Daryn Williams

Oh I'm a BIG believer in making sure students understand the "Why" of the things they do... I also make sure that students understand that putting something on "Auto" means that they are giving artistic control over to some engineer who decided what "Auto" should be... That is part of the reason why we still shoot film: Super 8, Regular 16 and Super 16... There really is no auto for film, and students are forced to manipulate their tools... Heck we still made students cut mag track on Steenbecks until 3 years ago...

It basically is pleasing to look at... People noticed this, and tried to quantify beauty...

Come check out The University of North Texas...shameless plug over... There are a ton of books out there to help you with the technical side... Box's "Set Lighting Technician's Handbook" is a great example... "The Grip Book", "Sound Effects Bible", and even the "ASC Manual" all give great technical information... Like they said, watch a ton of films, not just the good stuff, but the really, really bad stuff... The bad stuff can teach you almost as much as the good... Find a camera (Super 8 or video) and start shooting...It doesn't have to be great, but as you start getting better, you'll want better gear... There is one thing missing in most students who get to us... You could call it "perspective" or "vision"... I tend to bend more towards "experience"... They just don't know what they don't know... Film, and The Arts in general, is an experiential field... Yes you can talk theory and technique all you want, but until YOU do it, it probably won't click... Most students come to us wanting to be directors, because that's all they know... There are SO MANY different careers in the industry where you can make a really good living and more importantly, love what you do... Take your time off, but if you do, you need to move to LA or NY and be ready for a ton of NOs and some not very nice people... Hopefully you can push through that and start to make a living... It has to be a drive for you... We have some grads who did great things and were successful in their classes, but once out, they just said eh, I need money, and now they work at Best Buy or McDonald's... Nothing wrong with that, but you need to be more driven... I guess what I'm trying to say is that school is a great place to make mistakes that don't cost you money (much money anyway)... In the real world, you'll be judged by those mistakes and it will probably hurt your career... You can get good critique and good perspective from fellow students and faculty... You can also form friendships with like minded people with whom you can now use as mutual resources... Good Luck to you and have fun...

I work in the RTVF Department at The University of North Texas (home to the 2011 winner of the US National Kodak Film School Cinematography Competition...We're not proud or anything...) It is dangerous for us as a state entity to be on the cutting edge of technology (since whatever we invest in we are stuck with for a long while)... We are however at a small crossroads of sorts... Some of our gear is getting to the replacement point (Do we really want to spend $8K to replace an HMI ballast?) and as always we have a limited budget... Since LEDs fall under "green technology", there are grants that we can work for to help us with a transition... LEDs aren't the end-all/be-all for everything... We actually invested about 10 years ago into a couple of different flourescent techs, with varying results... I know both the 7-Series and Solas are new, and if I’m not mistaken, they aren’t even shipping yet… At some point, we need to see and feel the fixtures to evaluate their performance and durability… I've tried to do my due dilligence by reading as much as I could, watching the various videos on-line(I wasn't able to attend NAB or CINEGear) and talking to people... Now I come to you all... I was wondering if anyone would be carrying these lights, either as a dealer or as a rental house, OR if you knew who to talk to about getting in the queue to get some demo versions for us to evaluate… I would be eternally grateful for any help anyone could give… Thanks for the help... Daryn

We teach students using a Studio Deluxe... They can be a bit fragile ("You can stupid-proof it, but you can't student-proof it!"), but even then we've been using several of the same meters since before I got here 7 years ago... It is relatively easy to use, without a ton of math... Yes you do have to do a small (really small) bit of calculating, but that's what you give up in price... There is a slight learning curve with it, and it is absoultely not automatic anything... The Studio Deluxe is an analog meter through and through... I love em... -D

Absolutely true... I've been in the same situation where former students have given me a few jobs... What I meant was, sometimes students are stubborn as hell, and instead of listening to the advice of others or finding a different shot/s which would acheive the same effect, they bullishly plow on regardless of the consequences... I understand that they need to learn, but I would think they might could learn by a bit of research instead of mistakes...It seems like they make more and more mistakes... As educators at this level, by the time they get to that point, we just have to be supportive, and supress the overwhelming urge to scream at the top of our lungs "I TOLD YOU SO!!!!" :P

I'm looking for a reliable, affordable, durable set radio that won't break the bank and has multiple channels... Anyone? Anyone? Thanks...

IMDB is for consumers, not technicians... Good site...I've been waiting for the cable channel like this, but now get it on the internet...But still not quite... The site I'm talking about was almost like a Variety ad...It told the name of the production, the locations, the camera, the DP, the stocks used, and a short synopsis about the film... It was basically the technical specs with a bit more meat that you find in American Cinematographer for the featured film...

It would make sense to do a dancefloor, but they were inbetween storage units at an older facility with a pretty sharp grade away from the doors to the center of the drive...Being students, they didn't have the time, money nor knowledge to build the dancefloor for the one shot... The Cricket does do crab or two wheel steering, so they couldn't do a circumference scribe... I spoke with a company that we rent from quite frequently, and they have a Cricket, but have several Fishers that they rent out more frequently...When we bought the Cricket, I was under the impression that the curved track could be found much more easily... We can't get a Fisher because of rental cost... We were given some money by the University which we used to purchase a good bit of equipment including the Cricket... I've been very happy with it, and our students are learning the basics of dolly moves and how to set up track, which prepares them for the next level... They ended up doing a doorway dolly wagon drag around the actor, and the camera op just did their best....They also have coverage so if it looks like crap (which it might) they can cut around it...You know students, each shot is a masterpiece, and they have to do the shot that they dreamed up or saw on some film that has no motivation what so ever, but hey they got to get it.... ;)

Some time ago I stumbled upon a site that listed productions, the cameras, lenses and stock that they used, and the main people associated with the production (DP, Gaffer, Director, Producer, Production Company)... I've since switched computers and completely lost the link... Can somebody help a brother out?

Speaking from university experience... A cheap easy low stand to make.... Take a couple of 2x4s about 18" long... Cut two blocks of of one of them and screw them to the outside of the other 2x4... Drill a hole for a 8"-10" 5/8" carriage bolt... Throw some washers and a wing nut on the top, and you can use it as a low light stand... Best part about it, you can loosen the wing nut, and it folds flat... I would second the mentions about the Cardellinis, c-47s, sandbags, sash cord, trickline, cube taps and gripclips... Mafer Clamps would be another to add...Just make sure you get them with the baby pin included... Mafer Clamps -- Filmtools

It seems like the track would ride on the idler wheel inbetween the studio wheels (Elemack calls them combined wheels)... I do have a set of these big monster heavy steel things (bogie wheels?) that have two sets of wheels that you can replace the studio wheels with. They are absolutely made for square tube, but it looks like they are made for straight track and not curved... I don't know how they would articulate with their long wheelbase... I'll try and get some stills which come in under the 100K mark and upload them if you need to see the heavy wheels... Basically that is the question...Will the dolly just fall off? Unfortunately it is out on another shoot until tomorrow, and their project starts shooting Thursday evening... Nothing like waiting until the last minute...Students, what are you going to do?

Long time lurker :ph34r: , first time poster :unsure: ... Preface: I work at the University of North Texas as the Equipment Room Supervisor, and while I've been around the block, there is a crap-ton I don't know, hence my long time lurking... To the question: We recently bought an Elemack Cricket dolly, 3 sections of 8' straight track and 4 sections of 8' 45deg curve (180deg total)... All of the track was the Panavision/MSE round tube and it works great... Here in the Metroplex, there are several rental houses where I we can get support for most everything.. We recently had a student who wanted to do a full 360deg shot, so I called our friends, and noone has round tube curved track for one reason or the other...They all have square tube track... I have looked at all of the measurements, and it looks like I could get away with using the square tube... Clearance, width, height... All look good based on schematics/measurements that I've found/made (using our dolly, Uva's "The Grip Book" and some internet stuff)... Is there something I'm missing?