Tomas Koolhaas

Hi, It depends on the situation, sometimes language can be very important, for example I had a Director once who used very strange terminology ("lets do a smash over here"??) and it was genuinely confusing for me and my camera operator! But in your case you were not really way off, you are cutting light, you are just using a flag do it! so I'm sure he knew what you ment but was being a jelous insecure prick about it. This is VERY common on set, especially among lighting/grip people. They have created a whole venacular that is often longer than the official name for the equipment and if you dont know it they use it to mock you because they are jelous that they are not in your shoes (and in most cases dont know a light meter from a speed crank). Like once I had to ream out a grip because he tried to make fun of me on set because I called for a 4ft double kino instead of a "skinny man". He never made that mistake again!! I also queitly reminded him that I would rather have a good looking DP demo. reel of 16,35 and HD and call a Kino by it's official name, than know every nick-name for every piece of equipment and be a bitter jaded Grip who couldn't shoot his way out of wet paper bag with scissors in his hands. You just have to REALLY put your foot down when the jelousy comes your way (and IT WILL). But conversly you also do need to know the right names for things otherwise the crew will get confused and frustrated (it takes ages to light a set if you keep asking "get me that big thing and lets hang it from one of those long clampy things"-I'm not saying you would say that, just an example). You are right though, the most important thing is that you get good images, and on time, but usually you need to communicate well with the crew to do that so vocab. is important, but just try to avoid working with gaffers/grips who want to be DP's themselves, many of them will try to sabotage you out of jelousy. Don't let the jelous people get you down, they are everywhere on film crews!!! Cheers.

Thanks Mitch, That was what I have heard all around from people and literature concerning the movietube. I am trying to contact Ian in LA to schedule a test W/JVC HD100, If it works out I will be using it for an upcoming short. I will let everyone know the results of the test/shoot in case anyone's interested. cheers.

Question: Is a boxer who gets killed by a freakishly hard punch an idiot? Is a stunt man who dies doing a dangerous stunt an idiot? These are both things done for no other reason than entertainment, the latter is in our chosen field, everyone knows the risks, most boxers/stunt men probably have kids too, are they selfish idiots too? By the way I am not trying to attack you Richard I respect a lot of stuff you say on this forum, I just think you went a bit coldhearted on this one. Cheers.

Hi Mitch, Thanks for the reply, In genereal what do you think comparatively of the two systems (outside of the obvious inherent design differences; no spinning parts etc...) I haven't really heard much comparatively about the image quality or usability on set (focusing the adaptor etc..). Cheers.

Hi, I think there is some confusion here, just because something is not totally unexpected doesn't mean it's not still a waste, shame or even tragedy. Yes, anyone could have guessed that steve Irwin would die by the hand of some animal, but that doesn't mean it isn't sad when he does. Anyone could have predicted that Isreal would attack Lebanon again at some point but I'm sure you wouldn't say "I saw that coming, stupid Lebanon for provoking isreal they had it coming" would you Richard? And it is VERY rare to get killed by a stingray, from what I understand the barb actually penetrated his heart, the chances of that happening have to be very slim. Cheers.

Hi Mitch, A bit off topic, but I have used the P+S for both SD+HD (mini/Pro35) and liked them (particularly the pro-35 with F900). I am being asked to use the Movietube with the JVC HD100 on a short, have you done any side-by tests with this set-up?? (I know the movietube makers dont gaurantee the use of the JVC with their adaptor but they say it "should work") I have never used the movietube, I plan to test it soon at Able in LA, but just wanted to get your thoughts on it compared to the P+S. Cheers.

Hi, Dont you think being able to Pre-set accurate marks and speeds for up and down booms on the controls is better than using velcro patches?

Hi, I am ging t shoot a music video and intend to flare the lense quite a bit, I am not tryng to recreate anamorphic flares, I just want the nicest spherical flare patterns i can get, I know the angle and type of light hitting the lense mostly determines the type of flare, but I have noticed using Zeiss superspeeds that is is almost impossible to get the kind of flare I am after, and the director would like to use them. I have got nice flares using S4's what does everyone reckomend??? Cheers.

Hi, Able cine. in LA will start renting and selling panthers soon (or maybe they already are, I cant remember the time frame)...in case anyone wanted to know. Cheers.

Hi, The point about being a department head and not just a grip is agood point, you signed on as one position and now you are doing another, therefor a pay rise seems logical. However the fact that they are shooting way over 12hrs a day, or more importantly that your aren't getting close to 12hrs turnaround, to me would also suggest you deseve a pay rise, but unless they specifically indicated that they would try and stick to 12 on 12 off before they started shooting, nothing has changed and therefor a pay rise may not be logical just because they are scheduling badly. Cheers.

Hi, I never said that Miami Vice's look was a "Mistake" I believe 100% that they intended it to look that way (they tested everything all the way to film-out), and I didn't say anyone should never use more than +6db, I just meant that for my personal taste, from what I have seen projected I think +12db and above is too noisy for my taste, that's all, there's no right or wrong about it. I also understand the difference between lighting a night scene more and using high gain to capture ambient light levels, however my point was that from the article I read Bebe didn't use existing light to light the actors or the scenes, just to get detail in the night sky, so I was wondering if using less gain and adding the detail in the sky in post would have made for a less noisy picture and still achieved pretty much the same thing. Having said all this I like the fact that Mann went this experimental and dont think he should be criticised for it, I strongly believe there is no "Correct" way of doing anything in cinematography, as I said I just fealt watching the film in the cinema that the noise was a bit too much and detracted from my overall enjoyment of the film. But I still enjoyed the film (which is rare for an 'Action' film of this type) and thought there were some great shots in it. As a side note, I do things all the time that are not reckomended or "Incorrect", one of the last few times I shot HD I used +6Db gain (on an F900) with the P+S technik Pro-35 adptor and cookeS4's, people thaught I was nuts!! because I added noise using the gain and "grain" from the adaptor and softness from the S4's (as oppossed to a sharper Zeiss lens), but the results were by far the best of any HD project I have ever shot, and very beautiful, even projected on the big screen. Cheers.

Hi, Arguing whether he should have shot on film or HD is senseless, thats like saying carravaggio's art would have been better in watercolor, (not that I am likening Miami vice to carravaggio's work in terms of quality!!!). I will agree that I thought collateral looked 100 times better than miami vice, the noise/grain on collateral (in the cinema) was very noticable in certain HD night shots, but I fealt within acceptable limits, whereas the noise in 'Vice' was way too much for my taste, and varied alot from scene to scene and even from shot to shot within a scene. What I think was wierd was that they turned the gain up too much (in my opinion) just to get detail in the night sky in a few shots, surely they (with the massive budget they had) could have shot the whole film without the gain up and just added those skies in post digitally and saved the film from being so noisy. The point is that the look of 'Vice' is not indicative of the usual HD film, and threfore is not a fair comparison to say "it looked bad, he should have used film instead". I've seen many movies on 35 that looked terrible but no-one ever said "they should have used HD instead". Basically they just were experimenting with pushing the gain/noise on HD, and for me and apparently most people who saw the film the experiment proved the old wisdom (which I have heard since film school days) of not going over +6db gain if you want to project on the big screen (unless you have lots of money for grain/noise reduction etc.. in post). Which funny enough is what Paul Cameron said on collateral after doing tests, But Bebe came in and did new tests and figured the could go "at least to +12 Db" (from article in AC). Cheers.

Hi, Also it will (or should) stop people saying things intentionally to annoy or offend other memebers, most people dont mind if their pseudonim looks stupid, but if their real name is displayed they may think twice. I think people are scared to use their real names becasue they are scared of asking a "stupid" question, they shouldn't be, most members wont berate you for asking a reasonable question, regardless of your level of knowledge. Cheers.

Hi, This is a great thread! Of course everyone differs, but I have found a few things that help me: 1) I am very easy-going off-set, so when I get serious on-set my crew (Who all know me personally) tend to pay close attention, I think the contrast emphasises my intent! 2) I work with (My A/C's and Gaffer at least) people who I know very well and get on very well with, although sometimes you have to "outsource" your crew, I almost always manage to insist on having my choice of key crew. The difference that makes is huge!!, especially in the 18th hour of a shoot when the 1st AD is a clown, having a mate on-set who you can ridicule the whole situation with relieves tension like nothing else. It can turn a hellish situation in to a ridiculously amusing one which can then also be reffered to on a later shoot at the 18th hour to relieve tension on that shoot too. 3) I agree with someone who said earlier that talking to the crew before hand helps a lot, If you let them know that the Production have scheduled 10 pages and 6 locations for one day and the 1st AD is an imbecile, but you say that if you get through the day alive you will buy them a beer afterwards and will all have something to laugh about on the next shoot, they will probably endure the day better than if they dont know what to expect. 4) Most importantly, I agree that there is no time for making friends on set (as the DP at least) but saying please or thank you after something takes maybe a 20th of a second, which over an entire day may add up to 5 seconds total, that is not enough to justify dispensing with politeness, If I ask someone to do something I usually say "Can you sandbag that C-Stand for me please mate?" I think this works better than "Sandgbag that C-stand" and takes a fraction longer to say. Letting people know they did a good job and you apreciate it makes a massive difference too. If someone just skirted a light for you and you just say "OK" when they show you they fell one way, but if you say " I couldn't have skirted that better myself Bro, Nice one" they will feel chuffed and work faster and harder for more praise. Smiling at people helps too, not to say you should be fake, but if once in a while you put your hand on your AC's shoulder and smile at them and say "Nice work today, this is gonna look really good, I don't know what I would have done without you" it makes a massive difference, I know this not only from DPing, but when I AC'd it made the world of difference to me. Having said all this, there are some times when the people around you are such imbeciles it is unbarable and they ask for the moon and give you pitence to achieve it. And sometimes you dont have any allies on the set, at these times the only things you can do are: Breath deeply (dont hyperventilate though), get away for a second if you can, maybe sneek a quick listen to a song you like through one earphone on your I-Pod, make a quick phonecall to a girlfreind/boyfriend, good mate or wife/husband, hearing a freindly voice helps a lot and can make the horrible situation seem funny from an objective viewpoint. Just think to yourself that the shoot WILL finish at some point and at the very least you will have made it through and will probably have a few cool shots for your reel. Just try and see the humour behind the most absurd situations and you will be able to make it through ANY shoot, trust me I know. P.S. Stoned people on set are no good!, they are unreliable, and usually careless, and stoned/slow people and heavy/dangerous equipment are a bad combo. Cheers.

Phil, I am glad someone else noticed how the adaptor/primes helps the camera hold highlights!!! I used the pro and mini-35 and noticed it with both, but people thought I was nuts "how can an adaptor increase highlight info" but it does, I noticed it multiple times!!! It is not just the DOF or softening/halation from the groundglass, the adaptor and film primes (more importantly the primes perhaps) do way more than people are saying on here, it does something quite unexplained or tangible but very beautiul to the image!!! especially the Pro35 on HD. Cheers.

Hi, I agree with this, I seem to remember even super speeds flare less than S4's, Most Zeiss lenses flare less than most Cookes, from what I have experienced. Cheers.

Hi, Frederik Bakkar, your music videos are excellent man!!!! not really relevent to this thread but still....respect! Cheers.

Hi, Thanks for the responses, as M.Nash pointed out F/C are just a starting point, I hardly ever use them on set, but if you need a very specific effect (sun beam) and don't have the budget to just get a bunch of big lights, it helps to know roughly how many footcandles of light you need in order to get the right light. Im terms of exposure Micheal is right in that it varies on the angle background etc.. but I arrived at around 300/400f/c because I am shooting 500T and figured I would expose at around a 2.8 so in order to over expose the "Sun light" about 3/4 stops I would need around an 8/11 which on 500 you need around 300/400f/c of light on the subject to achieve (this is just roughly, as we said before there are many other factors and on-set it will no-doubt have to be tweeked, but in general for figuring out what kind of lights you need f/c can be very useful as arough guide). Regarding Pars, I agree with micheal again, they often have softer shadows especially around the edges of the beam. Ideally I would just get a big Tungsten fresnel for this (20k) on full flood but we lack the funds for that so hopefully the 2,500k HMI will work out. Does anyone know if one type of fog machine or fogging liquid disperses more evenly and linggers (sp?) in the air longer (I really dont want people to notice that the room is smoked I just want enough that the beams are apparent). Cheers.

Hi Everyone, I was just wondering people's thoughts on this: I am shooting 500T in various small rooms with windows on a ground floor, the director wants the room to be quite un-lit except for shafts/beams of hot sunlight coming through the windows, obviously I need to smoke the rooms to achieve this, but I am calculating that I will need around 300/400+ footcandles of light to sufficiently over-expose the beams coming in to get them "Hot" looking enough the light will probably be between 10/15ft from the subject. The Budget is very tight, For lights and power, so I was thinking of using a 2,500K HMI fresnel (that should give me the right amount of foot candles), which is only $170 per day, but I was wondering if this light would work well for the shaft affect seeing as the lense would make it less of a sharp "Beam". I've never used this light for this effect before so.... Has anyone used this light or one similarly priced (please no-one suggest Xenons!-$$$) for this effect???? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Cheers.

I saw it from a row close to the front (4th or 5th I think) and it looked very grainy, I saw batman returns from the second row (not by choice) and that was 500 pushed a stop and X3 looked way grainier, in X3 certain shots were noticably grainier than others in the same scene (jaringly so at some points). I agree that the VFX heavy scenes looked better (but they also were the more importat and exciting scenes) Cheers.

Hi, Tu mama tambien and Run Lola run weren't made in Hollywood (or even America, or by Americans) and the Woodsman was funded by Rap Producer Damon Dash out of his own pocket, so wasn't part of the typical Hollywood film making system. Most Hollywood films are super formulaic, but it's true there are generally more interesting and experimental high budget films made in Hollywood these days than 10 years ago. Cheers.

Hi, It's funny that people always seem to have such a problem with Vincent, it's also strange that so many people on this site talk about him as if they have known him for years! has anyone who spoke so boldy about hating him actually MET him, even once??? What have you based your judgement on? some quote you read? anyone who knows anything about the press knows that almost every single quote in existence is either exagerated or taken out of context in order to cause most impact, and almost invariably in Gallo's case, are paraphrased to make him seem mad or arrogant. It is fine to judge him based on his films, but don't comment on his personality, emotions, past or intentions unless you actually KNOW HIM!!! this would be like me saying I hate Matt Pacini because he called someone he has no actual knowledge of a "Jerk-off", I don't hate him I just judge his comment on it's own merit, and find it to be ludicrous! I have noticed a pattern that people who strike out on their own and take risks in Hollywood are often hated for it, People on this site often berrate Robert rodruigez aswell, why is it that anyone who wants to direct and DP their own film and use anything but a giant crew filled with a million union grips attracts so much hatred here?? is it that people are threatened by Vincent and rodruigez because they fear all directors might want to shoot for themselves and leave us DP's jobless??, or is it that they themselves lack the confidence to ever embark on a large budget feature film project as both Director AND DP, and so hate Gallo and Rodruigez out of envy for their talent and confidence??? I can't say because I respect anyone who is bold and takes chances especially if the results are as good as Sin City or Buffallo '66 (before anyone jumps in to correct me I know Gallo didn't DP that one himself). I am a DP but Shot, wrote and directed a short recently on HD and agree with and utilised many ideas that Gallo embodies as a filmmaker, you should ask yourself is the only reason you dont hate me aswell as Gallo because the press has not attempted to make you do so because he attacked them???? Think about why it is you would say you hate someone you don't actually know at all???????? Cheers.

Hi, When I was in film school we had a deal with shotmaker so we use panthers all the time, I love them myself and sometimes miss using them (hardly anyone wants to use them now), one obvious advantage in my mind was the system controling the column movement, being able to program the speed and hieght together and pre-program marks for the movement with the controller makes using velcro diamonds seem ghetto and backwards in comparison. The fact that the operatror/AC seats rise with the column is great too (I found the lack of this feature one of the most annoying things about the fisher).And who needs the excess weight of a fisher to carry on a 16 hour shoot? the panther can be easily carried by two strong guys, even into and out of vans etc.. But of course there are bad points with the panther too: It is hard to put your feet anywhere without getting them crushed while keeping balance and rising up and down, especially on fast booms down. The low mode is a bit of a nuisance to put on and off but not THAT bad. In general the Panther does seem less stable and takes some getting used to if you are used to Fishers, but some of the best work I have ever done with a dolly has been with a panther, and apart from a purple toenail once I never had any bad experiences with it. Cheers.

Hi, Thats what I had figured when I first heard about HDV, HDV/HVX (not technically an HDV camera) is a better resolution version of the DVX/XL type series rather than a cheaper version of the varicam/F900, as some people seem to have expected. The extra resolution will help ultra low budget film makers who would have been projecting mini-DV at festivals, but will not replace "True" HD cameras for higher budget cinema destined projects. Cheers.