Mark McCann

Hey guys, heading out stateside in july, will be filming in Vegas and New York for a documentary, can anyone recommend any great locations in either city to get panoramic shots of the cities? Something that might be easy enough to access for a visiting crew? Thanks

Hi all, Wondering if anyone could help, Looking for some luts for Apple colour, to throw onto an edit containing C300 log footage and BMPCC log footage, Look for a out to bring both close to rec709, Anyone able to help?

Thanks everyone, for the responses, we're just going to look into a B4 to Micro 4/3 adaptor and use some of our old ENG lenses.Am I think I'm right in thinking that zooming in just past the vignetting would still give us a wilder field of view than most cropped 35mm wides? Thanks Adrian for reiterating about the Fungus/water thing. Appreciate all the input, it's helped a ton.

Wow, Thanks for the speedy reply! It's really appreciated. Any chance I could bug you to get your thoughts on this one? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ANGENIEUX-9-5mm-95mm-Vintage-Zoom-Lens-RARE-Blackmagic-BMCC-BARGAIN-/231230934275?pt=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item35d6700d03

Hi all, I have a blackmagic pocket cinema camera, Im looking to invest in some old Super 16mm glass, I see an interesting one on ebay, but have no idea what lens mount it is. Can anyone help me with this? Do you know what lens mount it is? Would it work with an adaptor on BMPCC, would the lens at its widest be able to cover the BMPCC without any vignetting? Link to the Lens: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ANGENIEUX-12mm-120mm-Vintage-Zoom-Lens-Blackmagic-BMCC-Bolex-BARGAIN-/231231013065?pt=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item35d67140c9 With thanks Mark

Thanks very much for the replies, that's good to know. It's been bugging me all night. watching it, I know it wasn't anamorphic so it must have been the matte.

Apologies, I can't seem to attach the image, but to describe the bokeh, it appears as rectangular shaped with well defined edges. What could be the reason for that? To my knowledge I've never seen bokeh of that shape.

Hey all, I was watching the irish programme 'love/hate', When I noticed some peculiar shaped bokeh. I've attached the image, can anyone fill me in as to why the bokeh is so square shaped? With thanks

Hey all, would love some feedback on my cinematography showreel, located here. https://vimeo.com/65387622 With thanks Mark McCann

It's worth learning absolutely, It will teach all the basics and advanced techniques that you can do in nearly every piece of editing software. Although I Do doubt it will be around much longer, with the increase in resolutions and file sizes coming from cameras a 32bit editing software won't be able to cope for much longer, Id personally recommend Adobe Premier CS6 or Avid Media Composer.

Poor Roger Deakins, Thats ten nominations now without a win...

I constantly misread the post title as 'autism'. I would definitely consider the D.P an auteur in most cases, they usually have their own distinct style- theres no one right way to do a film and each cinematographer has their own specific outlook on a script. On the other hand theres some exceptions for example with Kurosawa's films, I tend to give him more credit towards the composition than I would cinematographers on others. So It can depend on a multitude of factors, how visually minded the director is, and how much creative control a D.P is allowed to exert on a piece.

Hi, This was the latest short film I've been dp'ing. /for some info the vimeo title is the module title we had to upload under as for university [separate version will be uploaded], due to time constraints on the module the credits are very rushed [unreadable], fixed in the version soon to be uploaded. But importantly, i would love feedback on the cinematography in this, i worked on it as director of photography, i would love any feedback both positive and negative. https://vimeo.com/55483003 THank you. Mark McCann

Tragic, he was a great cinematographer, fortunately he will still be remembered by alot of people for his art. R.I.P

Hey all, Im wondering if anyone can help me out, Im working [researching] at the moment my chosen dissertation topic for my last year at university, "The technical advancements of cinematography from the 1960's". I have a good list of material at the moment im going through, but is there anything anyone can reccoment that could be of interest to this topic? With Thanks Mark McCann

Wonderdul story to read, thanks for that.

With the increase of Piracy it'll only get worse. rarely do big cinema companies say "Hey, lets lower the prices for the costumers". But yeah skip the concession stand, you go there for the big screen atmosphere of a film, not to eat popcorn.

Hey All, Now i've been reading up a bit on the production of the hobbit and to my understanding its being shot with Red at 50FPS, The production blogs make this very clear. Im very confused on the why and how of this, Im wondering if someone can explain to me why their shooting 50FPS? To my understanding you would only shoot 50FPS for slow mo sequences or if the delivery system its to be played at is 50i/p [unlikely in this case] Why 50 FPS for this production? Its most likely going to be played at 24/25p in theatres and home systems. Is there something i'm missing about the advantages of shooting 50FPS? With thanks Mark

Hi all, Ive finally got round to working on my first reel for Projects I've been dp'ing t uni nd now have it online. Im wondering if i could get some feedback on nothing at all? any criticism would be great. Thanks Mark

I shot a driving scene yesterday on dslr strangely enough. Id highly recommend a suction cup camera mount [a cheap one would suffice, the one i tested worked superbly and it only cost £8], it works fantastically for attching to the windscreen for frontal shooting on the charchters. I don't think you would get away with the 70-200mm or 24-105mm on the suction cup mount though [unless you find a more heavy duty one than mine]. Im looking over the footage now and its extremely stable to boot. ari is right bout the cards, you will need high capacity ones, and extra batteries [but that applies to any scenario]

Hey thanks for the replies, been a fantastic help. David- i will have to try the waving fingers and hands technique, it sounds promising thanks. Austin - I will definitely look into one of those, maybe not for this production but it sounds like it could be of use in the future, appreciate it.

I thank you for the info on the masterclass I'm looking into that as i type, Submarine i thought was fantastic, i didn't think anyone could make overcast skies look aesthetically pleasing, but he managed it. Also haven't seen his pumpkin heads project, but ill have to look into that if i get a chance.

Hi all, I have a shoot coming up and one of the scenes i need to light for is a pretty commonplace one which I haven't had to light for yet. The main character is sitting on the end of his bed whilst watching tv, its a frontal medium shot on him, i need to light for the tis light on him. "I was thinking for the flickering effect of a tv i would bounce a CTB'd 1 k onto a reflector just in front of him, and flicker manually a half CTO gel in front of the light, Does anyone have experience with this type of lighting? Would this idea work fine?

Apologies, posted this in wrong section.

Your best bet would be to see about a matte box for it and just slide in the filters.