Scott Copeland

Been awhile since I've seen "Dances...", but I can remember a shot with Costner on the roof of his hut, clearly(?) done in a studio. He's reading and there's a voice over. Anyone remember this part? I seem to remember that part being cheesy and not too natural. What might have been the cause of this incongruity??

-S

Thanks guys,

I see where you're headed with it. Supplies are limited in these parts, but we can rig something. Seems simple enough in set up, execution will be the final tester. Thanks for getting my head in the right place. We should be able to go from there.

Love this forum.

-S.C.

Hey people smarter than me,

I want to try the affect of car headlights passing a porch. Subject will be seated on the porch and I'm looking to recreate the moving lights that would be thrown on the back wall by a passing car. What are your thoughts on no having the intensity of light be consistent? When I watch the real thing happens, there seems to be a lot of variance due to the cars proximity as it comes and goes.

Hope that gives a sense of what we're looking for. Any ideas or photos that might help visually aid in the process?

Thanks.

Merry Christmas all,

Caught "Tremors" on TV the other night. There is a visual effect??? that I am curious about and will try to explain in words here. In most all shots of landscape and even a few MS with rocks, the highlights seem to flicker, or strobe. It's as if all the little shards of bright rock in the landscape are strobing on and off and it's undeniable when watching. My mom even commented, which led me to you guys. I vaguely remember seeing this years ago on a typical TV monitor before LCD and HD. Looking at the attached pic, if you can imagine a blanket of strobing/flickering lights in the background. This is a tough one to explain.

I don't know if you all are caught up on your Christmas "Tremors" viewing, but can anybody explain this? Is it intentional, or a by-product of film emulsion and landscape, something chemical?

Thanks to anyone who takes a stab at this one.

-S

Aren't you a little late to be catching "2012" in a theatrical run?

Thanks for your help??

Hey all,

Caught a few minutes of the movie "2012" with my lady friend last night and I commented to her that it was shot on digital. She asked me "how can you tell?" All I had was "It's obvious during movement". But that was really it. I was stumped at how to explain to her that we were looking at an inferior image. I'm not a cinematographer by any stretch and I was unable to explain to her how to spot digital over film. Without a side by side comparison at least. How would anyone here describe to a regular movie-goer how to spot when it's digital on the TV monitor and not film? This is excluding key words like contrast, latitude and the like.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

P.S. We didn't finish the movie ;)

'cause it was awful! Get your head out of the gutter!

Questions regarding thoughts on contrast ratio. Specifically for comedies, but reply with any thoughts.

I see even lighting on faces and 2:1, 4:1 ratios. Obviously a high contrast ratio (noir) denotes and split/ fragmented state of mind (possible). When are the ideal moments for little contrast? Or slight contrast? Are there any flat faces in professional lighting? Or is it just slight enough that my amateur eye is not reading them? I'm trying to get replies regarding the psychological feeling that accompanies various facial ratios. Specifically in a natural style. How to further convey ideas in a less stylized manner.

My wording may be a bit vague if anyone would like to take the reins and steer this thread in a good direction.

Thanks.

Cinematographers,

Will be starting preproduction on a short film. What do you want your director to know? How is the process begun with the DP? Are Zones discussed heavily b\t the director and DP?

We're doing a lot of naturalized daylight exteriors in shade. What do I need to be aware to communicate better with my DP? More than "what time of day".

Can somebody help me start thinking in the right direction so as to communicate efficiently with my guy? I'm learning about cinematography right now (a whole lot of numbers) so I'm thinking that way, just wanted the advice of the real world people.

Thanks.

I would usually turn it off and bring it back everytime, preventing that annoying buildup of cable. I do like the hand method though. Obviously cars headlights aren't perfectly even as they travel across the landscape, so the handheld would definitely make things a bit more random.

 

Either way though, it's always something you can do a test with. It's something that often comes up, so one good test of things would be pretty useful to you to see what you like.

Man you guys are cool. This was a good post. Maybe I can get test footage available to see.

I've always just had a few lights on stands, keep the top knuckle loosened and then swing it around to simulate the car passing. After you pan it off the set, turn it off, bring it back to 1 and repeat. Simple, but it works....

Would you need to set up a screen of net and silk so the light intensity varies from start to finish. With the highest intensity being in the middle, then fading out?

Sitting on a darkened porch at night. The lights from cars passing shine through the porch lattice and move quickly across the back wall. The shadows jump up, and move along the wall as the brightness of the light fades up and out.

What are some good ideas for achieving this effect? Do I need to build a rig to move the light smoothly across the front lawn onto the porch? It would be a great effect to create the sense of cars and blow light onto an actor's face at the dramatic moments. The opening of "Blood Simple" achieved a different but similar effect nicely.

Anyone? Thanks.

Hello all,

Three quarter position, profile, facing camera. I'm curious of the general rules that apply and the emotional response that is to the blocking of actors towards the camera. I've been reading on symmetry, good for comedy, Kubrick used it to signify tension about to occur and so on. Could someone give me a quick crash course on what they feel about body placement in relation to camera? The feelings that certain positions exhibit to the audience. I'm blocking a satirical scene. Husband/Wife dialogue in the kitchen. I'm aware and have analyzed their emotions and changes throughout the scene, now I'm looking for those wonderful little film blocking techniques that convey these ideas. Anybody know something more than me? I bet so.

Thanks to you all.

-S.C.

Would a painter's mask filter out particles that big?

 

Scott, I'm really curious to know what the story is - I had an idea for a short years ago that involved a dust mote coming to life which started with a scene like this. Wish I knew about the forum then, I could have really used this info...

Hey there,

Bless you all and these forums. Better than school. Less expensive too. The story is a southern Gothic. First few scenes take place inside a country house. I've always enjoyed watching house dust float around in the late afternoon sunlight spilling in through a window and blinds . Even before I was interested in film lighting, I enjoyed this visual.

Hello folks,

House dust in late afternoon. Warm sunlight coming in and illuminating natural dust in the air and off the furniture. Anybody know what I can use for the best effect of the dust? Is thick dust the best to stockpile and use for the shoot? Is it just one strong light source backlighting it? If anyone has any ideas on a good way to achieve this effect, I would be obliged. Thanks.

-S.C.

Hey people smarter than me,

We're beginning the discussions on lighting for a short film. An adaptation of a Flannery O'Connor short story. I won't go into the symbolisms and characters and such that will tell the story, but I'm looking for photos, still shots, photographer's websites that you all might know about.

The setting is kitchen and living room, isolated, southern country and heavy with thematic religion. It's dark with touches of the grotesquely humorous. I've been noticing dust in sunlight in interiors and really like it. In real life, at the end of the day when the sunlight in pouring in through your living room blinds and the house dust is illuminated by it. Things that make interior sunlight in a country household visually interesting.

This is all very broad, but if you savvy folks have any visuals that are in this general ballpark, I'd be much obliged if you sent them my way.

-Thanks to all you contributers for this website by the way. We're never short of something to read.

-S

Danke!

The interior light is way to dominant to create the "sunset" - effect. As mentioned above, the light has to come through the window but first you should think about how you want it to look like: Shall there be only the light of the sunset? Or shall it be combined with some interior lighting? If you frame the shot like you did it in the photo you have to justify the sunset - mood by letting the light come through the window because the window is visible in the frame.

Hey Mike,

Throw me a bone here buddy, what's "vignetting". Yeah.

-Noob

There's also a shot in that scene that has some serious vignetting but I didn't catch it til at least the third viewing. It's such an emotionally intense scene that I usually forget where I am when I'm watching it.

Hello people smarter than I am (so far),

Could anyone offer good suggestions of painters, classical or modern, whose work would be good to view/study/recreate. I've seen a good bit of Carravaggio and Vermeer. Any other good ones I should check on?

Thanks in advance.

-S.C.

Michael,

Thanks for the link. That's what I needed. Great still too. Man, this forum is great.

-S.C.

Specifically when they are advancing over the grassy hills in Guadacanal. At moments the lighting is of cloud cover, and very naturally the light becomes direct sunlight over the vista. The scenery is big and the shadows and light cover all of it. Is this recreating light, or are they just catching great moments while the sun hides and appears behind clouds?

-S.C.

For starters, I see black through the venetian blinds. Also, it's high contrast, the color is yellow, and your light is clearly coming from inside the room from small sources.

For starters, good, thanks. How 'bout for seconds? What could be done to get a late afternoon sense to it?

-I'm really needing to get a dialogue going with professionals.

-S

Why does this not look like a sun set?

 

Thanks.

Why does this not look like a sun set?

Thanks.