member whose job is images, not words.

Talk to Les Bosher http://www.lesbosher.co.uk/ if it’s possible, he’s probably already made one.

You need the Test Out page of the Operations Menu. Test Out Menu set on. Pg150 of the manual. The Test out is set via the output page of the User menu. If you don’t have an option there for Test Out, it might mean you don’t have an expansion board installed. Pg 94 of the manual. This is how I remember it being, and the manual seems to agree, but it’s been over ten years since I used a 900r, so YMMV

Really, JD? We expect that kind of crap from Tyler, but I thought you were better than that.

These forums are open to all members to contribute. It’s not up to you to decide who posts and who doesn’t.