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Claudio Miranda ASC

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Everything posted by Claudio Miranda ASC

  1. I am not aware of an anti-ringing utility used. The white pixels flashing around highlights is probably due to sharpening in the noise reduction process (DTS) and definitely not Viper (I just checked original footage). Could be the H.264 conversion, but I have not seen it there before. I have seen the same happen with another noise reduction software where the sharpening setting was too strong. The RED and/or Green fringing occurs most prominently on a bright and dark hard transition in the Viper and it is more pronounced towards the edge of frame. Both of these issues will be fixed on the release of the movie. The red and green shift problem is in every Viper. Some more than others. I picked 2 out of 5 cameras for the movie where this issue is minimal. Some focal lengths show it worst than others. Also the green channel is the first to clip, which is one of the reasons I use a slight magenta filter. When the green channel fails the others keep on going and can produce artifacts in highlights. This artifact you can see more with a bright sky in the background (especially with the sun). We are still working on the movie and final color correction will not happen for awhile. Also for some reason Apple converted the 1080 and 480 at 29.97. The 720 version is correct. Apple should have these fixed shortly.
  2. I am glad you liked the trailer. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to proofread the article before it went out. There are a few errors. It is always best when the writer sends myself a copy before the article goes out. Since this article I make sure I get a chance to proofread. Wayne and myself corrected a few statements below but not all.
  3. you may have a 10K aimed at the subject and you realize the look is boring and average. Sometimes taking that light and panning it off somewhere else... the light may bounce or skip off of something else and produce something more beautiful. Wolski taught me to pan lights where they are not supposed to be panned. Sorry Claudio i can't understand what do you mean with that..., it is an expression "pan lights" or did you mean literally panning lights... thanks Xavier Plaza
  4. I did work with some great DP's who were really supportive. They still support me to this day. Savides told me not to be afraid to tear down your original plan if another better one presents itself. What is the best way to tell the story? Wolski taught me to pan lights where they are not supposed to be panned. Sometimes you may find something better than the obvious. These are just a few of many I have learned from these two. In the past, I have worked hard for these two and their directors also saw the work I put in and one of them gave me my big break. After shooting for only 6 months, Fincher asked me to gaff Panic Room with another DP. I said that I was shooting only and shortly afterward he gave me a 6 week Nike spot to shoot. That was an amazing ticket to have. When I 1st started shooting my lighting was a mix of everyone else I worked with. After time I made it my own. The upgrade mentioned earlier was a joke. I am better suited as a DP than a director.
  5. Some people hate the way I started. I was an stage manager then electrician, then best boy, then gaffer and DOP. Yesterday I got a David Fincher "Longevity Award". David knew me when I was a stage manager in 1985. Once a year, I am a speaker at USC and seems that everyone wants to be an "instant DP" or "instant director". I chose a long road or the long road chose me.. mainly because I was not sure I wanted to be a DP. While I was gaffing, my girlfriend at the time (who was a producer) asked me would I mind shooting a job... sure what the @#%. I think she was trying to upgrade her boyfriend in the end. So as a kid I never made my own movie. I never shot the ants on the ground. I was just a kid. I was happy to be a stage manager. I was happy to be an electrician.......... Now I am a happy DP. Just hope the new girlfriend does not want to upgrade me. I do not want to direct.
  6. This is correct. I can not show any footage from my current project. What I can show you is what is already on my site. Although the file has been coverted from dpx to jpeg, you can see the color correction applied. http://www.claudiomiranda.com/heinekenttl.html
  7. Nice job. I love the limited color in some of your exteriors.
  8. It's always brave to put out your work for others to critique. There are some scenes that look good. I liked the tunnel. I agree with David that the bar is overlit, but that is usually my opinion on most music videos that do the bar scene. I am shooting a movie in HD and one of the benifits is that you can see what you get instantly. The director on the show I am working on commented yesterday that what he loved about HD is that he is basically looking at the answer print. Now you can push the image to the toe and shoulder having instant feedback where they lie. This was shot in 2 days with a very low budget.. The bar scene is 1/4 into the movie: http://www.claudiomiranda.com/alpine264.html Also in presenting your movie make sure you allow it to download and view at the same time. On your video, you have to finish downloading before you can view it. That is why David was having trouble viewing.
  9. This version has untouched digital files. This explains everything. Going through the car I use a tripod and some handheld. http://www.claudiomiranda.com/caddy.html 60 sec version has been compressed to 30 sec and the sound track has changed from the original Here is the final: http://www.claudiomiranda.com/cadillac.html Shot on Location over 5 days. Digitally removed rig and added some clouds. Also stabilized. Some of the clouds are real. Location is real. Cars are real. After every shot the rig and car moved 9'. Buy the time we were finished we laid over a mile of track. Probably the longest motion control shot I know of. 60 sec version has been compressed to 30 sec and the sound track has changed from the original
  10. Codex was fine. We wanted to view 4:2:2 off of our 4:4:4 signal and that was not posible at the time. Codex was working on an upgrade but was not available at the time of our shoot. And you are right, we did need more time. Lenses on the Chilside were Zeiss Digi Primes. HD lenses on the Sony 900. As far as the S2 and hard drives. On the whole shoot of Zodiac not one frame lost. So maybe the system is insane, but I worked on that show. I am not a computer guy, so maybe we were lucky.
  11. On Zodiac, it was not normal. We are running new video cards that open offer more and (unfortunately) crash more. Feeling a little beta. I have shot a lot with this system and this is not normal. Phil I think you are a DIT. I am curious what have you shot with and what are your experiences? What shows have you had these bad experiences? Also not all hard drives recorders are the same. The data captured is the same, but how I view playback is another story and this is critical for me. Also there are many other differences and if you are a DIT I am sure you know this. We tested Codex, S2 and were originally on the Directors friend. We found that the S2 works best for our purpose. Let me know the basis of your opinions and experiences. Please look at this version. The other is old http://www.claudiomiranda.com/angel264.html
  12. You are very correct Mr Mullen. Fincher's shoot is not cheap and no offense is taken. He is also very budget aware and will maximize the funds to the best of its ability. The producers of Zodiac and David believe that the Viper has saved them a considerable amount of money. I believe they said that it was 3-5 days total and if each day is $300K... well you see thier point. This time is reloading, lab problems, focus issues missed by operators. Unfortunately, we have made some updates to S2 and we are paying for it with a considerable amount of crashes. These will be rectified, but the saving on Benjamin will not be as apparent.. currently. David likes the medium and it is his choice to shoot on Viper and I do see its advantages. On my collaboration with David: David has been open to suggestions whether it is camera angles or lighting choices. He does not want a "yes" man, he wants someone to offer something to the table. There is this job on my site that is called The Angel on Chilside Road. This was for a Sony Dreams project and you had to use the Sony 900. David saw this and loved it. He used it as an example. Originally, I never knew he knew about my site. He brought me in for a meeting and that is when I started shooting Viper for David on commercials. Today, I wanted to use Chilside as a reference for a lighting set up and David agreed. I have put together two books for this project. One is location angles and the other is stills reference. Also everyday after work I time the shooting images for references off of the Viper. David looks at the timed stills daily. When this is over I will post on my site what is allowed and will be open to go into more details. David Mullen, I do want to commend you on all your helpful posts in this forum. I have read some of your posts and have noted them to be very helpful to the individuals needing assistance.
  13. Blue screens have only made up about 5% of the movie. Set extentions another 15%. Fall off on lenses is more apparent on the 35mm lenses and not the 2/3 chip. I do not worry as much about aperature for the Viper on Digi Primes. That is not the big deal. The big deal is something that i can not discuss currently. On how many people. Without counting the crew list or call sheets approx 100 on light and 200 on heavy days on set only. Does not include post, editing and accountants. Is this important?
  14. Film was never an option because of the huge post on this job. Plus David loves the Viper. Although we are shooting some film for the Caribean portion and a battle sequence that we want to shoot at 96fps, but that will only make up 5% of the movie.
  15. Unfortunately all my photo's are owned by Paramount and I can not post. Even the tests I have shot have to be kept under lock and key. On Venom: We are not using Venom. David has not been a big fan of steady cam or handheld so it has not been an issue. On shooting: We are already on out 6th week of shooting. On D20 recording to S2: I would love to know for certain, but I can check on my end. As far as I know there has not been an S2 recording a D20.
  16. I did love the Lenses. The 2.8 on some of the lenses was the deal breaker. And yes I did test those. On Benjamin at night my lenses 95% of the time is at a 1.9 or if needed a 1.6 and never a 2.8
  17. Also The Ultra Primes and Master Primes also covered 31mm. We wanted to use Master Primes, but we could not get enough lenses. If we went with Dalsa we would of probably gone with S4 cookes.
  18. I am not talking about covering Super 35. I am talking about covering the 31mm diagonal which is 15% larger than Super 35. Dalsa's chip is approx 30% larger than Super 35. All the S4's I have tested covered the 31mm diagonal for the exception of 14 and 18 which would be too wide for our show. Seeing now a 14 is not a 10. Master Prime and Ultra claim 31mm coverage. I do not need to go to a WEB site, I have personally mapped these lenses for fall off and sharpness at various low end stops. On the Zooms I have tested 25-250HR, All 3 Optimo's and the new short S4 short 15-40 and all did not cover 31mm. On Primes I tested, S4, Ultra Primes, Leicas and Master Primes. All the lenses I have tested have fall off toward the edges. Even in the R35 range. You would be amazed the amount of fall off. I was surprised. To better understand I will post a lenses chart I shot with a 25mm Master Prime at a 1.3 on the Dalsa. http://www.claudiomiranda.com/dalsa.html All the tests I have done were very extensive. I put both cameras operating in a humidity chamber a 95% at 130 for 6 hrs. Both came out dripping and both past. I have done vibrations test. I have done RF interference. Testing difference gyro heads to make sure there was no interference. Plus the normal exposure, filter etc tests. On the Master Zoom. It was not available for testing so I can not vouch for it. I have shot the Genesis. It does record to tape and does have some compression (which David hates). David basically hates tape (might as well be 8 track to him). I was talking to David about using the adapter to get the 4:4:4 dual link and run it straight to the S2. But he was not interested. On the D20: I have not shot with it. I would like to. There was not enough D20's for our show so we did not bother. When I am finished I will do some testing on the D20. I am not certain, but maybe someone in this group can answer, I think the D20 at Clairmount goes to a SWR5000 tape machine (compressed) and not uncompress hard drive. I am not sure if anyone is capturing the full 4:4:4 raw data uncompressed.
  19. On the S2: I like the S2. I like the ability to pull DPX files an grade them later. We also tested the Codex because the S2 can not handle the data the Dalsa puts out. A single Codex can record 2 Vipers or 1 Dalsa. S2 can only record 1 Viper. Both are good machines. Once it went back to Viper, we went back to S2 On Dalsa: We wanted to light to a 1.6 minimum. The only lenses that cover the Dalsa's large format are Lieka's. Some of these lenses are a 1.4 and others a 2.8 and the set, currently, is very limiting. The Dalsa's sensor is way larger than Super 35 and even 31mm super 35 diagonal which Ultra Primes, S4 Cookes and Master Primes are designed to cover. It is almost Vistavision. We looked into using Master Primes at a 1.3 and maybe even S4 Cookes but they only covered 80% of the field. Also this ment no zooms. All the zooms I tested barely covered Super 35 and we needed 31mm. Then we were looking at only using 3.3K of the 4K chip. We did shoot some test and the images were beautiful, but there was another problem. There was this flare issue. When I discovered this flare they realized that this came from a UV filter that was added to the chip. They had solved the problem in Canada and were going to send 6 new camera's with the upgrade, but I needed to run my tests all over with the new batch. We were 2 weeks from shooting. I ran out of time. I went with what I knew. The funny thing is that Dalsa makes the Viper chip.
  20. Thanks Adam. It has been awhile since I have visited this site. I finally have a 2 day weekend. And yes, I was thrilled to get the call. The script is really good. It is different from the short story. This is a very different movie than Fincher?s past movies. One is that it is a period movie that takes place from 1917 to present. The story has a much softer tone than his usual. I told David that I was surprised that he was doing a kind of love story, he replied that ?it really is about death?. OK? we are making a Fincher movie. For this movie, David had me look into the Dalsa as well as the Viper. We loved the depth of field of the Dalsa and the 4k images, but we needed more time to implement the Dalsa into our workflow. So we are again back on the Viper. I shot the reshoots for Zodiac and this is basically the same method. In the past I have never used magenta filters to suppress the green. Harris did not like the looking at the green hue and started using Magenta?s filters. I have found some advantages using them. One is that when shooting outdoors the green channel is the 1st to clip and by suppressing the green channel, I have more shoulder room. Shooting at night I use a 10-20 magenta (sometimes none) and for exteriors I use a 30 magenta. I also built a very simple LUT that pulls a little green and adds slight amount of contrast. Lighting I try to keep simple. Sometimes I have used a bare light bulb in shot to light the scene. Covered wagons are still a favorite. Lighting to low light levels. With the lenses at a 1.9 or a 1.6 you might be hard pressed to find and incident exposure over a 1.6 If I need more light I will use a 210-270 deg shutter. I still get dpx stills from the S2 and grade them later at night. I am going for a really natural look without the forced gradings we currently see a lot of. The look needs to serve to story. We are into our 26th day of shooting and still have 116 days left. All is going well.
  21. That is pretty much how they look. I muss the whole lamp and add black duvateen or black wrap to cover what I do not need, shape the light and/or kill the intensity.
  22. The lights in the background on the JC Chazes video are 5k beam projectors. Most of the other lights are sometimes called "Covered Wagons" . These lights are very cheap to make and are great to use. I stole the idea from Harris Savides when I gaffed "The Game" with him. We used these lights everywhere. Basically it is about 6' long with about 6 porcelin sockets on a strip surround in chicken wire with bleached muslin on the outside. The bulbs can be anything you want. On JC we mainly use ECT's and ECA's. I used them because they are right for the job and not because of budget issues. Some people think they are like Kino's, but I think they have a much better quality. I also used an old fashioned scoup light with a 1000w globe. The parimeter was lit with MR16 cyc strips on dimmers. We shot with E-Series anamorphic lenses. On Missy Elliot, there were 5k beam projectors in the background. Both of the videos used some smoke pumping in from the background. Shot with anamorphic C-Series lenes Beam projectors go all the way up to 20K in tungsten and 12K (maybe 18K) in HMI. I personally love the tungsten. All of the top light shining throught the water in the underwater tennis (Pocari) is made up of tungsten beam projectors. There is some information on my site. http//:www.claudiomiranda.com
  23. Maybe Heineken was a bad example. That was mainly to show how well the city lit itself at a 1.6. But I have Gaffed a lot of Movies that stayed on the open end of the scale. "Fight Club" at night was never at a 4, lucky to have a 2.8. God the balloon light we were using barely gave me a 2. We had great focus pullers thankfully. Of course, we had the occasional buzz, but it is the operators/1st AC that tell us if we got it or not. Last night scene we were shooting at a 2-2.8 on a 75mm shooting 35mm spherical and I know I have an awesome puller, so there is little fear on focus for me since I have been there and to a 1.4 before with him and he is tack sharp. Granted, I am not on a low budget movie and I am lucky to have complete support from my director and I have a really fantastic crew. I have asked my puller if he needs more light, he usually tells me "No, I got it" and he does. It was beautiful... foreground girl beautifully out of focus and background girl sharp. If a scene has tricky camera movement and the actor is bad on marks, I will help out the puller with more light. The day before we had an exterior day "walk and talk" on a 75mm with Steady cam. I gave the AC a 5.6 and nailed it (all takes). It is important to have good blocking, so you do not find yourself in a trap. For me, it is not budget that drives me to shoot at a 1.4 or 5.6, it is what I feel is right.
  24. I do not think you can just say let's shoot this movie at a 4 stop. It completely depends on the scene, mood and action on the camera. The other day I was shooting an exterior scene at a 5.6 and the background was too prominent and busy. I looked through the lenes and found the DOF that I liked and I added the appropriate ND. We are watching dailies projected and the choice to go to a 2.8 was great. We are shooting with Primo's and I have no issue with going to a 2 if it is appropriate to the scene. For Heineken "Beer Run" I shot most of the exteriors at 1.6. Granted it was on Viper and the DOF is greater, but it really allowed me to open up the natural light of the city.
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