Tom Jensen

I never made too many mistakes as an AC. I usually caught the mistakes so I was pretty lucky. That being said, I was not immune from them. I was doing a TV show in the 80's called Land of the Lost. We were shooting with an Elaine which is the 16mm Panavision camera. I was cleaning the movement and after I oiled it I placed it back into the camera. It went in with such a click, I forgot to tighten down the two retaining screws. An entire days shooting was ruined. This was like day 2 of a TV series. The next day, I was cleaning the camera again and I noticed the screws were loose. About that time a PA walks in and says that the producers want to see me in the editing bay where they screened the dailies. My heart sank. Long story short, I told them what I did and they kept me on for being honest. They said they appreciated my confession and they were sure I would never do it again. I got lucky. The footage was a very blurred double image. Once we were doing a plate shot with a Mitchell camera hanging over a ledge of a building about 12 stories up. When it came time to reload, there was no easy way to pull the camera back so I straddled the ledge of the building and reloaded. With a Mitchell camera you are supposed to pull the aperture plate to clean it, especially after you roll out. Looking back, I would have just left it in and cleaned it like that. Anyway, as I was putting it back in, it popped out of my hand and flew up into the air about a foot and a half. Knowing that my leg was tied off by a rope, I took a stupid leap of faith and I reached out as far as I could with my ass hanging off the wall and my left foot pushing against the outside of the building. Luckily, I snagged it after it flipped about three turns. When I said I usually catch my mistakes, I meant it literally. :D

That picture is classic. Now, I know the astronauts must have felt when Ham was the first man, I mean chimp in space.

Many died trying and gave up quickly on going hand held.

Never hold your pee on a set. Go when you have to go or it can kill you. Whatever you do, everything has to tell the story. Don't do something just for the sake of doing it. Listen to Paul.

I've been out of the film loop for a few years but I would suggest that if Prague is still a hot spot for shooting, go there and try to get on a film. You will never learn in film school what you can learn on a set. As a second AC or loader it is pretty easy to get on a film with a master DP in a foreign country because many times those positions will be filled by locals.

If you shot an entire film starting with a master or wide and then moved in tighter for the entire movie or TV show, it would be an awful experience. This is why a film or TV show is a combination or certain styles and shot sequences. But when you are on a budget and you have a page count to meet, not every sequence is going to be a cinematic masterpiece. As a DP and a director, you really have to choose about 3-6 scenes that you want to spend time and money on for high impact. If every scene was a masterpiece then you would soon be out of money and time. Unless of course, money and time is no object but most of the things that I've worked on all had these restraints. Especially in TV. You have to get coverage. The question that was asked was by a film student. These guys are just learning the basics. I believe you need to learn the basics before you set up a four minute Steadicam shot going from indoors to outdoors with frame rate changes and stop changes. If you don't understand lighting for a wide shot and going in to get coverage, you will never understand the hard stuff. Adrian, this wasn't directed at you. It was a general statement.

You are correct sir. The R stands for reflex and finder was a dead give away. The R wasn't added until the 60's and that is obviously not the 60's. Patrick, you're pretty smart for a chimp. You must be a trained chimp. :D

Sam, when you light for a master, you are lit for the master shot. You are not lit for a close up. As mentioned, in the master you are limited as to where you can place your lights. If you were just shooting a close-up, you wouldn't put your lights 30 feet away, 15 feet up in the air. This is the reason you don't light for a close up first and then shoot the master 2nd. Your lights for a close up are much closer to the actor. If you were to back out and shoot the master, you would see the lights in the shot. Most close up have some sort of fill light so the face is less contrasty. In master shot that are hard lit, you have little or no fill. Get out a movie and look at a night shot. Look closely at the face in the master. It will probably have a lit side and a side that is in complete darkness. I'm saying maybe. It depends on the movie but you shouldn't have trouble finding one similar to what I am talking about. Now watch when they go into the close up. The shadow side will probably not be in complete darkness. It may be. But more than likely it will not be as dark as the master.

Playback? He had a monitor. If you have the money or the time to look at playback, you have too much time and too much money. <_<

I shot a movie a called "Laughing Dead" in which the lead actor, Patrick Gleason was also the director. The biggest problem was that since he was in so many scenes, he spent a great deal of time in the make-up chair. It's hard to divide your time like that but it can be done. He did a good job doing both. But there were times that I really needed him on the set and he was busy rehearsing and getting ready for his scene.

Everyone here has hit the nail on the head all the way into the wood so I don't have much to add other than a boring, name dropping, anecdotal set story. I did a movie with Bob Yeoman years ago and before every set up the gaffer, Chris Morely would ask Bob, "OK, light for the master and clean up the close ups?" Bob would say, "Yep." And that is what they did. The end.

I believe that is a Mitchell BNCR.

I don't have time to rip it apart right now but I will come back later. :D In brief, the music put me to sleep. It was too long. Only use shots with high visual impact. You had some good stuff in there so why use anything less?

I just got an ad for two cinema books and the Turner Diaries. Just don't use the word "fuse." Woops. I think I hear a knock on the door.

If you are doing this for spec, you'd be better of shooting a commercial. You'd have a lot more control and you wouldn't have to shoot as much footage. If you are shooting the video for friends, shoot on Super 16. That way you can have more stock. Most music videos are (at least were) shot on 16. 35 is great but you aren't projecting it so save your cha-chings$$. 900 feet is just not that much film.

I thought about that footage for a long time and then forgot about it. Then I read where Ken Burns had done the WWII documentary and thought about it again. Since Baseball season was upon us, i watched the Baseball doc and they had a behind the scenes segment on the DVD. It was sad to see the condition of some of the storage "vaults." It's sad to see that there is a lot of old film just sitting in dank dark basements deteriorating as we speak. Thanks for all the replies.

Saltwater rusts metal? Now I've heard everything. :rolleyes: I didn't even think of that. lol The reason I was inquiring was because I saw a documentary on WWII a while back and most of the footage of D-Day was lost at sea when a ship to ship transfer of the film was being made. Some of the most historic film in history is sitting at the bottom of the ocean. If there was a chance that this footage still existed, it might be worth going after. Since Navy ships pretty much track their own moves, it might be possible to find the location.

I have a collection of American Cinematographer Magazines dating back to March of 1946. It is in very good condition with some flaws but not many. I have issues that were owned by Stanley Cortez and some by Linwood Dunne. Invested about $2000-$2500 and will sell for $1500 or best offer.

A little off topic but close enough. If you suspect that your flange focal depth is off, stick to the long end of the zoom. Because the "depth of focus" is greater with long lenses you will have a better probability of sharp focus than you would with a wider lens.

Autographing paychecks.

Also, what is motivating the light source. Is it the sun, a lamp, a tv, or a window. You will see the source in the wide shot. Of course many close ups leave you wondering, where did that light come from.

Let's say I dropped a can of exposed stock into the deep blue sea about 50-60 years ago and by some stroke of luck I find it. Will there be an image left? Can it be developed?

Don't go too fast to avoid static discharge on the film. It's cool to watch it happen but looks bad in dailies. Don't twist the film either or you'll end up with your emulsion facing out and the image will appear red and underexposed.

Yes I am aware that cameras will roll all over the world and nothing will happen to them. It doesn't change that rolling out might damage a camera. Jams are much worse. Hey, roll out all you want. In most cases where an AC is ready to roll out an AC will cut the camera as he hears the film come off the spool and exit the mag right before the film enters the gate. Like I said, have a ball, roll out all you want.

It's common terminology. I have heard wardrobe use that term and we all know that the wardrobe person wasn't the DP. Hey, it's a collaborative effort. That's why they are called "film shoots." Everyone's working on "the shoot."