Tomas Koolhaas

It's true that the greeks did wax and my have favoured hairlessness on most of their bodies for wrestling and such athletic occupations. But I doubt even the spartans (who were renouned for keeping impecable grooming standards even during potracted battles) would have had the resources (considering they had almost no functioning weapons/amrour or food after the first day) to be waxing themselves at Thermopelya. Also, It's true that they did wear a Cuirass (chest/back plate) and various other pieces of greek armour (shin/ankle guard, forearm protectors etc..) which gave them the advantage over the persians who had little/no armour except that made of wicker.

To be fair the Spartans were renowned for speaking in a very short, direct and aggressive manner (not surprisingly) they felt that being overly verbose or trying to use language in a "clever" or "tricky" manner was efeminate and therefor a worse fate than death. So that style of dialogue may be appropriate in this case.

Depends what your role is/ where you are performing that role. If I am operating in a house/office/urban area I just wear Reebok classics, but if there is more trecherous terrain underfoot I go for Timberland boots (but they get too hot inside and are not very flexible/agile for operating, but if you are gaffing/gripping, especially outside, Timbo's are great). I second the part about the socks too, nice sock that are thick but "Breathe" are very helpful (I got some good ones from footlocker that were padded on the botom but were thinner/more porous on top). Cheers.

Depends on what ISO/ASA you're shooting, most video (at 0db gain) is around 320 so at that speed a 2x2 would have to be VERY close to be much of a key, but with the gain up or on faster film stocks you can use a 2x2 from a few feet away as a decent key (if you lack anything bigger). I once shot 500T on 35mm pushed a stop and used a 2ft single as a key from about 5 feet away and it looked great (it was a pretty hard key becasue the source was so small -not much wrapping effect, but thats what I was going for in that particular case). Cheers.

Hi, I am shooting a music video on Super16 and we will telecine to 29.97fps ,should the on-set playback be at 24fps (as the camera will be) or at 29.97fps (30) as the final Telecine output will be?? Cheers.

Mole fresnels on flood with the lens swung away also look very good for patterns.

Hi, I caught some of that series too, I only saw the part about Nero, I was curious about the formats too, it seemed to be a wierd mixture, some looked like oldschool Digibeta UK style shooting (like eastenders or something) but some was almost definately on film (S16 most probably) some of the film parts were also very flat with lots of DOF so it was quite hard to tell. But my guess would be a mixture of S16 and DigiBeta. Cheers.

It is a quote from Dienekes...what he actually said (according to accepted history) was "good then we will have our battle in the shade".

Yes I know.....Xerxes made his people worship him as god and wouldnt have allowed any other prophets/gods (such as islam) to be worshiped even if it had existed at the same time, as you probably realise, the same people who fought to invade greece are NOW all islamic, hence my comment, I would have thought that it was obvious I wasnt insinuating Xerxes was trying to spread islam to the greeks.

The 300 hundred who died at Thermopylae saved our way of life, we would all be praying towards Mecca if it wasnt for them, everyone in the west owes them EVERYTHING, whether they know it or not. Gates of Fire is the best book ever!!! EVERY man in the world should be forced to read it!!! The 300 graphic novel is cool but innacurate, the film will probably be the same (and very sin city like visually, which some people dont like, but I do...alot). If you want to option 'Gates of Fire' you will have to kill me first....seriously, get in line. I will still enjoy this film just because it is about the 300 and looks really good (very much like the graphic novel). Cheers.

i'm just curious, isnt doing ADR for an entire feature REALLY expensive?? I looked into doing post sound for a short I directed and it was Super expensive, wouldnt the cost of renting a sync camera (seing as you could probably get 2 day week rates somewhere) be offset by what you would have to spend on ADR??? If you have post sound for free for some reason, this question is obviously moot. I was just wondering.

Hi, I have always wondered if a film could be made were the relationships between subplots was tangential, this film proved it can be done to great affect. I havent been touched by a film that I saw in a mainstream cinema like this for a long long time. The cinematography was very naturalistic, almost doc. style, variances in grain from one shot to another was very noticable but on the whole I liked the fim immensly (especially the look of the Tokyo storyline, that was shot the best I think). What does everyone else think.

I studied sociology in school and found one phrase very interesting "Status frustration" it implies that people look for status wherever they can find it, and If they cannot get any from the mainstream system ie. Teachers (because you are bad in school) parents (because they dont care about you) or society in general (because you dont have a job or education etc..) you create your own subculture which has it's own set of values that allows you to get status. For example my secondary school was rough, and hardly anyone respected the teachers and paid any attention in class because in the subculture of the school being clever or a "Swat","Geek" or "Ponce" would not advance your status but diminish it, however being "Hard" would, so if you got into a fight and won people would respect you, if you did your homework on time, people would make fun of you. I think this is what we are seing on a larger scale in English society today, Kids dont get any respect/status from accepted avenues so they create their own "Counterculture" which allows them to achieve a high level of status (for being a good thief or robber for example).

Well firstly its an MOS camera, so unless its a silent film you are gonna have a headache doing any dialogue (either ADR or have the camera REALLY far away from the mic). Secondly the fact that you have no reflex viewfinder means you will not be able to judge the focus by eye, which means very accurate measurements and using as much depth of field as possible (wide lenses, close down the apeture etc..). I shot a test with a kodak K100 which someone gave me, it looked really nice but I couldn't imagine shooting an entire feature on it, it would be a nightmare, you wont know if the takes were good for focus until it's too late!

He said his wife is not in the business so of course she wouldnt make it look any different, he was just giving a reference of how someone who is not a DP looks at these images, which in the end most people who will view tham are. Why would you get so defensive that you would attack someone's wife who isnt even a DP??? Calm down mate.

Hi, I am not a "Redhead" or anything close to that (I will wait CALMLY until the camera comes out and then make up my mind about it), nor have I ever really checked out DVXUSER enough to form a propper opinion on it, however I do think it is a shame that JJ was turned off this site by people being overly hostile to him. I agree there is nothing wrong with wanting to probe someones extravagant claims but I read many of the threads involving JJ and people (including RIchard) attacked him in a way that was not at all based on attemting to find out technical information about the camera but was more personal and basically questioned his honesty/morals and integrity which is uncalled for. Richard made an initial comment to JJ along the lines of "I would never use your camera anyway because I love film"....how does this contribute to an exchange of knowledge?? thats just throwing dirt in his eye...if you never would stray from film why comment on a digital camera producer anyway??? unless you just want to annoy/instigate an argument with him. From what I read on this site (I havent read what went down on DVXUSER) JJ seemed to have had a civil and conciliatory agenda when he first came on this site, and genuinely wanted some useful feedback, which he could have got if people who would never even use any digital camera anyway hadn't insulted him personally. Cheers.

HI, That sounds good in theory and I agree, it is not the director's job to appease the DP by using all the right terminology, but in reality it is just the fact that if people use the totally wrong terms it becomes confusing at least, and some times you just have so little time that you can't be constantly explaining/translating incorrect terminologies!...If you had infinite time it wouldn't be a problem.

Hmmm ,you would hope so, but I know a DP with a decent reel, but then spoke to people who worked on shoots with him and they said that certain scenes were not usable due to underexposure and soft focus (entire scenes!!) but with the few usable good shots the guy got from every shoot he made a nice reel. He gets quite a lot of (very low budget) work even though he ruins entire scenes on what seems like a regular basis (and doesnt use camera reports at all apparently, which lead to a bunch of lost footage on one shoot I heard about?!?!?!). DP's can bullshit their way through some situations and into certain jobs, but a savy/experienced Director or EP will usually suss out a joker like that.

Hi, I DP'd and directed a short on HD, it was my first time EVER directing, a few things that worked for me: -Having A VERY GOOD 1st AD!!!!!! -Having a good gaffer who knows you, and what you are likely to need, even before you tell him (although you dont want someone who thinks he's going to decide the lighting, a maverick gaffer is hard to control if you are Directing as well as DPing). -Having a very precise idea of what shots you want (Shotlist/storyboards) I made a shotlist that had photos of exactly how I wanted each shot, this helped me, my 1st AD and my gaffer a lot, I didnt need to explain myslef repeatedly, I just handed people the photo of what the frame would be and they could get on with it (make multiple copies of it so each department head can have one). -REAHEARSE like a madman, as DP and director you will not have the time to solve major blocking/performance issues on set, so try and get them sorted beforehand (as much as humanly possible). -DO NOT OPERATE, if you DP, Direct and Operate you will really be pushing it, if you are rehearsing camera moves and focus etc.. instead of tending to your actors they may feel abandoned, whereas if you are there looking them in the eyes they will feel more supported. -Very important is also to relax and enjoy the experience, if you are relaxed the crew/actors will be too, and dont forget to thank everyone, not only at the begining and end of each day, but whenever anyone gets you something or does something good, a smile and pat on the back does wondeers for crew morale and doesnt take any time to do. -If you have female actresses you need to make the crew/set female friendly, that means try and have at least one other female working and make sure there are no stupid sordid comments being made by your guy crewmembers....one "dude check out her ass" could ruin your entire film. Good luck man. Cheers.

Haha I knew someone would take offense to this, yes I am venting somewhat, but honestly I wasn't saying ALL firt time directors make these mistakes, I was just saying these particular mistakes have been made with me (and other DP's I know) very frequently, so I thought I would share them with Directors so they can avoid the same mistakes. Who do I expect to read them and put them into practice? I dont know....whoever wants to avoid making some basic mistakes in dealing with their DP on their first shoot(s)??? Also I dont have any hard feelings against the First time/inexperienced/amateur directors I have worked with, many of my favourite projects have been working for them, however there are limitations and often I find these limitataions are due to lack of preperation (I.e not reading a single book about directing/producing and therefor basic things like scheduling are done badly and the shoot suffers). As Mr. Mullen said teaching them on-the-job is part of your job as a DP, I enjoy teaching other people things I know (as I enjoy learning things I dont) but some things cannot be tought on set with extreme time constraints and therefor must be figured out before hand, hence the director needing to do their own research. Yes you could do a post about first time DP's, but mostly you dont get some guy who works in a bar who never touched a camera before trying to suddenly be a DP, whereas I know many guys who never even directed ANYTHING just decide they can direct shorts or even features, and they dont take any classes or read any books to learn how to do it. And yes a lot of them do fund the projects themselves, but some have "friends" with money who are willing to fund their forreys into the directing world. Cheers. Cheers.

Hi, This is partly very good (and very basic) info. for directors, but also partly me getting some annoyances off my chest...here goes: -DO NOT view dailies (or any footage for that matter) on your TV set and ask me why it looks different from the HD monitor in the Telecine house; all TV's are set up differently (Tint, contrast, brightness etc...) and for that matter your laptop is probably not accurately calibrated either, so dont go home and freak out about how it looks different and call me on a saturday night expecting me to explain why. -DO NOT agree to shoot a certain aspect ratio (and have the DP subsequently frame for it) and then decide when you see the footage you would like to "see the whole frame". If the shot was framed for one aspect ratio the other will look BAD, it will have dead space, booms in shot, and possibly lights in frame too! -DO NOT watch footage that has NOT been masked/cropped to the right aspect ratio yet and ask me why there are booms and lights in the frame, and again my saturday nights are not for explaining AGAIN that we left the dailies unmasked so you could reframe in edititng instead of in Telecine. -DO NOT get annoyed when someone gives you a contract to sign which ensures they get paid and treated properly on your shoot. I dont care if "everyone else trusts" you, thats their perogative, I dont work a minute without a signed contract! -DO NOT embark on your first Directing gig without having read at least one book which explains the basics of directing, it may seem petty but if you keep saying pan when you mean tilt or saying "lets pull up here" when you mean tilt up, your DP and his crew wont understand what you mean, and if you subsequently get annoyed with them when they dont understand your incorrect vocabulary you may expect walkouts. -DO NOT EXPECT anyone to work for free on your film, just because you are super-stoked on your project doesn't mean I dont still need to eat this month, I cant use your enthusiasm as sustenance....sorry. And also just because your mates are working for free, that doesnt mean I will, we aren't mates so why would I do that. And just because "This is gonna be a great calling card for you" or "I have definate ins at major festivals" or "I am gonna get this to all the right people" I still need to pay my rent so no money no shoot. And "Deffered Pay" on a short film means No-pay, we both know it so cut the Bollocks. -AND LASTLY and perhaps most importantly DO NOT ask for one thing and then complain when you get it. If you say "I want him/her barley lit, standing almost in complete shadows" and then I light that person very dark on the fill side (but with the key side well exposed) DO NOT ask me why you can "only see one side of his/her face". You are lucky to see either side after telling me you wanted them barely lit, standing in the shadows, If I had lit them evenly on both sides how would that look like them being in the shadows??? I know this sounds very jaded, but I am not jaded!! I work very well (and often) with first time directors, and am very understanding/accomodating...but I want any first time directors to know these basics BEFORE they go to their DP with any of the above issues and loose that DP's Respect in any way. Also this Post is not based on or in response to my experiences with any one director, I have heard some of the above questions numerous times and so have my mates who are DPs so I thought I would compile a little guide for first time directors out there. Cheers.

Hi, I know what you mean, and if I had shot this I probably would have also gone for a more desaturated underexposed kind of look (more like 'Fight Club' than a car commercial) but I think that's why I liked this so much, the fact that it was unpredictable....usually you can guess what a film will look like just from reading the synopsis (for example all WW2 films are now shot w/ Bleach bypass and stacato shutter angle Private Ryan style) but this one completely went against what you would expect. Even if some of the lighting/colour was a bit overkill I think we all have to admit that the framing/camera angles and shot choices were pretty daring and created an original/cool mood.....right? Cheers.

Haha I just read that post too late, I already spent an hour converting the DVD to a quicktime, I have exported some stills but now cant seem to make attachments to my posts....it says O Bytes left before I even make any attachments???? Is it because I am a basic member???? Cheers.

Cheers guys, I just got it (DVDxDV), I will give it a shot...If it works..stills will follow, if not...back to the drawing board.

Max, Yeah I also heard that the director say that they specifically dialled in the look of the DI for a kodak print stock but were forced to use Fuji at the last minute (due to budgetary constraints), and subsequently the prints didn't look "Right" whereas the DVD version was right from the D5 master so it was more accurate. Cheers.