Robert Edge

I guess it depends on what one means by the phrase "artistic masterpiece". For myself, when I use the word "masterpiece" to describe a work by Michelangelo or van Gogh, I kind of gag at using the same word to describe every film that has won an Academy Award for Best Picture back to 1930. And if I'm going to do that, I probably have to use the same word to describe every film that has won Best Foreign Film. For me, at least, there's a point when the word becomes meaningless. If pressed, I suppose that I might apply the word to Citizen Kane. Anyone remember what year the Academy, showing its ability to appreciate highly original, important work, awarded Citizen Kane the Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Cinematography, Art Direction, Editing, Sound and Score?

Cool. I had a look at Ansel Adams's Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs, his The Negative and Galen Rowell's Mountain Light. In Examples, Adams talks about how he shot Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico (1941, 8x10) and Moon and Half Dome (1960, Hasselblad). The discussion is too detailed to repeat here, except to mention that he says that the luminence of the moon is approximately 250c/ft squared. He also talks about Moonrise, Hernandez in The Negative at p. 126-7. Rowell, in Mountain Light, talks about several of his landscapes that feature a full or crescent moon. The index is not very good, so it helps to flip through the book for the photos and then read the accompanying text. Both Adams and Rowell talk about how bright the moon is and the tradeoff/balance between detail in the moon and detail in the landscape. Rowell says that if you overexpose the moon to get detail in the landscape, it helps visually if there are clouds in the sky or if the moon is crescent, both of which ensure that the photo doesn't look like someone punched a circular hole in it with a paper punch. James, I'd like to try this myself during a shoot this summer, so if you go ahead rather than elect to do a composite, I'd be very interested in reading any comments you have after your own shoot.

You may already know Ansel Adams's Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, but if not, you may find it worth looking at. Adams made it on the spur of the moment, on his 8x10, and it is one of his most popular photographs. Also, Galen Rowell (who unfortunately died along with his wife in an accident four years ago) made some beautiful photographs that are not closeups of the moon, but include it as part of the composition. I have a book in which Adams talked about how he made Moonrise, and I have one of Rowell's books. I'll have a look at them tonight to see if they contain any useful tips about shooting the moon.

Hello again, There is a lot of information on the net about photographing the moon, both on photography and astronomy sites. For example, here are a couple of pages from photo.net: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-..._id=00FICW&tag= http://www.photo.net/learn/nature/sunmoon As David West points out, the issue, especially if you also want a person in the shot, is whether you will get a scale that is adequte to your visual needs/expectations.

Sounds like you are shooting around April 13/14. Go to http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/. You will find a calculator for times under the heading Rise/Set/Transit/Twilight Data and a calculator for position under the heading Positions of Selected Celestial Objects. You may find that some of the other data accessible from the page is also useful.

You might also be interested in reading these threads: http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...showtopic=10998 http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...showtopic=10999 http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...972entry85972

In case you are interested, I just put new CR123s into the camera. The initial read was 12.4v, which is what you predicted. The read while the camera was running was 10.9v-11.2v, mostly 11.2v. The read after the camera was stopped was 11.7v.

If you guys get a chance to see the BBC/Arte documentary French Beauty, don't pass up the opportunity. It's a fun film, and implicitly raises the provocative question of whether the film industry, at the high end, is essentially a marketing platform for the luxury goods industries, especially the fashion industry. How's this for a thought... Karl Lagerfeld and Vera Wang and the women they dress are more important to the success of the Academy Awards, as an event, than the Stephen Spielbergs and the Jack Nicholsons and a bunch of cinematographers that nobody has ever heard of. Find the next Marilyn Munroe and watch the ratings go through the roof. Meanwhile, God save us from George Clooney and his lectures, especially the ones that he thinly disguises as a motion picture.

You mean like Crash and the other four films nominated for Best Film, which combined grossed less than Chronicles of Narnia? I agree with you that the Academy Awards are "a bit superficial". They are supposed to be. People who think that the Academy Awards are about the evaluation of art should spend a day at Cannes during its festival (heavily underwritten, as you no doubt know, by a cosmetics company). Myself, I'm taking a completely chauvinist perspective on this year's Academy Awards. A Canadian produced and wrote Crash, a Canadian company produced/distributed Capote and both Capote and Brokeback Mountain were shot in Canada. Love it... P.S. Have a look at the list of Nobel Prize winners in literature. The Nobel Committee has had a remarkable talent, in hindsight, for getting it wrong. The same is true of the Pulitzer and the Booker. As Mr. Mullen says, in the long term it is about the work, not the awards. The great thing about the people who run big film award shows (whether the show runs for a night or a week), unlike their literary counterparts, is that they know that they are dead in the water unless they take a back seat to the fashion industry.

One thing to add... The ASC letters that claim to give current subscribers a special offer to renew come complete with endorsements by ASC members. In my case, I have received two letters, one endorsed by John Flinn, ASC, the other endorsed by Robbie Greenberg, ASC. The truth is that the letters are false. There is nothing special about the renewal offer. The remaining question is whether Messrs. Flinn and Greenberg want to explain their support of the ASC's conduct.

Yesterday, I renewed my subscription to American Cinematographer for four years. Today, I received a second letter from the Society, offering me a "special Clubhouse Offer" to renew, backed up with the profile/endorsement of an ASC member, that is again no different from the offer that the ASC makes to anyone who may subscribe. I have asked the ASc to send my subscription to my US address, which is quite a lot cheaper than sending it to Canada, because I figure that there is still a chance that I may be able to transfer, at some point, to a digital subscription that both meets my needs and is transparent.

Charles, What I know is that the camera runs on 12v and all of the rechargeable CR123 batteries that I can identify deliver, when there are four of them, closer to 13v. If I wanted to power a flashlight, I wouldn't hesitate to use these batteries. Given that I want to power a camera that is worth quite a lot money, I'm less keen to play Benjamin Franklin. I don't even understand why the rechargeable CR123 batteries that I can find don't deliver a stable charge. I will be speaking with the manufacturer of the camera this week about purchasing a time code product and I'll probably ask, during our discussion, whether the camera electronics will fry if the voltage hits 13v. I HAVE come across a suggestion on the internet, on a wilderness camping site, that there exists a stable CR123 battery, but the site did not mention a brand name and I have been unable, if such a product exists, to locate it.

I have a camera that can run on four 3v CR123 batteries. There are rechargeable CR123s, but the ones that I have been able to find on the internet actually deliver somewhat more, closer to 3.3v. I'm not inclined to find out through experimentation how my camera will respond. Does anyone know of a rechargeable CR123 that delivers a stable 3v? Thanks

I'd like to know how many people watched the Oscars this year and how many of them were more interested in the red carpet than in the films. I'd like to know whether the people who watched the Oscars had as negative reaction as the international press. I'd like to know whether the general public reacts to the Oscars the same way as my social set does, which is that almost nobody I know, other than me, watches it anymore. I'd like to know whether I am right in my opinion that the quality of the films has been steadily deteriorating, contrary to the opinion of those who think that the films are getting better. For example, Good Night and Good Luck reminds me of an extended version of Charlie Chaplin's ill-advised diatribe at the end of the Great Dictator, except that Chaplin had more sense than to harangue his audience for 94 minutes.

I have finally received a response from Zinio, as agent for the American Society of Cinematographers, to the query that I sent on February 7: "Hello Thank you for contacting Zinio. Technically, there is a three download limit on most publications. However, we can bypass or reset this limitation if due to technical issues, such as hardware or system upgrades. Simply contact us directly with any problems you may encounter, and we will be glad to assist further. Thank You, Zinio Customer Support" Some observations: On February 7, I was told that I should receive a response within 5 business days. The response took 21 calendar days. If the ASC and Zinio think that this is acceptable, or that a customer can resolve an issue "simply" by contacting them, they are living in Never Never Land. The response is not consistent with Zinio's own FAQ. Perhaps it is the result of having told them, in my original query, that the apparent restrictions, as set out on their web site, made the product unattractive. The American Society of Cinematographers, which has known about this thread for at least 19 days, continues to promote the product in a non-transparent manner.

I was just looking at the ramps site and discovered that Jeff Wexler has announced that he has just established a forum for discussion about sound. See www.jwsound.net. The announcement was posted this afternoon on the Google/news group rec.arts.movies.production.sound.

Phil, I made a couple of changes to my comments before you replied in order to express more clearly what I was trying to say and make it more neutral in tone. It was incorrect to suggest that you are espousing a particular attitude. For the projects that I'm working on, the partners are working for nothing, but I can't imagine suggesting to someone who is not a partner, and who has been retained, to work for anything less than a fair rate payable in the hear and now rather than the hereafter. As someone who travels a fair amount, I don't go anywhere without emergency medical and evacuation coverage, and I would insist that anyone I'm working with do the same. As for catering, one of the people involved in these projects is a very high-end chef. We're going to eat rather well :) That said, my list of issues for a discussion between a producer and a potential cinematographer is different from yours. I want to explain the project and find out whether the cinematographer is interested in principle, whether we are potentially in the same ballpark over money and whether we are likely to work well together. At that point, I'd like the cinematographer to get back to me in a couple of days to confirm interest and lay out some ideas regarding substance and process. In my case, there are also a couple of specific issues that I would want to pursue. Is the person that I'm talking with comfortable with working in remote places and roughing it a little. How does he or she feel about travelling in the Middle East? Am I talking with someone who will know how to handle military checkpoints and people carrying guns, etc, etc. When I read your list of issues, and thought about how it would play out if we were talking, my reaction was that I'd feel like it was a cross-examination, with me as the cross-examinee. That's all :)

I'm going to produce a film that will be shot in August. I would not e-mail a cinematographer to express interest in his or her participation based on a "profile". In fact, I think if I did, anyone who was legitimate would be pretty dismissive. Surely if I'm going to approach a cinematographer, I should be able to explain why by reference to his or her work. At the same time, I would have no interest in someone who wanted to focus on the issues raised in Phil Rhodes's post. The film that I'm doing is going to be shot in Newfoundland, and then I'm going to shoot a film in the Middle East, probably in part at Wadi Rum, where the desert scenes for Lawrence of Arabia were shot, and I guess, as the guy who is making these films, that I am more interested in talking about a potential cinematographer's approach to photography than I am in focussing on ancillary issues. I'm looking for a cinematographer, preferably one with enthusiasm for the project, not a bureaucrat.

I understand that some people may not be happy with the things that I am saying in this thread. That said, the current situation is that it is now 14 calendar days, and 10 business days, since I sent an e-mail, on its own form, to the "Zinio Customer Support Team", Zinio being the ASC's partner in digital suscriptions to American Cinematographer, and I still don't have a response to a question about Zinio software that could be answered in one or two sentences. This from a company that says that a customer should expect a response within five business days. I'm continuing to record my experience with this because I think that potential subscribers to the digital version of American Cinematographer, especially non-US subscribers who may be enticed by a US$50 saving in postage for a four year subscription (which the ASC encourages in its advertising copy), are entitled to know the reality of the product. I also hope that the ASC will take on-board concrete information that there are problems with the product. Including the fact that its partner is not living up to its explicit promises to ASC customers. If the ASC, or anyone from this forum, wants proof of my experience, I shall be pleased to post my e-mail correspondence with Zinio and give the ASC, or anyone else for that matter, the file number that Zinio assigned me back on February 7, when Zinio sent me a computer-generated response saying that I should receive a reply within five business days. To repeat, I know that what I am doing amounts to slamming the ASC's digital programme, but I don't feel apologetic about it. I am recording the reality, and that reality is of very real interest to people who may be tempted to fork out as much as US$90 for a product that appears to not live up to the puffery. As I have said previously, I accept that the ASC members are sincere. I imagine that that is also true of the organisation's business staff. So hopefully, the ASC will do something about this.

Marcel, Last week, CBC Radio One (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) ran a segment on The Road to Guantanamo and Tristram Shandy, complimentary to both. They said that Guantanamo draws on In This World, but is politically "edgier". Did you shoot Guantanamo? Also video, or film?

The picture quality is the same as any super 16 camera that takes PL mount lenses. For a recent example, see The Constant Gardener. Cesar Charlone, who apparently owns an A-Minima, used it and the Aaton XTRProd to shoot the 16mm footage for the film. He used a Fuji 10-40mm zoom and a Canon 8-64mm zoom. The Fuji lens, which is said to have been designed with the A-Minima in mind (it is relatively light and attractively priced), is sometimes dissed because it is not a fast lens, but apparently it's fast enough for Charlone. There is a photo of him using the A-Minima, showing how he had it rigged for The Constant Gardener, in the October issue of American Cinematographer, p. 26. Realize that the price of an A-Minima does not include a magazine. These sell for about US$1500 each. I like using 200 foot magazines, but I have four of them. Depending on how you are using the camera, you may want additional magazines yourself. There are suggestions in the above posts that the magazines are hard to load. Well, one of the nice things about the A-Minima is that it can be loaded in daylight, and beyond that, either you know how to load the magazine or you don't. It isn't rocket science. If you know how to do it, loading a magazine isn't hard at all. Fuji film can be used by loading the film manually in a darkroom on A-Minima cores and reversing the wind. Some people argue that the film should then be left for a day to adjust to the change in wind. One of the interesting things about the A-Minima is that it will generate, as well as record, Aaton time code. This means that it can be used to synchronize other time code devices. Depending on what you are doing with sound recording, that may be attractive. I think that it is a terrific camera if you care about bulk and weight (which has domino benefits, in terms of bulk and weight, when it comes to camera support) and rig it in a way that does not compromise its size/weight advantages. Note also that it is designed, when used without camera support, to be held in the hands, against the upper chest/ shoulder if desired, rather than supported on the shoulder, which is a question of personal preference. Note that the camera is rated at 29dB (plus or minus one), which is higher than the XTRProd, and that the shutter angle is fixed. I once read a post complaining that the viewfinder doesn't swivel, but I am personally very happy with the viewfinder. One thing that I really like about the camera is that I can travel with it, by air for example, carrying it in a shoulder-bag.

Eric, you and I use language differently. If you want to say that I am arrogant and indifferent to the ASC, given that I am about to renew a subscription for four years and that I buy other ASC pubications, go ahead, although it seems to me that these might not be quite the right words. I happen to work closely with a non-profit organisation, but of course I acknowledge, as you allege, that I may "have no understanding" of how non-profit organisations work. I shall say only two things about the organisation that I work with. The first is that integrity is everything. The second, which should be understood by every organisation, is that you never, ever, create expectations that you can't deliver. You are of course right that the ASC puts its profits from sales into other activities, among them the construction of a new "Clubhouse" building, which no doubt costs plenty. That's fine, but not at the expense of service to, or transparency toward, customers of its for-profit operations. I don't know about you, but I think that "shocked" is a pretty heavy word when applied to the kinds of issues raised in this thread. Myself, I tend to reserve words like that for what is happening in places like Darfor. If you want to say that you are "shocked" by what I am saying, that is of course your privilege. I note that you have focused on one issue raised in this thread and that you have ignored the others. I'd like to know, in particular, whether you think that it is "complaining" to suggest that the ASC should be transparent about its new digital programme. P.S. My failure to respond to your first paragraph was deliberate. If you want to believe that I lack your self-professed knack for common sense, that's ok with me.

An update... On Friday evening, EST, I received a very responsive e-mail acknowledgment from Martha. The August issue is in the mail. In case there is any question, I want to make it clear that the issue that I have raised about digital subscriptions to American Cinematographer is of immediate practical, rather than theoretical, significance. By that, I mean that I am about to renew my subscription to AC for four years. I have two choices. I can subscribe to the hard copy, and assuming that I continue to use my Canadian rather than US address, this will cost $US140, or I can subscribe to the digital version for $US90. My preference is a digital version. I say this for access and storage reasons rather than financial reasons. Indeed, I would be happy to pay US$120 for it if it met my needs. Unfortunately, until someone tells me that the digital version is not subject to Zinio's restrictions, it is of no value to me as an option. In making this decision, I have also taken into account my impression of Zinio as a company. This is important because Zinio, rather than the ASC, is the actual interface for a digital subscription. On February 7, I sent an e-mail to the "Zinio Customer Support Team" asking whether my understanding of the restrictions is correct. In response, I received a computer-generated e-mail stating that I "should receive a response within five business days". This told me that Zinio either does not provide customer support on weekends or wants grace time. In either case, it is now 12 calendar days, and eight business days, from my e-mail to Zinio, and I have not received a response. This does not inspire confidence. If one is inclined to say "who cares", one might consider that Zinio itself has a long list of installation and software support issues, listed on its own web site and e-mail form to its "Customer Support Team", that it anticipates customers may experience. My attempt to e-mail Zinio was itself interesting. There is a form that contains required fields. These fields include the requirement that one select the magazine about which one is asking a question. As of February 7 (I have not checked since), AC was not on the list, nor was there a category called "other". As a result, it was not possible to ask a question of the Zinio Customer Support Team, about AC, without stating that the question was about another magazine that the Team recognises it is supporting. I really wonder whether the ASC asked its subcribers what they wanted in terms of a digital subscription, or understood what they were buying into, when they signed on with Zinio. Does the ASC understand that it is not selling a weekly or monthly, quickly dated, newsmagazine? Does it understand that it is selling a small circulation magazine for which there just isn't a mass demand? If the ASC told me, tomorrow, that I could buy their magazine in Adobe Acrobat, I would. As it is, there isn't a hope in hell. I'll be renewing for a hard copy, which isn't my preference, and given how it is promoting the digital subscription, probably isn't the ASC's preference either. There is a point where concern about "piracy" is paranoid, and where serving that concern undermines the viability of the product. I think that the ASC had a chance here to both lower its costs and expand its subscription base. My bet is that it has blown that chance.

This is one of those discussions that are 50 per cent fun and 50 per cent ugly. I want to tell you a story. I have spent some time, as skipper or crew, sailing boats on the open ocean in the Atlantic, the Pacific, the North Sea, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Some years ago, I helped sail a 70 foot racing yacht from Cabo San Lucas in Mexico to San Diego. This was in was late March/beginning of April, when the weather is unsettled. If you know the west coast of North America, you also know that this involves sailing against the wind, the entire way, for about 900 miles (or at least, that is my best recollection of the distance). The skipper of the boat was profoundly dislexic. Among other things, he could not read the weather reports that we were getting without assistance. During the voyage, we ran into 60mph winds, starting at night. I want you to understand that winds of that magnitude, on open ocean, are of serious consequence. By that, I mean that on a 70 foot yacht, in those winds, with a crew of 13, leadership and disipline are absolutely essential to ensure that no-one is injured or killed. I believe that the fellow who skippered this yacht through the conditions that we met was one of the two finest sailors that I have ever met. I can't emphasise too heavily how important it is, if one is on a yacht on open ocean, for the crew to have confidence in the skipper. Neither I, nor anyone else on this boat, ever had any doubt in his ability to pull us through. As far as I know, his IQ was at least as good as that of the members of his crew. Last fall, a friend who has done a Transatlantic crossing, and I helped a gentleman who owns a very high-end 39ft yacht, worth about US$250,000, sail his boat from New York south for the winter. The owner is a very literate guy, and talked big, the only problem being that maybe he is a better sailor in the Hudson River than the Atlantic Ocean. The sail from New York to Atlantic City was so bad, by which I mean irresponsible, that we had a long talk with him when we got down there. He chose to ignore our advice, as clever a fellow as he is, and we and the third crew member got on the bus back to New York. I"ll take a guy who can't spell, but who knows how to sail a boat, over a guy who can spell and who may get me killed, any day of the week :) As for people whose native language is not English and who participate on this web site, I am embarrassed when they are corrected, as happens from time to time. There are two reasons. The first is that sometimes they come up with really original uses of the English language. The second is that I am all too aware of my own gaffs in French. I am equally aware of the tolerance of that French-speaking friends show to those gaffs. Have a good weekend, everyone.

There is a disconnect between the organisation as presented on the internet and what you are describing as the reality. The web site, to the credit of the designer, presents the image of a pretty slick operation, whereas the truth appears to be rather more humble. Did you say that the web designer makes Hollywood films :)? The problem is that the ASC publishes a magazine and sells books and DVDs on a for-profit basis. It is currently offering Storaro's books for $US400. Whether the ASC wants to recognise it or not, customers are entitled to expect this activity to be run on a professional, business-like basis. In saying this, I really am trying to be constructive. As for a digital subscription, I think that there is potentially a very strong market for the magazine in that form, but I wonder whether Zinio was the right way to go. I suspect not. Regardless, the ASC does not have an option about how it is currently being promoted. Regardless of how or why it happened, the current promotional text has to be fixed, for both ethical and legal reasons. I don't think that it is fair to say of someone who supports the ASC as a subscriber, and who has raised what appear to be quite legitimate concerns, "It's easy to sit back". However, let me take up the challenge and say that I am prepared to volunteer time to the ASC in a capacity that can work, given that I don't live in Los Angeles, through electronic communication. Cheers