Tom Jensen

It comes with experience. If you are shooting daily, often on the same sets, you know what the shot looks like through the lens and what the dailies look low and how much light you have been using, you will often get the feel or the intuition as to what it looks like. At this point, stick with your meter. It's usually, if not always right..

Why not just knock down your light levels and rate it at 320? Seems counterproductive to add so much light and then ND it. It's hard enough to see through a viewfinder and then add an ND.

I'd say that Zeiss lenses are great. Even Panavision uses Zeiss glass in their lenses. I think when choosing glass, you have to consider the end source of your work. If 90% of your work is going to video then you don't need the best glass in the world. The subtle differences in good quality glass is more likely detected in a theater. Much of the cinematic look in digital is achieved in post production. Much of it is achieved in composition, location and shooting style. Simply using a high quality lens won't give you the desired effect if the other cinematic elements aren't there. Shoot some tests. I'm not saying don't use good quality glass. I'm just saying you can get good quality footage with less expensive glass if the majority of your work is going to TV..

It didn't such that bad. I didn't hate it that much. Watch your head room. You have a pretty decent eye for a student.. In some of the shots you could have left a little more head room. I like better tighter than loser, though. Your reel didn't such as bad as a lot of these I've seen on here. Everyone can do day exterior so work on lighting.

If you edit the video, avoid the windows as much as you can and then cut to the view outside the window exposed properly. For continuous shots have you tried Iris pulls as you pan past the windows? You don't have to stop down to a perfect exposure but you can get close. Try not to make your irs pulls too obvious. You have to make real estate videos look pretty since they are often the first glimpse of a house that a potential buyer sees. Also don't go to fast because people need a chance to absorb what they seeing.

Indeed and great for tight spaces like car interiors.

When you watch a movie it isn't about cinematography, it's about watching everything the comes together to make a movie. We get caught up in the movie experience and our senses guide us as we watch it. You can specifically watch a movie to analyze the cinematography but sooner or later, you get wrapped up in the story. The method of watching a film with the sound muted was so you could isolate the cinematography. Not only that but editing, pacing, Now we have the luxury of the remote control and we can go back and look at something frame by frame which is a great addition in analyzing cinematography. It is however very painstaking to watch. Also the addition of commentary has been a great value in helping the student learn. Use all the tools available, this is just one of them but it is very effective

Scroll up. that is exactly my advice. I noticed you mentioned the Canon Scoopic. I loved that camera. It had the makings of a really decent handheld camera. It never went beyond what it was. No "future" generations or modifications. If it had a hard front that would have been great. That being said, the lens it had was great. It was easy to load, it was compact and it was comfortable to hold. It just never went anywhere.

Let me give you some sound advice. Always do what the rental houses do. They are the ones with their fingers on the pulse of the movie industry. It's because they know what rents and when their equipment gets old, they know what they can resell. Most cameramen who buy cameras use them as a tool to get work. I owned a BL back in the early 90's and producers looked at it like a piece of junk because there were SR's. I had everything for it and it was in great shape. I had at least 25 filters. I had a crystal synch motor control. I had power cables and batteries. I had a rise that could adapt an arri bridgeplate where I could support telephoto lenses. I had primes and a prime lens housing. It was still difficult to get work as a DP with my camera because the technology was old. It was a great camera too. My cousin used it on his steadicam and it worked great. Producers just didn't want it because they want what the rental houses have.

You might need a macro lens or dioptors.

That and a good story. Look at Spike Lee's "She Gotta Have It." Great movie with lots of flaws.

It would have had to been on some sort of platform because the couple coming down the steps goes under the camera. It's possible it was a steadicam on a crane because of the quality of the tilt down and the pan over. The end of the shot is definitely a physical move in with a zoom.

Where do you think he stepped off the crane?

It's definitely a zoom in combination with a dolly. As the go by the wall you can see it get bigger fast. Then look at the bottles on the wall how they grow big and then settle in size as the camera still moves.

I tried them and hated them. My rule of thumb is to tape everything 35mm and below at close distances. Eyeball and tape 50-100 at close distances up to about 20 feet. Eye focus everything longer and distances beyond that beyond that.. It's efficient and it works.I've had very few focus issues in my career. Actors move and often don't hit their marks so you have to be flexible. I always looked at 3 things, the actors face, his feet or mark and the lens barrel. I rarely used focus discs and mostly used a stabilo pencil right on the lens. Keep it simple. When I stopped assisting, the Pana Tape was relatively new and never got the chance to use it. So I can't really comment on the use of it or the Leikos Distos but I know that eye focusing on long lenses works better than just about anything.

We called it "making salad." The statement at the awards should not be so difficult to understand. The achievement was in digital photography which is or will be the new standard.

Tell that to Chivo and Jeff. I'm sure they would like to be stroking Oscar as we speak. I was actually surprised to see Bob even go to the Academy Awards.

I've seen the Terminator series and machines will eventually take over. BUT, in the meantime, you can't replace the eye of an artist.

Get a digital video HD prosumer camera. Most people might not like the concept but you can get so much more use from it. Almost everything shot on TV is digital video. All the aforementioned are old and will need repair. There really isn't much you can do with those cameras that you can't do with an HD camera. You can barely market yourself as a cameraman with an SR so don't waste your money on an old film camera.

Spreaders suck and adapter plates get lost or misplaced when you need them. There are no short cuts in film, only more efficient ways of doing things the right way.

I loathe ball heads and tripods. For 16 they are OK but for 35 go with a mitchell. It sucks when they slip and you have to crank the tie down.

I'm 5'6" and I often found myself standing on apple boxes. I didn't let my height dictate the shot. But coincidentally, it's a good height for shooting actors. Don't get so much locked into a camera height. Think about what looks good.

Roger Ebert once said that the most overlooked shots in a movie is the reaction shot. If something wacky is happening on the street, somebody has to see it to be funny.

Almost always if it's just straight dialogue. If you have to pan quickly between characters and then move with them you could go handheld but as a default go to a tripod and not hand held. Instead of a tripod most films and TV are shot on a dolly. Tripods are for mostly outdoors on rugged terrain or for a quick set up. You can use them on a set if you don't have a dolly. Sometimes you need to grab a quick shot without having to move the dolly or maybe you have space limitation. But, most shots require a little camera movement other than panning or tilting so the dolly is essential. On shoots with a budget, you have a crew and setting dolly track is what they do.. Think of it in terms of what the shot requires. What is it that you want or need to make a shot successful or to fulfill the directors vision..

I'm guessing you didn't expect this movie to be surrounded in controversy. :unsure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/boys-taken-to-dallas-schools-screening-of-tuskegee-airmen-movie-girls-excluded/2012/02/10/gIQATEEo4Q_story.html