Tom Jensen

I think you meant it's like a MySpace for grown ups. I love Facebook. I have already made friends with people that I have not seen in 35-40 years. It's fun to be in touch when you want.

I wasn't responding to David's post. I agree with David. Especially when he said, "Common practice is to still follow focus (change focus) with the movement of the subject (if that's what you decide to focus on), even though with the deeper depth of field of the wider-angle wide shot, it may be less critical so you don't have to be as precise unless the subjects gets close to the lens." I was responding to you because you said "the only exception" and "always." Now I know some DPs have easily bruised egos and hate being wrong or disagreed with but I will say I have pulled way more focus than you and I will venture to guess that you have little or no focus pulling ability. There's nothing wrong with that and you probably shoot pretty pictures but you aren't the only person with an opinion and/or experience. Pulling focus is an art as much as it is a science. I did it for years. I was the lens tech for 3 years at a local rental house and have rebuilt hundreds of lenses of all brands. I have collimated, shimmed and projected thousands of lenses. So I'm not just talking out of my rear. I'm giving my opinion and if you don't like it, too bad. Being a good focus puller also means that you know what you can and cannot get away with. I'm not really sure that your statement that every DP you know would fire a guy if he were focused at 4' when the subject is at 6' on a wide angle lens. If it's sharp in dailies, that's all that matters. Not everybody here is a student and I don't appreciate your condescending, rude, disrespectful, arrogant attitude. It might work with your crew but it won't work with me. You've got the wrong guy. I've seen your posts and you do it with others. I can see you have a very high opinion of yourself but it seems a little over inflated. If you have a problem with my posts, ignore me or take it up with the moderators.

That's up to you. What do you want? What are you worth? Usually, people have a day rate and producers have a budget. Whenever someone tried to negotiate rate, I always asked what they had budgeted? The funny thing about a budget is that a producer knows how much they have budgeted for every position on a crew so when they negotiate they know that for every dollar they save is a dollar that can go somewhere else and in the end, every dollar they save is a dollar that goes in their pocket. This might be a little different since the band might not have a lot of money. If you are shooting a live show, you will need more than one camera. That being said, your time is worth something. Ask her how much she has and ask yourself if it's worth it to you. At this stage it's all about gaining experience and building your reel.

Some of it was a little dark but that's ok. You had some nice shots. The operating was very fluid. I know what you shot on but I cheated so I won't give it away.

Thinking about it even more, if the talent was at 6' and the focus was at 4' and the lens were a wide angle lens at a decent stop, I don't see the problem. I don't have a depth of field calculator but say the range was 3.75' to 15' I think I would be OK with it.

When someone says words like "always" or "never" my ears prick up. Like I said it would depend on the shot. If the talent were 6 feet away and the lens were set at 4, I think I would be upset too. But, sometimes the action takes place much further away and there is often more than one point of interest in the shot. Sometimes we shoot action with something other an actor. Have you ever done any helicopter work, crash stunts or crane work? In helicopter work, it is physically impossible to run a tape measure, especially when you are shooting ship to ship or you have 5 helicopters in the frame. Anytime you have a remote focus, you risk have a gear slip or the unit going down. When you have no easy access to the unit, you sometimes want to keep focus changes to a minimum so you have no accidents. I realize now the systems are a little better but accidents happen. Am I crazy? Maybe not for the reasons you might think. Truth is you have no idea how I've run a camera department since we've never worked together or never met as far as I know. You may see no logical reason to set the focus but then you have to look beyond your nose. Feel free to ask any DP that I have worked with about my focusing ability. David spells his name Mullen, by the way.

I liked the "Itchy and Scratchy" version on the Simpsons.

When you mention streets, stunts, driver and actor in the same paragraph, the first thing that comes to mind is insurance and permits. When it comes to certain jobs, people will work for free to get the experience but when it comes to jobs where people don't care, you have to pay money. Have you ever heard the saying, "If you give a dance, you have to pay the band?"

I know this isn't much help but there was a guy who was known as the 16bl guy and he stockpiled parts. I just can't remember his name. I'll see if I can track him down.

Sharp focus is sharp focus. If it's sharp, it is spot on. It would depend on the shot but there are a lot of time where you lock off a camera and leave it. It doesn't make any sense to pull focus on every shot when there is often no need and it could work to your detriment.

So now using a copyrighted song on your demo reel is a patriotic and/or moral dilemma? It's neither. Next thing you know we'll have to plug our ears when someone is singing a copyrighted song. People will no longer be able to sing copyrighted music at auditions. Still only one person has even responded to the question of using the picture without written consent of the owners of the photographed material.

Probably because of the answer. It's like telling a building inspector that you just put in a water heater and then asking him if you should have gotten a permit.

Time to move up.

I mentioned it on the previous page. I don't think anyone wants to touch that one. :o

Here is another http://www.wired.com/listening_post/2007/07/ascap-cracks-do/ It was obviously a bad example but a reel is entirely different. What are the chance of an ASCAP exec seeing your reel? And then do anything about it? Hey use the music at your own risk.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070507/131704.shtml That's crazy. I wonder if someone from ACAP was vacationing in Vail. I can imagine that all bars don't pay this but it seems ridiculous. Still the band is making money. You aren't making money off the song on your reel. It would be hard to prove how much the music contributed to you getting a job. You got the job because of your work not the bands. I stand corrected.

Michael Bay goes through DP's like I go through underwear. The man is insane. You are thinking of Mitch Amundson who shot Transformers. John Schwartzman did a number of films with him, I know Amir Mokri worked with him. He came out of music videos. Very talented but a little difficult.

The music enhances your reel but the camera work is really what you are selling. I don't think using music to enhance your reel is theft. I don't think ASCAP really cares. They have bigger fish to fry. DP's are not the ones that they are after. Let's look at cover bands. Do you think there are bands getting sued playing in bars covering tunes? If they are I have never heard of them. Do any of you have a DVR? Don't you have to have the express written consent of major league baseball to record a game. Now if you were using major league baseball clips in your "How to play Baseball" video that you sell on e-bay I could see where you might have trouble. Nobody here is selling the reel itself. You aren't profiting from the reel. You are showing people what you are capable of doing and it isn't playing music. Let me ask this. How many of you actually have written consent of the video portion of your reel that you are using in your demo reel. Are you paying the actors royalties? Are you paying the bands in your videos royalties? Are you blacking out the products in the commercials on your reel or do you have the permission from the company that actually owns it? I see a lot of reels with name actors in them. Is that right? It's a non issue in my opinion. If you talk from somebody from ASCAP they will probably say "No, you can't use it." But he will probably tell you that you aren't the ones they are after. As far as producers looking down on you for it, I don't think they care either. I sat with a director and two producers one day looking at reels for a music video and 100% of the music was copyrighted and the only comments about the music were things like, "Why did that guy use this song?"

Hahaha, I knew this was coming, I just didn't think it would be so soon. You aren't profiting from your demo reel. An indie film or wedding video is not a demo reel. You are making money on those. I have never met anybody who has ever been sued for using a piece of music on a demo reel. If someone finds out that you have used your song on a demo reel and are not happy, they will more than likely ask you not to. Look at all the videos on youtube.

I remember this thread from 5 years ago on CML. A lot of mixed comments on this but I say use whatever you want. Who cares? They won't comer after you.

It's agreat commercial. There is a shot of an eye with a reflection in that is just impeccable. Big budget commercials are great. Every shot is complete without a lot of compromise. There are a few cool shot inside the pizza oven and the shots of the guy throwing dough are fun to watch. There was a magazine that followed commercials but I forget what it was.

Shoot all your big scenes first. If I know background, they have a tendency to lose interest and disappear as the day goes on.

BL4 as you know is a synch sound camera so it isn't designed for high speed. I'd say about 40fps max. Maybe even less. If you have to go high speed get and Arri 3 or a 435.

That was great. It was very well done. I truly enjoyed it. I didn't care for the title cards. I would have liked to have seen you cut to someone delivering the lines. Who or what, I cannot say, that would be your artistic decision. But, that would have increased the budget. The sound was great.

Subtitle it.