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Ozgur Baltaoglu

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About Ozgur Baltaoglu

  • Birthday 12/18/1976

Profile Information

  • Occupation
    Director
  • Location
    Istanbul

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  • Website URL
    https://vimeo.com/ozgurbaltaoglu
  1. Hi everyone, I need some help figuring out the parts of this VF set-up: I recognise the standard Kish optics VF and there's a Modulus transmitter attached but the other parts I can't tell. Does anybody know/ use this set up? Thanks in advance.
  2. Hello everyone, Technocrane is a great tool, and I try to use it whenever the logistics and budget allows for it. I recently shot a commercial on a soundstage in Istanbul where I had to hang actors on wires where they would spend the whole day so Technocrane with a zoom was an obvious choice. I could be versatile and fast. I designed a shot where we did a straight pull back from a window over a sofa. The lens was 25mm. The distance traveled was about 6-7 meters. The problem was that the beginning and end were too shaky. We talked this over with my DOP and the conclusion was that either the Flighthead was not able to accommodate the large 16.5-100mm (i doubt it) master zoom and/or the operator was not 'sensitive' enough to handle the shot (which is more likely since technocranes don't get rented quite often, so the crews don't have enough manhours). The speed was set to '6' at first. At that speed the shake was too much to stabilize and strangely on the z-axis too, I don't know how they did it. Then we gradually came down to 3! and even at that speed there was significant vibration during start and stop. The grips kept saying the lens was too heavy and that everybody stabilizes but I have my reservations. I don't think post stabilization is or should be the 'natural side-effect' of a technocrane shot. I mean I should be able to use it like a smooth dolly right? Supertechnocrane 30' - Flighthead- ArriAlexa - 16.5-100mm Master zoom. --
  3. the following is an approximation: 1 lux= 0,0929 fc 1watt= 58 cd (candels) 1 fc =(app.) 10 lux for instance 1K @ 10 meters @ ISO 500 gives little over 50 lux = T 4.2 / T 4 (@ 24fps / 170 Shutter ANgle) Ofcourse the formulae don't guarantee good cinematography ;)
  4. Hi Phil, 9-10 days (including prep) starting on the first week of July. THe dates may change although not too drastically. Ali
  5. Greetings to all members: I?m looking for an experienced lighting cameraman (preferably from Europe) for a video short film which I will be directing in Istanbul. It?s a true low budget short, meaning it?s not no-budget like most of its kind. Unfortunately I can only cover travel and accomodation expenses. - Prepping will begin mid June and principal photography early July. - Experience with mini35 required. If the dates suit you, have never been to Istanbul, are enthusiastic about making new colleagues please e-mail me (baltao42@yahoo.com) regarding your experience and I?ll answer any questions you may have concerning the story, my experience and/or logistics. PS: (Please respond only if you?re seriously considering.) Thank You Ali
  6. Once you rule out a format as having an inherent aesthetic value, you tend to categorically compare the technical aspects of two different forms of a technology. This results inevidably in one format being superior and the other inferior; if it didn't there wouldn't be any point in comparing them in the first place. This comparison anchors the generic ideas around the argument. Film has more resolution, more depth of field, more color depth, highlights, shadows etc. so it is definetely - in a modernist sense -"better". What this "better" is, is hardly ever argued. One thing is utterly frustrating. Having to shoot HD beacuese you don't have the budget for film. I don't get this. It's not going to be the same film. Trying to persuade your producers is painful, but it's worth the battle. Is shooting HD as a cheaper replacement of film an artistic compromise? You have to draw the line somewhere and as an artist one shoud be very aware of where the line is. Since HD has that "unorthodox look" any HD feature that pretends to be a 35mm feature, in my opinion, makes a vital mistake. HD is a very self conscious medium and this has a very definite affect on the narrative and the narration. It's like saying Collateral would be a "better" film if the HD portions of it were shot on film. Who's gonna notice!
  7. BTW whats the EI of an IP and/or IN stock? I'm guessing it should be really slow, and this must make it a useless stock for cam negative. Unless you're orbiting the sun and trying to film the sun spots. ;)
  8. During a DV short I shot for a fellow director, I had to request the monitor to be removed from the set because I was sweating behind a PD150 while lining up the shot and lighting and watching for flags and stands in the frame on an almost thumbnail picture, the crew on the other hand got carried away and began discussing my lighting, I was patient because they were all friends and didn't mean to tell me how to do my job. It just happens so that when 5 or 6 people sit infront of a monitor they naturally begin to talk about what's on it. A film set isn't a democratic environment and nor should it be, so I removed the monitor and had the director look through the camera. Everything moved smoothly from then on. This also helped the isolation problem of the director. Instead of yelling from behind the monitor, she interacted closely with the actors and I. The size of the monitor is proportional to the amount of people around and of comment about the picture. A 20" monitor can be great for checking unwanted elements in frame etc. but I think If I ever shoot HD I'll have a smaller one. Besides, irrational though it may be, a big monitor seems unnatural and looks out of place. It's as if someone brought in a TV and turned on the news or something. A question comes to mind. How would it change the way one makes a film if ones reference picture were the size of a theatrical screen? It would obviously slow you down but on the other hand one might decide against an ECU of a character or perhaps having this kind of a sense of a scale "during" the making would impose a very unique style. It would be a fun experiment at the least.
  9. And what happens when the director describes the shot? Does he talk to the operator directly or say it through you? And is there a quota of shots which you can steal from the operator? I'd feel strange to make an explanation to operate a particular shot... What if the director wants to operate a shot? I think the question is should there be a rational reason for anybody other than the operator to operate? I'm glad we don't have this restriction in Europe! What's the situation in UK, anyone?
  10. It's discrimination! Very self conflicting aswell. On one hand say you're against censorship, on the other suggest that only a certain group of people should do it. Films in general do not require intellect to be viewed especially not when it is possible to be offended by them. I am not pro-censorship, but let's face it. It is inevidable. Representation is key here. A society is't made up of only professors and engineers and artists.
  11. Very well suggestions. You can always have curtains partially covering the windows since you dont have a backing and blowing out a big and completely naked window can be disorienting (Unless it's The Shining) and most importantly it may look artificial. Even when it's white hot, when you overexpose trace paper on a window it looks like what it actually is, you see the material blown out . In reality it is the sky further back that is hot, light behaves differently at such distance. Wether the window will be an important part of your composition and in focus are important factors. You may depend on the fact that you'll leave the window out of focus anyway so you light accordingly but then the blocking may change so you should be prepared. Hope this helps.
  12. I think the explanation is that he and his crew likes to push the envelope. They are pushing the medium, exploring the boundries. I think he would have even convinced the studio to shoot the whole thing with a CannonXL1s if he could (!). I'm sure they did not save millions of dollars by not shooting on film, or by not renting Panavision cameras etc. Just think of the harddisk space they needed and the modifications they needed to do. I am not a "true" fan of the saga. But I admire his vision and soul of innovation. BTW did anyone see the film in digital projection?
  13. Hello all, I'm beginning principal photography of a short video production. It's b&w and has a silent era aesthetic. I have watched films of the period and did some research on B&W cinematography. However these are all concerning film. I will shoot in color at regular speed and speed it up around %25 in post and convert the image. I did some tests with makeup and wardrobe and realized that the poor contrast range of PD150 (most probably any other dv cam) gets poorer when the image is converted to bw. Relatively higher contrast of the color image decreases since I eliminate color contrast. My solution; wardrobe consists of contrasty costumes, I will backlight the actors so as to separate them from the bg which also suits the esthetics and conventions of the era. I will have hot spots in the frame where ever I can to increase the perceived contrast. I don't have much freedom regarding art direction; we cant dress the locations as we like so we are limited with their original tonal range. I took digital bw stills of the locations and all I get is a muddy gray, low contrast look. I can improve the contrast with lighting but what else can I do? Another issue; how can I calibrate the videoassist for bw, shall I try to match it with pd150's viewfinder and judge the image from there. Waveform monitor is naturally out of question. Would a combination of calibrated monitor and a viewing glass for bw work? I'm looking forward to hearing your ideas. Thank you all in advance. Ali
  14. That's truely pathetic. I have encountered strong egos of the sort but at least they had some talent and knew something about cinematography. I think you did the right thing after all. I admire your patience. I doubt that this multi-purpose filmmaker (if you can call him one) will make it. Good luck on your next job!
  15. I guess you can find 'em in almost any lingerie store. Enter on your own risk!
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