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Stuart Brereton

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Everything posted by Stuart Brereton

  1. Rodney Charters, CSC, who shoots 24 apparently does this all the time. I've tried it on the last couple of film jobs I've done, and been reasonably confident with what the dSLR is telling me. It's not a replacement for a lightmeter, but it is reassuring sometimes to have an image there in front of you.
  2. David, This is just beautiful..... If the rest of the film looks just half as nice... Brilliant!
  3. I've used a thing called an 'A-Frame' for towing car before. It attaches to the front axle of the car (I think) and pulls and steers from there. Because the wheel are still on the ground, there are no problems with strange perspectives. If you're using it on a car with an auto gearbox, it must be in neutral (probably the best bet in any case).
  4. It is possible to achieve these moves without MoCo or other specialised equipment. I have seen a short clip by an Australian Timelapse/Time Slice cameraman named Mark Ruffy, where he just moved his stills camera 6 inches between every shot. When his sequence was finished he imported it to After Effects and stabilised the picture. The results are spectacular. I'll try to find a link to the clip.
  5. It's called 'Arc-Eye' and it is quite extraordinarily painful. Your camera will be fine, as long as you follow the previous advice about using ND rather than shutter to knock down exposure. It's your eyes that are at risk. NEVER look at an arc with the naked eye, even for a few seconds. If you need to line up a shot, either get the welder to stop, or use a welders mask.
  6. sorry, didn't realise you were talking about a 2.35 extraction only rather than the full aperture
  7. I think you mean Super16 rather than Super35 here, Max
  8. You may have already heard, but over the weekend, a factory unit in Bristol, UK owned by Aardman Animation burnt down. Stored in it was all of the sets from every film they have made in the last 20 years or so. The blaze was intense, with flames apparently reaching 100' in the air, and it took fire crews all night to get it under control. Sadly, nothing was saved. Luckily, this is not the building housing their studios, so their production faciliites were untouched, but it is still a horrible loss of all that film history.
  9. iStopMotion from Boinx software can do Timelapse via Firewire from DV, or from a few DSLRs.It's pretty cheap (about $35.00) I think it's Mac only, but I could be wrong.
  10. The APA is the Advertising Producers Association, who BECTU used to have a Pay Agreement with. The agreement lapsed in 2002, but the rates of pay are still more or less adhered to. A Video Assist operator should get between £240 and £292 for a 10hr day, according to BECTU's recommended Commercial rates. What you actually get is anyones' guess....
  11. Unfortunately, record labels take a very dim view of unauthorised usage of their material. I've been in this situation myself, and found that the best approach is to contact the record label, explaining exactly what you want to do, emphasising the 'not-for-profit' nature of your project. If you're lucky (and it does happen) they'll give you permission to use the track. If not, use your own music. Really - record labels have teams of Lawyers who like nothing better than to scare the poop of people over unauthorised use.
  12. 28 Days Later did not look 'amazing' it looked 'okay', and that was after they spent many thousands of dollars on grading and film looks. The XL2 is perhaps the best of the Mini DV cameras, and with a little care can yield fantastic results, but it is still MiniDV. There are many other options, s16mm being preferable.
  13. Stuart Brereton

    DSR 450

    This is incorrect, the filter wheel on the DSR450 only changes the ND setting. Colour temperature is changed via a small button above the filter wheel Colin, The method I described to you will allow you to have different setting for each ND, but you must make sure that the Filter Inhibit function in the Maintenance menu is set to allow this. Just like on a DVW700/790 this function ensures that all the ND colour temps are the same when activated.
  14. Stuart Brereton

    DSR 450

    Colin, I've had the opposite problem with the DSR450 of trying to get all the ND positions having the same white balance. If I'm understanding your needs correctly, you should be able to precisely set the WB for each ND setting via the PAINT menu. I don't own a DSR450, so I don't have one in front of me, but there is a page in this menu whuch allows you to manually input a Colour Temp. This setting will apply to whatever ND you are currently using. Once you've set the CT, stay in the menu, and spin the ND around to the next setting. The menu will now display the exact same page, but with the setting for that ND. Change that setting to your required CT, repeat until all 4 are set how you want. I'm not sure how useful this will be, as the different CT settings will still have ND built into them, but this is the way I would do it. Another thread on the same subject, I believe: www.cinematography.com/forum2004/index.php?showtopic=8854
  15. Roy, Sam Dodge (www.samdodge.com) has three 2709's of various ages listed for sale currently. Hope this helps, Stuart
  16. Shameless self promotion is usually posted in the Jobs & Resumes forum, and I believe Tim Tyler likes people who advertise on his site to make some sort of contribution to the upkeep of it......
  17. There's lots of good advice here. Photographic skills, and an appreciation of art in general will stand you in good stead. The thing that I think is often overlooked by people coming into the camera department is an ability to edit. By this I don't mean that you should be able to operate Final Cut, or similar (although this may be an advantage) , but that you have an awareness of how shots go together, of how sequences are built etc etc. not every camera person ends up shooting feature films. The majority shoot documentary, lifestyle, current affairs, corporate, or some other form, where you don't necessarily have the luxury of a storyboard (or a director who knows what they want....) In these situations you have to think on your feet, and know that what you shoot is going to make sense in the cutting room. even in features, there are directors who leave the coverage to the DP, and so he or she has to be able to think in sequences, not just shots. If you can find it, Edward Dymtryk's book 'On Film Editing' is an excellent resource for the 'Why's' of editing. All the best, Stuart
  18. The motivation for the smoke in our main location was that it was a dusty, closed-up house that rarely got any fresh air into it. In our other locations, I used much less smoke, just enough to lend some texture to the air. The desaturated palette came mostly from the smoke, although I also altered the Camera Matrix to reduce the colours a little. The kitchen window was just something that happened. The story is supposed to take place on the hottest, sunniest day of the year, yet the interiors are supposed to be moody. I didn't want the window to blow out completely, but nor did we want to see too much detail out there. Our Art Director was fantastic and helped me out with all sorts of window coverings to help mask the outside, whilst still allowing hot light through in the right places. In our main location, the idea was that even thought the sun is so bright, it can barely penetrate into the darkness of the house, and the further you get from the door (and safety) the more dangerous it gets. In the scenes where someone enters the house, I allowed the daylight outside to blow out, to convey that feeling when you walk from a dark room into the sunshine, and your eyes take a second to adjust.
  19. Hi Tim, thanks for the kind words! In answer to your question, there was no diffusion used on the lens. I've never been that keen on it, although I am quite interested in having a look at a glimmer glass set. just about all of our scenes were DAY/INT, so I had decided to only hire in HMI lamps, with a couple of 4 bank daylight kinos for fill. My plan was to light only through windows, with just the kinos in the room. However, as this was a production funded by the director, we were begging and borrowing a lot of kit, which included the kinos. The night before we were due to start shooting, the company who were lending them to us suddenly pulled out. This meant a quick rethink of my lighting plan, but nothing too serious. The main issue was that some of our locations were very tight for space (hence the need for kinos) and getting a fill lamp into the rooms (usually a .575 hmi through a 216 frame) was awkward. I was using quite a lot of smoke on set as well, and having much the same problems as David Mullen has described on Astronaut Farmer. We had a smoke machine rather than a Hazer, so controlling the smoke level was difficult, with cast and crew in and out of small rooms all the time. Just when it would reach a good level, someone would open an exterior door and before your eyes it would evaporate :-( It was a tough shoot, as these things usually are - long hours and short tempers, but I enjoyed it immensely, and i'm looking forward to seeing a cut.
  20. Hi, Here's a few grabs of a horror short that I'm shooting currently. I may post a proper shoot diary, as long as none of the production staff mind.... This is spec shoot for Feature funding. The Director is currently at the BBC. we're shooting on a DSR450 at 25p
  21. hi everyone, I'm two days into a shoot using a DSR 450, and an interesting problem has come up. I have manually set the color balance on channel B to 7500K for effect. Then, I had to change ND filters on the filter wheel, and found that they all have their own Degrees kelvin setting. I know that on a Digibeta there is a Filter Inhibit function which prevents this, but I can't find a similar thing on the DSR, and the rental firm didn't include a manual. I know there are a few DSR450 owners on the forum, so maybe someone can help me out here. This is my first time out with this camera, and i've been very impressed, except for this strange design. Thanks, Stuart
  22. Focus pulling has got to be one of the most thankless jobs on set! People only notice it when you get wrong.... I never really enjoyed doing focus, and I got out of it as soon as I could, but some people really enjoy it for some reason! Talk to the DP, let him know your concerns. find out what kind of shots he's got planned for that final week. If he's happy to let you do it, and YOU are confident then have a go. Make sure you take your time and get your focus marks right. Don't rush, but don't dawdle either. Keep those DoF charts close to hand.... If you're not confident, don't do it. fu**ing up focus in front of the entire crew can really hammer your confidence, not to mention the problems it causes. There will always be another opportunity to step up to 1st AC. From what you've said it sounds as if you have only just started as a 2nd AC, so don't be in too much of a hurry.
  23. Assuming that you want a blueish lightning effect, and that your shot is at least an MCU, why not just flash a 650w or a 1k with 1/2 or full blue on it from the direction your actor is looking? There are many ways of doing this effect, but I think this is probably the simplest.
  24. Usually, my response in these situations goes like this: What do I hope to get out of it? Is it the money, or is it experience? Is it working with up and coming talent or the opportunity to do something I've never done before? If I'm not getting paid then is it something for my reel? If you can't answer yes to one or more of these questions then pass on the project. If there is something that you stand to gain from doing it, and that something is worth however many days of your time, then perhaps it is worth doing. It's Sods' law that a great job always comes along when you've just committed to something else, but if you're always holding out for the perfect shoot, then you'll end up shooting nothing.
  25. I'm sure Fstop will jump in soon, as he has been talking about Bruce Surtees in another thread, but the minimalist, gritty look of Pale Rider is the reason I love the film, along with Outlaw Josey Wales and High Plains Drifter. Eastwood (as a director) has a reputation for a measured exactness to his filmmaking, so i'm sure the lighting decisions made by Surtees in Pale Rider were entirely in keeping with Eastwoods' vision for the film.
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