Mike Maliwanag

Really nice work AJ! I noticed some noise in certain scenes. Just curious, where you rated at ISO 5000 during those scenes? What did you rate the camera throughout the film? I think it looks great for having a half ton (at most) grip and electric package. My favorite scenes are at the end with the two kids at the warehouse. The lighting is fantastic!

Hey Bradley, I feel you're on the right track and you're figuring out what you need to be successful. That being said you don't need to go to film school to make it. There are plenty of DPs who did not go that route and are creating incredible imagery. I did attend film school and I wouldn't have it any other way. I wouldn't be where I am if it weren't for film school. It's been the connections that have presented opportunities but I'd like to think it's my work ethic and (I hope) my personable nature that has maintained my relationships with producers, clients, directors, other DPs, and crew members. My advice is to reach out to other film school students and get on set. You said that you were shooting as many thesis films as possible. Keep that up. Don't just shoot their thesis films, try to shoot their first films and hopefully that can evolve to their thesis projects. Shoot and shoot as much as you can. Be the best person on set. Someone will take notice. My network has expanded by taking a job I never wanted to do. On that same gig I met the editor who asked me to shoot a small project for her. It ended up going to festivals. On her gig, I met someone else. He loved my attitude on set and reached out. Because of that one gig I never wanted, I now have two great relationships with directors and I shoot all their projects. Who knows what would've happened if I didn't take that gig. Sure you may not get shooting gigs right away and that's okay. In the meantime find work as a grip/electrician/AC. Get in with the film school crowd. Work on their sets and hopefully they'll return the favor and work on your projects. At film school, I definitely met people who I thought were students but weren't. They just wanted to learn. When I moved to L.A., those same people were either there or eventually moved and guess what they're working in the industry as either a DP, grip, electrician or AC. They're the ones to call you for work when they're shooting and need a hand on set. One more piece of advice that I took from Phedon Papamichael and he talks about it in this interview (it's $3.95 to rent and worth it). He mentioned to get on the ground floor with any director you can. Grow with them. As he/she/they start flourishing, so will your career. I took that advice to heart and I've worked my ass off finding the directors that want it as badly as I do and I have at least three or four that I shoot for regularly for narrative work and a good set of clients. Lastly, Phedon also talks about it in the interview, keep your overhead low. Find the paid work and then find the projects that gives you creative freedom. -Mike

Thanks for the kind words. Here is the link and password: https://vimeo.com/denissemikin/somehowsonormal password: somehowsodenis

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share some of my favorite stills from a short film I shot over a year ago. We shot on 16mm 1.33:1 aspect ratio on Kodak 7219 500T Vision 3 on an Aaton XTR. The film is about this man who has confidence issues and decides to get a new ego. The page count was around 24 pages and we had 6 shooting days and I believe we had a 6:1 shooting ratio. This was the longest page count I had shooting on film. Our lighting package consisted of (2) 4x4 kinos, (1) litemat 2L, (1) joker 800, and (2) tweenies. It was a small shoot and I'm proud of the outcome and the work of my rather small camera and lighting team. I can possibly share the password protected link if anyone is interested. Thanks!

If you have a budget, why not shoot a test with 16mm B&W footage and digital footage with grain added to it. I understand money can be an issue, but if you can shoot on film, why not do it? Most camera rental houses should cut you a deal with rentals because at this point 16mm/super 16mm cameras are big paper weights. Also some post houses should also cut you a deal if you have a feature you plan on scanning. Hope this helps!

Hey Miguel, That's all I needed to know! Thanks for the quick reply, I really appreciate it!

Has anyone operated with an easyrig and serene arm without a gimbal? If so has the serene arm helped reduce the side to side motion when going hand held? I plan on operating a Millenium XL2 and am hoping to reduce some of the hand held look. I just don't want the hand held look to be too intense if that makes sense. Thanks! -Mike

Appreciate the kind words thanks Bill!

Hey guys! Definitely would love some feedback on my latest narrative reel! Thanks!!

I'd prefer a camera with a tap just so I have a monitor for the director. Thanks for the quick reply!

Hey Robert, Does the camera come with a video assist? -Mike

I have 4000' of 35mm sitting in my freezer and I'm looking to use it within the next few months. I definitely am willing to pay to rent but I can't afford camera rental house prices so therefore I'm seeing if anyone in L.A. has any 35mm cameras that is sitting and collecting dust. Let me know! Thanks, Mike

Looks fantastic! What a great scan. I'm very surprised by the clean image!

Thanks means a lot to me! I agree although I just watched the King's Speech for the first time and was a bit taken a back by the lens choices! We shot on Kodak 7203 Vision 3 50D and it's a really beautiful stock. I exposed at the native ASA and it was processed normally. The latitude is pretty great. When we shot the interiors of the bike builder, we we're underexposed at times a full stop, stop and a half and it held just fine. The transfer was done at Video & Film Solutions in Maryland and I was pretty pleased with the results. As for the color, we desaturated the image when our lead actress walks through the city. As she falls in love with the bike we started to bring back the saturation and made sure the red popped and that the colors were more vivid toward the end of the piece. So we didn't have any permits and we were shooting in downtown Chicago around lunch time hours and it gets pretty busy. We didn't want to attract attention so we had no bounce boards, reflectors, or any grip gear of that nature because we wanted to be inconspicuous. Also the lens' close focus is around 6 ft so we couldn't get that much closer otherwise we'd have a soft image. I'm not quite fond of wide angle close ups and it didn't feel right for this project. We got the scans done at Video & Film Solutions. They were kind enough to let me do a test shoot for cheap and I was pretty happy with the results. Unfortunately the film wasn't flashed intentionally but the client actually wanted to have it in the film so it worked out in the end. We planned on adding it in post but since we achieved in camera there was no use! We used the stock lens which wasn't the greatest and was such a pain. I purchased it already converted from Russia. The only downfall is that there was no recentering ring which causes the image to vignette wider than 25mm. I believe the recentering ring costs $200 and that was over half of the camera!

Chris, we did use the stock lens. Because it was converted to Super 16mm, the previous owner did not install a recentering ring so the widest we could shoot was 25mm without getting any vignetting. Also, the close focus is pretty terrible on the lens. I believe it was around 6 ft

Hey Everyone, Here's a long form commercial I shot on Super 16mm on the Krasnogorsk K3. I'm really happy with the way it turned it out. I showed it to non industry people and someone asked me how I got it to look the way it does and my I told them, "It looks like that because it was shot on film". I feel like it wouldn't be the way it is if I shot it on any other format. I would definitely appreciate any comments or criticisms! Thanks, Mike https://vimeo.com/74120596

Here is the link to David Fincher's Red test http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJpLgdD7r3c&playnext=1&list=PL1D42839B162B7CFC The camera was rated at ISO 2000 with an MX sensor which leads to my question as to why is there no noise for it being rated so fast? Does anyone know if it went through a noise/grain reduction in post? I'm assuming it did, but does anyone know for sure?

So I would like to shoot some tests with Kodak 35mm still photography stock that is comparable to 16mm film stock 500T 7219. A professor of my suggested taking 5219 film stock and loading into a photography canister to expose as stills in a SLR camera. He also mentioned that some companies provide this service. My two questions are where can I find such companies and is there any 35mm still photography film stock that resembles 16mm 7219 stock. Thanks, Mike