Richard Turner

Thanks a million for all your replies- it's much obliged David- Thanks very much for the breakdown! The only issue with the window is that its north facing, so it wont be particularly bright you see (typical British winter) so will it still wash out, or seem to deep of a blue? I was also wondering, when you mean 'wash out' do you mean it will sort of bleach and bleed? Stuart- Ha, cheers for pointing that little error out! albeit when you do but a CTB on it does technically stop down 1/2 so i think i meant it in that sense :P Jason- Cheers for the pointer on the costume department. As far as i know, it's a faded off white and the costume is predominately navy blues. How do you think I should tackle this and not make the colour balance seem awkward? Thanks everyone

Hi all, I have a short in the pipeline which will be my first venture into 16mm filmmaking. Fortunately I have managed to obtain 5 400ft Kodak 500t rolls for absolutely free! But unfortunately, most of the script is interior. Its a bit of a kitchen-sink drama, where the crux of the film takes place in a flat with a large bay window. The director wants the interior to appear cool, and the ext to appear even cooler. Please excuse my naivity, but this is what I intend to do to achieve this, along with a few 'noob' questions... - My initial thoughts were to scrim tungsten’s with half CTB’s and have a Wratten 85 B or C in the matte box. I’m hoping this would balance correctly, but still seem quite cold. Am I somewhere near right here? The mired shift value works out at about 5650۫k, and I was wondering if the extra 50۫ Kelvin’s will make it appear too blue? - With each 1/2 filter, does it stop down roughly a 1/3rd? - I’m also worried about tonal ranges from film to DV. As far as I know, the lighting ratio/tonal range for 16mm or cinema is about 64:1 (I may be completely wrong) which should make it a lot more forgiving, but for TV/ Broadcast I’m sure its about 16:1. Does this mean that I should expose the film within the DV/ broadcast tonal range, or film? I imagine if it was originally lit within the tonal ranges of film and then processed to DV, it may succumb to excessive noise? - Balancing to 18% Grey cards: I was wondering if any of this is considered good practice? Before shooting, explaining to the lab that at the beginning of every days rushes, there would be a grey card and would they always grade the following scenes to that grey card? When it comes to the lab report sheets, should I always right on the top ‘grade to grey card’? Any help would be much obliged, thanks in advance Regards, Richard Turner

So, theres that new 20- something fresh out of film school, swanning around on set like a child in a sweet store. Your not sure of his name, and your not sure what he's supposed to be doing, but he's there anyway... Im guessing that all proffesionals have met hundreds of runners on various productions, ive just a got a few questions id like to ask. Its not the sort of thing they teach you in film school you see. 1. What makes you take notice of a runner, a newbie? What were your 'pivotal' moments in your career ladder? 2. What, if anything, would make you want that particular runner/ cam ass/ juniour cam op to be on your next production? 3. What qualities are you looking for? The only reason why I ask is because I've heard a mixed response accross the board, and its pretty easy to lose faith in what your doing. Some people say be reliable, get your job done, do it well, keep quiet and people will notice your hard work. Others say theres nothing better than someone full of enthusiasm and bouncing around really excited with a beaming smile on their face. And some say its just pure darn luck if you can get your break. Any advice from you would be much obliged! :) Regards Richard Turner

Hi all, I beleive this is my first post on CF so hello to everyone! I'm having a few issues working out whats the best way to light on the streets. Im looking for high constrast imagery, but im shooting on JVC HD 110's (mini DV, not HDV) and if I crush or stretch the black, shadows and highlights become extremely noisy. Furthermore, im not sure what to balance the camera to. Ill have slight moonlight, flourescents, and the tungstons that ill be using (a set of red heads). Im trying to mix with the aberrant glow of streetlights with the cold greys of the landscape, attempting to convey a sort of metropolitan, a concrete jungle if you may. Heres some stills I took whilst scouting locations, so you can have an idea of what im going for: Additionally, the actors are dark skinned and when test shooting I found that the camera picked the skin tones up as shadows, forcing noise accordingly. And if i expose facial features to the correct level, it seems to look greasy and quite flat. Has anyone had any experience dealing with this? Any help would be much obliged. Regards, Richard Turner