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Guillaume Cottin

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  1. Guillaume Cottin
    Light can be absorbed, pass through or... bounce. There is some bounce even on a black surface like a flag or black poly. Think of the black silk as a white silk + a scrim. But the black silk won't "glow" or bounce back like a white silk, and will do less spill. As a consequence there will be more directionnality and more specularity. You know when use use a white frame, the frame becomes the source ; well it's not completely the case with a black silk. In a day exterior, the sun is such a strong source that you don't care about power efficiency. Using a large frame of black silk to block most direct sunlight while keeping some diffused directionnality looks good. Having said that it's a tool that's rarely used.
  2. Guillaume Cottin
    Everybody has a different definition of what a "golden" light should be! CTO and CTS are the most readily available gels so I'd say it's the easiest way to go on a budget. Bouncing on gold reflectors seems like a very good option to me as well. You can also play on white balance and dimming the lights. If you go to your local rental house or expendables store you can get a gel swatch book for free.
  3. Guillaume Cottin
    Yes it is, and btw, you can have a black bounce board! You can even bounce light onto a black flag if you like. Of course it's not power-efficient but it's still a tool in your toolbox. If I remember the AC article well enough, I think Roger Deakins did it when he shot the manor sequences in Skyfall. He would swap white rags to black flags so as to quickly switch from day interior to night interior. It's the material that diffuses: if you do a black flag bounce, you will loose 3 1/2 stops but the light will be exactly as soft as with a white surface.
  4. Guillaume Cottin
    Thanks Stephen for the helpful reply! Guillaume
  5. Guillaume Cottin
    Hi everyone, I am looking for an old-fashioned lens to shoot a romantic scene. I am looking at a Angenieux 25-250 T3,7 zoom lens and was wondering if anyone already used this lens and what it looks like in terms of flare, aberrations, sharpness, color, and overall "swag" :D Thanks!! G.
  6. Guillaume Cottin
    Is it to buy or to rent? If it is to buy, I'd suggest Barbizon, on 55th Street W.
  7. Guillaume Cottin
    Hi, Thank you for the constructive feedback. I will think about removing the projector, but on the other hand, should I really take one of the films I've shot out of my reel just because it's "cheesy" to have a projector in a DP's reel? I don't know. Clarkson Kent (or whoever you are), you created a user account just to reply to my message, you left a very long, somewhat automated (?) message ("you did a great job telling the story" is kinda irrelevant talking about a showreel), and you take time to reedit my reel, and you also created a separate Vimeo account just to post the video. It doesn't take a lot of thinking to guess that you must be a French friend of mine! Send me a MP. And also, you know this is a "real names" forum ;-) G.
  8. Guillaume Cottin
    Hey everyone, This may seem like a double post (as I already posted in "Jobs, Resumes and Reels" some time ago) but this one is more about getting a feedback and because I really would like you guys to critique my work and say anything you think about it, good or bad things, I won't be offended no matter what you say. Oh and I also made things easier and embeeded the video below. Enjoy! (or not!) Click "HD" to view a larger version on Vimeo.
  9. Guillaume Cottin
    As of current Magic Lantern versions, it is possible to shoot Raw video on the Canon 5D Mark II continuously at 24fps 1856x1004 (1,85 aspect ratio) resolution. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgQ2MOkAZTFHdFFIcFp1d0R5TzVPTVJXOEVyUndteGc#gid=5 You need to download and install the latest nighly build for that camera.
  10. Guillaume Cottin
    I can safely say Gordon Willis was a master of low key lighting! May his work inspire you! He shot the Godfather 2 & 3, Manhattan... And many more
  11. Guillaume Cottin
    In my experience and based on my knowledge, there should not be any visible difference between the two, when used in a paper china ball or behind any thicker diffusion. I am speaking only in terms of softness, of course. Even if there was a slight difference, using a bare bulb will definitely not give you more throw. China balls do not have a long throw, no matter what bulb you use.
  12. Guillaume Cottin
    Picture Styles are supported on the 1D-C, which means you will be able load and use Marvel's profile on this camera like on your 5D. However, the 1D-C also comes with the Canon Log profile, which would be my profile of choice, as it is a known and documented gamma curve, created by Canon themselves to pull the maximum dynamic range from their sensor.
  13. Guillaume Cottin
    My choice would be the Dreamcolor, as it has a wider gamut than the other contender and is better suited to video applications (P3 color space emulation is pretty good).
  14. Guillaume Cottin
    Hello! Here is my long overdue new reel as a cinematographer, "junior" DIT and colorist. I hope you'll enjoy it: www.guillaumecottin.com/reel Do not hesitate to comment, I would love to have feedback and constructive criticism from experienced people. For jobs / availability or any other question, please email me at: guillaume@guillaumecottin.com Thanks! :-) G.C.
  15. Guillaume Cottin
    I'd say there is a difference between a booklight and just shooting kinos through diffusion. It's not all about the size of the source relative to the subject: specularity, falloff and "spread" are also key concepts. I think booklights are very good at killing specularity, and, as previously said, reducing falloff. You can use a lighter diffusion on a booklight as the primary source is already bounced and less specular. Depending on the diffusion you are using, booklights can give a very pleasing, natural look. I've seen them being used extensively on fashion/beauty shoots. Booklights are especially useful for very large frames, at the condition that electrical power isn't an issue and when you have enough room to do it properly. This technique is also very useful for exteriors, as you can easily booklight the sun itself and get a much softer look than by just diffusing it (although in this case, double diffusing also works). However, I would agree that, on a fast-paced set, setting up a booklight can be considered too time-consuming given the slight difference with other techniques. You mentioned Kinos; it's a good idea, I would shoot them through Depron in order to get a look that's closer to a booklight. Now, depending on the surface you're bouncing the primary source into, it cas be more or less specular. I like to play with specularity. Controlled soft specular reflections can be really beautiful... But I already talked too much! I'm too young to reveal the tricks I had such a hard time discovering!! :D Forget what I just said!!
  16. Guillaume Cottin
    I'd agree with Dustin: it looks like your problem comes from the lens! Are you using the stock lens by any chance? A "f:3,5- 5,6" DSLR lens of some sort? If you used the telephoto end of your lens to get a nice portrait, your f-stop became f:5,6 (or something) and suddenly you needed much more light!
  17. Guillaume Cottin
    Hello, Forgive my ignorance, but what is a Wendy? Is it like a big Dino with tungsten PAR bulbs?
  18. Guillaume Cottin
    My first thought was : "LED Jokerbugs". Very cool! I love modular systems. I'd love to have Chimera speedrings for these lights! Color rendering seems pretty impressive. TLCI ratings are very encouraging and I also like that you show the spectrum's curve. Also, having an indication of the f-stop when dimming is a great feature, it's more convenient than percentage. Why someone didn't invented this before? It's the digital scrim!
  19. Guillaume Cottin
    There is an easy and cheap way to make a fluorescent light flicker, if that's what you want. Just dim it with a regular dimmer! At 100%, it won't flicker, but it will start flickering as soon as you lower the voltage. OK, I know it may not be a recommended practice, as it will destroy your tubes quickly. But it works, and the good thing is you can adjust the amount of flicker you want. Just make sure to get some spare tubes!
  20. Guillaume Cottin
    Thanks Joshua, and thank you for your contribution too ! Aw, silver screens.... The problem with these screens is if you're not in the middle of the theatre, the image is much darker! In other words: they're anything but "Lambertian" ! :D
  21. Guillaume Cottin
    Luminance vs illuminance : Joshua's right, I misspelled it. So, to sum up : - LUX, Footcandle, Lumen/ft2, lumens/m2 = they are all units of Illuminance which are measured by incident metering (we hardly ever use the other units such as lumens/ft2, nor the... meter candle !!) - Incident light meters will give you a reading for something between 12% and 18% gray, but only if you use them in a "camera-centric" mode (to display an f-stop). If you take an incident reading in a footcandle or lux mode, you'll get a raw measurement of the illuminance, in one of the previously mentioned units. Still, in order to get a correct reading you need to pay attention to the placement of the sphere (usually turned towards the camera's lens), and whether you want to use the dome or the retracted (flat) mode (learning how to use a lightmeter is off-topic ;-) - Foot-lamberts, cd/m2 are units of Luminance, measured by reflected metering, and these units do apply to measure screen brightnesss. A movie screen's pure white should be 16 foot-lamberts bright. (btw Joshua, what do you mean by "a screen gain greater than 1.0 ?") - The lambertian surface is a theoric perfect diffuse surface that has no specular highlights. Movie screens are designed to be as "lambertian" as possible so as not to reflect the projector's specular highlight. - Cosine adjustments are only needed when the surface is viewed (or lit!) from an angle. It's useful for flat surfaces in general: In practice, since what you are measuring with your spotmeter is the actual surface, a spotmeter is already measuring the result of the cosine law. That is, as long as you measure from (roughly) the same angle as the camera (which is a good habit to take anyway).
  22. Guillaume Cottin
    Hello, I've shot candlelight only but that was on Super 16mm and with a 500 ISO stock. You can easily duplicate these sources (lanterns or candles) by using multiple mirrors. The source will also become marginally softer and the effect can be very pretty. Choosing a 200 ISO stock and shooting super 8 are brave decisions! But as Francesco said, you are cumulating limiting factors and there is a risk you could get disappointing results. And you could be surprised by the amount of grain, even pulling the stock to 200 ISO. Also it has a very limited exposure latitude of around 4 or 5 stops. Did you shoot tests ? What lenses will you be using ? Be also aware of possible safety issues with these types of lights. If you are in France don't hesitate to MP me. I'll be shooting a film in similar conditions with these lanterns this week and might have more tips based on this experience . Best, G.C.
  23. Guillaume Cottin
    That's correct :-) G.
  24. Guillaume Cottin
    Haha, thanks !
  25. Guillaume Cottin
    Hi, I am curious about Toronto, what are the main filmmaking nerve centers in this area? I know the Toronto film festival, but I was wondering what are the main rental companies (camera or lighting), studios, film schools and universities, post houses, unions, etc... ? Thanks! G.C.
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