Matthew Kane

Right, it seems like we just need to agree on a lossless intermediate format. I'll see if I can get the animator and post sup together with me and we'll hash it out. RedcineX pro, yep. Thanks for the reply Brian!

I believe he'd be using RedcineX for pretty much everything. Really, jumping between filesystems (MacOS extended journaled and NTFS) seems to be the big obstacle... which seems ridiculous, but I just haven't had to do it before.

I'm a DP and lighting tech by trade, so forgive me for what seems to me like kind of a noob question. I'm trying to rough out a round trip (shot-edit-vfx-color) for a short trailer with some significant CGI work--basically trying to knit together the resources of 2-3 freelancers, keeping image integrity, maintaining a reasonable turnaround time, and all the while keeping us from pulling our hair out. We'd be shooting Epic raw. I will have a post supervisor/coeditor, but I want to make sure I have a little more background before we sit down to do this for real. The post sup/editor is on Mac, and I'd likely be doing the rough assemble in an offline edit--on my not-yet-built windows machine with Adobe premiere (or maybe even lightworks--not that I need to make this more difficult by learning new software). I suppose the picture edit goes back to the post sup's machine to conform, and then from him, to the animator for compositing. Or does it? Our animator is in Windows 7. She models in Maya, and composites in AE. While we'll be delivering in 1080P, I'm really pushing for an all 4k workflow if possible. Then (I think) it has to go back to the post supervisor's Mac pro for final color, and for the deliverables (a youtube video, and cDNG). --after speaking to the animator, I realized I don't know how to deliver footage to her for compositing. The post sup is pretty much a one man editorial department for a small ad company, so he doesn't have to bridge a bunch of contractors with different filesystems or codecs in his day to day. A simple flowchart or list with the important bulletpoints would help, and I'll reveal my ignorance through follow up questions as necessary. Sorry again if this is nonsense, I'm a lot better with things that have three wires and a halogen bulb. Best, Matt

Yeah, at some point, you wind up just reinventing the wheel. Which is why I'm glad other people are breaking the ground! The dynamic range knob is a pretty novel--and it's an exciting idea that I might be able to swap my sensor as easily as I swap a graphics card. It'd be especially interesting if somebody with capitol got really interested, and soaked up the R&D costs for the chance to sell kits, prefab hardware, upgrades, accessories, etc.

It hurts to watch someone trying to light a wide shot with a naked 4 bank twenty feet away, and see them wondering why their "soft light" is so dim and hard.

it was a smaller China ball (so we could run it closer the floor). I believe it was a 200 or 300 watt incandescent bulb--more than that and you'll want to go up to a 12" ball. Lantern lock systems are not too expensive to rent. We dimmed it a little to warm it up, and we did have access to mains power. You could build a power adapter to power this thing off a battery belt if you're comfortable with that, but if you don't have power handy, one of David's solutions might work better.

Holy cow, that does not sound OSHA. I had no idea those were still available. Sorry I can't advise, but I really want to see the final shot and get your review on using it. Make sure the operator wears a welding mask (I would think shade 9 or so) and long sleeves--if it's anything like an arc welder, you can get a sun burn if you're close to the arc. Are you sure you don't want an Eco Punch LED lamp? They have some great lightning chase programs built in--a pair set to different patterns looks especially convincing.

I keep a full set of the loose wrenches in my tool box (imperial and metric) just in case (y'know, for unlocking push-bar doors and stuff). I hate carrying them around when they fall out of the plastic holder. There are folding sets with steel bodies that are indestructible, and for some reason, cheaper than most of the plastic ones. I believe the brand is Eklund, but I've only seen them at a fleet supply place in the midwest USA. I used to have a double sided ratchet for speedrail, but I believe it wandered away, and I don't have much call to use it anymore.

I've also had luck with using a china ball on a painters pole to fake the light from a small handheld source (did that for a scene where an actress was walking around a dark house with a candle). It also made nice shadows on the walls around her, and we were able to fish it around so that it didn't cast a frontal light on the candle itself. Low tech, but it was right for that shot.

Ok, somebody needs talk to me about this. An open source 4k cinema camera. I believe they'll be releasing the plans this summer, and perhaps selling prototypes. http://axiom.apertus.org/index.php?site=alpha I've been wondering when the open source hardware movement would find its way to the camera world. I'd be amazed if this project didn't flop (the beta version they want to sell via kickstarter seems more like an interesting paperweight than a working camera), but man, I would love to beta test. Perhaps someone else will pick up where this group leaves off. So. The topic is, will you someday be building your production camera out of off the shelf parts, like a PC? My position: it will be possible, but it'll be more of a hobbyist pursuit, and the heir to Epic, Alexa, etc will have features the home builders still can't touch. Perhaps there will be a few models developed (like Redhat Linux) that are more widely adopted in professional applications. The first professional cinematographers had to build their own cameras, y'know...

Your workaround for the split diopter effect works nicely. I'd be concerned when shooting that setup that the two takes might not match, performance wise, making editing... difficult. I'll keep my eyes peeled for the final shot, but as a general note, the background has some issues--the hanging light fixture seems to be giving you a slight flare, and especially since the light source is in frame, it seems odd that it isn't a more dominant key light. For example, you could replace the bulbs in the fixture with a small wattage bulb, and use an artificial source from frame left to key her--using a little less fill for the opposite side. That railing thing does your composition no favors. I'd be interested to see what it would be like if the woman were closer to the guy's eye level in the frame--my eye seems to drift off the right side of frame, following his gaze. Not bad though! The first short I DP'd did not look as good.

Thanks David. Saving that closeup for a look book. Love the idea of rigging lamps in trees.

Thanks Tony. Do you mean fabric softener? Now that I think of it, there's some superpowered bug juice a friend of mine got in the military, I should get some of that. re: lugging cases... no, right now I think we'll be outfitted more like photojournalists. The monopod will be my friend.

The first (blue) shot is almost certainly graded that way, or filtered with in-camera settings. Looks like some desaturation and boosting the blues slightly in the midtones. Some applications have a hue interface (I'm thinking Apple Color) that can do the same with a little more finesse. The second still could be accomplished with gels on the lights (since it was shot entirely with artificial light), but no reason it couldn't have been shot with a natural color cast and graded that way later. When shooting with DSLR's or other prosumer gear (or anything for that matter, but the decision is not so permanent with RAW formats), I dial the kelvin scale cool or warm if that's the effect I want in the final image. Just remember these cameras don't hold up to heavy grading so well, so you may not be able to do much about it if you decide you don't want the effect later... at least not without adding some noise or other artifacts. Simply adjusting the Kelvin above or below what's 'natural' for your light source can do 90% of the effect, with some minimal tweaks in post (if, say, you want your warm image to be more yellow or more red). Frankly, I think the overall warm/cool cast is overused, exactly because it's easy to do in post and creates a 'distinctive' look without much effort. For example, I find the subtle contrast in the Alexa footage linked above much more striking than an image that just appears to have a blue filter on the lens. There's so much more going on in the color pallete than simply 'warm' or 'cool'--and alot of that is production design. Overall color cast has it's place, but I see it used too often as a crutch when colorists, DP's or directors think the picture seems too plain.

What's your experience level? If you've done still photography with an SLR, you're somewhat familiar with how a DSLR will act when shooting video. If you're totally new to shooting video (aside from a camera phone), I think you need your friend to give you an in-depth introduction before you spend that much on a camera, especially for a single project. The pros and cons of any given camera will be important if you keep shooting, but if your fundamentals are weak, trying to learn only by doing could be really frustrating--especially if you're hoping to come away with a finished product. Borrow a camera and play around with it, look at some footage on a decent HD display, and then start thinking about buying. Just my approach, but I may be overcautious. DSLR's are not *that* hard to get a handle on, but make sure to take plenty of time to work out how to use it, and ask for (in person) help. I'm not of the mind that you need a lot of gear to start out with a DSLR (a variable ND and some kind of shoulder pod/handle/tripod/monopod/large rock will get you off to a nice start).

Audio is definitely important, but I'd strongly consider a very short silent film for your first time out. Being ambitious is great, but limitations can A. keep you from going insane, and B. force you to consider techniques you're not accustomed to. So many student/learner films are bogged down with awfully written, poorly acted dialogue that tries to cram complex character nuance into a form that simply doesn't have time for it. I think it's been said, but don't expect it to be your opus, or to feel like a polished professional production. Francis Coppola's first film was very modest. If the early films of great directors have anything in common, it's that they started out with a compelling concept, or a novel viewpoint on a situation (not by saying "geeee I gotta get this done for class" or "my friend just got a new slider"). Don't spend a ton of your own money--inexpensive mistakes are my favorite kind. You'll feel more free to experiment with storytelling if you know you can afford to make another film next month.

Well, there are paints, makeups, and fabric that fluoresce especially well under UV/black light. Google should reveal popular brands. Rosco makes some scenic paint in a variety of colors. I suspect better (more expensive) makeup and paint will fluoresce more brightly, and have better coverage. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=107843&Q=&is=REG&A=details Alot of white fabric will fluoresce too (think about wearing a white shirt into a haunted house or head shop), but you'll want to test each item. Special black light makeup and paint will appear much brighter, and will offer the kind of colors you have in your example image. Hate to say it, but your effect will probably rely more on production design and makeup than a creative lighting setup--in most cases, you'll want your UV light to cover the subject in a pretty flat manner. I believe you can buy (preferably rent) UV tubes for most Kinos. Otherwise, there are LED fixtures you can rent (DJ and concert rental places will probably have better selection than a general production rental house). I'm afraid I don't have enough experience to recommend a lighting package item by item--I'd recommend tests with your makeup and fixtures to make sure you can get the exposure you need. Quality fixtures that are marketed to DJ's should have the output you need, and I've found the rental costs tend to be much lower. You may have to adapt these fixtures to work with standard film gear. Use other sources carefully--the fluorescent paints will not be able to overpower direct light from most traditional sources, and will probably make your monster look pretty ridiculous if too much ambient light washes out the black light. If you're short on money or time for tests, I suggest making up some swatches of paint and material, and bringing a still camera to the DJ rental place--ask to try out the fixtures, and take photos with settings approximately matching your shooting conditions. The movie "The Game" has some great scenes that mix traditional light with UV, it may give you an idea of what you can get away with. Hope that helps.

Ditto on suspending a sand bag or anything heavy, though I've been in situations (ie, fight scenes, or when some large object is dropped) where nothing seems to help. It's on my scouting cheat sheet now. I've yet to get the ok to just screw the floorboards to the joists a little tighter--but you can always throw some wood putty in your tool box just in case... if only I worked on enough projects with a set carpenter. I know some CNC machines that are vibration-sensitive are placed on neoprene pads when they can't be secured to a concrete foundation--I might toss some scraps in my kit and try it out sometime. That + sandbag or breeze block (which google tells me is aka a cinderblock here in the states?) could make the magic happen. Also, tell the director to stop bouncing on their heels during takes.

I would beg anyone who takes on this sort of project to release detailed designs under a creative commons license, ala Reprap 3D printers. Including directions for construction and technical drawings. I suspect the proliferation of this kind of machine would open up a few more art projects to shooting film. I wonder if 80/20 extrusion would be a good foundation for mounting the components?

Glad I'm in good company in keeping my reel more than a year out of date (soon to change, once a few more non corporate projects get out of post). Can I ask what was used for the keylight in the first frame (the CU of Robert Duvall)?

I found a plastic storage bin at Target with identical stacking "layers". I can't seem to find a photo online, but I'd bet any big box store with a housewares section would have something similar. The tabs that locked the layers together didn't hold very well, so I stuck on some adhesive velcro. I also made dividers out of corrugated plastic. This way, I can separate photofloods, CFL, candela bulbs, party bulbs, etc. It looks pretty nice, and didn't cost much.

Looks homemade to me, perhaps the AC just built it to suit his own taste. I do like the handle. The names on the slate are Italian--if it's a European production/crew, maybe it's a common preference. Not sure how you'd read the scene number though--I almost thought it was a binary digit.

Sorry to necropost, but if anyone is looking, I wanted to say thanks for the advice. We got into preproduction and the niceties of replying on the forum went out the window. Just went in to grade the film--despite using some older short ends, we were really pleased with how it came out.

TL;DR--the right clothing for a job. Sorry for the long post. I may be shooting a film in Thailand sometime in the next year (the producer is a good friend with a great track record, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up--funding for indie features being what it is). Pretty much the entire shoot will take place in a rice paddy with ankle deep water (a group of refugees are trapped in a mine field for much of the film). The producer knows the terrain, and says it'll be very hot and humid (I trust we'll be scheduling around the monsoon season, but I'm including quality rain gear in my must have list). Most tourist guides assume I'll be shopping on main street, not climbing around a rice paddy. We likely will not shoot during the hottest 3-4 hours in the middle of the day, but still--this is the tropics, probably during early Fall. So I'm looking for clothes to protect from sun, rain, insects, and water, and hold up under a lot of physical work. Hats and footwear are of special concern. I've found some hiking guides that help, but I'm looking for specific recommendations on hats, waterproof footwear, shirts, pants, etc. Also, any helpful items I'm missing. The part of the country we'd be visiting is fairly old fashioned. I've read that most Thai are pretty easygoing but I want to put my best foot forward. I've read shorts are considered sort of tacky (they denote physical laborers) but since I'll be doing physical labor, maybe that's not a problem? I'll have light, conservative clothes for city shooting and off days. My colleagues who grew up there will keep me from looking like a fool, but I'd like a non-local visitor's viewpoint as well. My girlfriend thinks this hat is stupid: http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/mens/mens-outerwear/mens-hats-mens-gloves/64108.aspx I could be away for as long as two months, so anything I bring has to be durable and washable. I don't want to look like an ignorant tourist, or a rich jerk. Simple is best. Other advice on working in this environment is welcome. Aside from learning a bit of the language, I need to: -look up proper vaccinations -get prescription sunglasses, ha -find a lightweight belt or harness to keep tools, lenses, and media out of the muck (I'll have an AC, but anything we can do to make our production lighter and easier to move about is a good thing--I'm sure we'll be hiking to some locations where carts will be impractical.

Inevitably we end up chasing terms that refer back to something else. Something lacks quality because it has no 'polish'. One film that uses a dated lighting style is innovative and insightful, while another is campy and gross. Figuring out which is which is obvious for people who are sensitive to those distinctions, but it's not so easy to say why. Not that these terms aren't useful, but they seem to work best when you're talking with someone who already shares your tastes--or while you're building that relationship. I think the same back and forth happens in any criticism (which is essentially what we're doing--separating what's good from what's not so good). I guess I've always liked art that can't be pigeonholed with straightforward language--I figure it means it's making some new wrinkles in your gray matter. Using lookbooks and movie nights with the director has always been the best way for me to hone in on the right look for a project--a critical conversation gets me into the neighborhood, and fooling around with pictures gets me to the front door.