SimonLL

Hi, I'm shooting a black and white film at the end of the summer. I am debating to shoot with a Red monochrome or to shoot color on an Alexa and convert to black and white in post. I don't have any experience with the Red monochrome (Helium I think is the one available here). I get that shooting color gives me much more room to adjust the contrast of the B&W image in post using the color channels, but part of me feels like I'd want to go all the way and shoot monochrome and use color filters in camera. Any big no-nos or other advice on using one method insted of another? Thanks!

Hi all, Getting ready to shoot a web series. We have a couple of scenes of walk and talk in the streets to cover. Our budget is over extended, so can really afford to hire a Steadycam or Gimbal. Fortunately, the director is not looking for super smooth gimbal like movement, so a rickshaw with the camera suspended on bungees or medical tubing was brought forward. We want to feel a camera that is alive, but not the footsteps backwards (the shot is pulling back as the actors walk towards camera). There will also be some running shots tracking along with the actor both sideways and from the front. My only concern is stabilizing the jitter of the cracked sidewalks to minimize the jello effect if we decide to stabilize further in post. Can a rig like that work to give me a good basis to work with in post? We're shooting on a Varicam LT for an HD finish, so I plan on shooting a bit wider in 4k to allow room for post stabilization. Thanks for the tips!

Thanks for all the suggestions! We tested a regular gopro 4 on a modified car today and it worked OK. We have ordered a Hero Session 5 which will help a lot with the smaller form factor and centered lens. Snorkel lenses have been suggested, but way outside of the budget range.

Hi, I'm preparing to shoot a commercial involving a toy car race track with Loop-the-loops, jumps, etc. The storyboards call for POV shots of the car on the track. The toy cars are maybe twice the size of Hot Wheels cars. This footage is to be intercut with the rest of the commercial which will be shot with a regular camera (Arri or Red). How would one go about capturing these POV shots? My idea was to try to get one or two of the toy cars and modify them to mount a GoPro on, low enough so that it doesn't become top heavy and topples over in the track, and shoot at a minimum of 60fps to get as much detail as possible in the fast moving parts of the track. Any other idea? Is there a better camera to do this? Thanks!

Hi, I'm working on an immersive, educational Ipad app for kids that involves mostly POV footage. The director has been working on this app for a while and all testing was done prior to me being hired for this project, so it is pretty much decided that we are shooting with a GoPro Hero 4 Black. I do not really disagree with this choice since there are many factors that make the GoPro a better choice vs something like the BM Micro Studio or other camera system. So I need to work with the camera to give me the best images I can get out of it. It will be installed on a lightweight POV rig on kids, aging 11-14 y.o. The locations are mostly interior days with windows. I would like to try and light the locations as much as possible to avoid the typical electronic highlights blown out look of GoPro interior footage. Anyone has any tips for that? Keeping in mind that the actors must be able to look around a bit, turn their head, etc. So I assume pretty much a full 180 axis if not almost lighting on 270 degrees. My approach as of now (I haven't seen the locations yet) is to try and pump as much soft light as I can from the dead angle to raise the ambiance in the room, gel the visible windows with ND and control practicals intensity to get them to expose properly. All the while limiting the Gopro ISO to 400 and using my meter old school like to get the light level where the camera needs it for a proper shutter speed. Any other ideas? Tips when working with the GoPro on interior scenes? Thanks

That's what I read on Wikipedia. "The sequence was created by Maurice Binder for the opening titles of the first Bond film, Dr. No, in 1962. Binder originally planned to employ a camera sighted down the barrel of a .38 calibre gun, but this caused some problems. Unable to stop down the lens of a standard camera enough to bring the entire gun barrel into focus, Binder created a pinhole camera to solve the problem and the barrel became crystal clear.[1]" link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_barrel_sequence Thing is I do not want that james bond look. I don't mind not seeing inside the barrel and assuming the fact that it's dark. If one were to look down a barrel in such a way, only the end of it would be exposed to light. After a bit of thinking, I think I might just go with a pvc pipe glued onto a perforated lens cap.

Hi, I'm doing a short film in a couple of weeks and the first scene has the main character cleaning his gun and preparing for a hit. The first shot of the film is from the inside of the gun barrel, the cleaning brush slides out which lets the light in and the eye of the character looks down the barrel. I don't want it to be like the classic James Bond one. I don't need to clearly see the grooves inside the barrel although it could be nice. I'd like it a bit more "natural looking" by just seeing the grooves at the end of the barrel, with the interior completely black. I am contemplating different ways of doing this shot. I tested a Scott-Towel roll and it felt a bit big. The other problem with cardboard is it can bend and sometimes little pieces of it lift up making it obvious. A 1" pvc pipe might do it if it's long enough. I could try to get a post house to add the grooves on it in VFX. My challenge is to cover the lens with it. I know the classic James Bond used a pinhole lens to shoot it. I might want to try that with the actual prop gun we are gonna be using, but the cheap pinhole lenses I've seen on sale at B&H seem to be quite soft. If it can help, we are shooting with a Sony FS700+Odyssey 7Q. Most probably Cooke mini S4 with uncoated front elements. Any ideas how to achieve that shot? Thanks!

Hi, I decided I am making the official switch from gaffer/DP to strictly DP. I cut together my best reel so far. This is a sample of some of my work. It's mostly independent fiction and music videos, very low budget stuff. I was wondering if this reel would be helpful to try to land more commercial or corporate gigs. Should I use only some of these projects to cut another reel aimed more at commercial work? https://vimeo.com/37826850 Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Simon Lamarre-Ledoux | DoP, Montreal