Dan Salzmann

It is of enormous benefit to both you and any director for you to gain experience and hone your skills by working in many different situations since making a film can be approached in many different ways.

Ridley Scott was a cinemstographer before becoming a director.

Spot on! Definitely sounds like an international gun club.

I prefer camera operator.

They hear the word "shooter" to describe a film maker and/or camera operator. For some reason this sounds really, really low class to me. Any others bothered by this?

I repeat my request for suggestions of an excercise DVD that is applicable to film personnel.

The "Film Lighting" book is a fine one but does not have much bearing on the question asked.

The original post mentioned 4 people in the camera department plus the DP. No mention of how many grips and electrics. Better get ready to earn very little if there is going to be any real production value to the film.

Most camera rental facilities can supply you with the names of 1st AC's that they work with. I would go that route before Craig's list if I could not get a recommendation from someone whose opinion I trust.

All true. Embrace progress and get Final Draft - less of a vintage workflow but you will appreciate its many features. No joke!

One redhead on an autopole is not a problem. I suggest using a magic arm.

Have a scene in a relatively small location where someone is sleeping at night and twitching because they are having a violent nightmare. Then they wake up and switch on a lamp with a lampshade on a bedside table. The movie will be shot with a Varicam. The director wants a bluish cast to the light in the room. Thinking about setting the camera for tungsten and using daylight kinos with 1/4 CTO for fill and a 1K HMI fresnel for a rim light on the person. Now when he turns on the lamp on the bedside table to have an electric turn that on and supplement it with a bounced redhead and 500W tungsten fresnel with maybe 1/8 CTB. Does this sound like a good plan of attack for this? Any exposure and/or color balance suggestions?

Rifalites are quite nice as well. Never had a good experience with redheads and chimeras. Yokes definitely too weak.

It's still not 24p and it's not RAW. Maybe they will use several of them for some time-warp effect or something. There is no need for a film like that in that budget category to have to film an entire movie with a still camera.

I can not get this to download on my Mac.

Bring NTSC cameras with you. I love Italy and Italian people but it is not N.Y or L.A. Never ever turn your back on any equipment anywhere especially in Naples.

And when three or more lenses of different refractive glass are used it is an apochromatic lens.

+1 on all of this, I've done it many times. Just make sure you turn them off between takes as they heat up. Also remove the plastic "lens" in front of the flashlight bulb because those tend to melt fast.

You can also trick out a large flashlight with a 12 volt halogen bulb run the power cable up the actors sleeve to a slab battery concealed on the actor. Did this on a few films with 50 watt bulbs and it was really effective. Just remember that those halogens get hot so be careful and turn it off between takes.

Make sure that continuity with the food is well organized in advance with clear roles assigned. People to handle food prep and dish cleaning, candle heights, etc. This is a lot more fiddly and time consuming than you think it will be. Who is photographing and organising all that? Make sure that the dramatic intentions are clear with the director and have the shots well blocked out in advance. Have good grips if this is a circular situation! Do not forget cutaway inserts.

Big +1 on this! I have had it out with quite a few producers who find this an unneccessarily large expense. Of course they are never the ones to get the infection. Why bother to make a film if you can not afford to ensure the hygiene of your personnel? And by the way, an SR2 oval eyepiece will fit an ACLII very nicely.

Those are Super Speed lenses. "If the cameras are all Panavised the police will know exactly what to look for regardless of serial numbers. The impression I get of the French police is that they're pretty smart." Hal, what gives you that impression? I just hope the lenses and other gear doesn't get ditched when the thieves figure out how difficult it is going to be to sell anything Panavision other than coffee mugs and T-shirts. I've heard stories about junkies walking into second-hand photo shops trying to sell Panavision lenses. Usually the shop pays peanuts for the lens and returns it to the rental company and gets a little tip from the insurance company.

CSC in New York has taken care of all my Arri needs on a few films. Very good rental house.

Great camera. You should always use a lens shade even without filters. A set of ND filters is useful for filming in general and especially with fast emulsions such as Tri-X and 7218 color negative films.

We do not know the full story or any of the back story. Perhaps Hurlbut was getting pressure from the 1st AD about being behind schedule and he thought he could save time and tweak a light discreetly off camera during a rehearsal. At any rate it is very likely that Bale needed a scapegoat for other issues.