Matthew Parnell

The largest petrol generator I've worked with is a 5kva ages ago, all the rest have been diesel. What to look for is a well maintained and serviced generator, there are many companies that specialize in silenced film and entertainment generators, ranging from smaller trailer generators, to truck generators, and obviously these guys are the way to go. If you can, get Electronic ballast HMIs, as they tend to be both more efficient and in my experience have been less fussy about power(ie voltage drops over long cable runs.

Ok. Different lampheads can be rated at typically 120v, 240v or they can be rated to be able to do both, usually seen in specs as 110-240v. The bubbles/globes/bulbs for these lamps are also rated as specific voltages, 120 or 240v. When you use the lamps in the US you will need 120v globes, but in south africa you will need the 240v globes. I hope that makes more sense? Cheers, Matt.

South Africa works off 220/230v power. The easiest way would be to ensure you purchase 110-240volt lampheads, and 240volt bubble stock for them, for use in South Africa. Then all you need is a plug adaptor, rather than taking heavy transformers.

Tim, 'magnetic ballasts' or 'electronic ballasts in silent mode' is what i meant. Sorry if i didnt make that clear. My bad. Stephen, Im in two minds as to approach red about this issue or not. Really, now that we have made it clear that it is not a problem being caused by our department we have handed the ball back to the camera department to sort out with Red and the camera house. However, considering the fact that quite a lot of money was spent getting full generator diagnotics done, new AVRs fitted, and second generators being hired, and the fact that we're going to have to face up to these problems no doubt again shortly, I would really like to see what the true resolution to this problem is, so i might write a couple emails in the next couple days once I have finished post work on the truck (we wrapped shooting on friday). Cheers, Matt.

From everything i have read this issue is specific to 50hz countries, and the problem only exists when running of a generator. There are other productions shooting in Australia with the same issues. Essentially, unless you have a magnetic ballast discharge lamp running off the generator, the flicker is barely noticeable, and for TVCs or even TV production you could get away with it, just. As for a projects with an eye to going to a filmout, its quite worrying. In terms of this issue occuring in the states, I believe that the only issue is that you cant run magnetic ballasts or electronic ballasts in silent mode. I think the problem is less likely in the states because your power allows for an ideal shooting window at 180 degrees at 24fps. At the end of the day all my research points to this being a fundamental problem with Rolling Shutter CMOS chips and the simple nature of a generator. There are a number of Global Shutter chips in existance and in development, and hopefully RED looks at going in that direction in the future.

We have now tested on two seperate generators. Both were synced to 50hz both using the meters on the genies and a flicker meter on the lamps and also by winding up and down the frequency of the generator while watching the waveform of the monitor. Unfortunately both generators controller units would not change the frequency down to 48hz or 60hz so we could not do a 180degree test in the hope of achieving a wider window of exposure. That is one test for another time i think. Our theory is, that while house power is essentially as close to perfect as possible, by the sheer nature of a generator it is constantly 'hunting' for sync. Normally, the tolerances on the wander, which are rather small are fine for standard film work(these generators have been used on stuff up to about 250fps according to the memories of the owners, without a single issue). Unfortunately because of the sensitivity of the cameras rolling shutter, in combination of the shorter window of 1/50th of a second(because we have to run at 50hz) these minimal fluctuations are outside of the tolerance of the camera. We obviously have a lot of testing and work to go to try and find a fix to this issue, because the red camera is already quite widespread, and in a production environment that runs of generators, obviously this is a major problem. Thanks so much to everybody. If you still have any ideas it would be great. Cheers,

Enttec do a series of cheaper USB to DMX converters, with a handful of open source software to go with it, ranging from simple stuff to fairly advanced controllers. There are pleanty of PC/Mac based DMX controllers out there, just have a look around.

Yes 172.8 degrees.

I am currently 3rd electric on a feature film shooting in Australia using the RED ONE camera. The production is shooting 24fps at 173 degree shutter. Power in Australia is typically 240v, 50hz. About three days into the shoot, both our DP and the productions DI Colourist(who as supervising the first few days rushes) started to notice a minor flickering being produced whilst shooting. The flickering was barely visible outside of the DI Suite and only apparent on set on the waveform monitor. A new camera body was brought in, but it has the same problems. The flickering was not apparent when using flicker free devices such as F.F. HMIs and kinoflos, but when using smaller tungsten units (5k and under). In the process of testing we moved from our 40kva generator(which has done countless films, tv commercials and music videos on both Film and HD) to house power, which immediately solved the problem. We immediately tested our generator and all seemed fine on the surface. The generator was running at 240v and exactly 50hz. We proceeded to swap over all our mains, distro and the generator outlets. The problem still existed. We then started using another generator, and the problem still existed, but slightly less apparent than previously. The original generator was then fully workshop tested. All that the generator techs could find is a variance of +/- 2 volts and replaced the AVR unit to minimize this(which it did down to a .5-1v variance, which is typical in most generators). We tested again, and again the problem still existed. In a number of phonecalls in recent days the Gaffer has discovered another production also in Australia that is having similar problems when using generators and the Red One. To the point of using only 5k plus tungsten units because of flicker and is not using HMIs at night, because of a ?weird pulsing? that is produced. To me it sounds like the rules for shooting super high speed stuff. We are getting another generator on Monday, and I will let you know the results. What I?m wondering is if anyone else has been having these problems when running off generator power? Is this a problem specific to running the RED ONE with generators, with 50hz generators or is there some simple solution to this problem? Any ideas or input would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

Just out of interest who's your gaffer on the music clip?

I'm pretty sure the laser-esque lights in the background are actually show lasers, there has been a bit of a comeback lately and the newer gear is pretty cool, there still seems to be a fair bit of post embellishment though. As with mover like the Martin MAC series I would most definitely get an experienced board operator to program and run them.

Niki, Just two questions: Can I ask what entitles you to start at the top? I know plenty of exceptionally talented people who have worked there way up through the ranks for ten, twenty years and are only finally getting into a position of rank on good productions. How are you going to gain the experience to be good at what you want to do if you start at the top? You have got it all wrong. You aren't paying your dues working up through the ranks. Working your way up through the ranks is the best film-school you can get. It teaches you what to do, what not to do, how to handle certain situations, how to handle different types of people, and ofcourse how to deal with the stresses and politics of film productions. And through all this you can learn from others mistakes without it having any affect on your own reputation. You have to remember talent is nothing without being able to execute it. And in this industry executing your talent is a team effort.

Do a series of Recces to see what the location looks like at different times of day and schedule your shoot around the natural daylight. Schedule your wides when the lighting is what you want and then when you start moving in for close ups you can just use butterflys, bounce and lamps to match to the wide.

It depends, sometimes the generics with have the exact same cells and electronics from the exact same factory, sometimes not.

I'd have a look at Rosco LitePads. I havn't had anything to do with them, but just from their product info they might be worth a look.

Id like to put in a vote for an Aussie subforum too.

On a tangent I recently used a unit called a fazer hazer. This unit doubles as a full burst smoke machine and programable hazer. Definitely worth having a look for one around your local theatre/stage production rental places.

Be a camera assistant for a couple of years and then you'll know where to go. Also, please read the forum rules and change your name to the full and proper name and add a signature to your posts.

Lav, I was aware of 3 perf being pretty widespread over here, was just not so sure about 2 perf. Thanks for the details. Cutting Edge Brisbane just upgraded to a spirit. (got a postcard of the Vialta at a bowls club 'in retirement' with this months ACS shortends) Cheers, Matt.

2-Perf might be a hard to do in Australia because i'm not sure how many post houses support 2perf, let alone how many cameras there are in the country with 2 perf movements. Would be interested to see who in Australia does do 2 perf.

Lav, Its great to see more and more local productions kicking off here in Brizzy! Cheers, Matt.

Until recently, the Chinese Arri rip off's have been selling for less than third of the price of the Arri's over here in Australia, making them a lot more financially viable, even if the only have half of the lifespan. Everything I have heard from users over here has been mostly positive, and all the tests that have been done on them have come out fairly evenly matched to their Arri counterparts. Thankfully Arri have recently lowered their prices.

There is a couple chinese made Arri ripoffs that are really nicely made, i would almost say they are made better than the real deal(i havnt used the hmi units yet, hopefully i will in the next week or two). They are usually sold under the name filmgear. I havn't heard of M-R ripoffs at all.

Could also be the recording format. The colour space of dv is not good for keying.

The shutters David is talking about are called lighting shutters, and should be avaliable from most well stocked hire places. If you are interested here is a discussion on Lightning Strikes Lamps, which are typically more effective over a large area. http://www.cinematography.net/Pages%20GB/Lightning.htm Cheers. Matt.