Chien Huey

I shot a short film about a year ago where the producer got this grant from Panavision. We ended up not taking them up on the grant because the camera's are based out of Panavision Woodland Hills and the shoot was in NYC. Ric Halpern was very helpful and upfront that they do not cover the cost of shipping and that an AC would have to prep the package at Woodland Hills. In this case, the short was only 3 days so it was more cost effective to rent locally. If I remember correctly, shipping would cost about $1800 each way. That said, if you're in the LA area it's a great deal.

Congrats, it sounds like you're on your way. What ends up happening is that you cross paths with someone who is established in the business, you do a great job and then things start to happen for you. That's how it happened for me and it sounds like you're on your way. About the single AC thing. Unfortunately, that's more and more common these days. I've done my share of pulling and loading. It's really not ideal because your hands start to shake from running around so much. These days video jobs are all pretty much single AC gigs. The best thing you can do is just to be cool and try to decompress during meal breaks. Trying to get ahead by working during breaks will usually lead to you making a mistake later.

Are you talking about me? Though I'm not sure if I said it was the ONLY way. I just like the NATO alphabet. To me it just sounds more professional than calling out names, cities, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

There seems to be a lot of misconceptions around. For that reason, I actually called both the LA and NY union halls to find out what's entailed in joining IATSE 600 and then based my decision on that information. In the end, it's too early for me to join (as an AC). Internet forums, great as they are for discussion, should be validated whenever used as a data source. As for the safety meetings, I was a PA on a big union show in NYC and there was only a safety meeting whenever something or someone was blown up or a gunplay was involved.

I'd avoid pointing the laser at a person period. I don't own one but I've seen ACs who do either aim it at an object (pillar, wall) that's the same distance. Also, sometimes the 2nd will go out to the mark and aim the laser back at the camera. But in the end, the laser rarely comes out (usually only if the mark is far, far away) and mostly focus marks are taken with tape and/or eye marks through the viewfinder.

It was shot overnight over a weekend. So Saturday and Sunday we shot from 11am to 7am. The theater we shot in let us shoot in there for free as long as it was overnight. We did shoot during the midnight showings of King Kong so halfway through a crowd would pop out of one of the theaters.

I was a 2nd AC on one of these entries and they shot 2000' of film. We shot every last bit except 10'. I believe contestants get 2000' of film from Fuji. The producers bought an extra 400' roll just in case but we never touched that. However, it should be mentioned that we were very precious with every take. The DP was also a very experienced guy who's done a million commercials so he knew exactly what's necessary and what's not. With a less experienced DP you may end up using more film. One example is that we had trouble getting a 40' dolly move with boom. He cut it off after 3 takes when it became clear that we wouldn't get anything better than what we had gotten instead of burning through film. The entry was in the 2006 contest and it was called "Vollarians Unite!" in case you wanna get an idea of what we ended up with 2000' of footage.

I use and recommend the Harrison Large Changing Tent. I found the Jumbo too big and unweidy. It was mentioned that you could download and reload a 1K mag in the jumbo but personally I don't trust myself to multi-task like that. That said, my very first job as an AC I loaded 1K 35mm mags using a medium-format changing bag. I did it and didn't make any mistakes even though I had no room to work. I was definitely lucky. That bag is now my backup changing apparatus. In the end, the tent gives you more room to work and more importantly, the ceiling is suspended making it less likely for you to close the door on the bag/tent. I regularly check the light-proofness of my tent and bag. Every 1/2 year I'll also do the test outlined by Camera Essentials using a roll of 35mm still film. In the end, nothing beats having a darkroom on an air-conditioned truck.

I was the 1st AC on a D20 job with 4:2:2 going into an HDCAM SR deck. Couple of observations: - Monitoring 4:4:4 can't be viewed unless you have a 4:4:4 capable monitor. The director wanted to shoot 4:4:4 but the cost-conscious camera package included a monitor that wasn't capable of taking in dual-link HD-SDI - We were shooting on location. And this isn't so much a 4:4:4 issue as it is a camera w/o an onboard deck issue. If you need to move fast, using a tethered camera is going to slow you down. I had the SR deck on a Magliner that rolled around - which would have been great if we were on a stage but often times, my 2nd would be lugging the deck because we'd be shooting in waist-high grass. Anyway, as others have pointed out, it's not so much the shooting format or the camera. It's what you're able to put in front of it. I'd also say it's important to match the shooting platform's technical requirements with your crew's capabilities.

Cool, thanks Bob. I read about the AC who got hit with shotgun wadding and thought - that could be me. I'll remember to bring my hammer.

Mainly because of the time involved with the mini35 adapter. Time related to: 1. Swapping lenses if you're using primes (you might have to because zooms aren't as fast) 2. More time checking focus because your DOF is shallower and you need to make extra sure. 3. More time lighting because you need more light. In detail: 1. The mini35 loses about 1 stop. The HVX loses (I forget exactly) but somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/2 to 1 stop because you're zooming into the long end of the lens. You have to zoom in to use the mini35. So before you even select your lens, you're about 1.5 to 2 stops slower than the vanilla camera. It behooves you to go with a zoom and lose more light... The downside to using primes (superspeeds for example) is that you'll probably be changing lenses a lot. Admittedly, not that much time but it all adds up. 2. I ACed an HVX w/ mini35 job as a focus puller and it was difficult. I'm not sure why - maybe because of the pixel shifting - but the image isn't as resolved as say a Varicam. The problem is magnified when you're at the edge of underexposure. During that shoot I would just tape out the focus and pray that it's in focus. The DP would say that it looks soft and I said - it's in focus. We were using an 8" LCD HD monitor. Point is, I often re-taped the focus just to make sure. 3. If you're 2 stops down to start, you'll need that much more light. And obviously lighting takes time. On the aforementioned shoot, the lenses were always wide open at T1.3 and even then G&E was struggling to get that. In the end, with the rental cost of a mini35 setup, lenses, etc. I think it's often better off to go with a Varicam or the new HDX400. You get shallower DoF from the 2/3" chips (granted it's not the same as 35 DoF), no pixel shifting and better lenses (b/c in the end you are still looking thru the HVX built-in lens) and less lighting is necessary because the chips are more sensitive.

Sorry to dredge the gun safety topic up again but I'm working on a film that will have firearms on set - so this is important to me. How can you tell the difference between Lexan and Plexiglas? Obviously if they get new sheets that have the paper back that says Lexan but let's say they recycle pieces. I known my Nalgene bottle is made of Lexan but I've seen bottles not made of Lexan look similar. Do I have to take their word for it? And how thick should the pieces be? 1/2", 3/4"

Suppose you shot a test and determined that overexposing 1 stop yields the desired aesthetic. In that circumstance, would you overexpose 1 and 2/3 stops (1 for aesthetic and 2/3 for safety)? Or would you overexpose 1 stop over and then rely on the telecine/printing to bring it back in case missed exposure?

FWIW, I have Kodak's price list for 16mm film and the student discount is now 30% versus 20% the last time I checked.

This works. I do it all the time with two cheapo 1-chippers. The strange part about one camera is that it will only record in VCR mode if you use the remote. You can press the record button on the camera until your finger goes numb and it won't record - only with the remote. The timecode thing might be a drag but in the event you have TC breaks on your master - the dub will lay down new continuous TC.