James Malamatinas

I was wondering if anyone had advice on best practice for digital camera reports. I've worked on a number of digital productions and thus far all of the reporting methods have been completely different, ranging from; nothing, to basic scene and take numbers, to full details of every shot. Is there a common reporting system used by larger budget films? I'm aware that there will be some variation depending on director or DoP and the info they want. One thing I have noticed is that the DIT guys generally keep a very detailed spreadsheet of all of the cards and clips so, what I generally do is give them the following info: Per Card - Card/Roll Number Per Clip - Clip Name - Slate - Scene - Take - Lens - T-Stop And any notes of course. I generally put some sticky tape on the back of my clapperboard and keep a note on this so that when we reload the card I just rip the tape off and stick it over the card case and hand it to the DIT. If I do this however I do not complete a negative-style report, like you would for film. Am I doing things right? Anyone have other tips?

Thanks for your advice Tom, what you said re-enforced much of what I had been told by friends who have existing commercial experience, and as you point out the question can be answered so many ways depending on the type of shoot it is! Eitherway I'd like to make sure I can prepare myself for a someone like Bruce and be ready to impress. The shoot was today and I managed not to fall asleep! I thought things went well, there wasn't a huge volume of complex shots, no VFX (apart from some plate shots) or multiple camera takes. It definitely felt like there was a nice, quick pace when shooting but there were still the usual lulls when setting up at the start of the day and between set-ups. My 1st was great and helped me out with anything I didn't know. like a few slating terms I hadn't come across (Cable Plates?). I also came into contact with a video mixer for the first time (although I wasn't operating it) - amazing stuff, I didn't even know they existed on-set like that. Looking forward to hopefully doing more in the future, thanks again.

Hey, I'm 2nd AC'ing on my first commercial later this week and I was wondering if there is a difference in the way that they are shot and in turn, is there anything I should be aware of having only worked on features and shorts? I have that the tempo can be quite a bit quicker, but aside from that is there a differance? Thanks in advance

Hey George, The most obvious one is Adobe Flash Professional CS 5.5 however that can be pricey. A cheaper alternative is SwishMax4, this is by all accounts really good and almost comparable to Flash Professional. I should mention that depending on what you are doing it may be worth doing your project in HTML 5. Although Flash is still wildly popular there is definitely a serious transition to replacing it with HTMl5 currently underway. Hope this helps. James

Thanks for the replies, I had Panchro in my floor bag but hadn't tried it to clean the disks. Worked brilliantly! Very useful tip about slating and the permanent marker too - until now I have used tape to write information that is going to be on the slate all day but I think using permanent is much cleaner and saves tape. I love all these little tricks you can pick up to make your life easier, cheers guys!

Just wondering what people use to get marks of follow focus disks? I occasionally find it really tough to get some marks off, or even when they do come off they leave smears over the disk. Does anyone have a fool-proof, quick way of cleaning the disks?

The shoot went really well, was great to get a chance to work with film at last. I had loaded during some work experience at Panavision so I knew how to load and download, but I was a little nervous going to set about not wanting to mess up on my first shoot! In the end I didn't have to do either but there were some mags and dummy rolls there so I spent more time practising inbetween down periods, I feel pretty confident now and would be very happy doing it on a future shoot. I was mainly there to help the 1st AC with the kit, swing lenses, slate and so forth. I was also givent he chance to do the camera reports which was another good thing to learn, I had read about it in 'The Camera Assistant's Manual' so I already had an idea of what to expect. The only other thing that was different was the labelling of magazines and film cans which are obviously not done in the same way with digital. Chris, the shoots I'd done up to now have all been digital and it has been lower budget work where, even when I've bought it up with the DoP and asked if I should do the reports they have said don't bother. It was nice working on film where everything is obviously that bit more efficient and professional! I'm keen to work on some more film work but with the kind of work I'm getting at the moment it is pretty rare. Thanks for the tips everyone. James

Hi, I have been given my first opporunity to work on a film (rather than digitial) produciton tomorrow as the 2nd AC. Although I have AC'd for a while now it has until now only been on digital so I wanted to get some advice on the main differances and things that I may need to differently, or things I won't have done with digital. I should point out that I won't necessarily actually be loading, I have only done this in a test room thus far and the production is short on stock so they haven't said that I will actually have to load, my role will be more assisting the first AC. There may however be time to try loading in the morning if everything is not too rushed. I'm slightly concerned about: - Camera reporting and keeping accurate notes on each shot. With digital I've noticed this isn't a common request these days and people skip reporting quite often. - Marking up film cans correctly, processing sheets and so forth - Slating; is there a different procedure with film at all, or are there any additions you might need to make to a clapperboard which are film specific (similar to PU, AFS or MOS) ? I have worked as a runner on a film production before so I have some idea on how much more profressional the set exprience is i.e. so as not to waste film stock and so forth. My main concern is making sure I do a good job as 2nd. The camera is an Arri 435. Thanks in advance for advice.

I just wanted to chime in and say thanks to everyone that gave advice. The shoot is over now and it was very, very useful - I definitely managed to do a better job than without the advice. Just to confirm a few things that I experienced: The distance marks on the lens were accurate BUT they were few and far between, I think it was 3, 5 and 10 feet which meant that I ended up having to make more marks on the tape than I would have liked. There wasn't time to mark up tape all the time so I simply used eye marks as suggested. To help with marking the tape I; made sure I marked close focus so that I could always reset the lens back to this for each shot. The focus on the lens has no end stops so you simply have to rotate the focus ring until your close focus mark matches up - remember to rotate the correct way! To try and distinguish between marks with more clarity, and to avoid having to change tape so often I used various coloured pens for different set-ups (where necessary). I did however have lots of strips of tape already cut so that I could change the cluttered tape when needed. Wrapping several bits of tape on the barrel at once can save time, once the top tape is too cluttered simply peel it off and there is another below. On this lens the f-stop was f4.0 so depth of field wasn't as much of a nightmare as it could have been but, as some have said the focus mechanism on the lens is not precise compared to cine lens so to make minor adjustments can be pretty difficult. One side-effect of doing it is that you can end up shaking the camera because you are always touching the lens. You can try and only bring your hand to the focus ring when an adjustment is made but this can invariably cause a bigger shake when your hand comes back into contact with the lens. Overall, it was a good learning experience given that I'm pretty new to focus pulling and it definitely help me develop my distance judging.

Hey Guys, Just a quick post in a bit of a rush. Saw this new technology article and thought it may interest some of you. Make sure you click parts of each images to refocus! Light Field Technology If such technology progresses as quickly as digital sensors did what sort of impact do you think it will make on our industry? Currently it seems limited to stills but it will only be a matter of time... James

Sorry, I was getting confused, to ask it slightly differently. What advice would you recommend for marking the tape/barrel to avoid getting too many marks on the tape and having to redo the tape so often. Unfortunatley my distance judging is not good enough yet to use ft marks alone! Also, does the fact that the lens extends not affect the tape marks or, because it is from the focal plane it does not matter? The focus on the lens also has no end points, what is the easiest way of matching the marks on the tape back up with the lens? Cheers for the advice, im still very much learning as you can tell.

Hey, got a shoot in the morning and we are working on the canon 5d with the 24-105mm zoom lens. I will be pulling focus without a follow focus so have to mark up the barrel. My preferred method is wrapping some tape around the lens and then putting set distances on the tape. This would however require a new bit of tape for the various focal lengths between 24 and 105 since the focus marks would for one focal length would not be accurate for all the others. Is there a more sensible efficient way of doing this, I have googled but cannot find anything so feel I be may be missing the point completely?! Any advice in the next 6 hours would be much appreciated. Thanks, James

With all the recent discussion of higher frame rates I have seen a couple of places which have indicated that footage shot at higher frame rates would not play properly, or maybe at all, if loaded on to DVDs or Blu-Rays, there was not however any reason given for this. Can anyone explain why this is? I assume that the reason is related to the increase in data for higher frame rate footage and that it probably causes more problems with DVDs than Blu-Rays, is this right?

Thanks everyone for all of your advice, I maybe made things slightly confusing with the 'natural' light term, I just mean't available light, I guess! We will definitely try and get some lights, at the very least to try and lift the shadows from the actors eyes; I think the suggested kino-flo mini or battery powered LED lights might be the best option since we will be running and gunning at times. We can also use our cars for some power. As for noise/grain, we were expecting some so that is not a huge problem as its part of the 'look' of the short. From our tests however above 800 ISO becomes very noticable so we will try to avoid going this high where possible. Thanks for the advice about careful clothing choices and wetting down where possible, these are things I would probably have learned the hard way! Although long takes are not planned, is it correct that once the Canon's warm up after constant use more noise can be found in the image, is it noticeable enough that we should be thinking of trying to cool the camera down in some way? If all goes well I'll post a clip of the results late next week.

I'm working on an upcoming student project where they will be shooting on a 7D, at night, using only street lights and natural lighting. We have done a very brief test just to see how it might look, this was spare of the moment when we scouting a location so quality is poor! Can anyone make recommendations on how to best approach this kind of shoot, including any cheap (it is student!) equipment that you think may really benefit the shoot if we were possible to get hold of a select few items. Although there was the expected grain in the footage from shooting at ISO 800 and higher the image also seemed softer, is their a relationship between a softer image and low-light shooting? I know this is kind of vague but I'm really looking for tips that would make our lives easier! Thanks in advance for your thoughts. James

Hi, I'm a London-based camera assisant (credits here: Profile. I've worked with several digital cameras including the RED One, however I have actually just completed work experience for Panavision UK where I learned about working with film cameras including loading, threading and so forth. I'm currently looking to use this knowledge on an actaul shoot and would like to offer my services to anyone searching for a trainee, second AC, loader or just a helping hand on any upcoming or current projects. My contact details are below: James Malamatinas jamesm@torg.co.uk +44 (0) 7814 024 762

Fixed it, thanks.

Very interesting conversation with Roger Deakins below: Roger Deakins: Digital vs 35mm Will leave opinion to you guys; I'm worried about starting another film vs. digital thread - there is enough of those on here! EDIT: Fixed link. Thanks John.

Thanks for the response Brian. At the moment I am only really focusing on AC'ing, whilst I am working on some small personal projects the vast majority of my energy is going into learning as much as I can about AC'ing both on and off shoots. At the same time if there was a possibility of working there for longer I don't think I could say no given the training I would get - it could only help with being an AC in the long run! One of the goals for my time there, and the main reason I contacted Panavision in the first place, is to get some experience loading and working with film cameras. I have to date only worked with digital cameras and formats which I think is a big disadvantage despite the rise in digital cameras. As you rightly said though, it will also be a perfect place for meeting and talking to other ACs and DOPs, this is another aspect I definitely intend to take advantage of. I've started out by downloading the list of cameras they rent out and I'm just familiarising myself with them as much as possible.

Hi all, Apologies in advance, if this isn't the right thread please move it as necessary - I thought it should be here or Camera Assistants but might get the best response here! Anyway, I'm a camera assistant who started out just under a year ago and recently I've been offered a great opportunity to spend a week doing work experience at Panavision UK. I realise how lucky I am to be in this position and don't want to waste my time there, instead I want to make sure I make the very most of it. I am not sure what I will be doing or how involved it will be but I was hoping some of you may have advice on what I should learn, or anything else I can do to make my time their more fruitful. In addition to learning for myself I am also aiming to make a good impression with them in case there any additional opportunities in the future. I thought one way of maximising my time there is to brush up on the basic understanding I may need e.g. learn about the cameras Panavision rent and their accompanying equipment, this would mean they do not have to waste time explaining things to me. Does this sound like a good place to start? Cheers.

Thank you for your reply, I had actually come across that shortly after posting - just as you suggested I might! This leads me to wonder; do people that make clips such as those above, that use clips from a larger sequence have to find the larger sequence and then store than on their computer or are there places to get just the clips. Using the above video as an example, the editor would have to have about approx 100 full length feature films on their hard drive just for that one project, this seems slightly excessive. Are their video banks that make this kind of thing more manageable?

I'm beginning to get into editing so that I can study the techniques and possibilities. To help me do this however I would like to be able to use stock video footage and in particular film clips. Are there resources, preferably free whilst I'm starting out, which you guys can recommend for this. For example, if I wanted to edit a compilation of the history of cinema like this youtube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtOD6PpDyXk, where could I go to get all of those clips? Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

Posted this as part of another post elsewhere but this seems more appropriate. Is the slating procedure in the UK completely different from America? We do not have 'Five Apple - Take 1' etc instead we use the 'Scene [xx] -> Shot [xx] - Take [xx]' format, or at least that is all I have known. Is there a reason for the difference? We use the standard calls for all other slating procedures e.g. second sticks, pick-up, MOS, tail slate and so forth?

Your question have been answered pretty comprehensively but thought I'd add my 2 cents since I'm in the exact same situation at the moment having just invested in AC kit this past week. I'd done 6-8 shoots over the last 6 months, as both 1st and 2nd AC before I decided it was worth buying my own kit. But I got the following: Floorbag Clapper & Sticks Misc Marker Pens Kleen slate board eraser 2inch Black Gaffer Tape 1inch cloth/paper tape Leatherman Tape Measure Allen Keys T-Bar Screwdriver Croc Clips Cable Ties D-Ring (useful for hanging tape and other things from belt hook) Magna-lite (magnifying glass/torch combination) I also invested in cleaning kit: Pancro Lens Fluid Lens Tissue Lens Cloth Lens Spray Air Spray I read the Elkin book too and found it very useful. I actually read it before starting AC'ing which was good, but re-reading after having actually AC'd was far more useful and helpful. On a side note, is the slating procedure in the UK completely different from America? We do not have 'Five Apple - Take 1' etc instead we use the 'Scene [xx] -> Shot [xx] - Take [xx]' format, or at least that is all I have known. Is there a reason for the difference? We use the standard calls for all other slating procedures e.g. second sticks, pick-up, MOS, tail slate and so forth?

It wasn't so much the technology itself I was getting at, as you said I completely agree with the 'digital is just another tool' sentiment - for that reason exactly I think it is worth tracking these developments to see what sort of 'tool' these cameras are i.e. how they can serve a shoot, their benefits/disadvantages etc. My original post however was more interested in whether or not this is a big or small step towards a time when film becomes a minority format. Obviously that time is quite a way off but with the digital cameras improving all the time I find it fascinating seeing how the landscape changes with these new developments.