Sol Train Saihati

Got a shoot coming up and I'm trying to work out my photometrics- although one variable is missing from my equations: how many stops does bleached muslin take off?! Simple answer - depends on how thick it is. Does anyone have experience with the AFM Lighting bleached muslin? Its pretty thick... We're shooting on ISO 160 stock and I'm looking to get a 4/5.6 split with the source around 30ft away from the subject through a frame about 20 ft away. Im hoping that 4 x 10kW fresnels through a 20 x 20 will do it? What do you reckon? We're on a tight budget so I'm trying to get my estimate as close as possible to save us on lamps/dimmers/cables/stands we dont absolutely need.

At a tremendous mark-up... That's a Wrap are a nice company to deal with and offer free same-day delivery to the London area, although in all honesty, it still probably better to get as much as you can from non "film" companies.

Does anyone have any exposure profiles for this meter for the more common digital cameras or any film stocks? Just for a point of reference really...

Total budget would also be also be a good indicator - it's all relative.

Simple question: Is it necessary to open the aperture when shooting slow motion on digital formats?

Some interesting stuff here from Tom Stern regarding small room situations, particularly about paints, glazing, incident angles etc... Hope it helps: Tom Stern Q&A - Kodak On Film Interview Is he ASC yet!?

Right on man.

I'm sure he'd be willing to share the wealth - shoot him a PM?

Friend o mine posted this up a while back: http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...c=11093&hl= Usefull No?!

It's a new year, time to buy a new lightmeter. Was just about to hit the purchase button with a 558C in my shopping basket when... Wait! What's this? A new Sekonic on the scene with some kind of USB black magic function? Hmmm... I'm sceptical. I would hope that I have a better working knowledge of the stock that I'm using than my lightmeter does. Has anyone had a chance to put one of these meters on trial? I'm particularly interested and slightly concerned about the Exposure Profiling features. Isn't this all a bit pointless, considering you have to run a series of tests just to calibrate these settings? Again, I think I would rather use my brain to calculate how to expose a scene in order to obtain the look I'm going for, basing my decisions on real-life experience and technical expertise rather than let a piece of electronic wizardry do it for me. I imagine that over/under exposure will result in some manner of noise-making warning siren emitting a high pitched shrieking sound, to provide warning of approaching danger and indicating when the danger has passed. Most importantly, is it really worth splitting with an extra £150 for this information? Somehow I doubt it, however Sekonic seem to be putting the much loved 558C to bed so I guess we're soon to be without a choice. Don't tell me that going with your gut is not an option anymore? Everyone must watch out they don't lose any detail in the shadows or highlights, or else the producers/directors sitting in grading suites will throw their toys out of the pram. Although I'm open minded to new technology... Is lighting for the grade the destiny of our artform? I guess my ranting is fuelled by the frustration that this way of thought seems to be so set-in-stone, that it is now beginning to influence our future technologies.

Happy New Year all, :D Does anyone have any good designs/ideas for a constructing Batten Strips?

A couple of lil questions... What are your shoot dates? What format are you shooting on? Is the position still open?

Just came off a short shot on xdcam... As much as I slated the camera when I first heard about it, I have to say that the results we got were pretty unbeleivable.. Excellent colour rendition and outstanding detail are just the a few of the things I could list. For the film we were shooting(A grimy British kitchen sink drama), it could hardly have looked any better. More than once we found ourselves saying "I dont understand how it looks so good." It's biggest asset is that in combination with a well calibrated high-res monitor, the gamma controls can be tweaked scene by scene to get very close to the final look you're going for in-camera, thus potentially saving money on post costs. The only thing missing is the latitude. Now I know thats a pretty big thing to be missing, but its definitely a "look", and matched with the appropriate lighting and production design its possible to attain beatiful high contrast images. IMHO its streets ahead of Digibeta, the HVX and pretty much anything up to the 750 and the Varicam, but I suppose you would expect that for your twenty grand. All I can say is, stick a half decent lens on it and don't knock it till you've tried it. Will post up some stills ASA.

Information on Michael Mann's sudden insanity. http://www.studiodaily.com/main/careers/4446.html "Company 3 scanned and manipulated HD and film footage for Collateral at 1K resolution because it was the right aesthetic." Personally I think the look is absolutely shocking. Why not just shoot on Digibeta and transfer to bloody VHS, save himself a couple of hundred thousand dollars? Oh dear, I may have just encouraged a slew of furious replies with that last comment...

An absolute second. If its not in your budget to hire a fully qualified spark for a day to tie in, then find another solution to your problem that does not involve dealing with bare, live, high voltage electricity cables.

As with Collateral the digital footage is probably inexplicably downconverted via a 1K transfer. Who can say why?

Right on Phil... Haha! Middle aged cop wakes up in the morning, wearing the same clothes he had on last night, next to half a bottle of Jack Daniels and a picture of his ex wife.

JJ Abrams is a scientologist.... Just saying, might be more than a coincidence.

Hello All. I've just been brought on to shoot a 16mm short on an Aaton XTR Prod with 2 ANGENIEUX Paris Zoom Lenses, 10-57mm and 12-150mm I believe. I was a little aprprehensive about shooting solely with zooms, although the budget is non existent so we're gonna have to do the best with what we have. One of my main conerns is the amount of light lost at the long end of the lenses. The both open up to about a 2/2.2 at the wide end, but I have no idea how much they can open up at any given focal length! Can anyone shed a little light on this? No pun intended... Sleepless nights about underexposure ahead. :ph34r:

When we've been unable to get hold of source 4 theatre spots, or just don't want to, we always turn to Dedos. The 650 tungsten is awesome - although if you're any real distance from the subject, say more then 6 meters, you probably won't get the effect you want as you won't be at a high enough stop. The 400 HMI is equally good and has a bit more belt, with a beautifully even spot to it. A projection attatchment is available for both if you need a real tight beam. The real bonus to using these heads is their versatility, as they can be also used for a variety of scenes outside the particular one your shooting. They should be readily available in Germany too. And no, I don't work for dedo.

I'VE GOT A LOAD LEFT OVER FROM THE LAST SHOOT I WAS ON. PM me and we can work something out... Live in London but in Paris at the mo. How soon do you need it?

Good post! Does anyone have any links to knot tying sites? An essential skill for any Gaffer/Grip...

Since the D:20's been around for a while I was wondering if anyone knew an approximate daily/weekly hire rate for body and neccessary accessories? Just how much more expensive is it than hiring a 900

Vera Drake... Diagetic Music Only I think? I also remember hearing that the actors were encouraged to hum any fitting music that came to them, as they saw fit.

Don't mean to blur this post into negativity, but the Odeon Leicester Sq, London now sells tickets for £20 - $34.89 and it costs about the same again for popcorn, drinks etc... Going to the cinema in London is becoming so prohibitive for most people that the more common option would be to buy the DVD from the net and lend it to out anyone who's interested in seeing it. Whatsmore, in London a film like this would certainly not be on General Release and would have a limited exhibition period, meaning it would only be available to a select few. I absolutely not in favour of this multiple release strategy, but surely this scheme is beneficial to those who would have to wait six to eight months to see the film anyway?