James Martin

Hi Everyone, In your experience how long should film last (I'm thinking 16mm colour neg mainly) if it is stored correctly (ie. fridge)? I get a fairly good discount on film as a student anyway, but this won't last forever! Any ideas, thoughts, experiences? I guess there is no one answer (ie. 50D and 500T different), but I am wondering if the time scale is months, or years etc... ? Thanks, James.

I am shooting 2000ft, I have gotten a decent offer of 0.21pence (30 cents or so) per foot for process and best-light to Digibeta. I would have thought shipping exposed negative via a courier to a lab I don't know isn't the best idea in the world? I know shipping film is done all the time, but I'm just a student here, is it really that much cheaper in the US?

The internet is a wonderful resource. If you go into your local waterstones (book shop), they will probably have a section on photography books (probably not on cinematography). I can recommend to you "Perfect Exposure" by Frances Schultz and Roger Hicks. Perhaps pick up a few issues of American Cinematographer (eBay or the AC website) - they give you a good idea of what happens on hollywood sets, a bit more in-depth than DVD extras.

I would like to post it in HD, but I doubt that I could afford it. I suppose the great thing with film is that if what I shoot turns out wonderful and someone really likes it, then I can afford to get it scanned and re-do it in HD without having to reshoot!

Thanks for the replies guys. Ian: Which lab do you use? Phil: There is a post-house above my school which has a full-on AVID Media Composer Adrenaline setup and Final Cut aswell. The last test I performed on HDCAM, I ingested uncompressed HD into Final Cut then imported into AVID, worked like a charm. I doubt SD will be much trouble. The deck is connected however they have it, via HD-SDI (SD-SDI for Digi I guess...), straight to a Kona Capture card (via machine room jiggery pokery).

Forgot to ask, what sort of prices am I looking at (or should I be looking at) for telecine/processing? I remember a while back being told about 12p/ft for process and 20p/ft for telecine... If that is right this is going to make film very expensive - I can rent out a full-on HDCAM kit for the cost of three/four rolls of film at that price! And it's supposed to be the cheaper alternative? :-S Am I missing something here? (I'm still gonna do it, by the way, just don't wanna be in any more debt than necessary)

The lab is up-next. Not wanting to bad-mouth my school - after all they do make a point of being digital only - it is only really me there who is interested in doing it "the traditional way". I'm attempting to fashion myself as a reasonably knowledgable and professional cinematographer and I have found that most modern pro kit is geared up "like the old film stuff worked" so I feel that by learning how "the old stuff" works, I can understand the logic behind the new stuff. I can also say "been there, done that" and buy the T-shirt. I try and make a point of NOT being a fanboy of Film/Digital, Sony/RED etc etc... and also avoid talking about anything I haven't personally used - when possible. It's increasingly hard these days. Anyone advise me if it's worth getting the telecine done to Digibeta instead of DV? I am assuming that it is, with the enhanced bandwidth of Digibeta over DV. It won't cost me extra to ingest either as I have free access (or rather, access for free) to a digibeta deck. If anyone else has any golden nuggets of advice, I'm always all ears. Good to have a fairly balanced community on here.

The best one for mother's wisdom, of course, is the timeless "Where did I lose it?" I regret that only now I have the ability (and the courage) to verbalise the fact that if I knew where I "lost" it, it would by definition not be lost.

I can second the importance of shooting 35mm stills film. I should point out ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING. Most regular photo labs will feed the film to a digital minilab that will correct your images. ie. You could be exposing way off the mark and you wouldn't know about it. Your best bet is to find a really good photo specialist and ask them for contact prints - you will know very quickly if you're getting the right idea. Also take a notebook and pen (sound silly, but it isn't) and mark down how you measured each shot.

As the film gets a near-reference quality rating from almost every site (for video), I recommend you try again. Do not ever judge a video based on something set up on a home entertainment store display. Yes, it probably had every image "enhancement" known to man turned on, like so many TV sets do these days. They do absolutely nothing good to the image, I can't think who would believe they do (must be a lot of people). I once saw a UK chain with a row of incredibly expensive HD plasma screens hooked up with composite video! Only one manufacturer actually had a proper HD setup going... bit of a bias methinks.

I was under the impression that Media Composer had gone multi-thread, but I could be wrong. There has to be a reason many avid certified systems are dual processor (effective 8 core). What is possibly of interest to you though is that several other programs (such as Procoder/Carbon Coder) ARE optimised for multiple cores. This may/may not affect your decision. i7 is quite a step up though from a simple Core 2 Duo, it's more a gaming platform than anything.

Yes, I have. It was one of the first HD DVDs I bought. I understand the Blu-Ray encode is much the same (if not identical). The film is over-satured, over-contrasty and very bright. It was directed by Michael Bay, I expect no less. If your Blu-Ray is "worse" than your DVD it is only because the Blu-Ray is closer to MB's vision, which you probably don't like. I haven't seen the DVD version, only the film in cinemas and on HD DVD. They were very very similar.

Being a UK student, "work experience" is something we all have to do, however it likely only counts if your academic institution has arranged it. As has been pointed out, employment laws are sadly very poorly enforced here, not helped at all right now by the pissant economy.

Hi Everyone, I have recently acquired a huge amount of short-ends of varying vintages and types from an old clapper-loader. I have taken the 16mm for myself, but am still stuck with two and a half apple-boxes full of 35mm film. I don't really have any need for it, and my misses would like her bedroom floor back. I'm asking 100 pounds for the lot, plus postage or collection for free (from TW8 Brentford). That's about 2 quid a roll. I have no doubt that some of the film has gone bad, but I'm equally sure some of it is good. The film was stored in a cool environment (a shed) before I got it and is all properly sealed. Most of it (75%) is in cans, the rest is in light-tight bags. Pictures available upon request. Regards, JM.

I have spoken to Panavision, who seem keen to help. They've offered me a S16 student package for a very reasonable price. My school has to set up an account with them but I am sure I can persuade them... Anyone have any experience talking with Take2? I sent them a couple of emails but thus far have had nowt back, but it could be because they are snowed out like many of us here in London.

I am just a humble film student, but the video feed from a 65mm camera probably also looks "crap". Even I know with the RED that the 720p is a preview only (and a poor one at that). If you really want to see what you're getting, an ARRI D-21 or Panavision Genesis with a proper LUT on set it probably closer to what you want... ... anybody correct me on this?

Thanks for the replies, guys. The main reason I want to try out a "proper" camera is because I have gotten some good deals on 400' rolls - so good I couldn't say no. My K3, obviously, only takes 100' stuff. My school can provide me with insurance etc etc etc... I had contacted ARRI a while ago but even then it was booked up for the next few hundred years. Will keep trying though, thanks guys.

ARRI do a very brief "work experience" style thing - it's quite short. As regards to Panavision, I had been told by someone who is close to them that it was unpaid. I'm glad to hear that is not the case though. wow phil, you sure are negative. hope not everybody in the uk is like you, otherwise it's going to be a very very dark future... and i am sure not everybody is like you smile.gif ps: did you ever think about why there is only "amateur crap shooting" and james bond and nothing inbetween with your mindset? Most of us are quite nice. Really. There is also a lot between amateur crap and James Bond here. I should know, I see it being made every day.

Yes, David, they call it an Education - hence they "pay" your education fees in return for not paying you a wage. The sheer number of people who want those places makes it somewhat pointless to moan about it though.

Economies of scale, moore's law etc etc... But if you're expecting the camera to compete with a Panavision Genesis... it won't happen. Also, read it again - 520,000 x 3 pixels? 1920x1080 requires 2 million pixels (roughly) of each colour - that's 6,000,000 altogether. That camera has only 1.5 million - even if they were RGB photosites (which they aren't - no such thing) - so it has some SERIOUS pixel-shifting and up-rezzing...

Hi everyone, I'm a student cinematographer studying in Ealing, at a digital only school. I don't mind the fact they're digital only, but I want to shoot something for myself on film so that I can at least say with confidence that I can do it, should anyone ask me. A friend of mine is looking to shoot something on 16mm and all I have is an old K3, which only accepts 100ft Daylight loads. I have found a few places that will give me good deals on film, but I want to shoot Super16 and in 400ft reels. I need to get a basic Super16 kit, but thus far the only rental houses I have spoken to either want lots of money or (if they have a free one) don't have it available for a long time. Is there anyone on here who is local that would be willing to help me for one day at some point in the future (probably a saturday or sunday) just so I can get to know A Super16 camera? You would be thanked in food and beverages! James.

That's interesting, Phil. Apparently neither ARRI nor Panavision pay for their "internships". It's very tough getting started here, I know many people who have worked/work for nothing to get started. Any advice?

Being a film student here, I have done a lot of work on stuff for "free". However, I believe there is a fine line between "students getting together and helping each other out" and "producer wanting to take advantage". I'm not going to make any assumptions here whatsoever, as I don't know anything about the project, however I do know that if somebody is in your EMPLOY (and if you want them to be insured, then they must be), there is a minimum wage in the UK which must be paid. I don't think there is a law against people doing "favours" but it probably is to do with insurance etc etc... Each case is different. I can work for free AND be insured IF it's "educational". It does happen that people do work for which they SHOULD be paid, but they don't. The film industry is no different at all in that, I believe there are currently a huge number of RED owner/operators out there currently doing stuff for free just to build a showreel on their new camera (the idea there being they want to prove to people who are going to pay that it "works".) In this case though, I don't know. I don't mind helping out on the shoot IF there's something in it for me. However, I know how much 35mm costs and I would hate the idea of having a budget totally blown on film and not good actors... My 0.015 pence.

That's amazing. Could I ask how you shoot 35mm for so little? I know Fuji offer discounts on film itself to student productions, as do the telecine houses, but it still works out really expensive here... Currently I am struggling to bring a friend's short in at under $4,000 for HD - weeklong rental, 15 - 20 minute finished product, likely 20:1 shooting ratio.

Could I ask why you're combining the words "35mm" and "no budget" ?