Miguel Angel

Hi, You might find the Making of useful. You can find it on the link below: Also, if we are talking about these shot: It was shot with tungsten lights, probably a big light like a 12K and filtered or bounced or even a Maxibrute, but the quality of the light is super soft. The other part (and color) is easily achievable with the practicals, the wood on the right side helps too and I would say that the color on their faces comes from that bounce. Hopefully some of the cinematographers on here will know a bit more about this! :) Best.

As promised, a frame of the wide shot of the car as it should appear on the "fake" commercial, which turned out to be very very bad. It is going to be my personal challenge to light the wide shot of this car perfectly by the end of the year. And with some notes. I am going to post the frame on the Lighting forum so I can get some advice on how to lighting it properly because I really want to nail it down! :) Thank you!!!

Great week in uni so far! Lecture on cinematography last week was "eyelight" and thanks to that I learnt one thing that I wanted to learn since I started watching movies: how to create gradients on faces and I am very happy I found out how to do so because I think it is a very important and subtle part of a cinematographer's job. As usual, the teacher started by talking to us how to create different kind of eyelights and then, while going from one set to another I asked him if I could take 5 minutes to try something that I had wanted to try by listening to him, he allowed me do that and I come up with colours. You might know by now that I love colours and it is something that I pay attention to in a great way as they can help reflect people's moods on the screen. I wanted to know what could happen if I were mixing different colours with different contrasts and here is the result: My classmate with a Blonde 800W + 216 on the left side and a 650W + Peacock Blue as a rim light. Same setup but Yellow 101 on the left side. And then I thought: What if we add a very subtle fill light by the camera so I see "the point" in his eyes? My classmate with a Blonde 800W + 216 on the left side, a 300W bounced off a 1m x 1m white polyboard as a fill and a 650W + Peacock Blue as a rim light. And as I wanted to play with colours, I decided to do the same with the Yellow 101 (which might not be the best colour to mix with the Blue ha) Same setup as above but with Peacock Blue on the fill light. You can see the gradient between the yellow and the blue and how the colours get mixed, when I saw that I could not believe it and I turn off and on the 300W several times to see the reaction.. I was absolutely ecstatic I had found a key part of what I wanted to learn!! I like the contrasty image the most but I think the other one is equally powerful and how to use one or the other is a matter of the script. As I said before, IADT is equipped with a couple of Alexas, Cinexenar and Zeiss lenses and it has a couple of studios where a cinematographer student can spend the whole day if interested. I am, and I booked the full Alexa kit with some lights to create a "fake" commercial of the bottle mentioned in a post above so I could learn how to use reflections and how to place them. And this is a frame of what I got. I had so much fun putting lights up and down, turning them on and off, wrapping them with 216, without it, bouncing them, etc. It seems to me that I could spend two whole days in the studio with that bottle trying to get the lines in the perfect position but it is really hard to have them right! How do you do it guys? The "fake" commercial will be edited and graded in a couple of weeks so I will be posting it for you to see it! I brought a RC car I bought a couple of weeks ago to do exactly the same but the car did not turn out that well and it can be because of three reasons: - The shape of the car, which is very curvy. - The size of the lights, I thought that the biggest the better but then I found myself using miniflos wrapped in 216 together with the normal kinoflos. - My lack of experience lighting cars, which can be the right reason! :D I have no access to the car frame right now but I will post it in a couple of days and see if you can give me some input on it if it is ok because it was a very tough one!? :) And that's all for the week! Hopefully this coming week will bring more joy! :) Have a lovely day all!

Thank you! Coming from you it is a great compliment!! Have a great day.

Hi, Under my point of view, the O'Connor 2575D is the best fluid head in the market. It is reliable, sturdy, stable, very well constructed, it is very easy to operate and it is heavy too, something very important for me though. http://www.ocon.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/2575D-Fluid-Head.pdf It has an excellent pan and tilt friction, and the counterbalance is more than adequated for almost any film camera (with and without accessories) in the market at the moment, the counterbalance itself is quickly adjustable and the head has a light for you to see if it is leveled or not. Regarding how to balance the camera, you are right. You can find more instructions on how to balance the camera on the link above though. As for the tripods, again, O'connor creates great tripods, some of them are heavy, some others are a tad lighter but at the end of the day, the quality is superb. Have a good day. Best.

That's a fantastic post! :) Thanks!

I know it is not unusual, I have seen so many discussions on here regarding that topic and also jobs listed on mandy asking for that. And my position is very clear, do you want to make money out of the movie? if the answer is yes, then pay for my services :) Also, I like shooting movies but as a cinematographer I would love to shoot 2nd units (that's what I do as a 2nd AC), commercials and short stories / experiments with friends. I am a bit like Alexander Witt in the sense that, for me, the best things happen in 2nd units! while shooting 2nd units you usually have access to things that you don't have while shooting actors and that's something that I love! and you don't have all the pressure that the main unit has. In fact, if I could ask for a wish in terms of "where do you want to end up with your cinematography?" I would say: Let me follow Alexander Witt's path :D.. maybe it is a bit unusual but it is enjoyable too! Probably that's the reason why the NFTS didn't want me there haha. Kindest regards!

One week ago I got the final grading of a short – film I shot last December on Super 16mm before starting uni, Food Fight, and I thought that it could be interesting to share the whole process. I met Food Fight’s director, Natasha Waugh, while shooting a different project and as I had three cans of 16mm film stock at home that I was not going to use I asked her: Do you want to shoot something just for the sake of it!, maybe an experiment, with this? It has to be really short because we only have three cans! After thinking about it, she came up with a short story about two food critics that get reunited in a restaurant and start talking about what happened in their previous date. Pre – production… Natasha wanted a 40′s / 50′s style and we decided that Black & White with a lot of contrast could be an interesting option so we started searching for the right place to shoot at. After a couple of days going to restaurants, we went to a marvelous place a bit out of the city centre in Dublin called Cafe En Seine and we soon discovered that it was going to be our place as it had this extremely baroque decoration in the upper floor and we were going to have a lot of space to place the camera there too. Hence, once we had the place, we started to see the different problems that we were going to have: 1) The restaurant was going to be open while filming and that is something terrible as she would have to deal with background noises and things that she might not want in her short – film. 2) We could only shoot for a very short span of time as the floor where we were going to shoot at had to be open to public around 6pm so we would have to finish shooting at 5pm and we were going to start around 10.30am / 11am. 3) As we wanted to have a lot of contrast in the image and a very dark areas I felt that the backgrounds were going to be really dark and as I love practicals I decided I wanted to place a visible single fluorescent in one background to help create the illusion of contrast and also for it to give me a bit of kick light. This background was the guy's background and as he is the male of the story I wanted him to feel a tad rougher and mysterious than the girl who does not have that amount of light on her side and is treated [/size]gentler than the guy in terms of light. 4) We knew that we wanted to shoot with an aspect ratio of 1:2.40, however, the camera that we were going to use did not have 1:2.40 frames so we had to create them with a bit of cellotape and a pencil. We were talking about shooting a 10 minutes short – film in around 6 hours hence I had to be quick and smart and I did not have to take a lot of time putting lights for each camera movement (which is what I had loved!) To get the mood of the short – film we shot a couple of 35mm black and white rolls with different processes to see if we really liked black and white or if we wanted more density, or more grain, or less contrast, etc.. all those tests that a cinematographer loves shooting while in pre – production! And we fell in love with four things, black and white, grain, contrast and how film rendered the high – lights so we decided that although the story was a comedy we were going to shoot it as if it were something a bit darker. To shoot the whole short – film we said: let us be smart, shoot a master and then coverage in two sizes and that is all, you will have your short – film in time and you will have enough things to edit your short - film. The whole shooting list is in the image below, not too long though! The lighting equipment list was very short, as I said, I did not have a lot of time to put lights. Lighting list 1 x Jem Ball 2 x 800w redhead 1 x Fluorescent tube 1 x Black silk 2.5meters by 2.5 meters 2 x Flags 1.5 meters by 1.5 meters 1 x White / Black polyboard Open roll Cinegel #3402 Rosco N3 Open roll Cinegel #3403 Rosco N6 Open roll Cinegel #3404 Rosco N9 I would have loved to have Chimeras for the Redheads but we could not get them due to budget reasons, at the end of the day, this was kind of an experiment! …On set… As we did not have a lot of time I decided to go with the Jem Ball for an ambient light and use it to light the faces, which I was going to underexpose. I wanted (and take this as an "I wanted" thing) her face in the zone 4 with a gradient towards the zone 5 so the reading for the zone 4 was T2.8 and I wanted his face in the zone 3 towards the zone 4 so I adjusted the Jem Ball when shooting his scenes. Seeing the images now it is my thought that if I had put a diffusion frame under the Jem Ball I would have gotten a better quality of the light and the gradient between the light and the shadow would have been a bit wider, next time! I used the Red Heads for the three quarters kick light (T8 1/2), zone 7+, and then let the fluorescent explode (T22 1/2), zone 9+, I decided to go further with the fluorescent during the grading and I left it super over exposed. I wish I had had the time to think twice about some things as nowadays I reckon I should have put a fill light in their faces in the close ups and a fill light and a rim light in the wide shot too to help separate them from the background more. My T Stop was going to be T4 but I hesitated a bit and I put T4 1/2. I like really dense blacks!, if I were going to shoot it today, I am sure I would put T2.8 2/3 or T4 though. We shot on Fujifilm Eterna Vision 250D[/size] with Tungsten sources, mainly because it was the film stock I had, we wanted to push it 1 stop to get more grain and also because I feel that tungsten lights look less artificial, I also exposed at 500ASA because I wanted to see the effect of not having that extra thing that you get exposing at 400ASA and I have to say that I will expose for 400ASA next time. And here are some of the frames. Frame 001 3 quarter light and lateral Jem Ball (that you can see in the mirror creating a fantastic reflection) Frame 002 3 quarter light, side Jem Ball and fluorescent. Frame oo3 Jem Ball. Frame 004 Jem Ball and dolly out. Frame 005 Jem Ball and 3 quarter light for the hair (Ah! I should have done this in the wide shots too!) Frame 006 It is the same setup as the 1st frame but I added a bit more of contrast to the image, which one do you think looks better? …Post production… When we finished shooting, we sent the film stock from Dublin to London, to Cinelab London which took care of the negative from the beginning of the development to the end. They really did a fantastic job and I cannot but recommending it as it is a superb lab! We got a ftp address from where we were able to download the short – film (they sent us a HDD with the full project inside too) and once we got everything, we sent it to Mordisco Films a post – production company in Spain where one of the best colorist in Spain, Alberto Díaz, took care of it and delivered an amazing black and white image full of density and life. ...What else Nowadays I would choose different light levels to shoot the short - film. It seems to me that I got it very dark and maybe I could have been played safer by not choosing the T Stop I chose. Fill light seems to be something handy :D and even if I had just placed a polyboard at the side of the camera that would have helped to see the actors' faces more. The left part of the guy's background kills me every single time I see it, I can't believe I let it go so dark, I should have bounced something there! I would put a "hair light" in every shot too for them to be more separated from the background as the fluorescent did not give me the rim light I wanted (I wanted it to be brighter). Surely I would expose at 400ASA and I would choose a Tungsten stock :D And that is all! That is how we got a short - film done with friends! I hope you enjoyed the reading! And all the feedback is welcome! :) :) At the end of the day, I am learning!! :) so please, post whatever you think about it! :) Short – Film Details Director: Natasha Waugh Producer: Natasha Waugh for Fightback Films Cinematographer: Miguel Angel Viñas First Assistant Camera: Curtis Morris Gaffer: Oisin Lowry Spark: Michael Gilbert Lab: Cinelab London Camera Rental House: Filmbase Dublin Lighting Rental House: Teach Solais Color Grading: Alberto Díaz (Mordisco Films)

David, you are all right! Last week has been an interesting one in uni. After two weeks of working on Penny Dreadful I really wanted to go back to college and start shooting very short things for myself and as I had missed two cinematography classes due to work, the teacher, Matt Skinner, agreed on creating a "photography product" class for the three people who were not able to attend the other two classes, myself included. Hence, as a cinematographer, I am so much into commercials and I decided that it could be a good opportunity to get some interesting shots of a product that you see on TV all the time, perfume! And so I went to buy a perfume to the local drugstore and I spent ages trying to decide what bottle I liked the most. I ended up buying "The One" from Dolce & Gabanna, a black and rectangular bottle which is similar to the 2001's monolith, and as its surface is very reflective I thought that I was going to have a lot of fun trying to place the reflections in the right position for the bottle to be lit as I wanted. And the day came and we had 7 hours for three people to light and shoot our products. I was lucky enough to help the first person light her product and operate the camera but it took us 3 hours until the person was happy enough, and then we went for lunch and when we came back I decided I was going to be the last person lighting the product as I knew what I wanted to get and I thought I was going to have 1 hour to do so. However, the second person spent around 3 hours to light the product and shoot it, and again I was lucky enough to operate the camera on that shot. And then my turn came and the teacher told me: Miguel, you have around 15 / 20 minutes to get your product done, I looked at him and I told him: Ok, then I'll test some diffusion filters that I have brought with me because I want to see how diffusion affects the high - lights. I put my bottle on the table and I knew that I wanted to have the side towards camera totally lit and the rest of the bottle lit with a line on the edges (if it makes sense!) so I placed two kinoflos totally wrapped on 216 to the sides of the bottle and when I saw that I was missing the top I placed a Miniflo to create the line on the edge (it was not enough and I am going to do it again with something different to create a brighter line, probably a normal Kinoflo) and I started putting different diffusion filters on camera. I tried black nets, classic softs, pro - mist, black pro - mist and fog and I will be putting different frames from all of them so if somebody wants to know the effect of them on the high - lights, they will have them here. I think the frame I came up with in those 15 minutes is very tight and as I am going to repeat this class on my own, I will get a wider frame and I will do a slow dolly in. Also, I reckon I missed the lower part of the bottle and I am going to try to put a light there to create the line (I do not know if I am going to be successful or not tho ha) because I might like the line there (or not!) And I am going to try to light the front a bit more as I do not see the words "The One" right now, in fact, I'm going to have a lot of fun for 7 hours ha. Just for you to see, this is a jpeg from the shot (a very bad one tho!) Alexa 800ASA 85mm Sony CineXenar T5.6 At the very beginning of the week I was offered to photograph a 3 weeks Irish feature film, the mail sounded promising and I said: Yeah, I am interested in knowing a bit more. Then, when the answer came back, the producer told me that everybody was going to do it for free because they believed in the project and also because the budget was between €15.000 and €20.000 I told them straight away that it was very unlikely that I could make the movie for free as I make a living out of this and if I were to be working for them for three weeks, that meant that I was going to be with no payment for 3 weeks, so I asked them for €3.000. After meeting them and talk with them about the project for a couple of hours, they agreed to think about it and in a couple of days they told me that they had been trying to stretch their budget to pay for me but they could not do so, and I said: Ok, thank you very much for taking the time to do so but I still cannot make the movie either for less or for free so I hope you find somebody else. A pity though because the script was kind of interesting. So my plan for next week is as follow: - Monday, Tuesday, start writing the first chapters of my Thesis! - Thursday, Shoot a car in, again, a kind of 10 seconds commercial (I have the idea formed already :D) - Friday, shoot the bottle in a kind of 10 seconds commercial (Ideas are welcome!) I will be posting more and, please, if you have anything to say about the bottle, do so! I love feedback and I would love to know what you would do with it! Best!

You are absolutely right. I will be posting a review on Amazon for the book next weekend if it is ok? (And if I don't forget doing so!) I set up a reminder on my Mac so hopefully I won't forget! :D I will post the review on here if it is ok too? Have a lovely day. Kindest regards.

It looks great! I really love it! :)

If you want the Arri ones, go to the following websites: Arri CSC Store http://www.arricscstore.com http://www.arricscstore.com/product_p/101139.htm It is the new model (with new dividers yeah!!!) Arri Media http://www.arri-bags.com/products.html I got my Arri from Arri Media in London. If you want the Panavision ones, please go to the following link: Panavision http://www.panavision.co.uk/panastore/default.asp?cid=8&clr=true Have a good day!

Absolutely fantastic! I bought it on the Kindle and read it and I'm waiting for my birthday to get a hardcopy of it! :) Thank you very much for writing it! Best.

Hi! I wanted to start a series of posts where I could keep track of what is going to University to study film studies or cinematography. Not so many years ago when I was struggling to understand the little words I knew in English I found this forums and I started reading (with a dictionary) every single thing I could. Thanks to the knowledge of a lot of people who were and are on this website I got better as a camera intern and then as a second assistant camera so I hope this post and consecutive posts that I am thinking about writing will help people in the future when they think about: "Should I go to a film school or not?" because they will see all the process that took me from being a non - student to a full time student. So, a little bit about me! As of today, October 6th, 2014, I'm a 33 years old Spanish second camera assistant who left Spain in 2010 after spending a lot of years working on American commercials, American movies, English movies and second units of different things. At that time I was starting to shoot short - films as a cinematographer and probably, hadn't I left Spain, I would be shooting commercials now as a cinematographer.. with very bad quality. The reason why I left Spain is because I wanted to improve my English (which in a 0 to 10 scale was 1) in order to go to study a Cinematography masters in AFI in L.A.. and I almost got there! I applied to AFI for the 2012 / 2013 cinematography course and as they were asking for a minimum of 100 in the TOEFL exam I couldn't get in because my score was 99, yeah! 1 point, but their rules are their rules :) and although I had the recommendations, the support of the Fulbright Scholarship and some other things, they said no. And I'm super happy I didn't get there because I started working for Apple in Cork (Ireland) and I discovered that "the office environment" was kind of interesting (and Apple was paying really really really well for the job I was doing). Also I started to focus a bit more on still photography, which is something I adore and love, and I found out that the more I was shooting, the more I was going towards darkness and colours. But I was missing something while working at Apple and it was the set life :) so I decided to start shooting short - films in Ireland.. and by doing that, I knew that I couldn't work in Apple anymore because I needed to follow my passion, cinematography. While trying to decide what to do I came across the National Film School in Ireland, home to cinematographers like Robbie Ryan, James Maher (member of the forum if I don't remember badly), Piers Mc Grail and so many other interesting ones. I went to the open day and what I saw was a place where I could spend time to create and learn things that I wanted, something that you miss when you are working full time, either in movies or Amazon or Apple.. sure you see loads of lighting setups while working on sets but if you are a 2nd AC, you better be focused on your job unless you don't want to work anymore. So, this National Film School was offering a 4 years Bachelors Degree (Honours) in Film & Production, being the 4th year the one where people choose a specialization. Probably the same kind of course as it is offered in America, Europe and etc so nothing fancy! And I said: Ok! If I can get in 4th year that would be awesome! I will spend 1 year doing what I love, learning things that I don't know, polishing my skills and they will give me a Bachelors Degree even! Plus they got two Alexas and a super new big studio! The decision wasn't that easy, although I had no commitments in life at the moment (no mortgage, no children, nothing at all) the money that I was getting from Apple was a very serious thing and you all know how the world spins! However, after a lot of months of thinking about it I decided to quit my job at Apple and become a student of the university (which accepted me with no problems) because I knew that I needed to pursue my dream. My reasons to go to uni were the following ones: - In University you have all the equipment you need to learn the craft. - You learn! I can't write it any bigger but it is an important point, you learn! - You also make friends and get to shoot a lot so you can try things that you couldn't try in a working environment when money is involved. - You also experiment with film / video if you want to. - You will be focused on YOU and that's THE POINT because nobody else is going to teach you what you don't know that you don't know! - They will teach you how to find your voice and apply it in different projects. - My uni is absolutely empty in the evening (something that I don't understand tho) and our classes have 2K projectors, dolby sound system and a big screen so from 6 to 8.30 I watch and analyze movies when I'm not shooting. - I have access to lecturers to talk about things that I can't talk about with anybody else (like the cinematography of Dersu Uzala for example!) and their point of views are always interesting even if they are not the same as mine. - I have to write a thesis!!!! something that I haven't done ever (it's my very first time in Uni). I find the process absolutely beautiful because I'm learning a lot about things that I didn't know. - In some unis or schools you have super top lecturers and that is fantastic! you can learn from them a lot! Some other unis don't have those lecturers but still they have very good teachers and they can address things that you hadn't thought about on your own. - If you go to AFI or NFTS you probably will end up as a top cinematographer / director / scriptwriter shooting commercials, features and such. While other unis won't give you that visibility you choose what you want to get out of uni and if you are passionate, driven about what you do, you should get the most out of your school! - Usually, Film schools have a sort of grading suite that you can use, so learn how to grade and use it! - You will have a library with a lot of books and you can wander around the shelves looking for Film Lighting by Malkiewicz and end up with a book with photos of the architecture of Tadao Ando! You won't have that at home because we search for what we know that we need and Google won't give you results on other things if you are looking for Film Lighting. - You will get a degree at the end of it and then you can choose to go for a Masters on any other thing vaguely related if you want to. - I really know that I won't become a cinematographer ever, and it doesn't bother me at all at all, I'm doing it because I needed to do it. My goal is to become a cinematographer, a good one with something interesting and different to say, but if I don't get there, I won't regret it because I will have done the trip :) I can only say: Go to film school!!! even if it is not one of the top ones, because it will give you a lot of knowledge (cinema wise) and you will find there if cinema is what you want to do for the rest of your life or you better get something else. And probably, if you are reading this and still are in your early 20s.. go go go! finish it and then try getting a degree in something else that you might like or is related (communications, marketing, advertisement..) because that will give you a backup plan in case your filmmaking career doesn't go as planned. Or you can go to the backup plan course first and then going to film school :) it doesn't matter! Learning is always great great fun and playing and toying around with cameras is even better. I will be posting how uni goes on here and what I learn as the weeks fade. Last week we had the first cinematography class, in a black studio with nothing else, just a monitor and the black curtains). Everybody was not very interested in the lecture and the testings we were running and were out of the class smoking or chatting, so I asked for a couple of 1K and asked for permission to play with them during the lunch break... and the image below is what I got. What I really miss is a light in the background to create colour contrast and if I could ask for something else.. what about a window to create a sense of darkness outside with a cyanish night or a green steelish night or even orange!? :D I will be shooting the image above with the Alexa very soon and we will see what I get!!! :) If you have gotten here, congratulations! :D I hope it solved some of your questions! :) and if you want to post some of your thoughts, you're more than welcome! :) Best!

Hi! Hopefully it is not too late to write here! I have the big Arri standby bag, probably the same as Erik :), and the Panavision Large AC Bag and although the Arri one is great and I would say: "Buy it", if you have different options to choose from, the better. Pros Arribag - It is big, it has two big pockets on the lateral sides where you can put marks, chalk, chains, whatever. It has also 1 big pocket in the front where you can put covers and etc. And also it has 2 little pockets in the front where you can place air bottles and water. Very handy! In the back, it has a big pocket (which can be tightened) where you can put the camera report notebook or whatever you want to put. On top of the bag you will find an elastic band / strap, perfect to put the space blanket inside so it doesn't take space in any pocket. - It is very very resistant. - It is going to last all your life, I have mine since 2009 and it has travelled with me around the world, in loads of extreme conditions and it is even newer than before :D Cons Arribag - It is big! so if you plan on carry it on from location to location without using a magliner and it is full of things.. it is going to be heavy, very heavy! - There are 6 pockets in the interior and they are useless, if you want to store something inside you better create a zip or a button for the pockets so they don't get opened when you open the bag (it happened to me several times until I put a zip in them) - The space in the interior of the bag can be separated by two dividers; unless you use some Velcro to attach them stronger in the interior of the bag they will move if you place things without being careful. All in all, it is a fantastic bag, however, if you have a chance to take a look at the Panavision ones, go and see them because you will find that they are better organized, they are a bit cheaper, just a tad smaller (which is very good if you have to carry it around) and the pockets in the top of the bag are just perfect. Take a look at the Panavision Large AC Bag http://www.panavision.co.uk/panastore/default.asp?cid=8&clr=true#pdct949 I use both (A Camera / B Camera) but if I have to get just one, I use the Panavision one. On the other hand, the Arri Small Bag is absolutely amazing for things like Prestons and such. I find it very very useful! much better than the Small Panavision Bag. Best.

Something like this? I just googled "Filter tags on mattebox" and that image came up. If I have a chance and I remember it I'll take a picture on Tuesday of one of the ones that we have. Have a good day.

Title: Learning From Hollywood - Architecture and Film Author: Hans Dieter Schaal ISBN: 3 - 930698 - 70 - 6 Link: http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Hollywood-Architecture-Hans-Schaal/dp/3930698706 Hi all, I have finished the book above mentioned and it is a quite interesting point of view on Architecture and Film and how architecture is designed on movies to create moods together with the help of the cinematographer. It might be something that cinematographers might not consider reading but it is a very small book - 120 pages - and it is very well structured. We can find chapters on Houses, Streets, Light and so on and I would say that if you can get a copy in your local library or you can get it online, flick through it because it is really amazing. I found that some of Hans Dieter's point of views are a bit old fashioned or very architectural related - for example, he writes that streets are always negative forms as opposed at buildings - and although I don't agree with him on some points, it created a new box in my mind where I can throw things regarding architectural aspects of the process of my cinematography development, and that is always good :) It contains several examples of movies that are the paradigm of architecture in cinema, and quite a lot of images too, from M to Viridiana, etc, etc. A good reading for a weekend if you don't have anything else to read! Highly recommended! Have a good day!

I quite liked the final product. A very interesting idea short short - film which a very good rhythm and classy actors. I didn't see your posts, had I seen it I would have posted some photos I took on Kodak still film where I did something very similar. Anyway, a quite nice job, well done! Under my point of view, the only thing I could say something about is the camera movements, which were sometimes very hand - heldish if you know what I mean, otherwise, it is great, and the short - film's narrative is fabulous too. Thanks for sharing it.

Hi, I would be interested in the Color Meter and the Spectra if they are still available. Thanks.

Congratulations to all of them! Best.

Hello Brett, The task of budgeting a 1.5 million project might sound a little bit complicated but it is not at all. The idea is breaking down everything into pieces so it is easier to manage, once you do that, it goes super smooth. Of course the 1.5 million budget includes the tools you will be using. I might have a little bit of OCD as I love having everything under control , surely, different cinematographers might have a different approach. Whenever I am asked to budget a project, I ask one thing: - Does the budget have to include pre - production, production and post - production or it has to be just pre - production and production? It is interesting to ask about this because grading is an important part of your work and it needs to be budgeted too, and producers tend to forget about it. Some producers might like to work with a concrete lab, some others might ask you to choose one and budget it. Once I know the answer I break it down in 5 parts: 1) Camera equipment needed for the whole project. 2) Grip equipment needed for the whole project. 3) Electric equipment needed for the whole project. 4) Special equipment (camera, grip, lights) and days needed. 5) Expendables. To do all of this you need to read the script and talk to the director to see what kind of things he wants to do, it is not the same to have a Technocrane for 30 days on set and using it all the time than using it in special shoots for, let's say, 3 consecutive days or even 3 separate days as you know already. So, once you get to know what both of you want, it is time to create the lists and if you have worked with some rental houses in the past that you like, send them over and they will go back to you with a quotation as soon as they can; they are happy to do it! What I usually do is creating the different lists and then sending them to the producer / s so they can forward it wherever they want to plus the different rental houses that I like. As I have been a 2nd AC for 10 years, I always think about the basic expendables that the camera department might need and put it in the list, the more accurate about money the better, and as I said, I've a bit of OCD The grip rental house and the electric rental house will add those expendables in their quotations so you won't have to worry about it (and once you are shooting, the keys will negotiate that also if they need more). Of course, the quotations are the very first steps as a very good producer might suggest some changes in terms of tools or special equipment needed for some days but that's far away from the first step! If you haven't read a script, I would ask the producers or the director how many days they want to shoot and then, I would create 2 or 3 camera lists with different cameras so the producers have an understanding of the differences and also a basic grip list with a basic dolly and a slider (that's because I love having the camera on a dolly on set all the time if I can, it is easier to move!). For the electric list, if you have a little notion of where the script is going to happen, I would send them a very basic list too, telling them that you would need more info and scouts to know what it would suit the project the better and the list will change. I am very sure that more experienced cinematographers might know what they would use in every single scenario but that's not my case hopefully somebody will hop on and tell you more about it! If you don't want to bother any rental house at all, I would suggest a bit of window shopping online and write down the different prices they have and send the lists to the producers. I can send you some lists I have created for projects in the past if interested and needed Hope the answer helped a bit! Kindest regards.

Michael It is interesting that you say that it might have fallen into the art / fringe category because it looks like a movie from the late 70's / 80's (that sound!!) and it has a bit of art in it too. Talking about the movie with some friends they told me that it looked like a Carpenter movie because of the tone and the slow narrative that influences the whole film. I don't see that point very clear but it reminds me of the latest Friedkin movies, music, sound, photography, acting, script, etc. Stuart That change you were talking about is one of the most interesting things of the movie under my point of view. It goes from A to B and then when you expect that something is going to happen, the movie changes its tone completely and you see a new world there. And it is what adds value to the movie, because nowadays nobody would have gone back to the house in that way (who else could have filmed that with that pulse nowadays?) or would have changed the script totally. And although the movie has the three acts very partitioned and you can see the changes, I really think is impressive how well narrated they are. Best!

Hi! I went to the movies last Saturday to watch Cold In July and I came home absolutely mesmerised and amazed by Ryan Samul's work on this feature so I said: Why don't write a bit about it! Trailer Director Jim Mickle Cinematographer Ryan Samul www.ryansamul.com Actors Sam Shepard, Michal C. Hall, Don Johnson. Cold In July is set in Texas back in the final 80's (1989 to be more accurate) and it shows a normal man in a normal village who has to make a decision in about 2 seconds and how that decision will change the course of his life forever. Well, I did not know anything about this movie before entering the cinema, and what I saw was a masterpiece, Ryan Samul's cinematography is so well done that it should be one of the Oscar's contenders as it is a very good example of how to use cinematography to help the narrative of a project. There are three very different parts in the movie, all of them with a different tone and ambience but very real when put together. Although the story is very simple, the use of light, colours and frames to emphasise feelings, emotions, actions and consequences is really well done, the best movie in that field I have seen this year so far. It is very clear that both, the director and the cinematographer thought about the viewers when deciding about what kind of style they wanted for the movie, it is true that it has that gritty look that it needed but also it has very interesting stylistic choices and shoots. Probably it is not in cinemas in the States anymore but if you are in Europe, get to the cinema and watch it as soon as you can! Best!

It is a very interesting movie with a great actor and fantastic cinematography. There is also an article about it in the American Cinematographer (June 2014) if I don't remember badly. Very informative and with a fantastic overview. By the way, go and see it if you can! Kindest regards.

Sometimes people don't really see that big camera rental houses are super open to this kind of filmmaking if they find the project interesting (which is a lot of times) For the camera package I'd suggest going to Panavision and talk to them about what you might want, what they realistically could offer and show them what you want to achieve. You might get a lovely surprise :) Kindest regards.