Sol Train Saihati

Hello. Kino do indeed make super blue tubes. They're not absolutley essential, but it usually makes the compositor very happy if you can get hold of them! They're usually the same price as regular tubes too.... Lighting Blue/Green Screen is no sweat, but I always try and use them if I can. Good Luck.

Haha! I got singled out! Seriously though, as much comfort as I take in general anonymity, it is not that reason alone that many of us wish to remain unnamed. I am sincerely sorry that a large degree of our more senior members take such offence to this, although despite the reasons listed here, I honestly don't understand why you find posting in this way so objectionable. However the fact is: you do consider anonymous posting to be "disrespectful", so out of respect for the forum and it's members I will reluctantly change my unsociable ways... Temporarily at least.

(on a side note) I believe Wally Pfister ASC pushed 5218 one stop for a lot of Batman Begins. I saw it the other day on the big screen and thanks partially to a great screen print (and a world class post team) the film looked spectacular, "Extraordinary" in his own words. Here we are: http://www.theasc.com/magazine/june05/batman/index.html Considering it was a push, the look was very sharp and incredibly clean. I've pushed 5279 aplenty, always accepting that a noticeable increase in grain was the price we had to pay, although with Vision 2 stocks perhaps the toll is not quite so costly. Have not seen 7218 pushed yet, although with 7279 I generally leave a push for emergencies only :D , always with a massive increase in grain and a considerable loss of detail. Although its definitely a "look".

Watch Cinema Paradiso. Take a few days to process what you have just seen. Then try and watch it again with one eye on the cinematography(which isn't easy as you are bound to get caught up in the story again). A Masterclass on how to light a cinema. The last scene is simply breathtaking, pulls at the heartstrings of anyone working in this industry.

I have shot in many bars in london using almost entirely natural light, often just wacking in a china ball to supplement it. Mind you, only the posh ones are usually well lit enough to get away with this. Like Tomaas mentioned, it really depends on the type of scene it is and its place in the story of your film, as well as how this scene fits into your movie overall. These considerations will empower you to narrow down your approach and subsequently allow us to offer a little more advice. As far as film stock goes 500T is a good choice and will allow your to shoot in low light situations with some fast primes, but may look a bit grainy without a decent grade. Hit your potential locations and have a walk around with a light meter too. You may find that it will make a lot of decisions for you. :huh:

Predator - 400+ times... And that ain't no joke. Funny enough that film doesn't even make my top 100. :blink: The Big Lebowski has had a screening about once a week since it was released on DVD. As far as cinema movies go - in the UK its just tooo damn expensive to go more than a couple of times (@ £9 a pop) unless its at the Prince Charles.

Dat is old news - Md is not the way to go for too many reasons to list, most of which are highlighted above: Like the man says, the future is now! http://www.hhb.co.uk/hhb/uk/products/detail.asp?ID=1521 With Radio Mics, accessories, a boom and alternative Microphones you may not quite come in on budget but in the long term you'll save yourself some money on Dat tapes at least. Good Luck!

Don't forget "Beat Street". :D

Anything is possible.

The main issue here is your leighway with exposure. Usually you can overexpose by two stops and still easily bring the picture back in telecine, however with a BB (taking the stock at ~ twice the speed) this kind of overexposure may leave you without enough information to provide a healthy neg. Play it safe, shoot tests, tests, tests! Make-up, lighting styles, exposure, set design, tungsten, daylight, HMI, flouro, different stocks, different labs - as much as you can afford. If you're thinking of going for a BB, you have to be certain to do it as accurately and scientifically as possible in order to get the results you want; because on the neg..... There's no turning back baby! :D

Vittorio Storaro on ICG chat: Frank: Vittorio, what do you feel was your best photographed picture? Vittorio Storaro: This is a question that has been posed to me several times. Vittorio Storaro: First of all, I would like to make clear, I can't do photography on film. I can do cinematography. Because photography is an expression in one single image. And cinematography is writing with light and movement. This is exactly what we are doing.

Essentially it prevents light sources from shining directly into the lens, thus preventing lens flare. It usually doubles up as filter holder too. :lol: Thats about it!

Miniature bottles of whiskey.

1000 US!? That's not bad if you rent! If I'm right in roughly translating dollars to pounds 1:1, then you can get a thoroughly decent pacakge. This depends on the length of the shoot tho. Knowing nothing whatsover about the look you're going for(!), I would go for something like this: 1 x Dedo 150 kit (4 x 150 w heads) w/ soft box 1 x Dedo 400D (HMI) w/ soft box 2 x Arri 300 - Tungsten 2 x Arri 650 - Tungsten 2 x Arri 1k - Tungsten 1 x Kino Flo 4ft 4 bank w/ tungsten + daylight tubes 2 x Paper Chinese Lanterns with 350w bulbs and fixtures (Checked by qualified Spark) Basic Flag + Silk Kit Stands for all lights + a few extra C-Stands + Arms You could probably get away with a small assortment of gels and diffusion for free if you ask nice too. :blink: Polestyrene Board (To Bounce with) - Size as is ergonomic That little lot would probably bring you in on, or under budget and allow enough for a few practical fixtures as well. It should cover all your basic needs and you can plug most of these lights into standard house sockets - (not all of course at once!) It's money well spent and will translate accordingly well onto film (S16?). The 400D's are small HMI's with quite a bit of punch so they'll cover daylight situations well for a small wattage lamp. I'm not sure you would want to try lighting large exteriors with that budget (Eg city streets), as it will certainly involve hiring a generator unless you're close to an available power outlet. This will push your budget way up, not to mention the need to hire larger lights. The best thing would be to get out there with a lightmeter and do some extensive scouting. With modern day stocks you can sometimes shoot night exteriors with natural light, a la Lost in Translation. Try and deal with a lighting house who will give you a demo of a few of the fixtures so you can pick and mix a bit. They should also offer 1st class service and free advice by the bucketload. If at any point they are inhospitable go somewhere else: it seems you are not too far from a major city centre, they should have half a dozen rental houses. I'm sure some one will pipe in with some Carolina contacts! :D Obviously we could toss this around the board till February, any questions - post em up! Glad to help. Did I miss anything out guys?

Vision 2 is a menace. Unless I manipulate the image in post I can rarely get the results I'm looking for. Straight from the camera, the picture is often washed out and flat, even when lighting for contrast. I know we'll probably get used to the idea of shooting for post, but I always loved the idea that I could get the look I wanted in-camera and these newer stocks are often preventing me from doing that. I'm old school. Bring back Vision 1.

I agree with almost all of the above. If you have the opportunity, try and get a look a the camera in person, maybe even shoot a few hundred feet of film with in. Spend a while running some gash stock through it to check for speed consistency and to see if it doesn't straight up eat the stock! If you have the means, you could also spend a few hours running some clean, exposed print stock through it over and over again, then project that same stock onto a on a big screen. It's a great way to check for scratch damage and how much general wear and tear goes through on the film. If you're spending money on the camera, you have the right to put it through some pretty rigorous test procedures, so don't feel as though you're not in a position to ask. A recent service history is also a Brucie Bonus. :blink: They are absolutely great cameras... Good Luck!

I've got a lot of love for mid-close-ups on a 35mm Zeiss. Not too flat, but just long enough to flatter.

What's your estimated budget mate? Thats a pretty large factor in the equation unfortuanately.

If you're on 35mm then should'nt be much of a problem, however if it's 16mm it may start to edge toward the grainy side, but then again 16mm 500T is usually a bit grainy anyways... :D Respect due for shooting in natural light, it takes a lot of balls to walk onto a location/set and tell the sparks to put all the lights back in the truck. I'm sure that many of our peers (especially those who shot on 16ASA stocks) would have jumped at the chance to try it. I may start a riot by saying this, but Lost in Translation is without doubt one of the most beautifully shot films I have ever seen and often lit without extraneous sources. Who needs digital to see into the dark, when stocks and lenses are getting this good?

Personally I now flat out refuse shooting in apartments with white walls, even if it means going in there two days before we shoot and painting them myself! Can't think of anything worse than two people sitting on a sofa in front of a white wall, it's a photographic and compositional nightmare and I have fallen into that trap more than once. Get the production designer in, or alternatively convince the money spender that it's worth every penny spent on a few cans of approrpiately coloured paint and maybe borrow the odd mirror or painting from someone. You should think about a small HMI positioned outside the window as a key moonlight source, effectively lighting the entire scene, then under expose it by about a stop. The Shawshank redemption is a pretty good example, some of the images in the cells are unbelievable, the exposure is exactly on the line between seeing nothing and seeing just enough... Deakins! Getting a 3/4 stop exposure difference will be very tricky, unless your scene is set in a big city with a naturally high light level outside, but even then you would probably have to supplementarily light the exterior. Could you tell us a bit more about the scene?

Shot a club scene at 150fps the other day and one of the kinos was flickering like damn strobe. Turned out the effect wasn't all that unpleasant, but in the future I will ensure we have have ballasts in a decent state (if that is the cause)? I foolishly thought "flicker free" meant flicker free.

Thanks for the help all, much appreciated and educational as always. Does anyone have a link to that post, I remember reading it, but can't find it anywhere in the HD category... Seeing as this film is intended for a 35mm blow up and being shot for the big screen, everyone on board feels it is critical to go with the finest glass available (for the money), namely one of the Primo Zooms. Unless I'm mistaken, there is not a zoom lens in the world which can come close enough to resolving a single pixel, although Panavision's range is without doubt the closest I'm sure. I must admit however, that this advice was taken from Paul Wheeler BSC, noteworthy cinematographer, writer, teacher (and former Head of Panavision's Digital Technology Department). :lol: Between you and me, Panavision may be willing to give us an exceptional deal on this package as we are shooting in January, one of their quieter months. (They are also willing to throw us 5 days in a prep room and Panavision Greenford, where we can pick and mix equipment from the various departments at will!) If they do start to get arsy we will indoubtedly go to one of the smaller houses and probably opt for a Canon zoom. I'm happy to say that we don't have any really close quarter work in the mix, although some steadicam shots may be on the cards, is the zoom set-up really that unmanageable for an operator? We may be able to budget for a couple of wider primes for a week or so, which could see us through I suppose? :huh: Many thanks again for the information, advice and recommendations, but mostly for your time.

Build a barracks for the camera out of C-Stands, Flag Arms, Black Drape and Flags. Cut a small square hole in one piece of the black cloth to stick the camera through. Will post stills after contributing to forum, pics are too bloody big.

Working on a HD feature in the upcoming months and we're slowly putting together our camera package, built around a Panavised Cine-Alta F-900 and an 8-72mm Primo Zoom. Bearing in mind we're on an incredibly tight budget (no money for primes!) , what accessories, standard or otherwise, would you usually request to have on an HD shoot? Tripod wise, we may be willing to go for an all in one video - or is a better idea to go for separate head and legs (The f-900 isn't exactly a lightweight). Our list right now also has a briefcase dolly on it, but I'm not sure if it's the way to go. What would you recommend as the next step up, something with the flexibilty of say, a small Fisher, but without the expense? I'm all for the elemack spider myself... PS. I know there was a post put up some time ago with each person's preferences for a HD kit list, but I'll be damned if I can find it. :blink:

Where are you based mate? USA?