Stuart Brereton

There is NO filter that will make an overcast day look sunny. If there was, it would sell in huge quantities here in the UK ;-) Sunny days are high contrast. Overcast days are not. You're filming on a porch, right? Try to pick your angles so that you can't see outside of the porch. If you have access to lights, then your best bet is to get the biggest lamp you have and try to give your subject a nice hot rim or side light, as if the sun was shining in on them. If you don't have any big lights, then you could shoot tighter shots and use a smaller lamp. If there is even a faint sun, you might try using a mirror to reflect it into the porch. I have a Velbon tripod, but i only use it for stills photography. FWIW, it's well made, and comparatively cheap.

I believe Underworlds' cold blue look was achieved in post. I've seen some stills from the production in which the colours are quite normal. I think it was done in DI, but anyone who knows better should feel free to correct me.

Thanks Tim, I'll try to get the whole clip up on the site soon. Basically there were only three lights. A 650w with double CTO going through a frame of 216, and a 300w with double CTO put through some dingle on the sheet in the background. The keylight was flagged off the singers' face to give him some light and dark to move in. The wind (it was shot exterior) was blowing the BG sheet around, creating some shifting patterns ( a happy accident....) The rain was a garden hose backlit with a 300w. The beam was directed at the water, with only the edge of the beam catching the singer. I like using the edges of light beams in situations like this, they seem to have a different quality. The director and I watched Apocalypse Now (the scene in the temple with Brando and Sheen) as a reference for this look. Hopefully, it's somewhere close. Stuart

Just my got my website up and running. I'm still learning Dreamweaver, so it's a bit basic, but I'd be interested to hear what you think. stuartbrereton.com thanks Stuart

There's absolutely no need to put the core back in. The roll will hold its' shape without it. Struggling in a changing bag to replace the core is likely to cause damage to the film. Anyone who has ever had a roll come unwound in the bag can testify as to how much fun it is :-(

Here's the equivalent shoot from graded rushes. They've had the contrast increased, extra blue into the shadows, green into the highlights, and the whole spectrum skewed towards cyan. the screen grab isn't great (I'm still having trouble with attachments :-( )

Okay, here's a still from the shoot, taken with a Canon EOS 10D, 200 asa, 1/50 sec, t2.8 this is pretty much straight out of the camera. The only thing I've done is to increase the contrast a little. I'll post up a similar shot from the actual graded footage next.

Tried that, doesn't seem to work. Is there a limit to the file size?

Hi Everyone, I shot a promo for UK rock outfit The GA*GA*S on friday. It was a Super 16 shoot, with some additional shooting the following day on DV, which will be treated to look like Super 8. It would have been Super 8 for real, had not the last Kodachrome lab in Europe apparently shut its doors for ever (thanks Kodak :-( ). It was, as ever a full schedule, made worse by losing two hours of shoot time because of technical 'issues'. I was running around like a chicken with its' head cut off, trying to make up for lost time. This is where my stills camera came to the rescue. I had taken it along to the shoot, with my laptop, because we had the client on location and I wanted to be able to give them an idea of what they were going to get. The stills were also going to be a reference for my colorist. I started to use the stills camera alongside my lightmeter. I would take a reading off the keylight, light everything else by eye, then get a still with my camera set to my shooting stop. A quick upload to the laptop, and I could tell at a glance that everything was OK. This helped me work faster, and eventually we caught up and finished on time :-) We had a load of Minibrute 6 Lights in shot, which were giving me headaches with flare. The stills camera was invaluable in checking their exposure. I'll post some stills, both from the EOS10D, and from the 16mm footage, if I can ever figure out how to attach them to a post. I'll definitely be using the camera this way again. It's not a substitute for a lightmeter, and careful exposure, but its' a damn good aid :-) Stuart

Any chance you can shoot two passes at it? One exposed for the exterior, one for the fireball, then matte them together.

I have some 30"x30" frames made from Plastic waste pipe and elbows available from any DIY/Plumbing Store. Cost about £10.00 each. I also have some sturdier 4'x4' frames made from 15mm copper pipe, fixed together with 'Push-fit' elbows, again from DIY stores. The 'Push-Fit' elbows are ideal, because the frames can be easily disassembled and packed away. Both types of frame fit into a standard Grip arm/knuckle.

This is the same press release that Sony UK denied all knowledge of, although it does mention a 25p PAL standard.... Who knows? I hope they do make one for the PAL market.

Actually it is very easy to make film look like video. You crank the contrast up, ditto the chroma, and sharpen the image a touch... One of the reasons for films' continued popularity is the fact that because it captures such a huge range of information at such high quality, you can make it look anyway you want.

Unfortunately, according to Sony UK (who hadn't even heard of it when I first asked) there are no plans to make or market a PAL version. Sony said they were too busy with the launch of HDV, and that was where their priorities were. Shame. I would have thought there was a sizable market for a 25p DigiBeta.

Over here in the UK, Cameramen were split into Lighting Cameramen and Operating Cameramen. The Lighting Cameraman only concerned themselves with Lighting. All decisions regarding Lens choice, camera position and movement were made by the Operating cameraman, according to the Directors' instructions. Below them were the 1st AC (Focus Puller) and 2nd AC (Clapper/Loader), just as in the American system. These days, many DP's choose to operate themselves. For those that don't, the system now operates much more along the American lines, where the DP is responsible for all aspects of the Camera work. Some DP's choose to give the operator a lot of freedom to deal with the director, some don't.

Really, who cares? The whole Film vs. Video debate is OLD People will shoot whatever format is appropriate/affordable/available.

Just about everyone...

Then why do you bother posting on this board?

It's a sad day when a contributor to a Cinematography forum considers Box Office takings to be the most important indicator of a films' significance.

I wonder if Titanic will really be remembered. Citizen Kane dates back to 1941. For 64 years its has remained a topic of conversation amongst those interested in film. What is there about Titanic that would give it such longevity? The script? Hardly. The performances? Hmm... The Visual FX? Already surpassed. The only notable thing about 'Titanic', looking back on it now, is its' Box Office takings.

"We're all potential Hall's and Toland's. It boils down to talent, determination, motivation, inspiration, creativity and personal style." You make it sound so easy.... "And that's what Dan is doing. He's questioning what may very well be outdated opinions and standards." Why should these opinions be outdated? Is Greg Tollands' contribution to cinema lessened because it happened 60 years ago? By that rationale, Van Gogh, Vermeer, Monet, Caravaggio, and many others painters are now longer 'Great'. "Casablanca and Citizen Kane, to many in our generation, are no longer what CASABLANCA and CITIZEN KANE were to my parent's generation." We're not talking about these films relevancy. We are talking about their Cinematography. That hasn't changed. "Road to Perdition and Gladiator were tremendous acheivements in their own right." I agree, however, Road to Perdition is actually one of the films that Daniel originally said that he thought was not as good as some music videos. "Besides, what's wrong with being inspired by music videos? Didn't Darious Kondji come from a commercial/music video background?" Nothing is wrong with being inspired by Promos. The original observation was that the camera work in them is largely derivative, and that many of the "innovative" techniques in them had been 'borrowed' from feature films.

Are you absolutely sure that you want to be a DP? Cinematography is a demanding vocation. It requires both technical knowledge and artistic appreciation. It requires an understanding of narrative. It needs a familiarity with the work that has gone before. It requires a HELL of a lot of hard work and dedication. If your statement above is true, perhaps you should look elsewhere. It's interesting that the film you say you'd rather be watching, didn't require a DP....

Creating good looking shots and conveying meaning are part of the job description. If you can't do that, you aren't a DP at all. For a DP, greatness comes from innovation and daring, and from moving the art onwards from it's current state. That's what separates DPs like Conrad Hall and Greg Tolland from the rest of us.

Please, somebody tell me he's winding us up...Please.

Sorry, just noticed that you're shooting daylight stock. Is your scene a day interior? If so, a TV effect would be minimal. The "how blue is TV" question is kinda like that "how blue is moonlight" question" Stuart