Stuart Brereton

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.

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

Roy, Sam Dodge (www.samdodge.com) has three 2709's of various ages listed for sale currently. Hope this helps, Stuart

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......

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

you might try something like a sachtler 7x7 head. They're not as big or expensive as the video 18/20 heads, but they're better than the dv range

I like the Sachtler Video 18 or 20 with 2 stage Carbon fiber legs for this sort of work. The Video 20 is heavyweight enough for a Cinealta, too, though the Video 25 is even better :-)

Thanks for the kind words everyone! The setups were fairly straightforward. Stills 1 & 2 were keyed with 1k tungsten fresnels through 4x4 frames of 216, from behind in a back cross light. In still 2 there were some hard sources (150w worklights) scattered about in the background. In still 1 there was some low angle frontal fill from a Kinoflo, and some roving hard light beams (300w fresnels) to suggest moving lights in the club. Both setups were heavily smoked. Still 3 was lit with a ringlight and two kickers. The kickers were a bit harder than I would have liked, but we were fighting an unmoveable deadline to wrap. A lot of nuances went out the window towards the end of that day!!!! There were some night exteriors on the shoot as well. Hopefully I can post some of them up, when I get them.

Here's some grabs from a recent promo shoot. Not yet graded, but will be, mostly for consistency.

If you've never shot film, then greenscreen work is probably not the best place to start. Besides, as Phil points out, stock, processing and TK is way more expensive than hiring an SDX900. It's been mentioned before, but you could try to source one of the new DVW970's - 4.2.2 AND 25P, easily available DigiBeta decks etc, etc

Your choice of Telecine makes a big difference to the quality of your pictures This Link will take you to a side by side comparison of identical footage transferred on both an Ursa Diamond and a Spirit Telecine. The differences are obvious. As Stephen points out, a heavy grade, with lots of secondary correction will accentuate the noise in the picture.

It's fairly simple. Take four beefy grips. Add a generous measure of heaving and straining. Flavour with some colorful language and you're done! Try not to point out to them that it will be much easier on the way down.... ;-)

Well said, Max. Have whatever username you like, just sign your posts with your real name. I get enough email from "jojo123456", trying to sell me a fake college degrees, or prescription drugs, or god knows what else. I don't want to have to deal with that here as well. Tim has already stated that he's not going to make it mandatory, but it is polite. Would you have a conversation face to face with someone who refused to tell you their name? Everyone here benefits from the exchange of information. It's only fair that we should know who we are exchanging information with.

I've never had any problems with SR mags coming open. You should check them before they come out of the changing bag, then camera tape them securely.

I shot a Music Video in a 900 sq ft White studio a few months back. It had a floating white ceiling above the infinity curve. I had two 5k tungsten fresnels which I bounced of the floating ceiling. I lit the talent with tungsten lamps through frames of 216, but if you're shooting babies/young children, Kinos are the way to go - much less heat. I didn't bother much with backlight, there's plenty of bounce. The one thing I wish i'd had more of is negative fill. You try to get the walls reading as white, and before you know it the subjects are flat lit and dull. You might want to turn off the DCC on the camera as well.

At film school, we used to get deals from Panavision. We always had these grand ideas of shooting with a 'real Hollywood' camera. Then we realised how difficult they were to thread. All of a sudden, we were really happy to receive an SR.....

Strange how these fit together......